Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

others, the helicopter was waiting in the small clearing.

16
    D ax was glad to see the helicopter lift off, taking with it the engineers and the professor
     and his party, minus their memories of anything but being caught in the violent explosion
     of a volcano. The only one who would remember Jubal, Gary and Riley was Ben, but only
     the experience of running for their lives from the volcano. He’d hesitated over that
     man, but something prevented Dax from removing everything. He’d relied on his instincts
     for centuries, and he wasn’t about to stop now.
    He was thankful only Jubal and Gary stayed behind with him and Riley. There wasn’t
     enough room in the helicopter for everyone, and the pilot, a woman, Lea Eldridge,
     informed him that she’d seen the smoldering ruins of a home several miles to the east
     and a friend of Juliette De La Cruz resided there. She’d asked if they would check
     on the woman. As there was a good clearing for her to land, she would meet them there
     the next night. He had agreed that when he rose the following night, they would do
     so.
    Miguel and his brother left to make their way home along with the last remaining porters.
     As far as they remembered, their missing men had died in the volcano, just as the
     professor and Todd Dillon believed Marty Shepherd had died in the ensuing mudslides.
     Capa and Annabel had been lost to the volcano as well.
    Weston left with an additional gift from Dax. He couldn’t watch the man his entire
     life, but he could plant the suggestion that every time he went to say something inappropriate
     to a woman or about a woman, he would croak instead. Dax found the solution rather
     fitting.
    “Thanks for staying behind,” he said to Jubal.
    “There wasn’t really room for us,” Jubal said with a small shrug.
    “There was room if you really wanted to go,” Dax said. “I appreciate you watching
     over Riley when I’m unable to do so.” He wanted to convert her, so he wouldn’t have
     to worry that she slept aboveground and he was below. He needed her with him for his
     own peace of mind.
    The sound of Riley’s laughter drew his attention. Dax turned his head to see her standing
     beside Gary, laughing at something he said. His heart clenched hard. He had never
     thought to have her. In all the centuries that had passed, he never really believed
     she would exist for him. His life was one of duty and honor, not pleasure and joy.
    She turned her head slowly, the first rays of the morning sun catching the gleaming
     lights in her hair. Her eyes met his and he had the sensation of falling into those
     deep, mysterious pools of cool, dark earth. Strangely, he actually felt his stomach
     tighten. Her smile was for him alone, her mouth curving, white teeth flashing. He
     knew every sweep of her cheek, the line of her jaw, the little indentation in her
     chin. He felt like he was soaring high, just as he felt when he’d been in the body
     of the fire dragon, strong and true, flying free over his world.
    She had a way about her, something he couldn’t define, but when he was with her, he
     felt totally alive, on fire with passion, as if he could do anything. Dax held out
     his hand to her. She didn’t hesitate, but came to him, never once looking away from
     his gaze. She put her hand in his, and he drew her into the shelter of his body. “Are
     you two all right with setting up camp?” he asked Jubal. “I’ll bring her back soon.”
     He glanced at the sky even as he tucked her hand over his heart, holding her palm
     tight there with his.
    The rain had washed some of the ash from the canopy, and the first streaks of dawn
     looked as if rays of light from stars bursting overhead shone through the heavy foliage
     surrounding the clearing. He loved the night, but the few early morning dawns he managed
     to catch held their own beauty.
    Riley didn’t ask questions, but she went with him, walking beneath his shoulder, fitting
     perfectly as if she was born for him—and he believed she was. She was ethereal, royalty,
     her body moving fluidly with hardly a sound. Already her skin had taken on the look
     of that of Carpathian women. She was more than halfway in his world, and he needed
     to let her know what was to come. He’d noticed she wasn’t eating, particularly meat,
     which no self-respecting Carpathian would ever touch.
    He caught her up in his arms and took to the sky. She loved flying as much as he did,
     and he took her up,