Carpathian 08 - Dark Legend

their skin touched. Their limbs felt like lead, lethargic and heavy. Normally they shut down their hearts and lungs during daylight hours, sparing themselves the terrible knowledge of their helplessness and vulnerability to enemies. Francesca lay close to Gabriel for a long time before she spoke. "When you felt the disturbance, Gabriel, and Skyler's fear, did you reach for Lucian?"
    Gabriel thought it over. "I cannot honestly say, I felt him with me as I always do in moments when I need strength and power. It is an ingrained habit neither of us seems to be able to break." He was silent a moment. "If you think to find a way to exploit this strange phenomenon between us to defeat him, I have already tried. It is as natural as breathing. I do not know when I do it and neither does he."
    "Yes, but he is a vampire. An undead creature. He should not be able to travel while the sun is at its highest peak. You are the most powerful of our males and it was a great effort for you to release your spirit from your body. How could he do such a thing, being a vampire?"
    Gabriel gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. "His mind shared mine and he threw his power behind me. He could have just as easily attempted to stop me or kept me from reentering my body. It is just as well that whatever game he thinks to play requires our Skyler. His power is great, Francesca. I would have been happy throwing up a wall in front of the doctor, but Lucian was not. He twisted my power so that Brice felt thousands of insects crawling on his skin."
    "Don't remind me." Francesca was not happy with that at all. She felt guilty about Brice. Something was happening that she didn't understand. "I tried to tone down his memories of me so that he would think of me only as a friend, but it didn't work. I've never had that happen before. "
    Gabriel's fingers tightened around hers. He knew the reason she could not control the doctor's mind and Francesca must know it also. She simply wasn't ready to face the truth. Gabriel wanted to hold her close in his arms to protect her. In his mind he surrounded her with love and support. "A vampire has somehow managed to ensnare him. There is no other explanation."
    Francesca wanted to shake her head in denial. "There are other explanations. I saw him popping pills."
    "And why did he lead you to the cemetery where the vampires were waiting for you? He is in league with them and does not know it. They are using him to get you. That is why you cannot control him. He is controlled by the undead. When you attempt to reach his mind, there is nothing there but the orders they have given him."
    "Is it Lucian? Has Lucian done this to punish me for my feelings for Brice?"
    "You cannot imagine what it is like to be unable to feel emotion. Lucian has no need to punish. He feels nothing at all. He uses others as puppets in the hope of feeling amusement, but he cannot. I did not detect the taint of his power, yet I cannot say for certain. Lucian prefers to work alone at all times. To my knowledge he has never brought another into what he refers to as'the game’.
    "Can you undo what they did to Brice? Is there a way to make him whole again? This is my fault, Gabriel, entirely my fault because I became friends with a human. Now they think to use him against us. He is totally helpless. "
    Gabriel could not bear her unhappiness. He would do anything to take the sorrow from her mind. He tightened his fingers around hers even as he flooded her mind with love and warmth and comfort. "You are so right, my love. We are not alone in our struggles and our tasks.
    We have each other to draw strength from. As long as we believe in each other, it will all come right. I will do what I can for Brice. If you wish me to try to save him, you know I will have to take his blood. Without a blood bond, I doubt if I can break what others have wrought. "
    Francesca turned that idea over in her mind. The blood bond was a powerful weapon. Would it somehow put Gabriel in danger? Would the vampire, perhaps Lucian, expect such a move and somehow be able to use Brice as a weapon against Gabriel?
    Gabriel, locked as he was to her mind, was enormously pleased that her first thought would be for him, for his safety. She loved him in the way of a true lifemate. For who he was and what he was. Unconditionally. She saw good in him where he was never certain it really existed, but he lived up to her expectations all the same.
    "Do it then, Gabriel. Take his blood and I