Carpathian 04 - Dark Magic

you to remember the details of this atrocity .
    Beau shook his head, the vivid picture in his mind suddenly dimming to a hazy recollection. "We almost didn't make it out ourselves. It came at us, as big as any of those crocodiles on the Nile. He didn't want food, he wasn't protecting his territory, he just liked to kill. We had penetrated into his lair, his domain, while he was amusing himself, and he was angry. My father threw the oil lamp on the water and set the whole thing on fire. We didn't look back."
    "You were very lucky," Gregori said softly, his voice like a fresh, cool breeze. It seeped into La Rue's mind, his pores, and dissipated the sickness gripping him.
    You can heal him , Savannah said.

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    He is mortal.
    You can do it , she insisted. Julian protected him, ensured the poison wouldn't spread, kept the nightmare away, but you can remove it .
    The hard edge to Gregori's mouth softened, almost a smile. She was doing it again. There was no way to convince her he couldn't do what she wanted. She believed it implicitly. He brought her hand to the warmth of his mouth, pressed a kiss into her palm. Je t'aime, Savannah , he whispered into her mind like a caress.
    Savannah leaned into him. I love you, too, lifemate .
    Gregori turned his attention to cleansing the mortal's mind, washing away the memory of the encounter with the loathsome creature, the undead. He didn't remove it completely because it was firmly entrenched in the captain's soul; the man had lived with the experience for too many years. But Gregori whitewashed it, toning it down, extracting the remnants of the vampire's tainted touch, the evil punishment for the intrusion, for the ability to escape the snare. The nightmares would be gone, the vivid horror would fade, and the terrible dread and fear Beau had lived with would be gone from his life for all time.
    Gregori sighed softly and rubbed the nape of his neck where it tightened after such a mental excursion.
    Removing the taint of vampire from a mortal, from anyone, was difficult; it took tremendous energy. But looking down into Savannah's shining eyes made it all worthwhile. She was looking at him as if he were the only man on earth.
    You are the only man as far as I'm concerned , she whispered softly, the words brushing away the weariness in his mind. The sound of the ancient healing chant was soothing, as her voice, beautiful and pure, rinsed away the ugly touch of the vampire's depravity from his own mind. To walk in Beau's mind and heal it, he had had to see every memory in vivid detail. Gregori had to enter the ugliness of the vampire's sick spells to unravel them and heal from the inside out. He found his hand gripping Savannah's, a kind of humbleness sweeping through him. No one had ever done that before—looked after him, worried about his well-being, helped heal him. It was a unique experience for the master healer of their race.
    "You took Julian to this place?" Gregori asked the captain.
    Beau nodded. "We have gone several times over the years. We never encountered the old man again."
    "Did it feel the same to you? His territory? Was it still evil?"
    Beau nodded slowly, a faint frown on his face. "But I knew he wasn't there. It was evil, but not quite the same. Of course, with Julian, I always felt different. Everything was different."
    "Different?" Savannah echoed. "How?"
    Beau shrugged. "He's hard to explain, but you should know. He is like this one." He indicated Gregori.
    "He's invincible. Man or beast, natural or supernatural, nothing could harm Julian. That's how he makes you feel."
    Savannah exchanged a small smile of complete understanding with Beau. She knew exactly what he meant. "Do you think the alligator is still after all these years? Surely they die natural deaths."

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    "He's alive all right," Beau said. "But I don't think he stays in his pool all the time. I think he has a new hideout. Julian really hunted for him. We spent a lot of time on it, but we never uncovered his other lair."
    "Have there been any recent sightings of him?" Gregori asked. "Even a rumor, a drunk talking big? Or strange disappearances?"
    Beau shrugged, the easy bayou casualness of accepting everyday life. "There are always disappearances in the swamps, unexplained odors, and weird occurrences. No one thinks it unusual. No one believes in the