"Nice," Fen commented. "I'm impressed." He held out his hand to Tatijana. "Get along home, boys. The woods can turn dangerous very fast at night."
Tatijana took his hand and went with him into deeper forest. He took the narrow path leading back toward the village. She wouldn't show him her resting place, but she would be much safer in the village than the forest. His last glimpse of the two attackers was of one trying to help the other off the ground.
The mist enfolded them once again. Tatijana cleared her throat. "You said you were chasing a particularly violent vampire. Please continue. I'd really like to hear."
Fen glanced down at the top of her head. She didn't come up to his shoulder, but already she was a force to be reckoned with. She hadn't put any compulsion in her voice, yet there would be no resisting her. He had no experience with lifemates, so he had no idea if the spell she'd cast was one any woman could easily place on her Carpathian lifemate.
"The vampire was named Vitrona and I could not get ahead of him no matter what I did. I never felt him. Not once. I could only follow in the wake of his total destruction. Entire villages, so many people and mostly Lycans. He was wiping them out. More than once he doubled back and caught me off guard, something that had always been impossible. I have hunted the vampire long centuries and even back then I was no beginner."
"I have seen vampires and the cruelty they exhibit," Tatijana admitted. "Xavier had an alliance with one."
Fen shook his head. "Centuries ago, vampires did not make alliances. They have evolved into even more of a threat, but this one, Vitrona, killed not only for the rush, but for pleasure. It seems he was not only vampire but Lycan-well-not Lycan-werewolf as well."
She gasped, one hand going to her throat. "Lycans can walk in sunlight. They can go undetected by Carpathians and Mage. Lycans are the one species Xavier had difficulties obtaining because it was so hard to locate them."
"The Lycans kept to their own villages back then, but that policy changed when Vitrona tore through their ranks, killing everyone, man, woman and child. No one could stop him." Fen ducked his head, the memories of finding so many brutally murdered families washing over him. "Not even me." For a moment, sorrow choked him-sorrow he hadn't been able to feel until his lifemate had brought intense emotions back to him.
Tatijana's fingers tightened around his. "I didn't think when I asked you to tell about this that you might have to relive it with emotion this time. Please forgive me. You don't have to continue."
Fen was a little shocked at how the psychic connection between them continued to grow stronger with each passing moment in her company. He touched her mind, brushing lightly, and found she was distressed at the thought that she had caused his discomfort. No one had ever been upset on his behalf that he could remember.
He brought her hand to his chest, pressing her palm close over his heart even as he continued walking with her toward the village-and safety. The veil of mist blanketed the forest now, making it nearly impossible to see the trees until they were right up on them, but he could feel them through the hair on his body and the energy radiating from the living plants.
He guided her unerringly along the path, cutting through the interior and picking up his pace. His warning system was beginning to give off little ripples.
"You gave me a gift beyond measure, my lady. Walking with you is both peaceful and exhilarating. Just to have your interest in my past is a miracle I did not expect."
She gave him a glance from under long lashes, a brief glimpse of her astonishing green eyes. "I have an interest in your future as well, Fen. From what I've gleaned about lifemates, one does not do well without the other for long."
"Then I will continue with my story. I followed Vitrona for a full, very long year, and during that time, I became aware of another hunter tracking him-a Lycan. He was an elite hunter, one who tracks down and kills rogue werewolves, those who kill humans and their own kind, just as we destroy the vampire who preys upon humans. The Lycan's skills were formidable. I found myself having great respect for him. He came closer than me on two occasions and yet, he, too, missed Vitrona."
"How awful for both of you," Tatijana said. "What was so different about this vampire?"
"When one hunts the undead, there are certain signs to look for, but this vampire was nearly impossible to find by any of the usual means. There were no scorch marks in his passing unless he deliberately made them. There were no blank spaces indicating he was hiding. The Lycan, his name was Vakasin, eventually hunted him solely by scent. We joined forces, knowing that would double our chances of executing the monster. Many times we engaged him in battle, and both of us sustained terrible life-threatening wounds." Fen hesitated, uncertain how to tell her the rest-fearing her reaction.
Tatijana stopped walking and turned to stand directly in front of him, blocking his path, forcing him to halt. "I told you about Xavier. He was the most hated criminal the Carpathian people had. Women lost their babies and eventually couldn't have children. The high mage who committed such treachery against the Carpathian people was my own father. I think whatever your secret is can't be as bad. Whatever happened, you need to tell me."
The only person Fen had trusted enough to tell his secret to was his brother. He had just met Tatijana, but she was his lifemate, and one couldn't lie to one's lifemate. She could slip in and out of his mind at will, just as he could hers, making it impossible to hide anything.
He found it strange that he was already so comfortable, as if they'd been together for a long time, yet the mystique surrounding her was as strong as ever, drawing him with a magnetic pull as strong as their obvious connection.
"I often needed blood and there was no one else to provide it but Vakasin. I sometimes provided blood for him when our hunt took us places where there was no sustenance for either of us, or our wounds were too many and we had to wait to heal. In a battle, we both sustained life-threatening injuries and we had to have large amounts of blood to survive."
Tatijana continued to look up at him, wide-eyed. Unblinking. Holding him captive so that he could not look away from her even though his next words might turn her against him.
"Vakasin and I both became an abomination-what the Lycans refer to as the Sange rau, which is literally bad blood, a mixed blood. We became like Vitrona. Both Lycan and Carpathian. We had no idea how it happened, probably over time, our blood mixing, yet not mixing, changing us, yet not really changing us." He confessed his sin quickly, in a rush to get it over.