"They aren't newly turned vampires, taking into consideration their work on the bloody bank…" a man with a silver bunch said, looking at Markus. It felt like they were the two most powerful vampires here, and while they were speaking, no one dare to say a word. I kept silent, too.
"They were planning to attack that bank they were working at?" Markus asked as if he had something on his mind. I was looking at the screen, thinking and listening to them. If that case is fake, and it was made to distract the mafia from something, what can it be? And what is my role here? What have I done to be involved in that case? Why do all of them are looking like me? It was planned before I met Markus, so he's not the target, if only his words about sending me to the police weren't true.
"They had a lot of drawings of attacks. We need to compare them with other bloody banks buildings, maybe there's a match. You seem to have something on your mind, Markus?"
"We need to talk eye-to-eye, Kristof," Markus suddenly stood up, and put me at my two, then looked in my eyes. "Stay near my guard, and wait for me there…"
"Okay," I went out of the room and stood near Markus's guard, seeing other vampires leaving the room. They went downstairs to the club, while I stayed near the guard. I can't disobey his words, moreover, I don't want to be bitten by some greedy vampires. I'm safe here…
~Markus~
When I went out of the room to call Aurora inside and join our talk, I couldn't see anyone except two guards near the closed front door. It was strange because my guard will not leave their post here, as well as Aurora. She's not that risky.
"Aurora?" I called her loudly, my cold loud voice echoed in the empty hallway, repeating my own words. I expected she will go out from somewhere, but it was silent, and not even a single hint of where she disappeared.
"Something wrong?" Kristof asked behind my back. I heard him coming, so haven't even reacted to his approach.
"Can't see Aurora and my guards…" I explained, then quickly examined the hallway, noticing a few strange things: the emergency door that was closed when we arrived, was open, and a piece of black silk as if from the dress was on its handle. I got closer, noticing a piece of paper on the floor. Furthermore, I took the silk first and a strong smell reached my nose.
"Aurora's scent!"
If my heart was alive, it would start beating faster making blood boil in my veins, as it usually happens with humans when they're worried or frightened. I was worried about Aurora and frightened to know what happened to her, but my heart was dead. There was no reaction either on my face or my body, only in my head.
A piece of the paper attracted my attention again when my fingers touched its cold surface. I bent down, took the piece of paper, and straightened up while reading the content of the note, that was left definitely for me.
"You will never see her again.
Regret, you chose some f*cking b*tch instead of loyal caporegimes…"
It was a moment I felt regret not burning those three selfish idiots to the ground and spreading their ash under the ocean. I squeezed that notice in my hand, feeling the fire tickling my fingertips, so I put the notice in my pocket to prevent it from being burned out. Then I cleared my head from all the emotions and thoughts, so it would be easier to control the fire burning inside me. I turned around, took the phone out of my pocket, and wrote the same message to my security chief and mind-reader Rick, who was temporarily at a consigliere position. Their footsteps could be heard running upstairs.
"Mr. Malone, we haven't received a report from the guard. And your message…?" it was the voice of the security chief. He ran into the hallway, and in a second Rick ran after him. They stopped near me.
"What happened, Mr. Malone?" Rick was trying to be calm and strict, as it should be if he's my consigliere, but it wasn't his usual behavior.
"Aurora was just kidnapped," I squeezed a tie on the security chief's neck and pulled him closer to me. The feeling of my fire tickling my fingertips was still present. I was burning from the inside, and it was hard to restrain that fire from keeping moving further. "I will burn the whole world down if she will not be found in a few hours…"
"I don't… I don't know… what happened to her…" he mumbled, so I squeezed his tie harder.
"I left her with your best guards, and there's no sign of her nor your best guards…" I threw him away, so he fell to the floor and his head kicked to the wall. I looked at Rick, gave him the notice from my hands, then turned back to that door. It was an emergency way out, but previously it was closed, but the keys were in every single waiter or guard, so it wouldn't be too hard for three stupid caporegime's to steal her. Actually, they were smart until they touched her.
"Them?" Rick asked, after quickly reading the notice out.
It was enough for me to suddenly understand where Aurora could be. I was about to go when I remembered Kristof, our meeting, and the police case folder on the table.
"Bring the police case folder to my office, and don't forget even a single photo or the document…" I ordered at Rick, then I looked at Kristof, "We'll delay this meeting. I'll tell you when we can start again…"
"I will go with you!" he said, and put a hand on my shoulder, "Wherever you go, Markus."
"No. I better do that on my own," I touched his shoulder back, then turned away and ran downstairs straight through the crowd to my car. I tried to put my fire under control, to not hurt innocent vampires, humans, or any other creatures here. Likewise, I'm against harm, however, those who are guilty of kidnapping Aurora will not find my mercy.
No one ever set my fire at this crazy level as Aurora. She made my whole body burn on that first night, and my fire never came to sleep after that. It was burning deep in my dead heart, going crazy each time I lose my patience, especially because of her in this or that way. She's a girl full of secrets and attractive sides, however, she can easily attract too many problems at once, and I'm not sure if it's her sin. She needs to open her dhampir side as soon as possible.
Thoughts about her were calming me down while driving. I could hardly stop the fire inside me from burning the entire car and the city to the last brick, and thoughts about Aurora were helping. I'm not ready to stop at every fire station and ask them to follow me, to be ready to calm down the fire, so I was distracting my mind while driving as much as I could.
The idea of where Aurora could be hidden came to my mind after Rick's word "them". It helped me to remember that those three idiots bought a house on the outskirts of the city and turned it into the Bloody Brothel. I remembered Rick advised me to wait until it would be the best time to expose them to killing innocent humans, forcing them to go on their death even if they don't know about that part of the deal.
My car stopped on the road in front of the bordello. I slowly got out of my car, feeling the fire trying to break free through my skin and burn down this whole house to the last brick. I wasn't going to restrain for too long, just need to be sure innocent girls and Aurora wouldn't be hurt.
"She's inside. I feel her."
I don't remember when and how I entered that house. Just woke up while climbing upstairs and hearing screams of fear from different sides. The fire was ruining the house, spurs of flames were conquering each piece of furniture or the building itself. Burning pieces were falling down to the floor, making a big mess and preventing greedy vampires, who were sucking innocent girls' blood and killing them day by day, to escape. The fire was blocking them in the empty rooms, giving the innocent human girls a chance to run away. They were too smart to not use it. I saw fire hunting vampires slowly as if playing with them, then reaching them fast, attacking and climbing to their necks, burning their bodies to the bones.
"She's near… I feel her…"
For the first time after she happened in my life, I felt our special connection. I don't know its origin, but the closer I got to her, the stronger I felt it.
I reached a closed room on the second floor at the end of the hallway. And I felt she was behind that door, somewhere inside the room, so close to me, that it didn't even take me a second to break the door and get inside. It was a large room with red walls and a soft dark floor, and some old furniture like a big wardrobe, a red sofa in the corner of the room, and a chair in the same corner. I saw Aurora, chained to the chair, with a gag in her mouth. I could hear her sobbing, see her torn clothes, and notice blood on her body and face. When I made a step in her direction, I heard voices, coming somewhere from the staircase, so I hid behind the wardrobe. I saw the fire coming slowly from my left foot in Aurora's direction.
It wanted to protect her.
Unbelievable.
Three men, my ex-caporegimes, came inside the room; one of them had a belt in his hand, the second one had some handcuffs and the third one had a rope. I squeezed my hand and fire surrounded Aurora, then vanished, separating her from those men and protecting her, being invisible to them. As soon as they'll approach her, it will rise up.