Dark Tarot (Dark Carpathians)

Gabriel and Francesca Daratrazanoff were a striking couple. Gabriel looked exactly like Lucian, his twin. A tall, imposing figure, his black hair was worn long like Sandu’s, held at the back of his neck with a tight leather cord, the only concession to his ancient status as a vampire hunter. He looked like he belonged in the city, with the tailored suit that hung so perfectly on his body, emphasizing his wide shoulders and powerful body.

Francesca was tall and slender, with ebony hair that was so glossy it gleamed in the moonlight, tumbling around her face and down her back, framing her feminine curves. Her face was unlined, youthful. She laughed often and looked at Gabriel as if he were the brightest star in the sky. Adalasia had never met anyone that was as restful to be around as Francesca. She had a soothing, compassionate nature.

It had been Francesca’s idea to show Sandu and Adalasia some of their favorite places in their beloved city of Paris before they retired for the evening to their home on the outskirts of the city. Wandering along the cobblestone streets, it wasn’t difficult to see how Gabriel and Francesca had fallen in love with the beauty and artistry of their chosen home. There was an old-world feel to Montmartre, the quaint streets, the cafés, the style, as if one were stepping back in time and walking through a Paris of years ago. The view of the city from the top of the hill was so beautiful, Adalasia actually cried.

Francesca was pleased. “I knew you’d get it,” she said. “Come see the vineyard. I love the vineyard right here in the middle of the city,” Francesca said. “Montmartre is gorgeous and unique anyway, but the vineyard, for me, is such a beautiful addition. The grapes growing on the hillside somehow just shout Paris to me.”

Gabriel wrapped his arm possessively around his wife’s waist and drew her close to him. “Francesca lived here long before I came into her life. The hospital and shelters are her passions. She takes care of those on the street. That’s how she came to find me.”

Gabriel ran his lips along his lifemate’s high cheekbone and then to the corner of her mouth. His voice had gone as velvet soft as his eyes when he looked at his lifemate. “I woke starving. Disoriented. Afraid I would turn vampire if I took what I needed from anyone but was desperate to feed. I looked old and shaky, covered in a long-hooded cloak, walking the streets of a city I didn’t recognize anymore after two hundred years in the ground. Francesca, in her compassion, stopped for me, sensing my distress.”

“Did you know he was your lifemate?” Adalasia asked.

Francesca shook her head. “Not at that time. He didn’t speak or even really look at me. He was huddled in that cloak. I thought in human terms. I’d lived as a human for so long and was trying to find a way to walk in the sun, to die as a human. I had accepted that my lifemate had chosen another path.”

Sandu drew Adalasia to him, her front to his side, tucking her under his shoulder as if she might try to escape him even as they continued their walk through the eight-hundred-year-old vineyards that weren’t open to the public. The four of them couldn’t be seen. The Carpathians had cloaked their presence so Adalasia and Sandu could enjoy the vineyard and gardens in one of the places they particularly loved. In the night sky, a few small bats wheeled and dipped, chasing the insects hovering above the vines, caught in the silvery rays of the moon. A nightbird sang. Another answered.

“Francesca, there is no other path for a lifemate but to be with his woman,” Sandu said.

“Lucian and Gabriel came through my village when I was young, and he looked right at me and turned away. I recognized that he was my lifemate and felt his rejection when he continued on with his brother. Later, I chose to be proud that he was a great hunter of the undead, but at the time, it was hurtful.”

“Had I known, Francesca . . .” Gabriel said softly.

“I know,” she said. “But I came here so I could live my life the way I wanted to live it, free and unrestricted by the rules of our society.” She gave Gabriel a loving smile. “Then along came my lifemate and messed up all my very independent plans.”

“You weren’t happy to see him,” Adalasia guessed. She couldn’t help looking at the two of them framed in the silvery moonlight, as if that special spotlight was beaming down on their elegant beauty—and their obvious love for each other.

The night seemed so perfect. She could hear in the distance laughter and the murmur of conversation. Music. Overhead, more little bats had joined the others, feasting on the insects buzzing around the vines.