by Jamie Ott
Chapter 2
Lucenzo got back with a couple cartloads of groceries and other random supplies. He appeared to have cleaned out a sporting goods store while he was out, because he dumped a pile of camping goods in the middle of the waiting room. Then he went about making a pot of coffee for the Fleet members – a few who had met Lucenzo in the past.
They all sat at one of the long tables in the waiting room.
Starr, Marla, Mica and Shane sat across from them, waiting to hear news. In the back, Starr heard the kids whispering. Some were leaning against their doors, hoping to hear what they talked about.
Alin looked at Starr with his hot coal eyes and said, “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but can we talk somewhere more private? Just you and us, Starr?”
“What about us?” asked Marla.
“We’ll come back and talk in a few minutes, but first, there are some private things we need to discuss with Starr. Besides, it’s not good for the kids to hear.”
As they stood and grabbed their cups of coffee, Starr eyed Mica whose hearing abilities had quadrupled since being turned. She could hear people whispering several blocks over, and she could certainly hear through most walls.
Outside, they stood around the fire pit that had just devoured the last of the vampire’s leg meat. Bits of white and black bone lumps were left behind.
Starr watched Chanler’s handsome face. Keenly, she remembered the last time they were together. He was sweet to her; he held her hand, talked to her. She wondered if he thought about her in the short time they’d been a part. Then a short brunette with a round face came up and whispered something to him. His response was to kiss her and put his arm around her.
If there was still pressure behind the blood that rested in her veins, it would have fallen. They must have felt her scathing gaze because, suddenly, both their eyes flicked at her.
Starr stared back, defiantly.
“We don’t have time for much, so I’m just gonna drop you right in it,” Alin said, distracting her from Chanler and the woman. “Someone set us up on our last mission to Ukraine.”
“Yeah, I figured that when I saw them use your so-called Big Fire before you’d left. How did you make it out?”
“We made it back inside the hotel right after you left. Saul discovered the bodies of the other Fleet members; they were dead on the bathroom floor. It was then we figured the Ukranians, and traitors among us, had set us up. We stood there, putting these clues together, and the next thing we knew, we were under a pile of rubble.”
“I saw them napalm you guys,” Starr said. “When I got back to the Council, I tried to speak to Blakely, but some guy insisted that I leave.”
“Everyone there is dead; no one’s left. They were probably already dead by the time you’d landed, and the Ukranians are gone without a trace.”
Starr’s chest tightened. If the Council was gone, then there was no more world police. Such news made the threat of apocalypse seem more likely.
Her natural instinct, in the face of bad news, was to think Alin must have been mistaken. But he was the best telepath in the Fleet. He heard her thoughts and said, “I’m not lying, Starr. When we got there, our friends were dead.”
“So there is no one to stop this thing, then?”
“There aren’t enough of us left.”
“Why did you come here, then? Why not go into hiding?”
“After we use the Big Fire, we always comb the area and see what’s left, what still needs to be destroyed, and if there’s anyone we need to help,” Saul said. “As we inspected the town, we happened by the post office, from where a strange pheromone emanated. It was the same scent of these new vampires, only a thousand times stronger. We dug through and found pieces of cardboard boxes that had the scent all over it, and though the packages they were attached to were destroyed, we were able to determine, by their scent, that they came from Boston. Since Credenza was last seen in Boston, the night she killed Levi…”
“You figure whoever started this mess could be there?” she interrupted.
“One thing we know is the first signs of trouble started when people were making deliveries into Fedir Postal Service,” said Chanler. “Workers disappeared, and then showed up hungry, crazed and vamped out. We think the devil has spread test tube vampirism by mail.”
“Why does their smell disturb other vampires?”
“We can’t be sure of why,” said Alin. “But on some level, I think our inner demon is telling us there is something wrong with these new vampires; that they’re a dangerous to us.”
“Okay, so why are you here? Why aren’t you out there, finding Credenza? She’s supposed to be the strongest, isn’t she?”
“We’re all that’s left of the Fleet, which is why we need your help.”
“I’m not leaving my friends, here, alone.”
“Unfortunately, Starr, we’re to bring you with us, whether you like it or not. Credenza left us specific instructions that, if anything should happen to her, we are to find you and protect you.”
“How is dragging me into the middle of this fight, protecting me?”
“It’s not, but we need all the help we can get. We can’t just invite anyone into our fold. For some reason, Credenza trusts you. Besides, if you can help us end this attempt at taking over the world, why would you stay here and do nothing?”
“This is the last time!” she said angrily. “Next time, I don’t care if the sky is falling, don’t come calling, here!”
She stomped back inside and changed into some old black jeans and a sweater.
All she kept saying, over and over again the last few weeks, was that she wanted the Council to leave her alone, but every time she turned around, there they were, in her face.
“Starr,” Marla and Mica walked in without knocking. “You’re not actually leaving?”
“I have no choice!” she snapped. “These jerks insist on dragging me into everything, it seems!”
She slammed her weapons on the bed; then buckled a work belt around her waist and tied the ruby studded sickles to it, followed by the silver nunchucks that Antony gave her before she beheaded him. Next, she hung her two favorite back up machetes: good for skull slicing and cavity gutting. Around her neck, she fastened a long leather cloak that covered the weapons, and in which she stashed a couple switchblades.
“Starr, I don’t like it. We need you here!”
“I know, Marla,” she said and sighed. Starr strapped her long black hair into a pony tail. “I don’t want to go, but if it’s gonna help put an end to this, then I should. You have Lucenzo, though. He’s old and strong. I think you’ll be fine.”
Then she walked out into the hall. Lucenzo leaned against the wall watching.
“Take care of them,” she said to him. “Tell Lily I’ll be back.”
The Fleet members were already in the helicopter, waiting.
