He didn’t look heartbroken, only angry. “I TELL YOU WHAT, BITCH!” He grabbed my arm and pulled me roughly towards him. Dimitri was at my side a breath later and pushed his left shoulder into Jake’s ribcage, bringing him to a fall.
“Calm down”, Dimitri said stressed, obviously struggling to keep control over himself.
Jake shot back up, his hands flung forward and —ZUM— Dimitri was catapulted by ghost hand backwards, landing harshly on the asphalt right next to Tatiana, who stared at Jake in blank horror.
Can’t be, she muted. A speechless Tatiana was a very bad sign.
I sprinted to Dimitri and dropped to his side. His shoulder wound had opened up again and new blood escaped the wound. “Haven’t seen that coming”, he whispered between clenched teeth.
“Come here, Izzy”, Jake said, his voice raised to giving orders.
“Now, you bitch”, his twin added, pulling out the dagger I had given him earlier.
Vicky veered around and slapped him into the face. “How dare you speak—“
John’s dagger came up straight, and cut Vicky’s throat.
The situation came down on me quick and harsh. Vicky, her eyes opened wide as if asking for an explanation what happened, sunk to her knees, blood cascaded through the cut, staining her white T-shirt and blue jeans. The sudden blood loss took its toll. Her eyes rolled up, then she collapsed.
“NOOOOOO”, I screamed and leaped up, but an arm around my waist hold me back.
Jake raised his hands again, the air became electric once more, red flashes escaped his fingertips and rained down on Dimitri and Tatiana at the same time. Then a pale barrier of red sparkles exploded in our front and the flashes burned away.
My glance wandered around. Tatiana stretched out both her palms in a defensive gesture, mumbling words of power under her breath, which kept the shield up.
“Did you have to kill her?” Jake asked his brother, annoyance accompanying his voice. “We could have used her as leverage.”
“We have leverage”, John answered, his face sprinkled with little red pebbles of Vicky’s blood. “We’ve her sister, remember?”
My world broke together. “Annabelle!” Again, I tried to break free of Dimitri’s iron grip to no avail.
“Who are you, boys?” Dimitri asked.
“Call us the headmaster’s secret weapon”, Jake giggled.
“You’re working for the Consul? You’re working for Wayland?”
“Working?” John laughed; I could barely see him anymore between the tears that pushed its way through my eyelids. “He’s our uncle?”
“But Wayland’s brother died decades ago”, Tatiana shook her head.
“That’s what everyone should believe”, Jake said, his impression stern. “We were brought up in secret from the Council so that we could act behind the tracker’s backs, going around the law.”
“I should have known”, Dimitri muttered in anger, his countenance turning into frustration.
“How could you?” John asked. “Our cover was perfect.”
“It made no sense that the demons let you alive”, he replied. “Vicky and your brother, yeah, I got this — leverage — but not you.” He jerked his chin at John.
“Anyway”, Jake straightened to his full height. “Let’s have a prisoner exchange. You”, he pointed at me, “against your sister. Let’s say at the annual Summer Night Ball at Catherine Palace. I trust Victor has received his invitation months ago.”
“We’ll be there”, Tatiana said, “and be assured, I’ll kill you then.”
“Try”, John chuckled. The brothers exchanged a high five, staggered backwards, then went into a sprint. Seconds later they were gone, melted together with the darkness of the night.
Dimitri let go of me and I darted off to my best friend. Her glassy eyes looked at a spot in the nightly sky only she could see. I sunk to the ground and heaved her head and chest into my arms. She was still warm; nevertheless I knew too well, all life had left her. All I was holding in my hands was her corpse. Tears rolled down my cheeks and dropped on her face. “Come back, please”, I sobbed and my breath froze. Temperatures had plummeted to freezing level. My head went up and I stared right into the countenance of my father. Death!
He was kneeling in his black robe in front of me, his hood pulled deep into his face, forming an impenetrable abyss.
I should have panicked, jerked back, ran, screamed. All of it together. Then again, I did nothing. “Don’t take her!” My voice was a pleading. His skeleton hand moved up to my face, slowly, as if he expected me to pull away. When I remained where I was, his right thumb stroke over my jaw. His touch was cold, almost painful. “Please”, I repeated. “Give her back to me.”
His head shook gradually once from left to right. Then he was carrying her in his hands, her head falling over his left arm, the hollow of her kneecaps over his other. But it wasn’t her body, he was holding, it was her soul. Death stood up and turned on his heels, walking away from me as if he had all the time in the world.
“I hate you!” I shouted after him. “I’ll always hate you, you listen? I hate you!”
***
The fire was crackling in the grate of the drawing room. I was barely noticing the calming sound, just watching out of the window into the night. Not that I could make out anything in the darkness. Yet, this darkness felt like me inside. Empty and marked by a never-ending sadness. Vicky didn’t deserve to die. She’d deserved a loving boyfriend, not getting killed by him. My mind was so clouded by grief, I could barely think of the other elephant in the room. Annabelle. How afraid my little sister must be right now. Technically, I wasn’t her big sister, then again, I couldn’t think of her in any other way than my little sister.
A soft knock against the doorjamb pulled me out of my thoughts. “Here you are, I looked everywhere for you.”
“Dimitri!” Anastasia’s euphoria made my heart jump, whenever my eyes caught his sight.
He entered and strolled through the room, getting closer to me. “I was worried about you. Are you okay?”
I forced my eyes shut for a moment. “You belong in bed. You’re wounded. Seriously wounded. According to Tat you just jumped off death—“ The word had a new meaning now. Never would I be able saying it so lightly ever again.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Are you mental?” I got angry, I wanted to be angry, wanted to let out my anger at someone. Anyone. “You almost died today. Maybe still do and all you have in mind is how I feel? For your information, I feel horrible! My father could have saved her—“
I broke up. The tears just burst out. Unsure he took me into his arm. “I think Death can’t bring back the dead. You asked him for the impossible.”
I leaned back in his arms so that I could look at him. “Well, and how do you explain my power?”
His forehead wrinkled.
“I heard you talking about it with Tat. I’m Death’s daughter, a freak. And yes, I can resurrect ghosts as we found out today. Because that’s what freaks do.”
“I can’t recall calling you a freak”, he forced himself to a smile. When I didn’t answer, he continued. “There’s no comparison to what you did in the Winter Palace.”
“I can’t even say how I did it”, I sobbed. “What use is this power if I don’t know how to use it? I could have brought her back. I failed her.”
He shook his head. “I doubt it. What you did to the sentinel was more like granting him the opportunity to finish his business that restrained his soul from moving on. Remember, he resolved into thin air afterwards. You didn’t bring him back to life. And so can’t Death.”
“So I’m useless. This freakish superpower is worth nothing.”
“You’re not useless! Not to me anyway.” He leaned into me, his eyes closing, his intention obvious. Anastasia’s too, as she moved me up on my toes to cross the distance to him. Again, my index and middle finger were quicker and went in between our lips. “No!”
His eyes
sprang open, his face so full of disappointment it made my heart cry.
“I can’t, Dimitri.”
“Sorry”, he let go of me. “I just thought…”
“… I broke up with Jake because of you? Yes, no, I guess I had to come clean. Over the last weeks I noticed, I wasn’t in love with him. I thought he deserved better.”
“Sorry, I’m such an idiot”, he said, his hands wildly articulating.
They made me nervous and I caught them both, Anastasia was obviously also misinterpreting signs and pulled him closer. “I wished I could, Dimitri, really I do. But it’s an impossibility.”
His gaze drilled through my defences and straight into my soul. “I love you Izzy, Anastasia, Elisabeth Parker, or whichever name you’re having in the future. I always did and will do.”
Blood shot into my cheeks. Anastasia was nearly swooning inside me out of happiness. “You’ve to understand, I can’t commit to it.”
“Then look me in the eyes and tell me you feel not the same about me. Tell me I’m hallucinating. Tell me your skin is not on fire every time we touch.”
I sighed. “I can’t tell you as it would be a lie.”
“Then what’s holding you back?”
“If I commit to loving you, I’ve to kill you.”
There should have been horror in his face, panic, anything, just not the glance of whatever. As if I have told him he has to change his hairstyle if he wanna date me.
“I have to kill you”, I repeated. He still didn’t get it. “Victor told me the other day that my father wouldn’t take the abduction lightly. In order to stop the apocalypse, I have to kill my love.”
A smirk crossed his face. “So you do love me?”
I took another breath out of frustration, my hands shaking. “Didn’t you listen to me? Loving you means I’ve to kill you.”
He interlinked his fingers with mine and pushed them to the side in order to steal closer.
“Elisabeth Parker, believe me when I tell you I lived a long life and had plenty of time figuring out, a life without your love is no life at all. A worthy life can’t be measured in years, but in the memories and what you’ve made out of the precious moments you had with the one who loves you. I don’t fear death, only you not loving me back. Your love is worth dying for.”
Then his lips closed onto mine. All fireworks broke loose, my head was suddenly heavy and feverish, my entire body ecstatic, filled with a desire for more. I or Anastasia — right now we were one and the same — slung our arms around his neck and leaned into the kiss. My feet gave way, but his strong arms caught me without his lips abandoning mine. He leaped me up, my legs fastening around his hips, while he carried me to the sofa and placed me softly onto the cushions, before getting on top of me. My hands were driving through his short hair, his lips reacted and moved over my chin, along my neck to my ear. His kisses turned my body into a firestorm. Right then I knew that was how a kiss must feel. I was his.
“I love you, Dimitri!”
Chapter XIX
Summer Night Ball
“What do you mean, we’re going?” Tatiana put her hands on her waist and glanced from Victor to Dimitri and back. “Am I the only one thinking that by attending this ball, we’re playing Izzy directly into the hands of the Consul? Can’t you see? It’s a trap.”
Victor let himself fall into his rocking chair, a sigh escaping his lips. “Of course I know. But, but—“
“We’re lacking alternatives”, Dimitri finished for him, leaning with crossed legs in his casual pose against a bookcase, his hands folded in front of his chest. He’d never questioned my petition to save my little sister. Then again, he was my boyfriend. He was supposed to support me.
Tatiana shot him an angry glance. “Why did I bother patching you two up, if you wanna commit suicide anyway?”
That was just partially true. I helped as well. She did her magic thingy, while I changed Dimitri’s bandages and, well… whatever girlfriends do, when nursing their hero back onto his feet. To be honest, he wasn’t a difficult patient. He made it far too easy for me. Even my demand for letting his hair grow rather than cutting it back to this ridiculous short military look was obeyed, not without a moan of course. Nevertheless, I made up for this. Next I’ll change his wardrobe, bringing in some colour other than grey and black. If we survive that is. IF! Right now, our chances didn’t look great. “The Consul has the better cards”, I argued subdued, my chin resting on my folded hands in resignation. “And if we’re not attending, he’ll assume my little sister means nothing to me and has lost its value as leverage. He’ll kill her and next he’ll attend to my parents.”
“We’ve no clue where they keep Annabelle and the other children”, Dimitri added, lowering his gaze as his cool facade crumbled under Tatiana’s furious glance.
“You’re excused“, she fired back at him. “Your judgement is compromised by hormones. Yet, I hope you acknowledge that your plan is fragile from any possible angle. Going to a ball, exchanging Izzy against her sister and then what?”
Victor crossed his feet on top of the table. “Exposing the Consul as the Headmaster of the Guild.”
“Even if some of the guests would believe us, the Consul has the Guard and we can’t underestimate the numbers of the Guild either.”
Victor scratched his thumb and index finger over his chin. “The Consul is clever, I give him that. Planning such a cat and mouse game for decades... the Guild had been always a step ahead of us. Now we know why. A brilliant plan and he’d waited patiently to execute it. On the other hand, he’s arrogant, power-hungry and addicted to his status. He could have picked any date, any event, why that?
Tatiana shrugged her shoulders.
“Because this date is important to him. He wants to unleash the apocalypse straight away and wants everyone to witness. People should fear him, but also admire his great plan. This way he can assure seizing the power in this new era, which he’ll unleash by calling upon the apocalypse. He knows he holds all cards in his hands. Believe me, he knows. Therefore, he underestimates us. For him, we’ve already lost the game and he has won. It will come as a big surprise to him, if we cross his glorious plan.”
Tatiana pulled a frown. “Really? And how do you wanna achieve that?”
“Not I, my dear. We two! The Consul will be fully focussed on Miss Elisabeth. Dimitri will do the exchange, while we look for the children.”
I raised my right brow questioningly. “You believe the children will be in the palace?”
He nodded. “Sure, he needs them for the incantation of the apocalypse. We’ll steal the children back, while he’s busy with the exchange. The kids are our proof for the Consul’s wrongdoing. The people can’t ignore that.”
Dimitri straightened his back and moved into the middle of the room, next to me. “It won’t work. You’ve forgotten the Guard. We would need an army to stop him and get Izzy back.”
I reached out for his hand and interlinked my fingers with his, just now realising his shaking hands. “It happens that I know such an army you’re talking about.”
He turned to me and placed a hand on each of my shoulders “We talked about your power. You said it yourself, you’ve no idea how you did what you did.”
“I don’t”, I mumbled, “but Anastasia does.”
***
Anastasia does, I hoped she would. My confidence debilitated in the countenance of the vast palace and all its glamour and luxury. There was gold everywhere: the golden gates at the entrance, each window had been decorated with a golden structure. And there were busts and statues out of the finest marble. Dimitri slipped his arm through mine, walking me up the staircase to the grand ballroom. With each step I got more nervous, my hands started sweating. The staircase led to a large pair of doors that reached right up to the high ceiling, which pictured masterpieces of art and paintings, lots and lots. It was breathtaking. The doors gave way to a gigantic room with highly polished timber floor and gold decorated walls. Highly decor
ated golden chandeliers and wall lamps illuminated the room, their light reflected in the many mirrors on the walls, which made the room even more colossal. Sentinels dressed completely in black with a sabre at the side and beret on their head stood at regular intervals at the side and also flanked the entrance. I didn’t need to ask Victor for confirmation. That was Wayland’s private little army, just that it didn’t appear so little. The guys were also guarding the entrance to the palace and I saw a handful patrolling in the grounds as well. Sure enough, Wayland didn’t take any risks losing me again.
An orchestra was playing at the rear, Tchaikovsky as I noticed — or Anastasia was as I wasn’t so much into the classics as she was. The dance floor was filled with several couples, showing off some graceful moves, not what you could see in a nightclub, this was exquisite.
The Waltz is not really exquisite, Anastasia commented upon my astonishment. Wait for the minuet.
—Not helping! I snapped back.
“Alright, let the party start”, Tatiana muttered under her breath. As usual, she looked stunning. Stunning was also her one-shouldered red dress and the long gash at the legs. This lady was simply the goddess of seduction. Her outfit couldn’t raise more attention and that was exactly as it supposed to be according to their plan.
“Good luck”, I said to her back as Victor was already leading her to the dance floor.
Soon a glamour will take their place, pretending her and Victor being industrious on the dance floor, while in reality they were searching the palace for the children.
All Dimitri and I had to do was looking smug and buy them time.
A waiter stopped at my side and offered some drinks. Unfortunately, the last Champagne glass was just pitched by a blond lady in a broad royal-blue dress, leaving me with a choice of red or white wine in a flute. I wasn’t a wine expert and reached for the nearest, the red. “Thanks”, I said to the waiter, who wrinkled his forehead, shook his head and continued his way. “Rude. If he thinks me too young for drinking alcohol, he could have told me instead, hey—“
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