Christine Feehan - Dark Possession

MaryAnn closed her eyes briefly. Just great. And she'd been worried about jaguars. Vampires were much worse. Reaching with her free hand, she settled her fingers around the canister of pepper spray. «Okay. Show me what you see. You can do that, right? Open your mind to mine.»

He felt her moving inside his mind, already merging and stretching to meet him. She seemed unaware of it, but the integration was initiated by her. Her mind slid easily and seamlessly into his. Her fingers tightened around his. A tremor went through her body.

You see them.

MaryAnn stared around her at the hideous faces. No wonder he didn't know reality from illusion. The vampires were all too real there in his mind. At least she thought they were there in his mind. «Do you trust me?» she asked.

«With my soul,» he answered promptly. He believed she was his lifemate and there could be no betrayal, no lies between them. And if he was wrong, so be it. He would die protecting her.

«Let go of my mind and I'll get us out of here.» She tried to step in front of him, gripping the canister of pepper spray hard, prepared to de battle with whatever came their way, so she could get him to safety.

He caught her chin and forced her to look at him. «I am not the one holding the merger. You are. I cannot release you; only you can do that.»

She moved closer to him as if for protection. «I can't be the one holding the merge. I'm not psychic.»

«It is going to be all right, ainaak enyem. Forever mine,» he translated. «I will not allow harm to come to you while we dwell in lamti bol juti, kinta, ja szelem.»

«I don't speak your language.» And whatever he'd said couldn't have been very good. It sounded demonic. She braced herself for the translation.

«The literal meaning is the meadow of nights, mists and ghosts. We seem to be partially in our world and in some measure in the netherworld. I am not certain how that occurred or why, but we have to find our way out.»

«I was afraid it might be something like that.» She so didn't belong in this world. She didn't even watch horror films. «All right, tell me what to do, because that really ugly vampire to our left is moving closer.»

The world was gray. A dull, veiled gray with shrouds of fog hanging like moss, draping along sticks of blackened tree branches. And there were insects everywhere. Big ones, flying around her face and every

available inch of exposed skin. She whipped out the bug spray and doused them with a burst from the canister. The mixture came out of the nozzle a weird grayish green vapor, drifting slowly and thickening as it went. The sound was a slow hiss, animal-like, overly loud in the sudden quiet of the world.

«They don't make any noise,» she whispered to Manolito. «The bugs. It's so quiet here.»

Immediately ghoulish heads turned, and demonic, glowing eyes bored into her. Shock registered. The vampires looked at one another, then back at her. A murmur of glee rose, and one of the Vampires pushed closer, his hideous mouth gaping open to expose pegs of stained teeth filed to a razor-sharp point.

«Delighted to have you join us,» the vampire hissed, his foul breath not on her skin. «It is long since I dined.»

Steam rose around them, enveloping them in a thick fog. Manolito dragged her into his arms, wrapping them around her head to keep her from seeing the monsters as they moved closer, the pitiless eyes staring hungrily at her neck.

«Now would be a good time for flying,» MaryAnn urged.

«I cannot in this world. I am bound to the laws of the land of mist.»

The ground shifted and more faces stared at them. The vampire jerked closer, each movement labored. MaryAnn tensed as a long, bony finger pointed at her and the creature crooked his fingers, beckoning her. He blew foul-smelling air as cold as ice toward her. Before it could touch her face, Manolito whipped around, so that he took the shot in his back, rather than allow the vampire to strike her in the face with his poisonous breath. Even so, MaryAnn felt the ice shards pierce through Manolito's body, straight into hers.

«The hell with this,» MaryAnn snapped. «You flew before. Get your butt in gear and get us out of here.» She willed him into the air. Commanded it. She even wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face against his chest and crushed her body up against his.

Manolito might have to follow the dictates of the meadow of nights, but MaryAnn evidently did not. He was locked into the shadow world, a half dweller, but she was mortal, walking in a place she did not belong, drawn in and held by their shared soul. She had only to desire to leave without him and she would be free, but she refused to consider it. He was beginning to know her mind now, and to realize his lifemate had a spine of steel. He found himself in the air with her, moving fast away from the faces staring up at them, the wail and gnashing of thousands of teeth.

He found a small shelter of boulders and dropped down to place her on the ground, hoping they would be safe, but as he knew nothing of the unnatural realm they partially dwelt in, he feared nowhere was safe. MaryAnn clung to him, her body trembling as her feet touched the rock. She slid down his body as if boneless and sat, her knees drawn up and her body rocking.

«You can leave this world, MaryAnn,» he said gentry. «I know you can.»

«How?»

She looked up at him and his heart clenched painfully in his chest. She looked close to tears. His fingertips pushed back strands of her curly hair, lingering against the warm satin of her skin. «You have only to make a conscious decision to leave me here. Condemn me for whatever wrong I have done you.»

She looked genuinely puzzled. «What wrong did you do to me?»

She waved her hand. «Other than looking gorgeous and driving me a little crazy, you haven't done anything to hurt me. I'm responsible for my own hormones going into overdrive, not you. You can't help the way you look.»

He sat beside her, his thigh touching hers, and reached for her hand, bringing it to his chest, over his heart. «At least you like the way I look. That is a start.»

She shot him a small, mischievous grin. «Every woman likes the way you look. You don't have a problem in that department.»

«So it is my personality you object to.»

It was hard to think of just what she objected to when his thumb slid over the back of her hand in a mesmerizing caress and his thigh delivered enough heat to warm up half the world. His white teeth were dazzling and his smile so sensual her body hit overdrive before she even knew her engine had been started. It didn't seem to take much around him. It should have embarrassed her, but in the midst of the strange world she found herself in, potent chemistry was the least of her worries.

«You're still living in the dark ages, my man,» she said, patting his knee, trying to feel auntlike and wise. Instead her heart was tripping, her stomach fluttering, and all she could think about was pressing her mouth to his to see if rockets went off again. Because she sure didn't want to think about being alone when the sun came up, and he was going to point that out any minute.

He brought her hand to his mouth and nibbled on her fingers, his teeth sending little electrical currents zapping through her bloodstream with each nip. «The dark ages? I thought I had adapted to this century quite well.»

She laughed; she couldn't help it when he sounded so shocked. «I suppose for someone as ancient as you, you have adapted.» And maybe it was the truth. He was born into a species and time when males protected and dominated women. He lived in a country where the same rules of society still often held. Of course he would feel he had a right to her if he believed she was his lifemate.