Carpathian 11 - Dark Descent

like the rhythm; it's not natural."
    "I want to get out of here," Gabriele said. "Joie, find us a way out." Her voice trembled, and she sounded very forlorn.
    "We'l get out, hon," Joie said with confidence. "If the two macho boys can stop beating their chests long enough"—she blew her brother a kiss—"we'l figure this out." The dripping of the water was more insistent. She looked anxiously toward Traian. Something was wrong. He knew it. She knew it.
    "I wil take them across and come back for you," Traian said to Joie. There was no sense in attempting to take his lifemate first. It was clear she would never go without the others, and he didn't want to waste time arguing. He held out his hand toward Gabriele. "Come with me."
    She didn't look at him, but rather at her sister. "Do you trust him, Joie?"
    Joie looked up at Traian, noting the lines etched in his strong, timeless face. The dark depths of his eyes. Old eyes. Eyes that had seen too much. He was a man who had been alone too long. She was a looking at a warrior. A man of honor. Joie reached out to brush a caress along his jaw with her fingertips. The touch jolted him. Jolted her.
    Need slammed into him, a driving punch that shook his existence. Heat flooded her body. Electricity arced between them, lightning flashing in their veins. Instant awareness.
    They smiled at one another in understanding.
    "I would trust him with my life, Gabriele. More importantly, I would trust him with yours. Please go with him now. I've got that bad feeling I always get when we're in danger."
    Gabriele took Traian's hand, alowed him to draw her to him. They al looked at Jubal.
    "Damn it, Joie, I'm your older brother and the man here," he muttered, shaking his head, but he went obediently to Traian's side.
    Traian leaned over to catch Joie's chin. "I wil be back immediately. Do not attempt to engage the enemy. They must not get their hands on you." There was an underlying urgency in his voice. His dark eyes stared into hers. "Be safe, Joie. I need you to be safe."
    He was taking her family to safety for her, when everything in him demanded he take her first. Joie understood his look immediately, recognized how difficult it was for him to do what was important to her rather than to himself. There was a storm of emotion churning inside him, yet his features remained tranquil. Only his eyes burned with intensity.
    With possession. With promise. With passion.
    His mouth fastened on hers, a hard kiss that staked his claim on her. That kiss told her he meant to have her and nothing would stand in his way. She felt his body tremble and tasted his passion, tasted his fear for her.
    He puled away abruptly, lifting her brother and sister easily, as if they were no more than children, shifting into a creature with wings, half man, half bird, and flying across the abyss into the dark where she could no longer see him.
    Joie was left standing alone on the edge of the precipice with the darkness pressing down on her. With the strange rhythmic clicking and the dripping water. Heart pounding and mouth dry, she turned toward the sound, shining her light to see what was behind her.
    In the smal confines she could see water trickling from the side of the cavern; it was not clear, but a milky yelow, and gathered into a foul-smeling pool. She moved cautiously, positioning herself to keep an eye on what was gathering there. Something evil. Something alive.
    The water rippled in response to a dark disturbance below the surface. The pool darkened into an oily substance, revealing two red orbs glaring with terrible malevolence.
    A chil crept down her spine. The hair on her arms stood up.
    Traian. Automaticaly, without conscious thought, she reached out for him, showed him the pool with its macabre secrets.
    Move! Get out of its line of vision, Joie.

Chapter Five
    Joie stared back at the flame-red eyes in horror, unable to look away. The eyes were real, watching her, some terrible apparition set on her destruction. She had never seen so much malice, so much black hatred pouring from any entity. Her body rebeled, sickened by the evil emanating from the thick slime.
    At Traian's warning, she tried to wrench her gaze away, but she was trapped, unable to break eye contact with the red flames. Her airway began to close, choked off by an invisible noose. Instinctively her hands flew up to her throat as if she could pry unseen fingers from around her neck, but there was nothing there. As white stars flashed