Chapter 8:

Demyan's Awakening

Vampire Lanterns


Yan's brown hair turned raven black and his chocolate eyes began to emanate ice gold gray glare. Two bat-like wings appeared from his back. Demyan swung his claws after Luka, who dodged in time.
Luka brushed off his shoulder and sat next to Mirko in his usual human form. Both girls were stunned into silence. Who was Yan in reality? Their whole life was a lie. Demyan stretched his neck and limbs. "How much time had passed?"
Mirko pointed out to sit down. "Your Highness, please take a seat." Demyan sat down taking a glimpse at both girls. He still kept some of his memories from this life but also he regained his previous ones as well. He gave them a soft apologetic smile. Of course, Demyan didn't intend to mix strangers into his problems.
"You were gone 25 minutes. so Adrik sent us to seek you out since you took too long to come back. Viridi with his Goblins stands guard because the fractions united into one big rebellion and trying to prevent your return to our realm. I have to remind you, that you have only one hour for Petrona's revival. The halftime is almost over. We have to proceed to finish it as soon, as possible."
Demyan leaned into his chair. Mirko was right and he was glad that even Luka tagged along. So, what should he do now? Probably has to sell everything he owns, get some plane tickets, fly to the other side of this world, fetch the flower, and back into their realm.
Sounds easier than it is. Luka and Mirko don't own a passport. "We could help with the documentation for those two." Danica pointed out. Elena looked at her. "How do you want to do that?!" She smirked. "We will create their foreigner names and accidentally lose their documents in a fire."
Demyan looked at her with his human understanding. "Could be possible but aren't information stored now everywhere in a digital database?" Danica ensured everybody, who was present, that it would work. "My cousin is a hacker, let him do his magic." Mirko turned to her. "So your cousin is a mage?"
Demyan facepalmed and Danica with Elena ended up chuckling over it. "You can call him that." That plan was laid on the table, now came the time to make it work. But there is a chance that they will encounter Angelika, and they have to be prepared for that possibility.
Elena scrutinized Demyan's looks. His aura was completely different from "Yan's". She was attracted to him before, but since she learned about his fiancee and the mission, she respected that. Danica also observed him closely. He seemed to be taller, much better built and his hair suddenly was long.
"Where did your wings go?!" Elena was puzzled about that. Demyan turned to her with his back and his wings appeared from a little fog which appeared around his shoulders. Both girls clapped. They had never seen anything like this. So does magic really exist in their realm? Mirko turned to her.
"Yes, there are many magical spells and creatures around. But I would prefer your world, it's much easier here to live. Also, you are not that discriminatory about shorter guys, I noticed."  *wink* Elena turned to Danica. who later explained what he meant. They talked about it while waiting for her and Luka to return with Demyan.

Still, in the shadows of the night, they decided to relocate to Demyan's apartment. But there was one problem. Luka went for a little sniff around the residential building. He noticed Angelika with her henchmen near the entrance.
Mirko crouching in the distance with the rest of them began to contemplate. "How the heck can we enter your home without being noticed? I know you can fly, but that space is too open and too well-lit by the street lamps."
Luka returned from the little inspection trip, changing back into his human form. Demyan took a stance with his arms crossed. An idea crossed his mind. He pushed the chip from the entrance into Danica's palm.
"It opens every door of that building. There are three doors in a row if you can see. Go into this nearest to us and furthest for them. You will go down to the cellars turn left and open one of the windows for us to enter. They should be big enough for us to push through. Angelika thinks you are dead anyway, just put a hood on your head and go."
Danica wasn't really keen on it. She feared they would recognize her but in the end, collected all her courage and casually walked over to the door. The henchmen perked up but then, just brushed her off as a resident of that building.
The plan was working. All of them changed their position and one by one climbed into the cellars. Now there was one problem. Individual sections were blocked by iron doors with hanging locks. Luka just rolled his eyes. That wasn't a problem for him. He just ripped them off... as silently, as possible.
They tried to continue upstairs but Demyan stopped them. The stupid motion lights on the staircase. He opened the box, where all the switches and cables for the whole part of the house were, and ripped out the few for the entrance and stairs. "Now you can go but bent when you walk around the doors. They might see motion inside."

Demyan unlocked the door and walked in. It felt very strange. On one side, it was his home but on the other, it felt foreign and distant. Finally, they could relax and sit around the dark apartment. Demyan ran around pulling the blinds and curtains so he could turn on at least some smaller lamps.
The girls decided to cook something for everybody, Luka kept an eye on Elena. Warned Danica to not let her manipulate with raw meat right now or she might get berserk. Mirko was going through Demyan's books and at last Demyan sat down silently in his setee recollecting his previous... original life.