Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 22

Hi,

brace yourselves for this one. It's going to be intense! That's all I'm going to say. You know the drill: read, comment, vote if you liked it! Thank you all for reading :-)

Lara

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Chapter 22

The car door slammed shut, a sound like a machine gun exploding in the dead silence of the night. It took all I had not to jump. Now that George had left us sitting alone in the car, I felt it more clearly. Waves of tension that had been building, spreading in Alexander's black BMW ever since we left Ryon Club like a deadlier version of the black plague.

The sweet smell of an overripe fruit – succulent, but close, oh so very close, to decay – tickled my nose and threatened to produce yet another spell of shivers. If I ignored it, managed not to react, maybe the head vampire wouldn't notice that I was on the verge of losing it. Yeah, being stuck with Alexander in one and the same car did a number on me.

"You suspect that one of the Circle headquarters' security guards is in fact an operative working for Raphael Medici." Alexander's voice was soft and silent, rubbed on my senses like ice picks on skin. "You claim you went to Marrok because you wanted to save Blaze Collins. Moreover, you owe the Alpha of the Fade pack a favor. When were you going to disclose this information to me?"

Not at all.

I kept my head straight ahead, focusing on the faint light of the street in front of us. We were not far from shape shifter territory, and I had an angry, sociopathic head vampire beside me who was itching to get his hands on something he could kill. Things had deteriorated, and I was trying to think of a way to stop them from exploding right up my face.

"What? No answer, little witch?"

His eyes were on me. I felt it, knew it with a certainty I couldn't quite explain. As much as I couldn't explain why the images were still coming. Me in his arms. That free-fall feeling when the tips of his fangs made contact with my skin.

"Then let me rephrase my question. When were you going to tell me why the Alpha of the Fade pack took an interest in you to begin with? You have been busy, have you not?" His voice dipped low – soft and yet clinically sharp. "I have information that you frequented a venue close to the Riverside, and I can imagine why and to what purpose. While I would appreciate your eagerness to meet my demands and find former members of the Bloody Warden, I doubt that you did it for my sake."

That made me react. My eyes went to him. The action was inevitable and guaranteed, a compass needle spinning north.

I could have gotten over the fact that Alexander apparently knew about my meeting with Fabrice. But now the ex-Bloody-Warden-members too? How the hell did he know all these things when I'd been so sure I managed to shake off his undead hounds?

"It's got nothing to do with you, Alexander. This is TF3 business."

"Is it, little witch?" He cocked his head, smiling.

I gave him a blank stare. "The Bloody Warden members and Chris Hayes are probably the only witnesses we have access to that were working with the Raven. I figured they could give me information on the mole."

The smile didn't vanish, did, in fact, even darken and deepen – if that was even possible.

"For the sake of simplifying the matter I will leave it at that. Instead we will discuss Marrok and the Fade pack. You and your witch friend encountered them at the Riverside."