Hi!

It's here. The final chapter of this book. I want to thank you all for staying with the series for so long.

I will take a break from wattpad for two or three weeks, then I'll be back with book 5 of the Shadows of the Night series: "Fade Into Black". I hope you'll like it! :-)

Lara

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Chapter 66

I made my way back to the inner city, stumbling through the streets – a twisted, flawed maze of alleys and lanes that made less sense than a reversed, upside-down chess board. People passing by, nooks and crannies with shadows and silence, the main street a firework of boisterous sound and garish light – I was blind to all of it. All that mattered was getting away. Think things through. Then meet Andy.

Forcing my way out of Alexander's lair turned out to be harder than I thought. At first I tried getting out the old-fashioned way, explaining to the guards that I had a meeting with a friend. It was futile. Then again, I wasn't thinking clearly at that point in time. Alexander's other human servant Jack was, of course, not willing to help.

I ended up using a portal. I was surprised that Alexander actually had some sort of magical barriers around the perimeter. Not exactly pure magic, but something. Nastier, and darker. No matter what it was, I pushed through, slipping under its radar. While whatever he did made it hard to penetrate from outside, anything could get out that wanted. Looked like Alexander hadn't reckoned with housing a portal user.

I had no doubt in my mind that the head vampire would soon be aware that I left. Who was I kidding? The sun was setting. It was only a matter of time until he would be up. And then-

This was where my thoughts stopped.

I refused to think about the repercussions of my actions. Couldn't think past those memories. What had I done? Why did I do it? I needed room to breathe. Time to think things through.

Not that I could rationalize anything I did since last night. Not that I could look at the reasons, the why and how – anything that would explain why I was caught in a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Bits and pieces that didn't function on their own, random thoughts. Whatever I thought I believed, all that I once believed in, it was completely gone.

Alexander could have been involved in a crime that ended in witches getting killed. Scratch that, the blood on his hands was centuries old. There are lines you don't cross, lines that matter. Killing people was always a hard line for me.

I didn't care about any of it last night. I was with him, closer to him than to anyone I'd ever been, and I couldn't shake the feeling that something fundamental had changed inside of me, that there was no way back.

Just who was I becoming?

I shook my head, turning it against the cold wind slapping into my face. The streets were busy, packed with people rushing from one end to the street to the other. Unknown faces. People who didn't know or care that my mind was close to breaking point.

I had to get back to the apartment, meet with Andy and leave, before Alexander or his horde of flunkies got there. Maybe I was going to grab a few things, lie low for a few days. Wait. Think things through. Find answers to questions I was uncertain of. Decide what to do next.

Pushing my way through another throng of pedestrians, I switched on my cell phone – something I put off and dreaded ever since I sneaked out of Alexander's lair. Was the head vampire awake yet? Had he tried to call me? What would he do?

I stared at the screen. It wasn't the head vamp who tried to call me. I had three missed calls from Andy.

I exhaled and pushed the call button. He answered after the second ring.

"Anna, dammit! Where are you?" Andy said.

"I'm on my way to the apartment now," I said.

"I've been waiting here for-"The annoyance in his voice vanished within one fluid second, went from annoyed to concerned. "What's wrong?"

I slid my eyes to the side. "Not over the phone. I'm almost there. Should be with you in less than two minutes."

A shiver. A blink of the eye. A small dose of weirdness. The sensation of being followed hit me as I rounded the corner to my apartment. I expected Alexander to send a horde of his guards my way to fetch back what had left unannounced and without his permission. Was I wrong? Could it be that he positioned guards close to the apartment even when I wasn't in, or were they simply that fast?

A deep sense of wrongness permeated the open space in front of me. There, among humans that couldn't even begin to understand what invisible powers lay between sky and earth, I felt them. Not Alexander's guards. It was someone else altogether.

Rogue witches.

Wafts of dark magic surrounded them like a second set of skin. And they were everywhere.

I stopped dead, awash in a mass of humans pushing themselves through the crowded pavement. Most of them on their way to the Crimson District, the place that offered oblivion and a complete distortion of reality. Most of them looking for a sense of adventure, a whiff of danger and the unknown to spice up their lives. None of them knew in what kind of danger they were in right now.

I turned, sharpened my senses to what lay around me. Power snapped and flickered in the air.

There. No way not to see. My eyes zeroed in on the most dangerous of them all – awash in the crowd of unknown faces. I knew the person behind that aura without looking twice, could taste, feel the corruption crawling its way through open space.

The Raven.

I wouldn't have recognized him if I hadn't felt him. The hat he was wearing, paired with the dark grey suit that fit him like a glove, was blatant and barely above ordinary. Nothing that stood out in the throng of party-goers, men and women dressed crazy for another night out in New York City. Medici was less than twenty feet away, approaching me – one with the crowd as he walked among them.

Flight scenarios and possible escape routes ripped through my head like a deck of shuffling cards. None of them would work. Not with so many rogues surrounding me. I could try portaling out, but I was still a beginner when it came to casting a portal. I was still slow. Opening a portal would take focus and time – time I didn't have. Medici could grab me before I set a single foot into a portal.

I fisted my hands and let him approach me. This was it. No escape routes. No running.

Raphael Medici didn't look like a criminal – not from afar and not up close. It was just in moments when the use of magic was strong that you could glimpse the deranged mind behind – the proof that working dark magic was taking its toll.

He walked up to me. Stopped two feet in front of where I was standing.

"Come quietly, love, and no one will be harmed," he said. "Try to draw attention to us and we'll blow up the whole street."

I saw it in his eyes. He wasn't bluffing. He didn't need to spell it out. My gaze went back to the crowd on the street. Innocents he would sacrifice without batting an eyelash.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "The word of a mass murderer isn't worth shit, and we both know it, Raphael. Why should I trust you of all people? You could say one thing and do the complete opposite."

"Maybe. Maybe not." He stepped forward, smiling. "Maybe this is not the question that matters most, Anna Johnson. I heard you've been busy. You must have found proof. You must know."

He was looking at me with a knowing expression, a self-assuredness I couldn't quite explain to myself.

"Know what?" I said.

The smile died on his face. "Know why the Circle is collaborating with the vamps. Know why Brown and the Circle have been giving Alexander more slack than any other master vampire before. Why they even considered a close-knit cooperation with the vamps to begin with."

I trusted Medici as far as I could throw him, knew that every word out of his mouth might or might not be a well-fabricated lie, spoken with the intent of twisting my head.

I stared at him, weighing the options. Did I really have any left?

Should I play along for now? Yeah, and then what?

To the Circle I was nothing more than a traitor. Even people I considered friends would turn their backs on me once they found out what I'd become. My stomach twisted at the thought of Andy and what he would do once he knew what exactly Alexander 'had on me.'

Alexander. There it was again, that heart-rippling sensation that slashed through my core at the thought of him. Last night...

That damned desire to just be with him. No, I couldn't go back to the head vampire. Not after he knew how far the bonds of our master-servant relationship extended. Not after he knew that there was a part of me that wanted him. That he could have me as his human servant, on his terms.

After our return from Italy, I'd been living in a vacuum of sorts, telling myself that I could play by my own rules, even as his human servant. Telling myself that this was only temporary and that I would find my place in this city. As long as I lived in the illusion that we were equals, that the bond wasn't stronger than my willpower, I could pretend to be his human servant. Now that was gone.

My world caved in, turned into a free-for-all zero space I couldn't breathe or live in. There were no rules or guidelines I could live by. No parameters I could observe, learn, and change to my own will. The place I imagined to make for myself was out of reach.

Or, was it?

I stared at the Raven for a long moment.

There was one last option, one last resort to set things right, once and for all. And it was right in front of me. Use myself as bait to draw out the Raven. Bag him. Learn what secrets the Raven and Chris Hayes were guarding with iron strength. Collect valuable information on dark magic while at it. Return to the Circle or never return at all. It didn't matter. This was the path I was supposed to take, the one thing I, and only I, could do. Why hadn't I seen it before?

I would have to go against everything I thought I knew. My instincts were telling me this was a very bad idea, but at this point in time it was probably the only option I had left.

The Raven cocked his head, eyes sliding from one side to the other, scanning the street.

"You better decide now. They're almost here."

I frowned at him. "Who? The Circle?"

He let out a mirthless laugh. "The Circle indeed, but not the way you think."

I gave him a blank face. The words didn't really make sense. I had no way of knowing if he was telling the truth or baiting me.

The Raven crossed the space between us, smiling, and held out his hand. "This is your choice. We will be enemies or we can be allies. Come with us, become one of us, and I'll show you how you can control your powers. I'll give you the answers everyone else has refused to give to you in the past."

I stared at what I once considered an archenemy of everything I thought I stood for. Knew that whatever came out of his mouth was a set of twisted half-truths, paired with a devious shadow game of lies. Knew he was only saying what he believed I wanted to hear. And I couldn't bring myself to say a thing.

"And choose fast, we don't have forever," he added.

Fact: Medici was a criminal. Fact: He could mould lies into something coming so close to the truth, you couldn't tell one from the other. I had no way of knowing if what he was telling me was the truth. The story about him teaching me how to control my powers could be just that – a fabricated story. And was I willing to bet my life on it being a lie?

I needed answers, and there was only one person in this city I could get them from.

I made my decision.

I stared at his hand for a long moment, then at him.

I grabbed it wordlessly.

The portal opened instants later. The world closed in around us, blurred on the edges and folded in on itself until all I could see and feel were the cold, immaterial hands of darkness. In our wild ride through space, one image stayed with me, however. The smile of satisfaction on Medici's face.