Dark Legacy (Dark 27)

"No." She shook her head, uncaring that the action caused her hair to pull at her scalp. "I couldn't. I tried to save you, Dragomir, but you just wouldn't let me."

"Good thing, too." He leaned down to brush a kiss on top of her head. "Your dreams interest me. Tell me about them."

"I've always had them." She nuzzled his thigh because she couldn't help herself. His body was warm and hard. It was hers. He'd given himself to her. All that he was. She liked sitting on the floor, her body between his legs, surrounded by him. There was safety in it. There was also the heady realization that this man was hers and anything she did, any way she touched him, he was fine with.

"I started having dreams when I was fairly young. I really didn't notice at first, but somewhere along the line I realized that some of the places I went to I'd already dreamt about. Once I was paying attention, it wasn't only places, but what was happening in my dreams, taking place in reality days or weeks after. That was terrifying to a child. I thought maybe my imagination was causing things to happen. When you're alone and scared and hungry, people can be cruel. In retaliation, I would think bad thoughts about them and if I dreamt about it later, I was so terrified I was making bad things happen to those I didn't like."

"Sivamet." He murmured it softly. The hand in her hair was soothing and gentle, stroking caresses down the silk of her hair.

She wasn't used to compassion, and tears burned behind her eyes. Joyful tears. She'd never known what that was until that moment. Dragomir changed her perspective on everything.

"I would dream something bad, and if it hadn't happened, I would treat the dream as if it would happen. I'd call it up every night, changing little details. I found I couldn't change what happened, but I could modify it. I could change the way I reacted. So I'd play the dream over and over in my head and change little things until I could change the outcome of the dream. Most of the time, the dream didn't spill over into reality, but the times it did, I was ready and I knew exactly what to do."

"Tell me about having the dream where you went down into Vadim's underground city."

She felt her brain shut down. She didn't want to relive that nightmare ever again. Not even for Dragomir. She shook her head.

His palm cupped the side of her face, his thumb trailing over her high cheekbone. "I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important, sivamet. I am here with you. He can't get to you or our daughter. You're safe now. Detach yourself and just tell me the dream. Tell it as if it remained a dream."

For him. Emeline knew she would do anything for him, even things that were difficult for her. If he wanted or needed this from her, she would tell him. He hadn't offered to help distance her from the dream, so she knew he wanted her complete version.

"The dreams started years before it actually occurred. My dreams don't always happen in real life, even the recurring ones, so I never know what is real or not. I wasn't certain, at first, if that particular dream would happen, although it was vivid and night after night I dreamt it. One day I came across vampires killing in an alleyway and I knew they were real despite everyone I told wanting to lock me up."

She looked down at her hands. They were shaking. "The dream reoccurred over and over. The girls were taken down into the city. Liv was eaten alive night after night by Vadim's puppets. Blaze and I couldn't stop it. We couldn't save her in time. Amelia was taken by the vampires and they drained her of blood and left her dying in a corner. Bella . . ." She broke off, pressing a trembling hand to her mouth. "They eventually fed her to the same puppets that ate her sister. And Danny was used for days as food for the vampires. Blaze and I went into the tunnels nightly to try to change the course of what happened. We did little things at first and found what tools we needed. How fast we had to run, what would be behind a door when we got to it. I repeated the dream night after night and shared it with Blaze."

"How did you share it with Blaze?"

Emeline frowned. She hadn't thought about trying to explain that. "I can do it easily. I could do it with you. I think it's the same way we get into each other's minds."

Dragomir sat straight abruptly, the action causing her heart to jump. His eyes went from lazy and languid to sharp and demanding, the gold going bright and hot, glittering with intelligence. "You can get into people's minds? Anyone's? You could do that before you were converted?"

She chewed on her lower lip until his finger rubbed along it, easing the bite, making her conscious of what she was doing. "I don't think I get into people's minds. It's when I'm dreaming. I can reach out to anyone around me."

"If I were connected at that time to others, all those in this compound, could you share your dream with them all?"

"Of course. It isn't like it requires tremendous effort on my part. I reach out, just the way I do when I want to connect with you. If Blaze was a distance away, it would be more difficult, but if you were connected to her, or Maksim, and I shared with either one of you, the dream would be easy to give her as well." Her voice rang with confidence because she was confident.

He nodded. "How would Vadim know this about you? He did, didn't he? When he had you prisoner, he had to have mentioned it."

She nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on his mouth. She hadn't told any of them, not even Blaze. No one. She had been terrified that whatever Vadim wanted her to do, the Carpathians would either kill her to keep her from doing, or want it for themselves. She had told herself numerous times that was a leftover fear from her childhood--that no one wanted her, the woman, only what she could do for them.

"He did ask me. I refused to answer."

"Even when he tortured you and tried to get the answer out of you. How did he know?"

"I went to the Morrison Psychic Center for testing. I put down that I could share my dreams. It was so stupid of me. I thought it was for fun, like those psychics at fairs. I kind of thought it would be funny to have a real ability but to pretend I didn't. It was the worst mistake of my life and started everything."

"I'm grateful for your mistake. I wouldn't have you had you not made it."

12

The water on the lake was like glass. Emeline had never been on it, or even on the dock around it. She found it was peaceful and gorgeous. All of her life she'd been drawn to the night--until she'd gone into that underground city and realized that monsters were lurking in every shadow. Walking hand in hand with Dragomir gave her back a sense of peace and serenity to the night. He kept her tucked in close to him, her fingers threaded through his, and he took her straight to the lake.

She loved the way the moon appeared silver in the dark sky. Stars were scattered overhead as if thrown haphazardly, yet they formed unique patterns. The sounds of insects and frogs added to the beauty of the place. "I can understand why Tariq chose this place to build," she said. "He has everything. The lake and the woods, yet he's close to the city."

"It's also easily defensible. Maksim owns the property to the south, and I told him we'd buy up as much of the property toward his east as possible."

"You need a lot of money for that," she cautioned.

"I have lived centuries. Even before I entered the monastery, I had wealth. Most

Carpathians do. You learn what is needed and you acquire it."

"Good to know. I don't have a penny to my name. Not really. I work, so I have a bank account. Or rather I did work before all this vampire nonsense, but I didn't acquire actual wealth."

He looked down at her, waited until she looked up and smiled. "You've acquired it now. You can have anything you want. Go anywhere you want."

"I want to go out on the lake. In a canoe or the rowboat. Or the paddleboat. I've never done either one and the minute I saw the lake and the boats, I knew I wanted those experiences."

"I think we can do that tonight. How is little Carisma feeling? She making you sick?" He stopped abruptly and took a step in front of her, forcing her to stop as well. He put both hands over her tummy.

"She's feeling good," Emeline said. She couldn't help but smile. The baby seemed happy and content. She kicked and stretched a little, the feeling as if butterfly wings brushed her insides, but there was no sickness at all.

Good evening, little Miss Carisma. This is your father talking to you. I hope all is well. I am going to take your mother out onto the lake and I would prefer that you didn't make her sick. You'll like the feeling--it is almost like the rocking chair your mother says you enjoy.

Emeline laughed, the sound shocking her. It was carefree. She'd never been carefree. She hadn't known what it was like not to worry where her next meal was coming from or where she could safely lay her head down at night. Those fears were ingrained in her and stayed with her even after she could work and rent an apartment.

"I love that you talk to her."

He looked a little embarrassed if that was possible with his too-male features and his expressionless mask. She couldn't help smirking. "You're so caught, Dragomir. You only pretend you're a tough guy."

He caught her arm at the elbow and began walking along the dock, back toward the small canoe tied up there. "You worry me, Emeline, that you choose not to see all of me. You have never looked into the things I have done for my people."

"The things you were forced to do to keep our world safe?" She stole a quick glance at his face.