Twisting her fingers together, she tried to place the voice. Was it one of the other Carpathians trying to get inside her head? It didn't sound like them. The voice didn't sound like anyone she knew. Tariq. She defied the voice, needing to get anchored--and Tariq could do that for her.
Right here, sielamet. Step into the room but don't touch anything until I'm with you. I'm at the far wall working in the second room. I can see you.
She gave a little sigh of relief. Not only did Tariq's voice calm her, she felt a fresh breeze coming from somewhere, pushing out the stale air and the odor of blood. That little bit of wind couldn't block out the whispers growing louder. Children's voices crying for their mothers or fathers. A woman weeping. Screams of many, both adults and children. She wasn't touching anything and yet already the walls in her mind were tunneling. At least the voice was gone. The hideous, sweet, compelling voice, trying to force her to leave.
Charlotte took three steps into the chamber and shuddered. Vile things had taken place in this room. A room of torture. Experiments with human beings. The cries were louder here. The anguish stronger. She could barely breathe.
You are not safe. Leave now. Get out of there. You are not safe.
The voice was back, whispering, not as loud, but no less strong. Tariq. She was afraid to say anything out loud. There was a feeling of danger, of doom. Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might explode, and everything in her wanted to obey that voice, to turn and run, to get out of that unholy place.
What is it, sielamet? He must have heard something in her voice because he came back to the opening, the door that had kept ten-year-old Liv locked in with a monster feeding on her. His blue eyes searched her face and he stepped closer.
At once his warmth hit her, driving out the cold that she hadn't even known had crept into her bones. She found herself trembling and she held out a hand to him. She needed to believe in something right then because she suddenly realized the world Tariq lived in held real monsters. Horrible deeds were done, and he lived knowing that every single moment of his existence. He hunted these creatures--beings capable of committing the kinds of torture on children that surrounded her.
Tariq instantly closed his fingers around hers and tugged until she was against his body, against all that heat and steel. He seemed invincible. Strong. For the first time she was very glad he was a predator, and she knew he had to be in order to find and destroy monsters. She inhaled him, taking his scent into her lungs, tucking herself beneath his shoulder, her front to his side so she could wrap her arms tightly around him, holding him close to her.
What is it, Charlotte? His voice was nothing less than a caress.
She loved the way he could soothe her with just that intimate voice stroking through her mind like the touch of his fingers on her bare skin. I'm hearing someone else. I'm not touching anything, but I hear a voice telling me to get out, that it's not safe here. I don't recognize the voice, but a strong compulsion is anchored in it.
She was very close to him so she felt the jerk of his body. The sudden coiling in him. She was anchored in his mind and knew he didn't like what she'd said at all. In fact, his first thought was total rejection. Then wariness.
Open yourself to me, sielamet. You are mine to care for. To cherish. To protect. I would never harm you. Let me into your mind all the way.
She hadn't realized she had barriers up. She didn't know how to do what he asked.
I can push through them, but it would be very uncomfortable. You have natural shields, which is why compulsion doesn't work on you. You feel it, but you don't have to act because it is nearly impossible to use mind control on you with the strength of the shields you have. That's why this is so bizarre.
He didn't say he didn't believe her, but she could tell he was shocked. She bit her lip hard and tightened her hold on him.
If you can talk to me like this, mind to mind, can't all Carpathians?
On a common path. If he were using the common pathway, all Carpathians, including me, would be able to hear. Sometimes you can direct to one individual, but in your case, we've exchanged blood. I'm in your mind. I would hear.
She moistened her lips and took another look around at the terrible torture chamber. Chains lying in the pile of dirt and concrete. Tariq had brought the objects to the surface and in some cases, as with the cages, he'd repaired them without touching them. If she wasn't surrounded by the evidence of torture and didn't have a freakish voice in her head attempting to command her, she would think that ability Tariq had was way cool. Right now, she just wanted to run.
I don't like your world, Tariq. It's terrifying. Still, she rested her head against his heart, letting the steady beat calm her. How else could this voice be speaking to me? Can he hear what we say to each other?
Tariq didn't answer right away. She felt the push further into her mind and it was--intimate. Heat rushed through her veins. Her body went soft against his. She pressed her face into him and consciously tried opening her mind to his, knowing he would see everything. Her thoughts. Her doubts. Every fear. Every desire. It was both humiliating and exhilarating. He would know her better than anyone else ever could.
I love who you are, Charlotte. Every single thing about you. The parts of you that make you afraid of sharing with me, I'll handle with care. I do not see anyone else in your mind, but if I stay here with you and he speaks again, I will be able to hear.
How could he do this? she repeated. Anxiety shook her. She didn't want anyone else in her mind. Tariq was different and she accepted his presence even though she kept admonishing herself to marshal her thoughts.
He would have to take your blood or somehow get his blood in you. You've been with me. No vampire could get into the compound. There are safeguards there. Strong ones. All the Carpathian hunters wove a shield in order to protect Emeline and the children from Vadim Malinov and his brother, Sergey. Vadim exchanged blood with Emeline and we believe he or Sergey did with Bella and Liv. But you?
Relief swept through her. I've never been near either of those two vampires. Until you mentioned them, I'd never heard of them. She took a deep breath and looked around her. Maybe I conjured up the voice because the pain and suffering in this room is so horrific my mind is playing tricks in order not to fall apart.
His hand came up to cup the back of her head, pressing her face deeper into him. You have not conjured up anything. Dragomir was correct in saying you are very sensitive. I should have taken care of you, not allow
ed you to come here.
She didn't like the word allow. She just didn't. The rest of it, okay, that was all fine, but . . . Strike the word allow from your vocabulary.
Instantly amusement spread throughout her mind. I'm old-fashioned. Really old-fashioned.
I'm a very modern woman and if you've been in my mind you know I am. I carry wasp spray in my purse just in case. That should tell you something right there.
It tells me you're strong enough to do this, and that you want to.
Maybe want was a little strong. She glanced around the room, took a breath and then stepped away from Tariq to lay both hands on the top of the table. Screams erupted in her mind. She winced but held on. There were four victims before the man. The male Carpathian. They have such glee that they were able to capture him. They lost seven of their best men and it took eight others to take him, but now that they have him, they can drain him of blood and keep him weak. He would be the base for the experiments.
She looked up at Tariq, her heart once again pounding. "I hear his voice. The same voice speaking. Did you hear it?" she whispered to him, afraid to speak telepathically now that she recognized that the man in charge of capturing a Carpathian and torturing him there on that table and in that room was the same man speaking to her.
Tariq nodded slowly, a muscle jerking along his jaw. "I recognize that voice. That was Vadim Malinov speaking. He's the one giving the orders to his men. Are you absolutely certain that's the same voice you heard warning you earlier?"
She nodded and moved on now that she had identified the strange voice in her mind. "Four women came before the captured Carpathian."
"When you tell me what happened, use the common path so the others can hear as well."
She'd forgotten that the others could hear her through her link with Tariq. She nodded. The four women were on this table before the Carpathian hunter. They were used at first for food; several vampires took their blood on a regular basis and they hurt those women for their own amusement. And then . . . She broke off. She hated this. Hated what was done to those women and what came after. They raped them and impregnated them. Each of them. One at a time. They forced the women to consume a mixture of blood from the Carpathian and from the oldest and strongest of the vampires. The one called Vadim. He wants children so they can rise up with him to take control of the human fodder as is their right. Her knees were shaking. She feared she might just fall down.