“Don’t thank him too quickly.” Darsal glanced about the room. “We have to destroy the gateway and get out alive.”

Silvie and Karas were shackled along a wall that contained chains and metal clasps for four people. Miranda or Alucard had the keys, and the steel links were an inch thick.

“How do we get them out?”

“Not with a bullet, if that’s what you’re thinking. Too thick. We’ll have to figure out how to get the key.”

“What?” Karas cried. “Are you crazy? We have to get out of here!”

“No, we have to destroy the gateway.”

“He doesn’t need a gateway! He needs the books. This is all symbolic.”

“Yes and no. He needs a place to gather the Shataiki that come through. He also needs a nest for the females. With Shataiki, males lay worms that females fertilize.” She crossed to the wall and lit a torch. Yellow flames lapped hungrily at the air.

“A typical flame won’t do much to this stuff, but get enough heat and their mucus will go up like gasoline.”

“Well, then,” Johnis said, “we have our way of destroying them.”

“Problem is, we’re in here too. Along with the books.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

Darsal walked closer to them, eyeing the large black table that stood before the concentric circles formed on the wall. “I don’t know. Part of me thinks we should just burn the books with this stink hole. From everything I’ve seen, they are as evil as Alucard.”

What was she saying? Johnis glanced at Silvie.

“You can’t do that,” Karas said.

“Can’t I?” Darsal eyed her, wearing a crooked smile. “I think I’ve earned the right to do whatever I need to do. The books killed Billos, didn’t they?”

“You know he’s dead?”

“He was left in a dungeon filled with Shataiki!” Venom laced her voice. “Of course he’s dead! Either that or he’s Shataiki himself.” She forced a smile. “All hail the books. We should probably burn every last one.”

The change in her took Johnis off guard. After ten years, she held on to a bitterness that could not be easily dismissed.

“But first we have to figure out how to get out of here.” She turned her attention to the gateway. “I’ve been in here three times, and each time I can’t help but think that there’s something about the circles that look wrong. Do you see it, Silvie?”

Johnis stood by her side and looked at the gateway. The stone rings looked like they’d been melted in rather than placed. Nothing else that he could see.

“We can’t stand here discussing the gateway!” Karas snapped. “Miranda could step in now, and we’d be finished.”

Darsal walked closer to Silvie. Jumped up on the ledge, eyes on the rings. “At the top of the rings, the worms avoid contact.”