Nicolas De La Cruz & Lara Calladine

Nicolas is another one of those dominate de La Cruz males, but Lara would rather be dead than be controlled.

Xavier, a master mage, became jealous of the Carpathian "immortality". He started plotting how to steal their ability to heal, by drinking their blood. He also decided to destroy the species. He has used Dark Magics, biological weapons, and toxins (to poison the soil) to make the females unable to bring a baby to term. He is now a vampire.

Lara was tortured by Xavier, her great grandfather, as a child and has strong mage abilities. She can remove the infection from a female or male. (The males are absorbing the infection from the soil, maybe. The females are infected by the males. If a baby is carried to term, it is infected by its mother and generally dies.)

Lara must stop after two blood transfers (three is necessary to make her Carpathian and complete the ritual binding to Nicolas) because they don't know if she will lose her mage abilities, hence her ability to save the species, if she becomes Carpathian. ( )

The heroine gnaws through her scarred wrists, allowing her blood to drain into the dirt because she believes suicide is the only way to escape the hero. Unfortunately, she survives and the book goes on, and on, and on from there.

Feehan includes a lot of the Carpathian Language in the dialog, and adds anthropological essays in the back matter. I found the supplemental material to be the most interesting part of the book. She has created an intricate world, but she's run out of interesting ways to tell stories about it. ( )

Nicolas De La Cruz has come back to the Carpathian mountains to deliver a serious message to Mikhail Dubrinsky, the prince of the Carpathian people. The De La Cruz brothers have discovered a terrible plot against their people and the prince, and must get word to him and the other Carpathian hunters to remain vigilant. Once he has delivered his message, Nicolas has every intention of meeting the dawn and ending his life. He has been living in an emotionless, colorless world for many centuries, and has become tired of battling the enemy. He has no idea that destiny will bring his salvation to him that very night.

Lara Calladine spent the first years of her life trapped in the ice caves, a victim of her demented grandfather Xavier, the dark mage. After escaping, she learned to hide her "special" abilities from the humans around her, and has returned to the Carpathian mountains seeking her answers from her past. Part human, part mage, and part Carpathian, she will need all of her power to cope with the aggressive Carpathian male claiming her as his lifemate.

Nicolas must move beyond his domineering instincts toward Lara and help her find her way back into the deadly ice caves, for within her memories lie the key to the problems the Carpathian race has been facing for years. Lara has the power to unlock the mysteries surrounding Carpathian pregnancies and the high infant mortality rate. She may be the only one powerful enough to save the Carpathian people.

Dark Possession seems to follow the new pattern that has emerged in the last three books. The series is evolving, adding new and exciting elements, while giving us thrilling stories of new lifemates. Lara and Nicolas were compelling characters, and their story was very well-written. Dark Possession added to some of the other stories, and some lurking questions from the last few books were resolved. The only problem I have with this book is that it had a weak ending. I realize the purpose was to really leave things open for future books, but it was still a little disappointing.

Overall, Dark Possession was a little different and refreshing. Now I just have to wait until September to see what happens next! ( )

Centuries of fighting vampires left Nicolas De La Cruz ready to meet the dawn (end his existence) after completing one more task for his family, his prince and his people. With his darkness close, he finally heard the voice that could save him and his soul, as Lara Calladine stabbed a knife in his side to get him off her. She had come to the Carpathian Mountains to finally deal with her childhood nightmares and find the only family she ever knew. The Aunts had always been there telling her stories, teaching her and then helping her to escape. Finding so many of their stories to be true, including that of the lifemate, Lara struggled to trust Nicolas and fight her past nightmares.

Book 19 ….. Just say Wow! Was the Curse his or hers? The elements and layers of this series are getting more complex, the addition of so many with Mage influence opens the door for such great sorcerers stories. As always, the characters are so easy to care about, the interactions with the other Carpathians are exciting and the fall of Nicolas’s ego was nicely done. This is (in my opinion) the darkest of the series with the abuse that Lara remembers and the fear that she has of people and things. The questions are stating to have answers for the Carpathian people and that is one of the best parts of a series, you become (almost) invested in their lives. More bonus, and appendix with the Healing Chants and information about the Carpathian language. I am looking forward to the next novel (due out September 2009). I don’t want to wait, but obviously I will. ( )

Born into a world of ice, and slave to her evil father, Lara Calladine knew only paralyzing fear as a child—and escaping with her mysterious gifts unbroken would be the only way to survive her great Carpathian heritage as a Dragonseeker. Human, yet mage, she was of the blood of three species yet belonged to none. She walked her chosen path alone, guided by the wisdom of her aunts—to blend in and let no one know of her ancestry and powers. And never trust anyone. For beyond the frozen hell of her youth was a world of even greater mysteries and dangers.

Today Lara is the leading expert in the field of ice cave study around the world and the healing microorganisms that thrive in them. She’s also in search of something else: the source of her nightmares—the cold dark corners of her childhood. Only one man has the will and the powers to help her: Nicolas De La Cruz, for whom centuries of hunting and killing have long since taken their toll. Dangerous and arrogant, he still longs to feel sensual love without the hunger for blood. Now, between Lara and Nicolas, a tenuous trust has emerged, and a passion neither has ever known before as a melody of dark promise begins.

But as each scales the treacherous land of the Carpathian in search of their past, they also harbor a secret that could save or destroy them. And as each may be desirous of a new beginning as lifemates, they are also haunted by the unknown dangers of a dark curse. ( )