Fade Into Black - Shadows of the Night 5

Chapter 57

Hi,

I'm not sure this will make any sense, but I'm going to say it anyway. I think what I can say about this part of the book is this: Anna's memories are painful, but the way in which she deals with them will (re)define who she really is. At the end of the road there is this thing called hope.

Lara

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Chapter 57

Because of you. The words spun in my head, a recurring, fateful boomerang of sound that wouldn't let me go. I shook my head, closing my eyes. And still, the memories kept coming.

He smiles – razor sharp, pointed teeth protruding from his mouth. Then his hand shoots down. My eyes widen when it goes right through my mother's chest. My hand comes up to my mouth and I gasp.

The vampire stills and sniffs the air, his head craned into my direction. His black eyes move like a rotating radar, scanning the room. My eyes water, shivers of hot and cold running down my back, and I start rocking back and forth. I don't understand what's happening. The game never ends this way. It doesn't.

He moves around the room, his feet drawing almost a circle, and stops in front of the cupboard I am hiding in. I watch as he opens the cupboard with a ghostly, white hand, looking down at me with those scary eyes.

"There you are," the vampire says.

"There you are."

The overlay of voices tore me out of the vision. There he was, standing in front of me. Vladislav. Chilling, annihilating black eyes.

You.

"He will be very pleased once I've handed you over to him."

I heard what Ramondo, my parents' killer, said all those years ago. And for the first time I understood the words completely. It was true. My parents died because of me.

And no matter what I did, I couldn't ever change that fact.

Cold hands wrapped around upper my arms behind my back and I got a whiff of the familiar bitter, biting taste of his aura. Even without turning I knew the red-haired, Asian vampire was behind me.

I lifted my eyes to the night sky, shuddering. It was over. Why not let them take me? End it?

Maybe I deserved it. My parents were dead because of me. Maybe I should just ... go.

Vladislav stepped closer. Slowly, ever so slowly, he raised his hand, as if to touch my cheek. The air was heavy with the power of the grave and the scent of stale, wasted air, like a heady strong wine on the overripe end of the spectrum. The air carried the scent of ash and the slightest hint of decomposition.

Trapped in a scenario from hell, I stared up at him with the eyes of a child. One moment, one glimpse of those depthless black eyes was enough. Thrown back into a nightmare I had relived too many times to count, my body froze up.

"Raphael was so kind to inform me about your whereabouts. He said you would come here eventually," Vladislav said, letting his hand fall.

I jerked. Medici.

"He said you stole from him, Isabella," Vladislav said. "Shinji will remedy that."

The Asian vampire moved liquid fast. His hand slipped into the pockets of my coat, then out again. Shinji, so the Asian had a name. He pulled at the sleeves of my leather coat until it ripped at the seams, shoved me forward and tore the coat off in one swift move. My teeth clattered when Shinji pulled my back to his front again.