The Stelter City Saga: Ultranatural (51 page)

Just then a knock came from the door and
Ithaca whirled around to open it.

“
I got your text,” Larissa
grumbled gesturing to the phone in her pocket. “What do you
want?”

Ithaca leaned against the doorframe and
grinned at her cousin as if there had never been a worry on her
mind. “You are so much prettier with a smile.”

“
You made me get up from the
couch so you could see me smile?” Larissa snapped and over Ithaca’s
shoulder August chuckled.

“
You’re so sassy. Just wait
until a man comes into your life. He’ll tame you in ways I can’t.”
said Ithaca with her unwavering grin.

Larissa wanted to reach up and slap the
wicked gleam right off her face. But at the same time she was too
busy cringing and forcing Ammon from her mind like a bad vomit.

“
We should go boy shopping.”
Ithaca smiled.

For once Larissa could see that Ithaca was
aiming for a bonding conversation rather than small talk, but even
then Larissa continued to hate her for it. “Stop trying to connect
with me. Stop trying to pry information from me. I hated you when
we were kids and I still hate you now.”

Like water on a duck’s feathers, her insult
rolled right off Ithaca’s back. If anything Larissa’s remark made
her smile a little wider. “But you’re not a little girl anymore! I
don’t know anything about you. I don’t even know how you got to
Hawaii!”

“
And that’s the way it’s
going to stay.” Larissa grumbled. “Now tell me what you want, or
I’m going to leave.”

Ithaca rolled her eyes and growled, “Ugh, I’m
trying to be nice but patience is a virtue isn’t it?”

Larissa said nothing but continued to glance
up at her older cousin who was probably only two inches taller.
Larissa despised her enough as it were, but small things like
having to always look up to her was just annoying. “Tell me what
you want.” She implored.

Ithaca nodded and replied immediately. “We’re
leaving for Tarrillian City tomorrow night. I want you to pack your
things.”

“
What things do I have?”
Larissa asked narrowing her eyes. “When you first found me I was
practically living in the mountains.”

“
Ah,” Ithaca acknowledged,
“In a lovely evening gown too, might I add. I don’t know what you
were before I found you, but I imagine it was something better than
a homeless lady in the woods. August and I have bigger fish to fry
right now and I respect your privacy enough to allow you to return
to whatever home, shack, or toilet you had, and gather your
belongings without our interference. We’re leaving for Tarrillian
tomorrow.” The instant Ithaca finished speaking, the phone in her
back pocket vibrated and she left Larissa, who was narrowing her
eyes and holding back an insult, to answer it.

Ithaca watched as her cousin rolled her eyes
and turned on the spot. She waited until Larissa was halfway down
the hall before shutting the door once more and acknowledging the
person on the other end of the phone.

“
What?” she hissed. She
hadn’t even glanced at the caller ID, but she had a pretty solid
idea of who would be calling her. And hopefully, with good
news.

“
There’s been… a
complication.” But it wasn’t the gruff voice she was expecting. Not
only that, but the background noise indicated the call was being
made from inside a car moving. That wasn’t where the call was
supposed to come from. It was supposed to come from a forsaken
satellite station in the middle of the Arizona desert.

With the two mishaps placed in her life
simultaneously, Ithaca’s grasp tightened on her phone and she had
to consciously force her fingers to loosen. “Fix it Tristan!” She
barked as she whirled around to face August but she was too enraged
to look up at him. “Or I will do it myself. Where is Trench?”

“
Fixing it.” The BOA leader
replied distastefully.

“
What happened?” Ithaca
asked finally acknowledging August’s puzzled expression though he
could hear the other end of the phone just fine. “Where is Michael
and what happened to… oh, what’s his name?”

“
Jacob?” Tristan
replied.

Ithaca felt foolish for not knowing names.
But thinking straight wasn’t her best attribute when presented with
failure. “What happened?” she asked again.

“
We underestimated him.”
Tristan confessed. “Michael took us all by surprise. We were
planning on just shooting him but then he vanished. We don’t know
where he went.”

“
Why didn’t you just shoot
him in the first place?” Ithaca barked heartlessly.

Tristan cleared his throat from the other end
of the line. “He brought Lotus Stelter. I don’t know why he brought
her along, but-”

“
For all I care, you could
have killed her too.” Ithaca growled. She stopped for a moment to
collect her cool and ran her fingers through her hair quickly. “How
do you plan on fixing this?”

“
We know he had to take
Lotus back home to Hawaii-”

“
Brilliant.” Interrupted
Ithaca, “I’ll find him and I’ll do what you boys couldn’t do. Go
back to Tarrillian and wait for further instruction.” And without a
pleasant farewell, Ithaca hung up. “Okay change of plan darling.”
She said snapping her attention to August who hadn’t moved from the
bed. “Bring me a Stelter. I don’t care if you get the baby one or
the plan-foiler, but I just feel like killing one
today.”

“
I thought you felt like
that every day.” August replied.

Ithaca tilted her head to the side. “It’s
like chocolate. It tastes good all the time, but sometimes you just
really want it.”

August shook his head. “It’s disturbing how
heartless you are about this. You may hate them Ithaca, but they
are human beings. They have lives.”

“
Oh, pish-posh August.”
Ithaca snapped waving her hand, “Don’t go all noble on me. I’m
getting the job done. This is just another step in claiming back an
empire. Now get me a Stelter, if you can get both then bravo.” She
clapped her hands sarcastically as she continued to think up a
plan. “What’s a remote place in Hawaii? Let’s see here… out of
sight, out of mind right?”

August climbed to his feet slowly. “You said
you found Larissa in the mountains?”

“
Oh right!” She exclaimed,
“Lotus Stelter has that little filming studio at the base of that
mountain. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

Without a word, August nodded.

“
Let’s bring them there.”
She said smiling. “I’ll let everyone know to meet there and after I
kill Michael Caster before their eyes, Hotaru can burn the place
down taking all the evidence with it. Does that sound like a
plan?”

Once more, August nodded without a word.

“
Great.” She beamed, “I need
a gun.”

“
There’s a briefcase in the
trunk of the car.” Said August, pointing out the window to the only
sedan in sight. “It’s a present from Trench. My guess that it’s
something artillery related.”

“
Artillery related?” Ithaca
smiled, “From the Brotherhood of Artillery? I never would have
guessed. My, my, August I should start calling you Sherlock
Holmes.”

With her simile still brilliant, Ithaca
patted her comrade on the back then vanished. Out the window,
August could see her lean physique reappear behind the car. With
intangible arms, Ithaca reached inside the trunk and pulled out a
black briefcase and August stayed to watch.

While pretending August wasn’t watching her
through the window, Ithaca set the case atop the trunk and popped
it open. A black handgun and a box of ammunition were all August
could see from his angel. After loading the gun, Ithaca put the
case back in the trunk before finally acknowledging her snooping
friend, and then vanishing.

August wasn’t sure where she would go to find
Michael, but he was pretty sure that if she found him quicker than
he was able to bring back a Stelter, she just might use him as
target practice.

~It wasn’t a long drive to Heleow. August was
pulling up to the front of the Stelter Hotel in no time. He parked
the red sedan with the gift from Trench still in the trunk
completely invisible. Even to the parking valet that rushed to open
his car door.

“
Mr. Masaki!” the valet in
his white uniform exclaimed when August climbed out before he could
be assisted.

August didn’t know the man personally, but he
figured the valet was familiar with his face since he was the
current star of most tabloids. He couldn’t decide whether or not he
should play the it’s-nice-to-meet-a-fan card or if he should just
let his true colors shine. As he glanced at the man standing beside
the trunk of his car, August knew in a snap which person to be.
After all, why should Ithaca have all the fun? And perhaps his
supernatural technique was becoming dormant from lack of use.

“
Do you mind watching my car
sir?” August asked glancing around to make sure they were the only
ones under the hotel’s canopy. Sure enough the only other people in
sight were driving swiftly past the hotel in their tinted
vehicles.

“
I’m sorry sir, but this
isn’t a parking spot.” The valet replied. “I can park it around
back for you.”

“
But I’m just going to be
right back. I’m here to pick up a friend.” Said August locking his
gaze.

The valet opened his mouth, but before the
uniformed man could say another word, August had locked eyes with
him and willed him to sleep. Immediately a glossy haze wiped over
the man’s eyes and his body hung as if he were weighted down at the
wrists. His shoulders sagged and his knees buckled as if the
smallest amount of consciousness in his body was still trying to
keep it upright.

Seeing the state of the valet, August knew
there would only be about ten minuets before someone would come by
to shake the sleeping man awake. Quickly, August used his keys to
pop open his trunk and unlocked the briefcase for the first time.
Just as he suspected, a black handgun and ammunition sat inside
waiting to be handled. Fearing the security cameras mounted in
places he had yet to discover, August worked quickly to load the
gun before hiding it under his jacket and shutting the trunk. As
August turned back to the grand steps of the hotel, he hoped he
would be back with a Stelter before something could wake the
sleepwalker.

Inside, the charcoal colored lobby was quiet
and hardly an employee turned their head as he rounded the golden
statue and took the white medallion steps by two until he was
pressing open an elevator door. Years ago, Michael had told him the
access code to the Stelter penthouse and as he waited for the
elevator to arrive, August was still impressed that he remembered
it. When he stepped inside, cheesy elevator music accompanied him
as he shot straight up to the highest floor. The blue dome of glass
covering the lobby shrunk until it looked like a kiddy-pool far
beneath his feet. Then the door opened behind him and he was
looking into one of the most expensive living rooms in America.

It had been a while since he had been inside
the Stelter penthouse, but even before the memories could come back
to him, an eager shout from an invisible body came to greet
him.

“
Ace?!” It was Lee’s
voice.

August approached the living room just as
bare feet padded his way. He had just stepped into the room when
Lee rounded the wall with a pair of open arms.

“
Ace!” she exclaimed again
ready to embrace August, then stopped.

August glanced down at the youngest Stelter.
Upon first glance, she looked unwell. Bags hung under her glossy
green eyes and her fair white completion seemed pink and swollen. A
light sheen of moisture clung to her skin as if she had been
sweating all day. But even from where she stood, August could feel
that she wasn’t feverish. On the contrary, she was colder than
usual which would explain the pastel yellow jacket. It wasn’t until
she wiped her eyes and sniffled that August noticed she wasn’t
sick, she had been crying.

“
I’m so sorry,” she
apologized. Even her voice had sounded hoarse. “Um, Lotus… Lotus
went surfing. I’m guessing something bad happened between her and
Michael because she left pretty quickly. I don’t know when she’ll
be back.”

“
Is that so?” August
muttered too quietly for Lee to hear.

“
August?” Lee’s timid voice
broke through the atmosphere before he hit send. “Have you seen
him? Ace I mean. We broke up this morning and I don’t know where he
is.”

August had to fight the smile that came to
his face and the only way to fight it was by rolling his eyes.
“Yeah, I know where he is. He won’t be up for another several hours
though. It makes me wonder if he’s going to miss you.”

Lee’s hear skipped a beat at the remark of
good news and her first smile of the day was about to break loss
across her cheeks if it wasn’t for August’s last remark. “What do
you mean?” she asked as she watched August reach into his
jacket.

Before he pulled his hand back, Lee already
knew what it was. Time seemed to stop and for a split second, the
thought of losing Ace had left her mind. It was like that morning
in Tarrillian City when the horned man in a trench coat had come to
kill her. Except this time she was sure of two things. Bullets
would be harder to dodge than spikes and Ace wouldn’t be the one to
save her this time.

“
Why are you doing this?”
asked Lee slowly backing away from the gun pointed to her
chest.