"Some would say you are close to it," he chuckled. "No, you"re in the Den of the Lycan. Do you remember?"
Tatiana moaned. She could feel him moving as if she were part of him. It was a strange sensation. Her body reached for him, but not to touch him or hold him, but to join to his soul.
"Yes, child, we are connected now. I have been feeding you my blood."
Tatiana grimaced and tried to shake her head. Domin lifted his sleeve, showing the many scars on his arm that were slowly healing. She gagged, trying to pull away from him.
"I don"t want to be like you," she gasped, horrified, rocking back and forth in agitation.
"You won"t be, child," Domin answered, not insulted by her words. "It is my bite that you must fear, not my blood."
"Why ... would ... you...?"
"Several reasons," Domin answered honestly. "My blood marks you and protects you from my kind. It joins us so our powers may always call upon each other."
Tatiana shivered. She knew he spoke the truth.
"Yes, so there will also be no lies between us."
"Why?" she ground out. Her voice was hoa.r.s.e. "Why chain me? Why do this? Why not just ask me?"
"You don"t remember?" he asked, not at all surprised. "It is a painful joining, for both of us."
Domin lifted his wrists, showing that he too had been shackled. Red rings of flesh, scabbed and scarred, wrapped him like bracelets. "I was just now released."
"I don"t understand," she cried. Tears started coming down her face. Her body rocked weakly, back and forth, back and forth. "I don"t want this. Please, I don"t want this. Let me go back to the country. Let me marry Thomas. I don"t care about the parties or the money or the big house. I don"t care that I don"t love him. He loves me. He loves me. He"s the last one, only one, to completely love me. Please, please, please...."
Domin frowned at her words. She was losing her sanity again, warring with the madness inside of her. His mind pulled heavily at her. She stopped rocking. Domin forced his thoughts into her, soothing and warm in her brain. It was like the summer sun on her skin, glowing in her body. She smiled and relaxed.
"You are destined for more, child, much more than Thomas," Domin whispered. His hand stroked her cheek and this time she did not jerk away. Tatiana knew he read her feelings and thoughts as she pa.s.sed over the memory of it. "There is a reason you sent your thoughts to your vampire. There is a reason you did not let Thomas kiss you, why you pushed the witch away from you."
Tatiana waited on his every word, breathless.
"You are destined for more, child, so much more. You are a seer. But, your line has been dormant too long. Because of the strength of your ancestral birthright, you are confused. This is why I have taken some of your pain and why I have given you some of my strength. It is this connection that will save you. I can handle your insanity as my own and you in turn will be balanced by my wisdom and strength."
"Why would you care? I"m just a witch," she mumbled. "Just a witch, a witch, just a little witch."
"No, not just a witch," Domin said. His eyes gla.s.sed over. "I saw of your coming long ago. I was there the night theAddien powers drained. Your ancestors fought a great evil force--a G.o.ddess who would slaughter all of mankind with her hunger and greed. They paid the price with their lives. They were exposed and left weak. Humans, fearful of them, slaughtered them like animals. They took the sacrifice, knowing what would happen to them."
"Broderick," Tatiana whispered, remembering him in most of her visions.
"Yes, as a human he killed in the name of his church. He rid the world of much evil. But, he also rid it of good. Humans can"t distinguish between the two sometimes when it comes to our kinds. You must not blame Broderick for his human ignorance.
He has blamed himself enough over his long centuries, he blames himself still." Domin sighed and stood. He looked weak and Tatiana knew he was still feeling the after effects of what he"d done for her. She knew it was quite possible that he saved her life. If the powers were to continue to grow uncontrolled, she wouldn"t have been able to understand or stop them.
"You did not find me in time," she whispered sadly. "I still feel it. I still feel the madness."
"Yes, I know."
"You are to kill me, aren"t you? I can read the thought. You are to kill me if I can"t be balanced." Tatiana smiled, nodding her head. "I should be killed, killed. You must do it and soon. That is what you are thinking, always thinking, burn the witch."
"You"re right. I am to destroy you and all your kin if you can"t find balance." Domin sighed. His head perked up and he looked to the open door. "But, I have felt you find your balance. Tell me, what is it you think of when you calm yourself? What is it you are hiding from me and yourself?"
Suddenly, Broderick"s thick frame filled the door. Stepping aside, she saw Marcello"s pale face.
"Marcello," she whispered, a soft light entering her eyes at the word.
Domin glanced at the vampire and then back at the woman. A deep frown creased his features.
"Is there something you forgot to tell me about this woman and her vampire?" Domin asked. "I thought you said she was a slave to him, bound unwillingly?"
"She was," Broderick said. "She never mentioned him once while we traveled. I caught her on more than one occasion trying to escape his hold. It is why we kidnapped her, to get her away from him."
"Then how do you explain this?" Domin raged, jerking his hand back at Tatiana. His voice boomed in a mighty roar and Tatiana could feel his anger inside her as if it was her own. She felt herself getting mad. She began to scream at the top of her lungs.
Domin"s eyes flashed with gold and he turned to her. She could feel him forcing a calm over his limbs for her sake. She stopped screaming, lowering her chin to glare at Leandro.
"What?" Broderick asked. He followed her gaze over his shoulder to Leandro.
Domin frowned and waved Leandro inside. Leandro looked over Tatiana"s restrained from. A look of sadness and regret pa.s.sed over his eyes.
"Talk to her," Domin ordered, watching closely to see what would happen. "Touch her."
Leandro obeyed. His hand lifted to her cheek. "Bella donna?"
Tatiana"s face wrinkled in pain and she shook her head, making a weak noise in the back of her throat. Mournfully, she cried, "You are not him, you are not him."
She began to weep, horrible, loud sobs that poured her emotion out over them. She missed Marcello, needed Marcello, loved only Marcello. Without him she was lost.
Leandro recoiled from her, stepping back. Her feelings were unmistakable and pure.
"You fools," Domin said. "That is why she is not whole. The process worked. It is her heart that is broken. That is her insanity.
You took her from the one thing that balances her."
"She really loves him," Leandro whispered weakly. He stumbled back, as if he"d been kicked in the gut. He turned, storming away, leaving a surge of outrage in his wake.
Broderick let his friend go, knowing he had his own demons to face. He took a deep breath and looked at Domin. Domin nodded his head toward the door, quietly telling Tatiana that they would be back soon to release her.
"Are you sure?" Broderick asked when the door was shut and they were alone in the cave pa.s.sageway.
"Yes," Domin said dolefully. "She loves that d.a.m.ned vampire, Marcello. But she also thinks to know he can"t return her love.
That is her torment. That is why she can"t focus to see beyond herself. Yet, despite this heartache of unrequited feelings, she knows that she must take him anyway she can to be happy."
"Why did it have to be a vampire?" Broderick hissed. "She could"ve done great things for our kind. Let me turn her. I will take her as my mate, regardless of this love. I promise to make her forget him."
"That is not your promise to make," Domin said, "for you can"t keep it. Besides, though she has taken my blood, there is no guarantee she"ll survive your bite. Beyond a sense of duty and pa.s.sing respect, you don"t care for this woman. Your heart is led by guilt from your human past. Mating yourself to her is not the way to redeem what you have done. In time, I foresee you as friends, but not close. No, she is not destined to be a lycan. But, with my blood, she"ll be our sister. That is the best we can hope for. With my connection to her, if she were to foresee the demise of our race or the reemergence of the vampiric G.o.ds, we can only hope I will see it too."
Broderick held still.
"I will stay awake as the others sopor," Domin said. "The mystics have been torn on our future. But their visions are never very clear. Some say we will end with this next century if we don"t hide, other still say nothing will change."
"What do you think?" Broderick asked.