Free Blood Magic (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 2) by Ella Summers

is the Fleet, an old river that’s been covered by centuries of progress,” he said, turning on the headlamp he’d pulled from his backpack. The assassin’s survival kit sure came with everything. “Today, the River Fleet flows below the city.”
    She stared down the huge brick tunnel. “And now the vampires have taken it over as their own. Hundreds of them. But why?”
    “I don’t know.” He stole a backward glance. “But those vampires are gaining on us.”
    Alex spun around, shooting a wave of fire down the tunnel. The fiery blanket attached itself to the curved sides, forming a barrier between them and the vampires.
    “Impressive,” said Logan.
    “Thanks.” She brushed her hands together, dusting off the remnants of her spell. “As I said, I’ve been practicing. I call that one the Fire Lattice.”
    “Maybe you should practice naming things too.” He smirked at her.
    Exactly what I said, her dragon piped in.
    “Oh, shut up,” she told them both. The Fire Lattice was a fine name. More importantly, it seemed to be keeping those vampires at bay for now, but that still left the several hundred other vampires in the tunnels. And the water was halfway to her knees now. “Is it my imagination, or is the water level rising?”
    “It’s rising,” Logan replied, his pace not even slowing. “It’s a tidal river.” He kept running like the ground was perfectly dry.
    Alex pushed harder, trying to match his pace. He might have possessed supernatural speed and strength, but she had supernatural stubbornness on her side. Oddly, it wasn’t helping much at the moment. Maybe she could freeze the river. Running on ice was a lot easier than slushing through water. Well, except if she somehow managed to freeze her feet along with the river. The chances of that were only around fifty percent, so she almost tried it anyway. But a voice in her head reminded her that she was supposed to be practicing less reckless behavior.
    That wasn’t me, her dragon snickered. Being reckless is fun. Let’s burn some more things.
    “Does it ever get flooded in here?” Alex asked Logan.
    “Sometimes.”
    “And how long does that take?”
    “About half an hour.”
    Great. “How much further does this tunnel go?”
    “About a kilometer.”
    She grimaced.
    “Ok, about a mile, if you prefer.”
    “That’s even further,” she complained.
    “Is that a problem?”
    “That depends. Would you mind if I froze the river?”
    “ That would depend,” he said. “Are you planning on freezing us along with it?”
    “Well, I wasn’t planning on it.”
    “But it might happen anyway?”
    “Something like that.” She sighed. He knew her too well. “My socks are wet.”
    “So are mine. You know what they say: misery loves company.”
    “I’d prefer your company while wearing dry socks. Or no socks at all.”
    “Will it be just the socks you’re removing?” His brows lifted. “Or other things as well?”
    She smirked at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
    Two vampires poured down from the ceiling, cutting off whatever Logan was going to say. He pivoted around her, drawing his sword as he spun. It slashed in a perfect silver arc, severing the vampires’ heads. They splashed into the water, followed a moment later by the headless bodies. Alex blasted the ceiling with ice, covering the hole. They didn’t even stop running.
    “That won’t last long,” she told him.
    She could feel the vampires punching the ice, chipping away at the meager covering. But that wasn’t the problem. That came in the form of the hundreds of vampire auras closing in on their position.
    “There are more up ahead. And something else.” She’d almost missed it, thanks to the overwhelming stench of vampire pounding against her magic. “Some hybrids. Just up ahead.”
    They passed into the next tunnel. The water was lower here—not even to their ankles. Iron cages filled both sides of the passageway. Iron bounced magic like a hall of mirrors,