Hi,

Another chapter that was real fun to write, so I'm hoping you'll feel the same while reading. :-)

I guess the major question in this chapter is: Who's messing with who? And who's gonna come out as the winner this time? What do you think? ;-)

Lara

________________________________________________

Chapter 26

The shape shifter's hair was a mess of snarls and tousles, jeans ripped and stained red from what might or might not have been his own blood. One of the vamps shoved Blaze forward, arm pinned underneath his chin.

"Do not make me say or do things we would both regret later, little witch," Alexander said softly.

"What did you do to him, you son of a bitch?" Andy said softly.

I watched the head vampire's face. This was exactly the reaction Alexander wanted. And I was not going to give it to him. It would be like a confirmation that he had us, no me, in the palm of his hand and could demand whatever he wanted.

I had one and only one option to get us all out of this: feigned indifference. It had to be real, so real that Alexander would buy that I didn't give a fuck about what happened to Blaze. I stared at him, calculating, counting the odds. Deceiving the head vamp into thinking I was a heartless bitch might be trickier than it looked.

I crossed my arms in front of me – a slow, deliberate motion.

"You're threatening me with what? Hurting one of my ex co-workers? Stress on ex, here," I said lazily. "Smart move, Alexander. What exactly makes you think I'm going to stay a single second to listen to this?"

Andy tensed beside me, a physical, silent message, equal to a silently breathed What-the-hell-are-you-doing?

This would easier if he wasn't there. Dammit, I couldn't lose it now.

Alexander started walking in a circle around us, slow, soft steps that made no sound. Blue eyes that missed nothing and carried the weight of centuries – I could feel them as he looked me up and down, his gaze assessing, searching, prying.

"You are not concerned about the safety of someone whose life you saved in the past?" he said softly.

"And he is capable of putting one and one together," I said. "The emphasis is on past here, Alexander. Things have changed. I have changed. Tell me what you want. You have ten seconds before I teleport out," I said.

"I have ten seconds? How generous. No, Anna. I will have more than that," he said and stopped in front of me.

The sound of my name on his lips sent fissures of electricity through my veins, a life wire stroking my core. It made me feel more alive than I ever felt before. It was killing me with the blood and sweat of a slow tango.

I stared at him. His hard gaze bore into me, slicing through my chest, right into that beating cavity I sometimes wished was indeed hollow. Strands of his black hair fell into his face, almost brushing his cheekbones. He'd left the top two buttons of his shirt open, the black cloth like liquid silk against marble white skin. It made him look less human than usual. Less human and more like the devil with an angel's face.

I held myself still. No motion. No telltale signs. It was vital that I didn't budge now. I had to save this city, walk the road of redemption after what I did. And I had to do it alone.

Long seconds passed before Alexander's gaze slid to the side. My eyes followed its line, found the vampires holding Blaze in a death grip. My face fell. That stony expression I'd fought so hard to maintain, it slipped from my grip, got lost in the whirl of panic that squeezed my insides like a fist.

No.

The word was on the tip of my tongue. He couldn't mean to-

Blaze struggled, rearing up like a hound shaking its muzzle, thrashing in the vamps' arms. The vamp to his right punched him in the guts, and Blaze fell forward, heaved, ringing for air.

My hands cramped into fists. Dammit.

George stepped forward, an undead version of the Grim Reaper on the move. His long red hair was braided, the sleeves his black shirt rolled up high enough to show his thick forearms. Alexander's enforcer was making a show of the whole thing, his motions human-slow, deliberate, and controlled. I could see it in his butterscotch eyes. The intent was clear. George meant business.

The scenario played itself out in my mind. They were going to beat Blaze up. Just like that. And even though we were still close to Marrok's territory, I was pretty sure the alpha's wolves wouldn't interfere. Not for Blaze. Not for me.

Profitable as our short-term alliance was, Marrok wasn't going to risk an open-out-turf war with the head vampire of New York. His prey was the Raven, his primary interest the safety of the pack. We were not pack. It was simple as that.

George lifted his arm, drew it back in slow motion.

"Stand up wolf. I know you can take much more than that," he said in a low voice.

I held my breath. No.

"Anna, drop your walls. I'm going out," Andy said from beside me. His voice was made of grit and steel. "It's useless. They're going to beat him up anyway. This is Blaze. Dammit, you know they're serious. I don't know what game you think you're playing, but I'm not going to just stand there and watch this. If you don't drop the walls, I'll break them."

I knew he wasn't going to just stand there and watch, even before he said it. I knew why. And just like him, I knew that, even though Andy was outnumbered he was going to do it anyway. Dammit, those were all things I knew. Things I sometimes wished I didn't care about.

If this was the biggest and deadliest game I ever entered, I got a bad hand. I wanted a new set of cards. I wanted a poker face like the rest of the players. I wanted to enter without the emotional baggage and fear of losing everything I cared about.

Even if I didn't have the right cards to back my poker face, I was going to fake it until even I believed I had those aces – up my sleeve, between my fingers, no matter where.

"No, you're not," I said to Andy. I lifted my head and met Alexander's stare head on. "Let both of them go. Now. This is between us. If you want to talk to me, you'll have to do it under my terms."

Something in the head vampire's eyes shifted, a hint of motion in those dark blue depths. A hint of emotion he failed to conceal. I wondered what kind of emotion it was.

Andy grew still beside me. I could feel his eyes on me, almost as much as I could feel the head vampire's.

The corners of Alexander's mouth lifted, slowly, like the stealthy approach of dawn.

"Negotiating with your back to the wall does become you, Anna. And, pray tell me, what would those terms be?"

My name seemed to fall from his lips with ease, a soft note that carried a cachet you didn't forget in a lifetime. It reminded me of bedsheets rustling in the night and of whispered words that felt like physical caresses of the soul.

"Half an hour," I said. "We talk on neutral ground. I leave when we're done. You'll let me leave without following me."

"I think you misunderstood something," Alexander said. "I am the one in control. I will set the terms for our meeting."

"Don't push me, Alexander. A greater part of Circle and the Inri Brotherhood is looking for me. There's a reason for that," I cocked my head. "I know you pride yourself on showing off with your mind-tricks. Like when you forced yourself into my mind to learn a few secrets? This time I'll give you one for free, so listen well: I'm willing to talk to you, under my terms. But if you take this any further, I won't play along. I have the means to make this ugly real fast. If you push me, I will."

He took a step forward, came closer to the barrier I erected between us, staring at me for what might have been minutes. When he spoke his voice was uncomfortably soft.

"I will have at least two hours, or however long it takes to settle the matter, Anna."

Andy grabbed my shoulder. "Anna."

I didn't have to look at him. I heard the warning, loud and clear. Knew what he was trying to say with the one word. This smacked of a trap.

"I'll come with her, Alexander," Andy said, squeezing my shoulder.

"You will not," Alexander said softly. "What I have to discuss with her is of a private nature."

"You can have one hour," I said. "No more. But just that we're clear on one thing: you won't use any of your vampiric powers for the duration of our meeting."

Alexander didn't miss a beat. "Under the condition that, for the duration of the meeting you will not make use of magic, in any form."

I stared at him for a long moment. "For the duration of the meeting."

"Agreed," he said.

I shook my head. "Sorry, not good enough. A verbal agreement won't do the trick this time, Alexander. If you want to talk to me, you'll have to agree to my terms under a binding."

Andy's hand tightened on my shoulder. I knew why.

I never did a binding on my own, but I'd watched the old witch do one. I'd paid attention, absorbed the information like ink sucked into a white sheet of paper. I was going to use it.

Alexander stared at me. A slow smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You must have indeed changed. You were never that eager to do a little blood-letting before."

My attention sharpened, surged with the artless statement. That was right. The old witch had bound Alexander by a spell as well. With blood. The head vampire knew the motions.

I nodded to the space in front of us. "You go first. Drop your blood on the ground."

Alexander's eyes hunted mine, dove through and into me like a poison-invested arrow. He unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt, watching me. If not in his eyes, the challenge was in his posture. He wasn't even making an attempt at arguing against what I said. As if he was above it and could not be bound by the spell.

I expected him to cut himself with a knife, a switchblade, or another weapon he would – seemingly – conjure from one of his pockets. He did no such thing. He lifted his wrist to his mouth and bit down.

He walked up to us, stopping inches from my carefully erected barrier. Blood dripped noiselessly and looked, I was pretty sure, almost black against the asphalt. I never saw it. My eyes were arrested by the head vampire himself. I tracked every move, watched each motion carefully.

He took four steps backward. Four measly, inconsequential steps.

"Your turn," Alexander said, smiling.