STEFAN (Completed)

Part 26

Chapter 26

Ilianu moved with preternatural speed and she didn't even see him move until he was before her. She yelped, clutching at her heart. Ilianu grabbed her without any gentleness. He pushed back her hair from her neck and sank his fangs into her flesh. She gave a strangled cry as she felt her blood begin to flow out of her and into the Ruler.

She clutched at him and he didn't let go until she grew weak and passed out. Her condition was born more out of fear than loss of blood. Ilianu left her unconscious body on the ground, wiping the blood off his fangs with his tongue. His fangs retracted.

"She was telling the truth," Ilianu said. "She mixed a lot of chemicals, each one different from the other on the three occasions she injected him."

"Were you able to find the antidote in her mind?" Liesl asked.

"No. The fool didn't even know the effect her poison would have on Stefan. Her goal was simply to kill him. However, she is a very disturbed woman and a very dangerous one. She assisted her father in the destruction of a few Enforcers. She holds us responsible for the death of her mother and siblings. She cannot be trusted."

"Her knowledge of the effect of her poison makes her very dangerous. She might not recall all the chemicals involved but if a Renegade takes her blood then there would be hell to pay."

"What do you propose that we do?" Rudi asked his father.

"Give Magdalena Lundeberg all the help she needs."

"And the Familiar?"

"She will be locked up in the tower until Stefan is strong enough to decide her punishment. It is his right to punish her. She is to be left alone except when her meals are to be taken to her. Since I have drawn her blood, I shall know the moment she attempts to contact the Renegades."

He crossed the room to his wife. He took her into his arms and placed a light kiss on her forehead.

"Stefan will be all right," he assured her.

"The Familiar is a threat to our kind."

"Yes, but the moment she regains consciousness I intend to wipe out that part of her memory for good. I can't let Andrei or any other Renegade have access to that information. So far Sergei thinks the Familiar just mixed up chemicals in an attempt to kill Stefan. If he had thought otherwise, he would have stolen her memories and wiped them out for good."

Nicolae picked the Familiar up as though she weighed nothing. He carried her up a flight of stairs to the tower room. It was a little room just like an attic but with high windows. It had an adjoining bathroom. He laid her out on the bed. She looked so much like Marina and this reminded him of the package he had received six months earlier.

Marina's head had been neatly wrapped and delivered to one of his offices. He had felt anger when he had received his sister-in-law's head. He had known at once that she had been killed by the vampire he had betrayed Stefan for.

This Familiar could easily pass for Marina but she was diminutive in size. Her size would ordinarily have woken up his protective instinct but the woman was responsible for his twin's condition. She wasn't worth it.

As he headed back for Stefan's bedroom, he ran into Sharon and Zoë. Sharon ran straight into his arms and he held her close. He also stretched out a hand to his sister Zoë.

"I heard the Familiar is awake."

"Yes, but she couldn't offer much. Father went into her mind but could not find any antidote to what ails Stefan." Nik replied.

"How could she be so cruel?"

Nik realized how much his twin's condition affected his wife. After all, Stefan was her second best friend. Zoë had known Stefan all her life and he had always been like a brother to her, even before she had accepted Rudi as her true mate. His present condition hurt them. Zoë's kids Angela and Aurel had shown up earlier. Angela was expecting her third child. Her older kids Bianca and Carmen had been asking after their uncle Stefan.

"How is he?"

That came from Iulia who had just joined them.

"Is there any improvement?"

"Yes. Magdalena has been able to complete the isolation and is working on each chemical. There was so much poison inside him."

"Poor Stefan. If only Bunic would rise. Stefan needs his blood."

"Until he shows up, we have to rely on Magdalena's healing touch."

*******

When Lorena regained consciousness, she found herself in dark room with stone walls. She squinted as she sat up and looked around her feeling uncomfortable. She wasn't sure what kind of a room it was, but its only furniture was the bed she lay in. She knew she had to leave this place. She headed in the direction of the door. As her fingers closed about the door knob, she yelped. Her palm grew red. The door knob was scorching hot. A minute more and she would have left some skin.

"Let me out of here." She screamed. "Let me out."

She screamed until she feared that she might lose her voice in the process. No on e responded to her call. The last thing she recalled was being bitten by Ilianu Romanescu. He hadn't drained her unlike Stefan.

Stefan! She missed him so much. She wished she could see him again. She tried to touch his mind but he sensed her presence and shut her out. Then he reacted. She screamed and doubled over in pain. He had done that to her in his anger.

"You had better stay out of my head before I hurt you really bad," he warned her, his voice deep and bristle.

"I just wanted to find out how you were doing."

"Stay out of my head."

She cried out as she felt as though she had been sucker punched in the stomach. She grabbed unto the bed feeling like she was going to be really sick. She had just managed to straighten up when Ilianu was suddenly before her. She yelped, missing her steps and falling unceremoniously to the floor. He stood before her and pulled her to her feet. She trembled before him in fear.

"Please don't hurt me," she pleaded. "I have the antidote. I shall tell you how to get it."

"You don't have it. I searched your mind."

"I ..."

"Shut up." She was told. And then in a hypnotic tone, he continued. "You shall never remember the chemicals you poisoned my son with."

She nodded. He sank his fangs into her flesh, taking only enough blood to ensure that she had lost that particular memory. There were certain things he had discovered about her which bothered him. Like the fact that she had been sexually abused as a child. Long before she was old enough to know that she was being abused. He also found out that she had been her father's lover, an unwilling lover for twenty eight. He exercised his preternatural powers over his daughter so she could not resist him. She had tried to fight him but he was a vampire and she was only a mere mortal and no match for his powers.

He hurt her physically and locked her up in tight places in order to break her spirit and he had succeeded. What was left was a woman who blamed herself for the abuse on her and who wanted so much to gain her father's love, believing that the only way to atone for her sins was to please him. That made her dangerous. Lord knew the extent she would go to in order to gain her father's love. Ilianu felt pity for her. However, he had to think of his people. She was a danger to them because of her obsession with winning her father's approval.

Ilianu was also given a glimpse of what his son had gone through. He saw her constant visits to Stefan. She had read to him every day despite her poor vision and during those moments, she seemed at peace. She knew the nightmare which awaited her every night. It was a nightmare she had no power over. For some reason, the Familiar believed Stefan was her true mate. That got Ilianu worried. The woman carried about her neck, a drawn portrait of Stefan in a locket. She had had it since she turned sixteen.

But she was a Renegade.