Dark Legacy

by Christine Feehan

  Her voice rings with truth, Tariq sent to Dragomir.

  There is more than Vadim in this. We face multiple vampires, not just one. She opened the earth enough to allow Vadim to send his dark magic. Vadim has a sliver of Xavier, the high mage, in him. With that sliver come his darkest spells. It was Vadim directing the lightning strikes at me. He did it through this girl.

  Dragomir wasn't about to let it go. Amelia had allowed Vadim to influence all of the children, but in particular, Liv, the ten-year-old. Blaze hadn't found parasites in her blood, so how was Vadim controlling her?

  "Check me, then," Amelia demanded of Tariq. She refused to even look at Dragomir. "I want you to. Check my blood. I know I didn't do something like that."

  "You did," Dragomir said softly. "Vadim found a way to control you."

  "That's not true," she denied. "Tariq"--she turned to her guardian--"I swear, it isn't true. I would never hurt my little sister, or Emeline. Either one of them. Where would I get a needle filled with parasites? Tell me that."

  "When I went up to get Bella and Lourdes," Dragomir said. "He had plenty of time to give you whatever he wanted to give you. You were out of my sight. Danny had run for safety. You were supposed to be right behind him, but you weren't. Was she, Danny?"

  Her brother frowned and then shook his head, his eyes sliding away from the Carpathians to find the ground. "I can't remember. Everything happened so fast."

  Gary moved then, slowly getting up and moving toward Amelia, who backed away, ran into the barrier Dragomir had set up and turned as if she might try to run. He sent her a sharp reprimand. "Hold still. I'm going to ensure you have no parasites."

  "Wouldn't I feel them?" Amelia looked as if she might burst into tears.

  "Amelia." Tariq simply said her name. His voice was loving. Persuasive. It carried a soft command, one that ensured his order would be carried out.

  She subsided immediately. Gary didn't waste time on the niceties. He shed his body and entered the teen's. No one spoke. Amelia trembled continually. Dragomir knew he should feel bad for the girl, but he was absolutely certain she had influenced her younger sister Liv to remove the safeguards and open the compound for Vadim's invasion. Emeline had nearly been taken, and if the master vampire had been allowed to get his hands on her again, there would have been little chance of ever getting her back.

  Dragomir felt Amelia's gaze, her hatred of him. She stared at his throat as if she could strangle him. He felt a burn there. It was slow, as if the temperature in one spot increased. At first, waiting for the healer's verdict, he paid little attention to the fact that a human teenage girl despised him. It was beneath his notice. As his throat became more uncomfortable, he realized it was her doing. She hadn't taken her eyes from him.

  He sent a her a perverse grin, one without humor, one challenging her to do her worst. She lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing. He felt her hatred, a tangible thing. Because he was a hunter, he never focused solely on one threat but kept every sense flaring out in order to see the larger picture. Tariq was watching Amelia intently. Charlotte turned Bella so the child was unaware of anything happening, all the while keeping up running chatter with her.

  Something flickered inside Dragomir's throat. The tip of a flame burned along the inside with a delicate touch. Too delicate for a teenager.

  Gary chose that moment to emerge. This time it was Tomas stepping close to offer his wrist.

  "The girl is clean of parasites," the healer said and bent his head to the laceration and the ruby drops beading up.

  9

  Dragomir leaned one hip against the wall and studied the healer's face. He looked worn, but his peculiar-colored eyes were shrewd and assessing as they compared observations. Tariq had sent the children back to their rooms, reiterating they were still grounded. Tariq, Dragomir, Gary and several of the ancients gathered together in the main house.

  "She's tainted," Dragomir said. "I don't care if you didn't find parasites."

  "Unfortunately"--Tariq's breath came out in a long, slow hiss of anger--"I have to agree. She's a child and she's already been traumatized by Vadim, now this. I don't know how she's going to recover."

  Dragomir bit back what he would have said and instead silently observed Tariq. The man had genuine compassion for the teenager. He could see beyond her betrayal to the person underneath, one clearly being directed by a being far more powerful. Tariq was a leader because he cared about those under his protection. Dragomir realized that was what made him someone to follow. He had compassion. He knew Amelia hadn't betrayed them on purpose, she was being forced to do a master vampire's bidding. Dragomir hadn't looked beyond the damage done to his lifemate and their child.

  "I agree that she's tainted," Gary said. "I could feel evil residing in her, but I couldn't find it, and believe me, I looked."

  "She came after me." Dragomir touched his throat. He still felt the effects. "Her touch was delicate, a master's hand."

  Tariq raked his hand through his hair in agitation. "How can you get rid of his presence if you can't find it? Gary, you're our best shot at this. If you can't get rid of him, no one can."

  "I have to figure out how he's doing it first. If he discovers we know about him and are looking to get him out of her, he may kill her," Gary answered. "It's best to go slow, but remember, she can't be trusted, not for a moment. You will need eyes on her at all times."

  Tariq shook his head. "The risk is too great. She could harm one of the other children. Look at what she did to the baby, Bella. Charlotte is still worried about the child. She's taken her to Lourdes and the two little ones are playing with Blaze and Charlotte watching over them, but Amelia could be forced by Vadim to strike at one of the others."

  "It's a big possibility," Dragomir agreed. "Vadim swore to Emeline that he would kill those children. What better way to do it than force one of their siblings to commit murder?"

  Gary nodded in agreement. "I think his first target will be you, Dragomir. He has to know you're the biggest deterrent to his plans for Emeline. That's the other thing we need to figure out. Why does he want your lifemate so badly?"

  "Can we use her?" Sandu asked. When Dragomir unfolded his arms and took a step toward the ancient Sandu shrugged his wide shoulders. "The girl. Amelia. Can we feed her information to draw Vadim out? Maybe something about Emeline."

  "Use her?" Tariq's voice was a whip of anger. Any other might have winced, but like Dragomir, Sandu was in the brotherhood for a reason. The tattoo drifted across his back, letting the others know what he stood for. He was impervious to anger or any other emotion.

  Sandu nodded. "Information flows both ways. If we can't take the chance of Vadim knowing we're aware that she's his spy, reporting every conversation, every weakness the compound has, any data he desires, then we can reverse that."

  Dragomir had to smile at the ancient's use of the word data. He was taking in everything, absorbing the history of the planet and the new technology like a sponge. They all were. It was necessary to survive. Sandu seemed especially confident in computers, software and technology. Once he'd been given the information, his mind grasped it and demanded more.

  "I have to agree with Gary's assessment," Andor said. "The child will be sent after Dragomir. And Sandu's right, if we can't get him out of her, then we need to use her. She'll make a good weapon."

  "She's a little girl. A teenager," Tariq snapped. "Quit thinking of her as Vadim's spy. Whatever he's done to her, she can't stop."

  "And the longer he's influencing her, the less chance we have to reverse his effects," Gary pointed out.

  Dragomir tried to reason out what his lifemate would be thinking in the situation. She loved the children. She'd put them first from the beginning, before she'd ever met them. They were strangers, creeping into her dreams night after night until she figured out just how to save them. The first few dreams she'd had had been unsuccessful and the children had died, but each night she'd changed her responses in the dream until she'd chosen t
he right actions to keep them from being killed and getting them free of Vadim.

  "She dreams. Emeline dreams. She's a strong psychic, able to resist Vadim's compulsions. She remained alive and kept the baby alive when all those other women we found down in the underground city died. They hadn't been able to withstand the torment of Vadim's parasites. He might want her for either reason or both." Dragomir still hadn't gotten over the sight of those dead bodies carelessly thrown aside like so much garbage. Vadim had been trying for some time to find a woman who could carry his baby.

  Tariq rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Charlotte mentioned this to me. She said Emeline can share her dreams, that when they were together and Emeline dreamt, Blaze had the exact same dream."

  "Wait a minute." Gary paced back and forth across the room, all pent-up, restless energy. "You told me about the machines down in the underground. The computers and how they were tracking hunters and sending out alerts to leave an area if a hunter arrived. He's using widespread communication with his army. It doesn't matter that they're a world away, they just have to have access to the Internet. But the Internet can be hacked. We have a few weapons on our side. There's a kid, a Carpathian. His name is Josef and he's brilliant with computers. He can do just about anything with them. He's the one that got the Morrison database for psychics. He's on his way here. In any case, it would be interesting to know if Emeline's dreams can be shared by several people at the same time."

  Icy fingers of fear crept down Dragomir's spine. "Could he force her to dream?"

  "He didn't when he had her," Gary said.

  "He had her less than an hour," Tariq said. "We were hard on his heels."

  Dragomir found himself swearing, using his ancient language, wanting to hit something hard. Emeline had a talent of dreaming and one didn't think much about it. But Emeline didn't just dream; she had prophetic dreams. And she could change the course of events by continually dreaming the same dream over and over and changing details in it, until the dream itself changed. She could literally figure out how to best others every time. She would be a huge weapon in Vadim's arsenal. She'd gone for psychic testing and she'd been off the charts. Vadim had realized her potential immediately.

  "I'll talk to Emeline and see what she thinks is possible. She must have some idea of the scope of her talent. I don't want Amelia anywhere near her." Dragomir was adamant on that.

  "You're going to have trouble with that," Tariq said. "Amelia was cultivating a relationship with her. They shared a similar experience. In truth, we were all playing right into Vadim's hands by trying to get Amelia to talk to her. We thought it would be good, they both could open up to each other about what had happened to them. Once they started talking, Charlotte had hoped to bring in a professional. In the end, Amelia talked to Charlotte, not Emeline, but I fear she didn't tell the entire truth."

  Andor scowled to show his displeasure at the idea. "We can't mix with humans to that degree. A counselor?"

  "We have an experienced counselor," Tariq said. "She's in London at the moment, but she is wrapping things up and will arrive in a week or so. If she doesn't work out, there is another in South America we will try. These women and children have the right to feel whole again. If talking to a professional works, then that's what we'll get for them."

  "What are we going to do about Amelia?" Dragomir brought them back to the problem at hand. "Because she isn't getting near Emeline, and that's going to alert Vadim that his plan isn't working."

  "Not necessarily," Gary mused. They all turned to look at him. He wore a faint, humorless smile. "You made your dislike of her apparent already. Vadim knows you're at odds with Amelia, that you don't like her."

  "She's smug."

  "Vadim is smug," Tariq corrected.

  Dragomir shrugged. "Right now, she is Vadim. Everything that comes out of her mouth is because he's her puppet master and is controlling her."

  "It's important that you understand Amelia is a victim in all this. She's being controlled, it isn't her choice." Tariq was adamant.

  "She can fight him. Not allow him to swallow her whole."

  "She's fourteen, Dragomir, and not Carpathian. She is without shields of any kind. She was taken before Emeline was and subjected to Vadim's form of rape. He also managed to invade her mind somehow." There was a clear reprimand in Tariq's voice.

  Dragomir shrugged. While he could acknowledge that Tariq made a good leader, and he could even find compassion for the girl, he couldn't find it in his heart to agree with the man on this particular subject. The bottom line was simple: Amelia wasn't getting anywhere near Emeline. He hoped they could save the girl, but he wasn't risking Emeline.

  "If we have conversations in front of Amelia about how we didn't find any parasites and you must accept that verdict, that she's clear of all evil. If all of us argue with you, Vadim will think the split between you and the rest of us is going along happily for him. It makes sense that you don't like her and would want to keep her away from Emeline," Gary pointed out. "Vadim will love the fights you have with your lifemate over him."

  "Great." Dragomir knew Emeline wasn't going to like any of this.

  "We should feed Amelia some small bit of information that requires activity on his part, just so we can be certain," Gary said.

  Tariq sighed. "I guess it's necessary, but I don't like it."

  "A location of a lair?" Sandu suggested. "We're going out hunting now. Andor found some possible activity in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. We were going to check it out. She can overhear us talking, making plans to raid it."

  "That's a pretty big target to give up," Dragomir protested. "One of Vadim's lairs?"

  Sandu shook his head. "No, the safeguards were pathetic. No one was home, but we think they'll return before sundown. In front of Amelia we can say we'll be waiting for the vampire when he rises on the next day, but we'll get him tonight."

  "Vadim won't have a chance of finding out until it's too late. He'll send someone to aid the vampire against the hunters and we'll get them as well. Vadim won't know that we killed the original vampire the night before. He'll just know he'd better be careful with the elite hunters in the area." Gary turned his head, those slashing silver eyes meeting Dragomir's.

  They were both eager for the hunt. Men like them didn't sit around talking. They weren't diplomatic. They left that to the leaders, like Mikhail, their prince in the Carpathian Mountains, and Tariq, the acknowledged leader here in the United States.

  "It is best if we test our theory before condemning Amelia," Tariq acknowledged. "I believe Vadim has found a way to control her, just as all of you do, but I would prefer proof."

  "We can set a trap for Vadim," Dragomir said. "Using me as bait."

  Tariq glanced up sharply. "You have a lifemate. Emeline's been through as much as she can take. You have a daughter. Both need you."

  Sandu nudged him, a psychic nudge, not a physical one, but it was the same, only others couldn't see it. He means keep your ass home. Perhaps your woman could find a broad leaf and fan you.

  Terad keje, Dragomir responded mildly, telling his friend to "get scorched." Life as you know it is going to end.

  You're soft now that you have a woman. I will bet that the moment she cries because she cannot see this girl, you will give in and the teen will move right into your house.

  Dragomir turned cold golden eyes on his friend. There was nothing remotely humorous about his reaction. I will kill that girl before she gets near Emeline, he vowed. He glanced toward the house where the children were.

  Not yet, Sandu said. If it needs to be done, I will do it for you. You cannot afford to have your name attached to her death. Your woman and the rest of the community would find it difficult to forgive you.

  I have the right to keep my woman safe.

  You need to spend a little time at the computer. The days are long past where we kill our enemies and are glorified in song.

  Dragomir frowned. You were glorified in song?

  Of
course. My deeds were great. Weren't yours?

  My deeds were great, and yet no one glorified me in song. Kod alte han. Darkness curse it, Sandu. That's just not right. There must be some mistake.

  Andor nudged him next. Pay attention. Tariq is sharp, and he's watching you two. He knows you're up to something. You planning to kill that girl? Because if you are, I'll do it. You do have a lifemate you have to think about.

  Do I look like I'm going to kill her? Dragomir asked, exasperated.

  "I want all of you to remember, Amelia is my daughter. I have taken her and her siblings as my children. I would track any man who harmed her to the ends of the earth."

  "Do I look like I'm going to kill a child?" Dragomir snapped aloud. He had an expressionless mask for a face. There was a multitude of scars, but he didn't show what he was thinking.

  "Yes." Tariq looked him in the eye. "That's exactly what you looked like. You also look as if there might be a few others willing to help."

  "Were you ever glorified in song?" Dragomir asked abruptly.

  Tariq's brows came together. He looked at Dragomir as if he'd grown two heads. "Yes. Of course I was. Several centuries ago. Weren't you?"

  "Kod alte han, darkness curse it and all songs glorifying the lot of you." Dragomir pushed himself away from the wall. "I've had enough. I'm going hunting."

  It was all he could do to keep from answering Tariq's grin. Humor was still new to him. Abruptly he turned away from Tariq. The man had the right to protect his family--the same right Dragomir had. Dragomir knew he'd kill any man threatening his lifemate or his daughter. Despite his diplomacy, despite looking as if he had been born and raised in the current century, Dragomir had no doubt that Tariq would hunt him down if he harmed Amelia.

  That knowledge would never stop him from doing what he considered right. Dragomir liked Tariq--more, he respected him. Tariq wasn't blind to the fact that Amelia was tainted. Frowning, he regarded Gary. "You said we had to figure out just how Vadim is able to use Amelia as his spy when she has no parasites in her."