Dark Fire (Dark Series - book 6)

by Christine Feehan

  Ruthlessly he took the decision out of her hands. “See to Sasha. Use the herbs in the closet. She will allow it.” He literally tossed her into the bus, turning away before she had time to protest.

  At once it began to rain. Not lightly, but sheets and sheets pouring from the sky, drenching the forest and campsite, as if the heavens had opened up and dumped an entire ocean on them. Tempest concentrated on her task. Sasha was flicking her tail back and forth in agitation, a low, menacing rumble coming from her throat.

  Darius protected the bus, shielding it from the hidden hunters who had now become his prey. His form, real and solid, shimmered in the driving rain briefly, then simply evaporated. In the silver sheen of the downpour, blood-red drops occasionally splashed to the ground.

  The wind rose to a frantic pitch, screaming through the trees, as sharp as any knife. The male leopard was a whirling blur of savage fangs and claws, an instrument of revenge. For a brief moment the forest was alive with moans and cries and the horror and stench of death. When at last it was over, only the sound of the wind and rain remained.

  Darius knelt for a moment in the rain, weary, wounded, revulsion for the necessity of this deed welling up in him. He bowed his head while the water began to flow in small streams around him. The bodies looked as though they had been attacked by wild animals, yet if they were studied, there would be a roar of interest heard halfway around the world. He could not allow that.

  He spent considerable time arranging the area in a way humans would accept without too many questions. A battle had broken out between fanatical factions of weekend warriors, and they had killed each other, their bodies then disturbed by a multitude of scavenging animals. He took great care to remove any traces of his family’s presence from the area. They couldn’t afford to leave even tire marks in the campsite. The accumulating water would take care of that for him. He could hide the bus, blurring it from prying eyes until they were on a main highway.

  Exhausted, he finally called in Forest, and man and cat made their way back to the bus together. Sasha was lying quietly, and the big male leopard went to her side and touched her several times, examining the wound, stitches, and wrapping. Tempest turned to look at Darius, her heart in her eyes. He felt he had come home, the weariness dropping away, the stench of death replaced by her welcoming light.

  “You’re bleeding,” she said softly.

  “I will live,” he answered. Ordinarily his kind shut down heart and lungs to preserve their blood, but Tempest and he were not safe yet. They still had to run the gauntlet of trucks blocking every road to the highway, and Darius knew others would be in those trucks waiting for them.

  “Tell me what you need,” she said, aware that his body healed differently than hers. “The herbs and soil I need are in the cupboard above the couch.”

  He sounded tired, and that frightened her. She looked away, careful to avoid allowing tears into her eyes. The sight of Darius, soaking wet, weary, streaked in blood and mud, his black hair plastered to his head, nearly broke her heart.

  She worked on him quickly. It was easier than she had envisioned, as the bullet had exited his body and he had started sealing off the wounds from the inside out. But it required tremendous energy on his part to heal his insides without benefit of the earth and rejuvenating sleep. Tempest packed his wound with the mixture of his healing saliva, soil, and herbs. It was strange to follow his directions to mix dirt with his saliva, but she accepted his explanation that Carpathians were of the earth and took advantage of its healing properties. Her hand caressed his neck, her fingertips conveying her growing love when she still could not voice it to him.

  Darius caught her hand and brought it to his mouth. “I am sorry, Tempest. I never would have willingly exposed you to this side of our life. We are often hunted by mortals. Down through the centuries many of us have been massacred. I wish I could have spared you this.”

  “I don’t wilt in the sun, Darius, or melt in the rain. I’m tough, you know. Now let me drive us out of here. You go to sleep. Real sleep. I know you can’t go into the ground, but you can sleep the way you’re supposed to and trust me to take care of you.” Her green eyes captured his black gaze and held it every bit as easily as he could do. “You do trust me, don’t you, Darius?”

  He found himself smiling. In the midst of blood and death, pain and weariness, she made him smile. “With my very life, baby,” he responded, his voice velvet soft, brushing at her insides like the touch of his fingers. He cupped her chin in his palm. “I promise you, I will rest when I know we are safe.”

  Resignation crept into her eyes. There was no point in arguing with Darius when he had made up his mind. “Tell me what to do.”

  “You will have to drive the bus. The storm is coming to its peak. We must take advantage of it. The water will pour into the streams because the ground cannot hold it, so there will be flooding. We want to time getting across the bridge before the wall of water hits it. We cannot use the roads, as they are blocked,” he explained.

  She bit down hard on her lower lip, but that was her only sign of apprehension. She squared her shoulders and turned resolutely to walk to the driver’s seat.

  Darius caught her around her small waist and fastened his mouth to hers. He tasted her fear, her sweetness, her compassion. He tasted her love for him, growing inevitably with every moment they shared. He took his time, his kiss fiercely possessive, savoring the closeness with her. Reluctantly he lifted his head. “We should get going, honey.” His eyes darkened even more as he studied her slightly bemused expression. She was so beautiful to him. Color had swept into her face, and her lips were slightly parted, an invitation he couldn’t find it in himself to resist. He kissed her again, this time hard but brief.

  Tempest seated herself behind the wheel of the bus. The rain was beating at the windshield, visibility at an all-time low. She glanced back at Darius, unsure of herself for a moment, but he was peering out the window, directing the violence of the storm. She read the certainty in him that she could do what he had asked of her. He believed in her absolutely.

  “There’s a faint trail, Darius,” she called back to him. “It’s disappearing under water, but I think I can stay on it.” The bus moved sluggishly in the muddy track, rotted tree branches floating along in the water, bumping against the sides.

  “Do not use the lights,” Darius warned softly.

  “I need them. I can’t see that well in the dark,” she objected. “If the water’s too high, we’ll get stuck.”

  “You can see. I see through your eyes. It is the human mind in you that refuses to rely on your own senses,” he corrected absently, as if his thoughts were elsewhere.

  Tempest exhaled slowly. The moment she felt calm and in control, she moved the large vehicle carefully through the swirling water. Her mind played tricks on her; she thought she saw eddies of deep red blood in the dark stream. But the rain was beating down so hard, she could barely see. The windshield wipers had no hope of keeping up with the deluge pouring from the sky.

  Tempest felt Darius standing behind her, the warmth of his body seeping into the cold of hers. He reached around her to frame her face with his palms, his fingertips brushing away her tears. “You weep for the death of those killers.” He made it a statement, neither good nor bad. He could feel the intensity of her sorrow beating at him.

  “I’m sorry, Darius.” Her voice was low, strangled, as if she was choking on her anguish. “They had families, mothers, wives. Brothers and sisters. Children.”

  “They would have killed you, honey. I could read the intent in their minds. Some of them thought they would enjoy you before giving you your death. They would kill

  my

  sister and destroy her chosen lifemate. I could not allow such an atrocity,” he said quietly.

  “I know,” she agreed softly, “and I’m not blaming you for what had to be. I realize the position they put you in, but I still feel sadness for their families and the waste of their lives. Pe
rhaps some of them felt they were doing the right thing. It doesn’t make it right, but they were living beings.”

  Darius swept the thick mane of hair from the nape of her neck and bent to kiss her exposed skin. “You do not have to explain what I already know, my love. I dwell in you as you may do in me at any time you choose.” His hands rested briefly on her shoulders, the intensity of his love for her shaking him. It rose up, a flood of emotion that threatened to swamp him when there was still so much for him to do. He had to turn away from her before the need to crush her to him, to feel her skin against his, overcame him. He took a deep breath to steady himself and deliberately put distance between their bodies.

  Tempest drove through the murky water as it continued to rise. Twice she crossed a paved road and found another dirt track. Once she came very close to a huge truck parked across the road, one of its occupants smoking a cigarette. She rubbled at her lower lip worriedly but got past the truck without incident. She glanced back at Darius, noting his coloring. He was gray and drawn, lines etched deeply in his face. The strain of masking with illusion an object as large as the bus was enormous. In his weakened state, he was actually trembling.

  Tempest hastily averted her eyes, her heart pounding as if it might explode in her chest at any moment. The idea of anything happening to Darius was terrifying. She drove as fast as she dared over the unfamiliar terrain, feeling her way carefully, focusing her mind on the dangers the volume of water presented. At times she chose a path so narrow that the tree branches scraped the sides of the trailer with a screeching metallic sound she thought might haunt her for all time.

  As the bridge loomed up in front of them, Tempest wiped at her face, hoping to wipe away the veil that was making it so difficult to see. Between the rain and the fog, she felt as if she were driving blind. She felt the bridge sway beneath the bus, and instinctively she let up on the gas pedal, nearly panicking.

  At once Darius was there, his bare foot covering hers, pressing the accelerator so that the bus fishtailed before the tires found traction. “Keep going, baby,” he said softly.

  He didn’t give her a choice, his foot firmly over hers. Tempest held on grimly to the steering wheel, her heart in her throat. Water was pouring over the structure, pushing at the bus hard enough that she had to fight to keep them on the bridge. The water wanted to lift the trailer and carry it into the swollen stream. She allowed herself to breathe only when the vehicle cleared the bridge. Then she pushed at Darius’s leg, making him let up on the gas. She was shaking so violently, her teeth were chattering.

  “You are doing great, honey,” Darius whispered, his hand stroking a caress down her bright hair. “We are almost out of this.”

  “Almost?” She turned her head to stare up at him. “There’s more? I’m getting so tired, Darius.” She felt silly telling him that when he was wounded and in more need of rest than she. “I think I’ve had enough adventure for one night.”

  He ruffled her hair, affection in his touch. For a man part beast and all predator, he found he had a side he had never expected. Tempest made him go soft inside. “Hang in there, honey. We face one more barrier, and then we will reach the open road.”

  She heard a muffled roar and realized a wall of water was building upstream, pushing everything in its path in front of it. Immediately she started the vehicle moving forward, inching their way through the the heavy vapor and rain. Without warning a truck loomed up only scant feet from them, directly in her path. A man was leaning against the hood, night goggles pressed to his eyes.

  Lightning flashed, strike after strike, lighting the night as if it were day. The man dropped the goggles into the muck, his hands over his eyes as she swerved off the road, barely missing a huge tree. Clenching her teeth, she fought the heavy bus for control, bringing it back onto the road beyond the parked truck.

  Darius slumped into the seat beside her, his face so gray and drawn that she nearly slammed on the brakes. “Go lie down, Darius,” she ordered, frightened by his lack of color. “I’ll get us to the resort where Desari is supposed to be. Konocti Harbor Inn and Spa. It’s somewhere near Clearlake. I can find it.” The route was well marked, an easy thing to follow, she hoped. She was bad at directions, but surely she could follow road signs.

  Darius staggered to the back of the bus without argument and lay down on the couch, the injured leopard on the floor close by. “You know you will get us lost without guidance, little love.”

  Her heart turned over at the note of tenderness in his voice. She wanted him to sleep the rejuvenating sleep of his people, to heal himself in the earth so that he would be at full strength again. The pain from his wound was on him, hunger from blood loss beating at him, yet when she touched his mind, she found only thoughts for her, for her safety.

  “You just think you’re indispensable,” she scolded him, deliberately sarcastic. “I’m perfectly capable of finding my way to the resort and the campsite where they plan to settle tonight. Now go to sleep, and I’ll wake you if I need a wounded warrior.”

  “Do not ever attempt to leave me again, Tempest,” he murmured so softly that she barely caught the words. There was an unguarded ache in his voice that brought a fresh flood of tears to her eyes.

  In her life, no one had ever wanted her. No one had ever needed her. Certainly no one had ever been so loving and caring toward her. For all his overbearing, dominating ways, she couldn’t ever say he didn’t put her first. She couldn’t say her heart wasn’t totally captivated. He had woven a spell around her so strong, she didn’t think the tie could ever be broken.

  As she drove down the highway, the rain began to lessen to a drizzle. She made every attempt to keep her mind from what had happened. The idea of all those men throwing their lives away, attacking people they really knew nothing about, was devastating to her. She had no idea just how many adversaries there had been, but she knew the cats had managed to kill two humans apiece. She had caught the images in their minds. Darius had killed the others, but she had no idea how many, and she didn’t want to know. It was better not to know, not to allow herself to think too much about insanity of what was happening in her life.

  Carpathians. Vampires. Vampire-hunters. It was all too bizarre.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tempest drove the bus onto the shoulder of the road, parked, and rested her head against the steering wheel. She felt as if she had been driving forever, but it was the road conditions and driving rain that finally defeated her waning strength, not the hour of night. Exhausted, she struggled to keep her eyes open. In any case, she had stayed on the main highway until there was a confusing fork in the road. She had gone right around the bend, hoping she wasn’t supposed to take the road branching to the left. She nibbed her eyes, feeling faint.

  Her heart nearly stopped when a cloud of vapor streamed in through the window she had cracked open, hoping the cold air would revive her. Julian Savage shimmered into a solid state beside her, then went at once to Darius, concern etched on his handsome face. Tempest laid her head back against the seat, too tired to question him.

  “How long has he been like this?” Julian demanded.

  “He was shot,” Tempest said without opening her eyes. “I told him to sleep, that I would find the rest of you.”

  Julian bent close to Darius, tore at his own wrist with his teeth, and pressed the wound firmly over Darius’s mouth. “Take what is freely offered that you might live both for your lifemate and yourself.” He was unexpectedly gentle, his voice a blend of concern and hypnotic compulsion.

  Darius moved then, for the first time in hours, his hand rising weakly to grip Julian’s wrist and hold it to his mouth. Julian began the ritual healing chant, and from several miles away, the rest of the Carpathians, linked as they were with their unique telepathy, joined in. All of them felt Darius’s weakness and pain. All of them knew he would not go to ground as he needed.

  Tempest pushed herself from the driver’s seat and staggered down the trailer until she could
drop to her knees beside Darius. “Is he going to be okay, Julian?”

  “He is weak. He went into battle already drained of his strength. He used mental energy to focus the storm and hide the bus.” Julian looked worried, his eyes filled with concern. “He must go to ground and heal. He needs to sleep the sleep of our people.”

  Darius roused himself, the blood of the ancients flowing strong in his veins. “She was lost again, was she not?”

  “I wasn’t lost,” Tempest protested, her voice drowsy. “I was simply looking for a good place to rest.”

  Julian shrugged. “She took a wrong turn a few miles ago. I will drive both of you to the others. You must sleep, Darius.”

  “I must protect Tempest.” It was an implacable statement, an order given by a being used to being obeyed.

  Tempest leaned her head against his leg. “You’re about as much protection as a wet noodle right now, Darius. I’m protecting

  you.

  “ She would have glared at him, but she didn’t have the energy to lift her head. “Get it? I’m taking the responsibility for a change.”

  Julian shook his head at them. “You are both a sorry sight. I have no choice but to offer my protection. I will drive. You two rest.”

  “Good idea,” Darius and Tempest said simultaneously.

  Darius reached down until he found Tempest’s hand and laced his fingers through hers, connecting them together. They were content to be silent for a long while, the swaying of the bus curiously comforting. Then Darius’s thumb began to move, a feather-light touch brushing gently back and forth across her knuckles. “I need to feel your body beside mine,” he murmured beneath his breath.

  Tempest heard the urgency of his need in his voice. He never tried to hide it from her, never worried that he sounded vulnerable. She was exhausted, so much so that it was an effort to lift herself to the other side of the low couch. Sliding beside him, she fit her body to his. Darius instantly turned to wrap his arms around her. She felt as though she was home, safe and protected, where she belonged. She closed her eyes and slept, not realizing Darius had given her a slight mental push to help her drift off peacefully.