Dark Possession by Christine Feehan

greens and reds of leaves and flowers blended and dulled until it was hard to distinguish color, yet even with the dull gray, she caught the movement of insects and lizards, the flash of the tree frogs and monkeys as they scurried overhead. Her night vision had always been excellent, but now it seemed more so; without the colors to dazzle and blind, she could identify a wider spectrum of things as she raced by.
    It was exhilarating to have all of her senses so sharp. Her hearing was definitely much more acute. She could hear air rushing out of Juliette’s lungs. The ebb and flow of blood in veins. Deep inside of her something wild unfurled and stretched.
    MaryAnn caught her breath, frightened. She stumbled and nearly fell, stopping so abruptly Riordan and Juliette nearly ran her over. She backed away from them, her palm covering the mark over her breast where it throbbed and burned.
    “What did he do to me?” she whispered. “I’m changing into something else.”
    Juliette caught at Riordan’s wrist and squeezed tightly to prevent him from saying the wrong thing. He might not see how fragile and lost MaryAnn looked, but she did. There was a different, very real fear in her eyes now, wary, like a cornered animal. They didn’t know how MaryAnn would react, but more importantly, she didn’t know, and that had Juliette spooked.
    “We don’t know exactly what Manolito did do to you, other than he probably took one blood exchange.” Juliette drew in a deep breath, trying to be honest. “Maybe two. You’re not Carpathian, so he didn’t convert you.”
    “But Nicolae took my blood to better protect Destiny.”
    And she wasn’t afraid of him. Riordan picked that out of her mind. Not like she is now. Why wasn’t she afraid to have Nicolae take her blood when it would be the natural thing to be?
    MaryAnn put a hand to her head, brushing as if to sweep away insects, taking another step backward, away from them. Fear grew with every breath she took. Something was terribly wrong; she knew it, could feel it deep inside her. Closing her fist, she dug her nails deep into her palm to test herself. She was beginning to doubt what was real and what might be illusion.
    She knows we are talking privately, Riordan cautioned, and it upsets her.
    And have you asked yourself how she knows? She shouldn’t. She doesn’t even think she’s psychic.
    She’s more than psychic, Juliette, Riordan said. She wields power without effort.
    Or the knowledge that she’s doing it. “This is crazy, MaryAnn,” Juliette added aloud. “Neither Riordan nor I know what to make of it.”
    “I want to go home.” Even as she said it, MaryAnn knew she couldn’t, not until she found Manolito De La Cruz and assured herself he was alive and well and not in some kind of terrible trouble. Damn her nature, the one that always needed to help and comfort others. She lifted her shaking hand. Her nail had already grown, much, much faster than even the accelerated rate normal for her. “What do you think he did to me? You must have a guess. And is it reversible? Because I’m human and my family is human and I like being human. This is what comes from having a skinny bloodsucking white girl as my best friend.” And she was so going to have a few things to say to Destiny when she saw her again— if she ever saw her again.
    Juliette cast Riordan another anxious glance. “I’m so sorry, MaryAnn. If I knew what was happening, I’d tell you. The thing is this—humans have lived for centuries side-by-side with other species. In all those years, you and I both know, eventually the species are going to mix. Maybe several centuries ago, there was something we don’t know about. I have jaguar blood. So do a lot of the women who are psychic.”
    MaryAnn shook her head. “Not me.” It felt wrong. She knew her mother and father and her grandparents and great-grandparents. There weren’t any spots in her family and no one sucked blood.
    Could she be mage?