Dark Illusion Read Free Page A

vampire. She’d spent centuries in captivity, trained through violence and pain to do whatever she was told. She’d lived. She’d survived.
    The Elisabeta from childhood was long gone. In her place was a woman terrified of life. Of living on her own. Of making a single decision. She hadn’t dared for centuries and now, just the thought was terrifying and overwhelming. Julija knew she wouldn’t be able to do it and would need help. She had intended to help her. Now, she wasn’t certain when she could get back to her only friend.
    Julija knew the Carpathians were hoping to heal Elisabeta by leaving her in the ground, as was their custom. The earth’s properties, especially minerals, aided the species to heal faster, as well as rejuvenated them each day as they slept. The earth might heal Elisabeta’s body, but not her heart, not her soul, nor could it help with the emotional toll those centuries had taken on her. She would be utterly lost.
    Julija couldn’t imagine that any of the omnipotent Carpathian hunters would have any understanding of how completely Sergey Malinov, the man who’d kidnapped her, had shaped her life. Elisabeta had been young and he’d shaped her into a woman who was totally submissive and had no idea how to be anything else. Julija knew the chances of her becoming anything different were slim to none—not with centuries of developing that character.
    What was she doing here in the mountains on an impossible quest when the only friend she had in the world needed her desperately? She couldn’t help herself. She was telepathic and very, very powerful. Elisabeta was hundreds of miles away and in the ground, but Julija reached out to her anyway, knowing Elisabeta was just as powerful.
    Elisabeta. Can you hear me?
    The Carpathians were all telepathic and used a common pathway to talk to one another. Julija was well aware of that pathway and wanted to avoid it at all costs. She and Elisabeta had created their own conduit of communication to keep their vampire captor from knowing that they were talking. At the time they’d been focused on Elisabeta escaping. She had been terrified to do so for many reasons.
    Julija had only then realized the extent of the problems the other woman would be facing if she got away. She had been cared for since she was only seventeen and before that, her family had watched over her.Elisabeta remembered that much about her childhood. She’d been so young, and she’d followed Sergey, a childhood friend of her family. He had built a wall in memory of his missing sister and she’d gone willingly to see it. Instead, she’d found herself taken prisoner by a madman.
    Julija pushed more power into her query, sending it out toward the location she knew Elisabeta to be in. Can you hear me? Are you awake? Out from under the ground yet?
    She waited, counting the most prominent stars overhead, wishing on them like a child. When had she been a child? She didn’t even remember. Elisabeta was at times very childlike still and yet she’d gone through more than any being should ever have to.
    Julija?
    The voice was faint, not from the distance—Julija was providing the bridge and she was immensely powerful. She could manage the distance, and it helped that she knew exactly where her friend was. Elisabeta was uncertain. Frightened. Julija didn’t like that.
    Are you alone, my friend?
    Yes. Elisabeta relayed that without hesitation. Underground. I don’t want to face the world yet. Not ready.
    I will come as soon as possible. This errand is taking longer than expected.
    There was a small silence while Julija’s heart pounded. She pressed her hand, beneath the cover of the sleeping bag, to her heart. She wanted to wrap her arms around Elisabeta. She was still that young girl, never given a chance to blossom and grow into the woman she should have been.
    Are you safe?
    Julija didn’t know why that simple inquiry coming from Elisabeta brought tears to her eyes. Was she? She stared up