Raven swept a hand through her blue-black hair. “I felt the same way for a long time.” She sighed. “The truth is, I still feel the same way. But we persist in judging them by our human standards. They are a different species of people altogether. They are predators and have a completely different view of right and wrong.”
Raven shoved a hand through her hair, frowning as she did so. “I wanted to wait to have a baby. But Mikhail has been noticing differences in Gregori, and we both knew he needed some hope to continue. It worries me, though, because I still have such a hard time fitting into their world.”
Shea crossed the room and sat on the bed beside Raven’s chair. She could hear the fear in the woman’s voice, and something in her instantly responded. “At least there are two of us now. We can gang up on them.”
Raven laughed softly. “It’s such a fight all the time, maintaining any kind of control in my life with Mikhail. I have this feeling he’s only going to get worse with this pregnancy.”
“And you’re obviously going to have the healer on your back,” Shea pointed out. “He’s more daunting than Jacques’ brother.”
Raven sighed. “I wish I could say that wasn’t true, but he’s going to be horrible, really horrible. I can’t blame him, though.”
“I don’t understand what he meant exactly, but I could tell it was imperative I take good care of you.”
Raven tucked her feet beneath her. “Carpathians rarely have children. There’s something that prevents them from having a female child when they do conceive.”
Shea’s mind instantly focused on amassing data. “Can you tell me more?”
Raven obliged. “About eighty percent of all children conceived are male. No one knows why. Only about seventy percent of pregnancies are carried to term. Most miscarry, and it isn’t even within the first three months. It can happen at any time. Of those children born, only a handful survive the first year. Again, no one knows why. The last female child to survive was born over five hundred years ago.” Raven sighed. “The men are desperate. Mikhail and Gregori have a theory that only human women with true psychic ability can make the change and have the right chemistry to be a lifemate. Even if they’re right, you can see the magnitude of the problem. Without women and children, the species cannot survive. The males turn vampire because they have no hope.”
“Perhaps it’s nature’s way of population control. They’re able to live so long,” Shea mused, more to herself than to Raven.
“The species will be extinct soon if they can’t find out what’s wrong,” Raven said sadly. “Gregori is a great man. He’s given so much to his people and suffered for so long. He deserves a better fate than turning vampire and being hated and feared by the world. Out of respect, Mikhail would never allow any other to hunt and destroy him, yet doing so himself would be agony. I’m not even certain anyone could actually destroy one such as Gregori alone. It would be a terrible thing for Gregori to be hunted by the very people he protected and healed.”
“Gregori must have researched the mystery of why there’ve been no female children for centuries. Surely he must have found a reason after all this time. At least he must have a few ideas.” Shea itched to come up with a hypothesis of her own. She suddenly wanted to talk to Gregori, hear all the data he had collected over the centuries.
“He certainly has worked on it. Maybe it will help for the two of you to get together and hash it out,” Raven said tactfully. “But you know, Shea, none of the information on our people can fall into the wrong hands. Any documentation on our race can be dangerous. For the good of our people, you must destroy all your research.”
“It isn’t as if I came up with any data on Carpathians, Raven. I never even considered such a race of people. I was looking for an answer to a blood disorder. I knew people in this region had long been accused of being vampires. I think a lot of legends have a grain of truth in them somewhere, so it stood to reason something was going on here. That and the fact that my father was from this area made me decide to come here and see what I could find out. Honestly, Raven, there’s nothing in my records to indicate a separate species of people with the kind of power these Carpathians wield. Everything is purely medical.”
“It’s still dangerous to us. If it falls into the hands of these so-called scientists, they might figure things out.” Raven put a hand on Shea’s arm. “I’m sorry, I know your records probably represent years of work, but, really, the work was for yourself, and you have the answers to your questions.”
“The work was for all those people who have the same blood disorder as I do.”
“It isn’t a blood disorder, and they don’t need a cure. They’re a totally separate species, not human, and they have evolved into a very efficient species. They work hard and contribute much to society, but they would never be accepted by the human race. If you want to do medical research, then research a real problem, like why we can’t carry babies to term. Why our babies die. Why our women don’t conceive female children. That would be an invaluable service. Believe me, all Carpathians would be eternally grateful. I would be grateful.” She put her hands protectively over her stomach. “If I do carry this baby to term, I couldn’t bear to lose her after her birth.” Raven suddenly sat up straight. “I bet you could do it, Shea—find the answer for all of us. I bet you could.”
“Do something Gregori has failed to do after all these years? I doubt it. He seems very thorough to me.” Shea was skeptical.
“Gregori was the one who came up with the idea about human psychic women, and I’m certain he’s right. You and your mother support his theory. He also thinks there’s something in the Carpathian woman’s chemistry that makes it nearly impossible for the female chromosome to beat out the male.”
“Wouldn’t you know he’d think it was the woman,” Shea sniffed contemptuously. “More than likely the men determine the sex, just like in humans, and they just can’t produce girls.” She grinned at Raven. “The men bring about their own destruction.”
Raven laughed. “Mikhail would never let me speak to you again if he could hear us. He thinks I’m too independent and disrespectful already.” She shrugged carelessly. “It’s probably true, but it’s a lot of fun. I love the way he gets that pained look on his face. He’s so cute.”
“Cute? I’ll bet he likes that description.” Shea got up and restlessly paced the floor. She was feeling uneasy without Jacques’ touch and didn’t want Raven to notice it. He had withdrawn only a short time ago, yet she felt uncomfortable, more than simply uneasy. She longed for the comfort of his mind touch. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should destroy these papers. I’d hate to think that disgusting Don Wallace would find a way to use them against anyone. That man is a sociopath. I mean it, Raven, he’s truly sick.”
Reluctantly Shea began to gather up reams of paper and carry them to the fireplace. Her notebooks she hesitated over. She had collected a tremendous amount of folklore, beautiful stories really, along with scientific data. She hated to lose them. Taking a huge breath, she tossed them into the hearth as well and threw a match in after them.
She had to fight back tears. They seemed to burn her eyes and clog her throat until it was nearly impossible to breathe. And she knew it wasn’t just losing the papers; it was Jacques’ absence from her mind. She felt utterly alone, desolate. She found it harder and harder to concentrate without his presence. When had she become so needy?She hated the feeling of emptiness, barrenness. Where was he? Maybe something had happened to him. Maybe he was dead and had left her completely alone.
“Shea!” Raven said sharply. “Snap out of it. You aren’t alone. Nothing is wrong with Jacques. It’s amazing his silence is affecting you so severely when you’ve only been out of contact a short time.”