Immediately she flowed into the healer, Ferro merged with her. He wasn’t about to allow her to go anywhere without him. She was that same light breeze, moving toward the bright red streaks that were slashed across the front of Tariq’s brain like a canvas of rage. Ferro could see that Gary was doing his best to study the streaks, to find their origin. Ferro did as well. They seemed to be burned across Tariq’s amygdala, the part of his brain that handled emotions. The red slashes reached to the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for judgment. Tariq had that in abundance and the burns were hindering his ability to control the rage, although he was fighting it with his natural character.
Elisabeta’s soft breeze moved through Tariq’s mind, a gentle stream that carried just a hint of her scent, that natural fragrance that brought such peace. She was a soothing balm impossible to ignore. Like in Sandu and Dragomir, the burns began to thin and then dissipate. There were so many more of the angry slashes than had been in either of the other two ancients, and instinctively she seemed to know to take the one away from Tariq’s prefrontal cortex to aid him in fighting the rage. Once he was able to get his judgment back, Tariq’s leadership would come to the forefront. He would aid them in his recovery. Ferro had every faith in him.
Ferro could see the burns were etched a little deeper into Tariq’s brain, as if they’d had more time to take hold. He stayed quiet, watching the healer examine the burns closely in the amygdala area of Tariq’s brain while Elisabeta continued to slowly and gently dissolve the angry red slashes as if they were mere paint marks that could be erased from a canvas. Her presence was calming enough that even the brilliant red dulled in color over the amygdala.
Ferro called up the images of Dragomir’s brain. The burns hadn’t been nearly as deep or as numerous as in Sandu’s brain. None had been on the prefrontal cortex. All the slashes of red had been concentrated on the region that controlled emotion. In Sandu, there had been quite a few more burns and much deeper scoring across the amygdala, but again, none on the prefrontal cortex.
Ferro was a little shocked at the ease she displayed communicating with him only. There was no elevation in energy at all. No one would know she was talking to him. He doubted that Gary, who was sharing a mind merge with them, would know she was that adept.
Ferro turned her clarification over in his mind, trying to figure out what it meant. The entire time she had had that very calm discussion with him she had never stopped that sweet, soothing breeze that swept gently through Tariq’s mind, pushing at the deep scores of red slashes across his brain. The deeper burns were stubborn, but she kept at them, just filling him with her gentle presence and restful, relaxing aura so that it was impossible to feel anything but composed and tranquil. Sharing Tariq’s mind as he was with her, Ferro felt that same serenity.
Elisabeta might not think of herself as powerful, but her gift was astounding. Carpathians healed by shedding their egos and bodies to become only spirit. Elisabeta was selfless by nature. She didn’t need to shed her physical body. She didn’t have an ego when she was helping others. That was when she was completely confident in herself. She gave without thought of what she would get back or the consequences to herself. She simply gave.
She was also adept at reading others. She had to be. She had been a prisoner for centuries and she had to know exactly what her captor was thinking or feeling at any given moment to stay ahead of him. She relied on emotions and subtle feelings, unlike Carpathian hunters. Ferro considered that. He had a huge asset in his lifemate. Whatever was happening to his fellow Carpathians, she had a better chance of picking up the nuances that might lead to the discovery of its origins. Gary was already indicating that he could find no shadow, no blemish that might signal a vampire had planted a threat against them.
