Whisper to Me (Borne Vampires Book 1) (7 page)

“Holy shit!” she exclaimed, stunned at the memory.

“What?”

“Nothing. I just …too much happening to me.” Why
didn’t she tell him what she heard? No, it was too much to deal with.

“Why don’t you try to rest?”

From within her mind, she felt the familiar
beckoning, as if someone was encouraging her to sleep.
“I’ve something I want to show you. Close your eyes
and dream.”
Unable to tell if it were a man or woman, she set the beer bottle
in the cardboard holder and lay down on the bench seat, using Rathe’s thigh as
a pillow. When she felt Rathe’s hand sweep along her hair, she closed her eyes
and did as the voice ordered.

Smoke.

Screams and shouts were deafening. The
villagers had them surrounded. Her lover ordered, “My love, run!”

“No! We swore to live and die together.”

“You must live for our child.”

Desperate, she searched for a way they both
could escape. Out of the darkness, ran at them a huge wolf with golden-brown
fur and green eyes. It leapt into the midst of the villagers and tore out the
throats of two men, opening a way for them to escape. She turned to her lover
and he pushed her into the arms of a tall man, whose green eyes glowed in his
anger. She gasped as he snarled, exposing his fangs.

Vampyre!

“Aidan, let us leave here,” the vampyre shouted,
easily tossing people out of his way as he kept his hold on her.

“Save her! Protect her and my child.” Aidan
slammed his fist into the face of the man rushing him.

She glared at the vampyre. “I will not leave
Aidan to die alone.”

“He is already a dead man.” Sweeping her into
his arms, the vampyre flew into the air, taking her away from Aidan.

Fighting him, she screamed at him to
return her to Aidan. He ignored her. When they landed outside the village, he
set her down on her feet. She yelled at him, “How could you abandon Aidan like
that? Have you no heart?”

He said softly, his anger barely
restrained, “Not another word, human. If not for the blood running through your
veins and my friendship with Aidan, I’d have let you die with him.”

“Gypsy blood?”

Her father approached them. “He has a
covenant with our people. We are bound to him, as he is to us.” To the vampyre,
he bowed respectfully to. “My lord, I cannot repay you enough for saving my
daughter.”

Hard-faced, the vampyre said gruffly, “Get
in the car I brought you and drive it to Budapest. I will meet you there with passports.
You’re leaving Hungary.” To her, he sighed and gentled his touch as he placed
his hand on her shoulder. “Care for your child and love it for Aidan. If it
should survive its birth, be vigilant. Your child will be hunted by those who
want to kill it, or worse, take it from you.”

 
“Who
would want to harm an innocent child?”

With regret and anger shining in those mesmerizing
green eyes, he withdrew his hand. “The Slayers will seek to judge the child,
for being a dhampir — a half-breed, and see it dead. As well as the dhampir’s
parents. Vampire hunters will want the child to raise it and train it to kill
my kind.” The vampyre warned, “Ivan, trust no one and do not stop until you are
at the place I told you to meet me.”

“I won’t, my lord.” Her father took her hand
and pulled her after him. Legs unsteady, she followed him, numb with grief,
terrified for her child and their future.

A hospital room.

Body beaten and battered in her struggle
to bring her child into the world, she was finally allowed to hold her daughter
after the babe was cleaned and swaddled in a blanket. Gazing into the child’s
eyes, she never thought this moment would come.

The door opened and a nun rushed to Ivan.
She whispered something to him, and he ran to the window, looking out it.

“Father, what is it?”

“They have found us again.”

She couldn’t leave the bed. Helpless and
vulnerable. “Papa, take my child. Run! You must save my daughter.”

“I cannot leave you.” It broke her heart
to see her beloved papa cry. Why wouldn’t the hunters leave them alone?

There was a scuffle outside the room. The
nun propped a chair under the doorknob and hurried back to the bed. She held a
crucifix out and recited a prayer. Papa laid his cheek on the baby’s thick,
dark hair. Not once had the child cried since she drew her first breath. Large,
dark eyes watched him curiously.

There was a ‘thud’ against the door. A
second hit and the wooden frame cracked. Another and the door flew into the
wall, sending the chair skidding across the room. The tall vampyre, who had
saved her months earlier, entered the room. He assessed the nun as she held out
her crucifix.

“Get thee back, son of Satan!”

Clutching her child, she watched the
vampire coldly access the nun. “Madame, even the Devil would not dare trespass the
likes of me.” He directed his intense gaze on the baby. “She lives.
Remarkable.”

Papa asked, “My lord, where are the
hunters?”

“Dead.” The vampyre ordered to the nun,
“Collect a wheelchair. We must move her and the babe immediately.”

“Why? What is your intent with them?” The
nun stubbornly refused to budge, despite the fierce glare the vampyre fixed on
her.

“Because something far worse than I is
coming for them.”

The nun’s eyes went wide. “I’ll find a
wheelchair right away.”

After the nun left, she handed her baby to
her father. “Why are you helping us?”

“As I told you before, we are bound to
each other.”

Four men charged into the room, holding crossbows
ready. She screamed as they fired at her father, who spun around to protect the
baby, taking two arrows in his back. An arrow hit her in the chest. The force
threw her back into her pillows. Grasping the wooden shaft, she saw the vampyre
attack the hunters, quickly killing them. He ran to her side, and she saw the
regret in his beautiful eyes. She knew she had not long to live.

“Papa?” she gasped out.

“Here, child.” Papa slumped against the
bed, holding her baby so she could see her daughter was alive and unharmed.

“Oh, Papa, forgive me. My choices have
killed us both.”

Cupping the side of her face with his big
hand, he smiled at her. “Child, you must not regret love. I never did.”

Pressing her lips to the babe’s soft hair,
she weakly asked, “My lord, please take her.” He carefully took her baby from
her father and held her in his strong arms. “Protect her. Kill any who would try
to harm her. Promise me?”

“What shall I call her?”

“Tell her … tell her Aidan and I … love
her.” She closed her eyes, knowing in her heart Aidan was waiting for her in
the next life.

“I will,” he whispered hoarsely. He gazed at
the child in his arms. “I promise to kill any who dares harm you, Mariah. I
swear it!”

She opened her eyes. He said
her
name!

No, he couldn’t be talking to her. It was
impossible. The child in her dream was a child born of a human mother and
vampire father. She was just a normal person.

Right, what normal person has a medallion that had a
protection spell cast on it to protect you?

Was the nightmare man trying a new tactic to get
her to talk to him? Was it the gypsy sending her memories, or was she
remembering her past? How could she see memories of a woman she had never known?
Who was the vampire who risked so much for them? Why did she recognize him?

Sitting up, she scooted to her side of the car.
Wanting to cry, unable to escape the truth because it was right there staring
her in the face about what had happened at the gas station.

Because of me. She
is like she is because of me!

“What’s wrong?” Rathe asked, watching her.

Startled, she closed her mind, protecting her
secret. “Why did Carl say you couldn’t kill him?”

“It’s because of the peace treaty my father and
the Elders signed with the leader of the Damned, forbidding the Slayers to hunt
the Damned.”

“Are you a Slayer?”

“I was.”

Remembering what the vampire in her dream had said
about Slayers killing half-breed children, she asked him, “What does a Slayer
do?”

“We are —
were
— the peacekeepers of the Vampire world. Our duties were to hunt and kill the
Damned, to keep them from killing the humans and Borne vampires.”

That didn’t sound like what the vampire in her
dream said. “If the Slayers are not keeping the Damned in line, aren’t they
increasing in numbers?”

“Yes. To make matters worse, there is a plague
spreading amongst the young Borne vampires. They are losing their souls and turning
Damned.”

“Are the Damned infecting them?”

“No, they are turning demon without attack.”

“Spontaneously? How is that possible?”

“The Elders hold the Book of Laws, in it is the
list of signs to watch for when a Borne is close to losing their soul.”

“No disrespect intended toward your Elders, but who
is to say someone might be misinterpreting the signs and are actually condemning
innocent people?” She shook her head. “Heck, what do I know? But it sounds to
me like the witch-hunting days of old Salem, when the religious fanatics hunted
down those they hated and falsely condemned them to hang.”

Rathe glared at her. “My father, Dimitri, was a
great and honorable man. He would not have installed a law that could be
misinterpreted.” His anger faded. “Not that it matters anymore.”

Seeing the bleak expression on his granite hard features,
she felt his grief. “What happened to him?”

“He was murdered three months ago.”

“Murdered? Who killed him?”

“My father’s ashes were found. He was … he met the
sun. No investigation was carried out. The Elders declared his death a suicide
and closed the matter.”

“A suicide? But you said he was murdered.”

“Father would never leave my mother, not after two
thousand years together. He was murdered.”

“I am so sorry, Rathe.”

“So am I. I’ve involved you in a feud, one that
has gone on for a thousand years. You are part of our tragedy and our war. With
my blood flowing through your veins, you will always be in grave danger.”

“Considering my parents were murdered by someone who
thought they were either vampires or worked for ones, I wear a medallion with
protection runes on it, and I am borderline vampire — I’d say I am already in deep
trouble.”

Chapter Five

When Rathe said they’d be in Santa Cruz before
sunrise, she really didn’t think the man would actually break the speed limit
to accomplish it!

Blurring their car, as he described it, he sped
past patrol cars and continued on with being stopped. As the miles passed by,
she nearly dozed, jerking awake before any other memories could take hold.
She’d seen enough, learned enough for tonight.

When she felt the car slow, she looked at Rathe. “Are
we there?”

“Yep. Hold on. The road leading to my house is rough.”
He turned left onto a dirt road, and she saw the Pacific Ocean. When the road
veered to run parallel to the ocean, he stopped and put the car in park.

“Rathe?”

He shifted close to her and stared into her eyes.
“Sleep, Mariah. I command you to sleep until I awaken you. Sleep.”

What didn’t he want her to see?

Pretending to fall asleep, she felt the seat dip, and
the car began to move. When the SUV stopped again, the engine turned off. She
heard him open his door and he got out. The rear door opened and her dogs
jumped out. Peaking under her lashes, she saw a three-story Victorian house
before the SUV. The double doors flew open and a teenage girl with long, black
hair ran out. She threw herself into Rathe’s arms, wrapping her thin, pale arms
around his neck as he held her.

“Rathe, you are safe! We were so worried when we
couldn't reach you.”

“Mina, I truly am sorry for worrying you. I was merely
detained.”

A gust of wind brushed the car and a handsome, young
man, with dark brown hair, appeared on the other side of the SUV. Rathe set the
girl down and extended his hand out to him. The man swept it aside and hugged him.

Rathe awkwardly patted the shorter man’s back. “I’m
fine, Simon. Really, I am.”

Simon stepped back, glaring at him. “You should
not have taken such a risk!”

“Where is Mother?”

“She left with Faeroes and Anya, to feed,” the
girl answered, giggling when Bear and Salish tried to lick her face. “Where did
you get them?”

Deciding now was as good as any to meet Rathe’s family;
she opened her door and slid out. The girl gasped, scrambling behind Rathe. Trying
to ease the girl's obvious fright, she held out her hands.

“I’m so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you.” She heard
a growl and saw the man named Simon coming for her, his fangs exposed as he
made to attack her.

She turned to run and tripped, her legs flying in
the air as she landed on her back with a ‘thud' on the hard ground. Screaming,
he was almost on her when Rathe landed in front of Simon and seized him by the shirtfront,
lifting him several inches clear off the ground.

“Rathe, what the hell are you doing?” Simon struggled
to free himself.

“Mariah is not to be harmed!”

“She’s a human! Why did you bring a human here?”

“She is under my protection. Do you understand?” Rathe
drew his brother close, glaring at him.

A woman with white hair stepped into the
moonlight. Stunning couldn’t begin to describe her. Delicate and strong, her
beauty ageless, there was no way she was two thousand years old!

“Rathe, release your brother.” Her dark eyes
sparkled in her amusement as he dropped his brother unceremoniously to the
ground.

Rathe helped her to her feet. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I'm fine. Only my dignity bruised. Sorry, I
should have stayed in the car.”

“I am the one who should apologize. I should not
have tried to put you asleep. I just wanted to warn my family I was … not alone.”
He turned to the white-haired woman, who was quite tall compared her. “Mariah,
I would like you to meet my mother, Tereza Romulas. Mother, Mariah Jordan.”

Holding out her hand to her, she tried to smile,
still shaken at his brother’s attack, “A-a pleasure to make your acquaintance,
Mrs. Romulas.”

Rathe’s mother gently clasped her cold hand in her
warm one. “Please, call me Tereza.”

She could actually feel her trying to poke around
in her head. Attempting to block her, she felt at the same time saw Tereza’s
surprise.

“You are a most unusual mortal.” Looking deep into
her eyes, holding her in those obsidian depths, Tereza said softly, “Yes, you
are
very
special.” Taking her arm in
hers, she smiled at her. “Let us go inside and chat.” Before she knew what was
happening, Tereza had led her to the front door.

“Mother,” Simon protested angrily, “she is human!
Our Laws forbid us to associate with them.”

“Simon,” Rathe said, “hold you censure until
you’ve heard the whole story why she is with me.”

“You exchanged blood with her, didn’t you? Why
would you, the greatest of the Slayers, risk death for a human?”

“Back off! You have no right to reprimand me
or
remind me of the laws. I have protected
our family centuries before you were born; I will not allow a mere whelp to
take me to task!” Taking an intimidating step forward, smiling bitterly when Simon
hurriedly backed away. “You are barely twenty, remember your elders.”

Tereza’s eyes narrowed dangerously at Rathe. “As
should you, my son.” She regarded her. “Children, inside. Miss Jordan is cold,
and I would very much like to get to know this charming, young woman better.”

“I'm hardly young. I celebrated my 35
^th
birthday a few months ago.”

Peering at her, Tereza’s head reared back as she
exclaimed, “A daughter? You have a daughter!”

“Daughter?” Rathe repeated with a look of horror
on his handsome face. “You have a child? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Pulling her arm free, Mariah backed away from
Tereza and Rathe, keeping a wary eye on Simon. “You didn’t need to know about
her. No one outside my family knows about her.”

Understanding replaced his distress. “Because of
what happened to you.”

“Yes. Even though she is sixteen, she is still my
baby and I must protect her.”

The girl approached her, her intense, angelic features
eased into a shy smile. “Your daughter is my age. I am Aramina, but everyone
calls me Mina.”

Relaxing a bit, she smiled at the young girl. “Very
nice to meet you, Mina.”

Mariah tried not to be afraid when Simon extended his
hand out to her. She saw he wore a ring similar to Rathe, but it was on his
right, index finger. She and the young vampire glanced at Rathe, who crossed
his powerful arms, scowling. Simon dropped his hand and offered her an
apologetic smile.

“Forgive me for acting so rudely toward you. Since
my brother's manners are also lax, I shall introduce myself. I am Simon,”
thumbing at Rathe, “
his
youngest
brother.” Bowing with a debonair flourish, he winked outrageously at Rathe, whose
mouth curved to the side in a tolerant smile, shaking his head at his antics.

“It's a pleasure to meet you all. I
—
” Her vision blurred,
her skin felt clammy, and her knees weakened. She had the oddest sensation she
was falling in slow motion.

“Mariah!” Rathe caught her before she hit the
porch. Lifting her into his arms, he hurried inside the house. The lights came
on in the sitting room as he took a seat on the cream-colored couch with her
across his lap.

“Mariah, what's wrong?” Tenderly, he brushed her
long hair from out of her eyes.

“I'm fine. Just felt weird for a minute there.”
She shifted off his lap, uncomfortable sitting on him with his family anxiously
watching them.

Tereza offered, “Would you like some hot tea?”

“I do not want to be a bother.”

“Not at all. It will do you good.”

Mina volunteered, “Mama, I’ll make it.”

“Thank you, sweeting. I would like a cup, too,
please.” When the girl had left the room, Tereza sat in the chair opposite of
her and Rathe, “My son, what event brought you and Miss Jordan together?”

He rose to his feet and went to stare stonily out
the window. “I was shot. Mariah found me and saved me from bleeding to death. I
had intended to leave, but I wanted to make sure she was all right, and that’s
when we were attacked by the same hunters. They were resourceful in their
attempt to kill us.”

“Resourceful? They used a freakin rocket launcher to
kill us with!” Mariah glared at Rathe for being so blasé about what happened. “They
destroyed my cabin
and
my brand new
car.”

Exasperated, Rathe faced her. “Would it make you
feel better if I bought you a new car? Would that make you happy?”

Rising unsteadily to her feet, she ignored him as
she asked Rathe’s mother, “Could you take me into town?”

“I wish I could take you, but dawn is closing in
on us and we must go to ground soon. I promise you, we will aid you back home
at the next rising. Won’t we, Rathe?” She shot her son a firm look.

“Yes, Mother.”

Wanting to cry, needing to be alone, she had no
choice except to stay. “That would be acceptable. May I be shown to a bedroom?
I’m exhausted.”

“Yes, my dear. Right this way.”

Mina returned, holding a tray with a ceramic teapot
and several coffee cups sitting on it, along with sugar and milk. “Should I
follow you, Mother?”

“Yes, my dear. Come along.”

✝✝✝

Rathe
watched them as they walked upstairs. Simon stood
beside him. “Not a word, Simon. I’m not in the mood to argue further on the
matter.”

“A daughter? How did you miss that when you
exchanged blood with her?”

Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes. Mariah
had a daughter. How
had
he missed that?
Amazed at how strong she was in not succumbing to his suggestions, at hiding
her daughter, he was at a complete loss.

What would Mariah be like if the protections
spells were broken?

“Rathe, why did you exchange blood with Mariah?”

“The hunters shot me, I was dying. She found me in
the woods and offered me her blood to save me. Shit, I almost killed her in my
hunger. I couldn't let her die. So, I forced her to drink my blood.” He stared
out the window, not seeing anything except his own weakness. “Because of me
losing control, I’ve endangered her and not just the risk of turning her. On
our way here, we had an encounter with two demon vamps. I killed them, but they
smelt vampire blood in her and wanted her. If we can’t fix her, she’ll always
be hunted by the Damned, who’ll want to recruit her.”

“Do not allow guilt to weigh you down, my son,”
his mother said behind him. “You were right not to let her die. She did not
deserve death for saving my eldest son’s life. Mariah is strong. Very strong. I
was only able to see inside her mind through a small crack in the wall she
built around her. If she were to turn, she will not be Damned. Her soul is
intact and well-protected. Yes,” she said slowly, “She
is
well-protected.”

“She is still human, right?”

“By all appearances, yes, she is human. I think.”

“You think?” Simon echoed, puzzled, too, at her observation.

“The woman we see is human, but underneath there
is another Mariah, almost as if she is being … contained.”

“Mother, she wears a medallion, one that bears a
protection spell.” Rathe shoved his hands into his jean pockets. “When she was
five, her parents were beheaded, and a gypsy rescued her. She put the medallion
on Mariah, citing it would protect her from the Damned.”

“A witch?”

“Aye. She had black hair and green eyes?”

“Green eyes? Relle Besnik had green eyes.”

“Had?”

“Yes, poor Relle was murdered thirty years ago.”

“By the Damned?”

“No, hunters killed her. Mistook her for a
vampire. Relle was the strongest witch produced by the Sinti and Roma clans — the
Germanic Roma. Who is this woman you’ve found and how is she connected to Relle
Besnik?”

“I am wondering that myself. Since Mariah ingested
my blood, the runes have faded, and she is able to hear people, feel their
emotions ... and has a difficult time tolerating the sun.”

“She couldn’t hear people before she took your
blood?”

“She was able to read emotions, anticipate things,
but not hear them outright.”

“Rathe, there is one possibility to consider.
Perhaps Mariah is dhampir.”

“God, if she is dhampir and was dormant, her
taking my blood has prompted the vampire in her to awaken. She will never be
human again, will she?”

“Sometimes when a dhampir has ingested blood, they
can detox and return to normal. Depending on the strength of will, and clearly
Mariah has spades of it.” She tapped a finger to her lips. “I need to take a
look at it the medallion she wears and read the runes. There could be something
more to her than merely being a dhampir.”

“More?”

“A powerful spell could have been cast on her to
contain her true nature, so she has the option to call upon the vampire in her,
if the need should arise to defend herself.”

Glancing at the stairs, Rathe said to his mother,
“She dreams about Aidan.”

“What?” She looked to Simon and then to him.
“Outside. Mina, you,
too.” When they stood on the front porch, she asked him, “Are they dreams or a
memory?”

“Memory.
She started having them the
day after our blood exchange. There’s more.”

“More?”

“A vampire haunts her nightmares. He talks to her,
and she’s able to speak to him. He wants her to be his.”

“God in Heaven, you
know
who the vampire is
that has a blood bonded with her!”

His worst fear had been confirmed.

“Since Mariah ingested my blood, she is able to
shut him out.”

“That is only temporary. If the runes disappear,
he’ll use the blood bond to find her. She’ll never be safe, and he’ll never
stop until he has her. Her daughter is in danger, too!” Rubbing a shaky hand
across her brow, his mother struggled to stay calm.
“We must send her away
and soon. Do you understand, Rathe?”