Total pages in book: 182
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 165649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 828(@200wpm)___ 663(@250wpm)___ 552(@300wpm)
She is very afraid of Sergey. I think looking in the amygdala is our best choice to access any memory she might have of his calling to her.
That made sense to Ferro. The amygdala was the part of the brain that regulated emotions like fear, which Sergey had trained Elisabeta to have in abundance. Again, Ferro stayed back, allowing Gary to take the lead, but he merged with that hot spirit in order to know any piece of information the healer discovered. He had no idea what he was doing and didn’t want to disturb the healer while he sorted quickly through Elisabeta’s memories, but he was determined to see each memory as it came to light.
Here, Gary said. I have found her memories of his communication to her.
The recall of the vampire’s voice whispered to them, filling her mind, filling theirs. He sounded commanding. Menacing. A snarling, ugly broadcast that hurt the ear.
You will return to me or I will skin those children alive in front of you and allow my puppets to tear the flesh from their bones.
Every man, woman and child will be burned alive when we are finished torturing them.
Come to me now. You cannot exist without me. You do not know how to exist without me.
Come to me now or when I get you back you will be punished for a thousand years.
Each different refrain from rising to rising was repeated in a grating voice that was much like nails on a chalkboard. Ferro could imagine that someone as sensitive as Elisabeta would suffer endlessly just hearing his voice, let alone from the vampire’s actual punishments. Sergey’s threats weren’t empty ones, either. He had shown time and again that he would carry those intimidations out. Ferro had seen glimpses of her memories and knew that Gary had as well. They had gone through her brain, hunting for evidence that Sergey may have left a sliver of himself behind, and had to examine her so closely that they could see many of the terrible things the vampire had done to her and to others in order to force her to comply with his wishes.
Elisabeta had been in the healing grounds for several weeks before her moans and cries had been overheard by Ferro and he had realized she was his lifemate. At that time, he had taken over feeding her, sleeping in the ground with her and weaving his own safeguards around her when he was hunting vampires. Each time he was with her, Sergey was unable to get through, or at least he had gone quiet. There was no evidence of him speaking to Elisabeta. On the occasions Ferro was gone, Sergey whispered more viciously than ever. Each threat became worse than the next, and with it, a memory of something horrendous he had done to her or someone else. Once, it had been the annihilation of an entire village.
Ferro wanted to wrap Elisabeta in a silken cocoon, and at the same time he wanted to become what he was born to be, the fierce predator, hunting the master vampire until he found him and destroyed him. Such a vile monster couldn’t remain on earth where, eventually, as his power grew, his insatiable cruelty would demand more and more victims.
Without Elisabeta, the decomposition of his body would begin to accelerate quickly. The memories of emotions would already be fading. If he didn’t have access to her, not even short visits to threaten her, he would unravel and become desperate to reacquire her. It was no wonder that he was stepping up his terrorization tactics. It was Sergey who was becoming frantic, but how could Ferro get Elisabeta to see that she was the one with the power?
Sergey had beaten her down for centuries, making her so dependent on him, taking all power away from her. She was Carpathian and yet she didn’t know how to do what even a young human child could do, let alone a full-grown Carpathian woman. Ferro had been told that as a young girl, Elisabeta had the reputation for bringing peace to the Carpathian males. Ancient hunters would often visit the Trigovise household just to be in the same room with her to get a respite from the terrible emptiness of their lives. She had no idea of the gifts she held because Sergey had made her feel as if she were nothing, and yet he had targeted her, kidnapped and imprisoned her for those gifts.
How is it possible he is getting to her? Can you see in her memories where he is getting in? This does not answer the question of how he is getting around the safeguards.
I am well aware of that.
Ferro could see that Gary was moving backward through Elisabeta’s memories, trying to find where Sergey could have planted something of himself in her to allow him to penetrate the defenses of the ancients inside the compound.