Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 20

Hi!

I hope you had a great weekend! Okay, in this one we're coming down to business. Serious business in fact. Read on and you'll find out just how serious ;-)

Let me know if you like it!

Lara

__________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 20

I stalked through Ryon Club with fisted, white-knuckled hands, the carousel of sound and light glancing off of me - just like the angry frown the bouncer gave me. Like I cared if he had had a bad day, or night in his case. I had my own share of problems. While I was in his office, Brown didn't even once mention the rogue witches or Chris Hayes - the only people that could have connected me to the vampires and their infamous leader. From the moment my mind resurfaced from the first state of shock up to the second I reached Crimson District's stinking outer edges, I'd been wondering how Brown knew about the fact that I was bound to the head vampire of New York.

Took me long enough to figure it out. I had my answer: Alexander. He'd probably decided it was time to end my dual occupational status and dropped my boss a not so subtle hint. That damned legal contract I signed after I betrayed him to the Raven ensured that he had nothing to fear from me.

And, it confirmed the theory that the head vampire had some sort of hold over Brown. Their whole history was probably stained with lies, bluffs, and power games the world hadn't seen yet.

I plowed my way through the undead crowd in Ryon Club, ignoring the sight of fang-marked necks of the waitresses and dancers as much as humanly possible. I was close to the door to the Blue Room at the back of the club when I caught a glimpse of auburn hair among the pale-faced crowd around me. Zack, Alexander's second in command was heading my way. The dark-green shirt he was wearing stretched over his heavy muscled torso as if it was made out of magical spandex. I frowned, opened my mouth, about to comment on his get up, and ... was completely ignored.

He rushed past me without even once looking at me, almost as if he was reluctant to even acknowledge my existence. I stared at his back as he disappeared into the crowd. No way he didn't see me. What the hell? Hadn't I been so mad at the head vamp himself, I would have considered going after Zack and find out what exactly was eating him.

I shook my head and marched on, eyes fixed on the back wall of the club. Eyes on the prize. And it was a vengefully dark one.

Once there, I wrenched the door open. The long corridor to my own personal version of hell opened up in front of me, dark and sinister, just the way I remembered it. I walked right into it, slamming the door behind me. My footsteps sounded angry, like the clipped staccato beat of a typewriter in fast motion.

Jack, Alexander's number one human servant, was guarding the oil-like curtain at its end as if it was the entrance to his own bank vault. I snorted inwardly. What lay behind was a vault alright, just not of the kind that stored shiny, precious things.

Jack's expression changed from the moment he saw me. A death glare that by rights should have stopped me in my tracks. Nothing new there. I was about to take a leaf out of Zack's book, ignore Jack, and push past him, when I heard him mutter, "This time you went too far, Anna."

I turned my head, frowning. That Jack didn't particularly like me was yesterday's news, but what the hell did he mean with this cryptic statement?

I did a mental shrug. Who cares?

Shaking my head, I walked through the curtain of black blindly. The dark cloth fanned out in front of me, brushing my face at the sides. The fabric was slick and heavy, reminding me of things that were cold and smelled of old blood. I stepped into the Blue Room, parting the curtain away from me with an angry swipe, and found myself staring at what looked like an empty room.