Free Dark Nights by Christine Feehan

beginning to find his legs.” To her horror, the heart, even with the stake through the middle of it, was vibrating, wiggling back and forth as if slowly emerging from the rotted flesh. “Hurry—we may have a little problem with handsome. He seems to be coming back to life.”
    Joie’s mouth went dry. No matter what Jubal had done, the creature kept coming back.
    “Pack the last wound. Hurry,” Traian instructed.
    She didn’t want to take her eyes off the ghoulish creature, but the dark compulsion in Traian’s voice alarmed her; she obeyed, trusting her brother to keep an eye on the vampire while she and Gabrielle pushed the strip of cloth into the wound in an effort to stop the bleeding in the gaping holes in his flesh.
    Jubal had his back to them, his eyes on the foul creature thrashing on the floor. Without warning, Traian reached out and dragged Jubal close to him, murmuring something Joie couldn’t quite catch. He bent his head toward Jubal’s exposed throat.
    Gabrielle screamed and rushed to her brother’s aid, but Traian lifted his hand and murmured something aloud, the words in a language she didn’t know. Gabrielle stopped abruptly and stood absolutely still as if under a sorcerer’s spell.
    Fury burned through Joie. “You blood-sucking fiend! Let him go or you die. I’m not kidding you. Let him go or I’ll tear your heart out. And don’t try using your voice on me, because it won’t work.” As she hissed the words in a low, smoldering voice, she pulled her knife from the sheath strapped to her calf. At the same time, she tried to keep the vampire in sight.
    “If I do not get blood, we are all going to die,” Traian said calmly. “That is a fact. You need me to get all of you out of here and I need blood.” He looked at her, his gaze steady and honest.
    She let her breath escape between her teeth as she reached out and jerked Gabrielle away from him, thrusting her sister behind her. “Release them now.”
    “We have only minutes.”
    “Then don’t waste time.” Her hand didn’t waver. Neither did her stare.
    Traian spoke softly to Gabrielle and Jubal. Jubal jerked away from the man, drawing his gun as he did so. He put his arm around Gabrielle’s. Tears swam in her eyes and she hid her face in his shoulder.
    “For someone who is supposed to be so damned weak from blood loss, you felt strong enough to me.”
    I’ve never run across anyone with that kind of strength, Joie. If he gets any stronger and he turns on us, we’re in serious trouble.
    We’re already in serious trouble, Joie pointed out.
    She studied Traian. His expression hadn’t changed at all, even with Jubal’s gun and her knife. He just looked back with his steady expression.
    “Tell us what’s going on,” Joie suggested. “It isn’t as if we didn’t witness the zombie man on the ground here, doing his sorry imitation of Dracula. You forgot to mention you’re a little vampish yourself, dragging my brother to you and wanting to bite his neck.”
    “I am Carpathian, of the Earth, a species that has the unfortunate capability to turn wholly vampire. All the stories I told you were true when we had conversations at night. I did not make them up to entertain you. I lived the battles; they were not fiction. I need blood to survive, but we do not kill for sustenance. I have fought the vampire for hundreds of years.” His voice was every bit as steady as his gaze. “This one will rise again, and he has friends. You cannot stop them, nor can I without blood to build my strength.”
    Jubal caught at Joie and tried to drag her backward, away from the wounded man when she took a step toward him. “This is bullshit, Joie.”
    “Take a look at Lamont and tell me I do not speak the truth,” Traian said.
    Joie held up her hand. “I have to believe him, Jubal. There’s a terrible dread building in my stomach. I can feel others coming—can’t you?” She handed her knife to her brother, ignoring her trembling hand. “If