Daystar

by Darcy Town

  Tracy ducked her head. “If they could see us now.”

  Dahlia sighed. “They probably can if they wanted to.”

  The others stared at her. Dahlia shrugged. “Do you not see them?”

  Whitney frowned. “See what, Dahlia?”

  “The dead. They do not float around so much here now that they have the entire universe to roam and play in, but ever so often, you know…” She snapped her mouth shut. “Never mind.”

  Whitney’s eyes widened. “You mean the voices? You’re talking about the voices right?”

  Tracy frowned. “What voices?”

  Belial fell amongst them. “I heard footsteps!”

  Dahlia jumped to her feet. “Shit, I am first.”

  Paimon stepped up beside her. “Do not destroy the planet, Dahl-face.” He bumped her with his hips.

  Dahlia pushed him into a wall. “Okay, Patience!”

  Belial giggled. “Paimon’s a girl! Paimon’s a girl!”

  Paimon reverted to a woman and flipped his hair. “I am drunk enough not to be offended by that.” He gazed at the rest of them blurry-eyed. “But fuck you all.”

  Lucifer stepped into the room. He grinned at his bride. “Dahlia.”

  Dahlia found herself alone. “What the fuck guys!”

  Lucifer smirked. “They are not stupid or suicidal enough to come between you and me.” He walked towards her.

  Belial slammed into him. “Wrong!”

  Apple kicked him in the stomach. “Double wrong!”

  Whitney shrugged and went for his legs. “Me too!”

  Paimon broke a bottle over his head. “Ha!”

  Celeste, Tracy, and Leviathan slid away along the wall. Dahlia watched amused. Andy, Berith, Furcas, Helion, Nodin, Tokala, and Jacob stepped in after Lucifer. They waved at Dahlia.

  Paimon looked up and caught sight of Furcas. “Bastard!” He leapt and grabbed hold of Furcas by his suit. He swung him into a wine cask. The wood exploded and the floor was covered in wine.

  Leviathan sent a wave of wine at the men. “Splashy splashy!”

  Celeste’s eyes turned red. “Might as well.” She ran headlong for the wrestling match and leapt on Lucifer’s shoulders, pummeling him with a blur of fists.

  Lucifer sent off flame, knocking all of them back. He leapt and tackled Dahlia. “Be nice.”

  Dahlia kissed him, turning the wine to ice. “I am always nice.”

  Lucifer hauled her to her feet. Apple smashed a piece of the fountain into his face. Celeste punched his kidneys. Tokala barked and leapt for her back.

  Berith ran in and grabbed Apple by the wrist. “Out!”

  Apple high kicked his face. “No way! Belial!”

  Belial sent spikes of metal flying at Berith. Apple ducked and ran towards Paimon and Furcas.

  Furcas kicked at her blindly. His fingers were intertwined with Paimon’s, pulling them from around his throat one at a time. Furcas began to lose consciousness.

  Paimon relented. “That was too easy—”

  Furcas kicked him in the stomach and grabbed his long auburn hair. “Patience, Patience, there were so many times I wanted to kick the shit out you in high school.” He threw him end over end.

  Tracy and Nodin’s eyes met through the crowd. She looked at the fighting with vague distaste. He jerked his head towards the door. She nodded and smiled. She ran through the fighting not taking a single blow. He grabbed her hand and the two ran out unmolested.

  Helion and Andy shared a look. The floor shook as Whitney missed Berith’s face and slammed a stone fist into the ground. Andy kept his balance. “Should we do anything?”

  Helion shrugged. “I am not jumping in there.”

  Andy nodded. “I am not hurting Belial.”

  Belial looked up at the sound of her name. “Andes!” She leapt for him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She planted drunken kisses across his face. “Why aren’t you playing?”

  Andy kissed her back. “Not really my thing. Can we go?”

  “Okay, Andrealphus!”

  Andy looked to Helion. “Have fun.” He carried Belial out.

  Helion scuffed his feet on the ground and spoke softly, “Whitney.”

  Whitney caught his eye. She jumped out of the fray. Helion whispered, “Gabriel made cookies and left them unguarded at the house.”

  “Serious?” She grinned.

  “Yes.”

  Whitney eyed the fight behind her. “Let’s go!”

  Berith wrapped Apple up in an embrace. Apple twitched and Berith lost the use of his limbs. He scowled. “That is not fair.”

  Apple grinned and danced back and forth. “Ha-ha-ha!”

  Lucifer punched her in the back of the head. She lost focus and Berith regained the use of his limbs. Berith swept her up and dashed from the room.

  Lucifer grinned. Dahlia pushed and sent him careening into the fountain.

  Jacob and Leviathan floated near the ceiling. Jacob blushed blue. “Can we go, Levi? I wanted a real first date. I didn’t know that this is what this meant.”

  Leviathan shrugged. “Sure, dragon boy. Buy me dinner after the wedding.” They slipped out.

  Tokala taunted Celeste and bolted from the room. Enraged Celeste followed without thinking. She passed by the doorway barrier and he won by default. She lost her glow. “Damn it!”

  Dahlia leapt on Lucifer. “There are only four of us left.”

  Paimon and Furcas crashed through bottles and hit the floor next to them. Paimon reverted to his male self. He sat up and wiped blood off his face. “That is because we are the best.”

  Furcas grinned and wrapped his arms around Paimon. “True.”

  Paimon looked at Lucifer and Dahlia. He hauled Furcas to his feet and gave him a quick kiss. “I’m yours, babe, forever. Come on, we can’t outdo the gods.”

  Furcas winked at them. “Though we could, if we really wanted to.” The pair sauntered out, arm in arm, clothing in tatters.

  Lucifer waited until they were out of sight. He pulled Dahlia down into a kiss. The room repaired itself. He smiled into her neck. “Shall we?”

  She sat up his chest. “Yes.” She jumped up, reformed her clothing, and fixed her hair. Lucifer did the same.

  He held out his arm for her to take. She did. Dahlia walked with him towards the stairs. She looked at her ring. “So how does this work anyways?”

  Lucifer paused. “Hmm?”

  “Do we just marry each other to each other?” She smirked. “We are the highest authority.”

  He looked positively smug. “I thought of this already.”

  Dahlia eyed him. “You did? So what is it?”

  Lucifer grinned. “I gave Paimon my proxy.”

  Dahlia thought that scenario over. “Temporary I hope.”

  Lucifer nodded. “Just long enough to do us the honors.”

  Dahlia laughed. “He is never going to stop bragging about that one.”

  Lucifer kissed her cheek. “Well if he did, he would not be himself. Come now, Ms. Evenstar. The sooner we are joined, the sooner we can return to space and consummate our new partnership.”

  Dahlia smiled. “You are still the same, Mr. Morningstar.”

  The pair left the wine cellar, smiling and utterly content. They walked into a bower created from trees and plants where their family and friends were waiting. The sun hummed overhead and nothing stood between them and an eternity together.

  THE END

  (Yep, that’s right…it’s ‘happily ever after’ all over the place)

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  If you enjoyed this trilogy, please check out my other series that starts with Wastes of Space. It’s on Amazon!

  Here’s an excerpt:

  Rake was in the middle of a righteous dream when Commander Danny showed up to ruin it. Bad enough that Danny guilt-tripped his waking hours, the bastard had to screw over his favorite sex dream too. The jerk stood at the edge of his vision and folded his arms, disappointed. Rake
ignored him and got back to business.

  He fell to the floor with an alien girl. They tumbled across broken furniture in a dilapidated palace. He moved with her, but his eyes were on the prize, the Princess. He’d just made eye contact with her, showing her his stuff while ramming it home to the alien. A crowd of onlookers cheered him on. Rake grinned. He just needed a few more minutes and—

  Danny grabbed him by his hair. “Wake up, cadet!”

  Rake’s bloodshot eyes opened to Bangkok, the end of monsoon season. He took a deep breath and shook off the remnants of the dream. “Motherfucker…I haven’t been your cadet in years.”

  Rake made a face and wiped his lips. His mouth tasted like warmed over vomit, and he smelled like fermented piss. He looked around bleary-eyed. He sat at the end of an alley between a rusted dumpster and wet garbage bags. He must have passed out there the night before.

  He wrinkled his nose as he brushed his puke off his shirt. Sweat made his skin slick and his clothes damp. He twitched and created ripples in the warm puddle of refuse that he’d slept in. He kicked his heels to shake liquid off his boots.

  His black hair hung lank in his face. He noticed bright green highlights. He couldn’t recall doing that to his hair, but he rarely remembered anything that he did after lunch. He itched like crazy.

  A tongue brushed his hand. Rake looked down. The licker was a mangy dog, skinny and starving. The dog was as desperate for food as everyone else was in this city. In this case, Rake’s vomit was on the menu for breakfast. He waved it off. “Wait until I leave.”

  The act of moving made his head pound. He rubbed his temples, but a headache was firmly entrenched behind his right eye. He looked up into the smog-filled sky. The sun had already risen, so his high had worn off and a hangover had set in along with the shakes. His vision was fucked up, but there wasn’t much to see besides a thick layer of pollution and the rest of humanity. Rake didn’t care for either.

  The headache brought on a wave of nausea. He curled over to his right side and heaved until his stomach emptied. He rolled to his other side and hunted for breakfast in the garbage. The dog edged close again. Rake grimaced and held his head. “Fuck off, or I might put an effort in and eat you.” It was an empty threat, he didn’t like eating dog; he found their taste unpleasant.

  Rake pawed through boxes and bottles, condoms and worn out clothes. He held up his reward towards the dog. “A fucking pizza slice! Ha!” He sat back against the bare concrete walls of a half-constructed apartment complex. He stuffed the slice in his mouth and enjoyed his pizza, pretending he didn’t taste the mold and beer.

  Someone screamed in the building next door. A gun went off. There was a thud and silence. He stretched and savored the moment of calm. The sky wasn’t pissing on him and he could swear he didn’t feel as shitty as he normally did. Things weren’t so bad.

  Rake scratched his scalp and pawed off gunk that looked like a mixture of blood and mud. He cracked his neck and jaw. He touched his face and winced, he definitely had a black eye. Clotted blood and knife holes ruined his only shirt, but considering that he wasn’t dead and no one had dumped him naked in a dumpster, things were looking up. He smiled.

  He got to his feet and heard a moan. A fellow junkie laid face down a few feet away asleep or dying, hard to tell. Rake rifled through his neighbor’s clothes. He found some of the local currency and then something even better, a syringe, loaded and ready to go. Rake grinned and it didn’t even hurt his face. He gave the man a half-salute. “Have a fucking fantastic day my friend.”

  Rake wandered off to find a good spot to shoot up. He passed through a local market where vendors sold noodles and silks, and whores peddled their wares. He ignored the offended glances from the patrons; he knew he reeked.

  He tripped on the uneven pavement that made up Bangkok’s streets. A knife-wielding butcher chased him away from his livestock. Rake flipped him off and spat towards his chickens. The man made to attack, but thought better of leaving his goods unattended.

  Rake smirked. One of these days, he knew he’d get himself killed by needle or knife, maybe today, maybe not. He smiled at the smog-filled sky. He really didn’t care.

  ***

  Ravil was thrown into a crush of bodies as her male guardian shouted, “Run!”

  Ravil scrambled to her feet. She ran through an airport food court. The people around her became a blur, the sights and smells unfamiliar, the roar from incoming airplanes deafening. She raced past racks of cheap knock-offs on sale, searching for a way out of the crowd.

  She skidded to a stop in front of a gift shop as two Hunters looked up from perusing watches. The pair sniffed the air, purred, and smiled in unison, showing off sharp teeth. Ravil held in a scream and turned the other direction. Her feet slipped on the tile. Gloved hands brushed her shoulders. She closed her eyes and waited for pain.

  Sirana smashed a flaming fist into the first Hunter. “Ravil, go!”

  Ravil ran blindly. A blast of heat hit her back. A hiss and Sirana’s cry of agony followed. Ravil looked back, she couldn’t help it.

  The Hunter that lived had Sirana by the throat. It looked at its dead burnt partner. The Hunter growled and snapped Sirana’s neck. It dropped her body, sniffed the air, and turned its eyes to Ravil.

  Ravil’s pupils dilated. The space between the Hunter and her undulated, a living, moving force. She reached her hand out. The air around her body shimmered.

  Ravil’s other guardian grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. “None of that!”

  “Calpsan! But Sirana!”

  “Mourn later, Ravil!” Calpsan pushed through the crowd, but their progress wasn’t fast enough. He closed his eyes and the people around him were hit with a wave of panic. The crowd parted, confused and anxious. He sprinted through the gap, spotting the exit out to the street. Screams followed as the Hunter clawed through humans, pushing them out of the way in pursuit of its prey.

  Ravil watched it near. She searched the crowd for help. She did not understand the language here well, but she had picked enough of it up to get by. She saw a stand of posters and got an idea. She threw her hand out. “Movie star!” She pointed her finger at the Hunter. “Big name movie star!”

  People stopped and turned to the Hunter. They ran towards it without thinking, trying to figure out who it could be under the dark sunglasses, black suit, and cotton gloves.

  Calpsan darted outside and set Ravil down on her feet. He scanned the taxis that swarmed the street like flies and dragged her to the closest one. He tossed her in the back seat and jumped in after. “Go!”

  The taxi driver hit the gas and the car zoomed away from the curb. Calpsan pulled Ravil’s hat down, shadowing her pink eyes and white hair. He stared out the back of the taxi, but the Hunter was nowhere in sight.

  He shuddered and waved his hand towards the driver. “You want to take us to a confusing place, a place crowded and hard to navigate. It will make you happy to do this. You also have no desire to listen to us talk or remember us when you are done.” The driver smiled, dull-eyed. Calpsan closed his eyes and went limp in the seat.

  Ravil slipped her small hand in his. Already petite, she looked childlike in her overlarge clothes. “Calpsan?”

  He looked over and rubbed her palm. “She died doing her duty, Ravil.”

  “But.” She shuddered. “You two...”

  Calpsan squeezed her hand. “I will find you someone else, Ravil, before I go, it is a promise.”

  She jumped on him. “I don’t want to be alone here!”

  He aged as she watched. “I know, but I cannot remain.” His hands shook. “I am sorry, without Sirana I cannot continue.”

  Ravil hugged him and sobbed into his shirt. “They will find me Calpsan, they will take me back.”

  He lifted her chin up so that he could gaze into her eyes. “No one is going to find you.”

  She shook her head. “They will!”

  Calpsan took off her hat and smoothed back her white hair. �
��They are not searching for a Navigator, Ravil. They are hunting for my kind. You should be pleased that you are a rarity and such an asset.”

  She pointed to the Asians that biked through the streets outside their taxi. “I do not blend in here! We should not have left the Europe place.”

  “The Ampyr have many more agents there, and this place breathes anonymity.” He pinched her pale cheek. “You will be able to hide.”

  “But what if they find me still?”

  “Then I will find a killer to defend you.” He nodded to himself. “A person to replace Sirana in strength and me in sense, someone to see you safe until you can be recovered by the Resistance.” As he formulated the desire, he searched outwards, letting the emotions and wants of the people in the city flood his senses. He scanned the population. “I will find you the best in this place.”

  She wiped her eyes. “I don’t care about this person! I don’t want you to die! I didn’t want Sirana or Paulos to die! I want you to stay with me!”

  Calpsan shushed her. “You do not have a choice. I do not have a choice. Death comes to everyone, Ravilaea.”

  Ravil sat back in her seat and folded her arms, pouting. “Death is stupid.”

  Calpsan smiled briefly, wrinkles formed around his eyes. “You will grow up and realize that death is inevitable, but it can have meaning.”

  She kicked the back of the driver’s seat. “I am a grown up! I have seen more, experienced more than most.”

  He shook his head. “You are innocent, remain that way. Perhaps I can find someone to show that to you.”

  Ravil looked up. “Show me what?”

  “A life free of worries, if only for a time.” He patted her hand. “Now take a chance to rest, I must concentrate on finding this person.” He closed his eyes.

  Ravil watched his brown hair fade to gray. “I want someone who does not need others. A person who will not go if their loved one dies. I want someone who has lost and still lives.”

  Calpsan winced. “A good requirement I think. I am sorry, Ravil”

  “I didn’t mean it!” She hugged him.

  “I know you didn’t. Regardless, it is a good idea, someone on their own, a person not held down with ties to others. You need someone that will flee with you if the need arises.”