Bruno stirred weakly on the couch without opening his eyes and muttered through his delirium:
"They'll… tear us… to pieces…"
Silence fell again for several seconds. Only the whisper in Ethan's head, that distant, indistinct one, grew slightly louder, as if the souls inside the stake were also listening to the conversation.
"Kill… kill… kill them all…"
Flash suddenly straightened up in his chair. His face turned hard, almost angry.
"Then we only have one way out," he said.
"We're not going to sit and wait for them to come after us. We need to strike first."
He swept a heavy gaze over everyone.
"We have to find Laurent immediately. Squeeze everything he knows about Gérard's and Anna's plans out of him. Get every last drop and learn more about Maria."
"And then…" Flash paused briefly, "we kill him."
Ethan slowly turned to him.
"Kill him?" he repeated.
"Yes. Exactly," Flash didn't look away.
"Because he's the one who started all of this. Laurent, that same bastard who set this whole chain in motion."
"He knew about Maria's experiments, about Gérard, about all the shit that's now flooding the news."
"If we leave him alive, he'll be the first to sell us out to Anna or come after Ethan himself."
Gideon nodded wearily.
"He's always been a rat. A big, smart, and very dangerous rat."
Flash stood up despite the pain in his side and walked closer to Ethan.
"We'll find him tonight in his huge house on the hill."
"While Anna is still gathering her forces, we at least have a couple of hours' head start."
He glanced at the stake, then looked Ethan straight in the eyes.
"This is our only chance. Either we get answers and kill Laurent… or in twenty-four hours, none of us will be left."
The room fell silent once again.
Ethan slowly tightened his fingers around the stake. The black lines on his arm pulsed harder.
"Then let's not waste time," he said quietly.
Flash walked over to the old kitchen table where a worn city map lay and jabbed his finger at a point on the northwestern outskirts.
"Laurent always hides out in his big house on the hill," he said confidently.
"An old pre-revolutionary mansion with high walls and security. He's got a lab, a library, everything he needs for his dirty little schemes."
"If he's not at his nightclub, he's definitely there."
Gideon raised his head from the floor, wincing from the pain in his side.
"Security? How many usually?"
"Four or five. But they're not vampires, just regular people. Laurent doesn't like sharing his territory with others." Flash gave a crooked smirk.
"He thinks it's safer that way."
Ethan stood by the window, still gripping the black stake. He listened in silence, his eyes already scanning the entire map.
"So tonight," he said quietly.
"Before Anna has time to pull all her forces together. I keep telling you, I don't trust that red-haired bitch," Flash added.
Ethan gave a slight nod.
He looked at the black stake, then at the far corner of the room where an old nightstand stood.
"I'll leave this here," he said suddenly.
"At least for a while, while we get ready."
He carefully set the stake in the corner, leaning it against the wall. The wood gave a quiet thud against the plaster. Ethan took one step back, then another.
On the third step, it felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.
Nausea hit him instantly. His stomach twisted into a tight knot, his vision darkened. His heart skipped a beat, then began hammering so hard his ears rang.
The black lines on his arm flared with burning pain, as if someone had run a red-hot knife across them. The whisper in his head turned into a roar, hundreds of voices screaming at once, demanding, begging, threatening.
"Bring us back… take us with you… bring us back, bring us back…"
Ethan staggered and grabbed the back of the chair to keep from falling.
"Shit…" he hissed through his teeth.
Flash was instantly beside him, catching him by the elbow.
"Ethan? What's wrong?"
"I… just stepped away… only a couple of meters…" Ethan rasped, trying to take another step.
The pain struck harder. Nausea rose to his throat, and the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. His legs turned to cotton, black spots swimming before his eyes.
The stake in the corner seemed to glow with a dull inner light and pulled Ethan back like an invisible anchor.
"I can't…" he forced out.
"I can't move away…"
He took a step back toward the stake. The pain immediately receded, the nausea vanished as if it had never been there. Only a faint burning remained in his arm.
Flash looked at him heavily, without surprise.
"Got it now? This thing won't let you go."
"As long as it's intact, you're bound to it. Everything you poured into it has now become both a weapon and a curse. It's rare to see an enchanted object…" Flash watched Ethan with quiet astonishment.
Ethan slowly walked back to the corner, picked up the stake, and gripped it tightly.
"So now I'll have to drag this thing with me even to the toilet," he said with a weak smile.
Gideon swore quietly from the floor.
"It's a curse, not a weapon…"
"Curse or not," Ethan looked at the black stake.
"Without it, I probably won't last a week if the hunt has really begun…"
Flash put a hand on his shoulder.
"Then hide it well. And let's pray no one finds out what you're carrying in your hand."
"Because if Anna or Michael realize you have a real prison of souls… I'm telling you, it's going to be bad."
Ethan nodded.
The black lines on his arm pulsed again, now perfectly in sync with his own heartbeat.
He adjusted his grip on the stake as if it had become part of him.
"Then in two hours we head for Laurent's house."
Only Bullet gave a soft squeak on Flash's shoulder, as if she too sensed that the night would be a long one.
Flash fell silent, but the quiet in the room didn't last even a minute.
Gideon, still sitting on the floor by the couch, suddenly sat up sharply.