Drown Under Earth - Shadows of the Night 3

Chapter 6

Hi!

This one is dedicated to all of you who keep reading and commenting on the chapters. Thank you guys, you're awesome! You never fail to make me smile and even more excited about writing! I really put a lot of effort into editing this one. Let me know if you like it!

Lara

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Chapter 6

After the encounter with Chris it was easier to shake off my fear of infiltrating. Up to the point I walked into the club, I wasn't sure I wanted to find out what exactly was rotten in the Bloody Warden. Maybe I still wasn't.

I talked to a few customers. What I heard rang alarm bells the size of a monster truck. Repeatedly. No one actually talked about a secret underground movement or diabolical plans to kill the undead, but what little they said about their non-breathing brethren left no doubt as to their deep animosity. The half-witches had a major hate-on for everything that walked without a pulse. How to tell the head vampire best? And what to tell him? I had not a scrap of evidence in my pockets. Just an impression.

I headed back. I dreaded setting foot in Ryon Club, liked the idea of seeing the Blue Room even less. Not like I had a choice about that one.

When I entered I found the Blue Room empty apart from Alexander, who was sitting on the couch-bed. I told him that I had been talking to some of the witches for two and a half freaking hours and not really made progress (which, really, was nothing but an edited version of the truth). Once I was done he got up, his eyes resting on me with disturbing, deep intensity.

"What about their strength and numbers? How great are their individual powers? Their main purpose? Tell me what you found."

Crap. Did he know there was more than I was telling? I stared at him. Breaking eye contact was a sure sign of a lie. I wished I had never set foot in the Bloody Warden!

"I don't know. I couldn't tell. I guess there were about 120 people in the club. Whether with a hidden purpose or not, I have no way of knowing." I sighed. "But I got the impression that they're no friend of the fang."

It was the truth. The vampire kept looking at me, his steely gaze demanding more.

I sighed. "Look, it was even hard to talk to them."

For more reasons you're aware of, I thought darkly. No way was I going to tell him that I wasn't planning to send those people to their graves just like that.

Stony silence settled in the Blue Room. Alexander didn't move, didn't breathe. Endless seconds ticked by while I was waiting for something to happen. The vampire to give in. Me fainting. Anything was better than that electric tension eating its way through the room. Those eyes looking at me.

Naturally nothing of the sort happened.

Another sigh escaped my lips. "Did you really expect they wouldn't see me as an intruder? Newsflash: I was there for the first time. It's not that easy, Alexander. I need more information and more time."

"To tell the truth, I would have been surprised if it were otherwise," Alexander said. "I did expect more of you, however. That means that you will have to go there again, little witch."

I wanted to punch him in the face. Or even better, shoot him. There, right between those two blue eyes of him, right there.

"The drug case and Gina Cox's machinations have been a ... distraction," the vampire continued. "Now that I have put an end to it – for it was me, little witch, who killed the one responsible for all those human deaths – I have to eliminate the lingering threats in magical society. There is a secret movement within your ranks and I believe its origin is to be found in the Bloody Warden."