Carpathian 08 - Dark Legend

himself with a human shower. He could simply be clean and fresh with a thought, yet now he could feel. He could savor cleanliness. It was an amazing feeling. Again he had to make a conscious effort to withhold the feeling from his twin. Even after all this time, he was used to slipping in and out of his brother's mind. Over the centuries he had used his ability to track his brother and even anticipate his kills in order to try to reach the victim before Lucian did. So far he had not been able to prevent any of Lucian's kills, but Gabriel continued to try.
    After his shower, Gabriel went back to reading. He covered several encyclopedias and almanacs and every other book he could find. With his photographic memory this took very little time. He read at a rapid rate so he could get through the history and into the new technology.
    He I wanted to read manuals and find out exactly how everything worked. And he wanted to learn everything the house could offer up about its owner.
    He wandered around the vast rooms. She liked space. Open spaces. She appreciated great art and soft colors. She definitely loved the ocean and its inhabitants. There were books about underwater life and prints and water-colors of crashing waves. She was a meticulous housekeeper unless, of course, someone else came in to do the work. She lived like a human. The cupboards were full. She had beautiful china in the kitchen and rare antiques in the bedrooms. There was a room with a quilt in the making and he studied the work. The pattern was unusual.
    Soothing. Beautiful. He was drawn to it, but he couldn't figure out why. In another room she had been working with stained glass. The designs were much like those on the quilt. Soothing and tranquil. Each one was intensely beautiful. He could stare at them for hours. She was a very talented woman.
    The draperies throughout the house were unusually heavy, specifically made for the windows so that, if the occupant desired, not one bit of light could enter the room. That would make sense if she was a Carpathian integrating herself into mainstream life. Yet nothing in this house seemed to add up. It was a mixture of wealth and fancy, of Carpathian and human, almost as if two different people occupied the place. He looked for evidence of two residents.
    In the study he found her personal papers, records of payments and private little notes she wrote to herself. There seemed to be quite a few notes, some of which were reminders to eat certain soups. A Carpathian would never eat human food unless it was imperative to do so to keep others from finding out the truth. Any Carpathian at full strength could eat and rid his stomach of the contents later, but it was uncomfortable to do so.
    Who was Francesca? More important, what was she? Why wasn't her blood fully human? How had she known the ritual words to keep him from turning vampire in his weakest moment? Most important of all, why was he seeing in color? Why did he feel emotion? Why had she used the phrase "as is my right"?
    Gabriel sighed and replaced her things, his fingers lingering for a moment to caress her small, neat handwriting. She would have answers for him. And if she didn't want to give them to him, he had ways of extracting information. He was of ancient blood, of a lineage of greatness and power. Few of his people had the knowledge and skills he had obtained in his centuries of existence. She would not be able to hide from him or his questions.

Chapter Two
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    Gabriel stared down at the woman lying so quietly in the dark rich soil. His body responded the moment he was in close proximity to her, something that had never happened to him before in all the long centuries of his existence. He felt tight and hot, his body making urgent demands just from observing her. His entire being, heart and soul reached out to her; his emotions were so powerful, he was shaking with the unexpected intensity of them. It was disconcerting to find that anyone would have such an effect on him. Feeling a little out of his depth, he woke her with a command.
    Francesca stirred, a small frown slipping across her face. Her heavy eyelashes fluttered just before she lifted them. Her eyes were enormous and deep black. They went to him instantly, almost as if she had known he was there. Her small teeth tugged briefly at her full lower lip, a quick nervous gesture that she covered by sitting up. Dizziness swept through her and she swayed, a hand going to her