Phoenix and the Dark Star

by Gerald Pruett

  “You don’t need that job…” Blue Moon was only able to get out.

  “I do need that job,” Winona insisted. “I need that paycheck.”

  “You play numbers—occasionally—to win money,” Blue Moon said.

  With a confused expression on her face, Winona thought for a second before saying, “The lottery. Occasionally I play. I haven’t won though… not yet anyway.”

  “That daily one that you play, tomorrow play the numbers 06-07-15-29-35.”

  “Okay, fine, if I can remember them, I’ll play those numbers,” Winona said.

  “You’ll remember,” Blue Moon assured her. “And you’ll quit your job.”

  “Yeah, well, until I win enough to quit my job, I won’t be quitting,” Winona informed.

  “You took a lifeguard position because you’re an excellent swimmer,” Blue Moon began. “Plus you care for people. If anyone would die at the swimming pool I know you would feel guilty that you couldn’t have saved that person. Would you feel as guilty if a vampire would kill a person who you could have saved?”

  Winona moaned before grumbling, “Fine. But I’m not quitting my job until I can afford to; however, I’ll come up with an excuse to tell Dale though.”

  “Okay, now let’s begin your training.”

  Winona nodded before saying, “Alright. Let’s do this.”

  Thursday, Winona woke up at 8:30 A.M. Shayne and Dakota had already left for work; however, Adam and Sheila were watching TV in the living room.

  When Winona stepped into the living room, she greeted them with, “Morning.”

  “Morning,” Adam and Sheila echoed.

  “So how have you been, Sheila?” Winona questioned.

  “Good,” Sheila replied. “And you?”

  “Good,” Winona echoed. “You’re not working today, Adam?”

  “I’m off today, and speaking of working today, Dale called,” Adam said. “He would like it if you could work the early shift today.”

  “Mmm,” Winona uttered while thinking about it. “I need to check something on the Internet before I decide.”

  “Okay,” Adam said in an uncertain tone.

  “I’ll go check it now,” Winona said while gesturing.

  “Okay,” Adam and Sheila said.

  Winona nodded before turning and walking back towards her bedroom. After booting up the computer, waiting the minutes that it took for the computer to be responsive and logging onto the Internet, she checked the flight schedules from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia.

  When Winona saw an evening flight, she uttered, “Sweet. That will work.” She then got up, went to her purse, pulled out her bank debit card, returned to the computer and began the process of booking a round-trip flight to Atlanta, Georgia.

  Once she was done booking the flight, she shut down her computer and then called Dale. After getting off the phone with Dale, she made herself some breakfast.

  Winona would normally take a gym bag filled with her purse, her swimsuit and three towels with her to the pool, and then swap her clothes for her swimsuit once at the pool. This morning when Winona packed her gym bag for the swimming pool, she added two sets of additional clothing and the incantations to subdue vampires to her bag as well.

  As Winona—with the strap of the gym bag over her shoulder—was walking through the living room to leave, she told Adam and Sheila, “Bye. I’m gone.”

  “Bye,” Adam and Sheila echoed.

  Before Winona was able to leave out, Adam noticed that her bag was fuller than usual; however, without really giving the bag a second thought, he went about his day as if he didn’t even notice.

  After leaving the house, Winona drove to the gas station down the road and played the lottery numbers that Blue Moon had given her. She then continued to the pool.

  As the day progressed, Winona’s morning to late afternoon was routine. She left the pool one hour before her plane to Atlanta, Georgia was to take off, and—with the heavy late afternoon traffic around the airport—arrived at the airport just in time to grab her ticket, declare one carryon bag and get to the terminal before they closed the gate.

  Winona’s brother Matthew and Matthew’s partner Officer George DuPont were escorting a prisoner through the airport in handcuffs. Matthew was the one who had hold of the prisoner and didn’t see Winona as she was dashing through the gate in order to make her flight, but George did.

  As the worker was closing off the gate, George questioned, “Where’s your sister going?”

  As Matthew was giving George a confused look, the prisoner said, “Hopefully, she’s going to the police station to bail me out.”

  “I wasn’t speaking to you,” George informed.

  Matthew continued to give George a confused look, but before he could respond, a terrified four-year-old boy cried out, “Mommy!”

  Matthew and George looked forward and saw a lone boy walking their way.

  George walked ahead of Matthew, and as he was approaching the boy, he asked, “What’s your name, young man?”

  “Go away,” the boy insisted.

  “Well, I would like to help you find your mommy, and I can’t do that if I go away,” George said sympathetically.

  “I don’t know you!” the boy shot at George. “Go away!”

  “Normally you would be right not to talk to strangers,” George began before bending over and gesturing towards his badge. Matthew was stepping up with the prisoner. “See this badge. I wear this badge so I can protect you and help you when you need to find your mommy. Now what is your name?”

  “Go away!” the boy again shot at George.

  “That’s it, kid,” the prisoner praised. “Don’t buy into his spiel.”

  “Shut up!” Matthew ordered while jerking him back slightly by the collar of his shirt.

  “Son…” George was only able to get out.

  “Mom!” the boy hollered out at the top of his lungs.

  “Nicholas!” a woman’s voice was heard approaching.

  “Mom!” the boy delightfully uttered as he ran to the woman. “The man won’t go away.”

  “I’m Officer DuPont, ma’am,” George told the woman as he stepped up to her.

  “Officer DuPont, do you and your partner always go around frightening children?” the woman questioned.

  “Ma’am, my partner and I… and this person—” George began patiently while gesturing towards his prisoner, “—were walking through, and we came upon your lost son. As I tried to help him, he screamed at me to go away. Now I don’t know what you’re teaching your son, but I would’ve failed you, him and even the public if I would have walked away.”

  “Okay, well, my son and I have found each other,” the woman began in a self-forced politeness. “So thank you for what you were trying to do, but my son and I will be on our way.”

  “Of course,” George said before the woman and the boy could walk away.

  The woman and the boy walked away without replying.

  “Okay, let’s continue,” Matthew said before having a thought. “Hey, why were you asking me where my sister was going?”

  “Because she had boarded a plane,” George informed.

  “She boarded which plane?” Matthew demanded to know.

  George pointed towards the gate that Winona had entered while saying, “Whatever plane that was boarding there, and that plane is most likely taxiing to the runway by now.”

  Matthew glanced at the gate number before asking, “And you’re certain that it was Winnie?”

  “I’m certain,” George assured him.

  “Take over here,” Matthew ordered. “I’m going to find out where Winnie’s plane is going.”

  “Okay,” George agreed before taking hold of the prisoner.

  Once George had the prisoner, Matthew rushed away to find out where Winona’s plane was going.

  When Winona’s plane landed, she took a cab to a shop that sold crystal balls. As she walked into the shop, her cell phone began to so
und.

  Winona took out her phone, and when she looked at who was calling, she saw that it was her dad’s number at the Fort Lauderdale Police Station. After taking a breath, she answered with, “Hi, Dad. What’s up?”

  “Winona Jocelyn Rivers,” Shayne uttered. “Going to Atlanta alone. Have you completely lost your mind?”

  “Blue Moon wants me here, Dad,” Winona began as she walked through the moderately crowded shop. “He believes that the… you know what, will do, you know what, tonight.”

  While trying to keep his voice level down so he wouldn’t draw unwanted attention, Shayne told her, “Winnie, you have no experience at this.”

  “And you do?” Winona quickly asked.

  “No, which is my entire point,” Shayne retorted. “This shouldn’t be done alone.”

  “Dad, I have the training,” Winona insisted. “I can do this.”

  “What do you mean that you have the training?” Shayne demanded.

  “You know the interesting part about dreams is, is that you can experience days in a matter of minutes,” Winona began. “And Blue Moon and I trained for hours. So I can’t even imagine how many days that was.”

  Winona saw the curious look that she was getting from the nearest customer as Shayne said, “Obviously I don’t know what all that you and Blue Moon had done within your dream, but doing this alone is reckless and suicidal.”

  “Dad, I love you, but this is something I have to do. I’ll call you later. Bye,” Winona told him before hanging up.

  “Winona! Winona!” Shayne uttered before deciding that the call had been ended.

  Shayne redialed her number, and when her phone went straight into voicemail, he slammed the receiver down.

  “Winona is a little old for a teenage rebellion,” Detective Gerri Sheppard—the closest detective to Shayne—pointed out.

  “This is something else entirely,” Shayne assured her. He then questioned loudly, “Has anyone here ever served out of Atlanta, Georgia?”

  After a moment of no one answering, Officer Briggs shared, “My uncle—Lieutenant Jack Stallings—is a detective in the Atlanta Georgia Police Department.”

  “Close enough,” Shayne told him before gesturing towards his phone. “Get your uncle on the horn for me.”

  “Okay,” Officer Briggs agreed before stepping over to Shayne’s phone, picking it up and dialing it.

  Once Officer Briggs’s uncle was on the phone, Officer Briggs held out the phone for Shayne to take.

  “Detective Stallings, this is Detective Rivers. I know that this is an odd request, but do you know of any private investigators in your vicinity who would investigate the paranormal?”

  “You’re joking, right?” Jack shot at him.

  “I wish I was,” Shayne told him.

  “Okay, well, I did arrest a private investigator last week for interfering with an active investigation that involves a serial killer,” Jack began. “He’s out now though. Anyway, he claims that there is more than one killer, and that the killers aren’t even human. Is that paranormal enough for you?”

  “Do you know that private investigator’s name and his contact information?”

  “William Merritt—AKA Willie,” Jack said while typing on the computer. “Hold on for the contact information.”

  After finding the information, Jack gave Shayne Willie’s address and phone number.

  “Got it,” Shayne said after writing it down. “Thank you, Detective Stallings.”

  “Before you hang up, Detective Rivers, may I ask what is this about?” Jack questioned.

  “My eighteen-year-old daughter is currently somewhere in your city, and she is on the hunt for paranormal activity.”

  “And what better person to track down your daughter than a detective who believes in the paranormal,” Jack added in an understanding tone.

  “Exactly,” Shayne told him. “Anyway, thanks for the information. Bye.”

  As Shayne was hanging up, Gerri questioned, “Winnie now believes in the paranormal?”

  “According to the stories of my ancestors, magic is supposed to run through my veins,” Shayne began while drawing every officer’s attention. “I never shared that before because I have never believed those stories. Winnie has recently learned about those stories, and now she decided to explore them.”

  “And she went to Atlanta, Georgia to do that?” Gerri questioned.

  Shayne thought of his answer before fudging, “She went there to look for a group of three people. Those three are supposed to be some kind of experts in the paranormal.” Shayne then gestured towards the exit. “Anyway, I have a personal phone call to make.”

  “Well, I think everyone here now knows that you’re about to hire a private investigator who believes in the paranormal in order to track down Winnie,” Gerri pointed out.

  “Be that as it may, I feel that, that call will be a private matter between me and the private investigator,” Shayne said as he pulled out his cell phone and slightly held it up. “So I’m going to make this call in private.”

  “Alright,” Gerri assured him.

  Shayne nodded before turning and walking away.

  In Atlanta, Georgia, Winona had stepped up to the cashier to pay for the three crystal balls that she had picked out that were larger than four inches in diameter. While thinking that it was no longer necessary to hide her whereabouts, Winona used her bank debit card to make her purchase.

  As she was receiving her receipt, she asked, “Where is there a hardware store?”

  The cashier thought for a second before giving Winona directions.

  Shayne went to his vehicle for absolute privacy and once his door was shut, he dialed his phone.

  After the fifth ring, a thirty-three-year-old man answered the phone with, “Merritt’s dusk to dusk investigations. Willie Merritt speaking. I investigate cheating spouses and crimes that you think that the law enforcement isn’t doing a bang up job. Finding lost people and pets are also specialties of mine. How can I help you?”

  “Where to begin,” Shayne replied sardonically.

  “Perhaps by introducing yourself,” Willie suggested.

  “I’m Detective Shayne Rivers of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and I take offence to your comment about law enforcement not doing a bang up job.”

  “You’d be amaze, Detective Shayne Rivers, on how many people come in while claiming to have loved ones who are being tried for a crime that their loved ones didn’t commit. Granted, four out of five cases, my findings would correspond with the police’s findings, but there’s always that fifth case where the police had arrested the wrong man… or gal. Anyway, Detective Rivers, I doubt that you had called me because of my slogan.”

  “According to Lieutenant Jack Stallings of the Atlanta, Georgia Police Department you believe in the paranormal, and…”

  “Are you calling here to mock me, detective?!” Willie demanded to know.

  “I have called to hire you—if in fact that you believe in the paranormal.”

  “As long as you’re paying me, I’ll believe in the Easter Bunny,” Willie retorted.

  “Do you or do you not believe that the serial killer in Atlanta, Georgia is more than one person and that they are something other than human?”

  Willie slightly hesitated before saying, “Laugh all you want, but I have seen the killers—two of them anyway, and they are vampires. Not the afraid-of-the-sunlight or the messed-up-in-the-face vampires either, mind you. In fact, the TV rules don’t even apply to them. So who knows how many vampires there actually are here in the city while walking among us?”

  “There are three vampires in your city, actually,” Shayne informed.

  “And you would know this how?” Willie prompted.

  Shayne took a breath before explaining everything to Willie.

  With her gym bag and shopping bags in her hands, Winona stepped up to the cashier of a gas station and asked, “Can I get the key to the women’s room?”

  The ca
shier looked towards the bags that Winona was carrying before saying, “It’s out of order.”

  Winona lifted up her gym bag, and as she was unzipping it, she questioned, “You think I’m carrying drugs, don’t you?” She exposed the contents of her bag. “All I have in here are clothes, papers, a small purse and a pencil-thick tree branch. In the purse, I have my cell phone, a small sewing kit and a wallet containing my driver’s license, a few photos and some cash. In the shopping bags are crystal balls and six wooden stakes. The stakes and the tree branch are for an art project that I will be working on—it’s a hobby of mine. But what I don’t have are drugs or anything else that is illegal. So are you absolutely sure that the women’s restroom is out of order?”

  The cashier stared indifferently at Winona for a moment before pulling out a key and telling her, “The men’s restroom is currently free. You can use that if you’d like.”

  “I would like,” Winona told the cashier while taking the key. “Thanks.”

  When the cashier nodded, Winona turned and walked away. Winona went into the men’s restroom and shut the door behind her.

  Winona saw that the sink was wet from recent use, and she immediately wiped it out before pulling out one of the crystal balls and placing it into the sink. She then pulled out a recently purchased lighter from her front pocket and the pencil-thick tree branch.

  The lighter took a couple of tries before it ignited with a flame. She then proceeded to light the tree branch.

  Winona had allowed the branch to burn until the tip was a charcoal color. After blowing out the flame she proceeded to draw the first symbol onto the crystal ball.

  At the counter, Willie stepped up to the cashier, and while showing the cashier a faxed picture of Winona, he asked, “Has this girl been here?”

  “Are you the police?” the cashier asked.

  “I’m a private investigator,” Willie informed before showing the cashier his private investigator’s license. “I was hired to find this girl. Now have you seen her?”

  “She’s in the men’s room,” the cashier informed.

  “Well, Winona was the easiest person to find so far,” Willie said while turning towards the restrooms and then walking away.