Dark Legend (5 page)

She swayed, blinking rapidly, bringing herself back into her own body. As always, she felt disoriented and weak after an out-of-body experience. She sat for a moment in silence before she looked up at Brice.

"Francesca." He said her name softly, in great hope. It wasn't a question. He was a doctor. He knew medically that Chelsea was dying, her body succumbing to the terrible army so ferociously attacking it. He looked exhausted, and sorrow etched his face. He had done everything within his power and it was nowhere near enough.

"Maybe." Francesca glanced at the clock on the wall. It was three-thirty in the morning. How much time would it take to heal this child, to rid this worn-out body of every scrap of cancer? Would she be able to finish and still make it home before the sun came up? Did it matter? The child's life was worth the risk. And she didn't mind walking into the sun.

"Leave me alone with her, Brice, and let me see what I can do." Francesca stroked back Chelsea's hair. "You go to sleep, honey, and we'll see if we can make you a little more comfortable." She waited until Brice had closed the door before she once more sent herself into the child's body.

Time meant nothing at all when she worked as a healer. She was in Chelsea's small human form, holding her safe and warm with her mind, even as her energy fought the terrible battle for Chelsea's life. She was meticulous in her work, tireless, careful to ensure that not one vestige of the vile disease remained in Chelsea's body. She had no idea of the hours that passed or of her own strength waning until she found herself faltering, her body wearing out before her spirit had time to finish the task. At once she was flooded with power, a strong surge of enormous energy coming from a source outside her. She accepted the energy without question, certain of the origin. Of course Gabriel would know when she was risking her health; he was tied to her through their blood bond. Naturally he would reach out to help her. He was, after all, a male

Carpathian. There was no deeper meaning to his aid. He certainly wasn't doing it because he cared for her.

Francesca utilized the energy immediately, grateful even though she wanted nothing to do with Gabriel. Only one thing mattered: healing Chelsea's worn-out body and restoring her to good health. When she was certain she had eradicated every last bit of disease, Francesca returned to her own body.

She was breathing heavily, trembling from head to toe. For a moment she remained slumped over the little girl, slowly recovering from the difficult task she had set herself. Added to the drain of healing was the effort necessary to shield her activity from all outsiders. Over the years she had learned to put up a barrier to hide the surge of power from Carpathians and vampires alike.

Glancing up at the clock, she realized it was nearly five in the morning. She had to get home. As tired as she was, it wouldn't do to be caught out when the sun came up. As often as she said it didn't matter, Francesca was still secretly afraid of dying in such a painful way. Gabriel had seen to it that the sun could harm her again.

"It was not intentional, sweetheart."

"But the result is the same."

Brice was waiting for her, leaning against the wall just outside the door. "So, could you help her?"

"I hope so." Francesca was noncommittal even though she knew very well the child would recover fully. "Please do me the courtesy of not mentioning me to anyone. Really, Brice, we had an agreement. I can't afford to have people knocking down my door expecting miracles. Give her a day or two before you perform any tests on her. You know I hate publicity. You take the credit if it works."

He fell into step beside her. "I'm off. Would you like to have breakfast? A little thank you for staying up all night for one of my patients."

Francesca pushed back the heavy fall of her blue-black hair. "I'm tired, Brice. You know it always wears me out."

"If I knew what you did, maybe I could help and you wouldn't get so tired," he teased. "You walked here, didn't you? Come on, I'll give you a ride home." He took her arm and led her to his car.

Francesca went willingly. It would only take minutes to get home by car, and she was exhausted. Settling into the leather seat, she snapped her seat belt in place automatically and smiled up at him. "You do like your luxury, Brice."

"Nothing wrong with that. I know what I want and I go after it." His dark eyes moved over her suggestively.

"Don't start," she cautioned, a laugh in her voice. "What is it with you, Brice? I've told you over and over we can't see each other."

"We see each other every day, Francesca," he pointed out with a grin. "We do quite well seeing each other."

"I'm too tired to argue with you. Just take me home and be nice."

"What did you do with the old man? You've got to quit picking people up off the street, Francesca. That's why you need me. You're too nice for your own good. Sooner or later you're going to pick up an ax murderer."

"I don't think there's much danger of that." Francesca watched out the window as her house loomed large at the end of the driveway.

"He isn't in your house, is he?" Brice asked suspiciously as he parked the car and threw his seat belt off.

She flashed him a quick smile. "I take it you think I'm going to invite you in."

Brice rushed around the car to open her door. "I'm definitely going in. I don't want to find out you've got that flea-bitten old man in there. It would be so like you."

As if on cue, the front door suddenly opened and Gabriel's large frame filled the doorway. He certainly didn't look like a flea-bitten old man. Francesca felt the color drain from her face and her heart definitely somersaulted. She glanced uneasily at Brice. Gabriel looked invincible, a predator. He looked capable of eating Brice alive. He stood tall and elegant, his sensual features carefully expressionless. Gabriel looked like a dark prince of old; the power in him was so obvious it clung like a second skin. He was incredibly handsome and she couldn't help noticing despite her resolve not to do so.

Brice effectively stopped her by grabbing her arm and holding her still. "Who the hell is that?" He actually thrust Francesca behind him protectively.

The gesture was so sweet it brought a lump to her throat. No one had ever been so protective and attentive to her as Brice. No matter how often she rebuffed him, Brice was determined in his pursuit of her.

Gabriel came down the stairs. Glided. Flowed. He moved with the grace of a large jungle cat, powerful muscles rippling beneath the thin silk of his shirt. "Thank you so much for bringing her home. I was beginning to worry," Gabriel said smoothly. His voice was velvet soft, gentle, impossible to ignore. It paved the way for whatever compulsion he chose to implant in his listener's mind.

Gabriel moved right up to Francesca, ignoring her little feminine retreat. His hand closed over her wrist, drew her beneath his wide shoulder. "You stayed out all night, sweetheart, you must be exhausted. I hope she was able to help your patient." His arm slipped possessively around Francesca's shoulders, firmly anchoring her to him.

If she struggled or protested, she would be placing Brice in an untenable position. He would feel he ought to come to her defense and there was no one on this earth, she believed, who could successfully defeat Gabriel, unless it was his fallen twin Lucian.

"What do you think you're doing?"
she demanded, using their mind merge to chastise him. He was tall, his strength enormous. He made her feel small and delicate when she was not that at all. He made her feel vulnerable.

"Who are you?" Brice asked uneasily.

"He senses your fear, Francesco. Do not make me do something you will have a difficult time forgiving."

"Don't you dare hurt him."

"I am Gabriel." Gabriel thrust out his hand toward Brice, as friendly as a full-grown panther. He looked elegant. He looked dangerous. He looked untamed. He looked very courtly and old-fashioned with his thick flowing hair caught at the nape of his neck by a leather thong.

Brice shook the offered hand, uncertain how to handle the situation. Francesca wasn't giving him any cues. Her young face looked stiff and frightened, her eyes enormous, deliberately avoiding his questioning gaze. She remained nestled beneath Gabriel's shoulder and looked very much as if she belonged there. Certainly there was no mistaking the possessive way Gabriel touched her, the warning in his eyes when he looked at Brice. Gabriel was letting him know, man to man, that Gabriel considered Francesca his and wouldn't allow any other man in her life. It was in his very body posture as he sheltered Francesca's slender feminine frame against his own muscular one.

"I guess you know who I am," Brice said grimly. The stranger reeked of danger. It clung to him, emanated from him. And Francesca just stood there silently, helplessly, as if she had no idea what to do.

Fully aware of the imminent rising of the sun, Gabriel was moving her up the stairs, his larger, heavier frame urging her smaller one toward the door. Francesca went only because Gabriel gave her no real choice in the matter. If she protested in any way, she would be putting Brice in a terrible position. She forced a smile. "I'll talk to you this evening, Brice."

"Do not count too heavily on it."

Francesca continued the charade with a halfhearted wave before she ducked beneath Gabriel's arm into the safety of the house. "How
dare
you interfere in my life?" Adrenaline was surging through her veins. She paced across the floor, back and forth in quick, hurried steps, betraying her frame of mind. She couldn't have stayed still if she had wanted to.

Calling on the patience born of a thousand battles, Gabriel watched her through half-closed eyes, his body as still as the mountains. "You are extremely angry with me." He said it very softly without a hint of expression.

Her black eyes flashed fire at him, and she swung her head so that her hair flared out like a thick curtain of silk. At once his body reacted. She was intensely beautiful, every movement sensual. "Don't do that, Gabriel. Don't start patronizing me. You are nothing to me, nothing in my life. I helped out a fellow Carpathian, that's the extent of what is between us. It was my duty, no more, no less."

"You sound as though you are trying to convince yourself, Francesca." He tilted his head, regarding her steadily. "You were going to invite that man into your house."

"That man is my friend," she pointed out. He didn't blink. Not once. He just watched her. Francesca found it very disconcerting. He was as still as a statue, looking lazy yet dangerous, and the longer he stood there, the faster her heart beat. He had some kind of power over her. It was because he was her lifemate. She was still Carpathian enough to realize his soul cried out to hers. So did his body. She could feel it, the hunger, the desire washing through her with a slow molten burn. Carefully she averted her eyes, staring at the carpet beneath her feet instead of at his fascinating body.

"Francesca." He said her name softly. Gently. His accent was very Old World and produced an unfamiliar fluttering in her heart. His voice was so beautiful and pure, she felt a compulsion to look up at him but she kept her eyes cast resolutely downward.

Intellectually, Francesca knew Gabriel was an extremely powerful being. His voice was compelling, his eyes mesmerizing. Because he was her true lifemate, it would be even more difficult for her to resist him, but she had no choice. "I have lived my life, Gabriel. I no longer wish to continue my existence. I certainly do not want to start over with an entirely different lifestyle. I've been alone, made my own decisions all these long centuries. I could never be happy being dictated to by a male. You can't ask me to change what I've become by your own decree. Tell me, will you still devote yourself to destroying your twin?"

"That is my duty, my vow to fulfill."

Francesca sighed with relief. She was extremely tired, her body once again feeling the enervating effects of the sun as it began to climb. "We have nothing further to discuss."

"If I had not aided you while you healed that child, you would never have had the strength to make it out of the sun." He said the words as he said everything, with no inflection, yet she felt the weight of his censure.

Deliberately she shrugged, a careless movement of her shoulders. "It didn't matter in the least to me whether I did or didn't. I have said it more than once and I don't wish to repeat myself continually."

"You leave me no choice but to bind you to me." Actually, he had intended to do so from the moment he'd realized she belonged with him. For two thousand years he had not
lived,
he had merely
existed
in a dark, ugly world. It was completely different now. Everything. Emotions. Colors. Francesca. He had thought to court her first, she certainly deserved that much. But if her life was at risk, he would wait no longer.

She looked at him, her eyes like black opals, beautiful and glittering. "It won't matter, Gabriel. I won't hesitate to go to the dawn. I won't be responsible for your life. If you make the decision to bind us, it is your decision alone. I refuse to be a part of it. If you choose to follow me when I go, so be it. But my life will be
my
choice."

Gabriel touched her mind; her resolve was genuine. She meant every word she said. "Francesca, tell me about your relationship with this doctor. How far has it gone?"

She curled up in a deep cushioned chair. "I'm not sure what you want to know. I haven't slept with him if that's what you mean. He wants to. I think he'd like to marry me. I
know
he would like to marry me." She hesitated a moment before admitting the rest. "I've considered it."

His eyebrow shot up. "And you allowed a human to develop such a strong attachment to you?"

"Why not? My lifemate rejected me and later I believed him to be dead. I had every right to find affection if I desired it," she replied without remorse.

"What do you feel for this human male?"

There was a soft growl in his gentle voice, just enough to send a shiver along her spine. She would not be intimidated by him. She had done nothing wrong. She would not feel guilty because he had come back from the dead. She owed him absolutely nothing.