Dark Legacy

She stayed there on the floor, looking up at him. Her man. When had that happened? How? She might never feel she deserved him, but she did know, just by the way he saw her in his mind, that he would always be happy with her.

“We were talking about something but I can’t remember what it was,” she said. “I got distracted. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” He watched her tongue lick at her lips as she sank back onto her heels. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Throughout the centuries, I’ve seen quite a few women, but none of them compared with you.”

The wonderful thing was, being in his mind, she knew the compliment was sincere. He honestly felt she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He was nuts, but that was all right with her. She smiled up at him, because he made her happy. She couldn’t believe how he had changed her life in such a short time.

“I had dreams of you, Dragomir. First, daytime fantasies like the shower, and then I was horrified when I began to dream that you died trying to save me. I dreamt of Vadim coming and you were lying on the floor of my living room, wounds everywhere, so much blood gone, and I thought you were dead.”

Her heart hurt just thinking about it. There was a huge knot in her throat, one she couldn’t swallow. The idea of his death because of her had weighed on her.

“I didn’t want to ever meet you, and I went into my house the moment night came so there was no chance that you would try to save me – and yet you still did.”

“You ended the dream with me lying on your floor.” He reached out and caught her hair in his hand, tugging gently.

She nodded. “I couldn’t go past that moment, with you lying without a heartbeat, no air in your lungs and your blood soaking into my floor. Because of me.”

“Had you forced yourself to keep going —”

“No.” She shook her head, uncaring that the action caused her hair to pull at her scalp. “I couldn’t. I tried to save you, Dragomir, but you just wouldn’t let me.”

“Good thing, too.” He leaned down to brush a kiss on top of her head. “Your dreams interest me. Tell me about them.”

“I’ve always had them.” She nuzzled his thigh because she couldn’t help herself. His body was warm and hard. It was hers. He’d given himself to her. All that he was. She liked sitting on the floor, her body between his legs, surrounded by him. There was safety in it. There was also the heady realization that this man was hers and anything she did, any way she touched him, he was fine with.

“I started having dreams when I was fairly young. I really didn’t notice at first, but somewhere along the line I realized that some of the places I went to I’d already dreamt about. Once I was paying attention, it wasn’t only places, but what was happening in my dreams, taking place in reality days or weeks after. That was terrifying to a child. I thought maybe my imagination was causing things to happen. When you’re alone and scared and hungry, people can be cruel. In retaliation, I would think bad thoughts about them and if I dreamt about it later, I was so terrified I was making bad things happen to those I didn’t like.”

“Sívamet.” He murmured it softly. The hand in her hair was soothing and gentle, stroking caresses down the silk of her hair.

She wasn’t used to compassion, and tears burned behind her eyes. Joyful tears. She’d never known what that was until that moment. Dragomir changed her perspective on everything.

“I would dream something bad, and if it hadn’t happened, I would treat the dream as if it would happen. I’d call it up every night, changing little details. I found I couldn’t change what happened, but I could modify it. I could change the way I reacted. So I’d play the dream over and over in my head and change little things until I could change the outcome of the dream. Most of the time, the dream didn’t spill over into reality, but the times it did, I was ready and I knew exactly what to do.”

“Tell me about having the dream where you went down into Vadim’s underground city.”

She felt her brain shut down. She didn’t want to relive that nightmare ever again. Not even for Dragomir. She shook her head.

His palm cupped the side of her face, his thumb trailing over her high cheekbone. “I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important, sívamet. I am here with you. He can’t get to you or our daughter. You’re safe now. Detach yourself and just tell me the dream. Tell it as if it remained a dream.”

For him. Emeline knew she would do anything for him, even things that were difficult for her. If he wanted or needed this from her, she would tell him. He hadn’t offered to help distance her from the dream, so she knew he wanted her complete version.

“The dreams started years before it actually occurred. My dreams don’t always happen in real life, even the recurring ones, so I never know what is real or not. I wasn’t certain, at first, if that particular dream would happen, although it was vivid and night after night I dreamt it. One day I came across vampires killing in an alleyway and I knew they were real despite everyone I told wanting to lock me up.”

She looked down at her hands. They were shaking. “The dream reoccurred over and over. The girls were taken down into the city. Liv was eaten alive night after night by Vadim’s puppets. Blaze and I couldn’t stop it. We couldn’t save her in time. Amelia was taken by the vampires and they drained her of blood and left her dying in a corner. Bella…” She broke off, pressing a trembling hand to her mouth. “They eventually fed her to the same puppets that ate her sister. And Danny was used for days as food for the vampires. Blaze and I went into the tunnels nightly to try to change the course of what happened. We did little things at first and found what tools we needed. How fast we had to run, what would be behind a door when we got to it. I repeated the dream night after night and shared it with Blaze.”

“How did you share it with Blaze?”

Emeline frowned. She hadn’t thought about trying to explain that. “I can do it easily. I could do it with you. I think it’s the same way we get into each other’s minds.”

Dragomir sat straight abruptly, the action causing her heart to jump. His eyes went from lazy and languid to sharp and demanding, the gold going bright and hot, glittering with intelligence. “You can get into people’s minds? Anyone’s? You could do that before you were converted?”

She chewed on her lower lip until his finger rubbed along it, easing the bite, making her conscious of what she was doing. “I don’t think I get into people’s minds. It’s when I’m dreaming. I can reach out to anyone around me.”

“If I were connected at that time to others, all those in this compound, could you share your dream with them all?”

“Of course. It isn’t like it requires tremendous effort on my part. I reach out, just the way I do when I want to connect with you. If Blaze was a distance away, it would be more difficult, but if you were connected to her, or Maksim, and I shared with either one of you, the dream would be easy to give her as well.” Her voice rang with confidence because she was confident.

He nodded. “How would Vadim know this about you? He did, didn’t he? When he had you prisoner, he had to have mentioned it.”

She nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on his mouth. She hadn’t told any of them, not even Blaze. No one. She had been terrified that whatever Vadim wanted her to do, the Carpathians would either kill her to keep her from doing, or want it for themselves. She had told herself numerous times that was a leftover fear from her childhood – that no one wanted her, the woman, only what she could do for them.

“He did ask me. I refused to answer.”

“Even when he tortured you and tried to get the answer out of you. How did he know?”

“I went to the Morrison Psychic Center for testing. I put down that I could share my dreams. It was so stupid of me. I thought it was for fun, like those psychics at fairs. I kind of thought it would be funny to have a real ability but to pretend I didn’t. It was the worst mistake of my life and started everything.”

“I’m grateful for your mistake. I wouldn’t have you had you not made it.”