I heard sirens in the distance, maybe only a minute or two away. I looked to where Rain was—on our side of the street. He was tall, even for a vampire, and his face didn’t appear a day over twenty-five. The back of his black shirt was torn open from what was probably a knife wound that had already healed. Rain was carefully calculating his next move, focusing across the street at Spider. Based on my experience, this wasn’t going to end well for Spider.
“Kasiah and Morgan, stay here and find cover,” I ordered, taking control of this seemingly out-of-control situation. “Aerona, you’re with me.”
They both nodded. After what had happened in Madison, Kasiah and Morgan gained respect for Shadows and our abilities; they knew this situation had already escalated beyond what they could control.
With Aerona by my side, I took a few steps toward Rain.
“Rain,” I said in as non-threatening a tone as I could to avoid being beaten to death by an angry Shadow Vampire, “we need to get you out of here.”
Not appearing shocked that we knew his name, Rain glanced at us for a second, then turned his attention back across the street; apparently, he didn’t see us as a threat—not a bad first impression.
“I suggest,” he replied, still glaring at Spider, “you head back inside and finish your martini before you get blood on that fancy shirt.”
Considering his friend was being held at knife point, Rain spoke with an amazingly clear and calm voice. He was extraordinarily handsome; his facial features were sculpted perfectly to match his equally sculpted body. He could have just walked off the set of a fashion commercial. Rain had total control of his emotions, even when his friend was being held captive. His heart beat a slow and steady pace, and he did not take his eyes off Spider and his hostage.
A couple blocks up the street, two police cars drifted around the corner, driving as if filming a chase scene. Red and blue lights bounced off the glass buildings.
Without hesitation, Aerona conjured a twenty feet high wall of fire stretching across the entire street from building to building. The police cars came to a screeching halt in front of the wall of fire. Other than being eaten alive, people only fear one other thing—being burnt alive. The fire had to do for now, unless the werewolves had their way.
The inferno distracted Spider and his gang of misfits’ attention away from the vampire across the street. Flanked by a werewolf on either side, the troll stepped into the street, lifting its sword above its head. He was focused on Rain.
“You’re either with me or against me,” Rain said firmly, his eyes still fixed on Spider.
“We’re with you,” I said, wondering where that decision would take us. “You get the girl. We’ll handle these delinquents.”
Rain made the first move, attacking the troll low and knocking it off its feet. The troll went down hard, swinging the sword recklessly at Rain. Sparks emitted as the sword clanged loudly into the pavement, missing its target.
Rain was on the troll in an instant. His speed was incredible, literally severing the troll’s head from its shoulders. The troll’s body collapsed into a pile of dust and ashes.
There was no question; we had definitely found our vampire.
“Get the girl!” I yelled to Rain.
The werewolves, though stunned by the troll’s slaughter, were confident in their own abilities. They advanced fast as I pulled my hand high behind my head, then shot it out like a rocket, sending a blast of air hurtling toward the werewolves (like an afterburner of a fighter jet). The werewolves flew back, crashing into a parked truck with enough force to lift its side off the ground. Aerona wasn’t the only one that knew how to play with fire.
Despite the impact, the werewolves were back on their feet quickly. Their attention had shifted from Rain to me. My hands ignited with roaring flames, thrusting powerful bursts of blazing air down at the ground. I controlled the flames direction like two tiny flame throwers, raising one hand toward the werewolves. An explosion blazed one into a ball of fire, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes.
The other werewolf retreated around the corner—he’d be back.
“Nice work, little brother,” Aerona said, beaming.
We turned back toward Spider. The blue-eyed girl’s hand moved slowly up her torso, then down into the neck of her shirt.
“What the hell is she doing?” Aerona questioned.
She pulled her hand out from her shirt and raised it over her head.
“Don’t move!” Spider yelled, nervously gripping the knife at her throat.
Her hand opened, releasing a sparkling shower of dust that fell down like a million tiny diamonds. She was now only six inches tall, flying just above Spider’s head.
“She’s a fairy!” Aerona yelled excitedly. “I love fairies!”
As if Spider hadn’t seen enough, a tiny fairy now flew above his head. The look of confusion on his face could have won an award. The fairy’s small hand waved goodbye.
Rain used the distraction to his advantage, closing the space between him and his prey. Two other bikers raised their guns and fired at him racing down the street. Just as the muzzles flashed, my hands flew up in front of me, curving the two bullets around Rain and careening them back into the bikers’ legs. They both fell screaming in pain. I hadn’t done that in decades; I actually shocked myself a little by recalling the spell so quickly and not aiming the bullets at my own head.
Spider carelessly swung his knife at Rain. I didn’t necessarily want to watch, knowing how it was going to end, but Spider deserved everything he was about to receive.
Rain deftly dodged Spider’s blade several times as it sliced through the air, missing every time. Rain calculated his timing carefully, and at the exact moment, he grabbed Spider’s arm mid-swing and squeezed hard. I heard the bones shatter. Spider bellowed in pain as the knife fell clanking to the ground.
Rain wrapped his hand around Spider’s throat, slamming him against the red brick wall, leaving a crumbling dent. Glass shattered and fell from the window above.
“We need to get out of here!” Aerona shouted. “I can’t keep this fire-wall up forever!”
Through the wall of fire, I noticed more police cruisers had arrived. More were probably racing around the block from the other side.
“Rain!” I shouted across the street. “We need to leave, now!”
Rain picked up the knife from the sidewalk and slashed it across the left side of Spider’s face, leaving a gaping wound extending from above his eye down his jaw. The wound was deep, and blood streamed down his face and onto the street.
What happened next was completely unexpected: Rain simply turned away and left Spider bleeding on the sidewalk. I had never known a vampire from this world resist fresh human blood. To vampires turned in the Light World, human blood is an addictive drug; they lose control at even the scent of a single drop. Shadow Vampires, on the other hand, have control over their thirst for blood, and they only feed from humans when they require the strength human blood provides. Rain walked away from a fresh kill without even tasting a drop.
That meant only one thing; Shadow Vampire.
Suddenly, one of the burning cars exploded, rattling the nearby buildings.
“Troll!” Aerona yelled, her flames weakening.
A second troll had appeared suddenly around the corner of the same building that Rain had slammed Spider into. A blow-gun, most likely dipped in poison, was pinched between its ugly, cracked lips. A dart blasted out of the tube toward Aerona. She used her ability to speed up her perception of time to promptly dodge the high-speed dart that flew right into Kasiah’s shoulder.
Kasiah dropped to the ground instantly.
Rain hit the troll with the same force as he did with the last, knocking down. The troll rolled on its back and blasted a second dart. Rain, still on the attack, caught the dart midflight, jamming it into the troll’s eye. It let out a horrific scream. With one quick movement, Rain removed the troll’s dagger from its belt and slashed through the troll
’s neck; its head and body turned to the same cloud of dust and ash as the first one.
Kasiah lay motionless on the sidewalk outside the club as Morgan pulled the dart from her shoulder—she wasn’t breathing.
“We need an ambulance!” Morgan hollered, his eyes full of fear.
“There’s no time,” I replied, hoping that wasn’t true. “That dart was poisoned with a yaksha plant. Without the antidote, she doesn’t have much time.”
“Can’t you heal her?” Morgan asked frantically. “Can’t you draw out the blood with some magic or something?”
The fairy hovered over Kasiah’s forehead, assessing her condition. “Rain,” she said in her tiny voice, “we need to get her to the dock!”
Rain looked at me for approval. With no other obvious options, I nodded in agreement.
“It’s ten blocks down to the waterfront,” the fairy quickly informed. “There’s a yacht docked in the last pier. You can’t miss it. Meet us there.”
We didn’t even have time to argue. Rain lifted Kasiah as if she were weightless, and the three of them were gone in a flash.
It was at that moment I realized how much I cared for Kasiah.
Aerona dropped her wall of fire, exposing us to the police. I closed my eyes and pulled in all the energy I could handle. Kasiah’s sister flashed through my mind. The world around me went silent. Every street light and shop window went dark. All the police strobe lights went out, and their scanners and radios were silenced. When I opened my eyes, only the light of the moon lit the streets.
The police were disoriented. It was now or never. We moved quickly, staying close to the wall as we made our way to the end of the block and around the corner toward the waterfront. The spell had weakened me; I was stumbling and disoriented. Morgan and Aerona had to help keep me on my feet.
“A yacht?” Aerona asked, astonished.
FOURTEEN
The dock was quiet this time of the night. The pier’s lights glimmered in the tiny waves slapping against the dock. Exactly as the fairy had informed, a massive yacht was docked in the last pier. It was easily two-hundred feet long; we couldn’t have missed it even if we tried. The yacht’s name, Ember’s Star, was painted in large, dark blue script across the yacht’s stern.
The fairy, back in her human form, was waiting for us at the edge of the dock. Her eyes resembled tiny, blue lights, the same bright eyes were detailed perfectly in a goth fairy tattoo on her shoulder, complete with a trail of tiny, sparkling stars trailing behind.
“I’m Ember,” she said. “Rain and Kasiah are inside. Please hurry aboard. We’re about to cast off.”
“How do we know you can be trusted?” I asked, suddenly not so sure this was the best idea.
“You can either get your asses on board,” she said firmly, “or wave goodbye as we pull away from the dock. Either way, this yacht will be cruising through the bay in less than a minute, so please choose quickly.”
At this point, we had no choice but to trust Ember; besides, it wasn’t every day a fairy and a vampire invited me out for a night cruise on their multimillion dollar yacht. We boarded.
As soon as we were aboard and the ramp was raised, an exceptionally loud horn sounded as the yacht began to cast away from the dock. The vessel seemed even more massive as we followed Ember across the main deck through a large, impressive sitting area complete with white leather couches and other expensive furniture. The doorways were trimmed with lavish, deep auburn hardwood, and both sides of the room were made entirely of tinted glass, allowing a panoramic view of the water.
We followed Ember downstairs one level to the lower deck along a narrow hallway with doors on either side. The layout looked a lot like a typical hotel. Ember stopped at the last room and opened the door. Inside, Kasiah was seated on the bed, her eyes open and alert.
“I thought we had lost you,” Morgan said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“I think you did,” Kasiah said softly.
She placed a hand on her temple. “My head is throbbing, but other than that I’m fine. I don’t remember anything after seeing the second troll.”
“You were struck by a poisoned dart,” I explained, hoping my voice didn’t show how amazed I was that she was, in fact, still breathing. “You have no idea how lucky you are to be alive.”
“You must be Aeron,” Ember said, pouring Kasiah a glass of water from the bedside table. “Kasiah woke up on the way to the yacht, gasping for breath and calling your name.”
“Yes,” was all I said. I didn’t feel comfortable giving any more information than that.
“We’ll have time for proper introductions later,” Ember added, walking to the door. “Welcome aboard Ember’s Star. There’s a room for each of you down the hall. Take a few minutes and get cleaned up before we meet on the main deck to discuss the night’s events.”
“Where are we headed?” I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.
“I’ve instructed the captain to sail us into Canadian waters as soon as possible. Lake Erie is big enough for even this yacht to hide. Don’t worry, you’re safe with us.”
“Is Rain on board?” I asked, again unsure if I wanted the answer.
“Yes,” she nodded, “and he’s very interested in knowing who you are and why you were at the club tonight. For now, please make yourselves at home. I’ll see you on the main deck shortly.”
Ember left the room.
I turned to Kasiah. “You know you should be dead, right?” I said, bluntly.
“Funny,” she replied. “That’s exactly what Ember told me. I remember seeing the troll, then blackness, then waking up being carried by a vampire. For lack of a better phrase, I freaked out. Ember calmed me down and gave me the short version of what had happened. She told me you were on your way. Honestly, I didn’t know whether to believe them or not. Though, it didn’t seem like I had a choice in the matter.”
“I’ve never seen anyone survive a yaksha dart without the antidote,” I said. “Even with the antidote, there’s no guarantee. I think maybe Amy was looking after you on this one.”
I instantly regretted bringing Kasiah’s sister into the conversation. A tear rolled down her cheek, and she hung her head low.
“We’re just glad you’re safe,” I said, trying to redeem myself. “You gave us quite a scare. Maybe you should work on your dart dodging skill?”
My humor was a poor attempt at trying to make Kasiah smile, but it still worked. She lifted her head and sniffled a little. Her beautiful smile returned.
“I have to admit,” Aerona interjected, cracking a smile. “I was a little upset that you were dead.” Aerona pinched her finger and thumb close together. “Only a little.”
Kasiah returned Aerona’s smile.
“Let’s get cleaned up and find Rain,” Morgan suggested.
“I second that,” Aerona added.
Morgan and Aerona left the room.
I walked over to the edge of Kasiah’s bed, unsure what I could do to comfort her. She scooted over to the edge and pulled me close, burying her head in my chest—as she broke crying.
After several minutes, Kasiah let go and asked if I could stay in her room while she took a quick shower; she didn’t feel comfortable being alone.
I collapsed in a chair next to the king-size bed, closed my eyes, and listened to the shower stream playing a rhythmic tune against Kasiah’s body on the other side of the bathroom door. I was going to sleep for a month once this nightmare was over.
I forced my eyes open and sat up in the chair when the shower shut off and the bathroom door opened. Wet strands of dark hair hung in Kasiah’s face as she walked out wearing a fluffy white towel, the top neatly tucked in. She looked so innocent and beautiful.
“Thank you so much for staying,” she said, brushing a few wet strands of hair from her face. “Something about being on a yacht in the middle of nowhere with a vampire just doesn’t make a shower relaxing.”
“It was my pleasure,” I said, as thou
gh I was a total idiot.
A knock at the door saved me from further embarrassment. Kasiah retreated behind me, still in nothing more than a towel.
“Who is it?” I asked loudly, knowing it was Aerona. I felt her walk up to the door seconds before the knock. I knew she must have felt me as well, or maybe she thought I was in the next room over.
“It’s me,” Aerona replied. “I was thinking maybe Kasiah could use some company. Sorry, I’ll come back.”
“It’s OK,” I said. “Come in.”
Aerona slowly opened the door, covering her eyes as she walked in.
“Aren’t you the comedian,” I said sarcastically.
Aerona was quick on her feet. “Well, the last thing I want to see is my brother naked,” she said wryly.
“Well,” I continued, showing Aerona my best I’m-not-amused expression, “now that I’m completely embarrassed, I’ll go find a room to get a quick shower.”
“Make it a cold shower,” Aerona smiled.
I sought out a room and a shower—my face burning with embarrassment.
The spray of hot water relaxed me more than I thought was possible. Unfortunately, it was over too soon. The bed looked entirely too inviting as I stood drying my hair; I dared not try it on for size. I dressed and headed upstairs to meet everyone else.
Kasiah stood alone at the top of the stairs to the main deck, her eyes lost overlooking the moonlight glistening in the waves.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I remarked.
“Incomparable,” she whispered.
The yacht was moving fast for a vessel of this size. I could no longer see the city lights, and I’m not going to lie, it bothered me. The moon was bright and full, and twinkling stars filled the clear night sky. The crests of the small waves reflected the moon’s glow, creating a never-ending light show. The only sounds were a slight hum from the yacht’s engines along with the rhythmic splashes as the bow cut through the waves. It was actually very peaceful out here in the middle of nowhere. We stood there for several minutes, enjoying the view.
The Blood of a Stone Page 10