Dark Promises

  "We are leaving." Gregori jerked his chin toward Mikhail, and the prince shook his head, a small smile softening his hard features.

  "Andre. Good to see you. I hope to meet your lifemate soon. Raven was very pleased when word came down that you had found Teagan. She is very fond of you."

  "Mikhail." Gregori growled his name, patience gone. "Your enemies are everywhere. We have no idea how close any of those in the monastery are. And we need to get Gary into the ground." He played his trump card, knowing Mikhail was fond of Gary. Fortunately, Gary understood what he was doing and remained silent.

  Mikhail shifted immediately and took to the sky. Gregori waited for Gary's body to shift, staying in his mind, just as Mikhail was. Gary did so with such speed and precision, Gregori found himself wondering just how much of the information the ancients in the Daratrazanoff line had given him the man had already processed. He was "getting it" at an alarming rate of speed.

  Mikhail is correct, Gary, Gregori said. You will do great things for our people, more than you've already done. Hold to your honor, brother. Hold to it and when there is nothing else for you, you will have that.

  I will.

  Two words, but Gregori felt the truth of them. The sincerity. He'd always known. From the moment he'd met Gary, when they walked down the street together in New Orleans, he had known then that this man was connected to him. He shifted and took to the sky, the two Daratrazanoffs doing what they always did, positioning themselves on either side of their prince for the long flight home. They were many, many miles from Romania, where they all resided, and it would take a good part of the night to return.

  Far off, they heard the sound of a rifle. They were too high, in the mist, and the shooter was closer to the lower part of the mountain, but still, all of them knew that was no hunter, but one of the society members eager to make a kill.

  How would they know we are not anything but what we appear? Mikhail asked Andre through their common telepathic path, suddenly worried about the ancients in the monastery.

  Teagan can tune herself to vampires and follow that path straight to their lair, Andre admitted, if a little reluctantly. I believe that is her grandmother with those men and she has the same talent.

  Andre. Teagan breathed his name. Filled it with anguish. A sense that he had betrayed her. You do not know that.

  Teagan, our first duty, always, is to the prince. Without him, our people are lost. His son is still too young to assume the mantle. He is too small to be a vessel for our people. The prince must stay alive or all of us will die and our species will be extinct. Andre did his best to explain to his lifemate.

  Teagan was young. She had been human and he had very recently converted her. She had come to the Carpathian Mountains in search of a particular stone that would help her to "cure" her grandmother's growing insanity. Her grandmother believed in vampires and had gone so far as to order a vampire-hunting kit off the Internet. Her family had tried to convince her to stop talking about them and then sent her to professionals. In the end, Teagan, afraid for her grandmother's sanity, took matters into her own hands and made the trip to the Carpathian Mountains, only to find her grandmother was right and everyone else was wrong.

  The problem was, her grandmother didn't discriminate between a vampire and a Carpathian. She had no idea the dangerous, ruthless people she traveled with.

  Teagan came out of the mist, walking toward him, taking his breath away like she always did when he laid eyes on her. She was beautiful, no doubt about that, but more, she was alive as in alive. She lived life large. Right now, she was very unhappy with him, and there was no misreading that look on her face. With Teagan, what you saw was what you got. She adored her grandmother. Family was all-important to her.

  The danger, Andre decided, of bringing humans into their world, was that it would take a long time for them to realize the importance of protecting the prince and his children. They couldn't understand that one man held the entire future of their species, which made him vulnerable to outside attacks.

  Her grandmother was being used as a pawn, or she was just plain fanatical. If it was the latter, Andre knew he would have to kill her. If he killed her, Teagan would have a difficult time forgiving him. Still, it would have to be done, and lifemates didn't lie to each other.

  "She isn't vicious," Teagan greeted. "She's misled."

  "Regardless, she's with four men, Teagan. Four men who have come here determined to kill us. You. Me. The men in the monastery. She's leading them right to them. We are going to have to stop them."

  "I didn't know you were different when I met you, Andre, and she won't, either. We can casually meet them on the trail and say we've been camping for our honeymoon. Because we've just gotten married, it will seem natural for us to want to be alone, even in the daylight hours." Teagan stepped close, putting her hand on his chest and looking up at him.

  His heart did a slow somersault when he looked down into her eyes. He would give her the world if he could. He wanted to give her this. They'd be walking right into the enemy's camp. He had no doubt that he would have done that on his own, but to bring Teagan along was sheer madness.

  "It is dangerous, sivamet. These people have killed many of us. They find our sleeping places and murder us when we have no way to fight them. They kill the innocent. I doubt they've ever killed a real vampire in their lives. Your grandmother is the one leading them to us, abusing a special gift."

  "But she doesn't know that's what she's doing," Teagan insisted. "She's funny and smart and loves to be snarky, but she wouldn't kill an innocent person. She just doesn't know."

  "Teagan." He said her name gently. Lovingly.

  She shook her head. "Don't. She's my grandmother, Andre."

  She blinked up at him with her dark, chocolate eyes and those luscious eyelashes that never failed to catch his notice. She was pulling out all the stops, and because she was the world to him, he knew he was susceptible. Still. It was dangerous.

  "Even if you were to convince her, Teagan--and I am not saying I will allow you to take that risk--her friends will not care one way or the other. I have seen their kind many times. They will not tolerate different. I am different. You are different. The ancients up in the monastery are different. And they will not come at us at night. They know better. They will strike during the day, when we are vulnerable."

  Andre knew he wasn't convincing her. She loved her Grandma Trixie and she wasn't going to back down over the issue. He took her hand and brought the tips of her fingers to the warmth of his mouth.

  "Csitri." Again he used his voice on her. Soft. Mesmerizing. Loving. Pure silk and velvet with the rasp that always shook her. She wasn't immune to his voice.

  "She's my grandmother. She raised me. Imagine how you would feel, Andre, if you had to even think about killing someone you loved."

  He closed his eyes briefly. He had destroyed several people he cared for. Friends he'd grown up with. Friends who had lost the fight against the darkness in them--darkness Teagan had saved him from.

  "You cannot ever be blinded by love, Teagan. By anything. We will be in danger every moment we are in the company of humans. Unless you can feel the threat, such as we do now, because they are in that mode, you could be right next to a member of the society and not know it."

  "She isn't evil."

  "I did not, at any time, say your grandmother was evil, Teagan." He framed her face with both hands, tipping her head up so she was forced to meet his eyes. "You love her. You want her safe. I will move heaven and earth to accomplish that for you. But, csitri, you have to get what I am saying to you or I cannot have you anywhere near those people. They are dangerous. They would kill you without even thinking twice about it. I have to know you are with me. Me. Your lifemate. Not your grandmother."

  "Can't I be with both of you?" she asked in a small voice.

  He ran his finger down her soft, mocha skin. Beautiful skin. His beautiful empath. "No, sivamet. Not this time. This time we have to g
o into this situation with the knowledge that things could go wrong. If that happens, I have to know I can trust you to have my back--that no matter how difficult, you can accept my decisions."

  Her eyes searched his. He liked that about Teagan. She thought things out for herself. She liked to chatter when she was nervous, something he found he liked far too much, but she was always serious when it was called for. She knew what he meant. She knew her grandmother could be facing a death sentence and he wouldn't hesitate if she stayed with the members of the fanatical society. Still . . . She bit her lip. It was her grandmother. The woman who had raised her.

  Trixie had a difficult life. She had her only child at fifteen. A child raising a child. She loved her daughter with all her heart and poured every waking minute into seeing to her care and education. She wanted her daughter to have everything that she didn't have. She'd named her daughter Sherise and loved her more than anything else. When Sherise fell in love in high school and repeated Trixie's downfall, getting pregnant at sixteen, Trixie loved her through it. Fortunately, Sherise's man loved Sherise and stuck by her, marrying her. They moved in with Trixie.

  Teagan bit her lip nervously. Her grandmother was an extraordinary woman, quite brilliant, and had she had the chance for a good education, in a different place, Teagan knew she would have excelled. As it was, she excelled at making a family. She worked hard until she had enough money to move Sherise, her husband, Terence, the baby and herself into another, much better part of the city. She worked so they could continue their educations.

  Sherise had three daughters eighteen months apart. Terence got his education, a good job as an accountant and they happily raised their girls until he grew fatigued and sick. He died of cancer when he was barely twenty-four years of age. Sherise and her three daughters moved right back in with Trixie and she never once protested having to help her daughter raise more babies.

  "Teagan."

  Teagan closed her eyes. She could barely resist Andre's voice. Not when he said her name like that. A silk and velvet rasp she felt caressing her skin. She leaned into him and pressed her lips to his flat belly, right over his belly button. She loved him. Pure and simple, she loved him.

  "I showed you what my grandmother did for her family in my memories. My mother didn't go near other men for years. And then she met Charles at a place where she worked. He was Caucasian, but it didn't matter to her. She thought they fell in love. She got pregnant with me. After so many years of not being with a man, she finally chose one and he left her the moment he found out."

  She stared at Andre's hard chest. She didn't want to look into his eyes. She knew, when it came to matters of safety, he was implacable. Still, it was her grandmother, and she had to try to make him understand. "She died in my grandmother's arms, Andre. Giving birth to me. She died. My grandmother's only child."

  She traced circles on his chest. "She took us all in. My sisters and me. I was a newborn baby. My father was Caucasian." She finally lifted her eyes to him. "She loved me, Andre, in spite of the fact that her only daughter, her only child, died giving birth to me. I took away her beloved daughter, but she loved me anyway. She's all about family. She loved my sisters. And once again, she worked her butt off so we could have educations. She wanted us to have choices she never had. She gave that to us."

  She was desperate for him to understand. "If you have to do it, you could separate her from them. Take her somewhere safe, like our cave, to give me a chance to explain the difference. She couldn't possibly hurt me with you close by."

  She felt Andre take a deep breath and she knew she had convinced him. He nodded his head. "But, seriously, Teagan. You know me. If I tell you to do something, you do it with no questions."

  That was a total warning and she knew he meant it. She nodded her head, because if she didn't, he wouldn't drop it. She knew him now, inside and out, and there were certain things he didn't give an inch on. In his mind he was making a great concession even taking her along, so she had to give him something back.

  "You will have to trust me that I will look out for you and your grandmother."

  She nodded her head again. She did trust him. There was no doubt in her mind if he gave his word, he would do exactly what he promised. She went up on her toes, her arms going around his neck to bring his head down to hers so she could brush her lips over his. He slanted his mouth over hers and took control of the kiss, sending her stomach plummeting into a roller-coaster dive.

  She loved his kisses. Seriously loved them. His kisses should have been an inspiration for all mankind. They were electric, shooting little charges of white lightning through her veins straight to her sex so all she could think about while she was kissing him was ripping off his clothes. Quite frankly, that part of being Carpathian, the ease of getting in and out of clothes--and stylish boots--was one of the best things ever. That and not having to pay for the clothes and boots. How cool was that?

  "Teagan."

  There it was. Her name. That voice. Curling her toes. She loved that. She just plain loved Andre.

  "Um . . ." She lifted her eyes to his face.

  "Sivamet. When I am kissing you, you might consider forgetting about clothes and boots for a moment. I would prefer your mind was on me."

  She laughed softly. "Andre, a little FYI. My mind is always on you. Let's go before I forget everything but you and leave my grandmother too long hiking on this mountain. I mean, really, what in the world is she doing thinking about hiking and camping in the wild at her age?"

  Andre took Teagan's hand and they walked together away from the gates of the monastery. They were up in the mists and he had no fear of being seen, but already, his warning system was going off. He reached out, this time to one of the ancients inside the monastery, an ancient who had given him blood. It had established a more private telepathic communication between them.

  Fane.

  There was a small silence. Andre wasn't certain whether or not the ancient would answer. All of them within those walls were far too close to turning. He had almost entered that monastery himself. Fane was the acknowledged gatekeeper and that said a lot for his ability to stay in control. He wasn't as far gone as the others.

  I am here.

  Andre flinched a little at the tone. Fane didn't want to communicate with him. None of them did. They needed the distance between others, and now with a woman inside the safety of their gates, they all had to be on edge.

  Two things, and then we will leave this place. A warning to all of you. There is a group of travelers led by a woman--a woman related to my lifemate. She can tune in to us. Lead others straight to us. A gift. Teagan has used hers to find the resting place of vampires. Her grandmother has fallen in with the society members. They have new weapons. Ones that even the playing field when they attack us. They also, with this woman, have the ability to find this place.

  Kill her.

  I hope to avoid that, but if I have no other recourse, then I will.

  Thank you for the warning.

  Andre knew if he didn't kill Teagan's grandmother and she made the mistake of leading the others to the monastery, the ancients would kill her. Sadly, engaging in a battle for any of them where they were forced to take more lives could send them over the edge.

  One more thing. My woman--and you have met her so you know she is genuine--believes she has found a way to bring all of you a little relief and buy you more time. I found her when I gave up. I believe there are human women with psychic abilities who hold the other half of each of your souls.

  Fane was silent again for what seemed a long time. Each of us has searched the world over, down through the centuries, and have not found the woman who would save us. Even as we speak, we are all aware of the rejection by Aleksei's woman. If there is no hope for him, a man of such honor, there is none for the rest of us.

  There is always hope, Fane. I learned that lesson. Teagan taught me that. We have access now to a database of psychic women. We intend to find them before society
members do. They were the ones who put together the database.

  I have been away from the outside world for a very long time, old friend. I do not understand what you mean.

  We have learned that human women with psychic abilities can be lifemates to our males. We believe that Vlad sent those of us out whom he knew to have these women as lifemates in other times so they would not be killed in the wars. He had precog. We all know that. If he knew each of us had a lifemate and we just had to endure until the right time, you know he would have sent us out.

  He felt Fane suddenly come alert. Sending them out to endure until the time their lifemates were born would be something Vlad would do. He had asked for volunteers when he sent the hunters out into other worlds, but he was very specific about others, Andre being one of them. Each of the ancients inside the monastery, he had asked for personally.

  That is so. There was speculation in Fane's voice. And your woman can help us to hold out a little longer.

  We believe so. She has not had the opportunity to try, but she is willing if one of you would allow her.

  Teagan tightened her fingers around Andre's. Fane had also given her blood. He had said they had a strange connection he couldn't explain, but maybe this was it. Maybe she was the one to give him hope as well as bring it to the other ancients. Andre hoped so. The three ancients closest to him--triplets whose family had taken him in when he lost his own--were far too close to the edge. They had gone to the United States and he intended to follow. He hoped Teagan could ease them as well.

  Explain this database. What is it?

  The society compiled names of women with psychic abilities and kept it all in one place. We managed to take it away from them. In the process we discovered that vampires had infiltrated the society . . .

  Vampires would never associate with humans and not destroy them. They do not have that much discipline.

  Fane. They do have it now. Master vampires have been collecting followers--lesser vampires. They use them as pawns. The master vampires formed an alliance in South America and planned to assassinate Mikhail Dubrinsky. They practiced their plan first on the De La Cruz brothers. They are a very big threat to our people now.