Christine Feehan 5 CARPATHIAN NOVELS

by Christine Feehan

  Luiz nodded in agreement. “I knew something was wrong, but the hatred toward your kind festered. The vampire must have planted the seeds among us. Carpathian males stealing our women. I don’t remember ever encountering a vampire, or one who said such a thing, but I have known for some time that I was not thinking correctly.”

  “He underestimated your strength. He must have chosen you because you’re a leader.”

  “At one time I was. Not so much anymore. The men are scattered, running in packs now, looking for women of our blood.” Luiz frowned, rubbed at his temples as he tried to recall what they’d been told. “I believe the vampire wants a specific woman, one of pure blood who can shift every bit as quickly as a man, fight as hard, as tirelessly. He was insistent if we find her, that she be brought to the Morrison Research Institute in order for his researchers to duplicate her DNA.” He sighed. “At the time he made it all seem sensible, but now it makes none at all.”

  The leaves rustled and both men spun toward the sound. The jaguar-man slipped toward Manolito, his every movement fluid and stealthy, as quiet as any cat as he went back to back. There are eyes in the forest. And ears. My people are no longer trustworthy now that the vampire has gotten to them.

  Manolito searched his memories for information that was eluding him. He couldn’t show vulnerability, or point out that he was seeing on two different levels and didn’t know which was real and which was imaginary. Nor did he even know if the shadow world was an illusion. Could he be walking in two worlds at the same time?

  You removed the taint of the vampire from me. Is it possible to do the same with my brethren?

  Manolito could feel the jaguar-man stretching his mind, reaching with all of his senses to find danger. He sniffed the air, listened, his eyes moving restlessly, unceasingly.

  “Whatever is out there is far from us,” Luiz said, “although others have entered the rain forest.”

  Manolito’s heart jumped. His lifemate. He was certain of it. She was coming to him. She had to be. No lifemate could stay separated from the other for long and survive. They were two halves of the same whole and needed each other for completion.

  Come to me… It was a command. A plea. Yet he didn’t know her name. He couldn’t fully picture her. He closed his eyes to hold his memories to him. Skin. He remembered her incredible skin, softer than anything he’d ever touched, like silk burning under his lips. The taste of her, wild and spicy like the woman herself. His pulse quickened and his breath came in a rush, body tightening unexpectedly. He’d forgotten what it was like to desire. To lust. To think of a woman and want to sink his body forever into hers, making them one. Or maybe he’d never really known the feeling. Maybe he’d scanned so many other males it was merely an illusion until this moment in time. Now his body recognized the woman he needed, and it was demanding to be sated in every way.

  “Carpathian. You are swaying with weariness. This thing you have done for me, driving the vampire from my body, it was difficult on you.” Luiz made it a statement.

  “Yes.” But it was more difficult to look into the leaves of the shrubs and ferns, the boughs lying broken on the ground, and see the shadowy faces of evil staring at him. In the numerous waterfalls and streams, eyes stared as if from a watery grave. Everything appeared to be translucent, a gray, dank veil drawn over the brilliant colors of the rain forest.

  The jaguar-man relaxed, the tension easing out of him, but Manolito was more alert than ever. In the distance, others had entered the forest, that was true, but whatever faced him in the shadow world was still there, still waiting and watching. The jaguar-man couldn’t see or sense the other world, but Manolito knew he was still in danger. Or maybe the shadow world really was illusion and he was losing his mind.

  Because his legs refused to hold him any longer, Manolito slowly crouched down, careful to appear to stay in control. He took another slow look around him, a small frown on his face. Why was he seeing everything through a veil, as if he were only half in his world and half in another? He plunged his hand into the soil he had slept in, hoping that it would anchor him and keep him from the shadows.

  Just as he’d expected, the soil was terra preta, fertile black soil found among the poorer reddish clay or white sand in the rain forest. Unlike the other soils of the rain forest, the terra preta maintained fertility. Finding the precious soil had been a deciding factor in his family’s decision to purchase the island.

  The De La Cruz brothers had realized the soil was their key to survival and hope. Far away from their homeland, without their native soil, they searched the rain forest and most of Brazil in the earlier centuries for something rich and rejuvenating that would aid them not only in healing wounds and sleeping, but also in giving them strength needed to maintain their honor so far from their prince and people and without lifemates to sustain them. He took handfuls of the precious dirt and packed the wounds on his belly and sides to keep from losing any more blood.

  Even with the soil in his hands, the large, lacy fronds darkened in color, turned from vibrant green to a drab gray. His breath caught in his throat as a thought occurred. If his lifemate was dead, would he cease to see in color?

  The rain forest was capable of overwhelming newcomers with its sheer intensity of vivid, brilliant color and raw beauty. Manolito was at home in a place many saw as threatening and oppressive. Now, with his lifemate having restored his emotions and his ability to see in color, he should be blinded by the vivid colors, but as his surroundings fluctuated between color and shadow, could that mean she was dead? Was that why she wasn’t with him? For a moment time seemed to stop. His heart thundered in his ears, a frantic cry for his other half.

  No. He let out his breath. She was alive. He felt her. Touched her mind-to-mind. It had been brief, but her mind had pushed against his. Close to him, the jaguar-man stirred, bringing Manolito’s attention snapping back to him. Feeling vulnerable, not knowing what was real and what was illusion, he forced his body to his feet once again, facing the man.

  “Let me aid you,” Luiz offered, frowning as he observed the sheen on Manolito’s skin. He kept his voice low and friendly, seeing the sudden flare of heat in the Carpathian hunter’s eyes. “Are your wounds so terrible?”

  Manolito shook his head. He could not afford to go drifting between worlds. Not when he didn’t know friend from enemy. That only put him in more danger than ever, yet he couldn’t seem to stop it. One moment the forest would be vivid with brilliant colors and the familiar, comforting night sounds, and the next, it would be a dull version, the colors muted and hazy, the shadows alive with something not alive, yet not dead. He made an effort to force his mind back to the situation, to extract as much information as possible when he had the opportunity.

  “Do you know who this woman is that the vampire is sending your men to acquire?”

  At once the jaguar-man’s expression changed to one of wariness. “I am not certain. There are few purebloods left even among our males. There are even fewer women, and only one or two of noble blood.”

  “My youngest brother has found his lifemate. She is jaguar. And from an aristocratic lineage. Are you referring to her?” Manolito wanted to get it out in the open. If this was some elaborate plan to recapture Juliette, Riordan’s lifemate, the jaguar-men would have a war on their hands. The De La Cruz brothers would protect Juliette with their lives, and every other Carpathian would do the same.

  “No one would ever be that stupid, Carpathian.”

  “Manolito.”

  Luiz inclined his head in acknowledgment of the courtesy.

  Carpathians often didn’t reveal their names to enemies. Manolito hadn’t given his birth name, because he was being careful, but Luiz didn’t need to know that.

  “This other woman is in danger. Perhaps my people can help.”

  Luiz took a deep breath, hesitated and then nodded. “I would ask your help to aid my brethren. If I bring one to you, would you consider removing the stain of the vampire?”

/>   There was a silence filled only by the night insects. Manolito knew what was being asked of him—a tremendous favor—yet also a huge matter of trust.

  “I would have to take blood to do such a thing,” he admitted. “This is a master vampire, one not so easily defeated. I could try healing without the bond, but if it is as difficult as it was with you, I am not certain it can be done.” He had recognized the vampire’s touch. One of the Malinov brothers for certain. He’d grown up with them, run wild with them, laughed with and fought beside them. They had been friends.

  “Perhaps if we do this quietly, we won’t alert the vampire to what you are doing to aid us.”

  “If you wish me to help your people, I need you to tell me who the woman is so that we can put her under our protection. You and I both know your men are too far gone to turn her over to the Morrison Laboratory. They will brutalize her, force her submission and eventually break her. And if by some miracle they didn’t, and they gave her to the vampire, she would be dead anyway.”

  “I will protect her.”

  “The vampire got to you once already and you didn’t know. He walks among you unseen. Give me her name.”

  “She will not surrender easily to you.”

  “I do not ask for her surrender, only her safety.” Manolito took another look around him. The shadows were stretching, moving closer and closer. He could see the faces in between the leaves. Skin stretched tight over bones. Black holes for eyes. Jagged, brown-stained teeth. Manolito shifted his weight slightly to the balls of his feet, readying himself for the inevitable attack. He blinked and the images faded.

  “She has long rescued the women of our race and she’s fought our warriors. She detests the men. She won’t come in to be sheltered. That isn’t her way.”

  “You speak of Juliette’s cousin, Solange.”

  Luiz nodded. “There is no other like her that we know of. She is nearly as strong as any of our warriors and as good a fighter. She comes from a long, pure line that can be traced back hundreds of years. We look upon her as the future of our species. She will have nothing to do with us. I’ve tried to convince the others to talk with her, to try to form a friendship and get her counsel on what needs to be done to bring our women back among us. The women listen to her, but I have no more voice. Not unless we can destroy the vampire’s influence among us.”

  Manolito knew that Solange and Juliette’s younger sister, Jasmine, refused to come to the De La Cruz ranch to visit Juliette, but they had agreed to stay in the De La Cruz home on their privately owned island retreat. The island was wild and the house was protected on three sides by the rain forest. He had wondered why Luiz was on their property, not that the jaguar people didn’t consider the entire rain forest their domain. They had amazing swimming skills, and the swollen rivers were never much of a deterrent.

  “You came here looking for her.”

  Luiz shifted his gaze for just a moment. “Yes. We thought it a possibility that she might come here. We knew she wouldn’t go to your ranch.”

  “And you knew the younger woman was with her. The one Juliette and Solange took back from your men.”

  “Not my men. I can’t control them. I had hoped to find her before the others.”

  “And what would you have done with her?” Manolito demanded, his black eyes glittering dangerously.

  Luiz shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought I came to talk, but then I scented you, and I became very confused.” He rubbed his forehead. “I began to think you were here to take our women and I wanted you dead.”

  “You came to the island in control, but then something happened. You had to have encountered him here,” Manolito said in alarm. That meant the master vampire was close, somewhere on the island, and no one knew. Solange, Jasmine, Juliette and even his brother Riordan weren’t safe. “Who did you meet?”

  “Not a vampire. An old friend. He had taken shelter here and was leaving because he realized the house was occupied by the De La Cruz family.”

  Manolito kept his expression blank, but his heart jumped and pounded. Fear was an incredible emotion, and now that he felt it, he knew it was for those he loved rather than for himself. “Your old friend is long gone, Luiz. Avoid him at all costs. You met a master vampire, and only because he has a plan and needed you did you escape unscathed.”

  “You think my friend is dead?”

  “If not dead, then certainly tainted.”

  “Thank you, Manolito, for your aid,” Luiz said, and for the first time he looked defeated. His body crouched, a quick graceful move, fur rippling as his muzzle lengthened to accommodate a mouthful of teeth. In absolute silence he slid into the underbrush and disappeared.

  Just to be safe, Manolito dissolved into mist and joined the low, gray vapor drifting around the tree trunks only a few feet off the ground. It was far better to err on the side of caution with the jaguar-man.

  He took form again atop a boulder facing a roaring white waterfall that poured over the rocks and fell into the swollen river. He needed his lifemate. Needed to touch her. Hold her. Taste her. His hunger had returned, bringing confusion with it. He needed to warn his family of the danger lurking on the island, but most of all, he needed his life-mate to anchor him.

  Where are you? The echo of his cry was in his mind, the sound lost and lonely.

  4

  MaryAnn placed one foot carefully out of the all-terrain vehicle and watched her beloved Kors boot sink deep into the muck. She gasped in horror. The boots had been a treasured find. Dark brown, antiqued stressed leather with a tapered toe, they were stylish with their high, thick heels, but comfortable, and very rain-foresty. More than that, they matched her Forzieri jacket in the same elegant color and leather, cut short, trendy and butter soft. She had even carefully rainproofed both for any and all occasions such as a trek in the forest. She’d come totally prepared, yet she wasn’t out of the vehicle and already she was ankle deep in mud. She loved those boots.

  As she pulled her shoe out, a squishing sound accompanied the unpleasant odor of too-sweet flowers mixed with rotting vegetation. She shifted back onto the seat to examine the damage, wrinkling her nose in distaste. What in the world was she doing in this place? She needed to be in a coffee shop with the music of the street singing to her and the bustle of people everywhere, not in this strangely silent world of…of…nature.

  “Hurry, MaryAnn. We have to walk from here,” Juliette said.

  MaryAnn gingerly dragged her backpack to her and peered out the open door at the strangely quiet interior of the forest. “It’s pretty muddy, Juliette,” she said, grasping for any reason to stay in the relative safety of the Jeep. The forest terrified her in ways she could never explain to anyone. Her fears were deep-rooted and she’d never been able to overcome them. She couldn’t just make herself walk calmly into that oppressive darkness like a sacrificial lamb. “Maybe you could just call him and tell him we’re here. You can do that sort of thing, right?”

  “He would not answer,” Riordan reminded. “He believes we mean him harm.”

  “I did mention I’ve never been camping, right?” MaryAnn said, scanning the ground for the driest spot.

  “Three times,” Riordan said, his mouth set in grim lines.

  He was suddenly in front of her; he caught her around the waist and deposited her a short distance from the vehicle. There was impatience in the bite of his fingers. She didn’t sink into the ground, but insects raced all around her. She bit her lip and heroically refrained from saying anything as she took a cautious look around. Whipping the can of bug spray out, she doused the insects in a businesslike manner, “accidentally” managing to spray a little on Riordan’s stiff neck.

  “Whoops. Sorry.” She put the can neatly into one of the loops at her belt, ignoring his glare. Fulfilling the childish urge had given her a little burst of satisfaction. She knew she was stalling, but she’d work up to this her way, not be rushed by anyone.

  The rain forest wasn’t anything like wha
t she’d expected. It was dark and a little frightening. The air felt heavy with moisture, yet was still with expectancy, as if a thousand eyes watched her. The drone of insects and the unceasing cry of birds were the only things she could hear.

  MaryAnn swallowed hard and stayed perfectly still, afraid of moving in any direction. For some reason she thought the forest would be noisy, with the shrieks of a million monkeys, not just the calls of birds and the rustle of insects. Her heart began to pound. Somewhere in the distance a jaguar roared. A chill went down her spine and MaryAnn cleared her throat.

  “I may have forgotten to tell you about my weird little thing with cats. House cats. I don’t know any other kind, but cats scare me. They have that focused stare and dig their claws into people.” She was babbling and couldn’t stop herself. It was pathetic and a little embarrassing, but she hadn’t signed on for this. “So don’t, you know, turn into a big cat or anything. And if one happens to be stalking us, it’s probably best not to tell me. I’d much rather remain completely ignorant.”

  “We’ll keep you safe,” Juliette assured her.

  “I thought you knew you were coming to the rain forest,” Riordan said, trying not to sound annoyed. Was this really his brother’s life-mate? She wasn’t in the least bit suited to their lifestyle. Manolito would eat her alive.

  “Cattle ranch,” MaryAnn corrected. “You said cattle ranch on the outskirts of the rain forest.” And that had been bad enough, when she was thinking luxury five-star hotel close by. “You didn’t say a word about an island and being in the middle of the rain forest. I thought you would be bringing Juliette’s sister to me there. I made it very clear I’m a city girl. Give me a mugger and an alley any day of the week.”

  For reassurance, she touched the two small canisters of pepper spray tucked safely beside the bug spray in the belt loops beneath her jacket. She’d come prepared for jaguar-men, not jaguars. And she could read Riordan’s expression; he didn’t bother to hide it. His opinion of her was hitting an all-time low, but she just didn’t care. He wasn’t the reason she was forcing herself to go into a place she knew was extremely dangerous to her. She had nothing to prove to anyone; she never had.