Carpathian 17 - Dark Celebration

stomach. The idea of having a child had never occurred to her. After she had gone through the conversion and her normal bodily functions ceased, she simply didn't give a thought to birth control. It was a stupid mistake, and one she couldn't take back.
    Darius seemed fine with the idea, maybe even pleased, but nothing ever rocked him. He was a dangerous, lethal man, completely confident in his abilities, and the confidence was born of experience. She had been on the run most of her life. She had no family and didn't know the first thing about children.
    We will do fine . Darius brushed the words through her mind like caressing fingers, his voice so soft and warm she could feel him inside her.
    Not if you keep changing the house. It's making me feel dizzy, not to mention it's ugly.
    Stop competing and let's go inside. Sheesh! You're like a couple of schoolboys.
    Darius cleared his throat. "Tempest would like to go in. That particular shape is obnoxious, but we can live with it for the brief amount of time we will be here if it is what you desire."
    Mikhail burst out laughing. "It is obnoxious. Raven would think I had lost my mind. I could not resist."
    Darius took Tempest's hand, his thumb brushing a subtle caress over her inner wrist as they entered the house. "I hope you are not here to check on how the cooking is progressing. We are not quite ready for tonight's celebration."
    "I have no interest in cooking, although I do not think the others are faring much better than you two. I just dropped by to get your opinion on a couple of things."
    Darius waved Mikhail toward the most comfortable chair. "What can I do for you?"
    "Well, before we get too deep in serious things, I thought you might like to know, Raven has decreed someone must play Santa Claus."
    Darius stiffened, but his face remained without expression. "The jolly man in the red suit."
    "Exactly. I can see that your reaction is much the same as mine. Fortunately, I have a son-in-law and I feel it is his duty to take on this…" He paused searching for the right word.
    Something very close to amusement flickered in the depths of Darius's eyes. "Honored task," he supplied.
    Mikhail nodded. "I could not have found a better description."
    "I will be more than happy to accompany you when you tell my older brother you are bestowing such a privilege on him."
    "Strangely enough, quite a few others wish to be there as well."
    Tempest looked from one solemn face to the other. "Are you both crazy? That man could scare the devil."
    "That is what you say about me."
    "Well, you could too," Tempest pointed out. "But he isn't telling you to play Santa to a bunch of children."
    "And I sincerely thank you for that," Darius said. The amusement faded from his eyes as he continued to study Mikhail's face. "You are worried, and not about my brother playing the part of St. Nick. What is it?"
    "I am uneasy over the gathering of our women in one place. While I think it is a good thing for all of us to get together, it has occurred to me that our enemies will figure out that it would not take much to wipe out our species."
    Darius nodded. "There are so few women and children. Get rid of them and the males have no hope. Very soon chaos would reign and many would choose life as the undead over death."
    Mikhail nodded. "I fear it is so. We had an incident a few minutes ago in the woods. A subtle influence none of us felt immediately. Skyler tried to follow the path back to the sender, but they realized she was on to them and shut down. But they now have a direct path to her."
    "The other women?" Darius was already checking with and warning Desari and Julian, Dayan and Corrine and lastly, Barack and Syndil. Each responded with a quick touch to assure him there was no threat to them at the moment and they understood to be careful and alert.
    "There have been no other incidents and I have sent men ahead to the inn to ferret out any enemies, but we must be vigilant at all times and keep our women and children close and protected."
    Like you all don't already do that? Great, he's just giving you more ammunition to be bossy.
    Darius ignored her. "The child—Skyler. Is she safe? Gabriel and Lucian are my brothers by blood. Skyler is blood kin."
    "We will all see to her safety. You probably don't remember Dimitri—he was much older than you—but he's returned from Russia and is Skyler's lifemate. It is a complication we did not expect."
    "Gabriel is protective of her."
    "Yes, he is—as he