take it as it was meant—to save their lives. And Joie . . . his heart turned over. His lifemate. He hadn’t had time to really accept the truth of that.
More, Joie demanded. If you aren’t a vampire, where did they come from?
We are a species nearly immortal. I say nearly because we can die given the right circumstances. Over time if we do not find our lifemate, the woman holding the other half of our soul—and there is only one—we lose emotion and the ability to see color. The world becomes a dull, unrelenting place.
The tunnel twisted unexpectedly, spilling them out into another great hall. This one had smooth, blue-green walls on three of the four sides, the ice folded in bands. The gallery opened into several hallways. The high ceiling was covered in sharp stalactites hanging down like giant icicle spears. One wall, rather than smooth, was covered in ice balls, many as large as boulders where the water had run down and frozen. The sound of water was louder here, but coming from where, they couldn’t tell. The roar seemed to echo through the chamber, making it impossible to tell which direction the underground river was.
Have you been here before? Jubal tested the telepathy link through their joined hands.
I do not know this place. I believe this is a mage cave.
Joie made a single sound in her throat and glanced back at Gabrielle as they paused to take stock of their surroundings and determine the best way back to the surface. Mage cave? I hate to ask.
Traian knew he was asking a lot to have these three humans understand his world. They’d been thrown in at the deep end of a very murky pool and were fighting for survival against mythical creatures out of horror films. He wanted to draw Joie into his arms and comfort her, but there was little comfort in a place of such danger.
A roar reverberated through the ice caves, a sound that rose to a high pitch of rage and promise of retribution.
They caught up with the bloody hair. We’ve got to go. We have to stay to the left. I know the general direction to get out, but we’ve got to run.
Above their heads, the stalactites rocked, the ominous sound of ice cracking loud, all around them. Traian took off running just as the chamber rocked with loud continuous claps of thunder. Great ice balls hurled out of the walls toward them, big enough and with enough force to kill them should one hit them.
Gabrielle screamed and let go of Joie’s hand, sprinting across the ice.
“Stay quiet,” Traian hissed. “Stop her,” he added to the woman’s brother.
Jubal raced after Gabrielle and caught her, throwing her to the floor as a large spear crashed to the floor, shattering, sending shards of ice in all directions. Traian caught up Joie, his arms surrounding her, nearly crushing her against his chest as more ice spears rained down and blocks of ice thundered out of the walls.
“Keep her there,” Traian demanded of Jubal.
He ran, dodging spears and boulders of ice with Joie locked in his arms until he made it to Jubal and Gabrielle. He crouched beside them, pushing Joie close to them as he gathered energy. The build-up was so fast and powerful, static electricity sent charges ricocheting off the ice walls and floor.
He covered the group as best he could, building a shield around them so the powerful conical pillars of ice and large ice boulders smashed into the invisible force and broke apart. The ferocity and speed of the weapons flying at them was terrifying to see, as shaking stalactites broke free of the ceiling. They could look up and see the great columns of solid ice coming down right on top of them.
Is this natural? Joie asked. Because I’ve never seen anything like it all the years I’ve been going into caves. It was a storm of ice, a cavern angry with the intrusion and fighting to drive the trespassers out.
Traian could feel her heart pounding. He pulled her closer, sheltering her with his body. His strength was waning fast. The rags pushed into his wounds were soaked. He needed the healing earth and more blood fast and they were still a distance from the closest exit. He didn’t get lost in the sense that he knew direction, but where any tunnel or hall within the cave led, he had no idea.