Dark Curse Page 0,46

water, puzzling out why she felt so edgy when only moments earlier she had felt safe and cocooned in a world of heat and aromatic fragrances. This cave was far different from the ice cave. She often caught glimpses of her past-secret little vignettes of a shivering, terrified child, listening to the ominous crack of ice weighted with tremendous pressure. Everything in her memories was cold and barren and frightening. Here, she felt protected and safe, the world sparkling with gems and soft lights, yet...

Nicolas drew her to him with the sound of his voice, low and sexy and so commanding. His physical beauty, intensely male, the burning possession in his black eyes, the force of his personality totally focused on her was all a little overwhelming and thrilling. Even his childhood memories-they were beautiful, the laughter, the camaraderie, everything she'd ever wanted. There was a brightness in all the boys.

A chill ran down her spine.Until the vampire had come out of that forest and attacked Nicolas .

She stood up once again in the shimmering pool, her arms crossed over her breasts, her heart beating too fast. Darkness in Nicolas had risen to meet the vampire. There had been nothing at all bright in Nicolas at that moment. That dark blotch grew and spread, consuming him until she couldn't tell hunter or the undead apart. As if alive, as if a separate entity, the darkness in him had leapt forward, eagerly reaching for the hunt-for the kill. There had been no hesitation, not on his part. Even as that shiny young boy he had embraced that rising darkness, losing himself in it as he rushed to meet the attacking vampire.

She pressed her fingertips to the strange birthmark low on her body, the dragon that warned her when a vampire was near. Earlier, when she had first encountered Nicolas, the dragon had gone hot and cold. Nicolas had triggered the warning with the darkness in him. She swallowed the lump in her throat, her heart slamming now so hard she could see the rise and fall of her breasts, feel a choking in her throat. Remembering that same flash of hot and cold, mixed signals that frightened her as much or more than a steady burn. Her father had often produced that same odd, faulty response whenever she was close to him.

Her pulse thundered in her ears, heart hammering so loud she could barely hear the water pouring from the wall. What was wrong with her? Her stomach lurched and she staggered, her wrist, throat and neck burning painfully. Nicolas appeared charming, but what did she really know of him? He hadn't argued with her. He had even been polite when she'd shoved a knife in his ribs, but she really knew nothing at all about him.

Terror welled up. She had lived life with humans, good-natured, uncomplicated, genuinely nice people for the most part. No, they hadn't understood that lost child and they'd given her from family to family, continually on the move, but they had cared for her basic needs and no one had tried to use her for their own gain. She had almost forgotten a world of deceit, of betrayal, of kill or be killed.

She reached out again tentatively, the lightest of touches, her mind seeking his. At once she was consumed by hunger, by the need for blood. She heard the ebb and flow of life surging and pounding as a farmer hauled a calf from a cow's laboring body. She heard the heartbeat, steady and strong, scented the good health, a large masculine physique toweling off the calf while murmuring to the cow. She crept closer, scenting the blood from the birth. It only added to the need building in her, the hunger raging now, taking a hold and directing her. She ran her tongue along her teeth, and felt a lengthening and sharpness just past her incisors. Her heartbeat increased, began to take on the rhythm of the unsuspecting farmer bent over the cow.

Merged with Nicolas, she felt the smooth, silent glide, stalking prey. A dog tried to bark, but Nicolas/she stopped it with one quick, commanding flick of a hand. Adrenaline rushed through her. She felt the movement in her veins, a high like no other. Blood thundered in her pulse, roared in her ears. Then she was on him, that one moment of recognition, the heart rate jumping, the mind rebelling, only to be taken over completely by Nicolas-by her.

Ultimate power. Life or