Chapter Fifteen

Pain seized Sakura’s body and she cried out grabbing hold of Requiem for support as her body shook. Her vision was blurred to almost nothing as she lashed out helplessly, trying to ground herself from the agony she was drowning in. She could hear the screams of the other women and she fought back the chaos surrounding her to slip within herself to discover the source of her pain.

Requiem held Sakura tightly to him, preventing her from falling to the ground completely. She trembled a second and then went utterly limp in his arms.

“Sakura?” he panicked. “Sakura what’s wrong? Sakura you have to come back to m! Wake up!”

Her body was warm to the touch and glowing slightly, letting him know she was conducting a healing inspection on her body. He could feel the baby’s heart rate race in distress and he sought out that faint pulse to try and calm it but to no avail. The baby cried out in terror as it struggled against some unknown force, he could sense her trying to feel the same agony that afflicted her mother. Speaking calmly and soothingly to his little girl, he tried to ease her distress but even as he did, he felt the little life slipping away form him.

“Stay with me my loves.” he pleaded to mother and child.

All around him the guests were in a frenzied state, the hunter’s trying to assess the source of attack and the women were only fearing the worst for those pregnant and suffering some unknown ailment. Mikhail and Gregori fretted over their lifemates who seemed to have eased out of the momentary shock and who were seemingly on repair. Their pain had come and went instantaneously, their babies unaffected, while Sakura writhed and cried out in unrelenting pain.

A dark figure stood unperturbed by the chaos of the broken wedding party at the clearing’s edge. Sneering, he sauntered towards the groom and his struggling bride, picking up and hurling the stone alter out of his way in a show of vampire strength and the demon within. Halting above the newly wed couple, he kicked Requiem had in the back, forcing him to fall forward, crushing Sakura’s body.

“How pathetic of you Requiem. I really did expect more than the sniveling wretch you have become with this worthless child.” the raspy voice mocked.

“Sasha?”

“Did you really think you could get rid of me that easily? Half blinded by blood you couldn’t even aim to take me down.” scoffed the vampire. “Sad really. I always told you I was the better fighter, and now I have powers you can’t even imagine.”

“What have you done?” Requiem demanded through clenched teeth as he attempted to shelter Sakura’s body with his own.

“What have I done? What have I done?” he laughed without any real mirth. “Nothing that you don’t already deserve Requiem.”

Reaching down he seized the back of Requiem’s tunic and hurled him away from Sakura onto the ground.

“You always thought you were so much better than me didn’t you? Always thought that you were indestructible and the world was yours for the taking, didn’t you? You have no idea what have become Requiem, how powerful I now am and how I can make you pay for all the centuries I’ve had to put up with living in your arrogant shadow!”

“I once called you friend,” Requiem growled low, wiping the blood from his mouth from where his fangs had cut his lip and cheek, “but now you are nothing more than a monster.”

“Is that what I am? A monster? I’m afraid you are the monster my friend. What sort of man seeks out his own friends with the intend to utterly destroy them?”

“Once a Carpathian has been turned he no longer regards anyone friend.”

“You killed my brothers! We grew up together! How could you kill your own childhood companions you murderer!” The vampire grew excited, his eyes flashing a dangerous red.

A few feet away Sakura stirred, slowly regaining consciousness.

“I hunt the undead. That is all.” Requiem replied coldly.

“You murder your own people. You killed my family. You robbed us all of our chances at lifemates. Of that delectable woman to warm our beds and do our biddings.”

“That is not what a lifemate is Sasha. Your vampire perverted mind prevents you from seeing any truth or good in this world.”

“You robbed me of my family and of a lifemate and now I will take and destroy yours in exchange.” Sasha grinned grotesquely at his fallen opponent as he reached for Sakura. Requiem leapt into action, throwing himself at the vampire and onto the ground away from Sakura. The creature shrieked and laughed maliciously as he found himself wrestling with the hunter. “Do you really think you can beat me mighty Requiem?” he taunted.

Anger, red, searing and almost blinded overthrew any instinct or intention Requiem had developed. Rage coursed through his body as he held down what remain of his closest friend and so that his fist could connect with the beast’s rotting flesh over and over. He knew that this thing was somehow responsible for all the attacks he and Sakura had been plagued since they had been joined. The vampire’s hollow laughter only drove his fists harder and harder into the already cracking skull. Black blood was spilling out onto the firm ground and burning through the flesh of Requiem’s knuckles but he could not stop his merciless drive to make this thing suffer.

Sakura groaned and choked slightly, clutching at the painful contractions in her womb as her body fought against her and her unborn child. She could feel it trying to force her daughter into submission, viewing her as a foreign object that must be terminated. The baby fought hard against her environment’s rejection, clinging desperately onto its mother’s soothing voice as her father fought his own battle in the outside world.

Driven by a wild, bloodthirsty force, Requiem kept pinned his bloodied opponent beaten into minimal retaliation while he clawed at his chest in search of the vampire’s shriveled heart.

“Killing me won’t save your lifemate Requiem. When I’m gone I’ll be taking her with me.” Sasha croaked, spewing his poisonous blood in all directions. He was too weak and stunned by Requiem’s attack to physically injure the hunter but the evil inside him knew exactly which cords to play within his former friend to do the most damage. “I’m taking her down with me, her and your precious baby.”

Requiem’s flesh burned and was quickly deteriorating where the tainted blood of his victim had been spilled. “You will not harm them!” he screamed as he ripped apart the decrepit undead.

“Her body is rejecting the baby. Even when I am gone, I have won Requiem.” The vampire’s eyes were aglow with triumph even as the hunter seized his loathsome heart and incinerated it. There was a pause as Requiem remained over the chard ruins of the creature, his hands scorched and raw with the foul undead’s blood, breathing heavily as reality slowly seeped back into his mind, removing the predator’s hold. Those who had been watching that which had just transpired remained silent and help their breath in anticipation of his next move.

“Requiem!” Sakura moaned in anguish as her body contracted and spasmed.

“Sakura! What is it?” Concern flooded his shocked system as he scrambled back to where she lay. Colby had assumed care of her in his absence and was holding Sakura’s sweaty head in her lap as she stroked her hair in what should have been a calming gesture.

“The baby! They’re trying to take my baby!” Tears were streaming down Sakura’s now dirt stained cheeks as she clutch protectively at her stomach. “There are things inside me attacking my baby girl! Get them out! Make them stop!” she sobbed.

“I scanned her body as well as my lifemate’s and the prince’s and I could find so signs of the attack she claims to be threatening her and your child.” Gregori stated grimly.

“What do you mean you can’t find anything?” Requiem demanded, hot with fury. “You are the best healer we have!”

“I can’t find anything that is truly wrong with her except her body is rejecting the child.” the healer shot back.

“Well there’s obviously something wrong then! She’s in so much pain, do something!”

“I don’t know what I can do Requiem! Your lifemate is the only one who has any grasp on the situation and can do anything about it! Sakura, if you were to scan yourself again do you think you could find the source of affliction?”

“It’s attacking my baby and won’t let go!” she moaned despairingly.

“Can you see them?” Gregori pressed.

“Yes.”

“Do you think you could destroy them if we guided you since you are the one who knows what these things look like?”

“Is there no other way?” Requiem pleaded.

“I can try but I’m not quite sure what I’m doing.” Sakura admitted nervously, turning to her lifemate for reassurance. Requiem’s brow was wrinkled with concern as he squeezed her hand to share with her the strength he wasn’t quite sure if he, at that moment, possessed.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura sank back into Requiem’s arms as she allowed her spirit to slip away from her body into an entity of energy before reentering her body as an objective, separate being. She raced through the soft tissue and maze of veins and arteries to her womb where her distressed baby was fighting a losing battle for her life. Parasites as black as the blood of the undead were attacking the child in attempt to separate her completely from her mother, viciously assaulting the umbilical cord. She recognized the parasites from the poisonous compounds she had encountered in the vampire’s blood she had managed to study as she had aided in healing Requiem. Had she somehow come into contact with vampire blood that had infected her and her baby?

“They’re latching onto and attacking my womb.”

Concentrating deeper, she sent a blast of blinding, healing light towards the largest concentration of parasites. The blast only cleared a space that was soon filled once more.

“It’s like fighting vampires ‘Kura.” Natalya prompted.

“I don’t really have the equipment to make much an impact.” Sakura confessed, her voice shaking and strength wavering.

“Fight for us little one.”

“Funny, I thought you hated me having anything to do with fighting.” she panted.

“I need you to this one time.”

“She’s not going to hold out. I’m going in.”Natalya decided and without a moment’s hesitation she slipped into the spirit form Sakura had adopted, driving determinedly into her friend’s body to her aid.

“Can you see them?” Sakura asked her friend, grateful for the support.

“Not exactly but I can sense them. If you draw them out towards me, I think I can zap ‘em for ya.”

Requiem held his breath as his nerves raked violently at his insides. As opposed as he was to Sakura putting herself in harms way under any circumstance and as much as Natalya’s liberal ways were less than ideal, he couldn’t stand the thought of his woman in ant kind of pain. He could feel Gregori’s hold tightening on his shoulder, warning him not to follow the spirits.

“You are needed here to anchor her my friend.” the healer sternly reminded him.

“There has to be something I can do!”

“There is you have to be here for her to hold onto while her spirit is at work! You have to be her rock so that she can cling to someone who will be able to bring her back!” His words had a sullen effect on the hunter and Requiem face fell as he bit back his action oriented instincts to just hold the limp body of his lifemate.

“Natalya, are you getting any of them?” Sakura asked breathlessly, her voice straining.

Natalya’s spirit body whirled about with fluid precision as she lashed out against she nearly invisible opponents. She could feel the assailants surrounding her; taking the bait she so carefully laid out using her spirit to imitate the baby’s spirit. She had been born a fighter and no one could ever question that fact once they had seen her in action.

“You’ll have to tell me if I’m actually making any impact or if I’m just dancin’ here.”

The hoard of blackness was slowly receding as the warrior woman continued battle. Sakura ploughed through the darkness with enough drive and strength to both protect her child and shelter her from the goings on around her. She fought with sheer determination as she sent the remaining parasites to Natalya to be destroyed.

“I think we got them all.”

“Are you sure? Because I’m about done out with this invisible army stuff.” Natalya panted.

“No, we’re done here.”

After her spirit had tenderly rocked her daughter into a peaceful sleep, Sakura eased herself back into her body and the physical world that awaited her. She opened her eyes to Requiem’s pain racked face filling her vision. Relief flooded his tortured eyes upon her revival and he clutched her tightly to his chest, rocking her gently more for his comfort than her own.

“Baby, are you alright?” was all he managed to choke out as tears of solace spilled down onto her silky mass of untidy hair.

“I’m fine Requiem, we both are.” Sakura replied with a shaky whisper. “What happened?”

“We’re not sure to be perfectly honest.” Gregori’s deep voice stated dourly.

“I won’t let you out of my sight again.” vowed Requiem as he gathered as much of his lifemate into his arms as he was physically capable. “I somehow failed you allowing such harm to befall you and our baby.”

“This was not your fault friend,” the prince assured from where he had been keenly watching the events unfold, “we are not sure what exactly happened here on this night. Again the vampires appear to have tried to destroy another joyous occasion. We were lucky this time but who knows how they will retaliate from this loss? This seemed to be personally aimed at Requiem but their weapon of choice could not have possibly been developed for the soul purpose of destroying Sakura. The y have banded together with a deeper source of evil. One who has been keenly observing out peoples and is trying to destroy us all. We will be more vigilant as a result and we must find out what it was that tried to force Sakura’s body to turn on her child. Maybe it is somehow connected with our people’s likelihood of miscarrying. We will study this but for now, Requiem you must once again take your lifemate to a sanctuary of sorts. I do apologize for the way your wedding has turned out, but let us not dwell upon the bad this night for a wedding is meant to be a merry occasion.”

The prince bowed low to Requiem as he gingerly helped Sakura to her feet. Turning to the wedding goers he gestured regally to the couple announcing: “I gave you Requiem and Sakura. Tried and true may their love be everlasting for as sure as we have seen today, any hardship that may befall upon them, they will face it as one.”

“Requiem and Sakura!” The crowd cheered, reverting the somber place of battle into that of the celebration one would expect at a wedding. Each Carpathian added their own magical gift to the beauty that surrounded the newly wedded couple as Requiem’s lips met Sakura’s again in an eternal exchange of love and a willingness to allow the joy of that night overtake evils. Their love was a joy to flow freely throughout all that were fortunate enough to witness it and was only strengthened by the triumph of that love’s strength in the face of danger.

Requiem smiled as his wife’s sweet “I love you” rang softly through his ears. In spite of himself, he laughed blissful and true. He had shown his people how deeply his love for Sakura ran and proved how strong their bond was without the restrictions of age or time. They were united in the eyes of all the world, human and immortal, their unborn child was safe and growing strong and in his arms, his every world was sharing in his undoubtedly pure happiness. What more could he possibly ask for?