Chapter 18


    I left the café undetected, using the back door. The smell of blood was overwhelming. I was getting a


    migraine, only because I’d absorbed some of the vamp’s energy. This only happened at times when I’d


    be too distracted and hadn’t protected myself enough from the darkness inside them.


    My energy level was low, but I headed towards the area designated mainly for supernaturals. It was on


    the west side of Moscow, and it took me another hour to get there. It was already dark, so all the


    vampires were out hanging around the clubs and cafés.


    It was the middle of the week, but everyone seemed to be out and about. I walked to one of the clubs


    and managed to find a quiet spot in one of the booths. The music there wasn’t too loud, so I pulled my


    phone from my pocket and dialled Karina’s number. Right now, I was d that I hadn’t left it behind at


    headquarters.


    The team was probably waiting for Dimitry to make a decision, so it was a waiting game for them.


    They’d been led to believe that L was perfectly fine, although they’d seemed receptive to


    everything I’d told them. Oldman hadn’t expelled me yet, and I was counting on the fact that they would


    “What’s up, girl?” Karina picked up after the third ring.


    “I have some info on L’s location, and by the way, d is dead,” I said, after I made sure no one


    around me could hear.


    “Hold on, the guys are here. I’ll put you on speaker,” she said. I bit my bottom lip, wondering if this was


    such a good idea after all. I could do this on my own, but I didn’t know the area, and that worked as a


    disadvantage on my part. “All right, they’re all here.”


    “What about Ramona?” I asked.


    “She’s gone out, apparently she had an emergency,” Karina said, and I frowned, wondering why no one


    decided to follow her. It was toote to voice my opinion, anyway. Dimitry and Oldman still didn’t


    believe me, even if the rest of the team did.


    “ording to d, there’s an Elite Academy branch in Moscow, and L’s being held in one of the


    tombs. He will be dead by tonight. Apparently, the other n is nning some sort of ceremonyter


    on in the evening,” I exined, feeling even more pressure mounting inside my head.


    I had to have a drink, or I needed to find a healer who could take away the darkness. This was going to


    beplicated, especially now.


    “Oldman left, and Dimitry’s with Roxanna. We could leave without telling him and meet you somewhere


    local,” she suggested.


    “Shouldn’t you talk to Dimitry, he’s part of the team?” I said, rubbing my face. This was too risky, but it


    was the truth. Dimitry knew the area and he could help, but that bitch, Ramona, couldn’t get involved. I


    had a feeling she had Oldman wrapped around her little finger. At the same time, I couldn’t allow them


    to be expelled from Moonlight. They all deserved to be there.


    “All right, let’s not waste time. I hope your information checks out. We’ll meet you in an hour in the


    Cathedral the Christ of Saviour,” said another voice that belong to Marco. I was a little surprised to hear


    he was making a decision.


    “Cool, I’ll see you there in about an hour,” I said and then hung up. After that phone call, I was a little


    relieved, so I went to the bar to get some water. After draining about a litre, my headache eased off a


    bit.


    Humans were staring, a few supernaturals, too, as I was walking by. My knives were hanging on the


    side of my belt. I was probably bringing too much attention to myself, but, either way, I didn’t have


    anywhere else to put them, especially now.


    As I was heading towards the city, I was suddenly reminded of the heated moment L and I had


    shared. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t attracted to him, but I knew it was bullshit. Even now, as I


    thought about him, my core ignited with fire.


    I decided to take the bus after asking some random human how to get to the museum. I really needed


    to learn Ukrainian, at the very least. Mynguage skills were horrid. Apparently, it was on the other side


    of the city. My clothes were stinking, and a few passengers stared at me with curiosity. I’d hidden my


    blood-soaked shirt beneath my leather jacket.


    The area around the cathedral was filled with a lot of tourists. I was surprised to see how busy it was. It


    Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    was pissing down rain, and I got soaked quickly. The team showed up with Dimitry ten minutester.


    My stomach made a funny jolt when Dimitry gave me a sharp look. He didn’t seem happy at all that he


    was there. The sooner I could convince him I’d been telling the truth, the better.


    “I hope this checks out, because the team seems to believe in you,” he said under his breath in his


    thick Russian ent.


    “He’s inside, trust me, and he’ll be dead tonight,” I said, and couldn’t help but roll my eyes. They were


    here, and it made me a little emotional. This never really happened to me before. Maybe it was a sign


    that after everything that had happened, my human genes were still working well.


    “What’s the n?” Judas asked, looking uncertain. “I hope you have one, right?”


    “He’s being held in a tomb somewhere near the Kremlin. d hinted something about the Chamber of


    Romanov Boyars,” I exined, hoping that at least Dimitry knew where we would need to head to next.


    “Yes, it’s very famous, this ce you speak of,” Dimitry said. “We need to get a car. I had no idea the


    Elite had a branch in Russia… interesting.”


    He gestured for us to follow him. The van arrived ten minutester. The driver was human, but that


    didn’t seem to bother anyone. Karina told me how Ramona had tried to convince them to leave with


    her, when out of the blue, Oldman told her to find L before the end of the day.


    “Well, in that case, I’m not surprised she left,” I muttered to myself, cing my fingers on my forehead.


    I still had a migraine, and this wasn’t good.


    “What’s wrong with you?” Marco asked. “There is a strange aura surrounding you, and your energy is


    weak.” Of course he noticed. Normally other supernaturals didn’t have that kind of skill, but I’d nearly


    forgotten he was fae, and he’d sensed d’s dark energy surfacing around me.


    “I told you I killed d, well, it was kind of an ident, but his darkness infected me straight away. I’ve


    had a migraine from hell since I left that bar in town,” I answered, pushing away the pain and the fact I


    was exhausted.


    Then Marco did something I wasn’t expecting. He approached me, his eyes were amazing, gleaming


    with pure energy.


    “Well, we could try something that might help you, but there are some side effects. You will feel heat, a


    lot of it. I have that kind of effect on women,” he said, winking at me.


    I nodded, and at that point, I was prepared to try anything. Everyone else was staring at us.


    Marco ced his fingers on my forehead, his hands were very warm. I felt instant positive energy


    spreading through my body. For some reason it was bliss. The headache began easing off, then my


    skin felt like it was vibrating as if thousands of ants were crawling underneath.


    I’d never experienced anything like it. I felt tingling sensations everywhere, warmth, and I involuntarily


    closed my eyes.


    His magic tangled itself around me, and it was the most amazing, yet fascinating experience of my life.


    He was healing me, cleansing me, and I wished I could have known him before.


    It was white and positive energy that was slowly removing the tar darkness that d had infected me


    with. The headache faded. There was no more pain and difort. Was this possible? Was he doing


    this to me? His magic was so soothing, cooling, yet powerful. It was rushing through my veins, healing


    the wounds from the past and present.


    Then he pulled away, smiling at me even wider. Sudden heat rushed through my core, and I inhaled


    deeply. My cheeks were probably rosy.


    I only experienced it for a few seconds, but the heat was intense. It was like the moment with L,


    the moment I was trying to remove from my memories. Marco must have realised it, because he


    winked at me again. Well, the truth was, Marco smelled nice: it was his internal scent that had that kind


    of effect on most woman, human or not, they were all attracted to him.


    “Amazing, I have no idea what you’ve done, but I feel so much better, thank you,” I told him, hoping he


    wasn’t reading my thoughts about L. Fae had many abilities that most supernaturals didn’t know


    about. I didn’t want anyone inside my head.


    A cold shudder crawled down my spine as I thought about L’s father. He was invasive, even for


    an elder vampire. He made me feel extremely ufortable for some reason. I just hoped I wouldn’t


    have to see him again.


    “If you’re feeling better, then we need to get going. The Chambers of Romanov Boyars might be the


    location you speak of, but I’m not certain there are any tombs up there,” Dimitry said, scratching his


    jaw. “If he’s being held there, then we need a cover. The Elite is mostly guarded by elder vampires. I do


    not know how the n gained ess to it.”


    Obviously, everyone was aware that we couldn’t just walk in there like we owned the ce. We needed


    to be smart about it.


    L was an experienced vampire, but if he was locked inside a tomb, then it wasn’t going to be


    easy to rescue him, especially if there were other ancient vampires around.


    I had a strong feeling that I belonged here, that I was part of the team again. Oldman had no idea we


    were all out in the field, at least I was hoping this was the case.


    The drive to the Chambers took us another half an hour, and that area seemed busy, too. It was


    growing even darker as we sat in the van in silence, staring at the entrance for a little while.


    “How are we going to get inside?” Judas asked the crucial question.


    “We can’t just barge in there,” Dimitry said. “The n has vampires everywhere.”


    “How about I shift into a small animal and get inside? This way, we’ll know if L is really there,”


    Karina suggested.


    “Small animal?” I asked, staring at her like she’d lost her mind. I remembered her telling me a story


    about shifting into a small animal, but I thought she was messing around to make me feel better.


    “Yeah, like a mouse or a rat. I’ve done it plenty of times before. Vamps don’t pay much attention to


    rodents, plus once I shift, they won’t be able to sense me straight away,” she exined, grinning, but


    not everyone seemed convinced that it was such a good idea. The silence wasn’t encouraging. “Come


    on, guys, you have to trust me. Not all shifters can do that, most can only transform into a wolf or a


    tiger, besides, right now we haven’t got any other ideas.”


    She was right. Our time was slowly running out, and it was too risky going inside without knowing what


    or who was waiting for us on the other side. Besides, Ramona had left earlier, and I had an annoying


    feeling in my gut that she could have alerted the n about me.


    “Da, but you have to get closer to the chambers,” Dimitry said, removing a stake from his jacket pocket.


    “You go with her. Too many people will look suspicious.”


    He had a point, and I was happy to watch over Karina, so I quickly nodded.


    “Come on, Jaymin,” she told me, sounding cheerful. She was crazy, but in a good way, yet I was still


    worried about her. Despite everything that had happened, I felt connected to her, much more so than


    the others.


    We left the van five minutester after going over the n with Dimitry. Karina had to repeat herself


    several times, before he would unlock the door.


    We rushed across the road, trying to act normal. There were a lot of people here, mostly tourists


    walking around and taking pictures. It worried me a bit that we hadn’t spotted any supernaturals


    around.


    We crossed behind the chapel building and started searching for some cracks in the doors and walls.


    “I don’t know, Kar, maybe this is too risky. You’ll be on your own in there,” I told her, sensing strange,


    very dark magicing from the other side. There were a lot of ancient vampires inside.


    “Don’t overthink this, Jaymin. I’ve done this plenty of times,” she assured me again, then closed her


    eyes. It was a done deal; she was just about to shrink in size. I took several steps away from her.


    Her body began to shake. Her eyes bulged. Then she became smaller and smaller, until she


    there, baffled, thinking that this was a skill. Then I saw a tiny creature running, a little grey mouse. A


    momentter, she disappeared inside a crack, and that was that. Now I just had to be patient and wait


    until she returned.