Carpathian 17 - Dark Celebration

"We will survive. This is the season of miracles, remember? I thought you were a believer, Mikhail. Where is your faith?"
    There was a small silence. The hard lines in the prince's face softened. "Perhaps this celebration of Raven's is just the thing I need to restore my faith, Desari." He rubbed the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. "Should Josef decide to give us his rendition of any carol, please do volunteer to sing. Is it possible your dancing notes can muzzle the boy?"
    "Josef's reputation precedes him," Desari said with a laugh. "I understand he's quite a handful."
    "Let us just say I do not envy Byron and Antonietta trying to keep an eye on the boy.
    They say he is quite intelligent, but not very diligent when it comes to mastering any of our practices. I think he has been spoiled and allowed to mix so much with human children that he has forgotten his duty to our people."
    Julian flashed Desari a secret smile at the sternness in Mikhail's voice. As a child, he'd often heard that same edge to the adult male's tones. "He will grow to a fine man," Julian assured him. "Perhaps not a hunter, but we need our society to return to progress once more. We need men who look to business and the arts and especially science."
    "I have no doubt Josef will succeed in anything he does," Mikhail said dryly. "But the rest of us may not survive his youth."
    "I seem to recall Gregori said the same thing about me—many times." Julian grinned at him, his strange-colored eyes glinting like gold. "The man needs a sense of humor. Now, I am his brother-in-law. Fate has a way of playing little jokes."
    A slow answering smile lit Mikhail's face. "I must confess, Julian, I did not think of that at all. His brother-in-law. He is also my son-in-law and as I am Dear Old Dad, I think it is time the man performed some family duties. He will be perfect in the part of Santa Claus tonight."
    Julian's eyebrow shot up. "My prince." He bowed low. "I acknowledge you as the master in this game we so often play with the Dark One."
    Desari looked from one man to the other. "I can't imagine you asking Gregori to be Santa, and if Julian is endorsing it, that's a bad thing."
    "I see she knows you well, Julian," Mikhail observed.
    Desari rested her head on Julian's chest. "Was he the resident bad boy growing up? I can well imagine that he would have been."
    Mikhail shook his head. "Independent. A smart mouth. He loved knowledge and had little fear in him. But no." He frowned. "There was a young man, a few years older than Julian, who Gregori had to stay on top of all the time. He was far worse than Josef could ever conceive of being. He questioned authority all the time."
    "I remember him," Julian said. "He was amazing with weapons even as young as he was.
    Tiberiu Bercovitz. I haven't heard or thought of him in centuries. Did he come to the celebration? He was good friends with Dimitri."
    There was no real inflection in Julian's voice, but Mikhail caught a flare of wariness in the hunter's eyes. The man shifted subtly, but protectively toward his lifemate.
    "This is what our lives have become," Mikhail murmured aloud. "We can no longer trust our friends, men who have dedicated their lives to honor, to saving Carpathian and human alike. We treat our best hunters with suspicion."
    "It is the way we have always lived," Julian remarked.
    Mikhail shook his head. "There was a time, Julian, long ago, when only nature balanced us. There was harmony and peace in our world and we held celebrations such as this one often."

    "And we are holding one this night," Desari pointed out. "A unique reunion with all Carpathians welcome to participate, celebrating strengthening our friendship with each other as well as our human friends. We have not done so in centuries. It sends a message to our people that we are once again united, and a message to our enemies that we are strong together, and will continue to grow stronger. It is a start, don't you think? You have given us that gift, Mikhail."
    A small smile teased at the curve of the prince's mouth. "Raven has given us that gift.
    Carpathians never celebrated Christmas before, but she used this time of year as an excuse to bring us all together. I thought she was wrong—but I see that I was."
    "We have the chance to get to know one another," Desari said. "My family, well, not the Daratrazanoffs or my lifemate Julian, I mean our band—the Dark Troubadours—was not raised with other Carpathians, and this is truly a unique