Carpathian 09 - Dark Guardian

fingers were moving in her hair gently, a tender caress that warmed her heart as nothing else could.
    It was the way he touched her, the way he looked at her, Jaxon decided, as if she were the only woman in the world for him. And he was beguiling. A dark sorcerer impossible to resist. Like right now, his mouth skimming the top of her head, the way he inhaled her scent as if he were taking the essence of her Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    into his own body "I'm beginning to be rather fond of your fantasyland, Lucian." The smile left her voice, and she became very serious. "I want to know everything about you. Not all at once, maybe, but eventually, everything."
    He lay there, his body tight and hot and uncomfortable. He should have been in a burning hell, but instead he was filled with joy. Her words moved him, melted his insides, so that the demon within him was safely leashed. He knew he would have her, he knew he would never allow her to escape him, yet he never believed she would grow to love him for who he was, what he was. Maybe it wouldn't happen, but Jaxon did want to know him, his reality.
    Lucian's hand moved to the nape of her neck, his fingers curling around it. "To rejuvenate our bodies, such as when we have suffered mortal wounds or used much energy to heal another, the soil of the earth welcomes us. But it is not strictly necessary to sleep within the arms of the earth. It is safer, for little harm can find its way to us there." Again he hesitated, unsure how she would take the next piece of information.
    Jaxon thumped his chest lightly with her fist. She didn't bother to open her eyes and frown at him, considering her gesture enough of a reprimand. "Tell me."
    "Normally we sleep differently than humans in that we shut down our hearts and lungs and lie as if dead.
    But that is a dangerous thing to do in a setting such as this one. Beneath this house I have a sleeping chamber. If something should happen and my safeguards failed, then it would be much easier for an adversary to destroy me here than in my sleeping chamber, where they cannot find me."
    Jaxon shoved his arm aside and sat up, her hair spilling wildly around her face, her eyes enormous. "Why aren't you doing what you're supposed to be doing? I'm not going to be thrilled waking up next to someone who looks dead."
    "I will not sleep in the manner of our kind, Jaxon. We are bound together. We must touch minds frequently, or it is uncomfortable, even dangerous. Your mind is used to the touch of my mind. Without it you would feel intense grief, much more intense than a human could withstand. Carpathian emotions are extremely strong, Jaxon, due, no doubt, to our longevity. I cannot exactly describe what you would feel, but I cannot take such a chance with you. There is no need for it. I will sleep in the way of your people."
    "Why don't you sleep like we do all the time?"
    He sighed and deliberately pulled her once more into his arms. "You talk too much, when you should be sleeping."
    "You've been doing that, haven't you? Sleeping beside me like a human instead of doing what is good for you," Jaxon guessed shrewdly. "That's why you look tired sometimes. Your body doesn't rest this way, does it?"
    "No, it does not rest." He sounded somewhere between exasperation and laughter.
    "Go to your sleeping chamber or whatever it is you call it," she demanded.
    "I cannot be apart from you."
    "If your heart and lungs are shut down, then you can't possibly feel anything," she said logically.

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    "You are trying to take care of me again," he pointed out, wishing his heart didn't react quite so strongly to her concern. In all the endless centuries he had endured, he could not remember a single individual, other than his twin brother, Gabriel, who had worried about him. And that hadn't been the same.
    "Someone has to take care of you. You don't," she replied. "I mean it, Lucian. I can see how tired you are. Please go where you can sleep properly."
    "Not without you."
    There was a small silence. "I can go there?"
    "Yes," he said slowly. "I told you, it isn't in the earth.It is below the basement but not in the soil."
    "If I woke up, I could just walk out of there? I don't think I'm claustrophobic, but I'd hate to trapped somewhere."
    "I can show you the way. But, Jaxon, you must not think I'm dead. If you wake without me, before the sun goes