Dark Song

by Christine Feehan

  She knew Sergey would try to hurt her by going after Ferro. She was so grateful she had insisted Julija leave the house. By weaving the safeguards, they had contained Sergey’s shadowy replica there in the room. She couldn’t stop shaking, her gaze darting around the room, forgetting to be overwhelmed by the amount of space.

  The Carpathian males waved their arms to cast a brilliant light throughout the entire room, leaving no corner with so much as a shadow in it. Ferro stood in the center of the room as the ancient warriors spread out. He spread his arms wide, encompassing the entire room.

  “Muonìak te avoisz te.” His deep voice was commanding, pouring centuries of sheer strength and control into his tone. Few could actually command a vampire to reveal himself, let alone a master vampire, but it was impossible to ignore Ferro’s absolute authority.

  At once a dark shadowy form began to creep toward Ferro, stretching across the wall and then the floor in the shape of a tiny insect that began to grow as it slid down the wall and touched the hardwood floor. At once, Sandu, Dragomir and Andor hurled wooden darts carved from ancient wood, pinning the shadowy feet to the wall.

  The figure’s mouth gaped wide in a silent scream. The empty eye sockets turned toward Elisabeta where she huddled as small as possible in the chair. Ferro took one step to place himself between the shadow figure and his lifemate so that it was impossible for the thing to see her. Benedek, Petru and Nicu formed a wall behind Ferro, standing shoulder to shoulder, making it doubly impossible for the shadow to even lay eyes on Elisabeta.

  The moment she was taken from its line of sight, the creature began to twist and turn in desperation, seemingly not to get away from the ancients but in order to keep looking at Elisabeta. It stretched farther across the floor toward her, its shape thinning, until it looked like a ribbon of gray with nothing but feet and outstretched hands.

  “What is it?” Tariq asked. “I have never run across such a thing.”

  Sandu and Andor pinned the shadowy shoulders into the hardwood floor so it couldn’t move. Again, the mouth gaped wide but there was no sound. The empty holes where the eyes should have been darted back and forth. More than ever the creature resembled a cross between an insect and a vampire.

  Gary crouched beside the shadow, touching it with one of the pegs made from the ancient wood Sandu handed to him. “It was referred to as a kod lewl kuly in ancient times—a shadow spirit worm or demon sent to devour souls or bring messages. It is brought forth from the netherworld, and the conjurer—in this case, Sergey—has to give it something of himself, some part of his own spirit, in order to give it any kind of direction.”

  “It is fixated completely on Elisabeta,” Maksim observed. “Not on escaping.”

  “Were you able to see how it got in?” Lojos asked. “With all the safeguards, how could it slip in?”

  Gary glanced at Ferro and then he calmly took the ancient wood and plunged it into the heart of the creature, careful to avoid touching any part of the gray shadow. The thing wiggled obscenely and then slowly went still. The healer stood and brought the light to bear on the pinned worm. The edges of the shadow began to darken and curl. Flames licked at it and eventually consumed it. When the entire creature was reduced to ash, the door to the house opened and the breeze carried the ashes outside. The light in the room dimmed and then receded completely.

  “What did you find?” Tariq asked. “How did the kod lewl kuly slip through our safeguards? The three of you were sharing her brain when he managed to penetrate Elisabeta’s mind.”

  Ferro once more went to Elisabeta and lifted her into his arms, surrounding her with his strength. I am here, minan piŋe sarnanak, just as I said I would be. The vampire is gone. He cannot get to you. But you must be very brave and continue to believe and trust in me as you have done.

  You know how he did it. Her heart began to beat harder in trepidation.

  Ferro’s arms tightened even more around her, as if she would need even more courage to face what the healer was going to disclose to the others.

  “Sergey has held Elisabeta prisoner literally for centuries. She knows no other life. No other keeper. He has terrified her all those centuries, and held her away from any other contact, vampire, Carpathian or human,” Gary explained to the ancients in the room. “Ferro is her lifemate. She has a strong connection with him and the belief instilled in her from birth that he will shield her, if necessary, from all harm. Through the centuries, when Sergey tried to force Elisabeta to give up Ferro’s soul to him, she refused, no matter what torture he subjected her to. She knew what strength it took for lifemates to hold out against evil.”

  Elisabeta tilted her face up to Ferro’s. Why is he telling them these things? She was very confused. The healer had merged with her several times. He had searched her memories trying to find evidence of Sergey planting spies, so he had been able to see so much of her life in small vignettes, but she didn’t expect him to champion her or to reveal to the others anything about her.

  There are things in my memories he found that no one here will ever accept. They will cast me out.

  There is no need to be alarmed, Elisabeta. You are with your lifemate. I am keeper of your soul. Your heart. No one will ever harm you again. If those in this room cannot accept us, then we will find our way. Some of our brethren will travel with us, others may stay here. What matters is that we are together and that I can keep you safe.

  He didn’t exactly answer her. She took a deep breath and forced herself to turn her head and look at the ancients who had merged with her. Sandu, Andor and Gary. These men were bound to Ferro soul to soul. They had tied themselves together, along with Andor’s lifemate, Lorraine, and the bond would hold until all of them had lifemates. Only then would they be able to break those ties. What happened to one happened to all of them. Now, she was a part of that brotherhood.

  It was very difficult to look at the three men without the bars of a cage between her and them. The open space made her feel vulnerable but it helped that she could feel Ferro’s strength surrounding her. He was extremely strong and felt that way to her, like one of the ancient hardwood trees that was forever unbending even in the fiercest storm. He was back in her mind, merged with her but unobtrusive, just providing her with the confidence to stay there instead of running away.

  She resolved that she wouldn’t embarrass him. He had come instantly at her call, just as he said he would. There had been no deception, nor had he gotten angry with her because she hadn’t wholly believed him. Right now, his hands were soothing on the nape of her neck and then moving in her hair, rubbing her arm, always reminding her of his presence.

  His brethren faced the other ancients in the room stoically, without expression, but she felt them standing with Ferro—with her. For what reason? How had Sergey gotten past the safeguards?

  Stay with me, Elisabeta. Let your heart and lungs follow the rhythm of mine. Every warrior in this room can hear any change in your breathing or your pulse. I am impressed with your bravery. Your courage. They have no right to pass judgment on you, nor do I think they will, but you are harsh with yourself. You are to think only of me. You represent me.

  His hands framed her face very gently and turned her to look at him. Her gaze couldn’t fail to meet his. Do you understand? I am giving you an order you cannot disobey. You are to concentrate on your lifemate. Keep your heart rate exactly in tune with mine. Keep your breathing the same as mine. Look only at me. See only me. Think only of me. Know that I am the only one you are to please.

  The guidelines were very clear and she was very good at following rules. She moved in his mind, looking for anything that was disturbing to him. She always felt that faint note of sorrow running through him. The song was there, the one she was beginning to think of as their song. Hopeful one moment and despairing the next. As if in the distance, she heard the healer speaking to the ancients.

  “Elisabeta is fu
lly Carpathian. She is powerful in her own right. She may not have had the opportunity to develop every one of her gifts as most Carpathian women do over the centuries, but those gifts are in her. She can bring peace even to one such as me. There are few like her in existence.”

  Elisabeta heard the praise as if from a distance but felt Ferro’s pride in her, and it warmed her that he felt that way. She didn’t like him to feel that deep sorrow that she couldn’t reach and remove. It was important to her to take care of his every need.

  “Her fears drive her. Sergey has terrorized her for centuries, and without Ferro to shield her, he continues to do so,” Gary explained. “Her very fears summon him. She opens the doors for him. Obviously, nothing from this world can come through and Sergey knows it—the safeguards are woven too strong—but not one of us thought to keep anything from the netherworld from creeping in. Elisabeta summoned him with her fears and Sergey responded to the summons by sending in the only servant he could get inside. The kod lewl kuly, the spirit shadow worm, could only stay so long in this realm, which is why it slipped away the moment she was put back in the ground.”

  Complete silence greeted the explanation. The ancients looked at one another. “You are certain of this?” Tariq demanded.

  “We observed it happening within her mind,” Gary said. “Ferro suspected. She is so terrified of Sergey yet he was her only contact throughout the centuries. She expects him to come after her. She knows nothing but his threats. It is natural for her to believe he will do exactly what he told her he would. When she is not with Ferro, she believes she is wide open for Sergey’s assault. And she aided us in uncovering yet another hole in our defenses.”

  “That is insane,” Maksim said. “She actually summoned the vampire? Could he resist her call?”

  “I doubt it,” Gary said. “As he was the constant in her life, she was the constant in his. More, he needed her to provide emotions and keep his body from decomposing. Right at this moment, he is deteriorating at a rapid pace. That has to be very shocking for him when he is used to getting his way in all things. He may have acted as if he was going after other women to take her place, but no other woman will do for him. There is only Elisabeta for him. He had to have put something of himself in the worm in order to direct it to her specifically. His hope was to intimidate her into coming back to him.”

  “You believe Elisabeta can actually summon Sergey at will?” Tariq asked.

  “Yes,” Gary said.

  “I believe we are done here, gentlemen,” Ferro said. “My lifemate is exhausted.”

  Immediately Tariq stood. “I appreciate you allowing us into your home, Elisabeta. I know this was difficult for you.”

  Elisabeta didn’t look at him. Ferro had told her to look only at him. See only him. She took in what they were saying, but only from a distance, and that allowed her to process the information without reacting to it. She would do that later, when she was alone or with just her lifemate.

  “Will she summon Sergey into this compound again?” Tomas inquired. “If he was able to slip the worm in, could he do so with some other creature once she calls for him?”

  Ferro’s cold gaze moved over Tomas. It was a legitimate question, and one that all the warriors would be asking and preparing for, but he didn’t want it asked aloud in front of his lifemate. He had no choice but to answer honestly.

  “It is my hope that she will summon him,” Ferro said. “When I am ready, we will make certain she does, in a place of my choosing.”

  “She will summon him if Ferro isn’t with her unless he can convince her that Sandu, Andor or I can protect her the way he can in his absence,” Gary said. “And that means, Tomas, that every ancient in this compound had better do exactly what I told you to do when I first arrived, find every point of weakness and fix it. This is not her failing, it is yours, mine and all of ours in this compound. We have not safeguarded against the netherworld well and we must do so immediately.”

  Tariq walked to the door, followed closely by the healer. Immediately, the others filed out, leaving only the brethren.

  “If you have need of us, Ferro, call. We will come. Should you have to leave this place, we will accompany you,” Sandu said.

  Ferro inclined his head. “Thank you.”

  Elisabeta found it interesting that Ferro felt deep affection for those who had stayed to protect them but didn’t seem to acknowledge it to himself. None of the ancients recognized their emotions or admitted to those feelings.

  The moment they were gone and the door shut behind them, Ferro waved his hand toward it and murmured a few words, sealing the thick oak closed. He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers.

  “You did very well, Elisabeta. You were in this enormous room, surrounded by strangers, and you allowed yourself to be examined by the healer in order to keep young children from having to undergo another inspection. I am very proud of you.”

  The moment he spoke, that barrier that had provided a distance between her and everyone in the room was gone and she understood exactly what had occurred. “I summoned the vampire? I did that? Is that really possible? Why would I do that?” She was horrified. More than shocked. Sickened. She pressed a hand to her churning stomach. “I really did endanger the compound and everyone in it. I not only allowed him in, I invited him in.”

  “That is not what the healer said, piŋe sarnanak,” he said gently. “You did not listen properly. You summoned the vampire with your fear. That is not the same thing as inviting him in. He could only send the kod lewl kuly from the netherworld and with it some tiny part of his own spirit, which we destroyed. He cannot get that back. That worm couldn’t live in this realm so it would not do him any good as a spy. He could only plague you with it. In truth, you summoned your own tormentor.”

  “The healer says I will do so again if you are not with me.” Her nervous fingers plucked at his shirt.

  “I believe he is correct. Over time, you will gain confidence and that will not happen. In the meantime, if I have to be gone, you will be in the ground where you are safe. I will also see to it that you become more comfortable with Julija and Lorraine. Sandu, Gary and Andor are tied to us. Eventually, it is possible we both will be comfortable with one of them guarding you when I am not available.”

  He wasn’t certain that was true, especially regarding Gary. He still felt that vague threat toward his lifemate. No matter that the healer had stood for her. He had examined her properly and told the truth, but that faint alarm was still present no matter how much Ferro wanted it to be gone. It was possible that because he was from ancient times, when Carpathian males kept their lifemates hidden away from other males, and he was a throwback to that era, he was in some way casting the healer in a villain light because he was powerful—or because Elisabeta didn’t trust him. She caught all those thoughts and couldn’t help shaking her head, although she knew if he decreed it, she would have to abide by his decision. She felt his rejection of the idea in his mind and she was happy for it.

  “Have no fears, piŋe sarnanak. I am an ancient and still live the ancient ways. That means I do not like other males around my woman unless I am right there.”

  She found that she was extremely happy that he was an ancient and preferred the older ways. She didn’t want anyone else around her. She definitely preferred it that way as well.

  6

  The rain upon a fire, frenzied and in need;

  A blessing for all life, and fortune for the seed.

  The call of the rain woke Elisabeta, a dark drumming that beat in her heart and lungs, forcing her to come to the surface regardless of her determination to stay safe beneath the soil. Above her, already, the earth had opened at her lifemate’s command and she knew she had no choice but to obey his summons.

  She wanted to come to Ferro whole, her mind free of the vampire who had been her constant companion for centuries, but he had damaged
her in so many ways, she didn’t know where to start repairing herself. She did know, and accepted, that her lifemate was a good man. A kind one—and he deserved her trust, although a part of her couldn’t quite believe she really was in good hands.

  She lay in the earth waiting, but Ferro made no move to bring her to him, and she realized he wanted her to come to him. At once, familiar panic gripped her. Her heartbeat accelerated. Her breathing turned ragged.

  You are afraid, minan piŋe sarnanak. Tell me what disturbs you.

  His voice. Gentle. Velvet soft, sliding over her skin and into her bones. She felt him pouring into her mind, directing her heartbeat to slow to the steadier rhythm of his. Her breathing took on a calmer, much more even pace. Still, for all his gentleness, it was a clear order, and for that she was grateful.

  I do not know what you want from me. I do not know what to do.

  She felt him stroke a caress through her hair as if he were there with her. The touch of his fingers on her face. Barely there, but felt all the same. Her body reacted strangely to his touch, coming alive in ways she had never known previously. Little goose bumps rising on her skin. Her nipples tightening. Butterflies taking wing in her stomach.

  When I call for you to rise, Elisabeta, and come to me, you will float to the surface, freshen your body and hair, and clothe yourself if you wish. I will call you after I have fed. I will take your blood and then feed you. I do not want you feeding from anyone else unless I am unavailable, and then one of my brethren will see to your needs in my absence.

  She couldn’t think of him being away from her. The idea was terrifying. Sergey would come immediately. He would know. She would somehow send for him. She jammed her knuckles into her mouth and bit down to keep from letting a single sound escape. She’d used the trick often to keep the vampire from knowing he’d gotten to her.