Dark Fire by Christine Feehan. Dark Series – book 6

“Come on, Syndil,” he pleaded. “You cannot hold one mistake against me for all time. You are supposed to be compassionate.”

“Yes, I can,” she said sweetly as she guided Tempest to the bus.

Barack swore, leaned down, picked up rock, and hurled it in sheer frustration. It embedded itself halfway into the trunk of a pine tree. “That woman is the most stubborn creature in the world,” he said to no one in particular.

Darius walked over to Julian. “I ask for your help,” he said formally, pushing down his dislike of such a thing. All that mattered to him was that he safeguard Tempest.

Julian nodded and fell into step beside his brother-in-law. “Of course, Darius,” he replied, equally formal. “We are family.”

“I have encountered human women turned by vampires. They were deranged, preying on the children of humans. I was forced to destroy these abominations. Now I fear I am placing Tempest in such peril. How are these women changed? I know that she is already different. Her hearing and vision are far more acute, and she is having trouble eating human food.”

“It takes three blood exchanges to convert a human woman. Obviously you have not completed the ritual; it is a very painful process. If such a thing were to occur, you would have to send her to sleep once it was safe to do so in order for her body to convert without enduring too much pain to manage.”

“Would she become deranged?” Darius was worried. He had already put her in danger, exchanging blood twice with her. “Has there ever been an instance when a human woman survived the ordeal intact?” Not that he intended to take the chance, but he needed the information in case of an unfortunate accident.

“Prince Mikhail, the leader of our people, successfully converted his lifemate. Their child is the lifemate of your elder brother, Gregori. My own brother, my twin, accidentally completed a conversion started by a vampire. Alexandria is his lifemate. If a human woman has psychic ability, it appears she can handle conversion by her Carpathian lifemate. And Tempest is undeniably your lifemate.”

“When you use a phrase like ‘it appears,’ ” Darius said, “it worries me. I would never want to take the chance of harming Tempest.”

“What is the alternative, Darius?” Julian asked gently. “She has brought you into the light. If you lost her, you would be destroyed. You know you would never survive. You would turn vampire, the undead. You would lose your soul.”

“I have chosen to grow old and die when she does,” Darius announced.

Julian caught the echo of his own lifemate’s gasp. De-sari was stunned and saddened at the notion. It took a moment for Julian to fight back his own protest of such a decision. “You know the danger our race is in. There are far too few of us to ensure the continuation of our people. We cannot afford to lose even one pair. And certainly not one involving a young, healthy woman capable of bearing children.”

Darius shook his head. “I know so little of our race, Julian.”

“It is necessary for every Carpathian male to find his lifemate. If he fails to do so, he must choose to face the dawn and end his life before it becomes too late and he loses his soul, becomes the undead. We are predators, Darius. Without a lifemate to bring meaning and light into our darkness, to make us complete, we will become vampire. But so few Carpathian females survive childhood that most of our males are turning and must be destroyed. Before I found Desari, I had made up my mind to end my life. Prince Mikhail, through Gregori, sent me to warn her that she was in danger from the human society of vampire-hunters. Of course, we had no idea any of you were still alive after the massacres in our homeland. We thought Desari human and mistakenly in the society’s sights. But when I saw colors in her presence, I knew she was my lifemate, that she was meant to be with me.”

“So Dayan and Barack must find their lifemates soon, or they are in danger of turning, as was I,” Darius noted thoughtfully, worried.