Hi,

Some of you were asking for an Alexander POV. Sadly, it will not happen in this chapter, but... read and you'll see ;-) My question is: What do you think IS going on in the head vampire's head in this chapter? Read, vote, comment! I hope you like it ;-)

Lara

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Chapter 31

I was going to tear into the secrets Alexander kept buried deep inside of him. I moved on, fastening my pace through the imaginary alley of doors. And almost ran in to a wall.

I stopped short, panting. Stared at the wall. It hadn't been there a second ago.

I turned my head. To my left the corridor I'd been running through stretched, the door I'd been aiming for half open. Did I turn? Did I somehow lose a second?

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the corridor to my left. Then turned back and stared at the wall. Smoke and illusions. That was Alexander. Manipulating you into believing exactly what he wanted you to believe.

That's it!

I moved back and closed my eyes, then started at a run. Bits and pieces of plasterboard splintered and melted away from me as I pushed through the wall.

I was standing in the corridor again, facing the door. The light behind that door was not artificial, a soft glow that looked more like the flaring dance of fire. The door was within reach, all I had to do was-

Alexander shifted, lighting fast, lips leaving mine, tongue traveling down my neck, leaving burning streaks on my skin – like a whip of soft leather.

I gasped. The sharp tip of fangs against my skin, targeting that spot over the carotid artery. His hand tightened in my hair.

A warning.

I blinked, breathing hard. The vision of doors, fire and shadow faded against reality.

"Be careful, Anna." His voice was rough. Low. The words danced like icy feathers on my skin.

It was a challenge. I was not going to refuse. Two could play at this game.

My hand traveled up his hip, settling on his back.

"Why? Is there a problem? Or are you the one who's emotionally compromised?" My voice was low, but loud enough for him to hear.

We stared at each other, chest against chest. The world around us might have lain in ashes. I didn't care. The devil himself was staring right back into my face, standing at the threshold to my deepest fears. And he wanted in.

He jerked me closer, my chest pressed flat to his. "This is not the time to yank my chain."

"Ditto," I said.

That kiss was reckless. What if I lost control? Did he even know how much it took out of me just keeping up the spell?

He drew back, slowly, eyes drifting to the right. "They have passed us. We will go into the club. It is one of the few in this street that do not belong to me. They will search there last."

He stepped back and steered me right into the entrance to our left. Together we slipped into the crowd wordlessly. The touch of his hand on the small of my back seemed to go right through all the layers of clothing, seared my skin with memories I'd rather not remember when being so close to him.

The sound and flash concert inside had me stumped, even more blind than I already was. There were even vamps in the club, lingering in and around the sides not really part of the crowd. Even without second sight they stood out to me, commanding attention with their still postures and lingering, alluring eyes.

We moved out the back of the club, Alexander's palm a steady pressure against my back. There was a line to the restrooms, people leaning against the wall, too drunk to stand straight on their own. Alexander pushed me forward, towards the end of the narrow corridor.

Neon tubes that seemed to flicker incessantly and in sync with the beating rhythm in the club. Sweat on my temple like sticky oil. I saw the bouncer before I saw the back door behind him.

I could envision it. The scenario played out in my mind before we even reached him. This wasn't one of Alexander's clubs. Doors didn't magically open for him if he so much as looked in their direction. Chances were, if they recognized him to begin with, the head vampire's competitors would do everything in their power to make this as difficult as possible. Oh yeah, the bouncer was going to make a fuss.

Alexander moved up to him as if he planned walking right through him, barely stopped inches in front of the bouncer's chest.

"No exit here," the bouncer said.

Big, meaty arms. Like most bouncers he was a mountain of muscle and flesh. Unlike most bouncers he didn't cross his hands, did in fact nothing to show off his biceps that had to have the diameter of a watermelon. He looked older than most in his line of work, equipped with the gaze of a soldier that had survived many hard war years. He'd seen it all and passed all tests with flying colors.

The bouncer shifted his weight forward and something flashed in the dim neon light from above.

Silver. The bouncer was wearing a silver cross. If he was a firm believer, it would protect his mind. Whether he knew it or not, he was facing the head vampire of New York. Would he still believe in the cross if he knew who he was standing in front of him?

And how powerful was the head vampire really?

Alexander smiled. It was a soft smile that would have raised goose bumps in all the wrong places had I been on the receiving end of it.

"You will forget this ever happened. You never saw us."

Alexander's voice made me shiver, little soldiers of pins and needles that marched up my spine and up to my nape.

The bouncer's eyes dimmed into empty pools of color, dull with the vacant look of someone not wholly there. My breath got stuck in my throat. I'd never seen it up close. Not like this.

This was what I feared the most. My mind being taken over just like that. To have that kind of power, and use it...

Alexander had taken control of my body before, but never my mind. He'd never made me forget-

I stilled. Or had he? Had Alexander ever used this power on me without me being aware of it? And the most important question of all: Could he?

Alexander pulled me forward and right into the night without a word. With one last look I glanced back the bouncer, shivering.

* * *

It must have shown on my face – a visual exclamation mark, or maybe something along the lines of a silent What the fuck? The woman on George's arm was pretty, if not beautiful, but a human female at his side was a grotesquely unfamiliar sight. And what was Alexander's enforcer doing here to begin with?

Alexander's eyes shifted, the blue circles of color deepening their color as if caught up in a silent storm.

George nodded, the motion so small, I barely noticed. I probably wouldn't have noticed at all, except that his red hair was braided and swung with the nod like a minuscule pendulum.

"Zack's trying to calm the waves. He's doing pretty well, considering the situation," George said.

And that was why Alexander appointed Zack as his second in command. I was pretty sure Zack was the best of the best when it came to crisis intervention and human relations.

"The witches?" Alexander said.

George shook his head. "Left without approaching us. No intel on their goal. We spotted them heading down the street. It looks like they're doing a systematic search, human standards paired with magically amped search methods. They are still in the vicinity, all but one engaged and inside one of the clubs."

"Did you bring the item?" Alexander said.

George nodded, moved to the head vamp in vampiric speed and handed him something. My eyes shifted to the female. Only then I noticed: Long brown hair, brown eyes, not very tall. The woman looked like me. She might have been my sister to the unsuspecting eye.

And that was probably why she was here.

I turned to Alexander, looking up at him. Before I could say anything he held up his hand, fisted; in it dangling my mother's pendant.

"As agreed, you are free to leave," he said.

I stared at the pendant, then at him. He handed it to me wordlessly, one hand still joined with mine, while I put the pendant around my neck. He was letting me go. Just like that. As agreed.

Either Alexander was trusting me enough to let me leave on my own, or he was giving me enough rope to hang with.

"How fast will the spell dissolve once you let go?" Alexander said.

"A few seconds, maybe half a minute." At least that was what it took last time. I didn't tell him how disoriented I felt back then. I nodded to the woman beside George. "You're going to make her take my place?"

Alexander nodded.

Why wasn't he saying anything? Why not tell me more?

Then I realized. We were, if not outright enemies, distrusting players in the city. Did Alexander still believe I was part of the Inri Brotherhood and had, at least at some point, collaborated with the Raven?

"I need a means to contact you," he finally said. "Given that you agreed to be of assistance in this case, we will need to cooperate, be it for the sake of the city or not."

There was a slight, mocking note to his tone that rubbed me all kinds of wrong. And really, this was wrong on all levels. True, I didn't want Alexander against me. That didn't mean I wanted to work together with him. I was in danger of losing my head, or more, if I did. I couldn't afford that.

I shook my head. I might not be able to mimic his mocking note, but I was capable of playing this game.

I took a step back and let go of his hand, centered myself, prepared the incantation in my head. I had to time this right. I took another step towards George and the women, pretending to study her.

"Giving you a means to contact me wasn't part of our negotiations," I said evenly.

Alexander laughed. It was a low voice that seemed to reverberate in my own chest in time with his.

"I do not think so, Anna."

I glanced at him and gripped the amulet. "I have your number. I will contact you."

I touched the pendant, and gathered myself, muttering the incantation. Magic flared from the outside, a spell on the verge of unfolding around me. Without thinking I flung myself into a portal unprepared.

The portal opened up right behind me, swallowing me like a shadow drowned in the night. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Being in his vicinity was bad enough. Trying to fight verbal chess games with him while at it? Slow, mental suicide.

The void took me, jerked me up and down like a rollercoaster car spinning out of control. The feeling of disorientation knocked all the air out of my lungs, threatened to loosen my grip on the portal's course. The void knifed into me, cold sharp needles drilling into my brain, seeking entrance into my mind. For a moment I panicked. I entered too quickly, too unprepared.

No. Nothing was in existence in this void. Nothing should be in existence in this void. Nothing between me and death.

Nothing. Except your mind.

I fisted non-existent fingers, pulled hard on the imagined reigns I held, for I still held them.

The void was not going to get me. I was going to get through this.

I coughed and examined my right arm. It was scraped and bloody.

"Stupid."

Showing off in front of the head vamp. Real smart Anna, real smart.

Dammit, but I swore to myself I was never going to let myself be dependent upon someone else. Not someone like Alexander anyway. No one was going to use me ever again.

No one said that it was going to be easy.

I took a look around and took stock of my hiding place. I'd portalled back into an abandoned building close to the River district. Situated in a run-down part of the city on the Southside, Le Mouret was a perfect hiding place. The hotel flourished in the late eighties and early nineties – long before the Revelation brought altered ideas about what society viewed as a good and above-standard hotel.

Things had changed in many ways. Accommodating the undead and other supernatural creatures into security policies of the 21st century took more than just a few adjustments. Security measures had been tightened in the wake of the Revelation. While some were able to adjust smoothly, others faced obstacles that would later culminate in a slow economic death sentence. The same happened to Le Mouret.

I took a step into the room, then stopped dead. The hair on the back of my neck lifted. Someone had been here.