“Run, Sandu. Take your sister and go. Promise me you will put up strong gates, built to withstand the centuries, place guardians so that I can never be freed. Give me your word of honor. One gate for each corner of the earth. North. South. East. West. Word of honor. Our family does not ever go back on our word. Go now. I will hold them off.”
“We can’t leave him,” Liona cried.
Sandu saw the blue flames consuming the glittering light in Justice’s eyes. There was no going back for him. He had let out the beast, fully embraced it in order to give Liona and Sandu, Madolina and Domizio a chance. Sandu fought his way through the line of demons, holding his abdomen together as he ran with one hand so his insides didn’t spill onto the ground. Beside him, Liona fought courageously, and he was thankful she’d been taught from the time she was very young to fight the undead.
Fighting demons was different, but she didn’t hesitate. They made it through the portal, and it was Justice who slammed the portal closed.
The gates, Sandu. Domizio. Build the gates. Surround me with four gates. Cage me in before it is too late.
There was urgency to Justice’s command, and Sandu didn’t hesitate. He and his father constructed gates around Justice, giving him room inside, but the gates were thick, made of the best wood available, wood that could not be burned or corrupted over time. They wove safeguards. Then more safeguards.
Both men were in terrible shape. Madolina and Liona didn’t even try to move them away from the portal, but worked to try to heal them right there. Madolina lit the chamber with healing candles, packed her lifemate’s wounds with soil and her saliva and gave her blood to Domizio while Liona did the same for her brother. They worked fast, the swiftness and silence of their actions betraying the urgency to those seeing the images.
The guardians and Tiberiu exchanged long looks with one another. Justice was alive. An ancient older than Vlad. One so skilled in battle there were few hunters—if any—who would be able to destroy him should he choose to become undead.
This is what my sister was taken to interact with? Tiberiu said after a time.
Sandu inclined his head. I believe so. She could talk to beasts. Justice is more beast than man. I think she is the only one who can communicate with him, and she refuses to leave him.
Yet she is not his lifemate, Tiberiu reiterated.
I do not believe she is, Sandu said. I did not get that impression when he was chanting the sacred oath with me.
What is the plan? Afanasiv was practical. The portal is slipping and the gate could be opening. We are here to ensure neither happens.
I am here to see if my sister still lives, Tiberiu said. And if she lives, if there is a way to retrieve her from that place.
Sandu nodded. I, too, wish to find my sister. She was left to guard this gate. Three other Carpathian women were chosen to guard each of the other gates. Now that I remember who she is and that she exists, I want to find her alive and well. She must feel she’s been abandoned.
Adalasia leaned into Sandu to give him comfort when his past was too close and haunting him.
You didn’t abandon her, even if she feels that way, Sandu. We just have to seal the portal for good. I have to make certain the gate is closed and guarded. Any demons on this side of the portal have to be driven back to the underworld or disposed of.
Adalasia gripped her sword. Nera awaited on the other side of the portal. She crowded close to it. Adalasia could feel her now, pushing for her demons to get it open so her army could pour into the realm of the living.
It’s best if they think it is only Sandu and I and Tiberiu. They feel him. They know who he is, and they don’t want him here. Tiberiu, they will strike at you even before they will at me. They want to acquire both Sandu and me alive. You, they want dead.
I am not so easy to kill, Tiberiu assured her. They must have Gaia if I present such a threat to them.
Would she recognize you? Sandu asked. She was but ten.
No. I was away and already centuries old when she was born. She saw me once. I returned right after she turned ten but left soon after I visited. I wanted to acknowledge her so she would always know she was wanted. I counted on our mother and father being able to have the time to tell her, Tiberiu said.
That twisted at Adalasia’s heart.
Sandu’s warmth slid into her mind. You are always so compassionate, Sivamet.
Tell me what to expect, Tiberiu ordered.
They will go for your stomach to try to rip you open. Then your eyes to blind you. Then your throat to tear it out, Sandu said. Just as the demons did when they attacked us in the underworld.