Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

I\'ve tried everything I know how to do, and he\'s still losing ground.
    Gregori and Francesca have both examined him repeatedly, but he has the same wasting disease the other children we\'ve lost has had. I cannot feed him properly and the mixtures I\'ve tried for him are not nourishing him.\"
    \"Shea, I\'m so sorry,\" Lara said. \"We had no idea. No one\'s said a word.\"
    \"We thought it best to keep it private,\" Jacques replied. \"A few of our women are pregnant now and we do not want to chance causing them more stress.\"
    \"What can I do?\" Lara asked.
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    \"Journey and see if he is infected with the microbe.\"
    Lara and Nicolas exchanged a long look of sudden comprehension. \"You think I\'ll find one, don\'t you?\"
    Shea bit her lip, nodding as she did so. \"I think a microbe finds the male first and when he has sex with his life mate, the microbe travels to her, leaving him open territory. While he lies sleeping in the soil, another enters, through his skin most likely. The first microbe has found the female host and lies in weight for conception. If she becomes pregnant, the organism forces her to miscarry by continually attacking the baby, but if it isn\'t successful, I believe the microbe then travels into the baby, again leaving her without one. So the cycle starts all over again with the man once again infecting the woman. Once inside the baby, the microbe slowly kills it.\"
    Lara closed her eyes briefly. Shea\'s theory sounded very sensible, especially since they had found Xavier\'s laboratory and his series of pools. Each was a different environment for the extremophile.
    \"Unfortunately, your theory matches evidence we found in the ice caves. These microorganisms are very difficult to kill as a rule, Shea. We re burning them one by one, but if everyone is continually infected each time we go to ground, it will be impossible to keep up.\"
    Nicolas\'s hand curved around the nape of Lara\'s neck. \"Especially when so far, Lara\'s the only one who can find them. And when I convert her, she may not be able to do so anymore. Natalya cannot.\"
    Shea gasped. \"You can\'t convert her, Nicolas.\" She shook her head. \"I know how much you both must want to, but you can\'t. We can\'t take any chances. This is too important to all of us. Until I can find an antibody that will fight this thing in the ground, Lara is our only hope.\"
    \"Xavier corrupts the extremophiles. If someone collects them for you, perhaps you can use the original super powered bugs to fight his corrupt ones,\" Lara offered. \"I\'ve collected them for research before and scientists all over the world believe the extremophile can be used to cure many diseases. They actually will defend against other microbes, so maybe the answer is the simplest of all. Use the original.\"
    Shea\'s expression brightened. \"You saw evidence of mutation?\"
    Lara nodded. \"I\'ve seen normal extremophiles hundreds of times. Xavier definitely mutated these.\"
    \"If that\'s true,\" Shea said with confidence, \"I believe we\'ll be able to find an antidote, or vaccine, or something to combat this. Finally. Hope. Real hope.\"
    \"But you are talking experiments to get it right,\" Nicolas said. \"That takes time.\" He tugged Lara to him protectively. \"She is caught between both worlds, Shea. She can barely manage to keep any food down. She cannot go to ground, but she cannot be in the light either. Is it right to ask my life mate to live in a half-world?\"
    \"No,\" Jacques answered for both of them-for the entire Carpathian people. \"No, of course it isn\'t, but we have no choice. We have to ask you to save our children.\"
    Lara looked at the baby in his arms, so innocent, already slipping away from them. He was pale and thin, listless, his eyes dull. Her gaze met Nicolas\'s. She tried not to let him see or feel her despair. She couldn\'t sacrifice this child or any other-and neither could he. Until they could find a way to counteract the microbes already living in the soil she couldn\'t be converted.
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    You can, Nicolas said firmly. We have no idea what could happen to you living a half-life. No one can ask this of you .
    I love you, too. She smiled at him. And you know there is no choice. This child belongs to all of us .
    Nicolas swore and looked away from her, once again feeling helpless. His centuries of existence had failed to prepare him for failure. He had driven her to the very end of her