“I know exactly that you’re playing for time. Unfortunately for you, it’s in vain. See, your friends, the Ivanovs, are all dead by now. And so is their little squad. Their little operation has turned into a disastrous failure.”
I shook my head, choosing not to believe a word he was saying. To my horror he nodded in the affirmative. My world shattered. There was a snip of the Consul’s fingers and my legs gave way to a bottomless ocean of blackness.
***
Lately, I’ve been growing an accustomed traveller between consciousness and unconsciousness, surely a physical and mental condition no one should be afraid of. The true horror starts once you return to your conscious self, when you blink off the misty veil from your eyes and the memory kicks in. See, your friends, the Ivanovs, are all dead.
I’d been crying for hours, barely noticing my environment. They’d locked me up in a dark room without windows or furniture, no source of light, just me and the cold floor. Dimitri, Tatiana, Victor, those were the people on my mind, people who risked their lives for my wellbeing. Dimitri… how terrible I felt about him. For days I’d behaved like the most terrible person, ignored him — treated him as if he didn’t exist. At least I tried. It’s hard to pretend indifference, if there is an obnoxious voice in your head craving for intimacy with him. Having had done such a great job in making him hate me came back as a boomerang now. What had been his last thoughts? His last recollection of me must have been that of a loathsome, unthankful girl, worse, a bitch, there was no nicer word. He left this world thinking I hated him. My heart felt heavy with grief as if the entire world had been dumped on me. There was a lump in my throat, which made it hard to breath. Right then, I wasn’t sure if I would survive this.
Hours later — it could have been days later — two sentinels came into my cell and thrust me out. They dragged me along some luxurious corridors with gold-framed paintings and expensive tapestry hanging from the walls; for the first time I noticed, I was back in the Winter Palace. Soon later, I found myself pushed into one of the armchairs of the Consul’s office, who’d been patiently waiting like a wolf for his prey to awake so he could devour it. Only difference, the prey was me.
“Welcome back, Miss Parker. I can’t express my delight finally making your acquaintance, I mean without the unfortunate charade of our first encounter.” The dawn of an early morning was filtering through the window, creating a halo around the Consul’s head. The office was exactly how I’d remembered it. Only the sentinel standing right behind the Consul was different. The guard was dressed in an old-fashioned uniform and cuirassier helmet showing a double-headed eagle, completely incongruous. On his back he had shouldered a rifle, no a musket, spiked with a long bayonet. Behind me were the two sentinels, who brought me here, flanking the huge office doors.
“I hope you’re not feeling affronted when this delight isn’t mutual.”
The Consul cleared his throat. “Not at all, my dear. Nevertheless, I must bring it to your attention; I’m not the valiant you may think I am.”
“Surely not.” My voice sounded broken. If I could still cry, I would have, but there were no tears left, not after shedding a million and one already. “It was a bare coincidence that you killed four of my friends, hijacked my best friends and on top killed the…” Ivanovs, Anastasia helped, but the words didn’t leave my lips as if by speaking them out loud they would become reality. Another tear found its way through my eyelids. I turned my head away from him, didn’t want him to see me like this.
He took a deep breath, obviously playing the nice guy. “See Miss Parker, there are always two sides of a story. The Ivanovs have told you theirs, so let me tell you mine.”
“You’re the head of the Guild, a secret organisation, which made it their job to terrorise the rest of humanity.”
He folded his hands behind his head, the edges of his lips moving up to what should have given the impression of a smile, but in his case, contained so much bitterness that the smile was as incongruous as the sentinel behind him.
“Is it what people, or should I better say, Victor was telling you about me? For centuries my family had witnessed the supernaturals hunted down by commoners and been robbed of their birthright to rule over mankind. Instead, their bare existence was threatened. The Catholic Church killed our kind by the thousands. While the Council saw our survival in concealment from the world of the commoners, my family didn’t agree and founded the Guild. You’ll be surprised how many people are sharing our ideas. Right from the beginning they saw their prospect in harvesting the powers of the apocalypse.”
“Harvesting?” I couldn’t stand the bitter taste forming on my tongue any longer. “Your harvesting stands for your family’s assassination side-business. You kill children! Why not name it this way, Consul?”
He took a deep breath, which could only stipulate his annoyance towards me. “My predecessors got it all wrong. I’m the headmaster now. Consider the Guild under new management. Killing the Children brings nothing, but using them as ransom to the four horsemen, priceless. Do you have any idea how important you are?”
When no answer came from me, the Consul continued. “There are moments in life, where sacrifices have to be made for a higher purpose. How about if I tell you, I’m able to change the world as you know it? How about I tell you, hunger, illness, war, even death will be no more? That we can live forever? You were the missing piece in my plan, the most important of the children as only you can control Death. Finally, I’ve found you. Together we’ll reinvent the world and we supernaturals will take our place as the superior race, no longer hunted down to near extinction. A new era begins, if you want or not, you’re part of it.”
“Nothing makes the nightmares you inflicted undone”, I shot back. “And what is this new era you want to create all about? Do we all have to dress in old-fashioned uniforms like him?” My head jerked to the sentinel behind the Consul. Unsure the Consul turned around, then his focus shifted back to me, his forehead crumbling into wrinkles. Meanwhile, the sentinel behind him, put his index finger against his lips and shook his head slowly, his eyes opened wide in surprise. “Psst!”
Tsar-Escort, Anastasia remembered the uniform.
—A ghost, I noticed. Without a word, the ghost suddenly saluted at me.
—I believe he recognised you’re royal blood, Anastasia helped.
—I’m not royal, shut up.
—But they are most loyal to the Imperial family.
—Loyalty didn’t prevent your family’s murder. I didn’t intend the words to sound that harsh and felt immediately sorry for it.
—Sorry, I didn’t mean it.
Anastasia was silent. Here was proof, I was able ruining every friendship; if not through getting them killed then through insult. Maybe the only real talent I possess.
“Superior race?” I snapped, the sarcasm hard to miss. “And if the commoners don’t agree to your ambitions, you simply kill them? The same you did to the Ivanovs? You’re truly disgusting.“
“It was their choice. The Ivanovs have chosen their fate. I offered Dimitri and Tatiana to join me, you know I did. But they sided with Victor, a misguided old fool. It cost their lives. Nevertheless, let me show you my good intentions.” His glance shifted to the sentinels at the door. “Take her to her friends.”
In the next moment I was dragged out of the armchair and propelled to the doors.
“One last remark, Miss Parker”, the Consul said, his voice had this dangerous undertone. “I prefer voluntary service, but if there is no other option, I’m doing whatever it takes to succeed.”
“You’ve proven that much, Consul.”
***
They escorted me to a narrow spiral staircase, hidden behind a life-sized painting of a beautiful young lady.
Alexandra, she’d died long before I was born.
One sentinel marched in the front, the other in the back, extinguishing the faint hope of an escape. The stairs went down continuously, when I thought they would ne
ver stop they opened to a vaulted corridor. Doors were on both sides at regular intervals, and so did antiquated lamps adore the walls, but their cones of light weren’t enough to drive the shadows away. It still felt like a cellar complex. At the end of the corridor, two sentinels in dark commando gear were flanking a rather luxurious looking door. My sentinels pushed me forward. At the door they exchanged a few words with the guards, probably in Russian, I wasn’t listening in. My mind was still full of grief. One of the guards unlocked the door and opened it a narrow gap. In the next moment, I was squeezed through the gap. The door closed right behind me, the bolt of the lock clicking back in place.
“Izzy?” My heart jumped up.
“Vicky?” I almost didn’t recognise her without all the makeup, mascara and lipstick. She looked so much younger. Younger and a mess. She’d nibbled her fingernails to the skin, a habit she’d stopped in grade six. Her long blond hair was untidy and frayed — probably they hadn’t seen a brush for a long time. Most of the pink nail polish was gone too. She was sitting in a chair at a table; with her were John and Jake… I waited for my heart to miss a beat, but it didn’t. Vicky leaped up and careered around the table, tears in her eyes, tears of joy. She slung her arms around me, which almost knocked me over. I returned her hug, which immediately resulted in a new wave of tears running down my cheeks like waterfalls.
“Are you okay, Izzy? Did they hurt you?” She pushed me out of her embrace to have a better look at me. All I could manage was shaking my head, probably meaning I’m not hurt and I’m not okay at the same time.
Jake shoved her to the side. “I missed you so much.” As usual, he looked like a personified version of a God. Physically and in regards to his attire, he was in much better shape than Vicky. One could even stipulate imprisonment was making him look hotter, if this was even possible. He took my head in between his hands and kissed me. The long kiss, which usually involved tongue and some sighs of ecstasy.
Ugh, Anastasia sounded her disapproval in the back of my mind. He kisses you.
—It’s not the first time! You never complained before.
—Yeah, just weird as you don’t kiss him back.
Surprise hit me. She was right. I had not even been noticing, there were no fireworks, not even the trace of a tiny spark. I forced myself into returning his kiss, my eyes still open. It worked — my lips were working on autopilot, but still no butterflies returned into my stomach. If there was anything, then it was the taste of metal.
“Ahhh.” He jerked away from me. “Damn it, Izzy. You bit me.”
John started laughing. I just stared at his bleeding lower lip with a gaping mouth.
You didn’t… I complained instantly to Anastasia.
—I? I’m the innocence in person.
—You bit my boyfriend!
John leaned forward and whispered in his ear, which sounded suspiciously like, she’s not that into you. Jake frowned.
“Let her”, Vicky stepped in between. “Can’t you see, she’s a mess!”
Was it so obvious? All I wanted was crying. Vicky put her arm around my shoulders and guided me to a sofa. “Can you tell us, what’s going on here, Izzy? I knew something was going on today. I didn’t see John and Jake since the lake. Then they brought me out of the cell, I thought my time was up. But instead they reunited me with Jake and John. We were just discussing what happened, when you came in.”
“I don’t even know where to start.”
“They need you.” It was John. I didn’t even realise him, following us to the sofa. “Whatever it is Izzy, just give it to them. Those people are not joking. They killed Dean and Danny, Lucy and—“
“Thanks for the reminder. Believe me, I know what they’re capable of.”
Vicky placed me next to her onto the sofa and dried my cheeks with a hanky. “Maybe start from the beginning. What happened to you after the fight at the lake?”
“Vicky!” John built himself up in front of his girlfriend. “All what matters is that she gives them whatever they want. That’s the only chance we’re having of getting out of this nightmare alive.”
He was right, even if he was only interested in saving his own skin.
Jake joined us and pulled me up. “I missed you so much, Izzy. You must believe me. You must.”
I nodded in silence. He put his arms around me and pulled me into his embrace. Unsure my fingers touched his sides and moved over his hard abs. Still nothing.
A bang shook the door as if something had hit the door hard from the other side. There was tumult in front of the door, a short cry, then silence. Seconds passed, none of us moved an inch. The lock sounded, the bolt was pushed back. With a squeak the door opened and in the shadow of a cone of light stood a figure in dark armour, a sword in his hand, blood dripping from its blade. The figure made a step inside and into the light. There was blood everywhere, in his face, on his armour, his hair was glued together with the dark fluid as if he had been bathing in it. Dimitri, I mouthed speechless, too overwhelmed to process the information. Anastasia wasn’t. I pushed out of Jake’s arms and darted forward. I barely noticed Jake’s hand in my back trying to hold me back. He failed. A week of fight training had quickened my reflexes.
“Izzy!” Vicky yelled after me, but her warning met deaf ears. My arms were quicker around his neck than anyone, even Dimitri, could react. I leaped myself up. He flinched under my touch, his sword clattered to the floor, then he pulled me into his arms and leaped me up, my feet leaving the floor. There it was again, this feeling, this tingling sensation, the fireworks, butterflies in my stomach — my entire body was shaking, shaking with relief and ecstasy.
Izzy.
Tears shot into my eyes. Everything around me had lost its meaning. He was here, breathing, alive. My grip intensified.
Izzy! Anastasia shouted at me. I chose to ignore her.
—IZZY!
—What?
—You’re hurting him.
She was right. His breath was irregular and disturbed by pain. I let go of him. He was swaggering, trying to gain back his balance. I scanned all over him, there was so much blood, what was his own and what not was impossible to tell. Then I saw it, a gaping hole in his chest armour, just underneath his right shoulder.
“Dimitri”, I squeaked, pulling my hand over my mouth to prevent another scream leaving my lips. “You’re wounded.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Not that bad.” Like on command, the wound opened up again and another rinse of dark blood escaped.
“Not that bad?” I aped him, pulling a face and fighting the urge to faint. “Is this some kind of mannish gallantry or has your head received a blow too?” With shaking hands, I undid the chest plate and pressed my palm against the wound, causing him even more pain, but that’s what girlfriends do.
Girlfriends, Anastasia reminded me, a sour tone was swinging in her remark. Not you!
“You came back for me!” I said instead. “You’re wounded and came back for me.”
His blood was like acid on my skin, boiling hot, yet, I didn’t let go.
Another pain wave washed over his face. “I saw them bringing you into the Winter Palace. But yes, I would have come no matter what. I’m so sorry, Elisabeth.” Elisabeth? Why were we on formal terms again. “I thought you were safe in the manor home.”
“The Consul turned up around an hour after you left. What happened? How are Tat and Victor? Please let them be alive.” Panic was back in my voice. In the ecstasy of him being alive, I’ve forgotten about anyone else.
He placed a bloodstained hand on my shoulder. “Victor got injured. Tatiana is taking care of him. I brought them back to Deerpark Manor. Then I came back for you?”
“Alone? What happened to the others?”
He gave a frown. “They’re all dead. Turned out Lord Brunswick isn’t such a good friend of Victor after all. He only pretended. His family is with the Guild for generations. His sons killed the wind-dancers and lured the rest of us into a trap. There were so m
any demons. Victor, Tat and I just escaped with our lives, but it was a close call. Anyway, we’ve to leave now. One of the guards made a scream when I killed him.”
I took off my hand, my palm now covered with his blood.
He kneeled down and retrieved his sword. When he staggered back up, he pressed the hilt of a dagger into my hands. “I trust you know how to use it.” Tatiana showed me how to throw a knife. I got it right in six out of ten, which wasn’t convincing.
“We’re going nowhere, freak.” It was Jake. He had appeared behind me and turned me around. “Listen, Izzy, those people will never let us go. They’re far too powerful.”
“Then have this.” I placed the dagger in his hands. Most likely it’s in better hands with him anyway. In a real fight, I’m more or less useless.
He gazed at it in horror and handed it to his brother as if I have given him a bottle of water to share.
“You must be kidding”, Vicky shot out of her seat and came over. To my surprise, her anger wasn’t with me. If this boy—“
“Dimitri”, I corrected her. Dimitri was too busy getting his chest plate back on to complain about the boy comment.
“If Dimitri can get us out of here, so be it. Have any of you watched any movies lately? In the end they always kill the hostages unless the hostages are rescued beforehand.”
I nodded in approval.
“Suit yourself”, was all Dimitri said to Jake, reached for my hand, fireworks and all, and propelled me out of the room.
***
Eventually common sense settled upon Jake and John and the twins followed us. Dimitri led us up the spiral staircase, never ever letting go of my left hand. I was sandwiched between him and Vicky, who held my other hand, the two most important people in my life...
Dimitri pushed the portrait open and we stepped into a corridor. “This way”, he said, and hurried in the opposite direction the two sentinels who’d brought me here had taken before. “The palace opens soon. With a little luck we can mix among the tourists and disappear in the crowd outside the main entrance.”
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