Hi!
Okay, I admit it. You surprised me, again! I never thought someone would go for team Marrok or team Medici!! Well, they're powerful and I have to admit I love them myself, so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised ... Okay, enough rambling. Things are getting out of hand in this one! Did anyone see this coming??
Lara
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Chapter 25
Darkness yawned into the starlit night sky like a looming shadow. It was way too dark for my comfort. Too dangerous. Currently I had an escort, but they would only see me out.
No one to protect me while I was outside the Alpha's territory. The stench of musk followed us all the way through, up to the gate of steel and barbed wire, the border to a world that wasn't ruled by instinct and muscle alone.
I gave Marrok what I thought were the locations Medici was most likely to choose next, illustrated where the rogues had been and how they moved in the past few weeks. The alpha said he'd keep a close watch on all of the locations, and I believed him.
It was a show of good faith and a test of a sort. If my information proved to be useful, he was going to give me more info on the mysterious vamp Alexander was hosting. That left me with a handful of other problems to address on my own.
First and foremost the vampire killings and my current status in this city.
I watched Radulf and the rest of the wolves vanish into the shadows, retreat back into their keep â that abstract wasteland of metal and junk. I couldn't see them any longer, but the street was far from empty. It was potent with the scent of musk, danger, and secrets protected by elongated shadows and dark corners.
I shoved my hands into my pockets, drew the hood of my jacket over my head and started walking. No time to linger. I would hurry to the next-best side alley and portal out as fast as possible. There were things I had to do. From what I learned this night, Alexander invited a powerful vamp into his territory. Someone sanctioned by the Circle. Someone that-
A sound from the shadows to my left. I jerked, hands fanning out and away from body. I peered into darkness, ready to grab a handful of deadly magic.
"It's me."
The voice seemed to come out of nowhere. So familiar, it might have only existed in my head â the whisper of a ghost I conjured on my own. A ghost of my past, maybe.
Andy stepped out of the mantle of shadows, making a grab for my arm. I stepped back, eyes wide. He wasn't wearing a jacket, just blue, worn-out jeans and a white T shirt. His arms were fisted at his sides, as if he could barely contain himself from... yeah, from what?
His hair was wild. Something flashed behind his brown, almond-shaped eyes, a stirring that went hand in hand with the hard set of his shoulders. Biting tension exploded into the space between us, added to the growing sense of danger like a toxic trigger.
"I need to talk to you, Anna," he said.
I was too stunned by the urgency in his voice to step away before his fingers latched on my arm, dragging me into the alley with him. I gasped as my back thudded into cold brick behind. I pushed away from it, shaking off his hand, and asked the first, probably most trivial question that entered my mind.
"How did you find me?"
"Blaze made a deal with Marrok," Andy said softly.
"He did what? Why?" I said, tensing. "Is he ok?"
"Blaze's fine. He's keeping an eye on the parameter, making sure no one sneaks up on us.
If there were right words, or the right kind of questions to ask, they never crossed my mind. I shook my head.
"Why are you here, Andy?"
"I said I was going to help you, didn't I?"
I smiled despite myself. "Yes, you did."
The look in his eyes softened for the barest of seconds, reminding me of the Andy I knew from school. Carefree, laughing Andy. The dude that always had a smile and joke on his lips. Never gloomy. Never serious.
It was a long time ago.
"There's something you should know. I went back to the black market and called in one or two favors in the quarter. No one wanted to talk to me. Now one saw anything. Well almost no one. There were two eye witnesses that believed they saw something odd, or rather someone."
"Who?"
He pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. A printed photograph.
"Was he one of the witches that chased you?" He said.
Black, determined eyes, grim face. I stared at the picture and nodded.
"That's him."
Andy closed his hand on the paper and crumbled it in his palm. "We're fucked."
I blinked at him. "Okay. What's going on? You said there's something I should know. What exactly?"
"What do you know about the Death Squad, Anna?" There was an urgency in his eyes that made me wary.
"Never heard of it. Sounds like a group of contract killers," I said.
He shook his head. "Bounty hunters. Code name DS."
My mouth went dry. "And they're after me?"
He ran a hand through his hair. "The Death Squad are not your run of the mill bounty hunters. They're not officially part of the Circle, but they've been contracted by them many times before. Some even say all their money comes from the Circle. If push comes to shove, the DS will kill to preserve their secret. It's part of their business requirement to remain out of the eye of the public."
I stared at him, blinking. Bounty hunters paid by the Circle? Coming for me?
"You must be careful. O'Donnel was the chief operator when they approached me," Andy said.
I stilled. "Wait a moment. When they approached you?"
"I declined, of course." He shrugged. "It's a long time ago, Anna." He shook his head. "Listen, as far as I know O'Donnel still is chief operator. He's capable and deadly, military trained and a highly rated air user; has tons of experience when it comes to hard war years. His success rate is 98 percent â meaning: the Circle asks, he delivers. No matter who, no matter how."
"What about the Raven?" I said. "Is he part of the two percent O'Donnel didn't bring in?"
"He hasn't been out that long. I'm guessing they're on it now."
"Okay. I'll be careful," I said.
"Okay?" Andy drew closer. "Careful? Careful? That's not enough. They'll be on you within a few days. They have the means and the experience to track down anyone hiding in this city. I don't know what exactly happened, but you've got to watch your ba-"
There wasn't the whisper of a warning. Nothing that could have prepared me or us for the cataclysm manifesting right in our midst. A cloud of darkness, dragging along the belated screeching of feet pounding on asphalt like claws hitting stone in the distance.
A hint of motion at the mouth of the alley, elongated shadows growing and growing like a spinning set of dark mirrors â too fast for the human mind to process, too dark for the human eye to look into. The displacement of air in a soft rush that grazed my ears.
Its force came at me like a bullet, the potency of its presence trying to flatten me to the wall behind. Shields of air mushroomed from the ground, a silent barrier around Andy and me that might or might not hold against what was coming.
An intake of breath and they were there, surrounding us. Dangerous, all of them. Deadly, only one.
Alexander was dressed in black from head to toe, death come to life with the face of a fallen angel. A walking, talking contradiction. Shadows played around his face as he came closer with the slow gait of the devil circling in on his victim of choice. Here for the simple purpose of devouring the victim's soul without offering any deal at all. He was here for me.
"I am sorry to interrupt your little tête-à -tête," he said to Andy. "But I believe this is not the time to wallow in memories." His eyes flashed to me.
No words. Not for me. If there was an exchange of some sort, it never happened on a verbal level. The air exploded with power, potent with dark dreams and secrets, heady with the scent of the grave, a choking fist that squeezed with the might and arrogance of a conqueror.
What his eyes saw was a human servant he had yet to master and control. If there was one thing I swore to myself, it was that no matter how, no matter when, I would only meet him on an equal footing. I finally had the power and determination to do it.
"Can the dramatics and tell us what you want, Alexander," I said, watching him closely. The magical wall between us was strong and solid. Nothing even he could simply walk through.
Not a hint of motion on his face, features composed, expression unreadable. By all appearances he was rattled by nothing; feared nothing; felt nothing.
"It is time that we speak. There are some lose ends we have to tie up, I believe," he said. "You will come with me. Alone." His gaze shifted to Andy for the barest of seconds.
Andy stirred beside me. Even without looking I could intuit and read his motions. He was ready for an attack, should it happen. And I wouldn't let it happen, dammit.
I could feel the precise moment Alexander's eyes settled on me again. The added weight and pressure were like hands skimming the back of my neck.
I feigned indifference and laughed. "You're missing a small, but important detail here, Alexander. I can teleport out any time I want and there's nothing you can do about it."
"You are wrong, little witch. It was not me that missed a detail of vital importance," Alexander said.
Again, not the hint of motion on his face. Nothing but a simple nod that might, or might not have been directed at one of his vamps.
From the ring of silent vamps, out stepped a hooded figure. The first hint of human, of life in their midst. I narrowed my eyes.
No. Not human.
I knew Alexander was not above using sleight of hand and cheap vampire tricks if he came out as the winner in the end. I was prepared for a diversionary maneuver. Just not the one he orchestrated.
"Blaze," Andy saidsoftly, cursing.