Chapter 18
Dimitri POV
"Well, that went better than expected" Christian announced as we got out of the last store on the avenue where Robert Doru and Victor Dashkov had last been seen on a week ago. The current plan was pretty straightforward considering Lila turned out to be pretty tech savvy and knew how to work the facial recognition program she got from a tech dealer as soon as we arrived to New York. Seemed being a former strigoi came with its advantageous connections in the underworld.
Once we arrived in New York Christian me and Lissa retraced Dashkov's steps from where he had last been sited by going through the security footage from the nearby stores and using Lissa's spirit compulsion we got access to the closed circuit camera recording from smaller establishments that the Tarasov guards overlooked because they were going off hacking open networks.
It appeared Dashkov had not been seen nearby the East Village for the past week, but one of the cameras off a street vendor pointed at a subway station where he had been spotted coming out of multiple times before his sighting by the guardians. A quick search into the station showed that the days before the sighting the stop had been closed for maintenance and no train was stopping at that station.
It appeared to be a good place to start our search for more clues, and we would go on it in a few hours after the sun had set. In the meantime, we decided to pick up some food and return to the apartment we were renting while in NYC. As I was grabbing the bags from the restaurant's take out table I could not help but notice the small bandage across my wrist from where Rosa had fed, but instead of shame a small smile came to my face as I remembered Rose saying she loved me, and for a moment the red eyes and pale skin were replaced in my memory by the true Rose, the one who was fiercely loyal to the people she loved and could not stand to see them hurt, even by themselves.
Grabbing the food, I gestured to Christian and Lissa to head out of the restaurant and towards the apartment where the love of my life was surely impatiently waiting for the chance to spring into action.
An hour after sunset – East Village New York
Lila's POV
After arriving to the entrance of the subway Dimitri quickly set us up on our positions with Lissa and Christian in the middle, Rose and himself at the front and myself bringing up the rear. The stake I had been given felt weird in my hand, I had almost forgotten how heavy it was.
It felt like another lifetime ago that I had carried one with me every day, ever since I became a full-fledged Guardian, and had been placed on the detail protection of Erik Drozdov, one of the younger sons of a less known branch of the Drozdov royal family. Erik and I had grown up together in school, and nothing had made me prouder than becoming her Guardian, and nothing had made me feel worse than the day he and I got captured because of me.
I held the stake tighter in my hand, trying to rid myself of the memory and getting ready to go down the stairs of the subway which still had signs around it indicating it was under maintenance. As to what exactly they were fixing, or if Victor had compelled some poor city crew to set up the stop as out of service, I could not tell, but it was clear from the state of the rail train and the trash that no one had been doing much working around the place in a while.
"Be on the lookout for anything out of place, any hidden doors or manhole covers" Dimitri said from the front.
We do an initial sweep around the subway station, Dimitri, Lissa and Rose going one direction, which meant Christian, and I would take the other side. After about 10 minutes of search as we start our second more detailed sweep Ah there! I call out as I see what appears to be the edge of a trap door covered with trash and newspaper, a little too well placed to be accidental, it looks like someone didn't want it found. I turn to share the excitement when I notice that Christian is squinting at the general direction I pointed at.
"Guys its right there, towards the corner by the newspapers" – I said pointing effusively.
"What newspapers, what are you looking at?" – Christian says as he points his flashlight widely. That's when I notice that the flashlight, I had in my non-stake holding hand is still off, I completely forgot to turn it on, but I can see just fine. I probably hadn't noticed because I hadn't needed a flashlight in… well ever since I turned. This was not good, even if helpful the fact that my abilities were returning only meant that my time as a non-blood sucking strigoi was starting to run out.
"Never mind – here" I said turning the flashlight on and pointing to where I meant. "Go get Rose and the others." I would think about what this returned eyesight meant after we got out of here.
The rest of the group joined us as we neared the trapdoor, which led us to what appeared to be a hallway right under the railway in two directions. Pointing south Dimitri started forward down the long hallway until we eventually found a steel door which was locked.
"I could try melting it?" Christian said measuring the door.
"That would take too long" I said and looked over at Rose. "You may be able to break through though".
Rose stared incredulously at me. "I don't know if I'm strong enough for that." Slight pause. "Am I?" She said staring at her hands assessing them.
"Not all the door, but you can grab the hinges and break them so we can open the door that way" I said. "Just grab the bolts and pull up, you can break the hinges at the lower and higher end of the door, and it should work."
"Okay, let's see about making these abilities useful." She said coming up and doing as I instructed.
The door gave some resistance, but Rose was able to break through the hinges and easily push forward the door from the outside. What we encountered looked much better than the rest of this station – clean floors, a still working lightbulb and another door at the end of the hallway.
Rose went to grab the door's hinges same as the last door but hissed once she touched it. "What the hell..." she said as she rubbed at her palms.
"It looks like its infused with Spirit" Lissa said stepping closer and eyeing the door. "Whoever did it is using it as a protection barrier.
"Like someone charmed the door like the bracelets?" Rose asked eyeing the door like she wanted to punch it.
"Humm, not quite" Lissa said, taking a closer look. "There doesn't seem to be a specific object used to lock the spirit in place, but it may be on the inside".
"That, my dear Vasilissa is quite the assessment" a voice said from beyond the busted door we had just come through, and as I turned to raise my stake, I found myself staring at the end of a gun aimed at me.