Dark Curse (38 page)

Jaxon glanced from her lifemate's cold gaze to Gregori's slashing one. "I know the two of you are arguing over this, but I really want to hear what Gregori has to say. Lucian, please."

She slipped a restraining hand up his arm in a loving gesture that made Nicolas turn his head away and long for Lara's touch. Again he tried to reach out to her but only heard the sounds of the long-forgotten Carpathian lullaby. He turned his attention back to the discussion raging around him, but this time, he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

Lucian slipped his arm around Jaxon's waist, but nodded his head toward Gregori.

Gregori folded his arms across his chest. "Look at your lifemate in this moment. There is no threat to you, yet he is protective, ready to come at me if I say a word out of place to you. It is our nature, ingrained in us from before our birth, to protect our lifemate. Words and circumstance cannot change that, nor would we want it to change. Do you think this is less so in battle? Before you, he had only strategy and his own life to think about, now he must divide his attention and watch out for you. Even with the knowledge he shares with you of battles, even with his vast experience for you to draw on, you cannot be nearly fast enough."

"Every warrior has to start somewhere," Destiny countered. "You have young men practicing. We can do the same."

"Why would you want to?" Nicolas demanded. "Why would you want to face such a monster and risk your life when it is so precious to so many?"

"I cannot stop," Destiny answered truthfully. "Perhaps if Nicolae no longer hunted, I would be able to lay it down, but in truth, I am not certain I can."

Jaxon shrugged. "I've spent my entire life hunting monsters. I don't know what else I'd do."

"If you had a child?" Mikhail's voice as always was low, but swept through the room.

The crystals hummed low, the sound more melodic and soothing as if trying to bring the two women peace.

André and another tall Carpathian once again made their way through the ranks of warriors. Nicolas recognized the lone warrior, Tariq Asenguard, beside André. Vlad had sent him out centuries before. Even then he had stayed to himself, losing his ability to see color and feel emotion quite quickly after losing his family. His mother had suffered the loss of several children and in the end his parents had chosen to follow their young ones into the next realm. Nicolas had never seen him smile after that. Vlad had sent him to the North American continent and it was rumored he lived wild for a long time, although now he looked very civilized and would have blended with any business community.

Both Carpathian males bowed toward the women. Again it was André who spoke. "If one of our women wishes to go into battle and her lifemate allows such a thing…" There was a hint of scorn in his voice. "… obviously that is their decision, but knowing this is going on, when we have spent lifetimes battling the vampire and have more experience and are willing to sacrifice our lives so that even one woman will live and give us a female child, then we have no choice but to ban together and protect those female warriors. When you go into battle, look behind you, there will be a legion of warriors defending you."

Jaxon frowned. "Thank you very much, but no. I don't want anyone defending me. I have a partner. We work together. I don't want anyone putting his life on the line for me."

"If you choose battle and you believe that is your right," Tariq said, "then our surviving males who look to you and all of our women for hope have the right to see to your protection when your lifemate chooses not to do so."

Immediately pandemonium broke out. Power surged in the room and the crystals vibrated with anger as the males with lifemates turned on the warriors without.

"Enough!" Mikhail's voice was a whiplash through the room. Instantly there was silence. "What did you think our males would be feeling over this issue?" he demanded of his males with lifemates. "Even among you, the opinions are divided. Most feel very strongly one way or the other about our women putting their lives in jeopardy. Our single males have a huge stake in this discussion and their voices carry as much weight as any other man here. They have sacrificed for centuries and it is their lives—their very souls at stake."

Lucian nodded his head. "That is so." It was the closest they were going to get to an apology. "But no one will threaten or dictate to my lifemate. What we do is our decision."

"Then you are willing to divide our people?" Gregori asked. "You are willing to go against a decision our prince makes?" He threw the challenge in his brother's face, uncaring that Lucian was a legend in their community.

Before Lucian could reply, Jaxon lifted her hands to his face. "Tell me the absolute truth, Lucian. When I go with you on a hunt, is your attention divided as Gregori says? Are you more at risk?" She refused to let him look away from her, her gaze on his.

"It is my risk to take."

Jaxon took a deep breath and let it out. "You should have told me."

"To what purpose? You cannot sit at home. If you could, I would have commanded you long ago, but your nature demands you be actively seeking justice." He pulled her close to him, his large body protective. "I have every confidence in my ability to protect both of our lives, or I would never risk you." He sent his brother a cool, razor-sharp glare. "There was no need to hurt you with what others consider their truth."

"Truth is truth, Lucian," Jaxon said.

Mikhail studied the couple. "You have need of action and to aid the men in ridding the world of the monsters we face. I have need of women willing to be taught, to learn to fight and then to teach our women and daughters. We need women willing to guard other women and be the first line of defense should the battle be brought to our doors. Perhaps this is something you would be willing to consider. If not…" He directed his gaze at André and Tariq. "Then I believe you will not be facing the vampire alone in battle—ever."

Chapter 15

The women moved quickly but calmly to prepare the chamber for the new ceremony, the most important ritual they might ever perform. Several women took bundles of sage, lit them, and began to walk from back to front through the chamber, along the wall, chanting low, asking to cleanse and bless with only positive energy, reaching as high as possible and then crisscrossing the room as they repeated the chant. The smoke drifted through the cavern and when they were done, they added the bundles of sage to the hot rocks lining the back wall.

Four of the Carpathian women braided sweet grass already soaked in water, in long ropes, binding their intent into the ropes, chanting softly their intentions of attracting energy to help aid Lara in her shamanic journey.

Francesca had already prepared potent-water beneath the full moon and she now gave it to both Savannah and Raven to drink. She had cleansed several good-sized rose quartz under running water and then placed them in a bowl of water covered with cheesecloth under the full moon. The rose quartz was the mother stone and often used to effect change and open the heart.

She took the smoothest stones of rose quartz and ametrine from the pouch and gave them to Raven and Savannah to hold in their hands and rub while the ceremony took place. Next she took braided cowrie shells and placed them around both pregnant women's necks, another call to energy. She scattered rosebuds over the rich soil and added pomegranate to aid in the ceremony of renewed life.

Once Francesca had prepared Savannah and Raven, she took up a small drum, hand painted with a map of the shadow world and various animals of power and wisdom. She took a soft mallet and began to thump in a monotonous beat, using the rhythm of the women's collective hearts.

Lara seated herself close to Raven and Savannah, forming a triangle, while around them, the other Carpathian women formed a tight circle. Now, braids of sweet grass and copal tree resin were added to the smoking sage on the hot rocks along with herbs so that the room surrounded them with the scents of nature. Lara inhaled the scent, allowing the fragrance to carry her jitters away.

This was the most important task she might ever accomplish and she had nearly ended her own life. Had she succeeded, how many children would be lost? She felt she had been put on earth to fulfill this moment, to make this journey and save the three children. Xavier had destroyed so many lives and she was determined that he would not take these women and children as he had so many others.

Rubbing her fingers over a clear quartz crystal for clarity and focus, she pushed all thoughts away and allowed the waves in her mind to come and go and then recede altogether until her mind was a calm body of water, lapping at the edges relentlessly, ready to expand.

In her calm state, she sifted through her memories, long forgotten, and found the faint tracks of mage. She followed the path until she could open the door she needed. Dragonseeker blood might flow through her veins, but she was mage—her mother from a pure line. The mystic ran strong in her and everything she had been taught by the aunts was ready to feed her instincts should she need aid. This underground chamber the ancient women had instinctively chosen to use for their rituals was a place of power where the physical world merged with the spiritual realm. She felt the energy flowing into her, heard the rhythmic sound of a drum and the distant feminine voices chanting. The melodic notes carried her deeper into another sphere.

Smoke filled her vision. Clouds of mist and fog drifted in the smoke. She inhaled sharply, drawing the smoke and air into her lungs, as she set her soul free to travel. She found herself at the border of the two worlds, the chamber where she sat composed and tranquil, at the first stage of travel.

As her vision cleared, she could see a large tree with a labyrinth of roots and a jungle of wide-reaching branches standing before her. Mist of varying colors swirled through and around the branches. Leaves rustled as if alive, silvery green in color, fluttering in the soft breeze. The wind was just strong enough to stir the mist, not dislodge it, so that the she caught glimpses of the thick twisting trunk, leading upward toward the sky and down beneath the soil.

Lara concentrated on the tree. The trunk appeared quite old, grayish in color. There were a few dark knots in the trunk and branches and one or two places where it may have lost a limb over time, but the tree appeared healthy. She continued moving over the ever-expanding meadow toward the tree, her bare feet skimming the fresh grass. As she moved across the field, flowers sprang up under the soles of her feet as if she scattered seeds along the fertile ground. The closer she got to the tree, the more missing branches she spotted, and beneath the tree, held within the cage of roots, old dead limbs lay like broken bodies in a mass grave.

As she approached the tree of life, she heard voices crying out, the sound of weeping, and she felt wet drops on her upturned face. Tears rained down on her, the tears of ancient women who had gone before, losing child after child to the unknown killer. The tears splashed on the ground to form a stream, each tear merging with another until the stream became a river.

Lara waded through the rising water to get to the wide, thick trunk so she could examine it up close. Faint, shallow marks were burned into the trunk leading up toward the branches where new life waited. Raven's son. Savannah's two daughters. Their souls clung to the gently rocking limbs far above her. She could see the two branches were blackened and hollow, twisted from some disease. Above them were several other brand-new souls as well, clinging to relatively healthy branches, but she could already see signs of the unknown disease eating at the limbs. These then, were the most recent Carpathian pregnancies. The killer had targeted Raven's child first and then Savannah's, but these children were in jeopardy as well.

There was a taint to evil. Xavier had used the dark arts against the Carpathians, corrupting his gift, twisting it for his own purpose and now she could see not only the faint track marks, but smell the odor of the malevolence along the trail of dark alchemy. The path led up toward the high branches, but also followed the trunk down to the maze of roots below the earth. She went down the trunk and followed the root system, seeking the source.

Lara drifted down the long trunk, pursuing the tracks, using scent and sight. Once on the tangle of roots, the trail was much more difficult as the tracks appeared everywhere. Shadows leapt out at her, great greedy claws, extended toward her. Moans and wails rose around her. The river of tears continued to rise.

She pressed the pads of her fingers deep into the smooth surface of her crystal and waited patiently. The croak of a frog drew her attention. The small creature floated to her on a lily pad. It leapt from the streaming water to the trunk of a tree, looking at her with large, earnest eyes.

She smiled and greeted the creature formally and with respect, her spirit guide in the underworld realm. Frogs were amazing, magical creatures, potent in both land and water energy. To Lara, the frog symbolized everything the Carpathian women sought. Transformation, rebirth, the bond of mother and child and Mother Earth to her daughters. Unblocking the energy and creating a path for a smoother flowing so healing could prevail, ridding the earth and water of all toxins was exactly what Lara wanted to do. And the symbolism continued further; when frog populations were strong, the ecosystem was in balance and harmony was restored. She was on the right path.

She followed with even more confidence. The frog hopped easily along the root system, moving from stalk to stalk until he found one extremely large and twisted root that seemed to lead away from the rest. It bored deep into the earth and the farther down it went, the more twisted and black it became. Holes pierced the root and the stalk wept black tears.