Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

to the rhythm of the hunter’s as if they were connected instead of hunter and friend.
     Her blood sang in her veins, surging hotly.
    Dax’s gaze jumped to her face.
    Dax released Gary and straightened. There was no trace of blood on his lips and no
     sign of a wound on Gary’s wrist. She didn’t know what to think. Beside her, Ben stood
     in shivering paralysis.
    The gaping wound in Dax’s chest did begin to bleed then, but some invisible force
     kept the blood from spilling out of the wound. Dax scooped fresh dirt from the ground,
     spat into it, and packed his wound with the mixture. His eyes closed, as if packing
     his wound with mud brought some sort of relief.
    “I have not had blood in many centuries. It is both wonderful and awful.” His gaze
     drifted over Riley’s face. “I am starved, and yet I dare not take too much. Just enough
     to heal my wounds until I am used to feeding again. Then I will need to sustain myself
     in order to hunt the undead.”
    Riley pressed her lips together, nodding as if she understood when she didn’t really.
     Jubal seemed to though. He stood in front of the hunter and offered his unbroken wrist.
    Dax reached for the other arm with surprisingly gentle fingers. “This pains you. The
     bone is broken.” Even as he spoke he ran his hand over the injury.
    Riley watched closely. Heat seeped out from between Dax’s palm and Jubal’s skin. She
     could see a faint glow, and she was close enough to feel the warmth as well. The little
     white lines of pain eased on Jubal’s face.
    “Is that better?”
    Jubal nodded. “Much, thanks.”
    Riley noted that Dax didn’t apologize for having broken Jubal’s arm in the first place,
     nor did Jubal seem to expect him to do so.
    Jubal murmured the same exact phrase in Carpathian as Gary, and just as before, Dax
     bowed, took the offered wrist and drank.
    This time when he finished, Dax thanked the two men and then looked at her. Her whole
     body tingled. Heat washed up her spine and her gaze fixed on his mouth. What is wrong with me? She should be screaming in horror. This was an honest-to-God vampire right in front
     of her eyes, drinking blood from her friends. And she was just standing there, marveling
     at him.
    She touched her tongue to suddenly dry lips. His gaze jumped instantly to her mouth
     and those flames in his eyes leapt higher. Her thighs tingled. Her breasts ached.
     She swallowed hard and instantly his gaze was on her throat. He seemed aware of every
     move she made, every breath she took.
    Beside her, Ben began shaking horribly. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. He’s going to kill
     us. He’s going to kill us all.”
    Ashamed that she’d forgotten he was even there, she reached over to lay a soothing
     hand on his shoulder. “Calm down, Ben. If Jubal and Gary say he’s a friend, I think
     we should believe them.”
    Poor Ben didn’t believe them. He must have thought the vampire was going to drink
     him dry, because his mind completely snapped. With a shriek, he spun around and started
     racing through the jungle, bouncing off trees in his mad rush to escape.
    “Ben!” Riley spun around. “Someone stop him! He’s out of his mind.”
    “I can bring him safely back and keep him calm,” Dax said, “but that requires me to
     control his mind, which you have already told me I must not do.” One dark brow arched.
     He stood there, waiting for her to make the decision.
    She bit her lip. On the one hand, she hated the idea of him controlling Ben’s mind—of
     him controlling anyone’s mind. On the other hand, in his current state, Ben was going to injure himself or
     worse. And if that evil vampire was still roaming around . . .
    She glanced again into the forest where Ben continued to shriek and stumble, running
     into a bush first and then a tree. She winced when he went down and then scrambled
     back up only to run again.
    “Do it.”
    The hunter reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. His expression softened
     with unexpected gentleness, making him look almost . . . kind. In a rough-edged, dangerous,
     bloodsucking, gorgeous vampire sort of way, that is.
    “It is for the best, päläfertiilam . I will do him no harm, I promise you.” Then he switched his attention to Ben’s fleeing
     figure, and his expression turned to stone. Fixed, focused, unyielding. He spoke in
     that ancient language of his, and though Riley couldn’t understand the words, there
     was no mistaking the tone