Christine Feehan 5 CARPATHIAN NOVELS

by Christine Feehan

  “You’re gathering quite a crowd.” He sounded amused as he politely held the shrubbery back so she could walk freely along the path. He continually raised his face to sniff the air in every direction.

  “Maybe they’re attracted to my perfume.” What part of “go away” don’t you understand? You’re making me look bad. She tried a mind-to-mind telepathy, hoping some of Juliette’s and Riordan’s psychic abilities really had rubbed off on her, but the frogs ignored her complaint.

  “Can you walk faster?” Luiz asked.

  He didn’t look nervous. In fact he appeared quite steady, but she had the feeling he was looking for trouble, scanning the canopy overhead and watching their back trail. The monkeys began to scream and throw leaves and twigs. Luiz held up his hand and signaled for her to remain quiet.

  Mosquitoes buzzed by her face, and she calmly pulled out the bug spray and liberally doused the air around her.

  Luiz whirled around, his nose twitching. “Don’t do that.”

  “The mosquitoes are biting me everywhere.”

  “That foul stench hinders my ability to catch scents. I need to know what we’re likely to be facing.”

  Okay. That sounded ominous, and quite frankly, she was tired of being scared. There was only so much scared you could do without a friend to egg you on. She sighed and put the bug spray back, resorting to slapping at the insects with one hand and retaining possession of the pepper spray with the other.

  She was so out of here the moment she could get to a phone. Well, after she made certain Manolito was all right. She was beginning to feel sick with worry, and that just made her madder at him. The mark at the curve of her breast throbbed and burned and ached for him. Tears blurred her vision, and she stumbled on a twisting, snakelike root, nearly falling, throwing out both arms to catch herself before she face-planted in the muck—and it saved her life.

  The large jaguar missed and hit the ground just inches from her head. Snarling, it whipped around, raking at her face with claws, but Luiz was there first, already half changing, his face broadening, muzzle lengthening to accommodate teeth. The two cats crashed together, raking and clawing. The rain forest erupted into a frenzy of noise.

  Pushed beyond all endurance, MaryAnn jumped up, took two long strides to the marauding cat and let loose with a stream of pepper spray directly into the fully formed jaguar’s eyes and nostrils. She gave it several short bursts, fury shaking her hand, but her aim was perfect.

  “Enough already. I’ve had it—absolutely had it with this jungle crap. I may be an urban woman, damn it, but I can deal with anything this horrible place throws at me. Get out of here now!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, sending another stream right at the jaguar’s face for good measure. The command blasted through her brain and out into the air even as she shot several short streams.

  The jaguar raced away as if she’d bitten it. Luiz fell onto his butt, jeans half-shredded. “What the hell was that?”

  “Pepper spray,” she said and sat down beside him, bursting into tears.

  7

  Manolito avoided the seeking tentacles as he studied the fibrous bulb. His body was in the rain forest with MaryAnn. He was intelligent; he could reason it out. If he was trapped in the spirit world, as he was certain now he was, then only a spirit could reside in this place. He had no body here, so the attack was merely a distraction. It must have to do with MaryAnn. Not only had her spirit entered, but her warmth and vitality with her. The vampires had sensed hot blood and the light in her soul. He had to lead the attack away from her, just in case she inadvertently stepped back into the shadow world where he was trapped.

  He moved slowly away from her. The shadowy figures who called to him to join them, who threw accusations at him and wanted to sit in judgment of him, didn’t seem to be able to look past the veil into the world of the living. Perhaps if he could get far enough away that they couldn’t sense her, she might be safe. He could lay a false trail and get back to her and escort her to safety before dawn. He shouldn’t have been able to feel sensation, but the farther from MaryAnn he traveled, the more he felt cold.

  “Join us. Share her. She has already condemned you to a half life.” The voice shimmered in the air, soft and persuasive, becoming louder as he moved farther away from MaryAnn. “You have always belonged with us, not with sheep, following the speaker of lies.”

  Maxim Malinov, dead from the battle in the Carpathian Mountains, slain by the prince himself, stepped out of the shadows and approached Manolito. “Why would you give your life for the prince when he cares nothing for you or yours? He knows you are in the meadow of mists, yet is he watching after your lifemate? Is he protecting your body while you wander in this world? He is selfish and thinks only of himself, not of his people.”

  Manolito drew in his breath. It had been long since he’d seen his boyhood friend. He looked young and strong, handsome as always, with intelligence shining in his eyes. As young men growing up, they had enjoyed debates and discussions throughout the nights, talking about the issues they felt best for their people. Following Mikhail, the current reigning prince, hadn’t been anyone’s idea of what was best.

  “We were wrong, Maxim. Mikhail has led our people from the brink of extinction. The Carpathians are beginning to grow powerful again, but more importantly, we have become a society filled with hope instead of despair.”

  Another plant erupted from beneath the surface, the long vines reaching like arms toward him. He leapt into the nearest tree, more out of reflex than need. He might feel the piercing cold as ice shards began to rain down, but the stinging wounds as the icicles stabbed through him were no more real than the plant. He gave himself a moment to force his mind to accept it was all illusion. The plant slid back beneath the soil, but the stabbing ice continued to fall.

  When he leapt back down, Maxim shook his head. “In the old days you would not have settled for looking at so small a piece of the real picture. We hide from the people who should serve us. We hide in fear, when it is they who should tremble before us.”

  “And why should they tremble, Maxim?”

  “They are nothing but cattle.”

  “That is why you do not lead and I would not follow if you did. They are people with hopes and dreams. Good, hardworking people who fight every day to do the best they can for their families. They are no different than we are.”

  Maxim gave a snort of derision. “You have become brainwashed. You have taken a human for a lifemate and she has already corrupted your ability to see sense. We are noble, the better race, the one deserving of this earth. We could rule, Manolito. Our plan is in place. Eventually we will take over and humans will bow before us.” His smile was wholly evil, the red flames in his eyes leaping with maniacal fervor.

  Manolito shook his head. “I do not want them bowing before us. Like all species, many of them have mixed from ancient ancestors. Most likely, Carpathians, mages, jaguar-men and even the werewolf have integrated into the human society.”

  The red flames leapt and the vampire hissed out his disbelief. “The jaguar-men have tainted their bloodline, it is true. They threw away their heritage and their greatness because they refused to take care of their women and children. They deserve to be wiped from the earth. You were the one who said it. You and Zacarias.”

  Manolito held himself still as another large piece of ice stabbed through his shoulder. The sensation was fiery, sickening, but it disappeared when he refused to give it credence. “I was young and stupid, Maxim. And I was wrong. We all were.”

  “No, we were right.”

  “The jaguar-men made mistakes, and those mistakes cost them, but they are not Carpathian and their needs were different from ours. You chose not to wait for your lifemate, Maxim. In doing so, you have given up every chance of having a wife and children and helping to create a lasting society. You saw the power of the prince’s bloodline. He is the vessel for all of our people.”

  “His power is false, a sham. Look at the sca
r on your throat, Manolito. How many times are you willing to die for him? You have taken the knife twice for him and once for his brother’s lifemate. You are here, in this world of shadows, to be judged for your ‘dark’ deeds. What dark deeds? You lived with honor and you served your people, yet you are here.” The voice became hauntingly beautiful, filled with truth and mesmerizing zeal. “All the ancient races are myths now, forgotten by the world. The jaguar race, once powerful, is found only in books. They clothe themselves with shame. They brutalize their women. Would you have that happen to our species?”

  “If you really believe what you’re saying, Maxim, then you would have chosen another path. Why turn vampire? Why make kills for power? Why not gather your army and march against Mikhail right out in the open?”

  “That was not the plan.”

  “Becoming the undead was never part of the plan either. Our families lived with honor, Maxim. We hunted the vampire, not embraced him.”

  Maxim ignored him. “My brothers and I studied how to take over. If we approach the prince directly, we would be defeated. You know the majority of Carpathians believe in the old ways. They are cattle.”

  Manolito curled his lip. “Humans and jaguar are cattle to you. Now Carpathians. You certainly have risen high in your own opinion, Maxim. You have contradicted yourself repeatedly.”

  Maxim folded his arms. “You seek to anger me, Manolito, but you cannot. You were once a great Carpathian, from a powerful family, but you have given your loyalty to the wrong person. You should have joined us. You still can join us. You are already lost to the next world.”

  For the first time Manolito’s pulse jumped in response to the vampire’s twisted logic. Vampires were deceivers, but they often wove truth in. What had he done to his lifemate? Why couldn’t he remember his crime? MaryAnn didn’t seem to be angry with him. In fact she had protected him, or at least tried to.

  The thought of his lifemate warmed him, driving out the ice shards that had pierced his body and frozen his blood. He blinked and looked down at his hands. They had been almost transparent, but now were gathering a deeper shade as if his body was regaining substance and form.

  “I see there is danger here after all,” he said. “Maxim, you were always clever, but you have never believed in lifemates or the concept of them. You were wrong then, and more so now. I am not lost as long as I have my lifemate.”

  “And what do you think your lifemate is doing now, while you dwell in the shadow world? Do you think she lives without a man’s touch? She craves the jaguar-man and she will lie with him.”

  Manolito felt the knots twist in his belly. He hadn’t known jealousy was such a dark and ugly thing until he had found his lifemate. “She will not betray me. She holds the other half of my soul. You cannot pull me wholly into this world, because she will always anchor me in the other one.”

  This time Maxim did snarl, his eyes glowing fiercely, his teeth sharp spikes as he hissed his annoyance. “She does indeed hold the other half of your soul. We have only to acquire it and you belong to us. You are a traitor, Manolito, to our family, to our cause. The plan was your idea, yours and Zacarias’s, but at the first test you failed us.”

  “We all agreed it was silly, boyish talk, taking over and ruling the world. Your brothers, my brothers, we said many foolish things that have taken shape and grown into a path of destruction for too many species. There are lifemates waiting for us among the humans, Maxim. Think beyond your hatred and know that humans are the salvation of our people.”

  “Mixed blood,” Maxim sneered. “That’s your salvation?”

  Manolito sighed his regret. He remembered Maxim as a friend—more than a friend—a beloved brother, and now lost beyond saving. “I have my emotions, Maxim, honor and a future. You have death and disgrace and nothing to sustain you in the afterlife. Any mistakes I have made I will answer for willingly, but I will not help you bring down our prince. Aside from my own honor, I would never dishonor my lifemate by making us traitors to our people.”

  “We will kill her. Your precious lifemate. Not only will we see her dead, but it will be brutal. She’ll suffer a long time before we give her death. That is the wrong you have done your lifemate. You have already betrayed her by trading her life for that of your prince.”

  Fear nearly blindsided him. Terror of what a monster could do to MaryAnn. She was light and compassion, and she would never understand what something as evil and hideous as Maxim could do to her. His breath left his lungs in a long rush of apprehension, of panic. He had never known panic before, but it nearly consumed him with the thought of MaryAnn in the hands of his enemies.

  Had he fallen into a trap after all? Had Maxim led him away from MaryAnn so one of his brothers could kill her? She was alone in the rain forest. How much time had passed? Was time the same in the realm of shadows? Was it possible for someone to pierce the veil and help plot murder, or was Maxim deliberately goading him into fear? Fear led to mistakes. And mistakes led to death. He simply would not accept the death of his lifemate.

  Manolito kept his features expressionless, his gaze filled with contempt. “You do your worst, Maxim, but you will not prevail. Evil will not drive good from this earth, not while one hunter still lives.” He dissolved into mist and streamed through the tortured, twisted trees.

  Once out of Maxim’s sight, he blasted through the air, racing back to the place where he’d left MaryAnn. He could feel blood pounding in his temples and thundering in his ears as he shifted shape almost before he hit the ground. She was gone. Time stopped. His heart stuttered. The beast within roared and clawed for release. Teeth lengthened and sharpened in his mouth and razor-sharp talons tipped his nails.

  She betrays you with the cat-man. Voices filled his head. Anger and jealousy pushed aside reason.

  Manolito lifted his head and scented the air. His woman had been there and she hadn’t been alone. He knew that scent. He had taken the jaguar’s blood.

  She lies beneath him, moaning and writhing and calling his name. His name. Not yours. He has stolen her from you and she thinks only of his touch.

  A snarl shaped his mouth in cruel lines and his eyes glittered with menace. He studied the tracks, saw the dead snake and the pattern of footprints. Luiz had approached her in jaguar form, but had shifted to his human form. That meant he had stood without clothes in front of MaryAnn. Fury nearly blinded him. He should have killed the treacherous devil while he had the chance. Jaguar-men were notorious for their escapades with women.

  Luiz had crooked his little finger and she had followed, like a mesmerized puppet. Both male and female jaguars were very sexual beings. MaryAnn claimed she wasn’t jaguar, but if even a small amount of their blood ran in her veins, would Luiz’s presence set her off? She might go into her cycle, and then she would need a man to attend her.

  She has gone off with him, needing him to give her a child. He will spill his seed in her. Fill her. Take her over and over until he is certain she is with child.

  He let loose a roar of anger at the thought. The idea of another man touching her soft skin set the beast raging. No one touched his woman and lived. No one lured her away from him. Luiz was either after MaryAnn for personal reasons, or he had been sent by the vampire to kill her. Either way, the jaguar-man was dead.

  Kill him. Kill her.

  Manolito shook his head. Even if MaryAnn had betrayed him with another, he could never harm her.

  He moved fast, rushing through the rain forest, avoiding hitting the trees by scant inches. If Luiz dared to lay a hand on her, harm one hair on her head, he would tear the man limb from limb. He spotted them, MaryAnn on the ground, tears running down her face, Luiz standing over her. She looked disheveled and angry and afraid, so much so that he ached inside, his heart contracting when he saw her distress. He put on a rush of speed, his body a blur, bursting out of the shrubbery just as Luiz turned.

  Manolito hit the jaguar-man hard, driving him backward, then picked him up, slamming him so hard to
the ground it drove an indentation in the soft soil. Somewhere in the distance, he heard MaryAnn scream. He pounded Luiz’s face, giving him no time to shift into the form of a cat. His arm reared back, and he drove his fist toward the chest wall to penetrate and rip out the black heart of a monster.

  “Stop.” MaryAnn screamed the command. Then again, with a silent shocking fury that sent Manolito flying backward through the air. I said stop!

  He found himself sprawled on the ground, ears ringing, from the force of the psychic command. She’d thrown him back, away from the jaguar-man, who lay motionless in the muck. The telepathic punch was harder than any physical one he’d ever received. He blinked up at her, anger at her mixing with awe.

  “Are you crazy?” MaryAnn demanded, standing over him, hands on her hips, face furious, eyes glittering dangerously at him.

  He wanted her. That was all he could think in that split second. He wanted all that passion and fury under him, fighting him, submitting to him. She was amazing, with her lush curves and incredible face. She usually looked so calm on the outside, presented such an elegant picture, but underneath she was all fury and claws, as wild as their surroundings.

  He got up slowly, his eyes steady on her, unblinking and focused. Saying nothing, he stalked toward her across the uneven ground. She had the good sense to back up a couple of steps, wariness and defiance mixing with the fury. He walked right up to her, forcing her to look up at him through her long lashes. One hand fisted in the thick mane of hair, tilting her head further, while the other caught her around the hips and drove her forward into him, crushing her breasts against his broad chest.