Hi,

And the battle of minds and wills continues... See who wins this round! What do you think, who's in the right, who is in the wrong?

Lara

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Chapter 55

I stared at him for a long moment, took in the high cheekbones, perfect white skin, and raven black hair. There wasn't a wrinkle in the pristinely white shirt Alexander was wearing, not a hair out of place. Nothing was out of order, every motion and every look controlled, every word well planned.

Azure blue eyes that, though at first glance seemingly void of motion, held secrets locked away I wanted to unravel. I wanted to rattle this man, see him lose his cool and lose in a verbal chess game, just for once. But most of all, I wanted to find my place in this city – even if that meant I had to fight for it.

"You're wrong about this, Alexander. I've met the Raven, talked to him, fought him. I understand, better than you might think," I delivered in a cool rush. "That one time we caught him together? We were lucky. The Raven's been hiding from the authorities for years, and successfully so. Now he's on his guard, more than ever. You think you're gonna get to him with some vampiric arm wrestling? No, our best chance at catching him, is letting me do what I can do. Leave me in New York, in the streets. Let me do some investigating. Let him and his rogues see me do the investigating. Use me as bait. Because this is what a human servant does. Isn't it?"

Seconds of silence. Seconds buried underneath a ton of emotions and sensations I couldn't name. I had the head vampire's undivided attention and he was putting his two-thousand yard stare on me. The feeling that he could look right into and through me, slashed into me like a knife ripping into a white canvas, laying open a carefully hidden range of colours no one was supposed to see, less understand.

He drew back, slowly, watching me, always watching me. "Even if we assume that your plan is valid, it will not change anything about your current situation. Your life is in danger. And you cannot protect yourself on your own. You will move out of the apartment. And you will do it tonight.

I twitched, fighting for control. "I-"

"The rest we will discuss later. There are urgent matters I have to attend to. You may stay and argue if you wish." He looked at the dashboard. "However, if I were you, I would not waste time. You have twenty minutes to pack and come back down again, starting from now."

The car halted, a neat swing to the curve that threw me sideways. I knew the street like the back of my hand. We were in front of my old apartment. My eyes went up of their own volition. There was no light, no movement in our apartment.

To the best of my knowledge Laura and Ryan were still with their shape shifter pack. But, what if they were there? What if Laura or Ryan, or maybe both of them, were home?

My head whipped back to Alexander. "Are they there? What am I supposed to tell them? They know me. A horde of rogues could be after me and I wouldn't leave the apartment just like that. Not permanently. They wouldn't believe me."

"Why not the truth for a change, little witch? Why not admit and let go?"

I snorted inwardly. They wouldn't believe me.

I glared at him. "I thought you wanted me to tell everyone your version of the truth? Since you just openly admitted that my plan could work, I don't even know what to tell and whom."

He shrugged, made the motion look fluid and powerful.

"I did not admit anything, little witch. Now, as to the truth? We will settle on a version that pleases me, after we have discussed your future accommodations. However, you did say it yourself: Your friends will demand an explanation for your sudden departure. They will not be interested in the political situation of vampires on the continent, neither will they question your stay with the Lumenis. They will want to know why two of the head vampire's own are escorting you to and from your apartment. This is about motivation. Your personal motivation for agreeing to do something I suggested. Be creative. Frankly, I do not care what you tell your friends as long as you convince them that you will leave, out of your own free will."

Someone opened the door from outside, held it open for me to step outside. I looked away and forced my back straight. They wanted me to leave the apartment. My friends. I wasn't going to let them see how much it cost me.

My pulse was fast, raced with the urgency of a speed train in foreign territory as I made my way up. My knees were in danger of giving way. I climbed the last steps and walked down the corridor.

What once was familiar looked alien. The calmness, the feeling of being at ease and being at home was gone. For the first time in a long while I realized that it wasn't the apartment or my room that kept me anchored to this place, it was all about the people living inside it. If Laura and Ryan weren't there, all that was left would be an empty shell of a home.

The two vampires were right behind me as I stared at the key in my palm. I didn't even ask how Alexander got a hold of it. Didn't even wonder if he had the rest of my stuff, tucked away somewhere conveniently with the rest of my bag.

It took me minutes to build up the resolve to insert the key, turn the doorknob, and once I did, I pulled my hand away – it was shaking. Seconds stretched into a zero space where time had no meaning. Then I opened the door. Everything was dark inside.

Less than a minute and I knew the apartment was abandoned. The emotion hit like a drug taking hold of my system, flushing veins and blood cells all at once.

I felt truly lonely.

* * *

Night had long gone. Darkness had petered out into light, only to come back again. Hours of daylight and sunshine had passed. Hours that did nothing to give me comfort. I lay in bed, in a restless and fitful sleep that didn't bring absolution and oblivion.

I'd been given a reprieve, if maybe a short one, but I knew the moment of truth would eventually come. My reality would shift in more than one way. How would everyone around me react once they knew I was Alexander's human servant? The contract I signed a few weeks ago – before my clandestine escape to Italy and the Lumenis – ensured that the head vampire had proof I became his servant of my own free will, that I in fact agreed to it. In this world a lie chiselled in legal paper was worth more than a truth spoken frankly and with conviction.

As my first day in Alexander's house was nearing its end, I was starting to believe it wasn't going to be the shift in my world that would kill me, it was going to be the anticipation twisting in my head.

The knock came out of nowhere, tore me from my silent musing. I'd been watching the approaching night without consciously seeing it, trying to prepare myself for what was to come. I wasn't ready for company. Not yet. I still had too much in my own mind to deal with, too many questions that begged to be answered. So I remained where I was, lounging on the opulent couch across the ornamented bed.

The door opened. Alexander came in without a warning. He was dressed to the nines, black slacks and a white shirt, the two top buttons open. It made me wonder if it was all just for show. Didn't a vampire suffer from something equal to jet lag?

Then our eyes met. Thoughts of wrinkled clothes and bed hair vanished. They were trivial. Meant nothing in the face of what I was staring at. I felt that familiar hitch in my system, as if seeing him alone was enough to stop my internal wheels from turning. My thoughts drifted back to the kiss, that mother of all conundrums rioting in my mind. I slammed a lid on it, forced a calm look on my face.

Not going there.

He approached the couch and came to a halt in front of it, towering over me as if he had every right to do it. After a long moment he sat down on the armchair to my left.

"I believe there are still matters that need to be discussed, little witch."

I blinked up at him. He was watching me with that impenetrable mask of calmness again. Mask. Yeah. Maybe I could read him better than I used to. What I was looking at was a mask. He wasn't calm. Far from it.

"You're right." I took a deep breath. "Look, this is nice and all," I gestured at the room, "but we both know I can't stay. How do you think this will work out? You ring, and I come running like a dog? I won't do that, Alexander. I can't do that." I shook my head and looked up at him. "Let me be a human servant the only way I can."

Another long moment. Blue eyes tearing into me with the precision of a scalpel.

"Let us assume I let you leave. Where exactly would you go, little witch? Which place would you choose to enact your plan? Tell me, how would you protect yourself? How would you even begin to entrap the Raven? You have lost the protection of the Circle."

I flashed fire with my eyes. "And whose fault is that?"

The color in his eyes changed, as if they had a life of their own, and something in that blue ocean moved and swirled, something that was beyond the iron control he had over the rest of his face.

"Do not fool yourself. You made choices, choices that had consequences. Face them and see them as your own." He drew small lines on the armrest of the couch and followed them with his eyes. "You did not answer my question." His eyes flashed up, piercing mine.

Where exactly would you go, little witch?

I looked away. I didn't know.

For a long moment neither of us said anything. He was right. I couldn't go anywhere. I couldn't confide in anyone, apart from... him.

The truth flooded me, rendered me useless and speechless. At this point in time Alexander knew more about me than my closest friends. I had no idea what that meant, and I wasn't going to reflect on it.

Not here. Not now.

I forced my eyes back to him, let them fill with all the resolve and determination I had left.

"I can't do it alone. We both know that. I'll agree to be your human servant as long as you give me enough room to breathe and do what I have to do. I won't be kept in a cage. I'll go out and unless I'm on human servant business, I'll go wherever and whenever I want." I fused my words with the burning determination I felt. "This is non-negotiable."

His expression changed. It was a slow smile, one I'd seen in the weeks leading up to my abduction. I didn't like that I was familiar with his expressions. Didn't like that I was relieved to see it.

"You will have it your way, will you? You are stubborn to the point of utter foolishness, little witch." He stilled, watched me for another long moment. "I will grant you this foolishness. As long as it is during a time I am able to protect you." He stood, looking down at me. "Come, little witch, we have a lot of work to do. Our first priority is to find Medici. The rest, we will discuss later."

I stood, watching him, about to walk past him and make my way to the door. I didn't make two steps before his hand was on my arm. I stilled and went motionless. He was too close. His whole body was touching my side.

"You tried to save me when the Lumenis attacked me in the forest," he said. "Why?"

I kept my eyes on the door, forced into stillness by the closeness of his presence. "I didn't want an open confrontation. It would have complicated matters."

"So you decided to use your magic against your own kind? You chose me over what you once called your family. I want to know why."

I didn't want them to hurt you.

As soon as I heard the thought in my head I abandoned it. I couldn't think about it. If I did I might find myself face to face with an avalanche of emotions that could hurt me worse than a bunch of rogues ever would.

"Leave it alone, Alexander. We have things to do."

I saw him smile from the corner of my eyes, but ignored it. I ignored a hell of a lot when it came to him. I was beginning to wonder how long I could keep doing it.