Chapter 17
The Old One was agitated, and it didn't do to have an extremely large dragon upset in a large city-or anywhere, for that matter. Dax paced up and down the terrace overlooking the lights of the city. The De La Cruz family owned an enormous estate on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Apparently, they owned homes in nearly every major city throughout South America. They seemed to have adapted well to living among the human species.
Just as Dax had evolved there in the volcano, the De La Cruz family had evolved as well-yet he wasn't comfortable with their modern transformation. He didn't believe it. They were hunters, every one of them, wolves in sheep's clothing. For all their modern look, and the charm the De La Cruz brothers exuded, he knew what they were deep down under all that sophistication-predators, every one of them.
"What's wrong?"
Riley's soft voice brought him up short. He turned to look at her. She sat in one of the deep chairs, chin on her drawn-up knees, watching him with her dark, cool eyes. There was genuine concern in her voice-in those liquid eyes. He'd never had anyone concerned over him before other than Arabejila, and certainly not like this, not that he could remember, not that he could feel. It was a strange-and wonderful-feeling.
"I'm concerned about being here in this dwelling."
"House," she corrected as promised. "Why?"
He paced the long length of the terrace restlessly. Riley was his lifemate and she'd asked a question requiring an answer. He sighed and came to a halt in front of her. "I should have executed Mitro centuries ago, long before he went on his crime spree. I knew the darkness grew in him. I was born with a curse, although Arabejila's father told me it was a gift of tremendous value. I knew better. Even as a young boy I saw the mark on many of my friends. As we grew, I became uneasy around them and they were much more uneasy around me. No one wants to be marked as damned."
"Did you do that?"
He shrugged. "I tried not to, but I saw that shadow in them very early and I couldn't help but watch them. I made everyone uneasy. At first the elders didn't believe me, but when my predictions came true, they started paying attention. The moment that happened ..." He trailed off, turning his back on her to grip the railing with both hands, staring out into the night.
Riley bit her lip. That little boy had to be somewhat of an outcast. The other boys and men in his village would have shunned him, kept their distance just in case he discovered that shadow in them and called them a potential vampire. She could feel the stark loneliness in him. As a man-a hunter-he didn't seem to be aware of it. He didn't recognize his own emotions let alone acknowledge them; he'd been too long without.
"The thing is, just because I saw the shadow didn't mean they chose to give up their soul. Some found lifemates eventually and lived honorable lives."
Riley held herself very still, refusing to give in to the urge to comfort him. Dax had no idea he needed comfort and he would shut down. She reached tentatively for their mind connection, not wanting him to pull away from her. Empathically she felt his childhood pain, but she wanted to "see" his memories through his eyes. The moment she reached for him, she felt not only Dax, but the Old One. The dragon was just as concerned for the Carpathian hunter as she was.
She focused on the rail Dax gripped as he looked out over the city. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for him seeing the modern world, but he handled everything calmly, stoically, which gave her insight to his personality. The pressure from his fingers denting the wood told her much more about him.
"I saw the darkness in Mitro from the very beginning. He was from a powerful family and took great advantage, always a bully," Dax continued.
His voice was very soft, but she almost felt each word, brushing at the inside of her mind with a paintbrush of pure shame and sorrow. He didn't hear it-or know-but she felt that raw emotion tearing through his soul. The Old One felt it just as deeply as she did, because unlike Dax, they were both in tune with their emotions.
He had spoken to her about Mitro several times, just small snippets, but she'd seen the vampire's depravity and his need for cruelty even as a young boy. Sometimes monsters were born, not made, and she feared Mitro was the former.
"I tried to tell the elders. I even went to the prince, but I was young and they discounted what I said. As I was proved right more and more and the others avoided me, I learned hard lessons about accusing someone before knowing for certain if they actually would make the choice to turn. Instead of telling others when I saw that darkness in some of our males, I studied each of those with the shadow in them, their ways and habits. I followed them and often, when they made that forbidden choice, destroyed them."
Riley closed her eyes briefly. The sight of his hands gripping the rail until his knuckles were white saddened her.
"I had to let them kill someone while turning. It was the only way to assure I wasn't committing murder." He turned to look at her, sorrow weighing him down. "Do you know how many people I could have saved if I'd just destroyed them before they could make a kill?"
She fought the urge to rise and go to him, to put her arms around him to comfort him. He needed to tell someone. The weight on his shoulders-and he'd carried it for centuries-needed to be shared.
"You're right, though, Dax, it would have been murder," she advised gently.
He was silent for so long she nearly prodded him, but the dragon held her silent, stirring just enough to make her aware he was waiting, too-and he had the patience she needed. Dax wasn't used to sharing, certainly not whatever fear he held so deep that even he couldn't really recognize it.
Dax let out his breath slowly and nodded, but he didn't seem too sure.
She clamped her mouth closed, pressing her lips together tightly. She wrapped her arms tighter around her knees as a surrogate for him. She needed to hold him, to comfort him in the way he offered her comfort and support.
"Mitro seemed ... much more foul ... than any other. There's a nobility to most Carpathians and I respected them, but not Mitro. I watched him closely, and he enjoyed the pain of others, animals, humans and Carpathians. He was cunning and vain and unfortunately, quite intelligent. He found a lifemate in Arabejila. She was the other half of his soul-light to his darkness. The courtship began and I ..."
Dax shook his head and turned his back completely to the rail, leaning against it to look directly into her eyes. "I looked away. I thought him safe. No Carpathian male with a lifemate would turn vampire, so as uneasy as I was, I quit watching him."