Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

being called a girl," she observed. "Plus, if you're trying to piss me off, Emperor Fang Face, you can do better than that, surely? Bet your former enemies back in the old days would laugh so hard to see you skulking around in a damp, dark cave like this."
     
    She deliberately turned her head from left to right as she scanned the room. "Not even a good interior decorator could help this dump."
     
    She tensed, waiting for him to strike, but he merely laughed. Somehow his laughter was far more chilling than his snarling had been. "I see through your pathetic ploy, Ms.
    Dawson. You want to enrage me to the point where I kill you quickly."
     
    "Right, because so many of my more successful plots involved me getting bloodsuckers to kill me," she said, rolling her eyes. "Not a lot of the brain power survived the past two thousand years, did it?" She tried not to flinch as a dark wave of hatred washed over her, nearly crushing her.
     
    "You know as well as I do that a quick death would be a boon to one whose eventual death will be neither painless nor quick," he said. He floated down the last few feet until his boots touched the floor. Then he smiled at her, and her spinal fluid turned to ice water. His smile held the promise of unspeakable atrocities of pain and torture beyond anything she could imagine.
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    Not that she wanted to imagine it.
     
    She was literally scared speechless, but tried to remember that he had the power to feed her fear and increase its intensity. She tried to fight through the terror that was paralyzing her and whispering urgently to her of her own defeat and death.
     
    A crushing pressure smashed into her, forcing her to her knees, paralyzing her limbs.
    He could walk right up to her and bite her neck at his leisure now, because she couldn't move a single muscle to stop him. All she had left were the tarnished prayers of a woman who wasn't sure she even believed.
     
    I'm going to die right here in this crappy cave. Please, God, if you even exist, tell Riley that Hove her.
     
    "I'm going to make an example of you, little rebel," Caligula crooned. "I'm going to turn you vampire, and then make you one of my generals. Any who look into your lovely dark eyes gone red and glowing will know my power."
     
    A powerful voice thundered through the cavern. "I ask a boon, my Lord. I ask that you give this woman to me, that I may turn her to vampire for your use. It is beneath you to do the task yourself and spend the slightest effort on this pitiful human."
     
    Caligula turned to face the newcomer, and the pressure holding Quinn in place lessened, allowing her to raise her head and see who wanted to play "drain the rebel"
    this time.
     
    Except it was Daniel. And the sight of him gave her that most dangerous of weapons—hope.
     
    The tunnel
     
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    Thanking Poseidon that the ruby had let up on the tolling, Ven led the way, banging into the wall occasionally and wishing for the night vision that the shifters had. Not that he'd want to get furry just to be able to see better in dark places, but not smacking his damn head into the damn walls every damn minute would be nice.
     
    "Ven?" Erin's whisper floated through the darkness to him. "Would you like some light?"
     
    He gave himself a mental smack for not thinking of it earlier. "Yeah, that would be nice.
    A little witch light to illuminate the path. Can you conjure up just a flashlight-sized ball?"
     
    She sighed. "We're going to have to discuss all of these misconceptions you seem to have about witches at some point, you realize that, right?"
     
    "Add it to the list," he muttered. A light flared behind him and then a fist-sized ball of light bounced over his shoulder through the air until it floated about five paces in front of him. "Thanks, Erin. That helps a lot. My head couldn't take much more self-inflicted pounding."
     
    "How far have we walked?" she asked.
     
    "One hundred and sixty-four steps," he answered automatically.
     
    "You're counting the steps?"
     
    "It's good to know the direction and length of any escape routes."
     
    Silence for several more steps.
     
    "Okay, that's a good point. Maybe when I give you lessons in 'witch,' you can give me lessons in 'warrior.'"
     
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    He nodded, grimly amused. "Sure. Add—"
     
    "It to the list," she