Half Blood Rising

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

become 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 glad 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 Lachlan 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

come.

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

“I have some info on Lachlan’s location, and by the way, Vlad 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 too late to voice my opinion, anyway. Dimitry and Oldman still didn’t

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

“According to Vlad, there’s an Elite Academy branch in Moscow, and Lachlan’s being held in one of the

tombs. He will be dead by tonight. Apparently, the other clan is planning some sort of ceremony later

on in the evening,” I explained, 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

be complicated, 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 Lachlan 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. My language 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

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

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 accent.

“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 plan?” Judas asked, looking uncertain. “I hope you have one, right?”

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

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

“Yes, it’s very famous, this place 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 minutes later. 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 Lachlan before the end of the day.

“Well, in that case, I’m not surprised she left,” I muttered to myself, placing 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 Vlad’s dark energy surfacing around me.

“I told you I killed Vlad, well, it was kind of an accident, 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 placed 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 Vlad had infected me

with. The headache faded. There was no more pain and discomfort. 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 Lachlan,

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 Lachlan. 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 Lachlan’s father. He was invasive, even for

an elder vampire. He made me feel extremely uncomfortable 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 clan gained access to it.”

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

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Lachlan 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 clan has vampires everywhere.”

“How about I shift into a small animal and get inside? This way, we’ll know if Lachlan 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 explained, 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 clan 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 minutes later after going over the plan 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 magic coming 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

completely vanished in a pile of clothes. This happened quickly, maybe in a matter of seconds. I stood

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

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

until she returned.