Carpathian 08 - Dark Legend

her nearness helped to overcome the roaring in his head. His gut clenched, knotted. A male walked beside her. This one was different from the last. This man was young and he was looking at Francesca as if she were the sun, the moon and the stars. Every few steps the young man's body would brush Francesca's. Something wicked, something deep within him lifted its head and snarled with unexpected dislike. His prey. No one had the right to stand so close to her. She was his. He had marked her for himself. The thought came unbidden and at once he was ashamed. Still, he didn't like the male standing so close to her and it took every ounce of his discipline to keep from leaping on the man and devouring him there on the spot.

    "Brice, I have to get home. This gentleman needs help. I don't have time to talk right now. I just stopped by for a few supplies."
    Brice Renaldo put his hand on her arm to stop her. "I need you to look at a patient for me, Francesca. A little girl. It won't take that long."
    "Not now, I'll come back later tonight." Francesca's voice was soft but very firm.
    Brice tightened his grip, intending to pull her back, but as he did so, he felt something moving along his skin. Looking down he saw several small spiders with vicious-looking fangs crawling along his arm. With an oath he let go of Francesca and shook his arm hard. The spiders were gone as if they'd never been and Francesca was already walking quickly to her side of the car. She was looking at him as if he were a nut. He started to explain but when he couldn't see any evidence of spiders, he decided it wasn't worth the trouble.
    Brice hurried to the car, deliberately taking her arm again, bending low to peer in the window at Gabriel. His mouth immediately twisted in a disgusted grimace. "My God, Francesca, where do you find these bums?"
    "Brice!" Francesca pulled her arm away from him with a small, very feminine gesture of annoyance. "You can be so callous sometimes."
    She lowered her voice, but Gabriel, with his superior hearing, heard the exchange quite clearly. "Just because someone is old or has no money does not make him useless or a murderer. That is the reason we never quite make it, Brice. You have no compassion for people."
    "What do you mean, no compassion?" Brice protested. "There's a little girl who never did anyone any harm suffering and I'm doing everything I can to help her."
    Francesca moved around him when he would have stopped her, and slid behind the wheel of her car. "Later this evening. I promise I'll look at the little girl tonight for you." She started the car.
    "You're not taking that old man home, are you?" Brice demanded in spite of her admonishment. "You'd better be taking him to the shelter.
    He's dirty and probably covered with fleas. You don't know the first thing about him. I mean it, Francesca, don't you dare take him home with you."
    Francesca gave him one haughty little frown before she drove away without a backward glance. "Pay no attention to Brice. He's a very good doctor, but he likes to think he can tell me what to do." She glanced at her silent companion. He was hunched very small on his side of the car. She still had not gotten a good look at him. Not even his face. He was hiding in the shadows, keeping his face averted from her.
    She wasn't even certain he understood that she was trying to help him. She had the impression of a great man, one used to wealth and authority, probably terribly humiliated by his present circumstances. It hadn't helped that Brice had been so rude. "It will be just a few minutes and I'll get you somewhere warm and safe. There will be plenty of food."
    Her voice was so wonderful. It touched him somewhere deep inside, calming him, holding the beast leashed when he could never have done so alone. Perhaps if she was near him when he fed he would be able to control the demon when it rose. Gabriel buried his face in his hands. God help him, he didn't want to kill her. His body shook with the effort to control its need for hot blood pouring into shriveled, starving cells. This was so dangerous. So incredibly dangerous.
    The car took him a short distance from the busy city streets along a narrow lane where trees and thick shrubbery grew. The house was large and rambled here and there with no particular style. It was old-fashioned with a wide verandah and long straight columns. Gabriel hesitated when he opened the door of the contraption. Should he go with her or should he stay? He was