Dear readers,
I want to thank you all for staying with me and this story for so long. It's hard to believe, but this is the last chapter of book 1! If you like Anna's story, for it's hers as much as it's mine, I invite to come along and read the second book "Bathe in Fire, Shadows of the Night 2", which I'll begin to post in a short while. So, let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!
Lara
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Chapter 40
You just wait until Brown hears of this, Alexander! You won’t get away with it!
I found it, the smart answer I was looking for. Too late for him to actually hear, but hear from me he would.
I went into Brown’s office the following day, determined to let my boss know just what kind of scheming, psychopathic monster this so-called ally of his really was. Alexander clearly breached the terms of the deal he and Brown agreed upon.
It was illegal to force somebody into a master-slave-relationship. We both knew it. Alexander said it was going to be my word against his. So why hadn’t he already told Brown? Why didn’t he want him to know? Did he want him to know?
The only question that remains is: what will you do, Anna Johnson?
The words echoed in my mind, spun and whirled like leaves tossed up in the air. It was almost like he was daring me to tell, or not tell – the ultimate provocation.
Alexander was wrong. There was more than one question to be answered. The ultimate question was: Was this just another mind game within the bigger one, or was it real?
* * *
I sat down opposite my boss, waiting for him to go through the final details of the case. Dressed in a dark gray suit and tie, Brown leaned forward, staring at me for a few seconds. I stared back, too keyed up to be bothered by the fact that he didn’t talk.
“You really did it. Congratulations,” he said slowly.
I nodded mutely, doing another round of staring. The wheels inside, however, were turning. The fact that Brown refrained from the usual introductory overtures made me more than suspicious. Something was off.
“Did the Raven confess yet?” I finally said.
Brown shook his head gravely. “What we can say for sure, at this point in time, is that the faked amulets were reconstructed after a token Heron received from Antonio Cellini himself,” he said, before elaborating further.
Based on what Alexander stated during a meeting with Brown the night before – a meeting I had been unaware of, by the way, – Heron mentioned that the amulet he received had been nowhere to be found a few weeks ago. He also mentioned a visit to the royal estate of the Cellinis three months ago to Alexander.
“Heron’s human servant, Corine, abstracted one of the amulets from the private chambers of the royalty and managed to return it without anyone noticing,” Brown concluded.
I narrowed my eyes. So that was when they tampered with the amulets. It also meant that Alexander already made that connection the night after I was wounded. The ‘human-servant-Anna’ was left in the dark during the final tea party with the Cellinis, Heron, and Alexander. The vamps were aware of how the amulet was stolen and reproduced at that point in time, but, evidently, they were reluctant to share quality information with a human servant.
Go figure.
Brown leaned back and laced his fingers in front of him, elbows resting on the arm-rests of his office chair.
“The Raven’s attitude hasn’t changed at all. In fact he only talked once when he made use of his right to consult with an attorney.” A small smile played on my boss lips. “Luckily, however, some of the other dark witches that were arrested in the warehouse have been less reluctant to share information. We have full confessions of two rogues, who claim that the Inri Brotherhood set up the assassination, and that everything was planned through from A to Z. That includes working together with a vampire who was willing to kill the Cellinis.”
My fingers tightened on the chair arms. This was the one information I needed, had come for.
“We were able to identify Maria’s killer as Thomas Burke. What both Heron and Alexander have been oblivious to is the fact that Thomas has been part of Heron’s vampiric security force for years. It would have been easy for him to enter the Vampire League conference without attracting attention,” Brown said. “According to the two rogues’ testimonies, he was supposed to smuggle in the fake amulets, exchange them during the banquet, and finally murder the royal vampires – and that without once even knowing that he was working for the Raven himself.”
I looked at Brown unseeingly. Even the most flawless, perfect, and well-thought out plan had a weakness, was prone to external circumstances that couldn’t possibly be foreseen. I learned it the hard way. Coincidence and happenstance were a liability one had to reckon with. In that particular case Maria happened. Maybe she witnessed the exchange of the fake amulets between the vampire and Verne. Maybe she only wanted to question the vamp.
My guess was that the fact that I witnessed how Thomas killed her ruled out the possibility of him getting involved any further. Apparently Medici had a backup plan. A plan that involved Corine and the middleman Verne himself. The rest of the story was history, apart from one thing.
I blinked, stared at Brown for a long moment. I had to tell him. Get it over with.
Brown leaned back, grave eyes resting on me. “We were not able to locate Maria’s murderer.”
I froze. The world spun and shattered as the words penetrated and swirled through the channels inside my head. I repeated them silently, tried to let them sink in, grasp their meaning. Thomas Burke was probably still alive – somewhere, out there.
Brown talked. I stared. It felt like someone had smacked me straight in the stomach. With a club the size of a tree.
“Apparently the Raven saw him as a burden and a reliability; a pawn rendered useless, if you like. According to the rogues that testified, Medici wanted to dispose of the vampire right after that night Maria was murdered. Thomas, however, disappeared before he could do so. Due to the heavy security measures maintained and the strict border control for the conference, we have reason to believe that he’s still in New York.”
He took a deep breath, sighing. “Apparently Thomas is not directly affiliated with Heron, hence we’ll have to use other means to relocate him. Alexander has agreed to monitor his territory closely. I believe that it will be only a matter of time until we seize him.”
I leaned back, finding no comfort in the coldness of soft leather behind my spine. It felt like someone pulled the rug out from under me. The sensations of free fall and sudden purposelessness threw me into a short-termed catatonic state that was followed by hollow numbness. He was still alive.
Whatever Brown said in the ensuing five minutes was mostly lost upon me. Once I did listen consciously again, I found that he was talking about the possibility of there being more members of the Brotherhood’s new arm distributed across the states. The arrested rogue witches questioned said they didn’t know of the existence of any other members.
Since we had not found Verne among them, there was still a possibility that someone was harboring him. That in turn, could have hinted at a greater number of members. Brown pointed out that, speaking from experience, we could be positive that such was the case.
What we couldn’t be sure about was whether the Inri Brotherhood was responsible for the deaths of so many humans and the emergence of the new drug. Since I didn’t gain any valuable information at the conference of the Vampire League, we were completely in the dark there. So far, none of the dark witches had admitted any involvement in the drug business. They insisted that they were oblivious to the matter. Which left us in the middle of nowhere.
As his voice ebbed into silence, I geared myself up for what was to come: I had to tell him the truth.
“Alexander forced me to drink his blood.” The words rushed out of my mouth. Saying it felt funny and somehow wrong.
Brown laced his fingers in front of him, his stare a lazy mix of understanding and graveness.
“Alexander has already informed me about what happened at the conference.”
I gripped the chair’s armrests and hurled myself forward. “He did what?!”
“Alexander told me what happened that night.” Brown unlaced and refolded his hands in front of him, a visible and unusual tenseness fusing his fingers into muscled knots. “He told me that your wound was so severe that he saw no other way. Calling an ambulance was out of the question. He had to avoid betraying your secret identity to the other members of the assembly at all costs. All Alexander could do to save you was giving you his blood.”
“He couldn’t call an ambulance!? That’s what he said?”
I stared at Brown uncomprehendingly. Alexander had got nerve. So he told Brown about our connection after all? Had I imagined the challenge in his voice when he asked me what I was going to do? And what was wrong with Brown, anyway? Last time I checked he wasn’t subject to naivety, not to say dumbness.
He refolded his hands again and leaned forward slightly. “From your reaction I take it that this has caused problems for both of you, but, Anna, I can assure you that whatever symptoms you’ve experienced since then are only temporary. In time they will fade.”
My lungs deflated. Yeah, that’s what I thought too, before the head vampire disclosed the fact that I was his new flunky. Something he apparently didn’t mention to you.
“Anna, I don’t know what exactly happened between you and Alexander, but whatever issues you have with the head vampire, you should resolve them. He assured me that he will accept a simple apology from you.”
Apology? From me?
“Apologize to Alexander? The hell I will! You have no idea what he-”
“Fact is that he spoke in your behalf and praised your skills as a witch, Anna,” Brown said, voice quiet. “He even suggested that you should join the new task force for collaboration between the three races.”
I had the instant urge to snort. “And he thinks that will -”
Brown shot me a look that, for once, silenced me. It was a look I’d been waiting for a long time. It was a look of approval.
“I do consider taking you into the new task force, Anna.”
I stared at him, not bothering to hide my skepticism and disbelief. Me a member of the new task force? I heard about it – hell, everyone who was even remotely in touch with the world heard about it. The three races agreed to establish a task force for greater cooperation a few months ago. The TF3. Only the best and most powerful members of the magical community (including shape shifters), humans, and vampires would be part of it.
Whoever was lucky enough to be selected for one of the teams would not only be a member of the Circle’s forces, but a higher ranking one.
Now Brown was implying that I was a candidate. The fact in itself was not only disturbingly unexpected, it didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t even a member of the Force. So how could I possibly be considered worthy or capable of the job?
I eyed Brown, fisting my hands tightly before letting them rest on the table. Given that he was dangling this opportunity in front of my nose, he really didn’t know that Alexander had made me his servant. Somewhere something clicked.
That was the challenge, the death trap I’d been waiting for to spring open. It was the reason why Alexander spoke in high terms of me and why he apparently believed he could get away with what he did. He thought he could buy my silence by bringing me into the new force.
Hah! For all I knew he would try to set me up to gain more influence in the Circle! Of course I would say no to this. Right? I mean, I couldn’t just say yes. But then again, if I-
“Anna?”
I blinked. There I was caught up between two different ends of the same page. Right and wrong. It should have been easy enough to sort this out, but somehow those two looked disturbingly similar.
No. I knew that taking advantage of the situation wasn’t the right thing to do – I wasn’t that deluded.
“Wait, Brown. This is what I’ve been working so hard for, what I wanted for years, you know that. I want to be part of the team, but only if I earned it. Certainly not because I was pimped by a master vampire.”
I took a shallow breath, trying to bring myself to tell him the truth. Did I fail Brown? Did I fail the Circle? Probably. Was I ashamed? Yeah, dammit, I was.
“You’ve earned your position in the team all by yourself, Anna,” Brown said, gazing at me sternly. “You can work together with a vampire, I know that now. For once you didn’t let your past and your prejudice get in the way. Moreover you were able to evaluate the situation rightly, a competence indispensable for a witch wanting to work in one of the Circle’s forces.”
Can work together with a vampire… Yeah, if my life depends on it I can work together with King Kong,I thought, trying to school my face into neutrality. Somehow I was starting to believe that one person in this room was delusional after all, and it wasn’t me.
He took a shallow breath, leaning forward. “Anna, being that close to the master vampire of New York, I think you’ve finally been able to overcome your blind hatred for vampires, the only obstacle to your being in the force to start with. I’ve made up my mind. I will designate you as a member of the new team. Am I right in assuming that you will accept the position?”
I stared at him, not capable of speaking.
All these years of education. Working two years for the Circle in the research department had been a mere substitute. Not the real thing.
A tight knot formed in my stomach. Could I really say no to this? Did Alexander guess that I was willing to trade almost anything for a position in the task force or did he simply see it while having a ghostly walk through my mind?
That sly manipulating bastard. No matter what I did now, he won, and I was screwed. What would happen if I rejected the offer and revealed the truth? A witch working for the Circle couldn’t be a vampire’s servant. In fact it would mean that I would be shunned by the rest of the magical community.
All just because Alexander forced blood down my throat and drank from me in return. And what about the head vampire? Would the Circle dare to impeach the head vampire of New York? I seriously doubted that. I knew Alexander too well by now. Surely he would find a way to talk his way out.
I stared at my hands, tensing. What should I do? What would Maria do?
Maria wouldn’t think about herself. Not for a second. She’d consider the Circle and the well-being of others first. But I wasn’t Maria.
I stared at my boss. The worst thing was that Brown trusted the head vampire. There was this inexplicable, irrational confidence in the – from my point of view non-existent – good nature of the vampire. I narrowed my eyes. All in all this blind trust pointed to there being parts of their relationship I had no knowledge of. Whatever it was, their liaison was a dangerous one.
If I told my boss the truth, my life would be over. I’d lose my job, and probably most of my friends in the Circle. If I didn’t, I would be a liar. But I’d be a liar with a job and with friends.
I made my decision: I wasn’t going to let the head vamp take this from me. I’d find out what it was that made Brown trust the vampire blindly. I would deal with the rest later. I took a deep breath.
“I accept the position.”
“Good. Given that you’ve already worked together with Alexander, you’ll be the contact person for the vampire community. You’ll continue to cooperate with Alexander in the future.”
I froze. The rhythm of my heart stagnated as it faltered and failed to beat for a few seconds.
Torpidly, I walked out of Brown’s office five minutes later. I felt like a traitor, like I had made a deal with the devil. No, I had made a deal with Brown. I was in league with the devil. I was in league with Alexander, the head vampire of New York.
* * *
The streets swept past me in one monotone blur as I sped towards my destination. I parked the car near the main road and walked the last few hundred feet. Peaceful and majestic, the clear waters of Lake George crashed against the small cliff. Bathed in warm golden light, the shores and water surface glittered in a sea of sparkling dots reuniting to dance and tumble over each other in front of my eyes.
I sat down and crossed my feet, the forest soil cool underneath me. I could discern the outlines of the Adirondack Mountains more clearly than the last time I stood at this spot.
It felt like Maria’s funeral happened a lifetime ago. I watched how the sun slowly neared its boundaries to the line between air and water until my vision began to swim in glassy liquidity.
I closed my eyes, welcoming the tears that I had been holding back for so long. Thoughts of Maria and happy memories of moments we shared surfaced with a violence I didn’t expect. I welcomed it, opened myself to it until I thought I couldn’t take it. Angry, hot tears turned into something softer and more fragile as I simply cried for my friend.
How was I going to deal with it? Never seeing Maria’s face again, living in the knowledge that I betrayed Brown, the Circle, and most of all my parents. Life was not what I’d expected it to be. There was no happy ending for me. Never had been, never would.
I stared at the fading sunlight and the playful reflections in the water, fisting my hands. I survived it once, I’d survive it again.
So how was I going to handle this?
I remained in my position for a few minutes. I watched how the sun melted with the earth’s surface, watched the waves rise and fall, moved by the forces of wind. It was cruel. It was unfair. But despite everything, life was beautiful. There would be a way out of this. I’d simply have to find it.
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Here's the link to book 2:
http://www.wattpad.com/9721754-bathe-in-fire-shadows-of-the-night-2