Hi guys, I'll probably be updating again today seeing as this is pre-written and all.
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DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS QUEEN!
CHAPTER 96
"Do you know how dangerous that could be?" Sven exclaimed.
"Yes, yes." Audrey replied, waving him off. "Af's already given me that lecture."
"Then we'll just go now." Sven said, determined.
"You need a little more planning before that." spoke an older man. Grigori Gregorovitch emerged from the crowd, who were now all watching them.
"Why's that?" Audrey asked, as Grigori met her halfway and kissed her on the cheek.
"There are several enchantments around various parts of the city that detect 'suspicious activity' when they're set off, they all start coming." said one man, doing quotation marks.
"They?" Audrey asked.
"Vladimir's followers, no one knows if he's dead or alive, but they're working alongside You-Know-Who." Karl replied.
Vladimir Morozov.
Audrey remembered Vladimir all too well.
He made regular appearances in my dreams every night for the last month. My family members joined him…always the same messages.
"We need to get out of here." Sven whispered in Russian. "I don't like this."
"Nice of you to join the festivities, printsessa Audrey." Said a cold voice.
Jets of red and green light clouded Audrey's vision; she could hear the screams and yells as if it were still happening.
"GET OUT OF MY HOME." Edik roared.
Red.
Green.
Red.
Green.
Her cousin Jacques came into view.
"Audrey, they want something from us…they want us dead, all of us. I got here and I found Hans and Peter dead in the entrance hall. Audrey, you're the youngest, and the only one who needs to know-"
Jacques never finished his sentence he just began to gasp. Audrey could see the silver blade, coated with blood, shining in the dark.
The scene changed to the intricate wood floor. She could faintly hear her uncle Ivan.
"You must know the truth, it is in this very palace. Run, find it, before it is too late…I don't know how much longer we can keep them off." Ivan said, blocking a curse. "GO!" He roared.
The scene changed to Edik's study.
"Do you know how long your family has been hunted for, Audrina?" Vladimir whispered in her ear, stroking her cheek, he laughed. "Seven centuries…and it ends here, it finally ends tonight."
"And what does that prove?" Audrey hissed, regaining some courage.
"There's going to be a different world now, a very different world." Vladimir grinned.
"And if I don't wish to join you?" Audrey was defiant.
"You have no choice." He whispered, barely audible in her ear. Audrey didn't want to hear anymore and shoved him away with a large gust of wind, knocking him into the bookshelf. She set off for the exit, he jumped up and tried to grab her but she was too quick.
She hurtled down the long hallway, dodging the smatter of blood she had slipped in earlier. She was horrified to see more blood and a body of someone unknown laying in the hallway. Vladimir was gaining speed quickly, and at that moment, she confirmed to herself that he was not human…but she couldn't distinguish what he was.
She began hearing the booms and shouts from the battle and knew she was coming close to the entrance hallway. She used whatever was in the hallway, vases, portraits, and knocked them off with a wind. Any diversion would help her.A few feet away from the doorway though, she felt something on her back and had crashed hard face first onto the ground. Vladimir had jumped on top of her, and had a tight grip on her hair. He pulled her head up as far as it would go.
"Don't test me." He hissed in her ear, his wand at her throat. "Don't say a word."
Audrey began to cry, he laughed. "I always enjoy the tears."
It was a risk, but Audrey had decided to take it. She let out a scream, hoping someone would hear her over the chaos.
"Silence!" He roared, slamming her head hard onto the tile, she saw blood. He was pinning her head down like the rest of her body.
All she could see were the reflections of footsteps slightly up the hallway and through the doorway. She could see them, but she bet they couldn't see her.
And then, as if by some miracle, Audrey could feel foot steps coming from the entrance hall towards where they were. She couldn't see who they were, but they didn't have a chance to react as Vladimir flourished his wand, within a second and a green light hit them. At the very same moment, Audrey had wiggled away from him and set off, she was horrified to see that the person Vladimir had hit was her Aunt Alina. A permanent look of surprise was etched onto her face…more tears began to fall.
Audrey nodded, coming out of her reverie. She wasn't surprised that no one knew where he was, Vladimir was a man of many tricks.
My father had battled Vladimir at St. Aleksander's that night. No one in St. Petersburg knew if he had actually survived.
"There's a curfew." said Grigori, his expression grim. "Anyone out after nine without permission, if they're seen or if they set off the enchantments they're hauled away."
"Are they imprisoned?" Audrey asked, her eyes scanning every person in the room. Some nodded, others paled.
"They are imprisoned for a short time…" Sven began.
"Then they're tortured until they either give up information or die." Karl added bitterly.
"Very few have gotten out alive, and some of them are in this very room." Grigori said, gesturing to the crowd.
"How? How have you managed?" Audrey asked, looking around at the three men and the vampire.
"Rescue missions." Sven replied, pointing to the scar under his eye and Karl's cut up lip.
Audrey nodded, taking in some of the survivors. Many of them, the ones that were not laying in beds, were thin, their faces sagged slightly, they looked like beaten up rag dolls.
"Let us talk alone, please." Karl asked to the crowd, they obliged, murmuring and taking seats in various spots. Grigori and Afanasi flicked their wands and a table came crashing over, along with five chairs.
They began to plot.