The Search for Starlight

by Elyse Salpeter

  Kelsey tried desperately to raise the shopkeeper to his feet, but déjà vu hit her hard and she swayed where she knelt. The entire situation reminded her too much of what had happened to Bantu Shingen, Shojuharu and Takechiyo when the monks were attacked in Colombia. Of watching them die in flames at the hands of Raul Salazar and his men. Watching them die at the bequest of a demon. “Good sir, please let me help you. We must get out of here.” She tried again to pull him up, but he pushed her roughly away.

  “There is nothing you can do for me,” he hissed. “Shingen made it very clear what would happen to me. His parting words to me after all these years apart were only that I would do his bidding and then I was going to die. All part of the prophecy. And now it’s happening. Take this.” With shaking hands he removed the leather cord from around his neck and thrust it into her hands. “Do not part with it.”

  “Stop talking like that! You are not going to die. I won’t let you.” She pondered removing the letter opener from his chest, but she was afraid he’d bleed out. Instead she grabbed his shoulders, but he pushed her away and she fell on her backside.

  “It’s beyond your control, girl.” Blood bubbled from his lips.

  “It doesn’t have to be!” she yelled back. “Now get up!”

  He thrust the talisman at her again. “Take it!”

  Hoping to mollify him, Kelsey grabbed it and placed the necklace around her head. Her skin began to tingle even more and she felt energy course through her body. “What do I do with this thing?”

  “Hell if I know.” He coughed violently and more blood spurted from his wound.

  The shop had been nearly consumed by flames and the heat had grown so intense Kelsey could feel it now burning her skin. She glanced frantically at the commotion towards the front of the shop. She’d expected the assailants to have come to the back to get them by now. Instead, she continued to hear fighting. They needed to escape.

  “Go. Now,” Dolma rasped. “Just save Yeshe.”

  The shopkeeper’s eyes rolled back in his head and he sagged limp to the ground.

  A voice suddenly boomed in her head. “He’s dead. Flee through the back door. They’re coming for you next.”

  Kelsey flinched and glanced around. Who said that? She was alone. She stared down at the amulet draped on her chest. Had the demon actually spoken to her?

  She had no time to think about it. She grabbed the cat from the floor next to Dolma, interrupting his licking the ash from the man’s face.

  Kelsey rose unsteadily and with her other hand snatched the file containing her father’s translations and a book on demonology she saw on the table. Then she lurched awkwardly through the flaming shop, blindly barreled out the back door, and nearly fell down the steps and into the alley. Smoke billowed out behind her. She took a deep breath of the icy cold air and limped up the narrow street as quickly as she could, making it to the corner before she turned back. Her heart hammered in her chest as she watched a man charge through the back door. The man glanced up at the screams and shouts from the people glancing out their windows and pointing at the building quickly being devoured by flames. Sirens wailed as fire trucks sped to the scene.

  The man looked around and saw her at the end of the block. She could see him more clearly now. He was tall and a shock of wavy black hair fell to his shoulders.

  “Stop!” he bellowed and pointed at her. “I need that amulet.”

  “Get out of here, Kelsey. Now! He’s dangerous!”

  No kidding. That voice again. She had no idea who was speaking to her.

  The man unsheathed a sword from his scabbard, and Kelsey turned and ran as fast as her lame leg would take her. She closed her mind to the pain roaring in and just fled. She tore down one side alley after another, slinked through a final one and then ducked inside the open back door of a building. She pushed her way across the first floor and came out through the front entrance on the opposite street. Knowing her leg was about to give out, she ducked into a recessed door and waited. Her heart hammered hard in her chest and her leg burned as if on fire.

  Kelsey’s skin began to tingle even more intensely and she froze. Her pursuer was nearby. He must either be a demon himself, or he held another charm. One that also contained a demon. She remained still, and finally noticed him round a corner half a block away and slowly begin striding towards her. He held an amulet out in front of him as if it were a homing device.

  She had to get out of there. Kelsey inched from the doorway and back into the same building she had just exited, walking in the opposite direction. She hit the alley and then hobbled to the street, frantically hailed a cab and jumped inside. She gave the cabby her home address and then texted Desmond. “Meet me at my apartment, and bring your gun. I’m being followed.”

  She made her way back home, furiously trying to figure out what was happening and the identity of the man following her. He was definitely a soldier. The way he stood and the sword at his hip reminded her of a Shaolin monk. Who else carried a sword and actually looked like they knew how to use it? Not to mention the flying darts that had nearly impaled her head at the shop. And now she was sure he was the man from the cemetery the day before as well. In fact, she was certain of it.

  Why does he want this amulet?

  Desmond beat her home. He met her on the street and practically carried her up the steps to her apartment. He got the cat settled while she popped a painkiller and then brought him up to speed as quickly as she could.

  Chapter Three

  Kelsey sat at the dining room table in her apartment. Her bad leg lay propped up on another chair next to her. A bowl of olives, antipasto meats and a bottle of red wine rested on the table. She munched on a piece of cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto and absently ran her finger around the lip of her water glass while she pondered the talisman in front of her. She wasn’t much of a drinker. The wine belonged to Desmond.

  She had spread Benjamin Porter’s notes across the table top so she could study them all at once. The book on demonology lay near her right arm, open to an illustration exactly resembling the creature carved into the shape of the talisman.

  Desmond sat on a chair catty corner to her, a half a glass of wine in his hands. The feline she’d saved had settled on his lap, and rested contentedly while Desmond stroked his back.

  Kelsey didn’t much care for the cat. Nor did she think the cat cared much for her. “Des, you’re going to have to take him back to your apartment. He can keep Midnight company.” Midnight was Desmond’s cat who lived back at his brownstone on the upper west side.

  “That won’t be a problem. He likes me.”

  The cat purred contentedly in his arms and gave Kelsey a look that told her distinctly he preferred Desmond to her.

  Desmond’s phone rang. The plain clothes policeman monitoring her apartment was checking in.

  “Nothing yet,” Kelsey heard through the speaker.

  Desmond nodded. “Assign surveillance for the next few days and report if you see anything unusual. Target is a Caucasian man, 18-25, tall, shoulder-length dark wavy hair. He’s armed with a sword and other arcane weapons. Thanks.” He hung up and turned to Kelsey. “So who is this guy?”

  “I think he’s a Shaolin Monk. He’s using flying darts which are one of their preferred weapons.”

  “A Shaolin monk, like from the Bodhidharma Monastery? But he’s not Asian?”

  She shook her head. “No, he’s white. All I know is he’s been following me since last week. I’m certain I saw him at the cemetery during Josh’s funeral. He’s after this amulet.”

  Desmond pursed his lips. “And he put the shop on fire to get it? Which means he’s not against killing people to get his way. He obviously knows enough about you to know your travel habits. There’s a strong possibility he also knows where you live. You hadn’t noticed anything unusual before the funeral?”

  She shrugged. “Just feelings again. Like what happened at the mountain house when I could feel the Oni demons. I’m feelin
g the same shivers and dread, so I have to think it means a demon is nearby.”

  Desmond stared at her, but said nothing.

  “What?” she challenged.

  “It’s like a door has opened up. Now there are demons almost everywhere you are. Is it just because of your powers and suddenly you’re channeling them, or were they always walking around and none of us knew?”

  Good question, Desmond. I wish I could answer that.

  “Well, until we figure this out, I want you to be on your guard. We’ve got a car assigned to the apartment for the next few days, your doorman is armed, and I’m planning on staying here tonight as well.”

  “That’s not necessary, Des. I’ll be fine. After you leave, I plan on going right to bed. Really, you’ve done enough and I’ll be completely safe. Besides, I’d like you to get that cat out of here before he scratches up all my furniture.”

  He sighed. “You’re so stubborn. Okay, tell me again how this shopkeeper knew you?”

  “Apparently, he’s Bantu Shingen’s brother. You remember the monk you met in Colombia at the gher?”

  He grimaced. Kelsey knew it was not a good memory. “Your old teacher you idolized from the monastery?”

  She nodded.

  He blew out a sharp breath. “Again with the monastery. That’s quite a coincidence, don’t you think? Not that you believe in them.”

  She scowled. “Nothing in my life is a coincidence. This bookshop owner hadn’t even spoken to his brother in years. Bantu Shingen apparently left the family as a child and never returned, even though his parents were promised he would keep in touch. And then, when he was an old man, Bantu Shingen showed up out of the blue to visit his brother and tell him that one day I would come to his shop. He ordered him to give me this amulet, and told him that after he gave it to me he would die. The monks are obviously still playing with me.”

  Desmond clicked his tongue. “They played with the bookshop owner, too. They told him that no matter what he did, he was still going to die after he gave you this talisman. And they probably played with Shingen. I wonder if he knew he would die in the gher in Colombia? What kind of reward for helping them is that? What did they promise either of them? That they’d get to be Buddhas or reach nirvana after they served their purpose and died a horrible death?”

  Kelsey’s expression darkened. “The way I see it, Dolma could have been promised anything and then when he died, it could all have been taken back. And now he’s lying in a morgue. And for what? He was just a pawn and now he’s dead because of it. And Bantu Shingen? I just don’t know.” She tried to rationalize her memory of the kind teacher with this different side of him. A man who knew exactly what was going to happen to Kelsey her entire life. How he had groomed her. Did he fake all his feelings for me for years, just so he didn’t give anything away?

  Desmond picked up the amulet and held it in his hand. His face puckered in a distinct look of distaste. “This little thing is what the Emperor and Empress wanted you to get for them?” He handled it some more. “I don’t like it. It feels wrong, somehow.”

  “Well, that’s not surprising. There’s a demon stuck inside it.”

  Desmond flinched as if burnt and dropped it back onto the table. “What the hell? You brought a demon into your apartment? Are you crazy?”

  “Will you calm down? He can’t get out. He’s contained.”

  Desmond closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He exhaled loudly. “Okay, Kelsey. We’ve seen what ‘contained demons’ can do. You can’t just have them in your home.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I just invited a vampire into my house. It doesn’t work that way, like in the movies. He can’t do anything to me. He’s literally locked in here and I don’t even know how to get him out. I’m just supposed to bring him back to Xanadu to the Emperor and Empress, and I’m done.”

  Desmond shook his head. “I have a feeling you’ll never be done with the Emperor and Empress. They may have saved me as well, but there’s something about all of this that doesn’t ring true any longer.” He eyeballed her. “You know they’re playing with you, right? I don’t like it.”

  “I don’t like it either, Des.”

  “So, how do you think the demon got into this amulet in the first place?”

  She rubbed at her eyes. They still stung from the smoke in the shop. “It was obviously some sort of dark black magic summoned by a very powerful shaman. This demon must have gotten out of the hell realms, or met a more powerful being there who claimed him and locked him in the amulet.”

  “You have any idea who can do that? Who is that powerful?” The way he said it made her pause and she turned to him. His brows were raised in question.

  “It wasn’t Mara. He didn’t do it.”

  “How do you know that for sure?” Desmond asked.

  “It doesn’t make any sense that he would imprison one of his demons in an amulet and send it back to Earth. If he wants a demon here, he can just send one. There are plenty of other powerful entities in the universe who are strong enough to lock a demon in a charm. It could have been done by a spell or a strong invocation. Anything. I bet the monks at the Bodhidharma Monastery have the power to do it. They had the power to send me to Xanadu all those years ago.”

  She held the talisman up and examined it once more, ignoring the demon’s roar of protest. After a thorough inspection Kelsey determined it was created out of a walnut wood and then carved into the form of a bird. A thrush, specifically. The thrush held a long sword in one claw and had a fancy belt fastened around its waist. Kelsey pointed to the open, illustrated page of the demonology book. “I’m nearly certain this is the creature who is inside this amulet.”

  Desmond read over her shoulder. “Caim.” He glanced at the depiction and then at her. “So, this demon, is he an old friend of yours?” he asked, half-jokingly.

  She smacked him in the arm. “Real funny. No, we were never friends.” She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. “But I do sort of remember him. Bits and pieces of my past keep coming back to me. Caim is one of those fallen demons Mara adored having around him. He was once part of the Order of Angels, but screwed up big time and lost his rank. I have no idea why. What I do remember is when he got sent down to the Hell realms and when my father met him, Mara found out Caim’s talent for negotiation, and assigned him to lord over thirty legions of demons. I remember meeting him once when my sisters and I were in the palace and the guardians of the realms came to pay tribute to Mara. Caim was incredibly pompous and repeatedly demanded to be referred to as “President.” Mara thought that amusing and allowed it.”

  “So he’s known for his negotiating skills? It says he’s skilled at quite a few other things, as well.”

  Kelsey nodded. “Well, besides being a skilled debater, he can give men the power to understand and talk to animals, especially to birds. He has even been known to predict the future.” Was this the bauble the Xanadu leaders wanted? Why would the Emperor and Empress want this type of demon, or any demon, in Xanadu? Why did they need to speak to animals? Or need a negotiator? They didn’t. That couldn’t be it.

  Kelsey had an epiphany and sucked in her breath. Unless the amulet is not what they want me to bring at all, and it’s a total ruse for whatever else it is they really want me to do. She wouldn’t put that past them. God forbid anyone connected to Xanadu ever came out and directly told her what they needed or wanted. Their excuse was “because they didn’t want to hurt her journey.” Funny. Her journey the past few years had been rife with danger she could have avoided had anyone deemed her life valuable enough to share their knowledge.

  She tightened her hand in a fist until her knuckles turned white.

  Desmond leaned forwards. “Kelsey, what is it?”

  She shook her head and clenched her jaw. “I am so done with all of this, Desmond. I’m done being a pawn. I’m done being controlled. I’m out.”

  He nodded. “I understand. Then let’s end this and take control bac
k. But how?”

  “I need to know more. This one task of returning this amulet is the only thing keeping Josh protected. And now someone following me to get this amulet is complicating things. I don’t know who the enemy is any longer.”

  “What if it’s the Emperor and Empress themselves, Kelsey?” Desmond’s voice was hushed.

  When Kelsey didn’t answer, Desmond went back to petting the cat. “Well, talking to animals doesn’t sound all that terrible. What do you think, Yeshe?” he cooed at the cat, who continued to purr contentedly.

  “It’s not that easy. Every dealing with a demon comes with a consequence and at a price.”

  He glanced up, leery. “What kind of price, exactly?”

  “You know, losing your soul, getting devoured by birds for a millennium when you get to the hell realms. Losing your mind. Stuff like that. Nothing is free with them.”

  “Then what the hell are you supposed to do with that charm?”

  “I’m going to do what I was asked. Take myself to Xanadu tonight and hand it over. If it’s not what they want, then they’re going to have to tell me themselves. The sooner I get this out of my possession, the better. And then I’m done with all of them, Desmond. I’ll find a way to escape. Then you and I should hide away for the rest of our lives on a deserted island where no one can find us.”

  “Oh, now that sounds like a plan.” He stared at her with that cock-eyed grin of his, put the cat on the floor and moved over to Kelsey. He took her in his arms and leaned in to give her a kiss. A strange feeling passed through Kelsey.

  Kelsey had the sense of it coming from the floor, and leaned over to see the cat watching her. She could swear it looked pissed off.

  “Sorry cat, but he’s mine,” she growled. Kelsey turned to Desmond and gave him a deep long kiss, ignoring the cat completely, until the beast took a painful swipe at her leg.