Part 3 (1/2)

She didn't have the strength to fight him, so she didn't even try. She couldn't stop the cry of pain that escaped her as his fangs sank deeply into her neck. He made a growling noise as he fed, his fist in her tangled hair holding her still while he drank greedily. She knew her life was sliding away from her, down his throat. She was suffering from loss of blood and hypothermia. Nothing seemed to matter.

Yohenstria felt her slump against him and had to catch her in his arms to prevent her from falling.

Her heart was laboring, her breathing shallow. He had taken too much again. His teeth tore open his wrist, and he clamped it hard over her mouth, forcing the dark liquid down her throat. Even with her life hanging in the balance, Alexandria fought him. He could not seize her mind and force her under his complete control. Although he was able to compel her to swallow some of his tainted blood, he knew it was only because she was so close to complete collapse. Still, each time he forced her to feed, he brought her closer to his dark world. She would not die; he would not allow it. He would have to force her to accept far more blood to keep her alive.

But even as he determined that, he felt the disturbance in the air. A slow hiss escaped his lips, and he turned his head slowly. ”We have been found, my dear. Come, you will see what the hunter is like. There is nothing like him in this world. He is relentless.” Paul Yohenstria half carried, half dragged Alexandria from the cave into the night air.

All around them the waves crashed to sh.o.r.e, spitting up white spray, and sea foam doused the cliff walls. The vampire shoved Alexandria to the ground and centered himself in the middle of the open beach, his eyes scanning the sky.

Alexandria crawled across an expanse of sand to reach Joshua. He was huddled in a shadow, rocking back and forth, trying to comfort himself. She dragged herself to his side and positioned herself between him and the vampire. Something terrible was about to happen. She could feel the air thickening around them. The wind swirled, and fog blanketed the cove.

There was a rush of movement somewhere in the dense fog, and the vampire screamed, the sound high and filled with fear and rage. Alexandria's heart nearly stopped. If the vampire was that afraid, whatever was out there was something for her to be terrified of too. She caught Joshua to her, covering his eyes with her hands. They clung together, shaking.

Out of the fog a huge golden bird seemed to materialize. It came in at the beach so fast, it was a blur, talons extended, golden eyes gleaming intensely. The heavy fog swirled, then parted to reveal a shape half human, half bird. Alexandria stifled a scream of her own.

Then the creature became a man, huge, tall, and heavily muscled, with bulging arms and a ma.s.sive chest. His hair was long and blond, flowing in the wind. His body moved with supple fluidity, like a jungle cat stalking its prey. His face was shadowed, but she could see eyes like molten gold pinning the vampire in their intensity.

”So, Paul, we meet at last.” The voice was beautiful, a ripple of notes so pure, the tone seemed to seep into her very soul. He stood tall and relaxed, a perfect reincarnation of a Viking warrior. ”I have had much work cleaning up the messes you have made around my city. Your challenge was quite clear. I could do no other than oblige you.”

The vampire moved backward, putting more s.p.a.ce between them. ”I never challenged you. I kept my distance.” His voice was so fawning, Alexandria went cold. This hunter was so great a force to be reckoned with that he struck terror into the heart of the vampire.

The hunter tilted his head to one side. ”You killed when it was forbidden. You know the law, unclean one.”

The vampire launched itself then, a blur of wicked claws and fangs as it leapt to strike the intruder down. The hunter simply stepped aside and casually whipped a claw across the vampire's throat, laying him open. Blood erupted in a red volcano.

Alexandria was horrified to see the golden head contorting, the face lengthening to a muzzle, fangs exploding into a wolf's mouth. The hunter snapped the vampire's femur like a twig, the sound carrying across the beach and resonating through her body. She flinched and hugged Joshua tighter, holding his head down to prevent him from witnessing such a terrifying and gruesome scene.

The vampire wiped at the blood running down his chest and stared with hateful eyes at the golden hunter. ”You think you are not like me, Aidan, but you are. You are a killer, and you rejoice in the battle. It is the only time you feel alive. No one can be one such as you and not feel the joy and power in the taking of life. Tell me, Aidan, is it not true that you can see no color in this world?

That there is no emotion in you unless you are in battle? You are the ultimate killer. You, Gregori, and your brother Julian. You are the darkest shadows in our world. You are the real killers.”

”You have broken our laws, Paul. You chose to trade your soul for the illusion of power instead of greeting the dawn. And you turned a human woman, created a deranged vampiress to feed on the blood of innocent children. You knew the penalty.”

The voice was purity itself, a cool, clean stream of beauty. The tone seemed to flow into Alexandria's mind, made her want to do whatever he asked. ”You know there is no way to defeat me,” the voice continued, and Alexandria believed it. It was so soft and gentle, so true. There was no way anyone could successfully oppose the hunter. He was truly invincible.

”It will not be long before one must come to hunt you,” Paul Yohenstria taunted, struggling to stand. His form seemed to s.h.i.+mmer, dissolve, but even as he mutated, the hunter struck again.

The sound was sickening. The fog cloaked the actual a.s.sault, and the hunter was such a blur of motion, Alexandria could not possibly follow his movements. But out of the fog rolled an obscene sight-the vampire's head, the hair a tangle of blood and gore, the eyes open and staring. The head rolled toward her, spilling a crimson trail behind it.

Alexandria struggled to her feet, clutching Joshua to her, her hands over his eyes as the grotesque ball stopped mere inches away. The fog swirled and thickened, and, to her horror, the hunter turned his head, and the molten gold of his eyes rested on her face.

Chapter Three

Aidan Savage heaved an inward sigh as his gaze settled on the crazed vampiress clutching the small boy to her breast. The demon in him was strong today, struggling for freedom, the red haze in his mind clamoring for control. And the vampire was correct. Suppressing the killer within was becoming more and more difficult. He did feel the power and joy in battle, and the fighting was addicting because it was the only time he felt anything. He had endured centuries of a cold, barren, black-and-gray existence, enjoying no real color or emotion except the l.u.s.t for battle.

He allowed his gaze to sweep the beach, then turned his attention back to the hag threatening the child. Suddenly he stilled. After more than six hundred years of seeing no color, he now saw the trail of tainted blood from Paul's head not as a black streak but a bright scarlet ribbon, leading his gaze straight to the vampiress.

Impossible. Color and emotion would return to him now only if he found a lifemate. And there was no one here but the pitiful human Paul had attempted to turn. He looked at her, his heart heavy.

He almost felt sorry for the poor woman. Again he was puzzled by this unexpected burst of sympathy, of emotion, after so many centuries, but he continued his inspection of the female. It was impossible to tell her age. She was small, almost childlike, but the suit she wore, as torn, wet, and dirty as it was, clung to full curves. Her legs were a ma.s.s of b.l.o.o.d.y welts, her mouth swollen and black with oozing blisters. Her hair, tangled with kelp, hung in a rank clump down her back to her waist. Her blue eyes held terror but also defiance.

She was going to kill the child. The rare woman could become Carpathian. Contrary to the popular myth, most human women could not be turned by a vampire without dire consequences. They immediately went insane and preyed on innocent children. This woman had suffered horribly. The ragged wounds on her neck gave evidence of the vampire's hard usage of her, and the cuts on her wrists were cruelly deep.

Aidan reached mentally for her mind, wanting to make her death as painless for her as possible.

Shocked by her resistance, he took a warning step toward her. She was incredibly strong. Her mind had some kind of natural barrier, resisting his will. Instead of placing the child on the sand in front of her as he had directed, she pushed the boy to one side, picked up a large piece of driftwood, and launched herself at Aidan.

He sprang forward, swiping the staff from her hand. The impact cracked a bone-he could hear it, see the pain in her eyes-but she didn't scream. Evidently she was beyond screaming. He reached for her, intending to end her life before she suffered further. She struggled, still resisting his mental compulsion. He bent his head to her throat.

She was so small and cold, s.h.i.+vering uncontrollably, and his every protective instinct leapt into being, feelings he had never before experienced. He wanted to cradle her close, shelter her in the warmth of his arms. His teeth pierced her soft throat, and instantly everything changed for him for all eternity. His entire world. Colors whirled and danced, nearly overwhelming him with their beauty and vividness. His body reacted with a wild urgency he had not known he was capable of feeling, not even in the old days, when he still had emotions.

Her blood was hot and spicy, a sweet, addicting feast giving nourishment to his depleted body. The hunt and fight had cost him strength, and he had not fed this night. Her body shared its life-giving fluid with his. He was aware on some level when her struggles ceased and she rested pa.s.sively against him. He lifted her easily into his arms, cradling her against his chest as he fed. Then something hit him hard across his legs. Startled, he closed the wound with a caress of his tongue and turned to stare down at the child. It was a measure of his current bemus.e.m.e.nt that he had all but forgotten the boy, had not even heard his approach.

Joshua was furious. He struck the hunter across the legs a second time, swinging the piece of driftwood as hard as could. ”Stop hurting my sister! You were supposed to come and save us! She said you would come if we held on long enough. You were supposed to help us, but you're just like him!”Tears streamed down the child's face. Aidan could clearly see that the youth had blond hair and blue eyes. The colors nearly blinded him. He looked down into the ravaged face of the woman in his arms. Her heart was laboring, slow, her lungs fighting for air. She was dying.

”I am here to help you,” he murmured softly, almost absently, to the boy. He reached inside himself, found a calm, tranquil pool to rest in, and sent himself seeking outside his own body and into the woman's. He could not believe he had found her after all these long centuries. But it must be. Only finding his lifemate could bring about these astonis.h.i.+ng changes in him.

She was fading away, not fighting anymore. His will surrounded hers. You will not leave me. Take my blood, which is freely offered to you. You must drink in order to live.

Her mind moved away from his. Her spirit was still strong enough to evade his compulsion. Aidan changed tactics. Your brother needs you. Fight for him. He cannot be without you. He will die.

With one fingernail he slashed the heavy muscles of his chest and pressed her to him. She resisted at first, but he was relentless, surrounding her, herding her will, battering at the barrier until, in her weakened state, she gave in to his enthrallment and fed.

”What are you doing?” Joshua demanded.

”She has lost much blood. I must transfuse her.” Aidan planned to erase the child's memories of this nightmare. A satisfactory explanation would not harm him at this point. The boy was very brave and deserved to hear anything that would ease his terrible fear.

It had taken careful tracking of the vampire to find him. He always left a b.l.o.o.d.y mess behind yet remained one step ahead of his hunter. The night before, Aidan had arrived too late. He had gone to the restaurant on the cliffs, tracking the disturbances in the air, but Paul Yohenstria had already killed an elderly man, ripping his heart out and leaving behind a corpse too hot to allow the police to discover. Aidan had disposed of the body and made certain the vampire's three female victims would never be found. But he had lost the undead's trail just before dawn. Still, he had been certain he was nearing his lair, and finally he had found and destroyed him.

Now he had no choice but to burn the vampire and take these two lost ones back to his home. For this pitiful, disfigured woman was clearly the mate he had been seeking these eight hundred years. His astonis.h.i.+ng responses to her proved it. He had no idea what she was like, or even what she looked like, but she had brought his body and heart back to life. This was the one.

”What is your name?” Aidan asked the child. It seemed kinder than merely reading his mind. Not that he had given great thought to kindness before.

”Joshua Houton. Is Alexandria going to be all right? She looks so white and horrible. I think that bad man really hurt her.”

”I am a healer for my people, Joshua Houton. I know how to help your sister. Do not worry. I will ensure that this bad one can never hurt another living soul. Then we will go to my home. You will be safe there.”

”Alex is going to be upset. Her suit is ruined, and she needs that suit to get us a great job and lots of money.” Joshua sounded forlorn, as if he might cry at any moment. He was looking up at the hunter for solace.

”We will get her another suit,” Aidan a.s.sured the child. He gently stopped the woman from feeding.

He needed strength to transport all of them back to his home, and it also took tremendous energy to heal another. He would have to find time to hunt this night for sustenance.

Aidan placed Alexandria on the sand and pulled Joshua gently to her side. ”She is very ill, Joshua.

I want you to sit right beside her so she can feel your presence and know you have not been harmed. She will need us to take care of her for a while. You are a big boy. You can handle that, even if she says things that are scary, can you not?”