As always, the Carpathian universe belongs to Christine Feehan. Thank you for reading.

Chapter 14

Deborah sat in the hot bubbling pool, leaning against Blaine's chest, his strong arms around her, and his chin resting on her head. Their lovemaking had been intense, filled with love for each other and relief over rescuing Belle and Samantha. There were still obstacles to overcome, but at least they were all together again.

"Tell me what the men found at the laboratory."

"They disposed of the bodies and cleansed the place of the vampire's taint. The remaining victims were taken to an area hospital by the emergency medical personnel. Some of them are physically injured and were given drugs. All of them will have psychological issues, especially the older girl. She was abused by at least one of those men." He was appalled at how cruelly humans could treat children and young women.

"That poor child." Deborah felt a stab of pain at the thought of what the girl had endured. It brought back dark memories that she quickly pushed away.

"Manolito and the others altered their memories enough to keep them from talking about us but it was too close to dawn to try healing all of them. The girl believes she escaped and called for help. They checked the computer files and found the Center's database, copied it and erased it from their system, but there is plenty of evidence left for the human authorities to see the true colors of the Morrison Center. I hope the attention from the news media will make people think twice about trusting anyone who claims to work for them.

"I'm glad Samantha was unaware when she was attacked. I'm also glad the child in Tamara's vision was not hers. She is much too young to have to deal with such a burden." She thought for a moment. "What about Justin?"

"Martin's body was found at the edge of the club's parking lot. According to the records that were recovered, he was not Justin's uncle. It appears Justin was stolen from his family when he was small. We will never know how Martin came to have him, but he seems to have been a good guardian and actually cared for the boy. We will try to find Justin's family and return him to them."

Blaine ran his hands gently down her body and rested them on her abdomen. He sent his spirit into her body to examine the tiny embryo growing there. Deborah was in his mind, feeling the warmth of his spirit in her womb, surrounding their daughter with love.

Pulling his spirit out of her he continued his exploration of her body, his hands moving up to caress her breasts, moving down to her thighs. His lips nuzzled her neck. She turned enough to meet his lips, then turned around to straddle him, rubbing her hands over his chest. Soon there was no more talk, no more thought, just sensation.

Belle looked into Andre's eyes, seeing his darkness and his hope. She reached out and took his hand and held it for several seconds. There was nothing at first, then she had a vision.

"I'm sorry, Andre, I am not your lifemate, but I see you with a dark haired woman. She is sitting on some steps and you are rolling around on a lawn with a small boy. You are laughing."

His hard gaze softened as she shared the vision with him and, with a small smile, he said, "I pray that you are right, Belle, for I do not think I have much time left."

"You must stay strong for this woman. She needs you. I think it will be soon," Belle said, releasing his hand. She turned to Tariq.

She repeated the procedure, taking his hand and looking into his eyes. Again there was no calling of spirit to spirit, body to body. Tariq looked at her sadly; she was not the light to his darkness either.

"I am truly sorry," she said, "I cannot see as clearly, but I know there is someone for you. She exists but she is not close. She may live in another country, but I don't really think so. Look to the south and east."

Both men bowed deeply to her, nodded to the other Carpathians and, with a sudden rush of wings, took to the air.

Mikhail had been informed of all the events and their aftermath and encouraged Blaine to bring his family to the Carpathian Mountains. Being in the company of others of their kind, would help to keep the women safe and other Carpathians could teach them more of their history and abilities. He was overjoyed at the thought that there were two more adult female Carpathians, one of whom was unclaimed, and that the two girls were potential lifemates. That Deborah was carrying a female child, according to Tamara and Belle's visions, was a bonus, and she absolutely must be protected.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the club was sold to Sally and Mark, the couple who had managed the place since it was opened. The insurance settlement would pay for repairs. The green house was rebuilt and the storm damage cleaned up, but there was an underlying sadness remaining. The girls returned to school and tried to act as though none of the terrible things had happened, but they were skittish and afraid.

Justin's family was found and contacted and rejoiced that he was restored to them. He was to adjusting to the fact that everything he thought he knew about his life was a lie. With a little help from Blaine and a lot of counseling from Maryann, he was able to deal with the events in the laboratory, but his relationship with Samantha was shattered.

Aidan Savage and his wife Alexandria volunteered to study the database and monitor the children who were rescued, especially the females with psychic abilities. Other Carpathian males would search for the people on the database, to see how many of the females actually had psychic abilities and, of course, hope that lifemates would be found. There was a little more hope for their race now, with two more Carpathian females found, and the potential for more.

They waited until the school term ended to leave. At first, Samantha balked at the thought of leaving her friends, but she finally realized that her feelings had changed. She still liked Justin as a friend, but there was a different dynamic between them. She could sense his shame when they were together and she knew things would never be the same. It was a relief to her when the time came to board the jet offered as transport by the de la Cruz family.

Maryann and Manolito had stayed to help the new Carpathian family and to explore Tamara's lineage as much as possible. They were unable to find any records of the child's parents. She had been found outside a hospital emergency room as a toddler. Now they would go back to the Carpathian Mountains to visit friends and submit to Shea Dubrinski's desire to collect DNA for genetic testing.

Preparations for the journey were complete and the house closed up. Safeguards were set to keep looters out, but the house would be available for other Carpathians visiting the area.

It was nearly dawn when they boarded the jet. Their estimated arrival time in Romania was after sunset. Mikhail was sending someone to meet them and escort them to the mountains.

Tamara sat with Deborah during takeoff, her head on Deborah's protruding abdomen, as if she were communicating with the baby. Blaine sat on the other side of Deborah and held her hand. They and the other Carpathians would sleep in a light-tight cabin and the girls would be cared for by trusted employees of the de la Cruz family.

Even Samantha felt lighter of heart when they were finally in the air. She was beginning to look forward to meeting others like Deborah, Belle and Blaine, and of course, Maryann and Manolito. She wondered if all the Carpathian men were as handsome as the ones she had met. Andre and Tariq were so scary she couldn't imagine being a lifemate to a one of them, but maybe the men changed when they found their mates. Blaine and Manolito were certainly nice, even if they were bossy and domineering. That was not something she would worry about now. Now she was off on a new adventure and everything was great. Belle, sitting next to her and reading her thoughts, smiled at the girl and reached out to give her hand a gentle squeeze.

Epilogue

Andre entered the hospital silent and unseen. Several of the kidnapped children had obvious psychic abilities. He had not had a chance to study them as much as he wanted, but he determined to do so now.

The lobby was crowded with people, family members, friends, law enforcement investigators and reporters. The rescue of these young victims was tremendous news. Relieved family members were being interviewed. Andre could tell from their thoughts that most of them just wanted to get their children and go home. None of these people noticed the faint mist that floated by overhead and disappeared under a door and up a stairway.

The victims were all kept on the same hospital floor and were guarded by police officers. Andre silently slipped into each room to examine their bodies and minds. Reaching the teenage girl who was so damaged, he took the time to examine her and heal the worst of her injuries, then went into her mind to heal and distance her from the abuse.

As he moved down the hallway toward the last room he heard the sound of someone singing softly. The sound shot through his body like a lightning bolt. He stopped, gasping for breath, stunned at a sudden wash of emotion that nearly brought him to his knees. When he could move, he opened the door to the room cautiously. A young, dark-haired woman was holding a little boy about five years old. She rocked him gently and sang to him in a voice that was soothing.

He stood and watched her for several minutes, taking in everything about her, from her short, dark, almost black, hair, a blue cotton blouse, tan trousers, to her black, low heeled shoes. Colors. He was seeing colors. She had to have felt him watching, because she stopped singing and turned her head to look at him with tear filled green eyes.

"Can I help you?" she asked in a low, velvet voice, tinged with sadness.

"Yes, I believe you can," he responded with a dazzling smile.

End.

I hope everyone enjoyed my first effort at fan fiction. I realize that I need to practice writing to become a good writer, so I hope you all don't mind me practicing on you. Many thanks to those who offered feedback and criticism; it gives me encouragement to keep writing. I have several ideas in mind for future stories. I may do some shorter vignettes that include other characters from the Carpathian universe. I'm even thinking about a crossover, but I won't say anymore about that for now. Again, I apologize for misused words, misspellings and ramblings that don't make sense.