Carpathian 16 - Dark Demon

not?"
    Frustrated, Natalya turned back to the tunnel to keep him from seeing her expression.
    What did she know about her childhood? What if everything was a lie? Memories removed and others planted. The idea of it sickened her. "Great." She couldn't help feeling humiliated and ashamed that Vikirnoff had seen the inside of her mind and the trauma of a blank void. "I'm a freakin' robot."
    "With a beautiful backside," he pointed out when she dropped to her hands and knees, head disappearing into the ice hall.
    She wiggled her bottom suggestively and grinned back at him, grateful to him for giving her something to laugh about.
    His heart nearly stopped beating and the air left his lungs in a burning rush. She could have lit up the entire cavern with her high wattage smile. Thunder roared in his ears. Deep inside, his demon struggled for release and unexpectedly, desire shot through his body. Not the intense lust he experienced earlier, but something bright and passionate and deep that came, not from his groin, but from his heart.
    "You don't have to come with me," Natalya said, forcing the words out as she looked back at him. He had gone so still, his expression carved in stone. How could he want to be mixed up with whatever was happening? The fact was, she was terrified of the cave.
    Something she couldn't even remember from her childhood warned her she was in danger and the increasing volume of the dripping water was nearly driving her out of her mind.
    Every instinct told her to run, but her body and brain refused to obey the command.
    She had longed for a partner, someone to share her life with, but for the first time she needed to be with someone. And not just anyone. Vikirnoff. Not just for his fighting skills, but for the sheer comfort of his presence. And that was almost as frightening as the situation she was in.
    Vikirnoff exuded power and confidence. She couldn't imagine anyone defeating him, not when he was at full strength. But he wasn't at full strength . The thought came out of nowhere. She realized that not once had she worried about his physical condition since they'd been in the cave. He wasn't fully healed. She had seen the agony on his face on more than one occasion earlier, yet he carried himself as if nothing was wrong. Had he been subtly influencing her or was she really that selfish? She groaned softly.
    "I am with you because I want to be. I am not under compulsion, Natalya. And I am fit enough to protect you should there be need."
    She turned away from him before he could see her reaction to his words—his voice.

    There was just something about the man that called to her. She crawled through the twisting ice tube until it began to widen and opened into another series of galleries. The ice formations and columns were impressive. Following her instincts she chose one chamber and discovered streaks of old blood along the ice wall. Her own blood ran cold and she stood gaping at the thick, frozen clots dinging to the wall. "This doesn't look good, does it?"
    Vikirnoff put a hand on her shoulder. She wasn't used to being touched and she trembled in response, but didn't shrug him off. "You can see where they put ice picks through him to hold him to the wall." He touched the frozen blood. "There was a Carpathian being tortured in this chamber." He examined the entire room. "It was not within the last week. Someone rescued him, human I think, and at least one vampire died here." He sighed. "Why would a vampire risk coming into the cave of the dark mage?"
    "Secrets? Power?"
    "Maybe. But is it worth the risk? There have to be traps scattered everywhere. The vampires are looking for something. There is no other explanation." He glanced around warily. "I can feel something watching us, can't you?"
    She wanted to deny it, but the back of her neck prickled with alarm. "Yes. The vampires think I can help them find whatever they are looking for, don't they?" Natalya said. "That's why Arturo said he had a small task for me. He wants me to find something, probably something the dark mage left behind."
    "Anything Xavier had of power would be deadly to the entire world, not just our species, if a vampire wielded it."
    "Can you tell where the others got out? The ones that killed the vampire?" She pointed to a solid wall of ice. "Because I want to go there."
    Vikirnoff examined the wall. "A Carpathian closed a slide tube behind them. I still feel the power lingering."
    "Can you open the slide?"
    He studied the