Chapter 47

"Would you like to go there now?" Dimitri asked.

She nodded.

"Are you sure?" He sighed. "Think about what happened the last time you went there. Those forest guardians-"

"Fine! Fine! Stop scaring me."

"Blanca, I'm not scaring you, and you know that. Right?" Despite the darkness, Dimitri could easily read the emotions rippling over her face.

Embarrassment. And at last, a reluctant acceptance.

"Who are those…um-guardian? Are those demons?" She whispered so softly that if he hadn't been a vampire, he would never have heard her. But he was. And he did. And it was enough to make his hand tighten on the back of her head to press her head downward.

"They were made to guard the sacred forest dear. It was near the cavern where the portal to the underworld had been guarded and cursed. No one could go there, not even I could."

"Portal?"

"Yes."