Carpathian 02 - Dark Desire

mind. Shea? We need you to look at the man holding you, look around the room slowly and picture everything exactly the way you see it. Jacques' voice was calm and unruffled, no hint of rage or anger, simply a cool wind of logic. We are all three linked and can aid you.
    Raven is dead! They shot her! she cried hysterically in her mind, afraid to move or call further attention to herself, lest she endanger Jacques in some way.
    Just do as I tell you, love. Look around the room. Study your enemy and picture every detail in your mind so that we can see him. Jacques was tranquil, breathing steadily and slowly to help her control her own breathing. Block out everything else. What they say does not matter. What they do does not matter. Give us the data we need.
    Shea took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried to do as Jacques had instructed. It was difficult to overcome the horror of Raven's violent death, the loss of the all-important baby. She blocked out the sounds of the malicious laughter, the sexual threats and innuendoes. Wallace was standing over her, one hand twisted in her thick mane of hair, the other hand deliberately digging into the bloody wounds in her arm. She pushed aside the pain of her injuries, the throbbing in her face.
    Shea opened her eyes and looked first at Raven's broken body. The blood lay like a thick red pool around her. Her blue-black hair lay across one cheek like a shawl. Shea made herself move on. Her gaze swept the room, settled on Eugene Slovensky. He was kneeling beside Raven, examining her to assure himself she was dead. He stood up, backed away two feet, cleared his throat, and spat at the body. He reached behind him for a canvas bag and yanked it open. Gleefully he seized a thick, pointed stake and held it out for her to see.
    "Spawn of the devil," he whispered insanely. "Bride to the one who killed my brother. You die this day while he sleeps unaware. I am fortunate that the Vulture hates you and the one that created you as much as I hate you both. I don't know why he wants the other female alive, but again, our wishes coincide."
    "Not quite, Uncle Eugene. We keep this one for ourselves. You promised we would kill the Vulture like Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    the others this time," Don Wallace protested.
    Slovensky lifted the stake higher, poised it over Raven's breast. "This gives me more pleasure than you will ever know."
    "No!" Shea attempted to launch herself at Slovensky, unable to bear the thought of them defiling Raven's body with a crude wooden stake.
    Focus! Gregori snapped, his voice so powerful, even over the distance, that it brought Shea up short, where all Don Wallace's slaps and punches had hardly fazed her.
    Shea stared at Slovensky, the picture etched in her mind. She saw the glee in his face, the hatred, the sick, perverse pleasure he was deriving as he held the stake aloft above Raven's body. Then suddenly she saw his expression change from pleasure to alarm. His face grew crimson, then a dark shade of purple. He coughed, and blood trickled from his mouth, his nose. He coughed again, and his arm fell to his side, the stake dropping from nerveless fingers.
    "Uncle Eugene?" The grin faded from Wallace's mouth. He took a step toward his uncle. "What is it?"
    Slovensky tried to speak, but the only sound that emerged was a wheezing groan. More blood bubbled up around his mouth. Red foam dribbled onto his chin.
    Shea looked away, her stomach lurching.
    Look at him! Gregori made his order impossible to ignore. One of the most powerful ancients alive, he forced her compliance without a qualm, holding her mind focused exactly where he wanted it. Jacques and Mikhail had thrown their strength and power squarely behind him.
    Shea's terrified gaze returned to the older man as bidden. He was gray, his body swaying unsteadily.
    Suddenly he fell to his knees.
    "Damn it, old man!" Wallace sounded scared. "Don't do this to me. What the hell is wrong? Are you having a heart attack?" He didn't go near his uncle. In fact, he backed up, dragging Shea with him, looking wildly around as if afraid they weren't alone.
    Slovensky was strangling, choking on the blood pouring from his mouth, literally drowning in it. He clutched his throat, trying to pry imaginary fingers from around it. Then his hands went to his heart as his chest began to literally rip open.
    Shea cried out but could not look away with Gregori forcing her to obey his