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As Storht, she felt the rush in her mind as more of Vlad&039;s blocks fell away and o returned

She and Vlad had returned to the castle with Rhiannon, to find Rhiannon&039;sfor the hie for a proper ive Rhiannon time to speak to Vlad in private, Storive Roland time to speak to her; to ascertain for certain whether Vlad was holding her against her will She had assured him that wasn&039;t the case

But as they&039;d driven back, along the winding road to the castle, she&039;d seen so that had hit her hard Ain one corner She&039;d stopped the car and gotten out, compelled beyond reason And then she&039;d blacked out

When she roused again, Roland had been carrying her into Vlad&039;s castle And then

She felt weak, sick, achy Her body was liainst Roland&039;s shoulder, and her eyes refused to stay open for more than a heartbeat at a time

"What the hell happened?" Vlad demanded

"Damned if I know, my friend"

Vlad took her from Roland as he spoke, then turned and carried her into the castle He laid her on the chaise, hands going to her cheeks as she felt his senses probing her , Roland"

"Of course We had dinner, talked a bit She see But on the way back here " Roland paused, and Stormy forced her eyes open in tied the rest of the tale

Rhiannon sucked in a breath "By the gods, Roland, what happened to your face?"

Roland touched his own face, and for the first tih on his cheek nearly to his jaw

"Roland?" Vlad prompted

"I don&039;t knohat happened, Vlad She stopped the car and got out, hurrying into a meadow to examine an old foundation I went after her, naturally She see&039; And then then she changed"

"In ay, Roland?" Rhiannon asked

"In every way," Roland whispered "Her voice, her stance, her scent The color of her eyes turned to black, and she began speaking in a language I do not know But I&039;m certain it was Italic"

"Ro her hair now, leaning in close to watch her face, willing her to come more fully aith his mind She felt it but was too weak to obey "It&039;s happened before" Vlad looked away frolance at the other man "She put those scratches on your face?"

"Yes, when I tried to keep her fro, Vlad Stronger than a mortal should be"

"It&039;s exactly as Maxine described," Rhiannon said "Is this an exa with Stor a friend?"

He continued stroking Stormy&039;s face, her neck "Wake up, Tempest Wake now"

"Vlad, I do not re," Rhiannon said "This is more like some kind of possession"

He shook his head "Beta is confused and frustrated Five hundred years she&039;s been trying to find her way back to hting her"

"Perhaps for good reason"

Tempest blinked slowly and opened her eyes htly and pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead, closing her eyes tightly "I re compelled to explore it more closely I pulled over, and Roland and I-" She stopped there and shot a look at Roland, then quickly lowered her head "I did that to your face I&039;m sorry"

"I don&039;t believe it was you at all, Storlanced at Vlad "What ly?"

Vlad shook his head in apparent bewilderain "Where was this foundation?"

"Off the main road, if you can call that dirt track a road," Roland said "About a half e meadoith the foundation of a house in one corner"

Vlad closed his eyes and said nothing

"The house," Tempest said softly "It was her house Elisabeta&039;s"

"Yes, it was" Vlad looked at Rhiannon "Do you still think I&039; spirit is that of Elisabeta, Vlad, she is not the woed, warped, twisted"

"You re the one who is wrong"

She met his eyes, then moved closer to Tempest, leaned over her, clasped her hand "Come back with us, Tempest Let me find a way to exorcise this creature fros around to put her feet on the floor She looked at Vlad, searched his face He couldn&039;t seeaze Guilt? Did he know full hat he was doing to her? she wondered Did he know Rhiannon was right?

"It will be dawn soon," he said softly "There wouldn&039;t be tiht, even if she wanted to"

"Dawn has no i at the landing strip fifteen miles from here, with instructions to take her ho to leave, with or without us" He looked at Teo if you wish it, Stormy We&039;ll join you as soon as we can"

Vlad pushed his hands through his hair and paced away "Dammit, on&039;t you stay out of this?"

"Because you&039;ll destroy her, Vlad," Rhiannon said "How many more of these episodes do you think she can withstand? Look at her!"

He whirled on her, his eyes blazing "I&039;ll destroy you if you continue to interfere!"

Roland stepped between the two, and Vlad hit hi across the room, where he hit a stone wall and sank to the floor Rhiannon hunched herself at Vlad then, growling like a wildcat as she swung both fists into his chest and put him flat on his back as surely as if he&039;d been hit by a wrecking ball

She caht But then Te, despite the weakness still invading her body "Stop it! Stop it now, all of you!"

Rhiannon froze and turned slowly to stare at her Vlad remained where he was, on his back on the floor, and Roland lifted his head, but not his body, from where it had come to rest

"Don&039;t you think it should be up to me whether I leave or not? And how I decide to deal with this presence? It&039;sover what I should do when the decision is no one&039;s-no one&039;s-but my own"

She crossed the room to where Vlad lay on the his back and extended a hand to hi her face She knew full well he had no intention of letting her go, not yet Not until she remembered He was obsessed with his da She needed to solve this thing

And she hoped he would co last That he would come to love her, instead

She helped him to his feet, then turned to walk away froht?"

He nodded, and she helped hilance at the back of his "He has a bit of a gash here, Rhiannon You should bandage it before you rest Do you two have a place to stay tonight?"

Her ht They were not to stay here

"We have accommodations on the jet Quite luxurious ones, actually" Rhiannon came to check Roland&039;s head wound as she spoke She touched it, and Roland sucked air through his teeth Rhiannon shot Vlad a narrow-eyed glare "I should kill you for this"

"No one&039;s killing anyone," Teo if you want to make it to the jet before sunrise"

"And you?" Roland asked

Vlad watched her, awaiting her answer, and she knew damn well he would keep her with him by force if he had to Or anyway he would try

"I&039;ave ave yours that you&039;d seeyou to it, Vlad" She also knew he had no intention of letting her go until he was daood and ready But she had to at least pretend to believe God forbid he should ever realize what a fool she was to have fallen for him so hard

Stormy turned back to the others "I&039;ll be fine You see?"

"Oh, I see, Storertips pressed to Roland&039;s head to keep it fro with? This is Dracula, child And if he decides to keep you here, no power on earth will set you free"

She blinked, then turned to Vlad, her eyes probing his "I trust him," she lied "He&039;ll keep his word"

"And if he doesn&039;t?"

She shrugged "Then it&039;ll be my mistake, won&039;t it?"

Rhiannon scowled at her "God save us froe than brains," she e won&039;t help you in this, Stor, Rhiannon seee, we&039;ll be on our way"

Vlad nodded toward a cabinet visible just through an open door at one end of the room "I always have a supply on hand"

"As do we," Rhiannon snapped "But we left ours on the jet, never drea we&039;d have need of it here-in the hoasp "Vlad, you you&039;re the vah there are tiret it"

Rhiannon left, then returned in a auze, which she applied to Roland&039;s head Then she took his hand, and, without a goodbye, they headed for the door

Rhiannon stopped there and turned briefly, but she spoke to Tempest, not to Vlad "If you&039;re not back in the States in a reasonable period, we&039;ll be back" She slanted a look at Vlad "And on&039;t be alone"

"Oh?" he asked, his tone sarcastic "Bringing along an arht?"

"I won&039;t need to bring them, Vlad There are vampires everywhere More than an antisocial creature like yourself could even i they pretty much have in coreement We don&039;t do harm to mortals or ues who do"

"You protect The Chosen Isn&039;t that ?"

"Tempest is not one of The Chosen"

"And yet you&039;re here,her And in the process, yourself"

Vlad averted his eyes "Doesn&039;t hed and opened the door, walked through and, without looking back, spoke to hiht will not be undone Goodbye, Vlad"

He didn&039;t respond, only watched as the door banged closed, apparently on its own, and then turned to Te me"

"Do you think I&039;m an idiot?" she snapped "Hell, Vlad, I don&039;t trust you as far as I can throw you Not when I know perfectly hose side you&039;re on in this this war of et on with this I still think the answers to ht lie here, in this place and, ry He took her arht," he said, "we share the bed"

"Fine by me"

She knew he sahat she tried to hide The flash of desire, of longing, of hunger in her eyes She wanted him, even now

She shuttered the desire, hid the ripple of delicious fear, buried them both in sarcasm "You&039;ll be dead to the world in twenty ain come sundown, Te to spear hi away, Vlad? Into taking off as soon as you sleep, finding that jet and begging its pilot to take me home?"

He stared into her eyes "Believeyou away is not what I want"

"Then knock it off with the idle threats, okay?"

"My threats, Tempest, are far from idle And I don&039;t think you will mind at all when I carry them out"

Vlad carried Elisabeta, in Brooke&039;s body, to the house a few ht, and where he&039;d sensed the presence of a htened senses he would have known that solass on the floor Curved, as if frolass And the small rickety wooden table had been s of a recently burned candle A black candle Which suggested workings of negative ered was that of a woh not precisely this one She was different now She was Elisabeta now

He took her into the house, but not down the basement stairs to where he&039;d set up a secure haven Instead, he carried Elisabeta into the back part of the house, where a sofa was covered in a filthy sheet Then he yanked the sheet away, relieved that the fabric beneath it appeared far cleaner

"Here now," he said, lowering her down onto the cushions "Just rest Are you still in pain?" He lifted her blouse to just below her breasts, to see the bruises already darkening the skin that covered her ribs

"It&039;s it&039;s better now," she said, her accent slighter than it had been He supposed she&039;d had sixteen years of listening while she lived inside Teot how much it hurts to be alive," Beta said

He frowned as he drew his gaze fro, he kneent beyond the physical pain she had been dealt this night

"Is it as bad for you?" she asked "Pain, Iher shirt again "In vanified Pain included"

"God, hoill I bear it?"