Bloodstone (Talisman)

by S. E. Akers

  My mind whirled like a tumultuous storm. I lifted Kara’s hand and examined the strange, smeared mark. I supposed it could’ve possibly been laced with something, but it actually smelled a lot like blood.

  I have to snap her out of this… I just hope it works! PLEASE let this work, I begged to the cosmos. I took a deep breath and focused all of my energy on any brain cell I could feel floating in that now muddled, frizzy red-head of hers.

  KARA , GET OUT OF HERE!

  Tell Mike and Ty that I’ve already left

  and went back to the hotel.

  Y’all have to get a cab and get out of here!

  RIGHT FREAKING NOW!

  I asked her to repeat what I’d instructed and she did, word-for-word, though dazedly. With that message received, I shoved her further down the hall and headed back to the bar. I couldn’t stop to give myself a well-deserved pat on the back for my first “successful” attempt at compelling someone close. I had to find that murderous, thieving bitch!

  Lorelei wasn’t at the bar. Frustrated and frantic, I searched all around until I finally spotted her climbing the narrow iron stairs that spiraled up and around the room. She was already up to the third level and there were seven of them. I waited to see where she ended up before I made my ascent. Soon, she paused in front of a door on the top level and stepped inside. Like watching a flag drop, I took my cue and started my climb.

  The boots were a huge mistake, the heels at least. Their pointy spikes were getting caught between the grooves in the steps. Now on the balls of my feet, I hurried up all seven levels. Once I had made it to the top landing, I crept over to the door and listened quietly. I didn’t hear the slightest sound. I said a quick prayer that no one was directly on the other side and edged open the door.

  More stairs, I noted. They seemed to lead up and out to the roof. I followed them to another door. As carefully as I could, I held onto the knob (fearing an abrupt “creak”) and slowly opened the door. I was now outside with the rooftop shed behind me. I heard the faint sound of voices. Despite the fact that I was invisible, my energy could still be detected. That was a given by Lorelei’s reaction downstairs. I hung back and crouched around to take a peek. There sat Lorelei on the ledge of the roof, talking to a guy who was standing in front of her. I assumed he was Damiec, the guy she was here to meet. I crept closer, hoping to hear exactly what they were saying.

  “I don’t trust you, Lorelei,” Damiec assured her.

  “That’s you’re problem,” she replied with a light laugh. “But you can settle that,” Lorelei posed and extended her wrist.

  “That’s awfully presumptuous,” Damiec remarked dryly as he pushed her hand away. “You think too highly of yourself. That’s always been your problem.” Damiec started to turn away, but Lorelei rose and pulled him closer.

  “Damiec, I wouldn’t lie to you. Not this time.”

  “What about Benicio?” he asked. “I heard the two of you were quite cozy.”

  Lorelei turned from his gaze. “He fills a void,” she remarked casually.

  Damiec tilted his head suspiciously. “I have to admit I was surprised. He doesn’t seem like your type. He’s so virtuous… Too good for the likes of you.”

  “If I wasn’t so used to your callous tongue, I’d swear I detect a hint of jealousy,” Lorelei attested.

  “Don’t flatter yourself,” Damiec shot back.

  “Benicio means nothing to me. He never can…and never will.”

  “Another played fool you’ve added to your collection?” Damiec posed.

  “Well, I learned from the best,” Lorelei remarked in a wounded tone. “Funny how quickly some can turn off their feelings…all because of a little stone.” She started to walk away, but Damiec snatched her by her waist and whirled her around. He grabbed her hair roughly and tilted her head. His back was still facing me, but it looked like he was kissing her neck. Whatever he was doing lasted for about a minute. And by the moans I heard, she had enjoyed every second of it.

  Lorelei stepped away from him and adjusted her hair. “I didn’t expect you to take so much,” she criticized.

  Take WHAT?

  I heard the clock inside the club strike “twelve”, ringing through the glass in the skylight. Then from out of nowhere, the sound of horrifying screams began to drown out the enchanting chimes.

  Is that what an orgy sounds like?

  Lorelei walked over to the glass-paneled dome and looked down. “I see mass has started without you,” she said with a devilish laugh. Damiec walked towards Lorelei. “It looks like you’re missing one Hell of a party.”

  “I hate what they did to me,” Damiec remarked as he looked down into the club with an indignant air.

  Lorelei turned around, allowing me to catch a glimpse of her devious smile. “So, do you think the diamond has been reclaimed yet?” she posed with a twinkle in her eye as she strolled towards the edge of the rooftop.

  Well that cat’s officially out of the bag.

  “I don’t know,” Damiec grumbled, following behind her. “But I’m anticipating several long, grueling weeks of torture for whomever when they finally do.”

  I had to fight back my gasp. No check in the “friend box” for you, I affirmed with a doubtless nod. The light radiating from the skylight cast a shadow over his face from where he stood. That was bothersome. After a threat like that, I kind of wanted a clear view of the asshole’s mug.

  Lorelei stroked his face. “My poor darling. You have no idea how seeing you suffer with this curse pains me.” This time, when Damiec pulled her close, his touch was more intimate and tender. Lorelei ran her hands through his hair, guiding the tips of her fingers down and around his ears, gently grazing them. He grabbed her hands when they trailed down his chest, alarmed by something.

  “Easy,” Lorelei whispered.

  Damiec looked down at his chest. His stance relaxed, seeming relieved by what he saw. She was holding what looked like a small stone on the end of a silver chain. There wasn’t enough light to distinguish its hue, but it was definitely a tumbled stone. Something else was dangling around his neck. He was actually wearing two necklaces. I only saw the other stone for a split-second, but it wasn’t a cabochon like the one in Lorelei’s hand. Its facets had caught several beams of moonlight before Damiec tucked it safely under his shirt.

  “Get rid of this thing… Lock it away,” Lorelei pleaded. “I could hide it for you? You never have to see it again. Then it won’t hold any power over you. Please?” Lorelei begged him desperately as she dropped the stone out of her hands. No sooner than the curious tumbled stone had landed against his chest, Damiec tightened his grip and began to kiss Lorelei passionately. When their lock finally broke, he started to say something, but was shushed by her fingertips.

  “Don’t say a word, my tormented prince… Your lips have already spoken for you,” she added with a foul glare.

  With one hard yank, Lorelei ripped one of the stones off his neck and then swiftly backhanded him, hard enough to knock him halfway across the roof. I only caught a glimpse of what was in her hand. It was a crystal, but I didn’t know exactly “what kind”. She had definitely snatched the one he’d hidden from her and not the other. Lorelei raced to the edge of the roof and then dove straight off.

  Damiec frantically patted his chest and then scrambled to the edge. A cackling laugh rang through the still night air, followed by a splash. Whatever she’d taken infuriated him, to say the least. He slammed his hands down on the ledge, breaking a huge chunk of it off. Judging from all of his cursing and his defeated stance, I had to assume she was gone. He turned and charged toward the rooftop shed. Though I was still invisible, I crouched down and worked my way around to the other side. At the sound of the door opening, I raced to the ledge. I used the moonlight shining on the Mississippi River’s surface to scan for any sign of her. I couldn’t find her anywhere. She was gone and so was the fire opal, again.

  “Who the Hell are YOU?” a voice called out from behind me
. It sounded like Damiec.

  Impossible, I thought anxiously. I’m still invisible.

  “Don’t just stand there!” Damiec ordered. “Turn around…Coward!”

  WHAT did he just say?

  Maybe it was because of all the crazy things I’d experienced over the last few months, or possibly the countless beatings I’d endured, not to mention the fact that I’d just let a murdering bitch who had a stone I needed give me the slip, but THIS GUY calling me a “coward” shot right through me. I spun around on the spot to confront this creep.

  I finally got that “good look” at his face that I was wanting. His eyes alone threw me for a loop. The piercing stunners were an alluring shade of green, the kind you would imagine lush blades of grass seeded in the middle of a dark forest to look like. Even the sharp points of his eyebrows could seduce a nun into a few lusty thoughts. They were the kind of eyes you could get lost in, and adversely — of freaking course — they belonged to the arousing stranger from the dream I’d had three weeks ago when I was trapped in the freezer at the Drive-In. The very same guy I’d been making out with passionately on a beach and who had vowed just a moment ago to torture the diamond wand’s next owner — and that, would be me.

  Fan-freakin’-tastic…

  Damiec let out a harsh, derisive laugh. “Well, now you only look like half the coward.” I stepped to the right, but he blocked me. When I moved left, he did the same. “If you wished to dance, you should have stayed downstairs,” he mocked as he glanced at the skylight. “Though there’s not much of that going on now.”

  My golden aura was still around me. I don’t know how, but he could see me or sense me. He was definitely a supernatural, most likely another Talisman. I was just starting to sense his energy, but I was left wondering how long until he realizes mine and that it was coming from the diamond. Shit!

  I retracted the invisibility spell. I could tell by the look on his face that whatever it was he had sensed hadn’t given him a crystal-clear image of me.

  “Who are you? One of Lorelei’s minions?” Damiec growled as he prowled around me.

  “No,” I replied defensively, winding around and following his track.

  “Then tell me!” Damiec barked.

  I stared warily at him. No way.

  When I didn’t answer, he pounced on me like a ravenous animal, mainly my neck. I didn’t know what his crazy attack strategy was? It felt kind of like he was trying to “nuzzle” me to death. I did realize that he was incredibly strong while I struggled to get him off. Suddenly he stopped, seeming stunned by something. He looked at my neck and then up at me in a daze.

  “Your skin,” he mumbled, “It didn’t break?” Damiec kept staring at my throat, looking confused. This situation had nowhere to go but down from here. I used his stupor to my advantage, that and what will probably go down in the books as the hardest knee-to-groin kick in history. With him now hunched over and groaning on the ground, I raced for the rooftop stairs. I shot down the flight of steps and was out the door in a second. I hesitated when I came to the iron staircase.

  Screw it!

  I jumped towards the long arm attached to the massive clock that hung over the bar. Once I’d grabbed a hold of the pole, I slid down and off its side. I smashed oodles of bottles and glasses when I landed, but I remained steady on the balls of my feet. Damiec was probably coming down off the roof by now, so I whipped my head up to survey the scene. Nothing could have prepared me for the gruesome sight that lay before me. This wasn’t a sex club. I flinched while my brain finally processed what the bouncer had meant by “tasted” and what “mass” really was.

  “Blood,” I mumbled, trying to keep my heaving stomach at bay. Tons and tons of blood saturated the room. The walls…the floors…the tables…the mutilated bodies of countless young girls dying or already dead, lying in pieces on the tables…and of course, on the ghastly fanged mouths of the savage, human-like monsters draining it from their lifeless bodies. The stench was so foul, almost as revolting as the sight. I could even taste its bitterness in my mouth. I winced and gagged, repeatedly.

  “GET HER!” Damiec shouted down to his underlings from above. Still aghast from the sight of this nightclub-turned-slaughterhouse, someone tackled me and threw me down on the bar. The guy used all of his strength and body weight to subdue me, and he was strong — supernatural-strong. Even more alarming was his face, which seemed to be shifting its appearance and turning into one of the countless gruesome fang-clad creatures that were mutilating and feeding on human bodies all around me. My purse was lodged between us. I wiggled my hand inside it and felt for my hilt. Once located, I extended the blade, there inside my purse. The diamond sword jutted out of my bag, into my attacker, and shot through the center of his chest. It skewered him straight through his back. My fiendish assailant started shaking violently and then his body exploded into coarse black ash.

  “ADAMAS!” Damiec roared at the top of his lungs while he eyed the diamond’s blade. The rest of his fiendish cohorts stopped feeding on their victims and began to rush the bar from all directions. Surrounded, I had nowhere to turn but up. I threw my hand towards the skylight and summoned a wicked hot bolt. It streaked through the glass and into my awaiting hand. While a barrage of shards cascaded around me, I hurled the fiery lightning up towards Damiec. As soon as he saw what was headed his way, he scrambled to get out of its path. I retracted my wand and quickly hailed another bolt. Since my fiendish attackers had me hemmed in, I whirled this one like a whip, around in a circle, and sliced several of his savage underlings in half. All that remained of the brutes was a dense haze of dark debris. With Damiec still lurking somewhere, I reared back and shot the bolt across the bar. The explosion rocked the room and busted open the iron doors. With a much clearer path, I raced into the hall.

  I screeched to a halt when I spotted the bulky bouncer in front of the door, blocking the exit — my last barrier.

  “There you are. I’ve got something for you,” he snarled and flashed his fangs, which stretched halfway up his face.

  “Me too,” I grinned as I summoned the diamond out of its hilt and after a quick twirl, sent it soaring his way. It sliced clean through him and wedged itself, along with him, up against the door. The blow pushed the door open on the spot.

  “Thanks for getting that,” I yelled. I yanked the wand out of the bouncer as his body disintegrated and made a mad dash into the alley.

  I was now outside and alone, but assuredly not for long. I raced down numerous streets, towards the lively lights and sounds of the French Quarter. I hoped the crowds would work to my benefit — at least camouflage me, if it didn’t deter this Damiec.

  Would he really want a supernatural fight out in public, in front of humans on a busy downtown street?

  The Quarter wasn’t far, but then considering my circumstances, I was really bookin’ it. Tons of people were standing around carousing to my relief. Just as I started to slow my pace and lower my head, I noticed something peculiar. In a bizarre turn of events, the festive jazz music that flooded the air merely seconds ago had stopped. It was like the cosmos had just hit the “mute” button. I raised my head to an eerie hush that had fallen over the crowd. I tapped a man on the shoulder, needing to make sure I was going the right way to the hotel. The man didn’t turn around.

  “Excuse me, Sir?” I asked, this time. When I tapped on his shoulder harder, he fell against the side of the building. I grabbed his jacket as he started sliding and followed him down. He was frozen like a statue. I waved my hands over his fixed pupils, but he didn’t respond. Nervously, my eyes swept the street. Everyone but me seemed to be that same way, frozen in various positions — catatonic on the street. My mouth fell open.

  “This CAN’T be good”, I mumbled.

  All the outdoor post lights started going out, one after the other. Warily, I drew my diamond sword for some much-needed illumination and edged towards the middle of Bourbon Street.

  Something knocked my arm as it bru
shed past me, something I couldn’t see. Not a second later, another bump forced me onto the ground. I sprang back onto my feet. Though I wasn’t nicked, the sleeves of my shirt were shredded on both sides. Someone had tried to claw me. Damiec, I thought doubtlessly as I dwelled on the unnerving fact that it sucked be on the “other side” of invisibility.

  “I can see you,” Damiec’s voice echoed through the streets in a goading, malicious laugh, and then right in my ear the voice shot a wet whisper, “but you can’t see me.” Damiec revealed himself not a second later. He had me by the neck before I could react and slammed me down on the street. The pound was so hard that my body sank into the pavement a couple of feet. The only thing that stopped me from going any further was a massive terracotta water pipe, which I broke. The water rushing over me was a wake-up call for me to get my butt out of the hole and back on the street. Panicked, I climbed out quickly to search for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

  All of a sudden, the sound of a loud “bang” whirled me around. One of the wrought-iron lampposts had been yanked out of the ground and was soaring towards me. It nailed me before I could jump out of its path and drove me into the side of a building. The blow knocked my diamond wand right out of my hand. I spotted it lying near a motionless horse and buggy across the street. Before I could get to my feet, something wrenched my hand. The wrought-iron railing from the building I’d crashed into began to wrap itself around my wrist. It wasn’t magic. “Invisible” Damiec revealed himself as I tried to free my hand. The iron had already started to weaken my strength, so he was able to restrain my other wrist, which he quickly bound in the same way. Wandless, immobilized, and presently being drained of energy, I flailed about as my crafty assailant hovered over me. He picked up the wrought-iron lamppost and dropped it on my stomach. I let out a loud, agonizing grunt.