D-77

Chapter 5

"Oliver, where the hell are you?" the sorcerer's mind linked to his friend. Emilian was already tired of throwing luminous spheres in all directions, in an attempt to keep supernatural beings of various classes and orders from approaching him. This kind of magic took too much energy, but it seemed to be the only effective spell he could use in that situation. He was smart enough not to attack them. After all, he was not yet ready to give up immortality and the Inquisitor’s prisoners could take them in without even sweating. "Did you fall asleep there, or what?"

"Quit whining, I'm on my way."

To the sorcerer’s surprise, his opponents were not trying to attack either him or Emilia. Though the Reaper had to put two of his retinue to rest. He was the one who scared the sorcerer the most. He was slowly walking from side to side, paralyzing his rivals with his gaze. He behaved like a cat that cornered mice. And Emilian didn't like being a mouse...

"Oliver!"

“Shut up, I’m here,” the Shadow slowly floated out from behind the bars and stood next to the sorcerer. “Wow, looks like someone is having a lot of fun here,” his steely eyes ran over the corpses of his former comrades and stumbled upon gray feet covered with cadaveric spots. “What the hell?!”

Oliver lost control of himself for a second, materialized, and slammed his back into the bars with fear. He had met reapers before, even killed a few of them, but this was the first time he had encountered such an ancient one. He was not allowed to face the reapers. He's a f*****g Balance-breaker! He was the soul that the reaper could not reap. If not for Emilian, Olly would have been fried in his pot in Hell... The likelihood that he had the same reaper in front of him, from whom he had once escaped, was damn small. But it was there.

“He… he’s not mine, is he?” Shadow asked his friend without taking her eyes off Ah-Puch.

“How would I know?” Emilian yelled while gathering another sphere in his hand.

“Oh, you shouldn’t waste so much energy, dude.”

Oliver shot a glance at his friend, and when he looked back at the reaper, he vanished into thin air. The Shadow was almost screeching in fear. He began to cautiously look around, ready to run the hell out of this clinic at any moment. He didn't give a s**t about anything anymore! The Object was gone anyway!

“Hello there, outlaw” a chilling whisper was heard just above the ear. Oliver froze. “You are shaking so much that I can hear your bones clinking.”

Olly is surrounded by a cadaveric stench. He was mentally preparing himself to say goodbye to Emilian, Emilia, cigarettes, gin, and s*x. Cold lips touched his temples, making him wince.

“Don't be so scared, buddy, I’m just messing with you. You don’t mean s**t to me.”

The air hissed out of his lungs. If Emilia's caring hands hadn't picked him up, he would have collapsed to the floor without a doubt. He wrapped his trembling arms around her shoulders and looked into the grinning face of the reaper. He winked at the Shadow and swam away to the console. Hearing a rustle behind him, Oliver twitched in fright and turned around. The inhabitants of the seventh floor dispersed to their chambers. Ah-Puch carefully followed each of his neighbors with his gaze, then locked the grates and pressed the red button.

“Make sure you clean up after yourself, sorcerer,” the reaper walked past the frightened trio and tore his hatchet out of the wall, as he approached the first chamber. “See you around.”

The god of death vanished.

“What does it mean?” Oliver squealed, tightening his fingers on Emilia's shoulder. “What the hell does that mean?!”

"Hey, calm down," the woman stroked his back. “He's gone, you can relax.”

Olly slowly sank to the floor, gasping for air in short and noisy breaths. Feeling the woman's tender fingers in his hair, he hugged her knees and rubbed his cheek against the outer side of her thigh.

“Now what?” she asked the sorcerer, continuing to stroke Oliver's head.

“Let's pay the Inquisitor a visit,” Emilian ran a hand through his hair. “If he knew about the escape, we could try to get information out of him.”

One of the bodies was scooped up by two of his surviving assistants, the second was moved by the sorcerer with the help of magic. While the men dealt with the corpses, Emilia approached the bars of one of the chambers. Eirena looked at her without any emotion. The woman had boundless respect and curiosity towards the captive ancient goddess. She glanced at Emilian's back.

“Why didn't your arrow kill him?”

"Because it has a different purpose," Ora replied cryptically, before retreating deeper into her chamber.

Emilia immediately realized that it was pointless to interrogate the goddess. She gave each of the locked inmates a quick look before moving towards the seventh chamber. The inhabitants of the seventh floor looked anxiously at each other. She entered the room and began to examine it carefully. At first, she did not notice anything unusual, except for the clothes scattered right in the middle of the room. When the bedside table caught her eye, she felt as if her back was doused with hot air. She felt powerful energy emanating from something that lay inside. This something belonged to the inhabitant of the chamber. He often held it in his hands and for a long time. Emilia stepped closer and, barely touching the furniture with her fingertips, pulled out a drawer. And I found there a bunch of sweets in bright candy wrappers.

“Did I just find a stash of a five-year-old kid?”

The woman raised her hand over the candy. Her palm was surrounded by a faint pink glow. She got hot again. Oliver appeared behind her and his arms wrapped around her waist.

“Did you find something interesting?” He rested his chin on her shoulder.

"That girl is the Inquisitor's daughter," she carefully fished a piece of candy out of the drawer, holding it with two fingers. “She has feelings for our old friend. And he has feelings for her. This cute little stash is filled with their feelings for each other.”

“They are not lovers,” Shadow held out his hand palm up, and she put candy on it, then he felt what she felt a minute earlier. “That’s weird.”

“Why exactly?”

“I saw them. They are not together. I would feel it.”

“You could be wrong.”

He chuckled. Emilia turned to face him. She took his face in her hands and kissed Oliver softly on the lips.

"You're trembling," she stated calmly, "and it's not because of me."

He just shook his head. The disappearance of the Reaper scared him to death. Even though he said he didn't care about his lost soul, trusting his words was dangerous. Emilia kissed him once more on the lips and left the room. Oliver stood still for a while, staring blankly at the wall, trying to estimate how dangerous it would be for him to continue to follow Emilian on his journey. The Reaper might have denounced him... He looked down at the candy. Taking advantage of the remnants of Emilia's abilities that passed to him from her gentle touch, he plunged his palm into the heart of the pile and froze. She was definitely right, the two were connected somehow. There was too much energy in those stupid candies. Before leaving, he filled the pockets of his oversized sweatshirt with candy.

Danny drove the car along the night highway. Dragomir passed out almost as soon as they pulled away from the clinic. She wasn’t quite sure whether to be happy about it or not, because on the one hand, she had a lot of questions, and on the other, she was afraid to get answers. Who knew what this “3rd level Mage” and other “patients” of Dr. Sanders were really hiding? She madly wanted to call her father and burst into tears, sobbing loudly into the phone. She hoped to wake up to understand that she had just fallen asleep on the computer while trying to pass another level in some stupid game.

Several more hours passed before her companion started to recover. He slowly opened his blue eyes and looked out the window. Danny waited for him to speak to her, but he remained silent.

“Dragomir?”

No reaction. He continued to look for something in the blackness of the night forest which they were passing. Sanders didn't know what he was hoping to see there. Her own view ended at a spot where the headlights couldn’t reach. The night was dark, and it frightened the girl.

“Hey!” Unable to stand the silence, she hit the man in the shoulder.

“What?”

He glanced at her profile.

“Can you explain what on Earth is going on?”

Danny tried to speak calmly and quietly, despite being extremely tense. Her hands gripped the steering wheel with whitened knuckles. Even the hand that was injured by Patrick's face did not hurt so much anymore. All the craziness that had happened to her in the last few hours took all of her attention, as she was trying to gather it bit by bit in her head. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sanders had thought that as soon as the state of shock receded and the idea that this was her new reality subsided, pain, tiredness, and hunger would return to her.

A cold palm burned her hand with an icy touch.

“Where are you taking me?”

His lips did not move, but Danny distinctly heard his whisper. Maybe it's time for her to see Eric as a doctor? She wanted to firmly state that she would ask him the questions and not the other way, but words escaped her lips to her surprise.

“To Romania.”

“No,” the tips of his fingers stroked the skin, barely touching it. “Turn the car around.”

“But…”

“Do it, love.”

Danny took a deep breath through her nose. She wanted to disobey. She wanted to hit the brakes and shake Dragomir by the chest, then demand an explanation from him. Or maybe leave him in the middle of a dark forest and return home, and then tell everyone that he had run away. But instead, she turned the car around at full speed, almost turned over, taxied into the right lane, and drove in the opposite direction. He let go of her hand and settled more comfortably in his seat.

“Where are we?..”

“To Tallinn.”

“But dad...”

“He fulfilled his role and I am immensely grateful for that. I wanted to set Emilian on the wrong track. However, now I'm not sure if my plan will work.”

“So you lied to my father.”

“Alas.”

“What else did you lie to him about?”

The man pursed his lips and turned to the window.

“Dragomir!”

“Trust me, Danny, I didn't deceive Eric because I wanted to.”

The girl remembered about the CD.

“Do you want me to take you to your…master?”

His head slowly turned to her.

“How much do you know?”

Sanders shrugged vaguely, ashamed to admit that she got scared and turned off the disc at the very beginning of the recording. As a matter of fact, she didn't know anything.

“You have to tell me everything,” the girl said quietly without taking her eyes off the road. “Who are you, or what are you? Who were those people who came for you? Why is this…”

“Emilian.”

“I don’t give a damn about his name! Who are the ‘Inquisitors’?”

He sighed and rubbed his face with his palm.

“Dragomir, I have the right to know what I got myself into. I made a promise to my dad that I would take you to Romania and come back home. And if I have to do otherwise, I want to know why...”

“First of all, stop calling me by that stupid name.”

Danny rolled her eyes, she felt as if a spoiled child was sitting next to her and who was making a scene out of the blue.

"Okay, what is the NOT-stupid name I should call you?"

“My name is Vlad Basarab”, he straightened his back, which gave his savage appearance a little nobility. “But you probably know me by the name Dracula.”

“ARE YOU f*****g KIDDING ME?!”

Danny pushed the brake pedal all the way to the floor, causing the car to come to an abrupt stop and both of them rocked forward violently. Before her companion could say anything, she got out of the car and squatted down clutching her head. She needed a moment. Or a few hours. Could this night get even crazier? Her own pulse beat a frantic rhythm, almost deafening her. The chest was squeezed so that it was impossible to inhale. The stomach did somersaults and tried to show the world what Sanders had for dinner. She flinched when she heard the car door slam, but before she had time to raise her head, a pair of heavy man's boots appeared in front of her, strong hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up. The girl twitched in an attempt to break free, but this only strengthened the grip on her shoulders.

“Danny, listen to me! I understand how you feel right now...”

“Do you?!”

“We don’t have much time, love,” his hand slid smoothly up from her shoulder and lay on her neck, “Breath, girl.”

The smell of cinnamon surrounded her again. Her body smoothly passed from the state of a string that was ready to burst, to the state of jelly standing in the warmth. The nausea subsided, breathing became easier. Vlad easily held her settled body. He put his arm around her waist, the other handheld her cheek.

“That’s right, Danny,” he kept looking into her eyes. “Keep breathing.”

For a miserable fraction of a second, Sanders thought he wanted to kiss her. His face was unacceptably close, their lips were only a few millimeters apart... The girl suddenly realized that she was staring at his lips... His thin, dry lips, with a barely noticeable c***k at the very corner of her lower lip...

“Why...” she blushed and looked away at the road. “Why do I see you? So ...” her body relaxed, even more, hanging like a bag of potatoes in Vlad's hands, and her brain decided to take a break as well. She had trouble forming sentences. “So clear ... it's so dark...”

“The blood of the Inquisitor flows in you, Danny,” he picked her up in his arms and began to bypass the car, “your abilities would have awakened sooner or later. Hold on to me,” when her arms snaked around his neck, Vlad opened the door and carefully seated the girl in the passenger seat of the car. “Usually, children like you are sent to specialized schools where they are taught…”

“What?”

“You know. Martial arts, history, potions, magic...”

“Great. I missed going to f*****g Hogwarts.”

Vlad took her face in his hands and ran the pads of his thumbs over her cheeks. The jelly state immediately receded, her head cleared up, only the smell of cinnamon still tickled her nostrils. Danny blinked. He smiled at her through the corners of his lips.

“How do you do that?”

He didn't answer. Slamming the door, he walked around the front of the car and sat in the driver's seat. She glanced doubtfully at Vlad. Buckling up, he looked sternly at Sanders, but she did not immediately understand what he wanted from her. When it hit her, she almost giggled. Obediently strapping herself in, she looked back at the man.

“Do you know how to drive?”

“Of course, I know how to drive.”

“I thought you said you've been hiding from the world for a couple of centuries...”

“I said that I was hiding, but I didn’t say that I was sitting in a dugout,” Vlad gave her a short glance and again began to look at the road. “Let’s say that I traveled. As soon as I realized that the Inquisition or Emilian was on my trail, I fled to another continent and stayed there for some time. Sometimes I was lucky, and I could stay in one place for ten years. And sometimes I had to run away immediately upon arrival in another country.”

“And how often were you lucky?”

“A lot less than I wanted to be.”

“Does Emilian know who you really are?”

“He does.”

“Will he kill you if he finds you?”

“He can’t. He’s too weak.”

Danny turned her gaze to the road too. She wanted to ask Vlad countless more questions, but she didn't know where to start, so she was silent, trying to organize the thoughts in her head.

"We need a place to stay," his hoarse voice broke the silence.

“Why?”

“It will dawn soon.”

“So what? Are you afraid of getting a tan?” she smiled wryly, but in just a second her eyes widened. “Wait, are you a bloodsucker?”

“How rude” Vlad ran his hand through his hair, “we have been called a more ... refined term for a very long time.”

“A vampire.”

“Exactly, love.”

Hiding her face in her hands, Danne muttered something along the lines of "sweet mother of god."

“So is all of it true? I mean books, films, etc.?”

“Part of it. I can’t turn into a bat. Garlic doesn’t scare me. Although my sense of smell is more sensitive than a human's, so I’m not a fan of the smell, but it's just a slight discomfort that I can endure.”

“And the sun? Can it kill you?”

“Kill - no, weaken - yes.”

“Church? Are you scared at the sight of priests? Do you twitch if someone prays in front of you?”

“Love, I have visited all the churches of the world, I was personally acquainted with the last five Popes and was personally invited to stay at the residence of the Metropolitans of Kyiv. Neither crucifixes, holy water, nor the face of Jesus Christ frightens me. These are all fairy tales invented so that ordinary people believe in the omnipotence of the church.”

“And what about…”

“Danny, most of what you know about vampires is a lie. Yes, I need to drink blood to live. Yes, I have some abilities, and the more I use them, the more blood I need.”

“But you were imprisoned for a year and a half. And no one knew...”

The man exhaled loudly.

“Have you been starving all this time?”

“Much longer.”

"You won't eat me in my sleep, will you?"

“I already said that I won’t ever hurt you, Danny,” he looked affectionately at the girl, causing goosebumps to run through her skin. “However, I do not rule out asking you for such a favor.”

“Do you want to make a vampire out of me?”

"I don't want to disappoint you, love. But turning someone into a vampire is a difficult and long process. The story of the three bites is a myth.”

“So, even if you regularly drink my blood, I won’t turn?”

“No, you won’t.”

Before Danny could ask anything else, her phone vibrated in her pocket. The aunt's name flashed on the screen, and the girl looked at her companion in panic. With a short nod, Vlad told her to answer. Sanders took a deep breath and turned on the speakerphone.

“Hello?”

“Danielle Sanders!” she shivered from Martha's terrifying tone. “Get back home immediately and explain what…”

"Martha, please," came Eric's weak voice, "let me talk to my daughter."

“No! This is all your upbringing, you raised an ungrateful, frivolous woman out of your daughter...”

“Aunty, if you don’t hand dad the phone, I’ll hang up and throw my smartphone out the window,” she closed her eyes and squeezed the bridge of her nose with her fingers. Martha’s yelling was giving her a headache.”

The woman muttered something but complied with the request.

“Honey, are you okay?”

“I’m alright…”

“Alright?” obviously her aunty was on the edge of hysteria. "You kidn*pped a man from your father's clinic! Are you out of your mind?!”

“Martha, I beg you, either shut up or leave the room!”

“Where were you looking, Eric? Your daughter was seduced by your patient right under your nose and you didn't even notice!”

“I'm sorry, ma'am, but I'm not sure that this information is reliable.”

Danny's eyes widened in horror. It was Emilian. That little ancient piece of shi… sorcerer was at her house! He could hurt her father and aunt! She looked at Vlad, who just shook his head.

“Darling, listen if you turn the car around right now...”

“Not gonna happen, dad.”

“Danny...”

“I'm not coming back, dad,” Danny didn’t forget what Eric had told her before. No one was supposed to know that Vlad's escape from the clinic was his idea. Especially now that Emilian and his entourage were in his house, by his side, when he was wounded and helpless. “I made a decision. I want to be with Dragomir and I won't let anyone separate us.”

Vlad pretended to be sick at what she had just said. Yeah, the phrase left a sugary aftertaste of cotton candy on the tip of her tongue, but at that moment the girl could not think of anything better.

"Miss, I'm afraid you don't fully understand who you're dealing with," Emilian coughed to clear his throat. “This man is dangerous. He is a brutal killer and a skilled manipulator. I'm sure he tricked you into...”

"Do you think I can be easily manipulated, sir?"

“I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Listen bud, do you have a lot of free time? I can begin to describe to you how Dragomir makes my body and my heart burn with desire after just one look. I promise, my beloved aunty will faint after 30 seconds of my monologue.”

“Dear Lord, don’t you have any shame?!” grumbled Aunt Martha.

“Danny...”

“I love him. And no matter what you tell me about him now, it will not change my decision.”

“You're confusing love with lust!” uh-oh, aunty got mad (more than usual) “God, Danielle, can you hear yourself? How can you say such shameful things and call it love?! You are disappointing me, child!”

“Screw you, aunty.”

Danny hung up and turned off the phone. She turned to Vlad, smiling from ear to ear.

“How do you like our little lye?”

The man chuckled, "A bit cheesy, but okay.”

Emilian stared blankly at the phone in front of him. He still didn't believe that the Inquisitor's daughter could fall in love with someone like that so casually. Her words somewhat made his heart ache. The young doctor from the clinic, whose name the sorcerer did not bother to remember, sat beside him with the same lost look, and held an ice towel to the bridge of his nose. Emilian said nothing aloud but suspected that something was going on between him and Danielle.

"I am so sorry, Eric," the doctor said hoarsely. “If I hadn't signed the papers...”

“Oh, Patrick, what are you talking about?” Martha immediately jumped up to the young man and gently ran her fingers through his hair. “None of this is your fault.”

“Hate to say that, but you are wrong, dear sister.”

“Eric!” she hissed at her brother.

“Patrick, I'm glad that you realize that everything that happened today is your fault. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about it.”

The doctor looked down at the floor.

“Sir Emilian,” Sanders firmly looked into the eyes of the sorcerer. “Don't let this man harm my daughter. Bring her home.”

Oh, how Emilian wished his astral twin could read of Eric and tell him if the Inquisitor really had anything to do with the escape. But he knew that it was useless. Sanders was a trained Inquisitor, unlike his daughter. Emilia had no chance against him. Knowing that no one here would tell him anything, the sorcerer nodded and left the Inquisitor's house.

Emilia and Oliver were waiting for him outside the car. The couple was making out. The woman was sitting on the hood of a stolen car, wrapping her arms and legs around the Shadow's body. If the Inquisitor’s sister decided to look out the window that moment, she would probably have had a stroke. Emilian threw a short glance at the lovers, and for a second he saw Vlad and Danny in their place. He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, trying to get rid of the strange vision. When he opened his eyes again, his friends looked at him worriedly.

“Are you okay, brother?” The Shadow silently swam up to the sorcerer and patted him on the back. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

Emilian shook his head in response.

“What did the Inquisitor say?” Emilia got off the hood and also approached the man.

“He says he didn't suspect anything. They called the girl, she continues to claim that she loves this...” the sorcerer frowned and clenched his fists, without even noticing it. “Bullshit.”

His astral tween peered into his face for a long time before saying “I’m not sure about that.”

He waited for an explanation.

“I found something” she nodded to Oliver. He put out a mountain of sweets from his pockets on the hood. “This is our friend's stash.”

“What is that?” Emilian looked at the girl in bewilderment.

She took his hand and placed it on the pile on the hood. And then he saw it. The powerful energy of the Inquisitor’s daughter went through his body like an electric discharge. He knew for sure that these sweets belonged to her. And to him. Vlad. She showed him signs of attention. Emilian had an urge to scoop up those damned candies and scatter them in all directions, but he restrained himself, realizing that they could be useful for a spell. He was angry. Incredibly angry that this stupid girl had a crush on Vlad and managed to steal him right out from under the sorcerer's nose. Anger literally boiled inside him, he wanted to shout curses to the right and left, but most of all he wanted to find this foolish girl and... Emilia pulled her hand away and looked at him in surprise.

“You're jealous!”

“What? Do not be ridiculous!”

“Who are you trying to fool? You're pissed that she might be in love with Vlad!”

“Nonsense. I'm furious that she took him to an unknown destination and now I have to make extra efforts to find them.”

The woman crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow.

“Nah, hun, I don’t buy it,” Oliver put his arm around the girl's waist. “Our Emilian couldn’t fall for some Inquisitor at first sight.”

She just turned away and began to collect candy from the hood to shove it back into Oliver's pockets.

Emilian moved away from the car and fished a pack of cigarettes out of his sleeve, the ones that he had stolen from Martha. Luckily, the lighter was inside of it, so he didn't have to use magic. After lighting a cigarette, he coughed, choking on the cherry-scented smoke, but quickly got used to it. Closing his eyes, he saw Dani and Vlad kissing on the hood of his car again. Cursing loudly, he shook his head, clearing the image from his mind. Just thinking about it made him angry. Finishing his cigarette, he casually tossed the cigarette butt onto the lawn and pulled another one out of the pack, lighting it as he went back to the vehicle. Oliver and Emilia were already in the car, waiting for him, looking at each other uneasily.