Chapter 58

Yvan found Trajan in the library with Hamish and Izrayl, a whiskey by his elbow and his head in his hands.

"Wouldn"t have been you," Izrayl was saying to him.

Trajan looked up as Yvan interrupted them.

"I've just rescued Anya from my shower. She"s coming down off the drugs she was given and was hallucinating. She was dreaming, and she panicked when you woke her, Trajan, that"s all. She"s embarrassed she screamed at you," he said, folding his arms. He was still pissed off at the thanatos for not calling for backup and then feeding off Anya, but him fighting with Trajan wouldn"t help her.

"See? Told you not to beat yourself up," Hamish said, the big Australian slapping Trajan on the back so hard, it brought tears to his eyes.

"What do you mean you rescued her from the shower? You went in there when she was naked?" Trajan demanded as a dark look settled in his eyes.

Yvan held his stare, even as his heart rate went up.

"Trajan, cut it out," Izrayl growled and pointed to the decorative house plants that started to shrivel and die. Trajan shook himself and looked away quickly.

Yvan pretended not to be worried as he poured himself vodka from the crystal decanter. He took a long sip before he said, "She was dreaming of Hell when you woke her. She could hear V?lundr screaming."

"Did you tell her what I did opening up the passages to Tartarus?"

"No. That"s something you can explain to her. You had best do it soon, so she knows she"s not losing her mind," Yvan replied.

Hamish sipped his bourbon. "Shit happens, Trajan. You got to move on from it. Anya"s a cool chick. She will understand. Hell, after what she just went through with that little Swedish prick, she"ll probably praise you for it."

Yvan thought of the bruises on her face, and it made him want to simultaneously kill V?lundr and take Anya in his arms and hold her.

She"s not yours to hold, the firebird reminded him. Yvan ignored it.

Isabelle, Katya, Cerise, and the Twins arrived and ordered dinner. They were all exhausted and no one had the energy to cook. Anya still didn"t appear, but Yvan ordered extra food for her anyway.

"We need to start a twenty-four-hour guard over the house," Isabelle said, her plate of pasta balancing on her knees. "Just until we can get out of Paris. If we are lucky, we might get some time before they become worried enough about their colleagues to send someone. I have a friend who"s hacked into the Darkness communications network and is trying to find out more information where Ladislav and Vasilli are."

"Chayton and I have cast some protection warding around the grounds already in case they send something magical after us," Honaw added, his deep voice held an American accent which had a smoky quality. A whiskey voice, Yvan had heard Katya refer to it as.

"I want us to be gone within the week. I don"t want to stay in Paris. It doesn"t feel safe anymore," Katya said.

Yvan hadn"t felt safe in centuries, and he didn"t think moving to another city was going to help one fucking bit.

Anya saton one of the deep cream-colored couches in Trajan"s rooms, wondering if she was being a coward for not going downstairs to see everyone. She still didn"t feel right from the drugs wearing off and was scared she would have other hallucinations if she had to deal with too many people. Her heartbeat leaped when the door rattled and Trajan came in.

"Hey," she said softly.

"What are you doing hiding in here?" he asked, closing the door. He was smiling, so that was a good sign.

"I"m not hiding. I just wanted to talk to you without an audience." Anya folded her arms around herself, wanting to go to him and scared to. "I"m really sorry about screaming at you. I was still high and having nightmares. You know I"m not scared of you, Trajan."

"I know, but I thought after seeing my true form…" he paused, at a loss for words.

"It doesn"t matter. I was more frightened that you were being tortured than seeing your other side." Anya would never forget his cries of pain or the feelings of utter helplessness that overwhelmed her.

"I should"ve been smarter and not fallen into the trap to begin with."

"You can"t blame yourself for that. Besides, it doesn"t matter because I saved you. It"s kind of nice to be the one that did the saving for once," she said with a smile and making him laugh softly.

"You certainly did that. Let"s get some more light in here, shall we?"

Anya watched him move about the dark room, turning on the beautiful stained-glass lamps and lighting the small fireplace. There was an engraved plate at the back of it of a figure holding a spear that looked ancient Greek in origin. Like everything in the house, effortlessly elegant. The fire caught, the warm glow highlighting his impossibly shiny chestnut curls.

"What?" he asked when he noticed her staring.

"I was wondering if I was still high," she admitted. "You are handsome as hell in this light."

"You definitely must still be suffering from the effects of that poison." Trajan smiled just in the corner of his mouth, but Anya spotted it before it disappeared. "Can I get you anything? We have food downstairs."

"Don"t fuss. I"m fine." Trajan sat down beside her, still looking worried and nervous, so Anya took his hand and squeezed it. "I"m not afraid of what you are, and I don"t regret helping you for one second."

"How can you not be afraid, Anya? You saw what lives under this human form," Trajan replied, his grip on her tightening.

"You watched me burn people alive, Trajan. You saw under my skin too. It was like the day down at the lake with those boys. I went calm and let the rage and magic take over. You should be scared of me too," she said, leaning into him.

"I sent V?lundr"s soul to Tartarus, the worst place in the Underworld that I could possibly find. That"s why you were having nightmares today. The darkness of it touched you. I can"t believe I was so foolish!"

"You had been tortured, Trajan. I can deal with the nightmares if you can," Anya said.

Trajan tucked her hair behind her ears, holding her face gently in his hands.

"For one so young, you know and have seen so much," he whispered sadly. "You"ve lived. You have suffered and seen death and darkness, but your soul burns with light. Being close to a creature like me will only make it worse. You"ll always be living with death. I don"t ever want that light in you to go out."

Trajan was so earnest that Anya leaned forward and kissed him softly. His eyes had widened in surprise before he pulled her down onto the floor with him and held her tight.

"I thought you were dead when I saw you hanging from that wall," he whispered urgently against her hair. "I was so frightened that I was too late."

"Don"t talk about it," Anya said as she looked at his face above her. She reached up to stroke his temple where the fine lines under his eyes crinkled.

He gently kissed her cheek and brow. "Even after days of captivity, you are still so lovely," he said.

"You"re a terrific liar," Anya teased. She had seen her bruised face in the mirror earlier. "I think V?lundr"s games with you must have given you brain damage."

"I don"t have brain damage. I can see you for what you are. Your soul glows in my mind like a supernova." Trajan stroked her damaged face lightly. "The bruises on your skin don"t diminish it even a little."

"You really know how to make a girl blush."

"Not all girls, just you." Trajan grabbed some thick white pillows from the couch and propped them under her before covering her with a caramel-colored cashmere blanket. She pulled him close again and ran her hands under the dark blue waistcoat he wore.

"I promise not to wake screaming in your face if you sleep next to me tonight," Anya said, snuggling into him and breathing in his autumn scent, letting it calm her like it always did.

Anya fell into a dream,although it didn"t feel dream-shaped to her or like a memory. Everything was too sharp and vivid. She could smell the forest and land at her feet. My land.

In the distance, she saw the black scorch mark of what remained of her barn and a small house. She never thought she would see the day that she would miss the farm, but her heart soared to see it.

Anya froze when she saw Vasilli standing next to a robust older man with silvery gray hair hanging to his waist. Neither of them looked her way or seemed to notice she was there.

"Have you heard from him yet?" Vasilli demanded irritably.

"No, but the Nehemoth has been released, and it will use the hair we recovered to track her."

"Yes, but the Nehemoth goes back to wandering the spirit worlds once it completes its assigned task. You should have let me go, Ladislav. I know my brother and Anya and their tricks. That piece of shit V?lundr can"t be trusted," Vasilli growled.

"None of us are to be trusted. He"s loyal, though, and his loyalty is to me. You are loyal because you have no other choice."

Vasilli"s fists clenched at his sides. "I am loyal."

"The only thing you have ever been loyal to is the dead princess. Move on, Vasilli."

"Once Anyanka is caught, many things will change. She will come into her birthright quickly if she doesn"t fight us too much, and then you"ll have to watch your back. If she"s anything like Yanka, she will surpass you within a year," Vasilli warned.

"I"m not concerned about Anya or her talents. I"m concerned about this." Ladislav held out his hand, and the invisible wall in front of him shimmered red for a moment. "It"s weakening. Within a month, it will open, and if we can stop anyone interfering, we"ll finally control it, and the Darkness will claim both worlds completely, bringing a new age of belief and worship."

His voice was hungry and determined. They were silent for a long while, contemplating before Ladislav shook himself. "Let"s go, Vasilli. I feel too exposed here."

"It"s the Ven?l?inen ghosts watching us," Vasilli said, taking obvious enjoyment in Ladislav"s discomfort. Ladislav grunted before heading back into the forest, Vasilli following him obediently.

The snow was falling, and Anya shivered, curling her body in to shield herself from the biting wind. She turned back to inspect the house"s charred ruins and screamed when she saw they were whole once more.

A tall man walked across the field in front of her. His long golden hair was tied back, and his green eyes shone with anger when he saw the creatures that had appearing on the side of the invisible wall Ladislav had just inspected.

He turned and looked straight through Anya, but she knew who he was…Ilya. She had seen a picture of him in a locket she had left behind. Power flowed out of him so strongly she could feel the magic streaming through the air. He stopped beside her, and she wanted to reach out and touch him.

Now that he was closer, she could see his high cheekbones and the golden stubble on his face. He looked like a lost Viking god.

"You will not enter," he said, his steady voice carrying over the noise of the thrashing creatures on the other side of the barrier. "I am the Keeper of the Gates, and you won"t pass into this world."

There was a terrible screeching sound as a deranged horned beast burst through. Its face was faintly humanoid but covered in fur, sleek with sweat, its long horns smeared with blood.

Anya cried out as it charged at Ilya like a berserker. Ilya lifted his hand slowly, and the creature soared off the ground. Ilya made a simple twisting motion, and the beast started to choke and struggle. He dropped his hand again, and the body fell to the ground.

Ilya drew out a strong steel knife with a golden pine handle carved like a snarling bear. With quick movements, he made two shallow cuts on both of his forearms. He started to sing, but Anya couldn"t make out the words. Ilya threw the bloody knife, and it landed on the earth where the two worlds touched. The ground trembled underneath Anya"s feet, and she watched with a mixture of awe and terror as Ilya"s left hand came down over the cut on his right arm and scooped the flowing blood into his palm.

Crouching down, Ilya drew a line in the dirt. Slowly, he poured the blood that had pooled in his hand into the line. Sweat had begun to bead on his forehead as he worked. His words never stopped, but try as she might, Anya couldn"t make them out.

Ilya repeated the process with his opposite hand before getting once more to his feet. She could feel his exhaustion in every movement.

After scooping blood into both of his hands, he flung it out into the air. As soon as the crimson drops touched the barrier, the creatures straining against it were flung back with an almighty force. They flew through the air, hitting trees and earth. The remaining creatures turned and fled.

This is how he used to close the gates,Anya realized in surprise and excitement. Maybe she could close them the same way.

Ilya"s fine features had turned ashen as he took a few strips of cloth from his pocket, tied them around his cuts, and retrieved his knife.

"Ilya…" Anya whispered.

He stopped suddenly and looked around as if he had heard her. She reached out, and as soon as she touched him, he slipped away, and she fell into another dream.