Chapter Eight

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean no."

"So you expect me just to stay in these clothes for however long it takes to work this out then?" I put my hands on my hips and gave Christian my best teacher look. He didn't react.

"I am sure Allegra would not mind you borrowing some clothes from her wardrobe."

I pouted. "Look, not even starting on the size issue there, but, and I really hope you're not offended by this Allie, but your clothes are somewhat… not my style."

"You mean they're shapeless and ugly?" she asked while moving her knight forward and taking Nell's pawn. She shrugged. "I know, but it's what I feel comfy in."

"Exactly!" I cried. "And I feel comfy in my clothes!"

"How are skin-tight jeans and five-inches heels comfy?" Adrian spoke up. I glared at him.

"They just are. And these heels are only four and a half inches high, for your information."

"Why doesn't someone just accompany her to her flat so she can pick a few things up?" Nell asked while taking Allie's knight with a bishop. I gave her a thankful glance. At least she understood my pain.

"She is not leaving this house."

"Why don't you just shut it, vamp boy?" I turned to the man lazing on the armchair in the corner. Dmitri narrowed his eyes.

"Dmitri is right. We cannot risk you stepping outside the boundary of the wards." Christian said.

"Danger!" Niko joked.

"Then why don't we go?" Allie asked. The men all rotated their heads to stare at her in disbelief. Nell looked like she agreed with the idea.

"We could."

"No." Adrian and Christian said at the same time. Christian continued. "There is sure to be someone watching Kalila's apartment. It would be too dangerous to venture there."

Which was all the more reason to send someone there. Hannah was still there. And since it was apparently 'too dangerous' to phone anyone outside, she still had no idea what was going on. If anything happened to her because of this stupid adventure of mine, then I'd blame myself for the rest of my life. She was my best friend. I needed her here with me.

"You guys could go."

Everyone turned and peered at me as if I'd gone crazy.

"You could!" I tried to defend myself. "It's not as if one little demon could beat four big strong Dark Ones, is it? And I really need some other clothes. I'm starting to smell. And I bet you could be back within the hour. It wouldn't take much, would it?"

"You've been in those clothes less than a day." Dmitri pointed out. And since when did you start calling us Dark Ones?

Since I wanted something. Now butt out of my head, vampire!

There was silence for a few seconds and I noticed the changing expressions on Christian and Adrian's faces. Now I knew about the whole Beloved thing I was starting to recognise when mind-conversations were happening. Finally Christian sighed.

"Fine. Dmitri and I will go."

And I was sure they wouldn't be coming back on their own.


I could hear the front door slam open from where I was in the living room. I stood and prepared myself. Before I could even announce where we were a blonde flash had stopped in front of me.

"Kali, what the hell is going on?" Hannah said angrily. She started poking me in the chest. If I hadn't been so used to it by now I was sure it would have bruised. "First I find you gone when I come and check on you this morning, then I try to call you only to hear a 'what do you think you're doing' and a smash, then I call your work to see if they know anything, which they didn't, then some scary looking guys turn up at the flat spouting some nonsense about clothes, and then when I try to get information out of them one of them tried to pull some spy move on me and knock me out! I think you've got some 'splaining to do."

"Christian, you didn't!" Allie sounded shocked.

"No, that particular 'spy move' was Dmitri." Christian said calmly as he put the small travel bag down in the doorway. I peered at it. Was that all they had brought?

"No." Dmitri grumbled as he too showed up. I was pleased to see him dragging one of my giant suitcases behind him. "Just how many pairs of shoes do you own?"

I told you to stay out of my head!

"Han," I turned back to my friend. She was giving me definite evils. "Things are a bit complicated at the moment. I'll tell you about it in a sec, but first you have to tell me what that big bully over there did to you."

"He was trying that weird thing they do in the movies, you know, when they pinch someone's neck and they suddenly fall to the ground?" She acted out pinching a neck.

"Does that even work?" I asked Dmitri.

"It does if you can reach the neck without having a corkscrew stabbed into your hand."

"You didn't?" I smiled broadly at Hannah. She shrugged.

"I'm from the east end. We know how to defend ourselves."

My liking for Hannah at least tripled. Dmitri grumbled something under his breath and went and sat in the chair furthest away from me. Hannah gave me a knowing look.

"I also had to stop these idiots packing up all the wrong things." She shoved her thumb in their direction. "I knew you wouldn't be happy with just one pair of shoes."

"Why would she need more?" Dmitri yelled. "Why?"

"And they were trainers." Hannah added.

I gasped. "You mean to say…" I stuttered out, "…that out of my entire collection of three hundred and sixty seven pairs of pristine shoes he wanted to take the ratty old trainers."

"They're sensible!"

"They're hideous!"

"You're-"

"You have three hundred and sixty seven pairs of shoes?" Allie interrupted Dmitri, avoiding the imminent battle of words between us. I blinked and looked at her. Her eyebrows were both raised. I had no idea why she was so surprised. Women needed shoes. Lots of them. It was just natural.

"Yeah. Why? How many do you have?"

"Three."

I felt faint.

"How can you even afford that?" Nell asked me.

Hannah answered in a gloomy tone. "I buy groceries."

"You buy shoes instead of food?"

"Her bedroom floor's covered in them all neatly lined up."

"Yep and they're ordered by style, heel height and colour."

"Doesn't that count as obsession?"

"To her it doesn't. I've tried to tell her in the past but she won't listen."

"That's definitely an addiction."

"Her wardrobe was almost as bad."

"Wow."

I heard everything they were saying but it left my head as soon as it entered. Nothing was really registering anymore. The conversation was moving on without me.

"You only have three pairs of shoes?"

Everyone stared at me. The clock on the mantelpiece ticked away.

"Uh, yeah." Allie finally answered. "And Christian bought me one of them saying I needed something other than sneakers."

Like a zombie I turned towards the door and started walking. "I need to lie down."

Christian stood. "I'll show you to a room."

I nodded blankly and followed him out of the room and towards the staircase. Somewhere behind me I heard Nell speak.

"I think you broke her."


I ran down the road, clutching the tiny hand tightly, almost dragging the boy behind me. There were many shouts behind us, egging us to go faster. I heard gunshots nearby.

Papa stopped and waited for Jumah and I to catch up. I almost collapsed from exhaustion when I reached him. My breathing was so heavy it almost drowned out the bangs and screams. Jumah fell to his knees when we stopped. His little legs weren't used to running so far. Papa leant down and picked him up.

"Lila, pohitati." He told me sternly before starting to run again. I could see Mama in the distance, struggling to keep my other brother on her back. I rushed after them, knowing that a bit of exhaustion was better than what was behind us.

"Papa, pricekati!" I shouted but more gunfire made it impossible to hear my voice. They disappeared around the corner just ahead. A sudden rock in the road caught my foot and I flew forward out of my control. I fell head first down the bank. Something struck my leg as I fell and I felt a symphony of pain blossom there. I rolled through the small undergrowth and finally stopped when I hit the base of a tree.

I didn't have time to collect my breath. I tried to stand. My leg screamed in protest and I crumpled to the ground again. A loud explosion came from around the corner. Shouting was getting nearer. As were the gunshots. My vision was starting to blur.

Kali!

The pain in my leg was beginning to subside as everything started to turn black around the edges.

"Kali!"

I opened my eyes.

Two light green ones stared back at me.

"Dmitri?" I croaked out in my sleepy state. He sighed and leant back. I sat up against the pillows on the soft bed. He was sitting on the edge next to me.

"You were dreaming."

"Oh."

I was silent for a while. "Did you see-"

"Yes." Dmitri said while looking down at the sheets. To say this was awkward would be an understatement. "I thought you were probably born here and only your parents were foreign. I didn't know that…"

"I know. It's not exactly the type of thing I like to advertise."

Wars never are.

I reached over and picked up the glass of water on the bed-side cabinet. I could feel Dmitri watching me as I sipped at it.

"What happened to them?" he asked after a good minute of silence. I sighed.

"I don't know. I never found them."

I heard the unasked questions in my head but chose to ignore them. I didn't like talking about my experience of the Slavic war with anyone, and I didn't plan to start with Dmitri. He obviously felt my reluctance and tried to change the conversation.

"So, you choose to spend all your money on shoes and leave nothing for food? Seems like an interesting way to live."

Or insane.

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from lack of imagination." I recited. Dmitri frowned.

"Oscar Wilde?"

"Yeah, why?" I narrowed my eyes. "You think just because I like clothes and dye my hair that I have no brains?"

Dmitri laughed. Actually laughed. It was such a sweet melody to my ears that I felt my heart literally skip a beat.

"I think I better go." He said lightly. "Otherwise you'll probably start yelling at me again."

"Yeah." I agreed, only half-heartedly. He got up and walked towards the door.

"Get some more sleep. I'll see you in the morning."

And with that he left.


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