Coldstorm (Heart of a Vampire, Book 7) (29 page)

He tensed, hard conviction turning his face to stone. "I am a doctor. I don't care who or what my patient is. If they need help, I will do my best."

"Even if it was a Judge needing help?" She didn't know where the words came from.

Old pained anger flashed in his eyes, but he said, "Perhaps not. You however, yes."

In the wind came a whisper.

Hope. Home. Love.

Anca couldn't bring herself to completely ignore them. Not with Matt's arms around her, with his heat warming the cold in the depths of her heart.

Trust wasn't an easy thing. Her senses told her he couldn't be the traitor. But that only worried her more. Her opinion was no longer unbiased.

As if reading her train of thought, Matt heavily said, "I know who the traitor is."

"Who? How?"

"I've taken what the two of us learned and combed our clan records. Including logs of who was assigned to guard the train station warehouses, among other things."

She bit her lip.

His words sounded true. The colors of his aura were clear that he spoke without even a hint of dishonesty.

Finally she asked again, "Who?"

"The data left no doubt. It's the castle guard, Leo."

Pieces of the puzzle clicked into place.

Matt continued, "His sister was taken by the Rogues last year."

"I've heard a little about it. Her name's Luci?"

"Yes. Leo's been... broken ever since. The past few months he's seemed better. Now, I have to figure that's probably around when he started working with the Rogues. Most likely as a guarantee for his sister's safety."

Which would make sense. Creatures like these Rogues would use anything, anyone they could get their claws in, force to help them.

Not an excuse to turn traitor. But she did understand it.

Love was a powerful, and very dangerous, emotion.

The thought made her glance at Matt. For a long second, he seemed far more dangerous to her than any Arcaine that might be in the cave.

Anca turned away. "I met Leo and Robby at the hospital, and got this map from them, like I told you. I sent the two of them back to the clan, with orders to tell your King about this place. To send back up. That was nearly an hour ago."

Matt pulled his cell from his dress pants. He hit the screen a couple times, then it rang loudly, on speaker.

MacDougal's voice barked out, "Where the hell are you? And where's Anca?"

"We're both here," Matt replied.

"Have you found Leo?" MacDougal rushed on.

"No. But we did find something." Matt waved her to explain.

Anca kept it short and pertinent.

Her heart dropped when MacDougal answered, "None of them have come back to the castle. Most of my men are scouring the town for Leo. Give me some time to get the word out and we'll be there. Wait for my arrival." He hung up.

Anca looked from the cell to the shadowed cave entrance. "Leo was with Robby." The earth spirits flashed once more with the urgent push to hurry inside.

Matt replied, "So you said."

"The boy hasn't been seen since."

As if following her thinking yet again, Matt stared hard at the cave. "You think Leo brought Robby here?"

A shudder worked its way down Anca's spine.

If so, what were they doing to the boy? At this very moment, they could be...

She stopped her thoughts from travelling that direction. Right now, such ideas would only bring crippling horror. She needed all of her strength and a clear mind for the fight ahead.

Matt grabbed her upper arm. "What are you doing?"

Blinking, Anca realized she'd unconsciously started for the caves. "Robby could be in there, being tortured, right now."

Angry worry tinted Matt's gaze, but he said, "Jordan told us to wait."

The pounding in her chest, the twisting in her gut, said she couldn't. Time was of the essence. There was no way she'd be able to leave Robby until others managed to arrive.

Once more, she fiercely reminded herself, she needed no one's help. "Stay here under your King's orders. Or come with me. Your choice. But I can't let the boy face whatever he's up against. Not alone. Not when I can do something about it."

She held her sword tight, down by her leg. Silently easing from tree to tree, she slipped toward the cave.

***

M
att didn't think, just stayed at Anca's side. With a sidelong glance, he was once again struck by the differences between her and the other Judges he'd known.

This woman was willing to go into an unknown situation, risking her life for others.

He sent his King a quick text. At Anca's questioning glance, he replied, "If I text, he can't tell me no." He powered the phone off and put it away as they approached the shadowed crevice.

Anca didn't hesitate. She strode inside. He followed.

The cavern was huge, stretching a good twenty feet high, and at least forty feet across. Giant stalagmites and stalactites grew like thorns from both floor and ceiling.

Matt walked cautiously, searching for any sign of the enemy, any hint of a trap.

Ghosts wandered everywhere, most appearing as they must have in death—brutally tortured. They drifted through the cavern, thankfully not noticing Matt, or his ability.

He and Anca weaved through the thorny pillars, neither making a sound. Still, their steps disturbed dust that rose into small puffs around their shoes. Anca eyed it warily.

Only fifteen or so yards into the cavern they came to a wall of solid rock.

Anca glanced around. "You check right. I'll go left. Meet back here in ten."

He didn't like the idea of splitting up, but before he could say so, she strode away.

Rather than calling her back and arguing—and possibly alerting someone within hearing range—Matt headed to the right. He stayed alert. Near the wall, the stalagmites rising from the floor grew in thick clusters that tended toward mazelike. He searched them thoroughly. When the dark tunnel yawned wide, a shadow in the wall front of him, he almost snorted. There didn't appear to have been any attempt to hide the tunnel.

Then again, this prominent, welcoming pit of darkness might be rigged with any number of traps to catch those unwary enough to enter. Perhaps a decoy.

He continued searching for any other openings along the cavern wall until he reached the entrance.

Anca was there, waiting, her sword resheathed at her hip. "Guess we'll meet here instead," she said grumpily. "Find anything?"

By her tone, he figured she hadn't. "I found a tunnel."

It warmed him when she grinned. "Show me." She reached his side, her arm brushing against his.

A primal magic hummed between them.

She scrambled to step back, then shot him a coldly neutral look. "Lead the way."

Keeping silent, Matt took her through the cavern by the quickest route. Together, they approached the tunnel.

"It's not hidden. Why?" She stepped as close as she could without actually entering. "I don't see any wards. There's no apparent magic whatsoever."

She glanced around, cocked her head, paying attention to something only she could sense. Then Anca stepped into the tunnel. She cautiously walked a few yards. With a shrug, she waved him inside.

He entered. The shadows seemed to suck most of the light away. They held a malevolence the brighter cavern behind them had lacked. There was also a distinct lack of ghosts. The many wandering the cavern behind them didn't even get close.

Wondering why they weren't in the tunnel distracted Matt. He bumped into Anca when she abruptly stopped.

He froze at the touch.

Her eyes widened.

Lust and hunger and need pounded through Matt's blood, sending him instantly into a frenzy.

Her smoky blue irises flushed ruby. His blood pumped. He was hard as steel, and eager to find relief in her embrace once more.

She gasped, her fangs descending.

Lowering his head, he took her lips in a bruising kiss. He nipped her tongue. They both cried out at the blast of magic and blood hotly flavoring the kiss.

She sank one of her fangs into his lower lip and sucked sweetly.

Matt grew impossibly harder. He ached with the urgent need to slake himself deep within her. He yanked at her billowy blouse. It slipped down her arms a few inches. The front caught on her tightly puckered nipples.

He dragged it down and bared her lovely breasts. With a heavy groan, he bent and sampled them greedily, sucking and nipping, barely restraining himself from drawing blood, but oh how he hungered.

It consumed him.

Anca consumed him.

Then she roughly rubbed his cock through his too tight jeans.

Matt nearly lost it.

He grabbed her arms and spun her back against the nearest vertical surface. She gasped when she touched the rough rock wall, but he barely heard her. He shoved forward, grinding his hips between her thighs.

She delved her hands under his shirt. Her nails scraped roughly over his back. Breathing heavy with soft gasping cries, she jerked him closer, begging huskily for more.

A blaze of need nearly burned him alive.

Gusts of icy air blew between them. Shoved them a few feet apart. The frigid blast cooled his desires enough for Matt to clamp down on some self control.

He inhaled gulping breaths as his mind began to work once more. A few feet away, Anca's chest rose and fell from her own heavy breathing.

She pulled her shirt up, then hugged her arms around her stomach, as if fighting the same need to return to one another.

The swirling air chilled his blood. Brought back a semblance of rationality.

But he couldn't look away from her stunned gaze.

Emotions and desire swirled in her reddened eyes. Another long moment passed in silence before her gaze cleared. She stiffened.

Though Matt wanted her still, it was finally no longer some driven need. Rubbing his jaw at the thought, he wondered if there wasn't some sort of trap here after all. Because he'd never before acted like he was in rut. And that was the only thing he could call it. He hadn't given a damn about anything except coming inside her.

Anca blinked, breathing deep. "Well, that was..."

His ability to speak wasn't functioning quite yet. It didn't help that his gaze was drawn again and again to her swollen, reddened lips.

Desire rushed to rise between them once more.

The chilled air returned, flushing a little more of the bone-deep need from his veins.

He could deal with the intense lust that remained. A common condition since he'd met Anca. While not completely ignorable, Matt could control himself, at the least.

"The earth spirits warn there's a magic in the tunnel they're not familiar with." Anca shook her head slightly. "Nor am I, to be honest. The results are obvious. Making us feel..." Her voice caught and she glanced down the tunnel. "The spirits are helping to shield us now, but be careful."

Every other second or so, the air around him compressed against him, making every inch of his bare skin prickle from tiny sharp nailed fingers of ice.

Matt said softly, "I think it might be best if we don't touch each other in here." The very idea sounded a bit ridiculous. Until his memory reminded him how fast and hard it had hit them both.

Anca nodded in serious agreement, but she approached, lips moving silently.

A hum filled Matt's ears before receding into the back of his head.

Her soft voice thickened with a hint of old world lilt. "You're warded by my stronger magic now, too. I've put protective barriers and some additional backup wards around us both. Won't stop a physical attack, but it should help against anything magical."

"Good. How long will they last?"

"Until my concentration breaks, or I stop feeding them my magic."

His gut stirred a bit at that. "You have to actively power the protection with your magic?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about it." Staring into the deepening darkness of the tunnel, Anca said, "Time's wasting."

The growing urgency in her voice brought Robby straight to mind. There was no time for distracting musings, or getting caught up in additional traps.

"The earth spirits offer to go first. I'll follow. You take the rear." She watched him, and he wondered if she expected him to argue.

Her plan was sound. He waved her forward.

With a slight nod, she headed down the tunnel. Anca studied the shadows, staring intently at nothing that he could see. Every now and then, she muttered a few phrases in a mix of Latin and what he assumed was a Romani dialect.

Matt's senses were better than most animals, but when the tunnel made an abrupt turn, all light disappeared. He slowed a step, disoriented by the abrupt, absolute pitch black.

Anca hesitantly took his hand. After a few long moments without the craziness from earlier returning, she held on tighter. "The earth spirits are sharing their light with me. I'll guide you."

It was a strange experience, being blind and led through blackness by this woman.

The air caressed his neck, his face. Whispered words came at his ear. "
Hope. Fate. Love.
"

Anca's fingers tightened around his.

Did she hear the whispers too?

Left with nothing but the sensation of her guiding touches and occasional whispered directions, Matt's other senses heightened.

Her flowery cherry scent wrapped around him, infiltrating his mind and reminding him of things he shouldn't be thinking of here and now.

But, as had been the case since she'd stormed into his life, he couldn't completely stop.

T
hough it felt much longer, only a few minutes passed before Matt realized he could make out some of the rocky edges of the tunnel walls. Light came from somewhere ahead.

Moments later, Anca stopped, pulling him close. She wrapped her free hand around his neck and tugged.

Deciphering the hint, he bent down, letting her guide him, until her lips pressed warm and soft against his ear. He fought against the automatic instinct to stiffen, but could do nothing to stop his blood from heating, his body from hardening.

Her words were almost inaudible, "There's strong magic nearby. Be ready for anything."