D-77

Chapter 7

The rays of the setting sun lazily glided over Danny's face. She closed her eyes tightly, struggling with the desire to cover herself with a thin blanket with her head and continue to sleep. She turned her back to the window, still not opening her eyes. But the remnants of sleep vanished when she felt a warm touch on her hand. Slowly raising her eyelids, Sanders fixed her gaze on the man sitting on her bed, and to her own horror, found Emilian there. The sorcerer was calmly sitting on the mattress next to her, carefully, almost affectionately, holding her hand and peering into her face. Danny wanted to scream, but her voice wouldn't work, so she could only open her mouth like a fish washed up on the shore and cast helpless glances in the direction of the bathroom door. The man continued to look at her, not reacting in any way to her silent attempts to ask Vlad for help. His presence frightened Danny. After watching her a little more, Emilian suddenly sat down closer and nodded towards the window. Unsure of what he wanted from her, Sanders shook her head. Then he repeated the movement, but the answer remained the same. The sorcerer pursed his lips in annoyance and reached out his hand to her face…

Danielle's eyes flew open and she found herself lying in the hotel room, facing the window. She saw that the sky was gloomy, unlike what she had seen in her dream. Throwing off her blanket, she reached for her phone on the bedside table to check the time. There was still plenty of time before sunset, so she decided to use the opportunity to take a shower. Having fished clean things out of her backpack, she broke into the bathroom without knocking and immediately froze in the doorway with her mouth open. Vlad stood, resting his palms on the sink, a towel was wrapped around his hips, drops of water dripped from his wet hair down his shoulders and back. He looked up as Danny entered, and she saw his pale, black-veined face in the mirror.

"So the inability to be reflected in the mirror is also a myth," she thought.

“Did I wake you up?” The vampire's voice was hoarse.

Sanders shook her head and looked down at the tiled floor.

“I wanted to take a shower.”

The man silently moved away from the sink and invitingly pushed back the plastic curtain. Danny was confused.

"Ah... could you... well... leave the room?"

Vlad moved his eyes to the open doorway and shook his head.

“It’s too bright.”

Danny nodded and closed the door. Once she was alone with the vampire, she began to examine his body with curiosity. He seemed completely oblivious to her gaze sliding over his skin, clinging to his every curve. Danny was completely shamelessly admiring the half-naked man standing in front of her, noting to herself that he turned out to be even more attractive than she had imagined. Vlad was well built. It was obvious that he was strong. There were no pumped pectoral muscles or six, eight, or ten-pack abs, just a naturally beautiful, strong male body. Danny swallowed the lump in her throat and looked up from the vampire's body to his face. And then she felt her cheeks flush as she found him watching her with his head tilted slightly to the side. She expected him to play a joke on her or make some kind of spicy comment, but the man only walked over to the duvet lying on the floor and sat on his knees, his back to her.

Danny quickly stripped off her clothes, leaving them on the floor, turned on the water, and stood under the hot jets. Unfortunately, water procedures didn’t bring her the desired relaxation. For some reason, she was disturbed by the dream she had. She hastily washed herself, turned off the water, and turned to face Vlad. She was not sure that she should tell him about her dream, but the anxiety gradually seized her more and more. She wanted to believe that this was just a dream, yet something was telling her that it was not. Without taking her eyes off his back, Sanders unsteadily stepped closer to the curtain.

“I saw Emilian in a dream...”

When Vlad abruptly stood up, she recoiled in fright and reflexively covered herself with her hands, but he did not turn around.

“What were you dreaming about?”

“Um, that I woke up, and he was sitting next to me...”

“What did he do?”

“He held my hand and nodded towards the window...”

The vampire hissed angrily and, throwing off his towel, walked to his bag. Danny watched him through the translucent plastic, unable to look away.

“Even if I were able, I wouldn’t…” she thought while looking at how Vlad turned out all the contents of the bag.

“It means something, doesn't it?” she asked quietly.

He paused for a second before turning to face her. This time, she didn’t hide her body.

“He is near,” Vlad answered shortly, and returned to his work.

“Are you sure? Can it be just a dream?”

“Trust me, Danny, it can't. I know Emilian, I know all his tricks. He tried to get into your mind to see what was around you. If you looked out the window as he asked you, it would be easier for him to understand where you are.”

Sanders wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the wall. She didn't like the fact that their enemy could effortlessly swarm around in her head.

“How is he doing it?”

“M?”

“How is he penetrating my dreams? And what can he see?”

“It’s a simple spell. He can even cast it without the blood of contractors. Emilian can take advantage of the fact that your body is resting, get into your mind and tell you to do something. To tell him where we're going, for example.”

“Can we do something about it? Perhaps there is some kind of amulet? Or a spell?”

“Give me a minute”, he began to rummage more actively in his stuff.

“Vlad?”

He didn’t answer. Taking advantage of the fact that the vampire was distracted, Danny quickly got out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel. She picked up her clothes from the floor, deciding that she would not dress in his presence. She also grabbed a hairdryer from the shelf. But before she could leave the room, Vlad caught her by the hand. Danny looked at her companion with concern. He managed to pull on his jeans without her noticing when he did it. She couldn't help but let out a frustrated breath.

"Not the time or place, Sanders!" she scolded herself for the inappropriate thoughts that arose in her head.

“Forgive me, Danny, but I’m afraid until we get to someone who can train you to resist Emilian’s magic, your path will be blind…”

“I’m sorry what?”

She began to imagine how she would be traveling with a blindfold to God knows where. Seeing her thoughts reflected on her face, the vampire clarified.

“Emilian cannot delve into your memories and see what you once saw, but, having penetrated your mind, he can ask you to tell him about everything that you will know.”

“Can't I refuse him?”

Vlad shook his head.

“Alas, love, although the Gift is strong in you, you absolutely do not know how to use it. If Emilian asks you about something in the world of dreams, most likely you will answer him.”

“And what do we do now? Should I leave? Or we need to split up so that he can’t track you through me?”

Sanders spoke quietly as if the walls could hear their conversation and report it to the sorcerer and his assistants. 

“All you need to do is trust me, Danny. Don't ask about where we're going or what we'll do after. From now on, the less you know, the better chance we have of avoiding Emilian. And the less likely it is that he will be able to get ahead of us.”

She nodded in understanding, still trying to digest the information she had just received. It turned out that the only thing the sorcerer could do was to coax her inner self into telling him about their plans, and so far she had not been able to force that same “I” to keep her mouth shut. It occurred to her that, theoretically, he could try to force her to speak, but most likely, this would wake her up during the torture. Consequently, he would miss the opportunity to find out something.

Suddenly she realized that Vlad was still holding her hand. His cold skin made his touch feel sharper, causing her insides to tighten into a ball.

“What if I refuse to help you? What if I decide to go home and continue living the way I lived before I found out about all of this?”

“Will you be able to?”

No. Danny knew for sure that she could not go back to her ordinary life, realizing that she was surrounded by a world full of entities unknown to her, whose intentions she was even afraid to think about. She shook her head. And who could?

“Vlad,” her heart skipped a beat before it beat at double speed when she felt his cold fingers slide along her arm up to the elbow and back.

“M?”

“I… ahem… you're embarrassing me.”

The vampire immediately pulled his hand back and smiled guiltily.

“I’m so sorry. I was deprived of the opportunity to touch a living human for so many years. I don't even know how to describe how I feel right now. I happened to read a book of very indecent content once, and the woman, who was the main character of the story, repeatedly talked about some kind of fiery butterflies in her stomach. I think I understood what she meant just now.”

Sanders smiled, slyly narrowing her eyes.

“And I happened to read that vampires used to charm their victims with sweet words. And it seems that this is not entirely fiction.”

Later in the evening, Vlad entered the room fully prepared for the trip. Danny was also ready. She had been waiting for him for some time. In fact, she was ready almost immediately after their conversation so that they could immediately leave the motel if necessary. A couple of times she had to go down to the first floor to use the bathroom because she couldn’t force herself to use the toilet in front of the vampire, but she couldn't kick him out of the bathroom either. Finding a vending machine with snacks and soft drinks on the ground floor, she bought herself some supplies for the trip. Without saying a single word, Vlad went to the door. The very moment he opened it, he was confronted by an elderly man who was waiting on the other side of the door. The visitor was dressed in strange, shabby clothes. The vampire took a step back and Danny had the opportunity to look at the human who had come to their room. And what she saw shocked her to the core. It was not a human at all. He had once been. A decaying body stood before them, surrounded by a cadaverous smell. The man's eyes had no pupils. They were completely yellow as if he had egg yolks instead of them. His skin was literally gray-green and torn in places. The skin on one of his hands was worn down to the point that Danny was able to see his bones. He smiled sadly, showing his rotten teeth, and entered the room, closing the door behind him.

“Master,” the man bowed deeply, and Danny distinctly heard his spine crackle.

“Dumitru,” Vlad whispered under his breath.

“My lord, you have very little time!” the creature grabbed the vampire's wrist with both its hands and looked up at him pleadingly. “The sorcerer is very close!”

“For hells sake, Dumitru! What have they done to you?”

The creature's face changed into a grimace of pain. He probably wanted to cry, but there were no tears left in him. Without letting go of Vlad's hand, he shook his head.

“The sorcerer tied me to him with his black magic. After your escape, Emilian cursed me to eternal life and ordered me to serve him. Lord, please forgive me for all the atrocities that the sorcerer committed with my help. I prayed for death from the very moment he cursed me. I could not leave, my strength is not enough to do it myself... May I ask you, my lord? Show mercy to your faithful servant and help my soul to leave this world.”

The creature fell to its knees, not letting go of its master's hand. Tears flowed down Vlad's pale cheeks, he could barely contain the sobs escaping from his chest and shook his head, placing his hand on the elder's shoulder and squeezing his clothes with force. Danny's heart sank in pain when she saw Vlad like this.

“I beg you, my lord. I can't look at what a sorcerer is doing using me. This body is already dead. Let my soul leave this world.”

“Dumitru, don't ask... I can't...”

“I have no one else to ask, my lord.”

Vlad tensed up. It was quite obvious that the creature’s words were tearing his soul apart, but there was determination in his gaze. He helped the man up from his knees and nodded, looking into his eyes. Dumitru bowed and turned to Danny. She held her breath as she looked at him, trying to figure out if she was scared of him or not. The elder took a step towards her and extended his hand to her. She looked doubtfully at Vlad, but he wasn’t looking at them. She carefully squeezed Dumitru's hand in hers.

“Please help my master, Inquisitor.”

Sanders did not understand what the elder asked of her. Did he want her to help Vlad kill him? Or did he beg her not to leave him and help defeat his enemy, who, by the way, the girl did not yet know anything about? Swallowing the lump in her throat, she nodded. The elder smiled broadly, causing the skin around his mouth to be covered with small cracks. For some reason, Danny wanted to hug him and, before she was able to restrain her impulse, she approached the man and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He froze for a moment, but soon hugged the girl back and they both burst into tears. When they pulled away from each other, Dumitru sniffed.

“Oh no, I made the lady cry!”

She herself did not notice how she began to blubber. Wiping her tears with the sleeve of her hoodie, she looked at Vlad questioningly. As if feeling her gaze, the vampire raised his reddened eyes to her face and shook his head. He silently escorted Dumitru into the tiny bathroom, and when Danny wanted to go with them, he blocked her path.

“No”

“But!..”

“You don't need to see this.”

The door slammed shut in front of her very nose. She sat down on the edge of the mattress and waited.

Soon Vlad returned to the room. He looked like he was completely lost. Sanders didn't know what to say to comfort him. But was it really possible to comfort a person who had to kill someone he knew centuries ago with his own hands? Although Danny didn't know the whole story, she saw that Dumitru was loyal to Vlad while he was alive, and remained loyal even when everyone thought he was dead. Without a word, the vampire picked up their bags from the floor and headed for the door, while tightly squeezing his companion's wrist in his hand. She obediently followed.

Being sure that they would go down to the reception to return the key to the room and sign the necessary papers, Danny took a step towards the main staircase. Or rather, not even half a step, because Vlad pulled her towards the fire escape, so conveniently located next to their room. Danny wanted to say something about the procedure of leaving the motel, but he shook his head, squashing any objections. Sanders bit the tip of her tongue and lowered her head as she continued to follow the vampire. They went outside through a side door, which was a little closer to the parking lot than the main entrance, to Danny's indescribable joy. The overcast sky was almost black, and the parking lot and entrance lights were already on, though they were hardly able to improve visibility with their dim light. Hearing a loud swearing somewhere in the distance, Danny turned her attention to a small group of people surrounded by several dozen overweight truckers. Without interrupting the loud argument, truckers began to intimidate opponents, coming closer, some even made sharp attacks in their direction. When she saw a familiar face behind their broad backs, she felt a cold shiver go down her spine.

“Vlad...”

She called out softly. He stopped and followed her gaze. Emilian was yelling something in the face of one of the thugs, pushing him in the chest. From their side, it looked as if a sparrow was trying to move a bull.

“Greetings, young Inquisitor,” one of the truckers separated from the group and took a few steps towards Danny.

The argument went silent at the same moment, and the attention of everyone present abruptly switched to Sanders. Danny felt the sorcerer's gaze on her and tried her best to ignore it. Vlad's hand moved from her wrist to her shoulder, guiding her to stand behind him so that he himself was between her and the trucker.

“I beg your pardon for distracting you from business, but,” the man nodded towards the sorcerer and his retinue, “someone is asking the local evil spirits about you and your friend.”

Sanders looked at Emilian. The sorcerer tilted his head strangely forward and looked at her from under his brows. Afraid that he would try to harm her, she hid behind Vlad's broad back.

“He claims that he was sent to help you, but...”

"He's lying," the vampire calmly answered instead of her.

The man looked questioningly at Danny and she nodded. Pursing his lips, the trucker removed his old cap from his head and bowed briefly.

“We'll detain your pursuer for a couple of hours. Drive safe, young Inquisitor.”

Before Vlad dragged the girl away, she managed to thank the man. He smiled, showing the absence of one of his front teeth, and returned to his friends. When she was settling into the driver's seat of her father's jeep, Sanders turned around and saw Emilian twitch in her direction, but the truckers blocked his path.

They drove for a little less than an hour. Vlad was silent, and Danny didn’t dare to speak to him, even though she had more and more questions to ask him. They rode in complete silence, each in their own thoughts, not even suspecting that this silence was painful for both of them. Vlad was used to silence because he had been alone for a very long time. Everyone he knew had left him, willingly or not. And he learned to live with it. And with his loneliness. He had long-buried everyone dear to him, or so he thought. So when he saw the disfigured body of his faithful servant at the motel... Vlad did not know how to describe what he experienced. A slight joy from the fact that after so many centuries he managed to see the face of someone dear to his heart, even if it made him selfish. The pain from the realization that Dumitru has spent all these centuries, tormented and decomposed, forced to do God knows what, at the behest of the one who doomed him to years of suffering. And pure hatred for Emilian, for daring to treat a living person so cruelly.

The sorcerer had done this before. When his friend Oliver was executed for excessive use of black magic, he captured the Reaper who came to harvest his soul and cast a spell to make Oliver a Shadow. He became an incorporeal being, able to return to his body only in the dark, able only to absorb pitiful crumbs of the power of other beings through touch. This was a violation of the Law of Balance, and only being in the service of an influential master saved Emilian and his friend from imprisonment.

Suddenly, the vampire felt a burning touch on his hand. He seemed to wake up and looked in surprise at the way Danny's hand was confidently holding his fingers. His gaze slowly rose from his own captive limb to the profile of a girl who was intently peering into the road lit by headlights. As if sensing his gaze, Sanders smiled weakly and squeezed his hand a little tighter.

Emilian was filled with anger when he saw how Vlad and Danny left the motel together. He became even angrier when this ghoul allowed himself to hug the girl by the shoulders as if he was a noble knight, covering her with his own body. And the way that stupid girl gullibly hid behind him! Surely this reptile has already managed to powder the brains of the naive daughter of the Inquisitor! The sorcerer was sickened by the mere thought of what these two could do, spending the whole day in complete seclusion in a motel room. And that damn bear tribe that threw themselves in the way of his mission! If Emilian had a little more strength and many more assistants, he would have torn these savages to shreds, so much so that they would not even be gathered together for a funeral! But, alas, all sorts of advantages were not on his side, so all he could do was watch helplessly as the pretty Miss Sanders took Vlad to hell in the middle of nowhere...

Emilian pulled himself back. Pretty?! Did he just think she was pretty? What the hell did that girl do to him?!

Finally, he was resigned to the fact that the local tribe would not let him go anywhere before they went back to living their fake human lives. The sorcerer retreated to the wall and tiredly leaned back against it. Emilia immediately found herself next to him and sat down on a bench next to a pot with an artificial flower. Oliver paced the space that was kindly provided for him, throwing annoyed glances at this or that trucker now and then.

“f*****g sycophants,” he whispered angrily, coming closer to his friend.

“Hey, they just don’t want to get in trouble with a strong Inquisitor,” Emilia indifferently replied, stretching like a cat.

Literally, in a moment, the Shadow was next to his beloved one, to wrap his arm around her waist and press her to him.

“That’s okay, I made sure to give us a tiny little advantage,” he smiled broadly.

“What did you do?” Emilia glanced warily at Emilian.

“I hid a little surprise in her car.”

“What?!” the sorcerer’s astral twin threw off the man's hand and jumped up. “Are you out of your mind?!”

“Be quiet!” Oliver got up too. “It’s nothing serious, I just stole one of the witch’s bags from our narrow-minded friend and put it in the car. I didn't take the lethal one, I swear!”

“Do you even understand what will happen to us if we hurt the direct descendant of the First Inquisitor, you i***t?”

“She got herself into this!” Oliver hissed and turned away, crossing his arms in an offended way and clearly expecting Emilia to start lisping and apologizing.

The woman shook her head and rolled her eyes in annoyance. Turning to Emilian, she found him frozen, with an expression of complete horror on his face. She came closer to him and gently touched his shoulder, worried. The man's gaze immediately acquired awareness, and he looked down at her.

“Emilia, you must find out what is happening to me,” the sorcerer croaked, grabbing her by the shoulders. “It’s like I’m under some kind of spell! That girl!”

The sorcerer roughly pushed the woman away from him, kicked the wall, and immediately hissed in pain.

“I'm not sure yet, but I don't think she has anything to do with it.”

Both men looked at her in surprise.

“Think about it, how could she have managed to cast a spell, if it is quite obvious that she does not know a damn thing at all? I bet she only found out about the existence of the Inquisition yesterday!”

"Then what's happening to me?"

Emilia went up to the sorcerer and cupped his cheeks.

“Let me see”

“So, what you say is that any evil spirits can recognize the Inquisitor?” Danny clarified, smacking her lips as she ate an energy bar. All the stress made her hungry. “Which means that those truckers in the parking lot were not people.”

“That's right, love.”

“Who are they?”

“They are a rare species of lycans, they can turn themselves into bears. Your friend Michael is one of them.”

Sanders chuckled to herself, thinking that she had chosen her friend's nickname very well.

“So now what? All the supernatural beings within the country will rush to our rescue because my father is a cool Inquisitor?”

“Alas, not everyone is burning with the desire to get along with the Inquisition. If Emilian finds anyone who wants to annoy Eric, we will have to act even more carefully.”

"Even more carefully than now?!" Danny thought. She had no idea where or why they were going. Having finished chewing the candy bar, she casually threw the candy wrapper back (the cleanliness of the car was the last thing she worried about now), but Vlad intercepted the crumpled package and, making a stern grimace, put the garbage into a small paper bag. The girl stuck out her tongue at him and turned her attention back to the road.

Suddenly, the car began to pick up speed. No matter how hard Sanders tried to slow down, they drove faster and faster with every second.

“Um, Danny,” the vampire was alert, “yes, I told you that we were in a hurry, but...”

“I have nothing to do with this!” she replied with a hint of panic in her voice. “The car doesn’t obey! It seems to work on its own!”

She tried turning the steering wheel, and the jeep veered slightly to one side. Danielle tried to change gear, the lever just wouldn't budge.

“What's going on?!”

Vlad stared ahead for a while before answering.

“Danny, buckle up.”

“What?”

Another stern look. Muttering various kinds of curses under her breath, she did as she was told.

“When I say, turn the steering wheel to the left.”

“At this speed? You are crazy?!”

The vampire didn't say anything else, but Danny began to smell the cinnamon again.

“Don't you dare hypnotize me again!”

“Then do as I say!”

The girl nodded and gripped the steering wheel with all of her might. She felt Vlad's hand lying on her stomach and lightly pressed on it, forcing her to shrink into the car chair.

“Now!”

Closing her eyes tightly, Sanders turned left.