Dark Nights (11 page)

“That’s no natural bridge,” Jubal observed. “Who, or should I ask what, could have carved such a thing? Can we cross it?”

Traian studied it warily. He shook his head. “I fear that bridge is an invitation to death. A trap—a mage trap.”

Gabrielle slipped her hand into her sister’s. “I’m afraid, Joie. I’ve got a terrible feeling we’re all going to die.”

“The vampires are broadcasting terror and images of death to feed your natural fear,” Traian explained. “They have been hunting for weeks for something in these caves. The network is very large and, as you can see, not all naturally formed. I stayed to try to find what they are looking for. Vampires do not normally put so much energy into a project. Whatever it is they want, their finding it will not benefit either the Carpathian or the human race.”

“They don’t need to broadcast fear,” Gabrielle pointed out, reminding Traian a bit of Joie’s dry humor. “I’m doing quite well on my own.”

Jubal nodded toward the raw wounds on Traian’s chest. “You’ve been in a few battles with them.”

He nodded. “Yes, and I have noticed changes in their behavior. As a rule, they would have avoided me. Now vampires are running in packs. They used to be out for themselves, or occasionally a master vampire would use the newer ones as fodder for his battles, but lately they seem to have more control and are much better organized. To find two masters serving a third and bringing to him their own followers is unheard of and must be investigated.”

Jubal shoved a hand through his hair in agitation. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. Vampires are Hollywood creations, creatures in movies.”

“They are shape-shifters. You must be very careful of what and who you trust.”

Joie could hear a sound accompanying the drip of the water. A soft clicking, like branches banging together in the wind. It made her edgy. Vampires were one thing, but shape-shifting? She exchanged another look with her siblings, and instantly rejected the idea as they did.

There was no warning. One moment Traian stood in the glare of their headlamps, the next a huge, shaggy black wolf with a mouthful of lethal teeth sat in his place, eyes focused menacingly on Jubal. Gabrielle screamed and stumbled backward. Jubal reached out to catch her, dragging her away from the abyss to comparative safety beside the snarling animal, hastily unzipping his pocket to pull out his gun.

Mouth dry, Joie circled the wolf’s neck with a restraining arm. “Totally impressive, but not something I want to take home to Mom.” Her heart was pounding so loudly, it sounded like a drum in her ears. She had doubted him and he’d done this to prove how very lethal and cunning the vampires were. Her legs shook, feeling like rubber.

There is no need to fear me. I would never harm you.

“Why would you think I was afraid of you?” Joie demanded. “I’m not in the least afraid. I’m keeping you under control.”

It may have something to do with the knife you are holding to my throat.
Traian said it casually, a soft amusement in his voice, as if the blade pressed so tightly against him didn’t matter in the least.

And that scared her more than the fact he had just shape-shifted into a predator. She looked down at her arm curved around his neck. The fur was thick and luxurious, and her arm was nearly buried in it. But she could feel the handle of the knife in her hand. She let out her breath and slowly eased the blade away from his throat. “I was just making certain you were paying attention,” she said as she slipped the blade back into the scabbard.

Traian calmly shifted back into his true form. “Just how many weapons do you carry on you? You seem to be a walking arsenal.”

“This is insane,” Jubal said. “Cool, but insane.”

“I think we’re caught in a mass hallucination,” Gabrielle suggested. “Can we just get out of here? Joie, find us a way out.”

“We’re trying, hon,” Joie assured. “That clicking noise is driving me crazy. I don’t like the rhythm; it’s not natural.” The dripping of the water was more insistent. She looked anxiously toward Traian. Something was wrong. He knew it. She knew it. She looked at Jubal. He certainly felt it too.

“I will take them across and come back for you,” Traian said to Joie. “He can protect your sister while I cross with you.” There was no sense in attempting to take his lifemate first. It was clear she would never go without the others, and he didn’t want to waste time arguing.

“Not without more blood, you can’t,” Jubal said. “You’re so pale you look nearly transparent.” He took a deep breath, shoved his gun back in his pocket and drew his knife. He didn’t hesitate, slashing a cut across his wrist and handing Joie the knife. “If he kills me, I expect vengeance.” He flashed a wan grin at her as he stepped up and offered the bright blood to Traian. “Get us the hell out of here.”

Traian took the offering without hesitation. They would have to most likely fight their way out of the maze of caves and he needed strength. He was grateful Jubal was such a strong man, and large. He was careful not to take too much, but he desperately needed the life-giving substance freely given. He carefully closed the wound with his healing saliva.

“Thank you.” Traian acknowledge simply. He held out his hand to Gabrielle. She stared at him in horror, shaking her head, even stepping back. “Hurry. We have to go now.”

“Gabrielle,” There was warning in Jubal’s voice.

She didn’t look at him, but rather at her sister. “Do you trust him, Joie?”

Joie looked up at Traian, noting the lines etched in his strong, timeless face. The dark depths of his eyes. Old eyes. Eyes that had seen too much. He was a man who had been alone too long. She was a looking at a warrior. A man of honor. Joie reached out to brush a caress along his jaw with her fingertips. The touch jolted him. Jolted her. Heat flooded her body. Electricity arced between them, lightning flashing in their veins. Instant awareness. They smiled at one another in understanding.

“I would trust him with my life, Gabrielle. More importantly, I would trust him with yours. Please go with him now. I’ve got that bad feeling I always get when we’re in danger.”

Gabrielle took Traian’s hand, and allowed him to draw her to him. Jubal stepped close so Traian could wrap an arm around him.

Traian leaned close to Joie. “I will be back immediately. Do not attempt to engage the enemy. They must not get their hands on you.” There was an underlying urgency in his voice. Dark eyes stared intently into hers. “Be safe, Joie. I need you to be safe.”

He was taking her family to safety for her, when everything in him demanded he take her first. Joie understood his look immediately, recognized how difficult it was for him to do what was important to her rather than to himself. There was a storm of emotion churning inside him, yet his features remained tranquil. Only his eyes burned with intensity. With possession. With promise. With passion.

His mouth fastened on hers, a hard kiss that staked his claim on her. That kiss told her he meant to have her and nothing would stand in his way. She felt his body tremble and tasted his passion, tasted his fear for her. She tasted safety. He would come back for her, brave anything to reach her. Even in the midst of the unknown, in that moment, she felt protected.

He pulled away abruptly, lifting her brother and sister easily, as if they were no more than children, shifting into a creature with wings, half man, half bird, and flying across the abyss into the dark where she could no longer see him.

Joie was left standing alone on the edge of the precipice with the darkness pressing down on her—with the strange rhythmic clicking and the dripping water. Heart pounding and mouth dry, she turned toward the sound, shining her light to see what was behind her.

In the small confines she could see water trickling from the side of the cavern; it was not clear, but a milky yellow, and gathered into a foul-smelling pool. She moved cautiously, positioning herself to keep an eye on what was gathering there. Something evil. Something alive.

The water rippled in response to a dark disturbance below the surface. The pool darkened into an oily substance, revealing two red orbs glaring with terrible malevolence. A chill crept down her spine. The hair on her arms stood up.

Traian.
Automatically, without conscious thought, she reached out for him, showed him the pool with its macabre secrets.

Move! Get out of its line of vision, Joie
.

Chapter Five

W
ith absolute horror, unable to look away, Joie stared back at the flame-red eyes stalking her from the small dark puddle. The eyes were real, watching her, some terrible apparition set on her destruction. She had never seen so much malice, or so much black hatred pouring from any entity. Her body rebelled, sickened by the evil emanating from the thick slime.

At Traian’s warning, she tried to wrench her gaze away, but it was impossible. She was trapped, unable to break eye contact with the red flames. Her airway began to close, choked off by an invisible noose. Instinctively her hands flew up to her throat as if she could pry unseen fingers from around her neck, but there was nothing there. As white stars flashed across a black background, Joie realized dizzily she had only precious seconds to break the invisible hold on her throat. She reached for her knife, following through in one smooth motion with a throw directed by sheer desperation.

The blade sank deep into the fiery left eye. Immediately the water bubbled up in a blackish-red ooze and the hold on her throat loosened, allowing her to breathe. A terrible howl filled the cavern, assaulting her ears. She stumbled away from the poisonous pool, dragging air into her lungs, coughing as her raw throat protested.

The bubbles stacked, one on top of the other, forming a foul-smelling pyramid; the stench of rotten eggs and decaying meat drifted through the chamber, an ugly green vapor that left tendrils floating through the air so that she was afraid of breathing it in. The pyramid grew in height until it was twice the length of the puddle. Slowly, the formation began to tip, the bubbles elongating, forming grotesque fingers. She gasped when she saw the extensions were tiny wiggling parasites, much like maggots, or tiny worms bursting through the ooze.

Joie shuddered and backed a step away from the slime watching the puddle closely, her stomach churning. Something terrible was about to happen. The sounds in the cavern stilled, as if everything waited. The bubbles began to shake grotesquely, and something within the segments moved beneath the surface, desperate to get out. The pyramid tipped toward her and she took another cautious step back. Her heart thundered in the stillness of the cave. Even the water stopped its relentless dripping.

The thick ooze struggled, the bubbles merging into one misshapen blob, whatever was inside, pushing this way and that, distorting the mass of bubbles, as if the glob was giving birth—and she very much feared it was.

Hurry, Traian. Really hurry.
There was no way to keep the anxiety out of her voice.

She’d been in desperate situations and never once had she been close to panic, she just wasn’t made that way, but this—this
thing
—was definitely lethal and it was coming for her. The thick substance contorted again and broke in one spot, a membrane shielding something inside. Teeth took hold of the covering and ripped a wide tear, allowing the head of the organism to emerge. The creature slithered out of the hole and flopped out of the puddle of ooze onto the ice floor. Tiny worms exploded out of the opening left behind, some falling into the thick primordial soup, and others wiggling violently around the foot-long beast.

She didn’t want to touch any of it, even with her equipment. The caterpillar-like being opened its mouth as if snarling at her. Dagger-like teeth seemed to be made of ice, yet those sharp, spiked teeth were very real. Two curved teeth, much like the grim reaper’s scythe, dripped yellow venom forming rounded pods of thick amber slime.

Joie backed up another step, giving ground as the thing slithered closer. She considered trying to hop over it, but the pool was continuing to grow and the tiny maggots spread across the ice towards her as well.

Where are you?

I am on my way back.

Even the utter confidence and complete calm in Traian’s voice didn’t help. He was going to be too late. The organism was almost on her. She had to make a decision fast. Taking a grip on her ice axe, she considered the best place to try to kill it—through the top of the head or behind the neck. She was only going to get one chance.

The head suddenly reared back, the mouth yawning open wide, exposing the dagger-like teeth, curved venomous canines and more yellowish pods inside. For one moment she was staring into a black, fathomless hole, and the next, six snake-like heads rushed out at her, exploding out of the mouth with such speed, Joie stumbled back to avoid the gnashing teeth. The edge of the ice crumbled and she fell into empty space.

She slammed the spike of her axe deep into the ice wall. Her arms took her body weight as she came to an abrupt stop. Letting her breath out slowly, she looked carefully around. She couldn’t see below her, the drop off was far too deep. Ice balls clung to the walls of the abyss, a bad sign. She hadn’t had time to put her crampons back on her boots, so she couldn’t really dig into the ice wall for more stability.

I’m in trouble, Traian.

Above her head, an ominous scratching noise alerted her. She looked up as ice fell. To her horror, ice flakes rained down on her, the small wiggling parasites dropping onto her head and shoulders. She had to force her body under control, refusing to give into the impulse to try to shake them off. The scraping sound continued, growing louder. She risked another look above her. The slug-like creature seemed to have grown even larger with the enormous jaws hanging over the edge and the cold, red eyes glaring at her. The thing opened its mouth wide, displaying teeth and the venomous curved scythes.

Her heart skipped a beat and began to pound. Those hideous snake heads were going to come at her face any moment, no doubt delivering a bite she wouldn’t survive. She was going to have to let go of her lifeline with one hand and reach for her knife. If the thing was really fast, she was going to have one very slim chance.