The thing one has got to remember about splinters, sisarke, but everyone chooses over the centuries to forget, is what they do to the kuly who is so peje ignorant as to use it, Dragomir continued.

Sisarke is little sister and kuly is literally a worm, a demon devouring souls. Peje is burn or in your language it would be fuck. A very bad term. Vadim is nothing more than a worm, Charlotte, and we will rid you of him for all time. Tariq spoke gently, holding her light in that circle he’d made to ensure she didn’t slip away.

She was no longer fighting to get free; she lay very still, allowing his blood to work through her system, removing all traces of the human she had been and reshaping her as Carpathian. On some level she was aware, very aware, of the spirits of the men inside her body, helping to heal her even as they worked. She was listening, and it was helping to combat the pain and fear of conversion.

Alycrome impressed on all those who would listen that each splinter taken from the creator was a piece of him gone, diminishing him, Dragomir said. Xavier didn’t care to listen. He spent his time learning every dark spell without learning the repercussions of them.

He thought he was above consequences. He thought himself smarter than his father. That was Siv. Ah. Now I see it. The worm. A little fishtail causing such trouble. Do not worry, sisarke; this will be no problem for your lifemate and the three of us. Give yourself up to him while we dispose of this kuly.

Tariq was very aware of the shadowy fishlike wiggling splinter buried deep in Charlotte’s rib. He could see the tail of it writhing under the combined powerful lights of the three ancients. He had missed Alycrome’s teaching by only a few short years. Xavier had risen as head mage after the death of his father, and Tariq had studied under him. Xavier certainly hadn’t taught any of them that using a splinter would diminish the creator.

Siv and Val moved abruptly, joining Dragomir, so that there was only one powerful beam, the energy from all three ancients concentrated in one hot blast as they poured light over the worm. The tail began to smoke. The worm wiggled hard, surging back and forth, the bone a trap now rather than a haven.

The three ancients refused to let up, pouring white-hot energy onto the tail of the splintery shadow. Charlotte gasped and arched her back, half sitting, the soil falling around them like a shower.

Tariq covered her face and wrapped his body around hers, blanketing her, holding her in place. She feels that.

It is Vadim attacking, Siv said. He feels that heat. This splinter is part of him. It burns. And where it burns is in his brain.

The shadow thrust forward, trying to penetrate deeper into the bone. It couldn’t burrow fast enough, so it tried backing out. The tail began to curl into blackened ash. Frantic, the shadowy parasite flung itself sideways, crashing into the bone over and over with hard, short bursts of power to either side.

A flash of crushing pain told Tariq and the others forming the circle that Vadim had broken the rib, but not punched through the bone to escape as he intended.

“She can’t take that,” Blaze whispered aloud. “She’s too far gone.” She wrapped her fingers tightly around Liv and pushed the child’s head against her thigh. “Tariq, stop them.”

If he stopped them, it would give the splinter time to consume her red blood cells and perhaps find another place to settle where they might not find it. Charlotte detested having the thing inside her.

I’m with you, sielamet. Right here. They are destroying the splinter, and he’s fighting back. Stay with me. I need you here with me. He murmured the words into her mind, but more, he pushed feeling there. Poured himself there. Filled her with him.

She moved then; her spirit moved against the circle he’d formed, but to his astonishment, it moved forward, back toward her body and away from the waiting shadows holding the tree of life.

Remove him. I don’t care about the pain. Get him out of me. Each word was distinct. Faint, but distinct. Charlotte wanted Vadim gone from her and she gave her consent to the three ancients to do what was necessary.

She settled into him, her spirit sliding up against his. Merging with his.

“Tariq, you have to stop this,” Blaze reiterated. “She’s too weak.”

There was a moment of silence. A breath. An inhalation and exhalation collectively so that it was heard throughout the basement.

Your woman, your call, Dragomir said.

Against him, Charlotte’s body shuddered in pain. Her eyes fluttered, lashes opening just barely. There was a plea there. More, there was absolute trust.

Get him out of her. Now. Tariq knew his woman. She was a fighter, a woman of courage. Charlotte would want this even more than he did. Vadim had no place in their world, their sanctuary.

Charlotte tried hard to rise above the pain. She could see it etched into Tariq’s face, and she knew it was very, very bad, far worse than she felt, and she definitely felt it. Still, with all of them shouldering most of the pain, she knew even the children could take it and that gave her comfort. If they added more Carpathians, would that take even more pain away from Bella and Lourdes? From Liv, Amelia and Danny? Because they had to be converted. She knew that with the same certainty as every single Carpathian in the room.

First and foremost there was Liv. She was connected to all of them through Val. He’d forged that path to save her, but now all of them could see what had been done to her. The puppet tearing into her flesh with savage teeth. The noises of him gulping her blood. The burn of Vadim’s blood as he forced it into her – the horror and terror of taking the vampire’s blood.

At night, in her sleep, if she dared to sleep, the vampire came to her and whispered demands. He wanted her to kill her sisters and brother. To kill Tariq. He told her how to kill him. He told her what he would do to her if she didn’t obey him. It was no wonder the child looked so haunted. More, if he whispered those commands to Liv, what was he demanding of Emeline? The trauma had taken its toll on Liv. She planned to end her life if Tariq wouldn’t convert her. She was convinced she would eventually go crazy and hurt her family.

I will never let that happen, sielamet. She is watched day and night.

You have to convert her. Like this. With everyone helping. This is why Emeline wanted her here, so she could see and feel how it is done. There was no other explanation. Emeline could see into the future through her dreams. If she wanted Liv there, it was for a singular purpose – she needed to be converted, and Emeline didn’t want her to be afraid.