Destiny closed her eyes to shut out what was happening to her, the helpless feeling of being utterly and completely vulnerable. The ground beneath them shivered, a forewarning. They couldn’t dissolve into mist with the poisonous vapor surrounding them, and she couldn’t run with the poison in her body paralyzing her. She had no idea why they were forcing her blood to run in a steady stream onto the ground and filling her with the powerful blood of an ancient, but it occurred to her that they were risking their lives by staying in the chamber with her.
A part of her brain was working furiously, considering her options, testing her strengths, determined to find a way to escape. Another part of her was relaxing into Nicolae’s hold, sinking deeper into his compulsion, accepting his strange connection to her.
“You will have to do it for her, Nicolae.” The voice floated up from behind her, sounding far away. “She is not capable. We will have to take her from this place ourselves. The trap is closing, and the one who escaped hopes to keep us locked here.”
That pricked her pride. She could do anything they could do. She was strong and Nicolae had taught her well, perhaps far better than he realized. Destiny sought inside herself, past the pain and fear, past the knowledge of what and who she was. She simply dropped away, finding pure energy, finding a place of power and healing. Her blood was fascinating, and she could clearly see the difference between the blood pouring onto the ground and the blood being forced into her body. She could see the ancient blood at war with her own, driving it from her body, a battle fought in her veins for her heart and soul. There were thick dark spots spreading up from her calf, invading her muscles and multiplying at a rapid rate.
She turned her attention to those spots, the dark bacteria that had invaded her bloodstream to do the vampire’s bidding.
Hurry. We must go now. I will carry you as close to the surface as possible, but you will have to be able to shape-shift in order to get out of here safely. As always, the melodic voice was unhurried and unconcerned. But Destiny was aware of the urgency of their situation. She knew the vampire Pater had escaped. His lair would be a dangerous trap designed to ensnare them. The shifts in the earth were all the warning she needed. Destiny concentrated on the spots of bacteria, breaking them down, pushing most of them out of her pores, pushing the threads that had rushed toward her heart back to the huge gash in her wrist.
The terrible paralysis was gone, along with the bacteria. Strength poured into her body with the ancient blood. Nicolae brought her wrist to the warmth of his mouth. Her heart stilled, skipped a beat, began to pound heavily. The fiery pain of the laceration eased, was replaced by a curious throbbing, a sudden heat creeping into her bloodstream. The two hunters loosened their mental hold on her, allowing her mind and body freedom from their compulsion. She snatched her hand out of Nicolae’s possession, held it against her heart. She became aware she was cradled in Nicolae’s arms as he rushed through the maze of subterranean chambers. Destiny swept her tongue across the gash in his chest, an automatic gesture to close the wound.
Deliberately she stayed limp in his arms, gathering her energy, waiting for her opportunity. She turned her attention to the grim-faced man running close to Nicolae’s side. He was an inch or so taller than Nicolae, with the same flowing black hair and piercing eyes. He glanced at her, turning those flat, emotionless eyes in her direction, and a shiver went down her spine. She recognized death when she saw it.
The chamber they had fled boomed, and there was a loud crash that reverberated throughout the subterranean maze as the walls and ceiling collapsed in on the cave. They were moving with preternatural speed, yet the thick yellow vapor was only a pace behind them.
“I’m much stronger,” Destiny pointed out. “Put me down, and we’ll get out of here faster.”