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weary and tormented
and she didn't have the heart.
    "You changed that for me. You gave me back colors and emotions. I have four
brothers. I have lived with them for years with only the memory of my affection
for them, yet in that one moment when you spoke to me,
I felt
that deep
love for them again. How could I ever repay such a gift?" His voice was soft,
almost as if he were talking to himself.
    "I love my sister and cousin so much. I can't imagine not being able to feel
my love for them. I'm glad I could, in some way, restore those feelings to you."
She tightened her fingers around his. "Have you always lived in South America?
You're obviously familiar with the jungle." She knew he was resting, gathering
his strength to break down the poison and push it from his system. She could
feel him continually scanning the skies, worried the vampire might have tracked
them in spite of his sacrifice of precious blood to lay a false trail. He had
fought vampires on many occasions and she briefly touched on those hideous
battles through their link. The creatures were grotesque and evil and worse than
the human monsters she'd encountered.
    "Many years ago, when our current prince was still young, his father sent
many of us out in the hopes we could stop the spread of evil. I was fortunate
that my family was sent together. It made it easier to endure being so far from
our kind, so far from our homeland. We made this our home." He squeezed her
fingers as if for courage and started to let go.
    Juliette tightened her grip, tugging until he looked at her.
    "I'm strong enough to help you. I'm keeping you out of my mind, but I can let
you use my strength."
    "You do not have to, Juliette." He liked saying her name, was pleased she
wanted to aid him, but he was not the gentle man she believed he was in her
mind. He was far more ruthless than she knew, and he had no intention of
allowing her to escape him. "I would not want you to expend energy you cannot
afford."
    He was warning her. Juliette felt a chill go through her body, but she chose
to ignore it. He was drooping with pain. His wounds seeped and wept and every
now and then, in spite of his efforts to shield her, she glimpsed the torment he
was in. "I don't mind. I'm just sitting here anyway." She gave him a tentative
smile. "How did they manage to capture you?"
    His expression darkened. "I heard a cry for help on the common telepathic
link all Carpathians use. When I followed the cry back to its source, I found a
vampire, not a Carpathian. Unfortunately it was impossible to tell that he was
vampire until it was too late. I was injected with the paralyzing formula and
drained of blood to keep me weak." His gaze settled on hers, stayed there, a
hypnotic, mesmerizing stare. "You are not shocked to hear of my species. You
were frightened of
me
because I took your blood in such a manner, and
for that I apologize, but the fact that I needed it did not fully surprise you.
How is that?"
    She was silent for a moment, weighing her words carefully. She felt him in
her mind, seeking answers, but he was not nearly at full strength and the poison
was hideously painful. With her brain patterns so different and the strength of
her protective walls, he simply waited for her spoken answer. "When I was a
child we often spent long periods of time in the jungle. At night my mother
would build a camp-fire and we'd tell stories. She told us of a great people,
Carpathians from the mountains in Europe with extraordinary skills and gifts.
They were blood-drinkers."
    "How did she know of them?"
    "Our family goes back hundreds of years. Apparently my ancestor met a small
group of Carpathians here in the jungle." She looked at him steadily. "Five
brothers. They were said to have a vast cattle estate and human family to work
their lands while they slept beneath the ground during the sunlight hours."
    Juliette waited for a response to her revelation, but Riordan only stared at