Dark Possession(115)

"You should not be here," Manolito said. He glanced at Draven, at the snicker on his face, and wanted to smash something. Vlad and his lifemate deserved so much more from a son. "This is my mess, and I will find a way to clean it up." He wanted to spare them the pain of facing the monster Draven had been. Somehow, he knew Ivory would have wanted that rather than revenge.

"You have destroyed their plans and managed to bring Maxim to the realization of what he has done. He will not aid his brothers," Vlad said. "Your time here is over. I have yet to do my duty and then ours will be, too."

Manolito looked down at his hands. They were no longer transparent. He closed his fingers into a tight fist and then opened his hand once again.

"We stand with you always," Manolito said, knowing Vlad would understand he meant every De La Cruz.

"You and your brothers have been loyal to our people," Vlad said." I trust that you will aid the jaguars as best you can, and give that same loyalty I have always counted on to my sons."

Sarantha stepped close to him and touched the scars. "You saved Mikhail's life. And you saved our son, Jacques, by stepping in front of Shea and taking the poisoned knife. You also saved our unborn grandson. I thank you. It is not enough, but it is all I have to give."

Vlad gripped his forearms. "Go now. Leave this place. You do not belong here anymore. Let me take care of the business I should have centuries ago. Live large and well, old friend."

Manolito stepped away. He felt himself reaching for MaryAnn. For his brothers. For life. He stopped for a moment to observe Vlad and Sarantha face their son.

"You have had many years here, Draven, and we have stood by you, but no longer. Even here, when you are

given the chance to redeem yourself, you refuse. We accept your decision. Go now, from this place to the next."

"No! You cannot. I am your son." For the first time, the smirk was gone from Draven's face. He threw himself at his mother, wrapping his arms around her legs. "Do not let him condemn me. He cannot send me away."

"We condemn you, as we should have so many years ago, Draven," Sarantha said, conviction in her voice. "Go now. Perhaps in the next place you will learn far more than we could ever teach you."

Draven screamed as black smoke curled around him, pouring from his body to surround him. Shadows moved along the ground, skittered over the trees. The vines pushed up from the earth, long, tangled barbs on the seeking tentacles. The vampires stood mesmerized, some with smiles, others with nervous scowls, but all frozen as Draven tried to run.

The vines reared back, coiled like snakes, and then lashed out, circling Draven's ankles. They yanked hard, and he fell into a nest of greedy claws reaching out of the ground for him. One moment he was there, wrapped in the barbs, his mouth opened wide in a now-silent scream, the next he was gone, swallowed by a black hole.

There was silence. Sarantha dropped her head on Vlad's shoulder. He held her close, protectively, sheltering her against his larger body. Manolito could feel the pull of his own world drawing him, and he went, eager to get back to his own lifemate, to hold her in his arms and shelter her the way Vlad had Sarantha throughout their centuries together. When he glanced back, all he could see of them was blazing light, and then that, too, was gone and he was back in his own body.

MaryAnn gasped and threw her arms around him, fitting neatly, perfectly, into his frame. He smiled over her head at Riordan. "Thank you," he said simply. And meant it.

Chapter Eighteen

M ^ ^

"Are you all right? Did they hurt you?" MaryAnn skimmed her hand anxiously down Manolito's chest. "I was so worried about you."

"No, meu amor, but you-I saw you with blood on your shoulder and belly." He touched her bare shoulder where the angry marks showed, then tugged up her shirt to examine the bare expanse of flesh.

Riordan cleared his throat. "I am still here."

Neither looked up or acknowledged his statement.

MaryAnn ran her hands under Manolito's shirt. "How did you get out of that place? I was right, wasn't I? Maxim was trying to kill you." She went up on her toes to press half a dozen kisses down Manolito's throat. "You are free of the shadow world for good, aren't you?"

Riordan scratched his head. "I just want to say one word here. Vampire. Are you listening, Manolito? She fought a vampire."

That got through. Manolito pulled her closer and this time did a long examination of the wounds.

"I removed all the parasites, if you're interested," Riordan said.

Manolito swept her once again against him, raining kisses along her shoulder, his heart leaping in his chest and then settling into a steady rhythm. He should have thought of their blood. If they had managed to pull her into their world with the infected blood in her system, the blood would have called to them. Xavier might have been able to find a way to resurrect his dead army after all.