“That’s it? That’s all I get from you?” Michael sounded affronted. I turned around again, tears stinging my eyes. “I love you, but I can’t have you. You love someone else. Yes, Michael, this is my way of dealing with it.”
I was sitting in one of my favorite pubs, drinking my beer and missing Michael. My plan wasn’t working; I couldn’t stop thinking about him. A man with brown hair and deep-set eyes came over. “Hello, how are you doing? Have you recovered from the shock alright?” I had no idea who he was or what he was talking about. All I knew was that he was human. After I had studied him with a clueless expression for several beats, he gave me a sheepish smile. “You don’t remember me? Maybe it’s the missing uniform.”
“The police officer! You questioned me and Silvia before she was killed.”
He made a face and winced. “Those are not the feelings I wanted to be associated with. Come on, let me buy you a drink, then you can associate me with the bar where I offered you a drink from now on.”
I briefly wondered whether it was such a good idea to be friends with a policeman in my current situation. He seemed nice and a drink was not synonymous with anything beyond that. Why the hell not? “Alright, thank you.” He was glad that I had accepted and ordered me my drink of choice. He was very direct and observant. His gaze was alert and intelligent, but he also possessed a keen sense of humor and managed to make me laugh. Hearty laughter was something I hadn’t done much recently. We had already spent two hours chatting when I realized that I didn’t even know his name. He said he’d been wondering when I would finally ask him. His name was Ronald. Thanks to his company, I had not thought about Michael for a while. Since the bar closed at twelve thirty, we left and looked for another place. We stepped into a small dance hall downtown. I took off my coat, the heel of my shoe got stuck in a crack in the floor, and I stumbled into Ronald’s arms. “Maybe we should skip the alcohol for now. I feel a little tipsy, too,” he said with a smile. If I was honest, I didn’t feel anything. Ronald was still holding me in the position he had caught me. He seemed to ponder kissing me, but I didn’t want that, couldn’t do that. I didn’t want to rebuff him too badly either, so I slowly turned away in his arms, which shifted the V-shaped neckline of my top and revealed more of my cleavage. He no longer thought of kissing me; he was focused on something else entirely. I was confused and wanted to head for a free spot at the bar, but he held me back, pulled at the neckline and pointed at the scar from the bullet wound. “What the hell is that?” Contrary to the scars from my other injuries, this one was still an angry red.
“Oh, it’s nothing, I’m just very clumsy,” I lied. The nice and friendly loverboy was gone; he was all cop now. “I recognize a bullet wound when I see one.” Then he discovered the pale scar on the side of my neck, and thanks to my short sleeves, he also spied the scar from the cut on my arm and the bite marks on my wrist. None of those was very prominent, but he had surprisingly keen vision for a human. “What in God’s name happened to you?” he whispered, shocked. He felt pity for me. I did not want pity, so I jerked away from his grip, took my hasty leave, grabbed my coat and hurried from the dance hall.
Of course he followed me. “Melanie, forgive me; that was the cop in me. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” He regretted his behavior. Apparently he had hoped for more on this evening.
“Don’t worry, it’s okay. I didn’t want to get home too late anyway. Have a nice evening, see you around,” I said firmly. I left him standing in front of the bar. When I looked back, I could see the suspicion and pity in his eyes.
Back in my apartment, I felt terribly lonely. Thankfully sleep found me soon. Once again I dreamed that Michael was lying next to me, and I instinctively nestled against him. Those dreams made it impossible for me to get over him. It was time to draw a line and get the rest of my things from his house. I needed closure. I got on a bus with a large traveling bag. Half an hour later I stood before his door, but it took me another fifteen minutes to actually climb the front steps and open the door. I had a queasy feeling in my stomach. This could only get awkward. I heard voices from the lounge. I didn’t want to sneak in and get my things like some thief in the night, so I followed the voices. I wanted to inform Michael of my decision to pick up my stuff and wipe the slate clean. He wasn’t there. Instead I spied three strangers, one woman, two men. I had no idea who they were. The woman smirked when she saw me. “Nice, Michael sent us a little entertainment. He’s probably running late.”
“I hate to disappoint you, but that’s a misunderstanding. I came here to get a few things.”
She grabbed me by my arm and smiled mischievously. “Trust me, he called you here for us.”
“Ouch, you’re hurting me!” I tried to jerk my hand free, but her grip was too strong, and my efforts seemed to amuse her. I was sick of being pushed around; it made me angry, more than angry. I could see my reflection in the window behind her. My eyes flared with sudden fire, the circle around my pupils glowing yellow. She shrank back, but then hit me in the face with a flash move of her hand. That was the moment Michael stepped into the room. His face was demonic when he ran at her, grabbed her and hurled her through the room. He was next to her with one quick stride, grabbed her by the collar and beat her several times in quick succession. The other two rushed to help her, but Michael heard them, whipped around and struck them with his fists, and his attackers went down gurgling and screaming. They didn’t stand a chance. I had seen him this violent only once before. Stefan, Nicky, and Iveria stormed into the room, grabbed him by his arms and dragged him away from the three injured people. They could not hold him down however, and he jerked free, ready to pounce on the strangers again. I didn’t have time to think, but I moved to stand in his way. He stopped and stared at them over my head, his eyes filled with hatred and fury. I put my palms on his cheeks. He slowly lowered his head, mesmerized. His blue eyes met mine and his gaze softened. I gently stroked his cheek and said: “I’m okay.”
He continued to look into my eyes, standing there like a tamed tiger. Then he stroked my cheek and gave me an affectionate look. For the first time I believed that he might be in love with me. It was a special moment. For a few brief seconds I thought we still had a chance, but the moment did not last. Michael registered the traveling bag I had brought. Offended, he turned away from me. “Then do what you came for and leave!” How many more times did this man intend to tear my heart from my chest? Crestfallen, I made my way upstairs to pack up my stuff. From the upper landing I could hear Stefan speak to his father: “Please don’t be so pigheaded. Just ask her to stay, come on!”
“I am Michael Dravko! Every woman in Salzburg would be happy to be my girlfriend, whether human or supernatural.”
“And that would be awesome if you wanted any of them. Ever since you realized that you love her, you’re been acting worse than a teenager. You’re more than a thousand years old, she’s only twenty-three, and you hurt her deeply. Do you really expect her to take the first step?” There was a pause, and then Stefan continued: “Of course you can go on putting her under surveillance twenty-four hours a day and sneaking into her apartment at night to lie in her bed with her.”
That would at least explain the dreams I’d been having.
“Stefan, I’ve already asked her to move back in with me. Plus she’s afraid of me. She doesn’t even look at me anymore, for fear of my anger or something,” Michael defended himself.
No, that simply wasn’t true! I did not want him to believe that. “Michael, I am not afraid of you. Not of you, but of your cold indifference. That is what hurts me the most.”
He slowly came up the stairs, stood before me, and studied me with a loving gaze. “I miss you. We should talk. Maybe tonight? Is it okay when I come to your apartment once more?” He took the bag from my hand. “You know what, I’m taking you home now. These sorry idiots need a while to recover anyway.”
Phillipe appeared from the lounge. I hadn’t realized he’d been
here as well. “What happened to Nikelaus’ delegation?”
“They hit Melanie,” Stefan explained casually. Phillipe shook his head dismissively. “Idiots! They’re lucky to still be alive.”
Michael made a gesture that invited me to go ahead. Before we could get into the car, he was called back. He disappeared without a word. I followed him back into the house, curious what it was now. He grabbed me and sat me down on a chair in the hall. “You stay here and lock the doors. There’s trouble we need to deal with.”
“Please don’t leave me alone again,” I said, my voice scared and pleading.
“She’s right, she would be the perfect target for the Senaven, magical yet vulnerable. Stefan, have you found him yet?” Iveria asked.
I heard a desperate-sounding “No.” Michael looked nervous. “How is that possible? You are his father; nobody has a stronger connection than you.”
While Michael and Stefan discussed what to do, Iveria explained that Alessandro had been abducted and that his time was running out. Alessandro and I might not have been each other’s biggest fans, but he’d become sort of like family to me over the Christmas holidays. I could feel him in my heart and I knew where he was. I couldn’t name the place, but I knew I was able to sense my way there. “Michael, I think I know where he is. I can feel him. His presence.” As had happened much too often before, they merely smiled at my notion. But after they’d exhausted all their promising options, the rest of the Peris was sent off to continue the search, while Stefan and Michael gave me a chance to follow my instincts, desperate as they were.
I was behind the wheel. Stefan kept urging me to go faster, but I couldn’t do that if I wanted to keep the car under control. Opposite the entrance of the city zoo, there was a sprawling lawn. I spied several figures, but I couldn’t see who they were or what they were doing. They were still too far away, but I was certain that Alessandro was among them. I had to lift a camouflage spell first, before Michael and Stefan could see them, too. Their vision was better than mine, so they could see from afar what was going on on the lawn. They called for backup, but didn’t want to wait for it to arrive. Without an explanation, they locked me into the car and rushed to save Alessandro. The good thing was that you could not really lock someone into this car, since it had a door-opener button. If you pulled at the handgrip, the lock slid back automatically.
When I approached the melee on the lawn and the scene came into focus, I stiffened with fear. The creatures had mostly human bodies, but their eyes glowed purple and their teeth were shaped like those of sharks. They had bulging ridges on their foreheads, starting on the bridge of their noses and widening from there. The ridges on their cheeks were shaped like crescent moons. Their bodies were covered in purple patterns. Alessandro was tied to a smooth pole that was simply an upright tree trunk stripped of its branches and crown. He seemed unconscious. There were too many of them. Michael and Stefan didn’t stand a chance against them, didn’t they realize that? It would have been smarter to have waited for backup. Michael had beheaded two of the monsters, and Stefan had caused a lot of damage, but now the creatures were getting the upper hand. Michael was pushed to the ground and Stefan was about to fall. I was scared I would be forced to witness the killing of the man I loved and his son. One of the creatures was kneeling over Michael. A purple fog started spreading from the attacker and settled around them. Michael uttered a tortured cry and couldn’t stop crying. This aura, I knew this purple aura that was manifested as thick fog. Where had I seen this before? I racked my brain and pushed into repressed memory. My nightmares! Those were the creatures that had been haunting my dreams for years, until recently. I was on a camping trip with my parents. I was very young, I could barely talk. My father had taken the car and gone to the gas station to get me the ice cream cone I had begged for. While he was gone, the creatures attacked me and my mother. One of them was hovering over my mother, wrapped in that same purple aura, and my mother was crying in pain and torment, just like Michael was doing now. I studied the creature over Michael more closely. Yes, it was one of the few who had survived all those years ago. I left my cover, stepped out in the open, and approached the scene calmly and confidently. Some of them had already noticed me. I smiled and pointed at the one who was torturing Michael, declaring loudly: “I know you. You probably don’t remember me, since I was only a little girl then, but let me remind you of your people who died that day.”
Now I had their attention. Some of the creatures approached me slowly, cautiously. They certainly weren’t friendly. I confidently repeated the words my father had spoken when he had come to our rescue that day. The first word had them panting, the second made them break out in sweat. The third word caused them to sink to their knees. Unfortunately I did not remember the fourth word. All I had was the first syllable: ‘ign.’
Michael and Stefan had gotten to their feet the first chance they got, and were now standing next to me. The creature that had tormented Michael started begging: “We didn’t recognize you. We’d never have done this had we known that the Dravko family is under your protection!”
I yearned to finally hear what I was, but I supposed it wouldn’t be advisable to let them know that I had no idea what I was doing. “Now I know your energy signature. If you ever lay a hand on my friends again, you will all burn! Get lost or I’ll kill you now!” I bluffed.
They ran for their lives. After a few more seconds we were alone. I was still fully focused, in a trance. Michael murmured a spell and the golden lines became visible. They surrounded my body, but were at least five yards away from me. Still focused, I walked over to where Alessandro was bound to the tree trunk, I put my hands on his forehead. He wasn’t there, but I found his essence and pulled him back. He opened his eyes. “You found me,” he breathed gratefully. Then I made a thoughtless mistake. I smiled and relaxed. The golden lines came shooting back towards me. I could feel them coming, and thanks to Michael’s spell, I could also see them this time. I held my breath and then I was hurled through the air with the impact. Before I slammed into the ground, Michael caught me and buffered the fall. Once again my chest was constricted, but not just my chest. It felt as if my whole body was squeezed by a gigantic fist. I wanted to faint, wanted to be suffocated, anything was better than this pain. I couldn’t even scream, but merely writhed and spasmed in his arms. The golden lines seemed to cut into my flesh, burning deep. Why didn’t I lose consciousness? In that moment I wouldn’t have cared if I’d died – all I wanted was for the pain to stop. I can’t say how long the ordeal lasted, but it felt like an eternity. When the lines finally settled on my body where they belonged, the pain subsided. Exhausted, I fell asleep right away.
Two days later I woke up in Michael’s bed. He was right next to me, holding me in his arms. He began to speak unbidden: “I want to apologize, I made so many mistakes. The Friday we met I had promised Stefan to come. I hadn’t been able to enjoy anything much for a long while, hadn’t even enjoyed life anymore. Always those vacuous conversations and the predictable behavior of humans, it bored me to no end. Nor did the supernatural world hold any more surprises for me. Sure, I took care of business and political matters. You know, I’m good at these things, really good. If I want something, I get it. I’m unbeatable at shuffling the cards of fate and dealing them in my favor. I know what information to spread so my business partners or foes pass me the ball without realizing it, so they change tack to my advantage. I have the perfect crew, too. They’re loyal, discreet, intelligent. Stefan worried about me. He said I was unhappy and it was constantly getting worse. It had been decades since I had gone out because I wanted to, because I was in the mood to have fun. As I told you before, I only went to the club to gather as much energy as I needed on the dance floor, or I took what I needed from our fan club, the crazy ones, as you like to call them. At least once or twice a year, Stefan badgered me until I promised not to leave the club or whatever place we were going to that night once I was done, but to stay with them through
the evening. He never gave up hope that I would have fun and enjoy myself again.
That night, I only gave in to Stefan’s pleas because I was sure I would get a phone call around one a.m. I knew we would have to go and cut the evening short. If I wanted to be left alone for another while, I had to give in; it was the only way of getting him off my back. So we had been in the club for a while already, and I regretted having given him my word. He had told the others to find some brown-haired women who ideally looked a little like his mother Kijara, and lure them to our table. I could see his annoyance when Alessandro and Phillipe brought you and Sarah in. You were the opposite of what he had expected: blonde, blue-eyed, nothing like Kijara. The two idiots hadn’t bothered to fulfill his wishes, but had only been thinking about their own preferences. You were kind of interested in me, which only served to irritate me further. I thought you would be like the others, thrilled to have made it into the VIP area, beside yourself with your good fortune. And then there came the same old meaningless banter as always. My men won the girls’ trust and affection by projecting the correct dose of attention, ignorance, and confidence. The other women were beaming and happy, your vibes were relatively constant. I assumed you were overwhelmed with joy to be sitting at our table, but then Phillipe said that that wasn’t the case. If a Peri tells me you were not happy to be allowed into the VIP area, I know he’s right. Assessing human behavior is what we do best. So I was intrigued by this development, despite my grumpy mood. You had managed to surprise me, something that barely ever happened anymore. I had misinterpreted your vibes and gotten the wrong impression. That hadn’t happened in a long time, and then you admitted to being wary of us, even a little scared. Obviously your instincts were working, since you had sensed that we were different and could be dangerous. I had dismissed you as shallow, gullible, and frivolous, like most of the other women we meet, but none of those words applied to you. Your confession had done something to me, and I realized why I had misjudged you when I saw what happened when you actually were happy. I think I had never seen a human shine like that. My curiosity was piqued and I was glad that you were interested in me, too. Everything was perfect, but then you were able to hear me and Phillipe talk, and immediately your vibes were back to the level of the other girls. I tried, but I couldn’t gain your trust again for the rest of the night. You were virtually incorruptible. I decided to host a dazzling party, complete with fancy catering, a barkeeper, and all the works, and forced … I mean asked … Alessandro to invite Sarah and you. On Sunday Stefan told me that he’d seen you in the cinema. He was thrilled that I was interested in you. It cost him all his self-control not to simply abduct you and haul you over to my house then and there. I didn’t tell the others, but I visited the cinema every day that week, hoping to catch a glimpse of you. I was magically camouflaged, but you still recognized me. I immediately disappeared, so I wouldn’t scare you even more. When I discussed refurbishing for the club with my ganger, I spied you again. You and your friend were standing in front of the entrance of Europark. I followed you. Watching you in the mall, I quickly realized that I had to reconsider my party plans for the following Friday. You wouldn’t have liked all the fuss. I decided that a few simple snacks and drinks were far more fitting. Watching you was fun and exciting. You’re very conscientious and coltish at the same time.
Peris Night: Terakon (Secret Language) Page 40
