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"What do you irl who never did anyone any har I can to help her"
Francesca moved around him when he would have stopped her, and slid behind the wheel of her car "Later this evening I proht for you" She started the car
"You're not taking that old man home, are you?" Brice de him to the shelter He's dirty and probably covered with fleas You don't know the first thing about him I mean it, Francesca, don't you dare take him home with you"
Francesca gave hihty little frown before she drove aithout a backward glance "Pay no attention to Brice He's a very good doctor, but he likes to think he can tell lanced at her silent companion He was hunched very sood look at hi his face averted from her She wasn't even certain he understood that she was trying to help hireat man, one used to wealth and authority, probably terribly humiliated by his present circumstances It hadn't helped that Brice had been so rude "It will be just a few et you somewhere warm and safe There will be plenty of food"
Her voice was so wonderful It touched hi the beast leashed when he could never have done so alone Perhaps if she was near him when he fed he would be able to control the demon when it rose Gabriel buried his face in his hands God help him, he didn't want to kill her His body shook with the effort to control its need for hot blood pouring into shriveled, starving cells This was so dangerous So incredibly dangerous
The car took hi a narrow lane where trees and thick shrubbery grew The house was large and rambled here and there with no particular style It was old-fashioned with a wide verandah and long straight columns Gabriel hesitated when he opened the door of the contraption Should he go with her or should he stay? He eak He couldn't wait er He had to feed He had no choice
Francesca took his ar stairway to the house "I'm sorry, I know there are quite a few stairs You can lean on me if you need to" She didn't knohy it was so i in her demanded she do so
With a sinking heart, Gabriel allowed the wo He feared it was inevitable that he would kill her He would join the ranks of the undead and there would be no one to destroy Lucian No one to destroy either of the them The world would have two monsters unequaled in evil There were too ood intentions And this poor innocent woman with far too much compassion in her would be the one to pay the ultimate price for her kindness and mercy to one such as he
"No!" The denial was a harsh growl Gabriel tore his arered, lost his balance and fell
At once Francesca was beside him "What are you afraid of? I won't hurt you" He was tre stark fear His head was averted, hidden deep within the folds of the hood, one shoulder hunched as if to block her out
Gabriel got slowly to his feet He didn't have the strength to get away fro woman, from the war in her veins He bowed his head as he stepped through the doorway into her hoiveness He prayed for a miracle
Francesca guided hie rooms to the kitchen, where she seated hi table "There's a sht The towels are clean if you want to take a shower You're welco food"
Gabriel sighed and shook his head He rose slowly and moved across the floor to stand over her Close So close he sh the haze of his raw hunger "I a theently he took the bowl from her hands and set it on the counter
For the first tier She stood very still, her large black eyes studying his cloaked figure Then she nodded "I see" There was no fear in her voice, only a quiet acceptance "Co to show you You'll need it later" She took his hand, ignoring his long, sharp nails
Gabriel was not using coe at all to cale reflected in her eyes Her hand closed over his and she tugged "Come witha peace that enfolded him
He followed her because every physical contact with her eased his suffering He couldn't bear to think of what he was going to do to her Inside he felt like weeping A heavy stone see his chest Francesca opened a door on the left side of the kitchen to reveal a narrow stairway At her urging he followed her down the stairs
"This is the basement," she told hi, is another door You can't see it, but if you place your fingertips exactly here" She de inward toward a dark cavern She waved at the interior "This leads beneath the earth You'll find it to your liking"
Gabriel inhaled the selco to him The coolness, the darkness reached out to him with the promise of peace
Francesca swept her heavy hair froentle eyes "I feel the fear in you I knohat you need I am a healer and I can do no other than offer one such as you solace I offer freely, without reservation, I offer entle, so beautiful like the whisper of velvet over his skin
The actual words barely registered Only the sound The seduction The enticeers Gabriel closed his eyes and savored the exquisite feel of her Where he had feared he would rend and tear, he found the need to cradle her body close to his gently, almost tenderly He bent his head to feel her skin beneath his lips Heat and fire His tongue stroked across her pulse and his body tightened in anticipation His arms drew her into the shelter of his body, his heart Hedeep into the vein of her slender neck
At once the rush hit hi shrunken cells Power and strength blosso His body tightened She felt like hot silk in his arms, as if she fit perfectly into his body He became aware of how soft her skin was The taste of her was addictive She had saved hienerosity She had successfully prevented the deiven
Freely given A new realization penetrated his feeding frenzy He could feel
Guilt He recalled the weight in his chest as he'd followed her down the base since the ent ache as he fed Sensual Erotic Feeding had never been in any way connected to sex He should have been incapable of sexual feelings, yet now his body was one hard, unrelenting, urgent ache
Beneath his hand her heart stuttered and Gabriel iue across the pinpricks at her throat to close the wound with his healing saliva He had drained most of the blood from her slender body He had to act fast He tore a wound in his wrist and pressed it over her h to take control of herFrancesca was ht; rather she see, almost as if she embraced death Gabriel forced the blood back into her She had known the ritual words to keep the demon leashed She had freely offered her life for his What had she said?
As is ht
How could it be?
Gabriel looked down at her face She was very pale; her long lashes were thick and luxurious, a deep black tosilk of her hair Her slender body was encased inin color He had not seen anything other than grays and blacks since he was aover two thousand years before Why hadn't he recognized her as his lifeone after all?
He stopped her fro too ht; he h for both of the her scent, he found the dark chamber that would be safe froently in the bed of soil and sent her to sleep, reinforcing the command with a hard "push" to ensure she would not awaken until he could give herher body to h her veins and arteries, the chambers of her heart
Gabriel glided through the house, expending as little energy as possible He would have been more than happy to take Brice's blood But Gabriel didn't have the tiet back to his savior She had saved enerosity She had saved his soul
Another moment and he was out of the house, into the darkness His world He had lived in it for centuries, yet it was all new All different Everything would be different now He found prey i with people He picked three large s and that the blood in their veins was not contaminated with any diseases Gabriel easily led them into the shelter of a doorway and bent his head to drink his fill He took enough to bring hi any one of them When the first swayed with dizziness, Gabriel carefully closed the pinpricks and helped hiround He fed fro the nourishh blood for Francesca to ensure her continued survival
The moment he was finished he erased theirco of the doorway Gabriel took three running steps and sprang into the air, his body shifting shape so that wings spread wide and lifted hiht line back to her house From the air he could see the estate for what it was Obviously old, the house was in beautiful shape, the grounds meticulously cared for Everywhere he looked were unfae Life had continued while he lay sleeping under the earth
He found Francesca as he had left her, her skin so white it was nearly translucent She was tall and slender with a wealth of ebony hair that fra her lush curves He picked her up with great gentleness, cradled her body close to his How could it be that this woman was his true lifemate? After the wars, females had been scarce A Carpathian male could search the world for century after century and never find his true lifeht to his darkness Women of his species had become scarce by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries What were the odds of finding her just walking down the street? Practically the first person heIt didn'tthat had happened made sense But one I fact was clear and simple A Carpathian male could not I see colors or feel emotions unless he was in close proximity to his true lifemate Gabriel could see all kinds of color Brilliant colors Vivid colors Colors he had long forgotten had ever existed Feelings he had never experienced He inhaled, dragging her scent deep into his lungs He would be able to find her anywhere now With his ancient blood running in her veins he could call her to him at will, talk to her, mind to mind, from any distance
With his fingernail he opened his chest, holding her head in the palm of his hand so that he could press her th once more, and in her weakened condition, Francesca was co her She puzzled and intrigued him She looked like a Carpathian woman Tall Slender Ebony hair Beautiful eyes as black I as night She knew the ritual words She had known he needed blood She even had the chamber beneath the earth prepared for one of his kind Who was she? What was she?
Gabriel searched her mind She seemed human Her s he knew nothing about The world had gained so much while he slept She seemed wholly human and yet her blood was not exactly the saans were not exactly the sa under the noon sun, so his people could not do Her existence was a mystery he intended to solve This woman was far too important to him; he could take no chances
Francesca's body once again had the correct volu and placed her in the healing soil without closing it over her head He wanted her to rest while he took the re in He found a treasury of books in a library on the first floor It was there that he learned of television and computers and the history of the contraptions - cars - they had been using to get around in It was all ae Without thought he connected with Lucian It just happened For over two thousand years they had shared information Gabriel was so excited he reached out to his twin and ed
Lucian accepted the infor just as if the last few centuries had never taken place Lucian was at full strength and, as always, gaining knowledge at a rapid rate His s to think about, to work on The , he broke the connection, furious with himself Lucian would be able to "see" where Gabriel was, just as Gabriel could easily find Lucian Always Gabriel had been the one hunting his twin, tracking him to try to destroy hied with his vampire brother to share new infore to find Gabriel, it would only havewas different Gabriel couldn't afford to allow Lucian to knohere he was or whom he ith Now he had to protect Francesca Lucian could not find out about her Vampires thrived on other people's pain Francesca would be made to pay a terrible price for her interference
Gabriel indulged himself with a huht, yet now he could feel He could savor cleanliness It was an aain he had tofro in and out of his brother's mind Over the centuries he had used his ability to track his brother and even anticipate his kills in order to try to reach the victim before Lucian did So far he had not been able to prevent any of Lucian's kills, but Gabriel continued to try
After his shower, Gabriel went back to reading He covered several encyclopedias and alraphic memory this took very little tih the history and into the new technology He wanted to readworked And he wanted to learn everything the house could offer up about its owner
He wandered around the vast rooreat art and soft colors She definitely loved the ocean and its inhabitants There were books about underwater life and prints and water-colors of crashing waves She was a meticulous housekeeper unless, of course, someone else came in to do the work She lived like a human The cupboards were full She had beautiful china in the kitchen and rare antiques in the bedroo and he studied the work The pattern was unusual
Soothing Beautiful He was drawn to it, but he couldn't figure out why In another roons wereand tranquil Each one was intensely beautiful He could stare at them for hours She was a very talented woman
The draperies throughout the house were unusually heavy, specifically made for the s so that, if the occupant desired, not one bit of light could enter the roo herself intoin this house seemed to add up It was a mixture of wealth and fancy, of Carpathian and human, almost as if two different people occupied the place He looked for evidence of two residents
In the study he found her personal papers, records of payments and private little notes she wrote to herself There seemed to be quite a few notes, some of which were reminders to eat certain soups A Carpathian would never eat human food unless it was i out the truth Any Carpathian at full strength could eat and rid his stomach of the contents later, but it was uncomfortable to do so
Who was Francesca? More important, as she? Why wasn't her blood fully human? How had she known the ritual words to keep hi vampire in his weakestin color? Why did he feel eht"?
Gabriel sighed and replaced her things, his fingers lingering for aShe would have answers for hiive the inforreatness and power Few of his people had the knowledge and skills he had obtained in his centuries of existence She would not be able to hide from him or his questions