Dark Challenge. Christine Feehan. Dark Series – book 5

He didn’t respond or acknowledge her warning; he simply faced the vampire calmly. His handsome face was lined with weariness, his golden hair flowing wildly to his shoulders. He stood straight and tall, his shoulders square, his amber eyes gleaming with a kind of fire.

“I bring you the justice of our people, old one. What you have done is a crime against humanity, against the very earth itself. I carry out the sentence pronounced on your kind by the Prince of our people and hope you find mercy in another life as I can give you none here.” The words were soft and gentle, hypnotic and compelling.

Even as the vampire’s body began to contort in a last effort to escape, as the tainted blood came within inches of Julian’s shoes, the Carpathian hunter plunged his hand into the crack in the chest of the undead and extracted the heart. There was a horrible sucking sound as the pulsating organ came out of the shrieking fiend. Julian leapt away from the spray of blood and the grotesque hand reaching for his feet.

The vampire flopped to the ground, tried twice to rise, then began to blindly feel around him, seeking the only thing that could keep him alive. Julian dropped the heart a safe distance from the apparition, who refused to believe he had been defeated.

Desari felt the terrible weariness then, the pain throbbing and burning in Julian’s body. She watched as he gathered the energy from the lightning and directed it first at the heart, then the body of the undead, and lastly into the ground itself, incinerating the dark blood that spread like a stain over the forest floor. Only then did he sink down onto a fallen log. Desari watched in fascination as he called down more glowing light to hold for a moment to cleanse his hands and forearms.

Desari leapt from her high perch and would have run to him, but Julian shook his head and pointed with his good arm toward the forest. Moving slowly but steadily, several humans were heading directly for the ring of restless animals. Desari instantly began to sing, soothing the large animals, releasing them from the enthralling spell she had woven. Growling and snarling, the animals slunk into the forest’s dark interior, away from the group of humans.

“They must have been camping within the sound of my voice,” she told Julian.

“We have much to do this night before we can seek rest,” he replied. “We must find the vampire’s kill and destroy all evidence. This ground must be cleared of any trace of the undead.”

Desari could hear the weariness in his voice, feel it in his mind. His blood loss had been great. “I will take care of those things. You return to our campsite and place yourself in a healing sleep while I complete the tasks.”

A small smile softened the hard edge to Julian’s mouth. “Come here, piccola. I need you close to me.” His voice was a velvet heat she couldn’t ignore.

Desari found her feet moving toward him before it registered that she was obeying his soft command. The moment she was within range, his hand snaked out, shackled her wrist, and exerted pressure so that she was forced to sit beside him on the log. “Hold still, cara,” he ordered. “The vampire’s claw was tainted. The poison is already moving through your system. I will drive it from your body, and then I must remove the memory of your song from these humans so that their lives will remain unchanged.”

“You need healing far more than I do, Julian,” she protested. “Do not worry about so small a thing as this scratch. We can take care of it later.”

“I will not allow such a thing,” Julian said. “Your health comes before all else. The vampire has been destroyed, but his poison is still lethal. Be still, Desari. I will do this. I know what it is to have the darkness growing and spreading inside, a thing that that cannot be removed. I will not allow such a thing to happen to you.”

She read his determination, wished she could see the source of his grim resolve, but still it was hidden from her. Although she felt foolish having Julian attend such a tiny laceration when he was so badly wounded, Desari didn’t attempt further protest. There would be no changing his mind, and she was not about to waste his time and energy on arguing.