“Please ask him to help,” Adalasia pleaded.
“You could be of great assistance,” Danutdaxton assured the unseen Carpathian male. “We would be grateful if you tried to heal him.”
The air was suddenly charged with energy. With power. It was impossible not to feel it. The tiny hairs on Adalasia’s body reacted. She was used to the feel of the ancients and even the difference in Dax with the Old One residing in him, but this new hunter striding with complete confidence out into the opening carried something with him that was unsettling. Too much power perhaps.
He wasn’t as tall as the ancients. He was built with roped, dense muscles. He walked in complete silence, so much so that it felt to Adalasia as if the world held its breath as he approached Sandu’s body, his strange eyes going from an amber to a true gold. He had the long hair the warriors wore, secured at the nape of his neck with a leather cord that wound around the thickness and length. He didn’t walk so much as prowl, a great jungle cat moving among them.
“Give me the details quickly before I attempt to heal him,” Luiz demanded. His gaze moved over the two women and then settled on Adalasia. She felt that direct golden gaze like a laser piercing right through her strongest barrier. “She holds him to her.”
“Yes.” It was clear Danutdaxton had passed on all information regarding how Sandu had come to have his wounds and what Siv and Petru had found. “There are two ancients with him now, Nicu Dalca and Benedek Kovac.”
Luiz nodded curtly and shed his body without another word, leaving himself completely vulnerable to attack.
“He isn’t too worried one of you will try to kill his physical body,” Adalasia pointed out.
“As I said, he is a De La Cruz,” Dax reiterated. “Should any harm befall him, his brothers would hunt to the ends of the earth those responsible. I can tell you, Adalasia, we are very lucky to have him chance upon us.”
“I don’t believe it was chance,” she whispered. She didn’t. Things happened the way they were supposed to. They were meant to meet Dax and Riley. Luiz De La Cruz was meant to find them. For whatever reason, this was all happening. She had seen terrible danger in the cards. Each rising she read them, and each rising she could see the dangers surrounding them, growing worse.
She knew one thing. There was always a balance in the end, between good and evil. Sometimes it appeared evil was winning. Everything was relative to the moment. She knew that, but it didn’t help when it was Sandu lying pale and lifeless on the ground.
“Whatever the reason he is here, Luiz is a healer,” Danutdaxton assured.
Nicu emerged from Sandu’s body, sliding back into his own, looking for all the world as sick as Sandu, almost a gray color. Like Petru and Siv, he coughed repeatedly. This time, Adalasia shed her body to become healing light and gently touched his throat to see what was causing the problem. A sticky film coated the inside of his throat.
Adalasia. The reprimand was harsh. Nicu all but threw her out of his body. You cannot be touched by any of this poison. It will rush to you the moment it feels your presence. Siv, examine her quickly.
I didn’t touch anything. Nothing touched me. It was too late, Siv was already shedding his body and going into hers.
How do you know? The bacteria is microscopic. Remember the insect that was carried into Gabriel and Francesca’s home? This is far tinier.
Of course she was aware it would be far tinier. I don’t like that the three of you were coughing. You matter to me, Nicu. You aren’t expendable. All of you seem to think it’s okay to take these crazy risks. Maybe you’re staying in his body too long. I should help, too.
Absolutely not. That was a mixture of both Petru and Nicu telling her no.
Danutdaxton gave Nicu blood while Siv examined her. She stayed very still. The thick film had to be all through Sandu’s body. While he was rushing to save her during the battle, it had spread quickly. He had to have known. Like the other ancients, his life hadn’t mattered in those moments, only hers.
“She is fine,” Siv said. “We need you whole and uncompromised, Adalasia. I know the waiting is difficult, but it is necessary.”
“If Luiz stays to aid us when you go to retrieve Sandu,” Dax mused, “there will be more power than this Nera can conceive of for Adalasia and the rest of us to draw on. Luiz has been to the shadow realm twice. The warriors who poured themselves into the vessel to allow a rebirth as a De La Cruz had all passed into the next life. He is familiar with every aspect of it. The Old One can guide you through the Cave of Fire, and if Luiz agrees to aid all of us, we have a much bigger chance of success.”