AN: This story has been revised after reading dark demon, and this chapter comes after I have read dark curse, if you enjoyed the last two chapters I beg you to read again the story from the beginning, you'll find that I've changed a lot of details, so hopefully it will make more sense and you, my dearest reader, will find it in your heart to write a few more reviews… thank you.
ZZZ
Chapter 13
"Dark Justice part I"
(Mature Audiences)
January 10th 2008
Amanda and Tristan's cabin
(Timeline: in between Dark Celebration and Dark Curse)
ZZZ
It was a human need, companionship, the simple desire every orphan has. She wanted a family, to come home to those related by blood and not just friendship. To look upon a child and know it had come from her womb.
"I want us to have a baby." Amanda announced unceremoniously as soon as she was able to catch her breath, so recently, only seconds ago his body had exploded inside her. "I want to feel your child growing inside me. I want to hold him on my arms."
Tristan's chest heaved; his lungs drew air with difficulty. Her simple assessment brought him a wave of emotions he had never felt. "Not only a child, but a male child, you are very demanding, eunan. I'll have to strive to make than happen soon." Tristan said as he stirred the lust in her body again.
He became hard above her flat abdomen and pushed inside her slowly. "But I must warn you that I've heard it takes decades for the first ovulation to happen. The Carpathian mating cycle is not like the human, or so I've been told."
"Isn't there some sort of herb? Humans have hormones; maybe it could work on us." Amanda said as she moaned, little ripples of sensation floated over her sensitive skin as he kissed her.
"What's the sudden rush, Amy? We have eternity, children will come, right now, we have to concentrate on Maria."
There was a bout of sudden jealousy on Amy's side as he said her name, because her name came with an image of Celeste pregnant with her. He could almost see Amanda pregnant, if he imagined it hard enough, but the image of her perfect ballerina body was the locked inside his mind, blurring everything else.
"That's why." Amy said simply. She wanted to erase Celeste from his mind. It was mindless jealousy, that he would feel for her at all was painful. Deep down Amy knew she was been irrational. But a lifemate is not a rational creature when it came to his lifemate's sexual partners.
"I'm striving to keep you happy here. It's just an image, Love, nothing more. You are the only one that holds my heart." Tristan said as he nipped her collarbone, enticing a wave of lust on her body.
"If we had a baby…"
"Not if, darling, when we have a child of our own." He said dipping his tongue inside her belly button.
"Would that make a difference? Would you think less of her?" Amanda pushed him away from her body trying to make sense on the maelstrom of emotions swamping her. "I don't expect you to erase the memories, but I just wished…"
Tristan laughed a full guttural chuckle, but it was deeply etched in irony. "You wished that I've never met her!"
Amy shrugged helplessly. "I can't help it. I need you all to myself, only to myself. I'm a greedy, immature, jealous lifemate, I accept it. I'm wicked jealous of her." Amanda paused to dig her nails on his biceps as he stood mere inches above her. "I can't bear the though of you touching her, kissing her, making love to her. It sickens me. It makes me want to claw you."
"I understand you completely. I feel the same. Can you try to move past it? It's in the past; you are the future, my only future." Tristan said as he caressed her face. "You are everything to me."
She framed his hand and let it there until a small silent tear winded down through his fingers. "I love you, like I never thought I would. This need of you is uncontrollable. I need to feel you close to me, know that you would never leave me. When I was in that limbo between life and death, all I could think about was telling you how much I love you, it consumed me."
"I know how you feel. I feel exactly the same, my love. A gradh. I was willing to die if you died. I cannot live without you. You and I will have children, many healthy sons and daughters. And I promise you that I will dim every memory I have of anything other than you."
"It's silly, I guess it's just that… he cheated on me and I knew it. He slept around. And it hurt like hell." Amy confessed as she turned her face to the side, slow tears gathered on her eyelashes. "But if you ever so much as kissed her willingly I would be devastated. What I feel for you, it's not human. As possessive of me as you are, I feel the exact same and more… I want you growing inside me, so I can be sure there's nothing she can give you that I can't." Amy meant Mr. Rogers, her company director, her long time fling, she had been obsessed with him for years, caught in a torturous relationship with absolutely no future.
Tristan pressed their foreheads together and breathed a deep sigh. "You give me everything, Eunan. You give me colors, joy, love, sheer mind-boggling pleasure. You think there's a competition? There's none, you have me body and soul. I could never cheat on you. I just can't. Don't ever think that of me. I might be headstrong, ill-mannered overbearing but never unfaithful."
"What does that mean, eunan, a gradh?" Amanda asked as she caressed Tristan's soft red curls; his hair even when kept short was lusciously thick and tended to curl in waves, like Maria's.
"Birdie, you are my little, red-feathered birdie; a gradh means my love, is Scottish Gaelic. I will take you there sometime. The moors are the most beautiful place I've ever seen, the cliffs, and the highlands in general are so peaceful. You'll love it."
"Such mockery, I have nothing little on me!" Amanda said as she saw the images buried on his head, deep grays, nothing but stark loneliness, and wishes of seeing it in true colors, of sharing the beauty with his beloved lifemate.
"You do, you have a little sharp nose," He said as he kissed the tip of it. "A pouty little mouth," He murmured as he plunged his tongue inside her mouth and dwelled there.
"A little round belly-button," Tristan said as he trailed kisses down her neck, to the ultra sensitive under-curve of her breasts, to her belly-button. "Shall I go lower?" Tristan said as he found her little clit with his full lips. "You have many small treasures. And they are all mine."
"Yes," Amanda whispered as Tristan inserted two fingers inside her and made little circles about her tiny clit with his tongue.
"You think you are a jealous little wench. Think again. I will never even let you shake hands with another man, you are mine, exclusively," Tristan said as he licked her sweet folds from top to bottom, making her shudder in exquisite anticipation.
"Irrevocably," he muttered against her soft folds as he added more fingers, and pushed inside her rhythmically, making her tremble with delicious ripples.
"Completely," he whispered as he felt her contract helplessly around his fingers in the throes of ecstasy, wave after wave of pure satisfaction invading her.
"And deeply mine," Tristan roared as he replaced his fingers with his long, hard penis, pushing into her with barely restrained obsession. He craved the feeling of her wet heat around him.
Amanda placed her arms around his neck, drew his head to hers and sank her fangs as deep as they would go on his neck. He roared in deep pleasure, he found it the most erotic thing he had ever felt, much the same as penetrating her, a retribution in the act of dominance and possession.
It was all a jumble of shared sensations, exquisite tightness, an inferno of wet heat and lightning that seized and consumed every single nerve ending in complete surrender. Suddenly his body contracted painfully and he exploded inside her again, he would never think of another woman, Celeste was just a blurry image from the past, nothing compared to the act of mating with one's true and only lifemate.
Tristan's deep hoarse cry of pleasure was overheard through the house. He lowered his head to her breast and sucked again giving her a final earth shattering orgasm that rocked the house yet again; they were equally loud about their pleasure. He repeated the binding words and as he felt tiredness creeping at them, he pushed their satiated bodies into the ground and made sure his daughter was safe with Natalya and Vikirnoff.
They would have children soon. He would see to that.
ZZZ
January 26th 2008
Mikhail's cabin
"We are going to Paris, it's a honey moon, Tristan and I, we are going to get married tomorrow and spend a few months at the city of lights." Amanda announced as they were gathered with all the other Carpathians living around the prince to celebrate another successful delivery and a naming ceremony for the newborn. Darius and Tempest were introducing Derrick to the lot. Now a month old, the child was strong, healthy and very good looking, with rainforest-green eyes and dark chestnut hair, he was positively angelic.
"It goes beyond saying, but you are all invited, I convinced father Reims, the local priest, to come up here and marry us at the old church." Tristan said as he twined his fingers with Amy.
"I know it's not necessary, but I want to. It's like a childhood dream." Amanda said. The night before, Tristan had proposed to her the old-fashioned way, giving her a new heart shaped diamond ring that actually fitted her, and she had said yes of course; only if he made it an event to share with the family, nothing secret and private like the ritual bonding, which they insisted was a marriage, but Amanda thought wasn't.
"It is completely necessary, in fact we should all complete the formality, I'm sure every human turned Carpathian female dreams of the white dress, the flowers, the altar, the exchange of rings, and all that goes with it." Raven said in urgency; she had married Mikhail, and she found it completely necessary.
"I would love to marry you," Skylar said to Dimitri. He kissed her hand and smiled.
"Then I can do no other that provide you with a ring and say the required words in front of a priest." Dimitri said solemly. Most Carpathian males thought that the ritual bond was more than binding, that human marriage was a nuisance, easily breakable, not truly as strong and eternal as the ritual.
"I don't find the idea repulsive or idle in any way, I'd love to marry you under the humans' law." Vik said to Natalya.
"That seams like a great idea for a party." Natalya said as she smiled at her mate. "Who else is with us?" Many heads turned and nodded, and so a ripple began, in short hours every lifemate wanted to be a part of the ceremony.
They gathered at Gregori's house since all of the sudden Savannah wanted to get married as well, she might have been born Carpathian but her mind and soul were deeply human. And so they began making the dresses, picking flowers, assembling bouquets, selecting ring patterns. It was a veritable frenzy of organza, chiffon and laces. Roses, lilies, tulips, orchids, poppies, dahlias, even jasmines every one seemed to want something different. It was hard to achieve harmony but they decided to let Amanda pick the church decorations, and each mate would have dresses and bouquets to fit their taste.
ZZZ
January 27th 2008
Carpathian Mountains
The old church
"The church is beautiful." The priest said as he gazed at the all the white flowers, roses, tulips, lilies, orchids, all the flowers selected for the colorful bouquets in white. "I had no idea you planned to wed simultaneously with other couples." The priest said dumfounded as he saw all the couples sitting pretty at the benches, he would have to repeat the questions and let them say their vows to several couples. Raven and Mikhail were the communal maid of honor and best man.
Amanda and Tristan would go first.
"It was a spurt of the moment thing." Amanda admitted shamefully as she winked at her sisters of blood. "These things are terribly contagious."
Tristan stood motionless next to her, he was in awe of the regal angel standing next to him, her dress was made of white-silver satin, decorated with crystals that shaped flowers, she wore her hair covered with a lace veil, the small pearly earrings and necklace made her look like a princess. She was wearing high heels, so she stood him almost eye to eye. In her hands she had a bouquet of jasmines, peonies, tulips and sweetpeas, a riot of magenta, coral orange, and toasted yellow. It was a perfect contrast with the bride's paleness.
Stop gapping, dear. Amy said through their link.
You are so beautiful it makes my heart stop. He said as he mentally kissed her mouth.
"May I have the rings?" The priest asked to the loving couple.
"Of course, Mary, give him the rings." Tristan said. "The ones on the blue bag, darling." He said as she looked confused with the bunch of little sachets. Maria was the communal ring bearer.
Maria had a basket with all the rings and each had a different sachet. "Here, daddy." She said as she handed Tristan their rings.
"Thank you, child." The priest said as he turned an accusatory glare to Tristan. "This marriage was shamefully over due, wasn't it?"
"Well yes, now that you mention it. I should've done this a long time ago." Tristan said confidently.
"What I can I say, father? It's better late than never." Amanda said with a huge grin, and small giggles followed through the church, most couples were very much overdone as well…
ZZZ
"It was a beautiful ceremony." Raven said to Mikhail as they prepared to go sleep, the sun was starting to show at the distant sky, the celebration had included the dark troubadours singing, and it had lasted until very late, or very early depending how you looked at it.
"Very picturesque, the funniest has to be when Gregori reminded Savannah that she was swearing to obey him a soon as she tried to walk back through the aisle. He's rather one-track minded, is he not?" Mikhail said as he helped Raven into the large bed, and settled behind her, spooning her.
"I think the whole church seemed to rattle with Savannah's reply, that it was just a mere formality, and he should remember that a wife was not the same as slave, property, or subject. And that he had sworn to honor and respect her, not boss her and harass her, and she would walk wherever it pleased her." Mikhail said as his face lighted with joy, it might have been years overdue, but seeing Savannah happily married was a pleasure.
"It was a dream come true." Raven admitted thinking that even as pregnant as her daughter was, the white dress still suited her perfectly; she had been a radiant bride. "This was a very exciting season, many happy reunions, many dangers and a little too much adventure, but so much fun at the end."
"I think it's safe to say I'm ten years older than I was, thanks to the last 4 weeks of our lives, I don't think my heart can't take another season like this, I've grown grey-hairs with so much worries, but I've also never smiled so much on such a short period of time."
"You'll be a granpa in a few months; that should cheer you up." Raven said.
"And a father as well," Mikhail said as he spawned the thick of her waist, the small bump was starting to show. He connected with Kathleen and sent her a small hug, the feeling of safety and love; she felt it and gave it back to him.
"And you thought life would get easier if we started reproducing again, look at the nurseries, we are far busier that we ever were. I would dare say every male will be saved; vampires will soon become a legend. Psychic human females are single-handedly bringing life back to the race."
"I pray god hears you, little one. Now come kiss me, I have a mind to hold you close tonight, as I should, beloved wife."
ZZZ
June 1st, 2008
LA, California
(After Dark Curse but unaltered by the book)
"Savannah had two healthy daughters a week ago." Amy told Tristan as she checked her email. Shea sent her reports of what have been happening at their home.
"How great, congratulate them on my behalf." Tristan said nonchalantly. What else could be expected of the dark one?
"They named them Serena and Anabella, Mikhail said they had very dark hair and light blue eyes, they looked like miniature copies of Savannah as a baby. Shea says Gregori is beside himself with joy and has become extremely overprotective. He won't let anybody hold the babies, not even Mikhail; he says they are too fragile, that only Savannah, Shea and Raven should touch them." Amanda read out-loud.
"We know he has always been very protective." Tristan said thinking he would be just as crazy if he had twins, and make that females.
"Shea also says Natalya is going there at thanksgiving, to spend the last few weeks of her pregnancy with them. Raven is expecting to deliver just about the same time, and so is Alexandria. They are all carrying girls."
"That's very good. Do you want to be there too?" Tristan asked knowing that Amanda was very close to Natalya.
"Not really, I would only be in the way, I'd rather we stay here, we'll go for Christmas, Skylar and I are rehearsing something, and she's such a great dancer." They had met with Skylar and Dimitri who were also living in California months ago; and they had started leaving in a small secluded area that both male Carpathians had safeguarded, Francesca and Gabriel were never far away in San Francisco, as were Alexandria and Aidan, in case they were needed, and baby Tamara was growing very well giving all new mothers living in US a breath of hope.
The foursome plus Maria usually went together to the ballet; Dimitri enjoyed taking Skylar out as often as he could. She had been so sheltered before that, now, in Los Angeles, she was joyful with the new world opening so many possibilities, an universe of knowledge and fun was waiting for her, and now she could finally be on the outside without fear of what other people felt.
"Of course, love, don't feel ashamed for wanting to stay. You are having a great time, there are lots of thing I yearn to show you. We have eternity, home will always be waiting. I'm sure Natalya understands. We'll bring beautiful presents for Christmas."
"There's more…" Amy paused as she read the lines over again, she had trouble dealing with the issue described.
Tristan felt her distress and merged fully. "Your family has expanded yet again, another half sister and two aunts. That's very good, Amy."
"An overly traumatized sister who was held captive for years, abused, fed upon, nearly killed with shame by Xavier, two aunts held in a coffin of ice for centuries, and the notion that Razvan is most certainly alive, and innocent of what was done, Xavier possessed him, used him to do his evil deeds. I hardly call it good news." Amanda said as she felt her heart begin to pound.
"He doesn't know of you, baby. I will never let anybody hurt you, especially Xavier or Razvan. This you can be certain of. Be at ease, Love. Finding more dragonseeker women must make the prince happy. And they will love to hear about you. You are family." Tristan said as he gathered Amy closer to him, offering the shelter of his powerful body.
"You can't be certain of that. Each one of us found by Carpathian mates, is a transgression made upon Xavier himself, he will seek us, and feast in our immortal blood, as he promised he would."
"You are terribly pessimistic, Love. We are stronger in number, in skill and in might. It's just a matter of time before he is found and annihilated. I can promise you that." Tristan said as he kissed Amy's temple. "Have some faith, woman."
"I hope she can overcome it, I can only imagine the tortures she underwent." Amanda mentioned thinking of Lara. "We must be there for the reunion, there's no reason strong enough to stay home. I must meet her. And Skylar too, she'll want to go there at once, I'm sure."
"So be it. And know give me a kiss, and erase that frown of your face, nothing bad will happen to you. I swear it." Tristan vowed as he kissed Amanda on the forehead.
ZZZ
December 20th 2008
Carpathian Mountains
(Timeline: after dark curse. Spoiler alert: if you haven't read dark curse, this will sound illogical, or it may give away the plot of Dark Curse, either way, read at your own risk.)
Amy trembled with barely surprised anxiety as she waited to meet Lara, Branislava and Tatijana. So many dragon seeker women at one place was something beyond marvelous.
Don't forget to breath, love. Tristan whispered as Amanda realized she was holding herself very tightly at the prince's door step, holding her breath in as she anxiously wondered if they would recognize her as family.
She smiled and took a deep breath and a flutter of awareness roused her, the small of her back throbbed, she unconsciously covered her belly with both hands, apprehensive about her unborn child, she gazed at Tristan, her dragon burned once in awareness and then went cold again, family not foe waited behind the door.
Everything is alright love, don't get nervous, you are family, they'll love you. Tristan said as he caressed Maria's red locks, he was carrying her on his arms. He bent to kiss Amy on the lips and opened the door telepathically. He thought family was everything, and Amy was a sweetheart, how could they not love her?
It was an anticlimax to know the only dragon seeker inside was her grandfather, Damian. He looked at her and rushed to hug her. He had feelings, deep, real, genuine feelings. And it was all because he waited patiently for the tiny redhair Amanda loved as a daughter of her own flesh, to come to the right age. He was safe, the girl was growing up fast and she was loved.
"Look who is at least an inch taller." Damian said as he stared at his future lifemate, she was sucking her thumb and hugging her father's neck. Her eyes were so blue that Damian could swear they were made of sapphires. She smiled to him, she was missing one tooth at the front, and she had insisted on wearing her favorite pink suede boots. Such riot of colors was a delight to Damian.
"She's gained ten pounds since you last saw her too." Amy said to her grandfather.
"This may sound rude, but you look like you gained some weigh yourself." Damian said as he noticed Amanda was thoroughly curvy, not the willowy, ballet-dancer-thin he remembered.
"Some? I've gained thirty pounds in the last 12 months, lucky me it happened gradually. One day I tried to fit on my old leotards and they simply burst." Amanda said a little ashamed. "It's not like I eat candy everyday, that's for sure. I just gained it, didn't even notice it until it was too late. Tristan is a master of disguise."
"You were terribly underweight, with your extreme height, 120 pounds was a crime, if you ask me your 150 are still slim, but you do have delicious curves now." Tristan said as he admired her muscular legs, round ass and shapely torso.
"And now I have no waist, and my clothes don't fit me anymore." Amy complained yet again.
"In your delicate condition, clothes will have to be refitted every day anyway." Tristan replied as he made sure his child was still inside, safely comforted and sheltered, it was a boy, just as he had promised her.
"Already! But you are so young; you were barely turned a year ago!" Damian protested.
The other Carpathians gathered at the house came forward. It was Mikhail who spoke first. "That was very fast, Amanda."
Amanda blushed and Tristan rubbed the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. "We tried very often." Tristan whispered as he drew his mate under the shelter of his arms, he held both Amanda and Maria close, his girls, his love and his family.
"That…and," Amanda began and blushed to a deeper shade of crimson before she continued. "I took hormones, and a special herb mixture to force the mating cycle to come, so I would ovulate sooner."
"That's very interesting!" Shea said as she came into the conversation. "What did you used?"
"All the human hormones in synthetic forms, first large amounts of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone, then FSH, then LH and estrogen all combined during the matting cycle, and finally lots of progesterone during the first two weeks." All hormones mimicked the natural process of pregnancy; something Shea had observed was still rather similar between Carpathians and humans, since they were both mammals.
"That's a very good plan. I guess it worked?" Shea muttered as she noticed Amanda's healthy constitution, she was beginning to show that famous pregnant glow.
"It did. I lowered the dosage as I started feeling the baby. Until I stopped altogether, since a blood exam probed that I was producing large amounts of human chorionic gonadotropin and progesterone of my own, so no more synthetic hormones were necessary. That was 4 months ago." Amanda confessed as she covered the round mound with both hands. "He's growing fast; he is connected with me."
"You were basically experimenting with your body." Gregori's voice came and resonated through the room as he stood in front of Amy. Savannah stood beside him, she held one of the daughters, Gregori held the other. They were identical, only their parents could tell them apart.
"Well, I'm pregnant now, aren't I?" Amanda said as if that excused the fact. "And look at this two dolls, they are gorgeous, a blessing upon your house, may they grow fast and healthy."
"You let her do that?" Gregori chided Tristan.
"You try arguing when you mate is in the middle of the mating cycle." Tristan responded remembering how mindless with need he had become.
"Our females are thoroughly insane." Said a deep voice coming from the entrance, Lucas came inside warily, and Celeste followed behind him, and as soon as she saw Tristan holding Maria she rushed to them. "There's no reasoning with them."
Before Celeste could even take a close look at Maria, Amy came between them. "Are you going somewhere?" Amy asked as she looked down on the blond, she was seven inches taller than Celeste in high heels, so she forced Celeste to look up.
"I've been dying to see my daughter for months. Would you stand aside please?" Celeste barked in a near challenge.
"Now she's your daughter again? I won't let you anywhere near her, you are not trustworthy." Amanda contradicted as she stood right in front of Celeste, blocking her view of Tristan and the child.
"Control your lifemate Ferdichenko, she's insulting mine. I cannot let her." Lucas said as he stared at Tristan and then at Amanda. "She was brainwashed. She cannot be held accountable. And as the mother, she has rights."
"It was through her work that Maria was captured and used for research, I nearly died thanks to her. Brainwashed or not, I will not let her anywhere Maria." Amanda said looking at the couple.
And then Amanda turned glaringly to Celeste, and shot her a murderous look. "You have no rights, you abandoned her, you used her to feed the Morrison society and you came here ready to kill us all, and that in my book is not trustworthy. Tristan and I are taking good care of her, as you can see, and she's very well. You don't need to wreak havoc telling her you are her real mother. She will stay with us. You obviously don't care for her."
Amanda never saw the small hand that flew high and landed across her cheek in a hard slap. The sting came seconds after accompanied by a sense of righteous indignation Amanda had never felt. She yearned to slap her back.
"How dare you say that, you freak of nature? A phoenix? I don't care what you are; this is my child, my baby. Do you know I died to save from those horrible people? This is the child I gave birth to with great pain. I adored her. I was manipulated, drugged and pushed beyond my limits by the society. You have no right to criticize me, and you certainly can't keep my daughter away from me!" Celeste said as she went around Amy and tried and tugged Maria down to her.
Amanda covered her smacked side with her hand. It stung, Celeste had been converted, she was now full Carpathian, and she had a point proclaiming her a freak of nature and a bigot for judging her without knowledge of the true facts.
All the other Carpathians stayed frozen and watched.
"Tristan, tell her how much I love our daughter! I love her, I would never hurt her. She has to be with me!" Celeste cried out in anguish, she was terribly guilty and she was desperate to make amends to Maria.
Amanda felt the torn emotions ragging through Tristan. He would never surrender his daughter completely, but he would come to an arrangement so Celeste could see her, sort of like a child between divorced parents.
"Since I clearly have no say in this, do as you wish." Amanda said as she stepped aside and walked away from the argument, the barely contained anger showed clearly on her eyes. She shook with rage and anguish, she had come to love Maria so much, soon she would be told the truth and she would never hear her call her mommy again. Been Carpathian her memories would probably be replaced to suit Celeste's claim.
Now Tristan was truly torn in pieces, lifemates must always come first; he gathered Maria closer to him and turned his full glare on Celeste. "I hold custody of this child, and I decide she stays with me, you may see her under my supervision, but you will not take her away from me… and you will not tell her who you are until I think it's safe to do so, don't forget she has forged a very close alliance with Amanda, I will not let you break such important bond."
"That's all I wanted." Celeste said as she stretched her arms to the girl. "Let me hold her please."
He reluctantly released the girl, and Maria went to Celeste wondering what was all the fuss about. She had her hearing blurred so she didn't even imagined they were discussing her fate.
"Hi." Maria said as she fingered her mother's blond locks and let them glide through her fingers. "Pretty hair," Maria muttered and then she started squirming and was off in the floor, on her own two feet in seconds, she was eel-like slipping through people, and she ran very fast.
"Up," Maria said as she ran to Amy and stood next to her, raising her arms on the universal sign of wanting to be held up.
Amanda stared at Tristan, she had bloodshot eyes and tears had gathered but the held them back furiously.
"Up Mary, Mommy," Maria pleaded again and naturally Amanda stretched her arms and pulled her up. Maria traced her multicolored hair and hugged her arms around Amanda's neck. "No Cray mommy," the five year old whispered as she wiped the tears away from Amanda's face. "I want to play castles." Maria offered as she thought a game could solve anything that made her mommy cry.
"Of course we will, precious." Amanda said as she took one deep ragged breath. A stab of pain crossed through her body, something alien, something disturbing, was she so angry about losing Maria that she felt physical pain?
"You see that blond woman over there, the one with the blue eyes." Amy told Maria as she walked to the group again. "She's going to play with you too. Her name is Celeste she's a friend of mine, we'll be seeing lots of her now." Amanda lied; the woman would never be considered her friend by any means. "She wants to play with you, Mary. Be a good girl and play along."
Again that gripping pain came as Amanda sat on the floor next to Maria and opened the magic castle. It was something alien, like a burning iron trusted at the base of her spine. She moaned and fidgeted as the odd sensation climbed, gripped and retreated.
Tristan felt it and his heart skipped a few beats, it was common knowledge that Carpathian women miscarriaged easily and Amy was so upset. For Christ's sakes she had died to protect Maria from the Morrison society, that had to count for something, she deserved to be called mommy.
Suddenly Gregori stood next to Amanda and realized what she was feeling was indeed the beginning of a miscarriage. "Have you lain in the ground since you arrived?" The dark one asked her direly.
"Yes, we've been here for a week, we must rest everyday on the soil to be strong, right?" Amanda asked as she began to feel a sense of dread overtaking her.
Mikhail swallowed hard and began to speak in earnest. "Lara Carradine, Razvan's daughter, your sister. She showed us how the thing that killed our children was the in the ground, a parasite that infected the very core of Carpathian cells. Since she rid us of it, we haven't slept on the soil, and as you can see our children are healthy. I should've told you this right away, but I wasn't aware that you were carrying."
"Am I going to lose my baby?" Amanda asked with a broken snip of a voice.
"Most possibly, we haven't gotten around to kill Xavier, and he keeps experimenting, sending his parasites to destroy us, and you have dragonseeker blood, he would be more vicious on you. He nearly killed Lara when she rescued the aunts. He's evil beyond words. We are weak, our first goal is to save the children born and unborn, so… we can't risk attacking him now, we'd lose." Raven admitted painfully. "I'm so sorry. We should have told you right away."
Mikhail had sent most of the lifemates away; only those directly related to him remained on their land, in fact the gathering was only for warriors and childless couples. Mikhail and Gregori hadn't found a way to get into the cave and survive, Xavier had to be lured outside, but none of the dragonseeker woman would be used that way.
"Where is Lara?" Tristan asked as he grabbed Mikhail by the elbow. "She must save my child as well." He was overtaken with emotional and physical anguish.
"Nicolas de la Cruz, her lifemate, converted her, it had been too long, and she was becoming weak, it was dangerous to keep her at the brink of humanity, we don't know if she can chase the bug again." Gregori said ashamed that nobody else could do such a thing.
"Shea! You should've warned me about this! When you said Lara was found, you omitted this. Why?" Amanda asked with ragged voice. The pain was coming faster and stronger.
"It's a silent and endless war we are wedging with Xavier, as soon as Lara casted them out, they came back inside. We have not found a cure, it's as bad as it was before, and the only thing we could do to avoid the parasite was stay off the soil, and it's killing us, you must know we are all on half our strength and dwindling as time goes by, if we don't find a vaccine we are doomed twice over." Shea said with deep despair. "I resisted telling this until I could at least identify the god forsaken parasite. Let alone finding a cure or a vaccine. It's a curse, Amy. And I'm trying my best to figure it out but I'm failing miserably, we all are."
"There's the obvious solution." Gregori said with resonating anger. "We gather the council of war again; we go after Xavier, attack him on the cave and get this over with."
"I'm all for that, we can't sit here and stare at each other like we are helpless, we have mages, hunters and the power of the Daratrazanoff alliance, if we plan things carefully we could win." Jacques offered; he was just as angry as Gregori.
"That is all great! But right now I want Lara here, she must save my baby!" Amanda begged as she felt a thick wetness pool under her, the bleeding was dark and heavy, she joined with the baby and felt him screaming in agony, the parasite was cutting his blood supply, terrorizing him and making sure Amanda's womb rejected it.
"Tristan, please, help me!" Amanda pleaded as she collapsed, sudden blood loss was fatal, the pain unbearable. And then she noticed a young woman rushing to her almost in slow motion, she had long red curls that framed her face, and beautiful green eyes. The darkness was gathering around Amanda, swallowing her until she passed out.
"I can't help her! We are too late." Lara screamed, taking aback with the pain reflecting on Amanda's face as she kneeled above her sister. "I can't get to the bug. I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have come here!"
Amanda heard at distance the awful truth and her heart broke into a million tiny pieces. He could not be saved.
"Try! I beg of you. It's your nephew." Tristan begged, taking hold of Lara's shoulders.
"She can't. The power went away when she became fully Carpathian. Our only hope is to destroy Xavier. If Gregori can help us stop the bleeding, maybe we can win sometime; I agree with Jacques, we've suffered long enough. It's time to attack." Nicolas said, feeling every bit as torn as the rest of them.
Tristan kneeled beside Amanda and took her on his arms. "Assembling the war council and deciding to attack will take days, we hardly have hours. I have need of a healer." Tristan whispered as he raised carrying Amanda.
"We'll help, we'll ease the pain." Tatijana said as she and Branislava walked beside Tristan, Lara followed closed behind, feeling terribly guilty. "Let's take her to the mineral cave, she'll heal quicker there."
He's suffering so much… Amy whispered through the link to Tristan, referring to the baby. It's so brutal.
Lara caught her distress and took her sister's hand and laced her fingers with her. "Let him go, there's nothing I can do but end his pain, your pain. He'll go straight to heaven. He knows you love him very much. I'm so sorry, I really wish I could help you, I though I've seen to every baby, I only wish I had known earlier!"
Amanda struggled and finally plucked her hand away from Lara's. She turned and buried her face on Tristan's shoulder. Where she cried her eyes out as she slowly released her hold on her son, and felt him die swiftly. The parasites attacked the baby viciously, knowing it was dragonseeker.
Nicolas turned Lara unto his chest almost the same way; she felt agony as strongly as her sister. And she began crying long red tears just as well.
"If this isn't reason enough to destroy him, I don't know what is." Lara said angrily, thinking that Xavier had to be killed. He had to pay for the things he had done.
"He will, love." Nicolas said as he rocked his lifemate. He met Tristan's blue, blood-shot eyes over her head. He flashed red embers, vengeance was his only thought. And Nicolas could not agree more, it was time to administer justice.
The end of chapter 13…
ZZZ
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW ME!!
About Dark Curse:
I knew I hadn't read a name, so Jacques and Shea's baby is named Stefan Kane, and Raven is pregnant with a boy not a girl; we'll call it licentious freedom of fanfic writers but as you can see I changed very few details of the original dark series. Over all it was a great book, I'm in love with Lara and Nicolas, they make a fantastic couple. HEA was not at the end of this book, as it obvious we are now contemplating at lest 5 more dark books, hopefully as great as dark demon and dark curse.
All the fans out there I give Dark Curse 5 stars, this book make me cry! Not one of the dark series made me cry before, not even dark melody, but this one did. And surprisingly I'm now rooting for Razvan to be saved. I'm sure he has a very dark book coming. So that been said, I'll take under consideration the chapters following this one to mold them to what happened in dark curse.
The five following dark books should be the stories of: red dragon, blue dragon, Dominic, skylar-Dimitri and Razvan himself, just to be clear on the subject, I'm crossing my fingers that they come soon; I can't wait to read these stories.
The mean kitten.
ZZZ
Extra:
Prayer
By Disturbed
Another
dream that will never come true
Just to compliment your
sorrow
Another life that I've taken from you
A gift to add on
to your pain and suffering
Another truth you can never believe
Has
crippled you completely
All the cries you're beginning to
hear
Trapped in your mind, and the sound is deafening
Let
me enlighten you
This is the way I pray
Chorus:
Living
just isn't hard enough
Burn me alive, inside
Living my life's
not hard enough
Take everything away
Another nightmare
about to come true
Will manifest tomorrow
Another love that
I've taken from you
Lost in time, on the edge of suffering
Another
taste of the evil I breed
Will level you completely
Bring to
life everything that you fear
Live in the dark, and the world is
threatening
Let me enlighten you
This is the way i
pray
Chorus
Return
to me, return to me, return to me, turn to me, leave me no one
Turn
to me, return to me, return to me, turn to me, cast aside
Return
to me, return to me, return to me, turn to me, leave me no one
Turn
to me, return to me, return to me, you've made me turn away
Chorus
Variant:
Living
just isn't hard enough
Burn me alive, inside
Living my life's
not hard enough,
They take everything from you