Julian felt the sudden hesitation in Desari, the small cry of denial as Syndil made an attempt to slip away from Barack. The Carpathian male, so much more easygoing than any Julian had ever met, suddenly displayed a will of iron. Syndil came up against the solid barrier of Barack’s will.
The vampire roared his anger, the sound in competition with the cracking of thunder. Barack held fast. There was a quiet confidence in him. Syndil would not be taken from them. He was willing to die should it be necessary to prevent such a thing. The moment she felt his total resolve, Syndil once again threw her strength in with Barack and Desari’s, moving backward slowly but steadily toward her body.
The bird watched the ground carefully now, could see the upheaval as the straggle intensified between the vampire’s vicious resolve and Barack, Desari, and Syndil’s stand. Movement caught the bird’s eye as Darius reached the epicenter of the trap. At once the wind picked up in strength, wailing in protest as the circling ghouls moaned and clacked their branch-stick arms together in an old, rhythmic beat accompanying their chant. Darius stopped moving and raised his head slowly toward the sky, his arms wide-spread, as if offering himself to the distorted shadows. He stood in complete stillness, a marble figure without expression. The ghouls’ voices rose horribly, the sound grating on nerves and tearing at the Carpathian’s mind.
The ancient chant, which had been muffled before, now was audible to Julian, and he could understand the words. He had known deep within his soul what they were trying to do, but hearing the binding spell, seeing the shadowed figures closing the ring tighter and tighter around Darius, dismayed him. He had no real idea of Darius’s understanding of the language or what the words could evoke. Darius did not seem in the least concerned with what the undead had wrought to slay him. He looked serene, completely at peace, and it instilled in Julian a new respect and deeper belief in Desari’s brother’s abilities.
When the attack came, it was preceded by a sudden chilling silence. The robed shadows with their sunken pits for eyes went motionless and silent, their upraised branches growing sharpened points, several knives protruding from each stump. Darius remained as still as a statue, the wind whipping his ebony hair around his face. He stood as straight as an arrow, his broad shoulders like an ax handle, his powerful body radiating strength and elegance.
Julian actually felt the gathering of power in the air. It vibrated around him. Below, the ghouls began their rush at Darius. Near the motionless bodies of Syndil and Barack, the ground swelled until it bulged ominously. Julian began his descent, forcing his mind to stay focused on his own battle. When it struck, the strength of the attack was enormous. For a moment Julian couldn’t breathe, his lungs fighting for air, so that it was only his tremendous discipline that allowed him to remain calm. In the next heartbeat he realized the attack was directed at Desari. The undead had bypassed Syndil and Barack to trace Desari’s beautiful voice back to the source. He was striking directly at her, projecting his will to choke the life out of the source of that voice. The vampire knew her through Julian. He had betrayed his own lifemate.
The ugliness, the shame, the horror of that childhood moment rose up to engulf him, so that for one moment he was a boy again facing an utterly terrifying monster. The vampire had whispered to him for over five hundred years, whispered of using him to harm those he was loyal to. His Prince. His twin. His lifemate, should he ever have one. Julian had studied, experimented, battled hundreds of years to prepare himself for this moment, certain he could protect those around him from the eyes of the shadow within him. But he had betrayed his beloved Desari.
No! Desari reached for him, her fear choking her but her warmth invading the coldness of his bones, of that terrible haunting moment that had changed his life for all time and driven him to a barren, lonely existence. He found you through me! It is but a trick. Keep to your duty. Ignore the undead’s grip on me.
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