Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

provided the perfect situation
     without realizing it.
    Dax leaned down and put his mouth against her ear, but spoke directly into her mind. You’re certain you want to do this?
    More certain than anything in my life other than I love you with all my heart, she assured him. Let me do this, Dax.
    First and foremost, she wanted this nightmare to end for him, but the simple truth
     was Mitro couldn’t be allowed to continue with his revolting depravity. Arabejila
     and every one of her ancestors who had come after her had poured their strength, their
     gifts into her, making her a vessel for them.
    She looked around the room. It was more of a basement, only much deeper beneath the
     earth. Mitro could bring the high walls down on his followers in seconds should he
     choose. He could open the earth and dump them into the very pit of hell should he
     want—and she was certain he probably had constructed this room with that idea in mind.
     His worshippers would all perish here, in this living tomb while he rose again and
     again somewhere else once he was bored, or the hunters got too close.
    He thinks he’s safe for now, Dax conceded. He has no idea we’re even in the city.
    And he obviously doesn’t have a clue who I am, Riordan added.
    Let’s do it then. Riley will need to be at the opposite end of the room, shielded
     from Pietra. If Mitro uses her eyes to check the room before he arrives, we can’t
     have him spotting her, Dax cautioned.
    We have to look like everyone else so we don’t draw attention, Riordan suggested. Everyone is dressed the same way. Black seems to be the color of the day. Change her
     features as well as your own. Appear younger. Blur your features. If she happens to
     spot us, and she might, at a glance, she might not really notice us.
    The soil and the plants surrounding them moaned continually. The vines wept poisonous
     gas. The wooden stalks rattled continuously. They were ravenous, their hunger insatiable.
     Each plant waited like a bloated spider for prey to come to it. A fight broke out
     at the far end of the room, up near Pietra. She stood on the dais and watched with
     glowing eyes as a much larger man shoved a thin, drunken male back toward the wall.
    The crowd gave a collective, eager gasp. Instantly, the entire atmosphere of the room
     changed. All conversation ceased, but the group began to chant, a low sound at first,
     but quickly swelling to a frenzied volume as one vine snaked out and shackled the
     boy’s wrist, dragging him into the plant. Instantly vines came alive, wrapping around
     the struggling body.
    “Eat! Eat! Eat!” the crowd shouted over and over.
    The hapless victim screamed as more and more vines surrounded him, much like giant
     snakes, wrapping him up and squeezing.
    “Eat! Eat! Eat!” The sound swelled in volume.
    They sounded as if they were summoning some creature from the very depths of hell.
     Taproots sprang from the ground, great cables of liana, twisted and gnarled, writhing
     like snakes across the ground toward the terrified boy.
    The sense of anticipation heightened. The crowd watched with glazed eyes and shocking
     smiles, urging the taproots to gorge on the blood of the victim. The taproots found
     him in seconds, rearing back and stabbing deep in multiple places. The boy screamed.
     The crowd roared. Blood ran into the roots so that they swelled and turned deep red
     black.
    Horrified, Riley turned her face into Dax’s chest.
    I’m taking you out of here. Riordan and I can return and . . .
    No! I see what he’s doing. Don’t you? He really does believe I’m Arabejila. Riley understood Mitro now. Arabejila was all good. She couldn’t conceive of this kind of twisted evil. He knew
     that. He counts on that. Determination stiffened her spine. Mitro had made one huge error.
    I don’t see how knowing that is going to help. Mitro can’t possibly know we’re here.
    No, not yet, but he created this for Arabejila. To shock her. To hurt her. He believes
     she couldn’t face such an abomination of nature. He wanted to use the very thing that
     is such a part of her to hurt her. This is his slap in the face to her, and at the
     same time, he believes she would be unable to function in the face of such an atrocity.
    She probably couldn’t. Not right away. But she’d recover.
    Riley’s head went up. She turned to face the twisted vines. His mistake is, Dax, I’m not Arabejila. I’m not all good. Arabejila and the others
     gave me a