Dark Slayer

«You must do this if we have even a small chance of saving them.» Mikhail was implacable. «Everyone believes you are our best hope. Gregori asks this of you.»

Gregori. The man who had fearlessly gone after the four shadow fragments Xavier had placed in Razvan to allow his possession. Gregori hadn't flinched. But infants . . . Ivory shook her head, swallowed hard and sighed.

You will do this, Razvan repeated with complete confidence.

«So be it,» she whispered, hoping Razvan's calm would rub off on her.

«Make whatever preparations you must, but hurry,» Mikhail urged. Then he was gone.

«Razvan,» Ivory said, her voice hoarse with grief and worry. «You know how evil Xavier's spells are. I cannot go into a sacred birthing chamber and call forth the darkness. Anything can happen.» Even as she protested, she used magic for cleansing, rather than her ritual bath, as time was of the essence.

«Nothing you have ever accomplished has been easy, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved-but you have done it. This is too important not to try.»

She leaned into him for the briefest of moments and then, gripping his hand, rushed to the birthing cave. The swell of voices held heavy grief, swamping her senses. The crowd parted to allow her through, and her heart pounded. Ivory felt as if she couldn't breathe with so many Carpathians gathered around Gregori and his lifemate, pressing close, as if by their nearness they could in some way keep the babies from slipping away to the next life.

«Gregori! « Savannah screamed her lifemate's name as her body expelled the first tiny life into his hands. She panted heavily as she watched him breathing for their child. «Is she alive? I can't feel her, Gregori. Please tell me she lives.» She buried her fist in the soil as another wave of pain ripped through her.

«I've got her,» Gregori said, but his voice was distant. Filled with grief.

Razvan, I cannot bear to see them lose these children.

Francesca stepped close as Savannah's body shuddered again, her face rippling with pain. Francesca's hands guided the second baby into the world. At once her face went distant, as she, too, breathed for the infant.

You can do this, Ivory, Razvan whispered in her mind, his voice gentle as she stood before Gregori and Savannah and the tiny babies laboring for life. You were born for this moment.

I was born to slay vampires and destroy Xavier. Not for this. Never this.

Like everyone else, she was spellbound, watching Gregori, bloodred tears tracking down his face, holding his tiny daughter in his arms while Shea poured the small stores of soil that Ivory had brought with her into the incubator, on top of existing layers of soil Syndil had already cleansed in preparation for the birth of the twins.

The child in Gregori's hands was too small to live, much too fragile. Even from where she stood, Ivory could see Gregori breathed for her. His hands shook, that strong man, the knowledge that he, the greatest healer of their people, was helpless to save his own child.

Ivory swallowed hard, took a deep breath and cleared her mind to block out all the sorrow and anguish, all the negative energy. She'd had Razvan go through each gesture and movement that Xavier had made as he cast his reprehensible spell. She knew he had poured his hatred and need of revenge into his spell as he commanded the microbes. She could do nothing about the mutation, but she could reverse the command. Every detail had to be exact. If Razvan had misremembered one tiny aspect-if she forgot so much as a single motion or word . . .

I did not, fel ku kuuluaak sivam belso-beloved. Nor shall you. You can do this, Ivory. I have faith in you.

She felt the brush of his lips in her hair, the warmth of his breath on the nape of her neck. She took a breath, started forward, and halted. «Gregori.» When he looked up, his silver eyes were so lost she nearly wept. «You have to be certain, Gregori.»

«I am certain,» he replied grimly. «We have no other choice.»

«Razvan, you will have to do the setup fast, but every detail must be precise.» She lifted her face and looked around the crowd. «I am re-creating a very evil scene. Anyone who does not want to be here should leave, otherwise form a large circle of protection in case I make a mistake.»

No one left. Even the Carpathians who had looked upon her and Razvan with distrust and perhaps even loathing now set aside their prejudices and submitted themselves to his direction. They formed a huge circle several layers deep. Those in the room, including Gary, who was human but seemed to know all Carpathian rituals, began a cleansing chant. Syndil, Shea and Gabrielle burned sage and moved through the room, sweeping high and low, paying particular attention to every entrance.

«Gregori, I need you and the babies in the center here.» Ivory pointed to the very center of the ring.