Dark Dream

This is the seventh book in the series. It tells the story of how Falcon Amiras and Sara Marten came together.

Synopsis[]

She's known him since she was fifteen. Every night, he is with her: his face, his voice. Tonight, Sara Marten will meet the man who is both angel and demon, salvation and temptation: Falcon—the Carpathian, the banished hero. Tonight, Sara will meet the dark-eyed destroyer destined to be her mate.

Christine's Notes[]

I picked up a magazine while waiting to be called in for an appointment and came across an article about these "sewer children". They were children who lived in the sewers in Romania. It was heart wrenching. In this article it told of a woman who lived in the United States, who'd read about these children and was moved to help them. She went to Romania, got a job, and set up a place for these children to come to get food, clothes and other necessities. She was amazing, not just trying to do more, but actually doing so much on her own. To me, this woman was the ultimate heroine. It was this woman who I had in mind when I wrote the heroine, Sara, for Dark Dream.

—Christine Feehan

Characters[]

Blythe
Chrissy
Emma
Falcon Amiras
Gary Jansen
Gregori Daratrazanoff
Jacques Dubrinsky
Jase
Mikhail Dubrinsky
Nordov
Raven Whitney
Robert Marten
Sara Marten
Shea O'Halloran
Travis
Water Dragon

Cliff's Notes[]

This is a short summary of the story and contains some spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

The beginning of the book is a flashback to several centuries in the past, when Vladimer asked for volunteers to leave the Carpathian Mountains and hunt vampires. The Prince knew that he was condemning these men to long, lonely lives without the chance of meeting a lifemate, since no one at that time knew that psychic human women could be converted into Carpathians. Among the men were Lucian and Gabriel, whom Vladimer instructed to remain in their homeland. Though he is not named, it is clear that Falcon Amiras was also one of the volunteers.

In the present day, Falcon is very near to turning, so he is traveling back to his homeland, where he plans to greet the dawn. He wants to see the new Prince, Mikhail, and his lifemate, Raven, to know that his long years of service were in protection of a future for his people. He is about to be attacked by some human criminals, when Sara tries to warn him. He immediately recognizes her as his lifemate. She runs away, and he disarms, then drinks blood from, one of the attackers. Sara returns and sees Falcon with red eyes and Nordov with blood running down his neck, so she mistakes him for a vampire. Falcon chases her back to her house, where she finally gets a good look at his face. She realizes that he is the man she has been imagining for fifteen years.

When Sara was a teenager, her parents took her and her brother Robert on one of their archaeological digs. Two momentous events occurred on this trip. First, Sara found a diary that Falcon had written to his unknown lifemate over a thousand years ago. Second, she happened upon a vampire murdering a worker. That vampire tracked her and killed her family while she hid in a closet. That vampire has been pursuing her ever since.

Falcon explains the difference between Carpathians and vampires to Sara. He also describes the concept of a lifemate, and she agrees to become Carpathian to be with him. He claims her and drinks her blood, but they do not consummate the relationship because the vampire begins to lash out with an angry storm. Falcon hunts the vampire, but cannot locate him. This causes him to realize the vampire is an ancient, equally as powerful. Falcon returns to Sara and they make a plan for her to travel to the Carpathian Mountains to find his people the next day. Falcon will follow as soon as the sun sets, but Sara is supposed to start out first because she is in such grave danger. Falcon and Sara make love, then he goes to ground and she departs.

On the road, Sara is almost hit by a van driven by a ghoul. Inside the van are seven abandoned children whom Sara had intended to adopt. She pursues the van for hours until she loses it. She stops to look at a map and the ghoul reappears, trying to kidnap her. She attacks it again and again, but fails to defeat it. When it finally leaves, she gets into her truck, but the ghoul crashes the van into her truck and knocks it over a cliff. Sara is badly injured, and she calls telepathically to Falcon, who broadcasts a plea for help to all Carpathians.

Shea O'Halloran and Jacques Dubrinsky arrive to rescue Sara. Shea does her best to heal Sara in a limited time, then Jacques carries her to Mikhail's house. She waits inside with Shea, Raven, and Jacques until more warriors arrive. Meanwhile, Falcon has traveled from Romania and meets up with Mikhail. Mikhail retrieves the children and place them in Gary Jansen's care while Falcon destroys the ghoul. Falcon and Mikhail return to his house and briefly battle the vampire with Jacques, but he flees. It is decided that Sara must be converted immediately.

After the conversion, Falcon disguises himself as Sara and draws out the vampire. Mikhail and Jacques are nearby, disguised as animals. They fight the vampire, and Falcon sacrifices himself to save Mikhail. Mikhail and Jacques defeat the vampire, then take Falcon to a healing cave. He recovers, and Sara and Falcon settle in a home in the Carpathian Mountains with their seven adopted children.