Dark Series - Dark Gold Part 26

Aidan knew the instant the vampire rose. Earth and rock and moldy wood spewed upward in a geyser through the thick, soupy fog. Rats squealed, racing to abandon the rotted timbers.

c.o.c.kroaches boiled from the decaying wood, a moving carpet swarming over broken planks. The dilapidated building shuddered. Evil incarnate burst into the air, screaming hatred and defiance, laughing horribly as it sped to the car and its waiting prize.

The s.h.i.+mmering rainbow glittering in the white fog slowly took the shape of Aidan's tall, powerful frame striding through the mist.

The vampire leaned over the trunk of the car, prepared to grab the sleeping child. He stopped abruptly, suddenly wary, his thin lips drawn back in a snarl, exposing long, yellowed fangs. His head undulated back and forth on a skinny, wrinkled neck like that of a reptile. His cold eyes suspiciously examined the trunk, then the blackened ground. He followed the trail of charred bits of flesh. A long, slow hiss of foul breath escaped his mouth, and his red-rimmed eyes swung to take in Aidan's approach.

The vampire stepped back from the open trunk and the sleeping child. "You think to trap me with so cheap a trick, hunter?" he growled accusingly, a clicking sound accompanying his once beautiful voice, now putrefied by his decaying soul.

Aidan halted a short distance away. "We both know I have no need of tricks, dead one," he said softly, his tone so pure it physically hurt the vampire's ears. "That is more your style, using small children as p.a.w.ns. You have fallen far, Diego. You were once a great man." The voice had dropped an octave lower, and, despite his hatred of its purity, the vampire strained to hear the rippling notes.

"Man," the vampire sneered. "Do not insult me by naming me such a weakling. You have been brainwashed by Mikhail. For centuries he has lied to us, made us sheep. He has driven our people into the ground, attempted to take our rightful power from us. Open your eyes, hunter. See what you do. You kill your own kind."

"You are not my kind, Diego. You have chosen to debase and murder those less strong than you.

Women. Children. Innocent humans. I am not like you."

The vampire sucked in his breath, an audible sound of hatred. "It is easy for you to say so, when the scent of your woman clings to your every pore."

"I am two centuries older than you. Even before my lifemate came and brought me light, I did not turn as you did to make my life easier," Aidan said quietly. "Do not abdicate responsibility for your actions. It is not Mikhail or your lack of a lifemate that brought you so low. It was your choice to become what you are."

The thin lips drew back, exposing receding gums stained with red. The white skin of Diego's face was drawn tightly over his bones, giving him a skeletal appearance. He lifted a bony hand tipped with razor-sharp nails and pointed toward the open trunk. "You think you are too powerful for me to defeat, but I am not without my own powers."

Aidan kept his fear for Joshua locked away in some deep, secret part of his soul. His face remained impa.s.sive, even serene. In his mind he felt Alexandria gasp as snakes began to swarm up over the car. Aidan didn't move or speak, not even to rea.s.sure his lifemate. He was proud of her silence, of the fact that she remained as still and as trusting as ever.

If the vampire was creating an illusion, it was a perfect one. Aidan could actually detect life in the wriggling reptiles. They seemed real enough, although how the vampire could have called so many of them to him so quickly, Aidan didn't know. He attempted to call to the snakes, to draw them away, but they were creatures of the vampire, completely enslaved. The first viper made its way into the trunk. Almost immediately several others fell in after it. Their hollow trunks were followed instantly by a hot sizzling, and the smell of cooking meat filled the air as snake after snake went to its death. Finally the vampire raised his hand, and the remaining snakes slithered back to the ground, curling around his ankles.

"What do you say we dispense with these childish games?" Aidan said. "Come to me, Diego, and remember the man you once were." His voice was so compelling, so enthralling, so hypnotic, that the vampire nearly stepped forward.

Then Diego snarled, the sound harsh and ugly in contrast to Aidan's voice. "I will kill you, then the boy, and take your woman." His smile was grotesque. "She will suffer long and much for your sins."

Aidan shrugged carelessly. "Should you do the impossible and defeat me, my lifemate will choose to follow me, and you will have no chance to get her in your hands. The child will be safe, because there is another hunter in this area, one far greater than myself. You cannot defeat me. No one can defeat him." He said it complacently, with complete confidence.

The vampire screamed again, a hysterical fury that threatened to consume them both. "Gregori!

How dare he come to this land? What gives him the right? That is a perfect example of Mikhail's hypocrisy." Then the voice turned appeasing, cunning. "Gregori is not like you, Aidan. You are a fair man. Morality rules your actions. Misguided your hunting may be, but nevertheless you do as you do because you think you must." The vampire looked around and lowered his voice. "Gregori is a cold-blooded killer. He feels no remorse. I have heard tales, rumors, that others swear are true.

The healer has killed illegally. Pretending to be the best of our people, he is the worst, and Mikhail sanctions this abomination."

To an untrained ear, that insidious voice would have been beguiling, persuasive. But Aidan could see the gray skin shrunken over the skull. The dried blood beneath the long, yellowed fingernails.

The receding gums and exaggerated fangs. Most of all he was very aware of the small, vulnerable boy in the trunk of a car, placed there as the instrument of the vampire's revenge.

"You seek to buy yourself time, dead one. Why? What plan do you have that you would pretend to be my friend?" Even as Aidan spoke, the vipers hissed hideously and swarmed toward him, a slithering ma.s.s of writhing bodies.

As the snakes neared his feet, they changed shape, became women crawling toward him, obscenely s.e.xual, hissing, their long, forked tongues flicking at him. Using the fog to cover his movements, Aidan reappeared behind the vampire. As Diego turned this way and that, Aidan struck, a swift, killing blow designed to end the conflict quickly. But at the last moment the vampire leapt away, and his creatures, half female, half snake, growled and spat venom at Aidan, scrambling toward him on their bellies and hands and knees.

Do not pay attention to his illusions. Never take your eyes off the vampire. He waits for your inattention. Alexandria's voice was soft and sweet in his mind, clearing away any cobwebs the illusionist was weaving to confuse him.

He is skilled, this one, cara, he acknowledged.

Not skilled enough, she responded with complete faith in him.

The women on the ground set up a wail, a low, keening, mournful whine that rose on the wind.

Aidan smiled at the vampire with a lazy, self-confident smile. "You are trying to call Gregori to our little battle? You are much more foolish than I thought. Even I, who have nothing to fear, would not want to disturb Gregori's solitude. With this racket, he is certain to join us." His golden eyes slashed at the vampire, found the dull, dead gaze, and locked onto it, holding the other man in their molten depths. "I worked closely with Gregori for several years. Did you know that, Diego?

What he does, he does coolly and efficiently. There is no other like him. Perhaps in your final moment you wish to test your meager skills against his greatness."

The vampire's bullet-shaped head was undulating again, the skull swinging back and forth rhythmically. He hissed a command, and the obscene creatures of his invention moaned and slunk away. Chanting, he waved a hand at them, and the wailing women slowly shape-s.h.i.+fted back to snakes. Ordinary, harmless garden snakes.

The vampire began to move in a slow, careful, sinister dance. He circled Aidan, the hard sh.e.l.ls of the c.o.c.kroaches crunching beneath his shoes. His head continued to move slowly back and forth, his fangs gleaming and dripping saliva. Aidan faced the vampire stoically, refusing to look at his dancing feet noisily crus.h.i.+ng the insects or at the garden snake approaching from his left.

The snake isn't harmless, Aidan. Alexandria's warning was calm. That's another one of his illusions.

It is no garden snake. I can sense the vampire's triumph.

Aidan held his ground calmly, his golden gaze never once s.h.i.+fting from the vampire's swaying figure. He didn't so much as glance at the snake gliding toward him or betray in any way that he was aware of the danger it presented to him. The vampire's actions were hypnotic, a strange series of steps and motions designed to dull the senses and capture the mind.

As the snake coiled itself to strike only a few inches from the hunter, the vampire stopped, his eyes boring into Aidan's, seeking to mesmerize him. Then, with unbelievable speed, the vampire launched himself forward in an all-out attack. The snake, too, flung itself forward, seeking to bury its fangs in Aidan's leg. But Aidan was no longer where he had been. Even faster, he had leapt to meet the vampire. His hands caught at the bullet-shaped head and wrenched. There was a sickening crack, and the vampire howled, the razor-sharp claws raking Aidan's broad chest.

The talons bit deep, leaving four red furrows. Aidan melted away from the illusionist and reappeared beside the trunk of the car. He risked one quick glance at the sleeping child. The sight of the little boy covered with, charred snake carca.s.ses was unnerving. He wanted to fling the repulsive, evil creations as far from Joshua as possible.

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-s.h.i.+fting 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 ma.s.sive 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, thras.h.i.+ng 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-s.h.i.+fting 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.

Should we come? Do you have need of blood, Aidan?

He could hear the weariness in her, matching his own. It was a difficult task to maintain mental contact when she had just recently learned to do so, especially through so violent a struggle. And she was weak from lack of nourishment. She had allowed him to feed greedily, and she had lent her waning strength to him without hesitation. Even now, her concern was for him.

Stay, piccola, I will be home soon, and I will bring Joshua with me. Tell Marie and Stefan all is well.

He struggled to keep his voice even so that she would not be afraid for him.

Her soft laughter warmed his heart. I'm in your mind, my love. You can't hide your wounds from me.

There was the merest disturbance in the air, just a flutter, no other warning. A large raptor landed on the branch above Aidan's head and slowly folded its wings. Aidan should have known another of his kind was close by, yet he hadn't. As it hopped easily from the perch, the bird's form changed, and it was Gregori who landed lightly on his feet.

He glided past Aidan to survey the grotesque sight on the ground. "He was good, was he not?" he asked softly. His voice was beautiful, a soothing sound that seemed to seep into Aidan's tired body and renew his strength. Despite his darkness, Gregori brought purity and light with him; it clung to him like the aura of power. "Diego studied with the most evil of the vampires. They began banding together in our homeland, thinking to defeat Mikhail with their numbers. When that did not work, they enlisted the aid of human butchers. Now they are turning to travel and trickery.

They use many methods to try to defeat us, Aidan. You have done well this day."

"With your aid." Aidan straightened, one hand pressed hard to the flowing wound at his neck.Gregori glided over the c.o.c.kroaches and blackened snakes, his feet never touching the carnage as he approached the open trunk of the car.

Aidan could not prevent himself from giving the healer a warning, just in case. "I used your safeguards to keep the boy free from harm." He couldn't believe the healer would ever turn, but he was watchful all the same.

Gregori nodded. "You added a touch of your own. You have grown these years, Aidan. Come here to me." He turned his head then, his strange, pale eyes a compelling silver, his voice low and mesmerizing.

Aidan moved forward despite Alexandria's low cry of alarm. She didn't believe the other Carpathian was evil, but the healer believed his soul was already lost. That made him unpredictable. Don't go near him! He's so dangerous, Aidan, and I can feel your weakness. It's his voice. Can't you tell that his voice is calling to you?

He is a great man, cara. Trust my judgment, her lifemate rea.s.sured her.

Gregori touched Aidan ever so lightly, but the hunter felt heat spreading throughout his body. The healer closed his eyes and sent himself seeking outside his own body and into Aidan's. At once the ancient tongue of their people echoed in the air, through their bodies, a healing ritual as old as time. Aidan felt the pain moving from his body, pushed aside by the greatest healer of them all.

The chant went on for some time, but Alexandria continued to share his mind, firmly refusing to relinquish her rightful place. She knew Gregori could feel her presence, was aware that he could read her distrust of him, but she was more concerned with Aidan's safety than with Gregori's feelings.

Gregori slowly returned to his own body, the strain of the healing process revealed by the lines etched into his face. But he casually tore his wrist with his teeth and held out the offering to Aidan.

Aidan hesitated, knowing Gregori was offering far more than nourishment. He would now be linked to Gregori, able to track him at will, should there be the need. The thick wrist dripping precious ruby droplets pressed closer to his mouth. With a sigh, Aidan gave in to the inevitable. He needed sustenance, and Alexandria waited at home, needing it also.

"It is beautiful, this land, in its own way, is it not?" Gregori did not wait for Aidan's reply or indicate in any way that the blood loss was affecting him. "It is not wild and untamed like our mountains, but there is promise here." He did not wince as Aidan's teeth sank deeper into his skin.

Strength such he had not known in years poured into Aidan's body. Gregori was an ancient, his blood far more powerful than that of men of lesser years. The nourishment revived Aidan instantly, took away pain and weariness, and brought a vitality he had not previously experienced. He closed the wound carefully, meticulously, with great respect.

"I am in your debt, Gregori, that you have aided me this day," he said formally.

"You did not need my aid. I only made things easier. Your safeguards for the child would have bought you the necessary time even without the fog. And you had enough strength to survive the sunlight in your disembodied state even without me. You owe me nothing, Aidan. I have been lucky in my life to have a few men I could call friend. You are one." Gregori sounded as if he were already far away.

"Come to my home, Gregori," Aidan insisted. "Stay for a while. It might help to ease you."

Gregori shook his head. "I cannot. You know I cannot. I need the wild places, the high reaches, where I can feel freedom. It is my way. I have found a place many miles from here. I will build there to await my lifemate. Remember your promise to me."Aidan nodded. He felt Alexandria moving in his mind, offering closeness, comfort.

"See to the child, Aidan, and your woman. Even from this distance, I sense her anxiety for you, for the boy. And she needs to feed. Her hunger beats at me. Do not waste your time worrying about me. I have taken care of myself for centuries." Already his solid form was wavering, s.h.i.+mmering, dissolving into droplets of mist. His voice came back, disembodied, strangely hollow, yet still beautiful. "That was quite a feat you performed today, and in broad daylight. Few can do what you did. You have learned much."

Aidan watched him disappear, the mist streaming into the surrounding forest until it, too, was gone. Gregori's acknowledgment of his achievement made him proud. He felt like a child receiving praise from a revered parent. And since it was from masterful Gregori, who chose to live alone and befriend but few, he felt especially honored.

Very carefully, with infinite patience, Aidan unraveled the safeguards around Joshua, then gently lifted the boy from the trunk. Blackened snakes fell onto the ground, scattering around Aidan's feet. He had much work to do, but he could no longer bear leaving the boy in that awful trunk with the creatures of the vampire's making.

Aidan carried Joshua to a gra.s.sy knoll beneath a pine tree and laid him on the ground, tenderly brus.h.i.+ng back his blond curls. He is fine, Alexandria, just sleeping soundly as I commanded. I will wake him when I return him home. Then we can deal with what he saw.

Just hurry. I want to see him, hold him in my arms. And Marie can scarcely believe me when I tell her Joshua is out of danger. There was eagerness in her voice, but also fatigue, indicating her waning strength.

Worried, Aidan left the boy sleeping peacefully while he returned to the revolting battleground to complete the distasteful task of destroying the vampire for all time. The separated heart and the body, along with all the tainted blood, had to be burned to ashes.

Looking skyward, he built the electricity, weaving the veins of lightning and increasing the friction until it arced and crackled. He directed a bolt to the vampire's body, spinning a ball of fire from the resulting sparks. The vampire's body writhed repugnantly, the stench rising to fill the night air. A few feet away, the heart seemed to move, a subtle, deadly pulsating that gave Aidan pause.

Uneasy with the unknown phenomenon, Aidan directed the flames at the heart and incinerated it quickly, reducing it to a handful of ashes. The body contorted grotesquely, nearly sat up, and a long, mournful wail rose on the wind. The sound was hideous, and as it faded into the night, the notes changed to ugly, taunting laughter.

Immediately, Aidan swung around, his golden eyes restless, searching the land, the trees, the sky for a hidden trap. His body was still, listening intently for any betraying sound. In his mind, Alexandria was holding her breath. And then he heard it. A soft, insidious rustling. Stealthy.

Furtive. A brush of scales sliding through pine needles.

Joshua! Alexandria's burst of revelation, of horror, came on the heels of his own.

He moved with supernatural speed, faster than he had ever moved in the centuries of his existence, crossing the distance to the gra.s.sy knoll where he had left the child. His hand found the snake, grasped it, and jerked it away from its goal. The thing hissed and coiled around his arm, desperately squeezing his muscles, sinking fangs into the fleshy part of his thumb. It bit again and again, injecting poison into his body, its every instinct commanding it to carry out the vampire's revenge. Aidan tore the snake apart, flinging it into the flames consuming the body of the undead.

Noxious fumes rose into the air, green gases that spun and whirled, then disappeared into the black smoke.

Aidan sank down beside Joshua and pulled the child into his arms. He made a slow, careful inspection of every inch of skin to a.s.sure himself the boy was unharmed. He waited for a reaction from the snake's venom. Within minutes, his lungs began to fight for air, and he felt nauseated, but it was not nearly as bad as he expected, considering the venom was aided by the vampire's hatred. It took him a moment to realize it was Gregori's blood that was neutralizing the poison's effects. He could feel the struggle taking place in his body, but Gregori's blood was far stronger than anything the vampire could produce. Within minutes, Aidan was fine, his heart and lungs as strong as ever, the venom oozing out of his pores.

He lifted the boy into his arms and launched himself into the air, Wings spreading as he made his way across the sky toward his home and his waiting lifemate. He had hardly landed on the third- floor balcony before Alexandria was attempting to pull the child into her arms, laughing and crying at the same time.

"You did it, Aidan! I can't believe you did it!" She was deathly pale, her arms trembling with weakness.

Aidan could hear her heart laboring, her lungs wheezing, struggling to function though her blood supply was low. Despite his desire to sweep her up and care for her needs, he placed Joshua in her waiting arms.

"Look at his poor little face." She was crying, the tears falling on Joshua's bruises and swollen eye.

"Oh, Aidan, look at him."

"He looks wonderful to me," he said softly as his arm circled her waist. He took most of the boy's weight himself. "Let's get him into bed and wake him up." He could hear Marie and Stefan clambering up the stairs to join them. Alexandria's hunger was beating at him. Everything male, everything protective and Carpathian in him, rose up to demand he care for her. Joshua was safe.

It was time to see that his lifemate's strength was restored.

"Oh, Marie, look at his little face," Alexandria cried to the older woman. "That horrible creature hit him."

Marie was openly sobbing, taking the child from Alexandria. Stefan, too, had to hold the little boy.

"He is fine, just asleep," Aidan rea.s.sured them all. His concern was for Alexandria now. "We will put him in his bed and awaken him. He will be told this was a kidnapping attempt, to extort money. He will accept that explanation and understand having guards anytime it becomes necessary."

Stefan carried Joshua to the small room off theirs. Marie dressed him in pajamas and produced a cold cloth to bathe his black eye. Alexandria sat on the edge of the bed, Joshua's small hand in hers. Aidan knelt beside her, an arm around her waist. "Joshua, you will awaken now. Alexandria needs to see your blue eyes." He whispered the words softly, his voice compelling, seeping into the boy's mind and beckoning him back into their world.

Joshua erupted into violence, fighting hard to free himself. It was Aidan who subdued him, protecting Alexandria with his own body despite her efforts to get to the boy. "Listen to me, Joshua. You are home with us. You are safe. The kidnappers no longer have you. I want you to be calm so that you do not hurt Marie or your sister." His voice, as always, was serene and beautiful, so compelling that the boy ceased his struggles and peeked up at them cautiously. When he saw Alexandria, he burst into tears.