Author's Note: I do not own the Dark Series Universe or any of Christine Feehan's characters. I do, however, own Zohra and the other OCs. Also I was able to find the names of most of Falcon and Sara's adopted children in Dark Celebration but two of the boys were not named in that book. I took the liberty of naming them myself. And I would like to give a special thanks to Rose3521 for helping me with this story. I wouldn't have made it out of the idea stage without you.
Dark Salvation
Prologue
"Please my Prince. Allow me the task of infiltrating the ranks of the vampire. I have lived nearly three thousand years. I have not felt anything for millennia. Searching for my sister Rhiannon was all that sustained me these past centuries. Now that I know she is truly gone, honor is all I have left, and I fear even that is dwindling. I gave up long ago any hope of salvation. Give me this one last chance to serve my people. Let me take the vampire blood so that when I complete this task I shall be able to greet the dawn knowing I have done my duty. Please my Prince. It is all I have left to give."
"Dominic of the Dragonseekers, ancient warrior, if you insist upon this task I will not stop you. I wish you peace my friend. Serve us well."
"Thank you my Prince. I offer my blood freely to six of our best warriors. If I should succumb to the darkness, I will take no chances. I fear no hunter alone could stop me."
"Very well. Lucian, Gabriel, Gregori, Darius, Vikirnoff, and Falcon come forward."
One by one the hunters come forward and drink from his wrist. "Gregori, the vial."
The Dark One hands the ancient hunter the vial filled with toxic vampire blood. Dominic pops the cork and empties the contents down his throat. "Thank you my Prince. I leave with honor." And with that the Dragonseeker dissolves into mist. The mist streams out of the cave and rises high to mingle with the clouds. The vapor travels on and on until out of exhaustion, the most ancient of Carpathians is forced to land in human form on the edge of a high cliff. Collapsing to his knees, he looks up to the sky. "Rhiannon, dear sister, if only I could feel the love I know I have for you. Soon. Soon we shall be together again." Then a wave of pain rips through his organs.
Zohra awoke as a roar of agony swept through her soul. Her throat, though raw from the golden collar bathed in vampire blood, could not contain the sheer anguish that tore through her. This wasn't Xavier's work. The dark mage who dubbed himself her master could never create such torment in her. This was something else, something foreign yet all the more powerful. Zohra knew pain intimately. Being essentially one of Xavier's experimental test tube babies, she survived only as one of the dark mage's sick playthings.
Zohra tried to distance herself from the torment. Delving into the few good memories she had always managed to combat every pain. After nearly a millennium it was hard to remember her mother. Katya Kovalevsky was as much a prisoner as Zohra. Maybe more so, for she had seen life outside of Xavier's prison. Every now and then Xavier would allow Zohra an hour or so on the surface. She savored these moments for they did not come often. Yet she still had never known freedom.
All she knew of the outside world came from her mother's stories. Katya used to tell her great tales of soaring with eagles and running with wolves. She told of healing earth and the beauty of the night. But most of all she told Zohra of her family. Katya spent every chance she had with Zohra telling her of her parents and how much love they had for each other. Lifemates she called them. Two people destined to be together for eternity. Souls so intertwined that one literally could not exist without the other. Katya had often dreamed of having her own lifemate. She tried to keep it from Zohra but it was a futile effort. Zohra knew how much her mother missed her life on the outside. As deeply connected as the two of them were, Katya could keep nothing from the young girl, especially Katya's deep love for her brother Dimitri. Dimitri was only 5 years old, barely even an infant by Carpathian standards, when Katya was ripped from her home.
A fresh bout of agony ripped through her. Zohra squeezed her eyes closed and gritted her teeth. The screams she heard weren't just coming from her own mouth. She felt them from deep within her soul. The dark haired, blue-eyed image of her mother faltered and was replaced with someone else. The vision of a man with long black hair and gorgeous green eyes flashed behind her closed lids. She knew the man. Well, not in person. She had never strayed far from Xavier. But she knew this man from her dreams. She had thought it was her own imagination trying to forge a bond where there was none. Now she knew better. Dominic Dragonseeker, the man from her dreams, was real. And he was atop a high cliff writhing in agony. Something was hurting him and he was allowing it. Yet somehow, even though he didn't know it, he was sharing his pain with her. It was excruciating.
Zohra knew if she made too much noise she would attract Xavier's attention, but try as she might, she couldn't hold back the screams. The man's pain tore through her soul and beat at her heart worse than any torture Xavier had given her. Although it felt like a betrayal, Zohra couldn't deny this was worse even than when she felt her mother's death. For this man, this beautiful man, wasn't even fighting back. It was as if he had no hope, nothing to live for. And if what Zohra had dreamed of him was fact, he truly believed he was damned.
Zohra felt something warm and wet slide down her cheeks. She looked down to the floor and saw something that spoke to her soul. In a puddle of her own tears, she saw the face of the man she felt so strongly. She heard a distant voice—her own yet not. "If your soul weeps bloody tears of silver, and a face looks upon you from its depths, your soul's other half will soon die."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zohra screamed. This time however, it wasn't out of pain. She screamed out of sheer terror.
