Dark Illusion (18 page)

Sívamet, look to the east.

She didn’t want to take her eyes off the scene below. Isai needed her as a guard. Still, she did as he directed and saw Belle and Blue running
full out, in shadow form, two gray streaks moving in the darkness toward the cats on the bluffs.

Can you stop them?

Either one of us can. They will obey orders. I hope they can help us with these two. I have a plan.

Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.
She wanted to shake him.
I’m telling you, there is a trap here.

I believe you. I am not on the ground. I am studying the situation.

She heard the teasing amusement in his voice and she couldn’t help relaxing just a little bit. He could make her laugh, no matter the circumstances.

She gave an exaggerated sigh.
What is your plan?

Plan?
he echoed.

A small laugh escaped her.
Our kittens are getting closer. What is your idea?

I am still thinking.

It will not matter if any of them come for us. I’m going to strangle you,
Julija informed him.

She heard his deeper laugh brush through the walls of her mind. The sound was joyful. She loved that. She hadn’t heard Isai laugh often, and she hugged that moment to herself, savoring it, letting herself have those few heartbeats of time without worry. Without a negative thought.

She’d been brought up in a world where spells and magic were normal. She found Isai was the true magician. He was magic. She would follow him anywhere.

The owl suddenly jolted hard, pain spreading through the small body. She heard a loud crack as she fell, tumbling out of control, through the air toward the ground.

Float. You know how to float. It starts in your head. Float, Julija. Right. Now.
Isai streaked toward her.

Julija closed her eyes to keep from seeing the ground rising toward her fast. In her head, she built the image of a bubble and instantly the velocity of her fall changed, and she was inside a balloon, carried on the wind. Isai snagged her out of the sky and took her balloon down to the surface, the floor of the bluff, a distance from the two cats.

She emerged from the bubble and waited until Isai was in his human form. He was ruggedly good-looking. Every line. He could have been chiseled from the granite they stood on. She stared at him for an eternity, her heart pounding. “You saved me.”

He shook his head, a faint smile on his face. “You saved yourself. Your choice was rather unique, but you did that all on your own. You didn’t cast a spell, or weave patterns, either. You just became lighter than air and you floated.”

He looked so incredibly proud of her. Euphoria hit, but it wasn’t the fact that she really had saved herself, or that she hadn’t needed to add spells or weave intricate configurations in the air, it was that look on his face. No one had ever looked at her like that before. She wanted to etch that look into her mind for all time. She wanted to be able to take it out and examine it later when she had plenty of time.

“The cats,” she whispered. “
Our
cats. Why do you want them here?”

“Look at the two of them, what did you say their names were? Phaedra and Comet? Really look at them.
Feel
them.”

She had looked at them. She’d gone into her brothers’ experiment shed every night to try to heal the cats that were injured or hurt. Phaedra and Comet were always locked away. They would hiss and leap at her, hitting the doors of their cages, and she would almost pass out. Venom dripped from their teeth. She would be afraid to even feed them.

“You need to look at them,” she pointed out. “I love that you have compassion for them, but those two are so far gone.”

“Why would they be so far gone?”

“My brothers take turns beating them. They’re kept starved. After I found the shed, I fed the animals food, even them, although getting near their cage was taking my life in my hands. They especially hated me. All the cats did. They could smell my family on me. We have to do something now before Blue and Belle get here. I’m going to direct them away from here.”

“No, my little mage, let them come. I do not want to leave these cats behind.”

“Did you not see my owl shot out of the sky? They are coming after us.”

“They were fishing. Even as the owl dropped from the sky, they couldn’t see you. They may have caught a glimpse of the balloon, but I pulled it out of the sky very quickly.” He turned his head toward the two cats who had run up to them. “Belle. Blue.” He rubbed their heads as they wound in and out between his legs, nearly knocking him over.

Each time the cats bumped Julija, they rocked her body. They were big animals and once they took their normal forms, they were the size of panthers—healthy ones, and quite formidable. She petted the two cats, realizing she had missed them in the short time they’d been separated.

“Above us, Julija,” Isai cautioned in a low voice.

She didn’t tilt her head, but she did lift her gaze and her heart nearly stopped. Comet was crouched in the rocks above them, his body once more shimmering gray. He looked malevolent with his glowing eyes, two red pinpoints of evil staring at them.

“Isai,” she whispered, “they can do damage in seconds.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “I want you to think of yourself as molecules—”

She shook her head. “Absolutely not. I stay right here with you. It happens, or it doesn’t. If he attacks, he attacks both of us.” She wasn’t going to argue with him, but she was shaking like a leaf. She might not have to use spells or weave protections to aid him fighting off the enormous cats, but she was used to it and much more comfortable with the concept.

“Stay quiet then and let me handle them.” He lifted his hand and waved it casually toward her as if gesturing to her to stay silent.

She sent him a look that should have withered him right there. “Your bossiness knows no bounds.”

He inclined his head, a faint smile in his jeweled eyes. “You have no idea,
kislány hän ku meke sarnaakmet minan
.”

Julija watched intently as Isai lifted his wrist to his mouth and bit down. At once crimson drops beaded up. He held his wrist out to the large cat crouched above them. Saliva dripped continuously from the cat’s mouth as it glared down at them.

“Come to me, Comet,” Isai said in a low, compelling tone. It was a whisper of sound, but it carried on the wind and swelled with command. He held up his wrist so that the ruby drops slid down his arm in a trail of red.

The enormous cat came to his feet and put one giant paw on the narrow trail that led down to where the two sat with Belle and Blue. Isai held up his hand in a wait command to the two cats who watched Comet warily.

“
Aćke éntölem it—
take another step toward me. I am
Karpatii
. Your brother. I offer you life—or death. You choose. Stay where you are and be treated as a cur, kicked and beaten by those who have no
aka-arvo—
respect. With us, you will be treated as family. You are intelligent, Comet. Choose life or death now.”

Julija wasn’t certain if she wanted Comet to choose life. He moved one slow step at a time. Above them, Phaedra had taken his place, crouching to watch their every movement, determined to protect her mate. She looked terrible. Her coat was thin and shabby, and when she slipped from her solid form to shadow, there were visible holes in the shadow creature. Her brothers had starved the cats almost beyond salvation. They must have done so in preparation for hunting her.

She shivered and wrapped her arms around her middle as the huge male came closer. Isai sent her a sharp, assessing look. She was grateful that he thought her strong and steady enough to handle the anticipation of the cats’ attack on them, but at the same time, a little protection would have been nice.

Isai’s blue gaze jumped to her face. “Do you really think I would not protect you? Above all else, Julija, you have my protection and care. If you need to go, or to be invisible, I will aid you to do so, although you are capable of that layer of protection yourself. I suspect these cats would find you. They have some element of Carpathian blood, most likely from the blood they took from you.”

She jerked her gaze from the female cat crouched above her and turned her head to stare at him. “I knew they gave them blood. But . . .” She trailed off. What was the use? Her brothers were sick individuals, and they had tried to create the ultimate in a weapon. A shadow that could slip in and out of homes, maybe even dreams, kill when they were told to and return cowed to their masters.

Blue snarled and Isai dropped his hand down toward their cat, offering him the blood trailing down his wrist.

“In our world, Julija, blood is everything. It is what gives life and what takes it away. Our blood heals. It is powerful. We are nearly immortal because of our blood. Xavier was well aware of this and wanted it for himself. Blood was the one thing that always eluded him. Those he used for supply had to be kept weak and near death. I suspect your brothers, once they saw the power in the cats they bred, were afraid of them. They followed tradition and kept them weak.”

She swallowed hard. The big male was so close now that Blue’s head went up and he stepped back, his body going to shadow, his eyes glowing hotly as he followed Comet’s every movement. Comet crept closer, his gaze going from Isai’s face, to Blue and then to Isai’s wrist.

Isai put the temptation of the twin blood trails sliding down his wrist directly in front of Comet. “Trust is difficult when you have no reason,” he said softly. “My little mage had a difficult time trusting me. Belle and Blue did as well. We welcome you and Phaedra to our family. You will remain with us.”

She gasped, one hand going to her throat, then she wished she hadn’t. Comet followed the movement with his gaze and at once the amber in his eyes receded so that the glowing hot coals of red replaced the cooler color.

“On me,” Isai said. “Stay on me, Comet.” Again, there was both command and compulsion in his voice.

Julija had to admire him. The cat was moving closer and closer to him and he didn’t so much as flinch. At this distance, even if Isai wanted to defend himself, the cat could rip him to shreds. Up close, Comet was even more intimidating than Blue. The cat had weight, height and more roped muscles than she’d ever seen on an animal. His claws were enormous, more like a grizzly’s than a panther’s, although retractable.

“His fur is a mess,” she whispered softly.

“No nutrition. He’s hurting. They both are.”

She hadn’t wanted to let them in her mind because she was certain they would have to kill the pair. Now, because Isai was giving the cats this one chance—and that meant he intended to kill them if they chose wrongly—she decided it was only fair that she suffered, too. She had to let herself feel the emotions of both cats. She knew, once she did,
compassion would kick in, and if they had to be destroyed, she would be devastated. Still, it wasn’t fair to let Isai do all the hard things.

She opened her mind to encompass the pair of shadow cats. Pain ripped through her immediately, taking her breath. She looked up at the female, crouched and ready to attack should they in any way threaten or harm her mate. She had at least two broken ribs where she’d been repeatedly kicked, and there were torn places in her coat as if she’d been whipped or ripped at with some instrument of terror from the medieval era.

“Isai,” she whispered, tears in her voice.

He glanced at her sharply. “You are far too compassionate for your own good,
sívamet
. Stay alert. They want their nightmare to be over. They have listened to your brothers speculating that Blue and Belle didn’t return because they stayed with you. They were furious and took it out on Phaedra, stating that if she dared run away, they would skin her alive when they found her. They meant it, too.”

“I’m sure they did. Poor Phaedra.” She kept her voice low but attached a lure—a gentle one.

Comet was about two feet from Isai and he stopped, angling his body away from Blue and Isai, so his back was more toward Julija. He slowly stretched his neck out as far as possible, his eyes watching Isai the entire time. Twice, just before he tasted the blood, he pulled back, whirled around and ran a few feet away. He crouched there, his body going from solid to shadow and then back again.

Each time Comet retreated, Phaedra snarled and leaned forward as if she might leap down on them, but she backed off, settling on her haunches when Isai looked up at her and murmured soothingly in the ancient language.

“I cannot believe how patient you are,” Julija said, her breath exploding out of her. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding it. Even with the blood trickling down his arm, Isai didn’t try to hurry the cat.

“One of the mantras taught to us that we are never to forget—
türelam agba kontsalamaval
. The saying has great value.”

“What does it mean? I can get most things, but you said it fast.”

“‘Patience is the warrior’s true weapon,’” he interpreted for her. “I
apologize that I slip back into my language. In the monastery we daily practiced other languages to get the accents right, but we preferred to speak in the ancient language and still do, as a rule, when we are together. Does it bother you?”

“No, I actually love the cadence when you speak. He’s about to touch your arm,” she added unnecessarily.

Comet was so close to Isai’s wrist, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. He looked even bigger so close to them. Isai wasn’t a small man, but even beside him, the size of the shadow cat was shocking.

The rough tongue came out and tentatively licked at the thin streams of blood. All the while those eyes spun from red to greenish gold and back again.

“I welcome you, brother,” Isai said after the cat had begun to lick at his arm in earnest. “This is your family. You will travel with us. Hunt with us. Eat with us. Sleep when we sleep. We protect one another.”

The cat looked up at him, stepped back and studied his face for a long time before turning toward Julija and subjecting her to an even longer perusal.