Carpathian 15 - Dark Secret

your blood.
    You're having problems because he must have given you his. He won't let you go. I know little about the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    hunters, other than that they have tremendous powers and can become the very thing they hunt."
    She tapped her fingernail on the tabletop. "I don't honestly know how to help you. I thought about it a lot after we spoke, but I can't come up with any answers."
    Colby pressed her hand to her neck, holding the bite to her and hating the gesture. "I don't honestly know if I could leave him. I'm so worried about Paul and Ginny. Paul was bitten by the vampire and the vampire tries to use him to hurt me." She couldn't touch Rafael with her mind. She tried over and over, but he was closed off to her. She didn't know if he was injured, or dead, or simply protecting her. Her skin crawled. "It's like some terrible addiction. I think about him all the time. I'm a strong person, but I can't get over him." She looked up at Natalya pleadingly. "I've got to either trust him or find a way so I know the children are safe. I think it's too late for me."
    "Where is he?" Natalya looked around again. "I can't imagine him giving you too much room when you aren't giving him what he wants."
    "Right now he's gone off to battle the vampire. He says if he doesn't destroy it, the creature will always have a hold over Paul "
    Natalya nodded. "I'm afraid he's right."
    The music in the bar blared, reverberating through her head. Colby pressed her glass of ice water to her forehead. "I hate being so indecisive. I've lived my entire life knowing what I was supposed to do and doing it. All of a sudden I don't have any idea which direction to turn. Suddenly the ranch doesn't seem very important next to Paul's life. I just want Paul and Ginny to be happy and to live normal lives."
    Natalya studied Colby's face. "What is it? Why did you come here?"
    Colby sighed. "I wanted to run away with you. Take the kids and go. And I want answers. I need them and I think you can give them to me." She tapped the tabletop with her fingernail, beating out a rhythm of nervous energy. "You know that mark on you? The dragon? You said it was a birthmark? I have a mark like that. It's very faint and unless you're looking for it, you'd never know it was there. It doesn't get hot like you said yours does, but I have one."
    There was a long pregnant silence. Natalya shifted closer, staring at her incredulously. "Are you certain?
    You should have told me when we last spoke."
    "It means something, doesn't it?" Colby asked.
    "Has the hunter seen it?" Natalya's voice was nearly inaudible, in spite of Colby's enhanced hearing.
    "His name is Rafael."
    "I don't want to say his name. I don't want him to turn his attention to me. Has he seen the mark on you?"
    "It's very faint and it fades at times, so even I have a difficult time finding it. Why would saying his name turn his attention to you?" Colby asked.
    "Where is the mark located?" Natalya asked, ignoring Colby's question.

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    "The same place you said yours was, over my left ovary. Is that how the vampires identify us? Does that mark call them to us? I know you know things. I need to know them. I'm not asking for myself, Natalya, but for my brother."
    "Have you allowed the hunter to make love to you?"
    "You know I have."
    "Then you have a fading mark of protection or he would have spotted it. It hides itself from him."
    Colby had the desire to stand up in the middle of the bar and scream. "You aren't making this any easier for me. Just tell me what's going on."
    "If you have the birthmark on you, you're related to me in some way. We have an old, ancient lineage.
    There are very few of us." Natalya obviously was choosing her words carefully. "The hunter cannot see that mark, so it must be hiding from him."
    "Why can't he see it?" Colby nearly hissed the words from between clenched teeth. "Why won't you tell me? Can't you see I'm desperate? I can't be away from him: I don't know how to reverse whatever he did to me, and to be honest, I've gone past the point of wanting him out of my life. I have a terrible feeling I'm halfway in love with him. He does things so wonderful, so heroic, it's heartbreaking. Please tell me what you know."
    "Unfortunately I know only what my father told me and it isn't much. I've lived a long time, Colby, and I don't age much. You think