Hi,

What to say? I just finished editing and I'm still excited about this chapter. Things are gonna blow in this one!

Lara

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Chapter 52

I stared at him. Why? Why wasn't he letting me go?

The planes of his face were unmoving and cold, but they called to me with a force I could not measure or describe in words. The blue in his eyes was intense, stirred by an emotion I couldn't pin-point. If I could have looked away, I would have, if only to escape his penetrating gaze.

He came after me, if even for reasons that weren't noble. But he did come. Was that enough for me to trust him? Just this once? Just a little.

"How far are you willing to go to? Whatever your plans are, focus and think before you act, little witch."

My eyes searched his. How much did he really see when he was in my head?

"How much?" He laughed. "How much will you risk for people you do not belong to?" He said softly.

I stilled. He just drank my blood, could probably read my thoughts with ease. He knew. He knew or had at least seen enough to guess about the Lumenis.

People you do not belong to. The words echoed in my head. Did I belong to them? Did it really matter?

Memories. I saw the faces of my parents, imagined the happiness they once shared among the Lumenis, if even short-lived. I had seen Giuliana's face when she spoke about my mother and I knew she loved her as if she was her own sister. I knew. Being able to talk to someone about my parents, knowing they were cherished and loved by other people gave me back something I'd been missing for a long time, hadn't ever had to begin with.

I allowed myself to feel what I hadn't dared allow myself ever since my parents died. Stared at him with the knowledge that Giuliana loved my parents ... and that she truly cared about me. I was willing to trust in that, if nothing else. No. I was not going to let anyone hurt Giuliana or the Lumenis, no matter what.

They are the only family I have left.

"Why them? You owe them nothing."

The emotion faded, sank back into that place deep inside of me. I shook my head, cleared my face of something I shouldn't have shown in front of Alexander.

"You haven't seen enough to-"

"I do not need to see all your past to understand your present. I know you, little witch."

"-to understand. In your world all that counts is the accumulation of power and wealth, of shaping just another master plan to widen your sphere of control. How could someone like you begin to grasp why this is what I have to do?"

He smiled faintly. "Because I am not human?"

"Because you're not human and you're okay with it." I said, not looking away.

"So the human is raised to the ideal in your world, something everybody should strive to be. Human. Like your witch friend Andy. I am pretty sure you would have no objections to being leashed by him," he said in a cool rush.

"Leave Andy out of this." Why was he dragging Andy into this. Why now? "And he wouldn't leash me," I added.

"You would follow him to the end of the world, if he asked for the favor," he said. "Because he is human."

I straightened, felt the bark chafing my bare skin, didn't care. "You're wrong about that. It would be because he asked."

Andy would have understood the moment I told him about the Lumenis. Hell, he'd have come with me and made sure they were safe himself... and offended greater parts of the Lumenis with his open manner and his tendency to talk to everybody informally while at it. Like he did with the head vamp. I smiled. Vincenzo would have a fit and then some.

Alexander drew in a sharp breath, eyes intense, midnight blue swirling like a violent storm coming in from the sea. Tectonic plates shifted in a violent tremor, time unhinged. The boiling blue in his eyes drew me in, forced me to look. Muscles locked down in a succession of hasty beats that vaguely resembled the rhythm of my heart. Too fast. One heartbeat, one motion later. He was inches from my face, my lips, hands on my shoulders, jerking me to him.

The kiss was violent. Undid me with the force of a small cataclysm in my core. Made me feel alive. He didn't invite, he touched and took; razed words from my lips and tongue, undid thoughts in my mind until all that existed was him, until there was room for nothing else. Until I kissed him back.

I followed him into the dark ravine right into the kiss' center and he took me down down with him, illuminated darkness with passion and violent motion. Where where was he going with this?

He ended the kiss as abruptly as he started it, hands on my shoulders, tight. The blue in his eyes swirling, shifting like a soft veil-like curtain come to life.

I stared at him, heartbeat drowning out any other noise I might have perceived. He was breathing hard. Looking right back at me.

Moments of silence that stretched and unfolded into what might have been minutes.

The motion of his eyes was the first and only warning I got. He drew away in a too-fast-to-see-motion I was well familiar with. The snapping of twigs thundered through the forest like the beginning of a crackling fire, dull and sharp sounds spiking the air. Magic blossomed around us, thick and heavy like a fog investing the air. Scales tipped and the world tilted.

I felt it approach us, rolling through the forest like an avalanche. Before I could react, Alexander was gone. I turned, froze in mid-step, mid-turn. Displacement of air as magic whizzed past me, heat tickling along my skin. A fire bolt!

"Get away from her, or you die," someone said.

I recognized the voice, felt their presence. Saw. Luca. And he wasn't alone. How could I have not sensed them?

I scanned the forest, afraid of what I was going to see on faces of people – at least to some degree – I thought were like me.

Vincenzo was standing behind us, Luca beside him, both surrounded by more witches that were part of the Lumenis. One formation. The witches stood beside one another, silently. I could see it in their eyes. The determination to fight, if necessary. The knowledge they had a place they could come back to. Sanctuary.

It was the one thing I thought I could come back to; the one thing I thought I could have possibly believed was something coming close to a family. I'd hoped. Even minutes ago, I still hoped I could come back. Staring into their eyes, I knew it was too late. And how I wish it wasn't. If there ever was a place I could live in – would it have been here? If things had turned out differently, in another life, would I have been one of them?

Alexander reappeared beside me, as if he was made of bare, thin air, had the ability to materialize anywhere and anytime he wanted. I hadn't even felt him.

Vincenzo raised his hand. I felt the anticipation, a vessel, filled to the brim, short of tipping, saw the attack before it came. I flung myself in front of Alexander, pulled magic to me. It came to me fast and hard, burned on the tip of my tongue, left me staggering back as walls of air mushroomed out of forest soil in front of us.

Seconds of bare, unadulterated joy. Air magic. Not dark, but my own. Elemental.

Then even that thought was gone.

The fire bolt shot through the air and burned at the threshold to my walls until it died out. Seconds passed. Silence echoed through the night as I stared at the congregation of witches.

"It's okay. He's not our enemy. Don't hurt him." I said.

Vincenzo narrowed his eyes, didn't move. "Step away from the vampire, Anna. Now."

I shook my head. "You don't understand, he's-"

"She is my human servant," Alexander said from behind me. He said it with the ease of someone talking about his new job at an afternoon coffee party. "She has been, in fact, for a while. We share a bond that links us – anytime, anywhere. If you hurt me, you will hurt her. Kill me, and you will kill her."

I froze. He did not just say that? I wanted the Lumenis to learn of my bond with Alexander, eventually, but at a time of my own choosing. Not without proper explanation, not from the head vampire but from me. From no one else but me!

Vincenzo's face darkened. "A bond it is now," he said and turned his head.

I followed his movement with my eyes and saw who he turned to. Big, scary men. Faces I'd come to know during my stay with the Lumenis. Among them Luca and Rico. The youth was right behind Vincenzo, hands fisted, for once not playing cool. His eyes were wide and out of control, too much white showing.

"Giuliana would have me go out and search the whole area for a witch that is bound to a vampire?" Vincenzo's voice rang through the forest, sneaked its way through tree lines and bushes, more than a whisper in the night. He spoke in Italian, and his voice rang with power, and more.

Luca eyed Vincenzo from the side. "You want me to summon the other search party?"

Was that where Giuliana was? Leading a search party? And could it have been for me?

Vincenzo stared at me for a long moment. "Not yet."

Rico stepped forward. For the first time I caught a glimpse of the youth's face.

"Is it true?"

He was talking to me. I didn't need the moonlight to tell me that. I knew. By the three great witches, I knew.

I didn't look away. Looking away would have meant defeat in more than one way.

"I didn't want this. I would have never chosen this." I took a deep breath, forced the words through my mouth. "But it's true. I'm bound to him."

Rico did look away then.

"You came into our midst and all you did was lie, and put all of us in danger. After all you did, you dare come here and approach us again? Why did you come back? Why here of all places?" Vincenzo's voice wasn't harsh like I'd expected it to be. It had a fine edge of raw power that was controlled and caged, but ready to be released when needed. Knowing it was there was enough. "What in the name of all gods made you think you could bring a vampire here?"

"Because the human servant of a centuries old vampire was coming for me. He belonged to Ramondo, Titus' second in command. I- "

I hesitated. Telling the Lumenis about Red Night's Eve might backfire and bite me in the ass, but that wasn't the reason why I wanted to keep the information from them. For a moment my eyes flickered to Alexander. It wasn't my secret to tell. He would get an apoplectic fit if I blabbed out delicate information pertaining to the vamps.

"We ran into each other, and, I'm not sure about this, but he got suspicious about me. Maybe even recognized me."

Murmurs erupted around us like a kindled fire, whispers like sparks flying through the clearing.

Their reaction told me two things. One, I was right. The Lumenis knew exactly who Titus was, and who Ramondo was. What was more, they always knew the name of my parents' killer. And no one told me.

"Silence!" Vincenzo's voice boomed around us, died in the thickness of the trees together with the whispers. He narrowed his eyes. "Let's assume I believe you. I know Ramondo, and I know Titus. They may have spies and allies here, but they haven't been in this part of Italy for years. How did you happen to just run into him?"

There was no way I could tell them about Red Night's Eve. But I wasn't going to lie to them. No more lies. Not this time. Never again.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. "That doesn't matter now. What matters is what happened when I ran into them. I think someone got into my head and saw ... things. Maybe Ramondo, maybe someone else," I shook my head. "I don't know."

Alexander's hand shot out, grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. I forgot that I hadn't told him about that one. I flinched, waiting for biting words, or worse a physical blow.

"She did not share knowledge of her own volition," he said in a low voice.

I stiffened. Not because of the lack of violence. Not because of what he said. He was talking in Italian. The pronunciation was clear, almost flawless. I didn't even know he spoke it.

How did he know someone tore into my mind? Had he seen it in my head, tasted it in my blood? Was there anything he couldn't do?