Razvan looked at the two women on the ground in front of him, one with her head twisted unnaturally around. He reached into his suit jacket, retrieving a small vial which he poured over Dani’s head. He pulled a lighter out, flicking it on. The flame danced in the breeze that blew through the alleyways.
Then he heard pounding footsteps, approaching closer and closer. He had to decide immediately: finish off Dani or escape with Drew. The running got louder, and without another thought, he dropped the lighter, grabbed Drew up into his arms, and flew.
As he vanished from the scene, Michael and Syla ran into the alley. Syla had her hand on her phone. “Dani,” she gasped as she saw the woman prone on the ground, a hot lighter beside her head. “Michael, her neck…”
“She wasn’t burned,” he assured her. But he was glancing around, not finding the person he most hoped was alright. Where is she? “She just needs time. We need to get her back to the house.”
“I’m glad she called my phone and hid it. There’s no way we’d have known they’d left the café otherwise,” Syla mentioned, pulling Dani’s phone out of the body’s back pocket, clicking the end call button.
“But we were still too late,” Michael said, a tone to his voice that broke Syla’s heart.
“We’ll find her,” she assured him. “We always do. She’s tough, she’ll hang on until we can get there.”
“As long as Razvan doesn’t decide to kill her first,” he muttered morosely and almost hopeless.
“Don’t think such things!” Syla berated. “Thoughts like that aren’t helpful. Now, can you carry Dani to the car?”
❖ 🩸 ❖
My head ached like nothing I’d ever experienced before. It felt like I’d taken a sledgehammer to the side of my face. Or a brick wall.
My last memory rushed in – Dani laying on the ground, her head twisted backward. No, no, no. Dani can’t be dead; she just lost Jared. It makes no sense for her to die. Unless someone we trusted just enough betrayed us.
“Ah, she’s awake,” a male voice said somewhere in front of me. My eyes struggled to concentrate on Razvan sitting in a chair. It was so dark I could barely make out anything about where we were as my eyes drifted around.
“Focus, Ms. Nelson.”
My eyes snapped back toward him, the ghost of a rushing pulse sounding in my ears. I wished my heart would move, then maybe this would be just a dream. A really awful dream. Not again, please not again. I tried to move my arms and legs, but to no avail.
“You’re not dreaming,” he assured, crossing his legs.
Fuck, it is happening all over again! “Dani…”
“You needn’t concern yourself about her.”
“You… you killed her,” I said, my voice still disbelieving of my situation.
“It would certainly appear so, wouldn’t it.”
Selene had warned me literally just before the meeting with Razvan. I didn’t understand her in time. And Dani paid the price… And if I don’t get it together, I’m next.
I blinked hard, trying to clear my vision and get a better sense of where I was. Damn, my head hurts. The side of my face was crusted with dried blood from a gash on my temple. I suppose that’s one thing, head injuries don’t bleed as bad when you’re undead. Wait, why am I thinking about that? I must’ve hit my head pretty damn hard.
I blinked, trying to clear my vision at all. “Where are we?” I asked. I couldn’t make out any distinct shapes in the darkness around us. Is that a bench? Wait, I think that’s a cross—
“I don’t see how that matters very much,” Razvan replied. “Now, I have some questions for you, if you don’t mind.” He reached behind his chair and brought out a clipboard of all things. He set it on his lap, took a pen from his jacket pocket, and rested his hands on top of the clipboard.
I pulled at the restraints. I was tied to a chair just like I had been on that yacht with Nikola. Are all ancient vampires this good at knots or am I just that bad at undoing them? I fidgeted at the knots continuously, hoping that maybe if I messed with them enough, they might loosen.
“Let’s start with something simple,” he said, clicking the pen open. “Why do you think Danielle looked at you before entering the alley?”
I paused my hands and stared at him. Had she looked at me? I scanned my memories and came to the horrible realization that she had. And I had just shrugged. I shrugged! I let her go down that alley. And now she’s dead. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have let her choose; I should’ve said no.
“Perhaps a different question: what was your first thought when you saw Danielle on the ground?”
I looked at him incredulously. “That she was dead?” I said almost like a question. Just what was he getting at?
“And after that?”
I paused, unsure where the line of questioning was going. “…That I needed to help her.”
“Did you?”
I glared at him, “Obviously not. You punched me out before I could do anything.” But the guilt ate at me anyway. I did nothing… Dani is dead and it’s all my fault…
He hummed and wrote a note on his clipboard as if this were any regular therapy session. “I could tell that you didn’t want to go into the alley. Why did you do it anyway?”
The vision with Selene raised its head in my mind like an awful beast, her words swimming in my mind. The unseen does not always hide… A thing can stand in the light and remain undiscovered… A smiling hand may reach for more than friendship…
Looking at him now, I wondered how I missed the signs before. You tried to give him the benefit of the doubt like you always do with people. You wanted to give him a chance to show that he was a good person. But you failed. And now look where you are.
I glanced around trying to see anything, look at anything besides myself. Dust hung in the air, but I thought I recognized rows of pews, some overturned, rotting hymnals scattered across. Was I in a church of some kind? I tried to think of any abandoned churches in or around Seattle, but none came to mind.
“I can see that I will not get much out of you at this time. Maybe after a short break, you’ll be willing to talk again. But let me leave you with a question. When was the last time someone you cared about got hurt and it had absolutely nothing to do with you?”
Like an arrow to my heart, I felt it breaking into pieces as his words pierced me. Immediately, I thought of all the times my loved ones got hurt recently. That’s not fair, I thought as my anger flared at Razvan.
Michael’s life is better because he knows me, he’s said as much… but he got dragged into the whole Nikola mess after I was kidnapped. He wouldn’t be living with me if he thought I could take care of myself. He hasn’t even slept in a proper bed for months because of me…
Maybe someone else would be a better example. We freed Syla and she’s finally living her own life… or she would be if she wasn’t tangled up in a murder investigation. She traded a captor for a life of slaving over documents and worrying about ancient vampires coming out of the woodwork. And that all happened because she freed me.
And Dani… I knew her for what, a week? Then she died. But she would’ve died for sure without us. Jared protected her, and after he was gone, we gave her a place to belong… but she died anyway. And that’s on me… Maybe he has a point.
Razvan gave me a small smile. “Food for thought,” he said casually as he stood from the chair, picking up the dim lantern between us and walking into the darkness. But my mind was still stuck on his question.
For years, I was the one left out, left behind. I didn’t fit, didn’t belong. Maybe there’s a reason… I shook my head hard, as if I could shake the thought out. But it didn’t pass. A reason…
❖ 🩸 ❖
Dani lay carefully on the couch, her neck and head supported with a pillow. After setting her head to rights and surrounding her neck with ice packs, Antun sat back with weary exhaustion and waited for her to wake up. After all, it was only her neck being snapped; she never burned. He felt bad about not cleaning the lighter fluid out of her hair yet, but he’d wiped off as much as he could for now from her face. “I should’ve seen it,” he breathed.
Syla sat on the arm of the couch near Dani’s feet, her own anxiety through the roof. “It’s not your fault,” she whispered to him. “We all gave him trust, not just you.”
Michael paced as he selected Sarah’s name on his phone. He held it up to his ear, and after only a single ring, she picked up with bright enthusiasm in her voice.
“Hello, Michael! How are you? You never call—”
“Sarah, I need your help.”
A pause and a shift in mood, her tone serious. “Anything, Michael.”
He dove right in, saying, “Drew’s been kidnapped. I need your help to find her. Please. Dani was nearly killed; I’ll explain more after you get here.”
Without pause, she replied, “Where was she kidnapped? I’m already in the city if you want me to start searching now. I know Drew’s scent.” Sarah’s tone was all business.
“Okay, I’ll send you a pin of where it happened. Please, Sarah, hurry. I don’t know what Razvan wants with her, but I don’t trust him not to hurt her.” Michael’s plea held a note of desperation. He sent the pin, then heard the notification come through on her end.
“Got it. Now, can you go back to the beginning and tell me what happened? Dani almost died? Drew kidnapped? Like, what the heck?”
As Michael began telling her about the interview that went horribly wrong, Dani’s eyelids fluttered. Antun was instantly there. “You’re safe, Dani. Don’t move, your neck needs time to set in place,” he instructed with a doctor’s efficiency. “You’re safe now, just rest.”
He looked at Syla, saying, “She’ll need mana. As soon as she can be moved again, we need to head to the nearest slaughterhouse to get blood.”
Dani’s voice sounded pinched and bruised when she asked, “Where’s Drew?”
Syla spoke up from the end of the couch, “The doctor took her. Michael’s calling a friend who can help. You just rest now,” she ensured with a pat on Dani’s leg. Not that she could feel it, those nerves in her spine hadn’t healed yet.
Michael hung up the phone and came over, seeing that Dani was awake. “What happened?” he nearly begged her from where he stood behind the couch.
She looked up at him with her eyes only, her head completely immobile. “Dr. Ilijev pulled the classic, ‘What’s that,’ line and it completely fooled us both. Then I remember such a loud cracking and the most explosive pain I’ve ever experienced before everything below my neck went numb. Things are in and out from there. I remember him pouring the liquid on my head and hearing the lighter click on. Then I think he heard you guys, because he dropped the lighter and ran. That’s all I remember.”
Michael patted the couch as if saying, it’s not your fault. He locked eyes with Antun. “I’m going after her. Who’s staying here and who’s coming with?” he asked firmly. Antun stood while Syla remained sitting. “Guess that solves that. Get the dagger; let’s go.” The men headed for the stairs as Syla stood to come nearer to Dani’s head.
“They’ll find her. They always do,” Syla swore to her. She looked up at the ceiling, “Whatever higher power is out there, please… let them find her before it’s too late.”
❖ 🩸 ❖
My mind continued to spiral downward. Why do I get Michael? Dani lost Jared, and then she died too. Why do I get friends? Why do I get to have a future? I killed Nikola. Countless others are dead, too. Why do I deserve happiness?
I tried to reason with myself. People’s lives aren’t worse because they know me. They’re worse because the world is dangerous. But I, too, am dangerous. I’m a vampire. I’m tied to all of these events. I’m part of the reason certain dangers entered their lives. I might not be the cause, but I am part of the chain.
I didn’t even notice Razvan enter the room I was so absorbed in my thoughts. I jumped when he put the lantern down between us again, and he gave a wry smile. “Shall we continue?” he said, pen clicking in his hand.
I couldn’t help the shiver that ran down my spine and gave me goosebumps. He lifted a brow as if noting the reaction. “Tell me, Drew, at what point did you decide you were allowed to be happy again?”
When did I let myself be happy again? After Nikola killed me? After I killed him? That’s not fair. But it isn’t entirely unfair either.
After I didn’t answer, Razvan decided to continue. “How long is the appropriate mourning period for a life you’ve taken?”
I shut my eyes against his question. I can’t listen to him. If I do, I’ll keep spiraling. That’s exactly what he wants me to do. And if I do, I can’t focus on getting out. Focus on getting out!
Glaring at him, I asked, “Why did you kidnap me?”
“Because I wanted to ask you some questions,” he answered simply.
I bared my teeth in a snarl at him. “You murdered Dani for a conversation?”
He tilted his head just slightly, “No.” After a beat of silence, he confessed, “She mistook influence for compulsion. Jared chose this path, he chose the trial.”
What trial? Then Selene’s words came into my mind. She’s endangered by he who believes this curse a blessing. My stomach dropped past the floorboards at the thought that began to arise in my mind. He’d said this path, as if he…
“You’re… the Inquisitor?” I finally asked, my voice too small.
He looked down at his clipboard, writing something. As he looked back up, he studied me for a long moment. Without emotion, he nodded once and said, “Yes. Now tell me, Drew. Why does that disturb you more than the possibility that I might be right?”
Jared. Nikola. Michael. Me. I thought the question over, trying to pinpoint what about it bothered me. Then the realization hit. It’s not because he might be right about Jared. But because if people really are wholly responsible for what they become… The conversation weeks ago in his hotel room ran through my mind. Am I becoming a predator? A true monster? The darker thoughts came forward, wrapping my mind in shadows worse than the physical ones around me. What am I becoming?
