Table of Contents
Title PageCopyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Teaser chapter
Praise for the Novels of Christina Dodd
Into the Flame
“This fourth book in the interesting and unique Darkness Chosen series is as alluring and intriguing as the others.”—Fresh Fiction
“The climax of the Darkness Chosen series arrives with all of Dodd’s customary sizzling sensuality and dark emotions. A book by Dodd is always worth reading, but here’s hoping she ventures into the paranormal again.”—Romantic Times
“[A]n explosive page-turner. This book truly does justice to the series for all of us who have been fans from the very first page of Scent of Darkness. . . . I would recommend this book to all readers of paranormal romances.”—Eye on Romance
“Once again Christina Dodd weaves her spell . . . real and sexy . . . full of suspense and adventure. . . . It’s very rare I find a series that makes me want to keep it around on my shelves.”—Fallen Angel Reviews
“Loyalty, love, and strength resonate on every page. Truly, this is the best of the series.”—Huntress Book Reviews
“[E]njoyable and easy to get caught up in.”—Road to Romance
“[A]ddictive. . . . We’re excited to finally have Firebird’s story.”
—Rendezvous
“[A] stunning tale of love, of sin and redemption, of exciting adventure.” —Romance Reviews Today
Into the Shadow
“[T]he action [is] brisk and immediate. Adrik’s story is as intense as that of his brothers, and Karen is a tough, worthy sparring partner. . . . The cliff-hanger ending is sure to whet appetites.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Ms. Dodd has once again created an amazing novel.”
—Eye on Romance
“Dodd builds believable characters which draw you in quickly.”
—Road to Romance
“Creating a character that is dangerous, violent, almost out of control, and yet still redeemable is quite a trick—but Dodd pulls it off superbly. This is another stellar book from a most talented author!”
—Romantic Times
continued . . .
“[F]antastic. I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat . . . wonderfully conceived and executed. . . . Dodd conveys a tremendous sense of place . . . all in all a gorgeous book.”—Errant Dreams Reviews
“Sexy and tormented, the men of the Darkness Chosen are darkly appealing.”—Rendezvous
“[A] fantastic read with a mysterious, darkly seductive hero, an independent and admirable heroine, and a sexy, fast-paced plot.”
—Romance Roundtable
“[A] powerful book, sensual, even erotic, but also otherworldly and mystical. . . . I enthusiastically award a Perfect 10 to Christina Dodd’s Into the Shadow.”—Romance Reviews Today
“The action is nonstop, the sex is primal, the race for survival compelling in its intensity . . . an emotionally powerful story.”
—Romance Novel TV
Thigh High
“Making this damaged and obsessive hero likable despite his arrogance demonstrates Dodd’s wonderful gift for characterization. The offbeat characters and undeniable charm of New Orleans make this romp a joy to experience!”—Romantic Times (top pick, 4½ stars)
“[C]harming and likable characters . . . make this an enjoyable read. . . . You get a real taste and feel for this wonderful city.”
—Fresh Fiction
“Christina Dodd is a master. She can quickly sketch a minor character to make him or her unforgettable. . . . She pours both humor and passion into the relationship between Nessa and Mac. . . . Thigh High is a winner I highly recommend.”—Romance Reviews Today
“Dodd has penned another terrific story with a hero and heroine you’ll fall in love with and littered with wonderful secondary characters and enough fast-moving twists and turns and sizzling-hot sensuality to keep you turning pages until the final word.”
—Romance Novel TV
Touch of Darkness
“Enthralling, intense.”—The State (Columbia, SC)
“A sweeping saga of good and evil, the series chronicles the adventures of four siblings who try to redeem their family from a pact an ancestor made with the devil a thousand years earlier. This latest promises to be one of her best to date.”—Library Journal
“Filled with action and adventure . . . a must read.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Christina Dodd demonstrates why she is such a popular writer, in any genre. The characters are boldly drawn, with action on all sides. Readers will be riveted until the final page.”—A Romance Review
Scent of Darkness
“The first in a devilishly clever, scintillatingly sexy new paranormal series by Christina Dodd.”—Chicago Tribune
“[A] satisfying series kickoff . . . [a] fast-paced, well-written paranormal with a full, engaging mythology and a handful of memorable characters.”—Publishers Weekly
“Dodd kicks off her new Darkness Chosen series with a bang. A multilayered heroine and a sizzling-hot hero give readers plenty of emotional—and physical—action, and the relentless game of hunter and prey adds an adrenaline ride for good measure.”—Booklist
“Multigenre genius Dodd dives headfirst into the paranormal realm with . . . a scintillating and superb novel!”
—Romantic Times (top pick, 4½ stars)
... and Her Other Novels
“Dodd delivers a high-octane, blowout finale. . . . This romantic suspense novel is a delicious concoction that readers will be hard-pressed not to consume in one gulp.”—Publishers Weekly
“Warm characterizations and caperlike plot make Dodd’s hot contemporary romance a delight, and the cliff-hanger ending will leave readers eager for the sequel.”—Booklist
“Dodd adds humor, sizzling sensuality, and a cast of truly delightful secondary characters to produce a story that will not disappoint.”
—Library Journal
“Sexy and witty, daring and delightful.”
—Teresa Medeiros, New York Times bestselling author of After Midnight
Other Books by Christina Dodd
Christina Dodd’s The Chosen Ones Series
Storm of Visions
Storm of Shadows
Christina Dodd’s Darkness Chosen Series
Scent of Darkness
Touch of Darkness
Into the Shadow
Into the Flame
Christina Dodd’s Romantic Suspense
Trouble in High Heels
Tongue in Chic
Thigh High
Danger in a Red Dress
SIGNET
Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,
Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2,
Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,
Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632,
New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
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Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First Printing, August 2009
Copyright © Christina Dodd, 2009
All rights reserved
REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
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 Web sites or their content.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author ’s rights is appreciated.
eISBN : 978-1-101-10195-7
http://us.penguingroup.com
For Susan Mallery
We’ve survived so many years in publishing
and celebrated all the ups and downs with friendship
and laughter.
It’s time we split another bottle of champagne.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Launching a new series involves hours of plotting and planning, glorious moments of exultation, and humbling hours spent desperately looking for inspiration. Luckily for me, I’m not alone—I have the wonderful team at NAL backing me up. Thank you to Kara Welsh for giving me the opportunity to introduce The Chosen Ones and encouraging me to link it to my beloved Darkness Chosen series. Thank you to my editor, Kara Cesare, who generously gives me her inspirations when mine are lacking. Thanks to Frank Walgren and the production department. Thank you to the art department led by Anthony Ramondo, the publicity department with Craig Burke and Michele Langley, and of course, the spectacular Penguin sales department. Thank you all.
A special thanks to Shelley Kay of Web Crafters for designing a fabulous new Web site worthy of The Chosen Ones.
Long ago, when the world was young, a young woman lived in a poor village on the edge of a vast, dark forest. The face she saw in the reflecting pool was glorious in its splendor, and all the men of the village competed for her favors, each desiring her as his wife.
Their good opinion of her was matched only by her good opinion of herself, and she declared she would take only a man whose magnificence matched her own. She scorned the metalsmith with his blackened face, the woodsman with his hand that lacked fingers, the warrior with his scarred chest, the farmer who was stooped from planting the soil.
She took instead the eldest son of the local lord, a lazy lad as famed for his dark, wavy hair and deep-set blue eyes as for his vanity. Together they rolled on the bed, made passionate love, and talked of the comely family they would have. Before the year was out, she grew large with child. She strutted, if a woman great with child could be said to strut, and imagined how she would present the lord’s son with a strapping boy who would bind him to her forever.
But in the spring, when it came time to deliver her child, she gave birth not to one healthy male, but to two scrawny, wailing, red-faced babes. Worse, on closer examination, the two babes were not like her and her lover.
They were not perfect.
The elder looked as if red wine stained him from the tips of his tiny fingers to his bony shoulder.
The younger, a girl, had a dirty smudge in the palm of her hand that to the mother looked exactly like . . . an eye.
Disgusting. And terrifying.
These children would not do.
The mother rose from her birthing bed. She ignored the lord’s messengers, ignored the dismay of the women who attended the birth, ignored her own bleeding body. She took her children, the children she had brought forth from her womb, and disappeared from the village on a mission that made the midwife huddle by the fire and mutter a prayer.
She took the trail that wound into the deepest part of the forest where, it was said, the old and hungry gods waited to devour any human who dared venture close. There she abandoned the boy.
The girl she tossed into a swiftly running stream.
At the moment when she turned away, abandoning her children without a backward glance, they were left devoid of the gift every child is automatically given at birth—a parent’s love. In that moment, their small hearts stopped beating. They died. . . .
And came back to life changed, gifted, the vacuum in their hearts filled by a new gift, one given in pity and in love.
These two children were the first Abandoned Ones.
They didn’t perish, as their mother intended.
The boy was picked up by a group of wanderers, and carried by them into the subcontinent of India, where he grew into manhood. There he became a legend, for he created fire in the palm of his hand.
That was his gift.
As he grew in age and wisdom, he gathered around him others like himself, babes who had been tossed aside like offal and, as amends, had been given a special gift. They were the Chosen Ones, seven men and women who formed a powerful force of light in a dark world.
The girl floated down the cold torrent, bobbing to the surface and screaming when her tiny body caught on a branch. A woman—a witch—heard the shrieks and pulled the baby from the water. Disappointed by the scrawny, worthless thing, she intended to toss her back . . . until she saw the eye on the baby’s palm. She knew then that the child was special, so she took her to her home and raised her, starved her, tormented her, used her as a slave.
She taught her how to hate.
On the day the girl became a woman, and her first menstrual blood stained her thighs, she looked at the witch and, in a vision, foresaw the old woman’s future. In a voice warm with delight, she told the witch a horrible death awaited her.
The girl was a seer, and that was her gift.
Determined to evade her fate, the witch set up an altar to her master, the devil, and prepared to sacrifice the girl. But as the girl had grown up, the woman had grown old, and the girl took the knife and plunged it into the witch’s heart.
The devil himself took form.
He scrutinized the girl, as beautiful as her mother, yet not heartless. No, this girl was steeped in anger, and with her gift, she would be a worthy instrument in his hand. So he showed her his wonders, promised her a place at his right hand, and commissioned
her to find others like herself and bring them to him to do evil in the world. Around her, she gathered six other abandoned children—warped, abused, and special—and they were the Others.