The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (17 page)

“
You didn’t tell him about
your…?” Kasper let his voice fade. It was a question that had been
ringing in the back of his mind since their first video chat
shortly after Lotus found out about Michael. Kasper was the only
other person that knew about Lotus’s secret and he made her swear
on her life that she wouldn’t tell another soul.

“
Of course not!” she
sputtered, “Jeez, I thought the reason why you didn’t ask before is
because you trusted me.”

“
I do trust you, Lotus, I
just know that sometimes people mess up and that would have been
the perfect opportunity for you to slip.”

Lotus shook her head. “Nah, Michael’s
not worth it. I mean I love the guy, but… like I said, he’s not
worth it.”

Kasper let the moment linger as Lotus
dipped her fingers in the surface of the water. When she pulled
them out she watched the droplets fall back into the ocean. “What’s
Michael going to do now?” he finally asked.

Lotus shrugged but didn’t look up from
the water. “He’s going to talk to the other remaining Council
members. Most likely he’s going to have an election where the gangs
vote on who they want to be in the Council. But he also mentioned
that Ithaca didn’t like the way things were working so she wanted
to change the system.”

Kasper grumbled something under his
breath and Lotus looked up. “Nothing,” he admitted and Lotus
shrugged it off.

“
He also gave me a letter.”
She continued, “Mirage wrote it and he said she wanted me to have
it. Didn’t I tell you?”

“
No, you didn’t. What did
the note say?” he asked.

Lotus chuckled to herself as she
continued to play with the salty water.

“
What?” pestered Kasper and
Lotus shook her head. “Tell me!” he splashed her playfully and she
glanced up at him.

For the first time in a long time,
Kasper hadn’t seen her eyes glitter with joy so naturally. She
smiled up at him. Her teeth seemed exceptionally bright against her
tan skin. “My sister is alive.”

Chapter 5 Pele

~From the window of a
Honolulu tower there was nothing but the vast expanse of ocean and
Heleow’s jagged towers against the horizon. Hotaru MacKay gazed out
at the distant city, his callused hands clenched behind his back
with his shiny shoes planted shoulder width apart. Tattooed flames
erupted from beneath the collar of his pinstripe suit,
swirling
up until it
threatened to burn the side of his almond shaped eyes. Dark spots
decorated his face from age; even his short goatee
was
sprinkled with grey.
But even for a Japanese man in his early fifty’s he carried himself
upright. His posture was always erect and for an average height
man, that made his overall stature seem like a threat.

His eyes remained glued to
the scene. With his supernatural hearing, the sound of helicopter
wings jetted through the ceiling. Moments later he saw the shadow
of the company copter
slide
down
against the glass
then sailing swiftly towards Heleow. Moments past and Hotaru
watched as the expensive machinery shrank into Hawaii’s vast blue
sky until it was nothing but a faint dot. It was several miles out
by now, and almost sailing perfectly between Honolulu and Heleow. A
family on the beach could have assumed it was a flock of rogue
balloons, if they could see it at all.

Silently, Hotaru began the countdown.
Three… two… one…

Just like that the copter exploded in a
fiery ball. It would have grabbed a lot of people’s attention if it
weren’t for the fact that the sky was so vast and bright that it
blanketed the brilliant explosion. Clumps of fire freefell into the
flat ocean and not even ten bystanders would have noticed. Within
seconds everything had been swallowed up by the different blue
hues. The grey smoke was only something Hotaru, with his keen eyes,
could see and the fiery chunks of metal had plummeted deep into the
ocean.

It had happened so quickly, if Hotaru
had blinked he would have missed it. But he didn’t. The gang leader
let his hands slide back to his side and humbly he bowed in the
direction of the murder. It was quick, which meant it was painless.
The young corporate director aboard that craft was dead before he
could feel a thing. Even though taking his life was strictly
business, Hotaru couldn’t shake the fact that it was still a life-
two of them, counting the pilot.

MacKay’s head hung there for an extra
moment as he acknowledged another pair of lives that had fallen in
the hands of Pele. When he stood back up, even his eyes couldn’t
detect the faintest hint of homicide. That was how Pele operated.
Death by fire without leaving a clue. A couple of his gang members
had strapped explosives into the engine. It was an explosive that
was programmed to detonate quickly and destroy all. His gang had
once again proved to do a wonderful job.

Hotaru turned on the spot and his eyes
immediately shot for the corner of the large room. It was empty now
when a moment ago the invulnerable Council member had stood there.
Ithaca tended to appear and disappear without a trace. Even as he
stood alone in the dimly lit conference room, he could sense her
powerful essence as if she were standing beside him.

She had known he would come up here to
make sure the helicopter detonated and right when Hotaru had pushed
the door open, Ithaca was there with a proposal. Their chat didn’t
last long. She simply told him things were going to change and she
would be delighted if he helped her out. It wasn’t the first time
she offered and Hotaru knew it wouldn’t be the last. She wasn’t
going to stop until she got her way.

In several quick strides, Hotaru MacKay
crossed the room and entered the busy corporate hallway. In his
suit he almost blended perfectly. Almost. But no one looked up from
the clipboards or glanced past their computers long enough to
notice that Hotaru- with his fire tattoo- looked out of
place.

He reached the thick steel elevator. As
if the system knew he was coming, the doors opened and he stepped
in the empty space before jabbing the lobby button. Hotaru stood
alone, thankful that there wasn’t any elevator music to turn his
peace into a migraine. With a slight jolt the elevator began it’s
decent. Through the reflection of the steel doors, Hotaru watched
as he stripped out of his suit. But he didn’t have to move to
accomplish that. He was a supernatural. A supernatural with the
gift of fire.

A fine ember ring sprung up from around
his collar. It didn’t burn, instead it singed away at his clothes.
As the ring sank down his chest, flakes of ash fluttered into the
air revealing his true attire. The flame had finished running down
his torso and now he was sporting a black leather jacket with an
even darker V-neck beneath. The flames burned his waist revealing a
metal belt looped around his tattered jeans and finally stopped
charring around his ankle to divulge black boots. A pile of ash had
appeared at his feet and with a snap of his fingers they too
erupted into flames and burned until there was nothing left but the
faint perfume of smoke.

The door binged and Hotaru stepped out
onto the lobby. From inside his coat pocket, he pulled out a pair
of Ray Bands and slid them up his nose. Now he blended perfectly
with the street dwellers on the first floor. He walked past the
large indoor water fountain until the revolving glass door had spat
him out onto the Honolulu beach.

A native kid rushed passed in a pair of
too-big swim trunks as he tried to launch a kite into the air. The
kid hadn’t seen the fire, and as Hotaru glanced around, apparently
neither did anyone else.

The sand that accidentally fell in his
boots incinerated as he strolled along to the perimeter of the
beachside corporate tower. Hotaru didn’t walk too long before he
was in a narrow alleyway. The gang leader practically had to
squeeze himself against the office tower’s steel wall to stand
beside the long glossy limousine.

He didn’t have to say anything. The
limo window rolled down at his approach and a suitcase was shoved
into his hands. That was all. Hotaru grasped onto the handle as the
glossy black window was slid back up. Slowly the car rolled away
and turned out of the alley to melt with Honolulu
traffic.

Hotaru stood alone in the small alley.
He found a trashcan to rest the briefcase against and popped open
the lid. He knew his wealthy customer wouldn’t dare cheat him out.
If he did, Hotaru would send his gang to burn down everything the
man owned. The lid came up, and Hotaru smirked at the seven bars of
pure platinum.

And to think this was just the first
payment.

~“But maybe we should at least say
something.” Lee whispered from the cock pit. “I mean, I’m sure they
are gang affiliated too if they got on this plane.”

“
Gang affiliated rock stars,
Lee? I don’t think so.” Ace answered back.

“
But we can’t just stay here
all day.” She paced by the door of the cockpit as Ace sat in the
co-pilot’s seat. His gaze never moved from the jet’s
noes.

“
Bottom line is,” she
continued, “we are going to Heleow and there’s a pair of
celebrities sharing our plane. Neither of us knows who the other
is, and I feel really awkward just hiding out in the cockpit after
a staring contest.”

The four of them might have
stood there for a solid five minutes just staring at one another as
a billion questions raced through each other’s minds.
None of them had
said a
word, of course, until finally August asked, “So I’m guessing you
know Dohnatello?”

Ace still hadn’t said a word by that
point. He was far too flustered to even consider lying. He had
glanced at Lee who shrugged then bluntly said to the strangers,
“Um, I don’t know if we can trust you so hold on a sec.” He grabbed
Lee and they had darted back into the cockpit.

Ace glanced up at the
countdown above his head. They had been discussing whether or not
they could trust them for
almost
an hour now. “What are they doing now?” he asked
swiveling around in his seat.

Lee poked her eye into the peep hole,
“Eating,” she replied.

At that word Ace’s stomach grumbled and
Lee giggled. “I don’t see what’s wrong with them. If they meant us
harm, don’t you think they would have broken the door down by
now?”

“
But we still don’t know who
they are.”

“
Caring Diaz,” Lee remarked
then glanced back through the peep hole, “They have Oreo’s and I’m
starving. I’m just going to say hi.” Her hand went for the door but
Ace had sprung out of his seat to catch it.

“
Wait, promise me you won’t
tell them anything.” He said, “I just think it’s odd that
Dohnatello knows a pair of singers.”

Lee wriggled her hand free and placed
it on the doorknob. “Don’t worry about me.” she said, “I’m not
going to say anything. It’s you I’m worried about. You’re such an
awful liar.” She flicked her wrist and the door swung
open.

“
Oy!” Michael called from
his place on the other end of the cabin. “You finally realized
we’re all right, have you?”

Lee nodded, “Sorry, it just
kind of threw us off guard that there was a pair of rock stars
sharing the same plane as us when we’re borrowing it
from
... A friend
.”

Michael nodded and flipped
the red tipped hair from his eyes. “I know what you mean, mate.” He
announced cracking open a bottle of something purple and fizzy.
“
We thought we were borrowing too.
Come have us a seat. We’re
dyeing
for some good
entertainment!”

Lee glanced up at Ace and they held
eyes for a moment before Lee advanced. “Alright,” she agreed
stepping over the fresh carpet and taking a seat on the far end of
the sofa. “So you’re Caring Diaz.”

“
The one and only.” August
replied taking a swig from the bottle after Michael was done
chugging. “And you are?”

“
Lee,” she replied with a
smile. “And this is Ace.”

Ace gave a slight wave and snuggled
down beside her as August’s eyes stayed glued to Lee. His head
tilted to the side giving him the appearance of a confused puppy
before saying, “Well, Lee has anyone ever told you, you look like
Lotus Stelter?”

Pieces of Oreo cookies projected out of
Michael’s mouth as his head spun around to stare at her. “She does
not!” he objected then snatched the bottle from August’s big bass
playing hands. “Why you got to bring Lozey up every chance you
get?” he wailed glowering at his bandmate, “You’re the worst friend
ever!”

August grabbed hold of Michael’s chin
and spun him around to face Lee. His brown eyes glared at hers for
a moment, then went wide with surprise. “You’re right she
does!”

“
I get it all the time,”
confessed Lee modestly.

“
Lozey lives in Heleow.”
Michael went on to grumble as August recoiled his hands, “Wonder
what would happen if you met.”

Lee shrugged, “I doubt we will ever
meet. I mean she is a celebrity.”

"And what are we to you?" August
exclaimed, "The dust atop the mantel?"