Chapter 3

Dmitri stood with Raphael upon one of the railing-less balconies within Archangel Tower. The sun was about to set when Jason flew up to join them.

"I thought you'd left town," Raphael stated as he watched his spymaster land on the balcony.

"I was about to, but I received a call from Bryce. Several offices owned by angels were infiltrated over the past few nights." Jason drew his dark wings up tightly as he spoke to the men present.

Dmitri knew Jason would not have mentioned this without good reason. However, whether the angels owned the office buildings or not was moot; this would be an investigation for local law enforcement. Jason's next words indicated to Dmitri why this was brought to their attention.

"Due to the nature of the break-ins, it's believed that an immortal may be involved. Nothing was taken as far as we can tell, but we did detect a pattern. I'd like to remain in New York at least for another couple of days to see what I can find out," Jason explained.

Raphael nodded his agreement. Most cases seemed inconsequential until more facts were revealed. But even in a situation like this, Raphael could merit the importance of getting to the bottom of it.

"I can accompany you if you like," Dmitri offered. Only three of the Seven were in town, including Dmitri. He could assign another vampire or angel, but wanted to ascertain it was someone Jason didn't mind working with. Raphael's spymaster was not known for his social skills.

"I feel this matter does not merit the attention of two of the Seven. I can handle it alone." Jason tilted his head towards both men before jumping off the side of the balcony. He rose an instant later with his ebony wings flared wide; the dusk of the setting sun revealing his dark outline.

"First the vampire fighting rings and now errant break-ins." Raphael pressed his lips together in a thin line. "If the perpetrators felt these matters would escape my notice, I intend to show them just how wrong they were."

OOO

The current building on Veronika's list was only four stories tall and she was able to enter easily from an air vent on the third level. She quickly made her way to the top floor which also consisted of offices and accessed the main computer terminal. It turned out that Lacoby had been uncertain as to which building housed his missing information disks, which had led Veronika on a wild goose chase over the past three nights. At one point she had almost been caught by a security guard. Otherwise she had been able to disable the security cameras and move unseen. She was dressed in a black cat suit from neck to toe and her long, bone-straight, black hair was pulled atop her head in a tight bun.

Veronika was busy flipping through the drawers looking for the missing disk when she caught movement in the corner of her eye. Long blinds covered the office windows but she could have sworn she saw a shadow just outside. She redoubled her efforts with the intent to hurry. This was the second to last building on Lacoby's list and if the disk wasn't here or if she couldn't find some information on him soon, then this would all have been a waste of time.

A few moments later as Veronika was going through the last drawer she suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She was able to toss her body to the right before the butt of a sword descended a split second later in the area she had just been standing. She rolled on the floor before coming to her feet and turned to face her attacker. She caught a breath in her throat when she saw an angel standing there all dressed in black and wielding what appeared to be an ethereal black sword. His eyes glinted even in the very dim lighting of the office and she knew he could see her just as well as she could see him.

"You're not a regular thief, what are you after?" Jason asked as he regarded the female vampire before him calmly. He knew instantly she wasn't one of Raphael's, but it was only a matter of time until he found out just who she was.

Veronika took two steps backward before bolting. She was about halfway to the door when the angel lunged at her, going slightly airborne before lodging his smoky sword into the door before her. Veronika flipped backward instinctively to avoid him and began to move towards the window. It seemed she would not be able to make as clean an escape here, as she'd done on her previous nights. However, before she could make it to the window he once again cut her off. Damn angels and their maneuverability.

Veronika soon realized there was no help for it; she'd have to fight him if she wanted to get out of there. She shot out with her right fist and watched as he expertly dodged the punch. She immediately went on the ofensive and began throwing a series of punches all of which he managed to block with his own fists. Realizing that they were at a stalemate, she opted for a different tactic. Rearing upwards for an aerial attack she attempted to land a jump kick to his chest. Her foot was not only blocked by his palms but she was sent flying backwards as he pushed forward forcefully. Veronika crashed into a desk but was almost instantly on her feet.

"Do not force me to hurt you." Jason's voice was calm, but his deadly intent quite clear. He saw when she smirked at him before placing a finger close to her right ear. He was confused at first by this gesture but she didn't give him time to contemplate what she was planning, when she suddenly went airborne and came at him much faster than before. He saw when she flipped her entire body repeatedly in full rotations until she was past his shoulder. When he turned to face her she was already kicking out with a booted foot that made firm contact with his shoulder. Jason was shoved backwards off his feet but soon righted himself mid air with a powerful flap of his wings. However, this small victory over him had granted her all the time she needed. He heard the loud crash of windows breaking as she exited in the next office room. Jason crashed through the windows in this room in an attempt to save time. But once he was outside, he looked down and up and down again in both street directions but saw nothing. Elevating himself well above the building he encompassed a larger view, and aside from a few late night pedestrians, the vampire he'd fought was nowhere in sight. It was as if she'd vanished into thin air.

This turn of events was quite frustrating. After careful planning to detect the pattern of the break-ins, which had put this building on his priority list tonight; he then failed to capture the perpetrator. However, Jason was nothing if not resilient and he knew it wouldn't take much to find the identity of the vampire he'd fought, and there was no time like the present to get to the bottom of this.

Veronika always planned escape routes prior to her break-ins and was grateful for that fact tonight. After jumping from the window - having activated CHIP to control AGF during the fight - she had used the device to run to the roof before jumping to the next building of which she descended in a single bound. The manhole leading to the sewer then masked her escape. Although she was certain she could have fought that angel far longer, her mission at that point had been to get away. She could not be brought to the attention of the archangel that ruled this place. And if she had fought and possibly injured the dark-winged angel, they would have a greater reason to track her down. She was disappointed that she hadn't been able to find the information disks or learn anything about Mr. Lacoby that he may have preferred to keep secret. Either way, it was time to return to their rented New York City townhouse to deliver the news to Rina.

OOO

Moments later when Veronika entered the living room, Rina jumped up to greet her. Although it was ridiculously late in the night or early morning as the case may be, Rina was wide awake.

"Something happened," Rina stated the obvious. She had remained awake every single night Veronika went out there in search of those disks, but this was the first night that the vampire didn't seem unscathed. Her attire was snagged in certain places and she did literally smell as if she'd been trekking through sewage. "That's it, even if you didn't find what he wanted you're not going on anymore of these missions."

"I fear it may already be too late." A lock of Veronika's hair had escaped her bun to obscure her right eye from view. "I ran into a powerful angel tonight and was forced to use the AGF to avoid sustaining serious injury."

Rina's jaw fell open at the revelation. "Was he that strong?"

Veronika nodded; "I could sense he was holding back; he was more interested in finding out information about me than killing me."

"Did he get a good look at you?" Rina asked.

Veronika shrugged, "I don't know." She knew that angels had great eyesight. Regardless of the fact that the room was shrouded in darkness, it was very likely that the dark-winged angel would recognize her if he saw her again.

"Then we've got to lay low for a while," Rina began, as the consequences of what had occurred that night began to fly through her head. "We'll get out of the city, first thing in the morning."

OOO

"Are you still upset about the other night?" Dmitri found Jasper in the vampire ward the following morning within Archangel Tower. The other vampire had recently showered and had already donned a pair of black pants. His chest was still bare as he dried his hair with a towel. "It wasn't your fault."

"And you think I blame myself? Humans die all the time," Jasper replied flippantly. It didn't help that Elena had lost their only lead, who had apparently known to drive his car into the river, which had essentially cut off the scent for the hunter. Now they were back to square one.

Dmitri realized that although Jasper was a few hundred years old, he still maintained a sense of humanity that Dmitri himself believed he had lost centuries ago, until he'd met his wife, Honor. He understood Jasper had his own ways of dealing with this incident and would not infringe upon him.

"What's that?" Jasper asked as he flung the towel over the jamb of a nearby closet door. He'd noticed Dmitri holding a paper print-out in his hand.

"Oh, Jason's put out an APB on this vampire. We just need to know if anyone has seen her or knows who she is." Dmitri handed the piece of paper to Jasper. He noticed instantly when the other vampires' eyes widened in recognition. "Let me guess, you've seen her."

"Citrine," Jasper said as he gazed at the sketch in awe.

"Her name is Citrine?" Dmitri asked dryly.

"Err, no. I have no idea what her name is, she wouldn't tell me. I met her at a bar over a week ago," Jasper explained.

"Alright, get dressed and come with me," Dmitri turned towards the door.

"Where are we going?" Jasper asked.

"To see Raphael and Jason. Whatever you have to say, I'm certain they'd like to hear."

"Wait a minute, is she in some kind of trouble?" Jasper wanted to know.

Dmitri could easily read between the lines and realized that Jasper must have taken a liking to this woman on their first meeting. "So it's like that huh? Then let's hope for her sake and yours that she's not involved in something that will cause Raphael to have to end her."

OOO

"We spoke for barely five minutes," Jasper stated. He stood in Raphael's office with both Jason and Dmitri present. The security footage from Penelope's had already been accessed and a complete still of Citrine's face now graced Raphael's computer monitor.

"I've already run her face through my contacts, there has been no recognition," Jason spoke up. "Clearly she keeps no ties with other vampires."

"Well I could have told you that, I've been trying to find her myself," Jasper replied.

"And after you realized she wasn't one of ours?" Dmitri didn't bother to elaborate the question.

"I've been kept busy with the search for the vampire fighting ringleaders. I just figured after this case was over I could get back to trying to find her," Jasper explained.

Jason's face was grim as he stared at Jasper blankly for a few seconds. "Now that we know what day she was first seen, we can cross reference this picture of her with camera footage across the state. If she's shown her face at other public venues, then perhaps we'll be able to get a lead on where she is now." Jason turned to Raphael briefly, "Sire."

Raphael nodded at Jason in dismissal. After the dark winged angel left, he turned his attention back to Jasper and Dmitri. However, before he could say anything, Elena walked in. She strode right past Dmitri and Jasper, waving at them in greeting before jumping to a seat on the desk at Raphael's side.

"She's pretty," Elena commented at the still of the dark-haired vampire on the screen.

"Yes, she is," Raphael replied absently.

Elena turned bright silver eyes on her consort. "You're lucky I'm not Michaela. You just admitted to finding another woman pretty in my presence." She winked at him to let him know she was joking. The female archangel known as the most beautiful woman on the planet was as ugly on the inside as she was lovely.

"You're absolutely right; I'm very lucky you're not Michaela." There was a sensual smile on Raphael's face that spoke volumes.

"Perhaps we'll continue this later," Dmitri suggested.

"No need to cancel your meeting on my account Dmitri, we're not going to start making out on the desk," Elena replied.

"Really? That's not what I heard," There was a pleased smirk on Dmitri's handsome face.

"Keep it up, and I'll ask Honor to make your next night or two a living hell," Elena held up a finger in warning to Dmitri.

"Bitch," Dmitri muttered under his breath.

Jasper wanted to laugh out loud at the humorous banter now filling the office but decided to tactfully turn the conversation back to the matter at hand. "Am I to understand that locating Citrine will now take precedence over other matters?"

"Until we learn more about what she is after, then it will be best to locate her as quickly as possible," Raphael stated.

"What sort of a name is Citrine?" Elena commented.

"One that I gave to her since uh...it reminded me of the color or her eyes and well ... she wouldn't give me her real one," Jasper replied sheepishly.

Elena raised an eyebrow at him. "Jasper, it's official you need to stop hanging around Venom, he's a bad influence."

Jasper chuckled, "I'll take that into consideration." He was sincerely grateful for all this aid he'd receive in locating Citrine, and hoped against hope that she wasn't involved in anything that would threaten her life.

OOO

"I'm very upset, Mr. Lacoby; none of your disks could be located at those facilities and Veronika was almost caught at the last one which means this has been an utter waste of time!" Rina regarded Lacoby's image grimly upon her virtual screen.

"She was almost caught? Well perhaps I overestimated her skill level," Marc replied idly. He noted that Rina was less then pleased to have her vampire spoken about in such a manner. "My apologies. I appreciate your efforts. You should be pleased to know that the dummy committee is already in place. I have also received your shipment of the AGFs and will begin testing at private facilities tomorrow."

"Well, this is the best news I've heard all day. Do keep me apprised." Rina terminated the call with the press of a virtual button before releasing a long sigh of exasperation. She was grateful Veronika had not been present for the phone call and have to listen to Lacoby tread on her abilities. Her spirits were already low knowing that they would be grounded for the next few days. If the angel Veronika fought had gotten a good look at her; then the last thing they needed was to be caught out in the open where surveillance cameras were commonplace. As it was, all errands would now have to be run by Rina solo which would no doubt make Veronika feel like a worthless bodyguard.

Rina left the basement to search for her friend. As soon as she exited META the metal doors slid into place and locked automatically. It took Rina only a few minutes to locate V in the library. The vampire was seated on a couch with a book open on her lap. Rina saw her look up to acknowledge her entrance but she said nothing. Therefore Rina took the opportunity to join her on the couch. "You look like you just lost your favorite pet."

"I can't remember, but I doubt I've ever had a pet." Veronika glanced at Rina long enough to make that comment before returning her gaze to the book before her.

"I spoke to Lacoby, he apologizes for sending you on a wild goose chase, but he has at least complied with my orders and the dummy committee is in place with AGF testing to begin tomorrow."

Veronika nodded before saying, "That's great news," but the her tone of voice remained unexcited.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rina couldn't keep the concerned tone out of her voice.

Veronika snapped the book closed with a brisk slap of her palms before turning to give Rina her full attention. "I think the fight with that angel triggered a fragment of memory."

Rina knew every now and then Veronika would get snippets of her past but generally they were too incoherent to put into any orderly fashion. "What did you remember?"

"I was fighting another angel that was also using his wings to balance himself in battle. Although his wings had been lavender mixed with white, so unlike the dark-winged angel." Veronika clutched the book between her hands tightly before continuing with her memory. "I was dressed in fourteenth century attire."

"Really?" Rina's face lit up at this aspect. "What kind of dress were you wearing?"

"Actually, I was dressed in male attire."

"Figures," Rina muttered. It seemed that V's style hadn't changed much over the centuries, Rina was hard pressed to get the vampire to wear a dress at all these days. "Who won the fight?" She wanted to know.

"My memory cuts off before that point."

"Well, I'm going to assume you won, 'cause you're still here." Rina winked at her.

Veronika couldn't help but smile. She would like to have believed she won as well, although not knowing if she was fighting the angel for the right reasons bothered her. Veronika had long believed that her memories were taken because an angel didn't want her knowing about his past. But if that were the case, killing her would have been a far easier option. Had she inspired some sort of loyalty that prevented this angel from killing her? And had he seen this as his only option of letting her go?

"I think we should leave New York," Rina stated calmly, her excitement over Veronika's memory now gone.

"The airports are no doubt being watched; it may prove difficult."

"So we'll get you a disguise. A red wig and really bad make-up applied by yours truly and that angel won't even recognize you."

"When you put it that way, it's difficult to say 'no' to even trying," Veronika replied.

Rina tilted her head to the side and blinked at her. "Why would you say 'no?' Things are too hot for us to stay here."

"For me, but not for you. Right now this angel has no idea that you and I are involved and we should keep it that way. If we're caught trying to sneak out of the country together..."

"Then you drag me down with you," Rina completed for her.

Veronika nodded, "Right, I won't put you in jeopardy."

"But we're in this together, you and I. I'm not going to just abandon you," Rina insisted.

"I sink you swim, that's the way I've always looked at this relationship, Mistress."

Rina scoffed in disbelief before shaking her head. "Next thing I know you're going to say you don't even consider yourself my best friend." When Veronika stared at her blankly, Rina felt something die inside. "I need some air." She sprung up off the couch and quickly left the library. She kept walking until she'd scaled the spiraling flight of stairs to her bedroom. She didn't allow a single tear to fall until she was alone in that bedroom with the door locked firmly behind her. It was rare that she ever fought with Veronika. And usually any disagreements they had were squarely about her safety, but she thought Veronika understood by now that she was the perfect one to keep Rina safe. Yet it seemed her vampire best friend continued to suffer from the unknown demons that still haunted her memory-less past. Rina wondered for the first time if Veronika would allow those demons to eventually destroy her.

OOO

Several thousand miles across the ocean, Marc glanced at the technician beside him that stood before his advanced tracking systems. "Well?" He asked impatiently.

"We've got her! I have the location of her secret base," the technician stated. Rina had employed tracking scrambler software which had made pinpointing her location difficult. But by the second phone call, it had been all the technician needed to achieve his goal.

"And it also has to be where she's holding META." Marc glanced past the technician towards a tall angel with dark brown wings that stood in the background. "Your master will be pleased. Once we locate the META computer, we can create as many AGF's as we need and Rina Boldare would have outlived her usefulness."

"Well done, human, well done," The angel stated before leaving the room.

OOO

"That was quick," Raphael commented when Jason flew back into Raphael's office a few hours later via the open, railing less balcony. Elena and Dmitri were also present.

Jason handed them copies of several photos he had recently printed. "Three days after Jaspers' encounter with her in that night club; those were taken in a local department store."

"She has an accomplice," Elena stated when she noted a red-haired woman with Jasper's Citrine in just about every single shot.

Jason nodded, "So it would seem, and her name is, Rina Boldare."