Dark Legend (36 page)

"I think you are frightening Skyler, sir," Santino said more softly than ever. There was the merest hint of a threat in his voice this time.

Beside him, Gabriel stirred, a cold breeze washing over Brice, swamping him with fear such as he had never known before. He was choking on it, his skin crawling with the feel of tiny insects, thousands of them attacking his body so that he began raking at his own flesh in an attempt to rid himself of the things.

Santino exchanged a worried glance with Jarrod over the doctor's head. The man was acting as if he had the DTs. More than ever they were determined to protect Skyler from the doctor. The man needed a padded cell in a psych ward. Maybe a good detox center. Without warning, the doctor slammed his body into Santino's in an effort to get to Skyler.

Afterward, Brice could never remember why he'd done such a rash thing. His head was pounding abominably and his skin was crawling; he thought; he would go mad. His only coherent thought was Francesca. She echoed in his mind with each throb of his pulse. He literally bounced off Santino's chest and landed on his backside.

At once Jarrod was looming over him, his face an expressionless mask. "I think it best you leave, sir," he said firmly. "I do not want to embarrass you by calling the authorities to escort you off the property. I know you are a good friend of Francesca's and she would be appalled at this display. If you don't mind my saying so, sir, I believe you need to check yourself into a clinic." He bent down and with ease lifted Brice to his feet.

Brice was a wreck, physically and mentally. He could hardly think with the terrible buzzing in his head. His body was jerking and twitching almost as if he were suffering seizures. Pills, he needed more pills, then his body and mind would calm down. He tried to be reasonable. Some shred of dignity and pride prompted him to walk away, yet he couldn't force his trembling body to do it. The bodyguard had to drag him off the property.

Skyler held her hands over her eyes, shutting out the sight of her doctor, almost foaming at the mouth. She had seen drool and spittle spraying as he talked. "What's wrong with him?" she whispered aloud, whispered it to Gabriel. Beneath Brasilia's palm, the teen was trembling, retreating. At once Francesca and Gabriel moved quickly to surround her, their warmth and love sending her waves of reassurance. She felt the other one, too, his presence strong and powerful.

Santino closed the door firmly on the distasteful scene. "I'm sorry, Skyler. I'm afraid that poor doctor has been sampling his own medicine. He's way gone on drugs."

"Why was he trying to get to me?" Skyler asked in a low voice. She was beginning to believe she might actually be safe here in this house.

Gabriel decided the truth would be best. "
I believe he thought to use you in some way to get to Francesca."

"I don't know," Santino answered gently. "Perhaps he thinks in his twisted mind that you are in some kind of danger and he is rescuing you. He doesn't know me, I'm a stranger in this land. Whatever his reason, he can't take you from this house. You are perfectly safe here, Skyler. I gave my word to Francesca and I did not give it lightly."

Skyler was very confused. Why were all these people suddenly protecting her? They were all virtual strangers, yet they were willing to risk violence to protect her. Why?

She clutched tightly at her stuffed animal, the first gift she'd ever received.

"You are now a part of our family."
It was said quietly and with great authority. There was no way to dispute Gabriel's beautiful voice. He spoke with such purity, Skyler could only believe him. At once she relaxed, allowing herself to breathe normally.

Gabriel's heart twisted at the sight of her. She looked very small, far younger than her age. Except for her eyes. There was something about her large gray eyes that held far too much knowledge, none of it good. Gabriel wished he could stamp out that look for all time, but it was impossible.

"You have grown so soft, Gabriel. This child you profess to feel such affection for should have been avenged."

Francesca, listening through Gabriel, went very still, touching Skyler's mind to learn whether Lucian was broadcasting to the teen as well. She could hear the vampire through his connection to her lifemate. But Skyler was unaware of the conversation, paying attention instead to Santino.

"I grow weary of your constant taunts, Lucian. Perhaps it is the only way you have left to torment me, but it is growing tedious and no longer bothers me. Revenge has never been our way. We do what we must to maintain the secrets of our race. We destroy the undead, but it is out of duty, not out of revenge. In any case, the man claiming to be her father had to be removed from this earth and you destroyed the others that were in her memories, saving me the trouble. You have forgotten the difference between justice and revenge. Meet with me, Lucian, that we may come to terms."

"I know what is in your mind, brother. You seek to hunt me. You believe still that you can destroy me. If I wish it, I can kill the girl, your silly woman, and those humans you have installed in her house. You cannot prevent it with your safeguards. I taught you those safeguards."

Gabriel gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. He was floating back toward the chamber, away from the light of day into the earth that held his body for him. He saw Francesca lying there, although he knew her essence was not asleep. At once a sense of peace and warmth seeped into his soul. Without thought he projected it to his twin, a sharing of intense love. Even before he could register that he had done such a thing, before he could judge Lucian's reaction, his brother was gone.

Gabriel's cry of anguish at his brother's rejection echoed to Francesca. Gabriel settled into his own body beside Francesca, wide-awake but unable to move. His heart was pounding loudly in the underground chamber and his chest was tight and burning with pain for his lost brother.

Beside him Francesca's heart began to beat a slow, strong rhythm. She turned her head slowly and looked up at him. The movement must have taken tremendous effort, yet her expression was one of such love it robbed him of breath. She moved her hand, a slow process of pushing her fingers toward his so that they finally met.

"You are never alone, my love."
Her words were clear and strong.
"It does not matter that he cannot feel what you share. He is undead, no longer your beloved twin brother. Mourn the one long gone from this earth. His empty shell remains behind, but the one you love so much, the one you honor is beyond pain and heartache now. I am here with you, our child grows in me, and our house is filled with warmth and promise."

"Why would he merge with me and give me added power to help Santino and Jarrod keep Skyler safe? What plan could he have but to use that child as a weapon?"

"His plans do not matter, Gabriel. Together we are strong enough to face him. We are a mirror he cannot look in."
Her voice filled him with love and warmth. He felt so peaceful Gabriel wanted to stay there for eternity.

"I want you to see him as I once, did."
Gabriel wanted her to understand his great sorrow in the face of their love. He wanted her to know he valued her all the more because of Lucian, never less. He opened his mind fully to her, sharing his past, the terrible battles, the endless loneliness that only his link to his twin had made bearable. He showed Lucian's endless strength and power, his great genius, his search for knowledge to understand the mysteries of their race. Time and again Lucian had risked his body and soul for Gabriel's safety, for the safety of their people and that of the human race.

Francesca watched the scenes playing out from Gabriel's memories. She could see Lucian as he had once been. Without the taint of a vampire. Intelligent. Always placing himself in danger to shield his twin, always taking the lead in every dangerous situation. Countless times he gave his blood when he was mortally wounded himself, countless times he dragged himself to his twin and healed him when he was close to death. Gabriel saw his twin as the most selfless Carpathian ever born and he shared that memory with Francesca. She understood and her heart ached all the more for her lifemate.

He had exchanged vows with Lucian, promising to destroy him should he lose his soul and become the very thing they hunted. Gabriel knew Lucian would never have rested until he had completed the task, and he could do no less. Francesca understood the enormity of that vow, knew it was a part of Gabriel as much as the lungs he used to breathe. She loved him all the more for his devotion, was determined to find a way to aid him.

Lucian was alive to her now. She had shared their lives and those centuries of loneliness they both had endured. Gabriel now had her, but Lucian was lost to them, lost to their people along with his great genius and his iron will and tremendous power. His loss was a senseless, terrible tragedy.

With effort, Francesca inched her body closer to Gabriel's so that their skin touched. Their limbs felt like lead, lethargic and heavy. Normally they shut down their hearts and lungs during daylight hours, sparing themselves the terrible knowledge of their helplessness and vulnerability to enemies. Francesca lay close to Gabriel for a long time before she spoke.
"When you felt the disturbance, Gabriel, and Skyler's fear, did you reach for Lucian?"

Gabriel thought it over.
"I cannot honestly say, I felt him with me as I always do in moments when I need strength and power. It is an ingrained habit neither of us seems to be able to break."
He was silent a moment. "
If you think to find a way to exploit this strange phenomenon between us to defeat him, I have already tried. It is as natural as breathing. I do not know when I do it and neither does he."

"Yes, but he is a vampire. An undead creature. He should not be able to travel while the sun is at its highest peak. You are the most powerful of our males and it was a great effort for you to release your spirit from your body. How could he do such a thing, being a vampire?"

Gabriel gave the mental equivalent of a shrug.
"His mind shared mine and he threw his power behind me. He could have just as easily attempted to stop me or kept me from reentering my body. It is just as well that whatever game he thinks to play requires our Skyler. His power is great, Francesca. I would have been happy throwing up a wall in front of the doctor, but Lucian was not. He twisted my power so that Brice felt thousands of insects crawling on his skin."

"Don't remind me."
Francesca was not happy with that at all. She felt guilty about Brice. Something was happening that she didn't understand. "
I tried to tone down his memories of me so that he would think of me only as a friend, but it didn't work. I've never had that happen before. "

Gabriel's fingers tightened around hers. He knew the reason she could not control the doctor's mind and Francesca must know it also. She simply wasn't ready to face the truth. Gabriel wanted to hold her close in his arms to protect her. In his mind he surrounded her with love and support.
"A vampire has somehow managed to ensnare him. There is no other explanation."

Francesca wanted to shake her head in denial.
"There are other explanations. I saw him popping pills."

"And why did he lead you to the cemetery where the vampires were waiting for you? He is in league with them and does not know it. They are using him to get you. That is why you cannot control him. He is controlled by the undead. When you attempt to reach his mind, there is nothing there but the orders they have given him."

"Is it Lucian? Has Lucian done this to punish me for my feelings for Brice?"

"You cannot imagine what it is like to be unable to feel emotion. Lucian has no need to punish. He feels nothing at all. He uses others as puppets in the hope of feeling amusement, but he cannot. I did not detect the taint of his power, yet I cannot say for certain. Lucian prefers to work alone at all times. To my knowledge he has never brought another into what he refers to as'the game’.

"Can you undo what they did to Brice? Is there a way to make him whole again? This is my fault, Gabriel, entirely my fault because I became friends with a human. Now they think to use him against us. He is totally helpless. "

Gabriel could not bear her unhappiness. He would do anything to take the sorrow from her mind. He tightened his fingers around hers even as he flooded her mind with love and warmth and comfort.
"You are so right, my love. We are not alone in our struggles and our tasks. We have each other to draw strength from. As long as we believe in each other, it will all come right. I will do what I can for Brice. If you wish me to try to save him, you know I will have to take his blood. Without a blood bond, I doubt if I can break what others have wrought. "

Francesca turned that idea over in her mind. The blood bond was a powerful weapon. Would it somehow put Gabriel in danger? Would the vampire, perhaps Lucian, expect such a move and somehow be able to use Brice as a weapon against Gabriel?

Gabriel, locked as he was to her mind, was enormously pleased that her first thought would be for him, for his safety. She loved him in the way of a true lifemate. For who he was and what he was. Unconditionally. She saw good in him where he was never certain it really existed, but he lived up to her expectations all the same.

"Do it then, Gabriel. Take his blood and I will see to his healing with you. I owe him that much. He is a great doctor and the world would lose much if his healing abilities were destroyed."
She smiled up at him even as her lashes drifted down.

Gabriel felt her smile in his heart. It was like that with her. She turned him inside out with one look. Just by closing her eyes. He lay for a long while beneath the earth, feeling its vibrations, allowing it to murmur to him, soothe and comfort him, rejuvenate his body with its nourishment. He left the chamber at the first setting of the sun and fed well before returning to awaken his lifemate. He lifted her body in his arms, floated to the bedchamber hidden in the rocks of the earth yet fitted with human comforts—the four-poster bed, the long, heavy drapes, and hundreds of candles.