Carpathian 15 - Dark Secret

master. He fought to keep the rotted organ caged in his hand. The acid burned through his skin to his bones, but that pain was nothing compared to the agony of Kirja's fingers literally ripping Rafael's heart to pieces.
    Deep beneath the earth, Colby felt the rending and tearing of Rafael's heart. Her eyes flew open, her heart shuddering in shared pain and slamming with relentless terror against her chest. The pain nearly shattered her. Rafael!
    The undead will not get your brother.
    Rafael's voice was ragged, frayed with pain. In that instant she saw him in the dark of the mine with the ghouls fighting to get to him, with his arm and hand burned raw from the vampire's blood. And she saw the vampire's fist buried deep in his chest. She felt the fingernails ripping and gouging at Rafael's heart in an effort to kill him. For a moment time stopped. The world went utterly still. Realization struck her in that blinding moment.
    She loved him.
    All this time when she thought she was fighting him, she'd been fighting herself as well. Pitting her enormous will against her heart, the heart that had begun to love Rafael when he had rushed into a Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    burning building on her behalf.
    Rafael had freed her to be who and what she was born to be. She would finally be able to use her extraordinary gifts she had spent a lifetime hiding. She would be accepted for who she really was, not who she pretended to be. And in that moment of realization, Colby knew she could bear anything, sacrifice anyone or anything else, but not Rafael.
    Tell me what to do! She issued the order to Nicolas. And it was an order. She began to claw her way through the earth to the surface. Every ounce of iron will she possessed, the will that was her birthright, that had been honed in her sweat and tears, the unbending will that had refused to let her believe she could come to love Rafael, that will she now focused on reaching him. She would save him. There was no other choice.
    Stay with him. Do not allow him to separate himself from you. He will hold on with everything he is, not wanting to chance that you will die with him.
    Colby concentrated on holding Rafael to her. She could see through his eyes and hear the wailing of the ghouls and the horrible cries of the vampire.
    Deep in the vampire's lair, Vikirnoff continued his battle with the relentless ghouls, but he could sense how close Rafael was to death.
    "Rafael," he commanded, "throw the heart to me now." He kept his voice calm in the midst of the chaos reigning. He knocked back another ghoul, but it rose to confront him again as the others closed in.
    Kirja's razor-sharp fingernails worked to drag Rafael's heart from his body, a slow but extremely painful process. The strength was ebbing from the vampire, but it was draining almost as quickly from Rafael. He could barely move, barely think, his body failing to obey the dictates of his brain as blood loss and lethargy from the rising sun sapped his remaining, rapidly dwindling strength.
    He felt Colby moving in him, searching for a way to aid him. He couldn't protect her from the pain in his body. He felt the blow of it, nearly driving her to unconsciousness, felt her regroup, accept the pain. Then her strong will rose up, the unwavering determination of the Dragonseeker blood.
    You will not die! She made it a decree. An order. Throw the heart to the hunter. Take my strength and rid the world of that disgusting creature. Now, Rafael. I won't let you go.
    Using the burst of strength, he did as she commanded, tossing the vile organ through the air to Vikirnoff.
    At once Rafael's strength ran out and he began to topple. It was too late for him. His heart was shredded, his blood loss too great. But Colby and Paul would be safe and Vikirnoff would get out of the mines alive. Rafael closed his eyes and let go.
    Colby merged her mind with Rafael's. She was strong. She'd always been strong, so much so that her powers couldn't be managed in her human state. She felt them now, running through her body, and she took a quick inventory of her abilities. Everything was different now, with the special gifts of the Carpathian blood running through her veins. She reached for the power, embraced it instead of shrinking in fear from it. She would save Rafael, hold him to her with her last breath even though his life force was no more than a small, dim light flickering weakly, all but extinguished.