Dark Legend (4 page)

"You would have died." He said it starkly, without embellishment.

"I know that. I willingly offered my life so that you could continue your fight to save our people."

"You are Carpathian then." Very gently he reached out and took her hand, carefully prying open her fingers one by one and exposing the fingernail marks on her palm. Before she could guess his intention, he bent his dark head, his mouth brushing the marks with exquisite gentleness.

Her heart nearly stopped at the touch of his lips, the warmth of his breath. Snatching her hand back, she scowled at him. "Of course I'm Carpathian. Who else would recognize you? Gabriel. The defender of our people. You are the greatest vampire hunter our people have ever known. You're a legend come back to life. It took me some time to realize who you were, but you were in bad shape. You have been thought dead these last few centuries."

"Why did you not immediately identify yourself to me? I would never have allowed you to place your life in danger." His voice was very soft, a clear reprimand.

Color swept into Francesca's pale face. "Don't you presume to have rights over me, Gabriel. Your rights have been long since revoked."

He stirred, a slight ripple of muscle warning of his enormous strength. Francesca's black eyes flashed at him; she was not in the least intimidated. "I mean it. You had no right to do what you did."

"As a Carpathian male, I can do no other than protect you. Why do you live here alone, unclaimed, unprotected? Has our world changed so much that our males no longer care for our women?" His tone was soft yet all the more menacing.

Her chin lifted. "Our males have no idea of my existence. And it isn't your business either, so don't think you're going to get involved."

Gabriel merely looked at her. He was over two thousand years old. It was ingrained in him to protect women above all else. It was part of who he was, of what he was. And if this woman was his lifemate, it was more than his duty, it was his right. "I am afraid, Francesca, that I can do no other than watch over you properly. I have never neglected my responsibilities."

She felt very much at a disadvantage sitting there with him towering over her. Francesca stood up and moved gracefully across the room to put distance between them. He was making her heart pound with nervousness. Francesca had forgotten what it was like to be nervous. She was no fledgling. She had done what no other Carpathian woman had ever done: managed to escape undetected from both Carpathian males and marauding vampires and live her own life by her own rules. She was not about to allow this male to walk into her life and just take it over. "I think we should get something straight, Gabriel. I am not your responsibility. I'm willing to allow you to use this chamber until you get your bearings and find your safe place, but after that, there will be no contact between us. I have my own life here. It doesn't include you at all."

His eyebrow rose, an elegant, polite way of calling her a liar. "You are my lifemate." He felt the certainty of those words. She was his other half, the light to his darkness, the one woman created just for him.

For the first time Francesca showed fear. She swung around, her eyes wide with fright. "You didn't say the ritual words to bind us, did you?" Her hands were trembling so, she put them behind her back. From the very moment she had recognized him, this was the moment she had feared most.

"Why would you fear so natural a thing? You know I am your lifemate." Gabriel watched her closely, noting every expression. She was definitely frightened. And she had known before he had that she belonged with him.

Her chin went up almost defiantly. "I was your lifemate, Gabriel, many centuries ago. But when you made the decision to hunt vampires with your brother, you sentenced me to a life alone. I accepted that sentence. That was a long time ago. You can't just come back into my life and decree something else."

Gabriel was silent, touching her mind easily with a light merging. He discovered a vivid memory of Gabriel striding through a human village with Lucian. The two legendary vampire hunters. The people were moving out of their way in awe. Gabriel saw himself moving quickly, his strides sure and long, his hair flowing in the night air. The movement of a young girl caught his attention and he turned his head without slowing his pace. His black eyes slid over a group of women, and then Lucian said something to distract him. Gabriel turned his head in the direction they were walking, not once looking back. The young girl remained staring after him for a long time in hurt silence.

"I did not know."

Her eyes flashed at him. "You didn't want to know. There's a difference, Gabriel. In any case, it doesn't matter. I survived the humiliation and the pain. It was all a long time ago. I've lived a good life for many centuries. I am tired now and wish to seek the dawn."

Gabriel regarded her steadily. "That is not acceptable, Francesca." He said it quietly, without inflection.

"You have no right to tell me what is and what isn't acceptable in my life. As far as I'm concerned, you gave up all rights to me when you walked away without looking back. You know nothing about me. You know nothing about the life I've lived or what I want or don't want. I made a life for myself. I've been relatively happy and more than a little useful. I've lived long enough, thank you. Just because you've suddenly decided to come back from the dead doesn't change anything at all. You didn't come for me. You came for him. Lucian. He has risen, hasn't he? You are hunting him."

Gabriel nodded his head slowly. "That is so, but you must realize, finding you has changed everything."

"No, it hasn't," Francesca denied. She wrenched open the door to the chamber and hurried away from him along the tunnel toward the basement. It didn't improve her temper when he kept pace with her easily, his muscles rippling powerfully, suggestively. How dare he be so casual about her life? "It hasn't changed a thing. You still have your job and I have my life. It belongs solely to me, Gabriel, and only I can make my decisions."

"The Prince of our people has much to answer to me for," Gabriel said in his soft, mild voice. "He has not watched over you as was his duty. Is Mikhail still in power?"

"Go to hell, Gabriel," Francesca bit out, anger erupting at his statement. She pushed her way into the kitchen and moved straight across the room to the hall mirror. Sweeping her hair aside, she examined her neck for any telltale marks.

"You are going out?"

His voice was so low and soft, her heart thudded hard in her chest. She kept her face turned away from him. "Yes, I told Brice I would look in on one of his patients. I can't have him worried and coming to look for me."

"Brice can wait," Gabriel said smoothly.

"There is no reason for Brice to wait," Francesca told him. "I expect you to be gone when I get back, Gabriel."

A small smile softened the hard edge of his mouth. "I do not think that will happen." He watched her go out the front door, amusement never once touching his smoldering black eyes. The moment the heavy door banged shut behind her, Gabriel flowed through the room to the window. Francesca was moving down the street quickly on foot. She hadn't used her car as a human would and she hadn't dissolved into mist and streamed through the air as a Carpathian might. As Gabriel watched, she began to run. Her body moved lightly and fluidly, poetic in its beauty.

He reached out with his mind and merged with hers so that he was a quiet shadow. Francesca was very afraid of him. She meant every word she had said. She had been conducting some kind of experiment, one that had allowed her to remain in the sun with the humans. She had spent a great deal of time and energy researching, looking for a way to make the change. It had taken several centuries to get her body to the point that she could do so. She had been so adept at appearing human in her thoughts and actions that she had fooled even such an ancient as he. Now he had ruined it for her by giving her his ancient blood. She was very upset over that. And she was determined that these were the last few years of her life. She had been considering spending her last years with Brice, growing old in the manner of humans. She intended to meet the dawn when those last few years were gone. She had been planning it for some time.

"I do not think so, Francesca," he whispered aloud. His body slowly wavered, shimmered into transparency. He dissolved into a fine mist and streamed from the house through the partially opened window. At once the mist took the form of a large white owl, his favorite method of traveling. Strong wings spread wide and took him high over the city.

Francesca ran as fast as she could along the sidewalk. She could hear her heart thudding wildly, heard the soles of her feet hitting the walkway, the air rushing in and out of her lungs. In her wildest dreams she had never once thought this could happen.
Gabriel.
Her people whispered of him.
Twins. Legends.
They were dead, not alive. How could this be? He had taken her life away from her, forced her to live an endless solitary existence. Now that she had finally found a way to live like a human, to perhaps have a human relationship, to live and die like the others she had watched come and go throughout the years, Gabriel had come back from the dead. What if he insisted on claiming her?

There was no way to run from one such as Gabriel. He was an elite hunter. Gabriel could track the ghost of a trail, let alone his own lifemate. Francesca slowed to a fast walk. Maybe he would just go away again. He had all but admitted Lucian had risen. He was still hunting. He would have no interest in her. She would never accept his claim on her. He had forced her to exile herself from her own people, her own homeland. She'd had no choice in the matter. A solitary female living among men so desperate for lifemates would have made their lives an endless misery. And she knew she could not tolerate the loss of freedom. The Prince of their people would have guarded her carefully in the constant hope one of the men would be her true lifemate. They needed children desperately. She knew she was compatible with only one Carpathian male and he had rejected her to devote himself to the protection of their people. She had lived as she wanted these centuries, secure in the knowledge that she was strong and powerful and no human could match her and no vampire could detect her. It was easy enough to hide from her people because such behavior was so unexpected.

They had lost so many of their woman and children over the centuries that every woman was guarded closely; the women were needed to bring children, especially female children, into the world. Most of the children born were males, and most did not survive beyond the first year of life. Their species bordered on extinction. Francesca had come to terms with her solitary existence. She wasn't about to change her entire life because Gabriel had suddenly decided to show up out of nowhere.

She felt moisture on her face and glanced up at the sky. It was perfectly clear above her head; the stars were out in full force. Surprised, she reached up and touched the tears on her face. That made her all the more determined that Gabriel would have no say in her life. Already he had made her cry. He had ruined everything. He had taken the sun from her recklessly, without thought. That was Gabriel. He made decisions and expected the rest of the world to fall in line with him. He was a law unto himself and he would expect Francesca to do whatever he dictated.

Francesca turned the corner, took a deep breath and walked into the hospital parking lot. She didn't want anything to appear to be abnormal. Brice met her soon after she entered the building, leading her to believe he had left strict orders that he be alerted immediately upon her arrival. He led her through the halls to a private room. There were teddy bears and balloons and flowers everywhere. The little girl in the bed was very pale with dark circles under her eyes. As always, Brice never told her exactly what was wrong with the patient; instead, he allowed her to perform her own "strange" examination.

"Do her parents know you asked me to look at her?" Francesca asked softly.

Though her voice had been low, the child stirred and opened her eyes. She smiled at her visitor. "You're the lady Dr. Brice says is such a help to people. My mom said you would come and see me."

Francesca glanced at Brice with a quick frown of impatience. She had told him a thousand times not to mention her to anyone. She could not afford publicity. They had argued more than once over the issue. She touched the child's thin little hand with a fingertip. "You're in pain, aren't you?"

The little girl shrugged. "It's all right. I'm used to it now."

Cold air stirred the curtains unexpectedly and Brice glanced at the window, checking to assure himself it was closed. The last thing they needed was a draft in the room. Francesca was concentrating wholly on the child. Nothing else touched her mind at these times. It was as if only the child and Francesca existed. "My name is Francesca. What is yours?"

"Chelsea."

"Well, Chelsea, would you mind if I held your hand for a few minutes? It would help me understand what's going on inside of you."

A slow smile lit up the little girl's face. "You aren't going to poke and prod and stick me with needles?"

Francesca returned the smile. "I think we can safely leave that job to Brice." She took the small hand in hers. The skin was very thin, almost translucent. This child was wasting away. "I'm just going to sit here with you and concentrate. You might feel warm in spots, but it won't hurt."

Chelsea's eyes rested on Francesca's face, studying her expression before she decided to trust her. She nodded solemnly. "Go ahead, I'm ready."

Francesca closed her eyes, focused on the child and only the child, driving every other thought from her head. She sent herself seeking outside her own body, becoming as insubstantial as energy, heat and light. Entering the child, she began a slow, careful examination. The child's blood was a mess. Massive attacks were being launched in the bloodstream and her pitiful antibodies could not possibly make inroads against the invading army. Francesca continued to look at each organ, the tissue and muscle, the brain itself. Sorrow swamped her for a moment, endangering her position within the child's body. She felt great empathy with this little girl who had suffered for so many years of her young life.