Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

long-ago, forgotten moments with him. She caught glimpses of other things. Something dark and grotesque moving fast out of the trees toward him. His eldest brother, Zacarias, calling out a warning, calling out instructions even as he raced to place himself between Nicolas and the monstrous being rushing from the trees.
    Lara gasped and drew back.What was that ?
    Vampire. Nicolas injected a soothing note into his voice. He was still a good distance from her and needed to find sustenance before dawn broke.My first kill. We were teaching Riordan, my youngest brother, shifting on the run and the undead attacked me. I was a distance from my brothers. I think he thought I had detected his presence, but he was a huge surprise. I barely escaped with my life. Zacarias gave me instructions while I was fighting him off and I managed to destroy him before he got to us, but you would have thought I was the only hunter in the world that day. I was stuck on my own importance . He injected a little laughter into his voice.
    To Nicolas, Lara felt...frightened or maybe it was edgy, he couldn\'t put his finger on her sudden withdrawal, but that brief glimpse of a vampire had triggered something in her mind. He didn\'t like that she was alone in the cave with what could possibly be another flashback of her childhood. Something-and he was fairly certain it was the parasites-had brought long buried memories to the forefront. Now that the barrier had gone, he suspected she would be able to remember pieces of her past.
    I will be there soon. He didn\'t want her to feel alone, not ever again.
    Below him, a farmer crossed a small pasture to a makeshift barn. In the body of an owl, Nicolas changed his flight, circling to make certain the man was alone and there was no danger, scanning the region for the dead spots that might indicate there was a vampire present, before beginning his descent.
    Lara sank back into the 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, Page 58

    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    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