Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

they are of the
     earth itself. They have very long life spans, and possess amazing gifts and abilities,
     which is no doubt what spawned all the legends and myths about vampires and shapeshifters.
     It would take a very long time to give all the details, so I’ll just hit the high
     points. I am sure Dax will be happy to answer any other questions you may have.” He
     gave a small grin.
    “Jubal and I have been friends of the Carpathians for some time now. We work with
     them and for them and count ourselves lucky for the privilege. They are really remarkable
     beings.”
    Riley couldn’t stop herself from glancing down at Gary’s wrist where Dax had taken
     his blood. If he’d lived with the Carpathians for a long time, was he a friend or
     more like a pet cow they milked whenever they needed to feed?
    Noticing the direction of her gaze, Gary smiled. “I’m fine. Sometimes you can get
     a little dizzy from blood loss, but Dax was careful not to take too much. They need
     blood to survive, and the way I see it, giving to them isn’t much different than donating
     to the Red Cross or the local blood drive.”
    “Except the Red Cross doesn’t drink what they take.”
    “No, but they do use it to save lives. Humans need blood to survive, and so do Carpathians.
     The only real difference is how they get it. Besides, most people never know they
     have had their blood taken. It’s really quite unobtrusive and painless. Carpathians
     use their abilities to put a person into a dream state.”
    “So they enthrall people. Like vampires do in novels and movies.”
    “Yes, there’s nothing malicious about it. Most usually flood the person with happy
     thoughts, take what they need and leave pleasant memories behind when they leave.”
    Gary rubbed his wrist as if he could still feel the teeth breaking through the skin.
     Maybe he could. He hadn’t looked like he was in a trance state when Dax was drinking
     from him.
    “Why aren’t there any marks?” Riley asked. “I watched him take your blood, but I don’t
     see any sign of a cut or even a scratch on your wrist.”
    “That’s because a Carpathian’s saliva has rapid healing agents in it that seem to
     work on just about anything organic. Wounds close almost instantly. It’s really something.
     They have other gifts, too. Abilities that would seem to fall more in the realm of
     magic than science. But all those gifts come at a price.”
    “What price?”
    “A pretty steep one. The way it was explained to me, each Carpathian male is born
     with a seed of darkness in him. At first it’s nothing—less than nothing. Like a grain
     of sand in the ocean. But as the males age, the darkness in them grows.”
    “By ‘darkness,’ what do you mean, exactly?”
    “I guess you’d call it evil—or, rather, the capacity for evil. Sort of like all the
     aggressive emotions—hate, violence, selfishness. Once a Carpathian male reaches adulthood,
     that darkness starts pushing, trying to dominate him. Like I said, Carpathians live
     a very long time. The longer the male lives, the stronger the darkness inside him
     becomes.”
    Gary paused to take a sip of his water, but whether he did so from thirst or nerves,
     Riley couldn’t say. He looked a little uncomfortable.
    “The Carpathian males lose the ability to see in color, then the ability to feel emotion.
     I don’t have a clear understanding of how that works exactly. I think it’s a little
     different from person to person. For some, I gather it’s a clean cut, like the lights
     just went out and every emotion they ever had is simply taken away. Love, sadness,
     joy, regret, all of it’s gone, and what is left is just emptiness. For others, it’s
     apparently not such a drastic change, and their emotions just fade. There are some
     who use their memories to recall what emotion used to feel like, but I’m told it’s
     like hearing under water. It’s not the same, but they cling to it, because it’s all
     they have. But even that doesn’t last. The darkness eventually corrupts everything,
     and the Carpathians know it. That leaves them only two choices: either meet the sun
     and die—and yes, that part works just like it does in all vampires—or embrace the
     evil and become a vampire, as Mitro did.”
    Riley looked down at her hands, inexplicably sad. “How terrible for them. So they are vampires, after all.”
    “No, they aren’t. But they can become vampires if they embrace the darkness