6. Aurora
Aurora
S omeone’s hands alternated between massaging my neck and my wrists. The soft and gentle—comforting—strokes brought me back to consciousness. As I felt myself reconnect to my center, my power, the hands started to feel cold—almost like death. My eyes flew open with a start, and I attempted to sit.
My backpack held me back as I struggled in the dark.
“Calm down. You’re safe,” said a voice.
It was the voice of a lover from my dreams, the same one used when urging me to trust him and give in to my desires. Immediately, my mind settled. It didn’t make sense; I shouldn’t be calm. My finger burned under my ruby ring as a sense of doom constricted my insides.
“Don’t struggle. No one is going to hurt you.” My heartbeat slowed as the voice calmed me a second time. Immediately, the burning rose in my finger, and my throat tightened as anxious tears crept to my eyes.
The roller coaster of emotions needed to stop.
The hands moved to my shoulders and gently held me down, wordlessly asking me to stay still out of concern for my safety, not malice—like this man knew what my physical body needed. “You need to rest. You had a fall.”
This time, the words did not evoke calming sensations. Thank the goddess because I didn’t think I could handle that again. The voice was still soft, but its magical effect on my emotions dissipated. All that remained was the dreamlike connection.
“What happened?” I asked. My voice cracked as I forced words through my dry throat. The last thing I remembered was a steep hill. The stones covering it had given way. I expected to fall on my ass, so how did I end up on my back, passed out?
“You fell. The path you were on led to a twenty-five-foot drop you tumbled over.”
“No wonder I feel like a truck hit me,” I said with a weak smile. Even though my eyes were open, everything was nearly black. I struggled against the straps of my bag. “I can’t get out of this damn thing.”
The gentle concern in the man’s words carried an unexpected tenderness. “That damn thing likely saved your life. It stopped you from hitting your head too badly.”
“Ugh.” I looked to my right, where my flashlight shone across the small stone room, showing about a ten-by-ten cavern. The faint beam struggled to reach the brown rock on the other side of the cavern. In the center of the room, four columns of grayish-white stone rose from the floor to the ceiling, guarding a tabletop rock in the center.
“Let me help you.” The man lifted a strap away from my shoulder and reached through to guide my wrist. My blood rushed to my face as his fingers encircled my wrist softly, causing my heart to flutter. If only I could see his face. Who was helping me? Were those the hands that felt like death earlier, and why didn’t they now? I certainly had more questions than answers.
“So this is it?” I asked, shining the flashlight around the room, struggling not to shine it into my rescuer’s eyes. I took a deep breath, the butterflies in my stomach refusing to calm down. I wanted to feel the man’s touch again but also dreaded the thought. Did I dare find out who the voice belonged to?
“I’m not quite sure,” said the man as he crouched beside me. His voice was tight like he was hiding something.
“Then let’s try another question.” I shined the light near his face to recognize the latecomer. “Who are you, and how did you find me?”
“Your rescuer,” he said with a slight Irish lilt that made my heart flutter like his hands had. A memory of the echoes of death in his touch struggled meekly to the surface before I brushed it away.
I took in his oceanic eyes and dark hair, pushing away the concern that he wouldn’t share his name. “Thanks for coming for me, whoever you are. But how did you get down here?”
He looked at the drop. “I guess I was just lucky when I jumped.” He shrugged, then cocked his head. “I thought you had a migraine?”
Thankfully, he couldn’t see the guilty blush that crept to my cheeks as they warmed. “I think I took a wrong turn on the way out of the cave,” I mumbled feebly.
“Really? You strayed off the marked path and into the tunnel David said was off-limits and treacherous by accident?” I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Maybe.” I smirked.
“Since we’re stuck here, what should I call you?”
“Why should I share my name if you won’t share yours?” I quipped.
“Eventually, we’ll need to find our way out of here. But first, we need to make sure you’re alright. Is your leg hurt?” His fingers softly ran down my left leg, starting just above my knee.
I shined the light on it and saw my twisted ankle. I gritted my teeth together to keep from screaming as his fingers ran along the tight skin. His delicate touch made me shiver as he cupped my foot and turned it to sit on the heel, removing my shoe. I whimpered as he did, vowing I wouldn’t cry.
“It isn’t broken,” he said. “You’re lucky. I would have sworn it was from the angle.”
I nodded, swallowing down the pain and gulping the air. After a moment, I became desensitized to the throb. I directed the light up the wall behind him, showing the path high above. “Neither of us brought any gear for climbing.” My voice shook as I spoke. “Do you have a phone? Mine is in my bag.”
The man shifted and removed the device from his pocket. He turned on the screen and showed it to me. “No signal.”
“And the group should be on the way out,” I said, noting the time. “Maybe we could call for them?”
“Save your voice. It won’t travel that far,” he said.
“Aren’t you just the optimist?” I retorted.
“Pragmatist,” he countered. “Can you walk?”
I had a headache and was stiff from falling onto my backpack. With care, I rose to my knees. I reached out and pressed my hand against the wall as I stood. As soon as I put weight on my twisted leg, pain shot into my back, causing me to buckle. I sat back down. “Maybe this is going to be harder than I thought.”
“Let me put your shoe in your knapsack, and I can help you.” He moved unbidden to my pack.
“No, wait—”
He was already unzipping it. I pushed my teeth together. He wouldn’t notice everything in it because of the darkness, I convinced myself.
He re-zipped my bag. “It’s pretty magical that you aren’t hurt worse with a fall like that,” he said, pointing at the ridge above us before sitting down. “Do you want to tell me what you were really doing in that tunnel? It seems like maybe you intended to get lost down here.” He gestured toward my backpack, a knowing look in his eyes.
His words struck me as odd. Magical? Most people would say miraculous. My thumb traced the ring on my finger. He was probably more correct than he knew that magic had broken my fall. It was the only thing that explained my minimal injuries. I tilted my head, looking into his deep blue eyes, still shining under the beam of my flashlight. The soothing connection felt as if I were standing on a beach staring out over the ocean. I broke away from his gaze.
How had he seen anything in my bag in the darkness? I was the only one with a light. Still, I felt there was only one option even though so much of my mind screamed against it. I dropped my voice. “Can I trust you?”
“Trust me?” he echoed, his voice rising on the last beat, shocked.
I swallowed, unsure of why I asked. Something about him made me trust him—like I needed him. Ugh . He had just followed me over a cliff, and now I mistook my gratefulness for some instant infatuation with him. “I came here trying to find something… odd.”
The man laughed, a deep echoing sound. “Odd, how?”
I dropped my eyes and twisted the ring on my finger. “Do you believe in those stories David was telling?”
“You mean the warlocks?”
“Warlocks, ghosts, witches, vampires—all of it?”
He became silent. “What would you say if I told you this room used to be sacred to a family of vampires, not warlocks?”
I narrowed my eyes as my heart thudded against my chest. How? How does this man know? I drew the cold air into my lungs, careful to keep my voice steady. “How would you know?”
“That’s a story for another day.” His voice strained as he spoke.
I shook my head. “Then we might be at an impasse.”
“I sense we have gotten off to a poor start,” he said as he caught my gaze. “My name is Mac.”
I tilted my head. I was stuck here with a man talking about vampires. My stomach clenched. And now he was trying to be nice? I glanced at the wall behind him. It wasn’t like I was going anywhere. I sighed, deciding to make the best of it. “Aurora,” I said. “But you can call me Rory. Everyone else does.”
He stood. “Getting you out of here will take a bit of time. But you seemed to have the necessities in that bag of yours.”
“Probably everything we need for the night.” My words came out matter-of-fact.
Mac didn’t flinch. “Want to tell me what you were planning on doing?”
“No.” I sighed. “I just can’t leave yet.”
“Are you going to explain that statement?”
“No.”
Mac shook his head in the light beam, his face showing a change in resolve. “Do you have anything in there for a fire? The least we can do is get some light in here.”