"We're trying, hon," Joie a.s.sured. "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 h.e.l.l 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 pa.s.sion.

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 pa.s.sion, 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

With 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 ent.i.ty. 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, a.s.saulting 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 ma.s.s 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 s.p.a.ce.

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 b.a.l.l.s 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 sc.r.a.ping 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.

Swallowing hard, never taking her eyes from the monstrous red eyes peering down at her with so much malevolence, she eased her death grip on the ice axe, transferring her weight to one arm. She'd climbed since she was practically a toddler and had the body strength, but it was cold and she was losing strength. She kept her movements slow, not wanting to trigger an attack. Her fingers closed around the hilt of her knife secured in her belt. She eased it out slowly.

Arms caged her against a hard chest and Traian's scent filled her lungs. I've got you, he whispered in her mind.

Power snapped and crackled as the energy built around her. Relief made her sag against him. There was no controlling the terrible trembling that started. Flames burst from Traian's hand, a fiery ball that blasted straight down the creature's throat. It screamed, a loud, long, drawn-out piercing cry that shattered icicles. A volcano of parasites burst from it, on fire, falling like ash around them.

Joie buried her face in Traian's chest. "They're in my hair."

"Ssh, I'll get them off of you," he soothed, his voice gentle. "Your helmet prevented them from getting into your scalp."

She felt the soft warm air he used to rid her of the debris that had rained down on her. The thought of the tiny maggots crawling over her skin was worse than the sensations of the thousands of crickets moving over her in the ice chute. She forced air through her lungs and made herself reach out to retrieve her ice axe.

"Are you hurt? Any bites? Did those parasites get under your skin?"

She shook her head, clinging to his strength, not bothering to pretend the encounter hadn't shaken her. He moved quickly through the air, so fast the cold air bit at her face, numbed her arms and tore tears from her eyes. Joie buried her face against his chest again and pushed her body tightly against the unnatural warmth of his, allowing herself a few moments to recover before she faced her siblings.

"You are teaching me the meaning of fear," he said.

"Really? I thought it was the other way around. I don't think your world is the calm environment a woman like me should be in." Her voice shook, embarra.s.sing her. "Frankly, Traian, this is a very terrifying place. And I'm not known for finding environments or situations terrifying. I don't want Gabrielle and Jubal to see me like this. And it's a little humiliating that you are."