Okay to make up for my delay in Up Dating here's the next chapter as well. This is where things start to get interesting. Enter Rasputin, Thomas and Ralf.
Mircea arrived back just in time to hear the Consul call order to the Senate. Cassie had only just gone far enough back in time to make it look as though he had never left. The only person who appeared to have noticed was Jack. He raised an eyebrow that meant he had questions to ask but it would have to wait until later. It was a look that also meant that he would stop at nothing to get the truth. Mircea knew what Jack could do and knew it would be a much better use of both of their time to just come out with the truth straight away and decided to humour him. To an extent.
The Consul had begun talking about the up and coming battle. The black circle was becoming troublesome and needed to be stopped. There hadn't been a decision on where the battle was to be held as yet and it needed to happen soon – the black circle was getting more dangerous by the day. The meeting was to suggest a battle field. Many sights were suggested and were argued about, their pros and con's weighed up.
Whilst he was sitting there Mircea wished the Senate would take more action and do less talking. He amusedly took note of how he was starting to think more like Pritkin the closer this battle drew. He knew the proceedings had to be sped along somehow but he still didn't approve of the mage's often rash way of jumping into situations.
"Mircea do you not have an opinion on this?" the Consul asked.
"The mountains would give us a vantage point for a time. We could easily be attacked from all sides however. The enemy could also take the top of a neighbouring mountain and present us with an attack from the same height, if not higher, all too easily. Besides the silver mages probably couldn't handle the altitude." He replied smoothly, not even bothering to meet the gaze of the Consul who knew he was right. A small chuckle rose in the room somehow refreshing everyone instantly.
"But the black could?" she raised an eyebrow.
"They're made of tougher stuff."
The conversation carried on in much the same way for the rest of the night. Only when dawn was a couple of hours off did the meeting close, only to be resumed tomorrow. Jack intercepted Mircea before he could leave the room and motioned him to follow him to his private rooms.
Jack's rooms were dark even though there were lights on. Mircea remembered the space from the last time he'd been here. Black furnishings, black carpets, dull walls covered in heavy cloths. Jack sat down first. Mircea followed suit.
"Cassie needed you then." Jack stated.
"Yes." Mircea wasn't going to tell him what for – he didn't need to know.
"No doubt it was important."
"Yes."
"Not a man of many words tonight are you, Mircea?"
"No."
Jack leant forward in his chair resting his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands over the low coffee table. Mircea wondered at his sudden change in position. Normally when he wanted the truth he stayed very still, barely even breathed.
"Something in the Senate is wrong." He said.
"It's lack of action." Mircea snorted.
"No something else. Something far more dangerous."
Mircea was instantly intent. Jack was a man of deception – he knew this game all to well. Mircea was too, he had to be being the chief diplomat, but Jack had spent more time at court recently. Still he felt he should have noticed something. He looked into Jack's dark, half crazed eyes searching for the truth. He began to say something but the door opened.
Louis-César stood looking malevolently between them. He was a cutting figure in seventeenth century dress and wild curly hair blazing in the fire light.
"Did you think you could get away with overthrowing the Senate along with the rest of them?" Louis-César demanded his voice ice cold almost silent but seething with anger and a sadistic desire to destroy.
"We're planning how to stop it." Jack said flatly. "Kindly leave and rat us out or join us, your choice Frog."
Louis-César closed the door. "I'm in monsieur goddamn." Mircea recognised the name as what the French called the Brits during the Hundred Years War because of the amount of expletives they used.
"Stop bickering." Mircea interjected. "If the Senate is in as much trouble as you claim it to be then don't we need to work as a team?"
Cassie didn't want to believe what she'd just seen. Mircea, Jack and Louis-César plotting against the majority of the Senate. She didn't know if they were working for the good of the vampyric community for sure but she didn't doubt Mircea in the slightest. This left the only other alternative – the Senate, including the Consul, was somehow corrupt. This was bad no matter which way you sliced it. Groggily she rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom to wet her face and wake herself up before she found Pritkin to tell him the grim news.
She found Rafe first. As usual seeing him was a comfort and he instantly knew something was wrong.
"Mia Stella?" he asked taking her hand and stroking soothing circles into it.
"Where's Pritkin? We need to talk."
"Training with Ava I think. Aren't you supposed to be there?"
"Yeah but right now this is more important. Find him and meet me in the kitchen."
Rafe left at vampire speed.
As soon as Rafe arrived Pritkin changed from being annoyed at Cassie's lack of turning up to battle mode alert in an instant.
"What's wrong?"
Rafe told him what was going on and they both left in a hurry leaving Ava following wondering whether she was supposed to follow or stay well out of it. She followed anyway. She had a feeling that if Pritkin wanted her to stay put he would have told her.
Pritkin burst through the kitchen door to see Cassie in the grips of another vision. Knowing there was nothing they could do Pritkin made a coffee and Rafe sat at the table and looked at the wall. Ava was puzzled until Pritkin told her what was happening and said to give her some space. She got an unhealthy breakfast instead, which the mage quickly swapped for a large bowl of cornflakes and a large glass of orange juice. Once the coffee was made Pritkin sat by Cassie's side and waited for the vision to pass.
"What did you see?"
"Death. Murder. Deception. Something in the Senate is very wrong. Mircea, Jack and Louis-César are trying to find out what it is." She looked blankly at the middle of the table.
"Do you know what is wrong?"
"No."
Pritkin debated for a hesitant moment. "We wait for them to return."
Rafe comforted her. Pritkin motioned Ava to follow him. She carried her breakfast with her not wanting to miss out on a meal. They went down to the gym and he made her do weights, running and rowing for three hours before even starting on new combat moves. With the new intensity of training Pritkin knocked her to the floor many times even after numerous demonstrations but she improved very quickly for someone so young. They'd been working for the majority of the morning when someone burst through the door.
"Pritkin!" one of the guards ran up to him. "You're needed out front. There're a couple of blokes there. One's Rasputin."
He began running wondering why such a notorious villain would walk straight up to a place where he would instantly be killed. He heard Ava following. He thought for half a moment that he should send her inside to stay safe but she needed this – to see what her world was full of that the circle didn't teach her to react too.
He could see the gates of the house – surrounded by guards. Rafe was there, in the middle. Pritkin slowed to a jog and pushed his way through the crowd with Ava in tow.
I'd never seen Rasputin before and the excitement at the prospect was enough to stop my abused muscles bitching at me and begging me to stop so they could sleep. But he was nothing like I imagined him to be. I imagined an overweight mobster guy who wore a lot of yellow but I was confronted with a different reality. He was a slender man, quite tall and had a kindly, age weathered face. He looked to be in his mid fifties and had slightly greying hair and a slightly receded hair line. Soft blue eyes looked at Pritkin begging for mercy. He was pale from lack of sun and fear. He had an aura of diminished power surrounding him that went back centuries. Somehow I think I would have had less trouble seeing this guy in tights, long hair and a doublet than jeans, polo shirt and short hair that was cropped military style. I didn't, however, dislike the chestnut brown colour of his hair which set off his eyes.
There were two other guys there, one which Rafe seemed pleased to see, sort of. He was a human in his late twenties and had brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in rumpled looking clothes that were slightly singed – a casual blue shirt and black slacks. The other guy was a vamp and Pritkin and Rafe were definitely not glad to see him. He had long black hair and dark eyes, dressed in a shirt and jeans.
"Rafe, he helped kill Tony, go easy on him." The human guy said. "Where's Cassie?"
"Which one helped kill Tony?" Pritkin demanded.
"Rasputin did. Thomas was busy saving our lives from his associates." The human turned back to Rafe. "Let us explain, it'll all become clear in time. Rafe, please."
"What about you? What excuse do you have?" Rafe asked.
"You know what Tony was like. I was just trying to survive. I've changed, Rafe. Just let me see her." he was pleading more than Rasputin was.
"See who?" Pritkin asked.
"Dad?"
I looked out my window to see a bunch of people gathered at the front gates. Not normal. Curiously I made my way over there. There were no guards in the halls. Not the best sign in the world. I stepped into Pritkin's room on the way and picked up a pistol. I still wasn't the best shot in the world but I felt better going in there with something to distract people with. I jogged over to the gates and pushed my way through the crowd.
A flood of memories poured into my mind's eye all of them from my short-lived childhood. Being spun round in the air, laughter, bed-time stories. But he was here in human form. A solid body. Could it really be true?
"Dad?" I whispered.
I stood there awestruck. I'd tried to find him. Ever since I'd learned there was some hope for him… And he was here. Standing a few metres away from me.
"Go on Cass." Billy-Joe said softly. He must have been on an energy high because I felt his slight nudge and he was, for once, not being a pain in the ass.
"Cassandra?" Dad asked in disbelief.
He was the same age I remembered him to be, still had the same spark in his eyes and the same… everything. I felt like I was a young girl again and I just wanted to break down and cry.
"You grew up." he said.
"You didn't." It was weird that there were only a few years between us now. I began laughing. Crying.
He was instantly by my side wrapping his arms around me. He even smelled the same as I remembered. He began crying too and I sank into him glad of his protection. Suddenly it didn't matter that I'd learned he wasn't the man I had believed him to be, that he was with the black circle when he had been here the first time round. He was here. Alive.
I wasn't sure what to do when the crowd eventually dispersed. Rasputin and Thomas were put under heavy guard and frogmarched somewhere, Cassie went with her dad and Pritkin followed. As usual I was left to follow like a lost sheep. We went to Mircea's rooms and sat with the doors locked.
Cassie's dad quizzed her about her life now that she was an adult and was surprised by everything he heard. Honestly, I wasn't surprised. It's not every day you come back from the dead – Pritkin had filled me in on his past – to find you daughter was dating one of the most powerful vamps out there and is Pythia. I thought he was going to faint at some point.
"I'll go and get him." Cassie said. "He should be finished at court now and he'll want to get to the bottom of what's going on." she shifted out of the room.
Her dad, who I later learned was called Ralph, almost fainted again but his sallowness was replaced with a look of pride.
Something brushed against my leg and down my cheek. I jumped out of my seat and glared at where the feeling had come from. If I was thinking straight I would have said it came from another person but there was no one sitting in the space next to me. Ralph fixed a disapproving look at the space directly behind where I had been sat.
Cassie shifted back into the room with three people in tow. One was Mircea, another was a guy I had never seen before but had black hair and half crazed eyes wearing a black shirt and slacks. The other I vaguely recognised. He was only a blur in my memory but who forgot a guy who was wearing yellow stockings and looked like he was from seventeenth century France?
"Mademoiselle, you are better I trust." The Frenchman said with a slight bow.
"J'ai trés bon, merci boucoup, Monsieur…" yes I was proud of the fluent French I spoke.
"Tu parlé la Français? Je m'apalle Louis-César, et vous?"
"Je m'appelle Ava." We shook hands.
The other guy looked impatient. Mircea introduced us. I was stood in front of the Jack the Ripper only he was a vamp too. Surreal or what?
Mircea took control of the situation by ordering Thomas and Rasputin to be brought here so we could all hear what they had to say for themselves.
When Rasputin walked into the room, when he saw me, his eyes filled with wonder. All eyes turned on me. I had no idea what this was all about. He walked towards me. Louis-César went to stop him but then held back for whatever reason.
"You survived." He gasped.
"What?" I asked thinking he really was crazy.
"You saved my life and sacrificed your own. Don't you remember?" he was looking at me with awed eyes and smiling. "I never got a chance to thank you. I'm forever in your debt, Madame." He pulled me into a fierce hug that was far too tight.
I just stood there not sure what to do. I'd never seen this man before in my life and he was… what? Grovelling almost. I could barely breathe and my chest had been constricted further than I thought possible. It began to burn. I looked to Pritkin for help. He looked enraged and stood behind the vampire.
"Let her go, now." He snarled.
When he didn't he tapped him on the shoulder and repeated his demand. Finally, he let go and was lead to a seat.
"Are you alright?" Pritkin asked.
"I thought he was gonna crush my ribs for a moment there." I joked as I rubbed my sides trying to get some life back into them.
Rasputin was sat wedged between Rafe and Louis-César and Thomas was sat in a chair with Jack stood behind him and a hand on his shoulder pinning him in place. Mircea was sat directly opposite with Cassie by his side. Pritkin was a step away from Thomas ready to pounce if the need arose. Other guards stood on the fringes of the room almost melting into the walls. From nowhere a bunch of vamps materialised. I didn't know what had happened to make Thomas and Ralph so infamous but I knew the story behind Rasputin. Whatever the other two stories were they must be bad for them to be under lock and key.
Tension filled the air and everyone was on edge. Thomas seemed more relaxed than everyone else and Mircea hid his apprehension and anger but I could see it in his slightly tense shoulders. I stepped forward and stood behind Rasputin made myself look scary and menacing. He quivered under my gaze and I heard him gulp. I kept my triumphant smile to myself. If I could make this notorious villain squirm I could safely say I could make anyone quake in their boots.
Pritkin glanced in my direction and nodded once in approval. I nodded back and waited for someone to speak.
"Mircea is this really necessary – he'd my dad." Cassie said.
"Yes it is. Just until we ascertain the facts, dulceaţă."
"He's repented that's all the information you need." She bit back and looked away from him. "Sorry Dad, but it seems Mircea is being an ass tonight."
"I won't risk your safety!" Mircea snapped. "If you don't mind I have business to attend to. Thomas what makes you think that you are welcome here, especially after your… traitorous acts?"
"I helped kill Tony didn't I? You should thank me."
"Not good enough."
"Cassie believes that I deserve another chance. You obviously don't know about what happened in Faeiry."
"Thomas silence!" Louis-César commanded.
Even though he looked like he wanted to say much more Thomas couldn't. I figured that Louis-César was his master. I also figured Thomas resented him.
"Thomas," Rasputin interrupted in a calm tone, "you aren't helping. Stay calm. Lord Mircea, might I explain how it came to pass that we three, a black mage, a 'villain' and a seemingly good vampire became united for a common cause? It is a long story but I believe it will settle much confusion."
"Yes, you may." Lord Mircea said after the slightest of hesitations.
Let me know what you think! ~Fury
Oh, Karen Chance invented the series so all the characters and stuff belong to her (: