Carpathian 02 - Dark Desire

laughter came readily, and compassion always tempered his predatory nature. Jacques was so intelligent, so easy to love. Long after Jacques had lost his ability to feel his emotions, he had retained the memory of them. He had often helped the older males to recall memories of their own laughter. Who had done this to him? To be forced to sentence another brother to death… Mikhail couldn't do it. It was time to step down, time to hand someone else the weight of responsibility for their dying race.

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    Mikhail felt Raven slip her arms around his neck. "Jacques is strong, love. He will find his way back to us."
    Mikhail turned her palm up, kissed the center gently. Gregori thinks Jacques turned Shea O'Halloran without her knowledge or consent. His black eyes met her blue ones, filled with guilt, tenderness. He does not think the woman has any idea of our ways.
    Jacques will —
    No, little one, Jacques remembers very little of anything. Hatred, rage, revenge, the woman —
    that is all he thinks of. We are not certain he is capable of taking care of her.
    Look at him with her, Raven instructed. She repeated it aloud. "Look at him with her."
    Jacques wanted the strangers to be gone. So many males pressing close to Shea kept him on edge. He trusted none of these people, with the possible exception of the blue-eyed woman. Jacques could hardly bear to look at the one who claimed to be his brother, the one who had attacked and nearly killed Shea.
    Strangely enough, it hurt to look at the man. Jacques' head seemed to want to disintegrate every time their eyes met. Memories. Fragments. Pieces of nothing.
    Enough, he whispered to Shea, his words a soft command. Her tongue stroked across the wound to close it, a seduction of pure sensation.
    Shea came out of the trance slowly, a sweet, coppery taste in her mouth. The terrible gnawing hunger was gone, but her body was on fire, soft and pliant, in such need. Suddenly aware of the others in the room, she burrowed closer to Jacques for protection. If they all were just gone, she could sleep, figure things out later. She could sort through all the data she had and determine just what these people were.
    Fear slammed into her, her mouth went dry, and her heart began to pound in alarm. Shea could feel Jacques' hands tightening like bonds on her arms. A hypnotic trance. Jacques had induced it. Her green eyes slowly opened to move over his face in a slow, terrified study. So why wasn't she joyful, ecstatic, that they had found his people, his family? Why wasn't she thrilled at the arrival of a healer?
    There was something wrong here. Her only hope was to get out of the situation, leave Jacques to his family. There were now plenty of people to care for Jacques without her. The healer obviously was far more skilled than she was. Shea was shaking, embarrassed that those surrounding them could see how badly she was trembling. She was always in control. She just needed distance to regain it.
    No! Jacques' voice was much stronger now and much more frightening. You cannot leave me.
    Shea knew he was capable of far more power than she could conceive of. And he was manipulating her, had been all along. For the first time she allowed the facts to come together in her mind. Vampire.
    Jacques was a vampire. All of these people were. Her hand went to her throat. She was probably one of them now.
    "Let go of me!" Shea struggled in earnest now, shocked at how physically strong Jacques had become with the infusion of Gregori's blood.
    Jacques snarled, black fury rising along with fear of losing her, fear that she could not survive without him, fear of once again being alone in utter darkness. He held her down easily, but the sound of her heart racing was alarming to him, dragging him back to a shred of sanity.

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    Into the swirl of violent emotions came the healer's voice. "She does not understand the ways of our people, Jacques. You must be gentle with her, guide her, as your brother guided Raven."
    Shea fought the compelling voice, a weaver of spells. "I want to leave. You can't keep me here ."
    Jacques, please, don't do this. Don't make me stay when we know it's impossible for me. You know me, know me inside and out.
    Stop it, Shea, Jacques pleaded with her, knowing he was holding on to his intellect and reason by a thread. Nothing has