Adalasia pressed her body closer to his while she looked over her choices. Sandu stayed in her mind while she observed each one and read about them. The vulnerable giant panda, the extinct Barbary lion, the critically endangered gorilla, the Sivatherium, which was an interesting mix of a giant giraffe with moose-like antlers, intrigued her. There was an aepyornis, or elephant bird, which looked to her kind of like an ostrich, now extinct. A very cool-looking glyptodon, which was said to be the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, had a hard, armored shell and was a relative to the armadillo.
She stepped onto the platform. Sandu could tell she felt silly to be so excited. It made her feel like a child.
You are giving both of us this first experience. I think the child in us needs it. Pick wisely for us.
Adalasia sent him a genuine, happy smile, and he knew he’d said the right thing to her.
“There is the dodo, of course, the extinct bird. A really nice triceratops, with its three distinctive facial horns and bony crest. I’ve always loved dinosaurs. There is this giant armored horned turtle, Meiolania, now extinct.”
“Those aren’t your choice.”
“No, this is.” She pointed to the one labeled Thylacine. “The Tasmanian tiger. I guess I like the look of it, with its stripes and strange body.”
Sandu knew that wasn’t it. To Adalasia, the animal was lonely. Restless. She read about it, and something in her identified with it. He never wanted her to feel lonely again. She had as a child, watching other children play together, go to school, ride carousels at fairs. He could see those childhood memories playing through her mind as she seated herself on the Tasmanian tiger and flashed him a heart-stopping smile.
Francesca chose the elephant bird, with its blue feathers, looking like an oversized ostrich. Gabriel lifted his wife easily into the saddle and seated himself on the Barbary lion. Sandu had to smile. The two looked an elegant couple even on the carousel of long-lost creatures.
Sandu waved his hand to put a seat on top of the basket the panda was holding so he could watch Adalasia’s every expression as the carousel began to play the circus organ music and the animals responded by moving up and down. Adalasia whipped her head around to look at him, her eyes bright, laughter bubbling up, sharing her joy with him through their intimate connection.
Sandu had never thought to experience such a thing. Never. Those long endless nights of gray voids, an abyss of hell really, a bleak nothingness occasionally interrupted by a battle with the undead, there had been no hope left. He had forgotten joy. Laughter. Fun. Maybe he had never known it. Now there was Adalasia with her brightness.
You are very hard to resist when you look at me like that. There was laughter in her voice. She stroked intimacy in his mind, painted those caresses into the recesses where the scars of darkness were deepest.
You are not meant to resist me, ewal emninumam.
The animals rose up and down as the music played. Sandu looked away from his woman to the night sky once more. Bats were heavier in the air than he thought they should be, and his gut tightened. A slow frisson of alarm spread through his body. He was used to feeling the blankness from the undead. This felt different. A watching. A gathering.
Nicu. His brother from the monastery had an affinity with every creature that others didn’t. Deliberately, he used the pathway of the brotherhood so all of the guardians could hear. Reach for the bats. They feel off to me, as if they watch Adalasia. The Striga could be here.
He didn’t want to alarm Gabriel, Francesca or Adalasia yet, or steal their enjoyment of the night. There was no need unless he was certain. He scanned the ground around them. It was time to use all skills against Nera’s army. If she was sending bats, rats, dogs, owls—particularly screech owls—as spies, he had to stop thinking in terms of just the undead and the society of vampire hunters. They had a newer, particularly deadly enemy, and he had to catch up with the way they attacked.
Insects crawled over the ground hidden by leaves and debris. Beetles and ants coated the ground; little crickets sang and lizards moved stealthily. Overhead, bats continued to gather in numbers. Movement close caught Sandu’s eye, and he continued staring straight ahead, but he widened his scan. In the distance, a few stray dogs seemed to be foraging for food near some garbage cans.
Bats are shielded. I spotted the dogs, Nicu continued. They are also shielded. Get Adalasia out of there.
Sandu didn’t hesitate. “Gabriel. We have to go now. The bats are watchers sent by the enemy, as are the dogs down the street. We have to leave right now.” He began to build a storm fast, expecting the bats to give chase. He wanted to incinerate them before they could follow them back to Gabriel’s home.