Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

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    This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
    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.
    Copyright © 2012 by Christine Feehan.
    Cover design by George Long.
    Cover handlettering by Ron Zinn.
    Cover photographs by Thinkstock and Shutterstock.
    Endpaper design by Diana Kolsky; images by Shutterstock.
    All rights reserved.
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     editions.
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    The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
    FIRST EDITION : October 2012
    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
    Feehan, Christine.
    Dark storm : a Carpathian novel / Christine Feehan.—1st ed.
    p. cm.
    ISBN 978-0-425-25580-3 (alk. paper)
    eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-61157-9
    1. Vampires—Fiction. 2. South America—Fiction. 3. Romantic suspense fiction. I. Title.
    PS3606.E36D3898 2013
    813'.6—dc23
    2012028952

For three amazing people who came through when I needed them most: Brian Feehan, Domini
     Stottsberry and Cheryl Wilson—with much love and many thanks.

F OR M Y R EADERS
    Be sure to go to http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/ to sign up for my private
     book announcement list and download the free eBook of Dark Desserts . Join my community and get firsthand news, enter the book discussions, ask your questions
     and chat with me. Please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I
     would love to hear from you.

A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
    There would be no Dark Storm without Brian Feehan, Cheryl Wilson or Domini Stottsberry. They worked long hours
     to help me with everything from brainstorming ideas and scenes to doing research and
     edits. There are no words to describe my gratitude or love for them. My sister, Anita
     Toste, always answers my call for aid in strange rituals. I just have to include Dr.
     Christopher Tong, who always finds the time in his crazy busy schedule to come to
     my aid whenever I ask. And a special thanks to Dr. Newell for all of his support.
     Thank you all so very much!





1
    “I can live with being on a small boat with no privacy for seven long days, the sun
     turning me into lobster girl, and mosquitoes feasting on me, I really can,” Riley
     Parker informed her mother. “But I swear to you, if I hear one more complaint or disgusting
     sexual innuendo from Mr. I’m-So-Hot-Every-Woman-Should-Bow-Down-To-Me, I’m just going
     to shove the idiot overboard. His constant licking his lips and saying he likes the
     idea of mother and daughter gives me the creeps.”
    Riley cast a glance of pure loathing at Don Weston, the annoying idiot in question.
     She’d met a lot of narcissistic pigs while earning her doctorate in linguistics, and
     a few more among the faculty at University of California, Berkeley, where she now
     taught, but he took the cake. He was a great brute of a man, with wide shoulders,
     a barrel chest