"What did you see?" the rolling voice asked.
"Nothing," Leandro said, obviously lying. "I saw nothing of import."
Tatiana felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and was forced to turn. Her gaze met with the light grey eyes of the stranger.
Broderick stood proud in the background, unmoving.
"I am Domin," the stranger said. He had hair as white as the purest snow. It fell long and straight to his waist, like gossamer cobwebs--so fine and thin. His grayer beard lay against his chest, not long but not trimmed short either. He looked to be older, fifties perhaps. But, seeing him, Tatiana knew he was like Broderick. She detected the same sensation from his body. It was as if she could read him. So very like the vampires, yet just different enough she could tell them apart.
"Are you trying to read me?" the old lycan asked, as if amused by the thought. His words stayed gentle, but Tatiana knew she would have to be careful around him. This one saw too much.
"No, I was just sensing that you were a lycan." Tatiana tried to keep her tone light.
Broderick and Leandro exchanged brief looks. Domin studied her for a long moment, trying to detect if she lied. Slowly, he smiled and Tatiana wondered how much he saw.
"I am sorry that we have to meet again under such dire circ.u.mstances," Domin said, stroking her cheek with this soft wrinkled hand. His large knuckles glanced over her skin. He was very warm. "But you see there is no time for pleasantries. Your powers grow and are uncertain."
"What do you mean again?" Tatiana asked warily. "We have not met before."
"No, not in this form," Domin said. "But your gifts and I are old friends and old enemies. It all depends on the carrier."
Tatiana shivered. "And what are we now?"
"We shall see, won"t we, child? Your future is blocked and forked." Domin turned to look at Broderick. "Well done. You would"ve made a great seer, Broderick. It is as you expected. She is of theAddien line."
"What are you talking about?" Tatiana asked. She wondered if the old lycan was crazy. "I was born Sinclair. Tatiana Sinclair.
You must have me confused with someone else."
Domin frowned. His grey eyes turned sharply to Leandro, who he"d been ignoring, and then to Broderick. "She truly has no knowledge whatsoever? Who has guided her? Who has trained her?"
Broderick merely shook his head, indicating no one.
Domin froze. "It is worse than I feared."
Tatiana felt the coldness of the cave creeping back into her limbs as Domin"s hand left her face. She tried to shrug his hand from her shoulder, but it didn"t move. His grip tightened slightly on her and she knew his frail body held more strength than it looked to.
"My mother," Tatiana whispered. All eyes turned to her at the feeble sound. "She used to tell me stories about our ancestors."
Domin sighed, looking mournful. "All that greatness reduced to mere fairytales. You would"ve been proud of all you accomplished."
"It wasn"t me," Tatiana said. "It was my ancestors."
"Ah, but it is your blood. Your life"s history is in your blood. They are a part of you. They call out to you to remember. Can you not hear them in you head? Have you listened to them?"
Tatiana looked at the old lycan and debated. He seemed the only one so far who knew what she was and understood it. She took a deep breath. "I"ve seen them, felt them as if I was them."
"Ah, visions of the past," Domin said, nodding smartly. "They happen to all with the gift. We learn not to trigger them, but alas it is a burden we must bear."
Tatiana almost felt relief that she wasn"t alone. She knew she could learn a lot from Domin, if he would be willing to teach her. A war waged inside of her. As much as she wanted to control her gift, she wanted Marcello by her side more. She had a feeling he wouldn"t be so welcome here. She felt the tension in Leandro standing behind her. She noticed how the lycan elder and the vampire did not speak directly.
"Can you tell me of my ancestors? You seem to have known them." Tatiana"s voice wavered slightly. She was almost too scared to know the truth of it. "Were they good witches? Why did they lose their powers? Why did I get them back?"
"They were great and powerful witches, but like all species they were both good and evil. The power just is, but its intention lies within the intent of the carrier. The power was tapped out and had to renew itself. When it was ready, it found an opening so that it may be reborn into you. I would imagine it has been leaking back to your family for generations now in mild gifts of intuition so easily explained away by others, but real nonetheless." Domin began to walk deeper into the cave. His cool eyes glanced at Broderick and Broderick nodded in return. Tatiana was lost in thought and absently followed the hand on her arm.
"You, like those before you, possess the power of foresight and hindsight. Once your mind is focused, if it can be focused, you will be able to see and understand a great many things."
"And if it can"t be?" she asked weakly. They were walking through a rough stone pa.s.sageway. Tatiana shivered. It grew colder the deeper they went into the cave, but she was the only one who seemed to notice it. The floor of the pa.s.sageway was damp and slippery. She concentrated on finding footing as they pa.s.sed by long, striped ribbons of dripstone. The cave was a peculiar subterranean world that Tatiana was sure was just as supernatural as the creatures that dwelled in it.
"Then you will go insane. The images will get worse. You won"t be able to distinguish between reality, the past, and the future." Domin stopped.
They were by a large cavern filled with spectacular crystals that gave off light. Rimstone stretched over the ground like frozen, brown water--shiny and smooth. In places it was as if a miniature mountain range of stalact.i.tes and stalagmites existed over the rock surface. Tatiana had read of caves as a young girl, but the descriptions did not do it justice.
"How do I focus?" she asked, staring at a particularly long stalact.i.te sticking up from the ground like a stone stake.
"Ah, there is only one way that I know of," Domin said. His eyes rose over her shoulder and he nodded his head. "And for that, I am truly sorry."
Tatiana began to turn. She never made it around. Broderick"s fist hit the back of her head and her whole world went dark as she tumbled blindly to the floor.
Chapter Fifteen.
It was just like Tatiana"s dream from when she was at Eastwich Manor--the dank stone walls, the manacles of iron gripping into her flesh, causing her to bleed as she struggled against them. And yet, it was more real than her dream of it had been.
When she closed her eyes, she didn"t escape it. When she opened her eyes, she saw only her h.e.l.l.
Her arms p.r.i.c.kled until she could no longer feel them. Her wrists throbbed and ached. Time slipped and pa.s.sed with mindless calculations until she no longer knew if she"d been held prisoner a year or a day. When she did sleep, the nightmares would come--more of the same horrific images, only more vivid and real.
Sometimes, when the worst of her nightmares would come, she"d wake up sweating, and she would think of Marcello. Just the memory of him before her balanced her out and made the trembling stop. She could feel him, as if he was in the next room.
Hearing movement behind the thick iron door, Tatiana tensed. Her wild eyes lifted, expecting to see the female lycan who always came to feed her. The young, dark woman would sit, not speaking as she placed--sometimes forced--food and drink past Tatiana"s chapped lips. She"d tried to bathe her once with soft linen and a bowl of water, but Tatiana had begun chanting the words to an ancient curse. The woman had grown pale and run away.
As the door opened and bright torchlight was brought inside the cave prison, Tatiana turned away, closing her lids tightly in annoyance.
"It shouldn"t have lasted this long."
Tatiana heard Domin"s voice. His visits were rare and always he left her feeling frustrated and angry.
"Has she gone mad?" Broderick asked. His words were barely audible, hoa.r.s.e.
Tatiana blinked, looking up from her place on the floor to stare at him. He was crouched before her, his dark brow furrowed in concentration. She laughed weakly, sounding very much the madwoman. "I dreamt of this."
"She is crazy," Broderick stated, standing. A heavy sigh whispered past his parted lips.
"I dreamt of this prison before he came for me," she continued. Her eyes widened as she spoke. "I saw this place, felt these chains."
Domin frowned. He lightly touched her cheek and she jolted wildly back from him as if his touch stung. Weakly, she spat at him. He wiped it from his face with his sleeve, not reacting to her anger.
"Watch your emotions in here, Broderick," Domin said softly, soothingly. "Until she is balanced, she is very delicate to how we react."
Tatiana"s jade eyes glowed eerily as she glared at Domin. He smiled back at her. She felt herself responding to his calm. She felt them connect as if he was in her blood.
"Go get the vampire, bring him," Domin ordered softly, not taking his soft grey eyes from Tatiana"s wild ones. When they were alone, he continued, "Do you know where you are?"
"In h.e.l.l," she growled, her eyes narrowing.