Blood Father

  She smiled faintly. “Of course…always…I just meant…” Her voice trailed off, and she drew back to appraise him more thoroughly. “Why are you here?” she asked him bluntly, her voice rising with curiosity. “I mean, shouldn’t you be with your father and your brothers? Your in-laws? This is a rare and precious moment, Kagen. It has been 480 years. You should not be away from Keitaro.”

  Kagen sank down into a squat so that he was practically kneeling in front of her, their gazes meeting at eye level. “You are a rare and precious gift, Arielle. This moment is divine to me. And I should not be away from your side.”

  She inhaled sharply, her resplendent eyes narrowing with censure. “Kagen…”

  He reached out and tilted her head up by the chin, his fingers trailing softly along her jaw. “You do know, Arielle, that the time for objections has passed. You are my destiny. My heart. My life. My desire to know you and to please you, to see to your comfort, is greater than any other concern right now. I cannot stay away, not a moment longer, not even if you ask me to. We need to…talk. We need to reconnect. To begin to work through this blessing…and this Curse.” If Kagen hadn’t known better, he would have sworn that the look in her eyes was one of subtle fear as well as hesitation. Arielle felt like a trapped animal, and the realization stung him as much as it broke his heart.

  They had made such inroads in Mhier.

  However small, however brief, their connection had been powerful, intimate, and real. He ran his hands gently along the outline of her shoulders, then up and down her arms, as if to quell a chill. “Talk to me, sweeting. Please.”

  Arielle blinked back moisture from her eyes and pursed her lips. Her eyes darted around the room nervously, taking in the furniture, the décor, the architecture—anything but him—before she reluctantly met his eyes. “Throughout the years…in Mhier…times I spoke with your father, he told me about this land, about Dark Moon Vale and the Blood Moon. He told me about the Curse and all that it entails: the conversion, the sacrifice, the…pairing.” She cleared her throat several times, even though there was nothing wrong with her voice. “I will…try…to comply, Kagen.” She steadied her resolve and repeated the words with more insistence, with forced determination. “I will comply—I give you my word.” She looked off into the distance then, staring out the window. “I will not let you die, Kagen. I owe you my life; and I could not do that to Keitaro.”

  This time, Kagen cleared his throat. He hung his head and raised his brows. “I see.” He stood up then and took a few paces away, moving closer to the window, in order to give her some space. “First of all, to be clear: You owe me nothing, Arielle. But I thank you. And I am truly grateful.” He smiled, his voice settling into a patient but challenging tone. “When you say you will comply: Do you mean the way you complied near the shallow ravine in Mhier, the night you kissed me with such passion and abandon, beneath the Mhieridian moon and stars? The night you thought I was compelling you, when I wasn’t? Is that the compliance you speak of?” He turned to face her and tilted his head. “Or are you referring to later, that same night, when you asked me to hold you in my arms, the night you cried so many unshed tears? Was that, too, a form of compliance? Did you open your heart to me for our father? Or for Arielle?”

  Arielle seemed to wilt where she sat. “As always, you are so direct. That was different, healer.”

  “Healer?”

  “Kagen.” She shut her eyes. “That was different, Kagen.”

  “How so?”

  She shrugged, placing her hands in her lap. “We were in a different place. It was a different time. There was so much going on, and I was so afraid for you and your brothers, for Keitaro, for—”

  “No.” He placed his finger over his lips to stop her—they could not go forward with untruths. “You were afraid to risk your heart—or your love—to lose either one to a male who might abuse you. You were afraid to give yourself to a vampire who was sworn to a destiny other than you, to a woman chosen by the gods.” He held her gaze in an unforgiving stare. “You forget, I was there, sweeting. You were afraid to give yourself to me because you feared I would leave you, abandon you, when the affair was over. You told me quite plainly: You were afraid of being hurt.” He spoke with deep conviction. “Arielle Nightsong, if you have heard nothing I have ever said to you, hear this now: You are my chosen destiny. You are that rare, priceless gift bestowed upon me by the gods. You. And I am grateful beyond measure—I cannot regret this fate—because I wanted you the moment I first saw you; I could not conceive of giving my heart to any other woman; and now, I will never have to.” He took several steps toward her, linked his hands beneath her arms, and gently lifted her out of the chair. As a large section of her robe slid down her shoulder to reveal her flawless skin, he bent to place as gentle a kiss as he could on the exposed flesh and then he nuzzled her neck, just below her ear. Trying to restrain his passion, he drew back. “What we share is not an affair. What I will give you will be more than you ever imagined: my love, my loyalty, my commitment. The promise you required is right here—it is yours for the taking, for always…for eternity.” He tilted his head to the side to gain her full attention. “Look at me, Arielle.”

  She met his gaze with reticent trust.

  “I will not hurt you. I will not leave you. I will not abuse you…ever. You have nothing to fear.”

  Arielle swallowed so hard Kagen felt the vibration deep in his own throat. She grasped the fallen corner of her robe, slid it back over her shoulder, and wriggled out from beneath his arms. “I…I…” She seemed too flustered to form coherent words. She burrowed her face in her hands and struggled to breath. “I remember the first night in the cave.” Raised goose bumps appeared on her arms. “I know what you can do to me…what you can make me feel…if you want to. I also know how territorial and possessive you can be when you are provoked.” She peeled her hands away from her face and peered up at him. “And it isn’t even that.” She seemed so unsettled. “It’s just…it’s just…”

  “It’s just what?”

  She huffed in exasperation, as if she were unable to find the right words.

  “Shh, sweeting,” Kagen implored. He smiled lovingly and slowly backed away in a demonstration of respect and good faith. “I am all those things and more: territorial, passionate, perhaps even domineering at times. I am Vampyr. But even the most primitive of instincts can be tempered with love. You are right when you say, That isn’t it… That isn’t what troubles you so deeply. It’s just that you’re completely overwhelmed. You’re scared out of your wits. Not only by me, but by the entire idea of the Curse, the conversion, the sudden reality of a family, something you’ve never really had…and perhaps even of bearing a child…so soon.” He felt more than just a little empathy for her situation. “You have no idea where you are or whether you can even adapt to a world such as ours.” He pointed at the modern, solar-powered clock hanging on the wall, and the digital, cordless phone resting on the nightstand. “You have no idea what many of these things are, and you feel lost without your familiar surroundings, your usual routine, your rebel family. By all the gods, you are grieving the loss of everything—and everyone—you ever knew, no matter how hard and desolate life might have been in the world of the lycan. But you are not alone in this experience. Both Princess Vanya and Princess Ciopori have stood in your shoes. They’ve been where you are, and they will gladly help you make the transition.” He held out his hands, palms facing up. “Arielle, we will take it one moment, one step, one touch at a time. I will teach you all there is to know about this modern world, and it won’t be hard for you to learn because I can simply transfer my memories, impart my knowledge, into your mind, as if it were your own. But more important, we will ease into…us…together. I will ask nothing from you that you are not ready to give. I will take nothing from you that you are not willing to concede.”

  Arielle nodded with appreciation, and then she stared into his eyes as if trying to gauge his next reaction. “And w
hat if I’m not ready…in time?”

  He smiled warmly then. “You are my true destiny. There is much between us that cannot be explained. There always has been.” He slowly nodded his head. “You will be ready—I’m not worried about that.” He walked toward the door, bent over, and picked up the small blue duffle bag, unzipping it with one fluid stroke of his hand. He reached inside to retrieve a simple but elegant garment. “Now then, this is a bathing suit—you can wear it under your clothes.” He reached back into the bag to retrieve a rugged pair of shoes. “These are hiking boots. The tread helps stabilize your footing on uneven terrain.” He reached into the bag one last time and pulled out a pair of khaki pants and a warm, long-sleeve shirt. “And this is supposed to be a comfortable outfit for exploring. Jocelyn, Nathaniel’s mate, packed it for you. You two are about the same size.” He flashed a hopeful, entreating smile. “Get dressed, get your bow, and I’ll be back for you in five minutes.”

  She furrowed her brow in curiosity. “Where are we going?”

  “Someplace more familiar, more comforting.” He walked to the window and pointed at the top of a nearby mountain. “There’s a natural hot springs just beyond that peak. The water is decadent; the scenery is breathtaking; and you can hear dozens of birds singing in the trees. You can feel every subtle shift in the breeze and smell over a dozen scents of pine. I don’t live in the city or the local town, Arielle. The world you knew in Mhier is much like the world I embrace on earth. Let me show you my world. Let me take you someplace familiar, and we will talk and get to know one another better…at our own pace.”

  “And what about your father?” she asked, sincerely.

  “Keitaro is well and truly healed. He will still need to build up strength and acclimate to a whole new life, free of captivity, but he is no longer in danger of dying. While I want nothing more than to see the two of you reunited, my greatest desire is to bridge this gap between us right now. Come. Spend the afternoon with me, and later, we will visit Father together, once our own bond has been mended.” He left out the fact that these were also Keitaro’s orders.

  Arielle raised her eyebrows. “And why do I need my bow?”

  Kagen smiled impishly then. “When was the last time you felt safe without it?”

  Arielle paused to consider his words. “I guess…never.”

  Kagen nodded. “Exactly. Besides, you and that weapon are like one fluid entity. Perhaps I can show you where the rivers meet in Dark Moon Vale, much like they converge in Mhier, and you can teach me how to hit a target at one hundred yards, on the first try.”

  Arielle shook her head and rolled her beautiful eyes playfully.

  And then she did the most wondrous thing of all…

  She smiled with abandon.

  twenty-seven

  Arielle held her fingers in front of her face and peered down her nose at the shriveled skin and ghastly white flesh. “My hands are turning into prunes.”

  Kagen clasped one of the outstretched hands in his own and gently kissed the center of Arielle’s palm, causing goose bumps to rise on her arms. “Mmm, your hands are beautiful.”

  She snatched it away and laughed, making light of the ever-persistent advances of the amorous vampire. By all the ancestors, Kagen Silivasi had to be the most affectionate, tenacious, and let’s face it, utterly distracting male she had ever known. He was worse than a badger when it came to his tenacity, far more focused than a hawk, and way more enthralling than a serpent.

  And way, way more convincing.

  She bit her lip, sank down into the hot, bubbling pool, and tried to mask her rising intrigue, her growing contentment in his presence.

  Kagen had started the afternoon by taking her to a beautiful outdoor cathedral. It had been magnificent, gloriously inspired, with an enormous, rushing waterfall and a peaceful, rolling river. He had shown her a den of red foxes and pointed out where a cougar had made his home last winter, all of which had made her feel more at home in Dark Moon Vale and more at ease in her new surroundings. He had challenged her to several games of skill, catching trout in the local river with nothing more than a homemade spear, and tossing rocks with a slingshot at pine cones lobbed into the air, the latter being a game she was sure he had let her win on purpose. After all, as a vampire, his aim, speed, and accuracy were far superior to hers. Just the same, his easy, playful nature had gone a long way toward breaking down her walls and making her feel more at home.

  But what had really touched her heart was when he had stopped to point out several native healing herbs growing wild in the vale: He had shown her three types of sage intrinsic to the Rocky Mountains, and he had gone on to explain how the plants were used internally to treat inflammation, how they were used externally as a compress for wounds. He had taken her to his own personal herb garden, the one he had planted behind the clinic; and he had helped her pick peppermint, elder, and yarrow, all the while describing how the medicine was extracted into tinctures, or mixed into herbal teas, in order to treat fevers in the human population. He had explained how he used his garden to assist the few loyal families that had served the Vampyr for generations, the ones who still lived in the valley today. And he had listened attentively to Arielle’s own ruminations about the plants, poultices, and ointments she had often used in Mhier.

  He had commented on their similarities or differences, adding his immense, almost mind-blowing repertoire of medicine and history to her current understanding, and then, to her great delight, he had begun to explain the basics of modern pharmaceuticals: how compounds, bacteria, and molds were secreted from plants or grown in labs, how they were chemically synthesized into antibiotics or other medications. He had complimented her on her vast array of knowledge and shown an amazing willingness to share as much information as she cared to learn with the naturalistic healer, to add to the base of her already extensive cache of knowledge.

  Arielle had to admit, the idea of being able to absorb Kagen’s memories, once she was converted, was beyond her wildest dreams. While she was too terrified to even think about the possibility of conversion at this point, the idea that the Ancient Master Healer could simply transfer all that information about medicine, all that information about healing herbs and plants, into her mind through a free-flowing stream of thought was intriguing to say the least. She was already relieved to learn that she could simply absorb his familiarity with modern household appliances, the automobile, and even that funny-looking silver thing he called a laptop, without having to spend a century learning about modern technology. The prospect of acquiring his mental medical library, along with a thousand years of proficiency, gained through systematic trial and error, was virtually intoxicating in its allure. And when Kagen had mentioned the possibility of Arielle taking over his human patients, those rare human loyalists who so willingly served the Vampyr, Arielle had nearly shed a tear. It was her dream, reawakened. But more so, it was the highest compliment she had ever received: Kagen took his duty to the human servants very seriously. He was bound by a deep sense of ethics to care for them—and to care for them well. Trusting Arielle with such an important responsibility showed an enormous amount of faith, honor, and respect.

  Granted, there was a lot more to being an Ancient Master Healer than knowledge. Kagen possessed far more than book-learning and technical skill: He had spent four hundred years at the Romanian University, honing his craft, and nearly nine centuries, in total, becoming adept at every skill. She would be a novice, even with the knowledge he imparted. Still, she had spent her life trying to help humans in Mhier—perhaps the learning curve would not be so bad. The point was: Kagen Silivasi had managed to make Arielle feel important, needed, like there was a sacred world they shared, neither Dark Moon Vale nor Mhier, but a magical place, somewhere between the two, where visions could be realized, dreams could be lived, and the future could be so much more than it had ever been before. Perhaps there was more for Arielle than just hiding, rebelling, and surviving…

  Perhaps there was an
enchanted world all around her, just waiting to be embraced.

  And at every turn, with every word, sentence, or gesture, he had punctuated his promises with a stolen glance, one that spoke of something so intimate; a gentle touch, one that spoke of something so passionate; or a feather-light kiss, one placed so softly on the back of her hand, pressed so lovingly on the top of her head, or planted so tenderly against the rise of her shoulder that it touched her heart and stirred her soul, reverberated in a place she didn’t even know she had.

  Arielle had been caught off guard by the depth of Kagen’s kindness and his gentle spirit. By the sincerity in his words, the interest in his eyes, and the conviction in his heart. It seemed implausible—if not impossible—that this strange Curse, this bizarre fate, chosen so long ago by the celestial gods, could truly be that profound…or real.

  Yet here it was.

  Front and center…

  Staring right back at her in a pair of the most stunning liquid-brown eyes she had ever seen: the truth of her purpose, her past, and her future. And all of it was wrapped up in the flesh-and-bone package of one powerful vampire.

  Kagen Silivasi.

  She arched her back against a soothing stream of natural jets and sighed. “This really is an amazing place,” she whispered. She glanced around the outdoor theatre, watching as the sun finally dipped beneath the horizon and the sky settled into a deep, sparkling blue. “Is it safe here at night?”

  Kagen paused before speaking, as if carefully considering his words. “That’s a somewhat layered question.” He laid his head back against a smooth, polished stone, the indentation fitting his form like a pillow, and a lock of his thick brown hair swayed gently in the water. “We are safe in as much as Dark Moon Vale is ever safe, considering our many enemies.” He turned to meet her gaze. “But don’t be alarmed. I can assure you, there is at least one warrior fairly close at hand—the guardian angels are out in force this night. The forest is not empty.”