DARK BEAUTY
Tempted
Prologue
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Zared Kayn McLeod laughed slightly as fireflies swarmed around her. She touched the ripe wheat gently, feeling it sweep against her legs. It looked hauntingly golden in the full moon light. She began running swiftly towards the forests. A coyote howled through the warm, night air and she rejoiced in his song.
She was a small teenage girl. At sixteen, she was just under five foot tall and would have gotten mistaken for the youngest, had she not have been so developed. Zared sighed, her mood suddenly dampened as she thought of her sisters. There were three of them.
Victoria was twenty-three and an up-and-coming model, currently living in Paris. She was a good five foot six with light brown hair and red-brown eyes.
Olivia was twenty and in Harvard. She had been offered a modeling contract after showing up with Vicki to a party. She had turned it down though, not wanting to give up Harvard. She was five foot six with dark blonde hair and black eyes and had the longest legs that Zared had ever seen.
Lydia was the youngest at nine. She was by far the prettiest of the girls and by far the most dotted on. She had bright gold hair and dark, black eyes. And she was already two inches taller than Zared. She was Zared's favorite, because she had yet to learn that Zared just didn't fit within the four of them.
At four foot eleven, she was often mistaken for a child and often over- looked by everyone. Her long, naturally spiral-curled, black hair was the only one in her immediate family. Not even to mention her soft, hazy, midnight blue eyes. She was curvy enough to tell she wasn't a little girl and her face always held a mature, aristocratic, but loving look.
As a child, she had remembered her older sisters calling her "the ugly duckling." But she mostly remembered the "our other daughter," and the "she's so awkward, and not at all as pretty as her sisters" comments she had always heard her parents make.
~It's true, I am no beauty.~ Zared thought. Her nose and lips were the things her sisters made fun of mostly. She had long since taken to believing them to be right, after all, they were so beautiful and popular. Her nose was thin, "far too straight," and came to a point. "Like a pixie's," her grandfather had always said. Her lips were heart-shaped, small, and full. Her eyes, which she had never liked, were large, framed by MANY long black lashes, and always kind and shy. She had never once doubted her sisters' opinions.
Zared shook off her sadness and began down a narrow path in the forest. She breathed in the fresh, sweet, Oklahoma air. It was warm, but wonderfully so. She was visiting her grandmother's home and loving every minute of it, even if her family had left her there so they could go to London without her. Lydia had been heart-broken and it had hurt Zared to hurt her, but she was happy to shed herself of her parents and older sisters.
She thought back to her grandmother, her only friend. Ellar Gallagher was always there for her. No matter what time it was, if Zared was hurt or sad or anything, her grandmother would always know.
Zared stopped short suddenly. Bile and fear were rising up in her as she thought of her grandmother. She turned quickly and ran as fast as she could back to the farmhouse. She jumped the pasture fences and ran through the horses' graze land.
Her heart was pounding in her chest as her feet thudded up the stairs into her grandmother's room. "Granny!" She cried, rushing to her side.
"Zared, oh Zared. For a second, I thought you were my mother. You look like her in every way. Now, now. Do not cry, pixie. I am old and the old are meant to die. I know I will not outlive the night. Before I die, there are three things I must tell you. The first is a secret."
Zared shook her head. Her gut clenched and she knew it was important to her future and to who she was. She didn't know how she knew, but she did.
"My mother was a witch. She had powers beyond anything I myself have. I merely inherited her psychic ability. She once told me she didn't ask for them and begged God to take them, but then she found she could do good with them. She was often a healer in her village in Ireland. As I said, I inherited her psychic ability, but your mother inherited nothing, just as your sisters haven't. But you are everything like her. You run wild in the forests just as she did, even when I was a teenager. She took me out when I was a little girl, but stopped when my father forbade it. He let her have her practices because he knew she was devoted to God and myself alone, but he didn't want me to have anything to do with her powers. I see her power and her freedom in you. I see her in you, her smile her laughter, and her beauty."
"I am no beauty. I'm not even near pretty." Zared whispered, awed by the story.
Her grandmother laughed a little. "You my dear, are very pretty. Those that see you otherwise will see you, little duckling, become the queen of swans. Oh, little Zared, you are so dear to me. My precious gem."
Zared could no longer hold the tears back. She buried her head into her grandmother's hands.
"Listen to me Zared. I have my mother's old books. I want you to study them."
"But! But Granny! I don't want magic!!"
"You were born with it. There is a reason. God always has a plan."
Zared swallowed and wished for another topic.
As if reading her mind, which Zared wasn't so sure she hadn't, Grandma Eller started the second topic. "I wish to tell you of your future. There is a man, who is tall, and dark, and handsome, and mysterious, and who will love you more than life itself. You will meet him in some years. What he will offer you will be hard and very strange, but you must accept it. If you do not, your soul will die and you will be nothing but a shell of what once was. What he will offer you will be wondrous. You will be happy. But you MUST accept him and love him."
Zared shook her head and tired to hold back more tears.
"And now, a word of advice. I know you want to write and paint when you get out of college. Use my mother's story as your first book. You'll find her diary and things in the trunk at the end of my bed. Use them. I know it will get your name out there. But a word of caution, use a pen name. You'll have to do some running and you don't want them to catch you. Promise me you'll do all of these things."
"I promise." Zared whispered, hoping that this was some nightmare, instead of real-life reality.
Eller Gallagher smiled at her granddaughter before closing her eyes and sighing deeply. With that sigh, she gave up her soul to join her late husband.
Zared felt the life leave her grandmother and she knew she was alone.
Utterly alone.
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His eyes jerked open. He had no idea how long he'd been under ground. All he knew was that his lifemate was in need. He'd put himself to ground in 1338, in the farthest depths of the Roman catacombs, waiting for his soul to be awakened by his lifemate, if he was to ever be blessed with one. If he was not, he would sleep forever.
Aramis Daratrazanoff broke through the soil and breathed deeply. The air was stale with death and the catacombs were now deeper. He tried to find her soul with his, but he was in dire need of blood. His senses caught the scent and sound of a human, and many other things, above him.
He began his way through the mazes of the catacombs, heading for the surface. He could feel the moon at its peak.
~Aramis?~ A voice came into his head. To anyone else, it would be intoxicating. To him, it was simply a brother.
~Yes, Gregory?~ He answered, the voice rumbling through their link or blood. He had trained Gregori some when he was a fledgling.
~Many thought that you had sought the dawn. I see now that you took to the ground.~
~Indeed. What year is it?~ (A/N: I have no idea what Mrs. Feehan's timeline is, so I'm using my own.)
~The date is July 19, 2003. Many things have changed since the 1300s.~
~What information can you share with me?~
~All if you like, though I fear my lifemate will take up most of the last portion.~
~Congratulations, brother. Her name?~
~Savanna. She is the daughter of Prince Mikhail and his lifemate Raven.~
~Send me the information.~
~Certainly.~
The information came quickly. Many of the contraptions of this time would have seemed strange if it had not been for Gregori. The story of Lucian and Gabriel came to him and he smirked. Lucian was always there for Gabriel and vice versa. Gregori was well learned.
~I thank you brother.~
Aramis smelled the blood of many humans and smirked. He had to get his strength for his lifemate.
He found a group of young Italian men, in their early twenties. They were on their way to celebrate one of their buddy's engagement. He sent out the call for them to come to them, which they did.
He drank deeply from each, but not enough to make them a hazard to themselves, only enough to make them want to go home.
He quickly changed his garb for something more modern. His hair was quickly in a leather thong. He was wearing a white, button-down dress shirt neatly tucked into black slacks, and a long black duster. His strides were long and sure. He sent his mind out, searching for his lifemate. After many moments, he found the one who's soul cried out for his. ~She is far.~ He thought.
He began to see through her eyes. In his mind, he saw a room full of photographs of children and teenagers. Books and pillows were everywhere in the room. But his lifemate was staring at the person on the bed and tears were blurring her vision. An old woman lay on the bed, lifeless, and he felt the pain her death had caused. His lifemate had just lost this person and the pain in her heart moved him.
He stopped at the corner of a street and waited on the traffic. He thought about how she moved him, though he had neither seen nor heard her. He tried to see if he could find any information on who the woman was, but all he could find was pain. The barriers in her mind were strong.
~Aramis!! Gregori just told me that you were in Rome.~ Lucian's deep voice reached him.
~Are you? I have not scanned just yet.~ He answered.
~Forgetting things in your old age, or are you just rusty. But, yes. I'm here with my lifemate Jaxon.~
~I can feel despair from my lifemate, though I do not know her, nor is she even on this continent.~
~Her despair is great then.~ A feminine voice drifted in on the standard path.
~Do not mind our little sister, Aramis. She's nosy. How did you get in on this anyway?~ Gabriel asked.
Aramis smirked. ~Is it a family reunion in my head then?~
~We could do it in person if you like. We're all here in Rome for a month. We're at your castle already.~ Another beautiful female voice said on the standard path. ~By the way, I am Gabriel's lifemate, Francesca.~
~Pleased to meet you sister.~ He said and transformed into a mist, blocking them out.
"He is coming." Darius said quietly, from his place with Tempest.
Aramis arrived, shimmering in the soft light. His old home, he would have gone to ground in it, but it was so far away from people. He hadn't been sure if, since it was so far, he would have been able to hold his cravings down when he'd awakened, so he'd gone to the catacombs in the city.
"Aramis." Lucian said, watching his older brother, which was by nearly six hundred years.
"Lucian." He said, his voice a deep rumble. Intoxication was it's middle name and hypnotism was it's game. It was a sin to have it, one he enjoyed immensely when he needed it.
"You don't know us, but I'm Desari, your sister. I was born after you went to ground. I believe you know my lifemate Julian though."
"And I am your brother Darius. This is my lifemate Tempest."
Aramis bowed to them. He was still void of emotion, but it was nice to see his entire family, save his parents, happy.
"You said that your lifemate was in despair?" Jaxon asked, holding Lucian's hand.
"She was extremely sad, from what I could see. I believe that she has lost her grandmother."
Jaxon's eyes turned soft. "How terrible for her. Grandmothers are the most wonderful people. She must be very close to hers."
Francesca was looking at him strangely. "She is young yet. She is barely sixteen, and very alone. I wish I knew where she was. She is just a year younger than Skylar."
"Who is Skylar?" Aramis asked quietly.
"She's our ward. She was badly abused by her father." Gabriel said, letting him know more than he had said.
Aramis nodded, understanding.
"I have added to your library over the years. I'm sure you won't mind. I shall also tell Mikhail that you have returned." Gregori said, happy to see his brother, but knew that it would be a hard wait. He had awakened, expecting to find his lifemate soon, but found out that he would have to wait two years by law and if he felt the need, he would give her a few more years.
"I thank you. Books will help me immensely at the moment. The world has changed greatly in the last six hundred and sixty five years."
"Yup. Your lifemate is probably a very independent young woman with a mind of her own and will hate the fact that we must guard them at all times."
Aramis sighed deeply. Oh, how the world had changed.
Jaxon laughed at his expression. "Don't worry. She'll love you. She won't be able to help herself. As much as I fought Lucian, I still couldn't help myself."
"I couldn't help myself either." Francesca admitted.
"Nor me." Savanna said. "At first I didn't want to, but then I realized I wouldn't be giving my life up. I'd be joining it to someone else's to make it whole and wonderful."
"I ran away." Tempest said, squeezing Darius's hand lovingly as she laughed.
"But I caught you." Darius said, his dark voice warming her.
"I let you." She said, laughing again as he rolled his eyes.
"I was a little afraid of going with Julian, but I went and now I couldn't be happier." Desari. She smiled warmly at him as he kissed her fingertips softly.
He smiled faintly and nodded.
As the night crept forward to dawn, he found his family again, but his mind was constantly with his young lifemate, who was somewhere in the world without him but in great need of him.
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Tempted
Prologue
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Zared Kayn McLeod laughed slightly as fireflies swarmed around her. She touched the ripe wheat gently, feeling it sweep against her legs. It looked hauntingly golden in the full moon light. She began running swiftly towards the forests. A coyote howled through the warm, night air and she rejoiced in his song.
She was a small teenage girl. At sixteen, she was just under five foot tall and would have gotten mistaken for the youngest, had she not have been so developed. Zared sighed, her mood suddenly dampened as she thought of her sisters. There were three of them.
Victoria was twenty-three and an up-and-coming model, currently living in Paris. She was a good five foot six with light brown hair and red-brown eyes.
Olivia was twenty and in Harvard. She had been offered a modeling contract after showing up with Vicki to a party. She had turned it down though, not wanting to give up Harvard. She was five foot six with dark blonde hair and black eyes and had the longest legs that Zared had ever seen.
Lydia was the youngest at nine. She was by far the prettiest of the girls and by far the most dotted on. She had bright gold hair and dark, black eyes. And she was already two inches taller than Zared. She was Zared's favorite, because she had yet to learn that Zared just didn't fit within the four of them.
At four foot eleven, she was often mistaken for a child and often over- looked by everyone. Her long, naturally spiral-curled, black hair was the only one in her immediate family. Not even to mention her soft, hazy, midnight blue eyes. She was curvy enough to tell she wasn't a little girl and her face always held a mature, aristocratic, but loving look.
As a child, she had remembered her older sisters calling her "the ugly duckling." But she mostly remembered the "our other daughter," and the "she's so awkward, and not at all as pretty as her sisters" comments she had always heard her parents make.
~It's true, I am no beauty.~ Zared thought. Her nose and lips were the things her sisters made fun of mostly. She had long since taken to believing them to be right, after all, they were so beautiful and popular. Her nose was thin, "far too straight," and came to a point. "Like a pixie's," her grandfather had always said. Her lips were heart-shaped, small, and full. Her eyes, which she had never liked, were large, framed by MANY long black lashes, and always kind and shy. She had never once doubted her sisters' opinions.
Zared shook off her sadness and began down a narrow path in the forest. She breathed in the fresh, sweet, Oklahoma air. It was warm, but wonderfully so. She was visiting her grandmother's home and loving every minute of it, even if her family had left her there so they could go to London without her. Lydia had been heart-broken and it had hurt Zared to hurt her, but she was happy to shed herself of her parents and older sisters.
She thought back to her grandmother, her only friend. Ellar Gallagher was always there for her. No matter what time it was, if Zared was hurt or sad or anything, her grandmother would always know.
Zared stopped short suddenly. Bile and fear were rising up in her as she thought of her grandmother. She turned quickly and ran as fast as she could back to the farmhouse. She jumped the pasture fences and ran through the horses' graze land.
Her heart was pounding in her chest as her feet thudded up the stairs into her grandmother's room. "Granny!" She cried, rushing to her side.
"Zared, oh Zared. For a second, I thought you were my mother. You look like her in every way. Now, now. Do not cry, pixie. I am old and the old are meant to die. I know I will not outlive the night. Before I die, there are three things I must tell you. The first is a secret."
Zared shook her head. Her gut clenched and she knew it was important to her future and to who she was. She didn't know how she knew, but she did.
"My mother was a witch. She had powers beyond anything I myself have. I merely inherited her psychic ability. She once told me she didn't ask for them and begged God to take them, but then she found she could do good with them. She was often a healer in her village in Ireland. As I said, I inherited her psychic ability, but your mother inherited nothing, just as your sisters haven't. But you are everything like her. You run wild in the forests just as she did, even when I was a teenager. She took me out when I was a little girl, but stopped when my father forbade it. He let her have her practices because he knew she was devoted to God and myself alone, but he didn't want me to have anything to do with her powers. I see her power and her freedom in you. I see her in you, her smile her laughter, and her beauty."
"I am no beauty. I'm not even near pretty." Zared whispered, awed by the story.
Her grandmother laughed a little. "You my dear, are very pretty. Those that see you otherwise will see you, little duckling, become the queen of swans. Oh, little Zared, you are so dear to me. My precious gem."
Zared could no longer hold the tears back. She buried her head into her grandmother's hands.
"Listen to me Zared. I have my mother's old books. I want you to study them."
"But! But Granny! I don't want magic!!"
"You were born with it. There is a reason. God always has a plan."
Zared swallowed and wished for another topic.
As if reading her mind, which Zared wasn't so sure she hadn't, Grandma Eller started the second topic. "I wish to tell you of your future. There is a man, who is tall, and dark, and handsome, and mysterious, and who will love you more than life itself. You will meet him in some years. What he will offer you will be hard and very strange, but you must accept it. If you do not, your soul will die and you will be nothing but a shell of what once was. What he will offer you will be wondrous. You will be happy. But you MUST accept him and love him."
Zared shook her head and tired to hold back more tears.
"And now, a word of advice. I know you want to write and paint when you get out of college. Use my mother's story as your first book. You'll find her diary and things in the trunk at the end of my bed. Use them. I know it will get your name out there. But a word of caution, use a pen name. You'll have to do some running and you don't want them to catch you. Promise me you'll do all of these things."
"I promise." Zared whispered, hoping that this was some nightmare, instead of real-life reality.
Eller Gallagher smiled at her granddaughter before closing her eyes and sighing deeply. With that sigh, she gave up her soul to join her late husband.
Zared felt the life leave her grandmother and she knew she was alone.
Utterly alone.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
His eyes jerked open. He had no idea how long he'd been under ground. All he knew was that his lifemate was in need. He'd put himself to ground in 1338, in the farthest depths of the Roman catacombs, waiting for his soul to be awakened by his lifemate, if he was to ever be blessed with one. If he was not, he would sleep forever.
Aramis Daratrazanoff broke through the soil and breathed deeply. The air was stale with death and the catacombs were now deeper. He tried to find her soul with his, but he was in dire need of blood. His senses caught the scent and sound of a human, and many other things, above him.
He began his way through the mazes of the catacombs, heading for the surface. He could feel the moon at its peak.
~Aramis?~ A voice came into his head. To anyone else, it would be intoxicating. To him, it was simply a brother.
~Yes, Gregory?~ He answered, the voice rumbling through their link or blood. He had trained Gregori some when he was a fledgling.
~Many thought that you had sought the dawn. I see now that you took to the ground.~
~Indeed. What year is it?~ (A/N: I have no idea what Mrs. Feehan's timeline is, so I'm using my own.)
~The date is July 19, 2003. Many things have changed since the 1300s.~
~What information can you share with me?~
~All if you like, though I fear my lifemate will take up most of the last portion.~
~Congratulations, brother. Her name?~
~Savanna. She is the daughter of Prince Mikhail and his lifemate Raven.~
~Send me the information.~
~Certainly.~
The information came quickly. Many of the contraptions of this time would have seemed strange if it had not been for Gregori. The story of Lucian and Gabriel came to him and he smirked. Lucian was always there for Gabriel and vice versa. Gregori was well learned.
~I thank you brother.~
Aramis smelled the blood of many humans and smirked. He had to get his strength for his lifemate.
He found a group of young Italian men, in their early twenties. They were on their way to celebrate one of their buddy's engagement. He sent out the call for them to come to them, which they did.
He drank deeply from each, but not enough to make them a hazard to themselves, only enough to make them want to go home.
He quickly changed his garb for something more modern. His hair was quickly in a leather thong. He was wearing a white, button-down dress shirt neatly tucked into black slacks, and a long black duster. His strides were long and sure. He sent his mind out, searching for his lifemate. After many moments, he found the one who's soul cried out for his. ~She is far.~ He thought.
He began to see through her eyes. In his mind, he saw a room full of photographs of children and teenagers. Books and pillows were everywhere in the room. But his lifemate was staring at the person on the bed and tears were blurring her vision. An old woman lay on the bed, lifeless, and he felt the pain her death had caused. His lifemate had just lost this person and the pain in her heart moved him.
He stopped at the corner of a street and waited on the traffic. He thought about how she moved him, though he had neither seen nor heard her. He tried to see if he could find any information on who the woman was, but all he could find was pain. The barriers in her mind were strong.
~Aramis!! Gregori just told me that you were in Rome.~ Lucian's deep voice reached him.
~Are you? I have not scanned just yet.~ He answered.
~Forgetting things in your old age, or are you just rusty. But, yes. I'm here with my lifemate Jaxon.~
~I can feel despair from my lifemate, though I do not know her, nor is she even on this continent.~
~Her despair is great then.~ A feminine voice drifted in on the standard path.
~Do not mind our little sister, Aramis. She's nosy. How did you get in on this anyway?~ Gabriel asked.
Aramis smirked. ~Is it a family reunion in my head then?~
~We could do it in person if you like. We're all here in Rome for a month. We're at your castle already.~ Another beautiful female voice said on the standard path. ~By the way, I am Gabriel's lifemate, Francesca.~
~Pleased to meet you sister.~ He said and transformed into a mist, blocking them out.
"He is coming." Darius said quietly, from his place with Tempest.
Aramis arrived, shimmering in the soft light. His old home, he would have gone to ground in it, but it was so far away from people. He hadn't been sure if, since it was so far, he would have been able to hold his cravings down when he'd awakened, so he'd gone to the catacombs in the city.
"Aramis." Lucian said, watching his older brother, which was by nearly six hundred years.
"Lucian." He said, his voice a deep rumble. Intoxication was it's middle name and hypnotism was it's game. It was a sin to have it, one he enjoyed immensely when he needed it.
"You don't know us, but I'm Desari, your sister. I was born after you went to ground. I believe you know my lifemate Julian though."
"And I am your brother Darius. This is my lifemate Tempest."
Aramis bowed to them. He was still void of emotion, but it was nice to see his entire family, save his parents, happy.
"You said that your lifemate was in despair?" Jaxon asked, holding Lucian's hand.
"She was extremely sad, from what I could see. I believe that she has lost her grandmother."
Jaxon's eyes turned soft. "How terrible for her. Grandmothers are the most wonderful people. She must be very close to hers."
Francesca was looking at him strangely. "She is young yet. She is barely sixteen, and very alone. I wish I knew where she was. She is just a year younger than Skylar."
"Who is Skylar?" Aramis asked quietly.
"She's our ward. She was badly abused by her father." Gabriel said, letting him know more than he had said.
Aramis nodded, understanding.
"I have added to your library over the years. I'm sure you won't mind. I shall also tell Mikhail that you have returned." Gregori said, happy to see his brother, but knew that it would be a hard wait. He had awakened, expecting to find his lifemate soon, but found out that he would have to wait two years by law and if he felt the need, he would give her a few more years.
"I thank you. Books will help me immensely at the moment. The world has changed greatly in the last six hundred and sixty five years."
"Yup. Your lifemate is probably a very independent young woman with a mind of her own and will hate the fact that we must guard them at all times."
Aramis sighed deeply. Oh, how the world had changed.
Jaxon laughed at his expression. "Don't worry. She'll love you. She won't be able to help herself. As much as I fought Lucian, I still couldn't help myself."
"I couldn't help myself either." Francesca admitted.
"Nor me." Savanna said. "At first I didn't want to, but then I realized I wouldn't be giving my life up. I'd be joining it to someone else's to make it whole and wonderful."
"I ran away." Tempest said, squeezing Darius's hand lovingly as she laughed.
"But I caught you." Darius said, his dark voice warming her.
"I let you." She said, laughing again as he rolled his eyes.
"I was a little afraid of going with Julian, but I went and now I couldn't be happier." Desari. She smiled warmly at him as he kissed her fingertips softly.
He smiled faintly and nodded.
As the night crept forward to dawn, he found his family again, but his mind was constantly with his young lifemate, who was somewhere in the world without him but in great need of him.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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