Carpathian 20 - Dark Slayer

those lost years, Razvan, years when you needed me .
    He forced a smile into his voice, made certain she knew it was genuine. It was difficult to block the pain from his tone, but he did it to protect her. I needed you free of Xavier, and that is what I got. During the time I was part mage and part Carpathian, the thought of you, my love for you, sustained me.
    Later, after the aunts turned me wholly in the hope that I might have the chance to escape, the Dragonseeker blood aided my resolve to protect you. You were there for me whether you knew it or not, sister. Do not weep. Do not regret. Live free the way you were meant to .
    I have a lifemate .
    Xavier had tried to murder her lifemate. Tell me about him .

    He is called Vikirnoff and he is a great warrior. You would like him .
    What of my daughter, Lara? He nearly choked over her name.
    A small child with enormous eyes, watching her mother’s decomposing body, chained to an insane father who tore at her little wrist to feed. Lara was one person he was not certain he could ever face.
    You protected her as best you could. You endured torment and gave part of your soul to Xavier in order to save her , Ivory reminded. She either understands or she does not. If she does not it will be sad for her that she chooses not to know so great a man .
    If he could have held Ivory close in his arms he would have.
    We will dance to heal the earth, so that she can better provide her rich minerals for you. Lara is coming to aid us. Lara, Syndil, Skyler and I will dance and sing the healing song for you and your lifemate. It is the only gift we have to give you .
    I do not know Syndil or Skyler .
    They are wonderful women. Syndil is really close to the earth.
    When she walks barefoot, plants bloom behind her. She can take an area a vampire has virtually laid to waste and restore it to health. Skyler is young; she turned seventeen just recently .
    There was a note, a hesitation in his sister’s voice.
    Something she wasn’t telling him. Something she didn’t want to tell him. Natalya, better to prepare me than to let me be shocked .
    Few things shocked him anymore, but he had the feeling she was going to deliver something he didn’t want to hear.
    Ivory moved against him again. Heart to heart. Soul to soul. I am with you, Razvan. You will never be alone again .
    Ivory’s voice was enough to make his heart sing. Love had been lost to him a long time ago. He hadn’t believed he could feel such a powerful emotion for anyone, yet there it was. In him. Deep. How could he not love her when she gave him back his sanity? His life? When she embodied the honor and integrity he believed in?
    Natalya took a deep breath. We believe you also fathered Skyler. There is another woman as well, a lifemate to one of the De La Cruz brothers. Colby. She lived on a ranch in California before she met Rafael .
    He closed his mind to Natalya but there was no escaping Ivory, and the memory of a child in a mine shaft rose up. He had desperately tried to get to her before they had managed to kidnap her and take her back to Xavier. He’d brought the mine down on the vampire before Xavier had taken over his body again. He was grateful the child lived and prospered—but another one? Skyler? How many more? And from the hesitant tone Natalya used, young Skyler hadn’t fared well.
    Are you certain I fathered these girls?
    Yes .
    His heart again jumped out of rhythm with that of the earth and pain swept him away.

    Razvan woke to singing and he knew time had passed. The voices were beautiful, soft and melodious, in tune with the earth. As they sang, the pain in his body eased considerably as if the earth could better absorb the terrible wounds in his body and knit him back together.
    Isn’t their song beautiful? Ivory asked. Her voice was hushed, as if she was afraid she would interrupt the tribute to Mother Earth. They are gifted, these four women. And are they all related in some way to you? Sister? Daughters? I feel a part of you in them, though one, the strongest daughter of the Earth, is different and yet like you in some way .
    Razvan felt the melody deep in his bones. Peace had once again slid over him, the knowing that he could not change what fate had already decreed. Acceptance—his only recourse when the world around him made no sense.
    Natalya says the young one is my daughter, but the one called Syndil I do not know. She is much older,