None of them had been prepared for the tragedy two months earlier. Desari could hardly bear to remember it. Savon had elected to lose his soul, giving himself over to the crouching beast, choosing to be completely dark. He had hidden the spreading evil stain even from those closest to him.
He had bided his time, awaited his opportunity, and then he had viciously attacked Syndil. Desari had never seen such a brutal assault on any woman. The men had always protected, treasured, and cherished the women. No one dreamed such a thing could happen. Syndil was sweet and trusting, but Savon had beaten her that day, mauled and raped her. He had nearly killed her, draining her of blood. Darius found them, directed by Syndil’s frantic mental cries for help. So shocked that his closest friend had committed such a monstrous crime, he was nearly killed himself when Savon had attacked him.
Afterward, Syndil had been so hysterical, she allowed only Desari near her and only Desari to replace the blood she had lost. In turn Barack and Dayan had supplied Desari and Darius. It had been a tragic, horrible time, and Desari knew none of them had fully recovered yet.
Syndil now spent most of her time in the earth or shape-shifting into a leopard. She rarely spoke, never smiled, and did not allow discussion of the attack. Dayan had grown quieter, more protective. Barack was the most changed. He had always seemed a playboy, laughing his way through the centuries, but for a month he, too, had stayed in the earth, and lately he was moody and watchful, his dark eyes following Syndil wherever she went. Darius was different, too. His black eyes were bleak and cold. He watched over the two women even more closely. Desari noticed he had also distanced himself from the men.
Syndil, come now!
This time she gave the order in a firm, decisive voice. Darius was far too heavy for Desari, in her weakened state, to move. What had happened to Syndil was not her trauma alone. They had all suffered, all had been changed forever by it. They needed her. Darius needed her.
Syndil materialized beside them, tall and beautiful with her enormous sad eyes. She paled visibly when she saw the bloodstains on Desari, when she noted Darius swaying unsteadily on his feet, his face gray. Quickly she caught him, taking most of his weight. “The others? Where are they?”
“Darius gave them his blood, blood he could not afford to give up,” Desari explained. “We were attacked by mortals with guns. Dayan and Barack were both hit too.”
“Barack?” Syndil’s pale face whitened even more. “And Dayan? Do they both live? Where are they?”
“They are in the healing earth,” Desari assured her.
“Who would want to shoot you? And what happened to Darius?” Syndil urged Darius forward toward the troupe’s bus. Under cover of darkness they made their way inside where Darius had left the two leopards after they aided him.
The moment they had Darius on the couch, Desari ripped away his shirt to expose his wounds. Syndil pushed closer. Her gaze narrowed speculatively. “A leopard did that.”
“Something did it,” Darius corrected grimly. “But he was no true leopard. Nor was he mortal. Whoever he was, he gave Desari blood.” He shook his head and looked up at his sister. “He was strong, Desari, stronger than anything I have ever come up against.”
Syndil bent to him. “You need blood, Darius. You must take mine.” She refused to let her fear of being close to a male, the strongest in her family, allow her to shirk her duty. She was already ashamed that she had removed herself so far from the others that she had been unable to detect the danger to them all.
Darius’s eyes, so dark they were black, drifted over her face. He could see everything, see into her very soul, see her aversion to touching a man. He shook his head. “Thank you, little sister, but I would prefer that you give your blood to Desari.”
“Darius!” Desari protested. “You need it desperately.”
Ashamed, Syndil hung her head. “It is for me he does this,” she confessed softly. “I cannot bear to be touched by a male, and he knows it.”
“If it were not necessary to dilute the blood of the intruder in Desari’s veins,” Darius objected softly, his voice soothing, “I would gladly accept your offering. If it is distasteful to you to do such a thing for me, then the offer is all the more valuable, and I thank you.”
Darius,
Desari warned, careful to use their own private mental wave,
Syndil is not strong enough to dilute the blood. This is a small thing to do for Syndil, Desari.
Darius closed his eyes again and sank into himself, sealing off the worst of the claw marks and beginning the ritual to heal each of the deep wounds from the inside out.
Syndil watched Darius’s face, waiting until he was far from them in spirit, not heeding their conversation, before she spoke. “Is he lying to me?” she asked.
Desari stroked her brother’s arm, choosing her words carefully, thoughtfully. “There was another besides the mortals. We do not know what he is. He saved my life, sealing off my wounds and giving me his blood. Darius attacked him; they fought. Apparently neither came out the victor.”
Syndil studied Desari’s face. “You are afraid. It is true then. You have this intruder’s blood in you.”
Desari nodded. “I feel different inside. He did something.” She whispered the words aloud, for the first time admitting it to someone other than herself. “I am changed.”
Syndil put an arm around Desari. “Sit beside Darius. You look as if you are going to fall on your face.”
“I feel like it, too.” Desari buried her face on Syndil’s shoulder for a moment, hugging her tightly. “What would we do without him?”
“He will be fine,” Syndil said softly. “Darius cannot be killed so easily.”
“I know.” Then Desari confessed her worst fear. “It is just that he has been so unhappy for so long. I am always afraid he will one day allow something or someone to destroy him so that he does not have to continue.”
“We all have been unhappy,” Syndil pointed out as she firmly pushed Desari to a sitting position. “How could what Savon did to me, to all of us, leave us unchanged? But Darius will not desert us. He would never do such a thing, not even in the guise of a carelessly received wound.”
“Do you think he was careless then?” That frightened Desari even more. If Darius had been careless, it meant her fears were closer to the mark than ever.
“Take my blood, Desari. It is freely offered to you and Darius. I hope that it provides both of you with strength and peace,” Syndil replied softly. She opened her wrist with one sharp nail and held it to Desari’s mouth. “For Darius, if not for yourself.”
Desari fed, then leaned down to her brother, whispering softly into his ear. “Take from me what is freely offered, brother, what you need. Take it for yourself and for all of us who depend so heavily on you. I offer up my life that you might live.”
“Desari!” Syndil protested sharply. “Darius might not know what he does. You cannot say things like that.”
“But it is true,” Desari said softly, stroking back her brother’s hair. “He is the greatest man I have ever known. I would do anything to save his life.” She pressed her opened wrist to her brother’s mouth. “What he has done for all of us, no other could have done. No other six-year-old could ever have saved us. It was a miracle, Syndil. He had no training, no one to guide him, yet he managed to keep us all alive. The life he gave us has been a good one. He deserves so much more than he has.”
“You must take more of my blood, Desari,” Syndil insisted softly. “You are so pale. Darius would be angry with you if he knew you did not feed properly. I insist, Desari. You must feed.” To force the issue, Syndil reopened her own vein with her teeth and pushed her wrist to Desari’s mouth. “Do as I say, little sister.” She gave the order in her firmest voice.
It was so unlike Syndil, Desari was startled into obeying her. Syndil had a gentle, soft-spoken, and loving nature. She rarely did wild, unpredictable things the way Desari did. Desari was forever getting reprimanded by her br
other, not that it did him much good. She always found something new and different to try. Always amazed at the beauty of the world around her, she found everything exciting, people intriguing. She was not content, as Syndil was, to do as the men instructed.
It wasn’t as if she set out to defy Darius. She would never do that; no one would dare. She just ended up in trouble over lots of little things. For instance, Darius did not want Desari wandering off by herself, but she liked her privacy, and she enjoyed running in the forest, taking to the skies, swimming with fish. Life was bubbling over with so many opportunities for adventure, and Desari wanted to try everything. Darius, however, believed that vampires might be lurking anywhere, waiting to carry off the women, and he guarded them accordingly.
Desari closed the wound on Syndil’s wrist, careful to leave no mark, then very gently pulled her own arm away from her brother, closing the laceration with the healing agent in her saliva. “Do you think he looks a little better, Syndil?” Darius was in the deep sleep of their people, his heart and lungs already shut down.
“His color is not so gray,” Syndil agreed. “We must get him to ground, where he will have a chance to heal. Where did he send Barack and Dayan?”
“I do not know,” Desari admitted. “I was unconscious.”
“In any case, you need to go to ground to heal also. I will have to handle the inquiries with the police. I will tell them Darius spirited you and the band out of harm’s way, that all of you were injured but the attack on your life did not succeed.”
“They will want to know where we were treated,” Desari objected. She was very tired, and the uneasiness in her was growing. She felt restless and unhappy, near tears, something unheard of for her.
“I can plant memories as well as any of you,” Syndil said firmly. “I may prefer solitude, but I assure you, Desari, I am every bit as capable as you.”
Desari stroked back her brother’s long dark hair. The silken strands fell past his broad shoulders in a shiny fall reminiscent of her own. Darius always looked so harsh and implacable when he was awake, a hint of cruelty about his finely chiseled mouth. Yet all that was gone when he was asleep. He looked young and handsome, without the tremendous responsibilities he always shouldered when he was awake.
“I do not like sleeping so close to mortals, especially when we are hunted,” Desari said softly. “It is not safe.”
“I am certain Darius took Barack and Dayan into the woods and ensured their safety. We will do the same for Darius. Desari, he may be wounded and tired, but he is powerful beyond even our knowledge. He can hear and feel things even when he is sleeping the sleep of our people.”
“What do you mean?”
Syndil pushed at the thick braid falling over her shoulder. “That night Savon attacked me, Darius was deep in the ground healing from a wound. The rest of you were far away, hunting, and I had stayed to watch over his resting place. Savon called to me to met him in a cave to see a rare plant he had found.” She bowed her head. “I went. I should have stayed to watch over Darius, but I went at Savon’s call. I screamed for all of you to aid me, but you were too far to make it back in time. But Darius heard. Even from deep within the earth. Even from the healing sleep of our people, he heard and knew every detail; I felt him lock on to me. Wounded, he rose and came to save me.”
“Darius heard you while he slept?” Desari, like the others, had assumed Darius had risen while they hunted. By the time she and Dayan and Barack had returned, Darius had already destroyed Savon and was healing Syndil’s terrible wounds even though he himself was weak from loss of blood.
Syndil nodded solemnly. “He came when I believed there was no hope for me.” She bowed her head, her voice soft, filled with tears. “I feel so ashamed that I cannot control my sorrow and ease his pain. He feels guilty. He feels he failed me.”
Desari lay her head protectively over her brother’s chest. She knew Syndil was only half-correct. Darius believed he had failed Syndil, but he did not feel guilty. He did not feel at all. He hid his lack of emotion from all of them, but Desari was so close to him, she was well aware of it and had been for some time. It was only his intense loyalty and sense of duty that kept Darius fighting for them. It was not feeling.
She knew Darius feared for their safety should he ever turn as Savon had. She was certain, as was he, that neither Barack nor Dayan could defeat him in battle. She doubted even their combined strengths could do so. She believed Darius was invincible. He could not turn. To her, it was that simple. Whatever darkness in him that was growing, spreading, whatever the lack of feeling in him, he would never allow it to turn him. His will was far too strong. Darius had shown that from the very first. Nothing could sway him from his chosen path.
Unless, perhaps, he simply allowed himself to be honorably killed. That was Desari’s prime concern, her deepest fear. She was frightened for all of them. Carpathian men had natures completely different from the women. They were dangerous, powerful predators, even when protective of women and mortals, they were dominating, arrogant, and thus truly perilous if they turned. It wasn’t in Syndil’s feminine nature to chafe under the males’ constraints or to rebel against them. Desari alone did what she wanted and damned the consequences, which only served to make the men more dominating and protective. Yes, they would all be in grave danger if Darius were to die or turn vampire.
“You will have to drive the bus, Syndil,” Desari instructed. “I will guard the rear to ensure we are not followed.”
Syndil wished she could navigate the big vehicle and also cast an illusion over it to hide from the mortals, but it was impossible for her. She would have to leave it to Desari, even in her weakened state, to fashion as many blockades as possible to any that might follow them. They were evidently in danger from some murderous group of mortals.
“Go, Syndil,” Desari said, making her way to the back of the bus.
Who was it that had saved her life, she wondered. Why had he done so? Darius said he could detect no evil, no tainted blood in her, and he should know. He had hunted and killed the undead often enough down through the centuries. He knew better than any of them the stench of tainted blood. He said it burned skin, raised blisters, and ate through flesh if left in contact too long. Darius had learned that bit of important information as he had everything else: the hard way.
Desari knelt on the bed at the back of the bus and stared out at the scene of dwindling chaos. Ambulances and police cars were pulling away, the crowd was beginning to disperse. She hadn’t thought to ask Darius if any of their attackers had escaped. Knowing Darius, she doubted it, but he might have been so concerned with her, Barack, and Dayan that he had allowed some of those guilty to escape his particular brand of justice.
Syndil drove the bus with surprising expertise, and Desari kept her eyes glued behind them, watching for any lights trailing the vehicle. Suddenly her heart was in her throat, pounding in alarm. For some reason she didn’t want to leave the bar. She felt she was leaving behind her destiny. She needed to be where he could find her.
He
?
Desari gasped and sank back onto the bed.
“What is it?” Syndil demanded, looking into the rearview mirror. She could hear Desari’s increased heartbeat, her sudden gasp of alarm. The blood was pumping through her veins far too fast. Syndil couldn’t see anyone behind them. “What is it, Desari?” she repeated.
“I cannot leave this place,” Desari said softly, sadly, sorrow in her heart. She pressed her hands to her pounding temples. “Let me out, Syndil. I must stay here.”
“Breathe, Desari. Just breathe your way through it. Whatever happened to you, we can fix it,” Syndil assured her, stomping harder on the gas pedal. She was not about to leave Desari anywhere in her condition.
Desari?
The faint stirring in her mind was Darius. She recognized his touch, the natural arrogance in his voice.
Do you have need of me? I cannot go away from him. The creature who gave me blood
has tied us together in some way. Darius, I am so frightened. Syndil has given you good advice. Remain calm and think. Breathe. You are powerful, maybe every bit as much as this creature who is attempting to ensnare you. Use that power now. If you fear leaving him do not. He will come for you again. And this time I will be waiting. There is a terrible emptiness in me. I cannot bear to go away from him. He is calling to me. You hear him?
Darius’s voice in her mind was stronger, his interest caught despite his need to rest and heal.
You hear his voice?
Desari shook her head, forgetting for a moment that her brother couldn’t see her. Her arms were across her stomach, and she was rocking herself back and forth for comfort. Her battered body was not nearly as painful as her aching soul.
No, it is not like that. Only a terrible wrenching, a feeling of being ripped apart. He is so strong, Darius. He will never let me go. Never. I will rid you of this creature, Desari.
Again she shook her head.
I do not think you can, Darius. I will not fail you.
Desari pressed the back of her hand to her trembling mouth. “You cannot,” she whispered softly aloud. “If you kill him, he will take me with him when he goes.”
Syndil gasped, her acute hearing picking up the thread of sound and sorrow from Desari. She had known Darius was communicating privately with his sister even in his deep sleep; Darius was strong even in the worst times. “Tell him, Desari. Tell Darius if you really believe that. You know no one can defeat Darius. It is impossible. He must know if what you say is true.”
“He cannot help me this time. No one can,” Desari said.
Syndil called to Darius inside her own mind, something she had not done since the violent attack on her.
Desari believes that if you kill this creature, he will take her with him from this world. And I believe that if she thinks he can do such a thing, she is in danger.
Dark Challenge (Dark Series - book 5) Page 4