Vampire's Forbidden Territory (Sídhí Summer Camp Series #2) (11 page)

Jared growled.
“I would never put you into an institution, not ever. You're more precious to me than everything else combined. God gave you to me and I’ll never let you go.”
He gently shook her.
“McClint House is one of my Uncle Warren’s houses. He has dozens scattered across the mundane world. I don't like McClint House, because it reminds me of a giant mausoleum.”

“Oh,”
she said not-so brilliantly, her pain-filled eyes looked into his.
“It’s not a Sídhí Safe House for unwanted mates?”

“No! Katie, never!”

At his rumbling growl and swiftly spoken denial, she softly admitted,
“I really screwed-up.”

“No, I did,”
he said adamantly.
“I should've trusted you more and explained why I wanted to move away from Clan Valley, instead of getting freaked over the double whammy of emotions and fearing you'd refuse to see reason. I just want to keep you safe.”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“I don't care where we live, but Clan Valley won't be safe for you. You know how much full blooded vampires hate halflings. Anyway, when you talked about living in the Tulsa area you sounded like you really enjoyed it. You also mentioned attending TCC.”

“You remember me talking about the community college in Tulsa? I only mentioned it in passing.”

“Mia... Katie, I remember every...”
he stopped, eyes wide as her fingers covered his lips.

Her low growl churned through the quiet air of the cave.
“I would like nothing more if you kept calling me Mia Cara. I want to be Your Beloved. I was just so very hurt over your anger.”

He nuzzled her fingers, kissing them one by one.
“I'm sorry. I was angry at you and at me. I couldn't believe you were willing to throw your life away for mine. Then I was furious at myself for being angry with you.”

“Vicious cycle,”
she said, understanding colored her voice and their bond.

“He's not hurt that bad,” Beth said snappishly, stomping toward Katie and Jared. “Now, let's go.”

“Beth, he is hurt. You know those mites pack a powerful punch. A few minutes sitting around while he heals isn't going to matter,” Brianna said, frustration darkened her voice as she waved her hand around in a helpless manner.

“Mitch could die while we're standing here chit-chatting,” Beth said, anger turning her golden face dark red. “With or without the three of you, I'm leaving now.”

“Let's get the blood washed off,” Katie said, motioning to the water.

Jared held up his hand, stopping the argument Beth obviously wanted to give. “Blood will make us easier to track.”

After Jared made his point, he pulled Katie up and they went to the pool. A few minutes later, they finished rinsing off as much blood as possible. It was the best they could do without having a bar of soap handy.

Since the slice along Jared's arm was shallow, it had stopped bleeding. Thanks to the dragon’s silver bracelet, the injury was healing much slower than it should have.

He grunted, no doubt hearing Katie's unspoken words, he answered her, “I'd guess the silver is slowing up the healing process. No big deal. At first, the poison hurt like Hades, but now it's just a dull throb.”

“Not that I’m complaining, but why didn't you drop into a coma like the others?” Katie asked, gently knotting a strip of material around the flesh wound to keep it from breaking back open.

Not knowing the answer, he shrugged.

“The stinger releases a painful poison, but the coma inducing properties only emerge once the stinger embeds in flesh and snaps off the mite’s body,” Beth said. Her words sounded a bit rushed, but she seemed calmer even though she kept glancing toward the caves where the mites disappeared.

Once again, Katie followed Jared. This time she remained within an arm’s length of his back.

The ramp curved along the wall, leading up to the cave entrances. The path was wide and smooth. It didn't take a lot of thought to know the artificial ramp, carved out of the cavern wall, was not made by the mites. Who or what made the ramp wasn't apparent, but the smooth structure gave her the creeps.

Walking up the long ramp, Brianna voiced her opinion. When the girl decided to talk, she was loud and over bearing. Obviously believing everyone should trust her claims without question. She insisted the ramps were built by the mites. She said it took years for mites to create a defendable nest. The girl went on and on.

Katie silently admitted Brianna was more of an expert on the mites than she was, but Katie's gut was insisting the bossy girl was wrong. The ramps were not built by mites. In fact, when she looked closely, she noticed decorative patterns carved here and there along the base of the wall.

Katie didn’t know who – or what – had built the ramps, but it hadn’t been mites. She mentally marked off trolls, chimera and giant bats as well. The three cave dwelling animals were violent and extremely smart, but they weren’t gifted with human thoughts.

Goblins or perhaps gnomes were a very good possibility. Either race of people had the ability to carve out a ramp or a smooth tunnel. From what she’d heard, neither race was very picky about their eating habits. A bit of fresh meat – as in elf or vampire – would be a welcome change to their diet.

She shuddered at the thought, immediately feeling Jared's rush of concern, quickly followed by understanding and a touch of humor as he glimpsed her thoughts. She poked him in the back and his humor increased making her chuckle at her own worries.

Cautiously, they entered the mouth of the largest tunnel, carefully following the faint scent of blood that Mitch and the others had left behind. She hadn't noticed the smell until the thought flickered through Jared's mind, but now the coppery scent was like a blazing beacon showing the way.

They walked down the tunnel, at a steady pace for nearly half an hour. Ahead of them, the tunnel opened into what appeared to be a large open area. Faint blue light glowed through the opening.

Katie sucked in determined breath, preparing herself for anything imaginable, and boldly stepped through the mouth of the tunnel. She abruptly stopped, standing gape-mouthed on yet another wide ramp. It was nearly identical to the first one. Shock rippled through her body.

Honeycomb

Katie thought she had been prepared for anything. Nothing could have prepared her for the eerie scene in front of her. She blinked in shock, and bumped into Jared. They both gazed across the massive cavern in fascination.

The tunnel entrance opened about twenty feet above the cavern floor. The ledge she stood on was about four feet wide. The smooth walkway hugged the wall to the right of them, sloping down to meet the floor of the cave.

There was no sign of mites or watchers. The lack of both creatures made Katie increasingly uneasy. The eerie silence contained in the vast underground chamber seemed to grow louder.

At least three stories tall and easily the size of five soccer fields the area looked like a deserted underground ballroom, a ballroom that nature might have created while sunk in a fit of boredom. The combined light from all the glow moss remained a steady brightness as a gentle flow of air swept around the huge area. Large, sweeping designs, similar to what she saw on the ramps, covered the floor. The flat surface was dirty and covered with small rocks, but it was entirely smooth as if buffered by human hands.

The ceiling was neither smooth, nor rough. The rocky dome was oddly empty of stalactites, appearing slightly pitted with matching swirls and patterns. The room’s odd appearance dispelled any hint of the large cave being a work of nature.

No, whatever the place was, the gigantic area wasn't a naturally formed cavern.

The left wall was solid rock. The wall opposite of where they stood had a dozen openings of various sizes. She was too far away to be certain, but several of the openings looked like they might have pillars on either side of them. She took it all in with a single glance.

The remaining wall was another story.

Her gaze locked onto the cavern wall to the right of them. The unnatural work of art held her spell-bound.

The entire wall was a honeycomb of openings. The random holes ranged from a hand-span in width to four feet wide. A few of the openings glowed with a soft internal light. Others appeared to be sealed with some type of chunky clay.

Small creatures ran along the base of the wall. The swiftly scuttling bodies were the only thing that moved within the vast chamber. The color of the little creatures reminded Katie of an oval shaped skrivett. The odd little animals were only about a foot high. Their smooth beige-colored skin looked pearly, somewhat waxy.

The nearer Katie and the others got to the base of the honeycombed wall she understood why the little animals looked familiar. They were mites, only a different variety. They had four small, jointed legs and no stingers. They did have two very odd looking antenna with teeny-tiny like digits wiggling around. The tiny digits looked almost like the red cilia on stalks of markles, only much smaller. The long appendages moved constantly, either patting the surface in front of them or waving the antenna through the air. The funny little appendages were a cross between arms and antenna.

The little mites didn’t seem to notice the teenagers who were a good forty feet away and closing fast on their position. The little creatures kept working, randomly running here or there, never stopping and resting.

Katie tried looking into one of the holes lining the walls. From a distance, it didn’t look like the holes went through the wall. They were actually tube-shaped with a bottom. Each one reminded her of vials in a lab, except these were laid cross-ways and stacked on top of each other.

Several of the mites worked at the wall. They scuttled around, sealing up two round openings with a thick mud like mixture. They worked at a fast pace, nearly faster than a mundane's eyes could follow. One mite placed a blob of mud on the wall with its funny little arms, while a second patted the blob in place. A third mite, with narrow gray swirls crossing its back, rubbed the tip of its antenna across the muddy rim, leaving black streaks in the mud. The mites seemed to be mixing some kind of black fibrous substance in the mud. Then the process started all over again.

Whatever. She really didn't care what they were up to, because the little mites working along the wall didn't appear to be dangerous.

The dozen mites surrounding the unmoving bodies held her attention for much longer.

To Katie's horror, several of the sick-colored creatures were extracting a black silky fiber from the tips of their odd antennas. Using the fine strands of black silk, the mites worked together at a furious pace, wrapping Nick and Emily in spider-like cocoons.

Sarah and Mitch were nowhere in sight.

Katie searched for some sign of her brother, but without linking with him, she couldn't find him. Inhaling, she hunted for his scent amid the dozens of unique ones floating on the steady swirl of wind.

A long, furious growl rolled through the cavern.

The tiny hair on Katie’s neck stood on end and every instinct she possessed screamed for her to run. The intense growl sounded low, muted like the rumble of distant thunder.

At the sound, everyone instantly stopped moving. The sound demanded attention, promising bloodshed and pain.

Mint wrapped sticks wouldn't help them against whatever made that horrid noise. The guttural growl flowed around them, growing louder and angrier by the second. Not simply angry, fury encased the sound.

Jared squeezed Katie's hand. His head slowly swiveled, searching every point around them for the source of the growl. But sounds within the odd cavern seemed to be swallowed by its emptiness.

Katie followed Jared's gaze around the large room, but the noise had to be coming from the honeycomb in front of them. She automatically leaned closer to Jared as the sound deepened with a sharp snarl, increasing the growing fury of the creature.

From the ferocity of the growl, the beast was not a creature they wanted to fight, but the teens had nowhere to run. Even if they could reach safety, they wouldn't leave the others behind.

Somehow, the fury within the growl intensified, growing louder and harsher. Almost like the animal had been in a doped-up daze and suddenly woke-up.

“Thud!”

Katie squealed at the bone jarring thud, jumping like she'd been shot.

Jared shoved his body in front of hers, shielding her. Directly in front of them, from behind the wall, the thud sounded again. Mud crumbled here and there, grit bounced down the wall. Something was trapped in the honeycomb and it wanted out.

The clay covering one of the holes burst apart and chunks of hard, gray mud went flying. A slender human hand grasped the edge of the tube. The delicate hand was quickly followed by a pale-blonde head.

A very furious Sarah yanked her way out of the hole.

The black silk cocoon, which had been wrapped around her body like a shroud, fell away, sliding to the ground in shredded pieces. Sarah glanced at Katie. Her normally cool blue eyes looked wild, completely filled with a feral gleam that demanded retribution of someone or something. They seemed to be oddly dilated, like those of an elf.

She extended her claws halfway out. Blood streaked hair flew everywhere, increasing the half-crazed look on Sarah’s face.

Katie stopped breathing and hastily took another step backward, because trusting Sarah right at that moment was really hard.

Sarah snarled in anger. Fangs flashed, fully extended and deadly. Her face contorted in fury, and her eyes turned ice-cold, flaring with determination. Semi-white claws snapped into full extension. The three-inch bear-like claws appeared bigger than Katie remembered.

Sarah turned away from Katie, toward the small contingent of mites.

The small creatures hurried back and forth, running around picking up chunks of clay scattered across the floor.

The exile wasted no time. Sarah tore into the little creatures with a silent, yet bloodcurdling vengeance, flinging and shredding the small bodies right and left.