Morgan handed his phone to Aerona reluctantly.
“Now you’re telling me there’s a hotline number for Shadow Vampires?” Morgan asked.
“Hardy har har,” Aerona mocked, not amused. “I’m searching the net to see when and where Kate’s Mind is playing. I’ve heard this vampire follows that band wherever they go. He doesn’t miss a show. Find the band, find the vampire.”
Kasiah interweaved her hand slowly with mine. My heart skipped a beat the moment her skin touched mine.
“Amy’s gone,” she said, “and there’s nothing I can do to bring her back. I’m not asking if I can come with you, but you are taking me. We’re going to stop this madman before anyone else loses a sister. And when we find him, the one that stole my sister’s life, he’s mine.”
“Hah!” Aerona exclaimed. “Who’s up for a road trip? What luck! Kate’s Mind is playing in Erie, Pennsylvania tomorrow! I’ll take this as a good sign. It’s only ten hours from here.”
“Does this mystery vampire have a name?” Kasiah asked.
“He certainly does,” Aerona said, still scrolling through the internet, “Rain.”
TEN
“Did you know that tonight is my twentieth Kate’s Mind concert?” Ember asked.
“I stopped keeping track of mine after fifty,” Rain replied.
“I think that makes you an official band stalker,” Ember laughed. “Maybe you can get your picture posted on watchdog.com or something.”
Rain squinted his eyes and smiled at Ember. The two of them became close friends after Rain had saved Ember from nearly being raped—and probably killed—by the Lucky Thirteen motorcycle club in Tulsa a couple years earlier.
Ember was quick to fly away that night in Tulsa. Her intentions were to never run into another vampire, ever. She was grateful for everything Rain had done to save her, but Ember wanted to keep as much of her blood inside her body as possible. However, fate had another plan for her.
Two months later, Ember was at an art school in Scottsdale, Arizona, when she saw a flyer for Kate’s Mind. Even though her first time at the band’s concert ended with the brutal murder of two motorcycle club members, it was a risk she was willing to take to see the band again. Since her last Kate’s Mind concert, Ember had purchased as much of the band’s music as she could get her hands on, playing it over and over on an endless loop. She was addicted to their music.
The next night, Ember stood outside the club, staring up at Kate’s Mind, Tonight only! spelled out on the marquee. She took a deep breath, paid the cover charge, and walked in. She scanned the club for any sign of the Lucky Thirteen club: patches, jackets, hats, or tattoos. She didn’t see any. She was still on guard though, considering her powers were limited when she was in human form. As a precautionary measure, she decided to keep her fairy dust pouch safely tucked away in her bra, in case someone nabbed her purse again. She wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.
The club was buzzing with anticipation for the band to start. It felt good to be out again with normal people. She walked up to the bar and ordered a drink, and that’s when a hand brushed against her butt. She had been to enough clubs to know it wasn’t an accident.
“What’s a beautiful girl like you doing here all alone?” said the man behind her.
Ember froze. She cursed her mother for her good looks. Here we go again, she thought. I’ve only been here for two damn minutes.
“Touch my girlfriend again,” said another man from behind Ember, “and I’ll break every bone in your body, slowly, so you can hear each one crack.”
Ember immediately recognized the voice. It was etched permanently into the back of her mind—Rain. She turned around and met Rain’s eyes. He was standing face to face with the creepy ass-grabber guy. Ember wasn’t looking forward to getting this guy’s blood on her new shirt.
Several seconds passed by before the creepy guy said anything in response; he was calculating his chances with Rain. “You can have her,” he said, backing away into the crowd. “There’s plenty more from where she came from.”
“Somehow,” Rain said, paying for Ember’s drink, “I doubt there’s more than one of you.”
“It’s becoming a full-time job,” Ember smiled, breathing a sigh of relief, “you saving my life.”
“Well, the pay sucks,” Rain retorted, meeting her eyes, “but in this economy, I’m just happy to have a job.”
Ember smiled. Her brain directed her to run like the wind, but her heart told her to stay. She leaned into Rain’s ear. “I didn’t know vampires were rock star groupies.”
“I wasn’t aware fairies had good taste in music.”
They found a table and watched the concert together. Afterwards, they spent the night walking around town and talking until dawn. Ember was surprised to hear how Rain didn’t know much about the Shadow World. Apparently, he couldn’t remember anything about where he’s from, and he kept a low profile in the Light Word, except for when he’s saving fairies on the weekends. Sunlight never really bothered Rain, which surprised Ember, since that completely contradicted all vampire myths she had heard. He nevertheless preferred long sleeve shirts, pants, and dark sunglasses while anywhere near the smallest amounts of sunlight, which Ember didn’t mind. She enjoyed the black of night as much as Rain.
Ember got the feeling Rain didn’t want to talk about his past, so she didn’t push him to. She did, however, tell Rain about how she had spent the past few decades attending the finest schools in the country, collecting a mountain of degrees along the way. Rain was surprised to learn how Ember used one of her degrees, a masters in computer science, to jump on the internet train in the early 90’s. Her web-based company, the site or name of which she refused to tell Rain, kept her bank account more than full. It had been a long time since Ember had had someone to talk with, even if she did most of the talking. She had no problem carrying the conversation and continued chatting about her love for music, how her fairy dust pouch is never-ending, and that her favorite color is black.
Ever since their chance meeting in Arizona, Rain and Ember had remained close friends but not lovers. They enjoyed each other’s company and appreciated discussing their unique lives with someone who understood. With Rain by her side, Ember had her own personal vampire bodyguard.
This night, on Ember’s twentieth Kate’s Mind concert, they were in Erie, Pennsylvania at Flagship, a club where the band was playing for the first time. Rain and Ember were out enjoying the small city for a few days after spending the last couple weeks cruising Ember’s two-hundred-foot mega yacht from Florida up along the country’s east coast into the Great lakes, finally docking at Port Erie. The captain and the crew were paid well enough to never ask questions, and Rain took care of any loose ends along the way.
Rain and Ember were seated at a semi-circle booth under the rear balcony of the club, partially hiding them from the rest of the club. They watched as the roadies for Kate’s Mind finished testing the band’s gear—it was show time!
“Your heart is racing,” Rain said, noticing Ember was becoming anxious.
“They have a local chapter, you know,” she said, referring to the Lucky Thirteen motorcycle club.
“Well,” Rain said, grinning, “it’s been a while since I had to save that cute smiling face of yours. Some action might be a nice change of…”
Rain’s voice faded quickly as he fell silent. His eyes were fixed on the club’s entrance. He stopped breathing.
“What is it?” Ember asked quietly, her heart pumping rapidly. She knew enough not to turn her head around to see what had caught Rain’s attention.
Rain didn’t respond, nor did he move a muscle. His eyes were fixed on the four people who had just walked in, clearly looking for something—or someone. The tall woman with long dark hair wore a black t-shirt with white script letters “I Don’t Kiss Strippers” printed across the front.
“Four people just walked in,” he said, leaning back. “They’re searching the crowd for s
omeone.”
“Should we be concerned?” Ember asked, her anxiety heightening.
“No worries,” Rain said, calming Ember. “I don’t miss Kate’s Mind for anything.”
ELEVEN
The drive east from Madison through Chicago toward Erie was a nightmare. The traffic was six lanes in one direction, and all racing eighty miles per hour most of the way. It was completely out of control. Aerona insisted we were going to crash, keeping up with the traffic between toll booths. It was stress we didn’t need. I asked her to busy herself by surfing the internet for hotels. She reserved four rooms at the Ramada in Erie.
I spoke to Jess twice during the drive. She came up empty-handed on decoding the “blood of a stone will release them alone” riddle. She called one last time as we were driving through Cleveland.
“Hey, Jess,” I answered the phone, still frustrated with the traffic, “I’m only accepting good news right now.”
“I FOUND IT,” Jess shouted.
I had to hold the phone away from my ear so I wouldn’t go deaf. I think Jess knocked over her chair when I answered.
“I was poking around on the Pentagon’s main server,” she explained, “and I tripped over some files that led me to an encrypted site created by… are you ready, Aeron? Elves! Can you believe it? Real live elves!”
“As surprising at it may seem, Jess, yes, I do believe it. Please continue.”
“It took me a good three hours to break the encryption,” she said excitedly. “It’s wild stuff. I’ve never seen code like this before. It’s light-years beyond anything else—”
“Blood of a stone, Jess,” I interjected. “Keep on track.”
“Oh, yes. OK,” Jess said, hammering down on her keyboard. “Well, this site isn’t public by any means. It’s more of a mass storage server with remote internet access. There’s a couple dozen terabits of information stored on this one server alone. I found some scrolls scanned and stored digitally. Well, let me rephrase that, I found ancient scrolls that are almost a thousand years old. I also uncovered some financial information, business and real estate documents, personal records, and some unusual medical information. You name it, I found it. All their records. Real live elves!”
“Jess!” I yelled into the phone, making everyone else in the car look my way.
“Oh, yes. OK,” she continued. “I did a mass search on the site for the phrase ‘blood of a stone’ and found this…”
There was silence on the other end. I could hear Jess typing on her keyboard.
“OK,” she said. “Have you ever heard of a place called the Forgotten Shadow City?”
“Yes,” I said, exchanging an uneasy look with Aerona. “Unfortunately, I have heard of the Forgotten Shadow City. Go on.”
“OK. OK. OK. The Forgotten Shadow City is like totally ten times more secure than… umm… well let’s say it’s just easier to get to mars than to get out of this city. There’s some council that sends people there for breaking certain laws and blah blah blah. The interesting part is that the elves are involved, because they helped build a secret sort of back door to the city slash prison, just in case a council member ever found themselves sentenced there. Guess what the key is?”
“The blood of a stone?” I asked.
“Yes, Aeron! The elves built the door and sealed it with a spell, and it can only be broken by the blood of a stone. Hence, ‘the blood of a stone will release them alone.’
“So how do we get blood from a stone?” I asked, shooting Aerona a confused look to ask her if it made any sense. She shook her head no.
“I got booted from the server,” Jess continued, still banging on her keyboard. “I tried jumping back on, but they’ve already changed their security encryption. I’ll get back in, just give me some time. Elves! Real live elves!”
“Good job, Jess. Keep me posted and be careful. Elves aren’t as cute and cuddly as Hollywood makes them out to be. Let me know as soon as you find any more info. And call if you need anything.”
“Will do, Aeron. You guys be careful on your end as well. I’ll hit you back in a few hours. Bye!”
I relayed what Jess told me to everyone else in the car. “Does this mean anything to you, Aerona?” I asked.
“No,” Aerona said, thinking, “but I can make a few calls and see what I can dig up, now that we have a starting point. Damn elves. This day just keeps getting better by the minute… and by better, I mean worse.”
We arrived in Erie within ten hours of leaving Madison. It was eight o’clock in the evening. We stopped at the hotel only long enough to check in and have a quick shower. I was a somewhat concerned that Kasiah and Morgan would wear their FBI super suits and flash their shiny badges all over, but when we met in the lobby, I was surprised to see that wasn’t the case.
Morgan ditched his FBI suit for a pair of faded jeans and a blue untucked shirt. He looked good; I’m sure he could easily start a conversation with the opposite sex. He left the hotel lobby to pull the car around to the front.
Kasiah, once again, looked incredible. She pulled off the rocker chick style well. I was certain Aerona—self-proclaimed queen of rocker chicks—lent a helping hand, probably even throwing in one of her patent makeup sessions. Kasiah’s hair was let down, which darkened her eyes a few shades. Her black t-shirt’s low-cut, frayed V-neck was made to appear as though it had been torn open; it exposed just enough cleavage to appear sexy—very sexy. A pair of snug jeans showed off her toned figure. I confess; my eyes stole more than one look as we stood there waiting.
As for me, I had on my usual club attire, which was pretty much the same as Morgan’s. I threw on a black button-up shirt (untucked, with the sleeves rolled up one turn—a habit I can’t seem to lose) and a pair of slightly worn-in jeans with a small tear on one knee. It would probably be a surprise that I spend more time shaping my hair into a perfect rockstar-ish mess than any other hair style I’ve sported.
Aerona never had to try hard. Her makeup was always flawless, and her hair was always styled to perfection. She, of course, had on one of her many sarcastic t-shirts; this one was black with white script letters “I Don’t Kiss Strippers” printed across the front. I was sure it would offend at least one person at the club by the end of the night— and that’s exactly what we didn’t need.
“So,” Aerona asked, giving a runway twirl, “what do you think of your lady escorts for the evening?”
“Beautiful,” I said, catching Kasiah’s eyes.
She smiled for the first time since last night. Thoughts sped through my mind, wondering how she must have felt after losing her best friend and sister. I nodded my head to the side, motioning for Aerona to give us some space. She wandered over to a large leather sofa, leaving me alone with Kasiah.
“How are you doing with all of this?” I asked hesitantly.
“I’m OK,” Kasiah said, smiling but holding something back.
I had only known her for two days, but I could tell Kasiah’s heart was ripped in two. Her eyes filled with tears as she touched her side where the vampire had injured her. She was trying hard not to let her emotions show.
“I miss her,” she admitted, her smile fading. “I feel like a piece of me had gone missing. Amy died right in my arms, and I was helpless. I’ve spent my whole life training for that very moment, and I failed her miserably.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” I said, taking her hand. “That wasn’t a situation the bureau could have possibly prepared you for. I should have anticipated Atmoro turning more vampires, and it was my mistake thinking he’d be working alone. I shouldn’t have brought you in on this. I should have just compelled you and Morgan to go back to your lives, wiping me from your memory. This is my fault, and I know I can’t bring her back, but I will find a way to put that unbelievable smile back on your face.”
“You’re an amazing person,” she said, wiping her tears away. “I only wish I could have met you in a different place at a different time.”
I pulled Kasiah clo
se to me and wrapped my arms around her. She rested her head against my shoulder and held me as though she would never let go.
Aerona felt my heartache. I could feel her mood change as I glanced in her direction. She wiped away a tear, pretending to watch the lobby’s TV.
We headed downtown to Flagship, where Kate’s Mind were to take the stage. I hoped Aerona was right about a vampire fan who never missed their show. I had been trying to think of an easy way to convince a vampire to help us—I came up with nothing.
We walked in just before ten. The club’s main entrance, more of a hallway than a doorway, was guarded by a brawny bouncer checking ID’s and collecting the cover charge. The bouncer strapped wrist bands on us before we entered the main club area.
The hallway opened directly into a room with a full length bar down one side. The bartenders raced back and forth, pouring drinks and making change. The club was just as dark as every other club I had been to; and despite the citywide public-area smoking ban, the air was thick with cigarette smoke. On the bright side, though, the club was fairly small; if the mystery vampire was there, we would find him.
Kasiah leaned into my ear and said, “How about you and Aerona take a quick walk-around to get a layout of this place. Morgan and I will stay here by the bar and watch the door.”
It was too noisy inside to answer her back without yelling. Aerona and I just nodded, turned, and started weaving through the crowd.
An old, red brick wall separated the bar from a much larger second room with an elevated stage and a spacious open floor. The concert room was packed with waiting rock fans. Aerona had seen the band once at a small club in New York City and said they’re phenomenal. I secretly hoped we wouldn’t find the vampire until, at least, after the first set, especially if their singer was as good live as he sounded on their albums. I had to remind myself we were there to find a vampire and not to catch a rock show.
The stage itself was big for a club of this size. It was raised at least three feet off the main floor and spanned the full width of the room. Immense sound systems were racked on both sides of the stage, and massive lights hung from above.
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