“You have been touched by the vampire,” Manolito said, his voice low and carrying the ring of truth. “I can try to aid you to rid yourself of the poisonous influence, but it will fight to keep ahold of you.” And it would leave him vulnerable to attack, perhaps even from the jaguar. It was a risk, not even a good one, but Manolito felt compelled to help. The jaguar species, both man and beast, was losing the battle for existence just as the Carpathian species was. And Manolito very much feared that the De La Cruz brothers had unwittingly played a large part in the destruction of the jaguar people.
The man stayed quiet within the jaguar. Tied to him by blood, Manolito could feel his alarm. He was no young man, cocky and full of bravado; he was old enough to know the danger of the vampire, and he had been questioning what was happening among his kind for some time. The cat crouched low and nodded the broad head, the gaze shifting from Manolito to their surroundings, as mindful of the danger as the Carpathian.
In the canopy above them, the leaves rustled ominously. Clouds moved across the dark skies, bringing the promise of more rain. Already the air was heavy with moisture and the rivers and streams were swollen beyond the banks. Water poured over rocks and out of banks and made waterfalls where there had been none before. Most of the water was white and bubbling, but on the edges of the rocks, the water was stained with tannin and appeared a dull reddish brown.
Manolito took a deep breath and pulled his gaze away from the blood-colored water, and let his air out, breathing away everything but the task at hand. He had to let go of his physical body, making himself incredibly vulnerable to a potential enemy already occupied by the vampire. It was much more difficult than he expected, now that he could feel emotion and it mattered that he stayed alive.
The dark spot in the jaguar-man’s brain recoiled, minute wormlike creatures writhing as his spirit entered the other man, bathing the brain in white-hot energy. Manolito heard the jaguar roar and the man hiss out a warning. Manolito hesitated, afraid of injuring the warrior.
Do it. I do not want that thing inside of me.
Manolito attacked the stain, breaching the outer rings and burning them clean with healing light. The tiny parasites tried to dig deeper into the brain in an effort to escape. As they scattered, Manolito could see to the core of the jaguar-man. The parasites tried to keep the light out of the jaguar-man’s memories and hide what the vampire had done, but, unexpectedly, the jaguar-man joined his strength with Manolito’s, using his well-developed telepathic abilities and their newly established blood tie.
He opened his memories to Manolito and flooded him with as much information as possible. His name was Luiz. For many years he’d worked to restore the dwindling strength of his species. Too many of their women had left, seeking companionship and love with human males rather than the careless abandonment of their own males. He’d influenced the others to follow the way of the Carpathians and mate for life, to provide a home and a family, a reason for women to stay with them. At first, many had gone along with his ideas and had begun to give up their solitary way of life, but recently, they had become divided in their thinking, as a slow, subtle change occurred.
Packs of men had begun committing terrible crimes against women. A “new order” of jaguars had begun searching for women of their kind and raping them in an effort to have pureblood children. Luiz hadn’t known of the horrors, other than unconfirmed rumors, for the first few years, but now more and more men had joined the bands of marauding rebels. He feared not only for the women, but for their entire species. What woman would want to be with men who did such terrible things? He had heard that some of the women now were rescuing those in captivity. Their world had turned upside down, and Luiz had never once considered a vampire might be at work. Now it all made sense.
Vampire.
The vilest creature on the face of the earth. Since when had they tried to kill off an entire species? Manolito knew. He and his brothers had once known the Malinov brothers. Sadness crept in. The five Malinov brothers had been best friends with his family. Now it seemed as if they may have all turned vampire. The idea of losing all of them was distressing now that he was capable of emotion. With the Malinov brothers, they had spent many hours discussing how they could take over ruling the Carpathian people. The possibilities of destroying an entire species, allies of the prince, had been a hot topic of conversation. In the intellectual debate, they had devised many ways, and one had been to influence self-destructive behavior, to capitalize on a species’ weakness.
Just as the jaguar society had done.
When their prince had sent them out into the world, away from their native land to protect humans, the subject had once again come up. In the end, the De La Cruz brothers had sworn to serve their prince and people. Once their word was given, no De La Cruz would ever go back, given a choice. The Malinov brothers had done the same.
Manolito was careful to keep that information to himself. Just the talk of betraying the prince had been bad enough and he was ashamed. He had never felt shame before and it was an uncomfortable emotion.
You were right all those years ago.
The voices whispered once again in his mind.
You and your brothers should have followed your own path completely. You allowed a weaker man to reign, to lead our people down a path of destruction. Had Zacarias ruled, the Carpathian people would be thriving, not driven into the ground, hated and feared and hunted by the very people they protect.
Manolito let out his breath in a long hiss of challenge.
Show yourselves. Do not hide in the shadows. Come out where I can see you.
He couldn’t maintain the energy to stay long within the jaguar-man’s body. He had to rid the man of the taint of the vampire and get back to his own unprotected body.
There is no need to feel shame. It was a brilliant plan.
Manolito took another breath and blocked everything out but the task at hand. The voices from the shadow world would have to wait. The jaguar-man was straining to hold the beast, keep it from leaping on Manolito and tearing apart his unprotected body.
The hot white light, pure energy, spilled over the center of the dark stain with terrible purpose. Manolito focused his entire attention to the task, risking everything to do so, not only because it was the right thing to do, but because he wanted to make up, in some small way, for his part in the plot devised so many years earlier. What had only been an intellectual debate had at one time exploded into angry possibility, but Manolito thought they had discarded all notion of betrayal and sabotage. Obviously one or more of the Malinov brothers had decided at some point to implement the plan. Manolito had witnessed firsthand the attempts to assassinate the prince, and then to kill the women and children of the Carpathians. Now, it seemed, the enemy had also put into motion a plan to wipe out the jaguar people.
Manolito utilized every bit of energy to fight the small threads of wriggling parasites, burning them out of their hiding places, following them as they raced through the jaguar-man’s brain in an attempt to evade the attack. It was exhausting and time-consuming work.
When he was done and returned to his own body, Manolito staggered and nearly went down. His earlier need for blood had barely been satisfied, and using such energy had drained him. Only iron discipline kept him on his feet.
Beside him, the jaguar contorted. Fur rippled and muscles stretched and lengthened. The shifting of the jaguar people was different from that of the Carpathians. Skin and bands of muscle appeared; long, dark hair with streaks of gold running through it covered a noble head. A man crouched on the ground where the cat had been.
Luiz straightened slowly until he was standing upright in front of Manolito. Like all jaguar-men, he was comfortable with his nudity, his body roped with muscles, his hair shaggy. “I apologize for attempting to take your life.” He spoke with great dignity, his eyes meeting Manolito’s without flinching, even as he gestured toward the blood dripping steadily down the hunter’s body.
Manolito bowed slightly in acknowledgment, while keeping every sense alert for another attack. “No man is responsible for what he does under the influence of the vampire.”
“I owe you a great debt for aiding me in getting rid of him.”
Manolito knew better than to deny it. The jaguar-man was stiff with pride, the face edged with guilt and worry. “It must have been difficult living with such a thing when you have worked so hard to save your people from the very thing that infected you.”
“I know the difference between right and wrong. Most of our remaining men do as well, but the vampire is like a disease. We can’t stop what we don’t see. If I go back and try to tell the others, I have no proof. I don’t have the ability, as you do, to find the taint of vampire and expel it.”
“If you do not, there is no hope for your species,” Manolito pointed out. “Your women flee, as they should. The vampire is destroying you from the inside out.”
Luiz nodded in agreement. “I knew something was wrong, but the hatred toward your kind festered. The vampire must have planted the seeds among us. Carpathian males stealing our women. I don’t remember ever encountering a vampire, or one who said such a thing, but I have known for some time that I was not thinking correctly.”
“He underestimated your strength. He must have chosen you because you’re a leader.”
“At one time I was. Not so much anymore. The men are scattered, running in packs now, looking for women of our blood.” Luiz frowned, rubbed at his temples as he tried to recall what they’d been told. “I believe the vampire wants a specific woman, one of pure blood who can shift every bit as quickly as a man, fight as hard, as tirelessly. He was insistent if we find her, that she be brought to the Morrison Research Institute in order for his researchers to duplicate her DNA.” He sighed. “At the time he made it all seem sensible, but now it makes none at all.”
The leaves rustled and both men spun toward the sound. The jaguar-man slipped toward Manolito, his every movement fluid and stealthy, as quiet as any cat as he went back to back.
There are eyes in the forest. And ears. My people are no longer trustworthy now that the vampire has gotten to them.
Manolito searched his memories for information that was eluding him. He couldn’t show vulnerability, or point out that he was seeing on two different levels and didn’t know which was real and which was imaginary. Nor did he even know if the shadow world was an illusion. Could he be walking in two worlds at the same time?
You removed the taint of the vampire from me. Is it possible to do the same with my brethren?
Manolito could feel the jaguar-man stretching his mind, reaching with all of his senses to find danger. He sniffed the air, listened, his eyes moving restlessly, unceasingly.
“Whatever is out there is far from us,” Luiz said, “although others have entered the rain forest.”
Manolito’s heart jumped. His lifemate. He was certain of it. She was coming to him. She had to be. No lifemate could stay separated from the other for long and survive. They were two halves of the same whole and needed each other for completion.
Come to me…
It was a command. A plea. Yet he didn’t know her name. He couldn’t fully picture her. He closed his eyes to hold his memories to him. Skin. He remembered her incredible skin, softer than anything he’d ever touched, like silk burning under his lips. The taste of her, wild and spicy like the woman herself. His pulse quickened and his breath came in a rush, body tightening unexpectedly. He’d forgotten what it was like to desire. To lust. To think of a woman and want to sink his body forever into hers, making them one. Or maybe he’d never really known the feeling. Maybe he’d scanned so many other males it was merely an illusion until this moment in time. Now his body recognized the woman he needed, and it was demanding to be sated in every way.
“Carpathian. You are swaying with weariness. This thing you have done for me, driving the vampire from my body, it was difficult on you.” Luiz made it a statement.
“Yes.” But it was more difficult to look into the leaves of the shrubs and ferns, the boughs lying broken on the ground, and see the shadowy faces of evil staring at him. In the numerous waterfalls and streams, eyes stared as if from a watery grave. Everything appeared to be translucent, a gray, dank veil drawn over the brilliant colors of the rain forest.
The jaguar-man relaxed, the tension easing out of him, but Manolito was more alert than ever. In the distance, others had entered the forest, that was true, but whatever faced him in the shadow world was still there, still waiting and watching. The jaguar-man couldn’t see or sense the other world, but Manolito knew he was still in danger. Or maybe the shadow world really was illusion and he was losing his mind.
Because his legs refused to hold him any longer, Manolito slowly crouched down, careful to appear to stay in control. He took another slow look around him, a small frown on his face. Why was he seeing everything through a veil, as if he were only half in his world and half in another? He plunged his hand into the soil he had slept in, hoping that it would anchor him and keep him from the shadows.
Just as he’d expected, the soil was terra preta, fertile black soil found among the poorer reddish clay or white sand in the rain forest. Unlike the other soils of the rain forest, the terra preta maintained fertility. Finding the precious soil had been a deciding factor in his family’s decision to purchase the island.
The De La Cruz brothers had realized the soil was their key to survival and hope. Far away from their homeland, without their native soil, they searched the rain forest and most of Brazil in the earlier centuries for something rich and rejuvenating that would aid them not only in healing wounds and sleeping, but also in giving them strength needed to maintain their honor so far from their prince and people and without lifemates to sustain them. He took handfuls of the precious dirt and packed the wounds on his belly and sides to keep from losing any more blood.