Carpathian 03 - Dark Gold

caressed her even as he shook his head. "You will give me your word that you will do as I say, or I will send you to sleep until I return. And if you are sleeping the sleep of the immortal, you will be unable to aid me should I have need of it. I must go now. I am wasting valuable time, time Gregori earned for me at great cost to his own strength, I am certain." His Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    mouth brushed hers. "What shall it be? Do you sleep while I go? Or will you remain here awake to aid me should it become necessary?"
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    Alexandria shifted away from him but nodded her compliance. "It isn't as if you're leaving me a lot of choice, Aidan," she said softly. "Go then. But nothing had better happen to you, or you'll see what a human woman can do when she's good and mad."
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    "Former human woman," he corrected.
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    And he was gone. Just like that. One moment he was solid and real, the next he was a rainbow of light streaking through the narrow tunnel of rock upward toward the fog-shrouded sky.
    
    Alexandria sat for a long time, her hands folded in her lap. Aidan would be all right. He would have to be. And he would bring Joshua home to her. She believed it because she had to believe it. When she tried to get to her feet, she found herself shaky, her legs weak. It took determination to find and pull on her jeans. It was difficult to believe that just last night Aidan was making love to her, and now he was out fighting a monster.
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    She made her way slowly along the tunnel, holding on to the wall, her hand trembling as she opened the entrance leading to the kitchen. She could hear Marie's quiet weeping, the low murmur of Stefan's voice as he attempted to comfort her.
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    The couple was on the sofa in the sitting room, Marie's head on Stefan's shoulder, his arm around her. They both looked older somehow. Alexandria knelt in front of them and put a hand over their linked ones. "Aidan will bring Joshua back. He knows where he is and managed to weave some kind of protective spell for him. We both think another hunter is in the area and will come to Aidan's aid if need be." Her voice was pitched low and was compelling. "I believe in Aidan, and you must, too. We won't lose either of them tonight."
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    She could feel the power of what she had become rushing through her. Despite the fact that she was weak and pale and needed to feed, she still felt the power. Her mind was strong, and she had assets she had never dreamed of before. They could be used for good, as now, to ease the suffering of the loyal older couple. Stefan and Marie had grown to love Joshua, and both believed themselves to be in some way responsible for his abduction.
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    Stefan's large frame shuddered. "I'm sorry, Alexandria, we let you down. The attack was so unexpected, but I should have been with Joshua, kept him by my side."
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    "I thought he was safe while he was in the house," Marie moaned softly, lifting her apron to cover her face.
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    Alexandria pushed the apron down and circled both of them with her slender arms. She could hear the blood pumping through their veins, the ebb and flow of life. The scent of nourishment beckoned, but she knew now that she could control herself, trust herself. "No one is to blame for this,
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    Marie. Not you and not Stefan. We'll get through this thing together, as a family. You two and Aidan and Joshua and me. There can be no blame."
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    Stefan's hand came up to touch her hair. "Do you mean that, Alexandria? It's what you really feel inside?"

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    
    She nodded. "Joshua belongs to all of us. It was wrong of me to try to hold him to myself. Now, when he is in danger, we all blame ourselves. Aidan does, because he thinks he failed me. I do, because somehow I let all this happen. You do, because Joshua is a little boy and didn't do as you instructed. The truth is, what happened just happened. And Aidan will bring our boy home to us." She said it with absolute conviction.
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    Stefan's faded eyes held hers steadily. "And if… if something goes wrong?"
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    She felt the blow in the pit of her stomach but didn't visibly react. She kept her sapphire gaze locked with his. "Then we will all deal with it together, won't we?"
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    I will not fail you , cara.
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    Aidan's voice in her mind, the reassurance, brought her a measure of comfort. Don't think about me right now,