Hi,

I did my best to make the chapter a little longer than the last one. ;-) There's so much going on, and oh ... What can I say, I loved writing this one. Maybe because of a certain blue eyed someone, maybe because of something else. Enough said - read, vote, comment!

I hope you like it :-)

Lara

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Chapter 27

The room felt smaller than it actually was, walls closing in with the claustrophobic slowness of a nightmare. Where the door, the only exit, had gaped open seconds before, all I could see now was a blank, black panel that in fact looked like a silk-draped wall.

Neutral ground I demanded. Neutral Ground the vampire promised. What I got was something else altogether. We were in what he referred to as an exclusive country club, less than ten minutes by car from Marrok's city of wolves. The row of bling-bling cars I'd glimpsed outside was the first of many indicators that it was more than a country club.

If it wasn't the architecture that walked a thin line between neoclassicism and tasteless neo-kitsch, it was the particular atmosphere the room gave off – the dimmed, dirty yellow light, the lush red silk sheets that covered the king-sized bed, the black and white study of male pecs like a blackboard on the wall above it. I was pretty sure we were in what in truth was a brothel for well-heeled vamps. For all I knew the whole brothel belonged to Alexander himself.

So, no, to me the room didn't have the feel, wasn't even coming close to the definition of "neutral ground." Then again, Alexander's presence ate up any neutral, impartial atmosphere the establishment might have granted. The fact that we were in a room with a bed was unsettling enough and most certainly an effect he'd added with the cool calculation of a war-strategist.

No portals. No way out. No escape routes. Alexander made me leave my mother's pendant at the entrance with the promise of returning it by the end of the hour – as the binding spell dictated. I don't know how, but somehow he must have realized it was the device I used for portalling.

Maybe Sonya Bernards enlightened him about more than I thought. Then again, he saw me with the pendant at Red Night's Eve in Italy – the first time I portalled out under his nose. Maybe he just put two and two together.

No one bothered to search the pockets of my leather jacket. Luckily Alexander had no idea what else I had with me. If he knew, he wouldn't let me within a hundred mile radius of his territory. Least of all him.

We both agreed with our blood to the binding spell. I couldn't leave via magic within the hour, couldn't use magic to leave, as little as he could make use of his vampiric powers to coerce me into anything. Still, my neck felt naked and exposed.

It wasn't that I doubted the binding spell. I knew it worked. I simply didn't trust Alexander. He'd proven many times that he was apt in adjusting rules and twisting facts to his own advantage.

"I guess the walls are soundproof?" I said, staring at the wall.

The question hung in the air like a wasted byproduct. Sounded awkward even to my ears. I didn't care. Anything to fill the tension-spiced air, get rid of the feeling I was heading head-first into chaos.

"They are," he said.

My back was to him. When he spoke, his voice seemed to come out of nowhere and everywhere, making it impossible to determine if he was behind me or in the middle of the room, less pinpoint his exact location.

"I want my pendant back as soon as the hour's over," I said.

"You will get back what is yours, after our bargain is complete," he said.

"Good. Let's cut to the chase then," I said, anxious to get the conversation over with. "Why am I here?"

"There are multiple reasons. Would you like to know each and every single one of them?" His voice was like acid honey, stroking my membranes in the right way, while at the same time deadly and toxic. Lethal seduction at the right frequency.

I took a deep breath. "We both don't have time for dramatics, Alexander. Why am I here?"

"You are under suspicion of conspiring with the Raven. The Circle and the human legal system are preparing to charge you with armed robbery and grand theft. You are facing incarceration in prison. That, however, is not your greatest problem. You biggest problem is that you are under suspicion of murder."

I couldn't stand the biting tension any longer and turned around. I found him at the other side of the room. Seated, sunk in a piece of the plush, red velvet furniture opposite the bed. Details I'd missed when I entered the room. I'd been too occupied stressing over the bed.

I flexed my right hand, felt the weight of the magical devices in my leather coat.

Get a grip.

I looked at him, forced air into my lungs. I could do this.

"Come on. You can't possibly think I killed these vamps, Alexander," I said, crossing my arms in front of me.

While I didn't want him to know just how much power I had in my pockets, I wanted him to know I took no part in the murders. Not only that the head vamp was not someone you wanted against you, this was personal.

He lifted an eyebrow. "Do I ... know you? You have an easy smile for anything that has a pulse, but shun my kind. Not only that. You hate vampires. You have never made it a secret." He shrugged, made the motion look graceful, like a small but significant pose in an intricate dance. "Perhaps you should have hidden it better, Anna."

Something in his eyes moved, contracted like a ring imploding into its center.

"Let us be clear about one thing – I am the head vampire of New York. No one fucks with me."

I started. The f word shocked me more than anything. Alexander rarely used it. When he did, things were bound to go downhill.

He got up, a sleek mountain of black cloth and muscles, stalked forward with the calm agility of a panther intent on killing its prey. The memory materialized out of nowhere. Bed sheets rustling – a wet, impossible dream I never wanted to have.

You're out of your mind.

Yes.

"I know you better than you think I do," he said. "I believe that you are still afraid of the night, of ghosts of the past you cannot seem to shake no matter how hard you try. You are haunted by the fear of suffering the same fate your parents did.

"You believe that you will come out as the winner as long as you distance yourself from everybody around you, that the lack of emotional attachment will save both you and those around you when the time comes. You think you are strong, while avoiding your greatest fear. You are wrong. You must face your fears – all of them. If you do not, they will make you weak. You will be vulnerable when facing the enemy, and, if you are not careful, it will be your death."

"Says the vampire who eternally carries a blank face in a weak attempt at hiding his emotions," I said coolly.

"I do not hide."

"I'm not weak," I countered.

"Yes you are," he said.

"Wanna talk about Vladislav?" I said.

The challenging look he'd directed at me changed and morphed into something else. Equally challenging, but darker, more intense.

"No, I do not want to talk about my maker. The city is falling apart at the seams. I will know whether you are a part of the forces fostering its destruction or not. I will have the information. No matter the cost." He stepped closer with the last word.

I shook my head. The mentioning of Vladislav had brought the seriousness of the situation back into the picture, had in fact felt like a stingy slap on my cheek.

"You know the answer already, Alexander. I didn't kill those vamps, and I'm not sure the Raven did – at least not in person." I exhaled. "But I might be able to help you find who did."

Alexander stilled, bled life into the air around us until all he resembled was an impossibly beautiful still-life, a portrait of himself.

"And pray tell, who might that be?"

Alarm bells like a stroke of fingertips at the back of my skull. A verbal chess match with the head vampire could get me chained up faster than you could say "check mate."

"Remember that what we agreed on before is still valid," I said.

He stared at me, motionless. Waiting.

"If I tell you, you'll let me leave," I said. "I'm willing to cooperate, for the sake of saving the city. I'll do whatever it takes to keep the city safe. No more, no less."

Blue eyes blazed, flashed a darker blue. "You want to bargain with me? Now?"

I shrugged. "I learned from the best. In exchange for the information, you won't harm me. In addition I want your help and protection, should I need it."

A blink later. I'd missed the motion. He was closer. Too close for comfort. I could see the outline of muscles through his shirt, might have reached out to touch his heart and check if it was beating, if I wanted to. His nostrils flared.

"I am inclined to overlook the fact that you willingly collaborated with one of the biggest criminals New York has ever seen, who so happens to have tried to kill me twice. I will do so if you meet my terms, on point. One, you will work together with me and disclose any information of relevancy you have, immediately. You will not get involved into anything, unless discussed with me before."

"You missed something there, Alexander. I'm not the witch that came into your club a few months ago, begging for your help. I've changed. I work alone now. I'm someone you want to have as your ally, not one of your puppets. I'll disclose any information pertinent to the murders as soon as humanly possible," I said, emphasizing humanly.

"So business-like. You almost sound like a politician, Anna."

Why wouldn't he stop calling me by my name? It was like a constant reminder that he had the right to call me by something more intimate than little witch.

He smiled and turned, walking towards the couch in slow determined steps. "The Circle is intent on arresting you. Particularly Gustav."

I frowned. "Brown is the least of my problems."

"You mean because the Death Squad is trying to kill you first?" He said, turning to face me.

I jerked. A human reaction I couldn't suppress or control.

He smiled. "There is only one way of evading them. And that is if you stay with me."

I saw the wheels turn in those depthless blue eyes, machines grinding against each other. Again. I would be another tool in his repertoire. Another ace in the hole he could use against his enemies and to his own advantage. Little did he know what I carried in my pockets, and what being caught with me would mean.

I shook my head. "No."

Careful blandness settled across his face like a silken blanket. "Enlisting all of your allies' aid might not be enough to save you this time little witch. Be very careful of whom you demand services. They should have the capacity to render them. You will find that my protection, and mine alone, will keep you safe from what there is to come."

From the softness of his voice I was starting to think I needed safe-keeping from him the most. I stayed where I was, gripped my elbows with my fingers to keep myself from moving. Motion meant emotion. Emotion betrayed how I truly felt. Alexander couldn't know about that. Ever.

"Say it. Say that you'll help me and protect me, if I ask for it," I said coolly.

Maybe I was just a tool to him. Maybe it was time I started thinking like him. Use him and his influence the way he wanted to use me.

A slow smile danced on his lips. "I will help and protect you. Oh, and you will definitely come and ask for it." His gaze drifted to my mouth, then back up to my eyes again. "And you will ask for more."