One more time. I haven’t gotten everything yet.

She didn’t wait for Tariq to answer because she knew he would demand she return. She moved to the next vignette, closer to the present timeline. She chose the day they had rescued Emeline in the hopes that it would reveal where Vadim had gone and what he was up to next.

The terrified screams of a child pierced the air. Evil laughter, a sound that rivaled nails on a chalkboard. She heard the low murmur of the Carpathian’s voice for the first time, soothing the child. Talking quietly just beneath the shrieking voices of the vampires surrounding him. To Charlotte’s horror, they were bleeding him dry. She recognized Fridrick and Vadim, but there were two others holding cups to the numerous wounds pouring blood from their victim.

The child – the one she recognized as Liv – sat almost on the Carpathian’s lap; he had one strong arm curled around her, his hand over her eyes. His head was bent low to her ear as he whispered to her. Her screams stopped abruptly and she nodded over and over, sinking into him for protection. Charlotte knew there would be none – not for the child and certainly not for the hunter.

You grow weak, Val. So weak. If you die, there is no hope for these women. These children. Vadim turned to half face the open door leading to the other room. He gestured toward it. They wait their turn. Your blood will feed all of them and you will be the downfall of the prince, his people, and all the humans we intend to kill or enslave.

Charlotte turned to look and there were seven more men standing there, some grinning at the helpless child and the weakened Carpathian. The men were watching as the vampires licked obscenely at the blood. She recognized one of the faces. She’d seen him before, but where? He appeared entirely human, as did the others. They weren’t pale; they didn’t have sharp, bloodstained teeth.

She gasped when the memory came to her. This was the man Daniel and his two companions had staked. She shared her knowledge with Tariq and the others. They were all connected through Tariq.

The others were in the parking garage with Fridrick, Tariq informed her.

She hadn’t gotten a good look at them. Clearly they were recruits into Vadim’s army. She needed to know what he was doing. Where he’d gone. They needed answers. Charlotte tried to get closer to Vadim, to get inside his mind. What was he doing with these human men? They weren’t puppets, eating the flesh of children, or begging for the Carpathian’s blood, literally licking the floor to get a few precious drops. Those people had once been human, but now they seemed to be programmed by Vadim and the others to do their bidding.

Human psychics. Males. We never paid attention to them. Vadim and Sergey must be recruiting them. Tariq informed the others.

Why is he giving them Carpathian blood? Dragomir asked.

Charlotte was aware that Tariq shook his head in frustration.

Vadim stepped close to Val, and the child shuddered and turned her face into Val’s bare, bleeding chest.

Hurry, give me your answer now, before it is too late. Charlotte caught the words, Val whispering to Liv.

I want to be alive, Liv whispered, closing her eyes and turning her head to the side to present him with her neck.

Val sank his teeth into the little girl’s neck and drank. Vadim stepped back, and let out a high-pitched laugh. I knew you’d see reason. Stay alive for your little pets, Val. See how well that works out for all of you. The nasty voice droned on, taunting the Carpathian as the man fed.

Charlotte couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the way Val held the child. Carefully – almost tenderly when she knew he felt no emotion whatsoever. Still, for the child he managed to appear as if he did. Then she remembered Liv’s soft entreaty. Don’t you want us? The child could more than likely read Val as well, yet she stayed very still, her neck to one side, allowing him to take her blood.

The moment Val lifted his head, he ignored the others and used a long fingernail to open his chest. At once the child turned her face to the offering. Charlotte wanted to close her eyes. She didn’t want to see the way Liv took the Carpathian’s blood. It should have been sacrilegious, but instead, she found it incredibly beautiful. Val had offered her life. He tried to make her valuable to Vadim by giving the child his blood.

11

Charlotte desperately wanted to break away when she saw the expression on Vadim’s face as he stepped closer to the cage Val and the child were held in. He looked… evil. Pure evil. His face was a mask of fury. His eyes glowed a demon red. His mouth pulled tight to reveal his teeth, stained and sharp. How could she not have noticed that before? How could she not have seen just how truly a monster he looked?

She held her breath, shoved her fist into her mouth to keep from screaming. Or maybe she should scream. She could distract him – maybe all of them – and somehow save the child from what she knew was coming.

You know you cannot. Come back to me, Charlotte. There is no need to see the rest.

She knew he meant feel it, because when she touched the occupants of the memory left behind in the object, she felt what they did. She wasn’t ready to take on four more traumatized children – she had her hands full with Lourdes – but Liv was impossibly brave. There was no way she could abandon that wonderful, courageous child. Not ever.

She forced herself to watch in silence as Vadim sank his talons into Liv’s arm and jerked her hard, dragging her away from Val. Liv started to scream. Her mouth opened and a single shrill wail rose, but the child cut it off abruptly, her gaze shifting to Val’s face. He nodded to her.

Charlotte’s heart jerked hard in her chest. She felt the warmth and courage Val sent to Liv. He’d connected with her through a blood bond and he had just assured her that he would do his best to stay with her throughout whatever ordeal she was facing.

Vadim dragged her past the other two vampires. Sergey, his brother, stabbed at the child viciously with a long sharpened nail, drawing blood. He laughed and licked at his finger, his eyes on Val. Fridrick delivered a kick to Liv as she struggled to get on her feet as Vadim continued to drag her through the seven human males toward the puppet that stood swaying and growling.

Charlotte looked at the men’s faces as Vadim tossed the child to the puppet as if she were a piece of garbage. The thing resembled a human, but there was nothing left in its mind but purpose. Vadim had programmed the monster to do his bidding, but more than anything else, the craving for flesh and blood drove it. The puppet caught the child by the hair and dragged her into the next room.