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Silke Vriese Reinders knows a war is coming. The demon slayer has seen it over and over again in the cards—and the battle won’t just be for the survival of her remote village, but for all mankind. Silke knows the only way to win will be with the help of the Carpathians. A fact that fills her with trepidation, as she is fated to be the lifemate to one of the ancient supernatural warriors—bound to a complete stranger and responsible for his soul.
One of the oldest, most dangerous Carpathians, Benedek Kovak is more beast than man. Locked away for centuries, the only thing that has stopped him from becoming one of the monsters he’s sworn to defeat is the thought of his lifemate. When Benedek senses the impending danger, he sets out to find her before it’s too late. But their enemy has laid a trap that pushes him closer to turning than ever before.
For so long Benedek has felt nothing. Now, some dark art is compelling him to indulge in cravings he thought long buried. He has no hope that anyone can restore what’s left of his tainted soul, but Silke is nothing like he imagined. Perhaps she’s strong enough to fight back the darkness. Perhaps together they can defeat an adversary hell bent on destroying them all....
Excerpted from Dark
Hope by Christine Feehan Copyright © 2025 by Christine Feehan.
Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this
excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the
publisher.
Silke was fourteen when Astrid's now familiar voice
told her to go to Tora and ask questions about a species of people called
Carpathians. Silke always looked forward to listening to her mother's voice and
hearing her advice. This was the first time the recording hadn't been just
personal advice from mother to daughter. There weren't her usual thoughts on
the recording or even tips on fighting demons. Astrid instead detailed how
important it was for her to learn about the Carpathian species and reiterated
several times that she was to rely on Tora to educate her.
Silke had grown up speaking an ancient language, one that Tora referred to as
Carpathian. She'd asked, of course, where its origin was, but Tora had simply
said she would reveal all to her in time. Silke was so busy learning everything
from fighting skills to other languages that she had stopped asking. Now, her
mother had specifically instructed her to learn what she could about the
Carpathian people from Tora.
Tora had been her best friend almost from the first day Silke could remember,
even before she could walk. Tora was kind and patient, and Silke considered her
family, a sibling. Since both of her parents had died, as a child Silke clung
to Tora. She always seemed older, although when they were children, she
couldn't have been more than five years older-at least that was what Silke had
thought at the time.
"When I first asked you about the Carpathian species, you told me they
were warriors, hunting vampires," Silke said to Tora. "At that time,
you said they slept in rejuvenating soil and drank blood without killing their
donors. You told me they had tremendous powers, including shape-shifting and
flying. You were very matter-of-fact. I didn't have any trouble understanding
or believing. Mostly because I knew you. When you told me that every gift comes
with drawbacks, and you explained that Carpathians were nearly immortal but
would become paralyzed during daylight hours and come out only at night, I
realized you were Carpathian. You visited me at night, never during the day.
Only once in that conversation did you mention demons and Carpathians in the
same breath. I thought you meant vampires, but you didn't, did you?"
Tora shook her head. "Carpathians view vampires as just that-vampires.
They're wholly evil and prey on every species on this earth they can. They
create flesh-eating puppets and ruin the land. They have made alliances in the
underworld recently. Banding together and making alliances is new, from what
I'm told."
That didn't explain the demon reference Tora had so casually made all those
years ago. Silke knew where vampires came from. When she turned fifteen, she
learned that aside from being a demon slayer, her mother had also passed on
another responsibility-a huge one. Silke guarded the soul of a Carpathian
warrior. If that wasn't fantasy, what was? When a Carpathian male was born, his
soul split. He retained all the darkness, and somewhere, a female child was
born with the other half of the soul made up of his light. His task was to find
her and bind their souls together. It wasn't easy to find their lifemate, and
many of them succumbed to temptation, turning vampire, forcing friends to hunt
them. The woman could die, and the soul would be born again and again for as
long as the Carpathian male still existed.
The thought of such a responsibility at fifteen was disconcerting. Still, at
fifteen, none of the things she learned about Carpathians seemed real. They
were larger-than-life heroes, hunting vampires and keeping mankind safe. They
were warriors fighting for others despite the constant whisper of temptation to
kill while feeding just so they would feel a rush. Those were facts she'd
learned from Tora.
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