Dark Sentinel ('Dark' Carpathian Book 32) Read online

  Lorraine sat up, her chestnut hair tumbling madly in every direction. Andor watched it fall around her shoulders and settle down her back. Somehow, the silky strands were as shiny as ever. Her skin was very pale but looked as soft as ever. Those large green eyes of hers moved over his face, anxiety in them. She smiled at him as she came up on her knees beside him. “You’re awake. Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re awake.” Her gaze shifted to Ferro, moved over him, taking in every detail. “You’re healed again this evening. It’s such a miracle how you do that. I was worried when you went to ground.”

  Ferro shrugged his axe-handle-wide shoulders. “There is no need to worry. I will heal or I will not. Worrying does not change the outcome.”

  She rolled her eyes and then looked back at Andor. “I’m so glad you’re awake.”

  “We are going to have to have many discussions about what is acceptable and what is not,” Andor said, his voice as stern as he could make it while he feasted his eyes on her. She was beautiful to him, glowing from the inside out. He knew her outer shell would be considered attractive by humans, but that mattered little to him. It was what was inside her that counted, that and the fact that she was his other half. She was his. He belonged to her.

  “Yes, I couldn’t agree more,” she fired back. “Because getting yourself torn up like this is entirely unacceptable and not very wise. Whatever reasons you have for having no regard for your well-being aren’t good enough.”

  “I will leave you two to your reunion. Andor, I caution you, do not try to move or come out from under the soil. The healer has worked every night with one of us as well. Until the others arrive, we cannot risk more damage.” Ferro stood, facing outward. “Stay in camp close to them and be prepared. The enemy is close.”

  “How close are the brethren?” Andor asked.

  “They come,” Ferro said. “They do not give away their positions.” He turned and strode away.

  “He is amazing,” Lorraine said. “I don’t think he ever gets tired. He’s like a machine. Sandu and Gary are as well.” She reached out and brushed his hair from his face. “You really scared me, Andor.”

  “You know that if the healer had been unable to retrieve me from the other world, you would have died as well. By binding yourself to me and following me to that other place, you risked everything.”

  “So did they.”

  “They are not you.”

  “Andor, would you have gone after me?” She settled back on her heels.

  He wanted her hands back on him. In his hair, on his jaw, just touching him. He needed that touch. “Of course. I am your lifemate.”

  “Exactly.”

  “You have no idea what that means. You were not searching for centuries for me. I deliberately did not bind us with the ritual words so if I died, you could continue on.”

  Her smile was slow in coming but when it came, his heart clenched—it was so beautiful. “Perhaps you did bind us, you just didn’t know it, because when your brothers couldn’t find you in that cold, dark place, I did.”

  He couldn’t reprimand her anymore. He was too proud of her. “Thank you, sívamet. I would have been lost without you.”

  “It was a joint effort.” She brushed her hand down his face, her touch lingering. “Being locked in your mind, it’s amazing how much one learns. I think those few nights were a lifetime of learning, maybe several lifetimes.”

  “You have the advantage. I was unconscious.”

  “I think you were a little more than unconscious. You really scared me,” she reiterated. “You can’t do that again. What were you thinking, taking on seven of them? Two were considered master vampires, at least that is what Sandu told me.”

  “He should not have.”

  “If you were feeling better, I might kick you. I don’t have girlie kicks, either, Andor. When I kick you, you’re going to know I did, so refrain from ever treating me like an idiot. Of course, I have to know the difference between a master vampire, a lesser one and a pawn. I’m going to be living in your world. That means I’m going to encounter them, and if we have children, they will encounter them. My sons will need to learn to fight, but so will my daughters. I don’t believe in being helpless. I shoot. I can use a knife. I have practiced with a flamethrower and I’m deadly accurate. The others have helped me learn the things I need to know and I’ve found your mind, which is filled with battle tactics, extremely helpful.”

  Andor shook his head. “I cannot believe that my own brothers have encouraged you to be a little hawk. I doubt they would be quite so lenient with their own lifemates.”

  “You don’t understand, Andor.” She leaned closer to him. “I lost everyone, my entire family. Everyone I loved. I couldn’t save them. It was already too late by the time I got home. I wasn’t about to lose you. Can’t you understand?”

  “I understand,” he said gently.

  Her grief tore at him, and then she gave a little shrug, pushing her greatest sorrow down so she could function.

  “We’ve had to fight off a few attacks and everyone is exhausted. We needed everyone to be able to help if we were to succeed. Women are capable of fighting these things if given the proper training. I’m not saying all women should, but neither should all men. We’re all different, Andor. I found that out when I trained in my parents’ dojo.”

  When he shook his head, she framed his face with both hands, insisting he really hear what she needed to say. “I was raised on martial arts and I loved it. My family lived that life. Others came to learn various degrees of self-defense, or wanted to train to fight in a ring to get trophies. Some of the people that came through were very gentle creatures and couldn’t find it in themselves to attack no matter what. Others were eager for the challenge, for the battle.” She let go of him and sank back to her knees again.

  “What are all these weapons?” Andor nodded to the various items that surrounded him, laid carefully out in a circular pattern about six feet from him.

  “I have to fight from a distance, so I needed several flamethrowers and ways to kill a vampire should they get past Sandu, Gary or Ferro.” She shuddered. “They really are disgusting, vile creatures. Ferro and Sandu have really helped me build up my shields to make them stronger. I do the exercises all the time. Two of the vampires nearly penetrated them and got to my memories. I couldn’t believe how powerful they were. I could feel the compulsion in their voices. I didn’t want them to be able to find you there, just in case. You were in the ground, and they didn’t know you were even alive or anywhere near here. If they’d managed to kill me …”

  “Stop. Do not say it.” Real fear gripped him. After centuries of searching, if they brought him back only for her to have died, he feared what could happen. “It is frustrating to know I cannot aid the four of you.”

  Her face changed instantly. Softened. Her eyes went to a sea green. “I know it must be horrible for you to just have to lie quietly.”

  “It is far more than being uncomfortable, Lorraine. It is the fact that the four of you, my woman and my brothers, are in danger and cannot leave because of me. I have never been in such a position before.”

  “I know that,” she replied, her voice soft with some emotion that tore at his heart. “I’ve seen you, inside your mind, your memories, the way you protect everyone. You’re the guardian, the one who would stand for all of us. Now you have to allow us to stand for you.”

  “It is so much more difficult than one would think.”

  “I have to take care of business. Unlike Carpathians, who have only to wake up and clothe themselves to look completely refreshed, I have to wash up, brush my teeth and use the bushes for business.”

  “I can help with the washing and brushing of teeth,” he offered.

  “No,” another voice chimed. “You can’t.”

  Andor glanced over at the healer. Gary sat up. He looked so exhausted, Andor wanted to order him to go to ground. A Daratrazanoff was not the kind of man to be ordered. They gave orders. Gary s
poke in a soft voice, but it carried, and with it, authority.

  Andor had never been one to recognize authority. He had sworn allegiance to his prince so many centuries ago he could barely remember. Like his brethren, he believed his prince, Vlad, had betrayed them. Instead of destroying his firstborn son, he had allowed a series of events to unfold that nearly destroyed their people. Vlad, through his inability to cause his lifemate sorrow because of her love of their child, had brought the Carpathian people to the very brink of extinction. Andor and the other ancients living in the monastery had not sworn their allegiance to the new prince, the second son of Vlad.

  Lorraine leaned close to Andor, her silky hair brushing his face as she kissed the side of his mouth. “I’ll be right back. You two can posture at each other.” She smiled at Gary. “Good evening. I see you didn’t go to ground again. Ferro said that is very dangerous and that you need the healing soil.”

  “I was too exhausted to open the earth,” Gary admitted.

  “Perhaps, but I think you were guarding me as well as Andor, offering your body in exchange for ours.” She stood, dusted off the seat of her jeans, which called attention to her bottom, and sauntered away, toward the trees.

  Andor watched her go, but his mind was reeling with the implication that Gary had been too tired even to open the earth. He had slept out in the open, just in a shallow depression beside Lorraine. They were all at the very end of their strength, even the healer. That told him far more than he’d realized about how dire the situation was. If the ancients couldn’t even get into the soil by the end of the night, they were expending too much energy keeping him alive.

  Andor felt the healer move in his mind. He was strong. Ancient. A formidable man with insane fighting skills. He was a powerful healer, one very much needed in the United States, especially now that they found the vampires had slowly, over the centuries, fortified their position and had a good foothold already.

  You will not live if you move too much. We have been unable to heal those wounds. Three are worrisome. I need to be able to concentrate on them, but the vampires know we are here and we’re hiding something. That something is you. Lorraine won’t go with an escort to the Asenguard compound without you. If we are to save her, we must save you.

  I will order her to go.

  All the orders in the world will not work on her.

  Then she must be forced.

  We are all tied to your fate. The four of us and you, Andor. She will not leave you. You may not have bound her to you with the ritual words, but the bindings are tighter than any I have seen without them. Part of that is her. She has a will like iron.

  Ferro indicated that he felt the presence of vampires. I could see the darkness begin to take him over, Andor cautioned. He wanted Gary to realize the danger to Lorraine was very real, iron will or not. The others might have provided her with weapons, but if the vampires sent a concentrated force after them, especially during the day when they couldn’t aid her, she might be lost to them all. They must be close.

  Gary nodded. They harass us continually. Sandu and Ferro sent for the others. I cannot begin to heal you properly until they arrive. They were also under attack. Sergey has become quite a battle strategist. Gary named the master vampire who had formed a plan centuries earlier and then methodically carried it out. He had shown himself only when he was at his greatest strength and was certain he had the ability to be victorious. Now, his army was nipping at the heels of the Carpathians, weakening them on a nightly basis.

  “Call Lorraine back closer to us,” Andor said. “You can shield her from any eyes while she does what she has to do.”

  Gary shook his head. “In truth, I cannot spare the energy. I have to get you to the point that you can travel. We need to take you to the healing grounds Tariq has built up. We also need the reinforcements of ancient blood. You have to stay very still and keep your body buried under the soil. You can’t move. I’ve managed to remove the poisons from your body that were injected into you as well as their parasites. I cut out the dead tissue and have stimulated some growth. There were so many places leaking blood, I couldn’t get to them all, so as fast as I stopped one, another seemed to spring up.”

  “Lorraine has yet to understand that a hunter seeks to end the vampire when he finds one. I had no choice but to fight them.” It was no apology. He stated a fact. Hunters sought out the undead, tracking them from lair to lair. It was their job to destroy them wherever they were. In this case, he had been drawn into a trap. Three lesser vampires had been used as bait. It had mattered little to him, they all needed to be terminated.

  “I understand,” Gary conceded. “But it doesn’t make the healing any easier.”

  Gary’s head snapped up at the same time Andor felt the dead space in the night’s air that indicated the unseen presence of the enemy.

  Lorraine. Get back here now. Are you within the safeguards?

  Of course, I feel it. The four of you have shared your minds so much, you’ve trained mine. He thinks I’m all alone out here.

  O jelä peje terád, emni—sun scorch you, woman, you are not bait for the undead. He was going to wring her neck when he was able to move again.

  Her soft laughter flooded his mind and then it was cut off abruptly and she was gone. Behind her, along the walls of his mind where she had just brushed her amusement, pouring into him and making him feel whole, he felt a piercing pain, like a knife jabbing. It was the lingering sensation when all else vanished.

  6

  One moment Lorraine was laughing, amused by Andor’s archaic way of thinking, and the next something stabbed deep into her mind. She had the presence of mind to shut herself off from Andor, recognizing the attack of a vampire. This one was strong, stronger than anything she could imagine. The stab went deep, the pain radiating outward to encompass her entire brain. It was painful enough that she went down to one knee, dropping her head into her hand. Something had been ripped out of her mind before she’d managed to slam down her shields.

  She took in several deep breaths and willed her mind to stay blank. She would not betray the fact that Andor was so injured and that all of the Carpathians were weak. They didn’t want to leave her alone during daylight hours, so they slept in shallow depressions, rather than sinking deep in the earth where they would have been safe and could recuperate. They did take turns, with Gary insisting he take a turn as well. She thought he should always go to ground, but no one listened to her. The ancients were still living in the dark ages as far as women were concerned.

  The jab hit her shields and bounced back, leaving an oily residue behind. The feel of it made her gag. She knew she had to get back to camp. The Carpathians had constructed a shelter to prevent any ray of the sun from reaching them. They had also built a strong safeguard around their camp, the three ancients weaving it so that the invisible barricade would be nearly impossible for even the greatest master vampire to unravel.

  She reached for the flamethrower she kept close to her at all times as a flutter of wings told her she wasn’t alone. Intellectually, she knew the hideous creatures couldn’t penetrate the barrier the Carpathians had woven, but that didn’t make it any easier emotionally. She wanted to run. She swallowed hard and slowly rose to her feet, looking up at the surrounding trees.

  There were five crows sitting on the branches overhead, looking down at her. Their eyes looked evil as they stared steadily at her. She forced herself to look away from them to the foliage around her. From the many battles she’d studied in each of the ancient’s heads, she knew not to be deceived. If she could see the undead in any form, it was because they wanted her to see them, and most likely the attack would come from another direction.

  Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of movement and she turned to face the new assailant. A man strode out from the trees, walking with a confident stride and a smile on his face. Her heart pounded and clenched hard. Her mouth went dry. They’d warned her. All of them had, but she still wasn’t prepared
. The last time she’d seen him, her brother had lain in a pool of blood on the floor. Now, there he was, looking like he always had.

  Theodore had been an athletic man. Really good-looking. He had the same chestnut-colored hair that she did, the same green eyes and easy smile. “Little sister.”

  That greeting stiffened her spine. Ferro and Sandu called her sisarke, which meant “little sister” in their native language. Sometimes they called her that in English, but Theodore had never called her that. She moistened her lips and watched him come closer. She stepped back, taking a firmer grasp on the flamethrower. This replica of her brother was perfect. That easy stride that showed with every step that he was a fluid, perfect fighter. She had always admired the way his muscles flowed when he moved, giving him such an advantage over every opponent.

  She’d been thinking of Theodore just minutes before. How much she loved him. How well they’d gotten along. He was older by several years and had never once seemed to resent having a baby sister come along. He’d always seemed proud of her, not jealous. He’d helped her learn difficult moves and train when she’d needed someone to work against. He’d always been patient with her. She preferred being alone in the wilderness where she could have those beautiful memories of her brother, rather than the lurid headlines people remembered him for.

  Now her stomach lurched as he walked right up to that invisible barrier with Theodore’s confidence. He ran into it, and it flung him backward so hard he landed a good twenty feet away on his butt. He sat there a moment, shook his head and burst out laughing. Even his laugh was the same. Exactly. That laughter hit her hard. She had to fight not to cry. Tears burned behind her eyes but she refused to shed them.

  “You don’t get to use my brother like that,” she reprimanded.

  The replica of Theodore stood up, dusted the seat of his jeans off and grinned at her good-naturedly. “Invite me in. I have so much to talk to you about and unless you invite me in, I’ll have to go away.”

  She wanted him to leave, yet perversely, she didn’t. Seeing Theodore happy, grinning that old familiar smirk of camaraderie when it had been the two of them against the world, made her happy. She knew that was dangerous. This was a trick. An illusion. Still, it was a perfect one.