She hesitated and then subsided, sinking back onto the ground, accepting Afanasiv's extended wrist. Again, she didn't ingest the blood and Dragomir sent another command, this time with a harder push to distance her from the necessary act. He didn't move until she bent her head and gave in to his order.
It took every bit of discipline he had to cross to the edge of the dirt. He flowed over the soil rather than expending physical energy on walking. He couldn't let the parasites escape to get into the ground. This time, Maksim was waiting to incinerate Vadim's creatures and replenish Dragomir's lost blood.
While Dragomir forced the parasites from his body, pushing the infected blood through his pores, the gathered Carpathians continued singing the lullaby for the baby. They sang of peace and strength, of love for her, urging her to hold on, that they were there for her, waiting for her. He found the song soothing and hoped the baby did as well.
It took a great deal longer to rid his body of the parasites, and he was cognizant of how much effort Andor had expended to shield Dragomir's most vital organs. Maksim incinerated the expelled parasites as they tried to rush for the soil. He was thorough, making certain not even one escaped. Dragomir drank the powerful, ancient blood Maksim offered, then hurried back to Andor's body to allow his spirit to reenter. Both men slumped to the ground. Immediately Nicu and Lojos were there to give them blood.
Gary politely closed the wound on Tariq's wrist. "He's up to something. We're making progress. We've gotten rid of most of the parasites in the bloodstream. He's got a few hiding that we'll have to ferret out, but I can feel his rage, and he's trying to get them to reproduce faster. Fortunately, I think we've got a good deal of the ones able to reproduce. Vadim's pulled back and that's bad for us in terms of getting rid of the parasites."
Dragomir regarded Emeline's pale features. She was lying on top of the soil, her eyes closed, but he could feel her mind trying to assess what was happening to her and the child. "I feel it, too. He'll strike hard when he does."
"No parasite is attacking Emeline's brain or heart," Gary said. "Just the baby's."
"And mine," Dragomir said, frowning. "If he isn't trying to kill Emeline, which doesn't make sense, then the baby must be protected. He'll try to hurt Emeline through the child. Emeline must be protected, as well, because if he can't rid her of the baby, I fear he'll do something else to harm her--maybe try to kill her." That didn't feel right. Even if the baby was gone, he feared Vadim wanted Emeline for some purpose. Not wanted. Needed.
Gary turned his strange eyes on him. Dragomir knew his own eyes were different, as were Ferro's and Sandu's. It hit him then. Gary was truly an ancient with all the knowledge and power of those in the monastery. He had the experiences in battle, the kills of his ancestors, the burdens they took to their graves, all of it. He didn't even have the relief of temptation, those dark whispers to take blood until the rush came. To kill their prey and just feel. Instead, there was--nothing. Like the ancients in the monastery, he lived in a gray void of nothing. He belonged in the brotherhood.
"Take her blood and give her yours," Gary said.
Emeline was about to go through the conversion, and the healer knew it was important to Dragomir to have her last moments as a human be about the two of them. He nodded his thanks and once more took her in his arms, holding her close to him while the healer shed his body.
"It hurts," she said softly, pressing her body close to his, melting into him. "What is it doing to you?"
"I can shut down pain. Stop worrying about me. We still have the conversion to get through." He nuzzled the top of her head, aware of time slipping away from them.
The sound of Carpathians singing the lullaby filled the air with a soothing peace that was a counterbalance to the vicious attacks the few remaining parasites continued on both of them. Despite the urgency, he wanted to just hold her for a moment--to block out all the pain and blood for her and allow her a moment of respite.
He swept back her hair. "You're being so brave, Emeline. I can't imagine what this must feel like for you." For the first time that night, he thought to go into her mind further, to smell and experience what she was feeling. She was wide open to him, without any barriers.
"Don't," she said softly. "Feel what I do when you're holding me. Safe. Cherished. Those are the things I concentrate on, not the rest of it. You're risking everything to save me."
His heart clenched hard in his chest. He leaned down to press his lips against her pulse, feeling her heart beat into his mouth, taking that rhythm into his heart. He touched the spot with his tongue, scraped over it with his teeth. "Sivamet andam. Do you know what that means, sivamet? It means I'm giving you my heart. You are the only one to have it. It is in your keeping for all eternity. I would never take someone's lifemate. I am an ancient and my honor is all I have. All I have to offer you. I know Vadim keeps saying he's the one, but choose me. Make it a choice, Emeline. If you cannot yet feel the ties binding us, make me your choice."
"Every time. With every breath," she said instantly, reaching back to circle his neck with her arm. "You will always be my choice."
"Sielamet andam. I give you my soul. You gave me back light. Hope. You will always be home to me, Emeline. It will never matter to me where we are, as long as we're together." He sank his teeth in her neck, this time, not distancing her. Letting her feel the erotic bite. The flash of pain followed by pure pleasure.
She cried out and then rewarded him with a small moan that told him she was feeling what he wanted her to. Her body moved restlessly over his. Deep inside he felt Vadim hiss his building rage. He was like a snake, coiled and waiting for an opportunity to strike. Dragomir gathered her closer protectively, allowing himself to savor the taste of her blood. Nothing Vadim did could diminish that for him. He would always be addicted to her taste.
You'll never have that again, he whispered on the Carpathian telepathic path. He didn't care that the others heard him taunt the master vampire. An enraged vampire made mistakes. Vadim was not ever getting Emeline in his hands again. He ingested the rest of the parasites. Before she took his blood, he would remove them from his body, so that she would get rich, ancient blood to strengthen both her and the baby.
He brushed a kiss over her pulse and then swept the punctures closed with his tongue. "I will be right back to give you the exchange."
She smiled at him. "They're gone, aren't they? I feel different."
Gary had once again entered her body to help herd the rest of the parasites into Dragomir. He emerged, as grim-faced as ever, but he was triumphant. "They're gone," he stated. His eyes met Dragomir's, reaffirming his conviction that Vadim hadn't put up a hard enough battle at the end. The question was, what was he planning?
Dragomir brushed a kiss over Emeline's forehead and once more made his way back to the edge of the healing grounds. Every step of the way, the parasites bit, scoring his bones and ripping at organs. He forced his body upright, standing tall.
The outside night poured in through the crack deliberately left for the Carpathians to call down lightning, or for each to pull what they needed from the night. Sandu was with him this time, ready to incinerate the vicious creatures attacking his body. Dragomir stared out the crack into the dark. The sliver of moon was beginning to expand, a hot, bright crescent in the sky. Lightning forked, Sandu charging the air.
The slight breeze shifted, touched Dragomir's face as he forced the wiggling, fighting parasites through his pores. He concentrated on making certain not a single one was left behind. Andor aided him, his spirit shining his white-hot light everywhere, so none could hide. He drove them while Dragomir all but shoved them through his pores. He didn't look down at the parasites but rather outward, into the night. He was leading Emeline there. The night would become her world. Their world.
She had chosen him without hesitation. She was ready for the conversion, placing all her trust in him. That humbled him. Lightning zigzagged across the sky and then Sandu directed a sizzling whip straight
at the parasites. Dragomir caught an odd faint scent, something he'd smelled before. There was a hint of conspiracy about it. He leaned toward the crack, moving to one side to get the breeze on his face.
The whip of lightning crashed through the crack. Instead of the precise hit on the parasites, it swung in a wide arc, seeking Dragomir.
7
Sandu leapt out of the way of the whip of lightning. More crashed through the crack, swinging around in the air like sizzling snakes seeking a target. Gary threw his body over Emeline's, taking her to the ground, while the ancients scattered in every direction. Each took a corner, ducking as the lashes bit into the ground, slamming all around Dragomir.
In the midst of the chaos, the parasites had to be watched so that none slipped into the ground. They all knew that the high mage, Xavier, determined to drive the Carpathian people into extinction, had developed microbes to infect the soil and cause miscarriages in the women. They couldn't risk that taint spreading here.
Emeline's cries nearly drove Dragomir mad. Every instinct he had--Carpathian, ancient and lifemate--pressed him to get to her at any cost. To protect her, ease her transition into her new life and protect their child. As he turned toward her, lightning whips lashed all around him, striking the ground, shaking the entire house and healing grounds as they sought him.
Emeline needed his blood. He felt the first pain blossoming in her body, a blowtorch taken to her insides--the start of the conversion. She needed him desperately. They had given her so much Carpathian blood, the transformation was imminent.
Sandu, I must get to Emeline. The lightning strikes are directed at me. You must seize control from Vadim and his spy.
As he sprinted back toward her, Sandu wrested control of one of the wildly flailing whips to incinerate the parasites. Several of the wriggling creatures leapt off the cement wall in an effort to gain the safety of the soil, but Sandu had the presence of mind to dive beneath them so they landed on his body rather than in the earth. The parasites tried to burrow into him, desperate to live, to carry out their master's commands. Sandu kept moving, driving his heels into the dirt and launching himself to the cement barrier. He swept the parasites off his chest and lashed the whip right across them, incinerating them.
Lightning cracked across the healing grounds, running along the ceiling above them, springing out from a main fork to strike at the chanting Carpathians above the grounds. The bright light illuminated the dark, rich soil, so that one could see the minerals sparkling throughout. The whips were nearly blinding, so bright, forcing the Carpathians to cover or close their eyes against the white-hot energy. The moment they did, the whips danced, slapping at the grounds, the upper balcony and all around Dragomir.
Dragomir, using the preternatural speed of his kind, rolled beneath the lightning whips and then dove over them in somersaults that had him back on his feet running. No one could take to the air in molecules; the electrical energy was too strong. Hair stood up all over his body as the whips continued to strike. The ground should have been the deadliest place to be as the arc current spread out in a circle from each strike--and there were dozens of them--but instead, the ground itself was protected.
When he was nearly to his goal, the whips went into a frenzy, slamming all around him, making it very clear that he was the target. He hesitated for a moment, continuing to time the strikes, dodging them, testing as he inched closer to Emeline. Sparks rose over and over from the healing grounds as lightning struck, but it couldn't arc through it, spreading out to do more destruction, because powerful safeguards protected the healing earth.
As he neared her, the strikes lessened and came at him from behind or sideways. Not one hit near where she lay, the healer's body stretched over hers, his hands plunged into the soil, aiding the safeguards. Andor and Ferro were on either side of her, their bodies, and the safeguards woven with Gary, protecting her from harm.
They couldn't protect her from the conversion. The three men tried to lessen it for her, hoping to keep the baby from letting go, but Emeline needed Dragomir--her lifemate. That bond had forever sealed them together. A woman could go through the conversion without her lifemate, but he knew it would be much more difficult for her.
He knew the exact moment Tariq and the healer made the decision to strike back at Vadim. He knew it was the combination of the two; no Carpathian could fail to recognize the decisive Daratrazanoff touch. Even as he shielded Emeline, Gary wove his power with Tariq's and the two struck at the wielder of the lightning. As they did so, Sandu took back complete control of the whips of lightning. It was a three-pronged attack, the two ancients' strike concentrated, and unexpected, not one hint of their communication with each other spilling out. That told Dragomir that Tariq and Gary had a past connection he knew nothing of.
The moment Sandu had the lightning back under his control, Dragomir was on the ground beside Emeline, dragging her into his arms almost before the other ancients could relinquish their guardianship positions. "I'm here," he said, stroking back her hair. "Look only at me, Emeline. I will not leave you or the child." He caught her chin and forced her head around, away from the display of power and into his eyes. "Look only at me, sivamet."
She reached out to trace the road map of scars on his rugged face. She had first thought him striking but too rugged to be considered handsome. Now, she looked at him and found him gorgeous, the best-looking man she'd ever met. More, he was just plain the best of the best of men. She let herself fall into that hot, liquid golden pool of his gaze. It should have burned, but instead she felt cleansed. She had been tainted by evil for so long she hadn't thought she could ever feel this way again.
She stroked his face, traced one of the many scars, her touch loving, but she couldn't help it. He'd given her back more than just her life. He'd given her courage. He'd given her hope. Somehow, despite her looking her absolute worst, despite evil permeating her body, Dragomir still had seen her--the person under all of that.
"I am falling in love with you so fast," she murmured. "I don't want to do that to you, and there aren't any strings, but just know it's there. It's so deep inside me now, so much love for you." She ignored the fiery pain bursting through her body. She could do that because she was melting into all that glittering gold. Because his arms were around her and his chest pressed tight against her body. Because he was Dragomir and always standing for her. She had to give him the truth. "I've never felt like this before, given my heart to someone. So much love, so many threads binding us together, it's terrifying and beautiful at the same time."
It was a confession, one of love growing deeper by the moment. She truly didn't want him to feel obligated to love her back, but she was so tied to him now, she wasn't altogether certain how she would survive his leaving her.
"I want the strings," Dragomir murmured, reaching down to trace a line along the heavy muscle of his chest. "As many as possible. You are the only one, sivamet. Your heart is safe with me. Feed now. My blood is clean. I am an ancient and strong. This will get you and our baby through the conversion safely." He paid no attention to the chaos that had been going on just moments earlier. She was his entire focus. He was in her mind and could feel the beginnings of the change in both her and the baby.
He cradled the back of her head in his palm and pressed her forward until her mouth was against his chest, even as he distanced her from what she was doing. She was still aware, but he took all human abhorrence from her so she only saw the beauty. Only tasted the essence that was Dragomir. His blood ultimately was hers. His body was hers. Everything he was belonged to her.
He felt the first tentative touch of her tongue. His body reacted unexpectedly, a strong, hard jerk as if waking from a long sleep. He'd had that reaction before, but this was even stronger, more urgent. The first caress of her tongue sent a burst of pleasure rushing through him. Her declaration of love sank into his bones, wrapped around his heart and pierced his soul like an arrow, settling there for all time.
He wrapp
ed his arms around her tightly, holding her to him, throwing his head back as she drew more and more of the ancient blood from him. He felt the rush in her as the blood hit her system, as it flooded her organs and moved through the placenta to the baby. Even as his blood gave her strength, it swept through both mother and child, fueling already saturated organs to speed up the change.
You know me now, he said to the child. Please accept this offering of my blood to make you strong. I offer it with my protection and this promise--to cherish you, to love you, to always protect you. Be strong for us, for your mother and me. Once the conversion is complete, you will both, mother and daughter, be wholly in our world. You will always be my daughter, close to my heart. Be strong, little one. Stay very strong and know I am with you. The healer will be with you. Listen to the song our people sing to you. It is for you, all of them helping you to hold on. All of our people waiting to meet you when you come to us whole and healthy.
In response, he felt a faint flutter in his mind, as if the baby had reached out for him, trying to connect back. At the same time, just as he could feel Emeline's pain, now he could feel the child's. Healer. The baby.
Gary immediately shed his body and entered Emeline's to help ease the baby's transition into their world. Dragomir had lost count of the times Gary had given blood or shed his body to fight for the child against Vadim's attacks. The man had to be immensely strong to continue, but Dragomir believed in him now. The healer was a Daratrazanoff through and through, willing to pay the ultimate price if necessary to save the child. Dragomir would always be indebted to him.
The chanting around them continued. Half the Carpathians sang the lullaby and the other the healing song, all in the language of the ancients. The Carpathian hunters had regrouped and were now surrounding Emeline and Dragomir, shouldering the pain as much as each of them could to help ease the mother and child into their world.
Dragomir monitored them closely. He knew the moment he had to stop Emeline from taking more blood. He would never forget that soul-destroying second in time when she transitioned from feeling him, his love, his caring, building that addiction to his taste, the pleasure great enough to drown out the alarming and painful changes in her body, to pure pain. Nothing but pain.