Dark Slayer(115)

His arm swept around her and he brushed kisses over the top of her head. She wasn't asking for sympathy, she simply was giving him the facts. Everything he was rebelled at the images of her crawling on her hands and knees, dragging herself over the rough terrain on her belly, using elbows and knees to propel herself forward. He hadn't been there to aid her and the thought of her enduring such agony without him to help her left him sick.

He traced the thin white lines segmenting her body, the one around her throat, the one over her upper arms and down the swell of her breast. He tipped up her chin, using two fingers, waiting until her lashes lifted and he was looking into her eyes. "I love you."

Her womb clenched. Her heart stilled. She could see it in his eyes. Feel the emotion surrounding her, swamping her, lifting her up. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. He shook her with his love. His slow smile made her tremble and she veiled her eyes again as his mouth descended to take possession of hers. The earth trembled beneath their feet.

Ivory tangled her fingers with his as he lifted his head. "I want to show you something. This place is a treasure trove of gems, but more importantly, metals."

Razvan looked up at the terraced walls with the veins of silver and gold. Along the walls and scattered throughout the dark soil, he could see evidence of sparkling gems.

"Iron. Not from ore, but from a meteorite. It is in its purest form, straight from the skies, Razvan. The protection properties are tremendous. And lead is here as well. I have been experimenting with lead to aid in lengthening the endurance of my coating with protection spells. I can make our weapons of natural metals that do well with magic so we can easily transport them. The coating is essential when we fight vampires."

"Amazing," Razvan agreed. "This place is beyond important, Ivory."

"It was entrusted to me and I have to keep it safe."

"I agree." He crouched down even as he was looking around at the various properties she pointed out to him. Scooping up a handful of soil, he let it slide through his fingers. "This soil is not contaminated."

"Why would it be?" Ivory said. "Xavier has no idea it exists. No one does."

"The microbes are in the ground, Ivory. They do not stay in one place. They spread. That is what he sent them out to do, spread to far lands and contaminate. That, coupled with the fact that they are nearly impossible to destroy, is why Xavier used them. You can bet he sent his microbes across the sea to every continent. Xavier is a very thorough man."

"How do you know they are not here?"

"I lived in the ice caves in the middle of the experiments for more centuries than I care to remember. I feel them."

"Like Natalya said Lara does." She spun around to look at him. "But she is still mage; they believe she feels them because she is mage."

He shook his head. "No, she can hide her presence from them because she is mage. That is why they cannot convert her. She is the only one who can at this point."

"You are thinking that you can find a way to aid your daughter."

He nodded. "We can find a way," he emphasized. "I cannot do it without your help. She cannot be converted and lives a half-life in order to keep the unborn children alive. If we can find a way to rid the soil of the mutated microbes, she can be converted."

"Razvan . . ." Her voice was gentle. "It is most likely the microbes have not found their way in yet. It is probably only a matter of time. As I understand it, extremophiles can live under pretty much any condition, no matter how harsh. If there was a way to destroy them . . ."

"You said yourself, you can reverse what he did."

"Yes, but not destroy the ones already in the ground. I can stop them, but it will take time. Years even."

Ivory hated to disappoint him. He was looking at her as if the moon waxed and waned with her. She laid a hand on top of his head. "We will find a way to help her."

"It is here, Ivory. The answer is here," Razvan insisted. "In this cave. Life began in microbe form. There is something in this soil that protects against the invasion of the mutated microbes, I am certain of it."

She sank down beside him, feeling the healing earth move around her as if to cushion and blanket her with its warmth. Whenever she came to the cave she felt as if she'd come home. She'd spent a lot of time beneath the ground here, covered in the rich soil, absorbing the healing properties through her skin.

She scooped up a fistful of dirt and allowed it to run through her fingers like water, feeling the individual properties as the substance moved over her skin. Was it only her imagination because she wanted to do this for him so much, or did she really feel as if there was something different, an element in the soil she was missing?