Hi,

OMG, I loved your witty comebacks and "verbal" responses to the last chapter - I really wish Anna said some of the lines you suggested! Great stuff :-)

So, here's the next one! I hope you like it. There's a lot of A+A in there ;-)

Lara

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Chapter 52

"So, what didn't you tell me?"

Medici watched her for a moment. "We detected something. I'm surprised the head vampire isn't aware of it. Maybe he is and this is all just a tactical move, or something he does for sport," Medici said. "A vampire or a group of powerful vampires forcefully entered the city somewhere close to the Red Zone about two weeks ago. We don't know who or how many, but we felt a disturbance that definitely reeked of vampire. It was there for a just a moment, then gone the next."

She stilled. "That means the vampire or the vampires can hide not only their power, but their aura."

Medici nodded. "We have no other information, which is another oddity. I have eyes and ears everywhere, but no one saw anything – which does not make sense."

She believed him. She didn't know why, but something about the way he admitted defeat, the knowledge that, thanks to the ravens Medici did have eyes everywhere – something about it made her believe him. She was pretty sure the Raven was telling the truth.

The image of the red-haired, Asian vampire popped up in her head. The way he'd been able to mess with her mind, like no one else had these days. Maybe she had already seen the vampire, or one of the vampires that entered the city forcefully.

Her eyes went back to Medici, who was watching her intently. "Where exactly in the Red Zone did the vampires enter?"

"South side. Somewhere close to the old church building," he said.

That wasn't too far from Victor Crawford's mansion, if you approached it from the other side. Even though it wasn't in the Red Zone, his mansion wasn't too far from its outer borders.

"Is there anything else you know?"

He shook his head.

She turned, her mind racing. What to do with the information? There seemed to be too many puzzle pieces to put together.

The Raven grabbed her arm. "You finally used Spirit without restraint. What did it feel like?" His fingers were digging into her skin, his eyes sharp and clear.

She exhaled and closed her eyes for a long moment. "Everything you said it would be, and more." The words were out before she could stop herself.

"A shame you didn't have a change of heart a little earlier. Things might have turned out differently for the Inri Brotherhood then," Medici said.

She said nothing. She could have never been part of the Brotherhood – not back then, not even now.

"What will you do with all that power?" Medici's voice cut into her.

"Survive." She opened her eyes, turned and focused on his face again. The question burned on the tip of her tongue, wormed its way out. "How did you manage to stay alive that long?"

He laughed softly. "I told you, magic will find an outlet, no matter in which way. What you must learn is to restrain the impulse to use all of it at once. Never forget that you control the magic, not vice versa. Don't get lost in the maze of power. No freedom without discipline. No gain without resistance. Rule the magic or it will rule you."

"How did you resist that long? I want to use it all at once. Always." She looked away. Even now she could feel it. The urge to use dark magic was like an incessant background noise she couldn't tune out. How could she when it was the sweetest sound she ever heard?

"Whether the Circle likes it or not, Spirit is just another form of elemental magic," Medici said, coughing. He swallowed and stared at her intently. "To someone like you it's easy to access – there's just so much more available and it's much more potent. The amount I have used is like the tip of an iceberg. Take little. Never touch more than a scratch on a surface, or it will take you under, gobble you up like a monster and swallow you whole. Take one part, one molecule and mold it to your will. This kind of magic allows no room for mistakes or emotions. Never let emotion distract you. Not even an ounce of it. As long as you stay emotionless, you'll stay rational. Emotions get you killed."

She watched his face. Tasted the truth of his words on the tip of her tongue – almost as if these words were her own. She knew. She knew best that what Medici said was true. But why tell her now? Why open up and share these revelations? Even now Raphael Medici was an enigma to her.

"Why are you telling me this?" She said.

"Because, whether you like it or not, you are a rogue now. That makes you one of us." He laughed. "And because I'm dying."

The laughter turned into a heavy fit of coughing.

She turned, about to leave.

"Don't forget our deal," he said.

"I won't."

And she wouldn't. Even if she wasn't really a part of the Inri Brotherhood, she would honor the promise she made. Because for the first time, she could truly understand how and why the rogues had ended up like this.

* * *

They were back in the Blue Room. Alexander had guided her up the stairs without questioning her, or saying a single thing. A human would have pranced up and down the corridor and jumped on her the moment she stepped out of the room – then demanded the information he so badly wanted. Not so Alexander.

She knew why. The information she had was delicate. Apparently so delicate, Alexander didn't even trust his own vamps with the information, yet.

He put the decanter back on the table and turned to her, whiskey glass in his hand. The heavy weight of the head vampire's gaze settled back on her shoulders.

"What did Raphael Medici say?"

She exhaled, forced her shoulders to relax. "He said that a vampire or a group of powerful vampires forcefully entered the city somewhere close to the Red Zone about two weeks ago."

She watched his reaction and got nothing at all. No, the head vampire was stilling further, falling into that familiar blandness she'd often witnessed on past visits. That meant he was trying to hide something.

"What else?" Alexander said, eyes still on her.

"He said they detected the power only once – then it was gone. He also said that the vampire or vampires probably entered the city at the south side, close to the old church building."

Again, no reaction.

"What else?"

She shook her head. "There was nothing else he told me."

He stared at her, hard. Blue eyes that seemed to pry her open like a book without physically touching or reaching her.

"There is something you are not telling me. What is it?"

How did he know? How could he read her that well? Was she that transparent?

She exhaled. "Andy and I tracked Fabrice. We encountered an unknown, powerful vampire in the Red Zone. At first I thought he was one of Fabrice's, but he was too powerful for that."

He set down the glass, approached her slowly and came to a halt before her.

"What did he look like, Anna?"

"Blood-red hair bound in a high ponytail. Black eyes and high full cheeks. He was undoubtedly Asian. Very powerful." She recited his features mechanically and fast. For some reason she wanted to get out of the Blue Room and out of the club, fast.

Alexander cocked his head. "You said you encountered him. Does that entail Fabrice? What happened?"

"Nothing." She shook her head. "We got away."

He came closer. "What else?"

What else?

Of course he would know that she hadn't told him everything. Always a step ahead, always some sort of advantage over her.

Unless ...

She looked up at him, straightening.

"Nothing's for free, Alexander, that's a lesson I learned well from you. Give me what I came for. Then, and only then will I tell you what we found out."

The head vampire stared at her for a long moment, then turned, walking towards the small table to – she was pretty sure of this – pick up his glass and gain some time. If he wouldn't hand over the artifact, she would find a way to take it by force.

"I need you functioning," he said and turned around liquid fast, eyes snapping to hers.

She looked him in the eye. "I am functioning, better than ever," she said. "You of all people should see that. You still think of me as the weak witch that stumbled into your office a few months ago. I'm no longer blinded by fear or governed by any unnecessary emotions. I can see things for what they are."

Suddenly he was in front of her, invading her personal space. She hadn't seen him move.

"Emotion is not weakness." He looked down at her, a small trace of motion in his deep blue eyes. "If you stop feeling, you lose the most important capability a human can have. If you stop, you stop being human."

"You would know," she said. "You stopped being human a long time ago."

"The term being human is not restricted to human beings, though it is indeed applied too carelessly in general. To answer your question, Anna, I have retained my humanity. I would not have survived if I did not."

"You don't feel. You just use human emotions, one more means to get what you want." She looked at him calmly. "It took me a while to get it, but I figured it out. You know the ins and outs of human emotions. You understand them. That's why you can mess with people. It doesn't mean you have them."

He stared at her with the intense gaze of both hunter and scientist. Blue frozen rings of ice and aquamarine poured into his irises like a treasure of liquid blue gold.

"I understand. It is easy to live without the baggage of emotions. What you fail to realize is that you will not live long without them, Anna."

"I'm still standing," she said coolly.

She wanted to avert her eyes, escape his searching gaze. But she would have admitted weakness by doing so.

His nostrils flared. "What happened to you that you went rogue?"

Something in her heart contracted, like a hand closing around the muscle, squeezing softly. She shook herself mentally. Medici had said it. Emotion could get you killed.

"I'm no longer blinded by your antics. I can see through you. I'm functioning perfectly," she said.

"No you are not," Alexander said. "And I need you to be."