Chapter 50

Isabelle Blackwood stood in front of an elegant stone mansion and re-checked the address Katya had given her. She scanned the street around her cautiously before pressing the little red intercom button.

"Can I help you?" asked a deep, guarded voice.

"My name"s Isabelle Blackwood. I"m here to see Katya Domotetsky." With a loud buzz, the gate swung open. Small cameras followed her as she made her way to the polished black door. It opened, and a man appeared. He was tall and lithe with curly chestnut hair, and he was ancient. Power emanated from him so strongly, Isabelle almost took a step backward.

"Katya will be along shortly," he said politely. "Welcome to my home."

"Thank you." Isabelle held out her hand, and he shook it without any hesitation. There was something about him she couldn"t put her finger on. Her senses were burning. Usually, she knew a creature"s nature by looking at them, and yet she was drawing a complete blank.

"I"m Trajan. Please, come in." He took her coat and hung it in a small cupboard next to the door.

"What are you?" Isabelle asked bluntly.

Trajan"s lips curled in a smile. "I am a thanatos."

"Amazing. I"ve never met one of you before," she said, looking at him more closely. The hunter part of her scanning him for what could be a weakness.

"And you are?" he asked.

"I"m a hunter who was bitten by something evil a long time ago."

"You have stigmata?" Trajan guessed.

"Something like that." His amused smile played around the corners of his mouth, and she found herself liking Trajan. "If Katya trusts you, then it"s because you are extremely trustworthy."

"Isabelle? I thought I heard your voice." Katya hurried down the grand staircase, wearing tight black jeans and a purple top, her hair slightly disheveled. Izrayl sauntered down the stairs after her, pulling on a fresh shirt. He smiled charmingly at Isabelle and winked. "I see you have met Trajan."

"Yes, we were just doing a little game of "get to know your monsters,"" Isabelle replied.

"Fabulous. That saves me a lot of time," Katya said and hugged her. "Thank you for coming. Let"s go and talk in the library."

"I"ll go and round up the others. I"m sure Anya would be ready for a break by now. Please excuse me," Trajan said and headed up the stairs.

"Would you like some tea?" Katya offered.

"Yes, please. It"s freezing outside."

"Izrayl will take you to the library. I won"t be long."

As Izrayl walked past Katya, he lightly brushed a hand down her back, a small intimate gesture. He led Isabelle through the gorgeous home until they reached the double doors to the library.

"I must say I"m surprised to see Katya getting friendly with a volk krovi," Isabelle commented as she sat down on one of the armchairs. "Her family doesn"t have a good history with them."

"It must be my winning personality." Izrayl flopped down in the opposite chair, pulling his long braid over one shoulder.

"Or your beautiful body."

"I"m flattered that you noticed."

Isabelle looked down her nose at him. "You care about her?"

"Immensely, and neither one of us has to hide out true natures." His expression shifted into a smile, unable to hide his infatuation with Katya. "Not to get all sappy, but you know what I mean."

"I do." Isabelle tried to return the smile. Once, she thought she"d found the one person who could accept what she was, but her enemies always find a way to catch up with her. She wasn"t willing to put him in danger. Better for him to have a full, safe life. She had to let him go. She sat down in one of the armchairs. "Katya has told you about her mother, hasn"t she?"

Izrayl nodded. "Yes, and her past with volk krovi isn"t an issue."

"Good to hear it. She"s been carrying the weight of her father"s bullshit for too long. He was a good hunter, but God, he could be a bastard," Isabelle said.

"Here we are, two sugars, no milk." Katya appeared, carrying the steaming mug. She passed it to Isabelle before seating herself on the arm of Izrayl"s chair. He rested his palm on the small of her back and gave Katya a look of such affection that Isabelle had to hide a smile.

Trajan walked into the library, leading a group of people and two men she would recognize anywhere.

"Holy shit, it"s the Thunder Twins!" Isabelle got up and hugged them both tightly. "I haven"t seen you in how long?"

"1963, New York, I think," Chayton answered as he kissed her cheek.

"I must say I"m surprised to see you here."

"Likewise. You know we don"t like leaving America, but it was important."

They had all positioned themselves in a rough circle. Isabelle noticed Trajan was holding a blond woman"s hand. She was shimmering with enough magic that Isabelle could almost see it. Talk about an odd and dangerous pair.

"I"m Yvan." A tall, dark Russian offered her his hand. She shook it politely but jumped when his blue eyes rapidly changed to golden red and back again.

"It"s nothing to be concerned about," he said as he sat down. The red-haired woman watched her cautiously.

"Cerise, I"m a keres," she said by way of introduction.

Isabelle gave her a nod. There wasn"t a normal one amongst them.

"And I"m Anya," the ashen haired woman said from beside Trajan.

"The troublemaker who everyone is here for," Yvan teased and grinned when she flipped him off.

Isabelle turned to Katya. "Okay, what"s going on? Don"t leave out a thing. My senses are going mental, the Illumination and the Darkness are more active than usual, and that makes me nervous. What we found last night was beyond anything I"ve seen in years."

"What did you find? Katya wouldn"t tell me," Anya asked.

"Because I was waiting until we were all together so I didn"t have to repeat myself a million times," Katya replied.

"The Darkness were experimenting on the people of a magical bloodline," Isabelle said, getting the conversation on track. "The Darkness, like the Illumination, hunt for old families who have held power. Both follow magical families to find the best talent. The people here in the human world don"t believe in magic anymore. They have no idea of their power, and they just disappear into the night, either recruited or kidnapped. Last night we found where a dark magician was using people with magic in a transmutation experience. They were twisted hybrid creatures who died horribly and in pain."

Honaw groaned. "You really haven"t changed a bit, Isabelle. Still blunt as ever."

"You all deserve to know the ugly truth because I"m finding this level of horror is increasing. The Darkness is building up their ranks and preparing for something. I just don"t know what," Isabelle said. She sipped her tea. "Now, tell me what this is all about and why the hell I should help?"

Seethe crow circling high over the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-Sur-Seine. It swoops and dives over a gray stone mansion and lands on a window sill. It cocks its head curiously to one side as it studies the figure within. It hops to the next window and glimpses the fair-haired human.

Warm red magic pulses around her and lingers on objects she touches. The crow flutters nervously to a bathroom window that has been left ajar. Using its sharp beak, it works the crack open, little by little, until it can squeeze its feathered body through.

The crow hops down from the window, across the toilet"s porcelain top, and onto the basin. It claws at the tangle of hair still trapped in the coarse bristles. With a small bundle of silver firmly in its grasp, it pushes its way out of the window and soars into the empty sky, searching for its master.