Valentina shook with righteous anger. Nicholae was certainly behind her death. She could feel it in her bones but she couldn't prove it just yet. And it was because she couldn't prove it that Osei and Semi let the scoundrel walk. Oh and his adorable son.
How dare he be happy when she was dead!

If it was proof they needed, then it was proof Valentina would bring back to the den.
She had slipped the picture she was tethered to into the Vampires pocket, with Semi's blessing of course.
And after that, it wasn't hard to follow the vampires from a safe distance.

She stared at the imposing mansion with a mess of emotions taking her inside on a roller coaster ride.
It looked even more daunting to her in the nighttime.
The were no stars in the sky and the moon was hidden behind dark clouds making the night pitch black. Except for the lights at the gates, there was no other source, not for miles. It all for the sake of keeping the humans from seeing what happened on the vampire grounds.

She boldly swallowed her fear lodged in her throat.
For some time, she'd been afraid to roam around this side of the valley. The fear of remembering something clashed with the hope of doing so.
She knew she was unto something and here it was. At the Manor.

Valentina couldn't see the mansion clearly from where she stood but her heart told her not to be afraid and her mind yelled profanities at her when her feet moved her beyond the guarded gates.

She had to mute the voice of wisdom in her head. She noted the warning bells, but she chose to ignore them because she wouldn't be a coward.
Nicholae was trying to get Semi just like he'd gotten her.
'Well buddy you gave another thing coming your way if you think I'll watch you hurt Semi.'

With a deep breath, she walked through the iron gates.
She reached the tall heavy doors and examined the familiar design. The jutting knockers were two heads of the ferocious looking gargoyles.
Their empty stone eyes bored into the depths of her being.
Valentina would admit only to herself that the gargoyles did a phenomenal job in scaring her.
Yes, they were just one more obstacle to overcome.

Once she entered the house, a flood of memories rushed at her. The memories came in fast sequences of flashes leaving Val confused and disoriented.
Why has she been here? And for what? What was her relationship with Nicholae before he killed her? Did she know his family?
For now she could only rely on her feelings to tell her the truth and as of that moment, she felt anxious.
She was a spirit no one could see and yet she was anxious. Something told her she'd always been anxious walking through the halls and corridors of the vampire nest.

The oldest surviving member of the Tchkovsky clan stood on the stairway throwing orders at the bumbling staff below her.
Nicholae's paternal great-great... so many greats- Aunt. Honestly Val couldn't recall the number of greats before her name. Val knew her as Sonya.

'Grandmama.' Niko raced up the stairs to hug his ... greats-aunt.

It was a picture perfect moment. The youngest surviving Tchkovsky and the oldest one. But that was not what Val was here for.
She was here to gather evidence against Nicholae, like they do in the crime shows Semi loved so much.

Sonya carried Niko and placed him on her hip. Yes, she could still do that. Sonya, refuses to age drastically as a vampire. Fun fact about the vampire lords and lady's was that they could choose how quickly or slowly they wished to age. Problem was they couldn't reverse the aging process. That was where the witches came in.
Sonya had chosen to stop growing at age 50 and she looked gorgeous. The lights reflected on her silver hair; the hair never lied. Sonya left it that color to remind her of her real age.
And how Val knew this too... she'd just chalk it up to guessing.

'Junior!' She hugged the child.
Nicholae roller his eyes at her and she also pointedly ignored him.

'Where have you been? I've been asking of you.'

'How would you asking of him save him if he were to be lying in a ditch dead. I thought I had people watching him.' Nicholae said, the anger was nearly concealed in his voice.
'If you'd been here instead of wild goose chasing darling, you wouldn't need someone watching your son.' Sonya smiled at him.
She slid Niko down and continued ordering her staff around.

'I thought he'd be a good boy. So I asked your staff to join me in preparing for the renewal of the truce with the Lynch clan.'

'But that isn't till next month.' Nicholae frowned.
Sonya shook her head in disagreement.
'We moved it to next week. Urgent matters are arising and should be taken care of immediately.'

Nicholae walked away angered by the news. Valentina cursed the evil man at his obvious evilness. He didn't want to have a truce with the Shifters, clearly. Why else would the news have angered him so much.

Valentina viewed the laborers from the top of the stairs. She wasn't interested in watching vampires and humans alike transporting what looked like expensive wine cases to storage.
It was hard to tell the humans and Vampires apart because they were all pale.

'You. Over there.' Sonya called a young looking girl from the busy line of workers below. She had a red scarf around her pale neck.
A big blue eyes stared up at Sonya. She quietly placed a hand in her chest silently asking if Sonya called for her.
'No not you. But you'll do. Go make sure Nicholae is fed.'
To Niko, she asked.
'Are you hungry?'
He shook his head and replied, 'I already had a bite.'
So the humans who wore red scarfs around their necks; it was the bold mark declaring they were potential food for the vampire lords.
The young girl bowed her head and disappeared no doubt through the servant quarters.

Val followed her to Nicholae's room. A great sense of familiarity slammed into her like a sledgehammer.
How was it that she felt as though she'd been here a thousand times already before.

The young girl entered after Valentina once she made three knocks on the door.
Nicholae wasn't in the room just yet so the maid stood by the closed door waiting.
Valentina on the other hand did no such thing.
She started looking on his desk stationed in the far side of the enormous bedroom.
It was much larger than Osei's old bedroom, twice as big. The monster sized bed took a third of the space.
Unconsciously, Valentina's hand reached towards the furry bed cover but caught herself.

This wasn't time for sleep. That even wasn't a possibility for her.
She peered over the decorative lamp to read the newspaper clippings from Shepherd's Creek.
It boldly read Shepherd's Creek Chronicles in all caps at the top. The title below was what really grabbed her attention.

Valentina glanced over at the human girl who was standing there like a statue.
She wouldn't notice a few papers moving around.

Conspicuously, she shifted the clippings so the texts were clear.
'Logans missing?'
Harris Logan must have gone into hiding after he realized his plan to kill Osei had led to the disappearance of his only child. His debtors were too many now, especially with his main source of capital gone.

There were other mentions of the mayor speaking of resigning after his failure to explain the dead bodies and the closing of the police department. It was all strange.

Apparently, Nicholae was doing a lot of digging about Osei. Who could he have spoken to?

She was lost in thought and her findings that she did not realize Nicholae had entered the room.

He waved his hand at the human who was supposed to be his blood bag for the night.
He stared at the apparition bent over his desk.
Her brown hair fell over her face obscuring his view of her face.

'Valentina?' He whispered in disbelief,
She must have been hearing things. She must be. Because it sounded as if Nicholae had mentioned her name.
Goosebumps covered every inch of her skin at the sound of her name. The lilt of Nicholae's English accent made the way he said her name seductive.

Valentina's eyes clashed with Nicholae's silver ones.
He rushed to her but simply went through her and hit the stone cobbled wall.

He looked up at her with shock filled eyes.
He quickly got to her feet before Valentina could even blink.
He took one step forward and she took one back.
It made no sense why she was afraid, after all she was a spirit and he couldn't hurt her.
Nicholae reached out to touch her face. His fingers touched nothing but space.

'You're either a ghost, or I must have finally lost my damn mind.'
Valentina could do nothing but frown at the unshed tears in his eyes.

Then in a split second his eyes turned cold.
'What witchcraft is this?'
He bared his fangs at Valentina and hissed.

She should never forget that this was what he was, a unstable monster. And here was the evidence.