"At any time were you unaware?" Gary asked.

Valentin nodded. "I was in and out sometimes after he tortured me. He kept me starved and often took my blood. I was weak most of the time. It could have been done."

"I need some others to go with Dragomir to the underground city," Tariq said. "Remember, this is to gather information only. Don't engage unless you have to. Once we assess the situation, we can put together a comprehensive plan of action. In the meantime, Gary, we'll need you and Dragomir to examine the victims for any sign of Vadim."

"There's a feel to him," Dragomir stated.

Gary nodded. "The longer the splinter is in someone, even if he isn't using it--and I suspect he can't help himself, he has a toy and he'd want to play with it--the taint grows. Dragomir has felt him as well. I think, between the two of us, we should be able to rule out his victims or at least narrow our suspect list."

"Start with me," Valentin insisted, looking not to the healer or Dragomir but instinctively to Tariq. "And then Liv."

Tariq nodded. "And then I want Bella cleared."

Dragomir shook his head. "We need others looking as well. Sandu is capable. So is Andor or Ferro. I want to check Emeline and the baby."

"I go with you," Sandu said. "I am no healer."

Dragomir glared at him, but Sandu just shrugged. There was no changing his mind once it was made up. Kod jutasz belso. "Shadow take you" was a Carpathian curse, but Sandu looked as impassive as always when Dragomir hissed it on their private telepathic path. You know how to heal. You just don't want to do it.

Look what has come of Tariq taking responsibility. Now he has no choice. The healer will not allow him to hunt the vampire. At least he already has a song . . .

Veridet peje, you heathen. Dragomir continued to curse him.

Sandu lifted an eyebrow, but only shook his head. You do realize you could take your woman and go. We would follow you and protect the two of you. Vadim will follow or he won't. Either way, we will be away from the madness of this place. Humans are beyond comprehension, and human women are insane with their demands.

Dragomir wasn't about to admit he halfway agreed with that last statement, not with his woman listening to them.

"Dragomir, I realize you want Emeline tested immediately, but she has been harassed and prodded enough. If we can spare her, I would prefer that." Tariq's tone was gentle.

Dragomir closed his eyes. Was he so selfish that another man had to tell him what would be best for his lifemate? He had wanted to make certain no vestige of Vadim was left in her. Not one single trace.

I share your need, Dragomir. Perhaps I even drove it. The thought that Vadim might still have some small part of him in me or Carisma was more than I could stand. I wanted you to check me immediately. It's okay, though. I can wait. Bella is a baby. She should be examined first. It makes sense to look at Valentin and Liv first as well. I am fine.

She wasn't. He could tell. She felt, once again, apart from everyone. She had been sitting quietly with Amelia, but now she wanted to go lock herself up in her house, away from everyone, just in case Vadim was using her as his eyes.

I am coming to you.

No, don't. Stay and check the others. I'm going to sit on the porch and listen to the night. It makes me feel better.

He made her feel better. His lifemate came first. Before all else. Before the warrior's council. Before finding Vadim's spy. He stood. "My lifemate needs me. I will take care of her. That includes looking for any evidence that Vadim created a second splinter."

Gary rose as well. "I will go with you. I believe she has need of a healer. When I am finished there, Valentin, I will return immediately and check you. I do not think Vadim would put a part of himself in you. It would be too risky. You are a hunter with a hunter's instincts. It wouldn't take long before you suspected and eventually discovered him. No, a human and female would much more suit him. He's bold, but he's also extremely intelligent. He needs someone of the light, someone who would never suspect the evil he's capable of."

Dragomir didn't wait for the rest of the conversation. He sped out of the house and across the yard to the house where he knew Emeline paced. She looked as if she might be wearing a hole in the wood floor. She wore the flowing gray dress and it swirled around her as she paced. Her hair was intricately braided and as he strode into the room he studied it, determined to be able to reproduce it by human means.

She turned as he approached and practically threw herself into his arms. A little sob escaped, tugging at his heartstrings. "I can't believe this, Dragomir. It must be me. You know that's why he didn't try to kill me. That never made sense. Once he knew the baby was female and he was willing to kill her, I really was of no more use to him."

"You know better. You're upset, but I'm in your mind and you know your ability to dream the future is of huge use to him. There are other things in your mind you fear as well, that he can use you to do." Dragomir pressed a kiss to her forehead. "We will get through this together, as we've done everything else."

She took a deep breath and nodded, her gaze clinging to his.

I am at your door, Dragomir. Invite me in. I think she is of great use to him and in her mind is the key to why he is staying here in this area. When I was in her before, I caught glimpses of strange things.

Dragomir had, too. He'd been in her mind now often. He moved around, looking for ways to understand her. That meant looking at her memories, the times with Blaze and her father. The times on the streets. Those saddened and angered him. Even further back, to her childhood.

She dreams. Her dreams often are grounded in reality.

She is the key to all of this, Dragomir. Sandu and the others are out here. They are like a pack of wolves, restless for the hunt. They want direction. We need to point them so they can do what they do best.

It was more than that. The members of the brotherhood were far more predatory and dangerous than wolves, and living among sheep wasn't helping to take the edge off.

"I invite you into my home, healer. Please enter of your own free will." He turned the tables on Gary with just a rearrangement of words. Gary would have power coming in but if he entered of his own free will, that swung the balance of power back to Dragomir. It was an old, ancient balance of power. A vampire or Carpathian had to be invited into a home, if it was closed to them, but if they entered of their own free will, the owner of the house had the power.

"Sandu, Andor, Ferro, just come in," he added. He should have known they would follow him. They thought he had a lead. Maybe he did.

He wrapped Emeline securely in his arms and brushed a kiss on top of her head. "We'll both go in and look for this sliver."

She shook her head. "You protect the baby. Let the healer look."

"Who will protect you? Without you, the baby won't survive. I protect you."

"I can help the healer look," Sandu said.

Dragomir glared at him. "Now you're willing to own up to your healing abilities?"

Sandu shrugged, clearly unrepentant. "Now we're not talking about sidelining our hunters if they have other useful skills. Let's just do this. I'll be the child's shield. You find the kuly and destroy it once and for all. It will weaken him even more."

"You all think the sliver is in me, don't you?" Emeline said.

"There is a good chance," Dragomir said. "You would be the best option for him."

She pulled out of hi

s mind abruptly and he felt the loss instantly. He gripped her forearms and waited until she looked up at him. It took a while and her gaze kept sliding from his.

"Don't do that. We're in this together. It doesn't matter if the sliver is there. We know what Vadim is doing and we're countering his every move. He can't make you less than you are. He simply can't."

"He knows what we're doing. Those moments we talk, or you're . . ." She broke off, shaking her head. "If I leave the house, he's watching the children. My friends. You. He can hear what you say to one another. What we say to each other." Her voice broke.

His heart clenched hard in his chest. "That's not the way it works, Emeline. Just because he put a slice of himself into you, or someone else, that doesn't mean he knows what everyone is doing. He would have to reach for it. Leave his body and go into the splinter. That's always dangerous to him. Just as when we're healing someone, the body is unprotected. If he is attacked or another vampire decides to kill him, he's in trouble."

"You set a trap for him using Amelia. How could you know he was listening?"

"Even if he wasn't, he would go through her memories, but when he is active, there is a taint of evil. She had it," Dragomir explained. "You do not."

"He directed Amelia," she said. "He directed her to hurt others."

"His body was safe somewhere when he orchestrated that attack. He would never have gone that long outside his body without being safe," Dragomir assured. "We have to know. I'm going to keep you safe. Let the healer move through you and search. I will do the same. Sandu will protect Carisma." He nuzzled her hair, slid his nose down hers and found her mouth.

She was very aware of the men in the room with them and she didn't kiss him back, but she clung to him.

"Emeline?" If she wasn't convinced, he would take more time.

She nodded and closed her eyes, burying her face in his chest. He sank onto the couch, pulling her down with him. He kept his arms around her, even as he shed his body to become pure healing spirit. Gary was just as fast and the two entered her a split second before Sandu.

Dragomir and Gary moved through her body, streaming straight to her brain. Vadim had a pattern he repeated because it worked for him. That gave the healers an idea where to search. The splinter in Amelia had been found hiding in a crevice in the cerebrum. Vadim had chosen the cerebrum because the neurons there initiated movement, coordination, hearing, vision, judgment and everything else Vadim needed to control the host.

Tags: Christine Feehan Dark Paranormal
Source: readsnovelonline.net