The passage into the cave was so narrow, Caitlin had to hold her breath to squeeze through. It seemed to go on forever, the rough walls scraping her skin, the oppressive feelings of tons of rock over her head, surrounding her body, waiting to crush her. She couldn’t look at Zendedari, who had somehow made his large body thin and weird looking. His kind were capable of doing things she didn’t want to think about. How had she gotten herself into this mess?Sex. A good-looking intense man with black, hungry eyes, and she fell like a lovesick calf. Sex. It ruined many otherwise sane women.I can read your thoughts.The amusement as soft and caressing, wrapping her up in strong arms.I was perfectly sane and sensible until I met you. Now look at me. I’m crawling around inside a mountain.Suddenly she stopped and held herself perfectly still.I’m hearing something. Tell me you are not taking me into a cave full of bats. Say it right now,Zen, or I’m out of here. I am not taking you into a
"If he hates all of you enough to want you tortured and killed, why doesn’t he just do it himself?" Caitlin asked Zendedari."The vampire must seek the earth before the sun rises. Unlike us, he cannot take even early sunlight. Dawn would bring his destruction. It limits his reach.""So he was in the woods watching us, just as I feared, and must have followed Barry and somehow trapped him. And he has to turn Barry over to the humans before dawn. The humans must be close.""Kendalf said the very soil groaned under their boots.""So this betrayer cannot help the humans as long as the sun is up.""Absolutely not." He said it with conviction."But the dawn does not have such an effect on us. We can stand it, Zendedari. If we move now, we can find them. All we have to do is get Barry back and hide him until around five or six this evening when we are strong again. We can do it, I know we can. There are only so many places he could be. We can stand the early-morning sun, and no one will be e
Not in the same way," Zendedari answered as honestly as could. "Some things are so fragmented in my mind, I have to piece together information. I do know most lifemates choose to live or die together. But if a child was in need, the lifemate remaining would see to its well-being, emotionally as well as physically." He did not tell her of those children given to other couples to raise because the remaining lifemate could not face existence without the partner. They knew the child would be well looked after, well loved, because most women of his kind miscarried or lost their newborns within the first year of life. "And I know you, Caitlin. No matter how difficult something is on you, you always see it through. You would not abandon our child the way your mother did you. Our child would be loved and guided every moment of its life. I know that absolutely."She caught his arm, preventing him from stepping out into the rain. "Promise me, if we have a child together and something happens
Raven stood in the comparative shelter of the porch, her face turned up toward the sky, eyes closed. Tiny beads of perspiration dotted her forehead, and her fingers twisted together compulsively over her stomach. She was not with the others, rather somewhere out of her body and concentrating on attempting to find Barry’s location. Beside her stood her dark, intimidating husband, his mind obviously locked with hers. Enoch was so like Zendedari that Caitlin could not tear her gaze from him. As she moved onto the porch a step behind Zendedari, she could clearly see that Enoch was furious. He was seething with anger, violence swirling very close to the surface, yet his posture was purely protective. He had placed himself between Raven and the ferocity of the storm.Kendalf was as still as a statue, his face a blank mask, his silver eyes as empty as death, yet Caitlin gave him a wide berth. There was something dangerous in his utter stillness. Caitlin felt she had no way of sorting out
Raven flung out her ebony hair. "No one allows me to do anything. I decide. I was born and raised human, Kendalf," she pointed out. "I can only be myself. Barry is my friend, and he is in desperate trouble. I intend to help him.""If your lifemate is so enthralled with you that he would allow you such foolishness," Kendalf replied softly, menacingly, "then I can do no other than protect you myself.""Don’t you talk about Enoch like that!" Raven was furious.You really know how to stir up the hornets’ nest with the women, do you not?Enoch demanded, even though he understood Kendalf completely and felt him justified.Kendalf did not look at him but stared out into the storm.The child she carries is my lifemate. It is female and belongs to me.There was an unmistakable warning note, an actual threat.In all their centuries together, such a thing had never happened. Enoch immediately closed his mind to Raven. She could never hope to understand how Kendalf felt. Without a lifemate, the
Kendalf stepped away from Raven, holding on to his composure with his great strength of will. "Few women of our kind carry to full term. The child rarely survives the first year of life. Do not be so certain we are out of the woods. You must rest and be cared for. The child comes first. Barry would say so also. Enoch must take you far from this place, away from the vampire and the assassins. I will hunt and rid our people of the danger while your mate looks after you." Kendalf’s voice was low and pitched in silver tones, tones of light that beckoned and danced. Nearly impossible to resist. So calm and soothing and reasonable.Raven actually had to shake off the compulsion to do as he wished. She glared at him. "Don’t even try that with me, Kendalf." She included Enoch in her stare. "And you, you big lunk, you would have gone along with him like the tree-swinging macho man you are. Watch these guys,Caitlin, they’re impossible. They’ll do anything to get their way."Caitlin found herse
Caitlin wrapped her arms around Zendedari both mentally and physically, hating the worn, tortured lines etched into his beautiful face.Two days ago you could barely stand, could not remember anything. This is a miracle, Zendedari. What you’ve accomplished is a miracle.She tried to reassure him, reading accurately that he loathed the fact that he could not eke out another detail."It is enough to piece it together," Kendalf said, his voice a soothing balm. He touched his fingertips to Zendedari’s temples, inhaled slowly, and focused, sending himself outside his body.Caitlin could actually feel the pain melting away, leaving Zendedari whole and calm. The healer’s power was extraordinary.She wanted it, felt it moving within her, rising to follow where the healer’s light led.Kendalf’s voice broke the spell. "You must have accepted his offer. The poison was in the betrayer’s blood.""What prevents the betrayer from being paralyzed?" Enoch hissed it, a venomous sound that sent a shiver
"There is one human a few miles away," Enoch stated. "I can detect no others. He is in the direction of Zendedari’s old home. Do we go?"Light was streaking the sky now, gray patches despite the dark, roiling clouds and the steady drizzle of rain. "Go, Enoch," Raven insisted softly. "You have to. Otherwise I would always feel I killed him. If you do not go, it will be because of me.""You have to," Caitlin added, looking into Zendedari’s black eyes. He did, too; Caitlin felt it with great conviction. There would come a time when Zendedari would remember his childhood, his great friendship with Barry, and how he had backed away from Barry’s attempt at reconciliation. He needed to do this for the sake of his own sanity.I know.His reply was a soft assent in her mind as he shared her thoughts. "I will go,Enoch," he said aloud. "You stay and protect the women. It is the only way.""It could very well be a trap," Kendalf cautioned. "More than likely it is a trap. Otherwise this would be
When they clambered to the surface of the ground, away from the lab, the girls breathed in relief, freed from the nightmares they had been subjected to for years. It was then that Olivera took a blood bag from the polythene in her arms, feeling better in the night hair, and took a sip, wary of how the blood would taste. She had heard Jacob talking about the heady feeling, worse if it came from an ancient. But it still hadn’t prepared her for the kick of pleasure. She found herself moaning as she greedily drank the blood, until she drained the bag. When she was done, she looked at the others. They were staring at her with unexplainable emotions on their faces. At least it wasn’t disgust. Olivera thought with a shrug, before handing the bag over to Miriam. When her friend hesitated in collecting it, she piqued an eyebrow. “You want to do the dismantling of the structure, without alerting the soldiers?” Miriam huffed, and took the bag. As much as she had great magic, she didn’t want
The first thing Olivera saw when she stepped into the hole where the passageway stopped was the largeness of the space, which could contain more than five thousand people. Then she saw the tubes, the boiling liquids and the lab rats. A modern lab.‘Where are you?’ She asked the girl, needing to get out of here; it was making her nauseous. Ten more minutes here, and she might be vomiting all over the place. And there was the fact that she didn’t know when the soldiers would be waking up. ‘At the far end of the cave…’Olivera nodded as if the girl was speaking to her physically. And gesturing with her head, for Miriam to follow her, she sauntered toward the end of the hall, making sure not to look at the tubes housing different organs and parts of an organism. What the hell! She screamed mentally when she saw a full brain at a table which looked like a butchering table. “Oh, my god…what are they doing here?” She heard Miriam ask beside her and sighed. Whose brain was that? A human
Miriam’s heart pounded erratically as she followed Olivera, who seemed very confident on what she was doing, and on where she was going. Three times she thought of grabbing Olivera and walking away from the region, but she also knew it would have been a futile attempt. Her friend’s mind was already made up. She watched as the latter walked past the last barrack, and stopped by a pole, the only pole in the backyard. Behind it were the gates towering them. They have come to a dead end. “Olivera, there is nothing here? Are you sure this girl is real?” Olivera gave Miriam no answer, instead she concentrated on looking around her, waiting for the signal. When she got nothing, she traced the vibration residue, touching the girl’s mind. A jerk in her mind path told her that the girl was surprised she had breached her mind guards. But should she be surprised? Or was something else at play here? ‘Where next should I go?’ She continued, because she knew she was at the right place, that t
“How are we getting past that?” Olivera asked Miriam as they came to stand before a huge gate that towered many feet over them. She could now see why Miriam had wanted the journey to be done in the privacy of the night. As much as she could see—as they had zapped to this point—this area wasn’t open to the city dwellers, only to the special few. She looked around her again. Barracks with soldiers sleeping within. None was even standing guard at the gates. She didn’t believe such a thing would exist at this time. City gates. Where did it lead? She piqued an eyebrow when Miriam smirked. What was the latter thinking? “As if you don’t already know…which other way, if not by mist…there is no way I am climbing that. I don’t think I am ready to fly with you above it…” Miriam spoke, covering the distance between them, and wrapping her arms around Olivera, her mouth fixed in a pout. Olivera shook her head, yet unable to stop the smile that cascaded her lips. It seemed that her friend was g
A knock woke Olivera up from her deep slumber. After bathing and eating off the snacks she had bought earlier in the day, from the shops in the new city, she had fallen like a log of wood to the bed, and hadn’t even stirred after that. Still groggy from the smooth sleep, she let her hand search for her phone which was the only thing that had gone to bed with her, should Miriam call for her. She peered at the screen. It was one in the morning. It was time then. She yawned like a hyena, causing Miriam to chuckle from behind the door. The chuckle dissipated the remaining fog fostering around her head. Taking a deep breath in, she stood up from the bed, flung a sheet around her naked body, and walked to the door. When she opened it, she saw that Miriam was alone, and carrying a tray of steaming food. “You are a lifesaver.” She muttered, opening the door wider for her friend to come in; the rumbling sounds that emitted from her stomach in agreement with her. Miriam chuckled again, an
“Where are we heading next?” Olivera asked Miriam immediately they stepped out of the borders of the town, into a city sprawling with people. After they had left the males who had tried to detain them because of her eating habits, they had walked to the largest building in the town, because if Clooney was a big name, it was probably because the man was rich. They hadn’t been right in their deduction, but they had at least gotten away from the unsettling males. Olivera had taken her friend behind the building, and had quickly switched to her mist form, turning Miriam into the same, and together they had zapped the remainder of the city without stopping, till they were out of it, till they were in a new one which looked more modernized than the previous. She looked at Miriam, who was staring at the city with artificial skylights, and wondered if her friend had ever been here before. “I never get over the culture shock, you know, seeing the drabness of the town we just left. The cont
What now? Olivera thought, looking at the six males that couldn’t be a year older than twenty five years old. What were they doing in front of her? “State your names, and what you are doing in this town…” The male, slightly in front of the others, spoke with a steel voice, causing Olivera and Miriam to exchange furtive glances. What was going on?There was a minute hesitation before Olivera spoke. “I am Darcy. My friend is Lilian. Who are you?” She patted herself mentally for names well cooked and delivered. Darcy and Lilian? How had she come up with those seemingly true names? She watched the male that had just spoken, looked to his comrades behind him, and judged that he was the leader of this small group. Were they the police? She looked at them again. They didn’t look like the police. Vigilantes? Maybe. But why were there vigilantes in the town? She kept a seal on her thoughts when the male returned her attention to her. “My name is Luke, and these are my associates. Our job is
“We will kill him right?” Miriam asked, as they stepped out of the camp, and turned around to look at it again, reliving what they had seen in there. “We need to. He is evil. Why will a sane man work with a vampire? Is he crazy?” Olivera just couldn’t understand the foolishness, no matter how much she tried. Why would one make a deal with an almost eternal wickedness? Had he no fear for his life, for his family? “I think he is crazy. Evil-y crazy. But that’s by the way. What are we going to do now?” Olivera looked around the camp, and spat in disgust. “We will burn it down. We will burn it until it’s nothing but dust. We will eradicate this curse from the face of the earth.” Miriam couldn’t agree less, but then she remembered that the ancients might have use for the materials in there. Olivera, having sensed the latter’s thoughts, shook her head. “They won’t be needing it. I’ve already transferred the necessary details to Raul, and Jacob. They can take it up from there. The mater
“Do you think anyone is in there?” Olivera asked Miriam, immediately she shifted to human self. Miriam looked at her clothed self and smiled. “Seems you have gotten the best hang of shifting, and still keeping your clothes on.” Olivera shrugged her shoulders. “There was no other choice. I can’t keep going up and down with my clothes in my hands or mouth. Since I’m part ancient, I have to improvise.” She took in a deep breath, inhaling the air tainted with magic and something else. “This place is tainted with magic. You smell it?” She shook off the imaginary dirt on her clothes, just in case, whilst waiting for Miriam’s reply. When she looked up, her friend was smiling. “What’s tickling your fancy? I don’t think my question has that much prowess…” Miriam cackled. “I never thought riding on a wolf would be so exhilarating. If I had known, I would have befriended a werewolf, and snagged rides every week at least. It’s quite freeing and therapeutic.” Olivera nodded. It was just as