The Blood of a Stone

by Richard Braine

  The crowd cheered loudly with excitement.

  The juggler’s pace increased every few cycles. Several times, he sent one torch flying behind his back or tossed another high out of sequence to make the crowd “ooh” and “awe”. He stopped only for a second to grab a fourth torch and began his act all over again. Each time, his juggling seemed to get faster and the torches higher. He started tossing two in the air at a time, holding two and tossing them while catching another two. Amazing.

  The crowed kept applauding throughout the act. The “oohs” and “awes” seemed to energize the juggler. For the grand finale, he walked over to a large plastic ball positioned near the edge of the circle. He tossed one of the four torches into a waiting bucket of water and hopped up onto the ball. He effortlessly controlled the movement of the ball with his feet, circling the crowd once, all the while juggling the three flamed torches. He finished with a back flip off the ball to a huge uproar from the crowd.

  The crowd cheered as the juggler walked around the circle collecting tips with his tattered hat held out. The whole act was stunning to watch. I wondered if he was from the Shadow World. I wasn’t sure how a fire juggling act could aid my vampire slaying plan, though I knew where to find one if needed.

  I moved on before the rest of the crowd could clutter the festival walkway once again.

  Pop Evil had just started their encore song Monster You Made Me. Mandi Perkins was coming up next, and my soon-to-be accomplice was somewhere in the crowd. She’s never missed a Summerfest festival, and Mandi Perkins was one of her favorite artists. I knew she was there—I could feel her presence.

  I scanned the crowd standing next to the massive stage. The band was halfway through the song when someone yelled in my ear.

  “WHAT BRINGS AN FBI AGENT TO THE WORLD’S LARGEST MUSIC FESTIVAL?”

  I have to admit, I jumped a little when I heard Kasiah’s voice, and my astonishment prevented me from thinking of a better response than what came out of my mouth: “I heard the food here is worth the drive.”

  Kasiah moved forward to stand next to me. She had traded-in her stock detective attire for blue jeans, a white tank top, and a slim brown leather jacket for the night breeze. Her hair was let down, and her perfume filled my nostrils. I still couldn’t quite place the sweet scent. I noticed the holster making a slight bulge at her right hip.

  “Did those fake credentials get you free admission?” Kasiah asked with a smirk.

  It’s not every day that someone catches me off guard. I quickly sorted through my mental spell book for something to get me the hell out of there before my wrists could be clasped in cuffs. There were far too many people there to pull off any wizardry. We needed to move away from the stage.

  As Pop Evil finished their set, the crowd started chanting, “One—more—song… One—more—song!” The roadies poured out onto the stage for set change, and the lights turned bright white. The crowd realized the band wasn’t coming back out, and the chant switched to “Mandi—Perkins… Mandi—Perkins… Mandi—Perkins!”

  “I’m sorry! I can’t hear you!” I yelled back, pointing to my ear. I motioned for Kasiah to follow me.

  We weaved our way around through the chanting crowd to the corner of a large merchandise tent that blocked most of the sound.

  “I’m surprised to see you here,” I said.

  “I bet you are,” she replied sarcastically. “I want to know what you’re doing here.”

  “To see Mandi Perkins,” I said jokingly, thumbing toward the stage.

  “Mandi Perkins? Did you want to show her your fake badge as well?”

  “Excuse me?” I asked, knowing what she meant.

  “Agent Wesley, that fake badge wouldn’t fool a five-year-old. Now, tell me what your involvement is with this case, or I’m taking you back to Madison in cuffs—real ones.”

  I accidently laughed a little. Kasiah squinted her eyes and opened her jacket enough to place her hand on her pistol. I was pretty sure she had used it before and was fully prepared to do it again.

  “Milwaukee is out of your jurisdiction,” I reminded Kasiah.

  “There are a hundred Milwaukee officers working this festival,” Kasiah said without taking her eyes off me. “It would only take one call from me to lock this place down. I’m asking one last time: what’s your involvement with this case, and why are you impersonating a federal agent?”

  The energy around me began to intensify. I could sense help had arrived.

  “That’s it,” Kasiah said, grabbing my arm. “You’re coming with me.”

  Then, in a flash from behind Kasiah, a woman’s arm swung over her shoulder. From the opposite side, a small blade pressed against Kasiah’s throat.

  “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t spill your blood all over this festival and smile while doing it,” the woman said, pressing the knife harder against Kasiah’s skin. “Oh and take your hand off that gun before you shoot yourself in the foot.”

  Kasiah held her place and remained calm, this clearly wasn’t the first time she’d been in a situation like this.

  “Do you really think this is the best way to introduce yourself,” I asked the knife-wielding maniac.

  “You can thank me later when you’re not spending the night in jail,” she spat back.

  I shook my head. This was going from bad to worse.

  “Just let her go, so we can have a proper introduction,” I said, realizing it was a poor attempt to pacify the situation.

  “Oh yeah, so this little rent-a-cop can shoot us both?”

  “You’re going to be calm and not shoot us, right Kasiah?” I raised my hands slightly, as if I was calming a child.

  Kasiah bobbed her head up and down.

  “OK, let’s put the knife away before Kasiah’s blood ends up outside her body.”

  “You’re going to need to do better than that, Aeron,” she said, tightening her grip on Kasiah.

  “Listen,” I said, still trying to calm her down. “People have been killed. They’ve been drained of blood. Kasiah’s a local detective who’s helping with the case. They’re close… real close… to catching the killer. We need your help.”

  My pleading seemed to be working. The knife was slowly removed from Kasiah’s throat, and she released her death grip.

  Kasiah spun around quickly and took a few hasty steps back. Her right hand dashed to her holstered gun. She didn’t draw the weapon because of the crowd, but she was all too willing to do so.

  “What the hell is going on here?” demanded Kasiah.

  “Feisty, isn’t she, Aeron?” the other woman said, her lips curling into a smirk.

  Kasiah didn’t relax or remove her hand from her weapon.

  “Kasiah, meet my twin sister, Aerona.”

  FIVE

  Kasiah pulled out her phone from her pocket and began dialing, keeping one hand on the butt of her gun.

  “Um, no calls, sweetie,” Aerona snapped.

  “You,” Kasiah retorted, removing her hand from her gun to point at Aerona. “Don’t move.”

  Aerona crossed her arms and ignored Kasiah. “Aeron,” she said, “control your little pet before I do.”

  My twin sister is tall and thin like me and has long, dark hair and sharp, threatening sienna eyes, which she often used as a weapon to control the opposite sex. As usual, she had on an inappropriate tight black t-shirt meant to attract attention. The shirt’s white letters read “Who Needs Tits… When You Have An Ass Like this.” Aerona dresses like a harmless twenty-something rocker chic, but beware, she’s capable of beating the hell out of a dozen marines without breaking a sweat. She’s also lethally trained in virtually every known form or fighting technique, and her knowledge of weapons is extensive—courtesy her Shadow Vampire ex-boyfriend. Her sarcasm toward Kasiah was just one of the many complicated layers of the warlock known as Aerona.

  “Just give me a minute. I need to get my partner over here,” Kasiah offered, waiting for Morgan to answer her call, “and
we can work this out.”

  “Tall guy with shaved head?” Aerona asked.

  “Yes,” Kasiah answered uncomfortably. “How did you—”

  “He’s not going to be answering his phone anytime soon,” Aerona said, cutting her off and giggling. Only Aerona would do so at a time like this.

  Kasiah’s hand flew back to her holster only to find it empty.

  “Looking for something?” Aerona joked.

  I was growing impatient with my sister; she knew better than to use magic around humans. “OK! Enough games!” I shouted. “Aerona, what did you do to Morgan?”

  “He’s fine,” Aerona said, waving off any concern. “Well, he will be fine.”

  My sister and I have a bond. It’s difficult to explain it, but we can feel each other’s presence and emotions, which was not always a gift we wished we shared.

  “I felt your presence here at the festival,” Aerona explained, “and wanted to surprise you before you could surprise me. So I made my way over to the side of the stage behind the beer tent, and that’s when I noticed you walking up and scanning the crowd. Little miss trigger-happy over here snuck in behind you. She was totally focused on you.” Aerona flashed Kasiah a smile. “Way to blend in,” she mocked.

  “Hey!” Kasiah shouted at me, clearly not amused by Aerona’s observation. “You’ve been using a fake name, have forged FBI credentials, and have a knife-wielding maniac for a sister! For all I know, you two are the killers! If I don’t see my partner in the next twenty seconds—”

  “Hush,” Aerona interjected, raising her hand and forcibly shutting Kasiah’s mouth with her mind. “As I was saying, I also noticed she wasn’t alone. I saw her partner back her position up by settling in near the bathrooms.”

  Aerona has the ability to perceive the world in slow motion. She could manipulate her perception of reality without adjusting real-time. She’s not a time manipulator in the sense that she could stop time for everyone, but she does have the ability to increase the speed of her mind and movements, making everyone else appear slower to her. This ability gave Aerona a unique advantage; she saw Kasiah and Morgan’s subtle movements out of time from the rest of the crowd. Her rare skill could be rather useful in a fight, since she could practically predict her opponent’s moves by speeding up her perception of time and essentially slowing down their actions.

  Although we both have amplified hearing, Aerona could probably hear Kasiah and Morgan’s conversations on their phones since she was focused on them and I was not. I had no idea they were near me. Their conversation blended in with the rest of the crowd.

  “WHERE. IS. MORGAN.” Kasiah demanded, blending aggression with her Midwestern accent, which I found increasingly and curiously attractive.

  “Calm down,” Aerona reassured her, “He’s passed out in a restroom stall nearby. He’ll be fine… well, besides a slight headache.”

  Kasiah’s anger flared up. “You little bitch!” she yelled.

  “Let’s move this cat fight somewhere else,” I suggested, looking around to see if anyone else had noticed us.

  “I’ll move when I have my gun,” Kasiah said sternly, “and answers.”

  “You’re right” I said, trying to calm Kasiah, “I’m not who I say I am, but you need to trust me.”

  “Trust is earned, not demanded,” she spat back, glaring at me. “My gun. NOW!”

  I pointed to Kasiah’s holster. “Look,” I said, “Your gun is at your side, and you can use it later if you don’t like what we have to say.”

  Aerona and I started walking toward an exit gate. We must have sparked Kasiah’s curiosity; she fell in step behind us as we walked away.

  “So, we’re going to ditch her and go have a beer, right?” Aerona asked, only half whispering so Kasiah could still hear her.

  I only had to say one word: “Atmoro.”

  Aerona understood. Her mood changed from playful and happy to aggressive and alert. Her eyes moved back and forth, scanning the faces of everyone around us. She used her gift to slow the world around her, or rather, she sped herself up. I already felt more comfortable having her by my side.

  We made our way back to my rental car. Kasiah refused to get in unless Aerona and I sat up front. She finally gave in and sat in the back with my car keys in her hand.

  “Who are you two?” Kasiah asked. “I don’t think I have to tell you that impersonating a federal agent is a felony, even if you use a poorly forged FBI badge.”

  “You have a fake FBI badge?” Aerona asked excitedly. “Sweet! Can you get me one?”

  “Yes,” I said in a low and embarrassed voice, “but apparently my forgery skills are a little lacking lately.”

  “I’m Aeron,” I said, turning to the back seat, “and this is my twin sister, Aerona. I don’t work with the FBI, but I have more interest in solving this case than they do. You and the FBI don’t understand the destruction this killer is capable of. By the way, how did you find me?”

  Kasiah gazed at me for a moment before answering. I wondered if her response was honest.

  “You never showed up to follow us back to the morgue,” she answered. “So, we called all three rental car services at the airport until we found the one you used—or Mike Wesley used—and requested your car’s GPS tracking information. We were only ten minutes behind you all the way to Milwaukee.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Aerona gave me a disapproving look for my carelessness for being followed. I made a mental note to disable the GPS tracker on any future rental cars.

  “You need to tell me why you’re impersonating a federal agent,” Kasiah demanded for a second time.

  I looked at Aerona. “We have to tell her something,” I said, wondering what that something would be, “or she’s not going to help us. We need some inside help on this one.”

  “This is your decision, little brother,” she warned. “The weight is on your shoulders.”

  I have always hated it when Aerona called me her little brother. She had used our age difference against me a thousand times over the last hundred years, and she still finds it amusing. Yes, Aerona was born a whole two minutes before me, which only makes her older— and more annoying.

  “You know what you’ll have to do when we’re done…” Aerona said, turning her face away.

  I knew what she meant. If I chose to give Kasiah any information about us or the Shadow World, I would have to erase her memory. The process wouldn’t be pleasant for her, and I can’t simply poke around in Kasiah’s brain and remove specific memories; I would have to remove her entire memory. She wouldn’t even remember her own name. When people wake up with amnesia, it’s usually because their memory has been erased by someone like us.

  “I’m aware of the consequences,” I said hesitantly. “Kasiah, I know who is responsible for the homicides. This isn’t someone you or the FBI are capable of stopping. Whatever he’s after—whatever he wants—he’s going to get it, and he’s not going to let anything get in his way.”

  “More lies,” Kasiah said, shaking her head. “How did you make me give you that video?”

  I ignored Kasiah’s second question and instead, took a few minutes to bring Aerona up to speed with the similarity of the victims’ names, the crime scene in Madison, the surveillance video, the nodule, and the display set to open at the University of Wisconsin.

  Kasiah’s phone started vibrating in her pocket. “Here’s Morgan,” she said, answering the call. “Yes, I know... No, don’t worry about that right now. I’m with them. Yes, them! No, everything’s fine. I’m in Wesley’s car. OK. See you in ten.”

  “I need to know what you know, Aeron,” Kasiah said, putting her phone away, “or I’m taking you back to Madison where we can finish this conversation with the real Feds.”

  Aerona let out a quick hah and smiled.

  “This is a two-way street,” I said to Kasiah. “If we’re sharing information, then I need to know what you have. Once you’re involved, this isn’t something you can simpl
y walk away from.”

  Aerona shook her head. She knew as well as I did that Kasiah and Morgan could never take us back to Madison. I didn’t want to admit it, but we needed help, and Kasiah drew the short straw—whether she knew that or not.

  I turned to Kasiah and looked right in her eyes. “The killer’s name is Atmoro,” I stated, “and he’s a vampire.”

  SIX

  “A vampire?” Kasiah questioned, raising her brow.

  Kasiah’s tone implied I was joking, and she didn’t look very amused. Her accent thickened as her anger and frustration intensified.

  “You two need to start getting real serious,” Kasiah warned, “or you can spend the rest of your lives sharing a cell with other people twice as crazy as you two put together.”

  “This isn’t a conversation we should be having in the parking lot of a rock concert,” I said, turning to Aerona. “Do you have a hotel room?”

  “Yes,” Aerona replied, “a suite at The Hampton. It’s not far.”

  “Kasiah,” I said, spotting Morgan stop a few cars away, “you and Morgan should follow us to Aerona’s hotel, so we can discuss this.”

  Keeping my car keys, Kasiah got out of the back seat and spoke to Morgan. He shook his head several times, but Kasiah was in charge. She returned to the back seat and handed me the keys.

  “Don’t try anything,” she said. “Morgan will be right behind us.”

  I started the car and backed out of the spot. Morgan’s vehicle fell in behind us as we headed out of the parking lot. Kasiah kept her hand on her gun for the entire ten-minute ride to the hotel.

  I introduced Aerona and Morgan as we waited for the elevator to reach Aerona’s suite on the top floor; he wasn’t very excited to have been knocked out by a girl.

  “Vampire?” Kasiah asked the moment we shut the suite’s door.

  “You need to have an open mind,” I said, before turning to Morgan. “Both of you.”

  “Vampires?” Kasiah asked again. “As in suck-your-blood vampires?”