Dark Peril Page 0,152

play. He stalked her across the room, with the slow freeze-frame of a cat, and then pounced on her. But she sprang to one side, avoiding the rush. The kitten rolled over and over, his momentum carrying him past her. He stood up a few feet away, shaking his head.

Dominic saw the look building in Solange's eyes, and before he could protest, she had raced across the chamber and ambushed the cat. They rolled together, over and over, Solange in her barely there dress and the cat with lethal claws and teeth.

Heart in his throat, Dominic waved his hand, building the image of clothing, thick and protective, around Solange--heavy cotton jeans and a long-sleeved top with a vest as a shield. The two rolled across the floor, snarling, spitting, rearing up, breaking apart and then coming together in a fierce mock battle, rolling once again.

The kitten backed off, arching its back. With his long tail curled, he sidestepped around Solange and then rolled over onto his side. He kept his tail in a hooked position, indicating he wanted to play. Laughing, she obliged.

Dominic realized she was feeling the kitten out, learning his strengths and weaknesses, trying to get a feeling for what had gone wrong inside of him. Why the middle part of his body was caught in shadow form. He took a chance and went outside his own body, knowing the animal was important to her and that she wanted to save him from a slow starvation. The sibling mages had obviously been present when Xavier had mutated species for his own twisted purpose. Two of the teeth in the cat's mouth were tubes to draw and store blood. The cat had been bred for one purpose--to retrieve blood for the mages. The digestive tract and stomach were scored and lumpy, as if the combination of cat DNA and black magic had fought and scar tissue had built up. The shadow encased the middle of the cat, keeping the insides from working. He couldn't see how it was possible, but if the cat could wait, he could try to give it blood after he had pushed out the parasites.

He felt the cat's muscles bunching, ready for another spring, and exited quickly to reenter his own body. He caught the blur of motion as the cat sprang into the air, over Solange's head. His back claw caught her temple, ripping open her skin and driving her backward into the rocky basin. Dominic's heart nearly stopped when he heard the loud, ominous crack.

Solange slipped to the floor, her eyes glazed over. He was at her side instantly. Blood poured from the back of her skull. He was immediately in her body, not caring that the cat could easily attack his defenseless body. There was no skull fracture, just a very deep and nasty head wound. He repaired it from the inside out before returning to his own body. Lifting her, he made a halfhearted attempt to move the cat with his foot, but when it didn't budge, he took her to the bed.

"Talk to me."

Humor glittered in her eyes. "Ow. Major ow."

Relief flooded. "You took a few years off my life."

"Good thing you're immortal. I must be getting slow. I should have moved my head out of the way. He's clumsy but he's fast--and strong." She looked over at the cat and her smiled turned upside down. "Shadow! Stop that. He's lapping up the blood fast, Dominic."

Dominic turned to stop the kitten, nearly waving his hand to remove the blood, but he noticed a solid spot, right in the middle of the cat, where none had ever been. His heart rate accelerated. "Solange." He stood a short distance away from the cub, making no attempt to stop it from licking up the blood. "Look."

She sat up gingerly. "What am I looking at?" Dominic had already cleaned the blood from her hair and skin and taken away her headache. When he said he would see to her care, he took that literally.

"Your blood acts like some kind of weapon against black magic." Dominic could barely take in the revelation. No wonder Xavier had been searching for her. "Your blood doesn't just kill the parasites. Xavier created the parasites with black magic, and here they are unraveled and rendered harmless, back to their original form." "That's impossible." She stood up, shaking her head. "Check inside of him, Dominic. Make certain my blood isn't going to harm him."

Instantly Dominic was at her side, wrapping