Politely, he closed the wound on his prey's neck and helped him to the ground so that the man sat against his car. Then Dragomir took to the sky. Minutes later, they found Ferro his quarry then headed back to the compound.
Tariq Asenguard was a good man. More, he was an intelligent one. Others had thought him strange with his interest in humans, yet he had assimilated into the human world far better than most. He used their technology and began researching ways to advance it. He had amassed a fortune, bought land and established a business. He had a way of blurring facial recognition so anyone checking could never quite identify him.
Tariq had shared his knowledge with the ancients, transferring all he'd learned about the advances made while the ancients had been locked away from the world. Not only was he intelligent, he was generous. His lifemate had been human, and she seemed as generous as her man. Perhaps talking to her might help . . . if they both agreed to allow Emeline and the baby to remain. The compound was the safest place for her. Tariq had been building up the number of hunters, and with that came the protection of many.
Vadim had elected to stay in the area when common sense and his centuries of experience should have urged him to leave. Was Emeline really that important to him? The child wasn't the reason he kept trying to get her back. He had directed the parasites to the baby's heart, knowing they would eventually kill it. So, what made him so determined to recapture Emeline that he would not only remain in a territory inhabited by so many ancient Carpathian hunters, but also openly attack their compound?
Tariq waited just outside the door to his home, Maksim on one side of him, Mataias and Lojos on the other. That meant Tomas was somewhere near. Dragomir would bet his life that Afanasiv Balan, one of the ancients who had briefly stayed in the monastery, was also close. Afanasiv had been a good friend of Tariq's growing up and they had remained close, yet he was a member of the brotherhood.
"En jutta felet es ekamet," Tariq greeted in their ancient language, stepping forward to clasp Dragomir's forearms in the way of warriors.
Friend and brother. That greeting told Dragomir everything he needed to know. Tariq would have chosen another salutation if he was opposed to having Emeline in his compound.
"Bur tule ekamet kuntamak." Well met, brother-kin, was Dragomir's choice of greeting.
"Thank you for saving the children," Tariq said, stepping back. "They are confined for the moment until we decide what to do about the situation." While he spoke, his sharp gaze moved over Dragomir, assessing the damage to him. "Tell me what you need."
"We must drive the rest of the parasites out of my lifemate and the child. Vadim flooded her with them and they torment her continually. She was able to direct the fertilization and carries a girl. I do not know if Vadim became aware of that and chose to kill the child, but he was close to his goal. He will fight us for her. I must convert Emeline as soon as we rid her body of his parasites, and that means the child will go through the conversion as well. They cannot feel pain or the baby will be lost."
"You and the healer vouch for this child?"
"We examined her carefully. She is female and therefore cannot hold darkness. She will have my blood and her developing organs will be from me. Essentially, she'll be my child, but there will always be that part of her that is Malinov. They are highly intelligent and fierce fighters. She will be an asset to our world."
He felt like he was fighting for his child in that moment. The baby had gone from being Emeline's child and therefore his responsibility, to being just plain his. His child. Theirs.
Tariq nodded without hesitation. "I gathered the richest soil I could find and brought it back little by little. It lies deep beneath this house. Bring her there, and we will all gather to aid you. We are still learning, but we seem to be able to do so much better controlling pain and convulsions when we're together."
"Will the others welcome us here?" Dragomir was blunt. "If not, after she is converted, I will take her and we will go."
"As long as the compound is mine, she will always be welcome here," Tariq said. "Naturally there are some with concerns, but we refuse to give anyone up to Vadim, not the child and certainly not Emeline. Your word and the word of the healer are good enough for us." He indicated Maksim.
Dragomir knew Maksim had established the nightclubs and compounds with Tariq, but clearly Tariq was the acknowledged leader.
Dragomir. There was panic in Emeline's voice. He is attacking us. The baby . . .
He whirled and took the distance between the houses, half flying, half running. Sandu, Andor and Ferro flanked him instantly.
Come to me, sivamet. I am right outside. He gained the porch.
She flung open the door, doubled over, her eyes wide with pain and shock, her breath coming in ragged pants. She alternated between putting her hands over her ears and over her womb. "He's talking to me. Taunting me. Telling me what he's going to do to me." All color had leeched from her face. She swayed there a moment and then her knees buckled.
Dragomir swept her up in his arms before she had a chance to fall. Cradling her close, her pushed his mind into hers. At once, he encountered that barrier that partially shielded her from commands and compulsions. Let me in fully, Emeline.
I can't. He will get in.
Dragomir heard the echo of Vadim's harsh laughter. The sound was ugly, a jarring note that hurt the ears. His voice, when he spoke, was just as grating. I am already in. I am her lifemate, and you cannot keep me out as much as you try. You cannot drive me out. You can lie, give her blood, try to confuse her, but my claim is first and she is mine.
Aloud, he said, "Emeline. Sivamet. You are my heart and soul. I need you to trust me. We knew he was going to fight us. That was a given. Let me in fully." He kept his voice calm and soothing.
She turned her face against his chest, both hands gripping his shirt, her eyes closed tight. "He said he would hurt you. He told me the terrible things he would do to you. Because of me." Her body shuddered and then shivered over and over in pain.
Dragomir carried her over to Tariq's home. The Carpathian held open the door and waved him inside. The ancients followed. Tariq led the way through the hall and downstairs to a basement filled with woodworking projects, including carousel horses. They crossed to a section of floor Tariq opened with a wave of his hand. Below, Carpathians had gathered, several men and a couple of women.
Cement borders surrounded the huge healing grounds. Just beyond the cement were the wooden boards cleverly constructed to make up the walls beneath the basement of the house, yet between every so many support beams were cracks to allow the moonlight in. Above the grounds were raised platforms surrounding them so the Carpathian people could gather for ceremonies.
The soil gleamed, a dark, rich loam. It glittered with minerals from the light provided by the flickering flames of scented candles. Dragomir searched the surrounding platforms until he spotted Blaze. He knew exactly who had set everything in motion and he gave her a nod of his head to acknowledge her. She stood beside Charlotte, Tariq's lifemate, and she looked frightened. He understood even more than she did the enormity of what they were attempting as he had seen the overwhelming number of parasites in Emeline's blood.
Emeline cried out and twisted in his arms. Dragomir's brows drew sharply together. Her pain was increasing. Vadim's parasites were at work, torturing her, and he couldn't take it. Not one more minute of her indecision when he knew, ultimately, they had to stop Vadim now.
"I am no longer asking, Emeline. I demand that you allow me into your mind." He could push past the barrier but it would cause her pain, more than she was already in. He never wanted to be a part of her suffering, even if it was to save her from the torments of Vadim, but he would if necessary. Modern rules didn't always make sense to him. She suffered. He could stop it.
Emeline lifted her head, her eyes drowning in pain and despair. She searched his face, then nodded, and that fast the shield went down in her mind. The moment she gave him full access, he
built a defense so strong in her mind that Vadim's voice couldn't possibly penetrate to her.
He also did his best to protect her from the pain of the parasites biting her bones and scoring wounds in her organs as they bored holes and wiggled inside to gnaw with their teeth. So many were back; they had reproduced during the day in anticipation of their master's commands.
Dragomir floated to the expanse of deep, rich soil below them. Gary was already there. Dragomir sank down, placing Emeline beside him. Instantly the healer shed his body and entered Emeline's. Dragomir brushed kisses across her eyelids and then followed the healer.
The Carpathians began a soft chant, the lesser healing chant, and the lullaby for unborn babies.
Tumtesz o wake ku pitasz belso. Feel the strength you hold inside.
Hiszasz sivadet. En olenam gaeidnod. Trust your heart. I'll be your guide.
Sas csecsemom, kunasz. Hush, my baby, close your eyes.
Rauho jone ted. Peace will come to you.
Tumtesz o sivdobbanas ku olen lamt3ad belso. Feel the rhythm deep inside.
Gond-kumpadek ku kim te. Waves of love that cover you.
Pesanak te, asti o juti, kidusz. Protect, until the night, you rise.
The song was sung to unborn infants, created when so many had been lost. Dragomir loved the beauty of it, that all the Carpathians would sing to their child to try to save its life.
I have a special death planned for you, Dragomir. One that will take a century. You will feed us. Feed my children. You will be nothing but fodder for those stronger and better than you.
There was something both soothing and incongruous about hearing the lullaby at the same time as the jarring, ugly voice of Vadim's taunting. Dragomir didn't bother responding to his threats. The vampire had no idea what they planned, and he wasn't about to tip him off.
Dragomir sent his spirit to examine Emeline's brain first. There were no parasites, which gave him a measure of reassurance. Vadim wasn't taking the chance of damaging her. Of course, once he knew for certain he was losing her, he would likely turn on her and do everything in his power to kill her. To help protect her from that possibility, Dragomir built a heavy shield around her brain, one he was certain the parasites couldn't penetrate. He did the same with her heart and lungs, then her ovaries and womb. Gary was doing the same for the baby, once he pushed the parasites from her little body, back into Emeline's.
It is time, Gary said, when they had completed building their shields.
Daratrazanoff? Vadim made the name sound like a curse. Do you think you possibly can take on a Malinov and win?
Gary made no reply. Dragomir admired him even more for ignoring the master vampire as if he were a mere nuisance, far beneath his notice. The two withdrew from Emeline's body and each returned to his own.
"I'm going to take your blood now, Emeline," Dragomir said gently. "Just like when we were alone. I will be removing quite a lot of it, which means your blood will have to be replaced. Sandu, Andor and Ferro will take turns giving you blood."
She recoiled, shaking her head. "I don't think I can do that."
"I can aid you," Dragomir said. "If we are going to save the baby and you from Vadim, this is the only way. Once I take your blood, I cannot give you blood. Not at first. I'm the filter. I will ingest the parasites . . . "
"No. Absolutely not." She scrambled to her feet. "You are not going to take his vile, poisonous worms into your body."
He reached out and caught her wrist. Gently. So gently. His thumb slid over the back of her hand in a soothing caress. "I did so before I left you at sunrise this morning, sivamet. They are already inside me. I can rid my body of them a little at a time, and that's what we're going to do. The danger is that you will begin to convert before we are ready. If you have any way to hold out, please do so." As he spoke he drew her back to him. Patiently. Slowly. Inexorably.
"I don't want this for you," she protested in a whisper of despair.
"Of course you don't." He pulled her down to his lap once more. "I'm going to distance you from all of this so it is easier on you. Gary will send his spirit back inside you and begin destroying the parasites. He'll be there when they make a concentrated attack on the baby." When she started to protest again, his voice turned stern. "Emeline, you promised to trust me."
She took a deep breath and nodded. Immediately he wrapped her in his arms, unwilling to give her more time to worry or object. Gary shed his body and once more entered hers. Dragomir sank his teeth in her neck as he distanced her from the action. Even as the parasites in her blood burned his tongue and throat, her taste was exquisite. Vadim couldn't corrupt that. Dragomir stayed anchored in her mind, shielding her as Vadim shrieked his rage and ordered his creatures to attack.
Gary countered, burning large groups of the parasites as they swarmed toward her heart. Dragomir drank down her blood, drawing as many of the parasites into himself as he could. The flesh inside his throat and mouth blistered as the foul microorganisms stung and bit at him in a frenzy. Their poison spread through his bloodstream, racing though his veins and saturating his cells. His muscles seized. His organs cramped, sending pain lancing through his body.
The parasites spread to every part of his body, and now they were systematically targeting his own vital organs. And still he drank down Emeline's blood, willing Vadim's foul creatures to enter his body in order to spare her. His breath grew labored, his heart slammed against his chest, a hoarse shout lodged itself at the back of his throat, held back only by his will.
Enough. Get rid of them, Gary ordered.
Beating back the horrendous pain, Dragomir slid his tongue across his lifemate's skin, closing the small wounds left by his bite. He set her from him and strode to the edge of the healing grounds where the cement wall was the thickest. He forced the worms from his blood, pushing them through his pores. They burned and bit, fighting to attack him, to kill him, Vadim's commands making them vicious. He made certain they dropped on the cement slab. Andor called down the lightning to incinerate the creatures, bringing it through the cracks in the wooden wall Tariq had designed for just such an occasion.
Dragomir took a deep breath, pausing to gather his strength and shore up his inner defenses before turning back to Emeline. Andor followed, staying close.
Sandu met him halfway there and extended his wrist. "That healer is thorough."
Dragomir sent him a look, something between a reprimand and admiration. "You're monitoring the healer? How?"
"We sent a little spy in. This is your daughter. Your woman. We don't know much about him other than he tried to take Aleksei's woman."
"Unforgiving just a little bit?" Dragomir prodded. Granted, he'd been more than a little suspicious of Gary himself until the healer had worked so hard to save the lives of Emeline and all the others who'd fended off Vadim's earlier attack.
"O jela peje terad," Sandu said. "Take the blood and hurry."
Dragomir did as the ancient suggested, practically inhaling the sustenance. Sandu's blood was like a punch of sheer power, filling him with strength. He murmured his thanks and sank down beside Emeline.
She slipped her hand into his, surprising him. In spite of the shield he'd put around her to distance her from what was taking place, she was still very much aware. "Are you all right?"
"Better than all right." He wrapped his arms around her again and sank his teeth in a second time.
This time the parasites were waiting for him, rushing to attack, flooding his bloodstream and heading directly toward his heart.
Andor, I have need. He didn't stop ingesting her blood; instead, he took more, doing everything he could to draw the microorganisms out of Emeline and into him.
Andor shed his body and entered Dragomir's. He moved instantly to guard Dragomir's heart, using the white-hot blast of energy to burn as many parasites as he could. The vile things ran from the light. Some tried moving around it, attacking Dragomir's heart from every direction. Andor was fast, blasting them in a long s
emicircle, but there were so many of them. Dozens found purchase and began burrowing through the outer layers of heart muscle.
Enough, Dragomir. You need to purge them before they manage to clog your heart, Gary said. I need blood. The moment I leave they will attack the child. They are trying every way they can to get around me, even sacrificing themselves so others can fling themselves at her heart.
Ferro, Dragomir directed. You're up.
Ferro shed his body without hesitation and entered Emeline's. The healer was back, and this time he sagged to the ground, clearly worn from his fight to keep the parasites off the baby. The fact that Gary was weak told Dragomir time was passing. He closed the small punctures on Emeline's throat and took a step. The parasites attacked, coming at every organ, using teeth and spitting acid in every direction. He stumbled, his insides burning. Pain burst through him with every bite the parasites took.
He was an ancient, familiar with pain and suffering in all its forms, but even against his millennia of experience, this was sheer agony. He knew the attacks were aggravated by the vampire's command, but Emeline had borne this torment for days . . . weeks . . . without aid of any kind. Her strength left him equal parts stunned and humbled, and more than a little angry.
She'd borne this--this torture--alone. He'd not been there to shield her from it, and no one else had done so.
"Dragomir." Fear burst through him. Her fear for him. He held up his hand to stop her from moving. Afanasiv was there beside her, trying to give her blood. Tariq gave more to the healer.
"Emeline. Stay there." He poured command into his voice and forced his body upright, forced himself to ignore the fact that it felt as if someone was taking a blowtorch to his insides.
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