She turned her attention to those spots, the dark bacteria that had invaded her bloodstream to do the vampire’s bidding.
Hurry. We must go now. I will carry you as close to the surface as possible, but you will have to be able to shape-shift in order to get out of here safely.
As always, the melodic voice was unhurried and unconcerned. But Destiny was aware of the urgency of their situation. She knew the vampire Pater had escaped. His lair would be a dangerous trap designed to ensnare them. The shifts in the earth were all the warning she needed. Destiny concentrated on the spots of bacteria, breaking them down, pushing most of them out of her pores, pushing the threads that had rushed toward her heart back to the huge gash in her wrist.
The terrible paralysis was gone, along with the bacteria. Strength poured into her body with the ancient blood. Nicolae brought her wrist to the warmth of his mouth. Her heart stilled, skipped a beat, began to pound heavily. The fiery pain of the laceration eased, was replaced by a curious throbbing, a sudden heat creeping into her bloodstream. The two hunters loosened their mental hold on her, allowing her mind and body freedom from their compulsion. She snatched her hand out of Nicolae’s possession, held it against her heart. She became aware she was cradled in Nicolae’s arms as he rushed through the maze of subterranean chambers. Destiny swept her tongue across the gash in his chest, an automatic gesture to close the wound.
Deliberately she stayed limp in his arms, gathering her energy, waiting for her opportunity. She turned her attention to the grim-faced man running close to Nicolae’s side. He was an inch or so taller than Nicolae, with the same flowing black hair and piercing eyes. He glanced at her, turning those flat, emotionless eyes in her direction, and a shiver went down her spine. She recognized death when she saw it.
The chamber they had fled boomed, and there was a loud crash that reverberated throughout the subterranean maze as the walls and ceiling collapsed in on the cave. They were moving with preternatural speed, yet the thick yellow vapor was only a pace behind them.
“I’m much stronger,” Destiny pointed out. “Put me down, and we’ll get out of here faster.”
Nicolae shifted her in his arms without slowing his pace, allowing her feet to drop toward the floor until she was running with him. Nicolae immediately took up a position behind her, protecting her back while his brother set a grueling pace in front of them.
Destiny couldn’t help admiring the flowing grace of her enemy as he ran, shifting shape as the opening loomed just ahead, a narrow crack none of them would be able to fit through. She had never imagined anyone could shift that fast, the large, elegant form compressing to that of a bat.
Now! Hurry, shift!
It was the first time she’d detected urgency in Nicolae’s voice. Destiny didn’t waste time glancing behind her to see what was following them; the urgency in his command was enough of a warning. She held the image of the bat uppermost in her mind, feeling the change take hold of her, move through her, consume her. Her bones wrenched and contracted, reshaped and compressed. She skimmed through the narrow opening, nearly ripping the tip of one wing. She felt Nicolae crowding close behind her.
A wall of fire closed in behind them, reaching for them, moving nearly as quickly as they were, pushing the terrible yellow vapor before the greedy orange flames. This new chamber was smaller but held a chimney. Destiny followed the lead bat up through the narrow opening, her small body cringing from the blast of heat.
Faster.
She whispered the word in her mind, anxious that Nicolae was going to get caught in the inferno. She didn’t realize she had sent the word into his mind. That she had betrayed her anxiety to him. That behind her, even in the form of a bat, rushing in front of a firestorm, he smiled.
We will make it.
He was calmly reassuring.
That annoyed her. She heard his soft, very irritating male amusement echo through her mind as she burst through the chimney and into the next chamber. It was small and dark and there was an eerie heaviness in the air. The heat was stifling. Nicolae swore under his breath, but the words were still a warning in her mind. At once she shifted back to her own shape, examining the thick walls of layered rock, the swirling patterns. This strange little cave had once been part of a lava flow but now was a lethal trap devised by a cunning monster. The yellow vapor poured into the small space, quickly filling every crevice.
Nicolae and his brother were also feeling along the walls of the cave, judging the heat with their palms as they quickly covered as much surface as possible. “Over here, Vikirnoff.”
Destiny watched as Nicolae stepped back to allow his brother to run his hands over the same spot. She moved closer, wondering what exactly they had found. Nicolae caught her arm and thrust her smaller body behind the protection of his just as Vikirnoff slammed the flat of his palm through the rock.