Dark Ghost (23 page)

She listened intently. At least he hadn’t said “centuries ago,” which helped her concentrate on the story and keep everything else at bay.

“I was alone a lot. I wandered around on my own most of the time, but eventually I met a human family – the Boroi family.”

She pushed down her shock. Andre had introduced himself with that surname. She stayed quiet, wanting more now, needing to share his past.

“They lived in a little hut hidden deep in the forest. They had a few animals and not much else, but they were family.”

His hand slipped from hers to span her rib cage, just below her breasts. His chin nuzzled the top of her head.

“Much like the family you grew up with,” he added, “they loved one another fiercely. They were the closest I’d ever gotten to knowing what a family should be. I met their son, Euard, first. He was my age. His little sister, Elena, was a bit younger, and we all became good friends. They would come out at night and roam the forest with me. I was careful not to be anything but human. I protected our people, but Euard and Elena became my family.”

“What were they like?” Teagan asked gently, wanting him to remember something other than the horror of his only childhood memory – something warm and loving. His voice was very wooden, as if he was reaching to find the good part of his childhood.

He was silent a moment. She was in his mind and she felt him searching. Reaching. Trying to find those recollections. His fingers began a slow massage over her ribs. She felt them trailing absently to her belly button and back up to the undersides of her breasts. She knew he was completely absorbed in trying to remember his childhood friends and not paying any attention to his hands. She liked that he was using her as his anchor.

“Elena was beautiful and sweet. She laughed all the time. She liked to spin in circles with her arms out. I remember she would call to me and tell me to spin with her. Euard would shake his head like he thought she was crazy, but he’d spin with her just as I would. She brought joy to her parents and Euard. I knew because their faces lit up the moment she came into a room.”

His voice was soft and she could actually see Elena with him. She had long, dark hair and gleaming brown eyes. She was young, no more than ten or eleven. With her was a boy of about sixteen or seventeen.

The two memories came alive in Andre’s mind and instantly she felt, not joy, but intense sorrow. Overwhelming sorrow. Anger. Guilt. The emotions poured into him and she felt his body tense. Deliberately she relaxed and breathed deep, in and out, using her meditative breathing in the hopes his breathing would follow hers. She circled his neck with her arms and fit her face into his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

Already, her compassion and empathy for him had her close to tears. She had to hold it together. She knew the moment she fell apart, Andre would stop sharing. He was like that. If she was making a list of the reasons why she was so completely enamored with him, that would be one of the many reasons. She smoothed his hair and pressed a kiss to his throat before settling once again.

“She sounds beautiful.”

“She was like her mother. Dorina.” There was wonder in his voice. “I did not ever think I would forget her. I had never seen sunshine, but I knew, if I did, it would be like Dorina Boroi. She worked hard, the little tiny hut was clean and always smelled of good things. More than anything I can remember the smells. She must have known Euard and Elena were sneaking out at night because she followed them. She invited me home right away. Her husband, Ion, was just as wonderful to me as they were, although gruff and offhand, like I didn’t matter, but I did. I could tell. They all saw me.”

He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I think she even knew I wasn’t human, but she welcomed me into her home and she made me one of them. She loved her children. She loved her husband. She came to love me. I could feel it every time I was in her home. She made me one of her children.”

His voice had gone soft and Teagan knew he loved Ion, Dorina, Euard and Elena as if they were his own family. That was why the memory was the only one he had left. The human family that “saw” him was far more real to him than the Carpathian couple he was only a ghost to. Her heart turned over for him. He had known love, he just hadn’t remembered until this moment. With her. He’d shared something personal and beautiful with her and she would always treasure that gift.

“T
hat night, I could not wait to go see them,” Andre continued. “My mother had wandered farther down a path that was far from even my father. He told me it was time he took her to another realm where they could be together again. He said I would be fine, that other couples would look out for me. He had made arrangements.”

Teagan pressed her lips together to keep from blurting anything out. She couldn’t imagine her grandmother ever treating her or her sisters that way. She felt the burn of tears and blinked rapidly, grateful her face was pressed against his shoulder and he couldn’t see her face.

“Csitri.”
 

There was that voice. All silk and velvet, brushing over her like his mouth might do. She shivered and burrowed closer, her stomach turning a little somersault and a melting sensation around her heart.

His arms tightened. “You are in my mind and I am in yours. Do not try to hide your tears from me. It was all a long time ago.”

But it wasn’t. Not for Andre. It was yesterday. An hour ago. It was that moment. She knew the wound was raw and had never healed. A little sound escaped her throat but she nodded, trying to blink a lot to hold back tears.

“The Boroi family were wonderful people.”

“Yes. They took me into their hearts, and I brought them pain and death. Excruciating pain.”

His sorrow pressed down on her in waves. She breathed through it, determined to share his worst nightmare.

“What did you mean, your father was taking your mother to another realm? What does that mean?”

“Every healer we knew tried to help her. She was bound to my father so he was the only one able to reach her, to talk to her. No one else. I cannot remember a single word she ever spoke to me. She would walk right past me, even if I stood in front of her, talking to her, trying to get her to see me, but she never did. My father walked with her into the sun.”

She closed her eyes. Clearly his father had killed his mother and then committed suicide. How terrible. She couldn’t imagine having her grandmother calmly tell her that she intended to kill a loved one and then herself. She stayed quiet, trying to surround him with as much comfort as she could give him.

“I knew it was coming,” Andre admitted. “I just did not expect it so soon. I left the house because I knew I could not talk my father out of it and it was difficult to face the fact that I was already a ghost to him as well. Over the last few years, he had distanced himself from me as well. That was why I clung to Dorina, Ion and their children. I needed them that night.”

She understood. There were no authorities that could possibly stop his father. No one could, she saw that in his mind. He didn’t have the ability either. Not physically and not verbally. He saw himself as a ghost in his home. He could argue and try to talk his father out of it, but he knew they wouldn’t hear him. No one would hear him. Teagan pushed her finger into her mouth and bit down to keep from crying. She would hear this. He had gone through it and he needed to know she was strong enough to hear what had shaped his life and made him who he was.

Teagan pushed deeper into his mind and was surprised that she could. She had a vague notion that she could protect him from the horror of whatever it was that happened – and she knew there was far more than his father telling him he was going to kill his mother and then himself. Much more.

She was a healer, and she knew something about shields. She wished she had some healing stones with her, but she hadn’t brought them. Only the one she wore around her neck. She wrapped one hand around the stone and let him take her with him into the deep forest.

She smelled wildflowers. Fox. She knew there were kits, snuggled with their mother in a den close to the narrow deer path Andre traveled on. She heard the music in the silver leaves of the trees. Still, in spite of the beauty of the night, the blanket of stars overhead, sorrow pressed deep.

Andre needed the sound of Elena’s laughter. He wanted to see her face light up with joy when he arrived. He needed Dorina to ease the terrible ache inside of him – to welcome him the way she always did with a quick hug. Ion ruffled his hair and always clapped a hand to his shoulder and gave him a welcoming shake. Euard would try to hand him food. He always did, although Andre never took it. Never once had Andre used a single family member for sustenance. They were far too precious to him and he never wanted to put them at risk.

He quickened his pace, fighting back the sorrow pushing deep at him. His chest was heavy, the pressure burning. He tried to think about how Elena sounded when she spun in circles, her arms outstretched to the sky, her hands graceful, and her fingers fluttering. Sometimes the moonlight spilled over her and she looked ethereal. Other times she was laughing so much she looked the child she was, bright and beautiful and happy. Andre tried to remember, as he hurried toward their hut, the times when Euard spun with her and even Dorina and Andre joined them.

The smell hit him first because the wind shifted again, and the scent of burning flesh drifted through the trees. He stopped, his breath catching in his throat. Then the faint, terror-filled screams followed on the next gust. He recognized Dorina’s voice. Something terrible had happened.

He forgot everything else and sped toward them, no longer pretending to be human or caring that he might get caught. He used the preternatural speed of his kind, streaking toward the small hut as quickly as possible. He saw Ion first. There in the front of the house. He was lying on the ground, his face turned toward Andre as he settled to earth and emerged from the trees.

Andre had never seen such pain on a man’s face. Ion lay under a mountain of stones and they were clearly crushing him. Andre rushed toward him, but Ion shook his head, at least he tried to, his eyes frantic. He opened his mouth as if to try to warn him, but there was no sound, only deep red blood bubbling out.

Teagan’s stomach lurched. She could see clearly that Ion was suffering terribly. The massive pile of stones heaped over Euard and Elena’s father was enormous and the stones were huge. The blood coming from his mouth clearly meant it was far too late to save him, but the shocked boy racing out of the tree line to drop to his knees beside his friend clearly hadn’t comprehended that yet.

Andre waved his hands, trying to move the stones. How they had gotten on Ion there in the forest was a mystery, but he had to move them before they crushed Ion to death. He was only just learning to control levitation. He had been moving small objects since he was a toddler, but nothing of this magnitude.

Ion turned his head one last time, drawing Andre’s attention back to him. The boy froze. Ion’s neck was torn and bloody. Comprehension dawned, and with it, fear. The undead had done this. He knew then, that Ion was already dead. There was no hope for him, but the others… Dorina. Euard. Elena. Sweet little Elena.

Ion made a sound, a rattling in his throat. A gasp. His eyes were frantic. Andre recognized the warning. Ion was trying to save him. He wanted Andre to run. He didn’t understand Andre had nothing – no one – to run to. Everyone he had was right there.

Andre brushed a kiss over Ion’s forehead, then was up and running around to the back of the hut. As he ran, he reached for his father on the private telepathic path that connected them. He found only a dark void. His stomach lurched. His father hadn’t waited for the dawn. He was already gone and he’d taken Andre’s mother with him.

The terrible weight in his chest grew as he rounded the corner, his mind reaching for the common Carpathian telepathic link they all had. He called for help as he ran, knowing it was too late, but if a hunter came, this family would be avenged. He had no experience. He was considered a child in Carpathian years and he had no formal training and lacked the skills and power needed to face a full-fledged vampire, but it didn’t matter to him. This was his family and he would save it if he could.

Teagan wanted to scream at the boy Andre to stop. Dread filled her. Filled him. He skidded to halt when he rounded the corner of the hut. Euard was writhing, pinned to the back of the house by four stakes. Two through his shoulders and two lower, down near his ribs. Blood flowed freely from the holes the stakes made. His feet were off the ground and his body weight pulled against the stakes, making every move sheer agony.

Bile rose in Teagan’s throat. She was far too sensitive to see and feel this, but she refused to pull out of his head. Andre had faced this and she would, too. She recognized the pattern of the stakes. Two at the shoulders. Two at the ribs. Those, round circular scars so prominent on Andre’s body.

A monster stood over Elena, his bony fingers wrapped around her throat. He was large and powerful looking. His hair was in mats and hung dank and dirty around him, flowing down his back like a rat’s tail. His turned his head slowly toward Andre. Blood was smeared over his face and dripped down his chin. His lips and teeth were stained red. His fingers tightened around Elena’s throat, one talon digging into her neck so that small ruby red beads flowed down her skin.

“Ciprian.” Andre breathed his name.

His uncle. His mother’s only brother. He had disappeared when Andre was seven or eight and yet now he had returned. Why? He was vampire. The undead. He had chosen to give up his soul to feel the rush of the adrenaline-based blood of a kill.

“The little ghost. Come join me. Feast, my boy.”

The vampire was high. The fear-based blood rushed through his system. His eyes burned red and hideous. His mouth stretched into a parody of a smile. He continued to force Elena’s head forward. To Andre’s horror, he realized Ciprian was insisting Elena drink her brother’s blood.

Her wide, shocked eyes leapt to Andre. He saw the terror there. The shame. The humiliation. Her eyes darted to the side and Andre followed her gaze. His heart stopped beating in his chest. His breath stilled in his lungs. Dorina, beautiful, vibrant Dorina, so full of love and laughter, so generous, lay like a broken doll on the ground, flung away from the undead after he’d tortured her, and taken her blood.

She wasn’t dead. Ciprian hadn’t even given her that final mercy. She lay dying, her last sight that of the vampire forcing her beloved youngest child to drink the blood of her son as he suffered, staked to the wall.

“You brought me here, boy. I followed your scent right to them.” Ciprian threw back his head and laughed, the sound more of a shriek. Ciprian who, like his sister, had looked right through Andre when he was a boy, now wanted him to feel guilt.

Teagan gasped. The blow to Andre was so gruesome, so brutal, Teagan knew she was going to vomit. She tore herself out of Andre’s arms, leapt off his lap and raced for the next chamber. She wasn’t going to throw up in front of him. How had he survived such a thing? How? Tears blinded her and she nearly ran into the walls of the cave. She went to her knees, gagging and wretching up bile.

How? It wasn’t possible to survive something like that. Not whole. Not intact. She wanted to scream and throw things. She wanted to wrap her arms around Andre and keep him safe. She wanted this terrible, hideous memory wiped from him for all time, but she knew – she absolutely knew – that wasn’t going to happen.

“Teagan.”

Her heart fluttered. Melted. She knelt on the floor, the back of her hand pressed tight against her mouth, desperate to stop what she couldn’t stop. It wasn’t over. She had to know everything. He would want to stop. She already felt it in her mind, but there were those four scars on him, when even a vampire punching a hole in his chest didn’t scar him. Those scars had come from somewhere, just as the ones in his mind did.

“I’m all right, Andre. Just give me a minute. I need my toothbrush. And water. I need water to rinse out my mouth.” She didn’t look at him. She didn’t want to see compassion on his face. Not for her. Not after what had happened to him. Not when the wound was still so bloody and raw.

“I should never have exposed you to such brutality. You are far too sensitive,
csitri
. I can remove the memory from your mind.”

The gentleness, the sweetness in his voice, brought a choking lump to her throat. How had he become such a beautiful man when he’d gone through so much? He should be damaged beyond fixing, and yet he was so careful with her.

“Don’t. I don’t want you to erase anything from my mind, Andre,” she protested. “As long as you remember this, I will remember it, too. And I want all of it. Not just this part. As soon as my teeth are brushed, you give me the rest.”

His hands spanned her waist and he lifted her onto her feet. “No.”

She turned in his arms, caught the front of his shirt in her fist and gave the material a little shake. “You don’t get to say no to me. Not over something this important. If you mean what you said, and I’m your lifemate or whatever you said in your language, then you don’t get to say no to me. This is important to both of us, not just you.”

He touched her face gently, his fingers following the trail of her tears. He lifted his hand away and looked at the wet pads of his fingers.

“It isn’t for them,” Teagan whispered. “I feel terrible for them, but it was a long time ago and they’re somewhere they can’t hurt anymore.”

His blue eyes searched her dark ones. “For me? These are for me?”

She nodded. “I wish I was a better healer, Andre. I’d take the pain and sorrow away. I’m sorry I’m not.”

He shook his head, staring down at her broodingly for what seemed an eternity, his beautiful, deep blue eyes drifting over her face with a hint of possession in them. “Go brush your teeth, then, Teagan. Be certain this is what you want.”

He
was what she wanted, and this terrible event had been the defining moment of his life. She needed to know, to share it with him, no matter the cost to her. She lifted her gaze to his, held it. “I am absolutely certain.”

He pushed a hand through his hair and then gripped the back of his neck as if it ached. “Teagan.”

Her name again. He did that a lot, mostly when he was exasperated with her. Or she’d done something he couldn’t quite get.