Dark Storm (Dark #23)(32)
Author: Christine Feehan

He never caught the undead working to thin the barrier, and all traces were removed, but Mitro hadn’t counted on one thing-the intense blood bond between lifemates. Mitro had deliberately filled the mountain with his evil, so it would be impossible for Dax to detect him, not with his scent permeating every razor-sharp rock and molten pool. He had done so too late for this one escape hatch. He hadn’t considered that Arabejila and Dax had exchanged blood so often throughout their hunt for Mitro over the centuries, and when he’d first started the thinning process, Dax could use that blood bond to hunt him. Dax had marked the spot in his memory.

Arabejila’s blood continually called to Mitro’s, and as the earth claimed Dax more and more as her child, his blood had begun to do the same. He had only to listen. Now, with the soul of the dragon dwelling in him as well, he had an added advantage he hadn’t before-his senses of sight and smell were far above what they had been. The heat of the volcano fed him rather than drained him. The Old One and Dax had become better at sharing the same body and all senses. Right now, he knew exactly where Mitro was. He could feel the vampire struggling against the bonds the woman placed on him.

Mitro had positioned himself right at that narrowed barrier, right where Dax was certain he would. Dax sent a small thanks to the woman and to Arabejila. At long last he would destroy the vampire and his duty to his people would be done. He would be free to go to the next life. He moved quickly, rising steadily, winding his way through the maze of miles of chambers. Magma pools bubbled ominously. Steam and heat swirled together to create a dense fog. He used the dragon’s eyes to see his way through the storm, racing the volcano to reach Mitro while he was still trapped.

The volcano took a deep breath, the whirlwind stilling, a terrible calm heralding a violent storm. Dax felt the exact moment when the woman turned her attention from holding Mitro to suppressing the catastrophic explosion. He couldn’t blame her, she had people to save-just as he did. He pushed his speed, rushing through the last two chambers leading to that point of weakness where he knew Mitro would be.

He heard Mitro’s gleeful snicker as the bonds broke loose and he streaked for the thin spot in the barrier. Dax hit him from the side, slamming into the body of the undead, driving him down and away from his goal.

Mitro shrieked in frustration and anger, trying to twist away, to get distance between them. Dax was too strong, too fast and he stayed close, chest to chest, driving his fist deep, penetrating through muscle, bone and tissue to drive for the heart.

Dax stared into Mitro’s all-black eyes, the eyes of insanity, a monster without a soul. He’d been born defective and he’d purposefully destroyed every good thing in his life. Dax felt the edge of that withered, blackened heart. Diamond-hard nails ripped deep, tearing through the vampire’s chest in an effort to surround the one organ that would ensure Mitro’s demise.

Mitro screamed and thrashed, his talons raking at Dax’s face, gouging long furrows from eye to jaw. He slammed his own fist deep into Dax’s chest, trying to reach the hunter’s heart before the Carpathian could extract his.

Hot melting rock erupted through the chamber, rocketing high, smashing into the barrier erected by Arabejila. The heat was so intense the barrier clearly was melting and along with it, their skin. Mitro’s face drooped as if it had grown too thin, sliding from his skull and bones. Dax knew his own skin, acclimatized to the volcano, could not long withstand the enormous heat from the very core of the earth. It didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered but destroying Mitro. The vampire could tear out Dax’s heart and throw it into the bubbling orange and red pool of hot rock steadily climbing toward them, and it would be well worth it as long as Mitro was gone from the world. Dax’s fingers dug deeper, reaching for the vampire’s heart, as Mitro tore a wider hole in Dax’s chest. For a moment it felt as if the vampire was ripping through his body with a dull knife, but Dax cut off all pain and focused on the job at hand.

Dax closed his fingers around the blackened heart and began to extract it. The vampire shrieked, maddened, enraged, ripping at Dax’s face and eyes with one hand while he continued to tunnel his hand into Dax’s chest in an effort to kill him before it was too late.

Dax pulled the heart free of the body and, looking straight into Mitro’s eyes, let the useless organ drop into the fiery pit below. He felt no animosity toward the vampire, he felt no triumph or sadness. The decayed organ incinerated the moment it hit the bubbling cauldron of melted rock.

But instead of collapsing, lifeless, in Dax’s arms as the vampire should have once his heart was destroyed, Mitro’s lips drew back in a parody of a smile, his blackened receding gums and jagged, stained teeth snapping together with an ominous clicking sound. Triumphant, vile, and still very much alive, the vampire abruptly leaned forward and sank his teeth into Dax’s throat.

Chapter 7

Little by little the sky darkened, a great shadow drawn slowly overhead. A loud rumble heralded the continuous shaking of the earth. A dense ash cloud erupted, shooting straight into the sky like a voluminous black tower, expanding and churning as it rose. Within a matter of minutes the blackness was nearly impenetrable. Rain began to fall, a fast flurry of powdery drops.

Exhausted, mentally and physically, Riley could barely lift her head. Her body felt leaden, drained of all strength. She knelt in the dirt, trying to think what to do next, but her brain refused to work. She peered at the three men through the veil of darkness. They appeared misshapen from head to toe. All three crouched low on the ground trying to ride out the never-ending tremors. She realized the drops weren’t water at all, but a heavy, powdery ash covering their bodies, blanketing the mountain, the trees, every bit of foliage surrounding them, and making it impossible to look up.

Lightning cracked across the sky. Thunder crashed. Electricity crackled around them all, sparks dancing around their bodies while halos surrounded their heads. The sound of cannonballs exploding hurt her ears and reverberated through her head. The smell of sulfur saturated the air.

Ben pushed himself to his feet, trying for balance when the ground rolled relentlessly. "We’ve got to make a run for it. We can’t stay here. We’re too close." He coughed, covering his mouth and nose. Anxiety edged his voice, but he clearly was trying to hold it together.

"Ben," Jubal said, his voice calm and steady. "You can’t outrun a volcano. It isn’t going to help to go charging off. We’re either safe or we’re not."

"If we’re lucky, the main blast will be on the other side of the mountain and we’ll survive if I can build us a shelter fast enough. Hopefully Miguel and the others are out of the danger zone," Riley tried to assure him, when she wasn’t even certain herself.