He would show me videos of the things he did to me in front of everyone and he would watch my face the entire time. He didn’t show those things to others and that scared me almost as much as the ways he caused me pain.
She was trembling so hard he feared she would break apart. He needed to scan the entire area for signs of the master vampire just to make certain his line of reasoning was solid. When he was fairly certain there was not a single indicator that Sergey was in the area, he searched, without much hope, for the high mage. He also needed to get back to his woman.
Do what you have to do, Isai. You have to protect any humans in the area. And we need to know who we’re dealing with. Sergey? Anatolie? Barnabas? Or all of them.
He wanted to know more about her encounters with Barnabas, but he didn’t want to push her. He had the feeling he was dealing with a true dark high mage. Perhaps the most powerful since the demise of Xavier. If that was the case, the more he knew, the better. And why had he fixated on Julija? He’d taken Crina as a lover. It looked as if Anatolie knew and didn’t mind, which stood to reason if Anatolie and Barnabas went way back. Anatolie would concede anything to his mentor. Why had Barnabas taken Crina as a lover if Julija was important to him?
Isai. She breathed his name softly into his mind. Barnabas didn’t love me. He didn’t care about me. I was just someone he derived enjoyment from torturing.
Isai wanted to believe that, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. There was something in Barnabas’s expression when he’d looked at Julija in Anatolie’s study that made him think Julija was important to the mage. Whatever feelings he had for her were twisted, but the emotions were there. Isai hadn’t been able to feel for centuries. He couldn’t see another woman now that he’d seen Julija.
Do mages lose feeling? Color? In the way Carpathian hunters lose them?
He checked the human campers one last time to ensure nothing was out of place. The event was too traumatic to be wiped completely, so Isai removed their memories, but replaced them with similar nightmares. He made certain it appeared as if Josh woke first and told Mike his nightmare and then Mike had dreamt a related scenario. To be safe, he planted the idea that both wanted to leave first thing in the morning. Once he was certain they wouldn’t remember him or the bats as anything but a dream, he took to the sky.
No, but we do not live as long as Carpathians.
What of those feeding on Carpathian blood, such as your father?
That is different. He is following in Xavier’s footsteps. He believes himself to be invincible, just as Xavier did.
Barnabas fed on you. The thought sickened him. It is impossible to tell the age of a Carpathian. A human seeing us would think we were quite young, when in fact we are not. Barnabas does not look a day over forty, if that.
His appearance can change. He is a master of illusion.
Isai took his time moving from one area to the next, searching for the smallest sign that would betray a vampire. He quartered the large region around the lake and up into the mountains. A vampire’s presence could be felt by a hunter, especially if that hunter was as old and as experienced as Isai.
Barnabas has been feeding on Carpathian blood, Julija. You are not the first. That is evident to me, but he did in fact look at you differently. Still, he took Crina to his bed.
Not exactly his bed, she corrected.
What bed, then? She was his lover.
They were always in Anatolie’s bed. Once, Crina came to my room and told me they needed it and Barnabas slapped her. Hard. He told her only he decided where or when. He pushed her away and came at me. I was terrified.
He wanted to see the memory. How could he ask her to bring it up in vivid detail? There was just something so significant about the way Barnabas looked at Julija and he was missing it.
Can you tell me about the dates you went on with him? You said you spent time together before he began hurting you.
Isai turned to make his way back to the cave. Back to Julija.