Carpathian 16 - Dark Demon

Dark Demon

    Dark Series Book 16

    By Christine Feehan
    The Berkley Publishing Group
    Published by the Penguin Group
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    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

    DARK DEMON
    A Jove Book / published by arrangement with the author.

    PRINTING HISTORY
    Jove premium edition / April 2006

    Copyright © 2006 by Christine Feehan.

    Cover design by George Long.
    Cover illustration by Franco Accernero.
    Handlettering by Ron Zinn.

    All rights reserved.

    ISBN: 0-515-14088-0

    JOVE®
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    Printed In The United States Of America

    To Dr. Christopher Tong and Mary Waltrich with much love And for Kelley Granzow and her lifemate Rick

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    Acknowledgments
    Special thanks to Dr. Christopher Tong who is a continual source of information. It was his brainchild to use the Carpathian language as the proto-language of the Hungarian and Finnish languages. Dr. Chris Tong (www.christong.com) is fluent in several languages, did undergraduate studies in linguistics at Columbia University and graduate studies in computational linguistics at Stanford University. He has also studied the world's great spiritual, mythic and healing traditions for the past thirty years (and personally participated in several of them). He is also the founder of The Practical Spirituality Press, and the author of several books on "practical spirituality." Thank you, Mary for speaking Hungarian and giving us a place to start!

Chapter 1
    Natalya Shonski drew the pair of black leather trousers up over her legs and settled them on her hips where they molded to her body. Leather helped prevent injury during battles and she was certain she would be running into trouble tonight. As she pulled on the soft leather camisole, she glanced around the meticulously clean room she'd rented. The inn was small, but colorful with tapestries on the walls and bright patterned covers decorating the bed. Her weapons were laid out with great care over the beautifully woven quilt.
    She began to slip various weapons into the specially made compartments and loops in her leather pants. Throwing stars with razor-sharp edges. Several knives. A belt that provided her with room for more weapons and extra clips for the twin guns she fit snugly into the harness under each arm. She put on one of her new peasant blouses and donned the brightly colored fur vest the local women wore for warmth, effectively hiding her arsenal.
    The long skirt not only hid the leather pants, but also helped her to blend into the local population. She'd chosen a colorful one, rather than the severe black kind the older women often wore, and tied a scarf over her tawny hair to further disguise herself.
    Satisfied she