The floor was sand rather than stone, and spotted with wide black globs she sensed were old blood. But from what? Heart suddenly in her mouth, she looked up.
And discovered not only the reason for the smell, but the way the soul sucker bred.
Men hung from the ceiling. They weren't zombies simply because they were still alive — and being eaten from the outside in by the creatures in the silky white sacks attached to each of their stomachs.
Kat's stomach finally rebelled. She staggered to the side and vomited. Gwen handed her the water canteen then moved further into the cavern. "They look like caterpillars," Gwen said, her voice a mix of horror and fascination. "But they have human faces."
Kat rinsed out her mouth and spat the water out. "I don't want to know."
"These men aren't in any pain. Quite the opposite in fact."
Taking a deep breath, Kat looked up. Her stomach stirred but stayed down. Her grandmother was right. They looked damn near orgasmic. She took another swig of water then capped the canteen and slung it over her shoulders. "If this thing is similar in makeup to a vampire, then maybe it has the same sort of sexual aura that a vampire has when it feeds on humans."
"Probably." Gwen shifted. "Wonder what it needed the kids for, though?"
She let her gaze roam across the men. There were five of them hanging feet first from the ceiling, but only two had the sacks attached. The other three looked asleep — and were dreaming of sex, if their expressions were anything to go by.
"You don't think — " She hesitated, glancing quickly behind her. Though she heard no sound and couldn't feel the approach of anything evil, she had a vague suspicion they were no longer alone under the mountain.
She backed towards Gwen, knuckles white with the force of her grip on the knife as she watched the cavern's entrance. "Could the ritual the Mara is performing be one to help it ovulate?"
"Most likely." Gwen hesitated. "We're going to have to stake them, then burn their carcasses with the holy water."
Her stomach was on the move again. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to swallow that extra water. "What about the men those things are feeding on?"
"They're mostly shifters. Staking should kill both host and parasite."
"Then we'd better hurry, because I've got a bad feeling the soul sucker is headed our way."
"If she isn't, she soon will be." Gwen's voice was grim.
"I'll handle this. You keep track of the Mara."
Kat stepped out from under the human chandeliers, stopping close to one of the sickly fires. Heat caressed her legs, but it was more magic than actual warmth. But it had a different feel than the magic that throbbed all around them.
There was a grunt of effort from her grandmother, followed quickly by a high pitched, inhuman scream. The cavern seemed to shudder as if in pain, then fury rent the air. Kat pulled a small jar of holy water free from her belt and waited.
A second scream followed. The air around her burned, and the tremor was more noticeable this time. Evil was an express train bearing down on them.
"Gran, I don't think we're in a real cave," Kat said, raising the jar and getting ready to throw.
"No, we're not," Gwen responded. "The Mara has changed the structure of the mountain to make this cave.
It exists only through magic."
The ground pitched, rolling like an animal in pain. She rode the waves and tried not to think about the force of hate and rage and desperation headed their way. Tried not to think about the fact that they still weren't exactly certain how to kill this thing.
Smoke roiled into the room as Gwen flung holy water at the first of the soul sucker's offspring. Kat flicked the top off the jar and hurled the water at the angry, turbulent smoke, keeping it back and away from her grandmother.
The air screamed, and the vibrations under their feet became more erratic.
Gwen flung a second vial of water. The smell of burning flesh joined the cauldron of smells, and Kat's stomach began to heave as badly as the floor. The smoke twisted and writhed, as if it, too, was being burned by the water finishing its offspring. With another scream, it arrowed its way toward Gwen. Kat hit it kinetically, forcing it back again. She grabbed a stake and dove forward, slashing at the soul sucker with the white ash.
Only to find the stake gripped in a fist of iron as the Mara found form. Black eyes gleamed malevolently at her as the soul sucker snarled, revealing teeth as pointed as any vampire's. Kat didn't give the bitch a chance to bite. She thrust her back kinetically, ripped free another stake, wrapped it in energy and flung it hard. The soul sucker dodged, but not fast enough. The stake buried itself deep into her thigh — not a deadly wound, but one that pinned the Mara to human form.
But a human form that had a vampire's speed.
With another scream, the soul sucker blurred, and the sense of her evil arrowed itself straight at Gwen.
"Look out!" Kat ripped another jar of holy water free, but the earth rolled and heaved underneath her, and she staggered sideways. She swore, battling to keep her balance as she tossed the water. Most of it soaked Gwen as she rolled out from under the soul sucker's grasp.
Wood flashed, and her grandmother screamed. Fear hit Kat like a punch to the gut and for an instant she couldn't even breathe. All she could see was the blood flowing freely past the stake that pinned her grandmother's arm to her side. Kat screamed a denial, grabbed another stake and launched herself at the Mara.
It swung and raised a hand. Energy bit through the air, but Kat hit it with her own, holding the surge in place as she rolled under the flashing flow of power and stabbed upwards with the white ash.
Flesh and bone briefly impeded the white ash's progress.
Kat swore and thrust it through kinetically. A shocked look crossed the Mara's face, then the flow of energy died, and so did the soul sucker.
An explosion rent the air, and the floor's thrashing became more violent. With a sob, Kat scrambled towards her grandmother, barely able to see through the tears coursing down her cheeks. The wound in Gwen's side was bad, blood flowing freely, but the stake had also shattered bone as it had gone through her grandmother's arm. They wouldn't be flying out of here, that was for sure. Ripping out the stake, she grabbed a bandage from her belt and thrust it hard against the wound in Gwen's side.
"Gran?" she sobbed, touching her grandmother's face, then feeling her neck for a pulse.
Gwen's eyes opened, the green depths hazy with pain.
"Those little pig-stickers sure do hurt when they bite into your flesh, don't they?" She reached up, gently patting Kat's cheek. "Don't worry, Kitty-cat. I'll live to give those kids of yours hell."
Relief surged along with more tears. "Kid," she said, helping Gwen into a sitting position. Kat grabbed the last of the bandages and quickly dressed the wound on her grandmother's arm.
"Nope." Gwen's voice was little more than a wheeze. "I did a scrying. It's twins. Runs in his family, apparently."
Dust and bits of blackened flesh began to rain on them.
Kat glanced up and saw a huge fissure snake across the ceiling. "This place is coming apart."
Gwen nodded. "The Mara's magic created it and sustained it. Now that she's dead, there's nothing to hold it together."
"Then we'd better get the hell out of here."
"Best idea I've heard yet."
Gwen pressed her hand against the bandage as Kat slipped her arm under her grandmother's shoulders. They staggered forward, but any sort of speed was impossible against the pitching floor. It felt like they were wading through a sea of earth. The dust raining down became stone, and Kat swore as chunks got bigger and bigger, forcing them to duck and weave.