Chapter 41

Vasilli passed through the glimmering lights that took him from Skazki through the ancient gate in Sokolniki Park. The guardian of the gate watched him closely with his falcon eyes but allowed his passage. He was too old to care about politics. Only the gate mattered to him, and who he let through changed on his whim. That night, his whim worked in Vasilli"s favor.

Due to its location and the labyrinth built around it, the Sokolniki Park was the strongest gate in Moscow. It was no coincidence that Alexei Mikhailovich had loved hunting at the park so much or that his son Petyr had put so much effort into maintaining it.

Vasilli breathed in the cold air and let his body re-adjust to Mir"s rhythms. There was magic still there, but it was buried deep in the earth and the sub-conscious of the humans living there. Ladislav claimed that his rule of the Darkness would change that. Vasilli snorted; Ladislav was not a leader who inspired that kind of confidence in him. There was only one person who could have managed it, and with the Princess gone, Vasilli would take on her vision when he had the power.

There were places in Moscow where mortals did not enter. A sinister malevolence touched them as well as constant shadows, and people knew instinctively to turn and walk away.

One of these places was a grand townhouse that had been the Guardians of the Dark"s main Russian base for over four hundred years. Vasilli could feel the power pulsing silently from it long before he could see it.

A homeless babushka sat on the steps leading down to the building"s lower basements, smoking a cigarette.

"Vasilli, Vasilli, what took you so long, cherny? syn of mine?" she asked.

"Hello, Zhenechka. Are you going to let me pass tonight?" She didn"t look it but was one of the most powerful shamanitsas in all of Europe. She kept guard at the headquarter"s entrance with fierce diligence. The last policeman who had tried to move her along had been turned into a rat and squashed under her heavy boot.

"Of course, Vas"ka, you know you"re a favorite of mine." Zhenechka pinched his bearded cheek, and Vasilli felt the burning power under her wrinkled hands. "Be patient tonight, eh? There"s been no good news received, and Ladislav is not happy."

"Is he ever?" Vasilli asked, patting her shoulder fondly. She was one of the people that he would keep when he ruled. He wouldn"t waste her abilities by forcing her to guard fucking steps.

Vasilli moved down the stairs and unlocked the door with a brief touch of his hand. Usually, he would have cleaned up before seeing the Master, but if Ladislav were already in a bad mood, he wouldn"t like to be kept waiting.

Moments later, Vasilli sat opposite Ladislav at a highly polished ebony table.

Ladislav was one of the strongest black magic users ever to have been born outside of Skazki. In Russia"s older times, he had been worshiped as a dark god, and the blood sacrifices done in his name had granted him immortality. The men in his command still murmured the old ritual line before they killed in his name, and he grew stronger every day because of it.

Ladislav had long steel gray hair worn in a thick braid interwoven with secret spells. It had been said that the ones who could weave intricate braids could read the wearer"s fate within its twisted strands. Within Ladislav"s braid were smaller, tighter plaits, sometimes intertwined with colored threads, and these were the ones that held his spells. Vasilli had often wondered if the secret of Ladislav"s power was, like Samson, contained within his hair…and what would happen if he shaved it off. But why shave a head when you could cut a neck?

"It"s good to see you, Vasilli, despite your recent failings. I expected a firebird on your return, and you have nothing," Ladislav said finally. "It would seem we underestimated Anya and your brother. Our spies in recent years really were convinced that she had no power like her father, and now she has managed to outsmart you and the ones we sent to hunt her. We tried to take her in Moscow a few years ago to see if we could use her to convince Eikki to stop being Neutral. As soon as Ilya"s pet thanatos retrieved her, we took it as a lost opportunity and not worth pursuing once she was back under Eikki"s protection."

Vasilli rubbed a hand over his beard. "I was at her house, and even I didn"t see it or feel any magic in her. If it was a spell to hide it, it was masterfully done. As to my recent failings, Anya and Yvan had help. Baba Yaga detained me, and a world walker witch was assisting her as well."

"We know about that tribe. We caught the hunter"s image and the others traveling with Anya in Romania. The hunter"s apartment was found, but the team we sent after her was wiped out. Unsettling to think Anya has such protectors already, and we have to assume that the thanatos will be trying to join her if he hasn"t already," Ladislav said, his eyes narrowing.

A small domovoi dashed into the room with a chilled decanter of vodka and two cups. He placed it on the table between them and, with a short bow, vanished once more.

"She"s just a hunter. Who did you send to get her?" Vasilli poured a glass of the vodka for Ladislav before he took one for himself.

"I sent V?lundr."

"Shvedskii gryazi." Vasilli fought the urge to spit on Ladislav"s fine carpet.

"Swedish filth he may be, but his loyalty isn"t under question at the moment, and yours is."

"How could you say that? The Princess?—"

"The Princess is dead, Vasilli!" Ladislav shouted.

"We don"t know that for certain. She"s immortal."

"Then where has she been for the past hundreds of years? We must move on, Vasilli. The world has not stopped, and neither will we."

There was a knock at the door, and a pale, colorless man stepped in. In his hand, he held a bleeding crow.

"V?lundr, thank you for coming. Is that the survivor?"

"Yes, my lord. Shall I change him for questioning?"

Ladislav nodded, and hot power rolled from V?lundr. The bird in his hand struggled futilely as it began to stretch and change. Within seconds, a pale creature was shaped like a man lying on the floor in front of them. It clutched a bleeding fingerless hand to its chest, and from its throat came a series of croaking, mewling sounds of pain.

"So this is why you let this filth contaminate our halls," Vasilli said, looking at the pathetic creature in front of him. "You are letting him make vorona rabov. To what end?"

"Crow slaves make useful servants when properly controlled," V?lundr replied on Ladislav"s behalf. "Nobody looks twice at a crow flying near them. Besides, they are expendable."

"So are you," Vasilli hissed.

Ladislav ignored their bickering and approached the crow slave on the floor. He knelt down and took its head between his hands. It started to weep as Ladislav forced himself into its mind. When he was finished, blackish blood was oozing from the creature"s nose, ears, and eyes.

"Clean this up for me, V?lundr." Ladislav waved his hand at the corpse. "And send some more to Paris to find Anyanka."

"As you wish."

V?lundr walked over to the corpse and waved his hand over the body of the creature. It dissolved into a fine white ash, and within seconds two domovoi had cleaned up the rest of its remains, leaving no trace of it ever being there.

"Vasilli, I"m getting V?lundr to take over the search for Anya and your brother," Ladislav said. He must have sensed the storm in Vasilli about to break because he quickly added, "Only temporarily. They are in Paris, and V?lundr has spent the past few months there. He knows the city, and you have been hunting in and out of Skazki for weeks. Rest. Restore your body and your power, and then, if they haven"t been recovered, you can continue the hunt."

Vasilli"s mind hazed with red rage as he fought to contain himself. Then, clear as a bell, he heard his mother"s voice, Let the sheep bleat and die first, Vas"ka. Hide like a wolf, and when your prey thinks they have won the fight and are safe, you tear their throats out and feast on their bones.

V?lundr didn"t have the power to take on all of Anya"s companions and live through it. Vasilli would let him do the hard work of finding them and wearing them down. At least if Ladislav thought he was having time off, his steely gaze would be focused elsewhere.

Vasilli forced his expression to relax and a charming smile to spread across his lips. "You know, that sounds like wisdom itself. I"m tired of traveling roughly and getting myself free of Baba Yaga"s traps. You will let me know if you have any progress, though, won"t you?"

Ladislav smiled back, thinking he had won. "Of course, Vasilli. You are my most trusted advisor, a prince in this organization. If V?lundr finds Anya and Yvan, you will be the first to be informed."

Vasilli could just about smell the bullshit in the air. Still, he raised his glass of vodka to the old man anyway, all the while making his plans and imagining the ways he was going to kill him.