by Jamie Ott
At two a.m., they found an uninhabited corner of the underground where they decided to rest.
"No use continuing," said Starr. "Everyone's either gone to their resting places, or they're drunk."
But Shane who was still angry said, "We should have never let that kid go. He could have helped us. Also, I think he's being abused."
"Maybe you're right. We'll get him back, tomorrow."
For a long time, they sat on the cold ground staring at the walls without saying anything. Starr didn't notice herself drifting off to sleep. She just suddenly found herself flying through cold blue-gray sky.
Valholl
Chapter 6
She was glad to finally be going home. Now that her business was over, she could focus on the next phase of her plan.
Through the icy sky, she flew under the burning glare of the sun. After all these years, it still hurt her to fly that part of the atmosphere, but it no longer burned her skin. As their kind got older, their flesh hardened beyond the hardest elements, making them nearly indestructible.
But their eyes were always the weakest point of their body. That never changed, in all the millenniums.
She pulled out her black sunglasses; the sky was so gray that it hurt her eyes.
In ancient times, back when Greece was the world power, they killed off the Primordials with a stake through an eye. It was same for them as it is for modern vampires, in that the brain's cortex needed to be destroyed in order to kill them.
As Starr flew up the icy peak, her right brain tried to tell her that it wasn't she who flew, but it felt so real.
She tried to command herself to turn back. Misaki was in danger, but she couldn't: the body ignored her.
That's because the body wasn't hers, her subconscious told her.
The gray stone castle was large enough to house multiple cities. Unlike the castles of Transylvania, these had never been touched after all these millenniums, except the castle doors that had been removed ages ago.
Anyone who had business there didn't need doors.
She flew over the walls and landed on the icy grass. It was amazing how it managed to stay evergreen, even in that chilly atmosphere.
Starr walked over the little bridge of an enormous coit pond. The five pound fishes leapt through the air, catching slices of apple the gardener tossed into the air. The sun gleamed off their razor sharp teeth.
Quickly, she walked through the tight stone alleys. She didn't want to meet anyone.
Her quarters were on the other end.
She was only a few feet away; she grabbed the chain from around her neck and stuck its skeleton into the black keyhole.
As she closed the heavy wooden door, she sighed.
Down her blouse was another chain, long and silver. She pulled it up and wiggled her finger into the strung up neck. Starr wrestled out a little map and a red jewel the size of a large round grape.
Light emanated from its center. She closed her palm over it and felt a power surge.
Quickly, she walked across the cold stone floor to her father's cabinet, where she stored all her old world valuables. Like every other piece of furniture in the room, it was millenniums old, and the wood had long since petrified.
On that peak, the oxygen was thin, and microbes were sparse. Everything, and even the castle, was excellently preserved. It was for that reason the Priomordials chose it, for no human would make it that far and live.
She found an old chain with a polished tiger's eye pendant. It used to be her favorite good luck charm, back in the sixth century B.C., when she was warrior queen.
Starr pushed out the tiger's eye and fashioned the talisman in its place.
She wrapped the chain around her neck and buried the jewel down her shirt.
The power behind the talisman made her skin tingle. She closed her eyes and breathed in.
Just lifting her hand to shut the cabinet door felt different.
She crossed the room, plain as a nunnery, walking over her ancient Persian rug and sat down at her large walnut desk, which was also petrified. From the bottom cabinet, she pulled a large black book. Settling it on the desk, she reached for her quill and ink pot.
Thoughtfully, she scribbled away for a few minutes, and then a thought occurred to her:
She didn't need the old witch. What if she just used Lucenzo?
What if she made him an offer that he couldn't refuse?
Quickly, she stood up and went for the door. She nearly ran through the alley, past the center square and up to the cobbled castle.
At the fork, she turned right and slipped into the dungeons.
She didn't stop until the gold colored bars were in her grasp.
Lucenzo was lounging on his back, on a large white furry pouf, staring at the ceiling. His red waist length hair splayed over the side. Unlike modern vampires, the Primordials didn't bother with cutting their locks every day; to them, their hair was a source of pride.
"You're back," he said.
"Yes."
"You look different," he said, sitting up. Then his blue eyes widened. "You've found the talisman! Where was it?"
"In a crevice up in the Himalayans. The old witch didn't think I'd find it, but she's dead now."
"I can feel your power, as I sit here."
They said nothing for a moment.
"So now what?" he asked.
She said nothing.
"Well, have you been to the seer?"
"No. I came back to work on something when it occurred to me that I don't need her," she looked him in the eyes, hoping he understood her.
He merely blinked.
"And, Starr?"
"She's fine."
"What are you gonna do with her when she finds out."
"By that time, it will be over. It's the only way this will work. I need you to get her for me. I've tried every other way, and there is none that will work. In exchange, I will give you a place in my hierarchy."
Talisman
Chapter 7
Her eyes flipped open. She sat up and inhaled, deeply. The talisman's power; she felt it, too. Her skin tingled and a surge of power exhilarated her.
It was only because they shared blood that she had this connection.
But what is a talisman? She asked herself.
"Shane," she called.
"Yeah?"
"What time is it?"
"Five a.m."
Her brain rushed with thoughts. She needed to go into hiding, she needed to fight, she needed to flee.
"What happened?"
"I had a dream. Credenza's got some powerful amulet. She wants Lucenzo to help her, to get me and bring me to her, but I don't know what for. I have this feeling that I should go into hiding. She's already killed a witch."
"Starr, just calm down. You've been having these visions all summer."
"Yes, but this is different. I know it!" She stood up and paced the room. "Something is going on, and I'm gonna find out. I can't keep going through these episodes!"
"What about Misaki?"
"I know where she is. The power of the talisman; it's made me stronger, too."
"How?"
"I never told you guys this because I didn't want to freak you out, but when she pulled me out of the fire, I think she used her blood to heal me. I'd re severed my neck, so I should have died. Instead, I woke in New Orleans, and I've been more powerful than ever before."
Starr stumbled backward into the wall.
"I, I can feel its influence over me. It's like my blood has come to life."
"Calm down, breathe," said Shane. "I know what it's like to be overwhelmed; it's kind of like that with telepathy because I'm always bombarded with people's thoughts. You just have to focus your mind, like when you try to close your mind from intrusion. Just focus on a blank slate."
As soon as Starr got her composure back, they walked back to the Asian underground.
People were already setting up for the day's commerce. Many sta
red loathingly at them. Starr stared, hard, back at them.
"Do you really know where we're going?" asked Shane.
"She's this way!"
They turned right, down a lamp lit hall with large pipes that lined the wall. On the right side, Starr knew there was a door.
Mentally, she looked in.
A couple desks were lined against the wall. There were several beds to her left and right.
"She was here," said Shane.
"Yeah, I sense her, too. She's still close by."
Shane turned around and walked back out of the hall; Starr followed.
They exited the hall and went right, past the stands and into a large stretch of hall that had been turned into a community dining room. Tables were scattered everywhere, and, at the back, people stood in a line, with trays held in their hands.
In the middle of the line, Misaki stood receiving a spoonful of noodles onto her plate.
Starr felt her skin get hot. Her mouth fell open and her eye lids quivered.
She looked at Shane who was red in the cheeks, and her lips were tightly pursed.
Misaki must have felt their anger through the air because she turned her head, and looked them dead in the eyes.
Starr was about to charge her, but Shane held her back.
"Let me go talk to her. You stay here and calm down."
Shane walked through the tables.
"Misaki, you've been here the entire time?"
Despite the noise, Starr heard every word with her vampire ears.
"Yeah, didn't my Aunt Bi tell Starr?"
"Tell her what?"
"I'm going home to my mother. Her child died, and so did her husband. Now she wants me back."
"Don't you think it would have been nice for you to tell Starr yourself?"
But Starr's blood was strengthened by the amulet. Immediately, she sensed Bi in the corner of the room, eyeing Starr and her friend. She was the lady in the white tunic, from before.
Worried that the lady may try something, Starr went to the line to urge them to hurry.
"Misaki, your mother is dead, too. She lied to you," Shane said.
Shane looked at Starr, and then inclined her head to t corner of the room where Bi sat.
"The only reason she told you that was to get you to return to China. Now that your mother and her husband are dead, she can lay claim to their money, if she can claim to be your guardian, which won't be too hard."
Shane observed the woman, a moment longer, and then said, "But she didn't think you would go willingly, if you knew the real reason. She knew that you'd rather stay here with us. That's why she's been nicer to you than before."
Shane looked at Misaki.
"She's been giving you things, hasn't she? Before, she hit you, a lot, and always screamed, didn't she?"
"Her behavior has been peculiar," Misaki conceded.
"Move it or get out of the line," said a woman behind her.
They walked to a crowded table where they sat down.
"Just let me get a bite, and we'll go," she said.
But then the man, named Xue, appeared in the room.
"That's Bi's lover," said Shane.
"They're just a couple of crooks," said Starr. "I'll never understand how you fell for it. You're supposed to be the smart one."
"I'm sorry," she said as her eyes turned red and welled up. "I wanted it to be true."
Xue approached the table and told Starr and Shane to stand up, in English.
When they didn't move, he pulled a gun out of the back of his shirt. Starr stared intently at the gun. The man yelped, and dropped it.
Shane was unaware that Starr had become pyrokinetic.
"One of your new powers, I presume?"
But Starr didn't have time to reply.
The man bent over for the gun, but Starr called it to her. It slid across the floor, under the table, and she grabbed it.
"Sit down," Starr said to the man.
When he wouldn't sit, Shane yanked him down into the seat, by his arm, and yelled at him, "Tell her the truth about her mother."
He and Misaki exchanged a few words in Chinese.
He's denying it, Shane said into Starr's mind.
I know.
"You need to decide," said Shane. "It's us or him."
She looked at them a second, and then back to Xue. Pushing back her chair, she stood up and said, "Let's go."
Xue shot up and grabbed Misaki around the waist.
Shane stood up.
"Wait," said Starr. "Sit down."
All around the room, people stood up from their seats. They ignored Misaki who struggled against Xue's grip, as he dragged her out of the room.
When they saw that Starr and Shane weren't going to interfere, the people sat back down at the tables.
Casually, they stood up and followed Xue's scent further down the hall to a kitchen.
"They're in there: Misaki, Xue and three other men," said Shane. "They've all got guns."
Guns couldn't kill them, but they hurt like hell, and slowed them down, considerably.
"I'll go in first. There isn't any other way."
"What if you vamp out?"
Dangerous situations sometimes caused them to lose consciousness, turning them into wild animals, killing uncontrollably. Last time Starr vamped out, she woke up with the severed arms of a man, in both her hands.
"Then it's up to you to get Misaki out of here. I'll meet up with you when I'm conscious again."
Before Shane could protest, Starr flung her heel at the door. It broke inward, making the men jump.
They were the same men Starr knocked out, back in the warehouse.
The men recognized her, too, and didn't hesitate as they shot at them, repeatedly. Using her mind, she stopped the bullets in midair. They dropped to the ground, as the men looked on in shock.
"You're not human!" yelled one of the men.
Shane walked in and said, "Come on."
Misaki, who laid on the ground, stood up, but Xue grabbed her again; this time he held a knife to her neck.
Faster than he could blink, Starr walked up, grabbed his arm, and yanked the knife out of it.
She didn't need to turn around to know the others were going to attack her from behind.
The man in a white cap put his arm around her neck and tried to drag her down to the ground, but he might as well have been trying to wrestle a marble statue.
Starr squeezed his arm too hard, as she pulled it off, breaking his hand and causing him to scream in pain. She turned around and saw his forearm's bone clearly sticking out of his skin.
The other man came at her with a metal bat. In a most elegant way, Starr snatched the bat, spun around on foot, and whacked him in the head with it, too hard.
Misaki squealed as his head parted from his body, and flew into the wall with a loud crunching noise and fell to the ground.
"Starr, did you have to hit him so hard?" asked Shane.
"I didn't mean, too. I swear," she said as she shrugged her shoulders.
Shane put her arms around Misaki and guided her out of the kitchen.
Time to Go
Chapter 8
As they walked out of the Asian underground, people ogled Starr, whose front was smeared with blood.
"You ever do that again, and we'll leave you."
"Starr, cut her some slack."
"She chose those maniacs over us. I'll cut her none. Look at what we had to do just to get her back."
"Look, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
They walked in silence back to the silver Mercedes; the Honda was too messed up to start.
"Aren't you coming?" asked Shane.
"I can't."
"So you're gonna go after Credenza? Starr, you don't even know where she's at. I know you're stronger than ever before, but you're not enough to take on one of the oldest vampires in existence, not to mention a half Primordial."
"I'm not going after Credenza. I'm goin
g to find Lucenzo. To do that, I'm going to Boston to find Kris. He's always known more than he lets on. If I'm to put a stop to this, once and for all, I'll have to start with getting information from him, even if I have to kill him."
"He's the German albino with the purple eyes?" asked Misaki.
"How did you know that?"
"Lily told us about him."
"Well, alright, you guys. Have a safe trip back."
"Wait," said Shane. She reached around to the back and dug in a brown paper bag.
"Here," she said, handing her a hard plastic package.
"A cell phone? Haha," she laughed a little. "Thanks."
Starr watched as Shane started the car and took off, up the street. In her mind, she followed them all the way to the freeway, to make sure they got through the city safely.
When she was sure they would be fine, she levitated slowly into the air, and flew north as fast as her powers would let her.
Valh?ll
Vampin Book Series #11
By Jamie Ott
Copyright 2012 Jamie Ott. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without permission.
For more information: [email protected]
ISBN: 978-0671564053
Boston in Repair
Chapter 1
The sky over Boston was foggy, making it hard to see the house from the air. Normally, she would've never risked exposure, but she didn't have time to waste.
She levitated just under a particularly dense cloud until she spotted the property.
Gently, she descended through the salty air and landed on the moist grass.
Using just her mind, she looked in and saw several people in the living room taking aperitifs.
She deeply inhaled; there was a familiar scent in the air.
Michael was there, too!
That was all she needed to know. If worse came to be, she knew he'd always take her side.
She breathed hard and readied herself to fight them all, if necessary. But, then, the door opened, and Mick appeared.
"Starr, we'll have none of that! You're welcome, but don't think you'll be able to flex your powers, here."
When she said nothing, he beckoned her in.
Inside was the same as usual: cool, dark and crammed with many paintings, sculptures, photographs and other priceless antiques.
She walked past the threshold and stopped dead in her tracks, at the sight of the people in the living room.
"Starr," said an old familiar, not to mention annoying, voice.