6/30/24: This is one of the shorter chapters, and really shouldn't have taken as long as it did to write, but I hit my first snag when I remembered that Gregori had spent time in thee States. There was no way he didn't know about the two ancient Carpathian women running what's essentially a bed & breakfast for hunters he thought were long dead. Which meant I had to completely rewrite the part where Kat counters to help heal Juliette, because Gregori absolutely already knew Kat. On top of that, life happened, and last year was my first year teaching, so I really didn't have a ton of time to myself where I didn't want to just veg for a while.

Anyway, Kat and Stephanie are easily my favorite OCs for this fandom. They are the twin daughters of Rhiannon and her lifemate (whom I have named Farid, although he was given a name in a throw away line of Dark Whisper, finally). I've always thought that was a missed opportunity that they didn't have canon children, but anyway. Kat is a very skilled healer, while Stephanie is more the warrior type. Their exact range of abilities - and the abilities of the other Dragonseekers - will be explored in later stories.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Dark Series or any characters you recognize from it


"He isn't here," Stephanie announced, flopping into the chair across from Kat with a huff.

"Uncle is an unmated Carpathian male, Stesha," Kat reminded her twin softly. "It would be unlikely to find him socializing in a human tavern."

"Other unmated males are here," Stephanie countered.

"They are not socializing." The other woman glowered. "Tell me, sisarke," Kat asked with a smirk, "are you more angry that Uncle is not among them, or that none of them have taken any interest in you?"

"I don't need a lifemate."

Kat laughed. "Who said anything about needing?" Her sister's feelings on this matter has been an ongoing conversation from the time they were small. Kat didn't worry over it. For all that Stephanie claimed reluctance, she had never hesitated to speak to the unmated males who turned up at their Sanctuary.

She reached for her phone. Carpathians usually avoided modern technology, but Kat had found cell phones, at least, to be a necessity for managing the Sanctuary, and disguising its true purpose. On paper, Sunset Wildlife Sanctuary was exactly what the name implied. They even had a contract with Oregon's Department of Fish & Wildlife to use some of their more remote ponds as hatcheries. In reality, Kat and Stephanie had taken over the territory of a dying Lycan pack and turned it into a place where any "supernatural" - but particularly Carpathian males - could come to rest, shed their human identity, or die if that was what they needed. All the employees were or knew about non-humans, and had more than proven their ability to handle vampires, vampire hunters, rogue wolves, mad mages, and Carpathians in distress, but this was the longest and farthest away both sisters had been from the Sanctuary since its creation. It made Kat nervous.

Stephanie snatched the phone away before she could look at it. "Where do you think Uncle is, then?" she asked, ignoring Kat's protests.

"I am not sure. All we have is the battle sign. Give me my phone." Kat held out her hand for it.

"Which we're only assuming was Uncle." Stephanie said, not handing her phone over at all.

"Who else would it be?" Kat swiped at her sister. Stephanie easily evaded her with a small laugh. "We have no maternal relatives aside from him. Give me my phone!"

Stephanie transferred it to her other hand. If Kat wanted her phone back, she would have to cross the table to get it. "There's Siv."

"Siv does not even know he is a Dragonseeker," Kat said. With the crowd in the tavern, would anyone truly take notice if she knocked a few things over? "Nor was he anywhere near this continent at the time. Now, give me my phone!" Kat lunged at her sister.

The table rattled. Stephanie shrieked. The pair tusseled for the phone for a moment before her younger twin managed to push her back into her seat with a soft bump. Kat glared at Stephanie, but it's intensity broke under the unstoppable urge to laugh. Stephanie joined in. A few of their table neighbors glanced their way with small smiles, likely recalling families and good memories of their own.

Stephanie shook her head, laughter dying down. "Relax, Kat, the staff know what they're doing, and if there's a problem they can't handle alone, they know where to look for help."

"I just can not shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen."

Stephanie groaned. "Now you've cursed us. Look, let's just focus on finding Uncle and getting him back home, okay? We can worry about everything else later."

Kat sighed heavily, but nodded.

"Wonderful." Stephanie looked over their table. Their cups had spilled most of their contents when Kat had attempted to reclaim her phone. "I'll go get us some more napkins, and something else to drink."

"Leave my phone!" Kat shouted at her sister's retreating back. She was ignored. With another sigh, she grabbed what little napkins they had and began dabbing at the mess. Stephanie would never understand that Kat could never stop worrying. She was the eldest, the head of their family until they located Uncle, the one directly responsible for their little corner of the world and the safety of everyone in it. It was heavy, so heavy, and Kat wondered if she would even be able to let it go once Uncle returned to them after having carried it for so long.

She reached for what remained of her drink.

Come to the healing caves. There has been another attack.

Kat was out of the tavern and in the sky before the message had finished. Her mind ran over every possible scenario. How many were injured, and how badly, and what would be needed to heal them. It had to be bad, she reasoned, or the summons would not have come down the common pathways for everyone to hear.

As if to highlight this thought, a few enterprising vampires aimed attacks at the Carpathians in the air, only to be immediately taken down by hunters. Idiots, Stephanie said.

Kat did not respond. Memory and urgency brought her quickly to the healing caves. Some had arrived ahead of her, and others landed behind her. Stephanie appeared beside her. "There's space over here," she said, taking Kat's hand to lead her around the edge of the room. Kat kept her attention on the injured, who had already been guided to the center of the chamber; a bloodied male cradling an obviously severely wounded female, guarded by two other male's who shared the first's features. Brothers, most likely, and the woman his lifemate. Gregori Daratrazanoff bent over the pair.

"Francesca. Hurry. She is far gone from us." He turned to the crowd gathering in the cavern. "We will need another healer."

Kat immediately changed course. "I am here."

Slashing silver eyes assessed her, the only hint of surprise at her presence. "Miss Novak, have you dealt with the vampire's parasites before?"

"A few of ours have turned up with them at Sanctuary." That had been a bad night. Three hunters returned badly infected with the beasts. One had died before she even had a chance to figure out what had happened. Another had his lungs so clogged that every breath had resulted in a cough consisting of nothing but blood and the vile abominations. The two survivors were still in the ground recovering.

Kneeling beside the fallen woman, Kat glanced at the male holding her body. He would likely need a round of healing himself, assuming they saved his lifemate. How badly has she been infected? She asked Gregori privately.

Unclear, Gregori responded. They will likely go for her heart first, or possibly her brain. Francesca, you will heal her wounds.

As one, the healers shed their bodies and entered their patient as pure light. Kat immediately noticed a surprising lack of damage to the internal organs. The parasites were present, but it seemed their reliance on the bloodstream to navigate the bodies of their victims had failed them this time. As the woman's blood rapidly exited her body through her severed neck arteries, it carried the weaker parasites with it, and kept the stronger ones from making any significant headway. Kat relayed this information to Gregori. Anyone touching the woman or her blood risked infection, and if the parasites made it into the earth alive, even a weak one would render the entire cave unusable until it and its offspring could be eradicated.

Kat began building shields around the woman's organs. Heart, lungs, brain and brainstem, liver, and spleen for good measure. The shields were rudimentary, but enough to slow the parasites down.

Only the parasites didn't go for her heart, nor her brain, nor even her spleen. Instead, they moved deeper into the body, picking up speed as Francesca closed the wounds on the woman's neck. When Kat realized just where the little monsters were headed, she swore in an entirely unladylike way that would have had her mother washing her mouth with soap as a child.

What? Francesca asked, then gasped as she noticed what Kat had.

What is it? Gregori asked.

Kat left Francesca to explain the situation, rushing to intercept the parasites before they could reach the woman's ovaries. She worked fast, throwing up weak shields and burning off the parasites as they came near. Gregori soon joined her, chasing the ones that fled. Only when the last of the parasites had been destroyed did they turn their attention to repairing the damage the parasites had caused. It seemed hours, but in reality was far less, before the three healers were able to regain their own bodies.

An arm appeared in front of her. "Drink, sisar," Stephanie ordered.

Kat leaned against her twin while she drank. As the Prince stepped forward to address the gathered Carpathians, Kat scanned the rest of the crowd. Do you see Uncle anywhere?

No, Stephanie said. But not all of the men came inside, either.

One of the Troubadors - Syndil, the keyboardist - stepped forward as the Prince asked for one with the ability to heal the earth. Kat watched with interest. True earthsense was rare, with only a handful of family lines ever possessing it. She wondered which one Syndil had belonged to.

No longer needed, the rest of the crowd began to disperse. Kat remained on the ground. Despite her sister's blood, she still felt rather shaky after that near miracle she had helped pull off, and had no interest in falling flat on her face.

Stephanie's breath hitched. What? Kat asked. Her sister immediately looped her into what she was hearing.

"I haven't had a chance to test it yet," a woman said. She sounded young and unsure. "It may not even work."

Kat recognized Gregori's voice, "If it does not work, then we have learned and can improve it for next time, and if it does work, it will further slow any attackers down as they will neither expect it nor have experience with it."

The Prince asked her to place a safeguard she developed around the couple and Uncle, Stephanie filled in the information Kat had missed. Kat turned this over in her mind.

"The Von Shrieders will not tell me where they put the Dragonseeker," the woman said.

"I will speak to Vikirnoff and Natalya," the Prince said. "Wait until the majority have left before placing your safeguard over Riordan and Juliette, and Dominic. The less who know of this the better."

Uncle was injured in the battle. That explains why we have not heard anything more of him since. It must have been severe for him to still be in the ground.

Why are the Von Shrieders involved? Stephanie asked. They aren't related to us.

As far as we know, Kat said. She hoped there was another explanation for it. Vikirnoff had not made the best of impressions on the twins during his first visit to Sanctuary, and their opinion of him had not improved with subsequent interactions. Nicolae's tendency to follow his brother's lead, while typical of younger siblings, had not endeared Kat or Stephanie to him, either.

Looks like we're next, Stephanie said. Kat climbed to her feet as the Prince and Gregori approached them.

"We wanted to thank you for your assistance," the Prince said. "Gregori tells me you are one of our best healers."

Kat blinked at the unexpected praise. "Well, I do not know about that. I only sought to assist where I was able."

"From what I saw, the praise is well deserved." The Prince bowed shallowly to her. "I am Mikhail Dubrinsky."

"Stephanie Novak," Stephanie said, while Kat sought to control her blush. "The modest miracle worker over here is my older sister, Katherine." Kat heroically stopped herself from kicking her sister.

Apparently, she did not hide the urge well enough, because the Prince laughed. "I welcome you both to our homeland, Katherine and Stephanie Novak . If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask."

The twins glanced at each other. "There may be something you could help us with," Kat said. "We are looking for our Uncle. We believe you may know where he is."

The Prince looked thoughtful. "I have yet to meet anyone else carrying the name Novak," he said slowly.

"Novak is a name we took for ourselves," Stephanie interrupted. This time, Kat did not resist trodding on her sister's foot, lest her sister continue with something stupid and insulting, like "the last time we used our birth names was when your brother murdered our parents."

"I see." The Prince raised an eyebrow. "Who is your uncle?"

"Dominic Dragonseeker."


Next Chapter: The De La Cruzes make another appearance, and Kat and Stephanie show exactly what their role is in this world.