Hi,
I'm so excited for the new book, I don't know where to start! Writing another book seems like a thrilling adventure, weird experiment and new possibility - all in one. And it might turn out to be the best choice ever (I hope)... I guess we'll see. ;-)
No matter what: thank you all for reading! You made this book happen. :-)
Lara
___________________________________________________________
Chapter 1
ANDY
The surge of elemental magic behind me was stupendous. I had turned my back on them and started walking – against my better judgement. You don't turn your back on an enemy, unless your back is well covered. Anna's godmother might be a skilled witch, but Heléna Bathoryn had an outrageous amount of magic available. I had no idea if Giuliana could take her.
Still, my range of options was limited. I was going to trust Giuliana's skills, for now.
The fighting in front of me was messy. The vamps moved supernaturally fast, slipped into that blend of fast-forward motion and sudden stillness, if needed. Impossible to detect their next move as a human, still hard to tell as a witch. The auratic setup of the street was one hell of a mess, leaking the power of the grave like a massive black hole in the making.
In the chaos of a fight one can slip through easily, if one knows how to move and what to avoid. Now, if these are vamps you're dealing with, slipping through is more like trying to ditch flying bullets coming your way. I'd have to stay on my toes and keep a cool head.
Still, there was one motherfucker of a problem I couldn't just slip past by. How the hell was I going to get Anna away from Vladislav without him noticing?
I redid the concealing spell I'd used before, repeating it word for word until the magic whizzed through my veins like liquid powder. The question was whether Vladislav would notice. Even among all those powerful vamps in the street, he was the one that stuck out. He was the eye of the storm of auratic chaos.
Anna was motionless. Her long brown hair shielded part of her face, but I could see enough to know something was wrong. Her eyes were vacant, as if she wasn't here in the street, but miles away.
Then, a few steps beside her, he. Vladislav wasn't moving, hadn't in fact moved for a while. His eyes were on the fight, but might have been fixed on a black void. Like he too, wasn't quite there himself.
There was only one viable strategy I could think of: Wait for the right moment and snatch her from right under his nose. Which was the worst plan of action I could have chosen.
You have no better idea, Varner, so fuck it.
A guttural scream traveled above the level sound of fighting. My eyes scanned the surroundings and halted on Alexander and his adversary. He was facing off with the red-haired vampire Anna and I encountered when we followed Fabrice's group into the old cinema.
Alexander's was face void of emotion most of the time and I suspected he used the blank look as some sort of weapon. It was the same when he was fighting and not. Something was different about him when he was in motion.
A certain relaxed naturalness settled over him when facing his opponent. He was moving lightning fast, controlled and attacked with a level head – outstanding, even among vampires. Had he been a soldier at some point in his life – perhaps once, a long time ago, when he was still human?
Alexander and Shinji were like two reflections placed on two sides of a two-way-mirror. They looked like they'd been doing this dance for ages, as if one could foretell the next step of the other even before it happened. Shinji moved right liquid fast, his hair a blur of red, going for Alexander's neck. Alexander moved to the left, evading, then copying the motion and starting his counterattack. The way I saw it, they were equally matched.
My eyes went back to Vladislav, mind racing. No use in waiting for the right moment, if it was never going to come anyway. I had to get closer now and-
It was a trickle in the auratic landscape, at first small and insignificant. Then it exploded into a flood of liquid uproar. Something was coming. I turned, letting my inner eye stretch out and feel for the auratic landscape.
I knew the massive cloud of auras coming closer: witches. The Circle's Force was plowing its way through the Crimson District, approaching Victor's mansion from the northern part of the city, and they weren't particularly subtle about it. It spelled trouble.
I turned. Vladislav stirred, coming out of his state of motionlessness. It looked like he noticed their approach as well.
My pulse accelerated, another dose of adrenaline pushing buttons in my system. Fight or flight – the response was instant and clear. It was now or never.
I broke into a run, evading a vamp that seemed to come out of nowhere before he crashed into the skeleton of a parked car behind me.
Fifteen feet to go.
Ten.
I was going to-
Vladislav lifted a hand, head still turned towards the fight. "Heléna."
Shit. Had I been discovered?
I stopped short, looking back, hands loose at my sides. No one was behind me. The two witches were where I'd left them. A vortex of water rose up, squashed by a giant fist made of fire. Heléna Bathoryn was still in the middle of a fight with Anna's godmother – a fight Heléna might win.
I turned again... and froze.
No.
I scanned the area, eyes peering between the fighting vamps. Vladislav was gone, as was Anna. The vamps were still fighting, oblivious to the fact that Vladislav had left – all except Alexander and Shinji. I couldn't see them anymore. Where the hell was Alexander? The Circle would be here any minute and if it was the Force they were going to kill rogue vamps first, then ask questions later.
What the hell was going on here?
* * *
Jason Santo's mane of black hair was always in place. It was part of his bad-cop-routine in the Force. With his size he always stood out in a crowd, towering over everybody. During an interrogation he was the one that intimidated. I was the one that offered and listened. His get-up and hairstyle was part of the game.
Not so this night. My partner looked like he'd walked into a magically enhanced wind channel. The soft leather of his jacket was rumpled and there were stains on his jeans that suspiciously looked like blood.
I walked up to him. "What the hell happened to you? You look like shit."
"Yeah, fuck you too, Varner," Jason said, scanning the scene.
The unmarked Circle vehicles were still strewn all over the place, even though the vamps had already left. Most of them fled seconds before the Force arrived. Zack and a handful of Alexander's vamps were the only ones that remained. They caught four injured vamps that tried to make their way out.
Where Heléna Bathoryn or Anna's godmother vanished to was another mystery I hadn't figured out. And that was about all the information I had.
"Jason, talk to me, what's going on?"
He looked at me, a twisted blend of concern and suspicion in his dark-brown eyes. "Could ask you the same question, Andy. Did you give your statement?"
"Yeah, I did," I rubbed my forehead, closing my eyes. I needed to catch some sleep, at some point. But not before I knew Anna was still alive. "The great three witches know why, I already gave them all I have."
"You did?" Jason said. "Let's see. You told the Force it was some vamp dispute and a surprise attack launched against Alexander. And you just happened to be on a scene the Force gets called to even though you've been suspended. That was it, right?"
Jason wasn't stupid and neither was the Force, but that was the best version of events I could come up with without compromising Anna or any of the other parties involved. In essence it was the truth, though and that was exactly my strategy for the evening. Jason and I had been partners for a while, he'd know when and if I was lying. Another rule I was breaking for Anna.
You don't lie to your partner. You have to be able to trust each other. That includes telling stuff you'd rather keep to yourself and switching off part of the filter you usually use while talking. It's some sort of tough love most partners in the Force practice.
By telling him the truth, I would drag Jason into this. I couldn't do that. Not now. I was going to tell Jason, later, when I could.
"Yeah, that was it. I wish I had more, Jason. You know as well as I that vamp politics never make sense. There's more behind it, I'm with you there."
He rubbed his jaw, glancing at me, then his eyes moved back to the scene.
"Jason, what aren't you telling me?"
He sighed then looked back at me. "Multiple vamp attacks in a human club in the Riverside. Twenty humans dead. It happened about half an hour before we got here."
"Shit," I said.
"Yeah. Shit."
The Riverside was off-limits to vamps. It was an unwritten law that hadn't been breached once in the last ten years. There had been vampire attacks in the past few years, even with Alexander as head vampire, but never to this extent. It bode ill.
Still, I had to find Anna before things went to hell. Dammit.
"Anything else? Any other reports?"
He looked at me for a moment. "Not that I know of. Why you asking?"
I looked away and shook my head.
Where could Vladislav have gone to?
"Look, Andy, why don't you go home and catch a good night's sleep?"
I met his gaze. Did he have more information? If he had, I couldn't ask more without raising suspicion.
Finally I nodded. "Yeah, I'll do that."
He was right of course. Not that I was going to follow his advice.
"You need a ride?" He said.
"No thanks, my bike's just a few blocks over." I turned, shoving my hands in the pockets of my jacket. This was going to be a long night.
"I didn't want to be the one to tell you, but you look like shit too, you know," Jason yelled from behind.
I kept on walking. Some tough love.
Thanks Jason.