Moving as stealthily as possible I crawled on the bed with the sole purpose of stealing the pillow between them and going back out to sleep on the couch. The moment I grabbed the pillow, however, Aleksi seized my wrist and pulled me down onto the bed.
“He’s not asleep yet. At first I was worried about shock, but he seems fine now.” Aleksi whispered to me. “You should comfort him.”
“Aleksi… I…” I couldn’t finish, honestly I didn’t know what I was going to say.
“Charlotte’s cheating on me, I found out not an hour before I came here and found him doing to you what I miss just so much. I don’t have you anymore, and I don’t have my distraction… I’m alone, Autumn. I just wanted everyone to suffer. Except you. I realized how far I had gone when I sat down and looked at that remote.” He paused and propped his head up in his hand. “Don’t hate him for it, Elizabeta used to do the same thing to me to put me in my place. Though the last time she did it, it took fifteen before I came while dangling from the ceiling in front of every powerful vampire in Paris.” He took a slow breath and released my wrist. “Everything is just falling to pieces right now and I can’t cope. I just can’t. I don’t handle change very well, and it just seems like it’s one thing right after another. First Nikolai’s my son, then you and Nikolai are together and now Charlotte. Part of me thinks I deserve all of this, because I just keep fucking up. Nikolai didn’t deserve any more than a warning.” I glanced at Nikolai, he had turned over and was staring at us. “I’m getting a room at hotel tomorrow, and I’ll buy you a plane ticket home tomorrow or you can stay here with Nikolai without my interference until after Swan Lake. I think I might need some time before I can be around you two.”
“You don’t have to go.” Nikolai’s voice was soft, and for a moment I wasn’t sure which one of us he was talking to. “I have a lot I’m going to have to learn from you.”
“You’ve learned enough for a while. Tonight I think I managed to teach you the best lesson to learn early. Vampires are territorial, mercurial, vindictive and will demand submission from everyone tied to them. The tiniest slight will probably result in a greater hurt than you could probably imagine.” He was right. That summed up my experience with vampires so far. I collapsed back into the pillow and took both of their hands. I accepted in that moment that I would never understand either of them. Nikolai forgave too easily and Aleksi was too quick to temper. It was probably self-loathing, on Aleksi’s behalf, Nikolai looked too much like him to get anything short of the harshest treatment. I fell asleep thinking the most mundane of thoughts, why couldn’t it work like this? Why couldn’t the three of us be together? Because when Aleksi sees Nikolai touching you, he wants to break the boy’s neck.
Aleksi did exactly what he said he would and got a room at a nearby hotel. Nikolai tried to get him to stay, but ultimately Aleksi convinced him it was for the best. They spoke on the phone every day and Nikolai and I packed up his apartment. It was hard to forget what I had done and seen but we still pursued our relationship. We spent every waking moment together and it was a sort of domestic bliss. But I missed Aleksi, and when Nikolai was asleep at night I’d get up and walk to the window and think about him. The servant master relationship was symbiotic. Every mark brought you closer to your vampire until you were like Leslie and Tristan, two bodies one life force. If Tristan were to die, no matter what Leslie was doing, no matter her health, she would die too. They’d be sucked down into death together and I had the first step of that with Aleksi. I was far away from that fourth mark and the immortality it brought but I still felt that connection. Yet I had another form of connection with Nikolai, touching him made me feel drunk…needless to say I was eager to get back the States and talk to Marla.
I pressed my forehead to the cold glass and let out a soft sigh, and then my gaze trailed to the reflection of the street lamps in a car window below and I had my first vision in weeks.
I felt like I had become a professional now. I knew how to observe my visions to get the most out of them. The reflection twisted until it turned into a very modern, very chic hotel lobby. The burly guy with the neck tattoo was there carting a very massive suitcase. I noted reference points in the lobby, the people at the desk, the color of the chairs, the placement of the elevator and then most importantly the windows. But what I noticed made my heart sink. It was the hotel Aleksi was staying at, my panic inflated powers broke the vision.
I darted to the room and hastily pulled on my clothes and grabbed my phone. You’re overreacting Aleksi is probably fine. I wore jeans and a turtleneck and my sneakers. I was only slightly bothered by the fact that I wasn’t wearing a skirt and heels as I pulled my coat on while running down the stairs. I didn’t stop running when I reached the first floor, I ran all the way to the hotel where Aleksi was staying. I paled when I saw the staff at the counter, the same staff working the counter when the burly guy with the big suitcase came through in my vision. The moment the elevator opened I swiped on my cell and thumbed through my texts until I saw the one with Aleksi’s room number. I hit the button on the elevator for the twenty first floor and practically vibrated with panic as that electronic bleeping for every floor seemed to take a life time. Aleksi was in that bag, that’s what I was seeing. What else could it be? A bomb. Someone else. Clothes. When the doors finally opened I sprinted down the hall panting as I frantically searched for the room number. What are you going to do? What can you do to someone who incapacitate a vampire? I passed outside of his room. I had been so panic stricken I hadn’t given a real thought it to. What could I do? I could use my telekinesis, if I could break a mirror or lift a dresser I could probably lift a two-hundred and fifty pound man, right? Right?
When I got to Aleksi’s room the door was locked and there wasn’t much sound coming from it. It barely took me anytime at all to unlock the door, behind that little key card was not much of anything. Opening the door I found the big burly guy in the process of stuffing Aleksi into the suitcase. Seeing Aleksi’s pale lifeless body made my heartbeat bounce into my throat. His body was completely limp and almost seemed boneless as the man zipped Aleksi away. There wasn’t much of a sign of a struggle in the room. A lamp was knocked over, and there was a syringe on the floor but that was it.
The burly man tilted his head to the side and said something to me in Russian. I shrugged at him and he pulled a gun out. My powers reacted on their own and the gun flew out of his hand and out into the hall. He yelled at me and started to rush towards me. I lifted the carpet at the right moment and he slipped and went flying into the bathroom. The door slammed shut and I mangled the inside of the lock.
The adrenaline was amazing, but the moment I reached for the bag of Aleksi I knew I was exhausted. It took everything I had to pull him down the hall and into the elevator. I told it to go up, I figured I could go to the top floor and hide in the stairwell for a while. And that was exactly what I did, when the door closed to the stairs that was when I heard it. The loud boom, the explosion actually shook the hotel a little and my stomach sunk. Did I just choose Aleksi over Nikolai and lose them both? I slumped down next to the bag and frantically dialed Nikolai’s number. It just rang and rang and rang. I sobbed as his voice mail clicked on and then tried again. Voicemail. The adrenaline had worn off by time that message stopped and my whole body was completely and utterly drained. I called the only other person I could think to call. Elizabeta. She answered immediately.
“Well if it isn’t my favorite clairvoyant! I’m going to go out on a limb and say this isn’t a personal call. What’s wrong?” So business like, so to the point.
“I had…I…h-h-h…”
“Oh no, Sweetie. Take a deep bre—hold on.” She covered the phone but I could still hear the murmurs. “I just heard, you should go be with Aleksi. He’ll need you.”
“Th-that’s… th-the problem! H-he’s…” I trailed off and sobbed.
“Take a deep breath and tell me everything.”
I did as I was told, because
I really good at that. But my heart ate at itself. Did I just choose Aleksi over Nikolai and end up killing Nikolai?
“He’s not dead, but we’re going to need to get you and him out of the country. Do you think you can get out of the building unseen?”
“I don’t… I don’t know, I’m… I’m on the top floor in th-the st-stairwell.”
“Well that was smart, you’re such a smart girl, Autumn.” I heard the tension in Elizabeta’s voice. “I’ll send a team to come get you, alright? Do not trust anyone unless they flash you a red card like the one you got at customs followed by a pale blue one with a crown.”
“Is…i-i-is Niki,” a sob cut me off.
“I don’t know, just stay there, okay? Do you need to stay on the phone with me?”
“N-no, I’ll….I’ll be fine.” I swallowed and wiped my tears.
“Alright, I’ll call you if there’s any word on Nikolai.” She didn’t wait for me to respond, the end call blip sounded in my ear.
I felt like I was alone in the stairwell for hours before the six vampires in their tactical gear found me. The leader flashed me the red card, followed by a powder blue card with a little black crown on it. They took the bag and lead me to the elevator in silence. When we reached the lobby one of them touched the earbud in their ear.
“Repeat?” He said in a gruff voice with a thick Texan accent. I couldn’t help but to wonder what a Texan was doing in Russia but I was a little too shocky to ask questions. “Roger dodger, Mama Bear.” He commented with a small smile before glancing back at me. “The Swanling’s a little bruised but safe.”
“S-swanling?”
“Nikolai, he’s Colette’s progeny.” I sighed as he continued. “Colette’s the Swan, Aleksi’s the dragon, and Elizabeta’s Mama Bear—because you don’t fuck with an angry Mama Bear. Something the Order of the Sun Cross will find out real soon like.”
“Oh.” Was all I could think to say as I was ushered into a large van. They all filed in and the instant the van started moving they unzipped the suitcase and laid Aleksi out on a stretcher. We made another stop before heading to the airport. We pulled in at an inconspicuous warehouse and another stretcher was loaded in the back, this one had Nikolai on it. He was unconscious and had a blanket wrapped around him.
“They found him in the bottom of the stairwell at his building, he’s banged up but okay. They sedated him because he was something riled up over you, girl.” Texas continued with a chuckle. He banged on the side of the van and we started off again. I passed out while we were on our way to the airport. The night’s events just proved too much for me. I was an academic and a clairvoyant, but I was not an action star.
4
DISTANCE
EVERYTHING SEEMED LIKE A TALL GLASS OF BAD DREAM WITH A DÉJÀ VU twist. I woke up on that private plane with its sleek wood paneling and modern furnishings. Elizabeta was once again across from me with a half-naked Lyra at her side. Again she was on the phone. If not for the beeping of the medical equipment I would have thought I had traveled back in time.
The plane seemed a little cramped with the two hospital beds and the handful of medical personnel milling around. My eyes flitted between the two lifeless forms, vastly similar in repose. Clearly there was more wrong with Nikolai than sedation. He had an IV in his arm and an EKG machine monitored his heart. Aleksi was whiter than the sheets he laid on, and his lips were purple. He looked like a corpse. He was hooked up to a couple machines and a few bags of blood. The idea of a vampire getting a blood transfusion seemed a little bizarre to me. But then again, I didn’t know what had happened to him—other than he was lifelessly stuffed into a suitcase.
Staring at them made the tears come again. So I looked away turning my attention to Elizabeta who sat across from me looking fantastic as always. Her beautiful titian red hair was loose and hung to her elbows in soft curls like I usually wore mine. She also wore a cream colored mini dress that hugged her curves and showed off ample amounts of cleavage. It was a date outfit. Once she noticed me staring at her she pulled her phone from her ear and folded her hands in her lap.
“I know you have questions but unfortunately for both of us—at the moment I have very few answers.” She sighed, and I watched her eyes rest on both Aleksi and Nikolai. “Nikolai has some very nasty head trauma from his… supposed fall and a myriad of other injuries that suggest fight more than fall. Aleksi…” She fell silent with a sigh. “Aleksi was injected with VR-A7. It’s essentially a bioweapon against vampires. It’s a very slow death, but effective. Its mortality rate is astonishingly high without medical treatment.” I sobbed and her lips twisted into a frown. “I know… it seems bleak, but it can be stripped out of his system. Dr. Basil has a technique that is more effective than the others—a ninety-eight percent success rate. There’s hope, he’s progressing remarkably well for the first hours of treatment. Aleksi is amazingly strong.”
“How… how l-long… how long will they be out for?” I glanced back at their unconscious forms.
“I don’t know, Sweetie. I wish I could tell you more.” She shook her head and sighed. “Well I do have other news—but it’s not good news.” She reached down and ran her fingers through Lyra’s dishwater blonde locks and sighed again. “The Order of the Sun Cross, has managed to crawl out from the primordial ooze Vlad pulverized it into during the Belle Epoch. They’re a gang of militant human supremacists who dedicate their lives to the fight between Humans, and Vampires and Werewolves. Except there hasn’t been a fight between the three groups in years. Infighting, of course. Maybe an occasional flare up of old hatred. But the war was over before Aleksi was even turned.” She sighed and looked at her fingernails for a moment. “That being said, if you see someone with a tattoo or jewelry that’s in this symbol.” She pulled something up on her phone and held it out to me. It was the symbol on the burly guy’s neck, only burly guy in the photo looked very dead. She returned her phone to her lap. “Calmly excuse yourself from their company and call Wyatt. He’s going to be in charge of your security.” I nodded. “I have a bad feeling that this is going to get very messy before this situation is resolved. And I have a favor to ask you, could you put Nikolai up when he wakes? His apartment won’t be ready until the end of March. He’s getting Kendra’s old place. I’ve had them tear out walls and expand the place. He’ll have his own studio like Aleksi, and an extra bedroom or two.”
“D-did you know?”
“I had my suspicions, but I think I didn’t want to know. I saw his debut as a Principal. I didn’t look any further into it then because he didn’t have the eyes. Without those eyes he could have a normal life… or as normal as it gets for ballet dancers.”
“Oh.” I let my gaze fall back to the two hospital beds that seemed so out of place at the back of the private plane. The beeps and hisses were disturbingly calming.
It took three days for Nikolai to wake up, but Aleksi still wasn’t any better. He was being treated at Crimson Hill because it was more secure than any hospital could have been. There was an armed guard around his room day and night—or at least that was what Elizabeta had assured me.
Nikolai refused to talk about what happened and every time I questioned him about the burly guy at the restaurant he deflected the question with a kiss that left me feeling like I had a few shots of tequila. That was what brought me to Dr. Marla Young again—that premier Preternatural Psychologist who specialized in patients with clairvoyance and vampires.
“It’s called resonance.” Dr. Young explained to me while I sat with her for one of my weekly sessions. She smoothed her hand over her close cropped black hair.
Usually I didn’t care for short hair, but Marla looked amazing with it. The absence of hair actually emphasized her natural beauty. She had amazing smoldering dark eyes that burned within her delicate triangle shaped face. I was also more than a little jealous of her ageless mocha colored skin. She usually dressed casual and today was no exception. She wore black leggings and a turquoise sweater dr
ess that made her skin pop.
“Your auras resonate with one another.” She continued. “He’s feeling the exact same thing you are. It’s a very rare phenomena. Some have speculated that everyone has someone that they can get the feeling from. It’s a beautiful thing, but you should be careful. That sensation is very good at clouding judgment.”
“I’ll take that under advisement.” I smiled and glanced down at my hands.
“Do you feel like talking about the new relationship? Has your power been giving you any problems?”
I stared at her for a few moments and then I looked at the clock. Oh, I had plenty to talk about. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk about it.
“I don’t know.” I sighed and shrugged before rubbing the hem of my skirt between my thumb and forefinger.
“I heard you saved Aleksi.”
“Yes, but I almost lost Niki because of it.”
“And you feel guilty because you chose Aleksi over Niki?”
“A little.” I wet my lips and shook my head. “I’m at war with myself. Part of me wants to move on and put everything behind me. And another part of me… realizes that Aleksi is part of my life now, and will always be part of my life. And another part…” I giggled and shook my head. “Another part is delusional and wants him back. When I heard that Charlotte cheated on him, that part of me practically did a backflip and started planning on ways to let Nikolai down easy.”
“But is that part bigger than the part that wants Nikolai?”
Dark Awakenings (Danse Macabre Book 2) Page 7