The windowless chamber was filled with heavy, aromatic smoke that made her eyelids heavy. The ventilation would soon have sucked him outside.
While she inhaled the last few puffs and so slumbered in front of her, she tiredly tried to ward off these strange new thoughts about Pareios, mainly because, thanks to her messed up manner, they were accompanied by this terribly familiar feeling of fear. Funny that these absolutely different emotions, affection and disgust, were linked in her. How often had she tried to break this absurd connection, even if her attempts were rather weak and not very convinced. They mainly arose out of the need not to attract attention, in which one conformed. But not from the desire for genuine attention.
She thought about her relationship with Viktor and secretly compared him to Pareios. Viktor enjoyed her complete confidence. She respected him and appreciated his straightforward and sincere character. He never failed in his judgment and was one of those people who gave you the impression that they always had everything under control and that they succeeded in every project in a miraculous way. He had saved her, freed her, taken her by the hand and led her out of absolute despair. He was the only person who really knew her, who knew everything about her. He was her only relative, so to speak, her brother, or at least what came closest to that. She almost felt sorry for him.
When she looked at Pareios, her mind was colored very differently. They were filled with billowing gray clouds, through whose veil the small, flashing fireflies created a magical atmosphere. Everything seemed possible.
Immediately she felt bad again. Where was that supposed to lead? She forbade herself to consider the matter further, after all it didn't matter either way. She had made a decision a long time ago.
While she was still nodding, her intuition was vaguely passing a subliminal thought that had an irritatingly threatening aftertaste. He didn't quite make it into her vanishing consciousness and so images of small obsidian-colored peas mingled with the first onset of nightmares. The ice-blue eyes were present in it like every night and prepared her an ordeal that made sleep unrefreshing.
******
The confusing unsteady sleep and the drug had erased the worrying thoughts of the previous morning from her mind when she suddenly awoke at noon. Her heart was pounding as if something had frightened her and wrenched her out of her dark dreams. She was breathing hard.
Drunk with sleep, she blinked into her dark room, which of course had no indication of the time. Her head felt heavy and dizzy. There was a knock and she realized that something previous must have woken her. She wanted to answer, but had a frog in her throat. After a quick clearing of her throat, she called: "Yes?" And pulled the thin blanket over her rightly.
The door opened a crack and Viktor's face appeared in it. "May I?" He asked and pointed into the room. Aurelia nodded and turned to one side to rest her head on her bent, upright forearm. So she could reach the switch for her night lamp, which she turned on immediately. Viktor pushed the door a little wider and as he pushed his way through the opening, she discovered the small tray that he was balancing on his right hand. A seductive smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted around her nose and attracted her spirits.
He pushed the tray onto the bed and, in a barely visible movement, grabbed the desk chair, pulled it to the bed and sat on it. When they were together, Viktor didn't bother moving extra slowly. He knew that she preferred it when he acted as he was, just as she acted towards him as she was. He enjoyed it as much as she did.
When she straightened up with a grateful smile, grabbed the coffee cup and then inspected the rest of the breakfast, he finally said apologetically: "I thought if I get you out of bed again, I'll bring you at least a little refreshment."
She cleverly tucked the blanket under her arms and sat up completely. "You have always been very smart," she replied patronizingly and took the gruel Viktor had brought with him. This was the daily breakfast, bread rolls or the like were a rarity. After a few spoonfuls, she registered the worried expression that had taken on his face and asked, “What's going on? Is Meredia okay? "
He made a waving hand. “It's doing great. She's breastfeeding the little one. ”At the thought of his son a bliss came to his eyes that Aurelia was completely unfamiliar with. He must have had a hard time breaking away from the sight of his perfect little family. Apparently he was bothered by something even more urgent, because since he was married he rarely visited her, and certainly not when she was still asleep. "What is it then? Out with it! ”She encouraged him between sips of coffee. He shot her a look as if she had to realize what was on his mind.
Yesterday's mission simmered like lava in her head, burying everything else under itself. She understood immediately. "The stones?"
He nodded anxiously, then continued. "I couldn't sleep properly, so I went to Syrus early in the morning and asked him about it."
"Is the analysis done yet?"
He shook his head. “But he discovered something else. Something is engraved on each of the stones. All the signs look the same, some curly flourishes. Then he cut off a corner from one of the stones with a diamond laser and wanted to examine it. ”She looked at him intently as he paused for a moment. "So he puts the splinter under the microscope and when all the chemical liquid had evaporated, the light from the microscope suddenly got brighter and brighter until it just gave up the ghost after a few seconds."
Aurelia wondered where to put this information. "You mean they are something like a source of electrical energy, maybe magnets?"
Viktor shrugged his shoulders slightly. “That's what I thought of first. But maybe they are even more than that! You are warm Aurelia! Have you ever touched a warm stone? ”He sank briefly into his thoughts and Aurelia thought too. “I just had to talk to someone about it. The whole thing is getting really bad to me! ”He looked at her searchingly and then began to answer his question. "Couldn't you ...?"
She hated turning him away. He was the only person she didn't want to disappoint, although maybe not the only one anymore! Immediately, part of her brain remembered the night before. How did that happen?
She had become very lonely since she and Viktor hadn't spent that much time together. At first it was fine for her to be to herself. Somehow she was used to it. But over time, one lonely, boring day lined up and she began to miss the jokes and conversations that drove away her own dark thoughts and gave her peace of mind for a brief moment. Looking back, she suddenly realized that she had deepened her relationship with Pareios step by step.
At first it was just a few jokes and heated verbal fights. Later they trained together more and more often. The more often they did this, the easier it got. They played themselves in, even more than was previously the case with the five-man team. The fact that he immediately captured her mood in the helicopter and protected her from the subject of the conversation was the result of this rapprochement. Did it go soft after all these centuries? She had been too sure of her shiny hard facade and then succumbed to the human needs after which she had suppressed them for so long. And now something had arisen that could not be denied. Her nausea, which rose again this time, and was driven by disgust, confirmed her growing suspicion. Hell, she cursed herself. Her masochistic features were slowly taking over. The excursion of this part of the brain made her face flush with anger.
Viktor saw it confused, but misunderstood it and immediately rowed back. "I mean, it's okay, you don't have to. I just thought, maybe… it's close enough! ”She stared at him and understood the words that had ripped them out of their thoughts. He said that the meaning of the stones would soon be woven into their destiny so that it became visible to their intuition. And that it would happen soon and that Aurelia wouldn't have to think so far into the future to see this.She was uncomfortable with these thoughts. “Viktor, you know how it is. Once I'm in and looking for it, it doesn't stop until I find it. And if it's too far away ... then I can't go back. "He continued to look pleadingly at her. “What if we try what we did in Argentina? It worked out pretty well at the time! ”Aurelia gave back an angry and horrified look. He wasn't serious!"Do you mean you would be willing to knock me down for this information?" The sente
It wasn't even a hundredth of a second before she was hit hard by something on the side of the neck. His speed and precision were terrifying, but he managed to pull her out of the thundering waves of impressions with one jerk. She exchanged the shimmer of the images for deep, impenetrable blackness. She quickly passed out. He had hit the spot on her neck where the artery split into a deeper and a more superficial path. The point was very sensitive. When subjected to severe compression, the brain was signaled that the pressure in the carotid arteries was getting too high and that systemic blood pressure needed to be lowered. The result was a sharp slowdown in the heartbeat, most of which led to unconsciousness if the body was upright and you hit hard enough. Viktor wasn't squeamish with her. At least not anymore.She wished the dull numbness of fainting had lasted, but the old nightmares soon haunted her again.Row's bright, warm voice woke her from
After pulling on the black all-purpose boots, they left their room together. Then Row went right, and she herself left, toward the training hall. Next to the dining room, this was the largest room in the underground bunker. Row had been born here and they had used the bunker as their headquarters since Markus became a council member. The underground facility was also a good choice because a larger part of the council also lived in it. Of course it wasn't complete, it would have been too dangerous to be able to erase them all at once. Nevertheless, the bunker had so far remained unmolested by attacks. They were all very careful to keep his location a secret.She strolled through the deserted tunnels. Apparently it was dinner time and most of the residents were in the canteen. After a few minutes, she arrived in front of the large double-walled door that was supposed to enclose the sounds of the exercisers in the room. Only muffled noises came out, telling her that a few
Until then, she wanted to vent a little with the punching bag, she still had way too much energy. For a while she just beat her fists on the firm, coarse leather and tried to keep the cinema out of her mind. It worked out worse and worse now. But it manifested itself in different lines of thought. They were rotating in a brisk exchange in her head and she was slowly wondering as if she was going mad. But you couldn't escape the past, no matter how far your feet took you. Whatever she did, as long as she couldn't undo that one event, she was never free.She punched with all her might, putting her desperation into a hard, straight blow, and lifting the punching bag from its attachment. Breathing heavily, she stood in front of her victim, who was now lying motionless on the ground. Then she heard a rough voice behind her. His voice!"Damn Aurelia, what louse ran down your liver?" She heard the smile in his words. One part of her got a shiver when she registered his presen
Because of her little outburst it became quiet and she noticed that the hall was meanwhile swept as if it were instructive. He raised his hands soothingly. "It's okay, I definitely didn't want to offend you!" He then said, slightly sour. "I…"At that moment the double doors of the large training room opened and Viktor stormed in, followed by Row and Aiden.Pareios turned around, startled. His expression suggested that he wasn't exactly happy about the interruption. He rolled his eyes when he recognized Viktor. What was that?Viktor looked angry, but he came straight up to her without detour. He grabbed her shoulders in concern and pulled her into a caring, fatherly hug. Past his ear she saw Pareios turn his head, now his face was no longer in her field of vision."I'm really sorry!" Viktor muttered into her hair. “If I had known that… I was really worried when you didn't wake up. But your heart was beating regularly, so I
Over the centuries they had spun their web all over the world. They looked for other Elevender to increase their power, created various secret organizations that have been tampering with throughout history. Tried here and there in larger and smaller actions to take over the regiment of all of humanity. But just as from the beginning there had been a small group of adversaries. And they survived to this day.For a long time they had been very few. Even today they were still outnumbered, but since the Hegeduns had tightened their grip on the world in the middle of the 19th century in order to squeeze out the last bit of human labor, the situation of the population had visibly deteriorated and they had more influx to get.Back then, the Hegedunen had covered up their operations with wars that had nearly dragged the world to its ruin.They had cleverly prepared the first of the two largest of these by usurping the money creation system in 1913. They financed t
Aurelia's cheeks flushed slightly, but she replied quickly and briskly. "Do not know. On a sudden whim, I guess… ”She hoped she'd managed to make the last part of the sentence sound promising. Unfortunately, since she rarely did, she was not very skilled at flirting. He raised an eyebrow and grinned cheekily, which, however, showed her that she had succeeded.He leaned conspiratorially across the table closer to her. "Couldn't you have had it earlier?"She laughed and replied succinctly: “Aaach, you know how it is, with moods. They come when they want, that can't be predicted. ”She gave him a mischievous smile, while she thought that moods disappeared just as quickly.“To hear THAT from you right now…. It's kind of absurd! ”He laughed out loud and threw himself back in his chair. Aurelia giggled too, after all, it probably was.He calmed down again and then said, still chuckling slightly: “No, seriously no
Aurelia stared into the darkness. While holding her breath, she tried to see who was sitting in front of her room in the middle of the night. All of a sudden a feeling of comfort crept right out of her heart. Like a chain reaction, it spread from one cell to the next until it completely filled them, from head to toe. It was like a warm blanket that enveloped her. She paused for a moment before realizing that it was her intuition that answered. Now she knew who was standing there, but that didn't make her relax. She had to control her throat immediately to avoid tasting bile again, after all she had only had a tiny breakfast. Because why the hell should he be sitting in front of her room at this ungodly time and obviously waiting for her?"What are you doing here?" It slipped out and she could hardly hide the surprise.Pareios got up and stretched. He stepped out of the door frame and now a glimmer of light that still reached from the dining room fell on his face. He lo
Dareon sprinted out of his room. As he walked, he tied the bow tie that went with the black tuxedo. He often wore suits when he went on his nightly jaunts and in his long life he had worn every kind of fine thread. Until yesterday he would have said nothing could surprise him anymore. But then Cat showed up and taught him otherwise.It had struck like a comet, into his halfway orderly world and now he had to grapple with unsettling thoughts. About the way she looked at him. How did her skin feel and how comfortable her lips?He hated the way he reacted to her and he wanted to just get in his car and sneak away. But what he said this afternoon was true. He wanted to fix what he had screwed up. And his sudden obsession with this woman had absolutely nothing to do with it!Determined to get tonight off the stage professionally, he turned the corner and reached the stairs to the foyer. His gaze fell on the assembled crew at his feet. Most were wrapped in the dark le
The swinging double door slammed shut and they were alone.Her heart pounded from the unexpected contact with him when he had freed her from Christian's grip. She could still feel the warmth of his body on her back, the firm arm around her stomach, the breath that had brushed her hair. She hadn't been able to classify his reaction and was paralyzed.She stood still now, too, but for a different reason than before. Though she was really determined to act confident, she just wasn't. She wasn't really afraid of Dareon, but the angry look that surrounded him earned her a good deal of respect. Like trying to get close to a cobra. Better not to make sudden movements.Dareon had his broad back to her and was staring at the door as well. Her eyes stayed on her strong shoulders, her fingers tingled. She wanted so much to touch him. But when he turned to her, he looked so upset that she decided to postpone the fulfillment of this wish. She nervously pushed back her hair,
A little later, Cat was on the way to Ceiling. Xandra and Blaise were also in the car, the former driving.“What's going on between you two? Did something happen today at noon? ”Xandra asked after a while of quiet harmony. Much to Cat's chagrin, there was no need to discuss who 'you two' were. Dareon's behavior in Ferroc's office had been conspicuous enough, and apparently Cat's quick approval of the deal confirmed Xandra's suspicions. Since she already knew that Cat was into the guy, she hardly had to add one and one together."I'd like to know that too ...", Cat only mumbled and that was the truth. She had no clue what was going on in the object of her desire. Why he'd acted like that and then treated her so dismissively. "Dareon behaved quite ... inconsistently ... I can't figure him out.""So there was more to it than his rejection?" "Slightly."Blaise appeared between the two front se
"And what did he say?"Cat had barely stepped off the elevator on the third floor when Xandra was already attacking her. Less enthusiastic, she reported without going into details, only that Dareon had refused. Especially the fuck off she left out.An arm came comfortingly around her shoulders. “Oh, that'll be fine. Give me a little time and I'll find someone else who can help you. I promise you, I won't leave you alone with this. "Cat looked into the sincere eyes and she almost came to tears. She couldn't believe that an almost stranger wanted to stand up for her like that. Besides, the idea of honing her gift with someone else didn't make her particularly happy. It should be Dareon. She couldn't get him out of her head and the need for his presence hadn't subsided despite his rejection."No. I'm ... just doing it with him ... "she mumbled to herself, lost in thought, while she thought of the pressure of his hands on her waist. The Elevender at he
Dareon stood in front of a group of Elevender and tried to bring them closer to the benefits of close combat. He had put the people in pairs and was now watching them repeat the exercise he had shown them. It was about contact, because one of the basic rules of this technique was: Once you are close enough to the opponent that he can hit you, you have to forestall him. Therefore, he trained his students to seize control of the fight at this moment, to internalize the techniques in such a way that they forced their will on the opponent from this point on. He was not allowed to play again. At least that was the ideal. Of course it would be a while before his students were ready and he would teach them many other things that could save them from sticky situations.But for today he ended the lesson. He wasn't happy with the results they'd gotten, but wasn't sure if it was due to the ineptitude of his students, or maybe more to his miserable mood.More and more Elevenders h
The next morning came too fast for Cat's liking. The rays of the summer sun cheated through the gaps between the curtains that she had drawn up the night before. One of the bright spots of light finally blinded her when the golden ball in the sky had moved a little further, which put an end to her cozy doze. Sighing, she heaved herself out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom to freshen up. In the morning she slept for a long time and could also get a bit bitchy. She took her time and put on makeup again, as she used to wear with her goth look. She found the mascara and cajal she needed behind the mirror over the designer washbasin.In this way she regained a bit of her identity, which had been taken from her again yesterday. She wistfully wished for dark clothes, but then, resignedly, pulled on the forest green sweatshirt dress. It was long, but the length seemed fine. The hem came up just below her knees. She didn't even want to try the jeans, she would have needed a belt
After an hour in this tiny office, he couldn't take it anymore.Hard to believe, but the room was really losing size. The walls seemed to get closer and closer, it got darker and darker. But maybe the latter was just his eyesight. When a panic attack loomed, he got tunnel vision that was announced by a dark and blurred field of vision. The other signs of it were also raised. His neck felt like an elephant was sitting on it, and his hands and feet went numb. He figured he had about fifteen minutes before snogging the carpet. All the emotions in the room made him dizzy, he had to swallow hard as his stomach rebelled.Roman's inner fear billowed through Slater, his subliminal agony crashing against him like waves in the ocean. They tugged on him and he had to put both legs firmly into the ground to brave the onslaught. If Roman was around, it was worse. Then every smallest nuance of the Puerto Rican's emotional world spilled over to him and the more intensely the other fe
Cat looked around the large room. If that was a hotel, it was probably five stars or something. She was standing right next to the entrance and to the right of her was the bathroom. Then the small hallway opened and widened into a huge room, the sand-colored walls of which were lit by soft skylights. The opposite front of the room was almost completely taken up by a frameless window, only the balcony door at the left end had room.The bed stood with the headboard on the right side, the wall behind it was covered with upholstered fabric in a pale gold tone. Two magnificent reading lamps hung down from above and enabled the separate lighting of both beds in the seductively comfortable double bed.Cat walked over and dropped into the chocolate-brown blankets. She landed face first on heavenly scented, soft pillows. A real boon after she hadn't slept or allowed herself to relax for a while. The exhaustion was not only physical but also mental and left her no peace even now
Xandra granted the young woman's wish. She had thought Catlynn Campbell was a fragile, withered branch, but today the young woman had shown amazing strength. After that day that would have blown even the toughest cop, she was still standing upright in Ferroc's office. Although she looked tired and had dark circles down to the back of her knees, her long, thick hair was tousled, the expression on her face was determined. The hand that held out the glass to Xandra did not tremble.After handing out vodka again to everyone involved and each taking a sip, Xandra decided to speak."Listen, Cat. You don't have to decide now whether you want to believe us. You can rest and maybe stay for a while while we try to get to the bottom of your gift. You can move around freely and watch Blackridge and how we live in peace. ""We have more than enough space!" Agreed Ferroc.Cat looked around, then gave them both a quick look. Finally she took a deep breath and nodded. "O