Carpathian 16 - Dark Demon

You've resisted him for years. Together we can break free of him."
    "We have different strengths, Natalya. You're good at commanding the elements. You have a quick mind and can figure things out."
    "You come up with the ideas in the first place, Razvan. Without you, we would have been dead a long time ago." The words caught at Natalya. She looked down at her hands. They weren't the hands of a child, but those of a grown woman.
    Shock spread through her. She looked up at Razvan. "What happened to us?"
    The form of the teenage boy shimmered, became translucent and a man's image superimposed itself over the child. "You betrayed me. You chose the hunter, my enemy."
    Natalya shook her head, reaching out toward her brother. "I chose happiness, Razvan.
    That was something our grandfather didn't understand, could never understand. What was the point of longevity? I've watched people die over and over, but they led happy lives while I just lived on and on alone with no one to share anything with. Neither sorrow nor joy."
    Her arms dropped back to her side, empty.
    "We have power beyond imagination."
    "No, we don't. I've seen power beyond imagination, but it doesn't matter to me. Those people who are born, live their lives together as a family and die surrounded by family; they know how to live. What do we do? What does he do? He hides from the world with his malevolent schemes, drinking blood to stay alive—for what? Why live so long without happiness? I choose to be happy, to share my life. I will not apologize or feel guilty for that."
    "Look at us, Natalya. You took our world and changed it. I'm no longer a boy and I'm fading. Would you really choose him over your brother? Your twin?"
    "I will not leave him. Why would you think I'm trading one for the other? You're in my dreams, Razvan. I will never forget you, never." Her heart pounding, she studied the fading image of her twin, the harshness in the face of the man.
    "You don't need me. You have him."
    Natalya refused to sound as if she were pleading. Or asking permission. "He is alive and I am alive. I cannot sustain my life on dreams of a brother long gone from me. My love for him is different."
    Razvan's face twisted with anger. "I forbid this! He is a hunter, hated by our family.
    Choose another."
    "This is a dream, only a silly dream. I choose Vikirnoff. I choose happiness," Natalya said, determined to wake up. She would not allow her dreams to take on the twisted nightmares that sometimes invaded them. Razvan would want her happy. He wouldn't be so angry with her over choosing to be involved in a relationship with someone who made her happy. Whatever occasionally crept into her dreams and corrupted them, she wasn't going to put up with it anymore.
    "Wait!" Razvan called frantically. "The safeguards. You didn't give me the safeguards. I can't weave them myself."
    Natalya turned back to him, frowning as she murmured the spell to him.
    He smiled at her, beloved Razvan, already repeating the words to ensure he didn't forget them. Pain flashed unexpectedly through her head, a terrible pressure that increased without mercy, and then, just as abruptly disappeared, leaving her shaken.
    He shook his head. "It isn't right. That's not right. You aren't telling me the truth."
    Natalya stared at her brother in sudden shock and dawning horror. "My god, Razvan, it's you. It's been you all along."
    She gave a low, tormented cry. Her heartfelt as if he had literally torn it from her chest.

    She jolted into full consciousness with the sound of her cry still echoing in her ears.
    Tears spilled from her eyes and her breath came in great anguished sobs. "This can't be happening. This can't be happening." She pressed the back of her hand against her trembling mouth. Her stomach lurched and she crawled away from Vikirnoff on her hands and knees and was sick in the corner of the cave.
    He woke instantly, moving with his preternatural speed, kneeling beside her, hand on her back, his body pressed against hers. "What is it? Tell me what has caused this distress."
    Only an hour or so had passed, and the lethargy did not have him in its grip.
    "A dream." She sank into him, shivering with cold, wanting his arms around her. "Only it wasn't my dream. It hasn't been my dream for a long time only I didn't know. I didn't understand."
    Vikirnoff wrapped his arms around her tightly, pulling her into the shelter of his body.
    He rocked her gently, feeling her pain, a terrible hurt that couldn't be