Dark Song

by Feehan, Christine

  Gary shook his head. “The infection is spread differently than an actual disease. I do not yet know what it is.”

  Tariq sighed. “What of the children?”

  Gary answered him. “Lourdes and Bella are both without burns. None at all. Liv has light scorching, much like you, Tariq. The scorching is heavier in Danny and Amelia but not nearly as bad as in Josef. Charlotte is aware of this and has conveyed the danger to Genevieve. Maksim and Tomas are watching over the children. Neither shows signs of scorching, yet Lojos did this morning, and that is new. He had no such injury before when I checked him.”

  “So it is spreading,” Tariq said. “Are there any others?”

  “I didn’t have time to check beyond those,” Gary admitted. “The three victims were found at the gate and I came here to see if I could help them. They were beyond all aid. I agree with Ferro, we should hunt Sergey while his trail is fresh. He expects us, and will have planned an ambush, but all of us here should be far too savvy to fall for his tricks. He has forgotten what it is like to go up against very experienced hunters.”

  “I don’t like leaving the compound with too few to protect the women and children,” Tariq admitted. “His calling card could very well be to lure us away so he can attack.”

  Ferro considered Tariq’s concern. There was merit to it. More than merit. It would be just like Sergey to think to pull the ancients out of the compound in order to get to Elisabeta. She was the vampire’s ultimate goal.

  “Let me speak with Elisabeta.” He didn’t want her to ever think he would betray her in any way, but this threat to her and those around her had to be stopped.

  Taking a deep breath, he summoned his woman. I have need to consult with you, minan hän sívamak. She would be forever and always his beloved. Wake for me. Hear my song to you. A song of hope, of love, Elisabeta. I have great need of you.

  I hear you, kont o sívanak. You have only to ask and I will do my best to aid you.

  She came into his mind slowly, a gentle presence, filling every lonely crack and space, those terrible scars left from too many battles, the killing of old childhood friends. Hunting took a toll on one’s soul, and Elisabeta’s nature was the opposite of his, gentle and compassionate. She filled him with those tender, caring traits, bathed him with them, soaked him in them until he felt as if her gentle soul mended the terrible tears in his own blackened soul.

  She called him “strong heart.” He felt she had the strongest heart, the most caring, and he hoped it was true. She would need it for this rising. He detested this and suddenly found he was reluctant to continue.

  What has happened?

  He had no intention of telling her until he was with her and could hold her in his arms.

  If Sergey made his presence known, left his stench all around the outside of the compound where we could find it, even though he deliberately masks it as he leaves, do you believe he has some treachery planned, such as drawing the ancients away from the compound in order to attack it? Would this be his strategy? You know him better than any other. He wants you back. Would he make a mistake like this?

  As always, Elisabeta took her time, thinking his question through thoroughly before she answered. She looked at everything he showed her from every angle. He was careful not to give her any information on what Sergey had been doing at the compound, or what he had left, but she knew the vampire too well.

  He would not have just come here and sniffed around leaving tracks. What has he done?

  I prefer to talk to you about that later. One has no bearing on the other. We need to know whether to go after him immediately, before his trail fades and he has more time to prepare for an ambush, or set up our own ambush here. He poured authority into his voice and mind to keep her from questioning him further.

  He is planning on attacking the compound. I wish to rise, Ferro.

  I will call to you as soon as I have hunted for blood for the two of us. He broke their connection and turned to the others.

  “No doubt, it is his plan to attack this compound,” Ferro announced to the others. “Elisabeta was absolutely certain, and she knows him better than any other. I need blood to get to full strength, as do all the rest of the brethren. We must make it look as if we are falling for Sergey’s plan.”

  “My security force is human,” Tariq said. “We have used them before to feed. Some are aware of who we are and volunteer. They serve us as the families in South America have served the De La Cruz family for hundreds of years. They will provide what we need. I ask that you treat them with respect and care as I consider them family and they are under my protection.”

  “What of Elisabeta?” Gary asked. “Will she be able to aid us with the spreading infection?”

  Ferro’s eyes met his, two slashes of silver watching the other man carefully. Ferro had to tell his lifemate what Sergey had left behind at the gate and the threats he’d made—threats that she would know were all too real. Ferro had chosen to look into her memories and he knew that on many occasions the vampire had killed others in front of her to get her to give up her lifemate’s soul. She was an empath and Sergey knew that would hurt her far more than physical torture ever could, although he had resorted to that as well at times.

  “I do not know, healer.” Deliberately, Ferro chose not to call the ancient by his name. He refused to allow anyone—not even Gary, who shared ties to his soul and therefore knew the agony Elisabeta had suffered—to push him into forcing his woman to help when she would be devastated.

  “We cannot allow this infection to spread further or get out of hand, no matter what else is happening,” Gary insisted, his voice mild but his eyes deepening to a liquid silver that contained a hint of a threat.

  Ferro felt the threat in his mind. Something more was going on than he knew. He saw Sandu, Andor and Dragomir all spin around and then move in close. They felt that same vague threat to Elisabeta as he did, but were as uncertain as he was as to why there would be one coming from the healer. Gary would be a difficult threat to vanquish, but fighting all four ancients would make it impossibile to win, and Tariq’s second-in-command had to know that.

  Ferro frowned and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “We know this burn is spreading, Gary. Sandu and Dragomir were both infected. I need to be inspected. No one has scanned me, or you, for that matter.”

  Tariq took his cue instantly. “We should go back inside, feed, and scan while we do so, all those who haven’t been looked at. Then the ancients can lay down false trails as if they are searching for Sergey once we have a plan.” He was already moving, as if expecting everyone to do as he said. He was their leader. Gary his second-in-command.

  Gary took a deep breath, clearly fighting for control, and then he fell into step with Tariq. The four brethren tied to him created a loose semicircle close enough to contain him. He politely pretended not to notice. The other ancients created a second circle, a little wider, flaring out around them.

  Once inside, the safeguards were woven even stronger. “How does Sergey expect to get past the safeguards?” Tariq asked. “Even if all warriors were gone from the compound, he could not find a way to break that weave. Julija, a powerful mage, has added her elements in. The ancients from the monastery who stopped using Xavier’s spells long ago and came up with their own unique spells intertwined with each other’s strands. The safeguards are woven above, below and on all sides of the compound.”

  He had called the trusted members of his security force to the secluded area. Matt Bennet, Tariq’s head of security, immediately told the others that only those comfortable with giving blood needed to do so, but there was an immediate threat to the compound and the warriors needed to be at full strength.

  Ferro was a little surprised at the human response. The De La Cruzes were a legendary family of Carpathian vampire hunters, and he had been skeptical of their choice to interact with humans. It forced the brothers to protect their servants and made them more vulnerable to their enemies, and yet, in the end,
the loyalty of the humans had proven undeniable. They had fought with the De La Cruz brothers against the vampires, knowing some of them would die. The De Le Cruz family had placed shields in their human brains, which over the centuries the families had begun to be born with. The De La Cruz brothers had further strengthened those.

  Every man immediately consented to giving his blood freely to the Carpathians. Ferro noticed that Tariq stayed close to Gary, watching him as he fed, ensuring that the healer was careful with the security team.

  You believe I have been infected. Gary spoke directly to Ferro, allowing Sandu, Andor and Dragomir to hear him as well.

  Yes. You are . . . not yourself.

  Gary sighed as he carefully and respectfully closed the small holes on the wrist of the volunteer, healing the wounds as if they had never been. I feared that might happen eventually. I know you do not want to tell Elisabeta that Sergey has threatened her with the murder of more humans, and then on the heels of that, ask her to work on those of us infected, but if she does not and these burns worsen, the results could be disastrous. There is a chance that ancients would turn on ancients. The compound would be destroyed from within.

  Ferro went very still. All of those connected through Andor’s soul did, too. Ferro let his breath out as he carefully closed the wounds on one wrist and took another. He had to have enough blood for his lifemate as well. Repeat what you just said, Gary. I think you found the motive behind this infection.

  Sandu, Dragomir and Andor clearly agreed with Ferro. Gary waited for Tariq to give orders to Matt and then hurried him across the compound, back toward the main gate where they knew Sergey’s spies would be wondering what they were up to.

  “We believe that this infection is to turn us against one another. It attacks the judgment center in the brain. It doesn’t matter if you have a lifemate, if you’re male or female or a child,” Gary explained as the hunters gathered in a tight circle around him.

  Andor nodded. “Once the scorching is bad enough, the victim reacts with violence. The person he’s angry with has no choice but to protect himself. This infection has the potential to destroy lifemates and turn our ancients into vampires right here in the compound.”

  Without looking at Ferro, Gary continued. “We are very lucky we have Elisabeta here. Without her, this would most likely have worked. There is no one else capable of stopping it. We still have not tracked down the source. We know some of us are infected to varying degrees. We also know Sergey has set a trap, hoping to lead the warriors away from the compound, which means he believes he has a way in. We have to figure out how he believes he can bring down the safeguards.”

  “We don’t have much time to figure this out,” Tariq said. “If we wait too long to go after him, Sergey will know we’re onto him.”

  Ferro wanted to curse at Gary for forcing him into the position of bringing Elisabeta to the surface immediately. He dissolved into mist and streamed away from the others, back toward his house, where his lifemate waited for him. He had looked forward to every rising with her. Now, he dreaded calling her to him.

  He opened the earth above her as he woke her, singing their song softly promising to always be at her side, swearing with every breath he drew that he loved her more than life itself. He didn’t have her exert energy but brought her to him, right into his waiting arms, freshening her, dressing her, holding her close to him, caring for her in the loving way he wanted and needed to do. For her. For himself.

  He took them into the woods, the place where she felt the most sense of peace and belonging with him. She cuddled into his lap, looking up at him, and though he could see far too much knowledge in her eyes, she didn’t ask him questions, and he was grateful. He opened his shirt for her. Right before she bent her head, she touched his face, sliding her fingers along his jaw so gently it turned his heart over.

  She knew he was upset and she sought, as always, to comfort him. He felt her familiar soothing grace settle around him, cocooning them in her world of tranquility. She nuzzled his chest. Her tongue slid over his skin and his body reacted in spite of the gravity of the situation. Elisabeta would always bring him both serenity and an impossible erotic rush that spread through his body like a fireball when she sank her teeth into him.

  Tell me what he has done. Now, while we are one.

  He stroked her hair back from her forehead, looking down on her beautiful face. Her eyes were closed. Long lashes—two thick crescents, dark and beautiful fans—lay against her pale skin. She was still recovering from centuries of starvation. Her cheekbones were high and prominent, her mouth generous and her lips such a perfect bow.

  We are always one. He can never separate us. I just need these few minutes for me, piŋe sarnanak, holding you close to me. You bring me joy and allow me to feel peace when sometimes I feel there is no longer harmony in the world.

  She slid one hand up his chest to his shoulder and then curled her slender arm around his neck. The gesture felt intimate, causing his belly muscles to tighten in reaction. She was quiet while she fed, giving him exactly what he asked for without hesitation.

  Around him, the forest creatures moved, going about their business, when they never would have had he been alone. He was a predator and they would have recognized him as one. Elisabeta masked that trait in him with her tranquility. She was extraordinary and he was humbled that she was his. Such a gift. Such a miracle.

  All too soon, her tongue swept across the twin holes, closing them and healing the small openings. She lay in his arms, waiting. There wasn’t a single sign of impatience. Not in her body language, and not in her mind.

  “Sergey left a message for you—us. Three bodies.” Ferro dropped his head over hers to comfort her, to comfort both of them. He said it fast, no preamble, needing to get it over with. There was no use dragging it out any further when it had to be said.

  She made a single sound of such pain, such agony, not aloud, not in her throat, but in her mind, as if she didn’t dare let that sound loose in the world where Sergey might hear and rejoice.

  I was so afraid he would resort to his old method of controlling me. He threatened to continue until I returned to him. She made it a statement.

  It was a measure of her terror of the vampire that she didn’t speak aloud to Ferro but had crawled into his mind and stayed there, whispering to him as if Sergey would hear.

  “Yes. We are going to lay a trap for him. We will allow him to believe the ancient hunters have taken the bait to follow his trail, leaving the compound with few to guard it. We hope to draw him close. Elisabeta, several within the compound have the infection back. We believe that it has been introduced in order to destroy us from within. If ancients turn vampire and/or begin fighting one another, it would not be difficult to do such a thing. Could Sergey be behind this infection?”

  She sat up, her eyes meeting his. As her confidence in herself had grown, so had her clarity in the way she saw her time with Sergey. She was no longer starved and in terrible pain. She wasn’t terrorized. She could think very clearly. She took her time again, and now, very slowly, she nodded her head. Ferro could feel her struggling to remember something. Merged as he was with her, he could feel her frustration when she couldn’t grasp the fragments she needed to put the pieces together.

  “You will remember. We are coming closer to figuring this out,” he assured her. If he knew what to look for he would have searched her memories himself. “You are needed again, Elisabeta. Gary and Tariq are both infected. Josef as well and some of the others. The hunters must be cleared first so we can leave. While I take you to them, would you consider a way Sergey might think he could bring down the safeguards we have woven? He must believe he can get past them, yet so many of us added to the weaves, including Julija, and she is a mage of the highest order. It makes little sense.”

  He couldn’t just take his woman and go out of this country, far from a place that was painful to her. He didn’t want to bring her to the others and have her work on removing
the infection from them, especially when he knew Sergey was planning on attacking and she knew it as well. He felt as if he wasn’t protecting her the way he should be, that she was being attacked on every front.

  Elisabeta framed his face with both hands. “You always think of me, Ferro. It humbles me the way you do that, the way you think you should shield me from the harshness of what is happening around us. I always knew Sergey would come for me. When the Carpathians rescued me, they knew it as well. I had been his prisoner for centuries. You saw the way he controlled me, the deaths he put on my soul.”

  “Never. Minan piŋe sarnanak, never on your soul. Every death is on him. Completely on him. You cannot take that on your shoulders. That is what evil wishes, to convince the innocent that what evil does is the fault of the innocent. You took no life. You would never do so. You would never conceive of taking a life. Sergey is evil and cruel and he enjoyed seeing not only you suffer, but those he tortured and killed suffer as well. Had you complied with him, do you honestly believe he would have spared them?”

  She shook her head. “Even when I was very young, I could read him. That was his greatest downfall and one of my worst and greatest gifts. After he took my blood and forced me to take his, before he turned vampire, it allowed me to see into him much more clearly than he realized. Being in that cage, with only limited space and so much time, I could only do physical and mental exercises to keep myself sane. One of the best was observation. He was with me a great deal of the time, even if he wasn’t interacting with me. I knew he wouldn’t have spared any of the victims.”

  There was so much sorrow in her that, again, he felt her unshed tears. He gathered her close to him. “I cannot take away the scars he left on you, Elisabeta, the ones unseen on flesh. He deliberately cut as deep into your soul as possible. But I can be your refuge. I want always to be that for you.” He bent his head to hers and brushed his lips gently across hers. “Yet I always seem to be asking such sacrifices of you.”