Dark Curse (21 page)

Suddenly impatient, Xavier/Razvan waved his hand and the dragon melted at his feet. He leaned down and jerked Lara/Nicolas to his feet, his teeth ripping open his wrist and sinking down to gulp greedily at the rich blood. Nicolas bit back a grunt of pain as his arm throbbed and burned. His stomach turned over and once again his vision blackened around the edges.

Lara suddenly resisted, swinging her arm in a tight arc and sinking the sharpened tine into Razvan's throat. Xavier screamed and threw her away from him, clamping his hand to his bleeding neck. Lara swept her tongue across her wrist and backed up slowly.

Nicolas wanted to hug her to him. In spite of the pain and the sheer hopelessness of her situation, Lara fought back, refusing to let a monster crush her spirit.

Xavier flew into a rage, spittle running down his face as he ripped her clothing away, his hands weaving a complicated pattern. Water poured down on her from the ceiling, she was lifted from her feet and flung back into the ice. The wall opened to receive her, molding around her back, buttocks and legs, freezing her skin to the ice itself.

Only then did Xavier grow quiet. He placed food and water a distance from her. "If you want to eat or drink, you'll have to tear yourself from the wall. If you don't, I'll leave you there to rot and send my little friends in to eat your body."

Nicolas watched him shuffle out, leaving the child in excruciating pain with blood running down her legs, with her back already painful. He wanted to weep, to smash something, to gather her close and hold her against his heart and protect her always. And more than anything, he wanted to kill Xavier.

Again time meant nothing to him. He drifted on a sea of pain until the voices came again. Soft. Insistent. Encouraging. Singing of hope. Whispering endearments. Voices he could latch on to, voices that saved him from complete despair.

He found himself ascending once again toward the surface with Lara's spirit. Her light was a little brighter, but she felt battered and bruised—as did he. He tried to hurry, anxious that she not relive another event. He'd had enough—seen enough—experienced enough. He never wanted to feel that helpless and vulnerable ever again. He shepherded her, surrounding her with warmth and reassurance, feeling her reluctance as they moved closer to breaking free.

Lara was more afraid of him than of her past. She'd already lived through her childhood and survived. He was the devil she didn't know and in their relationship, he had all the power.

I am all you think I am, but I can learn. I will learn. I have many sins, päläfertiil, not the least is arrogance, but I am not above admitting my mistakes. Come with me. Come back to me and give me a second chance.

He had accepted—from the first moment he heard her voice and knew that she had saved him—that she was in his care. He had resolved to do the best that he could for her—see to her every physical comfort. He hadn't expected resistance or mistrust on her part, but in truth, it hadn't mattered to him—his heart was not involved and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could have all things his way. He even believed it to be his right. Somehow in this new night, he knew things were changing. The hard stone in his chest slowly began to beat the same rhythm as hers. He knew he was growing more and more protective, and feeling more and more tenderness toward her.

Something caught at her, jerking her spirit away from him, stalling the process of recovery. He worried now that he had found her too late and she had retreated too far, or had actually embraced insanity to escape the madness surrounding her. He sped after her, following her to the web where her spirit lay entangled by strands of memories rushing together to surround and capture her.

She was a year or so older, her hair bright under the flickering lights. He could see the beginnings of the Dragonseeker legacy woven into the color of her hair, the red glow and blonder highlights. Her eyes were by turns deep sea-green and a brilliant blue. She stood to one side in the great chamber with its cathedral ceilings, hiding behind a column, making herself small, obviously trying to avoid being seen by Xavier and Razvan as they faced each other.

Lara
. The voices whispered in her ear.
Xavier cannot ever know that you are aware of what he is doing to your father. He would kill you. You cannot tell your father, even to ease his mind, because when Xavier possesses his body, or Razvan is under his command, he will reveal all of your secrets
.

If I tell my father I know he doesn't want to hurt me, maybe he will fight even harder
. There was hope—and a little defiance in that childish voice.

He will betray you. He will not mean to, but he will be unable to stop himself.

You have been prisoners far longer
. Lara was angry now, unbelieving.
Xavier can't control you
.

Razvan has been tortured, Lara, experimented on, over and over. His health and strength are gone. Xavier uses you against him. Xavier still doesn't understand the power of your blood. Once he does, there will be no chance of escape.

Nicolas felt the stubborn streak in Lara. She didn't answer her aunts, refusing to deceive them with an outright lie, but determined that she would go to her father and confess she knew Razvan was being manipulated against her.

As if sensing Lara's stubborn will, the aunts tried again, speaking in perfect unison, their voices soft and melodious. Nicolas recognized the threads of a compulsion woven into the pitch. Both women were weak and the suggestion wouldn't work on a stronger mind, but Lara wasn't healthy and her spirit had been beaten down.

Lara, you cannot give any information to your father that Xavier would use against him. Razvan wouldn't want you to. He has sustained Xavier all these long years and fought against him because his Dragonseeker blood is strong. Xavier knows he will soon give out and must find a replacement. If now, when he is at his weakest, you give him information that Xavier could harm you with, he will feel he has lost all honor.

The child that was Lara squeezed her eyes closed, not really understanding the whole of what the aunts were telling her, but she knew she couldn't reassure her father that she understood Xavier either possessed his body or forced him to comply using a combination of drugs and magic with his orders.

Nicolas felt Lara slip further away from him, the overwhelming despair she was feeling stronger than ever. She stared at her father with a wistful expression. He had a strong urge to pull her into his arms and hold her close, but he had no real body and she still didn't trust him. He understood why now. He understood her need for control and freedom. And he understood her absolute repugnance of anyone taking her blood.

Razvan looked weak, his once handsome face ravaged by pain and suffering. The lines were etched deep and the chains wrapped around his legs and arms had permanent burn scars from the vampire blood they were coated in. He sagged against a column, not even fighting to get away from Xavier, who took a small vial from his tunic pocket. Nicolas felt Lara tense, her small spirit shrinking back.

Interested, he stepped in front of her to block her, ready to take the brunt of whatever had happened at the age of seven. Xavier clearly experimented on Razvan and he was learning all sorts of pertinent information not only about his lifemate, but things that would be useful to the Carpathian people. Nicolas now wished he could stop Dominic from proceeding with his plan. If Xavier had felt compelled to try his experiments on Razvan because he had Dragonseeker blood running in his veins, Dominic would surely be a huge prize. Most of the experiments seemed to be centered around controlling the Carpathians or finding a way to imprison them yet still keep them alive.

For the blood
. Lara's voice whispered to him, in her adult voice, not the child's.
He wants your blood in the same way you want it from your sources. He will hold you prisoner and drain you dry. You would be nothing but a food source to him
.

He softened his tone to tenderness, his heart reaching out for hers.
Lara. I do not want you for your blood. Come back to me. Am I really worse than this place in your past
?

For a moment he thought he had won this first battle, but then Xavier moved and the child was back, shuddering as her father was. She shrank back behind the column as Xavier hobbled across the floor of the ice cave, holding the vial in his gnarled fingers.

"You should have given me what I asked for. Giving me your sister was so little to ask in return for your life and the lives of your children." The old man clacked his tongue in reprimand. "And so many children. You betrayed your poor dead wife with your body. All those young, nubile women so willing to lay with you and give you children so you could suck the life out of them."

Razvan stirred. "You sucked the life out of them and you forced betrayal of my wife. She knew the truth, knew you used my body. Let me die, old man. I've served you for far too long and am of no more use to you."

Lara's body jerked in instant denial. The child shook her head hard, the red-gold spiral curls flying in all directions.
Don't leave me, Father. I cannot bear it
.

He will stay alive for you, Lara
, the aunts crooned in unison.
You are his only reason to continue his existence
.

Nicolas found the blend of feminine voices soothing. Without them, Lara, and most likely her father, would have gone insane years earlier. The two imprisoned women were keeping hope alive. How could they do it when they had been prisoners and fed on from the time they were young children? The Dragonseeker blood in them had to be very strong.

Razvan lifted his head, his gaze darting around the chamber, seeking the child he knew had to be witnessing the confrontation between him and his grandfather. Lara froze, pressing as close to the column as she could get to avoid being seen.

Xavier let his breath out in a long, slow hiss. "I believe we can still get a few more children out of you before I'm done with you. My armies can now identify one another and even hide their existence from the foolish Carpathians thanks to you. And I can hold even the strongest prisoner and feed on the blood of the most powerful immortal, again thanks to you. I will not be hasty in getting rid of such a useful tool. You may not have the pure blood I need yourself, but you pass it on to your children."

Nicolas remembered from so many long centuries ago that Xavier had always loved to be the center of attention. He thought himself brilliant and powerful and wanted everyone around him to know that he was. He loved to brag. Nicolas had always considered him to be narcissistic. Xavier thought the world owed him their allegiance and respect. He believed he was entitled to any woman he wanted to have. Long before Rhiannon disappeared, many young mage women had lived to serve his every need or want. Xavier often had regaled the Carpathian men with tales of his sexual prowess and exploits, never realizing how little respect they had for him because he didn't hold his women in high esteem.

Now, having to hide for centuries, Xavier had no one to brag to other than the very ones he imprisoned. It was obvious he enjoyed Razvan's pain. Nicolas was certain he despised Razvan because the Dragonseeker ran strong in him. Xavier was mage. He wanted to be immortal and he wanted others to fear and admire him, but he thought himself far superior to the Carpathians. Razvan was too close to a Carpathian in his enduring strength and his code. He had protected his sister and tried desperately to protect his children, all the while being tortured and used for experiments. Yes, Xavier would despise him, because he hadn't broken Razvan and that continued defiance would cost his grandson dearly.

"You could have escaped when you got free so many years ago," Xavier pointed out, "but like a dog crawling to your master you returned to me."

Razvan shook his head. "You manage to change history to suit yourself. As I recall, I followed you to the United States because you were going to kidnap a child and bring her back here. You were unsuccessful, weren't you?"

Xavier erupted into a maddened rage, beating at Razvan with a thin whip, over and over until Razvan hung limply from his chains.

Impotent rage swept through Nicolas. He couldn't bear to see Razvan so helpless, beaten by a monster for trying to save a child. He shook with the need to strike back, desperate for his own power, hating his inability to save Razvan. The emotions were so strong that it took him a few moments before he realized he was feeling the child's passionate need to help her father every bit as well as his own sentiments.

She leapt out from behind the column and raced across the ice. Nicolas barely had time to push to the front when she kicked Xavier hard behind the knee. The old man tilted ominously, and then crumpled to the floor of the cave, howling. Lara tried to pull the chains from her father's arms, the vampire blood burning through the pads of her fingers. Nicolas felt the pain stabbing like a knife all the way to the bone, robbing him of breath. She whirled around to the man, trying to pick himself up off the floor, crouching down, patting at his tunic pockets to try to find the key to unlock the chains.

Xavier slapped her hard, sending her flying. Nicolas actually felt the Dragonseeker blood in her surge to the fore to aid her body in its catlike movements. Lara was obviously unaware of the way she landed on her feet, a seven-year-old child, untrained, yet already moving with physical prowess. She rushed the old man again.