with her rack of climbing gear. “Stay close to me, but try to give yourself room to stop fast if you need to,” he said. “It gets narrow in places. We don’t want to be crushed in there. We have to get down before they know what we’re doing. If there’s a problem, call it out and I will do my best to aid you. You will be sliding fast, so pay attention. You will need quick reactions.”
“Maybe we should share a rope,” Gabrielle suggested.
“It wouldn’t be of any use,” Jubal said. “Remember to keep your heels up.”
“You follow me, Joie. Your sister next.” He looked at Jubal over their heads. “You will know in advance that the vampires are close. Insects. A foul smell. A feeling of absolute dread. They are as capable of collapsing the tunnel as I am, but we have to believe they want our blood and they will not. Call out the moment you think they are behind us.”
Jubal nodded. “We’re ready. Let’s do it.”
Traian didn’t wait, knowing that time was premium now and not wanting any of them to change their minds. He slipped inside the chute and pushed off. The smooth ice looked like a giant slide, but it was so dark the others wouldn’t be able to see without angling their heads to point their lamps straight ahead. His shoulders were wide and he touched on both sides. The women wouldn’t have much of a problem, but Jubal had good-sized shoulders as well.
“It’s snug,” he called back and heard Joie relaying the information to her siblings.
Joie took a breath and slipped in after him. It was dark and frightening. She sat on her butt, lifted her heels and placed her ice axe to her side, gripping with both hands, the spike digging into the ice. With the leash of the axe wrapped around her wrist, she breathed through the dread, counting to ten to give Traian a head start and then pushed off into that unknown world.
Are you all right? Traian asked.
A little scared. In all of our conversations, it didn’t occur to you to mention a few pertinent facts such as how you’re a peculiar sort of man who likes blood and has vampires and other mythical creatures stalking you? You might have mentioned, just once, that you weren’t telling me cheery bedtime stories but that you lived this sort of life. Didn’t you think that might be important in the grand scheme of things?
Even in his mind, Traian heard the trembling in her voice. She was more than scared and that was all right with him. She had a bravado about her that at times worried him. Vampires were wholly evil. There was no reasoning with them. He didn’t want her to ever think defeating them would be easy.
I took into consideration your fear that you had lost your mind. It occurred to me that if I started talking about vampires being real and not fictional, you would have yourself committed.
The ice chute was cold after the unexpected heat Traian had generated in the chamber. Joie slid down into the freezing world of blue ice and crystal, knowing he was right. She would have had herself committed to a hospital for the mentally ill at the mere mention of vampires. The ice sloped alarmingly and she began to pick up speed. Her heart accelerated in direct proportion to how fast she was going.
I still might, she murmured in his mind, trying to stay focused through the unrelenting fear. She was sliding down a narrow chute with no real vision, following a man she didn’t know and he wasn’t even human. Having a boyfriend with a neck-biting fetish is definitely not sane.
Traian heard the underlying note of genuine fear in her voice. Finding him in the ice cave, fighting for their lives against such creatures of evil and knowing he needed blood to survive had shaken her confidence in herself. She had been unknowingly trapped by the connection of lifemates.
Gabrielle is right behind me, she informed him.
He felt the tears in her voice. She definitely felt guilty for bringing her brother and sister into such a dangerous mess. You had no way of knowing.
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. They shouldn’t be here. Especially Gabby. Jubal’s in the chute. It’s difficult to control speed.
Traian caught sight of the first danger sign. Tiny ice balls clung to the sides of the tube. Overhead little icicles had formed, growing larger as he slid deeper