Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

them to make certain they aren\'t closing on you. This ice is very stable in spite of the fact that we are hundreds of feet down. The walls move when he wants them to move. He\'s been here.\"
    Her lungs burned. She realized she was breathing shallowly. She detested this place and she wanted out.
    \"Lara,\" Nicolas said, \"can these two other blood trails be your aunts? I do not recognize the scent, other than knowing it is Dragonseeker.\"
    Natalya hurried over, pressing both hands to her chest tightly. \"I did not know them. I thought them long dead.\"
    Lara felt sluggish, reluctant to move. \"If that\'s their blood, we should be able to track it back to them. He kept them weak and sick because he was afraid of them, but he wanted their blood and he drained it from them often.\"
    Nicolas whipped his head around to look at her. \"Lara! What is wrong with you?\" He looked from her to the other two. \"Something is wrong. None of us are breathing right.\"
    Lara tried to clear her foggy brain. \"A natural hazard. He would use the elements and it would be simple.\"
    She lifted her face to look at the ceiling and spray hit her. \"Nicolas, we have to get out of here. Warm up your lungs. He\'s freezing our lungs using the ice crystals. The particles are so tiny and we inhale them.\"
    Nicolas yanked her out of the laboratory and into the next chamber. It was free of the icy spray. Vikirnoff and Natalya followed them out. Nicolas turned to her, his hands pressing on either side of her body, spreading warmth through her lungs and chest. Pins and needles ran along her skin, but the terrible pressure was gone.
    \"We were lucky,\" she said. \"Ice particles in the lungs can kill you very fast. And suffocation is a lousy way to go.\" She rubbed Nicolas\'s arm. \"Can you track the blood trail of my aunts?\"
    \"They are above us and toward our left. We go in that direction.\"
    Nicolas took the lead, choosing a wider tunnel leading upward. The ice was banded tightly with white and Page 187

    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    blue thin stripes. Crackles and grumblings and the ever-present trickling of water were constant companions.
    The weight of ice and rock pressed down heavily on them. As they hurried, the floor became more and more uneven, as if the earth had pushed chunks of ice upward. They took to the air, skimming over the surface, following the twisting tunnel upward.
    Several other galleries opened, but other than glancing inside, the four continued upward. They\'d been inside Xavier\'s lair for sometime: They needed to find Tatijana and Branislava and get out. The shower of ice was constant, small pieces breaking off and raining down on them, so it was necessary to keep a shield above them. As the floor sloped up, icicles began to vibrate. Water dripped faster. One wall began to web into tiny cracks. Water trickled out.
    \"I detest this place,\" Vikirnoff said. \"We should just get out of here.\"
    Natalya scowled at him. \"I\'m not going to leave without finding my aunts\' bodies. You saw the blood. What if they\'re still alive?\"
    Nicolas muttered something foul under his breath. \"They are not alive. After all this time, it would be impossible. This is a fool\'s errand and you are going to get us killed.\"
    Vikirnoff whirled around, baring his teeth. \"This was not Natalya\'s idea. Your life mate dragged us here.\"
    Nicolas responded with aggression, his black eyes smoldering with red flames, with the need for action. \"Do not use that tone when speaking of my life mate.\"
    Lara frowned as she stepped between the two men. With the ice spiders weaving luminescent threads to light the way, the silky strings cast shadows not only along the blue and white ice, but over both men\'s faces, and they seemed dark and sinister in the shimmering glow. Along the wall, the shadows seemed to move of their own accord, growing and extending, reshaping with each movement within the tunnel.
    Lara lifted her hands palm out and sang to her spiders. Tiny spiders of crystalline ice, spinning threads to make us light, throw and cast your fine-spun threads, digging deeper into what we dread. Enter the ice, search it well, reveal to me what\'s hidden by spell .
    Dark streaks appeared along the ice wall and crisscrossed the tunnel itself. She drew in her breath. \"He\'s controlling emotions. It\'s Xavier. Don\'t speak. Don\'t think. Keep your mind blank while I find a way to counter this.\"
    Again she lifted her hands and wove a counterspell. That which