L.A. Banks - Vampire Huntress Legend 5 - The Forbidden

VIP免费
2024-12-23 0 0 1005.36KB 298 页 5.9玖币
侵权投诉
THE FORBIDDEN. Copyright © 2005 by Leslie Esdaile Banks. All rights reserved. Printed in
theUnited States of America . No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
or reviews. For information, addressSt. Martin 's Press,175 Fifth Avenue,New York ,N.Y.10010 .
www.stmartins.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Banks, L. A.
The forbidden : a vampire huntress legend / L. A. Banks.—1st ed.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
p. cm.
ISBN 0-312-33622-5
EAN 978-0-312-33622-6
1. Richards, Damali (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. African American women—Fiction. 3. Women
martial artists—Fiction. 4. Vampires—Fiction. 5. Occult fiction, gsafd I. Title.
PS3602.A64F67 2005
813'.6—dc22 2004065825
First Edition: July 2005
This book in the series is dedicated to the concept of redemption—that if we simply believe, we still
have a fighting chance. Much has happened in the world since this series began. There are signs
everywhere that we might all need to take heed and pursue a more spiritual path. The earth even stopped
in time for microseconds after a disastrous tsunami. This tells me that there is a power out there greater
than my tiny human brain could ever hope to conceive of, and therefore, anything is possible. But one
thing I know for sure is redemption was a promise.
May you choose wisely and pause to think about things greater than we can fathom.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my agent, Manie Barron, who continues to bring brilliance to projects; my editor, Monique
Patterson, whose tireless dedication can be felt on every page; to the team at St. Martin's Press, who are
like family; to Eric Battle, for his wondrously creative renderings of the characters (his art is da bomb!);
to Vince Natale and Michael Storrings, who continue to blow me away with their cover art and designs;
to Chris Bonelli, a saint who keeps the Web site fresh; and, of course, the Rowdee Black Giants, who
always inspire—go, brothers—and to Zulma Gonzalez, an angel whom I am blessed to know.
CHAPTER ONE
ALL WAS still on level seven. A clawed hand held embryonic life within it. Golden green glowing eyes
misted over black as they looked up to the vast expanse of nothingness that mimicked a vaulted ceiling.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Trembling with anticipation, a shaky finger extended a hooked talon that prodded at the bloody mass of
dormant life… life that could be molded into its own image. A hissing coo filled with gentle adoration
warmed the small cluster of cells, making them glow red and begin to pulse.
"Oh, soon, my son," a passionate voice whispered. "Very, very soon."
Sydney,Australia
Dread tightened Damali's chest as she watched Carlos's eyes. Visceral emptiness filled her, making her
clutch her lower belly. His once-serene gaze now darted to her face, then to the faces of her teammates
and to his surrounding environment like a man displaced and confused. The sensation was so
overwhelming that it threatened to choke her heart to a standstill. Her man, once confident, suave, and
smooth as black silk, had come up out of the unknown looking crazed and wild in the eye.
Suddenly she felt a strange sensation that fluttered in her womb. She pressed her hand against her
abdomen.What was that ? But she had to shake off the weird feeling. Too many issues competed for
her attention right now and the most immediate was Carlos.
The Light had brought him back, had actually reconstituted his form from the burnt vampire ash left by
dawn, and now it seemed as though he didn't know where he was, how he'd gotten there, or whom he
was with. Beyond all that they'd had to contend with, this was perhaps the most frightening experience of
all: Carlos Rivera's mental state was in question—tears, screaming, ranting, fighting against the hold of
friendly hands. Damali turned away for a moment and swallowed hard.
A head on a silver platter would be her bride price. Yeah. She and the chairman had unfinished business.
She reached out her hand to touch Carlos's face, and he jerked away from her, unsure if she were a
mirage, a vampiric illusion, something evil and vile that would start his torture all over again. His fear
rippled through her and rattled her bones. It sent a chill through her like a knife. It drew her mouth into a
tight line as she fought not to scream. She saw what they had done. A head.The head of the bastard
who'd done this , was the only acceptable answer to levy the debt paid in full.
Down in Hell they had a phrase: Fair exchange is no robbery. Then so be it. A head for a head, a mind
for a mind… and an eye for an eye and a tooth for a fucking tooth—the chairman's fangs mounted on her
wall mantel. This was war.
Damali could feel her eyes narrow to slits as her man tried to stand, and then tried to get away from her
and her team. Oh, hell no. They'd raped his mind and stolen his dignity. And for that unforgivable offense,
she'd blow the Vampire Council's doors off the damned hinges. In her mind's eye, she could see the
pentagram-shaped table surrounded by dark thrones, and the chairman's smug expression. But Hell had
no fury like a woman scorned. Her thoughts frayed and descended to the pit.
Fuck you, Mr. Chairman. This time, it's just me and you.
Carlos could feel his eyeballs roll backward beneath his lids as consciousness ebbed and flowed like a
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
reluctant tide. One moment he had been sitting on the ground, naked, awed, and so profoundly moved
that he couldn't speak, and in the next moment, he was being hurried away by many hands and clamoring
voices all trying to get him into a vehicle and onto hallowed ground. Were it not for Damali's hand firmly
holding his and her voice cutting through the melee, he would have tried to escape them all.
For the first time in his entire existence he truly feared he was losing his mind. Something was very
wrong. He'd gone into the Light—more accurately, had been propelled into it, summoned by it, sucked
toward a bright, indescribable iridescent wonder that had a pulse, a center, and held the heartbeat of the
universe. Beings of unfathomable strength had hurled him forward, their silvery light sabers cutting at
filaments of dark tendrils, holding him, burning him to ash. The heat was so intense that his bones had
liquefied, his skin had blackened and crumbled away, his eyes had melted and had run down his cheeks
like gory, oozing tears… but silver metallic wings with the texture of satin had shielded him from the
furnace blast beneath him. What were they and who'd sent them?
Healing warmth had entered him, coating his burning insides with instant peace, quenching the sun's fury
against his skin. One being had parted to become many with raised golden shields that seemed as though
each held a living, moving orb of sunlight until he was encircled by them, each ball of molten, living,
golden light fusing to become a ring around him. The ring had covered him, entered him… All he could
remember now was that they came and then in a fluttering cloud they'd dispersed, shooting away so
quickly they'd left only a blinding blur of white light in their wake.
But perhaps the powers-that-be had messed up somehow. Maybe they didn't catch his soul in time, and
how did a man turned vampire return to the sun?
He couldn't hear. Everything was coming at him in muffled tones. People spoke in indecipherable guttural
fragments. Everyone seemed to move in slow motion. It was like moving through mud. His mind was a
slurry of confusion. He was nearly blind, each friendly face blurred beyond recognition until it was
breath-close to his face. His skin felt thick and dull, the sensation of hands soothing his shoulders, rubbing
his back, bundling him into a coat, but all of it took seconds to register. Breathing was an effort that
consumed his concentration. The most troubling aspect was the heaviness he felt in his limbs, as though
his muscles were too weak to lift his own body.
What had the Light done to him?
Carlos leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. The sensory overload was too
much—rather, the lack of sensation and the ability to perceive his surroundings was horrifying.
"I think he's going into shock," Damali said, drawing him against her body closer as the Jeep careened
through the streets. "We have to get him inside, out of the sun."
"I'm gonna fry," Carlos croaked, becoming more disoriented as the vehicle barreled through desolate
streets in a town he didn't know.
"We'll be at the church in just a few minutes, kiddo."
Carlos slowly removed his hands from his face, training his attention toward what he remembered to be
Rider's voice. "To a church?" Instinct made Carlos begin struggling against Damali's hold. He could hear
his voice rising with panic. "No! I'll burn!"
Many strong arms held him. In a distant part of his mind he heard Father Patrick call out to him.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"You've stayed with us on hallowed ground before, Carlos. We have to keep you safe. Remember the
woods, the cabin? The dark side cannot know you've come back. You won't burn."
"No!"
More hands held him down as he grabbed at the door handle… but these were human hands, hands that
shouldn't have had enough power to hold him, even in his weakened state. He needed to feed and find
shelter!
"Stop fighting us, baby," Damali urged. "It'll make it worse.Please , Carlos, trust me."
"We're taking you someplace safe," an old man's voice said. It was a familiar voice.
In unsteady increments memory came back to him. Father Patrick… that's right. The monks. They had a
prayer barrier that only he could cross. Yeah. He remembered. The safe house. Damali trusted them.
This was her squad. All right.
Carlos stopped struggling and closed his eyes. He could feel Damali's cool hand stroke his brow, wiping
away the sweat. He ran his tongue over his incisors to retract his fangs, lest he frighten his benefactors,
and then froze. He touched his mouth, running his fingers over his upper canines. Tears sprang to his eyes
so quickly he didn't even have time to blink them back. He glanced at Damali, then away, lowering his
hands from his face, staring at his palms in disbelief. He'd been neutered. He wanted to vomit.
He curled his hands into fists. He shut his eyes tightly and hung his head. He could feel Damali's hand
stroke his back and he jerked away from her touch. "Don't."
"It's Jose, man. Don't you remember?" A young, soothing voice cut into his consciousness. "You burned
and came back. You said you saw angels,hombre . You sat there looking at the sun. You spoke to us,
looked at us, sat quietly with D and said you were free."
Carlos shook his head with his eyes closed, pressing his fingers to his temples. "No. I don't remember.
Shut up, you're confusing me!"
"Ease off, Jose," the voice he knew as Rider's said in almost a whisper. "Father Pat, Marlene, either of
you guys got something for dude—something to help him bite the snake that bit him?"
He felt hysteria rising in him. Carlos chuckled, but he kept his eyes closed. The sound was hollow even
to his own ears. Rider. That's right.Hombre was human and had brass balls… had been chained to the
ground as bait while the harpies pulled out his guts. Crazy white dude yelling at Hell's worst nightmare,
talking trash with no weapon in his hand, trying to divert the predators away to give him a chance to beat
the rising sun. Very cool of Rider… he wouldn't forget the debt. "You drink Jack Daniel's, right? Add a
little color in it for me and I'll buy you a drink, man. After what we just went through on the docks—you
buy; I'll fly. Cool?"
Silence in the vehicle surrounded him. No one but him was laughing. He could feel the vehicle slowing
down.
"Get him inside, Father Pat," an older woman said from somewhere within the Jeep. "He's delirious."
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
A pair of strong arms threaded around his back and nearly lifted him off his feet. What seemed like a
battalion of clerics wearing long black robes and white collars accosted him with phalanges of holy water,
striking at him in the sign of the cross, making him cringe, as he turned his face away to protect it from the
assault, to no avail. Relentless, they swung heavy brass pots filled with smoking frankincense at him as the
burly brother hoisted him over his shoulder and advanced up the cathedral steps.
He could feel several hands dressing him… someone was anointing his head with oil. Then he was being
moved again, up what seemed like an endless spiral of stairs. Footsteps, many, many footfalls, rushing
like a military SWAT unit, followed him. The sound of choppers in the air, bright sunlight filled his eyes
and touched his face, but like the incense and holy water, it didn't burn.Why ? he dimly wondered.
Confusion tore at his brain. Blurred white birds of metal with a crest on the side… blue, a crown of
thorns, a sword, a bleeding heart—just like Father Pat's medallion—opened at the side, filling its belly
with humans that eagerly climbed in and dragged him with them.
This was a vampire's true Hell. The chairman had indeed had the last laugh. The choppers were flying
toward the sun! Carlos braced himself against the pain once again. How long would the chairman
continue to torture him?
Pilots wearing dark aviator sunglasses never turned around as he begged them to release him from
theSeaofPerpetual Agony . He suddenly feared Damali's touch; what beast would she turn into? An
Amanthra? He squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to watch her gorgeous brown eyes change into slanted,
glowing orbs while her beautiful body transformed into a serpentine menace. Or maybe the chairman
would be particularly cruel and she would become a were-demon. It would be a painful taunt to remind
him of his brush with that entity in the Amazon; Hell always beat your ass down with past mistakes in the
place where there was no such thing as forgiveness.
Carlos's thoughts scrambled, trying to figure out an escape, a way to negotiate a shorter sentence. Hell
was eternal, so peace and the lack of acute pain had to be measured in milliseconds. For every minute
that passed where no direct pain was being inflicted, he had a chance to rest, maybe regenerate, just
enough to be able to withstand the next assault that was destined to come. If he wasn't in pain, he could
think. If he could think, he could bargain. But what aces did he hold? What could he barter with at this
juncture?
When the choppers touched down in a deserted section of airport runway, and the illusion of humans
helped him toward a crest-bearing private jet at the end of the landing strip, he had to wonder just what
the chairman had in store for him now. And could he bear it?
Carlos opened his eyes, his breathing labored as he tried to form words. He searched the impostor
Damali's face as she led him by the hand with Big Mike on his flank helping him walk. "Where?" was all
he could manage to get out.
"Ethiopia," she said quietly, tears shining in her eyes. "Baby, we have to get out ofSydney and go to a
Christian stronghold there. It's said that is where the Ark of the Covenant is held. The clerics all agreed
this is the safest route. By nightfall, the Vampire Council might send a cleanup crew to look for your
ashes that don't exist, so we have to leavenow . Then, we'll take a transcontinental flight toAlgeria … the
mosques there are old, but we have to avoid the site of the pending Armageddon, theMiddle East .
Understand?"
None of what she was saying made any sense.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
The big brother—an international courier?—was pulling him down the tarmac with the impostor of
Father Pat jogging beside them to keep pace. Knowing that resistance was not an option within the
inquisition chambers, which only seemed to steal his strength faster, Carlos stopped struggling against
them. He had to be strategic.
"As soon as we get clearance, we have to get you behind the walls of theVatican ," the cleric said. "Until
they're sure of what you are… all the Covenant can do is keep you on the move, from fortress to
fortress."
Carlos cocked his head. He didn't believe that the chairman knew how the Covenant operated, not at
this level of detail.
Carlos peered at the man who'd spoken, then looked at the one who was supposed to be Rider.
"Dude, the Vatican is like the Pentagon for the guys with the collar—just like Asula can't just waltz you
into Mecca until you're checked out, dig?" the supposed Rider said as they walked up the jet's narrow
steps. "So, they're gonna have to take you to their hideaways in the hills… sorta like being an alien and
getting shuttled to Area 51 till ya spec out. Now why we all have to go along for the ride with your boy,
Berkfield, is beyond me. I, for one, know I didn't get bitten, although Damali's case is a little—"
"Everybody get on the plane," a tall brother with locks said, his gaze lethal. His tone made the group
stop walking as he slowly pointed to each person. "Damali has already been compromised. Jose and
Damali had a twister of harpies on their asses, and came into the church bloodied and beat up. Jose,
Dan, J.L., and Rider were also riding in the VIP vamp limos, alone, with what was then a council-level
master vamp—Rivera. Me and Mike were on the yacht, like the others eventually were, and in unseen,
dark corridors away from the group at times long enough to get nicked. Mar, Father Pat, Father Lopez,
Monk Lin, and Imam Asula were all on standby, in speedboats, out in the open, in the dead of night. My
point is, any one of us could have gotten nicked. You think the powers-that-be are going to let us roll up
on the pope with who knows how many vamps and a potential daywalker in our midst?" He shook his
head, then turned his back to the teams and strode up the jet's steps. "Our side ain't taking no chances,
and I don't blame them."
"Shabazz is right," the woman named Marlene said in a weary tone. "Life as we knew it has just ceased
to exist."
The names began to link with the faces as the memory of what had happened came back to him in fits
and spurts. The past came back in snatches of quilted memory. Without resistance he slowly walked up
the steps and entered the jet, noting the somber expressions around him as everyone took their seats.
Again, he searched Damali's face for confirmation that the truth had been told, and found it.
She clasped his hand and led him to a seat, one hand touching the smallIsis dagger at her hip. "I've got
your back," she said, her eyes holding his. "They've got mine. It's gonna be all right."
He nodded, slowly beginning to believe that this was all real. But as he fastened his seat belt with a click
and slowly turned to stare out the window at the sun, Marlene's words rang in his ears. Her truth
permeated every fiber of his being, and with that sudden knowledge, an acute sadness that he dared
never share with another living soul entered his being; life as they'd known it was null and void.
CHAPTER TWO
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Los Angeles… same night
HUNGER TORE at Yonnie's insides as he held on to the edge of the bar in the plush VIP basement
section of Club Vengeance. What the hell was going on? Earlier in the evening, the contents of bottles on
the shelves had turned to sludge, as though the blood within had suddenly aged.
All third-gen vampires and below had rolled. But to where? Even most second-gens were lying low. No
human wannabes would come near the club tonight. If he and his squad wanted to feed, they'd have to
go out hunting, old school. Where was Carlos? Concentration was impossible. The master's beacon was
nonexistent. Something was very wrong. If Carlos had been exterminated, he should have immediately
felt the jolt. But there was simply an eerie void, an absence of power and presence.
He looked up slowly, watching the club's top-shelf reserves begin to rattle, flames consuming the labels,
peeling them away, as black bottles began exploding. His second-gen bartenders instantly collapsed into
a pile of ash.
His longtime friend, Stack, stood up with effort. His squad got to their feet, their eyes taking in the horror
as the building began to deconstruct, deteriorating into an old, dilapidated structure. They were so tired
they could barely stand. The atmosphere felt thick, heavy, as though daylight were creeping in.
"Oh, shit," Yonnie murmured.
"Resources are drying up, man," Stack said, breathing hard. "Rivera musta fucked up, big-time. Maybe
another master smoked him and the territory is realigning?"
"No," Yonnie said quickly. "A new master would be building assets, not destroying them." He held his
hands out before him, feeling the vibrations, trying to search for a power pulse within the empire. He
lowered his arms slowly and glanced at his five-man squad. "Feel it," he whispered. "I don't senseany
master."
"Git the fuck outta here," Stack said, panic making his voice tight. "Rivera's rank just got knocked down
a notch, maybe, but—"
"Feel it!" Yonnie shouted. "Lock in on the females. Where are they?"
Stack slowly opened his arms, palms facing out toward the crumbling walls, and he turned in a shaky
circle. He blinked twice and balled his palms into fists. "Ash." Swallowing hard, he tried again. "The
seriously old, fine ones are…" Stack's voice trailed off as he watched his hands darken and his arms fall
away before his eyes.
Yonnie stepped back from his two-hundred-year-old friend in horror. Stack's expression of terror
became frozen in a face that crumbled away as the others in the squad hit the ground beside him, leaving
only their recently tailored suits.
For a moment, Yonnie couldn't move. He brought his hands to his face, wondering why he hadn't
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
disintegrated along with the others. Feeding now was imperative. Yet he couldn't muster the energy for
flight or transport. Breathing was more than an effort; it was nearly impossible. His hands went to his
face, feeling its skeletal remains. Then he spotted a pair of golden yellow orbs low in a shadowy corner.
Yonnie immediately bulked up. His strength was severely compromised and he knew he was in trouble.
The predator in the corner suddenly lunged. Huge were-demon jaws narrowly missed his face as he leapt
back, but the claws of the beast opened five deep gashes in his chest. He gasped at the pain. In his
weakened state, he was no match for a were-demon.
Sections of wall gave way as the were-demon slammed against support beams, pillars, missing Yonnie
as he dodged with what was left of his vampire strength and leapt up to a ceiling beam and held on.
However, exhaustion was rapidly slowing him down, and the were-demon seemed to sense that. It
waited for a moment with a leering smile on its wolflike face—the form it had chosen to take. Its
elongated fangs glistening in the full moonlight that now shone through a missing portion of the left wall, it
stood on hind legs, flexing in a spectacular display of strength and power, clearly challenging Yonnie.
"Now, what's your strategy—since the Vamp Empire is mere ash?" a snarling, low voice asked.
Yonnie stared at the creature from his perch on the high fragile beam.What the hell had happened out
there ? He needed to keep this dumb motherfucker talking. The portals to level five were wide open.
"Who said we ain't running shit?" Yonnie said through a snarl. "Just because you caught us on a slow
night don't mean we won't have your ass seen."
The were-demon laughed and dropped to all fours and began circling beneath Yonnie. "Where's your
master, bitch?"
The question taunted Yonnie. He gripped the beam tightly, his fingernails digging into the wood.
He glanced around, knowing that were-demons, especially those of the wolf persuasion, usually traveled
in packs. But he couldn't detect any others. He could only assume this one was walking point for those
soon to follow.
"I thought so," the stinking thing said with a sneer. "I told them your forces were vulnerable, now I know
for sure. It's just like all your other vamp hidey-holes. Vulnerable throughout the empire." The beast
laughed, vicious and triumphant, as he threw his head back and released a long, bloodcurdling wolf wail.
Knowing that he had only seconds to act before the place filled with were-demons Yonnie concentrated
every last ounce of his strength. He felt his fingertips ignite. Every shard of broken, jagged glass behind
the bar magnetized, drew together, and became an airborne blade that he sent flying into his tormentor's
throat. Yonnie watched with no small measure of satisfaction as the wolf's call was abruptly cut off on a
gurgle of blood and the stunned expression still remained on the were-demon's hideous, distended face
when his head fell to the floor. Black demon blood spattered the walls.
Acting quickly before the beast began to smolder and combust, Yonnie leapt down to the floor. He
needed to feed, and the shame of eating from the belly of a beast was beyond him. But this was about
survival. In one deft move he slit the beast's abdomen, knowing that it wouldn't have attacked without
feeding first.
Reaching in, he extracted a human arm and a section of torso, siphoning what undigested human blood
he could from it, then cast it away in disgust, careful not to allow any remnants of the demon's foul blood
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
to intermingle. Then he got up and ran, hearing the sound of wolf calls in the distance.
A team of hunters would be on his ass with the quickness to seek retribution for their fallen comrade. He
needed someplace to lie low. If old lairs were compromised and graveyards were impenetrable due to
prayer barriers, where could he go? Who was left? Why did all but him burn? If a master went down, the
whole line and all its assets didn't torch.At least that was myth .
Tears stung his eyes as he kept moving. His master was dead; he had to be. Then what was the point of
survival? He'd been an underling for years working for other ruthless masters. Rivera had been the only
one to treat him with respect and dignity.
Yonnie stopped abruptly when he found himself in front of Carlos'sBeverly Hills lair. The night became
his cloak as he pulled it around himself and remained invisible. He closed his eyes, opened his arms, and
slowly dropped to his knees. His emotions crashed down on him and he wept. Carlos was missing.
Stack and the squad were gone. Their assets had disintegrated. He had been reduced to a carrion
feeder.
"Where you at, man?" Yonnie asked the night. "If you go down, we all go down!" His voice hitched on a
bitter sob. In a short time, he'd come to love Carlos like a true blood brother. No matter what had
happened, who had won, he knew he'd follow Carlos into the very sun.
"Whoever did you, I will smoke," he promised the night. "Whoever stole from you, I will rob. We go to
war, man. For you."
Silence answered Yonnie, the stars above teasing him with their glittering faces. It wasn't fair. Rivera had
had it all. Yonnie stared at the abandoned lair, despair filling him as he yelled his master's name. "Carlos
!"
Carlos watched Marlene go to Damali's side as soon as the captain had turned the seat belt sign off. The
older woman moved with a slow grace, her steps measured, her expression grave. Damali turned her
head away, and Marlene stooped beside her, taking Damali's hand gently within her own.
"Why don't you come to the ladies' room and let me help sponge you off?" Marlene's voice was low,
gentle, but also contained a plea, when Damali shook her head no.
"I have fresh clothes for you." Marlene's eyes met Carlos's for a moment and then she turned back to
Damali. "You don't want that all over the seats."
Neither woman needed to say it. They both knew speaking of the miscarriage was off-limits right now.
Carlos watched Damali nod and close her eyes. For the first time since the surreal had begun to unfold,
he saw it—her condition, her team's condition. The awareness and memory of her pregnancy slammed
into his brain. She'd survived the unthinkable. Tears of heartbreak stung his eyes and nose, but he refused
to let them fall. The chairman would pay. Carlos tightened his fists and stared out the window for a
moment. Thiswas not over. The sight of Damali's blood-caked, tattered dress stole his breath and
shredded his soul.
He turned in his seat and moved a lock off her damp brow. "I'll be all right. Go with Marlene," Carlos
said quietly, ashamed that he'd been bugging so hard that the obvious had never occurred to him. Each
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
摘要:

 THEFORBIDDEN.Copyright©2005byLeslieEsdaileBanks.Allrightsreserved.PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.Nopartofthisbookmaybeusedorreproducedinanymannerwhatsoeverwithoutwrittenpermissionexceptinthecaseofbriefquotationsembodiedincriticalarticlesorreviews.Forinformation,addressSt.Martin'sPress,175FifthAv...

展开>> 收起<<
L.A. Banks - Vampire Huntress Legend 5 - The Forbidden.pdf

共298页,预览60页

还剩页未读, 继续阅读

声明:本站为文档C2C交易模式,即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载,本站只是中间服务平台,本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间,仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理,对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私,请立即通知玖贝云文库,我们立即给予删除!
分类:外语学习 价格:5.9玖币 属性:298 页 大小:1005.36KB 格式:PDF 时间:2024-12-23

开通VIP享超值会员特权

  • 多端同步记录
  • 高速下载文档
  • 免费文档工具
  • 分享文档赚钱
  • 每日登录抽奖
  • 优质衍生服务
/ 298
客服
关注