Dark Guardian (8 page)

Lucian's voice was even more beautiful than usual, pitched low and with a velvet purity that crept beneath the skin and seeped into the mind. "I can do no other than oblige you, Henrique," he said, "when you have come so far to call on me with so blatant a challenge."

"I did not know it was you, Lucian." The second voice was a horrible, scratchy noise that grated like fingernails on a chalkboard. "You have been thought dead these last five centuries. Indeed, it was believed you had joined our ranks."

The figure turned, and Jaxon could see him perfectly. The sight was horrifying. His head was a mere gray, pitted, bullet-shaped skull, with a few strands of long hair straggling across the top. His eyes glowed crimson, and his nose was no more than a gaping hole. His gums were receded, his teeth jagged and stained. When the creature lifted a hand, his long nails were like talons. He looked hideous.

Jaxon wanted to cry out a warning to Lucian. The stranger tried to sound ingratiating, but she could feel the strong waves of hatred radiating from him. Deep inside where she knew things others didn't, she knew the monster facing Lucian had every intention of attacking him at the first opportunity.

"The trouble with listening to gossip, Henrique, is that it can be so completely wrong. I am the dispenser of justice for our people. I have always been loyal to our Prince and always will be. You have chosen to break our Carpathian laws and those of all mankind."

Lucian's voice was so beautiful, Jaxon felt completely caught up in it. She had to shake her head several times to keep her mind on what was important. The biting cold helped considerably, as did the driving rain. She sighted down the barrel of her gun, the weapon rock steady in her hands. She was going for a head shot, taking no chance that the stranger might be concealing a weapon of his own.

Henrique began to move slowly, his feet weaving a strange pattern on the cobblestones in the courtyard. He looked like a stick figure, ugly and evil, something out of a horror film. Lucian seemed not to turn, yet he remained facing Henrique at all times. Jaxon found the movement of the stranger's feet fascinating. She leaned farther out over the wrought-iron railing in order to see better. The rain plastered her shaggy mop of hair to her head. Raindrops hung on her long eyelashes, and the wind blew water into her eyes. But once more the weather served to help Jaxon free herself from the strange enthrallment the stranger's movements produced in her. The gun was once more aimed steadily on the stranger's head. Should he make a move, he would not have the time to hurt Lucian.

Without warning the stranger's tall, thin frame contorted. Jaxon fought back a scream as the man became an animal, a wild wolf, patched and maned, sharp fangs filling the jaw thrusting straight at Lucian. Powerful hind legs dug into the stones, allowing the animal to leap at Lucian in an attempt to tear at flesh and arteries.

Lucian burst into the air so swiftly he was a mere blur. Jaxon tried to compose herself despite the bizarre phenomenon, sighting on the terrible beast. Its fangs were dripping saliva, and the eyes were glowing red with hatred. Thunder was cracking so loudly it was hurting her ears as bolt after bolt of lightning lit the sky. Even as she thought Lucian would come crashing down to the hard stones and the wolf would tear him apart, he landed easily, almost casually, on top of the beast, his hands twisting the head savagely. The crack of its neck was loud in the night air. Then Lucian leaped away from the animal.

It bellowed loudly, shape-shifting again so that it was once more a man, its head flopping hideously to one side, its discolored teeth snapping and gnashing at Lucian. Jaxon could see that Lucian's powerful hands had broken its neck, yet the creature was somehow still extremely dangerous. She squeezed the trigger and saw the hole blossom in the center of the repulsive forehead even as Lucian seemed to disappear for a moment.

Jaxon nearly fainted when she saw Lucian appear right beside the creature. She wanted to scream at him to get away from the awful thing, but her throat was closed with terror, and no sound emerged. To her horror, the beast was still ripping at Lucian with the grotesque talons he had for fingernails. Lucian thrust one arm forward, a powerful blur that buried his fist deeply in the creature's chest cavity. Jaxon heard a terrible sucking sound, and when Lucian withdrew his hand, in his palm was the creature's pulsating heart. Lucian leaped back as the body flopped to the ground with a high-pitched scream. Impossibly, the creature wriggled around, the hands stretching greedily toward Lucian. It began to pull itself relentlessly across the cobblestones.

Intellectually Jaxon knew none of this could be happening—all of it was beyond the scope of reality—but she aimed her gun squarely on the repulsive creature dragging itself toward Lucian. She could see its dark blood spreading like a stain across the cobblestones. Without warning a fiery ball slammed from the sky onto the ghastly, nightmarish figure flopping about in the courtyard, incinerating it. It completely consumed all evidence of the creature and the blood that had been spilled. She watched as Lucian casually tossed the heart into the flames and then held his hands over the fire. The blood staining his skin was gone as if it had never been, yet, miraculously, he was not burned. Jaxon stared down at the scene below. The storm was passing, the wind carrying the ashes off to the south. And then there was only Lucian standing alone in the courtyard. He turned and looked straight up at Jaxon.

She couldn't breathe. She could only stand there staring at him with her mouth open. She realized she was still aiming her gun. The thought entered her head to shoot him. Had she gone crazy, or had he done impossible things? She was already backing into the house. It would take him only a few minutes to make his way from the courtyard back into the house, and he knew the grounds and the layout of the building, while she did not. Jaxon ran lightly down the stairs and turned in the opposite direction from the courtyard. Almost immediately she spotted a door. Jerking it open, she ran out into the darkness of the night. She sought high ground, somewhere she could conceal herself but observe if he was moving toward her. But she ran straight into what appeared to be a solid wall.

Instantly she was steadied by two strong hands. Lucian was standing in front of her—another impossibility. No way could he have gotten from the courtyard to where she was that fast. The whole house had been between them.

Jaxon attempted to bring the gun around to point at him. She heard his soft laughter very close to her ear.

"I do not think that is a very good idea for either of us, honey." He swept the gun from her hand, taking possession easily, and swung her into his arms, cradling her against his chest, his upper body leaning forward to shelter her from the rain. "You do not obey very well, do you?" He asked it with that same note of mild amusement that always did something peculiar to her heart.

"I want to leave." She was trembling so hard her teeth chattered, uncertain whether it was from the cold and rain or her fear of Lucian and of what he was. Because, clearly, he was no ordinary man. No matter that he was handsome and sexy and had a beautiful voice.

He moved rapidly into the house. Behind them the door closed firmly. "I told you to stay in bed."

"I wanted to help." She buried her face against his shoulder because there was nowhere else to go, and she was freezing and scared and exhausted. He was warm and strong and gave her the impression that he could manage anything easily. He gave her the feeling that she was safe with him. "I couldn't let you face whatever was out there by yourself." To her horror, it came out as an apology.

"You managed to scare yourself to death," he observed without inflection.

She raised her head and glared at him accusingly. "
I
didn't do it. What
was
that thing? I shot it straight through the head. You broke its neck. Even after you ripped out its heart—and don't even tell me how you managed that—the thing kept coming for you."

"It was a vampire." He said it softly, as he said everything, calmly, matter-of-factly.

Everything in Jaxon went still. Even her breath seemed to cease. She wanted to believe there was no such thing, but what she had witnessed was undeniable. Her breath came out in a long hiss as she held up a hand. "Don't tell me any more. Nothing. I don't want to hear another word."

"Your heart is beating too fast, Jaxon," Lucian pointed out gently. He pushed open the door to the large bathroom with one elegantly shod foot.

"Answer me this one thing. Am I in a sanitarium? If

I've lost my mind, it's okay to tell me. I think I want to know at least that much."

"You are being silly," he said softly in his black-velvet voice.

She closed her eyes to get away from him, from the tremendous power he seemed to wield over her. Due to the fact that she was freezing and weak and he had her gun, the only real attack that might work long enough to free her would be to go for his eyes. But he had extraordinarily beautiful eyes. It would be such a shame to ruin them. She didn't know if she could force herself to do such a thing.

She heard his laugh then, low and intimate.
Thank God for the gift of my beautiful eyes. I would not want you to attempt to do something so terrible to me
.

Her long lashes flew open, and she stared up at him more in accusation than astonishment. "You can read my thoughts! That's how you knew which door I chose to run out of. You read my thoughts!"

"I must confess, that is the truth." He sounded very amused now. He cradled her in his lap, next to the heat of his body, while he ran steamy water into the huge sunken tub. He added some bath salts from a beautifully shaped bottle. A wave of his hand lit several aromatic candles.

"I
didn't
see you do that," Jaxon denied, turning her head away from him. "But I've caught the fact that you don't necessarily always speak out loud to me. You laugh and talk to me, but in my head, in my thoughts." She pushed her forehead into her hands. "I'm in real trouble this time, aren't I?" She was trembling hard, and this time she was certain she was more afraid than cold. At least she still had enough of her faculties left to know she should be afraid of him.

"You are just as capable of speaking to me in the same way, honey," he replied, his voice soothing. "Jaxon, look at me. Do not hide from this. What would be the point?" Lucian found she was turning him inside out. She brought such joy into his formerly bleak, violent world.

She raised her head so that her large chocolate-brown eyes could meet his black ones.

"You are not afraid of me," he insisted. "Search inside yourself. The knowledge that there are things in your world you knew nothing about is understandably frightening, but you do not fear me."

"And how do you know that?" She would not fall into his eyes and allow him to mesmerize her. That was it, right? He had some kind of black magic spell thing he did with his eyes. She just wouldn't look into them again.

His perfect mouth curved into a smile. "I have shared your mind. I know all kinds of things about you. Just as you know all manner of things about me."

"Well, I don't want to know them," she snapped. "I don't want any part of any of this. I shot that thing right in the middle of his forehead, dead center, and he didn't die."

"There is only one way to kill a vampire and ensure that he does not rise again. You must extract his heart and incinerate it. His blood acts like tainted acid on the skin or poison if ingested into the bloodstream. It must also be destroyed. Even after death a vampire can cause tremendous damage if not disposed of properly."

She glared at him. "I told you I didn't want to know any more."

He began to undo the buttons of her shirt, slipping each one carefully from the buttonhole. His fingers brushed warmth over her soft skin, leaving behind tiny dancing flames. She caught at his hands, stilling their actions. "Just what do you think you're doing?" She tried to look outraged instead of shocked and horrified by her own body's reaction to him.

"I am removing your wet clothes. They are not doing you much good, honey, if your intention is to hide your body from me. The rain-soaked shirt is now completely transparent." He pointed out the obvious without any inflection in his velvet-soft voice. "You are very cold, and you need to warm up. I thought this was the best way. But I would be most happy to choose another, if you wish."

She pushed at the wall of his chest, turning bright red at his implication. He was right; the wet silk shirt revealed everything. "Go away. I am absolutely not taking a bath with you in the room."

He studied her face. She was very pale. All eyes. In her mind was confusion and fear but no real resistance. She was not the type to throw herself out a window. "I would not like it if you slipped and fell, young one."

"It's insulting to have you refer to me as 'young one,' as if I were a child. I'm a grown woman," she informed him haughtily.

His smile nearly took her breath away.

"That is what I am afraid of," he said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, Jaxon, that I am much too old for you." Lucian's black eyes moved over her face with that possessive glint very much in evidence. "And yet there is no other for me, for either of us. We are stuck with each other."

"Go away." She pushed impotently at his broad chest again. "I'm going to soak in the bathtub for a very long time and convince myself none of this happened. I must be on drugs or something. Or the blow to my head has left me very confused."

"You never received a blow to the head." Amusement turned the warm velvet of his voice to pure seduction. "That was your partner."

"Go!" This time she pointed to the door.

He gently allowed her feet to touch the tiles. Shaking his head at her silliness, he glided casually out of the room.

Jaxon took a deep, calming breath and let it out slowly. There simply were no such things as vampires in the world. It just wasn't so. She tossed the wet shirt aside and slipped thankfully down into the hot water.