Christine Feehan: Dark Destiny (Dark Series - book 13)

Where are you? How badly are you hurt?

he asked, praying she would continue to communicate with him.

Leave this place. I vowed if you ever came here, if you found me, I would not hunt you because you saved me. Go away from here. I don’t want to have to kill you, but I will if you force me. I am not vampire. I am Carpathian. There is a difference.

Her sigh was soft in his mind.

So you say, but I know nothing of Carpathians. I have only met the undead, with their voices so sweet and compelling. Voices such as yours. Why would I teach you not to kill your prey if I were vampire?

He was patient. He could afford to be patient. She was his world now, the only thing that mattered to him. He had found her, and he would find a way to make her see the difference between a dangerous creature who had chosen to lose his soul, and a warrior fighting to maintain his honor.

I will give you no other warning. If you wish to live, leave this place and never come back.

Again he heard the soft, pleading note in her voice, felt it in his mind. She probably didn’t even know it was there, but he heard and it filled him with elation. Nicolae believed that she would try to destroy him. She was strong and well disciplined. He had taught her well, and she was a fast, apt pupil.

They were connected, mind to mind, so Nicolae felt the sudden stillness in her. Instinctively he knew that she had reached the lair of the vampire. The undead was wounded, doubly dangerous, and in his own lair he would have numerous safeguards and traps.

Get out of there. I am close—I will destroy the vampire. It is unnecessary for you to take chances with your life. This is my city, my home. My people, under my protection. I don’t share with the undead. Leave.

She closed herself off to him, slamming a mind block in place, a strong barrier he didn’t bother attempting to penetrate.

Nicolae sped through the sky, the owl keeping pace with him, eyes searching for signs, senses flaring out to test the air for the noxious trail. He didn’t bother to attempt to track Destiny; he had taught her too well. Her trail was nearly nonexistent. Without the wound, he would never have caught her scent, and she had already dealt with the laceration so that there was no more telltale spoor for him to follow.

Nicolae glanced at his traveling companion, the large owl flying so strongly beside him as it had done for years. They were traveling companions. Hunters. Brothers. Watching each other’s backs.

I will go into the lair of the vampire and destroy him. It is not safe for you to do so, but should something happen to me, I ask that you take this woman to the Prince.

His brother could no longer battle the vampire. He was too close to the beast to resist the call of blood.

There was a heartbeat of silence. Two. Nicolae felt the wind rushing past them as they moved together through the sky. For a moment he thought the other would not speak. He so seldom did these days, preferring to remain in the form of an animal.

You give me a task I am uncertain I can fulfill. You can do no other than see to it she is safely returned to our homeland. She is my lifemate, although as yet unbound.

Again there was only the silence of the night.

Nicolae, I am older by several hundred years. My time is waning. You feel the crouching of the beast. I am the beast. How can you trust my word?

For a moment Nicolae felt his heart jump. Vikirnoff had long battled the bleakness of a colorless existence. He had hunted the vampire for hundreds of years, destroying old friends. With each kill it became harder and harder to resist the need to feel something. If Vikirnoff made a kill while feeding, he would be lost for all time. Nicolae closed his mind to the possibility. Vikirnoff was strong and he would endure as long as there was need.

I trust you, Vikirnoff, because I know you. You are a warrior without equal and your honor is everything. You are my brother, the one who came to guard my back in my darkest days, as I have done for you. Give me your word you will do this if I should fail. You would never go back on your word. Not even the beast is stronger than your word. She is one of us, though converted by a vampire. A female capable of producing female children for our race. You must perform this one last task and then you can go to ground, only to awaken if you feel the call of your lifemate.

Nicolae was firm, dealing warrior to warrior.

There was no other choice for either of them. They had stood for centuries against the vampire, alone in their territories until both were near the end. Until Nicolae had been connected with a child being physically and emotionally abused. His brother Vikirnoff, centuries older, had rushed to his side, to ensure that Nicolae would not succumb to despair when he couldn’t prevent the continued assaults.

Destiny looked around herself carefully at the cave to which she had followed the vampire. His lair was close. She had already encountered two of his traps and had slowly, meticulously unraveled them. Her chest was inexplicably tight, her lungs laboring to draw air. There was an anxiety in her that had never been there before when she was hunting.

He

was here at last. Nicolae. She whispered his name softly in her mind. He had told it to her often, the sound blending with his accent to form something beautiful, but she had never dared repeat it. Now the strange name tugged at her heartstrings. She had known the day would come when he would find her. He had been getting closer month by month, day by day. He was relentless in his pursuit of her, and all along, she had known she would have to face him one day. She thought she had been prepared, but in truth, she was terrified. She relied on him, on his concern for her, his companionship, strange though it might be.

Nicolae had come to her in her darkest hour, had shared her torment, the depraved tortures of an evil mind. His voice had been sheer magic, transporting her to distant lands, and places where her captor had not been able to follow. She had left her body behind, but her heart and her very soul had soared free. Nicolae, so far away, had been her salvation. He had saved her life, saved her sanity.

But Destiny had learned the hard way not to trust an alluring voice. She had once responded to one, and that monster had killed her family. Since that time, so long ago, she had heard sweet voices over and over, and all those voices had belonged to liars, depraved monsters who thrived on the pain of others. She thought of Nicolae as her only family, yet she knew better than to trust him. He had saved her with his beautiful voice, but he had also taught her other things. He had taught her to kill her captors, taught her to kill the monsters preying on other families, other children. He had taught her to be as he was, a master killer.

Destiny ran her hand carefully along the rock wall, knowing there was an entrance, knowing the vampire had to be hiding somewhere behind what appeared to be a solid rock wall. Water was steadily dripping, the sound loud in the small confines of the cave. She tilted her head, examining the heavy rock above her head. It seemed solid enough, but there was a distinct uneasiness roiling in her stomach, a warning she had learned from vast experience to heed.

The cave felt like a trap. She took her time surveying the floor. It was uneven, damp in spots from water leaking continually from the walls. Lightly passing her hand over the rock, she nearly missed the subtle movement beneath her palm. Blinking to try to focus on what she couldn’t see, Destiny pulled her hand quickly from the surface of the rock. Something lay there, waiting for an unsuspecting victim. Something microscopic, but deadly.