Dark Curse by Christeen Feehan. This book has more or less 500 pages. Born into a world of ice, and slave to her evil father, Lara Calladine knew only paralyzing fear as a child. Human, yet mage, she has the blood of three species yet she does not belonged to none. She walked her chosen path alone, guided by the wisdom of her aunts who taught her never to trust anyone. Today Lara is the leading expert in the field of ice cave study around the world and the healing microorganisms that thrive in them. One day she meets Nicolas De La Cruz, whom centuries of hunting and killing have made him think of suicide. Dangerous and arrogant, he still longs to feel sensual love without the hunger for blood. Now, between Lara and Nicolas, a tenuous trust has emerged, and a passion neither has ever known before as a melody of dark promise begins. But as each scales the treacherous land of the Carpathian in search of their past, they also harbor a secret that could save or destroy them. And as each may be desirous of a new beginning as life mates, they are also haunted by the unknown dangers of a dark curse.