As always, this world belongs to Ms. Feehan, I'm just playing in her back yard. I promise not to break anything.
Heart of the Dragon
Chapter 3, A Night's Work
Belle rose from her earthen bed with the remnants of a dream hanging onto her mind. She rarely dreamed since she became Carpathian and when she did, the dreams were usually a warning or had some deep meaning. This one was elusive but there was a sense of something life-changing coming at her, only she could not remember any details.
She shrugged the dream off and stretched. There was no point worrying about a dream. If it was important, she would find out soon enough.
She quickly cleaned herself of soil and fashioned a blue, long-sleeved top and a patterned wrap-around skirt that hugged her hips and flared down to her ankles. With a quick use of energy to braid her hair into a long, red rope that hung past her waist, she slipped on a pair of sandals and shifted to mist to float up to the living area of the house.
Deborah sat in a rocking chair, singing to her daughter as the infant nursed. She and Blaine had been taking her to ground with them for several days with no problem. Belle gave the baby a quick kiss on the top of her head and hugged Deborah.
"I'm so glad she's thriving." Belle said, "Everyone was really worried because the other Carpathians couldn't take their babies to ground."
"That's your doing, Belle. You found the extremophiles in the ground and got rid of them. You made it possible."
Belle was embarrassed and did not feel she deserved the praise. "I'm just thankful I was able to help. It's nice to be needed."
Deborah opened her senses to see the loneliness in Belle. "What's wrong, Belle?"
"I don't know." She searched for the right words. "I have always been happy with you and the girls, and I appreciate that Blaine wants me around." She hesitated. "I feel like I'm in the way. I'm restless. There is something missing and I don't know what it is."
Deborah felt the turmoil in her friend's mind. "You're not in the way, Belle. You were my family before Blaine came into our lives and you are our family now. You are important to us. Maybe your soul journey will help you find what you are looking for."
"I hope so." Belle looked at the baby. "Have you decided what you will name her?"
"Selene."
"That's a lovely name."
"It was my mother's name. I barely remember her. I think she was beautiful and I know she loved me. My father was devastated after her death. He always seemed so lonely." Deborah smiled wistfully.
"You can tell your daughter what you remember. A part of your mother and your father will live on in her."
"Yes, they will."
The infant finished nursing just as Blaine came into the room, his skin rosy from feeding. He greeted Belle with a hug and turned to kiss his lifemate. Belle left the room to give them some privacy as Deborah laid the baby in her bassinet.
Belle stepped on the porch and breathed in the night air, then sent her mind out to check on Samantha. The teenager was visiting Falcon and Sara's brood, helping the older children with school work. Samantha would be escorted safely home by Falcon when she was finished.
This night Belle would check the resting soil of two couples who were considering trying for babies. She had cleaned their soil before, but the extremophiles tended to return after a while. Keeping them out was an ongoing struggle. Until the Carpathians could stop them at the source, they would continue to be a problem.
When Lara and Nicholas with Natalya and Vikirnoff had explored the ice caves and found the women's aunts, Lara was able to destroy the breeding place for the parasites that let vampires identify each other. The caves were too dangerous to go back to investigate further and, while a laboratory had been found, the extremophiles had not been eradicated.
Those in the community who were skilled in science and magic worked diligently on the problem, mining Lara's and the aunts' memories for answers. It was uncomfortable to Belle to be the only one who could find the creatures in the soil and destroy them.
Though the others had helped her in that task, they could still not do it without her. This made her more valuable to the Carpathians and more likely to be targeted by their enemies.
Belle cast her mind out into the night and was answered. Nicolae and Destiny walked out of the forest to greet her. They were on "Belle duty" this night.
"Who are we visiting tonight, little sister?" Nicolae asked. He and Destiny both gave her a hug.
"I need to see Celeste and Eric first, then Diedre and Tienn. Since the extremophiles have been discovered and it's possible to cleanse the soil, both couples have decided to try to conceive again."
"They have both lost children. Celeste's last child died just after birth. It was very hard on both of them," Nicolae said.
"How do you find them, Belle, when so many others cannot?" Destiny asked.
"Lara recognized the taint of Xavier in the bodies of Carpathians. I just sense a wrongness in the body or the soil. Even if the organism mimics the surrounding cells, I can sense that it doesn't belong, and it can't hide from me."
"You have an amazing and precious talent, little sister," said Nicolae.
They quickly shifted into owl form and took to the sky to travel to their first stop. The night was clear and they could see for miles. Mist was slowly rising from the ground to fill the low places and it looked like piles of fluffy cotton in the landscape. Lights from homes twinkled here and there, with a concentration of them in the village. Flying was one of Belle's favorite parts of being a Carpathian, whether in the form of a bird, as mist, or in her human form.
Celeste and Eric waited for them on the porch of their home. The men clasped forearms and the women hugged each other.
"Thank you for coming, Belle," Eric said, "We know it is our duty to have children for our people but…"
"But it's just too painful to lose child after child," Belle responded, "I understand. We've kept the organism away from Deborah and Blaine and their daughter is healthy."
"That is what we hear. Please, enter our home."
Eric led them inside, through a well-appointed living room, to a door leading to a cellar. Celeste looked at the others apologetically.
"I am afraid there isn't room for all of us in our sleeping chamber."
"That's all right. I would like for all of you to follow me as I search the soil, but you can do that with your minds. I keep hoping someone else will be able to detect the extremophile. When I finish, I will check each of you for the microbe."
"You have checked us already," Celeste said.
"Yes, but until we can eradicate the microbe completely, it's best to check again, especially if you want to conceive. Once you do, I will check your soil frequently to make sure it stays clean."
Belle pulled her skirt up so she could kneel in the soil. Placing her palms on the soil, she sent her energy into the earth. She felt for anything that did not belong, not just organisms but toxic chemicals. Toxins traveled the earth and could be found very far from their origin. This house had been in place a long time and there was little toxicity in the soil. What was there had probably leached in from outside with the movement of water.
Belle drew these toxins to her, forming them into a tiny, hard nugget. She continued to search the surrounding soil, reaching beyond the area in the cellar to include several yards around the house. There were three of the microbes, one in the resting place and two just outside the house. She quickly focused her energy, creating a point of extreme heat and reduced the microbes to atoms. In a few more minutes, she had increased the minerals in the soil.
She pulled back into her body and took a deep, cleansing breath. Celeste and Destiny helped her to her feet and both women offered her blood, which she accepted gratefully.
"That was amazing, Belle," said Destiny. Belle shrugged.
"It is amazing," said Celeste, "Syndil has the talent to enrich the soil, but she cannot detect the microbe. You can do both."
"I think Syndil is better at enriching the soil than I am, but she can't do it when she's off with the Troubadours. Otherwise, I would just kill the microbe and let her do the enriching."
The women returned to the living room. Belle checked Celeste and Eric for the microbe. Celeste did not have one, but Eric did.
"What I want to do is chase it out of your body," Belle told him, "I'll herd it through your bloodstream to your wrist. When I give you the word, make a small cut in your wrist and let it bleed into a bowl."
A few moments later, at Belle's signal, Eric held his wrist over the bowl and made the cut. The microbe went into the container with a few drops of blood.
"It's out now. Can you detect it?" Belle asked the group.
"I could feel it when I was in your mind," Destiny said, "But I can't feel it now."
"Anyone else?" They all shook their heads. Belle focused her energy on the blood in the bowl and the microbe was reduced to its basic components.
"Why are you so concerned with someone else detecting the microbe, when we have you?" asked Nicolae.
"What if something happened to me? Even with the protection you all provide, something could happen. People die all the time."
"Yes, but you are Carpathian. You are immortal."
"I'm immortal until someone kills me." She looked around at them. "Look, I don't anticipate anything happening, but it makes me uncomfortable to be the only one who can do a particular job."
"Our population is too small and it is not unusual to have only one person with a particular talent. We will all protect you. As you said, things happen, but you cannot go through your life afraid. You do your best and live your life."
"With so many of our people working on the problem," Destiny said, "It's only a matter of time before they find the answers we need."
"I guess you're right. I do tend to worry."
"Have you been having visions, Belle?" Destiny asked.
"Not lately, but I feel odd, as though something is coming. I can't tell if it's good or bad."
Belle and her two companions took their leave and flew to their next appointment. She repeated the procedure and found microbes in the soil where Diedre and Tienn rested. They both gave her blood when she was finished. This time, Diedre had the microbe and Tienn was clean.
Nicolae and Destiny escorted her home and departed when she went inside. She sighed as she watched them leave through a window. As much as she appreciated the safety of being escorted, it was becoming tedious. There always seemed to be someone around when she wanted to go somewhere but she felt she was imposing on these people. Just once, she wished she could wander in the forest and enjoy the night completely alone.
A/N: I have been a little slow with this one, sorry about that. I make no promises about how often I'll update, but I will try to do it weekly.
