Dark Song

by Christine Feehan

  Elisabeta sounded somewhat disparaging, and Ferro found himself tightening his arms around her, wishing he could just take her back to their woods where she laughed in a carefree way, with no worries about what others thought of her. He went very still, realizing she wasn’t concerned with how others viewed her for herself. She was his lifemate. He was a legendary warrior of the Carpathian people. She didn’t want them to think less of him because of her.

  He had to suppress a groan. Of course she would think that way. Elisabeta put him first. She always would. He would always have to take great care to do the same for her.

  Can you show me the images in your mind, Elisabeta? Gary asked and then hastily retracted his query as she retreated even more. Show them to Ferro and he can share them with us.

  Elisabeta, Ferro and the others left the human, Elisabeta pale and weak. Ferro immediately turned her face to his bare chest, away from the others, sheltering her so she wouldn’t have to look at them while she fed.

  Give me the various images of this strange little hook, piŋe sarnanak. He kept his voice very gentle. Very loving.

  She did so, and he immediately shared with the others the tiny speck that seemed as if it were part of the brain and looked no different to Ferro.

  14

  When evil seeks a place, deep within your mind;

  I will be your shield, protecting what’s inside.

  Tariq and the ancients immediately carried out their supposed exodus from the compound. Ferro noted that Lojos didn’t go with them. He remained a short distance from Ferro and Elisabeta while Ferro fed his lifemate. Charlotte, Blaze, Lorraine and Julija had come to join the tight circle of those waiting to be rid of the infection.

  Julija wove a spell, her voice murmuring softly in the night as her hands moved gracefully, creating illusions—Ferro, striding purposefully with the other warriors, taking to the air once outside the gates. Gary and Maksim close to Tariq as they took to the air following a different scent Sergey had laid down. Lorraine and Blaze clearly were there to guard the group while the others waited for Elisabeta to clear them of infection.

  Elisabeta worked fast, trying to get through as many of the security guards as possible in the shortest amount of time. Gary tried to help her, but the burns didn’t react at all to the Carpathian way of healing. The lighter scoring showed the strange little speck with the hook upward, and he could deal with removing that. The medium scoring had the hook sideways and, taking his time, he could get the speck to move to him, but no manner of work could get the one embedded into the brain to release itself.

  Elisabeta has to be right, Ferro. The infection is to turn all of us against one another, but it is also for introducing this little tiny suggestion into whoever it comes into contact with. Big or little. Old or young. It does not matter the sex. The more implanted with the suggestion, the better his chances that one will succeed, and all Sergey needs is for one person to open a way into the compound for him and his army, Gary said. Someone will have to check my brain for this nasty hooked speck. Josef, for certain, will have this branded into him. Tariq, to keep the gates from being opened from the inside, what do you propose?

  It mattered little that Elisabeta had worked so hard to stop the infection and clear the brains of the terrible burns. She may have kept the ancients from turning on one another, but every single person who had been touched by the infection could potentially betray the entire compound. Maybe all of them at once—including their leader. If there were any they had missed and weren’t watching, it would be easy enough for the gates anywhere around the massive compound to be opened from the inside and the vampires invited in. It was far too big of an acreage to be kept safe if those inside were determined to open it to their enemies.

  They could try to safeguard the gates from the inside, but every entrance and exit would have to be safeguarded, and Sergey would know what they were doing. Ferro was proud of his lifemate. Around her, the discussion raged on, but she simply went about her work, taking care of Charlotte and then Amelia and Danny. She was swaying with weariness as she replenished her blood, refusing to take it from Ferro, thanking Lorraine when she volunteered to give it to her.

  You need to be one hundred percent for the coming battle, Ferro. If I take small amounts from others, it will not be so draining on any one person.

  His woman. The voice of reason whether he liked it or not. Josef was going to be next, and both of them knew by the way Gary had described him that the burns were going to be bad. The boy looked in a bad way. His skin was drained of color, his eyes bloodred. He clearly knew exactly what was going on and fought his need to explode into rage. Tiny beads of blood seeped out of his pores, indicating his tremendous inward fight. His two guardians, Traian and Joie, appeared quite anxious.

  “Elisabeta,” Traian said softly. “This boy is a good being, amazing and selfless. He has already done things at his age that few can say they have done. I fear this infection is taking a great toll on him. He just got to this place. I want to stay here and get to know you, but I feel a great responsibility to our people, who need him, and also to his family. If he is being targeted and you feel it is unsafe for him, we will escort him home.”

  Ferro would never have allowed Traian to put such undue pressure on Elisabeta had he had any inkling that her birth brother planned to appeal to her. Already she took on far too many sins and guilt that didn’t belong to her. Guilt rode hard on her slender shoulders, guilt that didn’t belong there. Traian didn’t understand just how difficult things were for his sister, and Ferro knew the Carpathian tried. He wanted her to be fine. Healed already. Carpathians could heal bodies so easily and they were used to doing so. One couldn’t do the same when the damage was done over centuries to a mind.

  Elisabeta’s gaze flicked up to Ferro’s eyes as if asking for guidance. He realized she did that often when she felt helpless and at a loss for how to respond. “We will do our best to assess the situation,” Ferro answered for her.

  Gary led the way into Josef’s mind. Ferro’s breath hissed out of his lungs. The burns were much worse than Gary had led them to believe. Elisabeta didn’t falter.

  You should have warned her, Ferro told the healer with a hiss of displeasure.

  I wanted to see what her reaction was. How she decides on the best way to handle this and what her conclusions are. This makes no sense at all to me, Gary admitted. Had I warned her, I could have tainted her response.

  Ferro couldn’t feel a difference in Elisabeta. There was only kindness and compassion. Her genuine need and willingness to help Josef. She sent the boy waves of reassurance and that gentle caring breeze that tugged at the horrendous vivid slashes of what looked to Ferro like a solid wall of crimson, bloodred paint.

  He is not alone in this battle, Ferro. There are two others, an ancient warrior and a young woman belonging to Mother Earth. I feel them in him. They are a great distance away, but they have forged their strength to his.

  The moment Ferro heard his woman say Josef was not alone in his fight to keep from exploding into violence, he and the other ancients moved to surround Elisabeta with their protection.

  Gary, is it possible Sergey set a trap for her?

  Give me a minute. Josef has powerful friends. They cross oceans for one another. I will feel them if I get close enough.

  Ferro had a moment of near anxiety while he watched as the thick wall of vicious red, woven so tightly together, refused to even thin in the least. Elisabeta didn’t seem to notice. That slight breeze never changed but continued to flow gently toward the violent painting, changing angle occasionally to come in at one corner and then another, all the while providing Josef with her calming serenity. It was impossible to feel anger and hatred in the face of very real compassion.

  The ancient is Dimitri and his lifemate, Skyler. Josef and Skyler are childhood friends. Josef helped Skyler save Dimitri’s life and then when al
l was lost, he helped Dimitri save Skyler’s life.

  Even a hunter who cared nothing for rumors, legends and the outside world had heard the story of the three young ones who had defied all odds and had gone into the very heart of werewolf country to save Dimitri from death by silver, a sentence passed on him unfairly to start a war between Carpathians and Werewolves. Josef, Skyler and Paul, the human nephew of the De La Cruz brothers, had prevented that war.

  Elisabeta, can you remove such a deep scorching? Gary asked.

  Yes, of course. There was complete confidence in her voice. It will take time. Sergey will attack before I am finished.

  Ferro felt her hesitation. She turned to him alone. We will need to be under some kind of shelter where we cannot get out. Josef will try to reach a gate or entryway just the way all of those that have been infected will try. Gary included. I have no way of knowing how hard any of them will fight to reach their goal. I can only surmise that the deeper the hook in the brain, the more they will try to open the compound for the vampire and his army to enter. You can put him to sleep, but there are so many others, and we may not know all of them.

  She gave Ferro the information as if she knew he would know exactly what to do. He relayed the supposition to Tariq. We need to set up our warriors at every entrance to stop anyone who might try to open those accesses to the vampire, he concluded. Anyone with deep burns, like Danny, Amelia and Josef, needs to be locked away or put to sleep until we can see if they need to be controlled. That includes any of the humans in the security force that Gary feels were particularly heavily burned.

  Take Elisabeta and Josef to the house Dragomir and Emeline shared. We can safeguard it so Josef can’t leave. Hurry, though, Ferro. The illusion Julija wrought was extremely good. Already I can feel an unease in the night creatures. The stone dragons in the courtyard are beginning to rumble, their bellies glowing with fiery coals in preparation to fight the vampire. That only happens when the vampire draws close, Tariq said.

  It wasn’t difficult to scoop Elisabeta’s body into his arms while Traian took Josef. They hurried with their charges across the courtyard to the house Dragomir and Emeline had lived in until their daughter had been born. To Ferro’s surprise, Lojos paced along behind them. Trailing after him was Joie, Traian’s lifemate. She looked very small, someone others might overlook, but there was something about her, and Ferro had been too long in the world to be fooled. The woman was lethal, and if Lojos was a threat to any of them, there was no doubt in his mind that the Carpathian hunter would be dead before he could carry out that threat.

  Tariq and Charlotte went with Danny and Amelia to the safe room, where they were locked in. Genevieve took Lourdes and Bella to a second safe room and again, they were locked in. The older couple, Mary and Donald, followed suit.

  Tariq was the ultimate general sending his best warriors to the gates to prevent anyone from opening them from within. Isai and Julija stayed at the main gates to defend them. Together they held extreme power. Warriors spread out. Security guards were placed in defensible positions.

  He is coming, Elisabeta announced. Her calm was gone. She pulled abruptly out of Josef’s mind. She staggered and threw back her hand to catch herself before she went down. Ferro caught her around the waist, holding her upright.

  I am sorry, Ferro, I cannot do this while he is close. I cannot concentrate. I am leaving this poor boy in a terrible state and it is not right, but I cannot . . .

  Terror was building beyond anything he had ever experienced with her. It filled the room so there was no way to shield the others from what she was feeling. Her body shivered continuously, her hands rubbing up and down her arms as if trying to peel the skin from her body. Ferro very gently stopped the movement with his hands.

  Josef will feel nothing. I have made certain of that. He is frozen until the time you are able to heal him.

  Aloud, to steady her, he spoke matter-of-factly. “We knew he would come, beloved. This was the hope. We wanted to draw him to us. I know it is frightening, but all those with the scorching will be watched so that they do not betray us.”

  They are programmed. You know he has succeeded in doing this.

  Ferro nodded, his hand moving up to the nape of her neck, a gentle, soothing massage. “Yes, Elisabeta. He has programmed even our ancients to betray us, to open our gates from the inside, but we are aware of this, thanks to you. Tariq has given orders and all who carry the burn marks will be contained.” Deliberately his eyes met Lojos’s.

  The ancient immediately understood what Ferro meant and the repercussions. “I have the scorching,” he admitted.

  Ferro inclined his head. “That is so. Even had Elisabeta removed the burns, we believe the programming would still be there. That is speculation only. We do not know for certain.”

  Lojos turned his attention to Elisabeta. He bowed from the waist, a courtly, elegant gesture from centuries earlier. “Forgive my continued suspicion, Elisabeta. I am from another time, when one questioned everyone and everything. Ferro’s word should have been good enough.” He raised his gaze to the warrior. “What would you have me do?”

  “We are weaving a safeguard to hold Josef inside, but we may need your fighting skills,” Ferro admitted. “The healer said the burns were light, so although you are showing signs of having to fight against the tendency for violence, you are winning that battle. You know what you are up against. The warriors at the gate will prevent you from opening them should you try.”

  Traian and Joie stood to one side as Ferro walked with a very reluctant Elisabeta out of the house and onto the porch. The safeguards were woven so that Josef, should he manage to break free of the frozen state he was in, could not escape the house.

  Ferro, he is so close now. He whispers to me. I hear him.

  Ferro could hear him as well. A dark, ugly voice, like nails on a chalkboard, a high-pitched note that scraped at the walls of Elisabeta’s mind, trying to force its way inside. When Sergey could not break through the barrier Ferro had constructed, the vampire became enraged and began throwing himself at the shield, battering at it, desperate to bore his way through. He was so determined that Ferro had a clear image of the vampire’s surroundings and was nearly able to pinpoint his exact location before the creature realized he was throwing such a tantrum he was putting his life in jeopardy and pulled back.

  “He is about six miles away,” Ferro reported. “His pawns are close to the gates. We should know if we were right about the programming. At any moment we should see if those with the small specks Elisabeta found will try to walk to the gates to open them.”

  As he spoke, Tariq, who had joined Gary after helping Charlotte put his children in a safe room, peeled off from their circle and both began to walk briskly toward the front gates, striding with great purpose. He neither looked left or right. Maksim called out to Tariq but he didn’t look up or miss a step. Ferro waved his hand toward both men, sending out a command to stop them both in their tracks.

  Elisabeta, how long do you think the command to open the gates will last? Sergey is directing them to obey him. He had to stop trying to get to you in order to give the command to those with the branding in their brains. Is it a lasting command or a temporary one?

  It was an impossible question to answer. How would she know the answer? Still, he asked her for two reasons. She needed to concentrate on something other than the terror that was reducing her into a ball of nothing but sheer nerves. She wanted to curl up in the fetal position and disappear. The other was, Elisabeta really did know Sergey better than anyone else, probably better than he knew himself. If anyone could anticipate his every move, she could. She might actually guess the right answer.

  Her moan was her only response. He caught her thick braid at the nape of her neck. Elisabeta. I need you to stand with me. Now is the time we must fight against this madness. I need an answer.

  He poured command into hi
s voice. She understood and responded to absolute authority, and he gave that to her. He felt her stiffen. Snap to attention. Her mind, chaotic and fearful, cleared. Became once more sharper thinking. Intelligent.

  It will be momentary. He rules by fear. He believes all will obey him once he gives the order. No one will dare disobey his given command. They will continue to try until it is done.

  Thank you, piŋe sarnanak. It is important we do this together. Stand with me.

  Once again, to give her courage, he swept his hand down her braided hair as he walked the two of them closer to the gates. She straightened her shoulders, wrapped one arm around his waist and kept pace with him. Only he knew the cost to her. Her body shook terribly with each step, but she kept her head up and she didn’t falter.

  Around them, his brethren gathered, fanning out in a semicircle to take in a wide area behind them. Tariq and Gary stood frozen, while Sandu joined them at the forefront, waiting for the first wave of Sergey’s pawns. These would be the lesser vampires. They had learned his “cannon fodder” were newly made vampires in the form of human psychic males, eager to be turned so they could have the same power as the vampires they chose to serve. They would expect the gates to be wide open because Sergey had said they would be.

  The human security force had weapons designed specifically to kill the vampires, and they were stationed along the top of the fence in safeguarded positions where they could defend the compound yet not get taken prisoner by the enemy. With the safeguards woven so tightly, it was nearly impossible for even a stray arrow or bullet to slip through to injure or kill one of them, yet they could fire their unique weapons at the vampires at will.