Fade Into Black - Shadows of the Night 5

Chapter 2

Hi!

This will be a short and fast update. Will be abroad for one week. More will follow Sunday next week, I promise! Still, I hope you like this one :-)

Let me know, and have a great week.

Lara

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Chapter 2

Did something happen?

The instant the words left my mouth, I realized my mistake. And it was a big one, the biggest I made yet.

From the moment I stepped into that portal with Medici, I never mentioned Alexander. I went for nonchalance and indifference whenever the head vampire came up. For a good reason. Medici couldn't know what lay between Alexander and me.

I shook my head, putting a lid on dangerous thoughts. They were trying to throw me back to the night I last saw Alexander. In his room. In his bed. They reminded me of my first nights in the company of the Inri Brotherhood. When I was still waiting.

There was a part of me that was waiting, not for a knight in shiny armor – Alexander was anything but that – but for something to happen. Surely he was looking for me.

My plan was bold, but simple. Go with the Raven, learn as many secrets as I could while I was with him, and wait. Because of my bond with Alexander, he'd be able to sense where I was, and by that also where the Raven was hiding. When I followed the Raven into that portal four weeks ago, I was convinced that Alexander was going to come and storm into the Raphael Medici's secret hide out with a vengeance the Inri Brotherhood hadn't seen yet.

It was a good plan.

Only that it didn't work. The head vampire never showed up.

Four weeks and not a hint of vamps breathing down our hideouts. And the burning question behind my eyes didn't stop, a broken record that cut into my mind and seemed to threaten my mental sanity. After the waiting came the endless string of questions.

Why didn't he come? Why not storm into the Raven's shifting underground fortress and erase the place? Wasn't he at all concerned about my safety? Was Alexander, for some twisted reason, biding his time? Waiting until the right moment came?

Then finally the catastrophic, sobering conclusion. He was the head vampire, had endless power and connections at his disposal. I was his human servant. We were within the city limits. There was no way he couldn't feel me. He had to know where I was. That could only mean one thing: not rescuing me was a deliberate choice he made.

The more time passed, the more I was convinced it was exactly that. As days and nights passed and as I learned the ways of the Inri Brotherhood, my theory turned into naked conviction. Whatever happened between Alexander and me the night I followed Medici, it didn't mean a thing to the head vamp. Or at least not enough to get me out of this.

If I ever thought there was a real connection between us, I was wrong. All that existed was the bloodied cord that connected a master to his human servant. Nothing more.

He'd had me, in any possible way he could. Maybe that was reassurance enough. Maybe I had served my purpose as his human servant and he'd decided the benefits he'd gain by having me as his human servant were not worth whatever effort hauling me back would take.

Couldn't he see past my charade? He of all people? That night we... I thought he caught a glimpse of the real me. If even only with the help of the vampiric bond, I thought he of all people would have to be certain I wasn't a traitor. That he didn't – it turned tables in a big epic way that could mess up my life for good, or whatever was left of it. I was alone in this.

It looked like Alexander was no longer interested in a human servant that by all appearances was working with the enemy. He was so wrong.

"You haven't heard?" Raphael smiled. "They found the remains of two vamps. Corpses. Not just any. It seems they were members of Alexander's personal staff."

I wanted to know who – know if it was one of the vamps I'd met, but I clamped my mouth shut. No need to telegraph anything else the Raven could blackmail me with. Asking the right questions at the wrong time or place could get me into a lot of trouble.

I arched an eyebrow. "Did you do it?"

He laughed, a gentle low sound, but ignored my question. "There are crimes happening in this city as we speak. I'm not responsible for every single one." His smile widened. "Just most of them. As I said, it gives us more room to work."

Another non-answer. Was that a confirmation or a denial? I mean, it couldn't be the Raven. Maybe he wouldn't have disclosed any first-rate plans of murder, but I would have noticed something was going on. Or, would I? How much had I really seen in those past weeks? Just what the Inri Brotherhood let me see?

I narrowed my eyes. "What exactly are you trying to do, Raphael?"

"Convince the rest of New York that we're right, and that the Circle's wrong." He turned his back on me, walking towards the map again. "But for that we need something to level the playing field first."

* * *

We came out on a rooftop across Hamilton Street. Wind whipped around my face like a whirring set of steel blades. I'd pick it over the destructive void of the in-between any time. No, I wasn't going to get used to travelling via portal in the near future, if ever.

The rogues moved in the dark like hooded, faceless shadows. It was a rehearsed dance all of them had perfected and learned by heart.

I didn't have to look down. I knew where we landed.

We were close to one of the warehouses Medici used as a hideout what must have been months ago. It was the warehouse the Circle located with Alexander's help. I could still see it from where I was, huddled in the shadows.

Medici was breathing down my neck, literally. As if I would run, or portal out instantly. Hah! At some point I probably would, but it would be a time and place of my choosing.

"Why are we here?" I whispered.

"There's something we need to get. Unfortunately we left it here."

He was watching the old building intently, but there was a far-away look in his eyes. Almost like he was talking to someone else.

"Why didn't we portal straight into the building?"

"Because I'm not sure it's safe." He closed his eyes, leaning back.