Dark Celebration (43 page)

Skyler hesitated, then shook her head. "If you do it, then I will too."

Natalya smiled at her. "I am the granddaughter of the dark mage. I have Dragonseeker blood in my veins and I am well versed in the magick of the old ways. Even if it is Xavier, my grandfather, I am a match for him. Don't be afraid for me." She avoided her lifemate's gaze. Both knew if it was her twin brother, she might hesitate at the wrong time. She felt Vikirnoff moving in her, coiling to strike should there be need.

"Get it done," Gregori ordered. "Dayan and I cannot hold this failing heart forever."

Natalya turned back to the sky and examined the flickering veins of light stretching across the sky. Each was faint, but she could follow the threads, all leading back to one source. One primary source.

"They're different weaves," Skyler pointed out.

"Gabriel," Natalya called. "If it is either Xavier or Razvan, I could be in trouble and so could Skyler. Don't allow this."

"I have to do this," Skyler pleaded. "I've been afraid every minute of my existence. I don't even know why some of the time, but it's tied to this." She rubbed her wrist where it burned and throb. "I try to remember why I'm afraid, but then my head hurts and I can't."

Natalya spun around. "Vikirnoff!" His name was a cry for help. "It
was
Razvan. That is what Xavier did to us, hid our memories of him behind a wall of pain. Razvan took Skyler's blood. He fed off his own child. And somehow her mother ran, got them both away from him and that's how she ended up with that brute of a man, another monster she couldn't get away from."

Vikirnoff circled her waist, drawing her back against him in an effort to comfort her, but she stepped away, furious with her twin, so furious her tiger leapt to the surface, all claws and teeth, banding her hair and turning her eyes blue and then opaque.

Natalya didn't wait for the others to get clear. She didn't wait for Gabriel to give permission for his adopted daughter to participate; she simply looked to the sky, wove a response and sent it slamming through the veins of light, crashing each and every vein, destroying the entire network.

Sparks of light lit the sky and rained down. Lightning edged the clouds and whips scorched the ground. The earth trembled beneath their feet. Somewhere, far off, they heard a scream of agony. At once there was silence as shock registered.

"Get back," Natalya ordered her lifemate. She actually shoved him with one arm, trying to put distance between them. She sprinted to her left and ducked, just as lightning struck where she'd been standing. The sound was deafening. Ice arrows rained down, slamming to the ground with a terrible rhythm.

The men rushed toward her, but Vikirnoff waved them back. "See to the others. She is mage, and she can defeat our enemy. We will only get in her way."

Natalya kept running, drawing fire away from the others, her hands weaving a complicated pattern in the sky. At once the arrows melted. Droplets of water fell harmlessly. She drew clouds from the sky, blew warm air and spun it between her palms, all the while whispering to Mother Nature. Clapping her hands suddenly together, she sent it skyward. At once a thundercloud burst into the air, climbing high, shooting upward rapidly, building speed until it became a whirling vortex, spinning rapidly and spawning vicious destructive winds.

Natalya continued to weave her spell, drawing the bitter cold from the snow, the ice from the trees, spinning it together into a long solid spear of ice. She sent it upward, straight into the middle of the raging thundercloud.

Skyler's gasp was audible as Natalya sent the tornadoes slamming to earth, aiming them precisely, using the flow of energy from their enemy. "She hit him," she whispered. "I felt it. She hit him hard. The ice spear was in the tornado and he didn't see or expect it. She hit him dead center. His influence is gone. Is Corinne all right?"

"He's not finished," Natalya warned, already moving from her position. "Never think its over, Skyler."
Vikirnoff, cover the others, he'll retaliate there
.

The men hastily wove a shield as fire rained from the sky, hot embers that sizzled and hissed as they hit the trees and landed in the snow.

Natalya knew the enemy was on the move. She'd wounded him and he was simply trying to gain time. She took to the air, Vikirnoff with her, wings beating strongly to try to find him before he crawled back into whatever hole he'd come out of.

"I want to be able to do that," Skyler said in awe. "Can I do that, Gabriel? Am I capable?"

"If you are what Natalya suspects, then there's a good chance you have a natural ability."

"She wasn't afraid of him. I could see it on her face. And I could feel his fear.
He
was afraid of
her
?"

"Yes, he was," Gabriel agreed. "And with good reason." He didn't point out that as strong and as powerful as Natalya was, so was their greatest enemy. Instead, he wrapped his arm around his daughter. "I think you're going to stay with me every second until we make it to the inn for our celebration."

"I think he's staying at the inn," Skyler said.

Gabriel exchanged a long look with Lucian. "We checked it out once, honey, but we will again. Lucian will go. Now that Natalya has scored a hit on him, maybe he will be easier to identify."

Lucian immediately shimmered into transparency, became mist and streaked in the direction of the inn.

Gregori helped Corinne to her feet. "I have examined you and your heart is perfect. There is no further need to fear anything could go wrong with it."

"Was it really an illusion? The mage trading on my worst fears?" Corinne asked. "How could he know?"

"He is already gone and left behind nothing to identify him." Vikirnoff and Natalya returned, hand in hand, striding to Corinne's side.

"He doesn't actually know your worst fear," Natalya explained. "The spell works on each person it touches differently. Whatever
your
particular fear is, that is what takes hold of you. In your case, you fear something will happen to your heart, so it did. In Alexandria's case, she relived the attack on her and thought that the vampire was still alive and stalking her. Each person will see what they fear and yes, it can become real enough to kill."

"What should we do in the future if something like that happens?" Corinne asked.

"Mage spells, especially if they know what they are doing, are difficult. Half of the safeguards used are mage spells—more than half," Natalya explained. "Fortunately, over the years, since the war with Xavier, they have been changed enough and personalized enough that most mages couldn't figure them out without you knowing, but so many of the other spells are quite lethal. You're all going to have to take that into consideration now, when you feel an attack. I'll start working on simple reverse spells that will have to do until I can see what we're up against. But it's obvious the mages are working with the vampires."

"Do you really think I'm like you?" Skyler asked.

"Let Francesca examine you. Show her the mark, Skyler, and don't be afraid of it. If the dragon is a birthmark, it is a good symbol, not a bad one. Razvan was once a great man. Anything he did as a vampire, was not the true man."

"Why are there so many monsters in the world?" Skyler burst out. "Why can't everyone just get along?"

"I don't have the answer to that," Natalya said, brushing back the girl's hair. "You've been through a lot and most of it was not good, but you have the opportunity to become whatever it is you would like. Don't let fear stop you. Let Gabriel and Francesca find out what's behind that wall in your mind. Once you know, it can't hurt you anymore. Isn't that right, MaryAnn? Isn't it better to have the knowledge and just deal with it than lock it away and not understand why we're afraid?"

MaryAnn kissed the baby's brow and carefully put her back in the front-pack so she could snuggle against her mother's chest. "I believe it's better. I'm a great believer that the more knowledge one has, the more empowered they are. You think you don't have courage, Skyler, but you found a way to survive when few others could have."

"And you aren't alone," Destiny said. "There are millions of survivors. We refuse to be victims. We rebuild our lives, and maybe we aren't ever what is considered normal, but we're strong and we lead happy lives. Don't let your past take that away from you."

"Don't ever think you don't belong," Corinne added. "All of us"—she gestured to encompass everyone there—"we all stand together. And you belong here with us."

Gabriel hugged her again. "Francesca is anxious to see you." He lifted her into his arms and took off into the night with her.

"Are we going to pull this party off tonight?" Dayan asked.

"We'd better," Corinne said. "After all the work that went into it. And the children are really anxious. We can't let them down. Fighting off vampires and now, mage attacks, is just part of our lives, just like you told me earlier. Now that we know what is happening, we can find a way to prevent it. I don't want them to stop us from living our lives, any more than we want Skyler not to be living hers."

Dayan slung his arm around Corinne and pulled her close to him. Now that her heart was beating just fine, his was accelerating overtime. "I'm thinking, just for a while, I might wrap the two of you up in that bubble wrap and keep you safe on a shelf. Thank you, Gregori. I'm sorry to have interrupted your evening."

"It was an interesting puzzle," Gregori said. "I want to get together later with you, Natalya, so we can begin working together to keep such things from happening."

Natalya nodded. "Of course. Right now I'm heading over to the inn to see if I can help Lucian spot any likely candidates. Skyler was very certain he had come from there. We want to make certain that this party will be safe for all the children."

"I think I'll go back to the house and hide under the covers," MaryAnn declared. "All this excitement is just a little too much for me."

"You never think of yourself as brave, MaryAnn," Gregori admonished. "But you always manage to find the courage to go to a fellow woman in need, no matter what the cost to you."

She gave him a small smile. "Anything for my sisters."

Gregori suddenly swung his head around, looking toward the trees, his silver eyes narrowed as he carefully examined the area around them. MaryAnn shivered and pressed her hand over the small spot right above her breast that seemed to be aching from the cold.

"Are you all right?" Destiny asked.

"Just a little tired," MaryAnn confided. "Your late night hours are a little hard on the human here."

Chapter 17

Manolito De La Cruz filtered through the trees in a slow, steady stream, careful not to disturb the air around him. There was something exhilarating about being so close to so many hunters, his prey in the middle of their tight circle, and none of them even saw him. He couldn't leave her until he was certain she was safe. He wanted her out of the woods and back in the shelter of Nicolae's house until the party. The ancients were suspicious, doubling back several times trying to figure out where he was—who he was.

Euphoria could be as dangerous as feeling nothing at all. He felt alive, giddy with it, staring in awe at the colors, absorbing emotion that seemed to bombard his entire system. He had waited in vain for so long, living only with his memories, only with honor, and now this woman had given him life. They would not keep her from him, no matter the cost. He had lived centuries risking his life—his very soul—asking nothing in return. Until now. MaryAnn was his, and he would not give her up.