Dark Challenge (30 page)

Desari broke away from him to pace restlessly across the pine-strewn forest floor. Her movements were graceful, her ebony hair gleaming as if a thousand stars were tangled in it. “Tell me more of my blood kin, Julian. Tell me of their fate.”

He nodded. “You must remember, Desari, the twins had lived centuries longer than most of our people without finding a lifemate. They were hunters, having to kill often, the kind of double burden nearly impossible to long endure. As each century passed and their legends grew, more people feared and shunned them. It was rumored they were more powerful than the Prince, much more dangerous. It seemed not to matter that they followed him and protected those that could not hunt. Their lives were ones of nearly total isolation from all society. It had to have been torment.” Julian knew the torment of isolation.

“Yet they continued, as you continued.” Desari pressed back against a tree, her eyes enormous, searching his story for a shadow of hope for her brother.

Julian nodded. “Always they endured. They went after the vampires high society had embraced. The battles were long and fierce, as the undead were ancients with much power and now government backing. Rewards were posted for Gabriel and Lucian so that humans and the undead alike hunted them. They fought the many servants of the vampire, hosts of ghouls and zombies and demented creatures created at the undead’s whim. Always they were the victors, and while our people were thankful, each time the twins emerged alive, the whispers
grew of creatures half in our world and half in that of the darkness.”

“How unfair!” Desari was angry at such treacherous behavior by those of her own race. What if Darius were to be treated in such a manner by those who followed Mikhail? Her fists curled at her sides until her knuckles grew white.

“Yes, it was unfair, yet not altogether untrue. As a male ages, as the hunter grows in strength and the number of his kills, he does live partially in the world of darkness. How could he not? They were powerful, and there were two of them, their pact strong. They would be invincible should they turn. Who could destroy them? Gregori was young then, as was Mikhail, though they sometimes secretly sheltered the two warriors when their wounds were severe. I know that Gregori and Mikhail both supplied blood on more than one occasion.” Julian rubbed one eyebrow thoughtfully. “Gregori knew I saw them, but he said nothing to me. I was very young, you understand, no more than nine. I was very awed by the two legends, and, even then, by Gregori, who was rapidly growing in stature, and Mikhail, in line to be Prince. I would never have betrayed their secret, and I think they knew that.”

“How sad the twins’ lives must have been.” Desari sounded as if she might weep. Julian was across the distance separating them instantly, wrapping her in his strong arms. “Really, Julian, to have the people so un-appreciative of their sacrifices must have been a terrible thing. They were like men without family or country or even friends.” As Julian had been. She suddenly realized the enormity of his sacrifice. He had been a man without family, country, or friends, and he did not even have his twin brother beside him. Love and compassion surged through her, strong and powerful. Julian would know
love. He would have a home, a family, everything she could give him.

“That is the danger inherent in the hunter’s acquisition of power and skill and experience in centuries of battles. The two were lethal hunters, equal in strength, in intellect, in fighting ability. None was their better. And then the wars came. The Turk invasions that depleted the ranks of our people, destroyed our women and children. Our people had chosen to fight alongside those humans they had befriended and known for years, but we lost the ancient prince and most of those skilled in hunting.”

“That is when Darius saved us,” Desari offered.

Julian nodded. “During that period, yes,” he agreed. “It was at that same time that Gabriel and Lucian really became legendary warriors, two against the Turk multitudes and the vampires thriving among them, driving the armies to do hideous things to their captives—the tortures and mutilations you can read about in history books. Some individuals slaughtered countless innocent women and children, drank blood, bathed in it, and feasted on living flesh while the orchestraters, the vampires, looked on and rejoiced. But Gabriel and Lucian were in constant pursuit of these enemies, and the body count the two of them achieved was so high, no one could believe they were real and not some mysterious death winds blowing in and out of villages, leaving little in their wake. Vampires disappeared by the dozens, and legions of their soldiers and demented creatures, mostly noblemen and women, were killed or exposed. War raged everywhere. The damage to humans and Carpathians alike was devastating. Sickness and death followed, homelessness and hunger, savage slavery of the impoverished. It was a hideous, merciless time for all.”

“And my kin?”

“Few actually could claim to have laid eyes on them,
but they were everywhere, tirelessly destroying the enemy, saving our few remaining women, still without life-mates or hope of their own. It is said they consulted with Gregori and Mikhail at this time, and I witnessed one such meeting right after Mikhail’s father was killed trying to save a human village. Shortly after, at Mikhail’s order, I was taken from the region and placed in hiding with the remaining children. Mikhail was young to be a leader, but he had vision and realized our people were facing extinction. He and Gregori, the next oldest to survive, moved at once to protect the few surviving women and children. Gregori and Mikhail seldom spoke of the two ancients or that time, perhaps because both had lost—or thought they lost—their own families while trying to save their race. But their skills and accomplishments at such a young age were almost inconceivable.”

“And what of the twins?” she prompted, intrigued by this history she had never known, her roots, her bloodline.

“When things finally settled down in Transylvania and Romania, throughout the Carpathian Mountains, it is said the pair traveled to Paris and London and anywhere else in Europe vampires were striving for a foothold. They hunted throughout the continent, always working together as a single unit. The stories of their unearthly powers grew beyond legends to mythology.”

Julian moved away from her and shoved a hand through his golden mane. “The rumors started about half a century later. That Lucian had fallen to the dark side. That he was vampire, preying on the human race. No hunter could find him or even his trail. Only Gabriel would have been able. The hunt for Lucian went on for well over a century. It was unlike anything our people had known. Vampires are messy killers, leaving a trail of blood and death recognizable to any of us, exposing
us to discovery by mortals and their inevitable mistaken assumptions that vampire and Carpathian are one and the same. In some ways it is fortunate for us that human police often label the murders and mutilations as the work of serial killers or cults. Otherwise we all would be hunted until we were no more.

“But Lucian was unlike any vampire ever known. There is no record of him slaying a woman or child, of creating servants or ghouls. He made hundreds of kills but only among the corrupt, the evil, the scourges of the earth. Many of our hunters were misled, perplexed, and came away thinking perhaps the twins were mythical, not reality. Only Gabriel recognized Lucian’s work. Only Gabriel could track him.”

“No one else would help him?”

Julian shook his head. “No one else could help him. Gabriel was a legend himself. An angel of death. No one approached him or dared try to ease his task. He pursued Lucian, often found him, but because they were equals, the battles were long and ferocious but never decisive, with both striking terrible blows, only to break apart and attempt to heal themselves for the next battle. It went on for years until, one day, they both simply seemed to vanish off the face of the earth.”

Desari’s long lashes fluttered for a moment. “That is it? The entire story? They just disappeared?”

“There are many stories our people believe. One is that Gabriel ended Lucian’s life and then chose to greet the sun. I believe that is what happened. Ancient as he was, he would have been so close to the darkness himself, and without a lifemate or even his brother to hold him, long dead, I believe Gabriel simply laid it down. He had lived long and alone; he deserved release into the afterlife.”

Desari shook her head. “I cannot believe that after
holding out for so long, fighting so many battles, Lucian would choose darkness and Gabriel would be forced to hunt his own brother, his twin. It is so terrible.”

“It is a chance all hunters take. The kill triggers a sensation of power in us. For one who has no emotions, no other feelings, it can be tempting, addicting. There is also the problem of when to stop. If Lucian hung on to fight vampires as long as he was able, he might have been too late to make a rational choice. Some say Gabriel turned also, and when the two vampires fought for supremacy, both were killed. I do not think that is so, because there would have remained some evidence of the battle. Gabriel respected Lucian; he would have chosen to destroy all evidence of their battle and Lucian’s defeat before he walked into the sun.”

“You cannot hunt like these men any longer, Julian,” Desari said, biting at her lower lip. “I cannot bear this to happen to you. It is a horrible story. Two men who gave their lives for their people, and no one cared for them, no one appreciated them.”

His smile was tender. “
Piccola
, there is no need to fear. I cannot turn now. You are my light, the goodness to my darkness, the air I breathe and my reason for existing. The twins did not find their lifemates, but do not think they were unappreciated by our race. Though they were feared, they are also much revered, and many stories and songs have been written in their honor.”

“A bit late for them,” she sniffed indignantly. “It is hardly a happy story, and I do not like the ending. I do not wish this for my brother. We must find for him whatever he needs to survive.”

“He needs to find his other half,
cara
, and there is no telling when or if that will happen.”

“Maybe I will see what I can do. My voice is powerful; my words can weave enchantments. I have
brought couples back to love and laughter, healed grief-stricken parents. I will try to draw to us the one my brother needs.”

“If she comes to your concert, believe me, Desari, there will be no need of enchantments. Darius will recognize her instantly. He will not allow her to leave.”

“He does not have this knowledge. Maybe I should tell him.”

Julian shook his head. “No, it is better to allow nature to take its course in these things. If one is close to turning, one might try to force what is not there. If it happens for him, he will know what to do. Every male is born with the ritual words, with the instincts to bind his woman to him. It will be there for him when he needs it.”

“What if she does not want him?” Desari asked.

“We have seen that ourselves,” he teased.

Her hand cupped his face, her thumb lovingly tracing the hard line of his jaw. “I wanted you from the first moment I saw you.” Desari shook her head. “No wonder the males of our species become so arrogant. They are able to tie a woman to them without her consent or even her knowledge. That must make them feel very superior.” Her tone conveyed her annoyance.

“I think they are more inclined to feel humble,” he answered sincerely. “When a male has survived so many centuries with no color or emotion, and he finds the one who brings him light and compassion, music and joy, he can do no other than revere her.”

She quirked an eyebrow at him. “They still should not have the right to tie a woman without her consent. What is wrong with courting her? It might help to calm her fears and make her feel she is special to him.”

“How could a woman feel anything but special when a man needs and wants her so much? A woman has only
to touch her lifemate’s mind to know what is in his heart. She knows who he is, his good traits and his failings.”

“Even if she is a fledgling? Any ancient could hide whatever he wanted from one so young. I cannot imagine the fear a woman would feel tied without her consent to such a powerful being. She would not have a sense of her own worth, who she was or even what special gifts or talents she had.”

Julian captured her hand, placed a kiss in the center of her palm, feeling her distress for the women unknown to her robbed of their childhood. It had been difficult enough for Desari, as strong a woman as she was, to accept that Julian had some kind of dominion over her. Even knowing she had the same dominion over him, it was still frightening to her. It was an admission of need. A need to be close to him always.

Julian’s hand framed her face. “Never fear the need between us. Whatever you are feeling,
cara
, I feel twice as much. I was without color or song or emotion for far too long. I have had many bleak centuries to help me learn appreciation for my lifemate. You did not need my existence in the same way that I needed yours—even to continue my life, to save my soul. Had we never met, you would have lived far longer before the emptiness of your existence became too much to bear.”

Desari lay her head on his shoulder, wanting to hold him close. “I think our need for one another is mutual, Julian.”

Desari. The night is winging across the sky, and you two are still gazing into one another’s eyes. This concert is yours. We have not yet rehearsed, and there is no way to plan without your presence. I will not repeat myself in this matter.
Darius’s black velvet voice was soft with menace. He demanded her presence, and she must comply.

Desari sighed. “We must go before it is too late to cross the distance this night. The others wait for us.”

Julian’s hand cupped the nape of her neck so that he could hold her still while he bent his head to find her mouth with his. She could sense his amusement at the order for their return to the family fold and her obvious need to comply with it.

“We must, Julian,” she whispered, afraid he might attempt to defy Darius.