Desari made a face at him and then down at the roast. «Disgusting stuff. I think I will ask Corrine to help me make something else.»
Barack held out his hands. «Throw it, Desari, we may as well finish our football game.»
Mikhail shook his head. «I wanted to let you all know that Alexandria and young Skyler ran into trouble a few minutes ago. We all need to be on alert and give added protection to our women and children.»
«Syndil was at the house, thinking she might prepare something for the party. I think I will check on her. If I reach out, she will simply say she is fine.» Barack sketched a small salute and immediately took to the sky.
The smile faded from Julian's face. He stepped closer to Desari. «What kind of trouble? Aidan did not send word that Alexandria was hurt.»
«She is fine now, but both she and Skyler felt the presence of a subtle flow of power, enhancing emotions to the point of irrationality. Even Gabriel was affected, losing his temper with Dimitri.»
«I knew Dimitri had arrived,» Julian said. «I can feel the darkness in him growing by the hour. He is unstable and we have to find a way to keep him safe. Gregori gave me a task to keep me going when I thought to give up my existence, and perhaps if one was given to Dimitri…"Julian sighed. «He is alone, killing more often than a hunter should have to, and that is slowly destroying him.»
«Skyler is his lifemate,» Mikhail stated.
Desari gasped. «Oh, dear, she's just a babe. Is he certain?»
«She restored colors and emotions.»
«That cannot be good,» Julian said. «At best emotions can be difficult to deal with, and in this situation when she was so brutalized, he must be going through hell. I should go to him,» he added, «see what I can do. Desari has amazing power with her voice. It might help him get through this.»
«He cannot bind her to him,» Desari protested, her hand to her throat. «She is much, much too young and from what Francesca said, far too fragile. It takes both Gabriel and Francesca to distance her enough from her past to allow her to function normally. Do you know that she has no childhood memories in her mind they can bring out to aid her? It must be so difficult for Dimitri to suddenly feel all these things. For a time, he will be raw and wounded with her old scars.»
«It is a very dangerous situation,» Mikhail agreed. «If Dimitri stays near her, he will continue to fight his need to claim her. If he chooses to return to Russia, the danger to both increases.» He rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling old. The weight of his responsibilities
was wearing on him far more these dark days.
In the midst of the Christmas season, when he should have been feeling joy and hope, he felt tired and the beginnings of despair. How could he save them? Two or three children were not enough. Even if Shea gave birth to a female and the baby survived, it would be years before a male would be saved. Too long to wait in darkness. Too many males. One or two lifemates were not going to keep their species from extinction, especially as their enemies were banding together and becoming bolder and bolder in their attacks.
«We had the advantages for so long,» he murmured aloud. «We could scan and know the thoughts of our enemies, but now they've found a way to block us. We could smell the evil stench of the vampire, sense the presence of such an abomination, yet now we can no longer trust our own senses to guide us.» He spread his arms out wide. «Before, they would never have come here after us, fearing our power, yet now they chip away at us on nearly a daily basis. Our enemies outnumber us and as we grow weaker-they grow stronger.»
Desari glanced at Julian. His amber eyes seemed to glow as he stepped forward to put his hand on the prince's shoulder. He looked very much a warrior, and she couldn't help that small rush of pride in him.
«We grow stronger too, Mikhail. Under your leadership, we have come together when before we were scattered and apart. You have worked tirelessly to get the word to any of our ancients, to continue to look for any lost as Desari and the others had been.»
«The women are reluctant to become pregnant and give birth,» Mikhail pointed out, shaking his head. «Without children, Julian, no matter our longevity, our species will not survive.»
Desari smiled at him. «We will survive. This is the season of miracles, remember? I thought you were a believer, Mikhail. Where is your faith?»
There was a small silence. The hard lines in the prince's face softened. «Perhaps this celebration of Raven's is just the thing I need to restore my faith, Desari.» He rubbed the bridge of his nose thoughtfully. «Should Josef decide to give us his rendition of any carol, please do volunteer to sing. Is it possible your dancing notes can muzzle the boy?»
«Josef's reputation precedes him,» Desari said with a laugh. «I understand he's quite a handful.»
«Let us just say I do not envy Byron and Antonietta trying to keep an eye on the boy. They say he is quite intelligent, but not very diligent when it comes to mastering any of our practices. I think he has been spoiled and allowed to mix so much with human children that he has forgotten his duty to our people.»
Julian flashed Desari a secret smile at the sternness in Mikhail's voice. As a child, he'd often heard that same edge to the adult male's tones. «He will grow to a fine man,» Julian
assured him. «Perhaps not a hunter, but we need our society to return to progress once more. We need men who look to business and the arts and especially science.»
«I have no doubt Josef will succeed in anything he does,» Mikhail said dryly. «But the rest of us may not survive his youth.»
«I seem to recall Gregori said the same thing about me-many times.» Julian grinned at him, his strange-colored eyes glinting like gold. «The man needs a sense of humor. Now, I am his brother-in-law. Fate has a way of playing little jokes.»
A slow answering smile lit Mikhail's face. «I must confess, Julian, I did not think of that at all. His brother-in-law. He is also my son-in-law and as I am Dear Old Dad, I think it is time the man performed some family duties. He will be perfect in the part of Santa Claus tonight.»
Julian's eyebrow shot up. «My prince.» He bowed low. «I acknowledge you as the master in this game we so often play with the Dark One.»
Desari looked from one man to the other. «I can't imagine you asking Gregori to be Santa, and if Julian is endorsing it, that's a bad thing.»
«I see she knows you well, Julian,» Mikhail observed.
Desari rested her head on Julian's chest. «Was he the resident bad boy growing up? I can well imagine that he would have been.»
Mikhail shook his head. «Independent. A smart mouth. He loved knowledge and had little fear in him. But no.» He frowned. «There was a young man, a few years older than Julian, who Gregori had to stay on top of all the time. He was far worse than Josef could ever conceive of being. He questioned authority all the time.»
«I remember him,» Julian said. «He was amazing with weapons even as young as he was. Tiberiu Bercovitz. I haven't heard or thought of him in centuries. Did he come to the celebration? He was good friends with Dimitri.»
There was no real inflection in Julian's voice, but Mikhail caught a flare of wariness in the hunter's eyes. The man shifted subtly, but protectively toward his lifemate.
«This is what our lives have become,» Mikhail murmured aloud. «We can no longer trust our friends, men who have dedicated their lives to honor, to saving Carpathian and human alike. We treat our best hunters with suspicion.»
«It is the way we have always lived,» Julian remarked.
Mikhail shook his head. «There was a time, Julian, long ago, when only nature balanced us. There was harmony and peace in our world and we held celebrations such as this one often.»