Carpathian 11 - Dark Descent

these places can be." She leaned close to study one of the pins slicing through his shoulder to hold him to the wal. "I hate to point this out to you, but you're in a bit of a mess. What was al that he-man macho crap teling me to stay away? If you ask me, you're in serious need of rescuing."
    Traian arched an eyebrow. His skin appeared pale, and he was clearly weak from loss of blood. Unattended wounds from a recent battle seeped more of his precious life fluid. He shook uncontrolably, unable to maintain his body's temperature. His hair was black and matted with blood. "I am certain I would have thought of something. He has friends. They wil be returning soon, and when they see him, they are not going to be happy. And if I do not incinerate his body, he wil rise again."
    "Lovely thought," Joie said and turned to keep a wary eye on the repulsive corpse. "Lucky for you I travel with a doctor. My sister Gabriele is quite mad, always peering into microscopes and lecturing us about how we're parasites on earth, but she does have certain skils." She whistled softly to signal to her brother and sister to enter the ice chamber.
    Gabriele avoided looking at the vampire as she studied the daggers of ice pinning Traian to the wal. "You do know the strangest people, Joie," she said. "I don't even want to ask where you met him."
    "If I pul out the stake, is he going to bleed to death?" Jubal inquired.
    "Just do it before the others come back," Traian advised, "or we are al going to die. Vampires are very dangerous. You were lucky."
    Joie sniffed indignantly. "I was fast and accurate and very good. There's no need to feel inferior." She signaled to Jubal even as she flashed a smug smile at Traian. "I have a gift."
    Jubal took hold of the stake in Traian's left shoulder with both hands and yanked with al his strength. Blood spurted, but Gabriele pressed her palms over the wound hard.
    "The first-aid kit is in my pack, Joie, but I don't know how we're going to get him to the surface. He needs blood as quickly as possible."
    "Just take them al out," Traian instructed. "We realy have to hurry."
    "Do what he says, Jubal." Joie caught the sense of urgency emanating from Traian. Little white lines were etched around his perfectly sculpted mouth. "Vampire babe is twitching." To her horror, the knife was vibrating, wiggling back and forth as if slowly emerging from the rotted flesh. "Hurry—we may have a little problem with handsome. He seems to be coming back to life."
    "Pack the wounds with mud. Hurry," Traian said.
    Joie didn't want to take her eyes off the ghoulish creature, but the dark compulsion in Traian's voice alarmed her. Gabriele obeyed him. Always meticulously careful of germs and microorganisms, she scooped up handfuls of gooey soil and, before Jubal could stop her, smeared it over Traian's shoulder and the rest of the gaping holes in his flesh.
    Without warning, Traian reached out and dragged Jubal close to him, murmuring something Joie couldn't quite catch. He bent his head toward Jubal's exposed throat.
    Neither Jubal nor Gabriele protested; rather, they stood quietly, as if enthraled.
    Fury burned through Joie. "You blood-sucking fiend! Touch him and you die! I'm not kidding you. Let him go or I'l tear your heart out. And don't try using your voice on me, because it won't work." As she hissed the words out in a low, smoldering voice, she moved to aim the knife she had drawn from the sheath strapped to her calf. At the same time, she tried to keep the vampire in sight.
    "If I do not get blood, we are al going to die," Traian said calmly. He looked at her, his gaze steady and honest.
    She let her breath escape between her teeth as she reached out and jerked Gabriele away from him, thrusting her sister behind her. "Release them now."
    "We have only minutes."
    "Then don't waste time." Her hand didn't waver. Neither did her stare.
    Traian spoke softly to Gabriele and Jubal, and both reacted immediately, Jubal hurrying to safety.
    "Tel us what's going on," Joie said. "It isn't as if we didn't witness the zombie man on the ground here, doing his sorry imitation of Dracula."
    "I am Carpathian, of the Earth. Al the stories I told you were true, not made up to entertain you. I lived the battles; they were not fiction. I need blood to survive, but we do not kil for sustenance. I have fought the vampire for hundreds of years." His voice was every bit as steady as his gaze. "This one wil rise again, and he has friends. You cannot