Drown Under Earth - Shadows of the Night 3

Chapter 10

Hey!

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Last week after posting I totally freaked out because - I still can't believe it - I'm a finalist in the Watty Awards category Vampire/on the rise!! Now back to the new chapter. Okay, I'll admnit it, Anna is like THE magnet for trouble, and I'm not even talking about the head vamp here (who by the way will be back in the story pretty soon!).

Special thanks to Night_Wanderer94 who created an awesome banner - please click on external link and have a look at it!!

Lara

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Chapter 10

I stood before them and couldn't help gaping. The pictures on the wall called to me just like they had the first time I saw them. Images of enraged creatures wrestling for swords, weapons of magical and non-magical nature flying through the air, pale faces contorted in the realization of true and final death – it was all there. To me the murals that coated the walls would have been the greatest attraction of the club, hadn't it been for the possible secret purpose of the Bloody Warden.

Magic buried somewhere deep inside of me, I entered the club as a half witch a few minutes ago. Dressed in sneakers, light-blue jeans and a black T, my leather jacket slung over my shoulder carelessly, I felt comfortable with my attire. Probably the only thing I was going to feel comfortable about this night.

I didn't get much sleep after the encounter with Marrok. So here I was, doing work for the head vampire. Again.

I turned around and took in the dark wooden chairs and tables, eyes brushing over the sconces and the red-orange glow of the candles. The decoration and accessories emanated an atmosphere of long gone ages, and didn't fail to implant the impression that I was in some sort of English pub of the 1800s.

I began weaving my way through the crowd, which exclusively consisted of half or lesser witches, members of the magical community whose prowess was not sufficient enough to gain a position within the Circle. They lived their lives among humans. A division of sorts. They occupied positions in the human job world and, as far as I knew, lived among our fellow race undetected. While that might have been advantageous in many respects, it also meant that they would never be fully part of the inner magical community or the Circle. It didn't make them 'lesser' in my eyes, but it made them different.

Thinking this, among many other things, I moved further into the club. Alexander sent me to infiltrate. So infiltrate I would. What purpose I would serve in the end and for who exactly I was here – that was a question I would leave open just a little while longer. For the moment it was for. Me alone.

Since it was already my second visit, I found it easier to blend in, and so, less than half an hour later, I was talking to a group of witches that were about my age. We were standing at the bar, where I followed their example in my first feeble attempts at contact and ordered a Cider – whatever the hell that was.

While half of them were seated on wooden bar stools, I remained on my feet. The cranky bar stool I was offered looked like it would squeak and crumble into dust by merely staring at it for too long. Sarah – the undercover name I chose for myself in one of my dumber moments – was lucky enough to sneak her way into their conversation. Sarah wasn't going to stretch her luck with this one.

And by the three great witches, I had other problems. I was still juggling to put the right names to matching faces. Since there were about eight of them, it proved to be one hell of a task. So far we had discussed the upcoming elections of the human president. But then, to my luck (hah!) and out of the blue, someone mentioned the murder of Magenta Warrens. Feigned interest and low enthusiasm whooshed out the door. In came explosive excitement paired with inconvenient nervousness.