Dark Curse 19

by Christine Feehan

  She was lying. Looking him right in the eye and lying her pretty little butt off. She had no experience with men. And she couldn't stop blushing every time she looked at him. The smile started in his mind and

  spread to his lips. Genuine. Spontaneous. A miracle in itself that he could smile-that he had a reason for smiling.

  Nicolas wanted to carry her off to his lair and keep her to himself for a year or two, learning every detail about her. Desire rose sharp and painful. He kept his face without expression. «I do not believe anyone has ever said I talk sweet or that I am syrup in all the years of my existence.»

  She gave a little undignified snort. «Maybe not, but I'll bet they called you a lady's man.»

  «I am a Carpathian hunter of great skill but I am certain I will have the necessary skills to become your mate.»

  She choked and turned away from him, stomping into the inn, her shoulders stiff. Nicolas moved in behind her, very close, aware as they entered that men turned to look at her. She was striking with her skin and hair, the glow many Carpathian women had, a sort of luminous quality combined with a fluid sexy walk that drew the eye. He flashed a message, letting them know without words that she belonged to him. Black eyes carried death as he looked directly at each man to emphasize the point. They looked away from her and two actually left, telling him the vibes he was sending out were just a little too strong. He was going to have to learn to manage his newfound emotions.

  Nicolas followed her up the stairs to one of the rooms, taking the stairs two at a time. She reached for the doorknob. Nicolas's hand was there before hers. He inserted his larger body smoothly between her and the room.

  «I will go in first.» He had already scanned the room. Two unknown human males and Mikhail, prince of his people. Still, even with the prince, he wasn't about to take any chances on her safety. He scented vampire blood.

  «It's my room,» she objected, shocked at how smoothly, how easily he had taken over.

  His black eyes moved over her face. «Yes it is and you seem to have a surplus of male visitors.»

  He didn't wait for an answer, but pushed open the door, ignoring her outraged little squeak. Mikhail had been fully aware of his arrival, his gaze shooting past him, but Nicolas's much larger body blocked the doorway, preventing Lara from entering. Nicolas took in the scene, the man writhing in pain on the bed. A second man holding his shoulders in hopes to calm him while the prince seemed to be attempting to heal the injuries of the male on the bed. Nicolas stepped aside to allow his lifemate entrance.

  «Nicolas,» Mikhail stepped forward to clasp both his arms in the traditional greeting of respect and honor between warriors. «It is good to see you.» He didn't show the worry he had to be feeling that Nicolas De La Cruz had traveled personally from South America to bring him news. He understood that news couldn't be good or word would have been sent through the chain of Carpathians to their homeland.

  «I bring greetings from Zacarias as well as my other brothers. I hope you and your woman are well.»

  Mikhail nodded. «I sensed a disturbance earlier.»

  Nicolas didn't change expression, nor did he look away. Of course Mikhail had sensed a disturbance. Nicolas had been close enough to turning that he had nearly taken his own lifemate's life. Fortunately, she had a knife and hadn't hesitated to use it. The blood was gone from Nicolas's shirt, but Mikhail wouldn't be easily fooled.

  Nicolas turned to his lifemate. «Mikhail Dubrinsky is the prince of the Carpathian people,» Nicolas explained to her before turning back to his prince. «Mikhail, this isavio palafertiil .» He put unmistakable possession in his voice even as he rested his hand on the small of her back.

  Mikhail bowed slightly from the waist. «I am pleased to meet your lifemate, Nicolas, but what is her name?»

  «Her name?» For the first time Nicolas looked bewildered.

  «She does have a name, doesn't she?» Mikhail asked, clearly amused.

  Nicolas looked down at the bright burst of red-gold hair and those brilliant jeweled green eyes. «What is your name?»

  «You tied us together and you don't even know my name,» she scoffed, trying to ignore the scent of tainted, rotted blood in the room. «You're absolutely crazy, you know that? It's Lara. Lara Calladine. And you?» Her heart was pounding too hard, knowing her life had changed forever. She couldn't think about it yet, keeping emotion light until she had time to assimilate what had happened and what she could do about it.

  His slow smile nearly melted her on the spot, a distraction when the room felt «off» to her.

  «Nicolas De La Cruz.»

  «You're Carpathian.» She made it a statement, looking from one man to the other. «You both are.» It was difficult to be conversing when she found herself shivering with cold, a little disoriented and slightly sick.

  «As are you,» Nicolas replied.

  Lara shook her head. «Part, but not all.»

  His eyebrow shot up. «You are of the Dragonseeker lineage. No one could ever mistake your features or your eyes for anything else.»

  Her heart leapt. «Then you know my aunts? Have you news of them?»

  Nicolas wanted to give her good news. The joy and hope on her face was astonishing. «I am sorry, palafertiil , I know only Dominic as full Dragonseeker. There are two females, Natalya, Vikirnoff's lifemate, as well as my brother's lifemate, Colby, who carry Dragonseeker blood. It is a great lineage and one of the most revered in our history.»

  Lara looked to Mikhail. «Have you heard of my aunts?»

  Mikhail shook his head. «I am sorry. I do not know which aunts you speak of. There are no full-blooded women in the Dragonseeker line. Rhiannon was the last and she is lost to us. How are you related?»

  She opened her mouth and closed it abruptly. She was part mage. She knew the story of Rhiannon, the last daughter of the Dragonseeker lineage. She had been the lifemate of a great warrior who had been murdered by Xavier, the high mage. Xavier had kept Rhiannon prisoner and alive, forcing her to give birth to his children. The triplets Soren, Tatijana and Branislava were born of the unholy union. Soren had

  escaped into the world and joined with a human woman. He had two children, Razvan and Natalya. Lara's father was Razvan. She was a direct descendent of the Carpathian's worst enemy, the man who had betrayed their trust and started a war that ultimately had led to the near extinction of mage and Carpathian alike. Her mother had been mage, so mage blood ran strong in her, along with the Dragonseeker blood.

  Lara shifted her gaze to Terry, who lay on the bed moaning and rocking back and forth. She forced herself to look at him when she wanted to run. She had seen young mages who had been deliberately injected with the parasites rotting from the inside out. The scent of death was already oozing from his pores.

  She cleared her throat. «Were you able to clear his blood of the parasites?»

  Terry's body jerked and he focused on her face. «Lara. You're back. It hurts like hell. What do you mean parasites?»

  «The right leg is easy enough,» Mikhail said out loud, «but the left is giving me a few problems.» He glanced toward Nicolas, using the common telepathic path used by the Carpathian people.She did not answer my question .

  Lara stiffened. They were communicating on the path her aunts used with her. She had always thought that there had been a chance she made the aunts up. That the trauma of her childhood had produced a break and she had created an imaginary world for herself, but there was no way the prince and Nicolas could communicate on thatexact band.

  She is not here to be interrogated. Nicolas's tone was mild, but he shifted subtly, placing his body between Lara and the prince.

  A flicker of amusement showed in Mikhail's eyes and then was gone as he turned back to the writhing man on the bed.

  «He pulled the snake head out before I could stop him. The snake's fangs are curved with barbs at the ends. I think the barbs carry the venom and when he ripped them loose, he allowed the poison to pour into his system.» She glanced toward Nicola
s and used their private mental path.It seems a little rude to be discussing me when I'm standing right here, but thanks for sticking up for me .

  Mikhail's head snapped around, his black eyes glittering. Lara drew in her breath. She hadn't spoken telepathically to anyone but the aunts in years and she'd been sloppy, allowing the channel of energy to spill over enough to warn Mikhail she was speaking with Nicolas. Annoyed with herself, she bit her lip hard, reminding herself to stay quiet and blend in. One could hide in plain sight if they were adept enough at it.

  «Terry, don't worry, we'll be able to make you feel better,» Lara assured, still avoiding looking directly at him. She had to go to him at least and hold his hand. What sort of friend was she? She steeled herself, stiffening her spine.

  The sight of him writhing in pain triggered memories of her childhood. Healthy, living blood smelled like life, sweet and flowing. Death brought a metallic tang. But tainted blood was rotting, putrid, the stench offensive and sickening. She couldn't get away from the smell, even with all the little tricks her aunts had taught her.

  She made a move to get around Nicolas to go to the man on the bed, but Nicolas seemed to move with her, shifting almost imperceptibly. Lara didn't catch how he did it, but when she tried a second time, his solid mass continued to block her way.

  «Mikhail and I will do what we can to heal your friend, but you need to stay back until we know what we are dealing with.»

  Lara opened her mouth to protest, but closed it without speaking. His voice was low, so low she doubted if either Terry or Gerald caught what he said, but there was a tone there, one of complete command. He was enormously strong and she didn't know what powers he had, but she sensed danger. Now, in front of so many others, wasn't the time to test him or his resolve. It would mean pitting herself against him openly, and the aunts had drilled into her not to draw attention to herself. The few times she had done so in the past, she'd met with disastrous results. She let her breath out in a small hiss between her teeth. In the end, she might feel guilty for using the ready excuse, but the blood on the bed sickened her. She allowed Nicolas to dictate to her.

  Nicolas kept his smile to himself. She thought she was hiding her displeasure, but her hair swirled with bands of color, red and blond streaks. The red came out when she was upset or angry and right now her hair was streaked with flame. The color of her eyes had gone from green to glacier blue, glittering like ice at him, but she said nothing, simply stepped back as if she was obedient and sweet.

  He bent over the mutilated ankle. There was nothing sweet about his woman. She might hide her true nature from the others, but she was a little tigress with claws and fangs, ready to do battle when situations warranted. His life had gone from barren and gray to exciting in the blink of an eye. Her reaction to his high-handedness made him want to find something else to do to make her hair crackle and her eyes glow at him.

  There were masses of parasites in Terry's system and Nicolas frowned as he focused on the clogged blood. He glanced at Mikhail.Have you ever seen anything like this before ?

  Not to this extent. I have sent for Gregori. He is our greatest healer and is this man's only chance at survival intact.Mikhail glanced back at Lara, deliberately including her in the conversation.I am sorry. I know he is a friend of yours .

  Lara's stomach knotted. She pressed a hand to it. This was her fault. She had taken Terry and Gerald with her to find the cave, because she hadn't thought it was real. She had begun to doubt herself. Somewhere deep inside, she had suspected the cave might really be there when she had first gone for a permit after studying the mountain's geology. There had been an excitement she couldn't suppress and she should have known she was on the right track. If she had believed in herself more she wouldn't have exposed her friends to such danger.Can you save him ?

  It wasn't that Mikhail and Nicolas exchanged a look, both were bent over Terry's ankle, examining the wound, but she felt something pass between them. It wasn't words, not even on a private telepathic path, because Nicolas was keeping his mind open to hers.

  Vapor poured through the open window, a steady stream of white mist filling the room. At once the air was electrified. Lara felt the hair on the back of her neck rise. She stepped back, away from the window toward the door. She shouldn't have worried, Nicolas was there immediately, inserting his body between her and the mist and for once, she wasn't offended. She wanted nothing to do with whatever was coming in through the open window.

  Energy was something a mage learned to manipulate from birth. She had seen many young mages working on using whatever was available to them for simple or complex tasks. In the years of observing studies and experiments, she rarely had felt the amount of energy pouring into a room, and never had power been seeking another like a magnet and surrounding that one person as it was now. The vapor continued to stack into the shape of a large, transparent man, but the energy raced toward the prince, seeking him out, bathing him in large waves-giving him untold power.

  Nicolas, Terry and Gerald didn't seem to notice anything at all. Maybe it was just that she'd always been sensitive to the presence of energy because, as a child, it had been her warning that she was about to be dragged from her chamber and her flesh torn, her blood consumed. She shivered, feeling queasy.

  Pressing a hand to her rolling stomach, she backed away from the prince and the man shimmering with transparency. Her skin crawled. Her wrists burned. She felt the sensation of spiders crawling over her skin. Lara brushed them away, coming up against the wall. The temperature in the room dropped significantly and she couldn't stop shivering with cold.

  The stranger swung around to look at her, his eyes slashing steel. «Dragonseeker,» he said aloud. «The blood runs strong in her.»

  Bile rose. She choked, barely able to drag in enough air. The walls of the room undulated, curved, formed tunnels, thick and blue around her.

  «Gregori, we do not have much time,» Mikhail said.

  Fear became a monster, blossoming, growing, building inside her until she could barely see straight. She floor shifted under her feet. So much power. The scent of decayed blood so strong. The man on the bed was beyond screaming now, moaning continuously.

  Gregori nodded, but those silver eyes continued to bore into Lara, shredding her guards, her very carefully placed shields, seeing right through her to reveal every one of her secrets.You have much power running through your veins .

  Her body jerked, her mind flinching away from the invasion. Those light, piercing eyes. She had seen eyes that color on only one other person. Fear shook her. For one moment his face wavered, and she found herself staring at a different face, one all too familiar from her nightmares. Gasping, she whirled around, seeking a way out, but the cold ice walls were too thick to penetrate. She was trapped. Her wrist throbbed and burned.

  Lara? What is it? Nicolas stepped toward her.

  Stay out of my head! Not only did she reject the contact, she threw him out of her mind, slamming a barrier hard and fast, gathering the energy in the room around her like a protective cloak. Her hands rose, an automatic gesture of protection, weaving fast with astonishing expertise.

  Wall of light. Shield of gold. Rise up now. Come forth, come hold. Protect using knowledge deep within, meant to protect and abate the sin. Let not the demons from the past, continue harvesting, let them fast.

  Thunder roared, shaking the room. A solid wave of light and red-orange flames burst from the barrier of pure energy.

  Look out! Nicolas called out the warning, throwing his body in front of Mikhail.

  Gregori was already in motion, diving across the room to cover the prince.

  Light banded and flashed in waves, bursting into bright rockets, hot flames a towering wall of red-orange, nearly blinding them. The men threw up their arms to shield their eyes. The wall of energy hit all three Carpathian males with the force of a freight train, tossing them as if they were no more than bits of flotsam on the waves of the raging sea.

  Gregori an
d Nicolas took the brunt of the energy, both absorbing it rather than fighting, trying to shield the prince from most of the impact. Even as Nicolas was thrown backward, he was already shifting in midair, leaping to cover his lifemate should Gregori meet the attack on the prince with a death threat. He slammed into Lara hard, power clinging to him in ropes, lighting up the room as he flashed through the air. He drove her backward, taking her to the floor, his larger body blanketing hers.

  She tried to roll, but he caught her wrists, preventing her from using her hands to weave spells, slamming her arms above her head and pinning her to the floor. «Lara, look at me.»

  She went absolutely still beneath him, her eyes unfocused. Her body was ice cold, alarmingly so. Nicolas didn't hesitate. He thrust his mind into hers, following her along the path of her memories.