Bathe In Fire - Shadows of the Night 2

Chapter 24

Hi!

I did extra work, and more extra work. And so here I can post another chapter, which you will hopefully enjoy. Some of you said you were impatient for Anna to see her attraction for Alexander for what it was and accept it. Now, I'm not saying the attraction is real (I'm not saying it has no substance either), however, I want you all to think about what happened in Anna's past. I don't think that's something you can just overcome and walk away from.

We shouldn't even think about such things, but, just for a moment, imagine the unthinkable: if somebody murdered your family, and carried a specific trait or distinctive appearance, belonged to a certain group - how would you feel like everytime you saw someone looking like that person? What would it take for you to forgive and forget? If you like, feel free to answer that question and let me know your thoughts on it.

Lara

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Chapter 24

The blurring vision steadied and I was placed on my feet again.

Whoa!

My head was spinning and my body felt like it had been on a freaking carousel ride with my mind drugged on psychedelics. Dizziness made me trying to grab something, afraid that I would lose my balance. Too late did I realize that I had grabbed Alexander's shirt. I blushed and let go, about to toss a few dirty words at him that had been hanging on the tip of my tongue for days. Being thrown over his shoulder like a garbage sack was the final straw to what the head vampire had been orchestrating lately.

I opened my mouth, noticing only then that the vampire was ignoring me completely. He moved past me, brushing my hand away wordlessly. I closed my mouth and looked around in bewilderment. Had he really sensed the death of one person in the whole damned city? I drew up my walls of air and took a look around, scowling.

This better be good.

We were in an alley and the faint music from Crimson District's clubs was like a weak memory, remote and silent. The alley was deserted, and by the looks of it we were in one of the run down parts of the city at the fringe of the district. I couldn't seem to see past that mayhem of darkness and shadows around us. I was seriously starting to believe that the head vampire was only giving me the run around.

I froze. I saw it behind Alexander's crouching figure. Blood is being drawn. Somebody is on the verge of dying. I remembered his words. He had been right.

There on the cold, dark asphalt. A body. Eyes wide open. Arms loosely at her side. Skin white. My eyes widened in horror. I sucked in a breath. The corpse had two puncture marks on her neck. Red. Blood. I gulped, tasting sour spit. Alexander looked at me. His blue eyes were piercing and cold, a visual twin to the tone of his voice.

"Do you sense anything?"

And then it hit me. If Alexander really had sensed the death of the victim, it would mean that the murder happened less than five minutes ago. I delved into second sight. The world tipped and changed its colors, giving me access to a vision of surrounding auras. My vision was smacked and saturated with the dark nothingness in front of me. Alexander's aura danced into my sight with ease. Apart from that nothing but the endlessness of patchy gray. The circle of awareness widened as I opened myself up fully. I saw it at the very edge of my perception. Movement. Dark nothingness.

"A vampire. Down the street," I said, drawing a shallow breath.

Alexander shot up and was gone before I even had a chance of saying more. I sprinted after him, running into a crisscross pattern of unknown alleyways. Hesitation made me stop in my tracks as I reached the next deserted street, not sure which way to go. Icy night-air made my breath foggy. A cold breeze slapped against my face. There was darkness all around me and no movement – nothing that could have even remotely hinted at a blood-crazed vampire lurking in the shadows.