Hi,

It's refreshing to use a different POV from time to time, so, once more, we're getting chapter 38 from Andy, who turns out to be quite the adrenaline junkie... ;-)

And, I've got a question for you: What's the head vampire's "game" in this one? 

Lara

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Chapter 38

ANDY

Fact: The Brotherhood attacked the Invisibility Cloak. Fact: Victor Crawford's coven home was assaulted that night as well. No one seemed to have a clue about what really happened – neither the human police force, nor the Circle.

The human police arrested some of Marrok's wolves, but let them go after a while. The Circle did make a fuss about me stepping out of line, when I stormed to Victor's mansion without official authorization. Watson threw a fit – just as expected. My supervisor in the Force was an asshole. An accredited one, mind you, and a powerful fire user, which was why I met his fit with demure silence. In the end Brown calmed the waves, just as expected.

All rogue witches vanished before the Forces could get their hands on them, apart from two that were currently in a coma from which they probably wouldn't awake, and one that had refused to talk so far. Fifteen rogues had died, four of them committed suicide when circled by the Force and, I suspected, the Death Squad.

When questioned by the Force, Marrok and his wolves said they were tracking Raphael Medici and his rogues after they got a tip from a 'secret source'. Anna didn't tell me much about her deal with Marrok, but it looked like it was part of their understanding that Anna's name wouldn't be mentioned. A happy coincidence, as it concurred with what I told them. Force members were not obliged to disclose secret sources, no matter which case.

Victor Crawford said exactly what Alexander said. I was pretty sure the head vampire told Crawford what to say. Probably gave him a film script to study and follow. According to the vampires' version of events, the coven house was attacked by Raphael Medici and his rogues without provocation or warning. After I saw what the place looked like in second sight, I wasn't so sure that was the truth, though. Twenty-six of Victor's vamps died. Too many, for a divided attack of the Brotherhood. Unless there was something I didn't know.

And there it was, the biggest question of all: What had really happened?

I turned my head. Radulf appeared in the mass of Force members and human police, his face grim. The shape shifter caught my eye and nodded. He knew something.

Blaze had gone missing ever since the attack. No one had seen him. Blaze still had connections to the "Fade pack" and Marrok's wolves – people he once called his own pack. He crossed lines for Anna. Sometimes I wondered why exactly he did it, but I never asked.

Marrok, the Fade Pack's Alpha, didn't give a fuck about Blaze or where he was. I tried talking to the Alpha. Not a chance. As soon as someone was out of the pack he was as good as dead to Marrok. Good bye and good fucking riddance. Apparently Radulf thought differently.

Radulf was walking bare-feet, torn jeans, biker shirt and all. Here he stuck out, a stray wolf in a room of well-trained dogs. He slipped his hand in his jeans pocket, drawing out his phone. He met my gaze and nodded grimly, then slipped his phone back inside.

I returned the gesture with a nod of my own and pulled out my phone. Discussing delicate information in the vicinity of shape shifters and vampires was not a smart move. Not here anyway.

The message was short and simple. Marrok's wolves said that they last saw Blaze during the fight with the rogues in the tunnels. No one had seen him leave after or knew where he was. Radulf thought he might be with Anna, but wasn't sure.

The message also said that –

I paused. Read it over again. The wolves found proof that Anna had been staying in one of Medici's old hiding places recently. I looked up and caught Radulf's gaze from afar. That meant she might be using places the rogues stayed in before. Or at least she did before the Inri Brotherhood's attack.

Dammit! Blaze, Anna. Where the fuck are you?

Anna. I closed my eyes. That look in her eyes when I saw her. What happened to her that she had that look on her face?

I thought about who she was, about what I taught her in those past weeks. Action patterns. Habits.

What would I do?

Then the bleak realization. I had no idea what Anna was going to do. There were things she hadn't told me. Big things she'd kept from me. I felt her slipping away in those past few weeks and had no idea how to stop it. Dammit, it felt like even the Fade Pack had seen more of her than I did.

And then there was the head vamp, who seemed to show more interest in Anna and her whereabouts than I liked. What was his motive? Why that cryptic statement about Anna?

I stared at my cellphone. Something told me Alexander knew more than he let on.

* * *

I knew something was wrong the moment I stepped into the street.

Shadowing Alexander was tough. Real tough. This wasn't my first 'vamp stakeout' and I knew from my acquaintance with Fabrice not to underestimate someone older than a century, but someone as old as Alexander? Forget it.

I'd started following him last night, right after Anna vanished and barely managed. This night? Same story. I followed him and his undead pals on my bike up to here and almost lost them twice.

I knew my way around this part of town. In fact, this place was where I would have gone myself, if I hadn't been following Alexander. It was the first and last clue I had ever since Anna vanished.

If not for the smell, I might have thought we were somewhere else. The place looked oddly unfamiliar tonight. Quieter than usual, as if everyone was holding their breath for something to happen. Another attack, another series of deaths maybe. The place was a freaking ghost town.

I moved forward, creeping closer. The street was poorly lit. Almost as if the vamps had staged the whole scene, created more pockets of darkness to hide in. As if they'd even need it.

Black pants and a white dress shirt, not a hair out of place. Alexander should have looked like a pompous wimp trying to play with the big boys. He didn't. The head vampire looked like a general displaying strong leadership in an army of non-breathing soldiers. His dark aura was all over the place. He was leaking power, literally.

Alexander had an interesting network of spies and allies in this city, built upon centuries old alliances of power and threat, reward and punishment. There was one component that made him different from most other undead leaders, though: He used his power with more stealth and tactical finesse than the rest. Not hot-headed, not power hungry to the point of stupid.

I had no idea what his end game was, but he'd been a cunning player so far. He kept his trusted allies close, his untrusted enemies even closer. What, or rather, who he was facing this night was definitely part of the latter.

So, what the fuck was the head vamp doing in front of Marrok's den?

Marrok and Alexander were in the middle of a face-off of epic proportions and I was too far away to make out what they were saying. I stilled and closed my eyes. A train-wreck of grainy gray in-between rushed behind my eyelids, auras popping up like fireworks.

The wolves closest to me were all placed in a semi-circle in front of the fence to their den. The wind was coming from the west and the vampires were another distracting input to mess with the wolves' senses. All in my favor. This place was a Molotov cocktail made of adrenaline, testosterone, and two very different kinds of power, waiting to ignite and eventually explode.

I eased forward. Slow. Steady. Easy. Adrenaline spiked and surged. I breathed through the rush. One wrong move, one silent rustle, and I might have an entire wolf pack and a group of deadly vamps on my tail.

I huddled down behind a skeleton of what once might have been a fancy pick-up truck, closer than I should have been, and stilled.

Marrok threw back his head and laughed, a low throaty rasp. Apparently something the head vampire said made him laugh.

"Quit the fancy small talk. Tell me whatever the fuck you want, then get yourself off my territory," Marrok said, sobering.

His shoulder-length hair was a tangled mess of knots, his faded T shirt smeared with dirt and blood, just like the torn, washed-out jeans – the Alpha of the Fade pack was a walking contrast to the impeccable get-up and manners of the head vamp.

At first glance Marrok looked completely at ease, but the tight set of his shoulders told a different story. His arms were loose at his sides, feet spread shoulder width in a perfect high stance. The brown in his eyes had lightened, seemed, for the smallest of moments, to bleed into a dark yellow.

That nailed it. Marrok wasn't only ready for trouble, he was anticipating it. Was he ready to pick a fight with the head vamp himself?

"You were questioned by the TF3. You stated you and your wolves were tracking the Inri Brotherhood. I want to know who your secret source was and how to find him or her," Alexander said.

I stilled. Had Alexander figured out that Anna was their secret source? Was he maybe even a step ahead of me and knew more than I did?

The wolfish smile returned on Marrok's face. "Why would I tell you of all people?"

"Because you want the Raven's head. I can help you accomplish that," Alexander said.

Marrok cocked his head. "I'm listening."

"You and your wolves have been immensely active in the past few days. I assume you were looking for the Raven." Alexander's eyes roamed over the wolves lingering in the shadows. "You are many in numbers, and yet, it is not enough. You cannot be everywhere."

"I'm not teaming up with you, if that's what you came here for," Marrok sneered.

"I am not asking you to. According to the Circle, the Raven was heavily injured and the whole city is being watched. He cannot have fled that far. I merely suggest working together in this one point. My conditions and my reward are more than generous."

Marrok snorted. "You have five minutes. Get yourself and your vamps off and away from my territory."

He turned, walking towards the gates to his den. Marrok was showing his back to Alexander, like he was comfortable with someone as powerful as Alexander at his back. It was all for show, but it was damn effective. The whole street was pin-drop-quiet.

"How many wolves did you lose last night, Marrok?" Alexander said.

The Alpha of the Fade pack stopped. A harsh intake of breath, the panting of an animal more than anything human.

"Four," he said.

Alexander didn't move. "How many more will you lose until the Raven and the Inri Brotherhood are stopped?"

For a long moment, Marrok didn't move, didn't say anything.

Then, slowly, he turned around.