Carpathian 11 - Dark Descent

driving straight for his heart.
    Lifting his head, Valenteen screamed horribly, the sound shattering glass from windows. Gripping her hair, he dragged her backward as his body fought to stay up in spite of the knife in his heart. With his other hand he grabbed her chin with every intention of breaking her neck.
    Blood gushed from the wound in her throat so that his hand slipped off. Joie clamped both hands on the back of the fist clutching her hair to hold his hand to her head.
    Dropping low, she spun around and stood up fast, snapping bones in his hand. He howled as he let her go, raking at her with poison-tipped talons.
    Traian emerged from the darkness, his eyes flaming red, dragging the vampire off of her, wrenching his head around hard. The knife handle dropped uselessly to the floor of the verandah, the blade completely eaten away by acid in the blood of the undead. Traian's fist shot out, plunging deep, folowing the trail of the knife. Valenteen matched the move, driving his good hand into the wal of Traian's chest, through the muscle and tissue, seeking his heart. Traian got there first.
    Staring into the vampire's eyes, he ripped the shriveled, blackened organ out and tossed it aside. Lightning forked in the sky, spun until it was a bright white sphere that engulfed the vampire. Valenteen disappeared into ash and cinder, then was gone completely. The heart was incinerated next. Traian bathed his hands and arms in the energy, removing the acid burning his flesh so he could tend to Joie.
    She sat on the ground, watching him with a kind of awe. She couldn't talk because of the wound in her throat. She simply sat there, her hands pressed to the gaping tear to try to stem the flow of blood. Gabriele screamed and ran to her side. "Help me, Jubal, help me lay her down. I need towels, anything at al. Joie, don't you die on us! Damn it, Jubal, she's lost so much blood. Help me."
    Gary took her arm and stepped back, taking Gabriele with him. "Only Traian can help her now."
    Jubal looked at the Carpathian. "Do it. Whatever you have to do. Just don't let her die."
    Traian looked at their faces, swolen and red from the bites of the insects. He reached down and gathered Joie into his arms, cradling her against his chest. Joie settled against him, her eyelashes slowly drifting down.

Chapter Twelve
    "Traian," Gary said calmly. "You're in almost as bad shape as she is. You need blood fast. Use Jubal while I get the soil to pack the wounds. I'l give you more blood as soon as I return."
    "She does not want me to use her family," Traian said. He had automaticaly slowed Joie's heartbeat to lessen the blood loss. He buried his face in her throat, closing the terrible wound as best he could with healing saliva.
    "Who gives a damn what she wants?" Jubal snapped. "She only objected because she thought you were a vampire. If you need our blood to save her, take it. It obviously hasn't done anything to harm her or Gary. Gabriele, help Gary with whatever he needs."
    "The garden has rich soil," Traian instructed. He stood for one moment, the lines on his face deep, his chest ripped open, weariness and fear mixed with a turbulent rage in his eyes. Then he leapt to the second-story balcony above them and hurried along the banisters until he found Joie's room.
    Jubal took the stairs, streaking through the hals to burst into his sister's room. Flinging the door closed, he approached the bed where she lay. Joie was pale, almost gray, her breathing so shalow it nearly didn't exist. "Can you save her? Tel me the truth, Traian. Is it possible?"
    A fist seemed to be wrapped around his heart. Traian raised midnight-black eyes, as cold as ice, to Jubal. "I wil alow no other outcome."
    "Gary said you needed blood." Jubal sat down beside his sister and took her hand. "Joie means the world to us. I can see she means the world to you too. I’m not going to pretend to understand your relationship; I'l just be grateful for it."
    Traian murmured softly, sparing Jubal the initial fright as he opened a vein in his wrist and fed. Forgive me, Joie. I know you did not want this. Strength flowed into his depleted body. If I am to save us, this is our only choice. Both of us are wounded. If I can get enough blood, we will survive.
    There was a faint stirring in his mind. A touch, no more, like the light caress of fingers on his face. Traian carefuly closed the pinpricks on Jubal's wrist and gathered Joie to him before he awakened her brother from his