Carpathian 05 - Dark Challenge

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    Desari attempted to calm herself, so that her mind was not in turmoil, so that it contained only confidence and strength. Then she sent herself into Julian's mind, giving him the rush of energy her ancient blood and power could supply. She was incapable of killing, could not end a life—compassion ran too deeply in her—but she prayed that she did not impede Julian's ability to do so.
    Julian was grateful for the strength pouring into him. He had suffered tremendous blood loss, and the tainted blood of the vampire contacting his skin through the owl's feathers was burning deeply into his flesh. Still, he never hesitated but continued his relentless attack, beating back the powerful undead with his talons, driving deeper and deeper into the chest wall. Only when he was beyond the protective muscle and bone did he shape-shift back to his own body, his mind reaching for the remaining owls to release them of the compulsion to attack.
    Desari gasped, her hand going to her throat as she saw the blobs of tainted blood on the ground rush together to form a large pool. The blackened liquid began to obscenely form the parody of an arm, then stretched farther into a diabolical, shadowy hand that began to furtively crawl across pine needles and over fallen branches to reach its goal. Julian, on the ground !
    He didn't respond or acknowledge her warning; he simply faced the vampire calmly. His handsome face was lined with weariness, his golden hair flowing wildly to his shoulders. He stood straight and tall, his shoulders square, his amber eyes gleaming with a kind of fire.
    "I bring you the justice of our people, old one. What you have done is a crime against humanity, against the very earth itself. I carry out the sentence pronounced on your kind by the Prince of our people and hope you find mercy in another life as I can give you none here." The words were soft and gentle, hypnotic and compelling.
    Even as the vampire's body began to contort in a last effort to escape, as the tainted blood came within inches of Julian's shoes, the Carpathian hunter plunged his hand into the crack in the chest of the undead and extracted the heart. There was a horrible sucking sound as the pulsating organ came out of the shrieking fiend. Julian leapt away from the spray of blood and the grotesque hand reaching for his feet.
    The vampire flopped to the ground, tried twice to rise, then began to blindly feel around him, seeking the only thing that could keep him alive. Julian dropped the heart a safe distance from the apparition, who refused to believe he had been defeated.
    Desari felt the terrible weariness then, the pain throbbing and burning in Julian's body. She watched as he gathered the energy from the lightning and directed it first at the heart, then the body of the undead, and lastly into the ground itself, incinerating the dark blood that spread like a stain over the forest floor. Only then did he sink down onto a fallen log. Desari watched in fascination as he called down more glowing light to hold for a moment to cleanse his hands and forearms.
    Desari leapt from her high perch and would have run to him, but Julian shook his head and pointed with his good arm toward the forest. Moving slowly but steadily, several humans were heading directly for the ring of restless animals. Desari instantly began to sing, soothing the large animals, releasing them from the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    enthralling spell she had woven. Growling and snarling, the animals slunk into the forest's dark interior, away from the group of humans.
    "They must have been camping within the sound of my voice," she told Julian.
    "We have much to do this night before we can seek rest," he replied. "We must find the vampire's kill and destroy all evidence. This ground must be cleared of any trace of the undead."
    Desari could hear the weariness in his voice, feel it in his mind. His blood loss had been great. "I will take care of those things. You return to our campsite and place yourself in a healing sleep while I complete the tasks."
    A small smile softened the hard edge to Julian's mouth. "Come here, piccola. I need you close to me."
    His voice was a velvet heat she couldn't ignore.
    Desari found her feet moving toward him before it registered that she was obeying his soft command.
    The moment she was within range, his hand snaked out, shackled her wrist, and exerted pressure so that she was forced to sit