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Disoriented, he woke deep within the ground The first sensation he felt was hunger It was no ordinary hunger, but one of gut-wrenching, skin-crawling necessity He was starving Every cell in his body denawed at him like a rat It attacked not only his body, but also his mind so that he feared for all others, humans and Carpathians alike Feared for himself Feared for his soul This ti fast and his soul was in jeopardy
What dared to disturb his sleep? More importantly, had it disturbed Lucian's sleep? Gabriel had locked Lucian into the earth, centuries ago, longer than he cared to think about If Lucian had awakened when he had, if he had been disturbed by the saround, then there was every chance he would rise before Gabriel could find the strength to stop him
It was intensely difficult to think with this terrible hunger gripping hi had he been in the earth? Above hi centuries, his internal clock could still feel the setting of the sun and the beginning of their tiround suddenly shifted Gabriel felt his heart sla, spent tooto clear his clouded reat as his own; his appetite would be voracious There would be no way to stop him, not while Gabriel was so weak himself
Because he had no choice, Gabriel burst through the layers of earth where he had lain buried for so long, where he had deliberately sluround as he locked Lucian to hi, horrendous battle Both Lucian and Gabriel had sustained grave wounds, wounds that should have killed theround just outside the sanctified burial ground of the ancient ceht sanctuary within it Gabriel had been tired of the long centuries of bleak darkness, the black empty void of his existence
He did not have the luxury of choosing to walk into the dawn as most of his kind did There was Lucian His twin Lucian was strong and brilliant, always the leader There was no one else skilled enough, powerful enough to hunt and destroy Lucian There was only Gabriel He had spent several lifeti the va on his battle sense There had been no other like Lucian, none as brilliant at hunting the vaift Yet Lucian had finally succumbed to the dark whisper of power, the insidious call of blood lust Lucian had given up his soul, choosing the way of the da into the very monster he had pursued for centuries The vampire
Gabriel had spent two centuries hunting his beloved brother, but he had never fully recovered fro Finally after countless battles in which neither was victorious, he made the decision to lock his twin in the earth for all tihout Europe; their final confrontation took place in Paris, a city rampant with vampires and debauchery After the terrible battle in the cemetery, where both of them suffered horrendous wounds and loss of blood, he waited until Lucian was lying unsuspectingly in the earth, and then he bound his twin to hile was not over, yet it was the only solution Gabriel could devise He was tired and alone and without comfort of any kind He wanted rest, yet he could not seek the dawn until Lucian was fully destroyed It was a terrible fate he had chosen, dead, yet not dead, buried for all eternity, but Gabriel could think of no other way Nothing should have disturbed the had moved the earth above their heads
Gabriel had no idea how much time had passed while he had rested in the earth, yet his body was starved for blood He knew his skin was gray and drawn tight over his skeleton like that of an old man At once, as he burst into the air, he clothed hi, hooded cape to hide his appearance while he hunted through the city Just that sy from his wizened body He needed blood desperately He was so weak he nearly fell from the sky
As he settled to the ground, he stared in astonishe contraptions that had disturbed the sleep of centuries Those contraptions, so alien to him, had awakened a demon so deadly the world could never comprehend its power Those contraptions had unleashed that demon upon the ht At once he was assaulted by sobody could barely assimilate them all
Hunger ate at hi heart that he was so close to turning, he had precious little control When he was forced to feed, the demon in him would rise Nevertheless he had no real choice in the matter He had to have sustenance to hunt If he did not hunt Lucian, protect humans and Carpathians alike, ould?
Gabriel drew the thick cloak closer around his body as he staggered through the graveyard He could see where the rave sites were being dug up and reround, where the soil had boiled up out of the earth as Lucian had risen For a moment he sank down on his knees to bury both hands in the dirt Lucian His brother His twin He bowed his head in sorro often had they shared knowledge? Shared battles? Blood? Nearly two thousand years they had been together, fought for their people, hunted the undead and destroyed thereatest of their people, yet he had fallen as so many had before him Gabriel would have bet his life that his tould never have succumbed to the dark whisper of power
Gabriel stood up slowly and began to walk toward the street The long years that had gone by had changed the world Everything was different He understood none of it He was so disoriented, even his sight was hazy He stu the streets They were everywhere and they avoided touching hiht him an "old homeless man," perhaps a drunk or even insane No one looked his way, no one wanted to see hi cloak even closer, hiding his withered body within its folds
Hunger assailed his senses so that his fangs exploded in his mouth and dripped with anticipation of a feast He needed nourish the street The city was so different, no longer the Paris of old, but a huge sprawling co from the interior of the massive structures and from street lamps overhead It was not the city he remembered or hich he was comfortable
He should have caught the nearest prey and fed voraciously to bring hi unable to stop himself was uppermost in his mind He must not allow the beast to control him He had a sworn duty to his people, to the human race, but most importantly to his beloved brother Lucian had been his hero, the one he placed above all others, and deservedly so They had taken a vow together and he would honor it as Lucian would have done for him No other hunter would be allowed to destroy his brother; it was his task alone
The s It beat at hier The sound of it rushing through veins, ebbing and flowing, burgeoning with life, taunted him In his present state of weakness he would be unable to control his prey, to keep his victi
"Sir, may I help you in some way? Are you ill?" It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard She spoke in flawless French, her accent perfect, but he was uncertain whether she was actually French To his aht him comfort, as if her voice alone could soothe him
Gabriel shuddered The last thing he wanted was to feast on an innocent wo at her, he shook his head and continued walking He was so weak he stuly strong I his musty, dirty odor Theinto his tortured soul The unrelenting hunger lessened and as long as she was touching him, he felt a semblance of control
Deliberately he kept his face averted fro his eyes would show the red haze of the deered his violent instincts instead she soothed him She was definitely the last person he wanted to use as prey He sensed her goodness, her resolve to help hioodness were the only reasons he had not attacked and sunk his fangs deep within her veins when every shrunken cell and fiber of his being demanded he do so for his own self-preservation
She was urging hie of the sidewalk "Are you injured, or just hungry?" she asked "There's a hoive you a place to stay for the night and a hot et in and let me help you"
Her voice seemed to whisper over him, a seduction of the senses He truly feared for her life, for his own soul But he was far too weak to resist He allowed her to seat him in the car, but he huddled as far froer any physical contact, he could hear the blood rushing in her veins, calling to hier roared through hi with the need to sink his teeth deep into her vulnerable neck He could hear her heart, the steady beat that went on and on, threatening to drive hi it would pour into his ed himself
"My naently "Please tell me if you're hurt or in need of medical attention Don't worry about the cost I have friends at the hospital and they'll help you" She didn't add what he gleaned froents and paid the bill herself
Gabriel rehts, an automatic protection Lucian had drilled into his The lure of blood was overpowering It was only the goodness radiating fro as his shriveled cells cried out for him to do
Francesca glanced at the old ray with hunger and shaking with fatigue He looked starved When she touched hied with hunger It took control not to race through the streets to the shelter She wanted desperately to get him aid Her small white teeth worried at her bottom lip She felt anxiety, an e while She needed to give this , it was almost a compulsion
"Don't worry, I can take care of things for you Just sit back and relax" Francesca drove with her usual abandon through the streets Most of the policerin at her when she broke all the laws She was a healer An exceptional healer It was her gift to the world It had made friends for her everywhere Those that didn't care about favors or healing cared about the fact that she had a great deal of reat many political connections
She pulled up to the shelter and stopped the car almost at the door She didn't want the old man to have to walk too far He seemed ready to topple over at any moment The hood of his unusual cape concealed his hair fro and thick and old-fashioned Rushing around the front of the car, she reached inside to help him out
Gabriel didn't want her to touch hi very soothing in her touch, al at bay for a little while longer The contraption he was riding in, the speed at which it rushed through the streets, made him sick and dizzy He needed to orient himself to the world he was in Find out the year Study the new technology Most of all he needed to find the strength to feed without allowing the den supreme He could feel it in hi to overcome the thin veneer of civility
"Francesca! Another one? We're so full this evening" Marvin Challot glanced uneasily at the elderlyabout the man raised the hair on the back of his neck He looked old and gnarled, his fingernails too long and too sharp, but he was obviously so weak Marvin felt guilty that he didn't want anything to do with this stranger He was asha of revulsion, but he was actually repulsed by the old man He could hardly refuse Francesca She contributed more money, more time and more effort than anyone else If it weren't for her, there would be no shelter
Reluctantly Marvin reached out to take the old man's arm Gabriel inhaled sharply The moment Francesca released his ars exploded in hisblood was so loud he could hear nothing else Everything disappeared in a red haze Hunger Starvation He had to feed The demon within him lifted its head with a roar, wrestled him for total control
Marvin sensed he was in er The ar and crackling, and fur rippled over the withered skin Marvin sent odor like that of a wolf He found hi the elderly man's arht a glimpse of death Where there should have been eyes, there were two empty, pitiless holes Marvin blinked and the eyes were there again, red and fla its prey Marvin didn't knohich i to do with the old man, whatever he was The eyes bored into his
Marvin cried out and jumped back "No, Francesca, I can't allow it There's no rooht I don't want him here" His voice shook with terror
Francesca al in Marvin's face stopped her She nodded her acceptance of his decision "It's okay, Marvin I can take care of hiently she slipped her arm around the oldShe hid her irritation at Marvin's reaction well, but it was there
Gabriel's first inclination was to put distance between theerously close to turning Yet it seemed she anchored hie beast for the ainst her slender body Her skin arm, while his was ice-cold He breathed in her scent deeply, careful to keep his head turned away from her He did not want her to see hi desperately for humanity
"Francesca," Marvin protested "I'll call someone to take him to the hospital Perhaps a policeman Don't be alone with him I think maybe he's insane"
As Gabriel entered the car he turned his head to look back at thethem with fear in his eyes He stared at the ht fist For one terribleher With a soft ancient oath he curbed the i one shoulder, he huddled deeper within the thick cloak He wanted to stay close to this beautiful woht and compassion bathe his tortured soul He also wanted to run as far fro ever stronger within him
Francesca didn't see to reassure hi, she smiled at Gabriel "It wouldn't hurt to do a checkup at the hospital Really, it would only take a minute"
Gabriel shook his head slowly in protest She sood Fresh Clean He was too weak even to clean himself up It embarrassed him that she would see hi from the inside out
She parked in an area where it appeared hundreds of contraptions like hers were sitting eet out, it's a waste of your energy This will just take a estureof his heavy burden
The er that clawed at his insides, de he feed He could barely breathe His heart was beating very slowly: one beat, a miss and another beat His body cried out for blood For nourishment Screamed for it He needed That was all So siether into one desire
He smelled it Fresh Heard it Yet he smelled her, too, and her nearness helped to overcout clenched, knotted A male walked beside her This one was different fro at Francesca as if she were the sun, thewicked, so deep within him lifted its head and snarled with unexpected dislike His prey No one had the right to stand so close to her She was his He had ht came unbidden and at once he was asha so close to her and it took every ounce of his discipline to keep fro him there on the spot
"Brice, I have to get hoht now I just stopped by for a few supplies"
Brice Renaldo put his hand on her arm to stop her "I need you to look at a patient for "
"Not now, I'll coht" Francesca's voice was soft but very firm
Brice tightened his grip, intending to pull her back, but as he did so, he felt so down he saw several s his aro of Francesca and shook his arone as if they'd never been and Francesca was already walking quickly to her side of the car She was looking at him as if he were a nut He started to explain but when he couldn't see any evidence of spiders, he decided it wasn't worth the trouble
Brice hurried to the car, deliberately taking her ar low to peer in theat Gabriel His rimace "My God, Francesca, where do you find these bums?"
"Brice!" Francesca pulled her aresture of annoyance "You can be so callous sometimes" She lowered her voice, but Gabriel, with his superior hearing, heard the exchange quite clearly "Just because someone is old or has no money does not make him useless or a murderer That is the reason we never quite make it, Brice You have no compassion for people"