Dark Challenge (15 page)

“I did not take her away to harm her,” he offered, his voice low.

Desari’s dark eyes flashed. “No one could take me,
Darius. I go where I desire, not where someone takes me.”

“I can see you have made your choice, little sister,” Darius replied evenly. “But this man will not be an easy companion.” He could smell the combined scent of their lovemaking, the male’s blood mingling with hers. However the golden-haired stranger had done it, Desari was locked to his side for all eternity. “I am Darius,” he introduced himself reluctantly. “Desari is my sister.”

“Julian Savage,” Julian returned, gliding to the porch to take up his position at Desari’s side. His very posture screamed possession, yet was protective, almost tender toward Desari. “Desari is my lifemate.”

“We have never before encountered another like us. All have been the undead and had to be destroyed.” Darius’s dark eyes, so like Desari’s yet so coldly lethal, measured Julian. Whether Darius found Julian lacking or not was hidden beneath the impassive mask he wore.

“There are a few of us left,” Julian said quietly. “We are often hunted by those who have turned vampire as aggressively as we hunt them.” His hand found the wealth of silken hair tumbling down Desari’s back and crushed a fistful of the ebony strands in his palm almost absently, his touch tender. “Did you know she could do that?”

“I do not even know what the hell she did,” Darius admitted.

“I am here.” Desari sniffed indignantly. “And I know exactly what I did. If the two of you were not so arrogant and conceited, you might have considered that the women of our race would have endowments equal to those of the men.”

Julian glanced at Darius, just a quick flash of golden eyes, but Darius caught a glint that might have been amusement.

“Arrogant? Conceited?” Julian reprimanded with a grin. “Desari, that is a little harsh.”

“I do not think so,” she told him severely. “You are like two territorial male animals, circling each other threateningly without even knowing what the other is about. How intelligent is that?”

“Desari…” There was a distinct warning in Darius’s voice.

She glanced down at her bare toes, then blushed, realizing that Darius knew exactly what had taken place in that cabin. How could he not? Julian’s scent clung to every inch of her skin. Julian’s hand went to the nape of her neck, his strong fingers beginning a slow, soothing massage. He was linked to her mind, and he felt her discomfort at her brother’s knowledge of their intimacy.

The protective touch on her neck provided her with courage and conviction, and her gaze leapt back to her brother’s face. “I hold you in the highest respect, Darius, you know that. No sister could love her brother more. I do not know exactly what this thing is between Julian and me, but it is strong and compelling. The two of you will have to get along without further physical violence. I mean it. I ask little of you, but this I will insist on from both of you. You must promise me. You must give me your word of honor.”

Darius’s dark eyes smoldered in warning. “Do not put too much faith in him, little sister. You do not know him. A stranger comes into our midst, heralding an attack on your life, and you trust him completely. Perhaps you are far
too
trusting.”

Julian’s breath eased out in a long, furious hiss. His golden eyes glittered with menace. “You are quick to judge those you do not know.” His voice was soft, even pleasant, but no one could mistake the threat beneath the surface. This Darius
was
like Gregori—he was of the
same blood as the healer, second only to the Prince—and he sensed the shadow in Julian just as Gregori did.

“And you underestimate your enemies,” Darius pointed out, his voice like black velvet. “You are so sure of yourself that you take too few precautions to safeguard the one you have claimed as your own. It was unbelievably easy to unravel your pitiful attempts to divert me.”

Julian’s white teeth gleamed in the waning moonlight. “I knew you would follow; how could you not when you are responsible for your sister’s safety? In any case, you could do no other after the assassins had been allowed to make their attempt on her life.” He delivered the blow smiling but without humor. They were indeed playing cat and mouse.

Desari shoved Julian so hard and so unexpectedly, he teetered for a moment on the edge of the porch. “That is it. I have had it with the two of you.” She tilted her chin at them. “I will have no more of this nonsense. I will not leave my family at this time, Julian. You can accept my decision and remain with us as a member of our unit, or you can go your own way. If you refuse to accept him, Darius, then I will be given no other option than to follow where he leads.” Exasperated, she glared at them. “Get over it already. I mean it.”

Julian’s mouth twitched, the amber eyes softening with amusement. “Is she always like this? You are a tolerant male to have raised such an impertinent woman.”

Desari shoved him again but this time Julian was ready for her, laughing out loud at the eruption of her temper, catching her wrists easily and pulling her into him. “I gave your brother a compliment,
caressima
.” His voice was a tender caress, teasing, fanning smoldering
embers within her to instant heat. “Is that not what you wanted?”

She tilted her chin. “That is not exactly what I had in mind, Julian.”

“I have not had much experience pleasing women these last few centuries. In truth, I had forgotten how difficult the females of our race could be,” Julian told Darius with a straight face.

“Difficult?” Desari was outraged. “You call me difficult when you and my brother were trying to tear each other limb from limb? The males of our race are in dire need of self-control. You have too long had things your own way. It has made you arrogant and conceited and very spoiled.”

Darius suddenly moved, his speed incredible even within their race, his body forcing his sister’s into the shelter of the porch, down low. “Merge with Savage now, as you did before,” he commanded, a hiss of sound in the stillness of the night.

Desari obeyed because she always obeyed Darius, merging her mind completely with Julian’s. She expected anger, at the least smoldering resentment at Darius’s high-handedness. Instead, she found him on the alert, moving to position himself alongside Darius to protect her. She submerged herself within Julian’s mind so that any outside source probing and seeking a feminine touch would get nothing.

She felt the darkness sweeping over the land, the perverted aberration they called the undead. The vile touch of the vampire sickened her as it moved ever closer, searching, always searching. She smelled the stench of evil, the twisted, damned soul of one who always killed his quarry, drained his victim’s lifeblood, often after torturing and tormenting the doomed creature.

Sheltered between the two powerful males, Desari
was unafraid, but the vileness of the vampire was making her body react, her stomach rolling and heaving. Julian enveloped her mind completely as he had done before, shielding her from the undead as it raced across the sky. Dawn was on the heels of the vampire, and it could not face even the first rays of the sun. It needed to find sanctuary immediately. It passed overhead and was gone, leaving a dark stain in the sky like an oily patch of evil.

“They seek our women,” Darius hissed grimly. “Always they track us down. I know it is the women they sense.” He sent an urgent inquiry traveling on the wind.
Is Syndil protected? The undead have once again found us
.

Julian reluctantly allowed Desari to surface from the total submersion, his arm circling her shoulders protectively. His heart was pounding in alarm. Had the darkness in him brought this vile creature straight to his lifemate? He had to destroy the demon.

The reply to Darius’s inquiry came back on the mental path used by the family unit so that both Darius and Desari heard the news.
We felt his approach and took precaution. Syndil is deep in the earth where he cannot find her should he try another probe. It is near; he must go to ground soon.
The voice was Barack’s.
Do not fear, Darius, no one will take Syndil from us, and no one will attempt to harm her and live.

“There will be others,” Darius informed Julian, once satisfied that all was well at home. “They have taken to traveling together in numbers, perhaps thinking those of us who hunt them will be more easily defeated.” There was a natural self-confidence in Darius’s voice that said plainly it didn’t matter to him how many vampires tried to defeat him; it would be an impossibility.

“My brother has resided in San Francisco for many
years, hunting the undead in the western United States,” Julian volunteered. “He, too, noticed a trend of late in northern California and up into Oregon and Washington of usually solitary vampires suddenly congregating. It seemed insanity to me that they would not simply avoid his area altogether.”

Julian stepped off the porch, taking Desari with him, his fingers shackling her wrist. “What is the news of the rest of your family? The vampire did not detect the other woman, did he?” He knew Darius had contacted his family; he would have done the same.

Darius’s dark eyes flicked over him. Julian was astonished at how much the man reminded him of Gregori, the healer of the Carpathian people. Although Gregori’s eyes glittered silver with menace, Darius’s black eyes could portray an equal threat easily. “Our family is safe,” Darius replied softly, thoughtfully. “I will hunt this one now and go to ground when it is done.”

“Do not risk yourself. Remember you are needed,” Desari said in a low voice, betraying her fear.

“I am needed to hunt down these killers,” Darius reminded her with great gentleness. “They follow us wherever we go. The reason vampires congregate in this part of the country, Savage, is because Desari prefers to perform in this region. Her favorite place to play is a small resort north of here called Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa. It is much to her liking. The people are friendly, the audiences receptive, the countryside is beautiful, and the place is small and intimate enough to suit her.”

Julian circled her waist with one arm and brought her up against the heat of his body, needing to feel her for just a moment. “I should have known you were the troublemaker, Desari,” he whispered against the bare skin of her neck, wanting to comfort her with his teasing.

“Do not do this, either of you.” Desari’s soft eyes were liquid with sorrow. “You are trying to distract me, both of you. You will hunt this vampire despite my wishes.”

“I will hunt,” Darius corrected firmly. “Savage will stay here to protect you.”

“No. Desari is safe here for now. I will go with you,” Julian stated in a soft voice, aware of his lifemate’s silent terror, that her brother would choose to be mortally wounded, and achieve an honorable death, fighting a vampire.
Be easy
, cara,
I will ensure that your brother returns to you unharmed. No vampire could possibly defeat the two of us. Go to ground, and we will return to you after we destroy the undead
. He did not want not to leave the hunting of this vampire to her brother for reasons of his own, as well.

Her fingers clutched at his arm. There were tears in her mind.
You will probably end up killing one another without me to referee.

I have given you my word on this,
piccola.
You must trust me.
The deep timbre of Julian’s voice in her mind was reassuring, sending waves of warmth and comfort throughout her.

“There is no need for both of us to go,” Darius challenged softly.

Julian’s white teeth flashed in answer, but the smile did not reach his eyes. “I agree with you, Darius. As Desari relies so heavily on your protection, it would indeed be best that you stay with her.” He leaned over and brushed his mouth over the corner of Desari’s lips. Cara,
do not fret
. Already his solid form was shimmering, evaporating, so that it was a prism of crystal fog rising toward the graying sky.

Darius swore under his breath, clearly outmaneuvered. He was beginning to feel a grudging respect for the
stranger with the golden eyes. It had not been quite as easy as he had suggested to unravel Savage’s trail, and he had been fairly certain the man knew he was following. Darius found him interesting. He didn’t altogether trust him; he was a renegade, and there was something not quite right about him. Something buried deep. Darius intended to keep an eye on him.

“Go to ground, Desari. Do not argue with me, as I am giving you an order, not asking. I want to know your exact location so that I may sleep above you in the earth this day.” His hand touched her face in a display of love and affection that he wanted to feel, that he should have been able to feel, yet could not. Nevertheless, he always granted her the gestures because he knew she needed them, knew she wanted him to feel those emotions that were no longer his to feel.

Without waiting for a reply, knowing the dawn’s first light would render it impossible for the vampire to hunt Desari, Darius leapt skyward, dissolving into a fine mist that streaked after the stream of iridescent fog. Desari stared after the two male Carpathians, squinting slightly as the twilight before dawn began to replace the darkness. She didn’t want to feel fear for either of them—they were both strong and powerful—yet she couldn’t help but worry. On more than one occasion, she had seen Darius return torn and bloody from a vicious battle with a vampire. And they were braving the dawn as well, which would weaken them enormously, albeit not as drastically as it would one who had turned.

Darius had always tried to keep the women away from that aspect of their existence, but she was of his blood. The same power and intelligence ran as deeply in her, and she knew of Darius’s terrible struggle. She knew he was slipping away from her. She feared for his soul, feared for her race and that of the mortal beings. She
truly believed in her heart that should Darius turn, there was no hunter alive who could defeat him. All would be lost, including Darius and all he had done, everything he had sacrificed for them throughout the centuries.