Dark Ghost

by Christine Feehan

  There was always that moment of loss--of bereavement when his body left hers. She wanted him back, but then when a woman had a lover like Andre, she supposed it wasn't wrong to get a little greedy.

  "It worked. Our partnership. You found the vampire and you healed me."

  "We've been in the earth a week. I wasn't the only one to heal you. There was Fane's blood, which was huge, and the soil helped as well." She felt compelled to point that out. "I actually took a look at the minerals in the soil to see what would help and that's why I moved our resting place."

  He stood, uncaring of his nudity. "I love looking at you," she blurted out, reaching out with lazy fingers to stroke his shaft. "You're really gifted in the looks department, Andre. I think you're the most gorgeous man I have ever seen. All over." Her fingers caressed and then wrapped around him.

  "How many men's bodies have you seen?"

  "Um. Just yours, but look at you. Really. If someone was going to sculpt a nude male, you should be their model. Not that I want other women looking at you. I'm just saying I love looking at you."

  "I'm very glad you do."

  He reached for her, forcing her to reluctantly give up her prize. "You need the hot springs. I was not gentle."

  "I loved every second." But he knew that, he'd been in her mind. "I'm not certain I'll ever get used to being naked in front of you, but since I really loved looking at your body I suppose it's a small price to pay."

  "I love looking at your body," he said as he carried her to the hot springs. "I am very particular about that point." He set her on her feet and Teagan sank down into the water.

  Her cell phone sang to her from across the room. "How can I get service here? That's crazy. We're up the mountain, inside a cave. Deep in the cave."

  "I know keeping in touch with your family is important to you," Andre said. "So I made certain you had enough reception to text." He waved his hand and floated the cell phone through the air to her.

  Her heart turned over. "Seriously, Andre, you make me want to cry when you're so thoughtful and sweet." She plucked the phone out of the air and checked her message. "Uh-oh, Andre. Brace for this. You're going to need to. Grandma Trixie is on her way so that she can make certain I don't hook up with some crazy foreigner who is out for my virtue and will most likely lock me up in his harem or take me to some deep, dark cave and make me his sex slave."

  He burst out laughing. A real laugh. Genuine. It was a beautiful, musical sound and Teagan loved it.

  "Did she really say that?"

  "Yep."

  "Too late. She's far, far too late," Andre said.

  Teagan had to agree.

  APPENDIX 1

  Carpathian Healing Chants

  To rightly understand Carpathian healing chants, background is required in several areas:

  The Carpathian view on healing

  The Lesser Healing Chant of the Carpathians

  The Great Healing Chant of the Carpathians

  Carpathian musical aesthetics

  Lullaby

  Song to Heal the Earth

  Carpathian chanting technique

  1. THE CARPATHIAN VIEW ON HEALING

  The Carpathians are a nomadic people whose geographic origins can be traced back to at least as far as the Southern Ural Mountains (near the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan), on the border between Europe and Asia. (For this reason, modern-day linguists call their language "proto-Uralic," without knowing that this is the language of the Carpathians.) Unlike most nomadic peoples, the wandering of the Carpathians was not due to the need to find new grazing lands as the seasons and climate shifted, or the search for better trade. Instead, the Carpathians' movements were driven by a great purpose: to find a land that would have the right earth, a soil with the kind of richness that would greatly enhance their rejuvenative powers.

  Over the centuries, they migrated westward (some six thousand years ago), until they at last found their perfect homeland--their susu--in the Carpathian Mountains, whose long arc cradled the lush plains of the kingdom of Hungary. (The kingdom of Hungary flourished for over a millennium--making Hungarian the dominant language of the Carpathian Basin--until the kingdom's lands were split among several countries after World War I: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia and modern Hungary.) Other peoples from the Southern Urals (who shared the Carpathian language, but were not Carpathians) migrated in different directions. Some ended up in Finland, which accounts for why the modern Hungarian and Finnish languages are among the contemporary descendents of the ancient Carpathian language. Even though they are tied forever to their chosen Carpathian homeland, the wandering of the Carpathians continues as they search the world for the answers that will enable them to bear and raise their offspring without difficulty.

  Because of their geographic origins, the Carpathian views on healing share much with the larger Eurasian shamanistic tradition. Probably the closest modern representative of that tradition is based in Tuva (and is referred to as "Tuvinian Shamanism")--see the map on the previous page.

  The Eurasian shamanistic tradition--from the Carpathians to the Siberian shamans--held that illness originated in the human soul, and only later manifested as various physical conditions. Therefore, shamanistic healing, while not neglecting the body, focused on the soul and its healing. The most profound illnesses were understood to be caused by "soul departure," where all or some part of the sick person's soul has wandered away from the body (into the nether realms), or has been captured or possessed by an evil spirit, or both.

  The Carpathians belong to this greater Eurasian shamanistic tradition and share its viewpoints. While the Carpathians themselves did not succumb to illness, Carpathian healers understood that the most profound wounds were also accompanied by a similar "soul departure."

  Upon reaching the diagnosis of "soul departure," the healer-shaman is then required to make a spiritual journey into the netherworlds to recover the soul. The shaman may have to overcome tremendous challenges along the way, particularly fighting the demon or vampire who has possessed his friend's soul.

  "Soul departure" doesn't require a person to be unconscious (although that certainly can be the case as well). It was understood that a person could still appear to be conscious, even talk and interact with others, and yet be missing a part of their soul. The experienced healer or shaman would instantly see the problem nonetheless, in subtle signs that others might miss: the person's attention wandering every now and then, a lessening in their enthusiasm about life, chronic depression, a diminishment in the brightness of their "aura," and the like.

  2. THE LESSER HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS

  Kepa Sarna Pus (The Lesser Healing Chant) is used for wounds that are merely physical in nature. The Carpathian healer leaves his body and enters the wounded Carpathian's body to heal great mortal wounds from the inside out using pure energy. He proclaims, "I offer freely my life for your life," as he gives his blood to the injured Carpathian. Because the Carpathians are of the earth and bound to the soil, they are healed by the soil of their homeland. Their saliva is also often used for its rejuvenative powers.

  It is also very common for the Carpathian chants (both the Lesser and the Great) to be accompanied by the use of healing herbs, aromas from Carpathian candles and crystals. The crystals (when combined with the Carpathians' empathic, psychic connection to the entire universe) are used to gather positive energy from their surroundings, which then is used to accelerate the healing. Caves are sometimes used as the setting for the healing.

  The Lesser Healing Chant was used by Vikirnoff Von Shrieder and Colby Jansen to heal Rafael De La Cruz, whose heart had been ripped out by a vampire as described in Dark Secret.

  Kepa Sarna Pus (The Lesser Healing Chant) The same chant is used for all physical wounds. "Sivadaba" ["into your heart"] would be changed to refer to whatever part of the body is wounded.

  , nelkul sivdobbanas, nelkul fesztelen loyly.

  You lie
as if asleep, without beat of heart, without airy breath.

  Ot elidamet andam szabadon elidadert.

  I offer freely my life for your life.

  O jela sielam ot ainamet es ot elidadet.

  My spirit of light forgets my body and enters your body.

  O jela sielam pukta kinn minden szelemeket .

  My spirit of light sends all the dark spirits within fleeing without.

  o susu hanyet es o nyelv nyalamet sivadaba.

  I press the earth of our homeland and the spit of my tongue into your heart.

  Vii, o verim o verid andam.

  At last, I give you my blood for your blood.

  To hear this chant, visit: https://www.christinefeehan.com/members/.

  3. THE GREAT HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS

  The most well-known--and most dramatic--of the Carpathian healing chants was En Sarna Pus (The Great Healing Chant). This chant was reserved for recovering the wounded or unconscious Carpathian's soul.

  Typically a group of men would form a circle around the sick Carpathian (to "encircle him with our care and compassion") and begin the chant. The shaman or healer or leader is the prime actor in this healing ceremony. It is he who will actually make the spiritual journey into the netherworld, aided by his clanspeople. Their purpose is to ecstatically dance, sing, drum and chant, all the while visualizing (through the words of the chant) the journey itself--every step of it, over and over again--to the point where the shaman, in trance, leaves his body, and makes that very journey. (Indeed, the word "ecstasy" is from the Latin ex statis, which literally means "out of the body.") One advantage that the Carpathian healer has over many other shamans is his telepathic link to his lost brother. Most shamans must wander in the dark of the nether realms in search of their lost brother. But the Carpathian healer directly "hears" in his mind the voice of his lost brother calling to him, and can thus "zero in" on his soul like a homing beacon. For this reason, Carpathian healing tends to have a higher success rate than most other traditions of this sort.

  Something of the geography of the "other world" is useful for us to examine, in order to fully understand the words of the Great Carpathian Healing Chant. A reference is made to the "Great Tree" (in Carpathian: En Puwe). Many ancient traditions, including the Carpathian tradition, understood the worlds--the heaven worlds, our world and the nether realms--to be "hung" upon a great pole, or axis, or tree. Here on earth, we are positioned halfway up this tree, on one of its branches. Hence many ancient texts often referred to the material world as "middle earth": midway between heaven and hell. Climbing the tree would lead one to the heaven worlds. Descending the tree to its roots would lead to the nether realms. The shaman was necessarily a master of movement up and down the Great Tree, sometimes moving unaided, and sometimes assisted by (or even mounted upon the back of) an animal spirit guide. In various traditions, this Great Tree was known variously as the axis mundi (the "axis of the worlds"), Ygddrasil (in Norse mythology), Mount Meru (the sacred world mountain of Tibetan tradition), etc. The Christian cosmos, with its heaven, purgatory/earth and hell, is also worth comparing. It is even given a similar topography in Dante's Divine Comedy: Dante is led on a journey first to hell, at the center of the earth; then upward to Mount Purgatory, which sits on the earth's surface directly opposite Jerusalem; then farther upward first to Eden, the earthly paradise, at the summit of Mount Purgatory; and then upward at last to heaven.

  In the shamanistic tradition, it was understood that the small always reflects the large; the personal always reflects the cosmic. A movement in the greater dimensions of the cosmos also coincides with an internal movement. For example, the axis mundi of the cosmos also corresponds to the spinal column of the individual. Journeys up and down the axis mundi often coincided with the movement of natural and spiritual energies (sometimes called kundalini or shakti) in the spinal column of the shaman or mystic.

  En Sarna Pus (The Great Healing Chant) In this chant, eka ("brother") would be replaced by "sister," "father," "mother," depending on the person to be healed.

  Ot ekam ainajanak hany, jama.

  My brother's body is a lump of earth, close to death.

  Me, ot ekam kuntajanak, piradak ekam, gond es irgalom ture.

  We, the clan of my brother, encircle him with our care and compassion.

  O pus wakenkek, ot oma , es ot pus funk, alnak ekam ainajanak, pitanak ekam ainajanak elava.

  Our healing energies, ancient words of magic and healing herbs bless my brother's body, keep it alive.

  Ot ekam sielanak pala. Ot palaja juta alatt o juti, kinta, es szelemek lamtijaknak.

  But my brother's soul is only half. His other half wanders in the netherworld.

  Ot en mekem : kulkedak otti ot ekam palajanak.

  My great deed is this: I travel to find my brother's other half.

  Rekature, saradak, tappadak, odam, o numa waram, es avaa owe o lewl mahoz.

  We dance, we chant, we dream ecstatically, to call my spirit bird, and to open the door to the other world.

  Ntak o numa waram, es mozdulak, jomadak.

  I mount my spirit bird and we begin to move, we are under way.

  Piwtadak ot En Puwe tyvinak, alatt o juti, kinta, es szelemek lamtijaknak.

  Following the trunk of the Great Tree, we fall into the netherworld.

  Fazak, fazak no o .

  It is cold, very cold.

  Juttadak ot ekam o akarataban, o sivaban es o sielaban.

  My brother and I are linked in mind, heart and soul.

  Ot ekam sielanak engem.

  My brother's soul calls to me.

  Kuledak es piwtadak ot ekam.

  I hear and follow his track.

  Sagedak es tuledak ot ekam kulyanak.

  Encounter I the demon who is devouring my brother's soul.

  Nenam , o kuly torodak.

  In anger, I fight the demon.

  O kuly pel engem.

  He is afraid of me.

  Lejkkadak o salamaval.

  I strike his throat with a lightning bolt.

  Molodak ot ainaja komakamal.

  I break his body with my bare hands.

  Toja es molana.

  He is bent over, and falls apart.

  Han .

  He runs away.

  Manedak ot ekam sielanak.

  I rescue my brother's soul.

  ot ekam sielanak o komamban.

  I lift my brother's soul in the hollow of my hand.

  ot ekam numa waramra.

  I lift him onto my spirit bird.

  Piwtadak ot En Puwe tyvijanak es sagedak jalleen ot elava ainak majaknak.

  Following up the Great Tree, we return to the land of the living.

  Ot ekam ela jalleen.

  My brother lives again.

  Ot ekam jalleen.

  He is complete again.

  To hear this chant, visit: https://www.christinefeehan.com/members/.

  4. CARPATHIAN MUSICAL AESTHETICS

  In the sung Carpathian pieces (such as the "Lullaby" and the "Song to Heal the Earth"), you'll hear elements that are shared by many of the musical traditions in the Uralic geographical region, some of which still exist--from Eastern European (Bulgarian, Romanian, Hungarian, Croatian, etc.) to Romany ("gypsy"). Some of these elements include:

  the rapid alternation between major and minor modalities, including a sudden switch (called a "Picardy third") from minor to major to end a piece or section (as at the end of the "Lullaby")

  the use of close (tight) harmonies

  the use of ritardi (slowing down the piece) and crescendi (swelling in volume) for brief periods

  the use of glissandi (slides) in the singing tradition

  the use of trills in the singing tradition (as in the final invocation of the "Song to Heal the Earth")--similar to Celtic, a singing tradition more familiar to many of us

  the use of parallel fifths (as in the final invocation of the "Song to Heal the Earth")

 
; controlled use of dissonance

  "call and response" chanting (typical of many of the world's chanting traditions)

  extending the length of a musical line (by adding a couple of bars) to heighten dramatic effect

  and many more

  "Lullaby" and "Song to Heal the Earth" illustrate two rather different forms of Carpathian music (a quiet, intimate piece and an energetic ensemble piece)--but whatever the form, Carpathian music is full of feeling.

  5. LULLABY

  This song is sung by women while the child is still in the womb or when the threat of a miscarriage is apparent. The baby can hear the song while inside the mother, and the mother can connect with the child telepathically as well. The lullaby is meant to reassure the child, to encourage the baby to hold on, to stay--to reassure the child that he or she will be protected by love even from inside until birth. The last line literally means that the mother's love will protect her child until the child is born ("rise").

  Musically, the Carpathian "Lullaby" is in three-quarter time ("waltz time"), as are a significant portion of the world's various traditional lullabies (perhaps the most famous of which is "Brahms' Lullaby"). The arrangement for solo voice is the original context: a mother singing to her child, unaccompanied. The arrangement for chorus and violin ensemble illustrates how musical even the simplest Carpathian pieces often are, and how easily they lend themselves to contemporary instrumental or orchestral arrangements. (A wide range of contemporary composers, including and Smetana, have taken advantage of a similar discovery, working other traditional Eastern European music into their symphonic poems.) Odam-Sarna Kondak (Lullaby)

  Tumtesz o wake ku pitasz .

  Feel the strength you hold inside.

  Hiszasz sivadet. En olenam gaeidnod.

  Trust your heart. I'll be your guide.

  Sas csecsemom, .

  Hush my baby, close your eyes.

  Rauho ted.

  Peace will come to you.

  Tumtesz o sivdobbanas ku olen lamt3ad .

  Feel the rhythm deep inside.

  Gond-kumpadek ku kim te.

  Waves of love that cover you.

  Pesanak te, asti o juti, kidusz.

  Protect, until the night you rise.

  To hear this song, visit: https://www.christinefeehan.com/members/.