Stepping into the library, I'm stunned at its size, large enough to constitue its only public library statues. Looking around, I notice Nick isn't there. Frowning, I call out, 'Nick?'

Just then I feel a chill run through me, the hair on the nape of my neck standing erect. Something was here, and it wasn't Nick. My breathing grew louder and faster. My heart slamming and I try to move only to feel like weights are on me and I collapse to the ground. Was I hyperventilating? The edges of my vision was going dark. No... this was something else. Panic was eating at my insides, something was trying to make me go unconcious and unfortunately I wasn't strong enough to fight it. Someone had the ability of make vampires sleep and that was what was happening to me, forced unconciousness. It had to be an A rank vampire or higher, but I'd never heard of such a phantom. Almost like a snap of finger, everything goes dark.

I jerk back to conciousness, trying to stand, only to realize I can't. My body was not in my control, seated in the library as if gripped by a hand. It felt like a giant vice was keeping me in place. My breathing was still erratic as I look around and stop dead on the man in a chair like my own, opposite me. My breathing stops as I analyse him. He was handsome, sharp featured, and dark. His hair was pulled back in a sever high ponytail, in a black button down shirt, black silk tye, and black pants and jacket. In one hand, leaning against his knee was a cane made of silver with a handle of intricate design. My insides went cold as I looked at the canes grip, because on its head set a pale jeweled symbol. He was a Night Hunter, a powerful one. There was no one else in the room according to my senses, so that meant he had to be a Pureblood. He was the one keeping me in place.

My eyes flash back up to his face, trying to gain some understanding of the situation, and I suddenly notice similar features, the black emotionless eyes so different then the shattered blues. A shiver runs through me, Furlow having told me of this man, as I whisper, 'You are the second born Dracul son.'

His expression doesn't change, all but a slight twitch of an eye as he says in a cool montone, 'Yes and if I were first born I would be in his position and he in mine. You know who I am?'

'A Night Hunter.'

'Correct...my name is Igor, and you are Nina Simmons.'

I nod, noticing just how still the phantom was, his chest didn't seem to rise or fall with breath, even his words were emotionless. My mind sprang back to the past as Furlow said by the fire one night in the cold of winter, 'Night Hunter's are to be feared. They are the second sons of powerful families and give their lives to this brotherhood, no longer of the families they once knew. Their last names, and ranks stripped from them to become something to fear. They dress in black and feel no emotion. Nina, if there is one thing I can tell you... never meet a Night Hunter, for you will be killed.'

My own breathing was stalled by this, warnings often repeated to me surging to the surface. There was no way for me to run, and I couldn't fight a powerful vampire like this. His eyes were dark, cold, lifeless, as if looking at death itself. This is when I notice his pheremones, the smell of power to be feared, to not lie, if not death awaits. I could feel him not just probing, but slamming his conciousness into the wall of my mind. I try to keep myself calm as I ask, 'Did Nick arrange this? Of course he did...'

No point in not placing the blame where it should lay. Igor remains silent for a moment longer before replying, 'Yes, he did. It is interesting, you are a bitten clanless, yet you who has no power can gain information from a A rank vampire such as Dante. Or so Nick has said. Now please tell me what you told him. If you lie, death will be instant, Nina Simmons.'

Everything about him said he would. I was the most expendable creature in the phantom society, that it wouldn't be a loss. Dante must have put up a fight not to say a word about what he spoke to me from the Night Hunters. Of course the Night Hunter's most likely stood on his turf, with his army waiting to kill the Night Hunter's if they tried anything. Nit onky that, Dante was powerful, formidable and anither reason he was given a wide birth by most vampires.

Taking in a shaky breath and feeling the cold touch of this phantom's power, I'm again reminded of words Furlow spoke. 'The two Dracul princes are fierce like their father before them. The eldest called the Fiery Dragon while the later was called the Ice Dragon. Both are powerful, and both are swift to kill.'

Finally I say, 'He told me it was a man, or at least he gave the impression that it was. From my own deductions, I figured it was one person behind the seen, but Dante confirmed it.'

'What led you to such a conclusion?'

'Simple, the organization is too precise for it to be a group. I can understand there being generals in the Silent Phantasma, but there has to be a head and a powerful one.'

'Why?' He asks, tapping the cane against his polished shoe.

This makes me flinch as I say calmly and crisply, 'Because who would follow a vampire without power.'

Igor's jaw ticked and I know he was irritated as I rush on, 'Dante in his own words made it clear that this man, this person, was powerful and ancient.'

'How so?'

'He was afraid to speak of him. When I said he had to be a Pureblood, he was unnerved.'

Igor's eyes narrow and I feel the edges of my vision blur a bit as I rasp out, 'He made a point of saying that it was ancient money that lined his pockets.'

If his eyes could get colder I didn't know how. Suddenly he was up in a blur of black, the flash of his silver cane transforming before my eyes. The sharpness of a blade against my neck made me sudder. He stood above me, his eyes black like a shark coming in for the kill as he murmurs, 'You are hiding something from me, I can sense it.'

His clipped precise words were unnerving, as if speaking to a machine more than a living being. He taps my cheek with the side of his blade that had been unsheathed from the canes body, making me flinch. Quickly I say, 'A week ago at Nick's mansion in upstate New York, I noticed the ghoul move as one, like a flock and so I brought this to Dante's attention and it made him flinch. You and I both know it takes a lot for a vampire like him to flinch in fear. Not only that but an old begger vampire I spoke to told me, ghoul are taking those of the slums off the street. There has to be a reason.'

Those black eyes seem to search my face for a moment, insuring I was speaking the truth. He pulls the blade away, returning it to the sheath of the cane and sits in one fluid movement. If nothing else, unlike his stiff demeanor, he was graceful, a dangerous mix. It was as if he hadn't even moved, his position was almost exactly the same. Seconds ticked into minutes of silence. Despite his Pureblood demeanor and strength in keeping me secured in this chair, not only that but the almost hammer like mind prob, he wasn't as terrifying as Nick.

Finally Igor asks, 'Nicoli told me about what you learned from the bitten beggers, but not of the seemingly flocking nature.'

'I was withholding it.'

'Why?'

'Put simply I didn't think it was real until I had learned more. When I confronted Dante, I knew for a certainty it was real.'

'Yet you didn't tell my brother immediately.'

Shaking my head, I realize I'm walking a fine line, his body seemed slightly stiffer as I say softly, 'I had planned to tell him more tonight once we went to the library.'

He nods as if satisfied with the answer and murmurs, 'Yes, Nicoli did say something about a library. The library of Alexandria.'

I nod and he asks, 'Dante specified this particular library?'

'He said the oldest.'

Igor was quiet for a moment, then slowly leans forward, placing his cane between his legs and places one hand over the other as he leans on it asking, 'Why is the Phantasma so intrigued by you, Nina Simmons?'

There was a slight edge to his voice and I knew he was trying to pull anything he could from me. His mind was probing mine more intensely, trying to crack it, but I prevent it as I shake my head to get the fuzziness from his insistent probbing, saying, 'If I knew I'd tell you.'

'Your lying again.'

I shiver with fear there and shake my head as I blurt out, 'I seriously don't know. I have possibility, but they are far fetched. If I said them now they would sound conceeded.'

Furlow's words echoed in my head. 'If you have a skill unknown to the vampire world, hide it, it will save your life one day.'

I felt that warmth of knowing I couldn't tell my true secret, only allow smaller ones to fill it in, not a lie, just an ommision, 'I can go two months without blood.'

'Nicoli gleened that from you, but it still does not answer the question. Though that is an extraordinary gift to have in times like these. He stated you hadn't known this about yourself until recently.'

I nod and he says, eyes narrowing with scrutiny, 'So that means there is something else they are after.'

Shrugging, I murmur, 'If I knew, I would tell you.'

'I doubt that very much,' he says standing, and I flinch, my gut dropping as his mind finally withdrew from my own.

He walks around me and I gulp. Out of my line of sight, I felt the hairs on my neck rise as he murmurs, 'You have a strong mind, Nina Simmons, when I entered this house and took you under my control I almost felt as if I were dealing with a Pureblood.'

Shivering, I feel the blanket of his power slowly lift from me and I let out a gasp. He continues, 'We will keep our eye on you, Ms. Simmons.'

Just like that his presence seemed to vanish. I jerk from the seat, no longer controlled and look around. He was gone, probably through the door behind me. I walk over to it and open it. There stood Nick and two Night Hunters, one his brother and another with skin and hair white as snow and red eyes. His features were Asian and a Pureblood as well, a Won perhaps.

They turned to me, seemingly surprised as Nick says, 'Nina, I find that you have passed the test.'