Nicu nodded his agreement. He paced away from the body and then looked to the canopy. Adalasia knew he needed blood. She also knew if she were to offer hers, he would refuse.
“You are right about the De La Cruz family, Adalasia,” he agreed. “They didn’t abandon Luiz, but he knew he was different. Zacarias, the eldest, wanted to ensure that when Luiz rose starving for blood, his true nature would prevail. Although a fierce fighter, he is naturally protective of women and children, which is the Carpathian way.”
“That was what they were looking for?”
Nicu shook his head. “Not all. He was also tremendously strong-willed, which would be needed if he was going to become a warrior. When Zacarias saw into Luiz’s true soul, he invited him to become a De La Cruz. He explained the risks and all that it would mean to him. You have to remember, very few human males had ever been granted such a gift. I do not remember any others, to be honest.
“In all the centuries you lived, no one converted a human male?” Adalasia was a little shocked.
“There was no reason to do so,” Nicu assured unapologetically. “Simultaneously, Gary and Luiz, both humans, were taken to the cave of warriors. There was another taken there as well, Zev. He was both Lycan and Carpathian, mixed blood. We call their kind Han ku pesak kaikak, which is ‘guardian.’ The Tirunul lineage claimed him, but he was also claimed by the extinct line of Dark Blood. They were a powerful line of warriors. Few found lifemates, and it was long thought there was no one carrying that blood in their veins. It was shocking and also very welcome news.”
Adalasia paced a distance through the trees and then came back, each time stepping a little closer to Sandu’s body. “I thought that if you took them to the cave of warriors and they were judged worthy, they became of that bloodline. They were no longer what they had been before. Their souls were split.”
“That was the case for Luiz and Gary. Luiz became a De La Cruz, and Gary a Daratrazanoff. Zev was different in that he was already Dark Blood, a Carpathian. He had a lifemate from the time of his birth. He was unaware of it because he was also Lycan and raised in the Lycan community. It is difficult to understand how the blood works in Lycans and Carpathians.”
Luiz was suddenly back in his own body, his skin showing that same grayish tinge. He cleared his throat several times but didn’t cough. Nicu instantly became light and energy, entering Luiz to ensure the coating was gone and there was no bacteria or poison clinging to him. When he was certain, he returned to offer the De La Cruz his wrist.
Adalasia noted that Luiz was careful not to take too much from Nicu. Nicu needed to feed as it was. Both men would have to hunt before they could go to find Sandu in the shadow realm.
“His body is clean,” Luiz said. “He is far from us.” He turned his strange golden eyes fully on Adalasia. “You are going to retrieve him from this place?”
“Absolutely, I am,” she said, pouring conviction into her voice. She kept every hint of defiance out of her tone. She was no child to be told what she could or couldn’t do by these men. Sandu was hers. Her lifemate. She was getting him back from wherever he was.
He nodded. “I will return shortly and I will accompany you.” He made it a decree.
He was on his feet and gone so fast, she had only blinked and there was no sign of him. She looked to Nicu. “Is that a good thing?”
Nicu nodded slowly. It was impossible for her to tell if he really thought Luiz escorting her to the shadow realm was really such a good idea, but Benedek returned and Nicu left to go hunting fresh blood.
Stay close to me,” Luiz ordered.
Her escort didn’t need to remind her. Adalasia wasn’t about to get lost in this strange place. At first glance, it appeared to be the rain forest where they had fought the battle with Nera’s demons. The trees rose up above them, but the trunks weren’t right. They were twisted and cracked. The branches reached out, limbs not pointing toward the sky but rather each stretched toward the unwary as they walked on the narrowing trail through the dark gray mist.
Her heart began to pound and her mouth went dry. There were vines on the trunks and in the branches, just as there were in the rain forest they’d battled in, but these had a dull green, almost sickening tinge to their leaves. Snakes curled around the woody vines and stared down at them. Lizards and spiders followed their progress, moving on the trunks and in the vegetation on either side of the trail.
“Slow your heart,” Luiz commanded.
Adalasia was embarrassed he had to remind her. She might not have been Carpathian long, but she had trained to fight demons. As far as she was concerned, this realm was all about demons, and she needed to pull herself together and have just as cool a head as Luiz did.