"Feels like we’re alive," I answered quietly. "We're together at least, so it works for me."
“Oh my God,” she whimpered softly. “I didn’t hurt you. We’re alive and we didn’t die last night. You’re still here with me.”
She ran her delicate hands over my face and body, making sure I was real. Tracing my lips with her fingers and cupping my cheeks in her hands, Raquel murmured and wept silently. I did the same and thanked every deity I could think of for sparing us.
“We’re both here and as alive and well as two undead people can be,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood. However, I held her tight to my body. “The question of the hour is, where is here?”
"I don’t know. What is this place?" she asked as she looked around the stark, dank area we had some how ended up in.
"I have no fucking idea," I told her truthfully. "I suppose there's only one way to find out. You ready to rumble?" I stood and held my hand out to her.
She took my hand and gave it a squeeze. "Yes, my mate. I believe I am ready for just about anything."
"That's good," I told her with a grin, "because our story starts now. Let's go kick its ass."
A soft giggle escaped her lips. With a light punch to my arm, Raquel took my hand in hers and we started our journey.
With careful steps, watchful eyes, and faith in each other, we walked slowly into the darkness—together.
Just the way fate had intended. Problem was… fate could be a bitch.
Chapter 12
.As we made our way out of the small cavern we awoke in, I took in the morbid atmosphere of our unknown location. The walls were covered in bones and skulls. It was pitch black, but being a Vampyre I could see the macabre décor clearly. The dead were stacked atop each other rather artistically —not full bodies, but pieces. They were meticulously piled from floor to ceiling. It was as strangely beautiful as it was disturbing. The scent of death permeated the air, but it was not recent. These bones had resided in their grim museum for centuries. Raquel held tight to my hand and pulled me along.
“Slow down,” I urged as she began to pick up speed.
We were treading on a burial ground of epic proportions. I was sure someone or something might not be pleased.
“I know where we are,” she whispered with excitement as she increased her pace.
“Would you like to let me in on the secret?” I inquired as I lengthened my stride and moved next to her.
“Under Paris. In the Catacombs,” she told me as we took a right into a narrow passage.
How did we end up in Paris when only hours ago we were in Kentucky?
I shook my head. At least we weren’t in the bowels of Hell. However, Hell might have been a bit more pleasant than the megatomb we were in.
“Well, this is certainly a surprise. I thought this was a tourist attraction of sorts,” I said.
I cautiously moved my large frame along the corridor wall careful not to topple the morbid pyramids of the dead.
“Not this part,” Raquel explained as she quickly made her way past several ornate monuments dedicated to the thousands of deceased piled up down here. “The humans don’t know of this part. It got cut off from the other tunnels hundreds of years ago and basically forgotten.”
Raquel took a sharp left into an even smaller hallway. My girl was fast and clearly on a mission. Ducking my head to avoid a hanging femur, I followed her wondering what exactly we were going to find at the end of our sprint through the enormous grave.
“Is it bad luck to touch anything down here?” I asked as I realized how many lifeless body parts I’d come into contact with.
“Only if you’re an empath,” she informed me as she swiftly breezed through the passages touching nothing.
“Nope, not an emapth, thank God,” I muttered as I came face to face with a skull that had clearly been killed by a blow to the head. “That must have hurt.”
“You’re hurt?” Raquel asked, alarmed as she stopped mid-stride and looked back.
“Um, no. I was just chatting with a… never mind. Where are we going?”
“To Gareth.”
“Your brother?” I asked.
What the Hell was Gareth doing in the Catacombs and why were we going to meet him?
“It has to be him,” she insisted as she began to move again.
It was a lovely view, watching my mate’s ass sway in her tight black pants as I followed, but this whole situation wasn’t working for me. I needed a little more info before I plunged head first into Satan only knew what. I just got my mate. I had no plans of losing her because I wasn’t prepared.
“Raquel. Stop,” I said as I grabbed her arm and halted her forward progress. “A little more information would be handy.”
“Oh crap,” she mumbled and blushed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
She bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head causing her curls to bounce. My instinct was to tangle my fingers in her hair and bite that lip myself. However, with all the hollow dead eyes watching, I figured I’d wait for a less dismal backdrop to ravage my mate.
“This isn’t exactly the place I’d have taken you on a honeymoon,” I said with a wry grin.
“God, I certainly hope not,” Raquel said with a shudder and a giggle.
“Explain.”
“Gareth and I found this place shortly after we were turned. It was a safe haven to talk and not be heard.”