Caleb glanced at me and I knew he wasn"t even sure what was going on either. Conlan took a step forward. "Yes, brother, I have met your daughter ... my niece."
Brother? I had an uncle? Kerrigan had never mentioned him to me before. Great, just great, I go from orphaned to a princess caught in the middle of a brothers" feud. I smiled at my father, then leaned up and kissed his cheek lightly. I whispered softly in his ear on the way back, "Where is Giovanni? I know you have him here somewhere."
A neutral smile graced his face as he patted my arm. "Some things are better forgotten, wouldn"t you agree, Conlan?"
Conlan nodded and I got the sense that this could go on all night if someone didn"t put an end to it.
I felt the cool breeze return and it moved my hair forward. "Bella," Giovanni"s voice whispered to me. I glanced around to see if anyone else heard it. Caleb was staring at Conlan and my father. The two of them were making snide comments back and forth. Giovanni"s cool energy pulled on me again. I looked at the three men and knew that my moment for escaping undetected had arrived. I headed for the door and stepped out into the hall.
I took off running in the direction Giovanni"s energy was pulling me. I ran down the stairs and to the left. Racing down a long corridor, I stopped, sensing his energy coming in strong waves as I stood outside the third door on the right. His energy seemed to be trying to yank me through the door. I tried to twist the handle but it was locked. Giovanni mystically pulled harder on me.
"I can"t get the door open ... I"m trying ... I"m trying."
He seemed to hear me and I stopped his internal pulling on me. I heard his sweet voice in my head, "Bella, announce yourself."
Announce myself? "What the h.e.l.l is telling the door that my name is Gwyneth going to do?" The handle dropped down and the door opened. "Oh!"
I was amazed at how easy that was and wished I had thought of that on my own. I gathered up all the nerve I could muster and made my way into the darkened doorway. The large wooden door was heavy and I knew that once my hand moved off of it that it would close behind me. I had a split second to decide if it would be as easy to open from the inside as it was from the out. I let it fall shut. If Giovanni was really in here and in need of my help then I would do whatever it took to get to him. If he wasn"t and it was some sort of a trap-I was screwed.
"Giovanni?" I asked softly as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. The room smelled musky and I could hear the faint drips of water, or at least what I hoped was water. Thanks to Pallo"s gift of saving my life my gaze moved quickly over to see the room was not a room at all, but rather another torture chamber. I backed up against the wall when I saw all the chains on the walls.
I"d seen a room similar to this one several months back. I wasn"t sure how many torture chambers a castle needed but it was looking like a lot. I took a few steps more into the room and stood, waiting for Giovanni to give me a sign of his whereabouts. Nothing came to me. I closed my eyes and tried to feel for him. I"d seen Pallo do it before with James and thought I"d give it a try.
I closed out the sound of the dripping water and tried to block the smell of mold. I visualized colors flying at me, taking me over and relaxing me. I looked out and down a purple path in my mind. A door that only I could see swung open and I saw a man"s back. I reached out and pushed my essence at it. The man turned around and I stared into his dark brown eyes, Pallo. I know that he felt me. I saw him mouth my name. I tried to pull back from him, but he held on. He wanted to find me. He was in my room at the farmhouse looking for signs of where I"d gone. I did my best to block him from reading me and knew I failed.
"Don"t come, Pallo! If my father finds out about Nicholas he"ll kill you." I could feel him pushing at me trying to get inside my head-trying to find out where I was.
"No," I said out loud. Pallo"s attempt at scanning my thoughts came to an end. It took me a minute to focus on Giovanni. I thought about his onyx eyes and double-dimpled smile. I thought about the countless times he"d beaten me at chess even when he tried not to. I thought about him spinning me in circles to music only he could hear. I felt my hair lift slightly and I knew he was reaching out to me.
I let my magik loose with the mission of latching onto his. It worked. It was as if someone had put a hook in the center of my chest and was pulling hard on the rope attached to it. I half-ran, half-glided across the stone floor. I came to a stop in front of another large brown door. I put my hands on it.
"I"m Gwyneth."
It opened instantly.
I stood there looking at the room, too shocked to move. At first I wasn"t sure whose body was hanging before me. The hands were bound together above the person"s head. The rest of the body hung loose from the chain. I walked up closer to the backside of the man and noticed right away the short black head of hair. I relaxed a little. Giovanni"s hair hung to his mid-back.
I looked closer at the red skin on the man"s back and realized that it wasn"t skin at all. It was muscle. Someone had peeled two thick chunks of the man"s skin off his back. I walked slowly around to the front of the man and stared straight up at the slumped face. I was barely able to recognize him as human. Someone had made sure that both his eyes were gouged out and there was no top lip to speak of whatsoever. I scanned the length of his body and fell to my knees when I saw the half moon tattoo on his right hip. I didn"t need to look any further.
"Giovanni," I whispered, touching his leg ever so softly, scared of causing him further pain.
He didn"t respond. I tried to step closer to him, but ended up moving his body and he swung from the chains. Knowing I was causing him more pain, I grabbed his leg gently and held him still. I stared up into his once beautiful face and heat flared through my body. I had to wipe my forehead and turn away to keep from throwing up on him.
"Gwen?" Caleb said, walking into the room. "Gwen, are you in here...? What the f.u.c.k?"
I didn"t move from Giovanni"s side. I looked back up at his face and saw his top gums and teeth fully exposed from his lip being ripped off. My gaze met Caleb"s and my eyes were filled with tears. "Caleb... please."
I didn"t have to ask again. Caleb tossed his hand in the air and the chains dropped to the floor. I screamed because I thought that Giovanni"s body was going to come slamming down, too, it didn"t. Caleb controlled his magik well and lay Giovanni down onto the floor with ease. I rushed down beside him and wanted to take his head into my lap, but I was afraid of hurting him.
Caleb came running over and bent. His ran his fingers over the spot where Giovanni"s eyes had been. "Gwen, he"s gone."
I shook my head, unable to believe Giovanni was gone. "He can"t be dead. They didn"t pierce his heart or...." I had a hard time saying it. "Or chop off his head."
Caleb put his hand on my shoulder. "Gwen, the person who did this was operating under orders of the King. That meant they had the power to kill him unconventionally. He"ll never recover from this. Gwen, I need to ...." He sighed. "Gwen, I need to finish him off. He can"t live for eternity like this."
Caleb put his hand out over Giovanni"s heart. I smacked it away. "No! Get away from him now!"
"Gwen, this is what he"d want. There"s no way he"d want to live like this. They took out his eyes and ...." He leaned over and examined Giovanni"s mouth. "s.h.i.t, Gwen, his tongue is gone."
I turned on Caleb and stared at him. "Did you know he was here?"
"No, I"d never stand for this and you know that."
I shook my head. He was right. "Leave me alone for a minute with him, please."
"Gwen, he needs to be put out of his misery soon."
"Go!"
Caleb stood and walked out of the room. I knew he hadn"t gone far, but it didn"t matter. I put my hand up and threw power out at the door. It slammed shut. I leaned down and brushed back a tiny piece of the chunked black hair hanging in Giovanni"s bloodied eye socket. Reaching down with my free hand, I found his hand and laced my fingers through it. He was beyond cold now and I knew Caleb was right. He was lost to me. I let the tears come freely now.
"I thought you walked out on me," I said between sobs. "I should have known, you promised not to leave and yet I still believed Pallo. I still believed him. I"m so sorry, honey." Leaning down, I kissed his forehead gently. "I can"t ... oh ... G.o.d ... Giovanni it"s not supposed to end this way." Anger pushed through my pain. I thought about what Caleb had said about the King giving his blessing for this. My father had ordered this? My own father had done this to the man I loved?
"No. I"m not going to let this happen. He"ll pay for this. He will. They will all pay for this." I felt my power collecting itself. In my head I pictured a volcano just prior to eruption. "No, this can"t be, no ... You"re supposed to be here with me to tell me about Nicholas as a child. You were supposed to be the one that I could have children with. You were supposed to ...."
I couldn"t hold my power back. It felt like it was ripping through my chest. I screamed as I felt like my skin was slipping away from my body-like my bones were shattering into a thousand pieces. Someone banged on the door, but I could only keep my head back and continue to scream as my power unleashed its fury outward.
The door to the room burst open and Caleb came running at me. My power grabbed at his magik. They truly were one now. He dropped to the ground and began to cry out, as well. I fought to bring it back in, to regain control. I didn"t want to hurt Caleb. I wanted to hurt my father, but not Caleb.
I yanked hard on my magik and it slammed back into me with a vengeance. I fell forward and onto Giovanni"s chest. My eyes were heavy and I couldn"t get them open. I had no idea how much time pa.s.sed before I was able to twitch my fingers, but I did. I cried against his chest, mourning the loss of him. Nothing would ever be the same. I knew that I"d destroy all involved in this.
"Bella?" Giovanni said softly.
Opening my eyes wide, I didn"t move. He stroked the back of my hair. I held my head to his chest and let the tears come out harder. "I can"t do it. I can"t let Caleb kill you."
"Bella ... I do not think you"ll need to resort to that just yet, but I was pleased to know Caleb was willing to end my suffering"
I thought about the fact that he was talking to me and it wasn"t just in my head. That meant he was alive. Pulling my head back, I stared into his face. He was whole again. His lips were full and cherry colored. His dark black eyes were staring at me with a look of love. I even noticed that his hair was back to its normal length.
"What? How? Giovanni?"
He smiled. "Bella, I think you have come into your full power now and I would definitely say you are a force to reckon with."
"I"ll say she is," Sira said from the doorway.
Chapter Thirty-One.
Giovanni tried to sit up. His body was stiff yet and I knew it would take him a bit to regain his full strength. Caleb stirred slightly on the floor. I hadn"t hurt him after all. I"d only drained him. I looked at Sira and felt my blood run cold.
She sashayed into the room, her attention going to Caleb. Leaning over, she touched his head lightly. "He will live." She stood, focused now on me. "As for you, I believe your little healing theatrics expended most of your power, so I do not think you will be as fortunate as Caleb once I am through with you."
"Sira, no... this is between you and I, not her. Leave her out ...."
"Silence!" she screamed and threw her hand out at Giovanni.
His body lifted into the air and she sent him flying backwards. He smacked the wall and moaned. He locked gazes with me. "Run!"
"Oh, she"s not going anywhere. I so enjoyed the show last time around. I think we shall have a repeat performance." Sira took another step towards me and smiled. "It will be just like old times."
She looked around the room and put her finger on her lip. "Hmm, I can"t control my nephew... no... I do so want to have more men to join in the games. Last time it was so much fun to watch you being raped and tortured by so many men."
Giovanni averted his gaze. That was why he didn"t want to tell me about my past. It truly was as horrible as he had tried to stress it had been.
"Sira, leave Gwyneth out of this. It is I who refused to come back to your bed. It is I who chose another. She had nothing to do with that," Giovanni said, straining against the power holding him.
My jaw dropped as shock coursed through my veins. "She"s the sorceress you"d been having the affair with. She"s the one who you were seeing when we met?"
Giovanni nodded. "Let her go, Sira. She is Kerrigan"s daughter and he will not let you live if you harm her."
A sinister smile graced her face and I knew the b.i.t.c.h had a plan I would not like hearing. "See there"s where you"re wrong. I won"t be the one hurting her, you will be. It played out so well last time." She threw her hand out towards him and narrowed her eyes.
Giovanni let out a small gasp and looked down at his hip. The moon tattoo began to glow.
Sira was the reason he"d gotten it. He didn"t want to fall victim to her evil again. I jumped to my feet and ran towards him. She tossed magik at me, sweeping my feet out from under me. I landed hard on my back.
"Gwyneth!" Pallo shouted. I didn"t know how he"d found me and I didn"t care. He was here and that was all that mattered. He could help.
"Oh, good, more able bodies," Sira said, bursting my bubble about the cavalry arriving.
"What the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l kind of operation you got running here, la.s.s?" James asked, alerting me that he"d arrived, as well.
It was my turn to give a smile laced with hate as I stared at Sira. I pushed to my feet, p.i.s.sed beyond belief.
Pallo stood there looking at me. His gaze darted to a still very unconscious Caleb and then to Giovanni. He didn"t seem surprised to see him at all. The realization ran through me. He"d played a part in Giovanni"s torture.
"You knew. You knew he was here." I let my accusations fly.
Pallo glanced at me quickly, but didn"t answer me. Sira tossed her head back and laughed. "Of course he knew Giovanni was here. Pallo brought your father right to Giovanni. I never saw such hate in a man"s eyes as when I watched Pallo rip Giovanni"s tongue from his head."
I glanced at Pallo and then to James. James was staring at Pallo wide eyed, too. Clearly, he had no idea Pallo had taken part in this and that kept him on my good list. As for Pallo I didn"t want him near me. I turned to Giovanni.
"Is she lying?"
Giovanni"s gaze drifted to Pallo. I moved towards him. "No, don"t look at him. Is she lying?"
It was Pallo who answered me. "No, Gwyneth, she is not lying. I was blinded by jealousy and concern for you. I made an error in judgment."
I laughed. An error in judgment didn"t generally involve ripping someone"s tongue from their head. My eyes grew cold and my lips tightened into a thin line. "Why ... why hurt him like that? Were the eyes your handy work, too?"
Pallo shook his head. "No, Sira very much wanted to do that herself. I do not know what came over me, I ...."
Sira put her hand up. "Nonsense, you looked right at him and told him that her name would never again fall from his lips. If I had known she was the one you were talking about I would have had you bring her to me. I am going to enjoy watching her die again."
Pallo made a move to come to me. I backed away and Sira tossed magik at him like she had an endless supply. Pallo"s head jerked back. Giovanni struggled to break free from the nothingness that held him.
"Gwyneth ... do not let him touch you," Giovanni said, his voice sounded strained.
Sira laughed and moved her hand again. Pallo"s head came forward and I expected to see his eyes to be in demon form. They weren"t. He stood and walked towards me. James tried to enter the room but Sira held him at bay. James grabbed his hip and pulled his black jeans down. A matching moon tattoo was glowing on his body as well-fighting her black magik.
Pallo came to me and put his hand out. I backed up against the wall and tried to block him. "Don"t touch me. Don"t ever touch me. I can"t believe you did that to him... you ...."
"He"s not in control, Gwyneth ... she is," Giovanni said looking at Sira.
It hit me then. "She did it, she controlled you. She caused you to do what you did to me all those years ago."
"Oh and what fun I had," Sira said laughing. "Looks as though I will get to enjoy it again. I"m so very happy that you"re expecting again, Gwyneth. I would hate to leave anything out."
My breathing was erratic. "Expecting? I"m not pregnant." I touched my lower abdomen. "I can"t be. It"s not possible."
Giovanni gasped and a line of Italian fell forth from him. If I had to guess, it sounded as if he was muttering a prayer.
Never a good sign when the vampire resorts to finding religion.
Pallo stopped just shy of touching me. For a second I thought that he was back in control but the faraway look in his eyes told me that he wasn"t. He advanced on me, leaving me no choice but to walk further from Giovanni.
I looked towards Giovanni, hoping for a hint as to what to do. He stared at me, his gaze skimming down my body, settling on my midriff. "A baby? You are ...?"
Sira moved across the room towards Giovanni. She put her hand out and cupped his groin in her hand. "Don"t look so surprised. She is a wh.o.r.e. I will do you a favor and rid you of her and the b.a.s.t.a.r.d the other vampire probably planted within her."
Giovanni stared at me, a question in his eyes. Shaking my head, I glanced down at myself, still not believing what she claimed was true. "I can"t be with child. I can"t." I"d only been with Giovanni recently.
Sira laughed. "Oh, but you can and you are. I know it"s not my nephew"s because I can sense the blood of a vampire within the fetus." She motioned to Pallo. "It must be his." She smiled with glee. "Pallo, let"s show Giovanni a recap of her last death, shall we? Take her!"
Pallo grabbed the back of my hair. My head jerked back and I pushed at his face. "Pallo no!"
He brought his lips over mine and his eyes changed to black. Long fangs appeared as he opened his mouth wide. I could hear James yelling for him to stop and Giovanni trying to tell me to do what I must to keep him off me. I knew that meant possibly killing Pallo, and I wasn"t willing to do that.
I touched the arm that held my hair tightly. "Please, Pallo don"t do this ... please ... you"ve carried so much hate for Giovanni for doing this to us. Don"t let her control you, too!"
He yanked harder on my hair and I cried out, grabbing his wrist and digging my nails in. Sira clapped her hands contemptuously. "Come my children, come." She walked around to the side of Pallo and kissed his cheek. "If she speaks again, rip her tongue out. You did enjoy that so very much."
I heard the sound of footsteps and then a voice I didn"t ever want to hear again, Malita. "Oh, Mistress, I thought I had taken care of this little problem. I ...."