“In other words,” Mikhail said. “You’d like to put me in a bubble and keep me safe.”
Zev cleaned his sword and put it slowly and reverently back in its scabbard. “We all want you safe, Mikhail. Whatever Xaviero has done here cannot touch you, or he will win.” He turned his head, his eyes meeting the prince’s. “I’m not willing to let him win. He’s taken too many good men with his evil. We have to stop him.”
Mikhail nodded. “I agree. Just be careful.”
Branislava moved under Zev’s shoulder, slipping her arm around him as they turned back to the open door and the body of Arnau’s father.
I’m so sorry, Zev. There were no right words. She felt his pain, that intense sorrow he refused to allow others to see. The death of his friend had only increased his determination to destroy Xaviero before he could hurt anyone else.
Zev’s only indication that he heard her was a soft brush of his mind against hers. His face didn’t change expression and his gaze didn’t stray from the room.
“Where do we start?” he asked.
Branislava straightened her shoulders and stepped to the doorway, carefully studying the symbols. “First I have to cleanse the room and drive away the demons he set here. He brought them through the gates of hell. I’ve seen them do it more than once, and whatever comes through can get trapped on this side.”
Zev frowned. “I can’t fight what I can’t see.”
“This won’t be that kind of fight,” she replied. “You can’t physically enter that room without being killed. The demons stand guard as they’ve been commanded to do and wait for their reward, the flesh and blood of a living creature.”
“I’ve heard of shadow warriors, the dead brought back to serve the mage.”
She shook her head. “Shadow warriors were men who fought with honor, and a mage captured their spirit and forced them into service. These are demons, evil beings the mage can’t force into service. He makes an exchange with them. In this case, he’s trading their service for the chance to taste flesh and blood. Yours or mine, specifically.”
Zev ran his hand down his knife as if eager for battle. “Let’s get to this. Tell me what to do.”
“We’re one, our souls tied together, so he believes if he kills one of us, he kills the other,” she explained.
“And he’s right,” Zev confirmed.
“He doesn’t know our spirits are tied together. If either of us gets pulled into the other world, which from what I see here, could be their plan, the demons devour our body and our spirit will enter the other world where his brother waits to collect it in the hopes that he can be resurrected.”
Zev swore under his breath. “I’m a man who fights what’s in front of me, not ghosts,” he said, his voice turning gravelly, the growl not far off. “How the hell do you prevent your spirit from entering another realm, or your body from being devoured by demons?”
She reached out and gently rubbed his wrist. “I don’t know if that is the plan, Zev,” she admitted. “I’m trying to guess and prepare myself for any likelihood. I know they spoke of such things, and the spirit has to be one known to them.”
Zev was a man of action, and this fight required finesse, the knowledge of spells and both white and black magic. His breath hissed out, a harsh blast of protest. “He wants your spirit.”
“He didn’t know I was here until he questioned Arno,” she reminded. “But he is an opportunist. I’m just being careful.”
She glanced behind her and Arnau’s body was already gone, the hall clean as if no violent death had ever taken place. She touched her belly where the claws had raked her. “There can be no trace of blood on me,” she added, lifting her fingers to examine the evidence of the Lycan’s attack.
Instantly Zev spun her around and really looked at her. “Branka, I’m sorry. I was selfishly thinking of the loss of my friend.” He placed his palm over the bite marks on her neck.
Rather than soothe the wound, pain flashed through her body. She jerked away from him, her eyes going wide. “I need Skyler and Tatijana right away,” she said and let herself sink down on the floor right in front of the door. “Tell them to hurry,” she added.
Fen and Tatijana emerged first, Tatijana going to her knees beside her sister. Her gaze went into the room and she gasped at the sight of the bloody symbols.
Branislava grasped her hand tightly. “I was bitten by Xaviero’s servant.”
“Arnau was not Xaviero’s servant,” Zev protested. “He was a good man.” He crouched beside his lifemate. “When I tried to heal her with my palm, my touch burned through her. I felt it, Tatijana.”