Obsidian (Mystic Stones Series #1) (15 page)

“Shouldn’t we tell a radio station or something to get the word out?” Hiu asked.

“No, that would cause mass panic,” Nalani said. “We must continue to keep this a secret unless it becomes a last resort when attempts to stop them fail. We can only tell a select few. Only people we trust.”

“Yes, for once Nalani, I agree,” said Moana. “It is imperative that we keep a small circle, but we do need more allies. I know some people. I’m sure they’ll open their home to us.”

“Who are these people?” Nalani asked. “Can we trust them?”

“I met them when I moved here. Trust me, they are exactly who we need in a matter like this,” Moana replied. “I do need to tell you one of them is a vampire, but he is a rogue vampire with no connection to the Emperor or any other vampire for that matter.”

“You know a vampire!” Alani burst out. “What is wrong with you? If Ava’s experience is any indication, it’s extremely dangerous to hang out with vampires!”

“I no hang with vamps!” Hiu added.

“Now, calm down. His name is Perry Eberly. He was changed against his will and he does not feed from humans anymore. He only drinks animal blood, which is something that only old vampires can do. I trust him. He lives with my other friends Latoria Gray and Jesse Sutton. Then there’s Edison and Kassidy Marsdon who live across the street from them. They all live in Malibu and I think it would be a good place to go.”

I was astonished at the way Moana was behaving. She was friends with a vampire. She had a possible plan. This was not the Moana we were all used to.

“I’m not sure I want to trust a vampire right now,” I said.

“I swear he is a pure gentleman. He won’t hurt any of us, I’ve known him for a long time now,” Moana replied.

“So was the one that I met,” I said blankly as I stared down at my waffles.

“Why don’t we go meet them? Then we can take a vote, alright?”

Everyone but me said, “Okay,” and after a few seconds of thought, I agreed with a nod of my head.

Moana used one of the stolen devices on her cell phone and called her friends to tell them we would be over in a couple hours. Meanwhile, everyone gathered supplies. We all knew our time at Moana’s house was running out.

The frantic packing and running around to get everything ready was interrupted by a knock at the door. Everyone turned to Moana in hopes of seeing her expectant face, but hers seemed just as clueless as the rest of ours.

Moana quietly told us all to go upstairs, but Hiu refused to leave her alone. She looked through the peephole as we watched from the hallway upstairs. She kept the chain on the door and opened it a little.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

A man’s voice intruded. Something about it sent chills up my spine as I listened from atop the stairs.

“Hello, I’m Mike from Scrapton Security, I’m here because there has been a surplus of breaking and entering in this neighborhood since the satellite virus and we at Scrapton would like to let you know our security systems still work without satellite technology. Here are some pamphlets I’d like to show you,” he said.

Moana wasn’t buying it.

“Well, I’m on my way out, you can hand them to me through the door and I’ll check them out later,” Moana said politely.

Then the man pushed the barrel of a gun through the crack in the door and threatened Moana, “Open the door or someone will get hurt,” he said.

Moana froze.

I froze.

“Open the door,” he said again.

Not seeing another option, she did what he asked. He walked in and grabbed her by the arm while pointing the gun at Hiu.

“Everyone get in the kitchen. That means you ladies upstairs, too,” he called out. I peered down at the man. His platinum hair shone brighter than the sun and he was thin in an almost deathly way. The condition of his teeth led me to believe he had drug problems. He wore a crooked smile and evil eyes.

We slowly and cautiously descended the stairs. I saw the fear in Moana’s eyes and the fire in Hiu’s. When we got to the bottom, the man motioned with the gun for us to get moving into the kitchen. Once everyone gathered, he made us sit at the table.

“Hands on the table. I want to see ten hands,” he said as he waved the gun around.

We followed the orders of the man waving the gun.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re all going to give me your rings or bracelets or whatever it is that protect you from the vampires. The Drudge General is coming here in a few hours and I can’t have those things stopping him from serving justice.”

We all took off our rings and put them on the table. He collected them into a plastic bag and put them in his jacket pocket. Then he started pacing back and forth, watching us with his gun pointed in our direction.

“Where are all the obsidian daggers? I’ll need to confiscate those as well.”

None of us spoke. I quickly thought about the location of the daggers. One in my bag, one in Hiu’s and one in Alani’s. I thought Moana probably had one or two in her possession but wasn’t positive. I did know of one thing in Moana’s bag. I just needed to get to it. The man moved toward Moana with the gun.

“We only have the one we killed Jovan with, it’s in my bag,” I said. The man turned his attention to me with crazy eyes.

“You. You’re the one I’m not allowed to kill,” he said after assessing me with his eyes.

“No matter. I’ve got plenty of people here that you care about. One wrong move and I’ll start shooting them. Now. Where’s your bag?” he asked.

I wondered why he wasn’t allowed to kill me. I couldn’t think about it too much at the moment. The shot of courage the words gave me would wear off soon.

“Over there on the floor,” I motioned toward the door.

“Go get it. Don’t open it, just get it and bring it here,” he replied as he brought the gun to Hiu’s temple. The fire in Hui’s eyes burned hotter.

I got up and walked to the bags. I picked mine up but also grabbed the gun in the side pocket of Moana’s bag. I’d shot a gun many times before and I prepared to do it again. I’d seen Moana load it earlier, so all I had to do was take the safety off and pull the trigger. I hid the gun behind the bag as I walked back to the table. As soon as the man took the gun away from Hiu’s head, I decided to give him one last chance before I put a bullet in him.

“You don’t have to do this. You’re human just like us. Just tell them you got here too late. We’ll even let you keep the dagger,” I tried to sway him.

“Don’t play games with me. I may be human, but that doesn’t mean I want to be,” he spat.

“We are all born as humans. You can’t do this to your own kind, it’s not right,” I said loudly as I clicked the safety off at the word “right” so as not to be heard.

“I don’t consider humans my kind. I was meant to be more. Stronger, faster, and a true machine that lives off blood. Now, drop the bag and sit down.”

I dropped the bag, but I wasn’t planning on sitting down. As the bag dropped, my hand came back up with the gun and I shot him in the chest. The power of the .45 caliber bullet jolted him back and an astonished look briefly entered his face, but a blank expression replaced it as he exhaled his last breath and fell. I shot him right in the heart. A quick death. After the surprise on everyone’s face wore off, Hiu opened the dead guys’ jacket and went looking for the protection jewelry. Moana approached and slipped the gun out of my hand.

“Mahalo,” she whispered.

“Anybody else would have done the same,” I replied as I stared down at the body.

“Did you know it was there before you went to the bags?” Moana asked.

I snapped out of my daze and faced Moana, “Yeah, I did. I remember you loading it and putting it in the side pocket. I figured it would be easy to get to.”

“She’s one akamai wahine!” Hiu said. I mentally translated Hiu’s phrase as ‘she’s is one smart woman.’

“Well, you did good,” Moana said as she gave me a side hug with one arm. Hiu redistributed the protection jewelry.

“Alright, let’s get out of here before another one of those things shows up,” Alani said. Everyone gathered up their stuff and went to the garage to load up into Moana’s old Nissan Xterra. Moana got into the driver’s seat and Hiu took the passenger’s seat. Nalani, Alani, and I piled into the back.

“I’m going to need you all to keep an eye out for anyone following us. Let me know if you see anything suspicious, we don’t want to lead anyone to the possible safe house,” Moana announced.

Alani and I watched out the back window while Nalani and Hiu checked the side streets. The coast was clear.

It took a while to get there since we took a round-a-bout way to be sure no one followed us. Moana took twists and turns and finally, about an hour later, we made it. Moana first pulled into a driveway that was a block away to check for anyone smart enough to stay on our tail after the twists and turns. After a while, she decided that no one followed us and drove to the real house.

Someone waited near the garage door. The woman motioned for Moana to pull into the garage, and as soon as we pulled in all the way she pushed a button and closed the door behind us. Moana turned off the engine then we all got out of the car.

“Where have you guys been? I was worried,” the woman said.

“A drudge tried to hold us hostage, but Ava shot him,” Moana replied. Pride and jealousy mingled with each other in her voice. Moana always wanted to be the center of attention and I assumed she wanted to be the one to take the drudge out.

“Oh,” the woman said. She seemed surprised at the blunt comment. “Well, I’m glad you got away. I’m Latoria. You must be Ava,” she said before shaking my hand.

“How did you know?”

“Well, you are the only non-Hawaiian of the bunch.”

“Of course,” I said with a smile.

“And you must be the brave Hiu, the intelligent Alani and the great and wise Nalani,” Latoria said as she shook each of their hands, “I’ve heard so much about you all. I’m honored to be your host. Everyone else is inside.”

Latoria lead us into the immense house. The inside was open, yet cozy. It brandished an old Victorian style. It would be big enough for all of us. The light allowed me to see Latoria a little better. She had light blonde hair about the same length of Moana’s and curled in the same way. She had an hourglass figure accented by the tight red pencil skirt and the white short sleeved button-up blouse she wore. Now I knew where Moana got her style from. Her black heels clattered on the dark wood floor in the hallway.

We all entered the lounge where four others sat on the high-end furnishings. I spotted the vampire right away. His pale skin gave him away. His light brown hair had subtle, blonde highlights.

Latoria made all the introductions. Kassidy and Edison Marsdon were a married couple that lived across the street but moved in because of the recent events and a break in. Kassidy was a little thicker than the other women in the house, but she had a gorgeous curvy figure. Her red hair came down to just above her shoulders. Her kind, green eyes focused on us as newcomers. Edison was also thicker than the other men and had average height and features. His hair was brown and his eyes were blue. Last to be introduced was Jesse Sutton, the owner of the house.

Something about him caught my attention. My gaze lingered on him a little too long. His eyes were dark green and deeply set, framed by eyelashes that no man should ever be allowed to flaunt. They were partially hidden by his almost black hair which fell freely around his face. His hand swept some of it back as his eyes connected with mine. I smiled and turned my attention to Moana as she began to tell them about our situation. Latoria suggested we all move to the living room.

Moana updated them with the info we had as I sat quietly. I measured their reactions. Perry the vampire seemed upset that the other vampires plotted such an evil plan. Kassidy and Edison reacted like most humans would, however, Latoria didn’t seem quite as shaken.

After a while, I noticed Jesse Sutton again, sitting with one elbow propped on the back of the chaise lounge in the corner. He looked statuesque. His eyes were the only part of him that moved. He had no nervous ticks, no itches, no moments of repositioning and he only said a few words—none of which were directed at me, although, I did feel his stare every once in a while. When I would glance over, his eyes would dart elsewhere.

He seemed bored with the conversation. His arrogance troubled me. I couldn’t see how he could be so nonchalant about the subjects we were discussing. Soon he stood and announced he was going to “retire” even though the sun still illuminated the sky. It was only about eight o’clock. I thought it was an early bedtime for someone who didn’t even have to work a day in his life according to Moana.

My eyes trailed Jesse as he left the room. The rest of us continued to talk and make some plans but nothing concrete. We would have to wait until morning to finalize anything because Jesse was part of our group, and since this was his house, we needed his input.

It was strange to me that he didn’t seem to care about anything that was going on, yet he was to make the decisions. I pushed the thoughts out of my mind. I had more to worry about than the business of a complete stranger. Maybe he’d understand the gravity of the situation once a bunch of vampires came knocking on his door.