Dark Desire (27 page)

Shea watched Raven and, noting her elevated breathing, automatically walked over to her to take her pulse. Raven laughed and pulled away. “My husband is being naughty. He likes to keep me thinking about him while he's away from me. I'm fine. They'll drive you crazy, but they're always intriguing and usually lots of fun. It's a good thing, as they have long life spans. Wouldn't it be hell to be stuck for centuries to someone you found incredibly boring?”

“How dangerous is the healer?”

Raven inhaled sharply. “The truth is, Gregori is the most dangerous of all Carpathians. Mikhail thinks Gregori is more powerful than he is, and that's saying quite a bit. He knows things, more than any other. Mikhail fears for him all the time now. If he turned vampire, we'd all be in grave danger. Mikhail loves him. We both do. That's why we decided to try for a baby now rather than later. To produce a lifemate for him. Carpathians never have female children anymore. No one knows why, but the children that are born rarely survive the first year of life. Mikhail and Gregori both believe a human lifemate can produce them a female child, and I guess they're right, since Gregori says this child is a girl. He would know.”

“That's why my father wanted a female child so much. My mother never got to tell him she was pregnant, but in her diary she said he had been disappointed when Noelle gave birth to a male child.”

“I met your father briefly,” Raven said softly. “He was very distraught over Noelle's murder. He wanted to hunt the assassins, but Mikhail told him it was too dangerous, he was too involved. He was sent to sleep for several years.”

“He just went to sleep?” Shea was furious for no reason she could actually name. To think of the man sleeping while his wife lay murdered, his mistress pregnant and alone, and someone else raising his son, made her very angry. She had a feeling she would not like her father very much.

“You need to understand these people, Shea, the kind of power they carry, the kind of devastation they're capable of. They can command the land, cause an earthquake that could destroy whole cities. Control is a huge issue with them at all times. Someone like Gregori is a time bomb. He knows it, Mikhail knows it, all of us do. Rand was so distraught, he was dangerous to everyone around him. Mikhail did what he thought was right for the protection of humans and Carpathians alike. Rand obeyed because
Mikhail is their chosen leader. He never seemed very attached to anyone, least of all his son. Even now, he is a loner rarely seen. He spends most of his time in the ground.”

“And Rand neglected to say anything about my mother to anyone,” Shea said bitterly. “My mother's life was destroyed. He could have prevented that.”

“I'm sorry, it must have been terrible for you growing up. If your mother was Rand's true lifemate, then she would have been unable to live without him. It is a bonding of the soul.” Raven sighed, looked away from the distaste on Shea's face. “Noelle was not Rand's true lifemate. I would like to think she loved him, but by all accounts she was simply obsessed with him. I have no idea why Rand went along with it. Noelle was a foolish woman not to have waited for her true lifemate. Rand is a very good-looking man. She mistook lust for love.”

“I have wanted to tell Rand what a worm he is from the first day I ever read my mother's diary. And I don't want to feel about Jacques the way she felt about Rand. Not to the extent that I would neglect a child, live as if I was already dead, just waiting until she was old enough to be on her own.”

“Not everyone is strong, Shea,” Raven counseled gently. “Look at how long Gregori has lasted without his lifemate. Mikhail and Jacques, Aidan and his brother Julian, have all lasted far longer than most of the others. There have been so many over the years that have turned, not strong enough to hold out. Why? Why Gregori and not this vampire? What happened to your mother would not happen to you because you are not the same person. You're very strong. And your mother had no way of knowing what was happening to her.”

Shea paced the length of the room, suddenly restless. The conversation was giving her a knot in her stomach. Was
Gregori really capable of creating an earthquake that could destroy cities? Keeping the unborn child safe was even more important than she'd thought. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of lives could depend on it. That was what Gregori was trying to convey to her. He needed this child in order to survive much longer without turning vampire.

“I'm sorry, Shea, you've been thrown into deep water and told to swim without a lesson. I wish I could help you,” Raven said softly.

“I feel as if I've been afraid for so long now, I don't know any other way of life,” Shea confided. “Jacques depends on me to keep him sane, and now all this is happening. I hope you're right, Raven. I hope I'm very strong.”

Jacques reached the edge of the meadow at the timberline to find Mikhail pacing carefully across a patch of earth. “Wolf traps,” he said tersely and continued his inspection.

“Watch for thin wires, perhaps not visible to our eyes,” Jacques cautioned. “He must be able to do something to hide the wires from us.”

Gregori's form shimmered into solidity. He stood very still, inhaling the early-morning air. “This is one giant trap, my friends. I am very uneasy finding only one human with Byron.”

“If Byron is even inside,” Jacques agreed. “Where are the others?”

“The vampire must be in the ground, away from the sun,” Mikhail said. “There is nothing that could allow him to see the light of day once he has turned.”

“So where is the human's partner?” Jacques asked aloud.

Mikhail shrugged uneasily. “I suggest we approach soundlessly and invisible to the human eye.

“Spread out so we can help one another should there be need.”

“The wire.” Gregori's voice was a mere thread of sound. “It is strung crisscrossed throughout the meadow at various heights. A thin, garrote-like affair meant to slice through the throat, but also hung in such a way as to cut us in many places, making us weak. Obviously no thought was given to other humans or animals who might venture near this place.”

“Ah, yes, I see them now. Very clever, our vampire,” Mikhail said. “We are definitely expected, though not, I should think, until tonight. Perhaps his human friends have gone for supplies, thinking they have the entire day to torment Byron without fear of interference.”

“I do not know, Mikhail. Something here makes me uneasy,” Gregori warned. “Something not quite right.”

“I feel it also,” Jacques agreed, “although I cannot explain what it is exactly. It is as if this is all prearranged, and we are walking into a spider's web. I know this place. I can feel the pain and torment as if it was happening all over again.” And he was, his insides writhing and his gut clenching. It was difficult to maintain his outward calm when his flesh crawled and pain tore at him, splintering his mind so that he didn't know what was real and what was part of his never-ending nightmare.

“Perhaps you are feeling Byron's pain,” Mikhail suggested with concern. Jacques' face remained impassive, but the lines in his skin deepened, and crimson smeared his forehead.

Jacques, are you hurt? I will come to you
. Shea's soft voice swirled in his mind, caught fragments of his thoughts and seemed to piece him back together. She was, as always, his one and only anchor to reality.

Stay there, but stay connected to me, Shea. Being so close to this place is disorienting me. I need you to keep me together.
He was begging, but Jacques had no choice. She was his lifemate, and her presence in his mind could mean
the difference between success and failure to their mission. He did not want to be the cause of the others' deaths.

A grim smile touched Gregori's sensual mouth, his silver eyes humorless and pierced with dangerous light. “They mean to capture us, Mikhail. Us, the two most powerful of our kind. Perhaps they need a real demonstration in power.”

Jacques glanced at Mikhail uneasily. Maybe it was the way his body was remembering every burn, every slash. With age the pain became more intense, if one could feel. Unlike a vampire, a Carpathian was capable of tremendous sensation. Jacques had suffered what no man, human or Carpathian, should have endured. It wasn't even in the name of science, just a sadist bent on inflicting as much pain as possible.

Come back, Jacques
. Shea's voice was filled with concern.

I cannot. I cannot leave Byron to suffer my fate.

I can feel your pain, Jacques. You are having a hard time concentrating on what you're doing. Your mind is very scattered. Of what use are you to Byron if you get caught? Come back to me.

I will get him out of there. Just stay with me, Shea.
Jacques concentrated on her, held her strength and warmth in his mind to fight the growing pain. The ground seemed to roll beneath his feet; the rain pounded down on him. His flesh was burning; he could smell it. Cuts opened up and bled freely. He caught at his chest as pain ripped through him, tearing muscles and bone. His throat closed off; breathing became impossible. His heart pounded until he felt it had to explode.

“Jacques!” Gregori gripped his arm. “It is part of the trap set for you specifically. The vampire knew you would come, and you are caught in the web. He is amplifying your own fears and the pain you suffered. He is not here; it is
merely a warp you are trapped in. Know it is not real, and fight your way out.”

“I do not understand.” Pinpricks of scarlet dotted Jacques' body, stained his shirt. His eyes were alive with pain and madness.

I do
. Shea snatched at the information in his mind. She wrapped him in the warmth of her love.
Feel me, Jacques. Concentrate only on me and what you feel when we touch, when we kiss.
She pictured it in her head, him holding her so possessively, so tenderly, his mouth finding hers hungrily. The way she felt, hot and silken with heat, needing and wanting him. Her mouth as hungry as his. Her hands tangled in his thick hair.
Feel me, Jacques
. Her whisper moved over his skin like the touch of her fingers.

Jacques narrowed his focus until he blocked out everything but the smell and taste of her, the touch of her fingers, her soft, sexy voice. She became his world, was his world, would always be. Nothing else was real. She was his heart and his very breath. Her breathing regulated his back to a steady in and out. Her heart brought the rhythm of his slowly back to a normal pattern. His skin was on fire, but with sensual hunger rather than the pain of torture.

Her breath seemed to warm his ear, his mind.
I love you, Jacques. Do what you must, then hurry home to me
. She released him with great reluctance, the warmth of her love lingering behind.

Jacques shook his head to bring himself back to the present situation. Almost at once the earth moved beneath his feet, and the pain tried to hammer at him. But the vampire would not snag him twice in the same trap. He wrenched himself forward, concentrating on the way Shea's mouth tasted, the curve of her hip beneath his hand, the way her eyes lit up just before she laughed. He held her close to his heart, kept the vision of her wild mane of hair in front of
him as he pushed his way through the warp and out into the open land.

“Good,” Gregori approved. “But this one is very adept. I am uneasy over the way this is going, Mikhail. Let us take to the air above the wires and approach from different directions. I will go in first. Our people cannot afford to lose either of you.”

“Gregori,” Mikhail reminded him softly, “if the child is your lifemate, and you do something careless, you are condemning her to death. Keep that in mind when you enter this place of madness.”

Gregori's silver eyes slashed at his old friend. “Do you think I would chance harming her in any way? I have waited several lifetimes for her. These humans are nothing. They have persecuted our people for far too long. I mean it to stop.”

Mikhail nodded, his dark eyes, so like his brother's, black ice. “You are up to this, Jacques?”

Jacques' smile was a humorless promise of retaliation. “Have no worries about me. I am looking forward to this.”

Mikhail sighed. “Two bloodthirsty savages thinking they are in the dark ages.”

Jacques exchanged a humorless grin with Gregori. “The dark ages were not such a bad time. At least justice could be dispensed easily without worrying about what the women would think.”

“You both have gone soft,” Gregori snickered. “No wonder our people have such problems. The women are ruling, and you two besotted idiots just follow along.”

Jacques' solid form wavered, became transparent. “We will see who proves to be the soft one, healer.” His body completely disappeared from sight.

Mikhail glanced at Gregori, shrugged, then followed suit. None of this was to his liking. Gregori was a time bomb waiting to explode. And only God knew what
Jacques was capable of. It seemed the worst possible time to confront an enemy, just as they were weakening from the light of day.

Gregori waited until Mikhail and Jacques had disappeared before allowing his body to dissolve. He launched himself skyward, wincing as the sun's light, penetrating the dark clouds, hit his eyes. He cursed silently. Raven was alone with a woman who knew next to nothing about their people's capabilities. She was very weak. The child was his only hope, and it was stupidity to rescue a Carpathian male who was on the verge of turning. A few more years and Gregori would be hunting him.

Jacques moved across the meadow, high above the gleaming wires. Water danced off the thin strands like crystal droplets. He moved around the blackened ruins in a slow circle, looking for the entrance hidden in the ground. It bothered him that he didn't know exactly where it was, or that the others might know before him. It made him feel as if he were ill, totally incompetent.

Soft laughter sent warmth curling through his body.
Since when have you ever been incompetent? You made me crazy even when you were lying allegedly helpless, in bed. The first time you kissed me, I forgot my own name. That is not incompetent
.

Jacques found the tension easing out of his body. Shea had a way of doing that for him with just the sound of her laughter, her warmth.
I am looking for the entrance to the cellar. The ground appears to be completely undisturbed.

As I walked across the meadow and approached the burned area, the stone fireplace was on my right. I circled the perimeter from the right side. The door was buried in the dirt. I couldn't see it, but I felt it with my hand. I remember the fireplace was to my right by about ten feet or so.

Thanks, little red hair
. Jacques crouched in the rain, ran his hand along the mud-slick soil.

“There is something over here,” Mikhail said softly, his eyes searching for a hidden trap. His body hovered over the area as he examined the ground. “There are marks on the ground, as if a branch has been dragged over it. Dirt and rocks have been scattered over the spot.”

“Do not touch it!” Jacques ordered sharply. “The fireplace should be to your right and farther out.”

“You remember this?” Gregori asked skeptically.

“Shea remembers. It must be another trap. The rain would have removed those marks.”

“They did not have much time to set such traps,” Mikhail observed. “Byron was taken no more than an hour ago, if that.”

“Perhaps we are underestimating this vampire, Mikhail. I could manufacture such traps, and so could you. Aidan and Julian could do so, and no doubt Jacques. Who else do we know who has this kind of power?” Gregori asked softly.

“There are few others over the age of six hundred years,” Mikhail said.

“Perhaps this is a crime of hate more than of age,” Jacques ventured. “What was done to me was done with the idea of causing as much suffering as I could take before death claimed me. That is a crime of hatred, one of revenge.”

Gregori and Mikhail exchanged a quick, knowing look. “Of course, you have to be right, Jacques,” Mikhail agreed for both of the ancients. “A vampire would avoid us, not try to draw us to him. So whom did you anger enough to warrant this much hatred?”

Jacques shrugged calmly. His own hatred was deep and smoldering, a rage so ingrained that he knew the demon would rise within him the moment he encountered any of those involved in his torture and imprisonment. Whoever hated him so much had created a like feeling within him, hatred that not only matched but surpassed anything the vampire might feel. “You know more of my past than I do,
but it really does not matter, as long as he believes I wronged him,” Jacques said. “It is here. The door is here.”

“The human is dozing.” Mikhail probed the mind of the unseen man carefully. “He is supremely confident that he will be undisturbed.”

Gregori, too, was probing the human. “I like none of this, Mikhail. It seems too easy. The vampire knows we can travel in the early morning hours. Our powers might not be at full strength, but even diminished, we can handle humans easily.”

“You stay out of sight, Gregori, watch our backs,” Mikhail cautioned. “I will instruct the human to open the cellar and allow us in. Jacques and I will test for a trap.”

“Jacques and I will go inside, Mikhail. We cannot risk your life. You know that.” Gregori did not wait for a response. He had spent most of his life guarding Mikhail, the dispenser of justice for his people. Even with his lifemate so close to existence, Gregori would not back away from this duty. He seized the human's mind with ease, demanding information.

Jeff Smith woke abruptly, a pain in his head, uneasiness gripping his very soul. In his mind was something that did not belong to him, something powerful that demanded every detail of the past few days, insisted on a blow-by-blow replay of the past few hours. He tried to resist, but the thing was far too powerful to ignore. He went over every detail. The vampire bringing the paralyzed Carpathian, Donnie burning and slicing the victim, Slovensky laughing and egging him on. The vampire standing emotionless, watching with empty eyes and frankly scaring the hell out of Jeff. Donnie and Slovensky going for supplies, whispering to each other and the vampire.

The vampire promised no one would be able to find them; his spells would safeguard the makeshift dungeon until nightfall. The other vampires would be trapped in the
ground until night. Jeff was safe and could torment their victim at will. Smith wished he had the woman, the red-haired doctor. He had delicious thoughts of what he would do with her for long hours at a time.

Jacques made a sound, not aloud but in his mind, and immediately broke all contact with Shea. She could not witness the demon rising in him. Already fangs were exploding in his mouth, and the red haze demanding a kill was spewing upward with violent, murderous intent. A low, warning growl escaped him, and he hissed at Gregori to warn him off his kill.