Carpathian 18 - Dark Possesion

back as a third man stepped from the bushes. He was, by turns, beautiful and then grotesque. MaryAnn blinked several times, trying to bring his true form into focus. With a casual wave of his hands at the monkeys, they fell into an uneasy silence. He spoke a word to the jaguar, and the shapeshifter halted.
    MaryAnn touched her tongue to her suddenly dry lips. She was looking at a vampire—the epitome of evil.
    He looked up at her and smiled. His jagged teeth were stained with blood, and his skin seemed stretched tight against his skull. The next moment he was a gorgeous man, with a wide, engaging smile.
    "Come down and join us," he invited softly.
    She felt the buzz in her head and knew he had embedded a compulsion in his voice. She forced a smile, then waited a few beats to gather massive amounts of energy to project into her voice and mind, so she could turn his own compulsion back on him. "I'm quite comfortable actually, so you can go ahead and leave."
    The vampire blinked. Frowned. Shook his head as if he couldn't remember what he was doing.
    "Yes, you want to go. Leave this place." She poured power into her voice.
    He turned away from her, just for a moment obeying her command, swinging his body around toward the ferns.
    Her breath caught in her throat and she struck. Now! Now attack. All of you. Hurry. Take them before they destroy you .
    The jaguar leapt on the vampire's back, teeth sinking deep into the skull. At the same time, the monkeys dove at the mage, biting and hitting, swarming over him in large numbers. Birds took to the air, wings flapping as they buzzed around the combatants, raking with their talons.
    The mage went down beneath the sheer numbers. MaryAnn wanted to turn away, the sight sickening her, as the jaguar bit down hard and blood gushed, running in streams down the vampire's head. He roared his rage and caught the jaguar in his hands, dragging the cat away from his body with his enormous strength and wrenching at the head. The crack was audible to her, even in the midst of the shrieks and cries of monkeys and birds.
    The vampire glanced at the mage, buried under the mountain of bodies, and then he slowly turned back to face her. His head was punctured, the skull shattered under the jaguar's strong bite, but it didn't seem to faze the undead. The eyes were glowing with red-orange flames, the mouth opened wide in a grimace of hate.
    He stood there for a moment simply staring at her. Then he flexed his fingers, allowing the nails to grow and curve into claws. Still holding her gaze, he flew through the air and landed on the trunk of the tree beside the one she was in and began to slither up the side. He looked frightening. An abomination. Just like one of the vampires in the movies, a dark, unnatural apparition of evil bent on killing her—on destroying Manolito.
    For a moment terror gripped her. The safeguard wouldn't hold long. Manolito hadn't meant for it to be a protection so much as a sound barrier. Riordan wasn't there to save her. If she was going to live, if she was going to keep Manolito's body safe, she had to do something fast.
    Already she could feel the power surging in her body. Once again her head pounded, this time even stronger,

    faster. As if her body already knew the way and was only seeking her permission. The idea of letting go of herself, of her own identity, was almost more terrifying than the vampire crawling up the tree trunk.
    Her jaw ached, popping painfully. Tendons and ligaments pulled while the muscles in her body contorted, hardening into tight knots of pain she could visibly see beneath her skin. Her stomach lurched. She fought down panic. Even if she didn't do this for herself, she had to do it for Manolito.
    Images strobed through her mind so quickly they nearly made her sick. They moved so fast she couldn't sort them out or focus on any one, but they were of wolves walking on two legs. A collective memory. Her skin stretched tight, too tight. Her vision clouded, edged red and black. Once again her fingers curved into claws, an involuntary action she couldn't stop. Pain exploded through her.
    She tried to breathe, tried to force herself to let go, but her mind just wouldn't surrender. Her mind just wouldn't let her go. What if she was trapped?
    The tree shook. The vampire shrieked, the sound skating down her spine and striking terror in her heart. He had leapt onto the edge of the platform, just outside the railing, and he was working fast at unraveling the