Aidan, do not take your attention from the vampire, Alexandria cautioned. He is still dangerous. He gathers himself for the kill. Are you all right? I feel your pain.
I do not feel anything. Aidan’s reply was abrupt, clipped, his attention back on the vampire.
Diego’s head listed to one side, his grimace a twisted parody of an ingratiating smile at the hunter. Red flames flickered in his eyes. He was gasping for breath, but Aidan was not deceived. The vampire was more dangerous than ever. Aidan would see that danger in the red haze of his eyes and the nails digging blood from their own palms.
“Let me die in peace, Aidan. You have finished me,” the vampire said softly, persuasively. “Take the child and go. Leave me my dignity. I will meet the dawn and die as our kind should.”
Aidan remained very still, his body appearing relaxed, almost indolent, his shoulders loose, his arms at his sides, his knees slightly bent. The picture of serenity. The golden eyes did not so much as blink. He watched the vampire’s movements like the predator he was.
The vampire erupted into cursing, an obscene, guttural expression of his frustration. “Come and get me then,” he challenged.
Aidan merely stared at him, unmoving. He did not allow pity for the misguided creature into his heart or mind. That way lay disaster. The undead felt no remorse for their actions. Diego would drain Joshua dry, torture him to get to Aidan, to Alexandria, then cast the child aside like so much garbage. There was no bargaining with a vampire, no reasoning. The hunter merely waited patiently.
He didn’t have long to wait. The undead had no such patience. He leapt at Aidan, shape-shifting as he did so, his head, grotesquely askew on his skinny neck, lengthening into a thick, compact muzzle with long, protruding, razor-sharp eyeteeth. In mid-air, the saber-toothed tiger roared as it sprang.
Aidan waited until the last possible moment. Avoiding the long fangs and the massive weight of the animal was easy enough, but it was impossible to get close without those lethal claws tearing at him, trying to gut him. He closed his mind to all pain and cut himself off from Alexandria so that she could not possibly share his suffering. Then his arm was around the creature’s broken neck, and he was astride the animal, where the vicious claws could not reach him. Even with his enormous strength, it was difficult to control the howling, writhing beast tearing to get at him.
Slowly, with great care, Aidan was able to apply enough pressure around the tiger’s neck to cut off the air supply. The animal went crazy, thrashing and bucking, trying to unseat him. Ferociously it bit and screamed, a high-pitched, unearthly yowl. Tenaciously Aidan hung on. His hand slipped lower, seeking the heartbeat.
Even as Aidan nearly reached his goal, the vampire twisted enough to sink one venom-tipped claw deeply into his neck, just missing his jugular. Blood spurted, and he could feel it running down his skin. The beast was so strong and agile that for a moment Aidan was unsure he could defeat the creature. Then something moved in his mind. A quiet certainty filled him with confidence and strength.
Although he had attempted to shut her out, to keep her from the brutality, Alexandria had never left him. She was there, feeding his strength with her own. Aidan’s searching hand found what he was looking for. He plunged his entire fist deep into the maddened tiger, past muscle and into the soft, vulnerable organs.
The vampire raged and screamed, raking at Aidan with his last dying strength, determined to take the hunter with him. As Aidan extracted the pulsating heart, the saber-toothed tiger contorted, shaped-shifting until the withered, gray-skinned vampire lay beneath him, still and silent.
Aidan tossed the decaying matter away from him and hastily put distance between himself and the abomination that had once been a decent Carpathian male. He allowed himself a deep, cleansing breath and sagged against a tree trunk. The wind rustled, picking up strength to carry the putrid scent of the vampire away from him. The night was full upon him, dark and mysterious and beautiful.