Dark Carousel (Dark #30)(64)

Blaze will come with us and Charlotte. Tariq didn’t want his lifemate anywhere near the vampires, especially Fridrick, but he knew exactly what the undead would do. Fridrick will insist on an exchange. Liv for Emeline, Charlotte and Genevieve. They are determined to have those three women. Charlotte will know this and she’ll insist on making the exchange.
There was a stunned silence. You cannot possibly allow your lifemate to put herself in such danger.
Tariq sighed. Val, Dragomir, Siv and Nicu had rarely mingled with any culture or society of humans. They hunted in cities at times, but they struck fast and hard and got out without ever having to interact with humans. He had lived with humans throughout his long existence. He studied them and he studied their women. He wanted to be the best man he could possibly be for his lifemate, trying to learn as the world around him changed.
He knew modern-day women often expected a partnership, not a dictatorship. Blaze was such a woman. Charlotte as well. She wanted to make her own decisions, and as long as he felt he could control the danger to her, he was more than willing to give her what she needed. He wanted a partner, someone with ideas and opinions of her own. Now, with the children, he understood that need in him more.
Charlotte will do whatever it takes to get Liv back. Vadim will know that we don’t have Emeline to give him. She’s in need of medical aid. My team has been attending to her and she has a concussion. Blaze will appear to be Genevieve.
Again there was a silence. Val wasn’t happy with the decision. That is two women we cannot afford to spare. If they kill them, we will lose two of our warriors. This is a bad time, Tariq. The enemy has grown strong while we have been complacent. I never expected the Malinov brothers to amass such knowledge and to be able to bind vampires and humans alike in their war against us.They were always intelligent, Val. Always thinking of ways to overthrow the prince. No one thought they meant the things they said. We thought they liked to debate. By the time anyone knew they meant every single word and had planned the assassination of the prince and his entire family, it was far too late. They chose to become vampires, and they put their plans into motion.
Three are destroyed.
Others, such as Fridrick and his brothers, seek to take the places of the dead, Tariq pointed out, because it was true. As fast as they killed the undead, more rose up.
Fridrick is cruel, but he lacks the intelligence and patience of the Malinovs. There is great care in their planning. Vadim has sat like a bloated spider in the middle of his web, pulling his strings together slowly, so that no one noticed until he was ready to challenge us. He’s ready, Val, and he needs Emeline, Charlotte and Genevieve in order to carry out his plans. He targeted them months ago and everything he has done has been to acquire them.
Val flooded the Carpathian pathway with assent. No vampire would stay in the vicinity with so many hunters gathered in one place unless he could not leave for some reason. He goes out to sea to regroup, but he does not leave. That is all the more reason to keep your lifemate close.
Tariq knew he would never convince Val that Charlotte should be a part of the rescue, so there was no reason to continue to try. It was getting close to the time that he needed to be up and planning his assault on the warehouse where Liv was being held.
Sleep while you can, Val. When you wake, bring the others with you. Someone will have to stay behind to guard Emeline, Genevieve and the children. I’ll keep them asleep as long as I’m able. At the moment they are in their safe rooms sleeping under compulsion, all but Emeline.
It is done, Val vowed. Kulkesz arwa-arvoval, ekäm.
Walk with honor, my brother. Tariq repeated the sentiment back to the Carpathian in English. He meant every word. Val was a good man. A strong one. An elite hunter. He had endured torture beyond imagination and survived to help a small child through a horrific nightmare. He had forged a bond with Liv, one Tariq didn’t altogether understand. Val couldn’t feel, and yet that bond was strong enough to allow the ancient hunter to awaken from his sleep and attempt to soothe and steady the child through the daylight while she waited for the vampires to decide her fate.
Tariq turned his head slowly to look at the woman lying tucked into his side. Very gently, using his fingertips, he pushed back the thick fall of hair from her face. This rising they faced a battle for a child’s life. Possibly her soul. Liv would never survive intact without conversion. If they did that, the other children would insist they follow her into the Carpathian world. He had no choice but to chance the conversion, just as he had no choice but to allow Charlotte to risk herself when the time came. They were parents. There was no question that they would risk everything for their children. It didn’t matter to him that other hunters he respected might not agree with their decision—it was theirs to make. 
Wake, beloved, and come to me. See me. The earth has healed you and you are fully in my world. Wake now.
He made certain the soil was open above their heads and their bodies were clean and fresh after their resting. Charlotte’s long lashes lifted and the impact of her beautiful eyes felt like a punch to his gut. Hard. In there. Dead on. For a moment she was all his, soft and loving, a ghost of a smile there for him. Then she was present, in the moment, and the daylight battle and kidnapping of their child came flooding back.
“Liv,” she whispered, her throat closing on a lump. “Tariq, she’s so frightened. I can feel her through you and she’s terrified. She wants to die. She’s figuring out a way to provoke them.”
He had known Charlotte was strong from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. As he’d gotten to know her, had been in her mind, the conviction had grown. When she’d awakened from her slumber in the earth because Liv had been sleepwalking, that had cemented his knowledge. Now, as she woke, she automatically scanned his mind, learned every detail of what had gone on while she slept.
“We’re going to get her, sielamet. Your first time in the sun will be vicious. It will feel as if you’re burning. You can take it, Charlotte. If we don’t get everything in place before Fridrick rises, we might miss our chance to get her back.”
Charlotte nodded immediately and allowed him to help her into a sitting position. “Tell me what you need me to do.”
There had been no hesitation, and he was proud of her for that. “We both have to feed. Our security crew is still here, guarding the property. They’ve been cleaning up. I told them to gather every single piece of the carousel horses and, wearing thick gloves so there was no chance of getting a splinter, put them in bags and bring them to the workroom. I will ensure all pieces are accounted for down to the smallest sliver. When I am certain, I’ll feed and then you will.”
She touched the tip of her tongue to her lips, looking a little apprehensive, but she didn’t protest. “Reach out to her again, Tariq. Let her know we’re both with her.”
“She knows, beloved.” He was as gentle as possible. “She’s holding herself together by a thread. We can’t snap that thread, nor do we want anyone to be aware we’re communicating with her. They have to think we won’t be on the move until sunset.”
“You reassured her all day,” she protested.
He nodded, gathering her into his arms and brushing his mouth gently over hers as he floated them to the surface and then closed the soil behind him. “We did. Val woke as well to aid me. But she asked for quiet to try to concentrate. She said she was afraid she’d betray the fact that I was with her. She was very close to falling apart so I told her I’d give her that, but would stay connected with her.”
Charlotte bit her lip and nodded her understanding. She didn’t like it, but Tariq knew she understood. It took every ounce of Liv’s courage to keep from wailing and screaming for them to come for her. She could see it in the child’s mind, just as he could. She could also see the small cage she was in as well as the horrifying puppets surrounding it. They were brutes with rotting flesh sloughing off. Jagged, serrated, bloodstained teeth. Fetid breath. No longer human, craving blood and flesh, they were monsters beyond anyone’s imagining, let alone a ten-year-old child’s.“I need to get to her, Tariq. I need to. I can barely breathe.”
He felt the same way. He was cool and calm, able to push emotion aside, and yet, with Liv taken, his gut was twisted into hard knots and his lungs refused to cooperate. His child. He’d promised her she would be safe and they’d taken her a second time. He had no idea what that would do to her, but he was fairly certain she would be scarred for life, no matter how good they made things for her.
“We’ll get her,” he reassured, letting her see the truth of his statement, his firm conviction, because there could be no other outcome. They had to get their daughter and bring her home safe.
He clothed them as he took her through the house to the front door. “You’ll need to wear special sunglasses at all times, Charlotte. Don’t take them off until sunset.”
“What else?”
“You will follow my instructions to the letter no matter how much you want to go to Liv. If you trust me, Charlotte, and you’ll have to for us to pull this off, then you need to remember, no matter how bad it seems, that I’ll get Liv away from them.”