Carpathian 09 - Dark Guardian

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.

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    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