Carpathian 16 - Dark Demon

covered the body of an enormous creature. A long serpentine neck supported a wedge-shaped head. The extended tail ended in a spike and the wings were folded in close along the body. Sharp claws, made for rending and tearing, looked as if they had been digging in the ice as if trying to scrape free. One beautiful eye, a sparkling vivid emerald green stared at them hopelessly through the thick wall of ice.
    "A dragon, Vikirnoff. How would a dragon be trapped in the wall like that?" She wanted to weep for the creature. She put her hand on the ice, fingers spread wide, right over the claw as if to hold it close to her. "Who would do this to a dragon?" She couldn't look away from that one, brilliant eye.
    "Not one, but two." His voice was grim. He peered closer. "There is a second one, side by side with the first. You can see the outline of the leg and claw."
    Natalya pressed against the wall, until her nose turned blue. Unconsciously, her fingernails dug at the ice, trying to get to the mythical creatures. "This isn't right, Vikirnoff." She wanted to weep. Her chest burned and felt too tight. "Can we get them out?"
    His hands were gentle as he pulled her away from the wall of ice. "Is this what you are after? More than one vampire are now seeking us. I feel the presence of Arturo and several others. Unfortunately, I worry more about the ones I cannot feel. I sense the presence of evil, but cannot tell where it is. We cannot take a chance of removing a wall of ice this thick without the entire mountain coming down on us and even if we could, we do not have the necessary time."
    "I wish I had come for the dragons. This is just not right. I had no idea dragons were real."
    "They are and they are not." He turned her away from the ice tomb. "You are much too sensitive. Your grief is as strong as it is unexpected." And her compassion only endeared her to him more. He tugged on her until she followed him. "Which way?"

    Natalya took the lead again. The hall opened into a gallery. Tall columns of intricately carved, Gothic-style architecture rose to the high cathedral ceiling. Crystals and ice pillars formed two rows of columns down the room, each holding several round globes of various colors.
    Natalya stopped abruptly. "This is the place. I'm supposed to come here, to this room.
    Don't touch anything, Vikirnoff. There are traps everywhere. I can feel them." She paced a distance down the wide-open room and then returned to him. Mythical creatures rose up from the floor in life-size sculptures made of clear crystal. Blood red pyramids made of stone gleamed from chiseled archways in the walls. If she stared too long at one of the many spheres, it came alive, swirling and changing color, trying to draw an unwary victim to the intense beauty.
    On the floor, beneath the ice were strange squares, pyramids and starburst patterns of stones. In the center of each shape were hieroglyphics, pictures carved deep into the rock.
    "This is the way out," Natalya said. "They had to have an escape hole and the shapes have to be stepped on in a certain pattern to open the stone above the stairs."
    "You have really never been here before?"
    Small lines appeared around her mouth and across her forehead as she tried to reach into her memories. "I may have dreamt of this place. My father told me of the cave and the ice stairs leading the way out. He warned me not to touch anything until I was certain…" she trailed off, her gaze suddenly meeting Vikirnoff's. "It was my father. He set up the compulsion for me to come here. He must have."
    "Why would he put you in such danger?" Vikirnoff watched her pace restlessly through the huge room, examining objects on display. A tall rack of weapons in a shallow alcove caught her eye, but after a moment she moved on, as if driven to find a single item.
    "I don't know, but it must be important." Distracted, she moved slowly up and down the room, trying to tune herself to the right direction. She didn't have a clue what she was looking for and her dragon birthmark was burning with alarm. She pressed her hand over it, trying to stop the warning. "I think the vampires are close."
    Vikirnoff scanned continually throughout the network of caves, looking for anything that would tell him where the vampire was. It was close. He had an instinct for the undead, and right now his warning system was blaring an alert. The sound of the water was even louder.
    Normally he could tone down the volume, but the continual dripping