Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

chest.
     He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the rippling muscles that bunched beneath his skin
     held her attention captive.
    As she looked down, she caught her first unobstructed view of his chest.
    “Oh, my God.” There was a hole over his heart, as if someone had taken a pickax to
     his sternum. The wound should have been gushing blood. With a wound like that, he
     should be dead. Instead, it was as if something had closed off the blood vessels,
     leaving only trickles of red seeping from the gaping cavity. She turned a horrified
     gaze toward the others. “He should be dead with a wound like that! How is he not dead?”
    “Carpathians can be killed. It just takes a lot more than it takes for a human. They
     can control their heartbeat, their blood flow, the functions of their internal organs,
     just about everything,” Gary explained.
    “But Dax isn’t going to last long in this state without healing,” Jubal added. “This
     part is going to be hard for you to comprehend, Riley. Dax needs to pack those wounds
     with earth and he needs blood to replace all that he’s lost.”
    “You mean he’s got to suck someone’s blood?” She took a half step away from the Carpathian.
     “He’s got to drain one of us to survive?”
    “Carpathians take only what is needed,” Dax explained hastily, clearly making an effort
     to still the rising distrust in her.
    “Carpathians have lived for centuries in harmony with humans,” Jubal added quickly.
     “Please, there will be time to explain everything later. For now, we need to help
     heal Dax. If that vampire released from the volcano comes back—”
    “He will,” said Dax.
    “—we’re going to need the hunter at full fighting strength.”
    “Do not fear, sivamet ,” Dax said, and the soft, husky timbre of his voice ensnared her once again. “If
     it comes to it, I will die before allowing Mitro Daratrazanoff to hurt you, but it
     would be best for all if I faced him in full health.”
    Her gaze dragged back up his torso, pausing as it reached the terrible wounds gaping
     in his flesh.
    “Can you really heal him, Jubal?” Her voice didn’t seem like her own, and neither
     did her reaction. For reasons she didn’t understand, the sight of the man’s terrible
     wounds was almost more than she could bear. The thought of his pain horrified her
     on a deeply personal level—affecting her as viscerally as the sight of her mother
     murdered before her eyes. She couldn’t bear the thought of this man suffering, and
     she didn’t know why. She was certain that brief glimpse of agonizing pain had been
     his.
    Vampires and hunters, volcanos and dragons: this whole situation was crazy, but she
     couldn’t tolerate the idea of this hunter— Dax —suffering one more second of pain. She looked at Gary. “Fix him now.” Her voice carried
     with the power of her ancestors, and something in him seemed to rock with her words.
    There was a brief moment when no one moved. Even the world around them seemed to hold
     its breath. Everything went still. Gary moved first, looking almost formal, standing
     in front of Dax with a slight bow.
    “Saasz hän ku andam szabadon,” Gary murmured in the hunter’s ancient language. Without flinching, he offered his
     unbroken wrist to the hunter.
    Whatever the words meant, the hunter clearly took them as an invitation, because without
     delay he bared his fangs and bit down, his mouth closing around Gary’s wrist. Gary’s
     expression flashed briefly with pain before going totally relaxed.
    Riley’s heart nearly stopped beating. Her hand went defensively to her throat. She
     felt her pulse pounding there. For a moment, the flash of fangs had been shockingly
     sexy. She wanted Dax’s mouth on her neck, his teeth sinking into her—not Jubal. Blinking,
     shaking her head at her strange compulsion, she nudged Jubal.
    “What did Gary say to him?”
    “It is a custom of Carpathians. Gary said, take what I offer freely. That means, Gary
     would exchange his life for that of the hunter if it was necessary. He is asking no
     favor in return for his blood,” Jubal explained.
    Riley couldn’t help but watch. The movement of Dax’s mouth on Gary’s wrist fascinated
     her. The hunter’s fangs joined the two men together, as if they were close brothers,
     one saving the other without thought for his own safety. Dax appeared stoic, but the
     flames in his strange, multifaceted eyes leapt and danced. She felt her heart tune