Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

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 death. Teeth sank deep and the rich taste burst through her, into her, filling organs and tissue with strength and energy. Lara gasped and pulled her mind away, stumbling through the water toward the rocks where she could steady herself.
    Need and hunger poured through her body, overwhelming with its intensity. She fought it back, but knew, once that need was there, only blood would satisfy it. He had awakened the one thing in her she had always tried desperately to suppress.
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    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    Nicolas was taking blood from a human being. Using that person as cattle. Worse, he was controlling his victim\'s mind and he\'d done it without using spells and potions. He was that powerful.
    Her wrist ached and burned. She looked down and saw her flesh torn open-chewed-as if teeth had gnawed and ripped. Blood splashed onto the boulders and droplets hit the pool. Her neck ached where Nicolas had sunk his teeth into her and she covered the spot with her palm. It came away smeared with blood. The illusion was so strong she stared in horror before she realized it was illusion.
    Slowly, Lara looked around the cave. How had she let this happen? No matter warm and beautiful, a prison was still a prison. A predator was still a predator. She\'d been mesmerized by him. She\'d recognized the danger in him from the start, but somehow he\'d made those concerns vanish from her mind. Was he controlling her? Manipulating her mind?
    Shivering, Lara staggered out of the pool, looking around for something to dry herself off with. Where had she planned to sleep? In the ground with him? On the bed with him? With him? Why hadn\'t she even considered that? She wasn\'t stupid, yet she\'d followed him here without question or protest. What woman would go off alone with a stranger for the night where no one knew where she was? Nicolas De La Cruz exuded sex from every pore. His walk, the roll of his shoulders, the dark eyes burning so intensely-he was a sexual man and she was sure he didn\'t expect to sleep in a bed with a woman without possessing her body.
    Lara dragged on her clothes, heedless of the way the material stuck to her still damp skin. Panic rose, and she spun around, determined to find the way out. He\'d given her directions-were they real?
    Do not be foolish, Lara. The sun is rising. I will be there soon and we can discuss this calmly. You are merely having a panic attack and there is no reason for it.
    The calm voice grated on her nerves. He was condescending and arrogant. She had every reason to panic. Any sane woman would have done so a long time ago. Using the directions in her mind, she sprinted out of the glistening chamber into a long corridor.
    I forbid