Chapter Eight
Xander
“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.”
- Napoléon Bonaparte
The vision came at me out of nowhere. I hadn’t had a vision in years, and I had been fighting the lusty responses of my body to my mate’s presence with everything I had in me, so it took me a moment to even realize what was happening.
I saw them clearly: Adam, Warren, and that bastard Vincent Borelli together with a contingent of other immortals—vampires, demons, and witches. There were dozens of them surrounding Alexi on the front lawn of the policeman’s house.
The policeman lived in a house at a cul-de-sac with his nearest neighbor almost a mile away. It was the perfect spot for an attack.
With the police officer still unconscious at his feet, Papa coolly confronted his former friend, Vincent Borelli, the leader of one of the largest demon lairs; Adam, the oldest living vampire turned by Papa; and the High Priest of the witches, Warren. All three men were extremely powerful and lethal on their own.
There was also a woman with a startling shade of red hair, wearing a seductive blood-red dress that should have clashed with her hair, but it was so stylishly cut that it only enhanced the woman’s slight feminine curves. I had no idea who she was, but I would never forget the part she played in my capture a century ago. I had fallen victim once to her very attractive charms, all to my detriment. No, I would never forget her deception, but if memory served me right, she was also a very powerful sorceress. She had subdued me, a dhampir more than twice her size, barely lifting a finger.
I resisted the paralyzing fear threatening to consume me. I ruthlessly sealed off the cracks that had started to appear in my armor of emotionlessness. Detachment. Icy resolve filled me.
Despite Papa’s lethal powers, there was no way he could defeat so many himself. Besides, Papa would fight to disable or incapacitate them, not to kill. He rarely fought to kill.
“Drako!” I roared, both telepathically and out loud. Panicked emotions almost choked me.
Drako appeared before me instantly. “Papa,” Drako groaned in stunned alarm. Now that he was on the same continent as Papa, he knew what was happening to our father without me saying a word.
He, too, felt the first volley of fire and energy orbs lobbed at our father. We felt every orb that penetrated Papa’s body. He did not have an impenetrable energy shield that protected him as we did. Papa was a very powerful vampire, but he was not as powerful as my brothers and me. And my niece and nephews were even more powerful than we were, even though we were over four hundred years older than they were.
“Let’s go,” Drako hissed urgently.
We were feeling Papa’s pain. So far, he and Aidan, his wolf bodyguard, were holding their own, but they were seriously outnumbered and being hit by too many energy orbs to fight them off. Drako knew that our help was urgently needed. Already, we were telepathically communicating with Luka, Tristan, and the other werewolf bodyguards. Owen, as Alpha, was also making sure that at least half the guards, the ones not protecting my brothers’ mates and children, would immediately be deployed to help Papa. We had never assigned bodyguards for Alexandra because Papa and I took turns guarding her. We hadn’t wanted anyone to know of her existence, not even the wolves.
“I can’t leave my mate here alone,” I said, my voice strained, feeling the muted stings of my father’s attack. God, this was what I’d been afraid of. I’d been in my mate’s company for barely an hour and already my fa?ade of cold emotions had started to incur cracks.
“Whoa!” Drako’s eyes widened in astonishment. Drako, for the first time, noticed Alexandra, who had somehow moved deeper into a corner as if she was trying to be unintrusive. He stared as though he was seeing an ethereal spirit. Yeah, Alexandra was quite a stunning beauty. A statuesque, elegant female in every line of her body.
“I think they know who she is and where to find her.” I ignored his dazed expression to press my dilemma. It would take all of us to save Papa, but my mate would be vulnerable if left here.
“Zora?” he offered, knowing that Luka would not support that.
“What’s happening to Father Alexi?” Alexandra asked, her voice sounding soft and breathy.
She was afraid.
I felt her fear rolling off her in waves. Not afraid of Drako, but afraid of the unknown situation and afraid for Papa. Somehow, she knew that Papa was in grave danger. Damn, another crack. I didn’t want to feel what she felt, but our mating process, triggered by our continuous proximity, had begun in earnest. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let the process be completed.
“You called, Uncle?” Zora suddenly teleported beside us.
“Pop-pop!” Zora gasped as we all felt the impossible force that hit Papa.
Papa went down hard.
Zora teleported instantly.
“Ah shit!” Drako and I muttered at the same time.
He teleported me and Alexandra to where Alexi was being attacked.
***
It took mere seconds for Papa’s attackers to direct their deadly orbs at Drako and me as we arrived in the policeman’s front yard.
Their orbs were useless on Zora, who now had her shield over Papa. Zora’s shield could also repel the orbs back on the sender, so it really was not wise to attack it. And from some of the dead immortals lying on the ground beside the shield, it seemed they found that out the hard way.
Papa was lying motionless on the lawn next to the now bloodied policeman, a hole the size of a fist in the policeman’s stomach. Papa’s custom gray Tom Ford suit was soaked in blood, however, I couldn’t see his injuries. He was unconscious.
It took everything in me to not rush over there and try to heal him. My powers couldn’t reach him inside of Zora’s shield. Even though I could heal others, I hadn’t healed anyone in over a century. Instead, I had dispassionately and coolly transferred any hurt or ailment from one person to another. Healing was too much of benevolent emotion, something I refused to feel. And I had to be touching him to heal him, because I would have to temporarily take on his injury. His injury would heal faster in my body because I was stronger.
While the shield kept Zora and Papa safe from our enemies, it also prevented any of us reaching them as well. Although Zora could liquify their brain matter like Luka could, she hadn’t mastered doing it from inside her shield. And she didn’t dare remove the shield from Papa. She stared back at Papa’s attackers with pure hatred, but that was all she could do with this much firepower being aimed at them.
The only thing keeping us all sane was the fact that, so far, Papa’s injuries didn’t seem mortal. If the wounds were enough to kill him, he would have started to dust and then be vaporized.
Owen and at least a dozen wolves had arrived and were busy fighting the contingent of about fifty vampires, demons, and witches. They at least kept most of the contingent back, leaving us to focus on Adam, Warren, Vincent, and the red-headed sorceress, who had yet to attack.
“So good of you to join us.” Adam laughed loudly. “I’m so glad you brought one of the mates. She is a beauty,” he jeered.
Alexandra held on to the back of my jacket as I told her to. Her fear of a few moments ago remained, but it had also morphed into rage. The sight of Papa’s injuries had spiked her fear, but it had also fueled her anger.
For every orb thrown at us, Drako used his telekinetic powers, and I used my ancient sword to swiftly repel them back at Adam and his friends. However, the red-headed sorceress, who had decided to enter the fray, was effortlessly destroying the orbs in midair before they even got near them. She didn’t try to attack us. Instead, she stood with an air of supreme superiority and indifference, as if she couldn’t be bothered to attack us. Adam, Warren, and Vincent had no such restraint. They attacked with deadly intent.
We retaliated.
This continued relentlessly for several minutes without any side gaining ground. I didn’t even have an injury to transfer onto our attackers, and I could feel Papa getting weaker. There was some other wound that I couldn’t see. It was draining him, draining his life force in slow degrees. We needed to get out of here and heal him.
However, we couldn’t leave without putting a dent in Adam’s forces. We couldn’t let him attack us without imparting what a bad idea that shit was.
Zora was almost frantic inside her shield. She wanted to come out to fight but was too terrified of leaving Papa exposed.
Even now, Luka was demanding answers. He couldn’t leave Luna and Danika unprotected, even though they had several bodyguards, along with Apollo and Drago, who were powerful enough to protect their mothers.
Adam must have gotten wind of our appearance at the nightclub earlier. With the policeman already being a minion, it would have been nothing for them to lie in wait for one of us to bring him home. But to put a contingent like this together in such a short time? The thought that Adam’s plan could have been put in motion even before the nightclub was chilling.
Yeah, Adam must be growing confident about challenging us again. Certainly, the addition of the sorceress would have given him a boost.
“This is not sustainable. We must get Papa and Alexandra out of here,” I told Drako, even as I noted with satisfaction that at least Owen and the wolves were destroying a significant amount of Adam’s men.
“Yeah, but before we go, I want to wipe that smug grin from Warren’s face,” Drako growled. “I owe him for coming after my mate.” He didn’t wait for my response. He extended his palm, and suddenly a wet, bloodied human heart was in his grip.
Alexandra gasped at my back.
Just that slight moment of inattention and the sorceress attacked.
Her power came at us like a cannoned energy beam that knocked us on our asses, made our ears ring, and punched the air from our lungs. Alexandra was also on the ground, partially trapped under me.
She was out cold.
The sorceress wore an expression of menacing glee as she raised her palm and sent another energy beam rocketing toward us.
Drako and I were still on our asses, stunned to inaction.
Just before the beam hit us, Zora’s forcefield blinked up over us. The energy beam shattered the forcefield with a loud deafening bang.
That stunned us even more but also forced our immediate retreat.
“Get Papa out of here!”I told Zora telepathically. Our arrogance and over-confidence in not only our own invincibility but also in Zora’s shield had us risking Papa when we shouldn’t have. After my experience with complacency, you would think that I would have learned my lesson by now.
As soon as we teleported to Papa’s castle in St. Petersburg, Drako, with Alexandra and me, Zora with an unconscious Papa, and Owen with his wolfpack, we were surrounded by the family.
Luka, a very pregnant Danika and Luna, Apollo, Drago, Tristan, Meredith, and the rest of the wolfpack.
I immediately knelt beside Papa and healed the wounds that were visible. My ability to heal was instantaneous to the recipient, even if I would carry the same wounds for the few seconds that it took my body to heal. So, I was surprised when Papa didn’t immediately regain consciousness. As a vampire, his pulse was always faint or fairly non-existent, so I could tell nothing from his weak pulse. I was also worried because I still couldn’t read anything from him telepathically either.
“Luka?” I called out hesitantly. “Can you read his mind or reach him?”
“I saw a demon trying to suck his soul from him, but I got there in time,” Zora said tearfully. “I know I did,” she insisted. She was hugging her mother, and for the first time in a long time, she seemed like the young girl in her seventh human year, and not her dhampir years of twenty-one.
“But vampires are soulless, baby,” Luna told Zora feelingly.
“Vampires initially are not soulless,” Luka said. ”They retain parts of their souls for years after being turned, but every time they kill aimlessly, they lose parts of their soul. Papa never lost his soul. He never kills without just cause.” Luka sighed. “This is another way of killing him. It is wicked and heartless. They seemed to have taken his soul.”
“I stopped them, Dad,” Zora argued. “I killed the demon before he could take it.”
“I can’t sense any more ailments,” I told them.
Luka knelt beside me, his palm on my back. “There is nothing more you can do for him,” Luka rasped. His voice shook with emotion.
I didn’t know which one of the women started, but there were soon sniffles, whimpers, and cries all around me. I couldn’t take my gaze off Papa, desperately willing him to open his eyes, willing him to whisper a few words telepathically. But it was no use. All of us felt it, the absence of his life force, the beginning of a dull pain where his link with all of us used to be and was now being ripped away. The pain kept getting more and more intense with each second that passed.
I looked up then. Drako, Apollo and Drago, Zora, Tristan and Meredith were bent over, holding their stomachs with grimaces on their faces, probably feeling the pain worse than I was. Pain and I were friends, so maybe my threshold for pain wasn’t quite accurate. Even Luka looked green around the gills, but he was refusing to show it.
Luna and Danika were openly crying. The pure anguish in their gazes forced me to look away, but then my gaze collided with my mate’s troubled regard.
“Can I help?” she asked telepathically.
The words, so clear in my mind, shocked and terrified me at the same time. I didn’t want her to be able to affect me like this. Only claimed mates could communicate so effortlessly telepathically. I didn’t want this! I refused to look at her and immediately put a block on her access to my mind, effectively dismissing her and her offer of help.
The sniffles and wails got louder, and for some reason, Papa’s image became blurry. It was only as I swiped an impatient palm over my eyes that I realized that it was tears, my tears obstructing my view. “There is nothing else I can do.”
“No! You can still save him, Uncle,” Zora wailed. “He’s not dead!” she cried out hysterically before she dropped to her knees beside us and placed her head on Papa’s bloodied chest.
Luka tried to pull her into his arms to comfort her, but Zora was inconsolable.
“Let me try.” Alexandra’s soft voice reached me as though coming from deep within a tunnel.
I didn’t have any reserved patience to deal with her. “He’s a vampire. I doubt a human doctor can help him,” I dismissed coldly.
“But I’m not just a human doctor, am I?” she asked calmly. And then she ran gentle fingers through Papa’s hair.
“I treat babies and toddlers because they cannot adequately express themselves and tell me what ails them,” she said softly, cutting through the thick grief that was threatening to consume us. “My gift allows me to read their minds and treat them more efficiently,” she told us soothingly. She was in complete doctor mode now. Her words were confident and softly spoken.
As soon as she started speaking, it was as if everyone in the room was hanging onto every word that she said. All the crying and wailing stopped as they listened in stunned fascination.
“However, before becoming a doctor, I discovered that my gift works in other ways as well.” As Alexandra spoke, she smoothed her palms tenderly over Alexi’s face. “Initially, I thought that I could induce criminals to confess their crimes because I can speak to them in their minds and compel them to do the right thing. But that is not how my gift works,” she continued conversationally.
“Can you help Pop-pop?” Zora asked carefully.
Alexandra lifted her head and looked at my niece with such compassion it was if she was glowing with it. “I’m working on it. I have never been able to breach Alexi’s mind, so this is a bit trickier. I feel my link with him, though. I feel the broken pieces, the pain. So, I’m fixing that first.”
“The pain in the link has stopped,” Meredith mumbled in awe.
“Yeah… the pain is the easy part. The rest of it is more complicated. The soul is where our consciousness lies. It is our humanity, our beliefs, our faith, our sense of right or wrong, and our ability to feel emotion. Our soul is who we are.” She leaned forward and kissed Papa’s forehead. “What I used my gift for was to fundamentally compel a sociopath or psychopath to feel empathetic and to gain new levels of integrity,” Alexandra said softly. “Basically, my gift healed their soul. I changed what was rotten with their character by breaching and stitching together the broken pieces of their soul. At least that’s how I interpret what I did before.”
Alexandra closed her eyes and became quiet and still. Everything about her became still. Her skin, her expression, had an ethereal, almost angelic quality and glow that seemed to illuminate everything around her.
I felt a blast of such purity zip through me I sucked in a breath at the sheer intensity of it. I looked around me, and everyone had the same awestruck expression. They felt it too. Our link with Papa pulsed and snapped back into place.
Then a feeling of incredible warmth permeated my body. Suddenly Alexandra’s scent seemed the only thing filling my senses.
She opened her eyes, and her dark gaze ensnared mine. It was as if I was drowning in those sultry, smoldering depths. And then I felt her response to me, the sudden acceleration of her pulse, her shortened breaths, the tightening of her nipples, and the insistent throbbing of molten sexual awareness low in her pelvis.
A rush of inappropriate, inconvenient, white-hot lust consumed me. I wanted nothing more than to touch her, to kiss her, to hold her. It was all I could do to hold back and not flatten her under me right then and there.
“Oh God…”Her breathy telepathic response reached me.
I started toward her, but Papa’s paper-thin voice seemed to be coming from a long way away and stopped me in my tracks.
“So, that’s what your gift feels like.” Papa’s voice was raspy and weak, but he was alive, and that was all my family cared about.
The room erupted in loud cheers with everyone hugging and kissing, coupled with a few fist pumps.
“That’s so cool!” Drago high-fived Apollo. Those two were thick as thieves, and I was sure that very soon Drago would be questioning Alexandra to try to find out how he could replicate her power. So far, there hadn’t been any physical power that he saw that he couldn’t immediately claim for himself. However, powers of the psyche were impossible for him to replicate, at least while he was so young. We have no idea how his powers will evolve the older he gets. Certainly, the powers of Luka, Drako and I get stronger and more enhanced every century of our existence.
I had endured all that I could in the last twenty-four hours without falling apart at the seams. I left before anyone dared touch me or, worse, tried to force even more feelings from me.