Dark Celebration (47 page)

The pageant went off with only a few hitches. The play went well, although the angel kicked the king in the shins, and he jumped around the stage for a minute before remembering he had an audience. Josef sang a stirring rap song, his own Christmas version of "Jingle Bells," which was actually quite good and had the audience clapping along until, in his enthusiasm, he nearly fell off the makeshift stage.

Falcon wrapped his arm around Sara's shoulders and put one hand over her stomach where their unborn child rested. "You are an incredible woman. How did you put this all together? The children are so happy and look at them up there. They're all little performers."

Mikhail nodded his head. "It was a fantastic performance, Sara, I had no idea. You must have put in so much time preparing them." He looked around him at the faces of his people, all smiling, the worn, grim faces of his warriors relaxed and happy, most of them saluting the children with a thunderous applause.

"Didn't they do a wonderful job?" Sara was beaming for her children. "What did you think of Josef's rendition of a rap Christmas carol? He really worked hard on that number. And Skyler sang beautifully. I was shocked when I heard her voice for the first time. Paul and Ginny did a great dance performance, and of course no one plays the piano the way Antonietta does. I'm just so happy about all of this."

"And having the Dark Troubadours sing for everyone went over big," Falcon added. "I think our guests were very happy with the show."

"In all honesty, Sara, I never expected anything near this production," Mikhail admitted. "When did you have time to put it all together? I knew you were practicing with the children, and even the teens, but this really was a far larger performance than I ever imagined."

"It was fun, Mikhail. And the children really needed to feel a part of the event. I don't want them to feel different. Any of them. It's important that the adults see them and acknowledge their accomplishments."

"Don't they do that?" The smile faded from his face. They didn't do that. As important as the children were to them, as treasured and as precious, the rest of the Carpathian community saw to their health and safety, but not necessarily anything more. It hadn't always been like that.

"Not just their parents," Sara said. "Carpathian males have struggled alone for so long without families they've forgotten what it is like to have them. Their life is war, not home, not wife and children. There is education, not just books, but teaching them the ways of the Carpathians, how to shapeshift, safeguards and even battle. Who does that? We've never established that. The children are so few and no one thinks to bring them together like this where they can all get to know one another, become friends and have adults accept them."

Mikhail remembered his own youth, the warriors stopping to give him a word of advice here and there, a gem caller taking him into the caverns to show him how it was done, others working with him on shapeshifting and even battle tactics. Sara was right.

"I will give what you say some thought, Sara," he said. "It makes sense. The children look happier than I have ever seen them. I had a brief visit with Joie's mother, Mrs. Sanders, and she mentioned that you hand-sewed those costumes. I would have provided help had you asked."

"I had help. Corinne sews as well. And we wanted to sew by hand rather than the Carpathian way in order to show my girls and boys how it can be done. Falcon and I try to integrate the two worlds as much as possible. Colby De La Cruz told me she and Rafael do the same thing for Paul and Ginny."

Mikhail took Raven's hand and brought it to his mouth, teeth scraping gently back and forth over her knuckles. "There seems to be many things I haven't considered. We've learned a lot from your party, Raven. Several of our people do have to incorporate the human ways along with the Carpathian ways. As more of our warriors find mates among human women, it will happen with more frequency. It's best if we learn how to integrate human and Carpathian families now."

He drew her away from the others over toward the tall Christmas tree. Several people had made ornaments to hang on it, bringing them to Slavica from all around the village. He leaned over to brush the corner of his lifemate's mouth with a kiss. "Look around you, Raven. You did this. It is the first time in centuries I have seen so many Carpathians gathered in one place with our neighbors. The children are laughing and running around, all excited, and the men are relaxed. Well," he amended, "alert as they should be, but so much more relaxed than I have seen them." His gaze went to Lucian. "Look at him, Raven. That man has spent his entire life in battle, yet now, he is at peace."

Raven's answering smile was gentle and filled with understanding. "Of course you needed to see this. You have to be reminded occasionally what you're fighting for, Mikhail. All the effort you make is for them. If you never see a payoff, the workload begins to weigh far too much."

He felt the ache in his throat as he stared around the room. There were so many of them, his warriors, tall and straight with their signature long black hair, eyes restless, but laughing now. He looked beyond them to the other males, some in the dining hall, a few in the bar, most outside where he could feel them. On the edge. No lifemate to bring them out of their barren existence. Would this help them? Give them hope? Or would the gathering only accentuate their loneliness?

Raven leaned against him, sharing the warmth of her body. "We're not just a people, we're a society. But how can we be a society if we never interact with one another?" She reached up to touch his face, so lined with worry. "The old ways are gone forever. They are, Mikhail, as sad as that is. We have to find a way to bring these people together with new traditions. We have to make our own history now. We have enemies, yes, but we have this." She swept her hand around the room to encompass all the Carpathians as well as their human friends. "We have so much and you've done that. Gregori used to snarl about your friendship with your priest, Father Hummer, yet now, one of his best friends is Gary Jansen."

The mention of his longtime friend, a priest murdered by members of the society for his association with Mikhail, saddened him. He forced his mind away from the past.

"Sara mentioned that we've fought so many battles and been so long without children, we are not giving them the proper tools they need. Do you think she's right?" Mikhail's black eyes rested on Raven's face. Lifemates did not lie to one another, even if the telling was painful. He saw the answer in her face, the way her fingers tightened around his and she looked momentarily distressed.

"You cannot think of everything, Mikhail."

"I have no choice, Raven. That is my duty, my responsibility. These children are all Carpathian, and those who are not yet—soon will be. You are right in saying we're not just a people. We are a society and we need to start acting like it. Our enemies have managed to keep us focused on them, instead of paying attention to the details of our lives that are important. Our children are everything. Rather than be annoyed by their antics, as I have been with Josef, we should all be helping them learn."

"Honey," she said softly. "Josef would try the patience of a saint."

A small smile flirted with his mouth. "Okay, I'll concede that point. That boy is so old in some ways and so young in others. None of us have dealt with children, not in centuries, and trying to find the tolerance and patience is going to have to become a priority, especially now that some of our women are pregnant."

Raven nudged Mikhail as Jacques and Shea entered the room. "She looks strained. Do you think she's in labor?"

"Jacques told me she's been fighting it. I asked Syndil to choose a birthing place and to enrich the soil for Shea and the baby, hoping that would help Shea relax enough to give birth."

"I'm surprised she came."

"She was to meet an online friend here tonight. One of the guests. Eileen Fitzpatrick is her name. Have you met her?"

"No, but Slavica mentioned her. Apparently, right before she came she had an operation for cataracts and she's spent most of the time in her room. She only came to meet Shea and would have put it off, but she's up there a bit in age and was worried this might be her only chance."

"Jacques told me Aidan investigated her. She's supposedly legitimate, but I want to take extra precautions with Shea. At this point, I do not trust anyone near her—not even harmless old ladies with cataracts."

Shea and Jacques made their way slowly through the crowd toward Mikhail and Raven. Mikhail stepped forward to greet his sister-in-law with a kiss on the cheek.

"You are certain you shouldn't be resting?" he asked, looking at Jacques, one brow raised in inquiry.

"I'm definitely in labor," Shea admitted. "This baby has decided he will come tonight whether I want him to or not. It's easier and faster if I stay on my feet as long as possible. I wanted to see the performance, but I moved a little too slow."

Raven hugged her. "I can show it to you in my mind, every detail, especially the fun parts. The little ones were so cute and I had no idea the teenagers were so talented. Josef really does have a good voice and he's always so inventive."

"Josef sang? And I missed it?" Shea asked.

Mikhail sighed. "If you call what he did singing. He does have a good voice, and I cannot understand why the boy doesn't sing a song one can actually understand. And what were all those gyrations he was doing up there?"

"Gyrations?" Jacques echoed, looking to Raven for an explanation.

"He looked like he was having a convulsion," Mikhail explained.

"He was dancing," Raven said, sending Mikhail a quelling look.

"Is that what it was? I couldn't decide whether he was doing striptease without stripping or needed medical aid immediately. As no one raced to his aid, I remained in my seat. He spun on the floor and threw his body around like a caterpillar on the floor."

"Break dancing," Raven interpreted for Shea.

"And the striptease?" Shea asked.

"That would be freak dancing without a partner, I think," Raven said. "I'm not exactly up on the terms, but he did look as if he was… er… Well, you know."

"I don't know." Mikhail shrugged. "He nearly fell off the stage at that point."

Shea laughed, one hand pressed to her stomach. "I knew I should have been here, just for that."

"It was worth seeing," Mikhail agreed, "although I didn't understand a word he was saying or why he was spitting and grunting while he sang."

"You're not with it," Jacques stated.

Raven and Shea laughed together. Mikhail looked injured. "With what? I'm with it. I happen to know that is not dancing. Paul and Ginny were dancing and Antonietta played real music and Skyler sang like an angel. The Troubadours sang a couple of wonderful ballads and no one, not even Barack, spit while they did it."

Jacques shook his head sadly. "There's no hope of modernizing you, bro."

Shea pressed one hand to her stomach and reached for Jacques's hand. "The contractions are really beginning to strengthen. Laughing is making it worse."

Both men looked so panic-stricken Raven had to hide a smile. "She'll do fine, Jacques. You're so pale. You did feed tonight, didn't you?"

"He's just being a baby," Shea said. "He fed. He wanted to be prepared in case I needed blood." She smiled at him. "Which I won't. Everything is going well."

"Not for me," Jacques admitted. "I have no idea what it feels like to give birth. Sharing the experience is plain frightening."

Mikhail nodded in agreement, but he was looking to his warriors, the unattached Carpathian males. They were the guardians tonight, as they so often were in foreign lands, only this time, they had the responsibility of guarding one of their women about to give birth. The men moved through the room, probing and scanning and searching the surrounding region for enemies.

"I actually am very excited to meet one of the guests who flew in from San Francisco. Her name is Eileen Fitzpatrick and she may be a relative of mine. We're both interested in genealogy and since I don't really have any relatives from my side of the family, I'm really hoping she is related to me," Shea said. "She sent word through Slavica that she wasn't feeling very good tonight and wanted me to meet her up in her room so she wouldn't have to be down here with all the chaos. I thought it was a very good idea."

"Absolutely not," Jacques said.

"No!" Mikhail was adamant.

Shea made a face at them. "I'm not made of porcelain. She's elderly and she just had an operation and she came all this way. The least I can do is climb the stairs and go see her."

"Not alone. She'll be here more than one night, Shea," Jacques coaxed. "You do not need to see her tonight." He placed his hand over her stomach, rippling once more with a contraction. "You have other things to do tonight. Raven, if you would be so kind as to ask Slavica to send word that Shea is in labor and will arrange a visit in a day or two."

"Well, I'm not going to miss out on Gregori playing Santa Claus," Shea said firmly, aware that the stubborn set to Jacques's jaw meant he wouldn't change his mind. "So don't think you can hurry me out of here."

Gregori
. In spite of the gravity of the situation with Shea so near her time, Mikhail couldn't keep the taunting laughter from his voice.
Shea is close to her time and she wishes to see you parading around in your jolly red suit before she has the baby. So get on with it, my son
. Mikhail gave the order on their private mental path established centuries earlier through a blood bond.

You cannot rush St. Nick. This is a busy night for him, Mikhail. Even you, my prince, cannot command his time.

Mikhail flashed Jacques a small grin and tugged at Raven's long hair. "I need to speak with some of my men. It will not take long. You can walk around with Shea and see that she behaves herself."

"As if I could do anything else," Shea replied.

Mikhail sauntered away, moving through the villagers, guests and his people to reach the ancient he had spotted. Dimitri was in the bar, in the shadows, his cold eyes following Skyler's progress as she moved around the room.