Christine Feehan - Dark Possession

He kept his gaze fixed firmly on Maxim, his tone dripping with contempt.

Maxim growled, spittle running down his chin as he swung his head from side to side in a threatening manner. «Do not use that condescending attitude with me. Your disloyalty proved long ago whose side you were on.»

For the first time, Manolito allowed a whip of anger to seep into his voice, and he lashed Maxim with it. «Do not dare use the term disloyal when your sister's murderer stands at your side. You have sunk lower than I thought possible, becoming the dog for this foul abomination. Crawl on your knees to him, Maxim, like those who seek your approval. Lick his boots if you must. I have no further business with you, not when this…» Deliberately he waved his hand toward Draven. «This… piece of garbage is your master.»

«I am royalty,» Draven snapped. «You should be on your knees to me.»

Manolito didn't bother to spare him a glance. He kept his gaze locked with Maxim's as he conjured up a picture in his mind of Ivory. For him, she was as fresh and as pure as the last time he'd seen her, her memory such a part of him it would never fade. He sent it along the path of their blood bond. Ivory with her laughter and her bright soul shining. Ivory flinging her arms around Maxim and kissing his cheek. Ivory standing outside the Malinov home, sword in hand, blindfolded in the middle of the circle of her five brothers and the De La Cruz brothers as they taught her to fight.

Stop it! Maxim screamed, pressing his fingers to his eye sockets.

Manolito projected the loving memories as relentlessly as Maxim had tormented him with MaryAnn's torture. Ivory as a young child riding on Maxim's shoulders. Her first time in the air with her brothers surrounding her, keeping her safe, Ruslan always beneath her, Maxim and Kirja on either side, while Vadim and Sergey prowled the air in front and behind. Her laughter. The moon illuminating her brightness as she raced down the stairs to greet them when they returned from battle.

Stop it. I beg you. Stop it.

Because in the meadow of shadows and mists, the ghosts could feel every emotion. Hatred. Bitterness. Sorrow. Regret. They were meant to feel it like the lash of the whip, driving home their destructive path. It was why Manolito so acutely felt the emotions pouring into him, even when he knew the scene of MaryAnn's torture was illusion. He was meant to feel what he had not all those long centuries.

Maxim had no choice but to feel the love for his sister. Emotions poured into his mind with every memory. He covered his face with his hands and fell to his knees.

«You stand with the man who would have done those very things to her that you wanted done to my lifemate. Should I show you what was in Draven's mind? The perversions he would have inflicted upon Ivory?»

Manolito would never have been able to do such a thing, but he knew Maxim would conjure them up in his own mind. He would know that he stood shoulder to shoulder with the one who had ultimately taken Ivory from them. He planned evil with the one who would have committed the ultimate betrayal of her.

«No. I cannot think of her.»

There were so many memories. Manolito felt the tears in his own heart. Ivory. He had loved her as a sister. She had brightened all their lives with her generous spirit and compassionate nature.

«You have done what you intended, Manolito.»

They all whirled around to face the couple who had come up so quietly behind them. Vlad and Sarantha stood hand in hand.

«You should not be here,» Manolito said. He glanced at Draven, at the snicker on his face, and wanted to smash something. Vlad and his lifemate deserved so much more from a son. «This is my mess, and I will find a way to clean it up.» He wanted to spare them the pain of facing the monster Draven had been. Somehow, he knew Ivory would have wanted that rather than revenge.

«You have destroyed their plans and managed to bring Maxim to the realization of what he has done. He will not aid his brothers,» Vlad said. «Your time here is over. I have yet to do my duty and then ours will be, too.»

Manolito looked down at his hands. They were no longer transparent. He closed his fingers into a tight fist and then opened his hand once again.

«We stand with you always,» Manolito said, knowing Vlad would understand he meant every De La Cruz.

«You and your brothers have been loyal to our people,» Vlad said.» I trust that you will aid the jaguars as best you can, and give that same loyalty I have always counted on to my sons.»

Sarantha stepped close to him and touched the scars. «You saved Mikhail's life. And you saved our son, Jacques, by stepping in front of Shea and taking the poisoned knife. You also saved our unborn grandson. I thank you. It is not enough, but it is all I have to give.»

Vlad gripped his forearms. «Go now. Leave this place. You do not belong here anymore. Let me take care of the business I should have centuries ago. Live large and well, old friend.»

Manolito stepped away. He felt himself reaching for MaryAnn. For his brothers. For life. He stopped for a moment to observe Vlad and Sarantha face their son.

«You have had many years here, Draven, and we have stood by you, but no longer. Even here, when you are

given the chance to redeem yourself, you refuse. We accept your decision. Go now, from this place to the next.»

«No! You cannot. I am your son.» For the first time, the smirk was gone from Draven's face. He threw himself at his mother, wrapping his arms around her legs. «Do not let him condemn me. He cannot send me away.»

«We condemn you, as we should have so many years ago, Draven,» Sarantha said, conviction in her voice. «Go now. Perhaps in the next place you will learn far more than we could ever teach you.»

Draven screamed as black smoke curled around him, pouring from his body to surround him. Shadows moved along the ground, skittered over the trees. The vines pushed up from the earth, long, tangled barbs on the seeking tentacles. The vampires stood mesmerized, some with smiles, others with nervous scowls, but all frozen as Draven tried to run.

The vines reared back, coiled like snakes, and then lashed out, circling Draven's ankles. They yanked hard, and he fell into a nest of greedy claws reaching out of the ground for him. One moment he was there, wrapped in the barbs, his mouth opened wide in a now-silent scream, the next he was gone, swallowed by a black hole.

There was silence. Sarantha dropped her head on Vlad's shoulder. He held her close, protectively, sheltering her against his larger body. Manolito could feel the pull of his own world drawing him, and he went, eager to get back to his own lifemate, to hold her in his arms and shelter her the way Vlad had Sarantha throughout their centuries together. When he glanced back, all he could see of them was blazing light, and then that, too, was gone and he was back in his own body.

MaryAnn gasped and threw her arms around him, fitting neatly, perfectly, into his frame. He smiled over her head at Riordan. «Thank you,» he said simply. And meant it.

Chapter Eighteen

M ^ ^

«Are you all right? Did they hurt you?» MaryAnn skimmed her hand anxiously down Manolito's chest. «I was so worried about you.»

«No, meu amor, but you-I saw you with blood on your shoulder and belly.» He touched her bare shoulder where the angry marks showed, then tugged up her shirt to examine the bare expanse of flesh.

Riordan cleared his throat. «I am still here.»

Neither looked up or acknowledged his statement.

MaryAnn ran her hands under Manolito's shirt. «How did you get out of that place? I was right, wasn't I? Maxim was trying to kill you.» She went up on her toes to press half a dozen kisses down Manolito's throat. «You are free of the shadow world for good, aren't you?»