Aidan sank into the sand, his head bowed, his shoulders shaking, as if he was trying to control some great emotion that had overcome him. Alexandria circled his head with her arms. She could feel sobs tearing at his throat and chest, yet he made no sound. Only a single, blood-red tear marked his great sorrow.
“I am sorry, cara, but he is a great man, one our people cannot afford to lose. I could feel his bleakness, the inner demon waiting to devour him. To have to honor my promise to him, to have to hunt him…” He shook his head. “It is such a disservice to one who has dedicated his life to our people, to our Prince.”
Alexandria’s breath caught in her throat. She had thought Aidan invincible. Capable, even, of hunting vampires and triumphing over their evil power. But Gregori was a different proposition. Even with two hunters such as Aidan, it didn’t seem possible that he could be defeated. “Can’t you contact this woman, the one who could save him?”
Aidan shook his head regretfully. “He would continue to honor his vow, and her presence would only make things worse.”
She touched his hair with gentle, loving fingers. “As I made it worse for you.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully against his hair. “I can understand that girl’s being afraid. You scared me. You still do. But Gregori, he’s terrifying. I would never want to be tied to such a being. And she’s only a child.”
“Why would you still be afraid of me?” Aidan lifted his head and touched her face reverently with his fingertips, with a tenderness that turned her heart over.
“Your power. Your intensity. Maybe when you teach me a few things, I won’t be so nervous of it, but now it seems you have too much power for any one person to wield.”
“Your mind holds the same powers as mine. You simply have to think of what you want, Alexandria. If you wish flight, you simply hold the picture in your mind, and your body is light, and you float.”
His arm circled her waist, and they rose slowly into the air. “Merge with me. See it for yourself. There is no need to ever fear me.” He set them gently back to earth.
“Tell me about the ‘claiming’ he was talking about. What did he mean? And who is Mikhail?”
“Mikhail is the oldest of our people, our Prince. He has led us for centuries. Gregori is only a quarter of a century younger, so in our terms, they are nearly the same age. Our people have been persecuted over the years, driven into hiding, and many were massacred. Our women have become so few, the men cannot find lifemates to bring light to their darkness, and more and more turn vampire. Though no one has yet discovered why, the few children born to us are male, and most do not survive the first year of life. Those women who give birth and lose the child grow despondent and refuse to try after a time. So the men without lifemates are lost, without hope. They either greet the dawn and perish or succumb to the demon within. Become vampire, true predators.”
“How terrible.” She meant it, sorrow filling her mind and heart.
“Mikhail and Gregori have been trying to find a way to avoid the inevitable, the extinction of our race. They discovered that a small group of human women possessing psychic abilities were capable of bonding chemically with our males.”
“Like me.”
He nodded. “You did not find human men physically attractive. For some unknown reason, you were not born into our race but were made for me specifically. Your body and mine have a need to be one. Your heart and soul are the other half of mine. Mikhail and Gregori believe that those psychic women of human descent are capable of producing female children, and that those children will also be capable, or at least more likely to produce female children. So you see why you are so treasured.”
“What is the claiming?”
Aidan let his breath out slowly. “Alexandria…” There was hesitation in his voice.