Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 57

Hi!

So we met Chris Hayes again in the last chapter. Any ideas what exactly she could be hiding? What would you do if you were in Anna's shoes? Thank you all for reading, I hope you like this one! :-)

Lara

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Chapter 57

"Why the alliance with the Raven? What did you get out of it?" I said.

"Damnit." She shook her head, staring at a spot on the floor. "The deal was to help his rogue witches get inside Warren's house and past the wards, never to kill her. I didn't know that, or I wouldn't have agreed."

"What did you get in return, Chris?"

She finally looked up and met my eyes. "You already know. It was all in the file. I wanted access to information. Information only the innermost Circle members had access to. The Raven helped me obtain it." She held my gaze, didn't look away. "He might be a rogue witch, but he recognizes the half-witches as supernatural creatures, as something equal to us. And he sees the Circle for what it is."

I narrowed my eyes, impatient for the answer I'd been fishing for. What exactly was in those files?

"Why did you want the information, Chris?"

She laughed at that. It was a harsh, bitter sound. "You're still asking? You've seen it. We both know what the Circle is. Vampires and witches have been sworn enemies since the dawn of time. Then the vamps are forced into the eye of the public and all the Circle can do to prevent an outright war is make concessions and sign peace treaties no one believes in anyway. Didn't it strike you as odd that they're now working alongside each other? Just like that? The Circle didn't just realize one morning it was a good idea to ally themselves closely with the vamps. No. I suspected they got something out of it, and I wanted to know what."

You've seen it.

It. But what it was she talking about? My discomfort at not knowing what exactly she was referring to grew. Dammit, what were those transactions about? Was that even what she meant? Was she talking about the TF3?

Something must have shown on my face, a crack in the calm façade I'd put on.

Chris threw her head back and laughed. "For a moment there I thought you knew. But you don't, do you?"

I pressed my lips into a thin line. Caught in the act. Dammit.

"What was it about?" I said slowly. It was all I could do not to lean forward, bury my nails into the steel-surface of the table.

"The sad truth? You wouldn't believe me," she said.

My breath whooshed out of me in one liquid fast moment. I got to my feet, nostrils flaring. Another one of those non-answers. The more I got the less I liked them.

"Try me." I forced calmness into my voice, watched her shake her head in slow motion – the coolness she'd been displaying earlier had snapped back into place, like a rubber band stretching and contracting in a single moment.

Fine.

I leaned forward. We were getting to the part I came for. "Where's the Raven, Chris?"

She stared at me, her face immobile and carefully neutral. It was there in her eyes. She wasn't going to give me any answers this night. Maybe never.

"Chris, you know what he did to Magenta Warrens. He doesn't give a damn about witches, or anyone who doesn't serve his purpose for that matter. No one knows what he's going to do next."