Starblood Trilogy

by Carmilla Voiez

  Star extends her hand towards him and he pulls her to her feet. Caressing her hand, Satori kisses her fingers and pulls her gently towards him through the cell door.

  She holds his gaze for one eternal moment.

  He looks away and shudders. ‘It’s too quiet. Where is everyone?’ They stumble to the next cell. The door is shut. Satori opens the viewing flap and looks inside. ‘Empty.’ He checks the next and the next. ‘They’re all empty.’ The pitch of his voice rises in panic.

  Star shares his unease. ‘We should leave, but my god, I feel so tired. I feel like I could sleep for a year. I wonder, maybe I’m not meant to use that power in this world.’

  Satori rests against a cell door and touches her cheek. ‘Or maybe you just need to learn how to recharge?’

  She shakes her head, grabbing his hand again, dragging him towards the barred gate at the end of the silent hallway. ‘I don’t trust it. Magic comes from Lilith.’

  ‘I don’t think it’s Lilith. Maybe just take it easy, you know, until it feels natural. Although, fuck knows what those demons would have done to us back there if it weren’t for you.’

  Star coughs, embarrassed. ‘You helped me.’ She wants to tell him how he gave her strength to glow, but her chest aches and she cannot give him those words. Instead, she turns away and tugs at the gate. ‘Fuck, this one’s locked too. How are we going to get out of this place? Help!’ Her voice echoes around the corridor. No noise answers her call, not even the rush of heavy booted steps.

  ‘We should go to Donna. She needs to see you’re okay,’ Satori says.

  ‘Donna?’

  ‘Yes, she helped me reach you. She’s in hospital. It’s a long story, but it’s important. She needs to know you’re okay.’

  Star looks around her. The corridor is empty. The demons, if they are still nearby, make no sound. She wonders where all the people are hiding. ‘Okay.’

  Satori nods. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Star nods. Together they place their hands on the bars of the gate. Star closes her eyes. ‘Open,’ she says.

  The lock clicks and Satori turns the handle, pushing the door open into another dimly lit but empty corridor. He leads the way through a maze of corridors and upstairs. As they reach the ground floor of the police station, the full effect of the rage of the demons becomes apparent.

  Six bodies, dressed in police uniforms, block the hallway. Four of them are strewn face down across the floor. The other two, unfortunately, are not. The first face Star sees is male. His mouth hangs open wider than any natural scream would allow. His eye-sockets are hollow and pink liquid stains his cheeks. The flesh of his nose hangs in front of his mouth. The cartilage, which once supported the structure, clings to his Kevlar vest. His torso rests against a blood stained wall, facing the door to the stairwell.

  Satori grasps Star’s arm. ‘Don’t look.’

  She shudders, turns away and steps over the fallen bodies towards the exit. The last of the six bodies is female. She lies on her broken, twisted back. One arm seems to reach for her colleague, seeking solace. Her fingers stretch across the floor of carnage just a few inches short of their target. Star cannot help but look at her face. Her skull is concave as though a giant fist pushed her features into the back of her head. Thankfully her eyes are closed. Her nose, cheeks and lips point inwards as if her face is a mould to create a mannequin.

  Star’s arm is tugged by Satori and she is pulled away from the horrors. No one alive, police, prisoner or civilian, crosses their path. Star wonders whether anyone else survived the demons. Each set of doors open for them and at last they reach the entrance.

  ‘Come on,’ Satori urges.

  They run through the doorway, into the dark street. Turning back they see blackened windows of cracked glass. The building seems to shake in fear. ‘It’s going to collapse,’ she whispers.

  ‘Come on…’ Satori urges.

  Hand in hand they sprint past strangers who stare at them. Star imagines their shocked faces are in response to her nakedness and tries to cover herself with her arms.

  Satori removes his shirt and passes it to her. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know why…’

  ‘Thank you.’ She stops running to button it over her chest. She kisses his cheek.

  They run onwards, hand in hand. She and Satori keep looking ahead, concentrating on their goal, Donna.

  Chapter 3

  ‘Satori!’ Donna grins as she looks at the figure in the doorway. ‘You’re back. I thought…’

  Star steps out from behind Satori and faces Donna.

  ‘Oh My God! How?’ Donna stares at Star in disbelief. ‘Am I fucking dreaming?’

  ‘We did it, Donna,’ Satori says.

  ‘We did it? Sarah, you’re alive, but how? I can’t believe this is real… How did you?’

  Star steps forwards and smiles. ‘He found me.’

  ‘I knew he would.’ Donna pulls herself upright. ‘Come here, Sarah. Let me touch you. I can’t believe my fucking eyes. I need to know this is real.’

  Star crosses the hospital room and sits on the edge of Donna’s mattress. She reaches out and grasps her friend’s trembling hand. ‘It’s real. I’m alive.’

  Tears pour down Donna’s face as she squeezes the hand. ‘I thought I’d never see you again.’

  ‘We’ve come here to help you, Donna. Satori says you were in a fire.’

  Donna snorts. ‘Yeah, that was stupid.’

  Star shakes her head. ‘I understand.’

  ‘Actually, I’m already healing. Whatever happened in those worlds with Satori, it healed me. The doctors say I’ll have very little scarring and my breathing is getting easier every day. And now you! You’ve mended my broken heart.’ Donna blushes and offers an embarrassed smile. She tugs at her fringe as if trying to hide.

  ‘I’m sorry, Donna.’ Star looks at Donna’s shaking hand and squeezes the fingers tighter.

  Donna’s grip on Star’s fingers tightens. ‘Don’t.’

  Star shakes her head and forces a smile. ‘We just came from the police station. There’s been… fuck knows… some demons…’ Star glances across at Satori, who smiles and nods. ‘Donna? Look, I think I’ve brought something back from Binah. Some kind of power. I want to try and heal you.’

  Donna shrugs. ‘I’m okay, honestly. It’s good to see you.’

  ‘I want to do this. I need to. Please.’

  Donna frowns and nods. ‘Okay, sure.’

  ‘Your scar from the bar brawl, shall I get rid of that too?’

  ‘What? This?’ Donna asks touching her eye. ‘I haven’t thought about it in a very long time.’ Donna stares at Satori. ‘What do you think?’

  Satori nods. ‘You’ve earned a fresh start.’

  Donna nods. ‘How will you do it?’

  ‘Well, with Satori I touched his cheek,’ Star answers. ‘Look, his eye’s all healed.’

  Donna shrugs. ‘Okay.’

  ‘But for you.’ Star leans across the bed and fixes her lips against Donna’s. They stay there, motionless. Warmth spreads from Star’s lips to Donna’s. She opens her eyes and watches her friend’s face glow with healing light.

  As Star moves away, Donna’s face reddens. Her lips are still pursed in a remembered kiss.

  ‘Thank you,’ Donna breathes.

  Star feels light-headed. Her heart races. ‘You’re welcome.’

  Satori steps towards Star and places a hand on her shoulder. ‘Are you okay?’

  She nods. Taking Donna’s hand in her own again she says. ‘It’s over.’

  ‘Really?’ Donna asks. ‘What about Satori? The police came to see me, but they wouldn’t believe… Did they let him go, because…because you’re alive? What about Raven, will they?’

  Star shakes her head. ‘The police station has been destroyed. I don’t know what they’ll do.’

  ‘Destroyed?’

  ‘Demons,’ Satori replies.

  Donna shivers. Her eyes widen. ‘Did you bring them back wi
th you?’ She looks around the room. Her eyes wide open in terror.

  ‘It wasn’t us, I promise,’ Satori tells her.

  ‘No demons here, Donna. Just us three. So, what will you do now?’ Star asks.

  Donna looks away. ‘I’ve decided, when I leave here, I’ll go home with Mum. This city is finished as far as I’m concerned.’

  ‘Donna…’

  ‘Fuck it, Sarah, I love you. I know you’ll never feel that way about… like Satori said… a fresh start…’

  Star nods and kisses her friend’s cheek. ‘Promise me you’ll write… from Exeter.’

  ‘If you want.’

  ‘Please. I have no fucking idea how, after all I’ve seen and done, I’m going to fit into this tiny world. I’d like to… you know… have someone I can talk to, about it all.’

  ‘Yes. I’ll write.’ Donna nods. Tears soak her cheeks and nightie.

  Star blows her one last kiss. ‘We have to go.’

  ‘Take care… both of you.’

  ‘You too.’

  ‘Thank you, Donna,’ Satori says.

  Donna nods. ‘You’re welcome.’

  Satori and Star hold hands as they leave the hospital.

  ‘What now?’ Star asks.

  ‘Got any more of that juice left?’ Satori asks.

  ‘A little, I think, maybe, why?’

  ‘There’s one more place I’d like to take you before we go home and start the rest of our lives.’

  ‘Where?’ Star asks.

  Satori guides her away from the hospital in silence.

  The traffic is busy. The occasional beeping of car horns reminds Star that she is only half dressed. In spite of this, she doesn’t feel the cold.

  Satori leads her to large iron gates set between high stone walls. The handle squeaks as he pushes it down. The gate judders as he pushes it open.

  ‘What are we doing here?’ she asks.

  ‘One more friend to visit,’ he answers. ‘I made a promise.’

  He steps through the gate. His skin glows in the soft twilight. Star watches him for a moment then follows. Loose stones on the driveway cut the soles of her feet as she walks behind him.

  ‘Satori,’ she whispers then speaks louder. ‘Satori?’

  He looks back at her for a moment and nods then he walks again, away from her. She hurries to catch up. Her stomach turns. She doesn’t understand what he wants.

  Graves mark either edge of the driveway: ostentatious statues of former leaders of the community. Satori turns left and starts walking along a mud pathway between two of the more modest marble sculptures. The earth is soft beneath her feet and her soles sink into the earth. She follows his footprints, striding wider than normal to match his path perfectly.

  ‘What are we doing here?’ she asks.

  Satori doesn’t answer. He keeps walking and she follows. Her vision touches the headstones at either side of the meagre pathway. Angels and dogs make way for simple crosses and the occasional teddy bear as they progress through time to the newer graves.

  Satori stops in front of a black cross. A tree stretches its bare branches across the grave. Star reaches the marker and stands beside him. The name on the tombstone is Rhiannon. She looks at Satori. His head is bowed and his hands pressed together as if he is praying. She kneels at the edge of the turf, where grass has grown and died back for winter. The earth embraces her knees and she trembles.

  ‘Raven.’ Satori nods his head towards the grave. ‘I promised her I’d bring you here when you returned.’

  Star stares at the glossy blackness and remembers her friend. A teardrop gathers in her eye, rolls down her cheek and splatters onto the wet and yielding ground. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Can you?’ Satori asks.

  ‘Can I what?’

  ‘Can you bring her back?’

  Star shakes her head. ‘I don’t know. Can you…give me a moment alone… please, Satori…Leave me alone!’

  Star hears his feet pad softly back along the path towards the older graves. She breathes deeply and looks at the grave. A flower has shrivelled and sepia-toned petals are fused to the base of the cross, a lily perhaps. ‘Oh, Raven. I’m so sorry.’

  She leans forward as if in Islamic prayer and touches her forehead to the earth that covers her beautiful friend’s feet.

  She reaches out with her consciousness and tries to find Raven, or some remnant of her, within the ground. The earth teems with life. Industrious insects and worms push through crumbly soil. She reaches further, beyond a wooden barrier and into the satin embrace of Raven’s coffin. The body looks peaceful. Her eyes are closed and there is the trace of a smile on her face as if she is in the middle of a happy dream. Pins hold her jaw in place and a chiffon veil softens her features, obscuring most of the damage to her once perfect bone structure. Star shivers. ‘Raven, are you there?’

  ***

  ‘I fucked Satori,’ Raven says proudly. Her words are full of poison.

  Star stares dumbly as the weight of Raven’s words crash through her skull. She shakes her head to deny the image of Raven and Satori’s bodies moving together. It fills her brain. Something wakens in Star’s belly, the baby? She grabs Raven by the shoulders and pulls her into the narrow stall. Raven’s ankles buckle as her boots slip on the wet surface. Star lifts the woman’s head by her hair and smashes Raven’s cheek against the porcelain toilet. She forces the face downwards again and again, pummelling Raven against the grubby white seat, now streaked with ribbons of red.

  Raven’s face cracks open like an eggshell in Star’s hands. Rivers of blood pour from Star’s fingertips and stain the veil, which covers the face in the coffin. Raven’s dead eyes open. They are milky white and her right cheek and jaw are so badly smashed that her face hangs lower on one side, her mouth a triangle of pain.

  ‘Why?’ Raven gurgles blood as she moves her broken mouth to form the word.

  Star shakes her head. ‘I don’t know. I’m sorry.’

  ‘What do you want?’ The words are wet hisses. Bubbles of blood explode like fungal spores and press against the veil.

  ‘Satori, Satori wants me to bring you back.’

  A sound between a laugh and a cough adds more redness to the darkening veil.

  ‘Do you want me to try?’ Star asks.

  ‘You may have saved Lilith, but you can’t save me. What you did, the way you smashed my skull into tiny pieces, it cannot be undone. Let me rest in peace. Tell Satori he is not to blame.’

  ‘Who is?’ Star’s voice stammers and she instantly regrets asking the question.

  ‘You are. Binah may have taught you what you needed to know, but to me you’ll always be a murdering bitch.’

  The venom of Raven’s words makes Star jolt back. She hits the top of the coffin and smashes through it. Shards of wood tear and bruise her skin. The earth feels cold and damp around her. It presses into her nostrils. She coughs and swallows more as her throat convulses. As she pulls her body back into the chill evening air, she spits at the grave, rejecting not only the choking earth but also the vicious, unforgiving words. She hears Satori move towards her.

  ‘I’m sorry. I can’t.’ Star turns away, bristling with fury, not wanting to see the pain in his eyes. Even the fact that he grieves for Raven makes her tremble with jealousy.

  Chapter 4

  ‘You can’t or you won’t?’ Satori asks.

  ‘I can’t,’ Star answers. ‘I don’t know how. I don’t have that kind of power. Look, it’s getting late. Where are we going to sleep tonight?’

  Satori shrugs. ‘Paul’s?’

  ‘Whatever,’ Star answers. ‘I’m tired. Let’s go.’

  Satori looks at her face. She will not meet his eyes. He embraces her and kisses her mouth, hard and deep. ‘I love you.’

  ‘I love you too.’ Her words come automatically, but sound hollow. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t help with Raven.’

  He takes her hand and leads her from the graveyard. Wind whispers through the trees and he w
onders whether Raven is trying to tell him something, but discards the thought. He has Star back now. Nothing else should matter.

  Paul’s house is dark. Star opens the gate and stumbles across the lawn, complaining about stones and grass on the driveway. Police tape covers the front door. Star tears it open and pushes the front door inwards. The house exhales. The stench of death and suffering fills Satori’s nostrils and he shudders. Star walks in front of him into the hallway.

  ‘How did he die?’ she asks.

  ‘Lilith murdered him.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Where did it happen?’ Star walks deeper into the shadows of the house. She turns towards the cellar door. ‘In there?’

  ‘No, the kitchen.’

  ‘Can you hear them?’ She turns away from the door and stares at him through frosted eyes.

  He shivers. ‘Who?’

  ‘Children sobbing,’ she says. ‘We’re not welcome here.’

  ‘It’s just for a couple of nights,’ he tells her. ‘Then we’ll get that place you dreamed of: your little cottage.’

  ‘How can we afford that?’ she asks.

  ‘We’ll rent a place. I can get money.’

  Star nods. Her face blurs as she moves closer and closer to him. Her lips are soft against his. His heart hammers in his chest as she removes his shirt. He reaches forwards and cups one breast. They kiss first then run up the grand staircase to Paul’s room. Once again the room is filled with sweat and sex.

  Between her thighs, Satori finds home. He knows that he will always love her and always need her. She validates him. She takes the poison in his veins and pumps life around his pale body.

  He leaves Star in the cold light of morning. He hopes the house will not harm her. He considers taking her with him, but she says she is exhausted and needs rest. Perhaps it is easier this way? I can get everything done and return armed with tributes of resolution. I can take care of her.

  He spots the headlines of the local daily newspaper on a board outside the newsagent. “Police Station Destroyed.” He buys a copy and sits on the wall outside, scanning the story.