Christine Feehan - Dark Possession

Juliette's nails dug into Riordan's arm as they paced behind MaryAnn. Look at her. She runs so smoothly. She's not jaguar, but I don't know what she is. I've never seen anything like her. Have you?

Riordan struggled with his memories, trying to remember if he'd ever seen such a transformation. It was difficult to see MaryAnn as more than the beautiful fashion plate she always appeared to him to be.

She was intelligent and courageous for a human, he had always given her that, but her courage wasn't the kind needed to be the lifemate of a Carpathian hunter like Manolito. Riordan's brother was dominating and hard, with no soft edges to make him more palatable for a woman like MaryAnn. Yet there was a steel core in her. And there was far more to the package than met the eye. She wielded power and energy without conscious deliberation, yet the moment she thought about it, she became inept and afraid.

The biggest question is whether or not she is a danger to Manolito.

I think she is very confused about all of this, Riordan. I feel sorry for her. The blood tie to Manolito is strong. If it was only the one exchange, why is the connection so strong in her that she knows more than you where your brother is? Because, make no mistake, she knows exactly where he is and she's heading straight to him. He's a good six miles away, but she's making fast time even though she's never been in a rainforest in her life.

MaryAnn felt a buzzing in her head, as if insects were fluttering in her skull. The Carpathians were talking to each other again. She detested that. Were they using her to get to Manolito? If Riordan really wanted to find his brother, why didn't he approach him directly, call to him, draw him out? Why hadn't they simply buried the body at their ranch, where Manolito would have risen among family members who would have helped

him? Why hadn't they mentioned a second home? And why were Juliette's sister and cousin too afraid to even go to the De La Cruz home? Something was very wrong.

It all should have frightened her-and it might have-but Manolito's voice once again slid into her head.

Where are you? He sounded so lost and lonely. Her heart twisted in answer, aching for him.

She wasn't a runner, but she picked up the pace, smoothly, easily, leaping over fallen tree trunks as if she'd been born with the reflexes, something inside her urging her to hurry. As she ran, her mind became still, quiet and certain, assessing everything around her with uncommon speed.

Her vision was odd, as if her other senses being so enhanced had robbed her of normal vision. The vibrant greens and reds of leaves and flowers blended and dulled until it was hard to distinguish color, yet even with the dull gray, she caught the movement of insects and lizards, the flash of the tree frogs and monkeys as they scurried overhead. Her night vision had always been excellent, but now it seemed more so; without the colors to dazzle and blind, she could identify a wider spectrum of things as she raced by.

It was exhilarating to have all of her senses so sharp. Her hearing was definitely much more acute. She could hear air rushing out of Juliette's lungs. The ebb and flow of blood in veins. Deep inside of her something wild unfurled and stretched.

MaryAnn caught her breath, frightened. She stumbled and nearly tell, stopping so abruptly Riordan and Juliette nearly ran her over. She backed away from them, her palm covering the mark over her breast where it throbbed and burned.

«What did he do to me?» she whispered. «I'm changing into something else.»

Juliette caught at Riordan's wrist and squeezed tightly to prevent him from saying the wrong thing. He might not see how fragile and lost MaryAnn looked, but she did. There was a different, very real fear in her eyes now, wary, like a cornered animal. They didn't know how MaryAnn would react, but more importantly, she didn't know, and that had Juliette spooked.

«We don't know exactly what Manolito did do to you, other than he probably took one blood exchange.» Juliette drew in a deep breath, trying to be honest. «Maybe two. You're not Carpathian, so he didn't convert you.»

«But Nicolae took my blood to better protect Destiny.»

And she wasn't afraid of him. Riordan picked that out of her mind. Not like she is now. Why wasn't she afraid to have Nicolae take her blood when it would be the natural thing to be?

MaryAnn put a hand to her head, brushing as if to sweep away insects, taking another step backward, away from them. Fear grew with every breath she took. Something was terribly wrong; she knew it, could feel it deep inside her. Closing her fist, she dug her nails deep into her palm to test herself. She was beginning to doubt what was real and what might be illusion.

She knows we are talking privately, Riordan cautioned, and it upsets her.

And have you asked yourself how she knows? She shouldn't. She doesn't even think she's psychic.

She's more than psychic, Juliette, Riordan said. She wields power without effort.

Or the knowledge that she's doing it. «This is crazy, MaryAnn,» Juliette added aloud. «Neither Riordan nor I know what to make of it.»

«I want to go home.» Even as she said it, MaryAnn knew she couldn't, not until she found Manolito De La Cruz and assured herself he was alive and well and not in some kind of terrible trouble. Damn her nature, the one that always needed to help and comfort others. She lifted her shaking hand. Her nail had already grown, much, much faster than even the accelerated rate normal for her. «What do you think he did to me? You must have, a guess. And is it reversible? Because I'm human and my family is human and I like being human. This is what comes from having a skinny bloodsucking white girl as my best friend.» And she was so going to have a few things to say to Destiny when she saw her again-if she ever saw her again.

Juliette cast Riordan another anxious glance. «I'm so sorry, MaryAnn. If I knew what was happening, I'd tell you. The thing is this-humans have lived for centuries side-by-side with other species. In all those years, you and I both know, eventually the species are going to mix. Maybe several centuries ago, there was something we don't know about. I have jaguar blood. So do a lot of the women who are psychic.»

MaryAnn shook her head. «Not me.» It felt wrong. She knew her mother and father and her grandparents and great-grandparents. There weren't any spots in her family and no one sucked blood.

Could she be mage? Juliette ventured.

Mages hold power, that's for certain, and most are good people, but she would be weaving spells. She does not appear to be doing that. She gathers energy as we do and uses it, but she is unaware. That is why she is such a good counselor. She unwittingly urges them to feel better. She wants them happy, so they are. She senses the right thing for each person to hear and she says it.

MaryAnn's heart went into overdrive. They were clearly talking to each other again. She turned on her too-high heel and ran headlong into the underbrush, thinking she might outrun them, forgetting they could take to the air if they wanted. And they wanted.

She felt the rush of displaced air all around her, and Riordan dropped down out of the sky, cutting her off.

MaryAnn screamed and backpedaled, her heels catching on one of the many roots snaking across the ground. She went down hard, landing on her bottom, looking up at him as he stood over her.

«That way is dangerous,» Riordan explained, extending his hand to her.

She kicked at him, furious with him, but mostly angry with herself for being in such a vulnerable position. How many times had she counseled women about going off with strangers-people they met through the Internet, or through friends, but didn't really know themselves. She curled her fingers around the small canister of pepper spray. Did it work on Carpathians? Or vampires? No one had mentioned them in her pepper-spray class.