Authors Note: Sorry it took me so long to update. I had planned on getting this chapter up last weekend but as it turned out I ended up waiting in the hospital for 12 hours for my nephew to come into the world. He was 4 weeks early so I definitely wasn't expecting it. Anyway, for a while all I could think about was babies. Not very conducive to writing a fanfic unless it's about babies. Anyway, I finally finished chapter 3. I know I said I was going to put Skyler and Dimitri in this chapter, but my muse had other plans. As a writer, you have to go with what flows right. I tried to fit them into this chapter, but it was getting too long and they just didn't seem to fit with what I had. I'm definitely hoping to put them in the next chapter. Dominic and Zohra still haven't met yet. But don't worry. I promise I'll get to it. This chapter was mainly my attempt at tying this in with Feehan's next story Dark Slayer. I wanted it to seem canon and not like it was AU. I hope it worked. Well enough of my rambling. Enjoy the chapter and don't forget to review!

Chapter 3

"I can't let you do this Razvan. There has to be another way."

"You know there isn't Zohra. When my grandfather discovers I've been helping you, I'm dead anyway, and it won't be quick. I won't let Xavier keep you here when your lifemate needs you. I have to help you escape. I'll break you out of here and we can exchange blood. It will mix our scents to confuse the vampires. Once we are away from the fortress, I'll head in another direction to throw them off. I'll keep the vampires busy until dawn, and even if I must burn as well, I shall make sure they all perish with the sun. Once the sun rises, keep going as far as you can during the daylight hours. The worst threat you might encounter during the day is a bunch of ghouls. Not even shadow warriors can pursue you then. The sun doesn't burn you like it does other Carpathians and you need to use that advantage to its fullest extent."

"I can't do this alone. Razvan, I've never been on the outside. I need you to help guide me. I could get lost or starved or die before I even find him."

"I'll give you a mental map of the fortress and surrounding areas. Your power of connection should help you find the rest of your way to the Carpathians. You know I can't come with you. You have a much better chance of survival if we split up to confuse them. Besides, I need do the honorable thing for once. I have no lifemate out there to save me. You are all that is holding me to the light but I won't deprive a hunter of his salvation because I'm selfish. If I should perish in this task, at least I shall know my death actually meant something."

Zohra reached up to cup the man's chin and looked into his eyes. "I've never thought you selfish Razvan. If anything, you're the most selfless person I've ever met. Then again I haven't met many people, but anyone who cares enough to look can see that everything you've ever done, the good and the bad, was to help those you care about. If I get the chance to meet your sister Natalya, I'll tell her that."

Razvan jerked away from her touch and widened his eyes, so in awe was he of Zohra's words. "I am many things, Zohra, but selfless is not one of them." Razvan averted his gaze as he fiddled with the magical locks chaining her to the wall. "If I were selfless I would have met the dawn centuries ago. Instead, I allowed my grandfather to use me as a puppet for his wretched experiments and hurt my sister in the process." Razvan finished removing the safeguards from the manacles and uttered a counter-charm to safely remove them from Zohra's wrists. "Are you ready Zohra?"

"What about the collar?"

"My magic won't work on that. Xavier created it to make you ill if you use your power. It will only tighten if I try to remove it that way. We don't have time to come up with another solution and cutting off your head would sort of defeat the purpose. Plus if it does come off I'm sure it would kill you. I'll place a counter-spell in your blood that should counteract any parasites that the collar could release. The healing fire will draw them out and kill them. I'm sorry I can't do more."

"Thank you Razvan. And to answer your question, no I'm not ready. I never will be. But I must leave now anyway." Zohra watched as Razvan ripped open his wrist to offer his blood. She did the same to her own.

"Take what is freely given so that it will sustain you on your journey," Razvan said holding out his bleeding wrist.

"I give to you freely as well, Razvan. May you find the peace I know you deserve."

With that, the two made their exchange. Then they began their escape after laying eyes on each other for what they knew might be the last time.

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As Natalya and Vikernoff approached the inn, they noticed a strange odor coming from the chimney.

"The prince is right, Vik. A mage had to have had a hand in this."

"But Mikhail said the woman wasn't mage. He had Gary test the bloody perspiration left on Slavica's sheet. He doesn't know what she is but the results were negative for mage blood."

"That doesn't mean a mage hasn't been helping her."

"You don't think your brother had anything to do with this, do you? I mean, we know he's not evil now but he's still under Xavier's influence."

"I don't know what to believe Vikernoff. All I know is I'm tired of not knowing who to trust."

When they got to the door, Gregori greeted them and ushered them inside. "We would have contacted you sooner but we didn't realize this wasn't an ordinary fire," he told them.

Natalya couldn't believe what she was hearing. From what the prince had told her it had to be anything but. "Excuse me? How could you not know it wasn't ordinary? A woman spontaneously combusts in the living area of the inn, the fire doesn't spread, and it dies away by itself leaving no burn marks on her at all! Does that sound like an ordinary fire to you?"

The Dark One decided not to let Natalya's outburst affect him. "We thought the woman might be manipulating the flames somehow so they wouldn't burn her. We didn't realize the scorch mark would take mage power to remove."

Natalya met Gregori's silver gaze and raised an eyebrow. Then she turned her head to her lifemate. "Still not an ordinary fire no matter how you look at it."

"Just let it go, sivamet. It's not worth arguing over."

"Fine." Natalya turned back to Gregori. "Where is this scorch mark the fire left?"

Gregori led them into the living area of the inn where Slavica was making a futile effort to scrub away the aforementioned mark. "Slavica, I highly doubt that a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush will remove what Carpathians could not," he told the woman.

Slavica stopped scrubbing and put away the brush. She got up from the floor to greet them. "Good evening Natalya, Vikernoff. It's a pleasure to see you again." Then she turned to Gregori. "If this doesn't work, I'll expect compensation. I just bought that rug."

"Rest assured Slavica, we shall make you an exact replica if we exhaust all other options."

"I'll hold you to that," Slavica announced as she picked up her bucket and brush and headed into the kitchen.

Natalya bent down to better examine the ashen stain and gasped. "That's not a scorch mark. It's a message disguised as one. And I know of only one person who could have sent it."

Vikernoff knelt down to place a reassuring hand on his lifemate's shoulder. "Your brother." It wasn't a question; it was obvious that Razvan was the one she spoke of.

"Razvan and I used to send secret messages to each other when we were young. It was a way to not only test our skills in magic but also to pass on information without Xavier knowing. We were afraid that our grandfather had found a way to breach our private mental path. We didn't know how, but we were uncertain just how much power he wielded. So we experimented. Sometimes we would transport still images along with the dust in the wind. Sometimes we would plant words in the very soil or we would use the water to see through each other's eyes indirectly. But one of the most complicated methods was to place our words in the ashes left by a magical fire. This is one such message."

"Can you reveal it?" Gregori asked her.

"I believe so." Natalya stood up and waved the others back. She traced a symbol in the air and began her spell:

"Hidden message forged in fire

Reveal yourself, this I require."

The mark glowed bright and the stain dissolved into symbols. "It's in our old code. It must be important."

"Can you decipher it?" Gregori asked.

"It's been a while but I believe so." Natalya was about to lean closer when Vikernoff pulled her back.

"Wait a minute. That was it? A little shimmery symbol and two lines that rhyme?"

Natalya met her lifemate's confused gaze with one of exasperation. "Were you expecting fireworks? It worked didn't it?"

"Well yes, but every spell I've ever heard you say has been rather long and elaborate."

"That's because every spell I've ever said in front of you needed to be long and elaborate. This one did not. Besides, the spell is sheer elegance in its simplicity. Xavier would never suspect that a message so complicated to hide would be so easy to reveal."

Vikernoff looked at his lifemate with pride in his eyes. "Genius. Pure genius."

"My brother had his moments. The spell was his idea." Natalya watched in bemusement as her lifemate's proud expression turned to one of shock.

Gregori cleared his throat. "Can we get back to the business at hand here?"

"Of course." Natalya knelt down to decipher the message. A few moments passed by in utter silence until Natalya shoved a fist in her mouth to stifle a sob.

Immediately concerned, Vikernoff knelt down beside his lifemate and pulled her close. "What is it sivamet? What does it say?"

Natalya pulled her fist from her mouth and wiped her tears. She cleared her throat and began to speak knowing she could break down any second. "It says:

'Dear Natalya,

By the time you read this I will have met the dawn. I should have done this long ago, but instead I allowed Xavier to control me. I will not let him use me any longer. So it is with these words that I say my final farewell. But do not mourn my passing. Let my death be remembered as honorable as my life never was. The woman I used to deliver this message knows nothing of my plans, nor does she have any inkling to her true potential. The power locked away inside of her is unlike anything I have ever encountered. Please keep her safe, for I believe she might hold the key to saving the Carpathian race from extinction. Goodbye dear sister.

Your brother,

Razvan'"

"Is that it?" Vikernoff whispered into Natalya's hair as he clutched her tightly.

"No. There was a postscript." A sound between a sob and a chuckle escaped her lips. "It says. 'P.S. Kill the bastard for me.' My brother always did have a way with words." Natalya burrowed up against Vikernoff's chest. "I'm losing him all over again." The words were barely a whisper but he heard it all the same.

Vikernoff looked up at Gregori. "We can't afford to ignore this. Gregori, go inform the prince. I must tend to my lifemate."

Gregori nodded as he watched the pair turn to mist and stream away.

"Mikhail. We have pressing news."

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Dominic crouched down on the ground outside the hospital. He had almost killed that woman. Even worse, she was pregnant. He hoped he'd gotten her to the emergency room in time. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her or her baby. He'd expended precious energy healing her after he had so carelessly fed and he wanted her closely monitored after what he had done. He hadn't even noticed the other heartbeat until he had taken much from her. The truth was he hadn't even thought to look. The agonizing hunger was all-consuming. The vampire blood was beginning to take control of him. Dominic had managed to stop himself this time, but how much longer could he keep this up? He had thought that consuming the toxic blood in order to spy on the enemy would give meaning to his endless existence, but now he couldn't help but wonder if his act of honor was really an act of suicide.

Well that's it for Chapter 3. Now please click that button down there and review!