Afanasiv raised an eyebrow. “Not another Dragonseeker? I think we’re taking over.”
Vasilisa chose to take him seriously. “I don’t believe she’s Dragonseeker. She doesn’t talk much about her past. For that matter, neither does Sorina. I consecrated the ground against demons, so anywherethroughout this cave system, Lilith would be unable to establish a portal for her army to slip through.”
Afanasiv had wondered why the earth beneath his feet felt so like home to him.
They moved from that chamber into another narrow hallway. The constant dripping of water reverberated through the hallway as they made their way to the end of it. The dirt walls were streaked darker in places where the water trickled down and dropped to the floor. They’d been steadily going downward, heading deeper beneath the earth.
The hallway made a sharp bend and then opened up into an enormous chamber. On one entire side, there was a drop-off. The other three sides of the chamber were lit with candle sconces. The lights reflected off the gems and crystals embedded in the walls.
A woman leaned against the rail surrounding the drop-off. She was tall and slender with thick, long blond hair—unusual for a Carpathian. Her eyes were a dark brown. Her features were delicate and very feminine, but Afanasiv could see the warrior in her. She looked them over, taking in every detail. Her gaze moved over his face as if judging the heart of him for her friend. Her smile welcomed them, but it didn’t go to her eyes. She still regarded them warily.
“It is long since I’ve spoken to a Carpathian male,” she greeted. “I’ve seen Dimitri and his brother Fen in the distance but never had the occasion to talk with them. I am Sorina Vad.”
Benedek shook his head. “You are from one of the ancient and respected lineages, and yet you are here alone without any protection or guardian.” There was no censure for her, but clearly, he wasn’t happy with her family.
Sorina’s dark eyes remained on him, but she made no comment.
Vasilisa went right up to her and greeted her warmly. “Thank you for meeting us here. I wanted Afanasiv to get to know you and for you to know him. These men are his family and therefore mine. This is Petru, Benedek and Nicu.” She indicated the ancients with a quicksmile. “I find them wonderful and scary at the same time. They really need to catch up a bit with modern ways.”
Sorina tilted her head just a bit. “Afanasiv, have you caught up with modern ways?”
He felt his lady’s breath hitch slightly, but looking at her, she appeared as calm and serene as ever. “She is teaching me. The thing about living so long is you know you have to adapt to each century and the new normal. I have had a bit of reluctance to learn technology when it is so easy to pull information from minds. Lucian explained to me when I ran into him some time ago that there is far more information on the internet than in one person’s mind.”
Vasilisa had returned to his side. She bumped her hip against his. “Sometimes one person does have an amazing amount of information based on his education and experience.”
Sometimes just his education,he teased her.
Color swept up her neck into her face. She turned back to Sorina. “The big question everyone, including me, is asking is, why are the gates breaking down? They shouldn’t be, not with the ancient wood and safeguards.”
Sorina frowned. “All of the guardians of the gates have asked this question and tried to find the answer. At first, we blamed it on the environment, but when we spoke with Gaia, she didn’t think so.”
“The mages?” Afanasiv asked. “Although you’re an ancient and wouldn’t necessary rely on Xavier’s spells to weave a safeguard.”
“We purposely didn’t use anything taught to us by a mage. We knew the safeguards had to last centuries. There are four of us who guard with the aid of others, such as Vasilisa and her family. All four of us wove those safeguards, strand by strand, layering our safeguards between us in no discernible pattern,” Sorina explained. “We didn’t go in any particular order. We didn’t want a mage to figure out a pattern.”
The ancients exchanged long looks. It was a puzzle.
“Are you able to get close enough to the gate to see if the safeguardsare unraveling?” Benedek asked. “If the strands are worn in places? You might be able to tell if someone has been picking at them.”
Sorina sighed and looked over the railing into the dark abyss. “I asked Gaia to look for me. Aura did the same on her gate. Gaia said she could see the strands were thinner in some places, and one or two were actually broken. She checked every gate and found the same thing. None of us knows how it is being done.”
“Could it be Lilith?” Vasilisa ventured.
“It’s possible,” Sorina said. “But not probable. She wouldn’t want the beast to escape unless she could control him. What would be the point? Unleashing a terrible weapon without the ability to control it?”
Afanasiv had been studying Sorina’s expression carefully. She was really worried. “You have an idea of what might be taking place.”
Sorina looked around the chamber of gems before she answered somewhat reluctantly. “Aura and I consulted with Tora. She’s been uneasy for some time, she said, aware the safeguards weren’t holding up.”
“Did you consult with Adalasia and Leona as well?” Afanasiv asked. “We were with her, and she didn’t mention concerns.”
“We didn’t. Leona has never indicated to us that the gate itself was breaking down. There were portals demons were slipping through, but the gate on her side was holding,” Sorina explained. “That was what gave Tora the idea that worried all of us. Leona’s family has a connection to the beast. He saved their lives and remained behind to give them time to get free of the underworld. He would know everything Leona knows in the way of safeguards. In those days, Afanasiv, the family handed down safeguards from one generation to the next.”
The sound of water dripping in the cave was loud. Nicu voiced what they were all thinking. “You believe the beast is the one breaking down the safeguards and opening up the ancient wood to insects and other corrosions.”
Sorina nodded slowly. “He’s extremely intelligent. The demon may have overtaken him, but he is no vampire with a rotted brain. He has all the cunning and instincts of an animal and retains everything heknew before he was imprisoned behind the gate. According to Gaia, each time anyone—demon, a prisoner, Lilith, anyone at all—comes to visit him, he scans their brain for new information. She has always said he’s thirsty for knowledge.”
Afanasiv thought that over. If Justice, the ancient Carpathian demon, had an active mind that required knowledge all the time, he would be desperate to get free. No matter what his original motivation was, he had been behind those gates for centuries. That alone could drive someone mad.