Hi,

I've been waiting for this part of the book to come and I'm excited to get the next chapters out! If I had more time on my hands, I'd do it now, like right now!!! Okay, so I did another round of editing for this chapter and hope you'll like it! Please let me know. Any theories on the whys and hows of Alexander's return?

Lara

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Chapter 36

Why was he here? What did he want from me? The questions were on the tip of my tongue, but refused to come out. All I could do was stare.

"I followed you to the tower Medici brought you to," he said. "When I arrived the whole building exploded. The dark witches were gone. As were you, little witch. Would you care to elaborate on what happened?"

The words were spoken softly, but the stillness in him was gone. He was breathing, breathing hard. He was so close, I could see specks of dark blue swirling, moving in his irises.

The moment might have stretched into infinity. Violence like an electric undercurrent, hidden behind a façade of cool blandness that was breaking at the seams.

Your existence is of little meaning to me. You were and always have been a tool. The words spiraled down my mind, penetrating. Changing, rearranging bits and pieces. I should have known better. He was the head vampire after all. It was in that moment that I gathered myself, geared up for whatever battle he had brought to my doorstep.

I didn't matter? I was just a tool? Good luck using this one.

"I escaped. That's what happened," I said. Answering his questions without giving him anything – I was getting better at it.

Cold fingers against my wrists moved. Another squeeze – precise, soft, almost tender. Like a caress.

"Do not tempt me, little witch." His voice was low. Hearing it did things to me I didn't want to admit, not even to myself.

It was like there was an invisible connection between our eyes, a cord, thick and strong; a sensation that burned somewhere behind my retinas. I couldn't look away, and the deeper I stared into his eyes, the less I saw. I was staring at a wall, impenetrable. Hollow, and yet not. Whatever I was looking at was not only a contradiction, it was an impossible enigma. No, it was an illusion, and there was this thought that once I pushed through it, what I found behind would be alive. And I believed that if I just pushed a little harder, I could get through. I couldn't stop looking.

It was then that it hit me. Alexander thought I was dead. Not only that I crossed an ocean and portalled to Italy, I landed within the boundaries of the Lumenis' village – a village that was surrounded by a shield of protection. And it was much more than that. Not only that it kept me underneath the radar, the shield was supposed to hide the witches and their auras.

The Lumenis. My heart stuttered and died like an engine out of fuel. No matter the Lumenis' intentions when it came to me, Alexander couldn't know about them. Never.

"I used a portal," I said slowly. It was the truth, and the only logical conclusion.

The pressure around my wrists loosened. The thick, power-saturated tension around us deflated, allowed me to breathe freely.

"Why Italy?" His stare intensified, like he wanted to get inside my head just by looking.

I wasn't going to back down and give in. He wasn't going to get a single thing from my eyes. Not a single thought. I'd do everything to protect the Lumenis' secret.

"I had no control over the portal," I said.

Another non-answer. And the truth.

Judging from the renewed pressure around my wrists, he wasn't satisfied with it. Or maybe he simply didn't believe me.

"Dammit, Alexander! Do you think the Circle teaches us something that's highly illegal? No, I had no clue how to control it, or influence where that damned portal was going to drag me to. But, guess what, I was a little busy dying. What the hell do you want?"

"You are speaking the truth."

His hands fell away from my wrists, and for a moment I actually thought he was going to let me go. Instead he fixed me with his gaze. Not the steel and razor blades I expected, but something else. Much worse, and even much more arresting.

"I learned that you were alive three days ago. Imagine my surprise when I suddenly felt your presence, faint, but there. You were alive, and yet you did not care to let me know."

I stilled. How could he know? I only left the village once.

Three days ago.

I blinked. But how was that possible? Sure it was after sunset, but he'd been thousands and thousands of miles away, on another continent. Unless... My eyes widened. Unless he'd been here in Italy all along.

"What I am most interested in is what you did after you, involuntarily, as you claim, landed in Italy?" He said softly.

Another question I couldn't answer. Not fully. "I got caught up in something," I said, staring him straight in the eye.

"No letter, no phone call." He smiled, didn't even bother to hide his fangs. "After all we went through together, little witch. I expected better from you."

I clamped my mouth shut. No matter how he knew, I wasn't going to let him in on the what's and why's of my stay in Italy. Let him chew on that one.

The smile vanished abruptly. "You will come with me. And you will explain what happened, in detail."

His hand was on my arm, sending shivers up and down my skin. The touch was gentle, but firm, letting me know that I wasn't going to get away. Alexander started dragging me away from the beach. He made me walk the steep slope up to the small road I'd glimpsed from the shore.

I didn't even struggle. Rico was still somewhere down there. I was pretty sure Alexander noticed him, but wasn't going to push my luck. If the master vampire wasn't going to mention Rico, I wasn't either. I had no idea what Alexander would do to the youth, if he showed up.

It wasn't until I saw the two black cars at the end of the path that I dug my heels into the dirt. Sleek and dark, like animals made of steel, they sat on the street. Inviting. Like two black gates to hell. My very personal gates to hell.

I closed my eyes and opened up my senses, took that step into the other-world of auras. My pulse quickened. The rush plummeted in my stomach, as I opened my eyes and my vision cleared. The head vamp hadn't come to Italy unprepared. There were half a dozen vampires and one human in those cars.

I looked up at Alexander. "Where are we going?"

Moonlight spilled over his pale face, accentuated his jawline like it was some sort of intricate piece of art. The head vampire was wearing an elegant white shirt; black slacks that hugged his legs like they were made only for him – small but significant details I missed before. His get-up struck me as more formal than usual. Why that kind of shirt? Why here in the middle of nowhere?

"And why are you in Italy to begin with?" I said.

The idea of him leaving the country with a pack of vampires simply to pick up his favorite magical lap dog was downright wrong, and it didn't make any sense. Particularly if I was right. If I was, Alexander had to have been in Italy before he found out I was alive.

The head vampire was staring at me without blinking, hand clamped on my forearm as if it belonged there. He stepped closer, getting right into my face.

"You still have a debt to pay, little witch. You are going to give me answers this night, little witch. Not the other way around."

My mind was racing. Six vamps and a human. Why did he bring the entourage? And the million-dollar question: What was Alexander really doing in Italy?

I returned his stare with one of my own, trying not to let it show how much I was bothered by his presence alone. I enfolded my mind with the strongest mental armor I had. No matter what, I couldn't let him know about the Lumenis.

Hah! Any thought I accidently telegraphed could mess this up for me.

"This night you will answer every single question I please to ask, little witch, and we will begin with the most important one. You said you escaped from Medici by the use of a portal that you had no way of controlling; a portal that apparently brought you to Italy." He looked at me, watching my expression with the attention of a plastic surgeon. He cocked his head. "After, you got caught up in something. If that was the case, I am curious to hear why I could not sense your presence at all."

This was what I'd been afraid of. I could have talked myself out of a number of questions he might have asked. Not this one.

Stay still. Just don't move.

I stared back at him and blinked, slowly, deliberately. Seconds. Minutes. Nothing between us but time sifting away.

I watched him, forcing myself to look, painfully aware of that one moment, that second I saw him first – standing in front of me, real, beautiful, and there. That one moment when something in my heart contracted.

Dammit, I had to get away from him. Now.

"No answer, little witch? Do I need to use other means to gain information?"

I tore my arm away, surprised that he let me, hands balling up into white knuckled fists.

"Don't even think about messing with my mind, Alexander. You want answers? Get them the old-fashioned way. You won't get any answers I'm not ready to give."

He leaned forward so that our bodies were almost touching. His nostrils flared. "I will mess with whatever I like, little witch, even if it is your mind."

"You can try, but you're not going to get a single thing."

I buried my fingernails into my palms. I could smell him – that damned bitter sweet smell that reminded me of thoughts I wished I'd never had.

Giuliana trained me in more than one art. I might not have learned much about using other elements on my own, but I when it came to mind shielding magic, I was a fast learner. The only question was, would it be enough to stop mental intrusions coming from someone as powerful as Alexander? I was willing to put the theory to test.

I went deep down into that place that governed my magic, imagining my mind in a wall of stone. In there I was tall and proud. No one could touch me. My thoughts and memories were my own. I whispered the incantation in my mind, ancient Latin – words that now had meaning and structure. Power flared, hot and vibrant in my veins.

I smiled. "You wanted answers tonight, Alexander? Wanted me to share a little of my thoughts? Fine. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I may have signed the contract, and I might owe you, but that doesn't make me one of your flunkies. I can't be that. And I won't. If you want something from me, you're going to have to ask."

He was looking down on me, still and unmoving. "Is this another weak attempt of defiance? Are you feeling cornered?" He took a step forward in the exact moment I backed away. "You should feel cornered, and you will feel more than that, little witch. You are treading on thin ice."

It was as if someone rammed a stick of steel up my back, fused my spinal cords with it. I stopped, ground my feet into the earth like pillars of flesh.

"You're asking me if I feel cornered? You don't know the first thing about me. You don't understand a single thing about human emotions. You're dead! How could you possibly understand how I feel?"

I took another step back and turned away from him. I couldn't stand looking at him. Dammit, I had to put some distance between us, get away from here.

And I think I would have, hadn't it been for Rico, who was probably still somewhere down there. If I left the head vamp standing high and dry, guess who he'd vent his anger on? No. I needed more time, or a better plan. I squared my shoulders and fixed the dark water with my gaze.

I could feel Alexander's presence behind my back like a second skin.

"You forget that you owe me your life, bond or not. Without me, little witch, you would not be standing here. Surprising, since you tried to kill me once."

"I gambled with your life when I sold you out to the Raven, but I did it because I had to. You survived with a major boost to your reputation as big bad master vamp," I said. "You saved my life only because you thought you'd get something in return. You took everything away from me without blinking. You took everything that mattered," I said. "I have nothing left in New York. There's nothing I can go back to. We're square, Alexander."

"There are things that go beyond our bond, little witch." The silent, razor-sharp quality in his voice was gone. Instead it was fused with hot wire. He was angry, and, again, he didn't bother to hide it. The thought alone should have been enough to send me over the edge.

"After all, you were the one that tried to walk away from me," he said. "You broke a promise and a contract you signed."

I felt a hand descend on my shoulder, instants before he spun me around.

"Did you forget what you said to me back in New York?" He said. "You vowed to never leave my territory without telling me. You agreed to pay your debt to me by becoming my servant for an unlimited time, not only verbally, but on paper. You signed a contract. So no, little witch, we are not even. This is far from over."

Moments, shallow breaths. I tried to look away. There was something in his eyes that scared me in ways I didn't understand.

I exhaled sharply. "Fine. I'll do it."