Dark Curse Page 0,143

He's evil beyond all imagining. I no longer have the strength to fight him, although I believe I've put up a worthy battle. He uses my body to produce children he can feed on and, although I have tried, I cannot stop him." He shuddered, pain crossing his face. "The knowledge that it is me he uses to cause such harm to others, to those I love, is far worse than any physical torment he has ever devised."

Natalya let out a soft cry of distress. Vikirnoff circled her waist with his arm.

"When I could, I helped their mothers escape him and take the children far from him, but I do not even

have that ability left to me. I opened my soul in a moment of weakness and he owns it now, commanding me for his foul purpose and, though I am aware on some level, I cannot resist his commands. I think that amuses him so much he wants to keep me alive. Few things amuse him these days."

"Razvan." Natalya whispered her brother's name and turned her tear-streaked face up to Vikirnoff. "Look what Xavier did to him."

There were scars. Horrible scars on his neck and throat, on his arms and chest, his wrists, even his legs. The links of the chains smeared in vampire blood had burned the images into his skin-Carpathian skin that didn't scar.

Natalya drew in a sobbing breath. "He is Dragonseeker. He would never turn. I should have known and believed in him. Instead I tried to kill him."

The hologram continued. "I beg you to find my daughter. She is so like you. Tatijana and Branislava have agreed to help her escape. I've convinced them not to tell me their plans. Xavier still likes to occupy my body and I'm afraid if he does, he'll discover the plan and we won't be able to get her out of here. I dared not let Lara know too much because if Xavier suspected anything, he would torture her until she told him everything."

He hung there, his chains cutting into his flesh, his tangled hair hanging down his back and around his shoulders. He was painfully thin. Even talking tired him out, that and the use of magic as he recorded his message to his sister. He moistened his cracked lips.

"He keeps us all drained of blood and weak. He's using me to find a way to kill the Carpathians. Everything from poisons to parasites. He has to be stopped. Find the prince and tell him, Xavier has to be stopped. But first, find my child. Her mother was not my lifemate, but the mage in me loved her dearly. She was sunshine in a world of madness. Find Lara for us and love her, Natalya. It is the last thing I ask of you."

He looked to his left. His body shuddered and his skin took on a grayish tinge. "He's coming for me and I'll hold on as long as I can until Lara is out of his hands, and then I will find a way to force him to kill me. Natalya, do not ever come back here. And don't look for me. Find Lara and let that be enough." He turned his head and looked straight at them.

Lara could feel his piercing gaze right through to her soul. The mental anguish he suffered was far worse than any physical torture Xavier could conceive. She didn't even realize she was sobbing until Nicolas turned her into his arms and held her close.

"I've hated him for years. I thought of him as a monster," she whispered. "He wanted me to think of him that way so he could protect me."

"He's alive," Natalya said. "He's out there, Xavier's prisoner, and he's alive."

"We don't know that," Vikirnoff objected. "There's so much blood here,sivamet , and it is all his. If he survived this, it would be a miracle." He caught her to him. "I know what you're thinking, but he does not want you to try to find him. Either of you." He glanced at Lara before turning his attention back to his lifemate. "Don't you see? You and Lara are the two people he loves most and he's managed to protect you. We have to give him that. It's all he has to hang on to to keep him sane. This man has given up his life, his soul, everything he is or ever was in order to insure you and Lara have a life. You cannot take that