The Brethren Of Tavish [Vampire Coven Book 1] (21 page)

“I can’t live without her,” Tavish said and
wept. “Mercy, I’m so sorry, but I can’t let you die. Please stay with me.
Please don’t leave me all alone again.”

Mercy knew what he meant about being alone. His
men surrounded him. He loved and was loved, but he had never let anyone in,
until she came around. His heart was in her hands. But she was dying. Tavish
was leaning over her. He looked devastated. His gentle words soothed her. He
told her he loved her. Mercy felt his fangs at her throat. He was turning her.
He was killing their baby. But she would die anyway; their baby would die if
she did, regardless. She felt her blood flow down his throat as he swallowed.
They were mixed together. It was like the running of a tap—she heard the
sensation as well as felt it. The memories came. His memories, ones he had
never shared before, he shared them now.
His mother dying,
his family burning.
Anguish, sorrow, fear, hurt, fury, revenge. She
witnessed his father being speared in the back as Tavish was tossed to the air.

Live my son.

She saw what Tavish saw as he watched his
father fall. She felt the hate and humiliation, the aloneness. Decades flew by
then centuries turned into thousands of years. Years without giving into love.
But he had formed unbreakable bonds. She saw him laughing with Laken as the
pyramids were built, saying they would never last. She watched as he and Caine
shook their heads in the coliseum while Rhett fought a lion. Rhett was ripped
to shreds and still he lay grinning as he died and Tavish had to have him. She
watched Ryker swing his sword with a vengeance and demand to be taken to
Valhalla. Tavish cut him down and admired his courage. Each addition to his
coven was welcomed with pride. Mercy watched as each man was chosen and why.
Decisions to turn anyone wasn’t
ever on a whim…but she was.
Tavish had only one reason to turn her.

Most importantly she felt his love for her. She
knew if she died he would. The loss would be too much for him to handle. After
keeping his emotions at bay for thousands of years, she felt each one. They
were easier to feel as his tears mixed with her blood. He knew she wouldn’t
drink from him. Mercy knew this was how he had turned Ursus.

She knew all of him now. He had gifted her with
everything. She would have eternity to replay his memories and emotions. They
were joined in death. Mercy felt herself falling. She wasn’t afraid. There was
darkness for a few mere seconds then light. She was surprised when a bright
white light shined onto where her family waited. Her mother was smiling. Her
father beckoned to her. Her cousins were there, all of them. Grampy blew her a
kiss, and there was nothing remotely cold about it. It looked so peaceful. And
they looked proud of her. She felt no anger aimed towards her,
no
betrayal or treason. Mercy only felt their love, it
surrounded her, invaded her. It was so tempting to move forward to be with
them.

Mother, Father, I love
you
.

A noise tugged at her, stopping her from moving
forward into the light. She could hear Tavish’s frantic calls. He loved her; he
was saying it over and over and over, begging her to stay with him. She had
been a child of the ice and now was a woman of the coven.

A thought flowed through her. The night Tavish
had asked if she would really stay with him.
The intensity in
his eyes as he had awaited her response.
She understood now. Mercy
understood why he had shown her how his men were turned. He could bite her. But
the choice was ultimately hers.

Chapter 13

Mercy woke and began sobbing. She was in
Tavish’s bed. Mercy sat up, there was no pain. She was no longer paralyzed.
Tavish kissed her and thanked her for returning to him. His forehead pressed to
hers. They could both hear the faint hum of their little one’s heartbeat.

“Oh, Tavish,” she wept. “What will we do? I
can’t stand it. The agony is killing me.”

Tavish was then on his knees before her. He
gripped her hands in his. “There’s hope, Mercy.”

“What hope? I’m a vampire. My child, our child
will never be born. Tavish I’m dying inside with the thought. I wanted our baby
so badly.” A heart-wrenching sob tore from her throat.

“Listen to me, little cub. Trust me to do
what’s right for all of us.” Tavish’s voice was urgent. “For some reason, you
have been turned and yet not fully.”

“But I feel different. I can hear the baby’s
heartbeat. My senses are heightened. It’s so confusing, I hear other voices
too.”

“I know but listen carefully. Block the others
out. You can do it.”

Mercy cocked her head. She heard the baby’s
heart strong and sure. A daily reminder of what she lost. Never would she be
able to block the sound of her child. She didn’t think she could stand it. The
noise would drive her insane. Always knowing her only child was forever out of
her reach—would never grow. She was so devastated, she almost didn’t hear as
another noise sounded.
A blip.
Then
a few moments later another.
It was her heartbeat.

“You said the heart of a vampire still beats.”

“Not like yours, Mercy,” Tavish said and
smiled. She concentrated; hers was a beat a minute. “Listen to what your body
needs. You haven’t asked me for blood. By now you should be begging for it,
craving it.” Tavish practically climbed into her mouth with his fingers. “No
fangs.”

“I am hungry.
But no, not for
blood.
A steak, Tavish, I want a steak—rare. And water. I need water.”

“You have been turned. I can tell,” Tavish
said. He got up and sat beside her. “The baby was already part vampire, more human
before but now closer to half and half. You are half and half. There’s a chance
the baby had to sacrifice part of its human side so it could grow. Vampires can
heal themselves. Give it time, little cub. I won’t let you go crazy. But please
give it a little time.”

“All right.
For us, I will give it
time. But the choice is mine, Tavish.”

Tavish nodded his agreement. Mercy would wait.
She had all the time in the world. But could she stand to listen to the baby’s
heartbeat for years, decades, centuries? She trusted Tavish, but that didn’t
stop her from burying her head into his chest and sobbing her heart out.

* * * *

“You know what this means?” Laken said.

“Yes.” Tavish rubbed his hands across his face.

“We have no idea how old Remo’s child is,”
Rhett said.

The female vampire who had killed Tanya would
only have been turned for one reason. She must have been Remo’s chosen. No
doubt the babe would be a full-blooded human unless Remo had someone like Caine
who had come to the same conclusion. But was Remo’s child a baby or full-grown
man? There was no doubt in Tavish’s mind the child was male. And they still had
yet to determine how old the child was and if he had been turned.

“I’m guessing the boy is still a child,” Caine
said.

All forty-one vampires sat or stood in the
eating hall. “Why is that?” Tavish asked. He rubbed his eyes, feeling weary.
Mercy was on his mind. Killing another was far from his thoughts.

“Because he wasn’t the
one helping his father.
It was Remo’s chosen.”

It made sense. “That means there is another
caring for the boy. It could be a human female.
A nanny or
wet nurse.
If we find them, we may never know.” Tavish felt a headache
growing; he hadn’t had a headache in over a thousand years. He had no wish to
murder a baby or child, even Remo’s.

“We need to find him. Maybe Ursus can smell
him. Remo’s scent should still be on him,” Ryker said.

“I won’t kill a baby,” Tavish said. All of his
vampires looked at him with sympathy. “I can send Ursus out looking. If there
is a babe, there is no one left of Remo’s
coven.
The
child and whoever is with him will be desperate. Humans will turn them away because
he is illegal as far as they are concerned and not their problem. They will be
starving shortly.”

“What will you do with him?” Laken asked.

“It depends on his age,” Tavish said and
sighed. “If he was aware he was supposed to be co-coven leader he will be too
dangerous.”

Tavish understood the rage in losing a parent.
He supposed it was why he had spared Remo in the first place. Revenge was sweet
but not when tempered with guilt. The same problem would now arise with the
child. Tavish had killed the boy’s father and his mother. Tavish crossed his
fingers the child would be young, or turned.

Three days later Ursus found them. Tavish
approached the female who was on her knees in the ice cave. She was human and
sobbing. She looked cold and hungry. Wrapped in her arms was a baby of no more
than five or six months. Tavish breathed a sigh of relief. The young female
raised her hands to him pitifully.

“No humans will have us. You are a vampire.
Please take us home with you,” she begged.

“Do you wish to live?” Tavish asked. He was
alone. He had sent Ursus away when he arrived. Whatever needed to be done he
would do alone.

“Please don’t hurt us.”

“If you lie to me you will die. Do you
understand?” She was perhaps eighteen, tiny and shivering. She looked so
pitiful it was hard to keep his gruff exterior. Tavish was bluffing, but she
wouldn’t know that. After living with Remo, she would no doubt know cruelty.

“I won’t lie, I won’t lie,” she said, weeping.
Her body was curled around the baby.

“How old is the babe?”

“Six months.”

“He is Remo’s son?”

She looked terrified. “Don’t hurt him, please
don’t, he is only a baby.”

“Answer my question.”

“No, he is
mine
now; he is mine. His father
and mother never came back for him. I feed him. I kept him safe. My baby was
stillborn and this is my son. This is
my
son.”

It was no wonder she clung so tight. “Would you
like to keep your son?”

“Yes.” She looked hopeful. The baby made a soft
protest at the firm grip she had on him. Her blue eyes were watery and Tavish
knew she would do anything for him. She was open for suggestion, tired, afraid,
weary
and alone; it would take nothing at all.

Tavish went and crouched before her. He cupped
her face in his hands; she didn’t resist. He heard her heart pounding. “You
never had a stillborn baby.” Tavish shined his glowing white eyes into hers.
“This boy
is
your son. He has always
been your son. He was born to you. You love him because he is your own. When he
was born you held him in your arms and cried with happiness because he cried
and was filled with life. He nurses from your breasts. You gave him life. Do
you understand?”

She nodded and Tavish continued. “What have you
named your son?”

By God, I’m going to
give one woman a baby to hold and love.

“Kale.
After
his father.
Remo’s chosen killed him when she was turned. He was the
sacrifice.”

“What’s your name?”

“Felicity.”

“Felicity, your son, Kale, is beautiful. His
father would be proud. When you wake you will give me your son to hold. You
will feel no fear. You are both mine to protect and neither of you will ever be
harmed again.”

Tavish released her from his stare. She blinked
and looked confused for a second until she looked into her arms. She smiled at
the baby, hugging him. “Would you like to hold him?” she asked shyly.

“Yes.”

Tavish took the boy, turned slightly and shined
his white eyes down on him. The baby was completely human.
You will obey your masters, child. No harm will come to you. You will
be happy and love your mother, Felicity, until the day she dies
. Tavish
chuckled slightly when the baby resisted at first. Remo had no doubt given him
another message. But the baby was no match for Tavish’s power. The young were
easily swayed. All of Remo’s instructions were vanquished.

Tavish handed the boy back to his mother and
once more looked deeply into her eyes. “I’m going to wrap the both of you well
against the cold. You will sleep until I command you to wake. When you wake you
will be warm. You will be safe. You will be happy, and you will feel loved—no
more fear, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, Master,” she whispered.

Tavish wished he could do the same for Mercy.
When Felicity slumped, and the baby whimpered, Tavish put the baby to sleep.
Being a vampire was a boon when it came to crying infants. There was no such
thing as colic in his coven. No terrible twos, no temper tantrums. No teething
pains. No pains of any kinds.

Tavish wrapped Felicity in warm furs while
Ursus, who had appeared at his request, held the baby in a huge paw.