Dark Tales
Book One
Dark Dance
Chapter One
Paris
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Skyler Daratrazanoff stared at the glass she-wolf and cubs on her bedside table as she counted seconds and pulled on her blue slippers. They weren't bedroom slippers, but slip-on flats, ballet style. Her mother, Francesca, had given them to her for her last birthday. They matched her cobalt tunic and the eyes of her wolf charm. Instead of the pants many of the once-human women enjoyed wearing, she wore an ankle-length black skirt that she'd borrowed from Francesca. All together, the seventeen-year-old showed about as much skin as a nun, and she was happy with the outfit.
Grabbing a hairbrush, she hastily ran it through her long, blond hair. No longer raggedly chopped, it fell like a sheer, golden curtain down her back. It was long enough now that she could hide behind it easily.
Movement. Sensation. A whisper like a shadow against the barriers around Skyler's mind. The teenager would've jumped if that brief, psychic touch weren't so familiar. She recognized Francesca announcing her presence, so as not to frighten the girl.
"Skyler?"
The blond girl turned towards the tall, elegant woman standing in the doorway to her room. She even smiled briefly at her adoptive mother. But the nerves were too much, and the smile slipped away quickly.
"Are you well, dear one?" Francesca asked gently.
"Yes," she mumbled, looking away. Her face was slowly coloring pink. She didn't want her mother to know how nervous and – though she'd never admit it – how excited she was that Dimitri was on his way to Paris. He and her parents were going to accompany her on the Dark Troubadours tour, along with Lucian and Jaxon, Ginny, Joseph, and Paul. Their first stop would be New York City, somewhere the teenager had never been. Neither, she had recently found out, had Paul or Ginny. She wasn't certain about her friend Joseph.
"What's wrong with your arm, Skyler?"
The seventeen-year-old started in surprise as she realized she was rubbing her left arm as if it hurt. For a moment, she thought she saw blood dripping down her arm, but when she blinked, there was nothing. Usually, when evil lurked nearby, her wrist ached, burned, as if vampire blood had splashed on it. The girl had discovered several months ago that as a small girl, she'd been fed upon by the enemy of all Carpathians, the grand master vampire known as Xavier, and his unwilling slave – and her biological father – Razvan. Now that Razvan had been saved by his lifemate, the long-missing Ivory Malinov, and the great healer of the Carpathians, Skyler's uncle, Gregori Daratrazanoff, he was back in the young woman's life, though in a far more positive role this time. As she had no memories of him from when she had been the slave of Xavier, this was easier for her than for some of the others who might have been in the same position.
"Skyler?" Francesca prompted again. The Carpathian woman called downstairs to her husband, Gabriel, she is on edge, nervous.
It is that werewolf.
No, Gabriel. I do not think so. I feel there is something else. No danger, something else. Almost like a memory. It is only masked by Dimitri's presence coming closer and closer. Something else is distracting her. She rubs her arm as if it pains her, but I sense no injury, no phantom wounds.
Immediately, Francesca felt Gabriel's strong arms around her, even though he had not moved from his position reclining on the leather armchair in the living room. In her mind, her lifemate replied, I am on guard, Francesca. And though he wishes to steal away our daughter, I trust the wolf man to see to her well-being and safety while he is here. Speak to Skyler.
"Bebe, are you well? You are frowning. Have you a headache? And you are still massaging your arm. Have you hurt yourself?"
"I... I don't know... I'm not sure. But...."
Her head was buzzing, but her heart wasn't pounding in her chest the way it would if a vampire were nearby. She didn't know what was going on. Her stomach cramped. Was it Dimitri's presence, coming ever closer? Suddenly, the blond girl wished she hadn't invited him. But then her mind was wrenched firmly away from thoughts of Dimitri as a face filled her mental vision – dark brown hair to her shoulders, tawny eyes, and pale lips pursed in stubborn silence – but it couldn't have been... Blanche?
"I...." Skyler began. "I think..."
The image of a young swan, its left wing splattered with crimson blood stark against the snowy plumage, filled her mind....
It swam on a lake in the middle of a forest. On the shore, a white swan wearing a golden chain and a black swan wearing a silver chain lay sleeping in a nest. A great, black bat with crimson eyes flew over the lake, swooping down to attack the wounded swan, but a great, ebony-plumed cob trumpeted a battle cry and flew towards the bat, eyes fierce, jet black wings sweeping to buffet the attacker....
And then she was back in her room with Francesca, Gabriel, and...
"Dimitri!"
Ice blue eyes like a wolf's thawed to warm, twin sapphire flames in his handsome face as the great Carpathian hunter murmured, "My greetings, little one." And in her mind, the half-whispered endearment in his adopted language, his voice husky and warm like fur -
Lyubof maya.
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Author's Note: Yes, I'm revamping this fanfic. I hope you like my improvements. I wanted to make it more like the novels – getting glimpses of other people and other couples, more danger of vampires, references to others, stuff like that. Anyway, I hope you like the new version. Storyline is basically the same, however. Reviews make me weep for joy.