Dark Challenge. Christine Feehan. Dark Series – book 5

Julian’s entire body clenched at the first silvery note. It took tremendous will power to force himself to shut out the sound. Her voice was haunting and beautiful, rising into the night air and spreading throughout the forest. It was carried on an unusual wind that seemed to swirl through the trees, reaching into the heights of the canopy and delving into the deepest ravines. It was a summons, a soft command to come forth, to come to her. All creatures, good or evil. Who or what could resist that otherworldly voice? It was pure and beautiful, the notes gold and silver, shimmering visibly in the dark night. Calling. Reaching out. Beckoning. A demand so soft and hauntingly beautiful it was mesmerizing, impossible to ignore.

Julian watched the effect of Desari’s singing on the vampire. The face became gray and drawn, the skin shrinking over the bones until the undead looked like a skeleton. The clothes began to tatter and shred, rotting from his body like his skin. He could no longer keep up the illusion of youth and cleanliness. He looked a thousand years old, decayed, soulless, a parody of a living man. The notes drove him insane, beckoning him with the light of goodness and compassion, the things he had given up along with his soul.

Growling, spitting, fighting every inch of the way, the vampire hissed and dragged itself closer to Julian and death. Still Desari sang. The night air groaned with the effort to support the gathering weight of the owls flying in, settling on branches all around them. Deer, mountain lion, bear, even fox and rabbits, were drawn to the spot, circling the three upright figures.

The vampire covered his ears, grunted oaths, swore vilely, yet his feet continued to drag through the dirt toward Desari. From behind Julian another crawled forward from the bushes. His eyes were red and glowing with hatred. He was staring at Desari, his jagged teeth snapping together, his hot, fetid breath heralding his arrival. He was more ancient, more skilled than the first one, evidently using the other vampire as his pawn to draw out the hunter. He was fighting Desari’s compulsion with every breath in his body. But he was not the one.

Julian knew immediately that he was dangerous and cunning. There was a ruthless set to the ancient undead’s mouth and something alarming in the way his eyes never left Desari’s face. Take care not to look at him, Julian cautioned her, a rush of fear invading his calm confidence. He cursed the fact that she was there, that his senses were divided by such overwhelming emotion—terror for her.

Julian struck without preamble, moving with the speed he was so famous for among his kind. But the vampire was not there. He had somehow broken the spell Desari had woven and was on her before she could move. Julian whirled immediately and went for the second target, his fist slamming into the wall of the chest, driving through muscle, bone, and sinew until he reached the one thing that could destroy the lesser vampire. The corrupt, pulsating heart was in the palm of his hand when he withdrew it from the chest, stepping back quickly from the screaming undead.

The tainted blood spewed everywhere as the vampire insanely spun around in circles before falling to the ground, where he convulsed hideously. Julian was moving again, drawing energy from the lightning arcing from cloud to cloud overhead. The bolt hit the writhing body, incinerating it immediately. The flames then jumped to the heart where Julian had tossed it. In seconds the lesser vampire was nothing more than smoking ashes. And Julian simply vanished as if he had never been.

Desari’s breath slammed out of her lungs when the clawed fingers of the ancient vampire circled her neck. His touch was vile, making her skin crawl. The air around him was foul, and she didn’t want to breathe it. Julian had destroyed the other vampire so quickly she was barely aware he had done so before he dissolved, leaving no trace of himself anywhere. She was completely confident in him. She didn’t stop to think why, but she knew with a certainty beyond anything she had ever known that he had not deserted her.