Christine Feehan: Dark Descent (Dark Series - Book 11)

You can just bite me, Traian. Do you have any idea how annoying it is for someone like me to be treated like a ditzy little woman who can’t fend for herself? I would not mind biting you.

This time his voice purred with sexual innuendo.

But another time would be better.

Joie shivered in spite of herself, yet heat curled deep inside her.

If you keep this up, my brother and sister are going to figure out I’m crazy and have me committed. Then where will you be?

Strands of dark hair blew across her face, hiding her expression from her siblings.

And just for your information, Sir Galahad, I am not the ‘in need of rescue’ type, so get over that one fast. Sheesh. First it’s vampires and now it’s rescuing. Will you just be quiet and let me figure this out? I don’t suppose you want to tell me, give me a hint or two, if you’re really down there and know where the opening is.

Jubal leaned back in the tall grass with his hands behind his head, studying the cloud formations. He didn’t want to look at the unusual tendrils of mist that seemed to wind around Joie’s legs as she walked carefully around the outcropping. “You’re like a hound dog on the scent of a criminal, Joie,” he said. “You would have made a great detective.”

“She would have,” Gabrielle agreed with a little grin. She concentrated on the bright blue flowers with their symmetric petals. The beautiful masses of flowers were unusual, yet something sinister seemed to lie beneath the ground, just inches from the soft petals, an obscene, malicious presence. Staring at the flowers, Gabrielle swore the ground rose up an inch or so as if something were tunneling beneath it. The wind rushed over the mountainside. She sat up quickly, blinking rapidly.

“What is it?” Jubal asked.

“I don’t know. For a moment I thought I saw something moving beneath the soil. This place gives me the creeps.”

“Joie, come on. We’re getting out of here,” Jubal decided, reaching a long arm to gather their gear. “The sun will be down in a couple of hours anyway.”

Joie examined every inch of the outcropping and the niche on either side. The rock was grown over with scrub and grasses. Wildflowers lifted their bright heads toward the sun. Joie narrowed her gaze and stepped up as close as possible, focusing completely on the jutting surface and every crack and shadow. “I’ve never felt so driven in my life. I don’t think I can leave without finding it,” she admitted honestly. “I’m sorry—if you two want to take off, go ahead. I’ll come along as soon as I can.”

Jubal and Gabrielle exchanged a long, knowing look. “Sure thing, sis, we’ll just leave you up here all by yourself. Knowing you, you’d disappear into a cave and mate with a troll,” Gabrielle said.

“Ha ha,” Joie answered.

“What’s the name of this mountain range?” Jubal asked idly, but his gaze was on Joie as she scanned the rock surface. “The bogs are even beautiful. If it wasn’t so freaky up here, I could live in this area.” When Gabrielle arched a black eyebrow at him, he laughed. “I could. I don’t need to live in a city. I’ve got the same genes as the two of you. I just like to have money, you know. I need it for the two of you, to bail you out of all the trouble you get into.”

“You idiot,” Joie said affectionately, although she didn’t look at him. “You have enough money to retire from that silly job of yours and do something useful with your life. Something

humanitarian.

There’s a small crack running the length of the rock here. There’s something funny about this, Jubal, Come look at it. It just isn’t right the way it is.”

“My

humanitarian

contribution to the world is looking after you two thrill seekers,” Jubal pointed out as he got lazily to his feet. “Without me to curb your antics, the world would be a frightening place.” He looked up at the strange, moving mist. “Rather like this place.” He sauntered slowly over to examine the surface of the outcrop.

“We’re in the Apuseni Mountains, part of the Carpathians, you heathen,” Gabrielle informed her brother. “If you paid even the slightest attention to anything we said, you’d know that. And you could no more give up your luxury condo and live in the mountains than you could swim the English Channel. And, I might add,

we

take care of

you.”

“Hey! I can swim,” Jubal objected. He ran his hand over the rocks, frowning as he did so. “Just because I don’t like to swim doesn’t mean I can’t. I wasn’t born with gills like the two of you. She’s found something, Gabrielle. This is a pattern, but it needs to be...” He trailed off, dug his fingers around several of the smaller rocks, and began to rearrange them.

“There’s a surprise,” Gabrielle said and rose to her feet also. The cool mountain air fairly vibrated with excitement. “You could always come and research hot viruses with me,” she invited, slinging her arm around her brother.

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that, Gabrielle, because I’m a crazy man and want to die a miserable, but noble, death,” Jubal said, ruffling his sister’s dark hair. “I think I’ll stick to my stocks and bonds and let you do your wacko research all by yourself. There it goes. Wow, look at that.” The crack widened when he placed the last rock in the sequence. “This is man-made, not natural. Damn it, Joie, don’t go in.” He snagged his backpack and pulled out a logbook, carefully entering the time. “We’re just doing a cursory exploration, and it’s nearly sunset. No one knows where we are.” Muttering, he hastily anchored the logbook near the crack where his sister had slipped inside.

Gabrielle shouldered her gear and followed. “It’s extremely tight, Jubal,” she cautioned. “Pass me your gear; it’s the only way you’re going to get through.”

Jubal took one last look at the sky, noting that the clouds that had been floating so lazily overhead were now spinning ominously, a gathering of a great force. His chest scraped as he maneuvered through the jagged crack and into the narrow hall. Behind him the wind rose in a sudden shriek, lashing at the mountain, while strange, haunting cries echoed off the peaks. Mist swirled around the mountaintop, a mini tornado that snatched the logbook and sent it skittering down the hillside to land in one of the many bogs, where it slowly sank beneath the dark waters.

Joie moved quickly through the narrow hall, well ahead of her brother and sister. The ceiling dropped with every foot, so she was forced to bend over, eventually crawling on all fours and then sliding on her stomach. She could feel the cool air coming from a subterranean chamber. Everything inside her demanded she keep going, even when she had to maneuver her body at odd angles to slither through the tunnel.

“Slow down, Joie,” Jubal cautioned. “Stay within sight of us.”

“I don’t like the way she’s acting,” Gabrielle whispered. “I’ve never seen her like this. She always obeys the safety rules, you know that, Jubal. Something is really wrong.” She felt sick, her stomach churning, her mind filled with dread. “Something terrible is going to happen if we don’t stop her.”

Jubal waited, but Gabrielle didn’t move; she remained wedged in the narrow hall, blocking him from continuing. “Keep going, Gabrielle,” he said. “We’ll catch up to her and talk sense to her. She’s been caving for years. She’s not going to forget everything she’s ever learned.”

“Ever since she was hurt in Austria, she’s been different,” Gabrielle pointed out. “Distracted. Driven.”

“She’s always very focused when she’s going into a cave. And this is a big discovery, an unexplored cave. We have no idea what we’re going to find. Of course she’s excited.”