"And you must be here to help me with these tasks, Gabriel," Francesca replied, striving to remain calm. He was calm. Tranquil even. She felt his deep sorrow, but there was acceptance in him, complete acceptance of the future. "I mean it, Gabriel. Call the others. Call Gregori. He is a great hunter of the undead. You do not know his reputation, but vampires walk in fear of him. There are several others who could help. Aidan would come from the United States. He is feared by those he hunts. His brother is powerful and the Prince would come to aid you. All would do so. Lucian could not defeat all of them."

Gabriel brought her hand to his mouth, lingered over the pulse beating so frantically in her wrist.

"This is all a game to Lucian, Francesca. Right now he is soaking up what this century has to offer, feeding his intellect, but he will soon grow bored and the game will begin in earnest. If I broke my vow to him, my word of honor, I could not live with myself, and worse, he would use his power in such a way as to destroy all those who sought him. The Prince has a lifemate; I believe the others do also. Their loved ones might be his targets. We cannot take such a chance. You would not want me to do such a thing."

She rested her forehead on his chest, struggling not to cry. "I am very afraid, Gabriel. You attribute all kinds of wonderful traits to me, but I am a woman who had chosen to end her lonely existence before you came. Now you think I will not only choose to stay without you, but I will do so for at least two more centuries. Alone."

"Or longer if you must. The child is most likely a male. He will need you to give him memories that will last until his lifemate is found."

"You can defeat Lucian. I know you can do it. There must be a way, Gabriel. We have to find a way."

She raised her head to look directly into his eyes. "I have examined your memories of him. I know that you bested him once. You caught him by surprise and locked him into the ground with you.

He did not expect such an attack by you and it worked. We have only to think of something similar, something he would never expect. I will work with you. He will not think a woman would do such a thing. Do not smile, Gabriel, I am serious."

He bent his dark head to kiss her. She was so beautiful to him in every way. When he looked at her, she warmed him. When she talked this way, she melted his heart. "You are incapable of harming a fly, Francesca. You would want to aid me; indeed you would try, but the healer in you would prevent you from destroying another. Even the undead. And Lucian is not like the vampires you have seen or heard of. He appears beautiful and is more deadly than all others. You would hesitate, and he would kill you. I would never allow such an event to take place."

"Then do not confront him until we come up with a plan that will work," Francesca said decisively.

"I will not give you to him so easily. I will not, Gabriel. You must defeat him and live."

"We have been tied together two thousand years," he replied sadly.

"We are tied together now. What happens to you happens to me. I will not allow him to take you with him," she said furiously. Her silken hair went flying in all directions. "He cannot have you, Gabriel. He is using his voice to defeat you, using your own emotions. You are an ancient and the strength of your love is vast. He knows you feel for him while he cannot. It is his advantage. You must separate what remains on this earth from what was lost to you. He is no longer Lucian, your twin, your hero; he is foul and unclean and it was his choice."

Gabriel shook his head. "I wish that were true, my love. It would make my task so much easier, but Lucian did not have a choice. He waited long with me, far past the time he would have met the dawn. He waited to protect me even though he lost his emotions centuries before I did. He waited too long for my sake. In the end he was unable to make a rational choice. He was too close. He rose without me and it was done." He bowed his head in shame. "I was struggling with the demon. It was with me endlessly, calling, whispering that all was lost to me. I thought I would rise undead if I did not choose the dawn. There was so much death around us, so much violence. I often wonder if my struggle pushed him over the edge."

Francesca flung her arms around his neck. "Do not do that to yourself, Gabriel. We have enough burdens to bear in our lives without taking on those that belong to others. You must honor Lucian's last request and defeat him. Remember your true brother, the one who shared your life for those two thousand years. He fought to protect you that you might find me, and you have. Your real brother would want your life, not your death."

He brushed at the silken ebony strands tumbling around her face. "You have given me food for thought, Francesca. In the meantime, I must hunt this night for the lesser vampires that have invaded the city. They are a foul stench in the air, impossible to ignore.""I will send out the quilts and stained-gla.s.s pieces I have been working on. I do have a business to run," Francesca said, trying to think of mundane things so that she wouldn't live in terror of what Lucian might do to Gabriel.

"There is no need for worry," he said softly, his voice magic and so pure Francesca felt instantly better. He was like a clear breeze blowing through her body, removing the terrible fear.

Francesca knew he was using his voice, his magical voice to aid her, but she didn't mind. She pressed her hands to her stomach and thought of their baby for further comfort. Gabriel, like all of their race, would believe she carried a male child. Yet she knew she carried one of the precious females. She had a daughter. Fragile. So very vulnerable. Francesca took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Was their baby one of the rare females because she had succeeded for a short while in changing her body chemistry enough to walk in the sun? As a healer it was all important to find that answer. Female children were so unusual within their race, and very few managed to survive the nine months' gestation. The one in a century that did, still had to face that difficult first year of life. Francesca did not want to have to face that fight without Gabriel. She did not want to lose her child and not have him beside her, rock steady, to lean on.

Gabriel's eyes met hers with sudden understanding. He caught her to him, nearly crushing her slender body in his arms. Yet at the same time, he held her so tenderly he made her want to cry.

"It is impossible. Our family produced only one daughter in eight hundred years. Before that, it was nearly a thousand years and she did not survive. We cannot be so blessed as to have a girl."

Francesca leaned into him, savoring the heat of his skin, his masculine frame, so different from her own. "I examined her earlier while you went out to feed. The child is female and she clings to life stubbornly. I do not want to face this test alone, Gabriel. Find a way to live for us. You are right about Skyler. Without my aid, without her belief in me, she would slip back into her mind. We would surely lose another of our males to the undead. More than that, we would be without a brilliant, rare treasure. I cannot do it without you, Gabriel. Live for us."

He buried his face in the silken curtain of her hair. "I can do no other than as you command, my love. It is my duty to see to your happiness. I will find a way."

He meant it. She could hear the resolve in his voice. The weariness was gone, as was the acceptance of his own destruction. Lucian had held him for two thousand years. Francesca would not give him up so easily to his dark twin. She would fight with every cell in her body, every weapon she possessed to keep him with her. Lucian would not win. It didn't matter that he was Gabriel's twin and had been a great man once; he was now the biggest threat to her family. She would find a way to combat him. There was a way. Somehow. There was a way.

They clung to each other for a few minutes longer, each aware of the other's thoughts, each determined to find a way to defeat the ultimate vampire. "You must go," Francesca finally whispered reluctantly. "I have so much to do this rising, and I must attend to Skyler. I have neglected so many of my responsibilities."

Gabriel's smile was slow and s.e.xy, heart-stopping. "I am very pleased that I was able to provide such a distraction for you."

For no reason at all, Francesca found herself blushing. At once she ducked her head so her hair fell around her face, protecting her. He laughed softly. "My beautiful woman, I cannot believe you are blushing after all that we have done together."

"At least you didn't mention my age," she said.

"I am not that unbalanced, although I will admit I do not have much practice with women." He bowed, that curiously courtly bow that always made her breath stop.

Francesca glared at him. "Go away, Gabriel, you have that look in your eyes and I have much to do."His hand moved possessively over the long curtain of her black hair. "Nothing is more important than satisfying the needs of your lifemate." His face was innocent and very serious.

Francesca blinked once, then gave him a good hard shove. "Go tell it to the last century, ancient one. I am a modern woman with many commitments."

"You are a woman much sought after by these human males and I am beginning to find it tedious."

Her eyebrow shot up. "Tedious?" she echoed. "Do I hear a veiled threat in there somewhere?"

He bent his head to kiss her. "It was not all that veiled." His grin was boyish and seductive at the same time. "I cannot very well admit I am bothered by those who seek your attention when I am your lifemate. As an ancient I am above such trivial things."

Francesca found herself laughing. "You're above something all right, but I'm not entirely certain what it is."

"Watch yourself tonight, Francesca," Gabriel cautioned as he glided through the room toward the door. "You must always remember you are a target now, and so is Skyler."

"I'll send word to Aidan's family, asking them not to delay. That way if Skyler is home, she can be protected while we sleep." Her dark gaze was suddenly anxious. "Gabriel, don't let Lucian undermine your confidence in yourself. I really need you and so does our child. Our children."

He paused at the door, looking back at her, his world, the only real joy he had known. "I love this home of yours," he answered softly.

She watched him leave. "Ours," she corrected, knowing he could still hear her even though the door was closed. Gabriel's hearing was phenomenal and he often shared her mind.

It was their house, their life. Gabriel had to separate himself from his twin if he were to survive the battle that was to come. Francesca was carefully folding quilts into large boxes when it suddenly occurred to her that Lucian might lead him out of the city and far away from her. Her hand went protectively to her throat.

"Stop worrying over what has not happened." There was a wealth of love in Gabriel's voice. It felt like a caress.

She glanced at herself in the mirror. "Quit mooning about and get to work. You have much to do and little time to do it in." She was very stern with herself but a curling heat stole through her body as Gabriel's warm laughter echoed softly in her mind.

Francesca completed as many tasks as she could. She took orders for her stained-gla.s.s pieces and her quilts. She sent out the ones she had completed and paid her bills meticulously. There were the shelters to call and the hospitals. There were charities she had neglected and friends she wanted to keep in touch with. Because they had risen late and spent a great deal of time talking together it was already well into the evening and past time to call too many. She kept each conversation brief, but very upbeat. It was necessary to maintain the appearance of being human at all times. She was firmly entrenched in society and it wouldn't do to simply disappear. Her contacts would be helpful to Skyler.

Once her phone conversations were concluded, Francesca drove to the hospital, scanning the surrounding area along the way. She was worried about Skyler, worried that something was going to upset their careful plans for her. She had been vaguely uneasy ever since her encounter with the reporter. Something about him bothered her immensely. He was the type of man who could cause her tremendous trouble.

She walked into the hospital, greeting the nurses with a little wave of her hand as she made her way down the hall toward Skyler's room. Her heart dropped when she caught a glimpse of the reporter lurking just a few feet from the room. Francesca paused for a moment, waved her hand to create a clonelike image as she blurred her own. She sent her soft musical voice out ahead, so that her body seemed to be moving quickly along the hall as she called to an unseen nurse around the corner.

At once the reporter turned his head, catching a glimpse of her slender shape and long hair. He hurried down the hall in an attempt to catch up to her. Francesca laughed softly, waiting until he disappeared before entering Skyler's room.

The girl turned her head, her soft dove-gray eyes wide and beautiful. There was a welcoming look in her gaze that hadn't been there before. "I was waiting for you." Her voice was stronger and Francesca noticed for the first time how melodious it was. "I thought you'd never get here."

"I had quite a bit of work to do," Francesca said, seating herself and reaching for Skyler's hand. "I make stained-gla.s.s windows and also quilts for people in need."

A slow smile curved the young girl's mouth. "I had my friend here to keep me company." She hugged the stuffed wolf to her. "I like the way you say that. 'People in need.' People like me. I've noticed you have a way of making me feel like everything is going to be all right. Sometimes, when my mind is very chaotic, I think of you and feel you in my mind." Her long lashes swept down, concealing her expression, but Francesca was holding her hand and could read her mixed feelings.

The girl was struggling to come to terms with the idea of entering life again.

"I'll be with you every step of the way, Skyler," she softly rea.s.sured her. "You won't be alone, and you won't be expected to take on more than you can cope with. I see you are worried about school.

It isn't necessary to think about it at this time."

Skyler turned her face to wall. "Dr. Brice said I would have to go to school immediately so I wouldn't fall behind. I didn't want to tell him, but I hardly ever went to school. I'm different. I could never fit in."

"You are different," Francesca affirmed, "but that is not a bad thing. It doesn't matter about school.

You are gifted, quite brilliant actually. We can provide tutors for you and I can help when there is need. It is certainly nothing to worry about. Dr. Brice is a good man and he wants what is best for you, but he doesn't have a clue about your special talents and gifts. He does not understand what it is like to be a woman and be abused as you were. He does not understand what it is like to be a child and have no guidance, no one to love you unconditionally. He has no say in your future, Skyler."

Skyler's fingers twisted together, a small betrayal of her nervousness. "I don't like it here. I never feel safe unless you're here, or..." She trailed off as if she had done something wrong. "Sometimes the other one touches my mind and I feel rea.s.sured."

Francesca's heart skipped a beat. "Not Gabriel?"

"He is there sometimes, but it is different. The other one never really says anything, he's just there, touching me, but I can feel I'm not alone and he only comes when I'm very frightened. Like when I have a nightmare and I wake up. In the middle of the afternoon there was a stranger in here. I didn't like him and I was so scared. That's when the other one touched my mind. It was soothing and comforting."

Francesca bit her lip. The other had to be Lucian. Was he so strong, then, that he could defeat the daylight and reach out to touch Skyler when she was frightened? Was he already so connected with her that he could read her fear even when his strength was at its lowest ebb? She forced air through her lungs, remaining calm. "What stranger entered your room, Skyler?"

"A man. He asked me lots of questions about you, but I didn't answer or look at him. I retreated like I do. Into my own mind." Skyler continued to look at the wall as if she were slightly ashamed of herself. Her hands were clutching the little stuffed animal until her knuckles turned white. "I don't know if I can keep from doing it when I'm really afraid."

Francesca gently pushed her hair from her forehead. She couldn't wait to get the child home, where she would be surrounded by love, by feminine things. She couldn't wait to do something with the wealth of hair that had been neglected for so long. "He's a reporter, honey, nothing more.

Someone told him a story about me and he wants to write about it. It has nothing to do with you, but I'll make certain there's a guard posted outside your door at all times. No one else will get in."

She should have posted a guard long before this.

A small sound escaped Skyler's throat, something between a laugh and a cry. "A guard? I don't think you have to go that far. I think it's a little late for guards."

Francesca leaned over the teenager and brushed her forehead with her lips in a small caress. "You are so silly, young lady, to think it is too late for a guard. You are beautiful and unique, a rare treasure. I intend to guard you and keep you safe for all time. There is no need to have idiot reporters breaking into your hospital room and questioning you."

"He asked strange things. He wanted to know if I had ever seen you during daylight hours. Isn't that a strange thing to ask?"

Francesca went very still inside. There were many people throughout Paris who would testify they had seen her during daylight hours; and there were photographs to prove it. Her picture had appeared more than once in the newspapers at various charity functions around the city. The reporter would soon lose interest in her if he was no more than a simple reporter; she wouldn't fit the profile of what he was looking for. But if he was more than a reporter, if he was a member of the society hunting the Carpathian people, seeking proof of their existence, she needed to know.

"Francesca?" Skyler sounded tired and forlorn. "I want to go home with you. When can I get out of here? Everything scares me, even Dr. Brice, and I know he means well. I just can't stand to be around him anymore. He doesn't feel the same."

Skyler was very sensitive to the emotions of others. All around her, the plots were thickening.

Francesca had to get Brice to agree to allow the child to go home with her. She would have to face him and use the power of her voice if necessary. They could better protect her if she was in their home.

"I think you're right, honey. I'll track down the good doctor and get his permission to allow you to leave. You'll like the house. It's big and roomy and filled with all kinds of books and treasures."

"I've seen stained gla.s.s in churches before. Is that what you do?"

"Most of the time I create pieces for private homes. Sometimes I'm asked to do windows for a church or cathedral. I mostly like to do residences. I want to know all about the people and get a feel for who they are and what they need. I try to incorporate feelings of safety and comfort into the patterns." Francesca shrugged casually. "Sometimes I'm successful."

"Can you teach me how to do it?" There was interest in her voice. Real interest. "I drew pictures of wolves one time. They're so beautiful. I used to read everything I could find on them. That's why I love my blue-eyed wolf. I always wanted to study them, but I know it won't ever happen. Not here anyway. But maybe I could do a picture in stained gla.s.s."

"You can do anything you want, Skyler, anything at all. If you wish to study animal behavior, I am behind you one hundred percent. And I know you can make stained gla.s.s. I would love to work with you. Rest now while I go to find Brice." She patted the wolf gently and bent to kiss the girl's head before leaving.

Chapter Twelve

Francesca bit her lip as she quietly closed the door to Skyler's room. The reporter was waiting as she had known he would be. She had heard his footfalls, the sound of his pacing. She read his determination to confront her even as she was speaking to Skyler. It was okay, it was what she wanted, too. She needed information and he was conveniently outside the door. She wouldn't have to go looking for him.

The man spun around with a determined look on his face. "I need to talk to you."

Francesca's smile was mysterious and inviting. "What can I do for you?"

His eyes were devouring her, roaming freely over her body. There was something about her that made him a little crazy. The way she looked, the sway of her hips, the sultry smile. He had never seen a woman who moved him in quite the way she did. He liked women, in their place, but he had always bought the right to their bodies and kept it strictly business. No fuss, no emotional entanglement. This woman was very different from the average woman. There was something mysterious and s.e.xy about her. He could stare into her eyes forever, listen to the sound of her voice for eternity. All at once his suspicions seemed totally ridiculous. This was no vampire preying on the human race. She was a woman of extraordinary talents and he wanted to protect her from those who sought her for study.

Francesca could feel Gabriel's power flowing through her when she looked into the reporter's eyes.

It was not the same as hers, but far more aggressive. Gabriel would make sure this man would never harm her, would in fact die to save her. He did it easily as he did all things, the commands flowing through her mind into the reporter's. She had no idea how Gabriel could do the things he did. He was helping her at the same time as he hunted the undead and watched for traps along the way. He seemed capable of operating on more than one level at a time. Even when the stakes were as high as his own life.

"Nothing is more important to me than your life." His voice was fading away as if he was in motion somewhere.

Francesca did not seek to sustain the connection between them. She wanted to concentrate entirely on the reporter. She needed to know everything he knew about the society he was a part of, a society that had hunted and murdered humans and Carpathians alike, naming them vampires. She smiled at him. "It's Woods, isn't it? Barry Woods? You said you were a reporter. I'm so sorry about the other evening. I was in such a hurry, late for so many appointments, I can't recall exactly what we talked about. I promise to give you my full attention now. Would you care to go somewhere and have a cup of tea or something?"

"Tone it down, Francesca. He is very susceptible to you and that in itself can be dangerous." This time there was a distinct growl in Gabriel's voice.

She tilted her chin, although she knew he couldn't see her. "Go away, I can handle this problem all by myself. You have bigger fish to fry." She sounded faintly haughty, snippy, warning him to back off.

Barry Woods was gaping at her, astounded that she was actively seeking him out. She leaned close, enveloping him in her mysterious scent. "You will never attempt to see Skyler Rose again." The command was one of the strongest she had ever issued.

She could read his acceptance of her authority, but all the same, Francesca guided the reporter to the seclusion of one of the empty rooms with every intention of ensuring obedience by taking his blood.

"You will not!" The command was sharp and authoritative. Gabriel was not playing now. The threat was very real. "I will see to it this buffoon does no harm to our girl, but you will not do this thing."

Exasperated, Francesca decided against arguing with Gabriel's tyrannical ways. At once she felt Gabriel relax, felt his amus.e.m.e.nt, and she shook her head over the silly idiosyncrasies of men.

"Did you have some questions you wanted to ask me?" she queried softly, looking directly into Barry Woods's eyes. "Or did you have information that you thought was very important to tell me?"

He could feel himself falling forward, deeper, deeper still until he was so mesmerized he wanted to stay there for eternity. He cleared his throat, unable, unwilling to break away from the beauty of her eyes. "I have friends who heard things about you. They're dangerous men. We hunt vampires.

Real vampires, not the make-believe things in the movies. No one believes the creatures exist but us. We've been collecting proof over the years. We just need to get one, a body, something tangible to make the world take us seriously. Right now they think we're fanatics, nuts to be laughed at, but we're scientists and we're trying to save the world."

Francesca wrapped him in waves of warmth, swamping him with approval, with the idea that she believed in him and what he was doing. He broke out in a sweat, but his gaze remained captured by hers. He wanted to do whatever she wanted of him, whatever it took to make her happy. He wanted her to believe in him. She tipped her head to one side so that her hair fell in a seductive sheet of silk across her shoulder and tumbled past her waist. "Why would anyone think such a thing of me? I have lived in this community for some time and have been involved in many things. I think my life is rather an open book. It is not so difficult to find those who know me."

Woods leaned forward, needing to hear the purity of her voice, or maybe he wanted to touch her hair. He really wasn't certain which was more important at that moment. "I think I can dig up indisputable proof that you're no vampire." There was a trace of humor in his voice. The idea of her being in the ranks of the undead was totally ludicrous. He could convince his fellows they were wrong about her and she would be crossed off their list.

"Are there many of you?" Francesca requested the information softly. "Are there any others named on this list of potential threats? Perhaps I can aid you in some way."

"We have to protect ourselves now. We've lost many of our best people. It's a war, a real war, between them and us. We only know a few of each other's names; our meetings are small. We use phone numbers and a place on the Internet to leave messages back and forth. That way if our society is penetrated, we will only lose a few."

Francesca could see that something was making him very resistant to giving out the names of those on the vampire list, although he was deeply ensnared by her compulsion. She pushed further into his mind and found a strange phenomenon. Immediately she reached for Gabriel and shared the information, puzzled by what she found in Barry Woods's mind.