Chapter 6

Carissa found herself feeling exhilarated as she and Pierce raced down several roads. She'd never felt so alive or free. There was also something right about her arms around him, and for just a moment she imagined what it would be like if he were to hold her.

A small plane few overhead and it was then she realized they were close to an airport. They turned down a private road and she saw several small prop planes outside a hanger. He pulled up close to one and stopped. Turning off the engine, he made sure Carissa safely got off the bike first, making sure she held onto him to as she slid off.

Samuel put the kickstand down and got off the Harley. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she breathed. "That was…"

He flashed her a breathtaking smile. "Fun?"

Carissa actually laughed. "Yes, it was fun."

"Good." He took her hand and began leading her to a nearby plane. When she hesitated, Samuel looked down at her. "Are you afraid of flying?"

"This is your plane?"

"One of many, yes."

"Why then did you need a private jet? I mean, you have enough money to have your own."

Samuel paused. "We usually fly ourselves. But, with my brother ill…well, it would be easier to let someone else assist us. It's a long journey to the Carpathian Mountains as you know."

Carissa almost asked about his brother but remembered from Kylie it might be too sensitive and too early in their relationship to know details. So she focused on the journey to the Carpathian Mountains. "I suppose you couldn't just turn into a bird and fly there."

"Actually, yes, we could." When she looked at him with astonishment, he chuckled. "But it would be extremely tiring, even at our most fast pace, it would certainly take more than a few days. With a plane, Graham can travel with us and make sure we are safely protected from the sun so we can continue to fly during the day."

"The sun?"

Samuel paused. "Do you remember last night, what I said?"

Carissa thought for a moment. "That in my mind I would think you are a vampire but you said you are not."

"And I'm not."

"So, you have abilities like a vampire?"

"I would say it is the vampires who have abilities like Carpathians before they turned."

"And…that means you…drink blood?"

"Why don't we continue this conversation in the plane? I was hoping you'd like it as your surprise. Something that was still fun, but also allowing us to be alone so we can talk."

"Okay," Carissa said. Her stomach was a little nervous with the thought that Pierce drank blood. She also realized she'd never been in a small plane with one pilot.

"It's called a Baron G58. It's small but still large enough to seat six people."

"Do you use it very often?"

Samuel chuckled. "If we can turn into owls and hawks? No. But I think this is a good first step for you."

As he seated her in the plane, Carissa looked at him. "First step?" She swallowed hard. "As in…someday I could turn into an owl or something?"

"Yes. When the time comes, I will help you. But as I said before, we will go as slow as you wish. I do not want to rush you." Not to mention he had to explain that she actually still had to convert to Carpathian. The thought scared him a bit. He reminded himself that many human females who were psychic had turned successfully to Carpathian. But he didn't look forward to the process. For now, he'd only exchanged blood with her once. So as long as he was careful, he wanted to give her more choice with the next few exchanges.

"But you said you've waited a long time for me," Carissa said as she referred to him not rushing her.

"And I can be patient enough to wait even longer. Only your happiness is important to me."

Carissa felt a rush of warmth, still unbelieving any of this was real. Maybe she was really dreaming?

As Samuel began to start the plane, he briefly touched her hand. "It's not, but if it were, I hope you'd think it's a good dream."

Lucy jumped at the sound of a thud in one of the other rooms. She thought Pierce was out for the evening and so she was a little afraid. He always assured her that safeguards were in place while he was away in the off chance that a vampire discovered where they lived. But she still had nightmares from the one attack she experienced. Pierce and Samuel offered to remove the memories from her, but she refused.

Slowly, she went down the hallway to see if she could find out what the noise was and where it came from. When she entered into Pierce's office, Lucy gasped as she found him face down on the floor. She ran over to him and knelt down. He wasn't moving and she panicked. She couldn't call an ambulance so she reached for the phone and called Graham who was on an errand. When he answered, she quickly told him how she'd found Pierce.

"Okay," said Graham. "I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Where is Samuel?"

"He's flying with his lifemate. I'm pulling into the garage right now. Hang on."

Within minutes Graham was in the office. Carefully, he rolled Pierce over and was alarmed to find him translucent. "When was the last time he fed?' Graham demanded.

"I-I don't know. I mean, he always refused to feed from us. He went out tonight so I thought he'd find someone."

Graham shook Pierce. "Come on, open your eyes. Can you hear me?" With no response, Graham pulled out his cell phone. "I'm calling Samuel."

Within moments of taking off, Samuel took the plane above the clouds so Carissa could see the beautiful moon. When he glanced over at her, Samuel smiled. She was in complete awe of the scenery. He reached out and held her hand.

Carissa didn't pull away. This was absolutely amazing to be in a small plane and the night sky was beautiful. She looked at him. "Thank you…for all of this."

"I should be the one thanking you," Samuel answered. "You have no idea what a gift you are to me, especially when I was so close to turning."

Carissa drew in a sharp breath. "Turning? As in turning into a vampire?"

"Our lifemate is the only one who can restore color and emotion to us as we age. There is only one for each of us. And now I've finally found you."

"Are you certain it's me?"

Samuel tilted his head. "I can feel for the first time in over a hundred years. So yes, it's you."

"One hundred years? You live that long?"

"Actually we can live much longer if we can hold on. Some have even lived for thousands of years."

Suddenly, Samuel grew extremely weak. He hands went limp and before he could figure out what was happening, Samuel began to black out. He willed himself to stay awake, but he could barely hold the controls to the plane.

Carissa screamed as the plane plummeted through the clouds. She saw the city lights below and grabbed onto him. "What's wrong? Please! Tell me!"

"I…don't…know," Samuel said as he struggled for control. With all his concentration, he pulled up and stabilized the plane. Blindly, he reached out to his twin. Pierce?

When there was no response, Samuel thought of Graham. Long ago he and his brother had taken blood from him to track him should there be a need. But Samuel couldn't concentrate. He tried to reach in his pocket for his cell phone but his hands were uncoordinated.

"What are you doing?" asked Carissa. "How can I help?"

"Cell phone," he said in a hoarse voice.

"Where is it?"

Suddenly the phone rang in his pocket and she immediately got it out. Answering it, her voice trembled. "Hello?"

"Carissa?"

"Graham? Yes, it's me. Something is wrong with Pierce!"

There was a pause on the other end. "You mean…Pierce in the plane?"

"Of course it's Pierce in the plane! He's very weak. Can you help?"

"Put the phone to his ear."

She did as he asked and she saw Pierce shakily tried to hold it. His face paled even more. "When?" he asked. "I…don't know. There is some physical connection between us. Something is wrong."

Carissa didn't understand what that meant. "Connection?"

"Blood," she heard Pierce say in a gruff voice to Graham on the phone. "Give it to him. Yes, from you. Do it now."

There was silence for a few moments other than Carissa watching Pierce laboring to breathe. Then color slowly began to return to his face. She watched with astonishment as he sat up straight and regained control. She heard the sound of a female voice on the phone and Pierce gave a nod. "Thank you. Tell Graham I'll be there as soon as I can."

Samuel hung up the cell phone and tried to reach out to his twin again. This time, he got a response.

I'm…sorry…Samuel.

His twin was still obviously weak, probably not wanting to take more than needed from shook his head. What the hell happened? I thought you said you fed. You didn't feed last night, did you?

No.

And tonight? You didn't find a female?

Pierce was quiet for a moment. I couldn't feed from her.

Why the hell not?

She wasn't…Carissa.

Oh God, this was worse than he even thought.

"Pierce? Is everything okay?"

Samuel looked at Carissa. "I'm sorry, I need to take you home. My brother…he's not doing well."

"Are you connected to him? Do you feel everything he does?"

"Not usually everything," muttered Samuel. "I can't go into details right now, but usually siblings know if something is seriously wrong with the other, like if they were injured."

"Oh, so he got really weak? What's wrong with him?"

Samuel clenched his jaw as he began to make the plane descend. "The problem is, usually we don't have the exact physical reaction. If he were shot, I'd know it in an instant, but I wouldn't actually be injured." And how the hell did he explain the fact that he didn't need blood but Pierce did? Samuel had fed right before he picked up Carissa.

"I don't understand. Are you saying this isn't normal?"

"Not in our world, no. We seem to have more than just a telepathic connection. It's physical and I don't know why."

Pierce groaned as he tried to sit up with Graham's help. "Thank you."

"Are you sure you won't take more? You barely took what you needed."

He fiercely shook his head, the urge for more blood overwhelming him. "I'm in a dangerous state. Leave. Both of you."

Lucy looked helplessly at Graham who wanted to protest. But both of them vowed long ago to not argue when given a direct order from the twins, which was rare.

When they finally left, Pierce dragged himself across the floor to finally hoist himself up into a chair. He deserved this. He should have found some male tonight and taken his blood. But the lack of feeling for the woman at the hotel distressed him. Then to top it off, the sensation of feeling Carissa's arms around his waist confirmed he was completely out of his mind. He had some sick connection to his twin's lifemate, but not by blood. He had to be imagining things. It was the only explanation.

About an hour later, Samuel arrived in the form of an owl. When he transformed, Pierce had never seen his twin so angry.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Samuel demanded.

"Obviously I wasn't," he answered dryly.

"No kidding." Samuel strode across the floor and scored his wrist with his fangs. "Now feed."

Warily, Pierce took his brother's offer and for the next few minutes they were quiet. Once Pierce lifted his head, his twin yanked back his arm, sealed the wound, and glared at him.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with you? Do you realize where I was tonight?"

Pierce, feeling better, stood up to face him. "Look, I'm sorry I ruined your evening with her. I've already told you. I need to leave before this gets any worse."

"It's already worse!" snapped Samuel. "Thanks to your stupidity, Carissa could have died tonight!"

"What?"

"When you blacked out, the same happened to me. I was flying an airplane, Pierce!"

Pierce was completely stunned. "That's impossible."

"Tell that to Carissa when we plummeted straight down as I lost control!"

"No, that couldn't have happened. Not because of me. There has to be some other explanation."

Samuel began to pace. "When Graham gave you blood, I regained control."

Pierce sat down, completely overwhelmed at the revelation. "What kind of evil is this?" he whispered.

"What are you talking about?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you? I want your lifemate. Maybe I've found some way to get you out of the way so I can have her for myself. I'm twisted…evil."

"I refuse to believe that!" growled Samuel. "And that doesn't make any sense! You said you weren't jealous of me."

"I have to go before the prince," whispered Pierce. "Before something else happens."

The thought of Pierce being condemned before Mikhail was too much for Samuel. In fact, it actually terrified him. Just the thought of his twin losing his life…for a moment, it was on the tip of Samuel's tongue to tell his brother that he would have no choice but to follow him in death.

Which was completely insane.

Samuel loved his brother but had to follow Carissa after they were bound together. His soul belonged with her. None of this made sense. "No," hissed Samuel. "We already had this conversation, Pierce. You promised you'd wait."

"Before I managed to almost kill you!"

"I don't care. Do you hear me? I'm not letting you go yet."

Lucy suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Sorry, but the CFO of Logitech is on the phone. He says its important."

Pierce sighed. "I'll take it."

Samuel watched his brother for a few moments as he picked up the phone and Lucy handed him the company's latest sales reports. He turned away and walked down the hall to his own office. Looking out at the city lights, Samuel thought of Carissa.

Is he okay?

Samuel froze at the sound of her voice. You reached out to me.

Well, I wasn't sure it would work, really.

Of course it works. You are my lifemate.

So is your brother okay?

Samuel shook his head. No.

I'm so sorry. What are you going to do?

He wants to return to the Carpathian Mountains.

That sounds reasonable. Maybe being home will help him.

That is where our Prince resides and may condemn him to death.

Carissa sharply inhaled. Why would he do such a thing?

My brother thinks of himself as…mentally unstable.

He's turning vampire?

He thinks it is a possibility but I don't think so. It doesn't explain the strange physical connection he has with me.

Why does he thinks he's mentally unstable?

Samuel hesitated. He didn't want to tell Carissa that his twin wanted her. Bad enough she was thrown so quickly into their world. Here he wanted her to have time, but it felt like time was running out when it came to his brother. Maybe she could come with them to the Carpathian Mountains.

Pierce?

Samuel winced as she called him her twin's name. Carissa, I need to tell you something. But just then, Graham came into the room.

"Is everything okay?"

Carissa, I will see you tomorrow evening. You need to get some rest.

Okay, I understand. You need to be with your brother.

Goodnight, little one.

Samuel looked at Graham. "Thank you for feeding him."

"I did what I could. But I'm worried about him. I've never seen him so distracted." Graham suddenly gave a light laugh. "Then again, I haven't seen you so distracted either. In all the years I've worked for both of you, this is probably the first time I've seen you both with so little confidence. It's downright scary and refreshing at the same time."

"How is it refreshing?" muttered Samuel.

"Because, it makes you more like a human."

Samuel nodded. "And I hate it. I don't know how you do it every day."

"It's called going with your instinct. If I don't have any confidence in what I'm doing, that's the best I can do. And usually my instinct is right."

As Graham turned away, Samuel frowned at what he said. Both he and his brother became distracted when Samuel first heard Carissa's voice. The world turned upside down for both of them. Both of them had the same reaction to her. They both felt emotion and saw color. He thought for a moment. Did their strange connection start with her? But she was only one soul. How could one soul impact both of them? In their world, that was just impossible.

Samuel thought about his brother and the physical link that happened tonight. They'd fought together for many years, sometimes both of them getting hurt. But the more he reflected on their encounters with vampires, they never really paid attention to either of their injuries in the sense if they were exactly alike. Most of the time the brothers worked so efficiently, one or even two vampires were no match against them, so usually their injuries were minor.

He turned his thoughts back to Carissa, hoping to give his mind some type of escape from all this stress. He pictured her beautiful hair, her soft skin. What would it be like to kiss her? He probably would have found out if Pierce hadn't become so weak. A dark thought crossed his mind. What if they went to the Carpathian Mountains and Carissa did come with them? How would Pierce react with her in front of him? Would he try anything? An image appeared in his mind of Pierce meeting her, bowing before her, and then him touching her…

His heart picked up in pace and Samuel closed his eyes. For a moment, he gave into a thought that he never would have imagined. He shook in reaction with what he saw in his mind and how he…felt.

Dear God, he knew the answer to what was happening.

Author's note: not sure I'll be able to continue at this pace; the holiday weekend certainly helps! But i have little doubt it will slow down in the coming weeks as i've got a lot of business travel this June. But i'll keep trying to write, even today if I can. Again, fair warning that this story will not be for everyone as it's not going to be the typical Carpathian romance! -Anne