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compassion and goodness, but she was far more powerful than Julian was giving her credit for.
"Have you known many of the females of our race?" Darius asked with deceptive mildness.
"No. Very few remain. They are guarded at all times, as they should be. It is almost unheard of for a
woman to be unattached after her eighteenth year."
Darius swung around to stare at Julian. "This is the truth? Eighteen is not yet a fledgling in truth, yet a
child. How can this be?"
Julian shrugged his broad shoulders. "With so few women, so few children born to our kind and
surviving, with little hope and so many males on the verge of turning, it is the only safe thing to do. Any
unclaimed woman is too unsettling."
"But the woman could not possibly hope to contend with a powerful male at such a young age. She
would barely have had the time to learn the most simple of our gifts. How could she develop her own
talents and skills?" Darius sounded a bit disgusted with the males of his own race.
Julian's golden eyes glittered for a moment. "If you found one who gave you back colors and emotions,
who brought your dead soul to life and showered it with light, would you be able to walk away from her
because she was yet a fledgling? Perhaps her skills are not developed, but her body is that of a woman,
and any male under the circumstances would be more than happy to spend centuries aiding her in the
learning." His body was beginning to shimmer, to dissolve into tiny droplets of moisture. "What are you
waiting for, old man? If you did not get enough sleep, I assure you, I can handle this task on my own."
"Old man?" Darius echoed. He made his own transformation with astonishing speed. The sun, although it
was sinking, was still bright enough to hurt his sensitive eyes. He had noticed that Julian blinked and
squinted a bit, but his eyes weren't streaming in reaction as Darius's were. "I have to ensure you do not
meet with any more near misses."
A layer of fog streaked across the sky, racing the sun toward the cliffs. Julian's iridescent colors
intermingled with Darius's, and the cliff soon loomed before them, an intimidating sheer rock wall. Julian
solidified, arms folded across his chest, watching with interest as Darius began to weave a strange pattern
along the layers of granite. Darius moved unhurriedly, as if he had all the time in the world, as if he were
unconcerned with the sun sinking or the vampire awakening.
The vampire was locked deep within the cliff wall, but he was very much aware of the two hunters
prowling so close, aware of the exact position of the sun and of how much time he had before he could
arise. His lips were drawn back in a snarl of hatred, his jagged teeth stained dark from killing while taking
blood. His skin was waxen, ashy, drawn, stretched tightly against his skull. His arms were crossed over
his chest, his long yellow fingernails like spikes. His venomous hiss was a vow of vengeance and loathing.
He could only wait, locked within the prison of the stone and his terrible weakness, while outside the
creatures hunting him scratched and sniffed at the entrance to his lair.
Julian was intrigued with the ease with which Darius unraveled the safeguards the vampire had set.
Darius moved with great confidence yet was unhurried by even the setting sun. He seemed absorbed in
his work, as if it commanded his complete attention, but Julian was not deceived. Darius was aware of
the danger they were in.
As Darius continued weaving his strange pattern along the cliff, a faint line began to take shape,
zigzagging across the face of the rock. With an ominous rumble the line began to deepen and widen into a
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crack. At once scorpions began to boil out of the crevice, thousands of them, large and hideous, rushing
at Darius. As Darius moved to avoid the cascading fall of poisonous insects, the ground rolled, heaved,
and buckled, throwing him directly into their path. Julian jerked him up and out of the way, launching
them both into the air as the vampire's guardians swarmed along the ground.
Darius glanced skyward, and lightning arced from cloud to cloud. He gazed steadily at the sizzling
streaks, building the energy until he could gather it into a bright orange fireball and direct it straight into
the scurrying mass of scorpions. At once there was a stench as the insects blackened into charred ashes.
When Julian settled once more to earth, Darius went right back to work as though the interruption had
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