huge maze. How was he going to quickly explain a concept to them they all found impossible to believe? He looked at Joie. She was a miracle to him, an impossibility, just like the vampires and his need of blood must seem to them—as if they were caught in a nightmare and he was caught in a dream.
The vampire struggled to a half-sitting position on the floor, black blood and spittle running down his chin. His red-rimmed eyes fixed on Joie with a mixture of hate and fear. Long fingernails dug into the ice and he dragged himself another inch toward the blackened heart, all the while staring directly at Joie.
Traian’s heart jumped, and then began to accelerate. He tasted fear in his mouth. Apprehension was alien to him, an emotion he hadn’t felt in hundreds of years. Now, with the vampire silently vowing revenge on the one woman who mattered to him, Traian found dread filling him. Of all places for his lifemate to show up—in a labyrinth of caves when he was drained of his enormous strength—with a brother and sister in tow. He’d searched centuries for her and when he was at his most vulnerable, she appeared. Fate was a terrible jokester.
Joie! Do not look at him directly like that. It is easy to become ensnared.
She pulled her gaze away with an effort. “What the hell did you do to my knife, you fiend? Do you have any idea what a blade like that costs?” She held out her hand to Jubal for the knife she had given him. “Give that to me. I think I’m going to need it.”
The vampire snarled, spraying foul blood across the ice, where it burned deep. His fiery eyes promised a vicious revenge.
Gabrielle gasped and covered her face. “I want to go, Joie. I’m not like you and Jubal. I can’t do this.”
Jubal immediately put his arm around her. “We’ll get out of here, honey.” He looked at Traian. “Can you kill it? We’ve got matches in our pack, so we can set the thing on fire.”
Gabrielle made a sound of horror in the back of her throat. “We’re going to burn it alive?”
“We have to do something,” Joie said, taking a step toward the creature.
Traian swept her firmly behind him with a strong arm. She was worried about her sister and feeling guilty that she’d brought her siblings into such a dangerous situation, but he couldn’t allow her to place herself into danger when he could kill the foul creature. He signaled to Jubal and Gabrielle to move away from the vampire. They did so carefully.
Lamont continued to make hideous noises, his talons cutting deep gouges into the ice. The blackened heart wriggled and rolled a couple of inches toward the outstretched hand.
Jubal handed his sister the knife. “Let’s get out of here while we can. I don’t think I want to meet any more of these things.”
“I’m going to pretend I never met this one,” Gabrielle said firmly. She shuddered, and took a deep breath. “Just do it. If we’re going to kill the thing, do it fast please.”
Traian nodded and stepped in front of all three of them. Joie watched him closely. He seemed to be gathering something unseen into his hands. She could feel the buildup of energy in the chamber. The gallery was actually warming, increasing the dripping of the water dramatically. Between Traian’s palms, light glowed, a bright orange-red, emitting heat. It appeared just smaller than a basketball, the energy coiling and spinning.
The vampire screamed in rage and attempted to rise, desperate to attack the hunter. When he couldn’t make it to his feet, he threw himself forward across the floor of thick ice, and reached for his twisted heart. The blackened organ responded to his desperation, rolling toward him in little macabre stops and starts.
The ball of glowing energy left Traian’s hands, hurtling through the chamber to land squarely on the writhing organ. The heart burst into a white-hot flame, burning blue and then purple. Tiny writhing maggots fell onto the ice, burning. The flames leapt from the heart to the outstretched hands of the vampire, racing up his arms to his shoulders. The long strands of dank hair caught fire. The vampire’s mouth gaped open, his eyes wide with shock and horror.
The heart incinerated completely, ashes erupting in a blackened volcano, throwing more maggots into the air. The blackened worms lay like drops of black soot staining the ice. The undead shrieked, his