Twilight Fall by Lynn Viehl

Valentin Jaus is an immortal called a Darkyn, what would be better know to humans as a vampire. Valentin loved a human woman named Jema, who was dying from contact with Valentin's Darkyn blood when she was but a child. But while Valentin suffered, believing the woman he loved was dying, she fell in love with another Darkyn named Thierry Durand. When Valentin, maddened by Thierry's claiming of Jema, tried to kill Thierry, Jema threw herself between them, saving Thierry's life when Valentin's sword went through her. But Thierry took his revenge by cutting off Valentin's arm.

Valentin's arm was saved and sewn back on by Dr. Alexandra Keller, but her surgeon's skills were limited in what they could do. While Valentin's arm was saved, he could no longer use it, and he hasn't gotten over the fact thathe will never again use that arm. Now, he makes time to see a badly burned girl who is living at a nursing home he owns and oversees. Her name is Luisa.

But Luisa also has another steady visitor, the facility gardener, Liling Harper. Ever since Valentin decreed that Luisa should have pretty flowers to brighten her room, Liling has been bringing them, and befriended the little girl, who she is teaching to speak English properly. Like Liling, Luisa is part-Chinese, and she loves the way Liling speaks. So Liling has been reading her Pride and Prejudice every night.

And very often, Valentin comes to visit Luisa as well. Liling thinks that Valentin is the most charismatic and chivalrous man she has ever seen, and he's been starring in her fantasies almost nightly. But when a picture of Liling is printed in the national papers, she knows it is time for her to leave Chicago.

Because Liling is a product of genetic manipulation by the Brotherhood, a group of clergymen dedicated to tracking down and killing all Darkyn, who they believe are demons undeserving of life or freedom. Liling has powers that were either created or enhanced by this manipulation. She can take away the pain of people she touches.

But now, a man that she fears is after her, a Chinese man named Kyan. His power is over water. He can drain all the water from a human's body, or drown a man with fluid in his lungs... or fill someone's bladder near to bursting with rainwater from the floor. With the printing of her picture, Liling, who the Brotherhood knows as "The Red Swan", believed dead, is shown to be alive and well- and a danger to the Brotherhood.

Even as she attempts to flee Chicago for Atlanta, all the flights out are booked to overflowing. Valentin, hearing that she needs to travel, offers her a flight on his private jet. He is going to Atlanta to meet another Darkyn, Robin of Locksley, who has his grandfather's sword. Even if he can't wield it, he still wants it.

But on the flight, Liling and Valentin give into their passion for each other, and Valentin discovers that his pilot has been killed and replaced, and the co-pilot killed in flight. He kills the pilot, who is attempting to kill Liling by crashing the airplane. But without any kind of aircraft experience, it's up to Valentin to land the aircraft... without killing either of them. But even if they survive that, can they survive being found by the man Liling fears, Kyan?

And as Valentin and Liling attempt to stay alive, Dr. Alexandra Keller, now a Darkyn herself and Sygkenis to Michael Cyprien, attempts to help her brother John track down their origins in Chicago. But what will their origins tell her about thebackground of the other four women who survived turning into Darkyn, all in the last few years, and the first to do so since the 1500's?

I enjoyed this book a lot. Despite the fact that I was (and am) in pain right now, it was easy to read and absorb, and took my mind off the fact I was close to being in agony from pulling something in my back. The story is rich in sensual, descriptive detail and more than kept my attention.

From here, we find that the women who became Darkyn in the last few books were all orphans who had been in orphanages run by the Brotherhood. But were the women supposed to be foils for the Darkyn, or to somehow be traps for them? At this point, we can't know. But Alex's brother John and Kyan were also used in the same experiments, and both got strange powers out of the experience. I suspect that soon we will see what the Brotherhood intended for those children, and it won't be pretty, because not all of them escaped the Brotherhood's control.

This book added a real mystery to the stories so far and made me want to read more of this series as soon as possible. With one other book in this series in hand ("Stay the Night"- starring Robin of Locksley aka Robin Hood) I'm good for now. Highly recommended.