Dark Legend (28 page)

"Francesca?" Skyler sounded tired and forlorn. "I want to go home with you. When can I get out of here? Everything scares me, even Dr. Brice, and I know he means well. I just can't stand to be around him anymore. He doesn't feel the same."

Skyler was very sensitive to the emotions of others. All around her, the plots were thickening. Francesca had to get Brice to agree to allow the child to go home with her. She would have to face him and use the power of her voice if necessary. They could better protect her if she was in their home.

"I think you're right, honey. I'll track down the good doctor and get his permission to allow you to leave. You'll like the house. It's big and roomy and filled with all kinds of books and treasures."

"I've seen stained glass in churches before. Is that what you do?"

"Most of the time I create pieces for private homes. Sometimes I'm asked to do windows for a church or cathedral. I mostly like to do residences. I want to know all about the people and get a feel for who they are and what they need. I try to incorporate feelings of safety and comfort into the patterns." Francesca shrugged casually. "Sometimes I'm successful."

"Can you teach me how to do it?" There was interest in her voice. Real interest. "I drew pictures of wolves one time. They're so beautiful. I used to read everything I could find on them. That's why I love my blue-eyed wolf. I always wanted to study them, but I know it won't ever happen. Not here anyway. But maybe I could do a picture in stained glass."

"You can do anything you want, Skyler, anything at all. If you wish to study animal behavior, I am behind you one hundred percent. And I know you can make stained glass. I would love to work with you. Rest now while I go to find Brice." She patted the wolf gently and bent to kiss the girl's head before leaving.

Chapter Twelve

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Francesca bit her lip as she quietly closed the door to Skyler's room. The reporter was waiting as she had known he would be. She had heard his footfalls, the sound of his pacing. She read his determination to confront her even as she was speaking to Skyler. It was okay, it was what she wanted, too. She needed information and he was conveniently outside the door. She wouldn't have to go looking for him.

The man spun around with a determined look on his face. "I need to talk to you."

Francesca's smile was mysterious and inviting. "What can I do for you?"

His eyes were devouring her, roaming freely over her body. There was something about her that made him a little crazy. The way she looked, the sway of her hips, the sultry smile. He had never seen a woman who moved him in quite the way she did. He liked women, in their place, but he had always bought the right to their bodies and kept it strictly business. No fuss, no emotional entanglement. This woman was very different from the average woman. There was something mysterious and sexy about her. He could stare into her eyes forever, listen to the sound of her voice for eternity. All at once his suspicions seemed totally ridiculous. This was no vampire preying on the human race. She was a woman of extraordinary talents and he wanted to protect her from those who sought her for study.

Francesca could feel Gabriel's power flowing through her when she looked into the reporter's eyes. It was not the same as hers, but far more aggressive. Gabriel would make sure this man would never harm her, would in fact die to save her. He did it easily as he did all things, the commands flowing through her mind into the reporter's. She had no idea how Gabriel could do the things he did. He was helping her at the same time as he hunted the undead and watched for traps along the way. He seemed capable of operating on more than one level at a time. Even when the stakes were as high as his own life.

"Nothing is more important to me than your life."
His voice was fading away as if he was in motion somewhere.

Francesca did not seek to sustain the connection between them. She wanted to concentrate entirely on the reporter. She needed to know everything he knew about the society he was a part of, a society that had hunted and murdered humans and Carpathians alike, naming them vampires. She smiled at him. "It's Woods, isn't it? Barry Woods? You said you were a reporter. I'm so sorry about the other evening. I was in such a hurry, late for so many appointments, I can't recall exactly what we talked about. I promise to give you my full attention now. Would you care to go somewhere and have a cup of tea or something?"

"Tone it down, Francesca. He is very susceptible to you and that in itself can be dangerous.
" This time there was a distinct growl in Gabriel's voice.

She tilted her chin, although she knew he couldn't see her.
"Go away, I can handle this problem all by myself. You have bigger fish to fry."
She sounded faintly haughty, snippy, warning him to back off.

Barry Woods was gaping at her, astounded that she was actively seeking him out. She leaned close, enveloping him in her mysterious scent.
"You will never attempt to see Skyler Rose again."
The command was one of the strongest she had ever issued.

She could read his acceptance of her authority, but all the same, Francesca guided the reporter to the seclusion of one of the empty rooms with every intention of ensuring obedience by taking his blood.

"You will not!"
The command was sharp and authoritative. Gabriel was not playing now. The threat was very real. "
I will see to it this buffoon does no harm to our girl, but you will not do this thing."

Exasperated, Francesca decided against arguing with Gabriel's tyrannical ways. At once she felt Gabriel relax, felt his amusement, and she shook her head over the silly idiosyncrasies of men. "Did you have some questions you wanted to ask me?" she queried softly, looking directly into Barry Woods's eyes. "Or did you have information that you thought was very important to tell me?"

He could feel himself falling forward, deeper, deeper still until he was so mesmerized he wanted to stay there for eternity. He cleared his throat, unable, unwilling to break away from the beauty of her eyes. "I have friends who heard things about you. They're dangerous men. We hunt vampires. Real vampires, not the make-believe things in the movies. No one believes the creatures exist but us. We've been collecting proof over the years. We just need to get one, a body, something tangible to make the world take us seriously. Right now they think we're fanatics, nuts to be laughed at, but we're scientists and we're trying to save the world."

Francesca wrapped him in waves of warmth, swamping him with approval, with the idea that she believed in him and what he was doing. He broke out in a sweat, but his gaze remained captured by hers. He wanted to do whatever she wanted of him, whatever it took to make her happy. He wanted her to believe in him. She tipped her head to one side so that her hair fell in a seductive sheet of silk across her shoulder and tumbled past her waist. "Why would anyone think such a thing of me? I have lived in this community for some time and have been involved in many things. I think my life is rather an open book. It is not so difficult to find those who know me."

Woods leaned forward, needing to hear the purity of her voice, or maybe he wanted to touch her hair. He really wasn't certain which was more important at that moment. "I think I can dig up indisputable proof that you're no vampire." There was a trace of humor in his voice. The idea of her being in the ranks of the undead was totally ludicrous. He could convince his fellows they were wrong about her and she would be crossed off their list.

"Are there many of you?" Francesca requested the information softly. "Are there any others named on this list of potential threats? Perhaps I can aid you in some way."

"We have to protect ourselves now. We've lost many of our best people. It's a war, a real war, between them and us. We only know a few of each other's names; our meetings are small. We use phone numbers and a place on the Internet to leave messages back and forth. That way if our society is penetrated, we will only lose a few."

Francesca could see that something was making him very resistant to giving out the names of those on the vampire list, although he was deeply ensnared by her compulsion. She pushed further into his mind and found a strange phenomenon. Immediately she reached for Gabriel and shared the information, puzzled by what she found in Barry Woods's mind.

"He has undergone some kind of strong hypnosis."
Gabriel relied.
"You can get around it, but he might have flashbacks. I can remove all traces of you from his memory. It is not so difficult to extract the information from his mind. He will never know."

"Go ahead then, Gabriel. I don't want him to take up any more of my time."
Francesca wanted to get her business out of the way and return to Gabriel. She didn't like him being out in the city hunting the undead. She wanted him back in the safety of their home. She wanted Skyler safe within the walls of their home. She wanted the reporter long gone.

"Are you attempting to distract me from my task with your wanton thoughts?"
There was a curling caress in Gabriel's voice, brushing at the walls of her mind, flooding her body with heat and excitement.

"
Wanton thoughts? You need a checkup, my boy. Your fantasy world seems to be growing larger with each passing day. I wanted you home to take out the trash."
She was staring directly at Barry Woods, so that Gabriel could use her as his instrument, could "see" the reporter and extract the information they needed from his mind. Gabriel's teasing had lifted her spirits, given her the impression of a cool cleansing breeze moving through her mind, erasing her worries.

Francesca smiled at the reporter. Gabriel had what they needed and it was time for her to reinforce her most important command. She leaned closer to him so that her eyes held his. "You will never, under any circumstances, go near Skyler again." At once she felt Gabriel's power moving through her mind, swift and deadly, unbreakable, relentless. He issued his own command, stronger than any she could have made. The reporter would protect her, ensure that others left her strictly alone.

Francesca shook her head over the vehemence of that command, but she felt very precious to him.
Cherished.

"You are cherished. Now do something women are supposed to do, something I will not worry about."

"Look who's talking!"
She tried to sound indignant, but he was making her laugh with his nonsense.

"It is not nonsense. These are commands from your lifemate, and you should listen and obey."
He sounded very arrogant as only Gabriel could.

"You're showing your age again. You awoke in the twenty-first century. Women no longer listen and obey, worse luck for you. I have work to do, and you are in some place very musty and smelling of wet dirt. What are you doing?"

"Performing secret masculine rituals."

Francesca found herself laughing out loud. Woods startled her by smiling and reaching out to shake her hand. She had almost forgotten his existence. "Thank you so much for your time, and I enjoyed the tea." He sounded very brisk and businesslike. Gabriel had ensured his obedience and the reporter was doing exactly as he had been instructed. He was leaving Francesca and going to report his findings to his friends. They would believe him: Francesca was a human woman with extraordinary talents but she walked in the sunlight and drank tea. Woods was certain he had shared such a thing with her.

Francesca smiled gently. "I am pleased to have met you, Mr. Woods. Good luck with your work."

She turned and made her way through the corridors, moving silently. She was scanning for Brice. He often slept in one of the empty rooms if he had been working all day and late into the night. When he was not attending social events, Brice spent the majority of his time at the hospital. She caught his scent and turned unerringly toward the small room at the end of the hall. It was one of his favorite places to escape.

Gabriel moved silently through the cemetery, the very place where he had spent so many years locked in the ground. The earth was torn up where graves were being opened and the caskets removed to make way for progress. He shook his head at the way of life. A hundred years ago no one would consider disturbing a grave site in such a manner. It would be sacrilegious. Evil stalked Paris, and it slept within this ancient cemetery that held the bodies of so many of the dead.

As he moved through the graveyard like a silent wraith, he thought of that long-ago battle, nearly two centuries ago. He had found Lucian crouched over his latest victim, a man in his early thirties. The victim had been drained of blood, a lifeless rag doll that Lucian had tossed carelessly down on the ground when he turned to confront Gabriel. As always, Gabriel was struck by his twin's elegance, the way he moved so silently. There was never a stain of blood on his clothing or his teeth or nails. He was always immaculate. Nothing about him seemed different, yet he was a terrible monster, not the legendary hunter their people whispered about.

Just the memory of his brother, tall and elegant and so courtly, sent a wave of love through Gabriel. He had not felt it for so long, only remembered the emotion, but now it was stronger and more intense than ever. Gabriel bowed his head.
Lucian. His brother.
The grief was overwhelming him and he shook his head decisively to clear it. That way lay his own destruction. His mind had to be clear and fixed on the hunt. He needed every advantage ferreting out the evil undead. They were here in force.

A grave caught his eye. He turned back to examine it. Freshly dug, it was one of the newest in the cemetery. The heavy equipment had not reached this corner so near the rock wall. He touched the soil and at once felt the vibrations of destructive forces. So tuned, he snatched his hand away. The earth itself was groaning from the touch of the vile abomination. He remained hunkered down, his eyes casting along the floor of the cemetery even as his senses flared out to scan the region around him.