Blood Vengeance

Chapter Four ~ The Present

Early November in New York City reminded me of September in St. Petersburg. It's not cold enough for snow yet but it's also not warm enough to walk outside without at the very least a sweater. I sit out on the sidewalk patio of The Hungarian Pastry Shop near Columbia University where my younger sister Nika attends. We have a standing afternoon date here each week where we both order a specialty coffee, me a Russian coffee and her a Hungarian coffee or Frozen Cappuccino. Then we share the best Vatrushka made in New York. It's the only personal routine I allow myself to have.

I pull my cream colored cashmere sweater tightly to fight off the early November chill in the air while I take a long sip from the bittersweet rich coffee as I wait for my sister who was now more than twenty minutes late. The back of my neck prickles with the chill I know has nothing to do with the fall weather in New York City. It doesn't matter how much I try to cover up or inhale the hot coffee, the chill just won't go away.

I take out my phone for the umpteenth time since I arrived at the coffee shop. All of my texts to Nika went unanswered. I had been running late to begin with but Nika is a stickler for time. She always arrives ten to fifteen minutes early for everything. So when I arrived and she wasn't there, my first thoughts were that she may have become annoyed with me for being late and decided to leave. It wouldn't be the first time she's done it.

Another ten minutes pass and my heart rate increases. This isn't like Nika. She's the youngest but she's also the most responsible of all of us. Even when she has left in the past she's called me or texts me to let me know that she's annoyed and leaving. I decide to call our brother Mikal.

He answers on the first ring and I don't give him enough time to even speak before my panicked voice starts with the Spanish inquisition.

"Where's Nika? Have you talked to her today? Have you seen her recently? I thought you put a trace on her phone! How come I can't access it? What the fuck is going on Mikal?" I whisper shout.

"Hello my beautiful sister. It's nice to talk to you too." He replies in a teasing tone.

"Stop Mikal. This isn't funny." I sigh. "Nika was supposed to meet me today. She should have been here nearly an hour ago and she's not. I tried calling her, it goes straight to voicemail. I've texted her and the messages are showing up as unread. I tried to log on to the tracking app and her phone isn't showing up."

"Did you try calling her dorm room?" He asks nonchalantly.

"Of course I did. Somethings not right Mikal. I can feel it!" I cry.

"Okay, okay. First relax for a minute. Maybe she forgot?" He asks but I can tell he's just trying to appease me so I will calm down.

"Forgot? Really? You and I both know Nika forgets nothing! We meet every week, same place, same time. FUCK!" I shout loud enough so other patrons can hear me.

I look around and give them all a look of apology for my outburst but inside I don't give a fuck what these people think.

"I knew anything routine would catch up with us eventually. This is all my fault." I begin to silently cry wiping the stray tears that escape my eyes before anyone begins to get suspicious.

"I'm on my way. Stay there. Stay calm Katya." He demands right before the line goes dead.

Katya

He hasn't called me by that name since I was a kid. In fact nobody has. Before we even got to the states Katya's identity was forgotten. I've been Karina for so long now that Katya seems like a made up person from a story book. His slip up shows me he's worried too.