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Vasilisa stepped off the stairs onto the snow-covered ground, drawing her crystal sword from inside her long coat. The most important thing was to seal the portal so it couldn’t be used again. If the demons were caught on this side, they would not be able to return to the underworld until they found another portal. She raised the sword over her head so that it came alive, a blue flame burning hot, so clean and bright the demons cried out, turning away even with the shields over their eyes.
The crystalline sword seemed as bright as the sun, illuminating the entire backyard as if it were day instead of night. An icy gust of wind rushed through the yard, throwing snow into the air and swirling it around so that the light shot through it, highlighting the beauty of the snowflakes and ice.
There was a child’s play set a good distance from the fissure, which lay like a sore with several large mounds of snow heaped up around it in an effort to conceal the zigzag open wound in the earth. A playhouse was in the middle of construction. Beside it was a small greenhouse, finished, but no plants had been planted in the soil beds.
The backyard was huge and open to the forest. There was no fence to divide the Belov land from the trees and brush that crept toward the wide-open spaces surrounding the property. The bushes had found their way back, snaking around the pathways so that the backyard appeared to be part of the forest. That meant there were plenty of large rocks, bushes and even trees for any enemy to hide behind.
Vasilisa drew a vial with clear liquid in it from a loop in her coat. Holding the crystalline sword out from her, she turned in a slow circle, ignoring the demons that locked in on her once again. They were the elite and scared her. She knew how difficult they were to kill. Takingher eyes off them was tantamount to suicide, but she didn’t dare stop what she was doing. She had to trust in her lifemate and the other ancients to handle the demons while she consecrated the ground and took it away from them. She needed to close the portal and seal it so it couldn’t be used again.
She called to the heavens in a soft, angelic voice. The moment she did, overhead, dark clouds tumbled and rolled, boiling ferociously. In the lining of those churning clouds, white-hot lightning forked. Thunder boomed as if in answer, shaking the house. Vasilisa didn’t pause, continuing to chant softly, never raising her voice or hesitating despite the raging storm overhead.
She continued her slow, deliberate circle, bathing the ground with droplets from the vial she held in one hand and the bright blue flame from the crystalline sword she held in the other. The drops from the vial compounded in the air so that a rainstorm burst down on the snow. The rain was hot, and when the drops hit, beneath the icy snow something sizzled and burned. Smoke rose and dark blood bubbled up to stain the large smoldering circles a ruddy red and murky brown.
“Show yourselves to me. Come out of your hiding places. I feel your presence. I know your intentions. Reveal yourselves now.” Her tone remained the same. Still sweet and angelic but commanding.
Voices rose, shrieking in protest; the thunder boomed louder directly over her head, a constant low one-note counterpoint to her angelic tone. Demons of various rank crawled out of hiding, from the playhouse, from the roof of the main house and greenhouse, from the piles of bricks and boards, from behind trees and every available cover. An army of demons.
Vasilisa continued as if she weren’t surrounded by the hideous creatures creeping toward her. “Hear me, pathetic army of Lilith. You cannot have my lifemate. You cannot have Skyler, lifemate to Dimitri. You cannot have any Dragonseeker, though you have been tasked with bringing one to her. You cannot have a royal.”
She plunged the blade of her ceremonial sword deep into theground. The light should have been extinguished, but it shone through the layers of dirt, ice and snow, once again illuminating brightly as if it were the sun. The moment the blade cut through the soil, more blood bubbled up, and the shrieks intensified.
“This ground is lost to you. This ground is consecrated and is locked to you. Each form is locked to this consecrated earth.” She scattered more drops above her head, to the four directions and then onto the ground.
The demons wailed and shrieked. Vasilisa jerked the blade of her sword from the earth and started toward the portal. The five elite demons spread out in front of her about six feet apart from one another, clearly determined that she not reach the portal, or they could have been intent on taking her prisoner.
She was a demon fighter, trained almost from birth, but the elites were difficult to take on, even for her. She gripped the vial of holy water in one hand and levered the point of her sword straight at their eyes. The light coming from the sword was so bright, the shields they wore as protective gear over the sensitive lens of their eyes failed, and it blinded them temporarily.
Afanasiv, Petru, Nicu, Benedek and Zev shimmered for a moment, transparent in the light, and then emerged fully, each in front of one of the elite. Each had their own weapon as they confronted the demon who would stop Vasilisa from sealing the portal.
Vasilisa felt a little guilty leaving the rather large army of demons to the ancient hunters. Aside from the elite demons, so many others had crawled out from every conceivable hiding place and were attempting to get to her before she could close the portal. Fen and Tatijana, as well as Branislava, were fighting the demons.
Dragons were in the air, spraying the demons with their fire. She didn’t have the time to look. Not even glance. Vasilisa ran between the fighters with her blue flame, slicing the ankles of the elite demon that Petru had engaged. She dodged the roaring demon’s outstretched claw as she weaved between him and the one closest to him.
That demon, the one Afanasiv was in a fierce sword battle with, suddenly clashed his huge broadsword with Afanasiv’s and continued the motion as a follow-through, only to drive straight at Vasilisa’s stomach. She barely had time to parry the blade away from her. Afanasiv took full advantage of the momentary distraction and drove the tip of his sword into the vulnerable eye of his opponent with enough force that the sword went straight through the skull.
The sight and sounds were horrifying, but Vasilisa refused to look. She took advantage of the opportunity, dodging the staggering demon as he slashed the air with his sword, turning this way and that. Afanasiv kicked him in his armor-plated stomach, and the demon crashed to the ground amid the smoldering circles bubbling with smoke and blood.
Vasilisa found herself on the other side of the fighting and the demons, facing the portal. This one was a gaping hole in the earth, zigzagging for several feet before abruptly coming to an end. It looked very deep. She wished she’d thought to have someone get the things she would need to make certain she closed the portal for good.
When she looked down into the deep, dark hole, countless pairs of glowing red eyes stared up at her with malevolence. She shivered in spite of the fact that they appeared to be some distance from her and not moving toward her. Demon fighter or not, she had a healthy respect for their capabilities.
Tell me what you need to close the portal for good.
Afanasiv. He seemed to always know when she was hesitant and in need.I can’t just close and lock the portal if anyone human is being held prisoner to force compliance with their demands. Who knows what they have done to these families to make them cooperate?
She wanted there to be a reason other than religious fervor. The Sacred Circle held with many of the same beliefs as the other religions, but they were far stricter when it came to what women could or couldn’t do. They demanded that bloodlines stay pure. In their fervor, they evidently thought it was okay to make a pact with the devil to ensure their principles prevailed.
She felt Afanasiv’s instant rejection of her hope that Barnabas had taken family members in order to get their cooperation, but all the same, he shed his physical body and, without thought for his own safety, entered the portal before she could protest. Her heart jumped into her throat. Even without his body, he was putting himself in jeopardy.
All around her, the fight raged on between demons and Carpathians. She had no idea how Skyler was faring with Barnabas. She stepped as close as she dared to the opening of the underworld, desperate to guard Afanasiv. For the first time, her hands shook as she held her crystalline sword pointed across the chasm to shed light down into the deep crack.
Stay back, my lady,Afanasiv instructed.You are a prize they seek. If you are concentrating on me, a demon could sneak up behind you and throw you into the portal. There are demons waiting down here just for such a moment.
Vasilisa swung her sword around in a circle to ensure no demon dared to come up behind her. The blue flame would cut them down in a moment. The turn took less than half a second, and she couldn’t see Afanasiv with her human or Lycan eyes anyway. She was his lifemate, and that was the only way she knew his exact position. He didn’t dare put out energy in the hostile environment, which meant he had to examine the steep walls and jagged rocks below for signs of humans or Lycans being held against their will. It seemed to take forever when, in fact, only a minute or two had gone by before her lifemate was back with her.
You can safely close it. If they took anyone, they did not use this portal to bring them through,Afanasiv assured her.