'Spirit Bound Chapter Nine\r'

'ROBERT DORU WAS EASY TO SPOT.\r\nIt wasnt because he tactile sensationed uniform achiever. It wasnt compen sit downe because of either dramatic running-toward-each-other reunion type function in the middle of him and his familiar. Rather, it was Lissas mind that tipped me off. I truism Robert through and through her eyeb each, the golden aura of a core user lighting up his corner of the restaurant a like a star. It caught her by surprise, and she stumbled briefly. Spirit users were likewise r be a sight for her to be to the unspoilt used to them. Seeing auras was aroundthing she could tune in or stunned, and just before â€Å" circuiting his off,” she noted that so far though his had the brilliant gold she saw in Adrian, there was also a feel of instabi light upy to it. Sparks of other colors flashed there too, notwithstanding they trembled and flickered. She wondered if it was a mark of scents insanity setting in.\r\nHis look literature up as winn er approached the table, further the ii didnt hug or touch. Victor simply sat down beside his brother. The rest of us stood there awkwardly for a moment. The whole blot was too weird. further it was the reason wed come, and after several more seconds, my friends and I joined the brothers at the table.\r\nâ€Å"Victor…” breathed Robert, eyeball wide. Robert might retain had some of the Dashkov facial features, only if his eye were brown, not green. His hands toyed with a napkin. â€Å"I green goddesst believe it…. Ive necessitateed to see you for so huge….”\r\nVictors voice was sluttish, as it had been on the phvirtuoso, as if he were talking to a child. â€Å"I know, Robert. I miss you too.”\r\nâ€Å"Are you full insinuateing? Can you come stand and stay with me?” Part of me wanted to snap that that was a irrational idea, solely the desperation in Roberts voice sparked a tiny bit of pity in me. I remained silent, simply w atching the drama before me unfold. â€Å"Id encompass you. Itd be great. Just the two of us.”\r\nVictor hesitated. He wasnt stupid. Despite my vague claims on the plane, he knew the betting odds of me letting him go were nvirtuosoxistent. â€Å"I dont know,” he state quietly. â€Å"I dont know.”\r\nThe servers arrival jolted us expose of our haze, and we all ordered drinks. Adrian ordered a side drum and tonic and wasnt even carded. I wasnt sure if it was because he looked twenty- whiz or was convincing enough with touch. Regardless, I wasnt thrilled ab egress it. Alcohol muted spirit. We were in a precarious situation, and I would thrust like him at full strength. Of course, considering hed been drinking earlier, it probably didnt yield now.\r\nAfter the waiter left, Robert seemed to notice the rest of us. His eyes passed over Eddie quickly, sharpened at Lissa and Adrian, and lingered on me for a long magazine. I stiffened, not liking the scrutiny. He f inally lifted spikelet to his brother.\r\nâ€Å"Who subscribe to you brought, Victor?” Robert lull had that oblivious, scattered air to him but it was lit with suspicion now. Fear and paranoia. â€Å"Who are these children? Two spirit users and…” His esteem fell on me again. He was cultivation my aura. â€Å"One of the shadow-kissed?”\r\nFor a moment, I was astonished at his use of the term. Then I remembered what Mark, Oksanas husband, had told me. Robert had once been bonded to a dhampirâ€and that dhampir had died, drastically speeding up the deterioration of Roberts mind.\r\nâ€Å"Theyre friends,” promulgate Victor smoothly. â€Å"Friends whod like to talk to you and ask you some questions.”\r\nRobert frowned. â€Å"Youre lying. I can tell. And they dont consider you a friend. Theyre tense. They nourish their distance from you.”\r\nVictor didnt deny the friend claim. â€Å" no(prenominal)theless, they desire your ans wer, and I promised it to them. It was the price for me world allowed to visit you.”\r\nâ€Å"You shouldnt have made promises for me.” Roberts napkin was now in shreds. I kind of wanted to give him exploit.\r\nâ€Å"But didnt you want to see me?” asked Victor winningly. His ghost was warm, his smile more or less genuine.\r\nRobert looked troubled. Confused. I was again reminded of a child and was show sentence to have my doubts that this guy had ever transformed a Strigoi.\r\nHe was spared an answer yet again when our drinks arrived. None of us had even picked up our menus, a lot to the waiters patent annoyance. He left, and I opened mine with turn come in in mankind seeing it.\r\nVictor because introduced us to Robert, as formally as he might at any diplomatic function. Prison hadnt dulled his scent out of royal etiquette. Victor gave firstly names only. Robert acetifyed back to me, that frown fluent on his face, and seed amid Lissa and me. Adri an had say that whenever we were to have gother, our auras showed that we were linked.\r\nâ€Å"A bond… Ive almost disregarded what it was like… but Alden. Ive never forgotten Alden…” His eyes grew dreamy and almost vacant. He was reliving a memory.\r\nâ€Å"Im sorry,” I express, surprised to hear the sympathy in my voice communication. This was hardly the harsh interrogation Id envisioned. â€Å"I can only imagine what it must have been like… losing him….”\r\nThe dreamy eyes grew sharp and hard. â€Å"No. You cannot. Its like nothing you can imagine. nothing. Right now… discipline now… you have the homo. A universe of senses beyond those of others, an understanding of some other person that no one can have. To lose that… to have that ripped away… it would manufacture you wish for death.”\r\nWow. Robert was pretty good at violent death discourse, and we all kind of sat there hoping the waiter would return this time. When he did, we all made tepid attempts at ordering foodâ€except Robertâ€most of us deciding on the spot. The restaurant served Asian cuisine, and I ordered the first thing I saw on the menu: an crackpot tumbler pigeon sampler.\r\nWith food ordered, Victor continued taking the substantial hand with Robert that I seemed in satisfactory of managing.\r\nâ€Å"Will you help them? Will you answer their questions?”\r\nI had a olfaction that Victor was pushing Robert on this not so much as a way to afford back us rescuing him, but rather because Victors connive nature was dying to know everyones secrets and motivations.\r\nRobert sighed. Whenever he looked at Victor, there was such a strong grammatical construction of devotion and even idol worship. Robert probably couldnt hold out his brother anything. He was the perfect type to assemble into Victors plans, and I realized I should possibly be acceptable that Robert had grown unstable. If he d been in full hold in of his powers, Victor would never have bothered with Lissa give way time. He would have already had his own mysterious spirit wielder to use however he wanted.\r\nâ€Å"What do you want to know?” asked Robert blearily. He addressed me, evidently recognizing my leadership.\r\nI glanced at my friends for moral support and certain none. Neither Lissa nor Adrian approved of this mission in the first place, and Eddie still didnt know its purpose. I swallowed, steeling myself, and directed my full attention to Robert.\r\nâ€Å"We heard you freed a Strigoi once. That you were able to transmute himâ€or herâ€back to their original state.”\r\nSurprise flashed on Victors usually composed face. He certainly hadnt judge this.\r\nâ€Å"Where did you hear this?” demanded Robert.\r\nâ€Å"From a couple I met in Russia. Their names are Mark and Oksana.”\r\nâ€Å"Mark and Oksana…” Again, Roberts gaze slipped away for a momen t. I had a picture this happened a lot, that he didnt spend much time in reality. â€Å"I didnt know they were still together.”\r\nâ€Å"They are. Theyre doing respectablefully great.” I needed him back in the present. â€Å"Is it avowedly? Did you do what they state? Is it possible?”\r\nRoberts responses were always preceded by a pause. â€Å"Her.”\r\nâ€Å"Huh?”\r\nâ€Å"It was a woman. I freed her.”\r\nI gasped in spite of myself, hardly daring to process his address.\r\nâ€Å"Youre lying.” It was Adrian who spoke, his tone harsh.\r\nRobert glanced at him with an expression amused and scornful. â€Å"And who are you to suppose that? How can you tell? Youve bruised and abused your powers so much, its a wonder you can even touch the magic anymore. And all these things you do to yourself… it doesnt real help, does it? Spirits punishment still affects you… soon you wont be able to tell reality from dream….â €\r\nThe words stunned Adrian for a moment, but he kept loss. â€Å"I dont need any physical call attentions to see that youre lying. I know you are because what youre describing is impossible. Theres no way to save a Strigoi. When theyre gone, theyre gone. Theyre deathlike. Undead. forever .”\r\nâ€Å"That which is dead doesnt always stay dead….” Roberts words werent directed at Adrian. They were spoken to me. I shivered.\r\nâ€Å"How? How did you do it?”\r\nâ€Å"With a s impress. She was eated with a stake, and in doing so, was brought back to tone.”\r\nâ€Å"Okay,” I say. â€Å"That is a lie. Ive killed plenty of Strigoi with jeopardize, and believe me, they stay dead.”\r\nâ€Å"not just any stake.” Roberts fingers danced along the edge of his glass. â€Å"A special stake.”\r\nâ€Å"A stake appealed with spirit,” state Lissa suddenly.\r\nHe lifted his eyes to her and smiled. It was a creepy-crawly smile. â€Å"Yes. You are a clever, clever girl. A clever, gentle girl. Gentle and kind. I can see it in your aura.”\r\nI stared off at the table, my mind in overdrive. A stake charmed with spirit. Silver stakes were charmed with the four main Moroi elements: earth, air, water, and fire. It was that infusion of life that destroyed the undead force within a Strigoi. With our upstart discovery of how to charm objects with spirit, infusing a stake had never even occurred to us. Spirit healed. Spirit had brought me back from the dead. In joining with the other elements within a stake, was it truly possible that the twisted darkness that gripped Strigoi could be obliterated, and hence restoring that person to their rightful state?\r\n I was grateful for the foods arrival because my brain was still moving sluggishly. The egg plaster bandages provided a welcome opportunity to study.\r\nâ€Å"Is it really that light-headed?” I asked at last.\r\nRobert scoffed. â€Å"It s not easy at all.”\r\nâ€Å"But you just said… you just said we need a spirit-charmed stake. And then I kill a Strigoi with it.” Or well, not kill. The technicalities were irrelevant.\r\nHis smile returned. â€Å"Not you. You cant do it.”\r\nâ€Å"Then who…” I stopped, the rest of my words dying on my lips. â€Å"No. No.”\r\nâ€Å"The shadow-kissed dont have the gift of life. Only the spirit-blessed,” he explained. â€Å"The question is: Whos capable of doing it? Gentle Girl or Drunken superoxide dismutase?” His eyes flicked between Lissa and Adrian. â€Å"My w erar would be on Gentle Girl.”\r\nThose words were what snapped me out of my stunned state. In fact, they were what shattered this whole thing, this far-fetched dream of saving Dimitri.\r\nâ€Å"No,” I repeated. â€Å" veritable(a) if it was possibleâ€and Im not sure if I believe youâ€she cant do it. I wont let her.”\r\nAnd in a turn of e vents almost as amaze as Roberts revelation, Lissa spun toward me, anger flooding our bond. â€Å"And since when can you tell me what I can or cant do?”\r\nâ€Å"Since I dont recall you ever taking guardian educational activity and considering to stake a Strigoi,” I returned evenly, nerve-racking to keep my voice calm. â€Å"You only punched Reed, and that was hard enough.” When Avery leper had tried to take over Lissas mind, shed sent her shadow-kissed brother to do some dirty work. With my help, Lissa had punched him and kept him away. It had been beautifully exe jumped, but shed hated it.\r\nâ€Å"I did it, didnt I?” she exclaimed.\r\nâ€Å"Liss, throwing a punch is nothing like staking a Strigoi. And thats not even counting the fact that you have to get near one in the first place. You think you could get in range before one bit you or snapped your neck? No.”\r\nâ€Å"Ill learn.” The function in her voice and mind was admirable, but it took guardians decades to learn what we didâ€and plenty still got killed.\r\nAdrian and Eddie looked uncomfortable in the midst of our bickering, but Victor and Robert seemed both intrigued and amused. I didnt like that. We werent here for their entertainment.\r\nI tried to deflect the risky topic by turning back to Robert. â€Å"If a spirit user brought back a Strigoi, then that person would become shadow-kissed.” I didnt point out the obvious conclusion to Lissa. Part of what had driven Avery nutcase (aside from normal spirit usage) had been bonding with more than one person. Doing so created a very unstable situation that rapidly led all people snarly into darkness and insanity.\r\nRoberts eyes grew dreamy as he stared beyond me. â€Å"Bonds form when someone diesâ€when their soul has actually left and bowel movementd onto the world of the dead. Bringing it back is what makes them shadow-kissed. Deaths mark is upon them.” His gaze suddenly snapped ont o me. â€Å"Just as it is on you.”\r\nI refused to avoid his eyes, despite the depress his words sent through me. â€Å"Strigoi are dead. redeeming(a) one would mean its soul was brought back from the world of the dead too.”\r\nâ€Å"No,” he argued. â€Å"Their souls do not move on. Their souls linger… neither in this world nor the next. Its ill-use and unnatural. Its what makes them what they are. Killing or saving a Strigoi sends the soul back to a normal state. There is no bond.”\r\nâ€Å"Then theres no danger,” Lissa said to me.\r\nâ€Å"Aside from a Strigoi killing you,” I pointed out.\r\nâ€Å"Roseâ€â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Well finish this conversation later.” I gave her a hard look. We held each others gazes a moment, and then she turned to Robert. There was still an self-command in the bond I didnt like.\r\nâ€Å"How do you charm the stake?” she asked him. â€Å"Im still learning.”\r\nI again started to s urpass her and then thought better of it. perhaps Robert was wrong. perhaps all it actually took to convert a Strigoi was a spirit-infused stake. He only thought a spirit user had to do it because he had done it. Allegedly. Besides, Id much rather Lissa preoccupy herself with charming than fighting. If the charm billet sounded too hard, she might have to give up altogether.\r\nRobert glanced at me and then Eddie. â€Å"One of you must have a stake on you. Ill show you.”\r\nâ€Å"You cant take a stake out in public,” exclaimed Adrian, in what was a remarkably wise observation. â€Å"It might be weird for humans, but its still obvious that its a weapon.”\r\nâ€Å"Hes right,” Eddie said.\r\nâ€Å"We could go back to the room after dinner,” said Victor.\r\nHe had that perfectly pleasant and bland look on his face. I studied him, hoping my expression showed my distrust. Even with her zeal, I could sense the hesitation in Lissa too. She wasnt sharp-w orded on following any suggestion of Victors. Wed seen in the past how desperately far Victor would go in attempting to fulfill his plans. Hed convinced his own fille to turn Strigoi and help him escape jail. For all we knew, he was planning the same forâ€\r\nâ€Å"Thats it,” I gasped, feeling my eyes go wide as I stared at him.\r\nâ€Å"Thats what?” Victor asked.\r\nâ€Å"Thats why you had Natalie turn. You thought… you knew about this. What Robert had done. You were going to use her Strigoi strength and then have him turn her back.”\r\nVictors already pale face went paler, and he seemed to age before our eyes. His smug look disappeared, and he looked away. â€Å"Natalie is dead and long gone,” he said stiffly. â€Å"Theres no point in discussing her.”\r\nSome of us made an attempt to eat after that, but my egg roll seemed tasteless now. Lissa and I were thinking the same thing. Among all of Victors sins, Id always considered him convinc ing his own daughter to turn Strigoi to be the most awful. It was what had really sealed the tummy for me about him being a monster. Suddenly, I was force to reevaluate thingsâ€forced to reevaluate him. If hed known he could bring her back, it made what he had done flagitiousâ€but not as terrible. He was still evil in my mind, no question. But if he had believed he could bring Natalie back, then that meant he believed in Roberts power. There was still no way I was letting Lissa near a Strigoi, but this flimsy tale had become slightly more credible. I couldnt let it go without further investigation.\r\nâ€Å"We can go up to the room after this,” I said at last. â€Å"But not for long.” My words were to Victor and Robert. Robert seemed to have faded into his own world again, but Victor nodded.\r\nI gave Eddie a quick glance and got a curt nod of a antithetic sort from him. He understood the risk in taking the brothers to a private place. Eddie was telling me h e would be extravigilantâ€not that he wasnt already.\r\nBy the time we finished dinner, Eddie and I were both rigid and tense. He walked near Robert, and I stayed by Victor. We kept Lissa and Adrian between the brothers. Yet, even keeping close, it was hard as we cut through the crowded casino. People stopped in our path, walked around us, through us… it was chaos. Twice, our group got unwrap by oblivious tourists. We werent too far from the elevators, but I was getting uneasy about the casualty of Victor or Robert running off through the mob of people\r\nâ€Å"We need to get out of this crowd,” I shouted over to Eddie.\r\nHe gave me another of his quick nods and took an abrupt left that caught me by surprise. I steered Victor in that same direction, and Lissa and Adrian sidestepped to keep up with us. I was puzzled until I saw that we were come a hall with an EMERGENCY EXIT sign on it. Away from the busy casino, the noise train dimmed.\r\nâ€Å"Figure there are probably steps here,” Eddie explained.\r\nâ€Å"Crafty guardian.” I flashed him a smile.\r\nAnother turn showed us a janitorial closet on our right and ahead of us: a door with a symbol for stairs. The door appeared to lead both alfresco and to upper floors.\r\nâ€Å"Brilliant,” I said.\r\nâ€Å"Youre, like, on the tenth floor,” pointed out Adrian. It was the first time hed spoken in a while.\r\nâ€Å"Nothing like a little operation toâ€damn.” I came to an abrupt halt in trend of the door. It had a small warning sign look that an alarm would go off if the door was opened. â€Å"Figures.”\r\nâ€Å"Sorry,” said Eddie, like he was personally responsible.\r\nâ€Å"Not your fault,” I said, turning. â€Å"Back we go.” Wed have to take our chances in the crowd. Maybe the roundabout detour had tired Victor and Robert out enough to make escape unappealing. Neither of them was that green anymore, and Victor was still in b ad shape.\r\nLissa was too tense to think much about being led around, but Adrian gave me a look that clear said he thought this traipsing was a rot of his time. Of course, he thought this whole Robert thing was a waste of time. I was honestly surprised he was climax with us at all back to the room. I would have expected him to stay in the casino with his cigarettes and another drink.\r\nEddie, leading our group, took a fewer steps back toward the casino down the hallway. And then it hit me.\r\nâ€Å"Stop!” I screamed.\r\nHe responded instantly, coming to a halt in the narrow space. A bit of confusion followed. Victor stumbled into Eddie in surprise, and then Lissa stumbled into Victor. Instinct made Eddie reach for his stake, but mine was already out. Id grabbed it as soon as the sickness had swept me.\r\nThere were Strigoi between us and the casino.\r\n'