“You have to read to her,” Jasmine said. “You do all the voices.” She turned back to smile at them. “It was nice to meet everyone.”
Jubal nodded toward them but didn’t say anything as he escorted the two females from the room.
“This man is related to Joie, Traian Trigovise’s lifemate.” Sandu indicated Jubal. It was a statement of fact more than a question.
Dominic nodded. “Yes. He is Joie’s older brother and has been in our world a long time. He’s fought at the side of the Carpathian people against the undead as well as fought with Solange and her family against the Jaguar men and their many attempts to take Solange and her cousins. He knows Danutdaxton and Riley. He saved Riley’s life on more than one occasion, along with Gary before Gary’s conversion. He is a man much respected in the Carpathian community.”
Even the brethren in the monastery heard of Jubal Sanders once we left our sanctuary. He isn’t Carpathian; he is human, but he’s strong, able to face vampires and every enemy our species must fight.
There is so much to be learned, Sandu. Dominic. Solange. Jubal. Jasmine. All of them are strong in their own way, Adalasia pointed out. She sank farther into the chair and moved against him, her thigh sliding against his.
“How is it we can help you, Sandu?” Dominic asked.
“All memories of my past are gone, Dominic,” Sandu said. “I may have wiped them from my mind to ensure my family was safe in the event of my turning, or perhaps it was done before I ever set out on my journeys. I know that you traveled extensively throughout the various mountain ranges and cave systems. Do you have any recollection of my family?”
“Berdardi is a very old name, Sandu. I came across Domizio di Berdardo. It was close to dawn, and he had destroyed many vampires that a master vampire had surrounded himself with. Domizio had crawled toward a cave in an effort to avoid the sun, but he was leaving a blood trail—a very large one. It was evident when I ran across it that this Carpathian hunter was not going to survive his wounds. I followed the blood and found him, almost gone just inside the entrance to a set of caves.”
Do you recognize the name? Adalasia asked. She could tell by the way Dominic was studying Sandu’s face that he expected him to recognize it, but there was not even the faintest clue of memory on his part. She felt, just for a moment, a hint of his frustration. It welled up and he let it go.
No, Sivamet, I do not.
Sandu shook his head. “I have no memory of such a man, Dominic. Clearly, he must be some relation to me, but if he is, I do not recall who he is.”
“He is, or was, your father. He did survive that injury. We spent a few nights together while he was healing. In that time, I learned he had a lifemate, Madolina; a son, Sandu; and a daughter, Liona. I learned most of that information from his mind when I provided blood or went inside his body to heal his wounds. They were quite severe.”
Adalasia could feel Sandu struggling to reach back into his memories to find any of those people, but it wasn’t as if they were behind a barrier. They were not present. His memories of his past had been wiped away. To Sandu, they were simply people, not family. Although now he knew of Liona; he just couldn’t recall memories of her. She slipped her hand in his, wanting to make this easier for him. Sandu was unused to emotion, so he was already reacting how he normally did when feelings threatened to get in his way—he simply turned emotion off.
She didn’t like when he turned feelings off; he always felt very far away from her. It was easy for him to do, and he did it often, but it left her feeling as though she was completely alone.
You are never alone, ewal emninumam minan. The way he said “my own sweet goddess” in his language, his voice pouring into her mind like dark, thick honey, filled every perceived emptiness that had ever been in her, warming her. I am always with you.
“Domizio had every intention, the moment he was healed, of picking up the trail of the master vampire and his cadre of followers. He was a hunter, and once on the trail, he didn’t ever stop. You have a certain reputation, Sandu.”
“I believe you are correct, Dominic,” Nicu said. “Sandu never stops once he is in pursuit of his prey. They run, but he has never ceased hunting until he destroys them.”
“He must have gotten that trait from his family line,” Siv said.
Dominic nodded his assent. “Domizio had, without a doubt, a one-track mind when it came to the undead. I suggested that I would continue the hunt. I had no lifemate or family, and this particular vampire was quite cunning and had several lesser vampires, but still, ones skilled in battle. He would hear none of my logic. It was his duty, he proclaimed. In the end, we hunted together. Domizio had not only strength of body but strength of will. I see these traits in you, his son.”