Dark Challenge (5 page)

Their parents had been caught just before the sun was at its peak, weak and lethargic, paralyzed in the way of their race. The marauders had overrun the village and killed every adult, including the Carpathians attempting
to aid them. Children had been herded like cattle into a shack and the building set on fire.

Darius had noticed a peasant woman escaping unseen by the attackers. Since the sun did not affect Carpathian children as severely as it did the adults, Darius had awaited his opportunity, hiding five younger children from the murderous insanity. He managed, through sheer force of his will, to cloak the presence of the human woman and the Carpathian children, even as he planted the compulsion in her to take them with her. Unaware of their race, she had led them down the mountains to the sea, where her lover had a boat. Despite their terror of the ocean, they had set out, more afraid of the cruelty and sheer numbers of the marauders than of sea serpents or sailing off the edge of the world.

Hidden in the boat, the children remained quiet. Afraid of the war, knowing of no safe shore, the man took the boat much farther than he ever had. High winds pushed it even farther out to sea. There a terrible storm buffeted the vessel until it broke up and went down, the mortals sinking beneath the rolling waves.

Darius had once again saved the children. Even at six he had been unusually strong, his father’s blood pure and ancient. He took on the image of a powerful bird, a raptor, and, clutching the small ones in his talons, had flown to the nearest land mass.

Their lives had been extremely difficult in those early days, the coast of Africa still wild and merciless. Carpathian children needed blood but were unable to hunt. They also needed herbs and other nutrients. Even then most children did not survive their first year of life. It was a tribute to Darius’s strength of will that all six children had survived. He learned to hunt with the leopard. He found the little ones shelter and soil and began to learn the healing arts. None of the lessons had been
easy. He was sometimes wounded in his hunts. Many of his experiments failed or backfired. But he persevered, determined he would not allow any of them to die. He often poisoned himself trying new foods for the children, and he learned to force the poison from his own body.

Over the centuries they had stayed together, a family unit, Darius guiding them, always acquiring more knowledge, devising new ways to hide their differences from the humans they encountered, and even to invest money. He was powerful and determined. Desari was certain there was no other like him. His rule was unquestioned; his word was everything.

None of them had been prepared for the tragedy two months earlier. Desari could hardly bear to remember it. Savon had elected to lose his soul, giving himself over to the crouching beast, choosing to be completely dark. He had hidden the spreading evil stain even from those closest to him.

He had bided his time, awaited his opportunity, and then he had viciously attacked Syndil. Desari had never seen such a brutal assault on any woman. The men had always protected, treasured, and cherished the women. No one dreamed such a thing could happen. Syndil was sweet and trusting, but Savon had beaten her that day, mauled and raped her. He had nearly killed her, draining her of blood. Darius found them, directed by Syndil’s frantic mental cries for help. So shocked that his closest friend had committed such a monstrous crime, he was nearly killed himself when Savon had attacked him.

Afterward, Syndil had been so hysterical, she allowed only Desari near her and only Desari to replace the blood she had lost. In turn Barack and Dayan had supplied Desari and Darius. It had been a tragic, horrible time, and Desari knew none of them had fully recovered yet.

Syndil now spent most of her time in the earth or
shape-shifting into a leopard. She rarely spoke, never smiled, and did not allow discussion of the attack. Dayan had grown quieter, more protective. Barack was the most changed. He had always seemed a playboy, laughing his way through the centuries, but for a month he, too, had stayed in the earth, and lately he was moody and watchful, his dark eyes following Syndil wherever she went. Darius was different, too. His black eyes were bleak and cold. He watched over the two women even more closely. Desari noticed he had also distanced himself from the men.

Syndil, come now!
This time she gave the order in a firm, decisive voice. Darius was far too heavy for Desari, in her weakened state, to move. What had happened to Syndil was not her trauma alone. They had all suffered, all had been changed forever by it. They needed her. Darius needed her.

Syndil materialized beside them, tall and beautiful with her enormous sad eyes. She paled visibly when she saw the bloodstains on Desari, when she noted Darius swaying unsteadily on his feet, his face gray. Quickly she caught him, taking most of his weight. “The others? Where are they?”

“Darius gave them his blood, blood he could not afford to give up,” Desari explained. “We were attacked by mortals with guns. Dayan and Barack were both hit too.”

“Barack?” Syndil’s pale face whitened even more. “And Dayan? Do they both live? Where are they?”

“They are in the healing earth,” Desari assured her.

“Who would want to shoot you? And what happened to Darius?” Syndil urged Darius forward toward the troupe’s bus. Under cover of darkness they made their way inside where Darius had left the two leopards after they aided him.

The moment they had Darius on the couch, Desari ripped away his shirt to expose his wounds. Syndil pushed closer. Her gaze narrowed speculatively. “A leopard did that.”

“Something did it,” Darius corrected grimly. “But he was no true leopard. Nor was he mortal. Whoever he was, he gave Desari blood.” He shook his head and looked up at his sister. “He was strong, Desari, stronger than anything I have ever come up against.”

Syndil bent to him. “You need blood, Darius. You must take mine.” She refused to let her fear of being close to a male, the strongest in her family, allow her to shirk her duty. She was already ashamed that she had removed herself so far from the others that she had been unable to detect the danger to them all.

Darius’s eyes, so dark they were black, drifted over her face. He could see everything, see into her very soul, see her aversion to touching a man. He shook his head. “Thank you, little sister, but I would prefer that you give your blood to Desari.”

“Darius!” Desari protested. “You need it desperately.”

Ashamed, Syndil hung her head. “It is for me he does this,” she confessed softly. “I cannot bear to be touched by a male, and he knows it.”

“If it were not necessary to dilute the blood of the intruder in Desari’s veins,” Darius objected softly, his voice soothing, “I would gladly accept your offering. If it is distasteful to you to do such a thing for me, then the offer is all the more valuable, and I thank you.”

Darius
, Desari warned, careful to use their own private mental wave,
Syndil is not strong enough to dilute the blood.

This is a small thing to do for Syndil, Desari
. Darius closed his eyes again and sank into himself, sealing off the worst of the claw marks and beginning the ritual to
heal each of the deep wounds from the inside out.

Syndil watched Darius’s face, waiting until he was far from them in spirit, not heeding their conversation, before she spoke. “Is he lying to me?” she asked.

Desari stroked her brother’s arm, choosing her words carefully, thoughtfully. “There was another besides the mortals. We do not know what he is. He saved my life, sealing off my wounds and giving me his blood. Darius attacked him; they fought. Apparently neither came out the victor.”

Syndil studied Desari’s face. “You are afraid. It is true then. You have this intruder’s blood in you.”

Desari nodded. “I feel different inside. He did something.” She whispered the words aloud, for the first time admitting it to someone other than herself. “I am changed.”

Syndil put an arm around Desari. “Sit beside Darius. You look as if you are going to fall on your face.”

“I feel like it, too.” Desari buried her face on Syndil’s shoulder for a moment, hugging her tightly. “What would we do without him?”

“He will be fine,” Syndil said softly. “Darius cannot be killed so easily.”

“I know.” Then Desari confessed her worst fear. “It is just that he has been so unhappy for so long. I am always afraid he will one day allow something or someone to destroy him so that he does not have to continue.”

“We all have been unhappy,” Syndil pointed out as she firmly pushed Desari to a sitting position. “How could what Savon did to me, to all of us, leave us unchanged? But Darius will not desert us. He would never do such a thing, not even in the guise of a carelessly received wound.”

“Do you think he was careless then?” That frightened Desari even more. If Darius had been careless, it meant
her fears were closer to the mark than ever.

“Take my blood, Desari. It is freely offered to you and Darius. I hope that it provides both of you with strength and peace,” Syndil replied softly. She opened her wrist with one sharp nail and held it to Desari’s mouth. “For Darius, if not for yourself.”

Desari fed, then leaned down to her brother, whispering softly into his ear. “Take from me what is freely offered, brother, what you need. Take it for yourself and for all of us who depend so heavily on you. I offer up my life that you might live.”

“Desari!” Syndil protested sharply. “Darius might not know what he does. You cannot say things like that.”

“But it is true,” Desari said softly, stroking back her brother’s hair. “He is the greatest man I have ever known. I would do anything to save his life.” She pressed her opened wrist to her brother’s mouth. “What he has done for all of us, no other could have done. No other six-year-old could ever have saved us. It was a miracle, Syndil. He had no training, no one to guide him, yet he managed to keep us all alive. The life he gave us has been a good one. He deserves so much more than he has.”

“You must take more of my blood, Desari,” Syndil insisted softly. “You are so pale. Darius would be angry with you if he knew you did not feed properly. I insist, Desari. You must feed.” To force the issue, Syndil reopened her own vein with her teeth and pushed her wrist to Desari’s mouth. “Do as I say, little sister.” She gave the order in her firmest voice.

It was so unlike Syndil, Desari was startled into obeying her. Syndil had a gentle, soft-spoken, and loving nature. She rarely did wild, unpredictable things the way Desari did. Desari was forever getting reprimanded by her brother, not that it did him much good. She always
found something new and different to try. Always amazed at the beauty of the world around her, she found everything exciting, people intriguing. She was not content, as Syndil was, to do as the men instructed.

It wasn’t as if she set out to defy Darius. She would never do that; no one would dare. She just ended up in trouble over lots of little things. For instance, Darius did not want Desari wandering off by herself, but she liked her privacy, and she enjoyed running in the forest, taking to the skies, swimming with fish. Life was bubbling over with so many opportunities for adventure, and Desari wanted to try everything. Darius, however, believed that vampires might be lurking anywhere, waiting to carry off the women, and he guarded them accordingly.

Desari closed the wound on Syndil’s wrist, careful to leave no mark, then very gently pulled her own arm away from her brother, closing the laceration with the healing agent in her saliva. “Do you think he looks a little better, Syndil?” Darius was in the deep sleep of their people, his heart and lungs already shut down.

“His color is not so gray,” Syndil agreed. “We must get him to ground, where he will have a chance to heal. Where did he send Barack and Dayan?”

“I do not know,” Desari admitted. “I was unconscious.”

“In any case, you need to go to ground to heal also. I will have to handle the inquiries with the police. I will tell them Darius spirited you and the band out of harm’s way, that all of you were injured but the attack on your life did not succeed.”

“They will want to know where we were treated,” Desari objected. She was very tired, and the uneasiness in her was growing. She felt restless and unhappy, near tears, something unheard of for her.

“I can plant memories as well as any of you,” Syndil
said firmly. “I may prefer solitude, but I assure you, Desari, I am every bit as capable as you.”

Desari stroked back her brother’s long dark hair. The silken strands fell past his broad shoulders in a shiny fall reminiscent of her own. Darius always looked so harsh and implacable when he was awake, a hint of cruelty about his finely chiseled mouth. Yet all that was gone when he was asleep. He looked young and handsome, without the tremendous responsibilities he always shouldered when he was awake.

“I do not like sleeping so close to mortals, especially when we are hunted,” Desari said softly. “It is not safe.”

“I am certain Darius took Barack and Dayan into the woods and ensured their safety. We will do the same for Darius. Desari, he may be wounded and tired, but he is powerful beyond even our knowledge. He can hear and feel things even when he is sleeping the sleep of our people.”

“What do you mean?”

Syndil pushed at the thick braid falling over her shoulder. “That night Savon attacked me, Darius was deep in the ground healing from a wound. The rest of you were far away, hunting, and I had stayed to watch over his resting place. Savon called to me to met him in a cave to see a rare plant he had found.” She bowed her head. “I went. I should have stayed to watch over Darius, but I went at Savon’s call. I screamed for all of you to aid me, but you were too far to make it back in time. But Darius heard. Even from deep within the earth. Even from the healing sleep of our people, he heard and knew every detail; I felt him lock on to me. Wounded, he rose and came to save me.”

“Darius heard you while he slept?” Desari, like the others, had assumed Darius had risen while they hunted. By the time she and Dayan and Barack had returned,
Darius had already destroyed Savon and was healing Syndil’s terrible wounds even though he himself was weak from loss of blood.