“He is in the shadow realm,” Siv announced, his voice grim. “But he was pulled into a trap of some kind. We kept him from the gates, but the demon, Nera, had a poisonous brew that took him to the shadow realm, into the Cave of Fire. The fires of hell.”
Adalasia frowned. “That makes no sense. Why would Sandu be relegated to hell? I am not even certain he believes in hell. Wouldn’t one have to believe in it before they can be sent there? And he’s lived an honorable life.”
“Not actual hell,” Siv countered. He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I do not want to get into a philosophical discussion of what is or isn’t, only that I know Sandu was dragged into the shadow realm. He isn’t dead. He is partly in that world and was taken to the Cave of Fire. Maybe I should have said the illusion of hell.”
Danutdaxton crouched in the grass in front of her when Petru had politely closed the laceration on his wrist. “This is no small task, Adalasia, to enter the Cave of Fire, illusion or not.”
Petru scrubbed his hand over his face. “You will have to have great resolve if we are to bring him back to us, Adalasia.”
“Why would Nera do this? What could she hope to achieve?”
“You are bound to your lifemate,” Siv pointed out. “You are willing to follow him into the shadow realm. The moment you enter that realm, they will know. You are fully alive, and every demon will be aware of you. Sandu can move around in that world because he is both alive and dead, and they will not detect him so easily. We cannot know his state of mind. He may be confused and even unaware of what has happened to him. The moment you enter the shadow realm, you will be in tremendous danger.”
Adalasia tightened her hold around her stomach. “I have trained from the time I was a mere toddler to fight demons.”
Petru shook his head. “We do not want you to have to use those skills, Adalasia. We hope that all of us, bound together, will be enough to drag him out of that realm without a fight. The faster we do it, with the least amount of conflict, the better chance we have of success. This is an elaborate trap that was set.”
“How is it that Nera knew I was coming here? She set this before we even got here,” Adalasia pointed out. “We hadn’t yet met up with Danutdaxton.”
There was a long silence while they all tried to puzzle out how Nera had gotten ahead of them. They’d been in France, gone to Brazil and now were in Peru. Nera hadn’t been in Brazil, but she had set a trap in Peru.
“We do not know for certain that Nera’s spies were not watching in Brazil,” Petru pointed out. “Would you have known?”
Adalasia nodded. “I believe I would have. Sandu as well. I felt them in France. We all did, remember?”
“The last time any of you remember the spies of this Nera were close to you was in France,” Danutdaxton murmured.
“We were speaking with Gabriel and Francesca,” Adalasia said. “We had gone out first to explore the city with them, but then we were attacked and had to make a run for their home.”
“No demon could have gotten through the safeguards,” Siv said. “We patrolled as well.”
“Was my name mentioned?” Danutdaxton asked.
Adalasia nodded slowly. “Yes. It was suggested that you might be able to help us. That was one of the reasons we made the choice to come here. Gabriel felt very strongly that we see and speak with you.”
Again, there was silence. Adalasia’s gaze strayed to her lifemate. He looked so still. It took great effort not to reach out to him. She bit her lip hard in order to keep from turning inward to try to follow him. The pull was very strong. Her eyes burned again, and she put her head down on her knees to keep from having to look at the three Carpathian males around her. They knew she struggled, but she didn’t want them to see any physical evidence of her weakness.
Adalasia groaned, sitting up straight abruptly. “Nera managed to get a spy inside with us. She uses insects, as I’ve indicated. She could have used one so tiny, it simply attached itself to my clothing and entered the home when I did. The house wasn’t sealed against demons until after we were inside,” she said. “I sealed it myself after the others did.”
She groaned again and rubbed her hand over her face, a little shocked to see there were smears of blood on her fingers when she looked at them. “I actually sealed Nera’s spy inside the home with us. For all I know, the darn thing could be in my hair.” She gave a little shudder.
“That would be impossible,” Siv assured. “You have gone to ground and refreshed yourself. You also seal the earth so it would be trapped. If one has managed to hop aboard again, we now know to cleanse after every battle and encounter.” He shrugged. “It is a good lesson. We are always learning.”