Storm of Shadows

"Who is Dante?"

Dara's question hung on the air, and for a moment, Joshua could only stare at her in shock. His heart had already been kicking up a beat the more she divulged, but it was nothing in comparison to the dread he felt at hearing her question. How in hell had she managed to dig that deep? He hadn't felt a thing, not one whisper that she had breached his inner most shields. The sheer strength to do that...dear God, it was astronomical.

"Dante is a friend," he finally answered, feeling his unease lighten a bit at her expression. It was more curious than condemning, as if she was satisfied with whatever she'd found in the deepest recesses of his mind.

"Why do you hide him then?"

Again, there was only curiosity in her tone, and Joshua relaxed a bit more. "Keeping secrets is often the only way we can remain safe here. Dante...well he tends to be a loner for the most part and doesn't give his friendship easily. There are many who distrust him among our kind because he is not aligned with any covens. If they were aware of my friendship with him, it could negatively impact both myself and my coven."

Dara nodded slowly. She could understand that logic to a certain degree...Kothi mirrored a lot of similar traits, which made him one of the least understood of their pack, though he was loved despite that. Europe was a completely different place though, and any form of uniqueness probably was less likely to be tolerated.

"He sounds intriguing. Perhaps our paths will cross while I'm here."

Dara rose and rolled her head to release some of the tension in her neck. She'd never gone so deep in someone's mind before, it had drained her both mentally and physically, more than she had anticipated. She would need to discuss that with Kallum when she was back home, but for now she would just have to be more prudent about how and when she used her skill. Thankfully, Joshua had been a friend, and therefore there was no real danger to this weariness she was feeling. With someone else, it could be a completely different scenario.

"So, you've been in my mind now. Do you want to tell me who you are and what's going on here?"

Joshua's words broke through her thoughts and she turned to look at him. Curiosity was the prevalent emotion in his eyes, but she could see he was tense and trying to hide it. What must it be like having to live his entire life expecting everyone to betray him? She couldn't imagine it and it made her feel sad that this was the norm for those who lived in Europe, when she had known only the complete opposite. Someone had to fix this...one day when all this mess was over. Someone had to fix this, and she was going to let Annie and Caleb know that as soon as she got back home.

For now, she had to get back to the matter at hand. Too much time was passing, time where Kothi was getting further and further away. There was no one else she could count on to come up with strategies and ways forward. It was all down to her, and while there was a part inside her that questioned whether or not she could do this, Dara knew she had no choice and she had to fall back on every single bit of training she'd ever received growing up.

Smiling she headed back to the sofa and sat down. "My name is Dara Romanov, and I am one of the Vârcolac. You may have heard of my father and uncle, Alexei and Andrei Romanov?"

"We're not that out of touch over here," Joshua remarked with a hint of amusement in his voice though it was clear he was startled by the news. "That's why you were so pleased that I mistook you for a Youngling."

She nodded. "Given how antagonistic vampires over here are to Weres, I figured it would be best to be as unthreatening as possible in my dealings with others. Changing a scent is second nature for us Vârcolac. We were taught it at an early age for when we had to leave pack lands, so no one would be able to track our real scents. I haven't had to do it for a long time, so I am pleased it worked as expected."

Joshua nodded, his expression turning thoughtful. "Why would Caleb let you come here alone? I know you all have a unique skillset. What you just did inside my head scares the fucking crap out of me. Even taking all of that into consideration, Caleb is far too rigid to allow one of the Vârcolac to travel to Europe alone. Especially after Gard and Rayne disappeared."

She gave him a half smile. "You're right, he wouldn't have, but he didn't really get the opportunity to object. Events overtook us and we had to act immediately. I would have been on the plane before he became aware of what was happening."

Dara paused, weighing up how much she was comfortable telling the vampire before her. She liked Joshua. He was exactly what he appeared, a loyal friend to Caleb, and by default, to those the Ancient took under his protection.

Making up her mind, she let out a sigh and met his gaze, her expression turning clouded. "There is another Vârcolac on European soil and I don't mean Rayne. He is lost and afraid, and he is so damaged that we fear for what will happen here in your world, Joshua. He is lethal and he is invisible. He has only one goal in his mind and he will scythe through whoever, and however many it takes to reach that goal. There is a monster walking among you and none of you can see him. I am here to track him and try to convince him to come home."

"The Justice Seeker..." he whispered, dread sending a shiver down his spine. "He's here already? We thought we had more time..."

Dara made a choked sound, confusion crossing her face at the fear she saw on Joshua's. How could they know about Kothari? It didn't make sense. "The what? I don't understand what you mean. You've seen him? When? What direction did he go in?" If they'd seen him then she had to get moving, had to start tracking...

Joshua shook his head, his hand clenching in a fist to stop from reaching for his phone to call Dante. He needed more information and Dara had that knowledge. The question was, how much should he reveal to her? He knew she could probably dig deeper into his mind and find the information, but she'd appeared satisfied with finding Dante that she hadn't gone any deeper. There was still the possibility he could keep Mila's identity a secret, but did he really need to? Dante would feel betrayed if revealed her existence to anyone. He would never trust him again...

"Just tell me what you feel comfortable with, Joshua."

Dara's quiet words made him feel ashamed that she had trusted him and he wasn't returning that trust. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, Dara, it's just...it's not my story to tell."

"I understand. Believe me, I was in two minds about telling you about Kothari, so I do understand. However, I do need to know what you mean by Justice Seeker. It's important to my mission."

Joshua rose and crossed to the window, staring out into the distance. Finally he turned, his gaze intent as he stared at the remarkable young woman watching him just as intently. "Let me make a call."

When she nodded, he left the apartment, putting as much distance as he could between them to ensure that his call would not be overheard. Tapping out a brief message, he waited for a response and then hit the speed dial button.

"He's here..."

"You're sure?" Dante Castillo didn't mess around with pleasantries, his deep voice clipped and to the point.

Joshua didn't take offence at his tone. His friend had difficulty getting privacy to talk so sometimes they had to get to the point as quickly as possible. "Yes. He's one of the Vârcolac, Dante. Dara called him Kothari, which makes him the son of Gard and Rayne. From the sound of things, he's gone rogue and he's on a mission to find his parents."

There was a long silence as the other vampire digested the information. "This Dara, she's Vârcolac too?"

Joshua nodded even though his friend couldn't see the gesture. "She's one of Alexei Romanov's daughters. She's here to try to bring Kothari home, but she's concerned and trying hard to hide it. Dara's afraid and that scares the crap out of me, because I've already seen how powerful her mental skills are. If she doesn't believe she can get through to him...Mila's vision is going to come true."

"No." Dante bit the word out before Joshua could broach the subject he was heading in, a low growl echoing down the line.

"You cannot tell her about Mila, Joshua. Find some other way to assist her, but you do not endanger Mila under any circumstances."

"Dante..."

"I said NO!"

"If Kothari is tracking his parents' steps then he's coming for Louis and by default you. That means Mila is already in danger! Don't you think it would be wiser to have someone Kothari trusts on our side? You were the one who said Mila was really shook up by the vision she had, that we need to find some way to temper the Justice Seeker."

Silence greeted Joshua's words again and, for a moment, he thought his friend was going to terminate the call, and then he heard a long, weary sigh. "I will protect her, Joshua. You do what you need to on your end and leave Mila to me. I mean it. Do not mention her to this Dara, or you and I will have a serious problem, my friend. I hope I am perfectly clear on this."

Joshua sighed too, frustration riding him hard. He could understand his friend's need to protect the woman he loved, but he wasn't seeing the bigger picture. If he thought he could take on one of the Vârcolac, he was going to be in for a very rude shock. One that could cost him his life and possibly Mila's too.

"I think this is the wrong move, Dante, but I will abide by your decision. If you see this Kothari...do not antagonise him, and do not underestimate him. He may be but a boy to us but he is lethal from what Dara's told me. Do not allow overconfidence to cost you your life."

"Understood. Now I have to go and speak to Mila. Keep me updated on anything else you find out."

The call ended, and Joshua raked a hand through his dark blond hair. He'd hoped for another outcome but he'd have to work with what he could say as opposed to what he wanted to say. Heading back inside, he found Dara staring out the window, mirroring the position he had stood in not too long before.

"I can't tell you everything, Dara, I'm sorry. What I can tell you is that there is one among us who has foreseen the coming of one called The Justice Seeker. They have prophesied that the world will swim in blood unless one can be found who will temper his fury."

Dara watched him silently for a long moment, processing what he'd said. Annie was a seer, or rather, Anakatrine was. She'd never heard of another but then, they didn't know half of what went on in Europe. They already had plenty of indication that the European vampires had enhanced mental skills their counterparts stateside didn't pay any attention to. To find out there was a powerful seer in Europe wasn't really all that surprising.

"This seer - they are of no threat to this mission or anyone Caleb holds dear?" she finally asked, watching his expression closely. She was fairly certain of the answer but needed to ask it anyway.

"None, whatsoever."

"Okay, then for now, I don't need to know anything further about the seer's identity, Joshua. I do need to know about the vision though as it could be important. And I need to know if anyone was able to track Kothi when he landed, before he shadowed his existence. We can probably do that on the road to where you took Gard and Rayne when they arrived."

Joshua frowned, surprised she didn't want to try to track her friend from the airport. Kothari hadn't come looking for him, therefore the likelihood the other male would have found the burnt out cottage on his own appeared remote, so surely trying to trace him from the airport would have made sense? He didn't argue with her though, simply held the apartment door open and locked up behind them.

"There was no sign of

Simon Ducat

once he landed. It's as if he vanished into thin air."

Dara sighed quietly, not the least surprised by the news. "He did. He would have shadowed himself as soon as he was able to without anyone seeing him. He would have scented his parents there too and followed that scent. I could detect a lingering aftereffect of their passage through the airport, and Kothi's senses where they are concerned is much more attuned than mine."

She climbed back into the beat-up van, waiting for him to start the engine and head in the direction he'd taken the missing couple. "Just because you didn't see him, Joshua, that doesn't mean that Kothari did not find you and follow you to see what you knew and determine if you were a threat."

Her quiet words sent a shiver of dread down Joshua's spine, his hands clenching on the steering wheel. Where had he been that day? Who had he met with, what had they discussed? Just the thought of possibly having a psychotic ghost tailing his every move was enough to make him want to backtrack his earlier movements to ensure that everyone was safe.

"He could still be here?" he finally asked, once he could modulate his tone to hide his unease.

"No, he's hours ahead of me by now," Dara answered, another sigh escaping. "The Vârcolac can't shadow themselves from each other. That is why it had to be one of us that came to try to find Kothi. He would be invisible to most others, except the Triumvirate, his parents, or our Alphas. He cannot hide from me."

There was some relief in knowing that the Justice Seeker had passed him by, if he had in fact come looking for him in the first place. Still, Joshua made a mental note to change the safe house locations he'd visited earlier as he started the engine and retraced his steps once again, heading towards the ill-fated cottage that had been the start of the current chain of events.

*****

Mila halted all movement, her senses alerted to a barest of sounds off to her left. Perched in the highest point of a large oak tree, she turned her sightless eyes in the direction she had heard the sound, hoping for some movement to give her extraordinary vision an opportunity to determine who else was out in the depths of the forest.

The briefest flash of movement, and then her lips tilted into a small smile. A handful of seconds later Dante appeared at her side, his breath warm against the side of her face. "You startled me. I thought we weren't meeting up until tomorrow. " Not that she wasn't pleased to see him, she always felt a sense of contentment whenever her friend was near.

"I didn't think you'd want me calling you while you were tracking, and I needed to speak to you right away," he replied, affection in his voice making her smile widen further. "Are you any closer to finding the wolf pack?"

Mila had been roaming further and further away from her base of the cave trying to find a specific wolf pack, though pack was a loose term for the shifter community in Europe. With the chance of being attacked by the vampire covens, packs were usually small, sometimes as small as a handful of people, never normally more than thirty in any group. Finding any one group wasn't an easy task at the best of times. Finding this particular pack was proving problematic.

All Mila's vision had given her was an image of a young human girl. She had seen the girl clearly and sensed wolves surrounded her, but the actual location or any clear defining imagery of the pack was missing. It made her task particularly hard, its urgency screaming at her to succeed as quickly as possible. The Justice Seeker was coming and if her vision rang true, then finding this girl was the only thing that would temper the bloodletting that was coming their way.

That Dante slipped so quickly into business talk sent a small shiver down her spine. Mila hadn't had any further visions since she'd had the one about the Justice Seeker, but sometimes a vision wasn't required to know events were moving faster than they'd anticipated. "He's here, isn't he?"

"Yes and we now know who he is too," Dante replied, a grim note to his voice. "His name is Kothari, and he is searching for his parents, Gard and Rayne. He's a Vârcolac, Mila."

At the sound of the boy's name, an image flared to life in her inner sight...short, dark hair, eyes hidden behind lenses so black that no light could be distinguished. Streaks of red slashed across the image, jagged cuts scoring across pale white skin. The tears healed the instant they occurred, being re-opened time and again in an endless loop. Rage...grief...the emotions threatened to consume her, bringing tears to her eyes.

"Oh Dante," Mila whispered, tears spilling slowly down her cheeks. "Such all-consuming pain. I don't know how any one person can live with it. We have to help him. We have to!"

Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her head to rest against the hard wall of his chest. "I thought we had to save our people from him, Mila. Now you say we need to help him?"

"Helping him is what will save our people. We need to help him find his parents; show him that he is not alone. The time for isolation is over, my friend. We must declare our hand in this silent war." She felt him stiffen at her words, knew he would fight her on this point. "Dante, you must listen to me..."

Framing her face gently in his hands, he brushed a kiss against her forehead to take the sting from his words. "No, Mila. Your safety cannot be risked, and by default, that means my part in this must be kept secret. Only Joshua knows the whole truth and he will take that knowledge to his grave. It has to be this way, sweet one. It is all I can allow. Please do not challenge me on this. I don't want us to be at odds with one another. I couldn't bear that."

She hadn't expected anything less, but she'd had to try once more. They'd had this conversation numerous times, more so the last few years than before. Always it came down to the same answer, Dante's complete rejection at even discussing it. While she understood why he reacted as he did, Mila knew it wasn't a position they could maintain much longer. Things were quickly escalating into a war that would rock the vampire nation to its very core. Manipulating events from the side-lines couldn't continue.

She would have to force his hand; there would be no other option. He would be angry with her, and while she didn't relish that prospect, she was willing to endure his wrath to get him to see sense. However, this moment in time was not the ideal point to do that, so she acceded to him, nodding her agreement, and turning her thoughts back to the task at hand.

"You asked if I was any closer to finding the pack with the human girl. I thought I had a couple of days ago but it turned out to be just one small family group travelling through the area. I will keep looking."

Dante sighed against her temple, his arms wrapping around her once again. "We're running out of time, Mila. Joshua is sure that Kothari will come looking for Louis as his parents did. If he doesn't like the answers he finds there...we could lose the strongest coven we have who may actually be on our side when this war you've prophesised comes down on us. We need to find the girl you saw in your vision."

"I know, Dante, I know. We will find her." She moved out of his embrace, reaching up a hand to brush his cheek gently. "If he comes to Louis, you must keep yourself safe. Do what you must to gain the boy's trust. Buy me some more time to find the girl."

"Anything you ask of me, you know it is yours, sweet one."

Her raised eyebrow brought a rueful chuckle from him. "Apart from an open declaration," he added.

He wanted to give her everything she desired, but his heart told him that the moment their part in events was revealed, his Mila's life would be in jeopardy. Despite wanting to save as many of their people as he could, that was just untenable to him. Nothing could ever endanger this beautiful woman who held his heart. He would do what was required to ensure her safety, even if it meant she was cross with him.