"Rowan, Stop!" I yelled. "You don't know what you're doing. It's not what you think!"
Rowan didn't respond to me at all. Dantalion was only bound to pay allegiance to me. He didn't care one bit that my best friend was about to be destroyed by his thirty six legions of demon spirits waiting outside the circle.
"Rowan, don't step outside the circle, stay where you are!"
Dantalion commanded fire from his hands and created a barrier separating us from Rowan. He didn't know how to react to a mortal enemy in a mortal dominion.
Dantalion saved me from death. So did Rowan. I loved them both. But my heart was bound to Dantalion. Through the barrier I could see Rowan trying to dowse Dantalion with a liquid. As the drops touched Dantalion's skin he howled, sending him into a rage.
"I tried to warn you. Even stop you from coming closer. Fool! Now become one with my legion and serveth me."
Before I could say anything at all, Dantalion had Rowan by the throat with a sweep of his hands. He threw him into the triangle with the other thirty six demons waiting to devour anything Dantalion commanded.
"No Dantalion!" I screamed.
It was already too late for Rowan. He was gone, right before my eyes… "Rowan! Rowan!" I screamed over and over.
"What are you, crazy?" I screamed. "He was only trying to protect me!"
Dantalion moved toward the altar inside the Courtyard of the Undead, releasing me from the chained altar. He saw the look on my face.
"Do not fear the safety of the boy," Dantalion assured me. "He is unharmed, but foolish to cross me. My legion of demons will either protect or destroy, at will upon my command."
"Well, command them to protect!" I yelled.
"He is safe where I have sent him, within the outer boundary between men and the demonic legion. There lies our safety, beyond the Courtyard's stone borders."
I wasn't sure what he meant by "he is safe where I have sent him."
"Where exactly did you send him?" I asked, worried that my best friend was about to be devoured into pieces by thirty six legions of newly released demons.
"He is safe, protected , at the Realm of Goetia," he answered.
Curiosity showed in my eyes, though the rest of me was close to collapsing to the ground. Dantalion chose my life over his chance at redemption. He would never get another chance. His clawed fingernails tilted my chin up slightly, moving my long hair away from my face. He lifted my weak body and carried me away from the Courtyard of the Undead past its stone borders.