Carpathian 11 - Dark Descent

wil not need gear to climb. They can take to the air to pursue you. They hit the trap I set for them and were buried under a mudslide, but it wil only slow them down. Look for something that does not feel right. There wil be a halway leading up to the entrance."
    "Like the rocks outside the cave. The pattern was al wrong," Joie said. "Jubal, you're good at patterns. Find us the opening, and hurry. Jubal's rather infamous in our family for his mathematical mind," she told Traian. "He can see a pattern in just about anything. That's how he makes al his money."
    They could hear scratching, a terrible sound amplified by the acoustics of the cavernous room. Great claws scraping at the earth, digging to get at them. They spread out, walked along the wal, carefuly examining every surface. Al the while they could hear the vampires tunneling furiously through the mud and ice. The sounds grew louder, closer, and Traian dropped back, facing the wal where the creatures were certain to break through.
    "I've got it!" Jubal said triumphantly. "We were expecting up, but it's down. The floor. See the pattern on the floor, Joie?"
    "Open it," Traian said tersely, not looking, his attention centered completely on the far wal.
    Jubal studied the squares, pyramids, and starburst patterns of stone beneath the layers of muddy ice. In the center of each symbol were hieroglyphics, pictures carved into each stone. He stepped on various ones, taking his time, choosing each stone carefuly, folowing the pattern he could see laid out before him.
    At last a large stone slid aside to reveal steps carved into the ice. Jubal hesitated. "Are you certain this is the way?"
    "It has to be the way," Traian said. "Take your sisters and go."

    Jubal was cautious, shining his light down the narrow staircase. The stairs appeared to be a bridge over a dark, fathomless abyss. "It's another bridge, Traian. Do I trust it?"
    "You have to. It must have been their way out."
    Jubal took a deep breath and stepped onto the first stair, found it solid, and reached back to aid Gabriele. "Hurry, Joie."
    "Come with us, Traian," Joie pleaded.
    Water gushed in a dark, muddy stream from the side of the wal. Insects poured into the galery. The wal to Traian's left colapsed in an oozing pool of dark sludge.
    Two hideous creatures flopped onto the floor of the chamber, abominations in the crystal perfection of the room. Gaunt and cadaverous, they were covered in black muck.
    Baring their jagged, spiked teeth, they stared at Traian from red-rimmed eyes filed with venomous hatred.

Chapter Six
    "Gabriele, run," Joie urged. Fear clawed at her insides, but she dropped back to protect her sister and brother. "Jubal, go, don't look back." She would always stand between her brother and sister and danger. And she couldn't leave Traian. She wouldn't leave him. Not to face hideous monsters on his own. It didn't matter that he claimed to have hunted vampires al his life, she was incapable of abandoning anyone to face danger alone. And somehow, Traian was connected to her. A part of her blood and bones.
    Of her heart and soul. She would stand with him.
    Jubal caught Gabriele's hand and jerked her down the stairs in a race for their lives. Behind him, the thick slab of stone slid back into place, locking Joie in the cavern above them. She was grateful and relieved that her brother knew her wel enough not to waste precious time arguing and that she could count on him to protect Gabriele.
    Both her knives were gone. Joie always carried two, but she'd used both, one on the vampire feeding on Traian, the other in the eye of the pool. She kept a distance from Traian, giving him room to fight. She could taste fear in her mouth. She had no gun, no knife. My fourth dan black belt doesn't look too promising considering that those very nasty things have wicked-looking talons and mouths full of shark teeth. We could use a gun or two. Maybe a machine gun.
    Stay close to me. I want you where I can protect you. They can move the earth, rain down missiles from the ceiling. They will not fight in the way you expect.
    Traian had never realy experienced gut-wrenching, bone-deep fear before. He had never had anything to lose. Now there was everything. A woman whose mind he walked in, whose body he didn't yet know intimately.
    I gathered that.
    For some reason her simple words made him relax, want to smile. Joie didn't panic easily. She didn't lack for courage and she was committed to fighting with him. She