montbriac

Another clue in Baronns otherness was the fact that his hands and clothes had human bloodstains on them -- Mac learned that the story about the little dog he returned to a neighbor was a lie and that it was human blood he had on him. Question, is this blood from him feeding his undead vampire appetites, was the blood from some Druid ritual, was the blood from a murder or was the blood from helping someone? We know it wasn't his and we know he originally lied about it -- what's the deal?

lmb1309

Also, he made Mac describe the Shades to him in extensive detail -- I am not sure he can really see them.

I interpreted that as him wanting to figure out of is she really was a seer. 

But how about the fact that that the Shades don't touch him? Weird huh?

Also  - numerous times, mac has described his eyes. Very dark - sometimes like there are glittering shards behind them. Other times she has used the word feral.

Don't forget the tattoo's.

And have we come to the passage where he talks about not being able to smell blood in her uterus?

Also how about the baying sounds mac hears in her garage? And did we come to the part w/him & Ryodan yet?

Then we have the interesting Dynamic w/V'Lane. Clearly they know one another & there is bad blood. Neither of them will spill on one another to Mac which I found really really interesting.

And ah...what about his command to Lord Master that Mac sticks w/him & he just turns around & leaves?

And was the last book the book where she goes off to fairy...?? I cannot remember already.

You have touched on one of the things I think he is. I won't elaborate until until you finished the 3rd.

I know you like books but I can send it to you as a PDF if you want.

We know it wasn't his and we know he originally lied about it -- what's the deal?

I think we get a clue to this in the next book but honestly - I think an even bigger clue could possibly be in the Highlander books.

montbriac

The only time there is a complaint is when she is kept in the dark & she feels she needs to know more for her own benefit. And b'c of that she decides to make herself more resourceful. She is actually fairly practical even though she is young in many ways. When she gains more experience - I can see her being wise & ruthless in her practicality b'c it would have made her "street smart".

I could not have put it any better, you really have a good handle on Mac.

 I also love that despite their obvious danger & not really knowing their intent - she acknowledges to herself her attacrtion to Barrons & V'lane. She says she's going to bury that info but she doesn't. She is aware of it & just lives with it & goes on doing what she thinks is best for her, despite it. There isn't that typical bullshit where everyone knows it but her. You know what I mean?

Exactly, and this is one of the reasons I like Mac -- she doesn't get distracted by her feelings and is able to prioritize things very neatly and then do what is neccessarry but she does so while considering the consequences of her actions and what they mean to her and she owns her decisions. Even the bad ones -- Mac owns her mistakes.

lmb1309

I don't know who the nameless pretty boy is actually. Still a mystery......

Ok i feel stupid, but what IS this Series ? I've never heard of/read it

montbriac

Another thought on Barrons.... following my train of thought that he may have been the boy who was captured and survived Faery to get his journal out (and I do believe this is correct since the last book we saw in Rowena's draw had references to V'Lane, logic only follows that the next book which is arcane, would be about Barrons the other ally of Mac, her arch-nemsis), then we know that the boy regained the attention of a Fae when he hit puberty -- we also know from the legend of the Unseelie King that only the Queen could possibly make a human Fae, but it's more than likely that the Queen with that power was gone by the time this boy was captive so that skill, if it existed at all, would have been lost.

Back to my new theory here.... Barrons was that boy, he was involved with a Fae Princess, pehaps a Leann-Sidhe the vampiric variety and she turned him vampire before releasing him from Faery?

Barrons still doesn't eat, still isn't ever out or seen in daylight and has all of the other symptoms except fangs but then again, we've never seen him really grin either now have we? Also, if he were a demi-fae-vampire it would explain why he could travel through the mirrors in Unseelie and why V'lane would not let Barrons touch him also why he'd be the "badder" to the Lord Master's "bad".

Clearly, he's also got Druid training -- but much more so in the black arts and he knows enough that he can counter the black arts with fewer tattoos than Christians uncles because he knows other wards, etc... the tattoos are last resort since there is limited body space and they tend to come back on the one who used them.

For anyone interested in giving the Fever series a try (and I highly reccomend it, the story is very well constructed), you can download the first book, Darkfever as an audio podcast for free. Here is a link:

http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/kmmpodcast/

Well, I subscribed to KMM's websites and newsletters and I am pleased to report that all of this enrollment paid off with a teaser from the next book and it looks like we're going to get some answers about Barrons and V'lane's shared history(s).... is it August yet?

I closed my hand around Barrons' forearm. He could not have looked more pleased if I'd just gazed up at him with doe eyes and told him he was my world.

I locked my hand down, dug my nails into his flesh, and held on.

His eyes narrowed then flared, then I was no longer seeing him at all because I'd pushed, pushed, pushed violently, stabbed myself brutally deep into his mind with my special sidhe-seer talent.

I wanted answers. I wanted to know why the animosity between him and V'lane. I wanted to know who to trust, who was--not the better man--but at least the slightly-less-worse one.

I pushed, seeking any breach I could exploit and suddenly I was--

In Faery!

It had to be.  The scenery was impossibly lush, the colors too rich, vivid, so full of tone that they had texture, like that first beach V'lane had taken me to months ago, where I'd played volleyball with Alina, when he'd given me the gift of seeing her again, if only an illusion, but this was no beach, this was the Fae court!

Brilliantly colored silk chaises were scattered around a dais.  Trees sprouted leaves and flowers of incomprehensible color and dimension. The breeze smelled of jasmine and sandalwood and some other scent that I imagined heaven--if such a place existed--would smell like.

I wanted to look around. I wanted to see the queen on her dais, but I couldn't turn my/our gaze toward it because I was a passenger in his head, and I was--

inside Barrons body.

I was strong. 

I was cold.

I was mighty and they didn't even know just how mighty I was.

They didn't recognize me, the fools.

I was danger.

I was everything they should fear but they'd lived so long that they'd forgotten fear. I would teach them.

I would remind them. 

he cannot be the Unseelie King. That would be just too obvious!

Here are 2 others!

I was mad as hell.
I had so many grievances, I didn't even know where to begin listing them.
I was pissed-off walking. Or rather pissed-off sitting, tangled in crimson silk sheets that smelled
like somebody'd been having a Sexathon.
That would be me.
And that made me even madder.

Well this bodes well for Mac regaining control of her Will.

What shocked me about the gang-rape was that it was three on one simultaneously, this wasn't a drawn-out torture with strategy to break her, this was a vicious assualt designed to completely crush her and it horrified me.

I am hopefull that because she is sidhe-seer and through those powers she has been able to see the two-sided nature of the effects of the assualt (that the sidhe are as addicted to her humanity as she is to their touch), that she will be able to use it against them at some point.

I am not sure if I want her rescued by Barrons and/or V'Lane so much as I want their aid in her escape but for her escape to be something more of her own resources rather than an out and out rescue. Mac has it in her, I'd love to see it.

Oh no. It was a full on attack to make sure she was completely & utterly Pri-ya. Totally heartless.

Although I usually really have issues w/author's who use rape as a plot device This was diferent. Normally, when authors do rape, generally what they do is have the Main male vying for her love "heal" her by sexually erasing what the other man did.

And I think that is unrealistic & irresponsible when they do that so I take issue. But  I thought this was a pretty interesting & shocking twist.

I really hope that they don't "rescue" her. That is a really good point. I hope they only aid. It would seem so unlike Mac to be completely rescued. Even when she was w/Malluce. She fought him. She angered him until the end.

You know what? Her becoming Pri-ya & once she snaps out of it - I wonder how that will affect her realtionship w/V'Lane? That should be really interesting.

You know what else? I thought the Sex By Death Fae were only Seelie? Esp. b'c she even thought at 1st the one she 1st saw in the Curch was V'Lane.

Maybe they are Unseelie & so is V'Lane.

Sorry to hop in here, but ...

• I know that we're missing one of the four Unseelie Princes, but wouldn't JZB have told Mac if V'Lane was Unseelie?
• And will her becoming Pri-ya mean that she's going to jump V'Lane the next time she sees him, or will her anger at him override those desires? That might be her first "step to recovery'?
• And as you read this more recently, do you remember when Mac had a flash of JZB in bed with someone - did that involve crimson sheets?  And if so, was that a flash of his memories, or a flash of the future?

I am a kite in a tornado but I have a long string. There is tension in my line. Somewhere, someone is holding onto the other end and, although it cannot spare me this storm, it will not let me be lost while I regain my strength.

It is enough.

I will survive.  

Looking at their relationship so far I really think that it's JZB that's holding her line ... ?   And it supports what we want for her - she has to help herself, but he's there for her - I really don't think that would be V'Lane?  Strange choice of words though - "it will not let me be lost"?     

Not if Barrons doesn't want Mac to know that either of them are Unseelie. I'm starting to think that he is one of the Princes.

Gosh I have no idea how he V'Lane thing will play out. Why do I feel she won't have sex with him - or rather - he won't do that to her. But who knows. Maybe V'Lane is the way to recover her free will but then again - I would hate that. I would much prefer mac to find something w/in herself. She is such a cool & fairly  ballsy heroine. Very pragmatic in many respects.

Ah good ? about the crimson sheets! I think it was but I don't remember! Rachel??

"It" being the string I think. However.....someone is holding onto the other end and, although it cannot spare me this storm...

Hmmm....Well since it is a dream & she cannot see who the someone is, I think she could be possible equating the someone to the being the string, therefore "it".

I do think it is him but it could be her sister.

"Not if Barrons doesn't want Mac to know that either of them are Unseelie" - good point, I really haven't got my head around the fact that Barrons might be Unseelie - I wonder how they might have escaped their realm though - weren't they all trapped?

"Maybe V'Lane is the way to recover her free will but then again - I would hate that. I would much prefer mac to find something w/in herself" - well, she's always been attracted to V'Lane, and if she can find it within herself to resist him now that she's Pri-ya that would be the ultimate test of her free will.

I thought that "it" was the string, but why talk about the string & not what was holding onto it?  But I guess that dreams don't make sense.

It could be Alina holding her steady, but the feelings that passage evokes puts me in mind of the way Barrons is with her - distant, but there for her,

I wonder how they might have escaped their realm though - weren't they all trapped?

Technically, yes. But I am not sure what happened to the Royal family. BTW - the royal family of the Unseelie are supposed to be extremely good looking.  The only ones that are not scary looking.

well, she's always been attracted to V'Lane, and if she can find it within herself to resist him now that she's Pri-ya that would be the ultimate test of her free will.

Good point. It certainly would.

I thought that "it" was the string, but why talk about the string & not what was holding onto it?

I think the she is talking about both.

But b'c she cannot see who is actually holding her down. You know how in dreams a lot of times you can't see faces or something but you get impressions. That's how I took this.

She knows someone is holding her down but doesn't know who b'c she cannot see them, so the string symbolizes the person. She is equating the string & the person but b'c only thing that is tangible is the actual "it", being the string. Does that make sense?

At least - that's how I interpret it. B'c what's holding her down is definitely not an "it" . It is a someone. She can sense that.

Watch....it'll end up being a typo!

"You know how in dreams a lot of times you can't see faces or something but you get impressions" - that's why I think it's JZB because of the distance in this analogy - I think that if it were Alina, Mac would have felt something different/described it differently, a "closer" feeling.

"Watch....it'll end up being a typo!" - or something else & because it's out of context we can interpret it in so many more ways.  "I'd die for him" was a teaser for Faefever & I was absolutely convinced that that was Alina, and Mac had found her journal!

The escape of Unseelie princes would have been made possible by the Lord Master tearing down the walls on Samahain... the rules of the walls are "At great cost to herself, the queen wove living strands of the Song of Making into the walls of the prison,which slams the magic of the Unseelie back at them. The stronger the Unseelie, the stronger the wall; by attempting to break free, they actually join forces with their gaoler.”" However, if the walls are removed, as we believe the Lord Master achieved, then it only stands to reason that the Unseelie Princes would have been released.

I believe that the princes are Unseelie for a few reasons...

This passage explains that the Unseelie royalty were created by the Unseelie King while he was still the consort to the Seelie Queen: " The king’s experiments continued. Eons passed. He created more . . aberrations. Over time, of which we have a fortunate abundance, they began to improve until some of them were as beautiful as any Seelie. The Unseelie royalty were born, the princes and princesses. Dark counterparts to the Light. And like their counterparts, they wanted what was rightfully theirs: power, freedom to come and go, dominion over lesser beings. The king refused. Secrecy was a necessary part of his plan. "

During the rape, Mac realizes some unique truthes about these princes that distinguishes them from V'Lane:

"I wouldn’t have been surprised by villainous laughs, sneers, ribald comments—after all, I was standing there naked from the waist up. I expected some comment, some expression,any expression, but they merely rotated their heads on their necks with eerie smoothness, and examined me in a manner so farfrom human that my blood ran cold and I stopped breathing.

I knew who they were. They were no friends of V’lane’s. That alien gesture had given them away.

These were the Unseelie Princes. Fae that had never had the opportunity to study us, learn our habits,perfect glamour through mimicry; Fae that could employ our language but only void of reference or metaphor; that had learned about our world from a great distance, by proxy; that probably didn’t evengrasp the basic Fae concepts of stasis and change. Fae that had never been free, never drunk from the cauldron, never had sex with a human woman.

"  

They have had no contact with humans before this, which is true of the imprisoned Unseelie royalty but not true of the Seelie or of V'Lane -- for the record, just because he's Seelie, doesn't mean I think V'Lane is any better, I just don't think he's associated with these princes.

Now, my personal theory is that Mac's reclaimation of her own free will, can be found from what she learns of the sidhe during the assault.

" I glimpsed, even as I surrendered to it, the true nature of the Unseelie princes. They are voids of what they are not, and crave most: passion, desire, the fire of life, the capacity to feel. Some essential component in them had been lost long ago, or perhaps frozen out of them by seven hundred thousand years of icy incarceration, or perhaps they’d come into being via the king’s imperfect Song, equally imperfect and empty. Whatever the cause, the most intensely they could feel was throughsex. They were maestros of lust, eternally denied music in their realm, surrounded by others also void, without a human’s body to play the melody upon.she

But with a human, so long asfelt, so did they, and they would gorge on her song, until the concert hall fell silent, the passion turned to ash, and she died, her body gone as cold as that place inside them where life could never be fully realized. Empty, they would find another woman to play, and gorge again, giving her sex at its most elemental, at its purest, and most potent, channeling all that it was to be alive out of her, back into her, and out again. My orgasms were not petit mal but repeated births, a re-creation of myself every time I came. It was sex that was life that was blood that was God that filled every empty orifice I had, inside and out."  

I think it is through her humanity and her capacity to feel that she will reclaim her own freedom. Not even V'Lane experiences feelings the way we do, he did not understand Mac's suffering when she told him of what had happened to her with Malluce and although he is studying her and our species, he just doesn't get it and never will.

Barrons isn't human either and it gives him a certain power, and powerlessness also... I think it's Mac's humanity that will save her.

I sure hope so.

I think it is through her humanity and her capacity to feel that she will reclaim her own freedom.

That is an excellent point.

I have a litle theory about the Fae & they way they process feelings. But I'll discuss after you read Book 6 in Highlander.

Hey - check out this link:  http://www.karenmoning.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14885  It's a summary of KMM posts, some are now "old news", but there are some interesting points, especially about how she's changed the type of heroine she wants to write about, and hints about Mac's journey.

As you have probably guessed I have a theory that Mac will reclaim her will and escape the fate of Pri-ya through her own humanity and capacity for love. Moreover, I also believe that it is the capacity of our species to feel life that is so appealing to the Sidhe and why they can be as addicted to us as we are to them, but they have heretofore not found a human who is aware of the two-natured power of the attraction to use it against the Sidhe (but I think Mac is the human who will make this connection).

So, as I’ve been reading the Highlander series, I’ve been looking for clues to support this theory and although I am only ½-way through book 5, I am finding evidence to support my theory about the power of humanity’s capacity for love as a weapon against dark powers.

Since the Unseelie Princes are decidedly dark, then so too is the power they are using against our Mac. 

Making love to a woman staved off the darkness, replenished his essential humanity.

He needed. A woman's body, a woman's tender touch. A woman's desire to make him feel like a man not a beast.

He was unlike any other of their race in small ways that baffled both he and them. But the queen seemed to enjoy those differences. Of all her subjects, Adam suspected he was the only one who still managed to surprise her. And surprise was nectar of the gods to those who lived forever, to those who'd lost wonder and awe an eternity ago. To those who spied on mortal's dreams

because they possessed no dreams of their own.

Yet he had a relentless fascination with mortals, indeed, spent most of his time among them in some form, to some degree. Yes, his race had power,but mortals had another kind of power, an entirely unpredictable one: Love. And once, long ago-almost unheard of among his kind-with a mortal woman, he'd felt it.

In Silvan's estimation,'twas the lass that might yet prove to be their finest hope. For so long as his son loved her-and he did, though he knew it not himself-well, evil didn't love. Evil tried to seduce and possess and conquer, but it didn't feel for the object of its desire. So long as love was alive in Dageus, they had a toehold, however small.

Here’s the big question, who or what does Mac love? She loves her sister. Could that pull her through? I actually like that concept, since it would edjuicate the shared feelings of failure between the sisters. I like that concept a lot – although it does break the romance novel formula of romantic love conquering all, but the love of a sister would rise above the sex wouldn’t it? It is something the Fae could never fully experience and would be the mightiest weapon -- just because one sister is dead doesn’t mean that the love they shared is dead, rather as long as Mac lives, so too does their love.

…eek! I hope I’m right!

"As you have probably guessed I have a theory that Mac will reclaim her will and escape the fate of Pri-ya through her own humanity and capacity for love. Moreover, I also believe that it is the capacity of our species to feel life that is so appealing to the Sidhe and why they can be as addicted to us as we are to them, but they have heretofore not found a human who is aware of the two-natured power of the attraction to use it against the Sidhe (but I think Mac is the human who will make this connection)." - I love this theory, and the evidence that you've found - let me know when you've finished Highlander #7, because I have a theory about the last part of your post. 

I am finishing up book 5 and I know I need to read more to get more clues for the Fever series but I want to hear your theories about this prophecy...

The thirteen shall be made one, and the world will descend into an epoch of darkness more brutal than mankind has ever known. Unspeakable atrocities will be committed in the Draghar's name. Civilization will fall and ancient evils rise, as the Draghar pursue their unceasing quest for vengeance.

I am begining to suspect that the Lord Master became Draghar when he was made mortal by the Queen but given how Dageus' eyes keep turning darker, blacker and more "feral" just like Barrons' eyes currently are, I am wondering if Barrons' possesses the 13 or some portion of them -- this would explain a great deal about him (all except the bit that he never appears during the day....).

How long, he wondered almost idly, till his eyes would turn full black? Another day, mayhap two? And what would happen then? he mused, a part of him afraid, another part of him aware that he wasn't as afraid as he ought to be.

It's a while since I read TDH - did it actually say what happened to the Draghar at the end or was that left open?

The actual fate of the Draghar is not entirely clear. We do know that Dageus used his power to take the knife from Chole’s throat and to make Chloe deaf and blind to what he planned to do which was kill himself before the change was complete and that he killed himself with the knife. However, a few moments after the knife penetrated his heart Aoibheal and Adam appeared and….

"they choose to appear in a similar fashion" - have you picked up on the fact that V'Lane sometimes "flickers" - I wonder if Mac, as a sidhe seer, can see the Fae in their true form?

"I'd thought the ancient Druids possessed of great power, but they were mere dust motes compared to the Tuatha D'." - I wonder, then, why V''Lane almost seems to fear JZB, or at least is unwilling to challenge him?

"the queen lifted the souls of the Draghar from my body and destroyed them." - did it ever say why they weren't destroyed in the first place, rather than imprisoning them? 

"what did it cost Adam to heal Dageus?" - keep reading! 

"they choose to appear in a similar fashion" - have you picked up on the fact that V'Lane sometimes "flickers" - I wonder if Mac, as a sidhe seer, can see the Fae in their true form?

Great, observation and it makes sense to me -- and would support my theory that Mac holds the power within herself to shake free of them, especially if she can see them in their true form. Well, that would seal the deal for me. 

"I'd thought the ancient Druids possessed of great power, but they were mere dust motes compared to the Tuatha D'." - I wonder, then, why V''Lane almost seems to fear JZB, or at least is unwilling to challenge him?

I have loads of theories about Barrons but perhaps he is something more than just Druid Sorcerrer -- perhaps he is part Fae himself which might explain why he could carry the 13 (if he is carrying them) without being completely overcome by them?

I sure hope he's not the Unseelie King, sure it would be romantic but it's also predictable and a huge let down. 

did it ever say why they weren't destroyed in the first place, rather than imprisoning them?  

No, not directly. Rather it was inferred that Aoibheal was looking for more of a lasting lesson than destruction so she granted their wishto be immortal but at the price of loosing their bodies so that there were adrift in nothing for thousands of years.

Here is the passage about the original imprisonment from the Fifth Book of Manannan...

"In their fury, the thirteen Druids turned to the teachings of an ancient, forbidden god, 'one whose name is best forgotten, hence not scribed herein.' The god to whom the Druids supplicated themselves was a primitive god, spawned in the earliest mists of Gaea. Calling upon those darkest of powers, armed with the knowledge the Tuatha D' had given them, the Druids attempted to follow the immortal ones, to seize their lore, and steal the secret of eternal life."

"So they really were... er, are immortal?" Chloe breathed.

"'Twould seem so, lass," Dageus said. He skimmed the text again. "Give me a moment, there are no comparable words for some of this." Another long pause. "I think this is the gist of it: What the thirteen did not know is that the realms-I can't think of a better word-within realms are impenetrable by force. Such travel therein is a delicate process of... er, sifting or straining time and place. In their attempt to brutalize or coerce a path between the realms, the thirteen Druids nearly tore them all asunder. The Tuatha D', sensing the distress in the... weaving of the world, returned to avert catastrophe.

"The Tuatha D"s fury was immense. They scattered their once-friends, now bitter enemies, to the far corners of the earth. They punished the evil ones, the Druids who'd chosen greed over honor, who'd loved power more than they'd valued the sanctity of life-not by killing them-but by locking them into a place between realms, giving them the immortality for which they'd lusted. Eternity in nothingness, without form, without cease."

"By Amergin, would that not be hell?" Silvan breathed.

Chloe nodded with wide eyes.

I have more food for thought on my theory that Mac can use her humanity to prevail over becoming a Pri-ya... clearly the Sidhe do not possess feelings either physical or emotional to the extent that we do, I am telling you, it's Mac's humanity and her capacity to feel that will free her (thank you book 6 and thank you Frenchie and Laura for turning my attention to this series, it's fun).

In the meantime, pending Circenn's return, he now had much with which to entertain himself. He was no longer in quite the same rush to be made immortal again. Not just yet. Not now that he suddenly had the opportunity to experience sex in human form. Fae glamour wasn't nearly as sensitive as the body he currently inhabited, and- sensual to the core- he'd been doubly pissed off at Aoibheal for making him unable to explore its erotic capabilities. She could be such a bitch sometimes.

If a simple hard-on in human form could reduce him to a primitive state, what would burying himself inside a woman do? What would it feel like to come inside her?

Mmmm... found out something that may or may not be a hint about V'Lane, from Adam

"Tuatha Da do not walk the human realm alone. Actually, they don't walk alone much anywhere. Only the occasional rogue Fae will do so." 

"Like yourself?"

"Yes. Most of my kind have no fondness for solitude. Those who walk alone are not to be trusted."

We always see V'Lane alone -- maybe he's not truly Tuatha Da at all which would explain why he's afraid to be close to Barrons?

Here’s the big question, who or what does Mac love?

Her sister most defo. Her parents but her father. That is certain. Dublin. She loves Dublin. And I think that there is a part of her that is growing to love the new Mac. I think if she loves herself enough - that would pull her through. That is the most iportant key element to loving anyone fully IMO. To love yourself enough 1st.

B'c then you are are able to find worth & value in yourself which is the utmost importance. And I think that is what Mac needs in this instance. She have to pull from a place very deep w/in herself to regain her sense of self & it should, IMO come from her value system. If KMM would do that, I would be seriously impressed.

"I'd thought the ancient Druids possessed of great power, but they were mere dust motes compared to the Tuatha D'."

keep reading. You'll learn more about the Druids & their potential.

My impression was that the Draghar was now gone. Completely destroyed. They wouldn't chance it again.

We always see V'Lane alone -- maybe he's not truly Tuatha Da at all which would explain why he's afraid to be close to Barrons?

Well if V'Lane is actually Unseelie then he would be considered rogue.

(thank you book 6 and thank you Frenchie and Laura for turning my attention to this series, it's fun).

I love Adam. He rocks. Waiting for him to show up in Fever. I think he is a key element here to examine.

Do you have the new teaser?

Not me....Rach?

Teaser? Where, when, how?!?

Our sex is fierce. We will both be bruised.
           
"I want it to always be like this," I tell him.
 
"Try holding onto that thought."
 
"I do not need to try. I will never feel differently."
 
His laughter is as dark and cold as the place of which I dream, "One day you will wonder if it's possible to hate me more."

I do not need to try. I will never feel differently."

That's not Mac. It can't be. She wouldn't say that. She would say 'don't'. Don't ya think?

Probably Mac in Barrons head. Or it's when she is Pri-ya & she is doing the LM.

I finished book 7 and I have a few questions, first, who are Aoibheal's other two Druids? We know that Cian, Drustan and Dageus are the first three so I am suspecting that Christian and Barrons are the other two.

It's fairly probable that Barrons is a Druid sorcerror -- is he a captive of some hallow himself? That might explain why we never see him during the day and why he can travel into and out of Unseelie territory.

Is Barrons a MacKeltar? Well, if he were it would explain the electric currents that Mac feels when she touches him is she is indeed his one true mate.

There is part of me that would like this and another part of me that would be annoyed at KMM for following the formula -- the formula was good two or maybe three times, but 7 times and it's a little worn. At least Mac isn't a virgin (not any more any how, ugh, it would be beyond awful if she lost her vriginity to the Unseelie Fae wolf-pack-attack but I think it might have been mentioned by Mac in her thoughts so at least we seems to have broken the virgin mold).

I was interested to learn that Cian could see Aoibheal in her deepest disguise -- he has some powers I only thought that Sidhe-Seers have, so maybe he inherited that ability from Barrons if Barrons is indeed a MacKeltar --- Barrons' ancestry as Pict and Basque would have predated Cian.

I will get through book 8 soon and return with more questions, thories and "havering" (I never knew what that meant before Cian).

Question, who is your favorite MacKeltar?

One more thought -- like Frenchie, I can't wait to see Adam again. I think that he might be IYD on Mac's cell phone, this would make sense to me. Any other ideas as to when or in what capacity we will see Adam and/or who or what would be IYD?

KMM seems to have a special soft spot for Adam, I would be very surprised if he didn't play a part at some point in the Fever series, especially now that Darroc has been fully revealed.

I finished book 7 and I have a few questions, first, who are Aoibheal's other two Druids?

That's just it. We don't know yet. This is why my main theory is that I think Barron's is a Druid/Sorcerer.BUT - I also thnk he is something else. Like a 1/2 breed of something like Circen. I really love the idea of him being a Phooka or shifter of some sort. But back to the D/S bit:

• He does voice which apparently you have to be Druid to know it or be taught it.
• He has the tatoo's which means he uses dark magyks.
• He has the crazy dark eyes like Dageaus & Cian.
• He has the electric currents.
• He howls or bays (dageus did that)
• And I am pretty sure he can time travel (hence him being in all those photos Christian showed Mac)

There is part of me that would like this and another part of me that would be annoyed at KMM for following the formula -- the formula was good two or maybe three times

But the thing is - if we didn't read Highlander & only read Fever, it wouldn't seem like such a formula right?  A least - I don't think so.

One more thought -- like Frenchie, I can't wait to see Adam again.

Oh I am right there with ya. I can't believe he hasn't been brought into the series yet. Plus I just loved that little mischief maker.

My favorite MacKeltar - well I would actually like to say Christian although I don't feel that's really fair as there has been that much of him. But after I read 4, I really loved Drustan. I know, I know...he's the goodie. The pure one but I thought he was cool & I loved book 4.

Dageus - well, his underwhlemed me in Book 5 or rather - Chloe did. I thought she was annoying until she time travelled & only then did I understand his attraction to her. Previously I thought she was kind of dumb for doing what she did & getting caught & so .... it didn't clikc for me until well into the book.

As the other books when on, I started to like Dageua more. B'c of what he has been through - he seems very aware. Very clever & astute. And my take on that is that he VERY much learned from his experiences in life & so I grew to like him much more. And as Frenchie pointed out - he does have the dark edge. Which in many ways - makes a person much more enligthened to be intouch with that & I think his character is.

So....geez I don't know. I'll to say I have hopes for Christian but from eveything we know, I guess Drustan. There's a lot to be said for an inherently good & uncorruptable person. They are very rare so he gets my vote.

My other fav's were Adam & Circen.

How about yourself?

I also thnk he is something else. Like a 1/2 breed of something like Circen. I really love the idea of him being a Phooka or shifter of some sort.

I am thinking that rather than being a genetic halfling he may be cursed -- which would explain a few things. I also am curious if he was Vengance and escaped or has a mission to recapture the book. If Barrons were or had been Vengance that would explain some of his abilities and why both the Unseelie and the Seelie back away from him.

It's fun to speculate!

But the thing is - if we didn't read Highlander & only read Fever, it wouldn't seem like such a formula right?  A least - I don't think so.

This is a valid point. Well, before I read the Highlander series I thought there was a possibility that he might be the Unseelie King and because it was so obvious it would have disappointed me. Would it disappoint me if he were a MacKeltar and Mac was his true mate? Oddly, in a way I am hoping that Mac and Barrons do not live happily ever after together -- I'd like to see them have a perfect moment and then for the perfection of that moment to be so complete that it is an ends inof itself -- very much in the tradition of French cinema or Before Sunrise ... I don't see the possibility of a future with Barrons and if there is one, does he continue to really be Barrons?

All of the other men in her series have a certain tenderness to them, I don't see that in Barrons. I see longing, loyalty and lust but not tenderness and I don't know if I want to. Does that make any sense?

  My favorite MacKeltar - well I would actually like to say Christian although I don't feel that's really fair as there has been that much of him.

You know it's funny because I think he might be my favorite as well, even though we don't really know him. My runner up would have to be Dageus because he's more introspective than either Cian or Drustan -- and I like that quality in my heros.

very much in the tradition of French cinema or Before Sunrise

Oh God love that movie. I was talkng about it the other day.

All of the other men in her series have a certain tenderness to them, I don't see that in Barrons. I see longing, loyalty and lust but not tenderness and I don't know if I want to. Does that make any sense?

It makes sense.

You know - I really haven't gone that far about Mac's HEA BUT for some reason I have felt Barrons has shown a tender side. He painted her nails. He was genuinely concerned & sorry about her after Malluce's. He has relented & given her gestures of apology - but real things that he knows she likes (the car) or needs (the b-day cake) after he has thrown a fit.

So for me, those specific gestures have  shown a certain remorse & understanding of what she is going through. Despite the circumstances, he doesn't want to truly break her spirit - that's what him doing those things say to me & I feel that is tender.

I just think that not it's not so obvious like let's say.... those far & few betwen moments between JC & Anita or Frost & Merry but in a more subtle way.

I like all 3 men to be honest. They all are interesting in my book but I do really like Barrons.

You're right, I hadn't really considered the efforts he has made to please her like the nailpolish, great point!

I agree that he doesn't want to break her spirit or redefine her, rather he seems to have taken the role of mentor and he is very practical and direct in the lessons he is teaching her but that doesn't mean there isn't caring there -- if anything, it's obvious that he cares deeply for her.

I agree that he doesn't want to break her spirit or redefine her, rather he seems to have taken the role of mentor and he is very practical and direct in the lessons he is teaching her but that doesn't mean there isn't caring there -- if anything, it's obvious that he cares deeply for her.

I do think so. I think he does care deeply for her.

There's another way I look at his caring too. It was very obvious from the beginning he was sexually attracted to her. And I just don't think that Barron's s trite about his attractions. I don't think he could or would still be so attracted to her if it was less than actual caring for her.

Hey - so what was your take on that scene where he sees Mac's raw pain on her face & he tells her never to let him see that look on her face again? She asks why & he says b'c he'll do what is in his nature to do.

KMM said on her site that she left that open for interpretation! Fudge.

Hey - so what was your take on that scene where he sees Mac's raw pain on her face & he tells her never to let him see that look on her face again? She asks why & he says b'c he'll do what is in his nature to do.

I read that passage as complete sexual heat.

Honestly, I think Barrons is a more sophisticated and refined combination of Dageus (knowlege) and Cian (power) -- and as such, I think it's his nature to take the gal and make her think of only how he makes her feel when he makes love to her (with his stallion size schlong for which she'll be needing some Druid mind-tricks to relax enough to handle). 

I'm leaving the office  - I'll give you my take when I get home.

Understanding that KMM has been world-building with the Highlander series and that she has also mapped out Mac’s journey, I was struck by the seeming randomness of Into The Dreaming (“ITD”), book 8 of the Highlander series.

After a little bit of reflection on the story which doesn’t have any MacKeltars, I have a theory that I need to work through that the purpose of ITD is to lay the foundation for  Barrons as the original Hand of Vengeance -- or at least predating Aedan MacKinnon.  

Starting with this passage from ITD:

If not, he serves as the king's new Hand of Vengeance until the king chooses to replace him, at which time he dies.

The queen made a sound curiously like a sigh. By such cruel methods had the Unseelie king long fashioned his deadly, prized assassin—his beloved Vengeance—by capturing a mortal, driving him past human limits into madness, indurating him to all emotion, then endowing him with special powers and arts.

Since the Unseelie king was barred entrance to the human world, he trained his Vengeance to carry out his orders, to hold no act too heinous. Mortals dared not even whisper the icy assassin's name, lest they inadvertently draw his merciless attention. If a man angered the Unseelie king, Vengeance punished the mortal's clan, sparing no innocents. If grumblings about the fairy were heard, Vengeance silenced them in cruelly imaginative ways. If the royal house was not amenable to the fairy world, Vengeance toppled kings as carelessly as one might sweep a chessboard.

Until now, it had been the Unseelie king's wont to abduct an insignificant mortal, one without clan who would not be missed, to train as his Vengeance. He went too far this time, the Seelie queen brooded, abducting a blood grandson of one of fair Scotia's greatest kings—a man of great honor, noble and true of heart.

It seems very plausible to me that Barrons was Vengeance before Aedan, not only would it explain Barrons powers and abilities and why he does not eat, but it would also explain why he is given wide berth by so many of the inhabitants of Faery both the Unseelie (Shades, etc.) and the Seelie (V’Lane).

Barrons has told Mac that his ancestry is Basque and Pict -- this would put him at the latest as early 10th century but I suspect he is much, much older and more closer to the second or third century AD during the Roman conquest and occupation of Britain for which Basque soldiers would have been used -- although the Picts also raided Basque territory. Whatever the details it would stand to reason that Barrons is ancient. Aedan MacKinnon was conscripted to be Vengeance by the Unseelie King in 928 which incidentally,  is shortly before Scotland was formed -- so this means that before Scotland was formed and the Picts lost their identity in the last half of the 10th century that the Unseelie King needed to find a new Vengeance.

We know from Barrons that he has been searching for the book for longer than he dare mention -- a millennia or so would seem to fit the bill. It would also stand to reason that the Unseelie King would make an offer to Vengeance in exchange for the return of the book – and this would explain Barrons’ extensive knowledge of the book and quest for it and the other Hallows.

As usual, I am interested in your thoughts!

Just another point which might have something in it. The MacKinnon's were in Book 2. They were who fought the Beserkers right? Or were they in Book 1...or both actually.

So it might also be worth looking back at the whole Beserkerer thing too. I know the light eyes but if Barrons is also a Dark Druid then maybe the eyes stay black...

Just another idea

Interesting idea about the MacKinnon's being mentioned in previous volumes so I searched them all (I have electronic versions and seached for any word with "kinn" which got me a lot of "skinny" and "skinned") and the MacKinnon's are only mentioned by name in book 8.

Not that this is proof of anything, but it does add a little fuel to my personal fire of theory that Barrons is or was Vengeance.

Has anyone else noticed that we never learned from ITD, if Aoibheal escaped the Unseelie or if she is still there?

In the Fever series, V'Lane has said she has not been seen for a very long time and told Mac that she needed to recover but recover from what? From Darroc or from some escape from the Unseelie King’s bed?  It's likely V’Lane would tell Mac the entire situation and I am not sure what to make of V’Lane – after all, he always appears alone and according Adam, only Adam and rouges appear alone. Maybe there is a wager between the King and Queen and the Book is the contest that must be won? This would explain some of the players in the series and it would explain multiple purposes for ITD which doesn't really stand to exist as part of the Highlander series unless it's laden with clues for Fever, which I think is likely.

Here is a passage from ITD which I think it important and I’ve underlined the lines that stand out to me as probable clues. As I see it, because ITD has none of the MacKeltars and is only linked to the other books by Aoibheal, then the point of this novella is that it's the foundation for events yet to unfold.

Then again, maybe I am nuts.  I am interested in your thoughts! 

So, she mused, feeling quite lovely, he had lost and she had won. It made her feel positively magnanimous. Sipping the nectar from a splendidly plump dalisonia, she rolled onto her back and stretched languidly. Perhaps she should offer the dark king her condolences, she mused. After all, they were royalty, and royalty did that sort of thing. After all, she had won. She could simply duck in and back out, gloat a bit.

And if he tried to restrain her? Keep her captive in his realm? She laughed softly. She'd beaten him this time. She'd proved that she was stronger than she'd been millennia ago when he'd caged her for a time.

Feeling potent, inebriated on victory, she closed her eyes and envisioned his icy lair…

The iciness of his realm stole her breath away. Then she saw him and inhaled sharply, sucking in great lungfull of icy air. Her memory had not done him justice. He was even more exotic than she'd recalled. A palpable darkness surrounded him. He was deadly and powerful, and she knew from intimate experience just how inventively, exhaustively erotic he was. A true master of pain, he understood pleasure as no other could.

"My queen," he said, his eyes of night and ice glittering.

Even as powerful as the Seelie queen was, she found it impossible to gaze into his eyes for more than a moment. Some claimed they'd been emptied of matter and pure chaos spooned into the sockets.

She inclined her head, averting her gaze ever so slightly. "It would seem you have lost your Vengeance, dark one," she murmured.

"It would seem I have."

When he rose from his throne of ice, and rose and rose, she caught her breath. Not quite fairy, his blood mixed with the blood of a creature even the Fae hesitated to name. His shadow moved unnaturally as he rose, slithering around him, wont to move independently of its host.

"You seem unperturbed by your defeat, dark one," she probed, determined to savor every drop of her victory. "Care you not that you have lost him? Five centuries of work. Wasted."

"You presume you knew my aim."

The Seelie queen stiffened, staring into his eyes for a moment longer than was wise. "Pretend not that you intended to lose. That I have been manipulated." Her voice dripped ice worthy of his kingdom.

"Loss is a relative thing."

"I won. Admit it," she snapped.

"I doubt you even knew what game we played, young one."  His voice deep, silky, and mesmerizing, he mocked, "Did you come to gloat because my defeat made you feel powerful? Did it make you feel safe in seeking me? Careful. A being such as I might be inclined to find you reason to condescend. To sink to my depths."

"I have sunk to nothing," she hissed, feeling suddenly foolish. She was young by his standards, for the king of darkness was ancient—sprung from the loins of an age she'd heard of only in legend.

He said nothing, merely regarded her, his stare a palpable weight. She repressed a shiver, remembering her last excursion to his land. She'd nearly failed to summon the power to leave. But, she conceded with a thrill of sexual anticipation so intense that it nearly brought her to her knees, she'd not quite been in a hurry to leave the dark king's dangerous bed. And therein lay double the danger…

"I came to offer my condolences," she said coolly.

His laughter alone could seduce. "So offer, my queen." He moved in a swirl of darkness. "But offer that for which we both know you hunger. Your willing surrender."

And when he was upon her, when he had gathered her up and his great wings began to flap, she let her head fall against his icy breast. Darkness so thick it had texture and taste surrounded her.

 "Never."

"Heed me well, light one, the only thing you are never with me—is safe."

Has anyone else noticed that we never learned from ITD, if Aoibheal escaped the Unseelie or if she is still there?

No & I brought this up w/Frenchie too. We don't know for sure she ever came back from when she visited the UK in 7.  I personally don't think she made it back. Based on V'Lane saying she has been gone a while. AND just my gut feeling that he may not really be working for her. We assume when reading the book he is Seelie but I'm not so sure...

More in a bit...

There are some really great thoughts here, but here is a post from KMM's site:

Thanks Frenchie! Good to know. Makes sense.

Thank you for the scoop, it helps!

I've only gotten through the first two of this series, as they're the only ones I can get in paperback, but I devoured them in about a day.  I've never read any of the Highlander books -- I thought they were purely romance books?  But it sounds like there's a connection between the Fever series and the Highlander series?

I liked these books pretty well -- they were definitely a fun and quick read! -- but found the writing a little uneven in places and some of the description didn't quite work for me.  That will not stop me from gobbling up the 3rd book as soon as it's in paperback this summer.

The Highlander series is definitly romance, but there are some strong tie-in's and character cross-overs. The first two books in the Highlander series are not relevent to the Fever series and don't really tie-in much at all to the rest of the Highlander series either. However, the later books do tie in.... if you're not a hardcore fan of the romance genre then you may want to just start with the 3rd book in the series.

Speaking for myself, I am new to romance reading and I am struggling with some of the bodice-ripping goodness, men hung like donkies (I am in a minority who doesn't think that a foot long and wide only sounds like fun if there is an epidural involved) and the infernal virgins -- this formula is very strong in the Highlander series but there is some good paranormal material there too to offset the bodice-ripping stallion men.

I just finished Faefever.  Right now I am definitely leaning toward thinking Barrons is either the Unseelie King or the 4th Unseelie Prince.

In favor of that -- the woman he carries across the silvers (maybe his onetime concubine), the fact that we haven't seen the King or heard about what he is up to even though he is a principal player in what is going on, the fact that Barrons was so sure he'd be able to touch the Book (presumably because it was his creation) yet still knew enough to draw back, the fact that he drew back because he said it would take away from him the ability that was the one thing he wanted the Book for (the ability to heal his one-time concubine?).

Against -- wouldn't V'Lane know who he was and denounce him immediately?  how was he able to cross worlds?  Why couldn't he put a stop to all the Unseelie craziness?  Most importantly -- Barrons tells Mac time and again not to believe he is like here, and I think we are supposed to feel like we shouldn't romanticize him, he is a baddie.  But the way the book is constructed -- there is obviously something good about Barrons, and probably some kind of redemptive something coming later in connection with him.  Would the Unseelie King really have a good underside to him?  The Princes sure kind of suck.  On the other hand, the Unseelie King was once the Seelie King, whereas the Unseelie Princes were always baddies as they were creations of the Unseelie King's mutant Song.

Will await the release of #4.

OK so here's where I think reading some of the Higlander stories might help you piece some things together? If you don't want to then....

Have you read this whole thread? The reason I ask is b'c you MAY be able to get a good idea...at least enough of an idea - of what happened in HIghlander & the characters involved to see how it pertains to Fever.

The last we see of the Unseelie King is in Highlander book 7. The Seelie Queen goes to him to gloat. We also ind out in Highlander they were lovers. She was once sort of imprisoned by him. But she wanted to be- it was like they were addicted to one another (Rach/Frenchie I have that right?? Or am I messin it up).

Anyway - she pulls a major power play & goes to see him to gloat. If I remember correctly the scene ends w/her either going into his arms or her remembering his pull.....

Anyway - in Highlander - there is A LOT of time travel & it's very pertinent to the Fever worlds. Bascially - the Queen sees that in 5 years in the future - the walls collapse so she travels back in time in the books to amass her own powerful band of "ringers". She is gathering the most powerful Druids that ever were to help her fight the battle in the future.

They are all MacKeltar's . Drustan, Dageaus (Twin brothers - Dageaus is a Druid/Sorceror which means he used Dark Magyks) & Cian (another D/S). Drustan is all Druid. Very good - untouched by the dark.

We still don't know who the other 2 are.

My guess has always been that Barrons is a Druid/Sorceror (which would explain him being able to think he could handle the book) PLUS something else.

The MacKeltars are a very special Druid clan. They were/are the guardians of the Fae scrolls & books/histories & spells - esp. the treaty between their world & the human.

They were also given the ability to time travel by the Seelie Queen if ness.

They were/are also supposed to be the guardians of the Fae objects. The ones everyone is after.....

This all comes to light in the Highlander series.

Thanks for the summary, Laura!  I had read the thread, but skimmed a lot of the Highlander parts since I hadn't read the books.  Right now I'm not planning to do so -- I like the Fever series quite well but not well enough to branch out into the related books (whereas for the Sookie series I would be gobbling down anything related  . . . )

Anita Blake books 1-3 arrived on my desk this morning, so I see I will be shifting my focus immediately.   

Has anyone seen the April teaser?  Any ideas?

I don't want to win the keyring - I just want to know ....!!!!

Not I .

Rache? I think Rachel is getting them sent to her...

I'll forward the email with the link - with your professional expertise you probably have a keen eye!

Hi I'm Fiona, I have read the Darkfever series but do you have to have read the Highlanders to get more info about the Darkfevers?

Hey Fiona! It defintely helps & it's certainly fun but it's not a prerequisite.  Maybe you may be able to piece together enough info from reading the thread? I'm not sure. I did a little recap for *M* - let me know if you have any ?'s

Hey guys - here is some info on the lates Fever book:

http://app.e2ma.net/campaign/8216.20d0aa0fda72d43b08a001a343811a11

• It's the longest she's done yet at 450 pages (100 more than the last one)
• She thinks it's the most emotional book she's written
• Barron's has created a Z-Lo to rival the MacHalo & thinks it's vastly superior.

This month's teaser is a little different. In fact, there isn't one. At least not here. This month you'll have to go to my blog for your teaser, and it's going to require a little effort on your part.  But it's worth it!  It answers a big question, if you can figure it out. Plus, it gives you the chance to see how the cover is developed from the initial sketch and photography.

http://karenmariemoning.blogspot.com/2009/04/april-newsletter-contestpuzzle.html 

Here is the answer (I still don't see it... Is it the notches n the building they are talking about?):

"Ogham letter. Ogham being the ancient Irish alphabet, but mostly translated using the similar alphabet of Basque, making a lot of the old Irish translations confusing. Anyway, it translates to the word Zigor, which in Basque means "Punisher".

Then, about thirty minutes after Cait's first try, she emailed again and said, "I got it. It's JZB's middle name. I was reading it backwards before. ZIGOR, Gender masculine, Usage: Basque, means "punishment." JZB is Basque and Pict!

Cait and Shawn, nice work! Choose from a signed copy of HC Faefever or Bloodfever and email me your address to send it to.

There's actually some debate over whether Zigor means "punisher" or "punished" in Basque.

Zigor is JZB's middle name.
 

Laura... it is the notches, or rather letters on the building.

When inscribed on stones, Ogham is written vertically from bottom to top

http://www.ancientscripts.com/ogham.html

Thanks Heather!

Have y'all seen the snippet that KMM has released from "Dreamfever" - roll on 18 Aug!

Karen Marie Moning and her publisher's just released the e-book of Dark Fever for free at this link:

 http://www.suvudu.com/freelibrary/

I have managed to suck three friends into this series because of the free audiobook. I'd love to see how the freebee's effect the success of the other books in a series. I got hooked this way and I am sure I am not alone. Likewise, since books are available for free in public libraries, why are publishers and authors so peckish about releasing older books from a series for free online to court more readers in the way that KMM has done?

No Frenchie I haven't seen the snippet? Can you post the link??

HELLO - Listen to this Audio Excerpt. Man it sure does sound like being Priya has made her into a little vixen. I cannot wait to read this book & find out who exactly she is behaving this way with!!

http://www.karenmoning.com/audio/ExcerptDreamfever.mp3

Thank you for the link -- of course I'm all sorts of excited for the new book. Poor Mac, it looks like she's gone all out Priya -- I know she'll escape the situation but it won't be easy.

I was listening to the first book as an audiobook and I noticed something that I had missed in the reading and that is Mac's narration is in the past-tense, and the events in the story happened some time ago. So I know she'll make it out of being a Priya (and save the world) to tell the tale but I want more of the tale right now!

Oh funny I just PM'd you. I am so excited it's really kind of funny.

I am guessing the scene is with Darroc & I love that Moning perversely having Mac go there with her sisters ex. It's twisted & dark.

I am really exicted about it also.... but I am not sure who the "man" is that she is dancing for, sure it might be Darroc but it could be someone else, possibly V'Lane or even Barrons. In the excerpt, Mac seems so overwhelmed by the spell of fae sex that her brain isn't fully functioning, like she doesn't know what dancing is: "He plays music for me. I like it very much. I find something else to do with my body that gives me pleasure. He calls it dancing."

If memory serves me correctly, once a gal goes Priya, isn't she turned on by anyone and anything? If so, isn't it possible that although a salacious tidbit, the soundbite we heard could be sad in the context of her having been rescued and her rescuer trying to reach her mind through music -- since anyone who would rescue her knows how much she loves music? Her perception of his look being carnal could be just that, perception warped by fae magic?

Who knows? I don't but it's fun to speculate.

Heck, she might even be in the presence of the Book itself -- she did call it "The Beast" once before and we know it's sentient and alive. Maybe she's in the presence of The Beast aka the dark volume and is being seduced by it...

Now the thick dark volume was changing again, becoming something new. It swirled and spun, drawing substance from wind and darkness.

In its place rose a . . .thing . . . of such . . . terrible essence and pitch. A darkly animate . . . again, I can only saything . . . that existed beyond shape or name: a malformed creature sprung from some no-man’s-land of shattered sanity and broken gibberings.

And itlived .

I have no words to describe it, because nothing exists in our world to compare it to. I’m glad nothing exists in our world to compare it to, because if something did exist in our world to compare it to, I’m not sure our world would exist.

I can only call it the Beast, and leave it there.

In the audio clip she does say that the man sings "Give me time to cover my tracks. Never I say. If my Beast thinks to leave me I will track him. He is MINE. I tell him so" 

If memory serves me correctly, once a gal goes Priya, isn't she turned on by anyone and anything?

Yup. AND - we know Mac is well into her music. The fact that she has to have explained that what she is doing is called dancing?? 

 If so, isn't it possible that although a salacious tidbit, the soundbite we heard could be sad in the context of her having been rescued and her rescuer trying to reach her mind through music -- since anyone who would rescue her knows how much she loves music?

So  I am thinking it's not to reach her .....but that she has lost a huge part of herself completely.

Maybe she's in the presence of The Beast aka the dark volume and is being seduced by it...

Wow. That's big thinking. I need to think about that but you may be on to something...

Wow. That's big thinking. I need to think about that but you may be on to something...

You mean I could be onto something besides my next exotic cocktail? YES!

Seriously though, I agree that it's likely that for Mac to physically survive the Death By Fae attack, she would have let go and been stripped of much of her identity, the magic is that strong. At least she's alive and I know she'll reclaim as much of her identity and sanity that remains... I just can't wait for this book. I love this series!

ROTFL - good to know I wasn't the only one on exotic cocktails.

I just finished the 3rd book and I'm totally blown away! What a great series! The ending was awful- not awful as in poorly written just awful as in I can't believe after all of Mac's will power and how she knew what she wanted and how she wanted to conduct herself that she had it all taken away from her and was completely powerless to stop it. My head is swimming with all of the questions that I have about what Barrons is and why it is exactly that V'lane despises him, can't go near him etc. I haven't read the Highlander series yet though so I think I'll hold off on commenting until I have so I understand what y'all are referring to in the posts above. I had to comment though on how great this series is and I'm glad for the recommendation from the Sookie board!

Yaaay Tray! Another convert. Yes - a shocker of an ending I didn't see coming. I love when that happens. The snippets for the next book sound soooo good. Have you read the teasers or listened to the audio teaser??

I only read some of the teasers in the posts above but I stopped reading about halfway through since the Highlander series was quoted so much and I didn't want too many details before I start them.

Ugh, I so didn't see the end coming either! I thought that when she walked out of the church and thought V'lane was there to save her that maybe instead of a happy reunion that he'd know that she had eaten Unseelie and be all pissed off and tell her she's on her own but I totally didn't expect it to be death by sex fae princes....or I thought that maybe it would have been the Lord Master instead of V'lane. I'm going to go so insane until mid August waiting to find out who the good guys and bad guys are! (if that even gets answered!)

By the way the Mac Halo scene where she's dancing around in the bookstore almost made me pee myself I laughed so hard!!!

I know! I loved the Mac Halo & that whole scene. Pure Genius. You know - it could've been written really poorly too & come across cheesy but Moning did it just right.

Do you you have a Kindle or ever read files electronically like PDF's or .txt?

I don't have a kindle. I should probably invest in one. I haven't tried downloading any books to my pc.

I love that Barrons laughs his "petunia" off in that scene. It's nice to see him at least act human.

I am going to re-read all 3 right before the release so it's fresh.The next series you need to read is Georgina Kincaid.

Don't you just love Mac? Do you have a preference between Barrons or V'Lane?

I've got the Kincaid series in my Amazon list : )

Mac is awesome! I like her better than any of the female MC's that I've read lately. I love the fact that she just buckles down and gets it done even if it's totally unpleasant (like when she was about to die but decided that she would do the unthinkable and eat the Unseelie). I like that she doesn't whine about her miserable crap luck and that she takes everything as a learning experience. She's always able to take a step back and evaluate her circumstances instead of getting swept up in the grief, passion, fear or emotional hurt of it and take away something useful.

I'm very torn about Barrons vs. V'lane. It seems in a way that V'lane has been much kinder to her aside from the whole near rape thing (gee, that's something I would never utter about a real person!)- but in his defense, his reality is so different than a humans. I think he really doesn't know what it means to a woman to be raped. He thinks only of the physical gratification so what's the problem right? I think that Mac is the only one that's ever explained to him in any terms that he can begin to understand why it's wrong and it's still really foreign to him but I think he tries as much as his general apathy toward human feelings will let him. I don't think he can bond with a human though so aside from thinking that she's intriguing and challenging, I do think that he looks at her as an object to have or a prize to be won but would never really care about her.

Barrons, hm... I think he may have the capacity to love but he seems to have conditioned himself out of caring for people. I guess a lot of that depends on what he is though. He sure does act like a bastard most of the time but he's so very appealing on a base, animalistic level : ) His character totally confounds me, I love him as much as I hate him. Every time they came close to having sex I was totally rooting for it but then he'd say or do something awful and I'd think "Oh just go fuck V'lane, Barrons deserves it". I love the fact that there's this huge pissing match between him and V'lane over who is sleeping with (or not sleeping with) Mac. I thought it was interesting that when V'lane asked him if he was sleeping with Mac that his response was "I'm trying not to". Hm.... could Barrons be worried that if he did she'd become pri-ya because he's fae too? Ugh, I don't know. There are so many things he could be. I had him figured for Unseelie King but it does sound too easy like you've said.

Mac is awesome! I like her better than any of the female MC's that I've read lately. I love the fact that she just buckles down and gets it done even if it's totally unpleasant (like when she was about to die but decided that she would do the unthinkable and eat the Unseelie).

Completely!! That's what I love about her & I know Rachel does too. 

I like that she doesn't whine about her miserable crap luck and that she takes everything as a learning experience. She's always able to take a step back and evaluate her circumstances instead of getting swept up in the grief, passion, fear or emotional hurt of it and take away something useful.

Ex-freakin' - actly.

It seems in a way that V'lane has been much kinder to her aside from the whole near rape thing (gee, that's something I would never utter about a real person!

LMFAO!

I do think that he looks at her as an object to have or a prize to be won but would never really care about her.

This is interesting b'c I have wondered if this is actually true of his nature as a SBDF (that's sex-by-death-fae not silent-but-deadly-fart) or more learned behavior....??

but he's so very appealing on a base, animalistic level :

Oh yes.

I thought it was interesting that when V'lane asked him if he was sleeping with Mac that his response was "I'm trying not to". Hm.... could Barrons be worried that if he did she'd become pri-ya because he's fae too?

Oh wow! I never thought of that possibility. Although - don't all SBDF no matter what court - look the same?

UNLESS - V'Lane isn't really Seelie but Unseelie and Barrons is actually Seelie!?

Which - if your thought is correct would explain the SBDF's that we have seen ll looking the same.

Do you know my other theory about Barrons? Maybe I shouldn't say until you read Higlander...

Hm, didn't the book at the Abby say that V'lane was a Seelie prince? But who knows if Rowena was purposely misleading her or what. Something's wrong with her. She sounds like the nasty Inquisitor or whatever from Mortal Instruments. About V'lane's apathy toward humans being learned or not, I suppose it is. And if it's learned, it can be unlearned. He's been so good to her in the last book, surely he's about to do something awful. I wonder if Barrons will be a total ass when he sees Mac again since I'm sure he'll know she's been having sex with fairies. Considering his past behavior, I don't think it will make any difference to him that there was nothing she could do to stop it. I see him blaming her for it because she should have gone with him. He seems to disguise hurt with anger so I think he'll be a jerk. Yeah, save the Highlander tie ins till I read them. I'm about to jump in on the last minute of a Highlander auction on Ebay and piss someone off : )

 Hm, didn't the book at the Abby say that V'lane was a Seelie prince?

Shit I don't remember......

Something's wrong with her. She sounds like the nasty Inquisitor or whatever from Mortal Instruments.

Yeah, she does!

About V'lane's apathy toward humans being learned or not, I suppose it is. 

Well it'll depend - I need to re-read. If SBDF are born a particular way - to only comprehend pleasure to enslave therefore, not actually able to make emotional connections, then he wouldn't be able to.

BUT - I do think for Fae in general - their contempt is learned. I do think they absolutely have the ability to love etc...

Considering his past behavior, I don't think it will make any difference to him that there was nothing she could do to stop it. I see him blaming her for it because she should have gone with him. He seems to disguise hurt with anger so I think he'll be a jerk.

Hmmm...I don't know. You raise a good point but honestly? I have really no clue which is what I LOVE about this series!!Even when reading the teasers.

i think he'll take advantage of her willing sexual nature OR she will come on to him & he won't be able to resist.

Normally either things aren't orginal enough or there is too obvious foreshadowing or I have seen one to many who-dunits & figure it our early on. But in this series - I cannot WAIT to see what is going to happen.

 I have really no clue which is what I LOVE about this series!!Even when reading the teasers.

I know! She's really good at keeping you guessing and it's so suspenseful! Is the Highlander series written in the same way where you really have to work at trying to figure people out? (By the way, won my ebay auction last night so the Highlander series in on the way. Take that evil bidder from the west coast! haha)

i think he'll take advantage of her willing sexual nature OR she will come on to him & he won't be able to resist.

Or, I've also thought, what if he feels like she's damaged goods now? He really detests weakness in other people. I couldn't imagine him feeling like that long term but I could see him feeling that way at first and maybe that driving her to V'lain or Christian. Who do you prefer? V'lain or Barrons?

And what is up with the dreamy eyed boy?? There's something about him that's going to come up later and I think it will be bad. He just seems to be everywhere and it's just too convenient, like the LM planted him.

You know what scene really bothered me? The cake scene. His crazy, violent reaction to her getting a cake for him was way over the top. I'm wondering why he freaked out so much. It seems like it would have to be a lot more than him trying to dissuade her from having feelings for him since he went so rabid on her.

Is the Highlander series written in the same way where you really have to work at trying to figure people out?

No. Highlander is firmly Paranormal Romance. However - by book 3 is where you really have to start paying attention in conjunction with Fever. Book 4 is where it starts to take off.

Book 1 is cheese but still good enough to blow through. However - you meet an important character & it's really the start of the History which is referred to in Fever. Each book gets progressively better & more & more is revealed & tied in to Fever with each passing book.

Congrats on the ebay! Are you one of those snipers!??

Or, I've also thought, what if he feels like she's damaged goods now?

Maybe. I don't know b'c I am remembering one of the earlier teasers & it seems like he is into Mac.

Of course then we have another one - the latest where...if it's him, you could be right. But I think there is a chance it is Darroc.

Who do you prefer? V'lain or Barrons?

Well to be honest - I would't kick either of them outta bed for eating crackers.

I really like them both. I think they are both interesting, sexy & compelling characters. I guess if I had to choose, I would choose Barrons b'c he has kept her safe & has trained her. But if there was a flip in V'Lane's favor I wouldn't be opposed.

I also really like Christain. I am a huge fan of the MacKeltars. You get to know them in Highlander. So for me - he is the safe bet. But who likes safe?

And what is up with the dreamy eyed boy?? There's something about him that's going to come up later and I think it will be bad. He just seems to be everywhere and it's just too convenient, like the LM planted him.

Yeah - that...I have no idea!!

You know what scene really bothered me? The cake scene. His crazy, violent reaction to her getting a cake for him was way over the top. I'm wondering why he freaked out so much. It seems like it would have to be a lot more than him trying to dissuade her from having feelings for him since he went so rabid on her.

Yeah - I need to re-read. he did freak out. I took it as him wanting to teach her a lesson. She was getting comfortable & he was too. his paology to her was great thought. The car? I loved that. B'c he didn't acknowledge he was an utter ass & neither was she but he offered what he knew she loved & was passionate about instead & she accepted it without a big whoo-ha. I liked that.

And what is up with the dreamy eyed boy?? There's something about him that's going to come up later and I think it will be bad. He just seems to be everywhere and it's just too convenient, like the LM planted him.

Have you noticed that the Dreamy Eyed Boy appears shortly before V'Lane does? I think he's a stalking horse for V'Lane -- I suspect he has a connection to the Highlander series as well, I am just not sure exactly what since I don't think he's a MacKeltar.

Speaking of MacKeltars, I really wish Mac would just go with Christian -- he's a keeper but I don't think Mac and Christian are a match.

Moving right along to the Highlander series -- if you're reading the series to get clues on some of the other parties and storylines in Fever, then it's my opinion that you can skip the first two books all together. They are not essential to Fever and what you need to know from them in subsequent books is recapped. Now, if you're an orthodox series reader, please dive right in but just know that you don't have to read them if you're approaching the series to get hints about Fever.

I am glad you love Mac too -- isn't it refreshing to have a female heroine who owns her identity and who learns from her mistakes and who is resiliant but still feminine without having to get into a pissing contest with every man or woman to prove herself?

Mac rules and I want her Mac Halo!

What I really want to know (besides who and what Barrons really is), is who is the person on the speed dial to call if Mac is dying. I have a theory but I'm not absolutely certain.... any ideas anyone?

I'm sure this isn't who Ryodan is but after that phone call where Barrons is fighting him, I couldn't help but think he's Barron's Kato! I can just see him lurking in Barron's apartment waiting to attack. I'm pretty sure that's not happening and that Moning isn't actually turning the story in the direction of the Pink Panther :  )

Kato!! Brilliant!!

Can't you just see it, Barrons comes in all banged up..."Ryodan!! Don't attack me today... I'm not kidding....." then WAH!! Karate chop! Not knowing anything about this Ryodan person, I still think Barrons would kick his ass.

OK here is the Audio product descripton of Dreamfever! Don't read if you like to go in blind.

OHH This cannot come out fast enough!! Hopefully the mystery that which is Barrons will be revealed...I think it's seriously starting to kill me.

I know, I am too excited for this.

Hey Laura i finished reading Spell of the Highlander the other day and i LOVED It!!! What did you think about the way it ended? Seems the Mackeltars could be playing a huge part in the upcoming Fever book don't ya think?

Yes that one is one of my favorites in the Highlander series. Book 3 is where it really starts to become interwoven with Fever in a big way, every book following really shedding a ton of light on the Fever series. You'll see! Keep reading....let me know what you think of book 4.

So far i've read books 3,4,6, and 7. I haven't got to read Daegus and Chloe's story yet but i'm going to even though from reading The Immortal Highlander and Spell of the Highlander i know how it ends. Any ideas on who you think the other 2 Druids are that QA has chosen?? Seeing as how we know who the other 3 are now.

4 is my favorite along with 3 & 6.

Although #5 - is usually the fan favorite. Chloe annoyed me too much.

I think Barrons might be a Dark Druid (along with being something else).

I can't think of who the other one might be...

I've been wondering if possibly Christian is one of them...Because of his ability to tell when people are lying. Mac needs to take him with her and hang around Barrons. I'm sure that would annoy the crap out of Barrons to have Christian say LIE after everything he says LOL.

You mean a Mackeltar Druid?

Sorry i didn't go into detail LOL...I meant do you think he could be one of QA 5 chosen Druids?

He could be. Right now that is the only other one that's been intro'd that makes sense.

OR....maybe it's the guy that acts as Barrons backup (ring if you're in trouble guy - can't remember his name) .

Or maybe it's Baby Blue Eyes McHottie who we've seen around but don't know who he is yet!

That would be really cool if it was Ryodan..... I wonder if he is like Barrons and being all Dark Druid. Which in my opinion from reading the Highlander Series i find the Dark Druids very Hot!! Dreamy eyed guy stumps me though i'm not quite sure what to make out about him (other than he has gorgeous eyes). God i hope she meets Ryodan in the new book and finds out what Barrons is...then find out what's up with the Dreamy eyed Guy. LOL I'm not asking for much am I?

Hey guys... Lurker here... I apologize for popping in unannounced like this, but I couldn't help myself!

I just found out that _Dreamfever_ came out early in Canada... Did anybody manage to catch any spoilers? I've spent the last three hours (no kidding!!!) combing the internet, but I couldn't find any spoilers... It's driving me crazy!  Did anybody get lucky so far? Care to share? I'm a huge JBZ fan, so I'm mostly rabidly looking for spoilers regarding him. But I'd be happy with any spoiler, to tell the truth. I know once I get the book I'll just flip the pages frantically, trying to find out what's going to happen next -- which is why I like to be spoiled in advance, so I can just sit back, relax, and savor the book slowly.

Hey luvs -So I don't know any spoilers but have you tried searching directly from Google Canada?

http://www.google.ca/

I did check Canada Amazon & it's still saying it will be released on the 18th.....?

Just finieshed. Wow. I was not prepared for that ending. One day I'm laughing at the whole Mac x Barrons x V'lane dynamics, the next I get those disturbing final scenes with the three dark princes...Gosh. And there I was, thinking V'lane will come, Barrons will come, Dani... thinking it won't happen... and then it did. I'm so worried about Mac. I'm glad I read the book now, I cannot imagine having to wait for a year till dreamfever... Gosh, we haven't even seen her have sex with Barrons or V'lane and now...

I know the ending just kind of wacked me over the head i was soo not expecting it. I can't wait to see Barrons reaction when he finds out...I'm hoping he is going to be really pissed and just destroy them. He had already told Mac if the old woman hurt her he would kill her. So when he finds out what the Princes did they are going to be praying for death by the time Barrons gets through with them LOL.

Ohh I hope so. I want to see V'lane's reaction too. I want to see if he cares about her at all...Mac should get to kill them too.

Thanks, Laura!!!

No luck so far... I guess I'll just have to be patient (not really a virtue of mine!) and sit tight until the 18th... Drats! Maybe I'll manage to wait until I get the plot before I read the book... or most probably I'll just break down, spend a day leafing through it, and then reread it slowly.

Chapters.ca's website still only features the same review I found yesterday... Nothing more.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Dreamfever-A-Novel-Karen-Marie-Moning/9780385341653-555099-Review.html 

I've been having some trouble posting, sorry.

I've read all the theories. They're great. And I'm happy to find out Barrons middle name. So that's what Ryodan meant by alpha and omega...

I love Mac as a lead character too. She's great.

When Barrons said he killed the man who broke him, and his wife, did anyone else thought of the Unseelie King and Seelie Queen? (i dont know why I thought of this. V'lane never said what happened to the king..)

I think Barrons wants the Book to banish all Fae from the world, not just the Unseelie. I think he was the boy that wrote the journal. And I think he was half-something supernatural, and that's why he was so beautiful. (He said the men in his village mocked him.) And that's probably the reason the princess caught him, she wanted to, huh, brood him till he was old enough. That fits in the thoughts we get of him in tha teaser, the one Mac gets in his head, about them not recognizing him and that they should fear him etc...

Maybe the beautiful dead woman Mac saw him bring from the silver was a Seelie Fae?

That's why he and V'lane don't want each other to get the book. V'lane wants the Seelie to be able to come to this world.

When Dani said the Sinsar Dubh was lost 20-something years ago, I wondered if maybe Patrona had something to do with it? Just the way Rowena speaks of Patrona, like she was disappointed by her... Maybe that's why the Order became such a tyranny. Because they were betrayed by one of their own. I've been thinking Patrona is Mac's mother and that maybe the LM seduced her like he did with Alina. (Twisted huh?) .Mac is 22, Alina was 24 IIRC.

I'll guess I'll read the highlanders series starting with the third...

Do you know what the Wild Hunt is?? I do if you want to know....

This was another reason why I was thinking that V'Lane may actually end up being Unseelie...

Or rather - that Sex by Death Fae are actually Unseelie....

Oh & had another thought - maybe the other Druid is one we were intro'd to in the Higlander series...Adam.

Well on the Forums on Karen's official site she said that he was for sure not the boy in the journal...Sooo you can definately rule that theory out.

Maybe that's why the Order became such a tyranny. Because they were betrayed by one of their own. I've been thinking Patrona is Mac's mother and that maybe the LM seduced her like he did with Alina. (Twisted huh?) .Mac is 22, Alina was 24 IIRC.

This is an excellent theory i Love it!! Rowena also seems like she is going to end up being a bad character (just some vibe she puts off) I never really cared much for her to begin with. Ohh Adam i really hope he makes an appearance in Dreamfever along with the Mackeltar Brothers I just LOVE them!
 

Is this in this thread?

Yeah. 23 May 09. You're the one who posted it!

Which book did we find this out?? This is why I have to re-read before the release. I read them a while ago.

Bloodfever, just after she eats unseelie, after Jericho found her. She says she wants to kill Mallucé herself, and he wanted to come back himself later. She asks if anyone ever broke him...

Well on the Forums on Karen's official site she said that he was for sure not the boy in the journal

I thought she had said he wasn't the boy Mac saw in the desert, when she touched Jericho in Malucés lair... Never mind then.

Glad you like my theory! =)

Ohh, about the Wild Hunt... I think it was when the Fae haunted Seedhe-seers. Before the Compact... It was never explained, but Mac mentions it at the night the walls come down. She says the most powefull Unseelie are going to come, and the Wild Hunt will start. Doen't sound good... It's been bothering me for a while. The seelie killed humans too before Queen Aoibheal wanted to give them rights.

I guess there's a Seelie and a Unseelie Wild Hunt. V'lane being the founder of the Seelie one. And they kill with sex... Or maybe the Seelie Wild Hunt hunts unseelie? Please? ( I kinda love V'lane, I'm prolly biased )

V'lane is a good boy! He hasn't used his sex power in aa unwilling woman in 82 thousand years, lol

Anyway. He did mention that when they came, humans were no different than animals. Only later when they developed language Aoibheal started saying they were higher beings and should be given rights. Homo Sapiens is thought to have developed language 30-50 thousand years ago...

Just adding. I like that Mac called him on trying to rape her too. I usually don't even like to discuss Sookie's rape because I get mad at people denying it... I don't think Mac will end up with V'lane anyway. I just find him hilarious and boyish, like the usual portrayal of fairies, vain, selfish and fickle. He's like a spoiled boy, really! He seems almost naive, because Fae are limited to love selfishly, and generally lack empathy in my opinion.

I realise I'm posting a lot... but in Darkfever's prologue Mac says the Unseelie used to hunt the sidhe-seers. And they even have descriptions of them, like of the hunters...But the unseelie were imprisoned 700 thousands years ago...the compact was made 6 thousand years ago. I wonder if only the Royal Unseelie were imprisoned then. Because V'lane mentioned Darroc learned to eat unseelie from the Royal hunters...Maybe some of them were aloud out to do the Seelie dirty work? Or made there were other times the walls weakened and only the weaker could come out...

And again, I deleted one of my posts because I found the complete information about V'lane in Rowena's book. Sorry, here it is:

"V'lane. Prince of the Court of Light. Seelie. Member of Queen Aoibheal's High Council andsometimes consort. Founder of the Wild Hunt. Highly elitist, highly sexed. Our first encounter with V'lane took place in..."

I'll stop now, I promise. =)

I soo love V'Lane!! Maybe he'll end up being like Adam?? Adam was not very good at first but then his character completely changed around. Maybe Mac can be the one that brings out some emotions from him.

Yeah. 23 May 09. You're the one who posted it!

(Snort) - oh my god. See? If I don't constantly re-read & study, I forget. It's awful!!

Just adding. I like that Mac called him on trying to rape her too. I usually don't even like to discuss Sookie's rape because I get mad at people denying it...

Yes - that was a great call of Moning to do that.

^^ Oh I just read the three books in a roll, so everything is fresh =) Also someone told me the series was full of clues, so I made notes. Yep, I have ocd. Heh

Someone asked Moning how Zigor is pronounced, she said "just call him Ziggy" lol

I haven't been this obsessed with a series in a while. I'm getting getting into fae stuff. Maybe I'll read Merry Gentry next...

I soo love V'Lane!! Maybe he'll end up being like Adam?

I'm starting the highlanders today, Adam is in them, right?. I'm hoping Mac will teach V'lane humans are not as bad as he thinks. ( He said it's not longevity that makes he find someone worthy, and that he doesn't find most of his race worthy. I'm curious to what it is. He did say humans were overpopulating and destroying their planet...). I think he likes Mac already. I don't think V'lane will react well to the gang rape, not at first... I'm afraid he'll say something like: you refused me, but not them? =/ And later he'll apologize... I think Barrons will be react better.

Presuming we finally learn what Barrons really is in this new book, does anyone care to make a prediction as to what Barrons is?

I think he is a mutt. 1/2 Fae - I can't decide if he is Seelie or Unseelie plus Dark Druid. I might change my mind when I re-read.

I'm pretty sure atleast part of what he is..is Druid/Sorceror because of his tatoos, but part of me is thinking he is part fae of some kind.

LOL Laura you beat me to posting but you seem to have the same thought as i did.

That's cool!

Also part of me is thinking he is Unseelie King from some of the evidence, but i really think that would just be too obvious don't you think?

I am going with Druid/Sorcerer who is also the Unseelie King's Vengance... I don't think he's fae, he's been sticking to the Pict x Basque heritage and I suspect he did something very, very arrogant and stupid when he was just a powerful Druid and ended up as the Unseelie King's Vengance at some point or another.

I won't abandon my vampire theory though... he still doesn't eat and he's never out during the day and he seems to know a lot about them.

Okay, I've got it ... he's a Vampire Druid and Vengance. LMAO.

Okay, I've got it ... he's a Vampire Druid and Vengance. LMAO.

HAAAHAAA That's pretty good! I also had the same thought about him being Vengance......But you know when you think about all the theories out there they all make sense. It's seriously enough to drive you NUTS!! It's also driving my husband crazy cause that's all i'm talking about constantly. In Darkfever i was deadset that he was a Vampire...I mean he seriously seemed to know quite alot about them. Since i finished reading all of them I have no F**king clue what he is, and for that Karen Moning is Brilliant LOL.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what or if there is any significance to the Mural that is painted on the Dome ceiling in the library that is soo high up Mac can't make it out? I'm re-reading the books before Dreamfever comes out and it mentions it in the first book and then i remember Mac mentioning it in the later books saying one day she was going to find a way to get up there so she could finally see what the painting was.

I agree with the half-fae theory...

I don't think Barrons meant to send those shadows to the Abbey. Remember Mac had a vision of the LM:

"standing at the edge of a stark, sheer black cliff, in an icy place, red-robed,hands raised—and was that a heart held high, dripping blood?—chanting, summoning arts powerfulenough to crash a prison wrought from living strands of the Song of Making, and it was doing something to all magic, even Fae, making it go terribly wrong."I

I think he sabotaged the magic the seedhe-seers and the Mackelters were doing, turning light magic into dark and directing it to breaking the walls instead of reinforcing them...maybe that's how he's been weakening the walls, using the Mackelters magic. Chistian said the rituals were going wrong. If there was basic light magic in the Orb, it turned to basic dark magic, the shadows?

Something interesting I saw in Moning's Forums: In Galway, there's a province named Connacht. Legend says fairies lived there, under king Finnbheara. Over there there's a cave, the cave of Cruachain, sometimes known as the ‘Hell's Gate of Ireland'.  Hell= Unseelie Kingdom? . King Finnbheara is mentioned in the highlander books. The cave it's nkown for it's extensive ogham inscriptions...

Barron's listed adress is in Galway, according to O'Duffy.

I've been wondering about the mural too, no idea what it's there...

It's also driving my husband crazy cause that's all i'm talking about constantly.

Between Eric (SVM/TB) and Barrons, I'm surprised my husband hasn't had me committed yet...or divorced. lol

Links to the Galway stuff

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Finnbheara.html

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Connacht.html

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-Cruachain.html

Shit. I am re-reading the Fever series now & only 20% of the way through  Darkfever (#1).

But now I am back to wondering if my initial gut was right in what it was saying about what Barrons is - I am sure this is bound to change as I read but my gut instinct said that he is some sort of Shifter..like a Were or a Phouka. I STILL think he is a Dark Druid but also....something else.

There was this bit in the beginning & now I am wondering if it was foreshadowing:

After she talk's to Alina's Professor & reads about the Book there was this (Chapter 5):

Vampires? Eew. Dead. Enough said. Time-travel? Ha, give me creature comforts over a hulking highlander with the manners of a caveman any day. Werewolves? Oh please, just plain stupid. Who wants to get it on with a man who's ruled by his inner dog? As if all men aren't anyway, even without the lycanthrope gene.

Well, in this book we meet a vamp, we also know via the crossover series that the Druids in Fever are Time-Travelling HIglanders....so I am wondering if Barrons is the Were we have yet to meet???

Often times she describes him as predatory & Feral looking. His eyes esp. - they change.

Then when he goes to see Mac in her room. She notices he looks different. Less sharp & I couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with the time of night or maybe even the moon..?

He puts his tongue over the pulse in her neck & tells her that she is a victim. Sure....could be vamp but a Were would do that too. To feel her pulse. It would excite a shifter - it's how they also gage their prey but taking in scent & pulse.

The other thing - he seems esp. preoccupied with her boobs. I wondered if that had to do with meat. You know - soft flesh...shifters finding those bits most enticing?

There are other things I remember, that when reading through the 1st time, made me think he was a shifter -

• his quick moods,
• the howling she here's in the basement,
• the need to spar,
• the fact that he consumes the energy in a room & commands it - it is kind of electric (I was thinking that would be an Alpha Were's trait - to command).
• Even the fact that he smells her periods or when she is ovualting.
• And I wonder if he love of fast cars/bikes is a subsitute for being able to run?

And that little teaser we have where he is in Faery & he is bitter & upset:

inside Barrons body
I was strong.
I was cold.
I was mighty and they didn't even know just how mighty I was.
They didn't recognize me, the fools.
I was danger.
I was everything they should fear but they'd lived so long that they'd forgotten fear. I would teach them.
I would remind them.
 

I was thinking - how did he get into faery? Clearly he is welcome right....well what if that is b'c he is one of the Queen's handpicked time-travelleing Druids BUT...she doesn't know either A - he has turned "Dark" and or B - he has also been bitten & is also a shifter?

BUT...but then I had another thought about whatever he could be... What if he was the 1st Sex-by-Death Fae??

• Which is maybe why Fiona tried to kill Mac?
• And why V'Lane is so competitve with him?
• Also -  Do Barrons & V'Lane have similar tatoos??

Anyway - I have to keep reading to see if I collect anymore evidence ot support that thought but I am back to him being a DD & a Were as of right now.

The teaser for June is a little longer here I think no

I kicked the table at him. It crashed into his shins. I picked up a lamp from the end table. Flung it straight at his head. He ducked again. I grabbed a book. It thumped off his chest.

He laughed, dark eyes glittering with exhilaration.

I launched myself at him, slammed a fist into his face. I heard a satisfying crunch and felt something in his nose give.

He didn't try to hit me back or push me away. Merely wrapped his arms around me and crushed me tight to his body, trapping my arms against his chest.

Then when I thought he might just squeeze me to death, he dropped his head forward, into the hollow where my shoulder met my neck.

"Do you miss fucking me, Ms. Lane?" he purred against my ear. Voice resonated in my skull, pressuring a reply.

It certainly sounds like Barrons between Voice & calling her Ms. Lane but I'm not giving up that I think it could be LM too.

Also Rache - with Zigor meaning punisher, I do like your idea of him being the hand of Vengeance as well. Ack! Only a week away.

There are other things I remember, that when reading through the 1st time, made me think he was a shifter -

• his quick moods,
• the howling she here's in the basement,
• the need to spar,
• the fact that he consumes the energy in a room & commands it - it is kind of electric (I was thinking that would be an Alpha Were's trait - to command).
• Even the fact that he smells her periods or when she is ovualting.

And I wonder if he love of fast cars/bikes is a subsitute for being able to run?

Now that Laura makes alot of sense!! Love It!!

All right how about this... Barrons is a Vampire Druid Phouka and the Unseelie King's Vengance? That would make him a quadrilaterial threat and would explain why he's just not emotionally available (as well as seemingly immortal and doesn't eat or go out during the day but can scare the Shades).

Now, does anyone have any ideas what was making all of that noise under his garage and more importantly, why does his seem to spend his days in an underground bunker?

Also, how does Barrons know that the Shades don't like the way frogs taste? Maybe he's an embodied and bespelled Shade or has some other link to them. I suspect there is more to his conneciton with the Shades than just intimidating them into letting him pass.

I agree, Moning is brilliant in how she's constructed his character, heck, the whole series. Clearly, she knows where she's going with this... and I can't figure it out but I am loving the ride!

COL. That was funny.

Now, does anyone have any ideas what was making all of that noise under his garage and more importantly, why does his seem to spend his days in an underground bunker?

Maybe he recoups from going all shifty?

Or he has to eat meat & people & wants to keep it on the DL. 

But do we know he spends his days there? What if time travels & hides his mirror down there?

Or he has a Druid room where he does his magic that he needs to keep in the DL...?

Also, how does Barrons know that the Shades don't like the way frogs taste? 

I don't remember this bit.

Guys - go this website & scroll down & enter (manually) Dreamfever as the book you are eagerly awaiting for August release! They barely ever list Moning as a choice & I'm tired of it!

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=10096#comment-79916

I added Dreamfever to the poll on Bitten By Books. Bitten By Books is an interesting site but a bit myopic, they neglect some solid authors like Karen Marie Moning and none of Rob Thurman's books are even reviewed on the site and they're really quite good with highly original twists and a good, visual sense to them.

Responding the frogs, I know I am really reaching here, since it’s quite possible that in his long life, Barrons has deduced that Shades do not like the taste of frog because they are the only living thing left in their wake (even though there aren’t any in Dublin). Here is the comment from Barrons about Shades and frogs though, it’s in Darkfever. 

"Well what are those papery things?" I'd asked, gripped by a revolting fascination. "I'm assuming they are parts of us, but which ones?"

"Morbid tonight, are we, Ms. Lane? How would I know?" Barrons shrug was a Gallic ripple of muscle beneath crimson silk. "Perhaps condensed skin, bones, teeth, toenails and such sucked dry. Or perhaps our brains are unpalatable to them. Maybe they taste like frog, Ms. Lane, and Shades hate frogs."

Laura, I love the shifter idea! It fits with his mood swings and the way he's presence seems to change... sometimes stronger, wild, sometimes normal... And I can totaly see Barrons as a werewolf!

I was thinking about the fourth Unseelie prince...Mac felt he's presence during the gang rape, but never saw him...Maybe he's someone she would recognize? I wondered why she decided War was the one missing? I mean, if she named them by the order she met them, the last would have been Death, right?

I have a theory about why the fourth prince would be in the world before the walls came down: remember V'lane said one of the Unseelie rattled the King out to the Queen?

"The Unseelie royalty were born, the princes and princesses. Dark counterparts to the Light. And like their counterparts, they wanted what was rightfully theirs: power, freedom to come and go, dominion over lesser beings. The king refused. Secrecy was a necessary part of his plan.”

One of the princes went to the Queen, which started the Fae War.

I think the Queen spared the life of the one who revealed the King's betrayal to her...She could have accepted him in her court and let he drink from the cauldron, since she died, everyone would think he's seelie. So he could be Darroc or V'lane ( please god nooo  ).Or another fae of the seelie court...

Or maybe she stripped him of his powers and sent him to the human world. Aoibheal stripped Darroc of his powers and immortality, but not memory. Mortality is considered the worse punishment possible, so I don't think the Queen would reward the informant like that...

What if the Queen stripped the fourth prince of his powers, but not memory or immortality? ( And maybe just like Darroc, he went to study Dark Magic, so he could free his people? Maybe he went to Darroc later?) Maybe that's whay Mac could only feel his presence, he doesn't have his fae powers anymore; but he was there in essence, through the Dark Arts?

So the prince could be:

1: Darroc. Mac asked V'lane if he was a prince. V'lane said he wasn't. She said "How can you know that, if you’ve drunk from the cauldron?"

2: V'lane

3: Other

Or the dreamy-eyed boy.

I was re-reading the scenes with the dreamy-eyed boy, and this passage gave me the creeps:

"Apparently the cute boy had stirred up my hormones, because I was suddenly having downright kinky thoughts about him and wondering if he had a brother. Or two. Maybe even three."

Foreshadowing?

I was thinking about the fourth Unseelie prince...Mac felt he's presence during the gang rape, but never saw him...Maybe he's someone she would recognize?

Great point! Maybe the 4th prince is Hottie MacBlue Eyes!?? I mean...he's gotta be in the books for a reason right?

Foreshadowing?

Oh wow. I think so. 

If the prince doens't have his fae powers anymore...Mac shouldn't get nauseas around him, right?

I think so but not sure....

I really like the theory about the Blue Eyed Hottie (aka "BEH"), I think it adds-up for him to be a Fae Prince in disguise -- particularly since he appearance portends either an encounter with V'Lane or Christian.

As for nausea, Mac only gets queasy around Objects Of Power aka OOPS, Mac does not get queasy around the Fae, rather she was sickened by the appearance of some (rhino boys) and the actions of others (gray man), but it's not the same sort nausea as an OOP incites on her.

She does get nauseous from the Shades? Shit I already forgot but she mentions nausea in the beginning of Darkfever & I thought it was wither when she sees the hot/gross Fae at the bar or either the Shades.....

I just realized my hot/gross Fae is Gray Man.

I deleted that other post...I tend to be prolix, law student thing  

He could be the prince in desguise as a Seelie fae, and be V'lane's companion too. Every time Mac met him it was right before or right after she meets V'lane. Maybe he was working with Darroc from the start...( not V'lane, the boy). If the queen took him in, everyone must think he's seelie...even V'lane.

I just couldn't get over she named the princes out of order, haha. my ocd

I haven't even watched this week's tb episode yet, between classes and this series. I want to read all highlanders before faefever. I'm probably getting it late anyway...

Oh god - that's me. It's like I write out my whole thinking process. I annoy myself often.

It could be a possibility the Dreamy Eyed guy is a Beserker. I haven't read the second book in the Highlander Series that they are in so i don't know much about them, but in the 3rd book when Circeen rides out to meet Robert the Bruce...Robert has 2 of them riding with them and Circenn recognized them as Beserkers because of there light colored blue eyes. Mac when she first sees this guy says he has the "dreamiest blue eyes ever". Not sure though but it's just a thought i had.

HOLY SHIT Krystal! - I literally was JUST thinking that when I read SA's post about her reading Highlander.

I was about to tell her just to read 3-7 & then I thought wait...do I think there could be something besides some family history which was pertinent in the 1st 2?? Then I remembered the Beserker & the blue eyes...etc...

I haven't got to the second yet . I was just skimming through the first, just reading the parts with Adam, Aoibheal or the king ...heh

I'll start the second tomorrow. Adam is so funny "I didn't put the idea to kill her in his mind any more than I put the key to her room in his pocket" or so. lmao

It didn't hit me at first because i read the Fever series first and then Highlander. When i heard the desription of them in the 3rd book i had one of those Holy Crap moments.

Ok, I was going to watch the TB episode already, but I'll take a look on the second book. heh

And as you read this more recently, do you remember when Mac had a flash of JZB in bed with someone - did that involve crimson sheets?  And if so, was that a flash of his memories, or a flash of the future?

No, the sheets she envisioned were white silk...

 You know - I really haven't gone that far about Mac's HEA BUT for some reason I have felt Barrons has shown a tender side. He painted her nails. He was genuinely concerned & sorry about her after Malluce's. He has relented & given her gestures of apology - but real things that he knows she likes (the car) or needs (the b-day cake) after he has thrown a fit.

How about wen he brings up V'lane's beach dates compared to their graveyard dates? He says he'll be fixing his lack of attention towards her, then buys her new designer clothes. Not what we know he would like to see her wear, but what she likes to wear (hence the pink sweater). Speaking of clothes, she always thinks he gives her strange looks cause he doesnt like her choice of color, but I think he gets turned on by whatever it is she's wearing and when he looks at her funny its cause he's fighting his lust.

Why hasn't Barrons tried to seduce Mac yet? V'lane makes it obvious that Barrons could/would do it as effectively as himself to get what he wants from Mac. V'lane has persistantly tried and failed.  Barrons has not tried, gotten close to giving in and doing it, yet backed off. I believe that if Maluce hadnt interruppted in the grotto, they wouldve gone all the way.

I'm still relatively new to the Fever series. I haven't devoured it aas thouroughly as the Sookie books but...found the excerpt about dancing to the song interesting. Has anyone else actually looked up the song's lyrics yet that she's dancing to? I did. Song's called "For You" by Bruce Springstein.  I will post lyrics if wanted.  I believe she's dancing for Barrons.  She's doing the nasty with him. He's pulling her out of pri-ya.  Not cause he's a fae, but just as strong.  That's why V'lane questions as well if he's done her yet.  Read into the lyrics...it's telling. 

How about wen he brings up V'lane's beach dates compared to their graveyard dates? He says he'll be fixing his lack of attention towards her, then buys her new designer clothes. Not what we know he would like to see her wear, but what she likes to wear (hence the pink sweater).

Oh god - I am not there yet on my re-reads so I don't remember but I love it!

Re-reading - Barrons really is very scary. I wasn't as frightened for Mac the 1st time around with Barrons but this time I am really seeing how dangerous he is & don't trust him as much. But - I am only 40% of the through Darkefever, let's see how it changes as I keep re-reading.

Speaking of clothes, she always thinks he gives her strange looks cause he doesnt like her choice of color, but I think he gets turned on by whatever it is she's wearing and when he looks at her funny its cause he's fighting his lust. 

Yes in Darkever he keeps going on about her Pink everything & Mac quips (in her head) - ""he really has a problem with the color pink!" It was funny. I read it last night. Maybe it is too soft, feminine & therefore tempting on her. Plus it makes her less believable.

Why hasn't Barrons tried to seduce Mac yet?

This is an good question. This is one of the other reasons why I had the thought that maybe he's the 1st sex-by-death Fae or something to that effect.  But I don't really have any other eveidence to support it except V'Lane comeptitiveness & Fiona going crazy & trying to kill Mac.

Yes post them please!

Princess cards she sends me with her regards
barroom eyes shine vacancy, to see her you gotta look hard
Wounded deep in battle, I stand stuffed like some soldier undaunted
To her Cheshire smile. I'll stand on file, she's all I ever wanted.
But you let your blue walls get in the way of these facts
honey, get your carpetbaggers off my back
you wouldn't even give me time to cover my tracks,
You said, "Here's your mirror and your ball and jacks." But they're not what I came for, and I'm sure you see that too
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but you did not need my urgency
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but your life was one long emergency
and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free.

Crawl into my ambulance, your pulse is getting weak,
reveal yourself all now to me girl while you've got the strength to speak
Cause they're waiting for you at Bellevue with their oxygen masks
But I could give it all to you now if only you could ask.
And don't call for your surgeon even he says it's too late
It's not your lungs this time, it's your heart that holds your fate
Don't give me money, honey, I don't want it back
you and your pony face and your union jack
well take your local joker and teach him how to act
I swear I was never that way even when I really cracked
Didn't you think I knew that you were born with the power of a locomotive
able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ?
And your Chelsea suicide with no apparent motive
you could laugh and cry in a single sound.

And your strength is devastating in the face of all these odds
Remember how I kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the god ?

You were not quite half so proud when I found you broken on the beach
Remember how I poured salt on your tongue and hung just out of reach
And the band they played the homecoming theme as I caressed your cheek
They ragged, jagged melody she still clings to me like a leech.
But that medal you wore on your chest always got in the way
like a little girl with a trophy so soft to buy her way
We were both hitchhikers but you had your ear tuned to the roar
of some metal-tempered engine on an alien, distant shore
So you, left to find a better reason than the one we were living for
and it's not that nursery mouth I came back for,
It's not the way you're stretched out on the floor
cause I've broken all your windows and I've rammed through all your doors
And who am I to ask you to lick my sores ?
And you should know that's true...
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but you did not need my urgency
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but your life was one long emergency
and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free.

Oh wow.

Love Bruce. He's such a poet.

I cant see KMM putting in that many specifics about the song unless they were integral to the story. This sounds very much like something between Barrons and Mac

Princess cards she sends me with her regards -MAC
barroom eyes shine vacancy, to see her you gotta look hard
Wounded deep in battle, I stand stuffed like some soldier undaunted -BARRONS
To her Cheshire smile. I'll stand on file, she's all I ever wanted.
But you let your blue walls get in the way of these facts
honey, get your carpetbaggers off my back
you wouldn't even give me time to cover my tracks,
You said, "Here's your mirror and your ball and jacks." But they're not what I came for, and I'm sure you see that too
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but you did not need my urgency
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but your life was one long emergency
and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free.-BARRONS

Crawl into my ambulance, your pulse is getting weak,
reveal yourself all now to me girl while you've got the strength to speak
Cause they're waiting for you at Bellevue with their oxygen masks
But I could give it all to you now if only you could ask.
And don't call for your surgeon even he says it's too late
It's not your lungs this time, it's your heart that holds your fate
Don't give me money, honey, I don't want it back
you and your pony face and your union jack
well take your local joker and teach him how to act
I swear I was never that way even when I really cracked
Didn't you think I knew that you were born with the power of a locomotive
able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ?-BARRONS TO MAC
And your Chelsea suicide with no apparent motive
you could laugh and cry in a single sound.

And your strength is devastating in the face of all these odds
Remember how I kept you waiting when it was my turn to be the god ?

You were not quite half so proud when I found you broken on the beach
Remember how I poured salt on your tongue and hung just out of reach
And the band they played the homecoming theme as I caressed your cheek
They ragged, jagged melody she still clings to me like a leech.
But that medal you wore on your chest always got in the way
like a little girl with a trophy so soft to buy her way
We were both hitchhikers but you had your ear tuned to the roar
of some metal-tempered engine on an alien, distant shore
So you, left to find a better reason than the one we were living for
and it's not that nursery mouth I came back for,
It's not the way you're stretched out on the floor
cause I've broken all your windows and I've rammed through all your doors
And who am I to ask you to lick my sores ?
And you should know that's true...
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but you did not need my urgency
I came for you, for you, I came for you, but your life was one long emergency
and your cloud line urges me, and my electric surges free

someone mentioned on another board that it sounds like Barrons is using Mac's own iPod and music to bring her out of Pri-ya. I have to say I agree

Oh I would definitely say Moning chose it specifically for a reason. She is very into music & they have even just released an orginal music CD to the books called Bloodrush.

How do you know he is bringing her out of being a Pri-ya? Or do you mean he is seducing her Pri-ya side so he can sleep with her?

I don't know anything for sure. but I think Mac is gonna be pri-ya now after the rape. She's lost herself to pri-ya. If you read the dancing excerpt, notice that she didn't even know what the moment of release was (orgasm).

Oh yes she is. That was Moning's intent of it.

When Darroc told her he would take away what is most important from her - it was her free will. That's what she held most precious.

By making her Pri-ya, he took that away.

I had thought - you had meant that it was confirmed already on her boards that Barrons is able to pull her out of being Pri-ya.

I misinterpreted!

  nope. no confirmation. but less than a week to go! I can't wait to get my hands on it!

OMFG!!!!! My local bookstore (which is around the corner from my job) has DreamFever! I'm picking it up at lunchtime!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

It pays to know the owner

and with that, I will not say another word on this forum until August 19th.

No WAY! Holy shite.

Exactly the words i was looking for Laura LOL.

OK you guys i was talking about this with Tracy and i want to see what you guys think. I came across one of Karen's Q and A's and it just made me super excited and i'm trying to come up with some theorie about it. This is the Q and A:

Q..You probably can't answer this one....but I thought I'd try anyway.
In Immortal Tessa can see Aoibheal....I was wondering if she could see her just because Queen A lets Tessa see her...OR...was Tessa being able to see her a surprise to her (like it was with Cian in Spell)?

A: There's something about Queen A and and another thing about Adam that you don't know yet but you'll learn about by the end of the Fever series. Tessa could see Queen Aoibheal because she's a sidhe-seer's daughter and who knows what Adam being her dad has done to her?

When i read this I was like OH MY F**KING LORD!!!! Adam is going to show up in the Fever series and I know it's probably not right but the first thought that went through my head was "Oh shit Adam is somehow going to end up being Mac's Biological Dad!!??"

It seemed by the way she answered that Tessa on top of being a sidhe-seer probably got some unique abilities because her dad was Fae. That made me wonder that Mac's mom was obviously a sidhe-seer, but Mac is more than that she is a rare breed of Null. OHH I just got a thought you know how Barrons was saying to Fiona that Mac couldn't be a Null cause they are Myth....What if they are known as a myth because they are created from a Union between a sidhe-seer mortal woman and a male Fae??? And we know how rare it is for Fae to be able to have a child!!!!!! Fae+sidhe-seer=NULL (MAC)????!!!!!!!

OK so after reading all the Higlander's & having Adam be in all of them I felt he was is absolutely going to show up & maybe been the extra person the Queen helped gather (I forgot I had thought that).

BUT MAC'S DAD WOULD BE GENIUS! KRYSTAL if you are right you get mad props!!!

Popping out of lurkedom again... I've been rereading the Fever series, waiting for DF. I just reread the scene where V'lane shows up at the museum and Mac tries desperately to remember that word beginning with an A that helps her turn V'lane's power off... and one of the words she comes up with is "Adam." It's probably just a coincidence... or maybe not.

BTW... In case there are people who don't know yet... If you want to get seriously spoiled, there are two people who got DF early who've been posting spoilers on FanForum. One of them has been writing short summaries of each chapter (she's not done yet). The spoilers begin here:

Here Be Spoilers 

Luvs - definitely not a coincidence! I can't wait to get to that part. Also - does anyone remember are V'Lane & Adam's tatoos the same? Do we know?

Oh god that is going to be like Red Rag to Rachel (I think!)  - tempting...very tempting...but I am going to attempt to hold off!

One question - did they love the book?

___________

More evidence to Barrons being a shifter?

McCabe at Casa Blanc:

"What brings you to Casa Blanc ?....Almost a full moon, Barrons.Things can get dangerous out there." 

At Malluce's:

As he stood there in all his undead stillness, face-to-face with the carnal maleness and disturbing vitality of Jericho Barrons.....

His gaze flicked to my chest and stayed there a moment. When he returned his attention to the box, I caught my breath and stared blankly at the top of his dark head. Barrons had just given me the most carnal, sexually charged, hungry look I'd ever seen in my life, and I was pretty sure he didn't even know he'd done it......Gazelles didn't lie down with lions, at least not unbloodied and alive. After a long, puzzled moment, I shook my head, thrust the inexplicable look from my mind

_________

  "When will you learn, Fio?" Barrons said. "Mightmakes right. That's all the right I need." To me, this would be something an Alpha would say. Someone who believes that the more powerful you are, that's what will keep you at the top of the food chain.

Although this convo with Fio makes me feel like vampire (glamour) -  he does seem highly sexed, so even as a shifter he would need an outlet for that, esp. after a brawl. I can't decide though.

• "No, Fio, you only think you know me. You really don't know me at all. Stay out of this or leave. I'm sure I can find another to"—he paused a moment as if searching for precisely the right words—"serve my needs."
• "Oh! Serve your—oh! Is that what I do? Serve your needs? You'd do that, too, wouldn't you? Find someone else.
• Stop pining for the man you think I could be—and take a good, long, hardlook at the one I am."
• There was another silence, then a sharp, pained feminine gasp, and a much longer silence.

I am imagining she saw something in his eyes.

• "She stays, Fio," Barrons murmured after some time. "And youwill keep your peace about it, won't you?"
• "Of course, Jericho," Fiona replied softly."Whatever you wish." Her voice was dreamy, as  carefree as a child's.
• Taken aback by her sudden, drastic change of heart, I closed the door with careful stealth.

________________________

OK I need to know what is with the boobs inciting such hunger in him. One minute his is playful & the next he gets site of her boobs jiggling & he wants to eat her. Or have sex with her....??

I could feel the weight of Barrons' gaze on my bosom, the heat of it, and I knew without even looking that he had that raw, hungry look on his face again. I refused to glance his way, and we rode for several miles in silence, with him using up entirely too much room in the car, and a weird tension eating up what little space there was between us.

"Seen the new Gallardo Spyder?" I blurted finally.

"No," he said instantly. "Why don't you tell me about it, Ms. Lane?" The playful edge in his voice was gone; it was guttural, tight.

To me whenever he is looking at her boobs he is definately wanting to have sex with her, and the way he stares for however long at them it's like he is having conflicting thoughts in his head. Now if you go the Vampire route then he could be watching the veins in her boobs and imagining biting her there and drinking from her??? UGH!! I can't remember what V'lane or Adams tatoos were i'll have to look that up and see if they're simular.

I just got to the part in Darkfever when she describes Barrons wearing a heavy silver Celtic wrist cuff, complemented by a black and silver torque at his throat. The Cuff also makes her think of Arcane chants and Ancient Stone Circles!!!!! Sounds like she is thinking of the Stone Circle that the Mackeltars use in the Highlander books.  Definately Positively Barrons has to be Druid!!!! If only i can be so damned positive about what else he is LMAO.

I am not sure other then Laura, if any of you recall who I am, I have been on the Sookie forums in the past, and talk to Laura once in a while. Anyway, I am Heather.... got to toss something in on Barrons as well and see what you thing.

Here's one for you... I have been going back thru the books as well, so everything is fresh for the new one.

This comes from Book 2

Mac calls IYCGM cause she hasn't seen Barrons in 5 days... this starts on page 202

“Mac? Are you all right? Talk to me,” a deep voice growled.
Ryodan: the mysterious man who talked about Barrons to people he shouldn’t talk to, the
man Barrons had been fighting the day I’d gone to Alina’s apartment.
I hesitated.
“Mac!” the voice roared.
“I’m here. I’m fine. I’m sorry,” I said.
“Why did you call?”
“I wondered where Barrons was.”
There was a soft laugh, a deep, rumbling purr. “Is that what he’s calling himself these
days? Barrons?”
“Isn’t that his name? Jericho Barrons?"

More laughter. “Is he using a middle name?”
“The initial Z .” I’d seen it on his license.
“Ah, the Omega. Ever the melodramatic one.”
“And the Alpha?” I said drolly.

I am not as smart as some of you, so I did a search. This is what I came up with.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_and_Omega

I will let you look it up and read through it, but here are some highlights...

• Revelation 1:8 in the King James Version says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last.”
• "Alpha" and "Omega" in reference to the verse in the Book of Revelation.

Now I am not at all if there are any clues or hints here in this conversation between Ryodan and Mac, if there is, I am not sure what it means. But I thought I would put it out there.

I for one seem to think that he is a druid, maybe with something more to him as well. But mainly a Druid.

I am still working on the what else too!

The man was a serious night owl. At my tender age—in my defense, I'd like to point out that I've had a very stressful life lately—I'd been
bleary-eyed and exhausted by one in the morning, yet he'd looked disgustingly energized and awake, and in high spirits again.

Also - at O'Bannions - she scarfs down her food & his plate is still "nearly" full. He slides the piece of rare Filet to her & says - "I ate earlier." he was the most jovial she had ever seen him earlier. He laughed, joked & flirted.

“Ah, the Omega. Ever the melodramatic one.” “And the Alpha?” I said drolly.

Yes, yes!! Heather genius!! You may be on to something here:

Omega means "Great" but also - as a symbol it means this in physics:

• For ohm — SI unit of electrical resistance; formerly also used upside down (℧) to represent mho, the old name for the inverse of an ohm (now siemens with symbol S) used for electrical conductance. Unicode has a separate code point for the ohm sign (U+2126, Ω), but it is only included for backwards compatibility and the Greek uppercase omega character (U+03A9, Ω) is preferred. ^[4]

• Alpha, both as a symbol and term, is used to refer to or describe a variety of things, including the first or most significant occurrence of something.

OK so I am cribing here from another idea form another author but Patricia Briggs has a series called the Alpha & Omega where the Omega is the rarest kind of werewolf: And one of the most powerful werewolves in the country.

So what if he is beyond an Alpha - he is an Omega?

Or now I go back to the flippin' very 1st Sex-by-death Fae again??

ACKK!!!

I figured you would grab what I said and run with it. LOLOL

I also want to point out that in the first book he says something to Mac that really caught my attention this time around. It may be nothing, but then again.

page 140... Mac and Barrons is talking about Mac being an OOP detector for maybe the rest of her life....

"Don't you think the surest way to find both the Dark Book and your sister's killer is to
immerse yourself in the very world that killed her?"

Of course I did. I'd thought of that all by myself last week. "So long as that world doesn't
kill me first," I said. "And it certainly seems to be trying its darnedest."

He smiled faintly. "I don't think you understand, Ms. Lane. I won'tlet it kill you.No matter
what." He stood and walked across the room. As he opened the door, he shot over his
shoulder, "And one day you will thank me for it."

again I am not sure why, but that line right there I underlined really caught my attention. I don't know what he meant really by it, but but it sits on my mind. Makes me wonder what kind of thank you he is expecting to get in the end of it all.

Sorry... I was away from the computer for a while!

One of the posters on FanForum wasn't done with the book yet (and she hasn't posted any more spoilers today), but she said she loved it. The other one said it's her favorite so far. Needless to say, it ends with a really nasty cliffhanger (she didn't say what). We're going to suffer big time until the last installment comes out.

From the bits of spoilers I got so far, there's still no indication as to what Barrons is.

I know this is driving me freaking crazy!! I like the whole Alpha Omega Werewolf theory Laura very cool. When i was reading earlier about your shifter theory and then Heather posted the Ryodan conversation.... I had the thought when i saw the word Alpha that maybe Barrons has a since of humor thinking of himself as the Alpha Werewolf then therefore having his middlename as the Omega. I was really reaching on that i'm clueless LMAO. Do you think maybe he could be the very first Druid from long ago? Very first Mackeltar Druid?????

Shite - do you think this means something? She is reviewing her conversation with Barrons & then uters the next line about a mass Exodus.

Or perhaps our brains are unpalatable to them. Maybe they taste like frog, Ms. Lane, and Shades hate frog .

"Ugh," I muttered, as I scribbled the gist of our nocturnal conversation on a new page. While I was finishing up, there was a sudden mass exodus around me,

Frog's appear in Exodus 8:11:

Frogs (Ex. 7:25–8:11)

The second plague of Egypt was frogs. God commanded Moses to tell Aaron to stretch his staff over the water, and hordes of frogs came and overran Egypt. Pharaoh's sorcerers were also able to duplicate this plague with their magic. However, since they were unable to remove it, Pharaoh was forced to grant permission for the Israelites to leave so that Moses would agree to remove the frogs. To prove that the plague was actually a divine punishment, Moses let Pharaoh choose the time that it would end. Pharaoh chose the following day, and all the frogs died the next day. Nevertheless, Pharaoh rescinded his permission, and the Israelites stayed in Egypt.

Hmmm - maybe that was her version of a subtle clue as to what Barron's is - Dark Druid/Sorcerer.

There you go Laura!!! I think, and by any means we could be wrong, but I think we just put some of the clues together. It only makes sense, she has put too many tid bits in about this. Its just a matter of fitting them together.

I am with you maybe that was her version of a subtle clue as to what Barron's is - Dark Druid/Sorcerer.

So now let me ask you.... when Mac is dying before she eats the unseelie, and Barrons tells her he is sorry he didn't want it to go this way. We only get the dryest bit of things about what he is trying to say, cause she is so out of it. What would a Dark Druid/Sorcerer do to her to keep her alive right then and there. He says if he was some where else he could use things, I am assuming herbs,etc... but he isn't so he has to take some other drastic steps to save her. He confirmed that there was another way of saving her other then eating the fae, but that it would be much worse.

So what do you suppose he was going to do?

OMG!!! Laura i would have never caught that!!!!! You know we also find out when Mac and Barrons are at Malluce's that Barrons also has Lucan Trevayne's antiques and artifacts. Lucan Trevayne was the Dark Druid/Sorcerer in Spell of the Highlander and he also had the mirror that he imprisoned Cian in so Lucan could be Immortal.

Krystall you could be right but I thought Circenn was the 1st MacKeltar Druid? Or the last dude was? In book 7 - what was his name?

Heather - maybe he would time travel in the mirror that he has? Maybe he could go back to stop it so it didn't have to happen at all or get to the point where he could prevent her eating Unseelie at least?

No - b'c he says use things.....I don't know.

I'll have to see when I read it - maybe I'll get an better idea.....

Well gee! I didn't even remember who Lucan was! Ah ha!! So it could be the mirror (to help Mac). And Dageus had the feral quality AND he used sex to keep his shit at BAY!

So maybe he is just that DD/S! And nothing more...?

Do you think he was one of the baddie spirits that had possesed Dageus??...nah....

Was Dageus at all "electric" in any way? I can't remember.....

You know Laura from what i remember of them whenever the Mackeltars were around there one true mate...The women would describe there touch as electric. Wherever they would be touched by them they would feel like a sizzling sensation on there skin.

Ooohh! So Mac's his one true mate!?? Could be....could be....

Like you said Daegus had to have sex to keep his shit at bay, but Barrons seems to doing the opposite....Unless Fiona was to Barrons what that Katherine chick was to Daegus??? She was just there for a quick Tuppin' to keep the Darkness within him at Bay.

I think Fiona was b'c he tells her he'll find someone else to serve his needs! Awww...tuppin'. Love that word.

Actually from reading this Q and A Cian wasn't the very first Mackeltar Druid.

Q:Are you going to continue on with the MacKeltar stories?
I'm a man and i am hooked..lol (My wifes fault)
I have every one of your books including into the dreaming.
Is there a possibility that Christian MacKeltar might have his own story?

A: The only Keltar that remains stuck in my head right now in terms of a potential "genre historical romance" meaning traditional, (in my case and that of majority of the romance books out there, bwteen 85,000 and 105,000 words) stand alone novel with the primary emphasis on the development of the relationship with a guaranteed HEA that fits the confines of the niche, as I was telling Leiha the other day, is the First. That druid, way back when, when the Draghar were formed (and ultimately banished) in the time when the T de D still walked among men. But then I suppose that might be rather non-traditional because of the date in which it would be set. He's the one from whence all the other Keltar descended and don't you just wonder which woman helped him? LOL. That story has been hanging in my head for awhile.

As for Christian, with his unique gifts, wouldn't he make a fabulous paranormal P.I.? Just a thought.... 

I love Christian. Yes - he would make a fab P.I. - who do you think the woman is who helped the 1st Druid? Mac?

LOL that's soo what i was thinking when i read that! Karen is sooo sneaky who's to say that isn't the story we're reading right now.

And as for her answer about Christian think she hinting at her other series she is going to write?

more..more..

well,plebian for him, and the hard, muscled body those clothes showcased was nothing short of incredible, if you went for that kind of man. Thankfully, I didn't. It was like seeing a powerful, stalking black panther, blood frothing its muzzle, wearing street clothes

What was he doing on the roof? For that matter, how had he gotten on the roof? I didn't recall passing any convenient ladders. And wasn't that building two stories high? Barrons dropped to the sidewalk in front of me with a soft thud of boots hitting stone

Jericho Barrons had thosekind of flawless reflexes that I've only ever seen before in professional athletes. Or animals.

Then he leaned forward and got right in my face. Up close I could see how truly furious he was with me. The corners of his mouth and rims of his nostrils were white, and his dark eyes burned with anger.

Frothing much?

Ok that's it - i think I am gonna stick - with DD/S who got bit & is also Were or some other kind of shifter (panther, Phouka - whatever)

Another Panther reference - maybe this is why the shades don't attack him? They can't see him?

Tall, dark, and graceful as a midnight panther, he wore unrelieved black beneath his long black coat, and as he walked, I caught the glint of steel on his boots. Then even that was gone, absent the light to reflect it, and he was just a lighter shadow in the shadows.

So true!! You know I had been reading & she changed her tense a lot but most certainly it's told from the future & sounds prohetic in parts!

Holy Shit Laura!!! I really think you are on to something here!!! Now with your evidence i'm going with you on this Dark Druid/Sorceror/ Were.

And maybe Ryodan is the one that bit him? He "purrs" into the phone when speaking  with Mac.

OMG Now that would make ALOT Of sense!!!

I have to agree, after all Mac is always saying he is graceful, flawless reflexes.

Right before that part that you quoted from the book Laura...

 "Bloody hell!" I heard Barrons curse softly, followed by the scrape of steel on stone, the rustle of fabric, then silence behind me. 

That would be him climbing the wall some how to get to the roof. what in the world would that scrape of steel on stone sound come from? I would saw nails that he extended, but that wouldn't make the sound of steel on stone.

His boots have steel on them! The tips & the heel....

that was my other thought, but wasn't sure. so you suppose that he just climbed up the wall, like spider man?

Great catch - I think so...

LOL Spider Man! Mac almost had her Spider Man moment too......I could feel a Spidey-moment coming on. If he didn't back off, I was going to scale the walls using only my Gentlemen-Prefer-Blondes-Blush nails as rappelling spikes, and I seriously doubted it was going to work.

Awesome

I had another thought based on the below thought from Mac:

Or perhaps… I had a terrible thought… was that the basis for Barrens' truce with the parasites? Did he take them to new feeding grounds in exchange for safe passage? Were they sentient enough to make and keep bargains? Where did the Shades go during the day? What dark places did they find? How small could they be in repose if they had no real substance? Could a hundred of them travel in a matchbox? I shook my head. I couldn't ponder the horrors of Shades spreading right now.

Do you think Barrons keeps the shades in the vaulats during the day - that somehow he is the one that can control them? Maybe via a spell or a magic box  - stone of some sort?? And at night they are released like ether into the air? After all Mac realizes that the store is actually a weapon...

I know that there are some dark things about Barrons, but I have such a hard time really trying to convince my inner self that he could be really really bad and dark. Thats a good thought about the shades, and it explain somethings, but I really don't want to find out that Barrons really is one of the bad guys.

Hmmm...Interesting....I have wondered what he keeps underground, but what about the things she sees in the mirror? Could the shades stay in the mirror during the day?

The truth is, your world is going to hell in a handbasket, Barrons had said. Recalling his words, I caught something in them I'd missed before. He'd said "your" world. Not "our" world. Mine. Was it not his world also?

Thats a good thought about the shades, and it explain somethings, but I really don't want to find out that Barrons really is one of the bad guys.

I don't ness. think it means he is bad or even Unseelie...what if he has one of the Hallows & one of the Hallows can control Shades?

Could the shades stay in the mirror during the day?

Great thought! I was going to say that they are for time travelling only but the mirror held Cian!

He'd said "your" world. Not "our" world. Mine. Was it not his world also?

Yes I recall that also. I have idea why it wouldn't be part of his world either, unless if he was some sort of fae.

The mirror in Barron's study is used for traveling to other realms, aside from fairyland, do we know what other realms there are??

have idea why it wouldn't be part of his world either, unless if he was some sort of fae.

I know. It seems to be the implication that he is other worldly. So....one of the spirits that possesed Dageus? Could He have been one of those?

OR...maybe it means that he is time-tavelling & the world in which he is from is not the current one. What I mean is - maybe he doesn't consider the present day he is currently living in - his time. His world..?

Kind of like when people say - "You know back in my day..." type of thing

I thought the mirrors only did Earth & Faery & that was it.....

You know i don't quite remember what happened to the Draghar at the end of that book. Wasn't Adam from a different family of Fae the D'jai. And as i recall wasn't that orb Barrons gave Mac called the "D'Jai" orb??

Good memory. I think you are right. Well - I remember reading about the Draghar & I think Dageus said they were all gone as in dead. But I remember thinking - are they sure? I need to review that history of the Draghar.....there were 12, that's all I remember.

Adam was the last of his kind or Family...He was referred to as the Blackest Fairy and did Adam have Obsidian eyes like Barrons? It seems unless i'm wrong Adam and Barrons have simular features.

Yeah I remember when reading - that I thought there was similar in ways but then I remember I also thought there were similarities between him & V'Lane too.

I noticed another thing that had eluded me on my first time through: There were no animals here. Not a single hissing alley cat, no beady-eyed rats, not one pooping pigeon. It was truly a dead zone. And those very small husks now made sense to me, too.
Shades ate everything.

"Except Barrons," I muttered, more deeply aggrieved by that than I cared to admit. 

He has to them control it somehow.  To be the Unseelie prince would be too obvious. It has to be through a Hallow - an Unseelie Hallow...

And Darroc - he is defintely LM - Unseelie King right?

Maybe it's that Cuff he wears on his wrist???

He had to have put some ward or spell on it...And what better than a spell to repel the shades.

I can't really see Darroc being the big baddy yet either...But Rowena on the other hand...That woman irks me.

When I'd walked into this place earlier, a part of me had thought,Aha, so thisis where he was going the other night . Thisis his real home, not the bookstore, and he's really a Dark Fae and for some reason I can't pick up on it any more than Alina could . How was I to know? It certainly would explain those strange flashes of attraction I'd felt toward him on a couple of occasions, if he were really a death-by-sex Fae somewhere under all that domineering authority. Maybe there were Fae that could hide it somehow. Maybe they had talismans or spells to conceal their true nature. I'd seen too many inexplicable things lately to consider anything beyond the realm of possibility.

Hmmm...red herring?

You want to believe in black and white, good and evil, heroes that are truly heroic, and villains that are just plain bad, but I've learned in the past year that things are rarely so simple. The good guys can do some truly awful things, and the bad guys can sometimes surprise the heck out of you.

OK had another thought...geez - so Barrons middle name means vengeance, what if he was cast out of Faery, like Adam, & his people forgot him b'c they drank from the cauldron? He was so bitter - he swore to seek Vengeance & became a DD/S but then also got bit.....hence them not knowing how powerful he was. His bitterness at their dismissing him? Underestimating him?

I know...stretching. Elaborate.

DUUHHH! DUH!! BARRONS Gives MAC the ORB & when she goes to the school it unleashes the Shades doesn't it!?????

yes it does, but he also claims after that that he didn't put the shades in there, didn't have any idea they were there.

if he were really a death-by-sex Fae somewhere under all that domineering authority. Maybe there were Fae that could hide it somehow. Maybe they had talismans or spells to conceal their true nature. I'd seen too many inexplicable things lately to consider anything beyond the realm of possibility.

Hmmm Yeah............. Still what reason would he have putting the shades in the Orb? Just to be a Dick? Does he really want the walls to come down and just let the Seelie and Unseelie fight till both sides are destroyed?

"Now, that was just stupid, Ms. Lane," Barrons said, shaking his head, as he dropped onto the floor next to me, his long black coat fluttering. "Did you have to go and tell them who you were? They would have figured it out soon enough."

I blinked, stupefied.

I guess the Lord Master, Mallucé, and all the rest of them were just as stunned by the unexpected entrance as I was, because we all gaped at him, and then we all looked up. I  just wanted to see where in the world he'd come from. I think they were checking to see if
there were any others up there. He had to have been on the ceiling girders. They were thirty feet high. I didn't see a convenient rope dangling anywhere.

Another Spidey moment. Phouka's are dark & they can change into a few things.....

Yes  - I am obessed b'c I am just about finished with book 1.

Almost done: Barrons meet her at Alina's - isn't it daytime. She goes there around 12pm......

The man could run. We were in the sewers, I could tell by the splash of his boots and the smell.

"They don't know the underground like I do," he said. "Nobody does."

"Hospital?"I tried again.
"They can't do anything for you that I haven't already done

Well - I don't know as of yet why he would do it. I myself thought b'c he was being a dick.... but the point is - he has something that can hold The Shades & be released. And the Shades did not harm Mac did they? I don't remember...

OK another thought - it's never 100% confirmed malluce is a vamp. Could he be the he is just from eating Unseelie?

I ask b'c Barrons seems to doubt him being an actual vampire - and Barrons can be up in the day & clearly got to where Mac was via the sewers & he says no one knows them like he does.

He also doesn't want anyone knowing what he really is. So maybe that's why he doesn't call Malluce out fully...?

Crawling on up walls & on the ceiling is not very shiftery is it?

"Don't celebrate yet, Ms. Lane. Don't believe anything dead until you've burned it, poked around in its ashes, and then waited a day or two to see if anything rises from them."

"You're kidding. Some things are that hard to kill?"

"Some things, Ms. Lane," he said, beginning the second coat of my manicure, "are impossible to kill. However, I'm not certain Mallucé was one of them. It remains to be seen."

Here it is - he admits he is multiple things! He pluralizes!!

"We all have our… gifts, Ms. Lane. You are a Null. I am… other things. What I am not —is your enemy. Nor am I in league with the Shades. You're just going to have to trust me on that."

I want the Lord Master dead if only for one reason: I don't want any more bloody damned Unseelie in my city.

I'm really into your Shifter theory!!! But can you think of anything else that can Spidey climb up walls like that? Plus the fact that even the LM and Malluce were Gaping at him coming down That's gotta mean something LOL. Obviously the LM were he used to be Fae you would think he's seen it all, but apparently NOT!! LMAO

That's Awesome Laura!!! So how many different things and which ones is the question.

Druid/Sorceror/Were/Fae

I don't remember has it mentioned how he can see the Fae???

"Don't celebrate yet, Ms. Lane. Don't believe anything dead until you've burned it, poked around in its ashes, and then waited a day or two to see if anything rises from them."

"You're kidding. Some things are that hard to kill?"

"Some things, Ms. Lane," he said, beginning the second coat of my manicure, "are impossible to kill. However, I'm not certain Mallucé was one of them. It remains to be seen."

Ahhhhh!!!! Thank you!  My heart can slow down now.

I lied...I know...I hate it, but can't help it. I said I wouldn't post til the 19th, yet here I am.

You guys are wonderful!!!! I really need to read Highlander series and buff up on my druid/sorcerer/fae knowledge.

OK another thought - it's never 100% confirmed malluce is a vamp. Could he be the he is just from eating Unseelie?

It is discovered when Mac and Barrons finally do kill Malluce that he was not truly vampire, he even kind of admits it to Mac while he holds her captive. His fangs were cosmetic implants. He was just a spoiled, rich little boy who wanted everything and anything. He killed his parents for their money and ate unseelie to become more.  

Other then Malluce, there has not really been any proof that vamps exist in this world of Mac's, not yet anyway.

It is discovered when Mac and Barrons finally do kill Malluce that he was not truly vampire, he even kind of admits it to Mac while he holds her captive. His fangs were cosmetic implants.

Yeah see - So don't remember! Ha! I am 20% into the 2nd book re-read  ...

I like the Dark Druid/Sorcerer angle for Barrons- maybe even half fae. I think whatever he is that he's immortal and that his immortality was either gifted to him by Aoibheal or that his father is fae (looks just like Adam doesn't he?). I can see why it's tempting to think that he could be part shifter/Were but it feels like something that doesn't fit in Moning's world, especially since Malluce was shown to be a fraud. Could he be the 1st Keltar Druid? I wonder what the timing of Moning's next Highlander book will be? If she's writing the book about the 1st Keltar Druid then maybe it's a book about Barrons and it will come out after the last Fever book. If that all works out to be the case, it would be a brilliant marketing strategy, creating instant interest in the next Highlander book- Fever ends, we figure out Barrons is the 1st Keltar and then out comes the next Highlander book giving us all of Barrons' back story. Could happen : )

I can see why it's tempting to think that he could be part shifter/Were but it feels like something that doesn't fit in Moning's world, especially since Malluce was shown to be a fraud.

Thats why I haven't felt too sure that he is part shifter/Were, it just doesn't seem to fit into this world. 

have you guys seen this???

BloodRush

Artist: Neil Dover

Includes a beautiful 24-page booklet full of sexy Fever World imagery, an interview with JZB, and much, much more!

I wonder about that interview, might be some good clues in there.

Yes i have seen that and i soo want to buy it just for the JZB interview. I'm sure it's funny and interesting just like the Daegus interview that was written.

Has anybody read "Into the Dreaming"?  I haven't heard of that one until today...

Sorry, it's a Highlander book, not fever, but they're so related, especially the last 2-3 books...

yea, if I recall, its not a real long one either.

I've got it but i've only read like the first 40 pages of it. I think it's only about 100 pages long...It's a short story not a full novel.

I just had a thought that I think is worth sharing. So, we know that Barrons can walk among the Shades untouched. We also know that he's immortal (has to be right?) and from Highlander book 6, we learn that immortality and souls are incompatible. If you're immortal you have no soul so what if the reason that Barrons can walk among the Shades is because Shades are attracted to souls and he doesn't have one? I thought at first that the reason that they didn't bother him was because he might be Unseelie. Maybe Moning wanted people to think that just too add to the maddening question of "What IS Barrons?!". Moning made a big deal about the importance of having a soul (or lack thereof) in Highlander so maybe she's revisiting this idea in Fever? Not having a soul might also help explain why Barrons is such a bastard most of the time, haha.

I just Love this theory Tracy!!!! It makes complete sense when you think about!!! You Go Girl!! LMAO

I've read it Judi - don't bother.

I'm going to start a Barrons thread! Tracy - in reading book 2 - I have started notes (yup, geek, that's me) & I want to play with it & your theory about souls!

There are a couple of things - reading the glossary last night the Cuff of Cruce are a pair.

One Gold which V'Lane supposedly will give to Mac & one that Barrons has?

If Barrons one has the silver with red stones in it - than it is that Cuff & it is probably why he can be safe amonst them.

Krystall you said that yesterday right...do you remember if it had the red stones?

But Tracy - I think you may be on to something....I have to go but will post later this afternoon!

If you're immortal you have no soul so what if the reason that Barrons can walk among the Shades is because Shades are attracted to souls and he doesn't have one?

I am so with you on this one.... 

Maybe Moning wanted people to think that just too add to the maddening question of "What IS Barrons?!".

I can also see her trying to throw people off with that bit as well. 

Who is Adam?

Adam Black -- one of the Seelie Princes. His story is in

Argh! My Italics do not show... sorry! His story is in the book "The Immortal Highlander."

thank you!

I really thought I wouldn't need to read Highlander and would get to them eventually, but I feel like I'm missing so much story not knowing who these people are.

I can't wait to see where Adam comes into the Fever series, didn't KMM mention he had a part in there some where???

Yeah she mentioned that there was something about Adam we haven't learned yet, but that we would know by the end of the Fever series.

hmmmm....thank you

Would it help if I patched together a family tree for MacKeltars? There will be lots of gaps between generations but I am happy to put something together if it helps.

Speaking for myself, I find it easier to understand familial relations if I can see them.

Ohh that would be helpful!!

It will take me a little while to piece together, but I'll do it (I do so love a mission).

If I get really ambitious (wholly dependent on what I'm imbibing), I might also try to sketch out a directory of primary characters.... give me a day, let's see what I pull together.

The problem with Highlander is that unlike Merry Gentry or Sookie Stackhouse, there are enormous gaps in generations and also characters who don't fit in the rest of the series (see books one and two -- an argument can be made for the last book/novella that Aoibheal is mentioned but that's the extent of the cross over) -- then again, that just makes it all the more challenging.

I'll cuddle up to the Captain's warm embrace (Captain Morgan that is), and see what I pull together when properly motivated and lubricated (got to get some mint and simple syrup to make this work).

Wish me luck, mates!

GOOD LUCK!! Can't wait to see what you come up with!!

Oh awesome - I am sure it'll be fantastic.

Have any of you check out Karen's blog? she has a couple of new audio clips on there.

http://karenmariemoning.blogspot.com/

YES!! I listened to the newest on earlier.

Ok this is one of the conversations with the Dreamy Eyed Guy:  “American?” I nodded. “You?” He didn’t sound Irish. “Little of this, little of that. Nothing special.” He smiled and winked........ WTF!!! What does that mean????? What is he then??

Hey, everyone! I'm still finishing highlander 3! I didn't like the first two, but the third one is pretty good! Shit, why did school had to start this soon? I could have finished them all

I'm afraid to go to the other topics and spoil myself...

Blue-eyed-hottie could be a berserker...But I really want him to be the 4th Unseelie prince( And Mac will suspect V'lane before finding out). I really need to finish the highlanders. Adam is hilarious. I'm curious about Aoibheal...

Oh, I couldn't get highlanders 6,7,8 yet..anyone knows where I could read them online?

http://www.4shared.com

Geez! Busy Sunday! Anyway - I am going to tuck back into finish Faefever but I have to say - I am really liking Christian MacKeltar. He's just cool.

V'Lane I do not trust as far as I can throw him . To me he is coming across as too ..".does not compute".

Barrons I love but he really does flummox me. SO many reactions in this book ahve me very confused & at odds.

Thanks, Laura! I like Christian too, I hope we get to see more of him.

Heh, V'lane is not to be trusted, indeed. I just don't want him to turn out to be on the Unseelie's side, I hope he can just stay a bad boy, maybe develop a bond with Mac, not romantic I mean. I want to see he change his opinion about humankind.

Ohh I love Barrons too. I love his relationship with Mac. And I don't know why, but I'm convinced Barrons is essentially good. I don't think he sent the shades to the abbey...

Edit: moving theory to Barrons topic

Actually, the theory fits better here, I think.

About the shades in the Orb, I don't think they were there before Halloween. I think what Darroc did on halloween was to make magic the opposite of what it should be, thus turning the light magic inside the orb dark, and making the rituals the mackelters were doing work to break the walls instead of securing them. And remember Barrons told Mac the stronger the Unseelie the harder to scape, because the walls worked their own owers against them?  Mac's vision on halloween:

I actually got a flash of him, standing at the edge of a stark, sheer black cliff, in an icy place, red-robed, hands raised—and was that a heart held high, dripping blood?—chanting, summoning arts powerful enough to crash a prison wrought from living strands of the Song of Making, and it was doing something to all magic, even Fae, making it go terribly wrong.

Blue-eyed-hottie could be a berserker...

Dreamy Eyed Guy:  “American?” I nodded. “You?” He didn’t sound Irish. “Little of this, little of that. Nothing special.” He smiled and winked........ WTF!!! What does that mean????? What is he then??

Dang it! I hadn't thought of that yet! Just now about 40 pages into Highlander 3. I was beginning to wonder what dreamy-eyed boy may be because he keeps coming up in the series.  This may be my answer!

I havent finished the highlander series so can someone enlighten me? Can a MacKelter also double as a beserker?

^ I'm not sure...but I don't think dreamy-eyed boy is a Mackelter. Woudn't Christian have introduced him to Mac? I think he's a Fae. Either planted by V'lane to spy on Barrons ( like Christian was working there to spy on Barrons) or maybe, this is my favorite teory, BYB is the 4th Unseelie prince...

Maybe he's the Unseelie prince desguised as a seelie Fae, sent to Trinity to spy and by V'lane, who doens't know he's unseelie . But the berserker theory makes sense too, because she keeps mentioning his dreamy blue eyes...

dreamy-eyed boy is important. I just cant figure out why or how. But he keeps popping up in the strangest of places and times. I dont think he was sent as a spy by anybody

Barrons is a Vampire Druid Phouka and the Unseelie King's Vengance? That would make him a quadrilaterial threat and would explain why he's just not emotionally available (as well as seemingly immortal and doesn't eat or go out during the day but can scare the Shades)

Can Wednesday come soon enough?!?! You guys are super smart and I need some help figuring these things out!  

I havent finished the highlander series so can someone enlighten me? Can a MacKelter also double as a beserker?

No they can't...The Berserker bloodline were the McILLIOCHS from the second Highlander Books.

Hey Mistif =)

Hmm, so the Berserkerer are exclusive to the MacIlliochs.

Ohh Dreamfever comes out tomorrow! I have to order, so I'm prolly getting it later. Fingers crossed so V'lane doesn't turn out to be eeevil .

I read it already

some questions got answered...

sooooo many more questions to ask.

And I've only read Book 2 and 1/3 of Book 3 in the Highlander series, so at least now I know what a beserker is. Adam intrigues me

You read dreamfever already? I thought it came out tomorrow in the US and Canada.

Ohh Dreamfever comes out tomorrow! I have to order, so I'm prolly getting it later. Fingers crossed so V'lane doesn't turn out to be eeevil .

I won't be getting my copy till the 19th or 20th UGH!!!! Hopefully not later than but who knows. 

I'm with you on the V'lane thing too I love him, but not as much as i Love Barrons

You read dreamfever already? I thought it came out tomorrow in the US and Canada.

Stroke of luck AND curse...cause now I have all this info but refuse to spoil it for yall. I have to watch what I say on here

dsmack, I'm sooo jealous!

I'm with you on the V'lane thing too I love him, but not as much as i Love Barrons

Barrons is great too, he's such a mistery! Can't wait till we know what he is... Honestly so many theories here, I like a couple of them.

I have no idea what Barrons is...and frankly I dont really care. I just want him to hook up with Mac, let their thoughts out to eachother. Not sure if he's her HEA, but I want him to be. desperately.

I just really need to get thru the Highlander books. I need to know what all these characters are! who they are! I'm just now learning who Adam is and the mention he got in DF seems so insignificant to me but I have a feeling that once I read thru the HL series it will be a major reveal (I just didnt know it).

And I need to piece together what Mac and Alina are.

Ok, scratch that...I'm assuming KMM will say more about Adam in the 5th book. Sorry. What I learned in DF is insignificant.

I have a paper to write tonight =/. I finished book 3, I loved it. Adam <3. 5 to go now. Heh, the new book doesn't clarify who JBZ is? Wow...

I should really start doing some work =).

Nope, gives us a little more information about Barrons, but nothing really concrete. The cliffhanger is a killer!!! It is killing me inside not knowing!

If Anyone gets the ebook can you send my way please!??

^ I want it too. No books here yet... It would be too expensive to order from the US, I think.

I'm keeping myself from spoilers... what about you?

YES!!!! LOL

I don't want to know anything. I want to be surprised.

Me too!

Lol, I'm in tears. Just watched this week's true blood episode. Wow.

Yeah i've cried everytime i watched it soo far...It was soo heartbreaking.

OMG! I just got Dreamfever! I don't know what to do. I wanted to finish the highlander books first...they just got interesting, I was starting the fifth... But If I read dreamfever now I still will avoid the dreamfever threads, so I don't get spoiled for highlanders. Oh eff it, I'll read dreamfever. See you guys in a couple of weeks.

ahhh I have this compulsion for doing stuff in order! So highlanders it is. Has everyone got dreamfever yet?

Yes i got DF the other day!! I couldn't put it down LOL.

Ok, I'll read dreamfever. I have to know what happens next! I'll finish the highlanders later on =).

LOL Good Deal!!

I'm too worried about Mac, oh my. I'm a little afraid to start...

Do we find out who is the 4th in dreamfever?

Do you really want to know the answer to that?

I don't want to know who he is, just if we find out in dreamfever. You can send me a pm if you can't post it here.

No it doesn't say who it is yet.

I'm going thru Fever withdrawal!!!! Anyone know when SF is due out yet?

No. I haven't heard anything about the release date I know how you feel though I'm going absolutely crazy LMAO.

I heard April....

ugh! Just one more thing for me to patiently look forward to! Thanks Laura!!!

One thing I've noticed in this series, is that ever character who is introduced by name to Mac reappears in the saga at some point -- well, everyone so far but McCabe, the man from Casa Blanc who was the first person Mac met as an OOP Dector for Barrons.

He was a very high profile and powerful player in the hunt for artifacts and Barrons considered him enough of a rival to check him out -- Darroc considered him dangerous enough to spy on him with some rhino boys. Any thoughts on McCabe's whereabouts or if he is still even a player?

You know I've been wondering about that too. He obviously has to show up again. Didn't he have red hair? Forgot exactly what he looked like. Dani has red hair though....Hmmm....Could McCabe end up being Dani's father??

I'm still curious as to who spiked the orb? Barrons said someone set him up. Maybe he got it from McCabe?

Has anyone else noticed that the otherworldly beings are overwhelmingly attracted to the "special" gals? Alina attracted a fallen fae, Mac attracted Barrons (even Fio noted his fancy for her in the beginning), and Dani attracted Ryodan. just a passing thought I had leaning towards our girls being very "special" as in not fully human

Hmm maybe...I can't remember did he ever say who he obtained the orb from? For some reason I want to say he got it from Lucan's collection but I could be wrong.

Yes Darlene I've noticed that! Also I'm really wanting to find out what Dani is. It's killing me!! Does any of you have any theories on Dani?

this is just a basic outline but here's what I think may be possible: Alina, Mac, and Dani are like test tube babies. They may be all 3 related...may. They were genetically engineered or at least bred specifically for the prophecies purpose. I seriously wondered if Dani was beserker at first but her eyes are not blue. and I can't help but think that Triton was a major player in this. Was it Gwen who was the physicist with a famous mother and father? I always remember her saying that her mom told her that her actions were a product of her genes, hormones, programmed into her dna (totally paraphrasing cause it's been a while)

The Beserker thing would be interesting, but aren't all Berserkers male? That is an interesting theory though. Yeah I Gwen was the physicist and she worked for Triton (atleast I think so it's been awhile for me too) and didn't she figure out how to make the ultimate weapon but then destoyed her research on it? Or was that one of the other women?

Nope, that was her.

From one of Karen's Q and A's It seemed like our questions about the BB&B aren't going to be answered. The reason why is she said the BB&B was also going to be in her next series that she was going to write. Maybe the new series will be more focused on the Triton Corp.

FEVER NEWS!

SHADOWFEVER RELEASE DATE: I don’t know the release date for Shadowfever yet but I anticipate late summer/early fall 2010.  I’m hard at work on it and loving it! It feels so good to be writing the final installment in Mac’s story. I’ve waited four years to get here and I can’t wait to share it with you!  I’ll keep you posted about release dates as soon as I know something concrete.

Also - go  to this link to see Barron's Tatoo!! PLUS- I guess our voices were heard, Biten By Books contact Karen & said she was nomintaed as one of the 8 top Paranormal authors. Go vote!!

http://www.karenmariemoning.blogspot.com/

Ok I think I just about shit myself when I saw the tatoo has 2 dragons in it.....anyone else? Laura you have any theories on this tatoo yet?

HOLY...SHIT!!!! Must.Breath...I'm so excited!!!! Theories, ladies. Throw em out there. My brain is shot, too much Georgina. I need a jumpstart. LOL

wait...is this a tattoo on Barrons, or the one he placed on Mac? Sounds like Macs?

Infinity and Z and dragons...oh my

Not yet but I did notice the DRAGON!! I swear - if your husband nailed it without even reading, I will die. That will be the best. So funny.

Ok as if my husband seems to be all knowng in this stuff without having to look at it....after I looked at the tatoo I told him that Karen had posted a pic of one of Barrons tats and then told him "Guess what is in his tat? Two fecking dragons!." So he then looks at me and just smiles and says Hmmm. Then I asked him what could it possibly mean? He asked me if the dragons had there backs to each other or were they facing each other. I told him they were facing each other and then he started telling me "Well if they are facing each other that usually means for protection of something." So when he said that I was thinking to myself well I knew that because Karens post had said in the description that it was one of his many protection tatoos, but how the feck does my husband come up with this stuff without fecking reading it...UGH!!! I told him it had the infinity symbol within it along with the letter Z and he said maybe that tatoo is what has been keeping Barrons around for however fecking long he has been. Which I would guess has been a pretty fecking long time LOL. The end of her description is killing me also " This is no simple tattoo, be careful where you put it and what you do with it!"  I swear these books are going to be the death of me LMAO.

Brilliant connection of the dots here -- thank you (and your husband). There are still more pieces to the puzzle but they're starting to come together, aren't they? I love this series!

I just hope KMM has something else in the can once she finishes Fever because I love her writing.

I may be repeating here, so I'm sorry...but I was listening to the DF audio last nite and came to the part where Jericho 1st goes to Mac's room at the inn at 2am. The encounter was very vampire-like. He asks her "Aren't you going to invite me in?" (paraphrasing) and before he leaves he licks her neck (this is not the last time he licks at her carotid (?) artery). just found that interesting.

I need to know what he is! It's killing me!!!

I don't think he's a vamp, just found it interesting is all.

There has been a lot of a times for me Darlene when I had thought he was a vamp. When I had first started reading the 1st book and I didn't know much about them..I was convinced that he was a vamp and then as the books went on I was like " What the feck!!! I thought he was a vamp!!!" LOL.

I started the Barrons outline.....

You guys are defintely going to have to add to it whihc is amazing b'c it's looooooooong as hell.

Yay!!! Cant wait to read it!

Oh I can't wait to see this Laura!

It's nothing enlightening LOL! Just bulleted points. It's actually givivng me a OCD b'c I can't get the next point out fast enough b'c I don't want to forget! There is soooo much to remember.

When I was doing this last night I was thinking: Barrons is like the proverbial  Kitchen sink.

Holy. Crap. That list I started? I deleted it by accident!! My computer got hung up & well I thought I saved it & apparently not....it sucks. I have to start all over!!

Nooooooooo!!!!!

I have 4 more books to read then I'm rereading Fever and HL to do my timeline. So, give me another week. 2 of those books are Suzanne Collins.

Oh Shit Laura I bet you were screaming on that one.

I was. I was.

So I started reading DarkFever today and have to ask, did anyone else think it starts off slow? I'm like 1/3 into it, she begining to train w/ Jericho. Do they get better? Am I just spoiled from reading all 4 action packed Night Huntress that I can't appreciate the build up?

Am I being a brat, or are they just a milder series?

YES. I tell most people to be patient with the 1st book.  It's world building but also not in the typical sense. It's laden with clues...they really do get better & better. Promise.

I'm 2/3 of the way done w/ the 2nd book. When I posted yesterday Jericho was saying he was going to train her. He's not training her at all! I want her to be more assertive and definately tougher. I understand what all she's been through, but still. She's in a serious Sookie denial fest!She's actually worse than Sookie.She better shape up fast. I like my women to be kickass. I guess that's why I LOVED Night Huntress. Sure Bones sharpened her skills, but she was tough already.

I like suspense, but it's like she's dragging it out too much. Not to dis the books, they are very well written, but I'm getting kinda frustrated not knowing what's going on. I'm hoping for an epiphany.

I promise...keep reading.. keep reading. Each book gets better - stronger.

Actually - it's funny I thought she was pretty resilient though from the begining. She just got stuck in without playing victim considering how fast this has all happen in the time line of things.

The 2nd book is not far off from the 1st book time wise. None of them really are.

By yhe 3rd book - I was hooked & committed - fully.

I can't say you are going to have an epiphany b'c none of us know what is really going on & that is very much Moning's intent but when finished reading - there is a ton to play around with.

OMG! Just keep reading. Book 1 is kinda slow, but it's worth it! just keep reading!!!

Starting book 3 now. I do like the story. Barrons and Mac just need to get it on already. Geez, you can cut the sexual tension w/ a knife!

but oh! it's the sexual tension that's so delicious! Makes the payoff that much better

Middle of book 4, and I can't say I trust either V'lane or Barrons. Unless Barrons turns on some serious charm or something. The "Even cockroaches fuck" line I just read was really low. I don't understand him at all. I love the story, maybe I'm too romantic or something. Honestly I don't think anyone is good enough for Mac. At first I wasn't sure if I liked her character, but now she's grown and been through some tough shit and I really like her.  I want her and Dani as a team to unleash some sidhe-seer hellfire and roast everyone. Then get the rest of the lasses and kick some fae asses!

I just finished the book. WTF??? These books are killing me! Such cliffhangers!

LOL. Welcome to the club!

read through the spoiler threads...We always like fresh eyes with new thoughts and theories. So glad you caught the Fever!

Questions/Theories about the ending;

• Barrons mentions the mirrors can be places in time. What if he has gone back and taken different versions of himself, kept them under the garage and that's who she stabbed at the cliff's edge
• Why the feck did Ryodan attack Barrons?!? UNLESS 1. It wasn't really Barrons 2.It wasn't really 
  Ryodan  or 3. Ryo/Bar made a deal that no matter what Mac would have to stay safe if she dialed IYD even if it meant killing Barrons. I kinda doubt that b/c he seems even more like Eric about the me 1st/we can both live thing.
• It's all a dream/illusion and she's still sitting back in the Hall of Days
• The spell to make the monster wasn't Barrons but had some part or him, hair, blood etc. in it, and reverted back to his frame/body look after the spell was broke. Or it was like part of him somehow, soul or something.
• It really was Barrons and she supposed to end up w/ V'lane
• The whole dual tattoo thing struck me as off. Maybe it wasn't really Ryodan, but the Lord Master and it was all some trick. How would Ryodan know the LM was chasing her?Obviously the LM didn't know the mirrors as well as he though or he wouldn't had her open the bag of stones. So, in that theory, how could the LM be chasing her through the never ending labyrinth w/o knowing the rules to get out or track her
• It could be someone completely different from Barrons but she feels her hope is gone b/c both Ryodan and the beast are dead, and so is her rescue mission.
• It's not Barrons but maybe her dad?
• When he's talking about Mullece he says some things are impossbile to kill. Maybe the spell was he could find Mac anywhere/anytime,but he had to be turned into some crazy animal as part of the deal. He is this animal and it's impossible to kill, but she won't recognize him can't communicate, but he can protect her at all costs.

Ideas???

Also The Prophecy

Ok, so it's one daughter dies young, the other dooms the world. My first thought was Aline doomed the world by helping Darroc. Mac died young when she had everything taken from her and had to be rebourn after pri-ya.

It could be Barrons and he's dying but she has Unseelie flesh in her backpack......

• It's all a dream/illusion and she's still sitting back in the Hall of Days

Oooh That's good. 

V'Lane's not in the story enough to have her end up with him IMO. Don't you think?

Ryodan would know about the LM b'c Barrons told him. He knows all about Mac. After all he is 2nd on her phone. He tells Mac that Barrons believes in her but he isn't sure yet so he is watching her. In many ways I feel like Ryodan is like the Great & Powerful Oz so to speak.

Ryodan would know about the LM b'c Barrons told him.

Oops, I worded  my thought wrong, what I meant was how would Ryodan know that the LM was chasing her throughout the mirrors/silvers. As in like how does he know where the LM is at all times?  Unless he saw Darroc while he was looking in that world for mac. With the mirrors changing it seems unlikely that they would both be able to get to the same world at the same time w/ Mac.

just rolling with a thought here...Barrons taught the LM certain things, JB has repeatedly assumed that the LM would not know how to do certain things (...he's not smart enough, powerful enough, etc) yet the LM does. He proves way more resourceful than even Barrons credits him for. Mac getting lost in the Hall is yet another example. Barrons doesn't think that LM is wise enough to connect mirrors this way, but he does! JB doesn't even prepare her for the possibility of running into the Hall, Mac has to squeeze the info out of him. It's very unlike JB to not be all around prepared, run thru all the possible scenarios. So, who might possibly know just as much as Barrons? Ryodan. I'm still not sure that Ryodan is not playing both sides. So many things to consider, so many puzzle pieces!

I thought Ryodan might be bad, then I tell myself, no, they've been working together forever, why would he hurt JB? But then that's exactly the reason why he might turn on Barrons. Maybe JB is the leader of the 9, and Ryo is envious? OR it's not about emotion at all, just what he thinks is his best option, and it's not Mac, so he wants to get rid of her. JB be damned.

I've read earlier someone was mentioning the connection Highland series and Fever. I'm not ready to give Fever up yet, does High. share characters?

There are some crossover characters from the Highlaner series into Fever -- but Ryodan and Barrons are not among them.

Reading Highlander will not diminish your Fever, it will enhance it. Once you read the Highlander series, dots start to connect. Nothing major, but there is some clarification (such as Christian and his family of Druids)

As a point of interest, there is no mention of the Triton Corporation in any of the Fever books so far (I did an automated word search on all four of the books).  The Triton Corporation was owned by the Druid Scect of Draghar which existed to free and serve the Draghar. Also, I cannot find a description of a tattoo on anyone in the Fever books that matches the description of the tattoo that the Triton Corporation employees had, here is that description:

The man who'd given the order, Simon Barton-Drew, master of the Druid sect of the Draghar, leaned back against a mossy stone, absently stroking the winged-serpent tattoo on his neck, his gaze skimming the ancient monoliths.

wait! Rachel, do you remember the tattoo that KMM posted on her website? JB's tat? we assume that it's double dragons, but could they be winged-serpents?

k, I'm reading the Highlander books. Finished 1, do they get better? No offense, but I'm not a big romance fan, and although it did have Adam Black, and the Queen and King, there wasn't much else supe about it. Do they get more involved as they go? I would like to see more action, less drama..Do I sound like a guy???

yes, they get better. by the 3rd I was sold. they weave into each other.

Thanks.

Oh, wait til you get to Adam's book. It is probably my favorite. And Adam gets a shot-out from V'lane in Fever.

1st 3 are cheesy Krysta but by the 3rd they start making more sense...you'll see.

Whew, thank goodness. I can only take so much virginity and girlie blushes over kitchens and a bunch of women wanting to have dozens of babies.

You still get the virgins (it's a publisher 'romance' prerequisite) but the tie-ins to Fever become much more apparent & the characters much more fleshed out. It's worth it to understand Fever better.

I found this fever playlist. It has all the songs mentioned in the books, and some added because they're relative. Pretty good playlist.

http://www.playlist.com/playlist/15408538379 

I'm reading the 3rd highlander book and it is a little bit better kinda. What I do find very intersting is the 9 Knights Templar and they're immortal and use magic.

That's Rachel's theory as to who Barrons & Ryodan's etc...are.

There are some similarities I noticed. First there's 9, they searched for and were entrusted with sacred items, Brodie's colors are plaid red/black, he's immortal, trained by fairies in magic. Still some holes that don't match up perfectly though, but it's a good theory.

Krysta, you can skip the first two books in the Highlander series -- as they don't really feed into the rest of the Highlander series nor are they at all relevant to the Fever series.

That said, if you like stories about 21st century virgins with medevial highlanders who are all NBA player tall (I think the shortest is 6'4"), and hung like horses on viagara, then have at it. Otherwise just skip to the third in the series -- it at least won't hurt your brain like some of the others.

Ha!! That's hilarious and sadly fits the books perfectly.

Thanks for the tip, but I already read them. I'm starting 4 now. At least the middle/end of 3 I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Another thing, they all have perfectly white brilliant teeth, which is so wrong.

LQTM.....SSL...so funny.

I'm starting 5 now. 4 was so much better! Even though I suffered through 1 and 2, it's kinda nice to see how KMM has grown and improved her writing skills. Either that or her editor/publisher got off her ass and let her write what she wanted. Whatever, but thank goodness she had a breakthrough.

Yes I loved 4. Thought it was interesting,a solid story & pretty sweet.

I'm feeling pretty smug because through my research on the timeline project, I was able to make a direct link between Adam Black and the Fever series -- I just knew that he's be a factor sooner or later.

Here's the connection -- the Orb of D'Jai.

Adam Black's true Sidhe name is Prince Amadan of the House of D'Jai.

Knowing Adam as we do, I don't think it is much of a leap to pin the blame for the placement of the Shades in the Orb on Adam. It's exactly the sort of thing he'd do for sh!ts and giggles.

I've also made another interesting find about the Sword of Light.

Approximately 6 years before the events of in Darkfever, Queen Aiobheal was able to summon the Sword of Light to her hand when she confronted Darroc with his treason and instead made him human. Aiobheal would have killed Darroc were it not for Adam Black's intervention but she was going to use the Sword of Light to do it.

This means that Rowena hasn't had the Sword for very long at all -- she's also been very tight-lipped about how she came to obtain it. Was it Adam? Maybe. Then again, maybe it was Aiobheal herself -- who seems to have changed her tune about Sidhe Seers after observing Gabrielle for a few years -- and Aiobheal was spied by Adam's daughter Tessa when she was sneaking peeks at Adam a short time (months) before the events in Darkfever.

Wow. Go U

I'm reading book 6, and I have a question. In the Fever series I thought V'lane told Mac the fae long ago forgot how to sift time, when she asked if he could bring her sister back. But in the Highlander books they sift often.The Queen, Adam, Darroc so far. Am I mixing something up or reading wrong? Did V'lane lie to her, or I just need to keep reading?

I don't think you missed anything -- I think Mac is missing real answers.

I am not sure that V'Lane has lied outright to Mac -- the Fae can sift but they cannot bring people back and forth, it creates dual realities and has great consequences. The Fae don't lie outright, they maniupulate and ommit information and facts but they don't tell outright lies.

For instance, I don't think V'Lane has told Mac that he's Seelie -- only that he's a Prince of the T'uatha D'aan and that he serves the Queen. Well, that's pretty vauge and riddled with lots of potential holes.

It's caught my interest that V'Lane has not identified which of the four Houses of the Seelie Court he belongs, yet we know which house Aoibheal, Aine and Adam are from. If I dig, I might even find Darroc and Mael.

I don't know if the Unseelie has Houses... it's some food for thought!

I found a better explanation of the Seelie Sidhe's ability to sift through time in Spell of the Highlander (Cian and Christian are my favorite Keltars).

Though her race could move at will through the past, they could not penetrate a future that had not yet occurred. If one attempted to go forward beyond one's present existence, one encountered an oppressive white mist, nothing more. If one went too far back in the past, one encountered the same mist. Not even the Tuatha DÃ Danaan understood time. They knew how to traverse only the simplest facet of of it.

She'd sifted back countless times now, from five and a half years in Earth's future-her present-delicately altering events while trying not to change too much. Concealing from all, even those of her own court, that she was temporally displaced while doing it. Worlds were fragile; one could destroy an entire planet inadvertently. She already carried the weight of such an error. It was a heavy burden. As did her long-ago consort, though the unfathomably ancient Dark King cared nothing about the blood of billions.

When V'Lane tells Mac that the Queen is missing, he isn't lying -- Aoibheal has hidden her sifting from her Court. Moreover, this explanation of sifting also explains some of the risks involved with sifting. Again, V'Lane wasn't lying when he told Mac that it was impossible to go back for Alena -- he didn't explain the risks and consequences of such a move to Mac, but they are real and he wasn't lying about that either.

The thing with V'Lane is to look for the ommissions -- there is always something left out. The same can be said of Barrons though too.

I wonder who Dani will end up giving her viriginty to

On that note, I found this and wondered if V'lane could be the UnSeelie King. I know he calls himself a prince, but it could be more misinformation. I really started to wonder about the ages of the fae, and that triggered my thought that the timeline might help out. Everything I read about up til now happened so far after the King killed the Queen that it really got me wondering if anyone really knows who the UK is. The Hunters have said he's othrwise involved, and is NEVER seen.

So by what Darroc is saying, the UK is the only fae that is as old as V'lane says he is. V'lane told Mac he was 142k.

 "If only the Unseelie King could be relied upon, could be sought for counsel or alliance, but the King of Darkness was like no other of their race, so ancient that Aoibheal at just under sixty thousand, may as well have just drawn her first breath. It was rumored that the Unseelie King counted his existence by many hundreds of thousands of years; some whispered it to be even more.", [The Immortal Highlander] 

Whatcha think? Am I going to read something in the last books that blows my theory out of the water?

@ Rachel: So where is the Queen, and what in time is she changing? If we believe that she is missing now because she is sifting, and she is only sifting to make subtle changes in time to set up her "chess board"? Could QA change something in time to bring Alina back? Not a subtle change, I know, but a change that could mean the continuance of her race/Seelie House if it's not done. As much as I wanna believe that Mac is not the bad prophecy, most things point to her being it. Alina was the good prophecy. We need more on the prophecies. I'm missing dots to connect.

Krysta: I'm not sure who the US king is. None of us are. The biggest issue with V'lane is that we don't know whether he truly is working for Queen Aoibheal. He says it, Jericho hasn't denied it, but Fae cannot be trusted. Even Jericho has continually left out details as such from Mac. The only reason I trust JB with Mac is because he hasn't let her die. He always tries to protect her...even if it's for his own selfish purposes (although I think it's safe to say his interests in Mac have definitely become of a more personal, emotional nature). Point blank: Fae cannot be trusted, not even Seelie Fae. V'lane and Aoibheal included.

I thought the last we saw the Queen she was back in the arms of the UK. She went to gloat but it seemed like she was getting caught in his web again. Although...my memory is patchy.

It would also make sense if Barrons was Cruce why he and Barrons have beef w/ each other.

I think we tossed that idea around but came up with why Barrons actually wouldn't be Cruce..? But ah....don't quote me b'c we have all gone so bat shit crazy in the Barrons thread with all sorts of theories so again, I could be very wrong about that.

I know, Laura. I'm having trouble remembering all the theories and what we crossed out and kept as maybies...lol

As much as I wanna believe that Mac is not the bad prophecy, most things point to her being it. Alina was the good prophecy. We need more on the prophecies. I'm missing dots to connect.

I think the prophecy could be taken a couple different ways. Alene could be the bad one b/c she sided w/ Darroc, and it could be said Mac "died young" when she went through all the shizz w/ the princes and was "reborn" a new person to save the earth. She lost part of her soul and she said Pink Mac dies, and black Mac was born

Even if Barrons isn't Cruce, maybe V'lane is the UK. I'm almost done w/ 6, so I still have a ways to go, but I thought I'd throw it out there b/c it seems to fit.

and it could be said Mac "died young" when she went through all the shizz w/ the princes and was "reborn" a new person to save the earth. She lost part of her soul and she said Pink Mac dies, and black Mac was born

Ooh look at the big brain on you. I like this. 

I love reading you trying to figure this all out. I will admit that we've put all the theories thru the wringer and I've gotten to a point were I'm just waiting for KMM to release book 5 and give it to me already.

We're still missing things. It's all in the details, Krysta. Keep digging, thinking...Please, please, please catch something we've missed!

Well, I have to have an outlet for my crazy obsessing!

It stinks that Mac knows so little of the story! Now I really want her to find Christian and go hang out at the Druid commune and get a history lesson. Vlane and Barrons dont tell her everything, which says to me everything would shed a bad light on the 2 of them. Why else would they want her in the dark? How can she know what she's supposed to do, if she doesn't know what's already happened?

Is into the dreaming a book I need to read?

I haven't. I believe KMM said it was not relevant to the Fever world, but do not take just my word for it. Rachel? Laura?

Yeah I'm pretty sure she said it wasn't relevant.

Krystal!!!! Where ya been? Lurking, as I have been? lol

Reading I started 7. So far my fav female is Gabby.

Does anyone know the significance of the red/black tats?  It seems only darker druids have them. Any thoughts? I tried googling info, but came up with nothing. I know they are spell/curse etc. But is it confirmed they are only for darker magic?

Darroc, Barron, Caian, Ryo and Draghar all have tats. Christian, Silvan,Christopher, D and D don't that I noticed.

I noticed a part in one of the fevers that one day Mac noticed JZB had new tats, and then he mentioned something about only being able to prolong something I don't remember exactly, it just made me wonder what he was trying to protect himself from.

Yes I've been lurking LOL..and reading.

uhmmmm....Krysta....tats....yes, only the Druids who have performed dark magick have those. They are protection runes (?). Practicing dark magick comes with a price, the tats protect from any repercussions.

Krysta....KrystaL....sorry for the confusion. I've missed ya, chica. Been a while.

No. It's not important.

Which one is Gabby again?

Gabby? Gabriella. Adam's chick.

the Sidhe-seer.

Yes, Adam's chick. =) I thought they were a cute couple. I like how she beats him up! Hilar!

So by what Darroc is saying, the UK is the only fae that is as old as V'lane says he is. V'lane told Mac he was 142k.

This is a really interesting catch because Aoibheal is only over sixty thousand years old and she is one of a line of Seelie Queens who followed the original queen but who had lost the Song of Creation -- so Aoibheal is younger than V'Lane  -- this is very interesting indeed.

Aoibeal is from the Seelie House of D'Anu as is Aine who was a companion of Darroc's and who had a thing for Adam Black as well.

Getting back to V'Lane though -- I think you might be onto something big there. He might be the Unseelie King or even Cruce himself. I don't think V'Lane is just any old prince and it's a big unusual for a Seelie Royal not to reveal their House.

The Dark Book is more than just a collection of the Unseelie Kings notes on his own experiments on creation and spells. Did you all know that the Dark Book carries all of the true names of all the Sidhe? That's right. All of their true names are in that book -- and if someone were to possess knowlege of their true name then they could summon the Sidhe to their bidding and ensalve them.

Mac really needs to have a candid discussion with the MacKeltars -- even with the holes in information, they know a lot more about the Hallows than the Sidhe Seers or any other source of information has actually given to her so far.

@ Rachel: So where is the Queen, and what in time is she changing? If we believe that she is missing now because she is sifting, and she is only sifting to make subtle changes in time to set up her "chess board"? Could QA change something in time to bring Alina back? Not a subtle change, I know, but a change that could mean the continuance of her race/Seelie House if it's not done. As much as I wanna believe that Mac is not the bad prophecy, most things point to her being it. Alina was the good prophecy. We need more on the prophecies. I'm missing dots to connect.

Aoibheal is sifting back in time from the events in Darkfever to the events in books 4-7 in the Highlander series. Darkfever begins 5-6 years after the events in book 7 of the Highlander series.

It's important to note that many of the events in books 4-7 in the Highlander series occur either in tandem or within a few months of each other -- and that the effect of these events is greater than even the MacKeltar's suspect.

The sifting through time created huge holes which have been exploited by others -- Aoibheal is going back to make a few adjustements to try and save the future but there is a limit to the extent of the adjustments she can make.

Saving Alina is beyond the scope of what could or should be done. If Alina doesn't die, then Mac never travels to Dublin and whatever key she really holds to the future never connects with events in time to save the world. Maybe if Alina and Mac had never been sent off to the States, things might be different but that is a lot more complicated.

There are limits to how and why the past is changed. The only one to travel through time without disrupting the Compacts and balances is Drustan -- he just slept through time. Everything else has created other problems.So although I cannot give you a firm reason why Alina cannot be saved, I don't think she can or should be. If Alina is saved, we don't have a series. It turns into one of those "it was all a dream" endings which is just lame.

We do need the prophecieis -- and I bet Dageus has them since he retained the knowlege of the 13 Draghar even though they were destroyed.

I noticed a part in one of the fevers that one day Mac noticed JZB had new tats, and then he mentioned something about only being able to prolong something I don't remember exactly, it just made me wonder what he was trying to protect himself from.

The tattoos are runes and designs to balance the black magyck that the Druid Sorcerrers are performing. Without the tattoos, the magyck comes back on the one who called it -- for instance, Cian had to ink news tats when he warded Castle Keltar because he was moving every dead thing from the soil, without the tattoos, those reanimated creatures could have turned on him.

The reason why the tattoos are in black and red is because that is the composition of the elements used in the ink.

Thanks for the tat info. I'm only about a 1/4 into SOTH, and it talks so much about Lucan and Cian's tats I tried to research, and could only find Celtic blue tats and nothing about red/black druid ones and their meaning or what theye were used for. I thought it was some kind of protection, but them the gypsies used them too, so I was wondering if it was some kinda curse or what.

The Dark Book is more than just a collection of the Unseelie Kings notes on his own experiments on creation and spells. Did you all know that the Dark Book carries all of the true names of all the Sidhe? That's right. All of their true names are in that book -- and if someone were to possess knowlege of their true name then they could summon the Sidhe to their bidding and ensalve them.

   Now this is really interesting and I don't think I caught it from before. I didn't know it had all the names of the Sidhe....Hmmm Do you think this could possibly be the reason that Barrons wants the book? To know all the Fae names and be able to control them?

And the Seelie name/dark book tip that is VERY interesting, and would explain why SO MANY peeps are after the book.

   Now this is really interesting and I don't think I caught it from before. I didn't know it had all the names of the Sidhe....Hmmm Do you think this could possibly be the reason that Barrons wants the book? To know all the Fae names and be able to control them?

That's a really great conclusion to consider. 

Guys - can you delete he above 2 posts please? I moved then into the Barrons thread. Thank you.

Caro - my issue with Barrons being the best is that after ALLLLLL of the intricacies Moning has seemingly weaved together, including The Highlander series - this seems too obvious. That is my biggest issue why I have a hard time want to believing it.

My thought too after consideration... I am sure this has been discussed too, but fudge it... Could the beast have been Mac's sister in some form?

Yeah - someone else said that too. Maybe Krystal? I love that theory.

I think the Beast as Alina is a brilliant theory but there are a couple of holes.

The first is that Alina's body was identified and buried in Georgia. There were multiple photos of her body and a full autopsy was performed -- granted, the funeral was closed-casket but that would be a pretty major fraud to pull off. Also, resurrection and transformation would have to have been performed and that's major magyck that hasn't ever been conisdered in any of the writing.

The second, bigger hole in the theory is gender. Even if there was a way to resurrect, transform and transport Alina -- she'd have to have undergone a sex change too.

If the others are possible, why not the sex change? I guess it is possible but I think it's beyond cruel to kill, resurrect, transform species and gender on poor Alina.

I hate to be a hater, but I don't think Alina is the Beast. I think it's someone closer and more active to the main story.

I could be wrong -- wouldn't be the first or last time.

I thought of this too because the beast pees a circle around Mac and continues to do it. I am just scratching my head over who it could be that would evoke such a profound reaction.

I just read something that struck me as odd. When Ryodan finds Mac. he asks about the creature, but then in the next paragraph says Barrons went to GA to help Mac's parents. So...the creature cant be Barrons b/c if Ryodan new the IYD creature was there, then he would've had to be w/ Barrons when the call came in, and Barrons couldn't be at 2 places at once.

Unless Ryo was lying so Mac wouldn't get upset

I think he was lying when he told Mac that.. I think Ryo is not what he seems to be.

but I could be wrong