Fade Into Black - Shadows of the Night 5

Chapter 30

Hi,

Honestly, you guys are amazing! I got so many great comments in the last few weeks, I want to use this opportunity and say "thank you"! When I started writing this story, I never thought I'd get this far. Your support and encouragement keep me going as a writer. So thank you  :-)

Okay, now back to the story. I have another question for you. Where do Anna and Alexander stand now? In a nutshell, what is happening right now?

PS: The song I chose for this chapter is one of my personal all-time favourites ;-)

Lara

______________________________________________________

Chapter 30

Crimson District existed long before the Revelation happened. Its checkered street network had seen decades pass, before the night gave rise to the openly displayed vampirism and the new-age vamp Bohemianism New York had witnessed these past years. Back then as now people wanted to feel alive. Not surprising, in a city that lived and breathed in business with the undead.

Red-yellowish light intruded, mesmerized the darkness in the street like wafts of lingering mist. We'd reached the edges of Crimson District. Whether that was a good or bad thing we'd yet to see.

I cut myself off from magic, caught in a limbo of deprived human senses that left me blind to what was around me. I had no idea what we'd encounter.

I should be used to this by now.

It wasn't the first time I felt like a human and yet, it frightened me as much as back then. My powers had been an essential part of me for over a decade.

The air was cool on my skin, nothing more. There was no taste or life current to it. Like a wine that had lost most parts of its bouquet, flattened out into flavored water. I couldn't feel. I couldn't taste.

All I could feel was Alexander's hand in mine. His skin was cool to the touch, yet it was everything but flat or dead. Our link was stable, a thick cord that in truth did more than simply connect two auras. It was a tight merging that left no room to breathe or hide.

I tried my best to keep as much distance between us as possible, but I'd glimpsed something in those free-fall-moments after our auras became one. It was different than the first time I linked us all these months ago. I saw more.

It was like a maze of shadows and light inside a mansion that vaguely reminded me of his secret lair in the city. Music and light, silence and shadow played hide and seek within its walls. In those very few moments and seconds of truth, I saw myself running towards another door in a long line of doors. There was something behind, but before I could get there and look, another door snapped into place.

Alexander was hiding something behind that door. Something he didn't want me to know. I wondered what it was.

I shook my head. No time to worry. Not now. Keeping our auras balanced and under wraps demanded most of my attention.

I let Alexander guide me into the night blindly.

Foolish.

Maybe. But I was trying to survive. I was still alive. Maybe even because of Alexander.

The further we moved into the street the thicker the light got. Empty space and shadows filled with people and laughter. Motion crept into the haze of red-yellowish light. Alexander's hand was firm, intertwined with mine, urging me on as we made our way along the side walk.