“I’ve seen vampires here that are driven mad by their thirst.”
“That is true,” I replied. “Those were vampires created in this world. They’re a copy of the original vampire who turned them. They have all of their weaknesses, yet, they have only some of their enhanced skills. Vampires turned here in the Light World have an instant thirst for blood. It’s like a drug to them. They’ll die without it.”
Rain was catching on fast. “So the Shadow Council became addicted to human blood?” he asked.
“Yes, several members,” I confirmed. “One, in particular, was Malance. He was one of the youngest members, and like I said, human blood is like a drug to Shadow Vampires. It can become very addictive if they don’t have enough self-control. My parents held secret meetings with a small group of Shadows to collect information against Malance and several others. They were planning to present the information to the council elders, and that’s when Malance burnt our home to the ground. My parents never made it out of the house.”
I paused, remembering the night my parents were murdered, which ultimately forced me to make a decision to jump to the Light World. And here I am, trying to save the world I vowed never to return to.
“Are you OK?” Rain asked.
“Yes, sorry,” I said, shaking the memories from my head. “Aerona and I feared the same fate for ourselves and we decided it wasn’t safe for us in the Shadow World. We jumped here, and I think we’ve done a good job of keeping our true identities a secret, which wasn’t always easy. Along the way, we’ve had to dispose of several careless jumpers who risked compromising our secret.”
“Like Atmoro?”
“Definitely not like Atmoro,” I said. “Most jumpers are simple-minded demons or young, reckless werewolves. They’re easy to track and easy to dispose of quietly. Atmoro is much different. He’s stronger, faster, and smarter. Atmoro has a goal that, from the looks of things, he’ll do anything to achieve.”
I could feel the gears spinning in Rain’s mind.
“I understand why the council prohibited unauthorized visits to the Light World,” he said. “They wanted to protect their world. But tell me why Atmoro jumped when he knew the consequences of his actions could expose the world he vowed to protect, and his actions could potentially lead to his imprisonment to the Forgotten Shadow City.”
“What motivates a madman?” I asked rhetorically. “Knowing the answer might make hunting him a lot easier. Atmoro’s jump to the Light World was a shock. See, long ago, Atmoro was one of the most skilled Shadow Vampires the council had ever seen—maybe even their most trusted. The council didn’t take his betrayal lightly and dispatched a massive hunting party to find him.”
“No one knows why he jumped?”
“The council keeps a lot of secrets. Maybe you’ll get a chance to ask Atmoro yourself. Well, has any of this helped? Do you remember anything about your past?”
Rain sat motionless. I wasn’t even sure if he was breathing.
“Is your name the only thing you remember from your past?” I asked.
“No,” he said, pausing, “I gave this name to myself. My earliest memory is me waking up in a forest. I was young, maybe five, lying on my back, staring up at a dark sky. The gentle sound of rain dripping through the thick forest foliage was the only thing I heard. I lay there for what seemed like eternity as rain poured down from above.”
Rain paused again. I couldn’t see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but I got the impression he was staring off into space, taking his mind back to that moment in time.
“Eventually,” he continued, “I stood up and started walking. I was lost in the forest for days. It rained the entire time. I was hungry and weak and only a few small animals filled my stomach. I hungered for something more. It was only when I came across a small village that my hunger was satisfied. I don’t think I need to explain what happened there.”
“I think I get it,” I nodded, feeling sorry for Rain. He had no one to explain what or who he was. He discovered everything on his own. It must have been a terrible experience.
“In time,” Rain continued, “I realized that this wicked, blood-craving curse had benefits. My strength was beyond that of any other human. I could outrun any animal in the forest. My body healed itself moments after being injured and my vision was clear even on the darkest nights. In the end, I grew into a man’s body and learned to deal with the cravings. I hunted only when necessary, and I learned to blend in with everyone else. For the most part, I tried to forget the monster that lived inside me. Every now and again, I would run into another vampire. They were usually much more aggressive than me, so I tried to steer clear of them when I could. I disposed of any that caused trouble where I was living at the time. Luckily, a few years ago, I met Ember. She’s the only friend I’ve ever had.”
Rain cocked his head to look past me.
Kasiah was climbing out of the pool. She patted herself dry and wrapped the towel back around her waist, waving quickly as she disappeared back inside the yacht.
Rain pushed his chair away from the table. “The sun seems to drain the life right out of me sometimes. It’s way too bright out here. Let’s go inside. I’ll show you the way to the library so you can access the net.”
“That’d be great,” I said. “Thank you for sharing your story. I wish I could be of more help.”
“It’s just nice to know someone else who can understand my twisted past.”
Rain’s past was truly a mystery, and I may have the ability to penetrate Rain’s mind to release some of his repressed memories. Although, I decided to keep that ability to myself… for now.
TWENTY-THREE
I glanced at my watch. 6:00 p.m. We had just passed Cedar Point Amusement Park on our way to the small island of Put-in-Bay about three miles off Ohio’s coast. Some of the roller coasters’ lift hills extended above the trees, and I wondered what the yacht looked like from the riders’ perspective. The closer we got to the bay, the busier the waters became. Numerous small boats were cruising the lake, mostly full of families out enjoying the nice sunny day. A few boats pulled inflatable tubes full of screaming children. The tubes bounced behind the boats, skipping over the wakes.
Ember’s Star was easily the largest yacht on the water. Morgan was right about the yacht’s size; it stuck out like a sore thumb. We towered above the largest boats in the bay. Several smaller thirty-foot cruisers, which on a normal day were the biggest boats in the bay, circled us a few times, taking pictures as we slowly navigated our way to the slip Ember had reserved earlier in the day.
I was fascinated at how incredibly agile the yacht was for such a large vessel. Underwater thrusters navigated the yacht parallel to the dock, and as soon as the yacht was positioned perfectly, the crew tossed and tied the dock lines, dropped the tiny walkway down, and sounded a loud horn. Our brief voyage came to an end.
The crew was on double watch now that that yacht was docked and more vulnerable to an attack. Ember gave strict instructions to the crew not to allow unauthorized persons on the dock or anywhere near the yacht.
I met everyone in the yacht’s main cabin, the one with those expensive white leather couches. Morgan was explaining our travel route to the airport; he had everything detailed in a small pocket notebook.
“It’s a quick ten-minute ferry ride to the mainland,” Morgan explained. “From there, it’s an hour’s drive to the airport in Cleveland. We won’t have to worry about airport security, since it’s a private flight. The jet is currently in the air and will be touching down in Cleveland within the hour.”
“What about Whisper?” Ember asked. “I haven’t heard back from him.”
“Whisper is on board,” Morgan said, reassuring Ember. “The jet picked him up from Maine this afternoon. He said he had a present for Rain.”
“Perfect,” Rain muttered.
“It should only take an hour to have the jet refueled and get us on board,” Morgan continued. “We’re scheduled to be in the air
and on our way to Montana no later than 8:00 p.m. As a precautionary measure, and to try and throw Atmoro off our scent, we’ve given a false destination to Cleveland’s ground control. We’ll initially head south toward Orlando, Florida, and continue flying that route until we’re off Cleveland’s radar. Then we’ll change flight plans and proceed to our actual destination, Missoula International airport in Montana. The overall flight time will be approximately four and a half hours, depending on the weather.”
Morgan did a great job presenting the information. This obviously wasn’t his first time prepping a team with a tactical plan.
“There’s a two hour time difference between Cleveland and Missoula,” Morgan continued. “That puts us on the ground in Missoula at 10:30 p.m. We’ve arranged for ground transportation from the airport to the hotel. Once we’re checked in and settled, our main objective will be to locate Jade, verify she’s a stone, and extract her from the city quickly and safely.”
“How exactly do we verify she’s a stone?” Kasiah asked.
“Aeron can take that one,” Morgan said, flipping the page of his notebook.
“Earlier this afternoon,” I explained, “Ember and I had a lengthy discussion on this topic. Other than witnessing some supernatural display of actual angel powers, there’s no real way of knowing she’s a stone. Right now, we’re basing everything we know on the information Jess had provided, which all indicates Jade’s parents may have been fallen angels a.k.a. stones. If we’re right, we’ll know soon.”
“And if we’re wrong?” Kasiah questioned.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” I replied. “There are far too many variables in the equation for us to be absolutely sure Jade is a stone.”
Morgan continued his briefing. “By the time we get situated in the hotel, it’ll most likely be too late to make contact with Jade. Aeron and Rain, you two will locate Jade’s place of residence. She rents a one bedroom apartment off campus. You are to observe only. What we don’t want to do is barge into the city and snatch Jade up, or cause any scene that may attract attention. We don’t know who else is watching her or what kind of personal security she may have. Jade was very young when her parents passed away, and there’s a good possibility she doesn’t even know she’s the offspring of two angels. That may make it a lot easier.”
“In my experience,” Aerona added, “most of the time when something is perceived as easy is precisely when it goes horribly wrong.”
“That’s true,” Morgan agreed. “We’ll want to approach Jade with caution. When the extraction takes place, we don’t want any of her friends or family calling the police because she’s missing. It would be better if she left town on her own terms, and then sometime later, notified people that she’ll be out of town because her grandma is sick or something. From what Ember had told me, young stones can be very powerful, which makes them extremely dangerous. We’ll need to handle Jade with care. If she runs, we may never see her again. This may be our only chance.”
Morgan grabbed a stack of photographs from the glass coffee table, handing each of us two photographs of Jade. They were fairly simple photos of her in her freshman year at Montana University. The first was from the shoulders up, and the other was photographed from further away to capture more of the scene. They were taken outside with Jade sitting on neatly mowed, green grass with her back against a large tree trunk. A brightly colored flower garden could be seen in the background, which mostly had various purple flowers. She was dressed as any other college freshmen would have been—a pair of jeans and a casual tight blue tank top. The angle of the photos made it difficult to make out the necklace around her neck.
Everyone was in awe over the photographs. To say Jade was stunning would be an understatement—she was beyond beautiful. Her unique deep dark green eyes left no doubt of her name’s origin. They reflect the sunlight as if they were made from rare gemstones. Her long, blonde hair—the color you might expect an angel to have—was perfectly straight. Her skin looked like it had a natural tan, not fake-baked on by a tanning bed. Her brilliant white smile shined with as much beauty as her green eyes, and based on her expression, I got the sense she loved every breath of air that entered her lungs. She was more content in that single moment than most people could wish for in a lifetime. Gorgeous is the only word that even came close to describing Jade, a girl’s life we were about to turn upside down.
Aerona tossed the pictures onto the glass coffee table. “I’ll just come out and say what everyone is thinking,” she started. “This girl is hot as hell. Morgan, please tell me you enhanced these photos with some airbrushing or some type of rendering.”
Morgan was still in his professional FBI mode. “Jade’s a beautiful girl,” he replied, “and it’s our job to keep her that way.”
Rain was seated next to Aerona, studying his own set of photos. “I suddenly have a new found enthusiasm for this adventure,” he remarked.
Aerona shot Rain a dirty look.
“What’s the plan for first contact?” Kasiah asked, finally back in FBI mode.
“We discussed that briefly,” Morgan said. “We feel it makes most sense for you and me to make the initial face to face. We know little to nothing about stones, and they may even be able to sense someone not from this world. We’re essentially going in blind, and we still haven’t figured an easy way of explaining the situation to her, well, not without freaking her out, especially if she doesn’t even know her history. It may be difficult getting her on the same page. We’ll play the FBI card to get our foot in the door, then improvise from there.”
“Plan B?” asked Kasiah.
“Plan B,” Morgan continued, “is the old fashion snatch-n-grab. We don’t want to spook her, and on the other hand, we want to be out of town as soon as possible. We have forty-eight hours, but after that, we go with plan B. If things don’t go as planned—and as Aerona pointed out they usually don’t—we still need to accomplish the objective of extracting Jade and keeping her safe.”
“Exit strategy?” was Kasiah’s next question.
“The jet will be refueled and waiting for us at the airport. Are there any other questions before we move on?”
We all shook our heads no.
Morgan flipped a page in his notebook. “The school is on summer break,” he continued, “which means we won’t be able to shadow Jade in class. We’re also not sure if she has a summer job, and unfortunately, we don’t have any details of her daily schedule. Jess came up empty with a search of the city’s social hot-spots. Jade doesn’t have a gym membership, nor does she does she belong to any other local organizations. All we have is a name and an address.”
Aerona turned to Rain. “These pictures are totally touched up,” she said, obviously jealous. “You know that, right?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” he said, standing up and putting on his sunglasses.
Morgan checked his watch. “6:20 p.m.” he said, “We need to be packed and ready to leave the yacht in thirty minutes. If there aren’t any more questions, I suggest we get moving, so we can get off this old decrepit poor excuse of a boat.”
Ember laughed out as we all started to leave. “I’ll remember that when I send out the invitations for my next world cruise,” she said.
By the time we met at the bottom of the dock ramp, the sun had already made its way down to the horizon. The bay was still busy with boats coming in from the lake after a day of fun, as people headed out to watch the sunset.
Several of the yacht’s crew members loaded our bags into one of two black SUVs that were parked at the end of the dock. They were the same as the one Kasiah and Morgan had back in Wisconsin. Morgan, Aerona, and Ember rode in the first SUV. I rode with Kasiah and Rain in the second one.
“We’ll see you guys at the airport!” Aerona yelled as she stepped into her SUV. “Don’t get any speeding tickets!”
“Your sister has quite the personality,” Rain remarked, climbing into the front passenger seat.
“She grows on you,” I said, sitting next to Kasiah in the backseat.
The interior of the SUV was exactly as I had pictured it. It had black leather seats, a power sunroof, dark tinted, one-way security windows, and a chauffeur complete with a freshly pressed suit and driver’s hat.
The SUVs pulled away from the dock, and I suddenly felt exposed after leaving the safety that the yacht had provided.
“Ember sure knows how to travel in style,” Kasiah said.
“You should see her garage back home,” Rain responded.
“Where exactly is home?” I asked.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” Rain answered, playing with the stereo’s buttons. “There’s a killer—no pun intended—radio station out of Cleveland that I can never find.”
The digital display stopped at 100.7.
“…listening to Cleveland’s rock station!” the station DJ announced, finishing an advertisement. “Home of the non-stop rock block!”
The speakers exploded with growling guitar riffs. Rain, satisfied with his station selection, turned up the volume until the chauffeur raised his hand to tell him enough. He settled back in his seat.
I never thought I’d see a chauffeur-driven vampire. Now, I’ve seen it all.
The drive to the ferry took less than five minutes, exactly as Morgan had planned. We followed the first SUV onto the car ferry and parked behind them. We waited several minutes as the ferry filled with vehicles.
Kasiah stared out the SUV’s window, sliding her hand underneath mine and interlacing our fingers. I squeezed her hand lightly, and she squeezed back. We hadn’t really discussed our sexual exploration. I think we both understood that we needed to place our personal feelings on hold until we stopped Atmoro. Neither of us wanted to cloud our judgment with Cupid’s arrow during an already dangerous game of chase-the-vampire.
The Blood of a Stone Page 16