by Jamie Ott
From then on, it was nothing but spells and rituals with various notes in the mix. At the end, a long array of journal entries of the rise to power for a young empress, but Starr didn't have time to finish. Day had broken, and she needed to get Misaki and go.
She decided to take a break and went for a quick nap in the break room. Then she made coffee, packed up her items and made her way back to the little Mercedes.
Jumping over the dumpsters, she landed at the rear of the car. She opened the trunk and stowed her items, and then leapt back over the trash cans and walked to the end of the block before stopping.
Should I bring my sickles? she asked herself.
Instinctively, she thought it would be a good idea. She ran and got her ruby studded sliver moon shaped sickles and stowed them, carefully, in the leather hooks she'd sewn into her jacket months ago.
Once back at the alley, she stood for a moment and looked inside, using her mind.
Strangely, she didn't see anyone, so she tried to sense any presence at all.
It was like the place was empty; she started to panic.
She kicked in the door.
When no one came running to confront her, beads of blood-sweat broke out on her forehead.
Setting her coffee on the ground, she reached for her ruby sickles.
As quickly and quietly as she could, she walked to the back of the premise where the dining and patio area were, but it was empty. In fact, she sniffed the air and it was like no one had been there for hours.
She scanned the offices and the upper floors of the building. She walked over to the garage door and threw it up, breaking the padlock.
Not quite believing what she was seeing, she ran through the rest of the warehouse, but the building was completely deserted.
Gone
Chapter 4
After hours of upturning the place, she didn't find a single clue that pointed to the direction of Misaki and her people. She tried to pick up just her scent, but there were too many, and it got lost in the jumble.
Whatever the case, they must have been planning to evacuate for a while. There was no food and hardly any things left behind, like blankets or toiletry.
What confused her even more was there was no evidence of their departure. Normally, Starr could track a scent, easily, but there were no scents: not at the door, and not anywhere on the patio. It was like they up and vanished.
She sat outside on the sidewalk for hours, waiting for Shane to arrive. Starr was a resourceful person, and wasn't one to hesitate to take care of business, alone, but she hadn't a clue where to even begin. She needed someone powerful to help find the way; that someone was Shane.
About one 'o' clock, she pulled up in a little red Honda.
She parked on the curb, and said "Hey" as she shut the door. "Is this it?" she asked, and walked straight toward the door.
That was one thing Starr always admired about Shane: she took little time in figuring things out, and acted quickly.
Starr followed her into the building.
She walked around quietly, looking here and there. Starr just watched and waited for her to speak.
Finally, she turned and said, "I'm sorry, Starr, but I'm not getting anything."
"That just doesn't make any sense. How did they leave without any traces?"
"Are you sure they're human?"
"Yes."
"So what do we do?"
Starr thought for a moment, and then said, "We comb the neighborhood."
They exited the alley and made a right. Past shops and restaurants, they walked silently. Starr could tell Shane was concentrating on the buildings, trying to hear or feel people, so Starr continued to use her senses and foresight, too.
Hours went by and they found nothing.
Early that evening, they decided to take a break and went for dinner at the butchers. Finding the kitchen empty of blood, they went to Central Park and hunted squirrels.
"I can't believe I just let Misaki get kidnapped like that," said Starr, as she leapt up onto a branch. She stuck her hands in the tree hole and grabbed the fatty by the neck, breaking it and tossing it down to Shane.
"If there's anything I know about you, it's that you don't 'let' anybody do anything. Honestly, it's like I said, she was hiding something."
"What if she gets hurt though?" she asked as she reached up and grabbed a female by its tail.
The squirrel swung backward off the branch and sunk its teeth into her arm.
"She made her choice when she kept secrets, and when she picked them over you."
Starr pressed her thumb and forefinger into the animal's jaw, forcing it to release her, and then sunk her teeth into its side.
She jumped down to the ground and tossed the squirrel over her shoulder.
"I know you're trying to learn to block out thoughts and images, but do you have any clues as to what she may have been hiding?"
"She seemed conflicted between feelings of loyalty and nostalgia, and hatred and loathing. If I had to guess, I'd say some bad things went down, but she misses her culture. There are things we don't understand, and that's just that."
"If we can find her, then maybe we can do things to make her feel more at home," she said as she sniffed the air, and turned around to see a large rat attempting to climb a tree.
Shane flew to the tree and stomped it dead, then picked it up and drained it.
"Wow, I didn't know you could levitate."
"Yeah, my powers are growing. Fortunately, so is my control over them. I swear, for a while there, I considered ending it all," she said as she wiped a bit of blood off her lips.
"Well, thanks for coming, either way. I know this was asking a lot, especially for someone who struggles with their powers as much as you do."
"I didn't have a choice. Besides, once the kids heard she'd disappeared, they insisted."
They walked to the pond and stood in silence for a while, under the moon and stars.
"So did you get any work done on the grimoire?"
"Yeah, but I haven't had time to read it much. After I discovered Misaki was gone, all I could think about was trying to find her. Maybe you could look over it for me, later. To tell the truth, I don't understand why Lucenzo thinks it's important. It's just some boring person's diary."
"Yeah, absolutely, I'll look at it," she said as she pulled a paper out of her pocket. "While I'm here, I have a list of things to get for the kids, Mica and Marla. First, I think we need to get you a cell phone though."
Hers burned down in the fire.
"I hate talking on the phone. You know that."
"The others can't communicate telepathically. What if they need to get in touch with you?"
When she said nothing, Shane continued, "And did you ever think that maybe that's why Lucenzo's always trying to send you messages? Or that Misaki could have tried to contact you?"
They walked the street looking for someplace to sleep when they almost past a building with a sign that said Woo Day Inn.
"Hey," said Starr. "That's the place Misaki said her aunt was staying at."
They combed the Inn but found it completely deserted, so they called it an evening.
The next morning they ransacked the kitchen and found dozens of bags of frozen chicken, vegetables and sauce.
"This would be great for the house," said Shane, who immediately began to scoop up the bags.
"Are you sure we're doing the right thing?"
"Starr, we can't stay here forever. It's not safe. Misaki knew what she was getting into."
"I just hope the others don't hate us."
After they'd loaded up the Honda with the frozen foods, they went to the little underground flea market and loaded up on socks and underwear, extra coats and blankets for the house.
As they made their way back to the car, Shane froze.
"What is it?"
"Someone's at the car. They've broken in and stolen the food."
They ran to the car and found t
hat the windows were busted and the engine had been tampered with.
"I got a scent; let's go," said Starr.
Shane stowed the items in the car and hid them the best she could.
Then they followed the scent back through the black door and into the building where she last saw Misaki.
It led them to a large manhole at the back of the warehouse.
"So that's why I didn't pick up a scent outside. They've been traveling underground," said Starr astounded.
Underworld
Chapter 5
Down in the sewers, Starr picked up the scent of many people, but Misaki's was still lost. This worried Starr because it wasn't possible that she could have entered the sewer without touching anything, without her essence permanently affecting the air molecules.
"She could have been carried out, like in a bag or something," said Shane.
"Thought you weren't doing that anymore?"
"I never said that I'm closing my mind permanently, but just that I'm learning to control it. At the moment, I'm keeping my mind open for any signs of Misaki, or her people."
"I wonder why people moved down here. Do you think they knew the government was gonna burn down the city in an attempt to get rid of all the vampires?"
"That'd be my guess," Shane replied. "It's just common sense that the government would take aim at the major cities. Down here, they'd survive, whether they used nukes or not."
They walked a half mile through the dark concrete tunnels. Occasionally, they'd hear the squeak of rats, or feel the crunch of bones under their feet. Sometimes water dripped down from the ceiling, and water would rush through the walls.
At the end of the tunnel was a large stairwell, down which Starr sensed the presence of hundreds of people.
She leant over the bar and gasped as she looked down. The steps circled down at least a dozen times before disappearing into total darkness.
"Don't be surprised. These sewers were originally made to handle all the city's water needs. Back then, it was a matter space rather than technology."
"How far down do you think it goes?"
"Well, from what I learned in school, a basement of a building, or the sewer, is about 10% of the actual building. So if you have a 100 story building, you're looking at ten underground stories of sewer, possibly. I'm from Deleware, originally, and apparently these sewers leak over 40 million gallons of water each year. Several years ago, there was a project to send the leakage to the Delaware aqueduct. Apparently, the guys hired for the project live in helium tanks that are about 70 stories underground."
Starr couldn't stop her mouth from slackening. If Shane were right, the sewers of New York could potentially house thousands of people.
"That means Misaki could be anywhere. We may never find her."
Quickly, they walked down a few hundred steps, passing a dozen flights and finding themselves in total darkness, except for a tiny speck of light that shined out.
Fifteen minutes later, they reached the floor from where the light emanated. They stepped onto a long stretch of concrete. At the end, a single light bulb blared from the ceiling. On the right side there was an archway.
They walked through and, from their left, heard murmuring.
The murmuring got louder and then turned into voices.
After a few more minutes of walking, they saw much movement in the distance.
When the hall opened into a large underground railroad, Starr gasped.
For a mile down, there were stands and cemented coves, just like in the rail station above ground.
In the coves, people worked, selling and trading goods. Some were living in rooms to the backs of the coves while others set up stands in between each one.
There were hundreds of people down there, milling about like in a shopping center. Two men were bartering packages of batteries for food. Further down, two children were trying to trade pencils for candy. Down from there, a lady gave a man $5 for a large frozen steak.
It was like a large flea market.
They made their way through the crowd; past books and televisions, and food stands. It was a hodgepodge of a redirected city.
Every other person was using cash to purchase things.
"Currency is still valid," said Shane. "That's a good sign. It means the civilized world is still intact, even if it's not here. They're getting these goods from somewhere, and they have to be able to trade the money for something somewhere else. I think that, when we get back, if everyone still wants to move on, it will be easier than we think."
At the end of the little shopping area, they found another extended stairwell.
"Can you see anything down there?" asked Shane.
"People; families in various sections of the sewer."
Starr turned at the sound of footsteps from behind her. An old man with shifty eyes approached.
"Excuse me," said Starr. "We're looking for girl name Misaki. She would have been new. Have you seen any new faces, here?"
The man said, "Get off," and walked down the steps.
"Give me a second," said Starr.
She clung to the rail, with both hands, and closed her eyes so she could focus better on the lower floors.
In one cemented corner, several floors down, a mother roasted sausages on a butane grill while her husband played with their two children; in another, a man sat in a green lawn chair, reading a magazine. He had a floor fire he contained with large white rocks. Dangling above the fire was a pot of steaming coffee.
The man threw the magazine on the ground, walked just outside of his space and shouted down the hall, "Shut up, you Brats!"
Starr followed the direction the man shouted at, and found a half dozen kids playing basketball.
"The kids are playing basketball?" Shane asked, reading her mind as usual.
"Yeah, and I don't see Misaki. This is gonna take a while because this place is just too big. I think we should find somewhere to settle down, so that we can search, telepathically, without being disturbed."
"Why don't we ask the kids? It might be quicker."
A minute later, they approached the kids' right as the tallest one unfairly wrestled the basketball from a smaller kid's arms.
"Hey, stop it!" said a boy with blond curls, who must have been about seven years old. He kicked the kid in the butt, and then jumped on his back and choked him.
"Hey, do you guys know a girl named Misaki?" asked Shane.
But the kids were too busy ganging up on the tall one.
"Stop IT!" yelled Starr, her inner demon coming out in the sound of her voice.
They froze in motion; the blond kid slid down from the tall one's back.
"Have you seen a girl named Misaki?" asked Shane again.
"No, haha. What kind of a name is that?" asked the smaller boy, who had the basketball again. His shirt was ripped and his nose was bleeding.
"It's Asian. She's a little bit older than you; about thirteen years old."
"The Asians are on the other side; in another underground," he said as he wiped his nose on his shirt.
"Underground?" asked Starr.
"Neighborhood."
"Can you show us the way?" asked Shane.
He pinched his nose, tilted his head back and said, "No. B'y 'bom' will kill me. Besides, many of them aren't friendly,"
"I'll take you," said a particularly grubby looking kid with a dirty shirt and ripped up shoes. "But what'll you give me for it?"
"I don't have any money," Starr whispered to Shane.
She had nearly half a million dollars stashed in a bank. Her boyfriend, Antony, stole it before vamping out, and forcing her to kill him, but she'd lost her money card in Ukraine, when the plane she was in was shot down by vampires.
The banks had been shut down since the world had gone to hell.
"I don't have any money, either," said Shane.
"Okay, here's what I'll give you for it," said Starr who's forehead was starting to get hot. "I won't break yo
ur leg. You got two seconds to decide."
"Starr!"
But Starr wasn't in the mood to play games. She looked into the kids eyes and said, "Take us, NOW!"
"Okay," he said with a slackened sound.
"Did you hypnotize him? How did you do that?" asked Shane.
"Nevermind."
The kid walked sleepily into the hall and turned left.
"What's your name?" asked Shane.
"Brad."
The kid led them through a random array of tunnels and halls, and then down a couple more flights of stairs.
When they got to the underground neighborhood, Starr said, "These are Koreans. We're looking for Chinese."
"That way," Brad said in a clear voice, indicating he'd finally come out of his trance.
He, then, turned to leave.
"Oh, no," said Starr who grabbed the kid by the back of his shirt's neck, causing him to bounce back into her like a pong ball to a paddle. "You're coming with us."
Shane gave Starr the dirtiest look.
"Fine," said the boy angrily. "Now, let go of my shirt!"
The people in that underground were considerably nicer than the boys implied, thought Starr, as she smiled and inclined her head back to them.
But after hours of walking about, they didn't find any signs of Misaki. When they asked people, no one had any answers.
They didn't realize it, because they were underground, but it was early evening.
"Listen, I gotta go or else all the food will be taken."
"Alright, we'll take you back," said Shane.
"No, Shane, we gotta look for Misaki. He can go on his own."
"Actually, no he can't. Someone's after him: a man."
"I can handle it," he said.
"He can handle it. Let him go."
Shane said nothing but watched him as he ran off.
Shane gave Starr another look.
"We don't have time for other people's problems."
For hours, they wandered in and out of the lamp lit concrete community. The night life was just as prevalent underground as it was before the attempted apocalypse. All the workers had shut down, packed up their things and were with their families, or out looking for fun.
In place of many supplies stands were drinking stands. Men and women lined the halls with alcohol in their hands; music played and they smoked and danced, while others became belligerent and fought.
The underground even had its own neighborhood police. They wandered the halls with open attentive eyes, and stepped in where needed.
