Drown Under Earth - Shadows of the Night 3

Chapter 11

Hi!

To all of you who like this series, and liked the second book: Can I ask you a favor? Book 2 - Bathe in Fire - is one of the finalists in the Wattys (category vampire/on the rise). So, if you liked this one, please please vote for me! It would mean a lot to me!

Now back to Anna and her pile of problems. I hope you like this one. Oh, and I can't wait until I can finish editing and post the next one!!

Lara

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Chapter 11

Feet shuffled. Clothes rustled. The crowd of anonymous faces thinned out and parted. Out stepped a middle-aged, blond woman. Chris, the owner of the club and probably also leader of whatever secret anti-vamp-lobbying Alexander suspected originated within these walls. Lobbying or not, she clearly didn't look happy.

Neither did the two musclemen she had in tow. One of them definitely was one of the bouncers. The other one I didn't know. Clad in black from head to toe, they didn't need the Security-label I had seen bouncers wearing in other clubs. They were plowing through the crowd of onlookers as if it was made of paper, or, rather, people were shying away from them as much as they had from Chris.

Which brought me to questions that popped into my mind during my first detour to the Bloody Warden. Just how high was the level of power that woman really possessed? What exactly triggered her opting out of the Circle?

She was dressed in an elegant black overall and pumps with heels to kill. Wild blond locks were tamed into a low ponytail. It looked good. The outer package was completed by a cunning meticulousness in her gaze that practically screamed danger. Her eyes swept the scene, burned right through me, until they finally settled on a visibly shaken Tony.

"What happened here?"

I eyed my former short-term drinking buddies and caught the blond girl's gaze. Hostility. Mistrust. It looked like she had a serious problem with me. As had anybody else.

My eyes swiveled back to the crowd and found more eyes glued to me. Uncertainty and surprise, not to say shock was written all over their faces. Brenna was staring at me, doe-eyed and unmoving. Tony's complexion was ashen, sweat pooling down his forehead and temples. Rotating my head back to the other side, I saw Chris' reprimanding gaze, the crowd of onlookers, then Brenna and Tony again.

I did the only thing I could think of. I took a shuddering breath and fainted.

* * *

I always thought that acting like you were fainting was easy. You close your eyes and down you go. Finito. I screwed my eyes up for the effect of showing some white and plummeted to the floor like a tree log.

That was milliseconds before I hit the ground. And what a hit it was. Pain detonated, shot up the side of my face, my right shoulder, my upper arm, and, most of all, the area around my stomach and chest.

Holy witch, that hurt.

Eyes watering, I tried to keep still, only to be turned over by someone's sweaty hands. I thought the tough part was over already then.

I was wrong.

Meaty hands were fingering for my pulse, while someone else straightened out my legs.

"Still breathing." The voice and the meaty fingers had to belong to the bouncer.

"Move along folks, nothing to see here," another deep male voice growled. Ten bucks said that he was the other heavy muscle belonging to Chris' entourage.