Disclaimer: I do not own the Dark series. That all goes to the ingenuity of Christine Feehan. I do have rights to my own made up characters though.
"Isa, I don't feel so good," Rachel groaned. Diane looked over as her twin sister Isa rushed to their younger sister's side and cradled her head. She didn't like the fact that her little sister was so consumed. Rachel was their baby and in this case they couldn't do anything to help.
What is it Rachel?" Isa demanded in a gentle whisper. "What do you feel?"
"There's darkness. Lots of it. It's coming here. Make it go away Isa. I can't stand it." Rachel moaned.
Diane and Isa exchanged a telling look and Diane nodded. It was her duty to go out and watch over her sisters. She was the tracker, the hunter, the warrior. Diane projected her mind into the perimeter defenses and moved along them in an absent state. There were breaks along the defenses and Diane examined each with cold detachment. We have five breaches along the outer perimeter. Diane sent the message solely to her twin. They didn't want Rachel to know what was going on around them. She didn't want their baby to have to worry anymore about the evil of the world than she already did.
Isa gave Diane her mental acknowledgement before drawing back into her body. Diane ran to the outer perimeter and began attempting to tack the men who had intruded upon their newest home. It had been foolish on their part to buy the house and create the perimeter as they had. They were sitting ducks and whoever it was who was coming after them knew it. There was nothing concrete for her to track though. She should have been able to hunt the monsters with ease, but something almost intangible was keeping her from doing her duty to her sisters.
Isa's soft voice came into her mind like a gentle touch. Can you track them Diane?
No, Diane said immediately with a mental shake of her head. They have something else helping them that I cannot get past. There is something very powerful at work here Isa. I believe we should be very afraid starting now.
I fear sister, that you are right.As soon as Isa agreed with her, Diane could feel the fear beginning to grow inside of herself. She suppressed it harshly. There was no room for fear now. She had her sisters to be concerned about. Diane began walking normally hoping to draw the attention of the intruders. If it was a fair fight she might have a chance to win. Or there was always the possibility that she would die. Either way, it could give her sisters a chance to escape. Futile hopes she knew well.
Isa's voice came again as Diane heard the first of the men come towards her. Diane…
Yes Isa?
Don't die. Isa ordered. Her sister wouldn't be able to see the command in her thoughts, but Diane recognized it immediately.
I wouldn't dream of it. Diane assured her twin with a mental grin. It was the same evil grin that spread across her face as the first of her opponents came to her in combat.
Gaul joined his brothers on the surface in the middle of a raging storm created by his younger brother Byzantine. They had been awakened by One of their human servants was being controlled. The man's mind was active and alert, but he had no control over his body. Something that the three brothers did not like hearing. The three brothers reached into their servant's mind. The touch was demanding and feminine. Must save Rachel. She cannot die. Rachel must live. Save her.
The touch was also human. A thing Gaul knew immediately. A thing that disturbed Gaul immensely. No human, male or female, had ever before had the use of compulsion that he knew. He had considered himself learned until now. How much was there about these humans that his people needed to learn.
The three brothers followed the call and found the source. A woman who was trapped. Gaul cut off the compulsion and reached into their servants mind. Continue on the path that she gave to you Jared. The servant didn't hesitate to follow Gaul's order. His family had been bound to Gaul and his brothers for hundreds of years. Their loyalty was unquestioned. Gaul drew back into himself and looked at his brothers. Byzantine was coming back to them and Hadrian had an expression on his face unlike anything Gaul had seen his brother wear since he had been some two hundred years old. "Hadrian," The single word was laced with a compulsion that he knew his brother would not be able to resist.
"We find and protect the woman at all costs," Hadrian ordered launching himself into the air.
Gaul and Byzantine exchanged glances. This…intruder is his lifemate? Byzantine asked.
It would appear so. Let's follow him before he does something stupid.Gaul sent launching himself into the air. Byzantine quickly followed as they tracked both woman and servant to find where their brother's lifemate was being held. It was an older building. The building was a warehouse on the outside of town. It looked abandoned, but the three brothers knew otherwise. Gaul watched as his brothers took animal forms, one a snow leopard and the other a Bengali tiger. Gaul chose the form of a cougar as his brothers moved to other sides of the building and enter.
The smell of old blood was thick in the air and laced with the scent of freshly spilled blood. Gaul could almost feel the anger that radiated from his brother. How long would Hadrian be able to control the beast? Would Gaul be able to stop his brother if it became necessary? The thought was one he had to take as a possibility depending on the stupidity of the humans holding the woman captive.
There was nothing in the upper open part of the warehouse, but the brothers wasted no time in that area and quickly moved to the entrance of an underground chamber. The sight demanded retribution. There were three females in the room. One was small and childlike, her body folded into a compact size as she was huddled in a cramped cage. The other two females were bound to replicas of ancient Roman crosses with gags and blindfolds. Blood ran down their bodies in tiny rivulets. One female had the gag crushed between her teeth as a knife was run down her right arm. It was the other that drew Gaul though. She was more muscled than the other two females, but she still seemed fragile to him. She held her body rigid and stiff. Her hair was cropped short and shone the color of gold. Gold mixed with the red of her blood.
Gaul didn't pause for a moment. He could not allow these glorious new sights to distract him from his mission: protecting and avenging his lifemate. One of the human males took a wicked looking instrument from a table and started towards his lifemate. The man didn't get close to her. Gaul had already launched himself at the man with his Carpathian speed reverting to his human form as he flew through the air. His hand sank into the man's chest cavity and pulled out the man's pounding heart. The man could only stare at him in shock and horror for a moment before collapsing on the ground dead. Gaul threw the heart away from him in disgust and joined his brothers in front of the final human male. The man was cowering before them even as Hadrian was compelling him to tell them what he knew.
The human gave up his knowledge quickly and readily. He confessed the purpose of him and his companion. They had been hunting for vampires. They had been sent after the twin females and believed that the younger female in the cage was merely their servant. They had been torturing the vampires believing that it was their duty. The human had been almost certain that his companions had enjoyed it. Gaul and his brothers reached into the human's mind until they had all that the human's mind. "For your crimes, you will be give justice." The three brothers growled as they killed the man with their power and without regret.
They left the man's husk of a body where it fell and went back to the three women. Gaul cut the bonds holding his lifemate to the cross that had held her through the torture. She ripped away the blindfold as he took the gag from her mouth. "Calm honey," Gaul whispered as he took her into his arms protectively clutching her there. "No harm will come to you while I have you."
Hadrian held the other female who had been tied to the cross and Byzantine was cradling the frightened woman-child. "I will return soon enough." Hadrian said before taking a careful look at his brothers and their treasures.
Byzantine's smile was twisted. "It seems we were all fortunate."
