Suffocate In Spirit - Shadows of the Night 4

Chapter 64

Hi,

I hope you had a great weekend! I'm curious. What is your take on Andy showing up in the last chapter? Why does he want Anna to stop investigating? And what about Alexander? Let me know :-)

Lara

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Chapter 64

My breathing was shallow. Too fast. I wanted to tear away the blindfold and stomp on it. I wasn't being abducted this time. I was... What was the phrase George used? Oh, yes. Escorted.

When the two vamps showed up on my doorstep, announcing Alexander's urgent request, I tried to talk them out of it. I argued that going to the head vampire would be so much easier if we used my car. The two vampires beside me hadn't been amused. I refused to believe it was my driving style – they probably thought my car was a little outdated, or, as George put it, ready for the scrap heap.

So, here we were, on our way to Alexander's secret daytime residence – wherever that was. The motor noise of the black SUV was close to non-existent. Nothing but my harsh breathing. I leaned my head back on the plush headrest, trying to calm myself.

Andy's visit rattled me more than I liked to admit. I as good as told him I was going to come clean. The words had poured out of me, a leaking faucet, gushing with secrets I wasn't sure I wanted anyone else to see. Just another violent tug at the rug someone was trying to pull out from under my feet. Andy forbade me to keep going, stop investigating. Only why? Was the teen-kidnapping-case the linchpin he warned me against, or was this about the transactions? Which information was he warning me against?

I couldn't seem to decide what left me more puzzled. The fact that Andy seemed to know more about what I was investigating than he let on, that he was willing to help me, or that I decided to confide in him.

Then there was the question of how to break it to Alexander. Did I even have to? Soon my 'relationship' with him would be out in the open and every witch from here to Washington would know about my fall from grace. Things were going to blow up in my face, big time.

But maybe, just maybe, there would be a way out. If there was, I was ready to take it.

I had to talk to the head vamp first. Test the waters. If they were not stormy and dangerous this night, I would breach the subject of my future employment as his human servant. The thought of me coming to an agreement about anything with the head vamp was far-stretched, but I was willing to try.

I squared my shoulders and got out of the car once we arrived, painfully aware of the two vamps at my back as I made my way into the heart of Alexander's lair.

The menagerie of paintings and posh style architectural accessories bounced off me – visions and images I was well familiar with. The exquisite white marble floor opened up in front of me, a lane of blood-red carpets that must have cost more than my monthly rent. I followed George and the second vampire wordlessly. I'd walked the road before and knew where we were going. Luxury was not what scared me in this building. It was something else altogether.

Maybe someone had already succeeded in pulling out the rug underneath my feet. Maybe there was no rug and I was falling without even knowing.

* * *

They pushed me into the room – another déjà-vu among a long train of memories. Red velvet crawled on the walls and furniture like a real-life, blood-spotted cushion drawn over the whole interior of the room. Dark wooden panels above a fire place, flames dancing like red ghosts in the shadow-filled room. A golden floor lamp to my right, illuminating the piano.