

Demon Sprawl

Vampin Book Series #7

Jamie Ott
Copyright   2012 Jamie Ott. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used without written permission.

ISBN-13: 978-1467980009

ISBN-10: 1467988000

For all inquiries, please contact ladysonoma@americamail.com.
Demon Sprawl
Chapter 1

A knock at her door brought her out of the sleep she'd finally slumbered into.

Starr rolled over onto her side.

"What?"

Mica poked her head in and said, "We have another problem."

Using her ability to see in other places, she scanned the outside of the clinic. A vampire managed to climb over the barbed wire they'd installed a week ago. Somehow his hand hooked right onto a barb. He hung and swung stupidly while trying to yank his hand from the metal.

"Can't you get Lucenzo to do it?" Starr asked.

"He's out getting supplies."

"What?"

"I know, I know," she said. "Lucenzo's always getting supplies, but he should before others do."

She closed the door.

It had been two weeks since she'd returned from Ukraine to find the city had undergone a vampire apocalypse. Perhaps not on a grand scale as often depicted in movies, but enough so that, after witnessing a few mob scenes, Starr and the others at the clinic decided to hole up until someone took care of the mess, like the government or the Council.

Unfortunately, stowing away in the clinic wasn't enough to keep them from being attacked. Constantly, they were faced with the mess of killing and destroying the bodies of those who tried to break into their place.

Starr climbed out of bed and slipped on her pink fuzzy slippers - a gift from Lily.

Out in the dark hall, Mica stood waiting.

"You know, you're gonna have to start helping because I can't do this all the time. Come on," she said and motioned to Mica.

She shook her head and said, "I don't want to."

Mica turned to walk away.

Starr grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her past the other kids' rooms, out the back door and into the yard.

"You don't have to do it, this time, but you're gonna watch because next time you're gonna get bloody."

She slipped off her slippers and put on the blood specked rubber boots that sat next to the door.

Hanging on a loop, above the boots, were a half dozen machetes. Starr pulled one off and walked up to the vampire. As she got closer, he started to panic and wiggled himself even more wildly in an effort to unhook his hand.

Just like the others, he was brainless, hungry and zombie-like. From him came a funny scented pheromone, sort of like cinnamon only repugnant.

"Now you want to position your hand upward, like this" - she motioned across her neck - "because if you don't hit them right, and with the right amount of force, you're going to be going back for a second and third hack. All the while, you'll be giving them time to freak out even more, and make it harder for you to behead them," she said, and then demonstrated by bringing the machete outward and down at a slight tilt.

The vampires head fell to the ground and spun away; its body, still hooked by the hand, flopped like a fish, shaking the entire fence.

"As soon as you behead them, make sure to break in the skull, smashing the brain. Last time I waited too long and the damn thing started wailing. It's almost like they live a while after beheading, and can still communicate – warn – others. Naturally, he could have attracted more vampires. Fortunately, I silenced him before he communicated too much, I think."

Starr lifted her boot and brought it down fast and hard, obliterating the skull. Chunks of skull and brain blasted outwards, like stomping a tomato. Blood oozed out all over the ground.

When she looked up, it was too see Mica with a repulsed look on her face.

"Mica, you're a vampire. This doesn't look good to you?"

She didn't reply.

Rolling her eyes, Starr picked up the smashed in head, holding it away from her body so the hanging skin didn't drip onto her pajamas.

She unhooked the hand from the wire and dragged the body over to the underground fire pit.

Easy as breaking down boxes, she pulled his arms and legs from their sockets; each one made a loud noise like popping a lid. Then she tossed them into the pit, one by one, lifted the heavy mesh door over and secured it to the pit before flipping the switch on the side.

Immediately, the gas hissed and ignited. She and Mica sat in the chairs and watched the flames consume the body parts. His flesh roasted and blackened; the bones charred and smoked. To people like Starr and Mica, the aroma was fragrant.

"Still haven't been able to reach the Council?" asked Mica.

Starr had been trying to make contact since she returned. But something happened to them right after she left them in Romania.

_It was a setup,_ she told herself. _We had only just rescued a dozen Ukranians from the town, Fedir._

But if the rescue crew set them up, then why did they bother bringing all those vampires back to The Council? Why not just level them all?

She sat up in her seat, and looked to the other side of the pit. A leg wasn't catching fire.

Because the Ukranians were involved, too.

"No, the phone just rang and rang. Anything on the news?"

"Not a word. I can't believe it. What do you think it means?"

"I really don't know. You'd think there would be some report of people going mad in mass numbers, even if the government doesn't understand that they're turning into vampires."

"I still think we should call the police, even if they don't believe us."

"Like I told you, I already checked out two of the police stations; they were overrun with vampires. If you don't believe me, then you can go and check it out. I'm not going back, though, because it's too dangerous. Some of the ones that were locked up had taken to eating each other. When have you ever heard of a vampire eating another of its own kind? Something strange is going on here, and it's just best if we sit tight. Besides, we're stronger if we stick together, so I urge you to stay."

"Then what about the Fleet, as you called them? The Council's so called militia? Why aren't they here?"

"I told you; I don't know. You can ask me a million times, Mica, and the answer isn't going to change."

"I just want my life back." She sighed long and loud.

"Tell me about it."

Starr grabbed the fire poker, stuck it in the side slot and pushed the leg into the path of the flame.

They sat in silence, watching the flames until a loud vibration disturbed the air. It got louder, and they looked around for the source. Just another helicopter they figured, but then it got closer until they found themselves backing up to get away from the blasts of air.

The backdoor opened. All the others came out of the clinic to see what was going on.

The engine was cut and the side door slid open. Out came members of the Council's Fleet.

Happiness warmed her because he was alive!

"Chanler!" Starr said with a huge grin.

Alin and Saul came next, followed by four other people she hadn't met. They all wore the same black wing suits.

Chanler walked up to her.

"Hi," he shouted over the dying rumble of the helicopter. "We need to talk."
The Fleet
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.

~~~

An hour and a half later, they lowered down into the parking lot of a Home Depot. Starr was amazed to see that things were just as bad, there, as they were in the city. Every window of the shopping strip had been broken into, and their displays emptied and destroyed.

"What are we doing here?" asked Starr. "Why not just start at Lucenzo's house and track her from there."

"We want to stop at the post office. That way I can confirm, for sure, that the virus was sent from here," said Alin.

He started walking north. Starr and the others followed.

She caught up to him and asked, "How do you know it didn't come from the other side of the Atlantic?"

"It's just a hunch. We don't have great leads, and since Credenza went missing here, it just makes sense to check it out."

"Do you have any idea of how old, or how many vampires, we could be up against?"

"No, so we have to be careful. There are several old families here, and they like to be left to their own devices. They only reveal themselves to those they have real connections with or have need of. More importantly, their hearts have hardened over the centuries. Since they come from a time where nearly everyone was barbaric, and they've had their humanity scrubbed at by vampirism, then you can imagine some clans are extremely savage. Now if any one of these families should have something to do with these outbreaks, then we could be looking at one hell of a fight."

They walked a few blocks, on which there was not a single sign of another human being.

"Stop, I hear something," Alin suddenly said.

In the emptied jewelry store to their right, a man screamed out. Starr looked in remotely and saw that a woman ripped into his gut. The woman pulled back her clamped on jaw, and his flesh burst in half. Behind the man was an open wall safe. He must have come to get something, and was ambushed.

Starr made to go over and help, but Alin grabbed her and said, "Stop. He'll die, no matter what. We need to keep going."

They crossed the following intersection and were horrified to see six vampires tearing into another freshly turned vampire who wailed and growled. One vampire took his arm; the other ripped out his leg and chomped down.

A few of them turned and ran at them.

Starr was about to pull out her machetes, but the man, who called himself James, quickly shot them in the head. They dropped to ground. He continued to shoot the other four, and the one they were eating, in their heads, too.

"That way," Saul said and pointed to a building on the corner.

They followed him inside the Boston Postal branch. Inside, Starr's stomach contracted, tightly, for that same cinnamon-like smell enriched the air.

Chanler's girlfriend, Michelle, picked up a blank envelope that was lying on the floor. She pulled a blank piece of paper out of it.

"Ugh," she said and gagged. "Why is it so nasty?"

"Let me see,"Alin said. "There's a familiar scent on it. Sari, take a whiff."

He tossed the paper to him.

"It's latex glove. Whoever planted this knew that scent would throw us off his or her track."

"So, what do you think?" asked James.

"I'm really not sure," Alin answered.

"There's nothing we can do," said Emil in a light Swiss accent. "There aren't any real leads."

"That's not true. We're going to visit the Scamalls," said Chanler. "A friend told me they know something."

"Who are they?" asked Starr.

"A tribe of Irish vampires; very old, very proud and very vicious," he replied with a serious face.

"They'll kill us on the spot," Michelle shouted.

"Will you calm down?" asked Chanler.

"I will _not calm down!"_

"Please, shut up, Michelle. You've been screaming nonstop for days and it's driving me _crazy_ ," Emil said, shaking his fist at her.

Chanler put his arm around her waist, pulled her into him and whispered in her ear.

At the sight, a burning sensation spread along the scalp line of Starr's forehead.

"Why would they kill us?"

"We had a falling out during the Celtic revival period, last century. Let's just say that while others were bringing back art, they were bringing blood baths and human sacrifices. We tried to ignore it, but when they started stockpiling whole families in underground homes, we went to war with them," said Sari.

"You think Madam Balaji was bad? Well, the Scamalls' Bealtaine feasts would make them look like the USDA at a livestock plant: humane," added Alin.

"It was one of the worst wars we ever had with a tribe," said Saul. "We lost twenty of our men. Before then, we'd never lost a single person, ever."

"Well, at this point, we don't have a choice," said Emil. "We need help; we can't do this with just us. Now, surely, with their Irish pride, they wouldn't like to be at the mercy of these nasty creatures, what could easily outnumber them."

"I'm agreed," said James. "Let's go."

He walked out and the others followed.
Clouds
Chapter 3

The Scamalls lived three hundred miles outside of town. Since not all of them could levitate, Sari hotwired an abandoned SUV and drove north east into the mountains.

After ten minutes of silence, Michelle lent forward and turned on the radio. Nothing but air came from the speakers. "Guess no one's around to work the radio stations."

"Keep trying others. Maybe there's an automatic broadcast," James said.

Snow sounds went in and out of the speakers as she rotated the dial. Finally, on the far end of an a.m. station, a man with an extremely deep voice delivered news dryly, and in such a manner that gave Starr the creeps.

"The government," the man said deep and slow. His vibrato overwhelmed the speakers, making them deliver fuzzy sounds with every word. "The government has issued a warning: do not stay in your homes because it's not safe. The metropolitan bus station has agreed to help remove citizens from the town, and will be running along Main Street every hour, on the hour. You're allowed to pack ooone... smaaaall... baaaag." He dragged his words. "We'll get you and bring you to safety. You can trust us. We don't want to hurt you. We just want your blood. We will get your blood, hahahaha."

"Obviously, the virus made him insane," said Saul.

"We will rip and tear at your flesh; slit the veins and drink from your necks. You will die, my darling pets. You will die."

"Was that vampire haiku?" asked Starr.

"I think so. I kind of liked it," said Emil.

"Well, I'd say that's enough news for me." Michelle turned off the radio.

"What is the government really saying about this, Starr?"

"As far as I know, nothing. We don't have cable-satellite at the clinic, so we've had to rely on the radio. People come on and don't mention anything about what's going on in the cities. Some of them talked about a string of murders and angry mobs, but that's all."

"Aren't you girls worried?"

"Yeah, of course, but what can we do? We have to wait it out."

They didn't reach the grounds until sunset. When they turned onto a particular road, Saul slowed down the vehicle and looked for a sign.

A moment later, he identified a tree with a branch that had all of its leaves bent in half. They turned and went off road, driving straight ahead over bumpy ground until they came upon the hidden road.

The road brought them to a gate the size of a hill with a lion crest on it. When it didn't open, automatically, they decided not to press the intercom button because they didn't want to risk being refused entry. So, instead, they left the SUV behind and jumped over the gate.

Ten more miles, they walked along the gravel road, and through hillsides, green and lush.

When the first stars in the sky began to gleam, they reached a house the size of Buckingham Palace. Instinctively, she scanned the inside, and saw a jumble of images; from people relaxing, eating or cooking, to cleaning reading and getting dressed.

"In the back, they're having some sort of party," Starr said. "They're dressed in tuxedoes and gowns. There are shamrocks and moss everywhere; it's frighteningly green."

"It's Saint Patrick's day," said Emil.

The front double doors were large enough to pass a house through. Just when Chanler asked if he should press the ringer or just walk in, the doors opened automatically.

No one was there to greet them so they continued into the large bright entrance hall. Squares of marble floors each had a single shamrock died green into them; together, they formed a trail that they followed to the back where the party was in full swing.

A short way across the large back patio, a small orchestra played Irish classics, soulfully. On a platform laid out on the lawn, a hundred people or so danced hand in hand. Over their heads hung hundreds of strung up lights; to their left, dozens of tables sat guests who dined on human food as well as blood soaked dishes and raw organs.

A waiter approached them. Sari asked, "Where's Keagan?"

The waiter led them to a grotto covered in green velvet, from ceiling to floor. Six people dined on a green silk cloth. Waiters and waitress brought and removed dishes. Starr's eyes were instantly glued to the plate in the center, which was stacked high with whole goat brains.

The people were dressed lavishly. They were barely surprised when Starr, led by the Fleet members, walked up to their table.

Before she could stop herself, she said, "How can you be sitting here, like this, when the world outside your gates is gone to hell?"

They went quiet and looked at her.

A man with wine colored eyes looked her up and down and said, "Starr, is it? The answer is because we don't care."

"Just be lucky we don't kill you, now that the Council has fallen," said a woman with flaming orange hair. "How dare you show up here."

A man with large black eyes, who sat next to the woman, said, "We have no information for you. When you took away our rites, you took away our cooperation."

"Fine, then," said Michelle. "When those deranged beasts crawl over your walls, don't call us for help. You give nothing, and you'll receive nothing."

"Come on, let's go," said Alin.

Suddenly, a man who must have died around forty, for he had grey hair and laugh lines etched into the sides of his mouth, said, "Actually, I have information for you."

"Keagan," said a blond in a bright green jacket.

"No, this is something we should all unite on. Besides, I can't stand the stench. These so called vampires are a threat to us and humanity." Then he looked at Alin and said, "One of my men noticed strange activities down on Harrison Street, near the SoWa Market. Credenza was spotted there a few weeks ago. I have a feeling that if you comb the area, you might find more answers. I really can't tell you anymore, lest my own people should turn me out for cooperating. I will tell you, however, that this mess is the result of someone on your side – someone you trust, so you should be tasked to clean it up. You'll receive no assistance from the Scamalls."

Keagan sat back down, picked up a gold colored goblet and drank.

"Now, leave," said the woman with the orange hair.

They turned and walked out.

Disappointed that they gave up so fast, she said, "What a wasted trip! We're just gonna go?"

"How could you say our trip was wasted, Starr?" asked Chanler. "We've got a lead to follow."

"Yeah, but what if he's lying?"

"He's not," said Alin. "Trust me, I know Keagan from a long time ago. He doesn't like these new species any more than we do."

"We're not in the position to press matters with them. The Scamalls would kill us as soon as look at us," Michelle said sharply.

They made it back into Boston sometime after midnight. As they approached Harrison Street, Starr heard voices coming from beneath the asphalt.

"Do you guys hear that?" Starr stepped out of the car and turned around, looking for the direction they came from.

"Yeah," Alin answered. "Do you see anything?"

Starr tried to follow the voices remotely with her mind, but was only seeing blackness. It was like she was bumping up against a psychic wall.

"Whoever they are, they're cloaking their thoughts."

Then Starr got a familiar tickling vibration in her ear, followed by a buzzing noise. This usually happened when she received visions against her will.

"Wait," said Starr weakly, trying to concentrate on the vision she was receiving. "Someone is trying to communicating with me, telepathically."

"What are they saying?" asked James.

"He's not saying anything, but he's showing me. He's down that way." She pointed to the street to their right. "He's telling me we should go that way. I think he's been waiting for us."

"What does he look like?"

"He's tall and skinny, and wearing a black leather hat with feathers hanging down the back. A truckload of American Indian jewelry hangs around his neck and from his ears."

"Marty!" said Saul.

"Who?"

"He used to work for the Council."

They walked down the street for several blocks. When they didn't see the man, Starr thought he tricked her.

"I don't know where he is. I thought he was down this way."

"He's retired; like you, he says he wants to be left alone," Alin replied.

"The nasty scent of pheromone is getting stronger," Emil said.

"Stop!" Sari said, looking down at a manhole. They gathered around him. Then he bent over and ripped the lid out of the ground. "It's coming from down here."

"Come on," James said. He jumped into the sewer, landing with a light splash.

One by one, they went in after him.

Below, Starr started to gag. It was bad enough to smell sewage when alive, but to her preternatural sense of smell, it was worse than the smell of death.

The pheromone was strongest, coming from the north. So they splashed ahead for a few miles in that direction.

The walls were leaky and slimy. In some parts, it was even too dark for their vampire eyes. Several times, Starr stepped on rats and felt their bones break under her foot. Other times, she stepped on their tails, and they recoiled and bit her toes, right through her shoe.

Finally, a light flickered from the ceiling up ahead. They entered a dank and smelly chamber in which there were a number of breakers and even larger pipes in the walls.

"Through that door," said James, pointing to their right.

Once they opened the door, they were over whelmed by the pheromone. In the middle of the room was a large lab table with a leaky sink. On the far wall was a locked cabinet. Other than these things, the room was empty and uninteresting.

"This is where someone created the virus, but where's Credenza? No one's here. Where do we go from here?" asked Emil.

Sari and Alin broke the lock on the cabinet. Inside, they found a number of note books and unused petri dishes, vials and plastic needles.

Sari picked up a black book and flipped through it. "Just a bunch of formulae and hypothesis," he said.

They all grabbed a notebook and read through them.

"I've found something," said Emil. "In the beginning, it's suspected that the virus responsible for vampirism was a different strain; one that could not be overcome by human consciousness or antibodies, or at least, not by everyone. These early species of vampire were completely animal. Many were put down almost immediately after being turned. Those who could control the monster would pass on the subdued virus with antibody intact. By, in a sense, programming the virus to go after chromosome 7, we can prevent the impermeable health of the vampire, making them sub-vampire. In this way, they inherit the strengths of the vampire, even the blood thirst, yet they will age and die the way a human does, for their heart will still beat and they'll still need to breathe."

"Whoever is responsible made them just strong enough to take on the world, but not strong enough to overthrow vampires, like us?" asked Michelle.

"Yes, but that doesn't help us. What do we do, now?" asked Emil.

"Well, we try to pick up another scent or another clue," said Sari.

"What about this?" Starr asked, picking up a sapphire pin that looked like the very one Fernand gave to her when they were in Romania.

"Let me see that," said Alin.

"How many people were members of the Order of Negru?" asked Starr.

"Too many, really; the order's about a century old."

"Maybe we should ask Lucenzo? He despises them."

"Yeah but they had a falling out long ago. If the one responsible is a part of the order, I doubt he'd know about it."

After they thoroughly thumbed through the journals, and searched every nook of the chamber, they climbed out of the sewers.

To their surprise, it was past dawn. They agreed to find a hotel and rest a bit before continuing on.

In Starr's room, she turned on the television and surfed the channels. There were mostly family sitcoms, but then on channel 4, there was nothing but a desk and the backdrop of a studio. No one sat in the chair. There was no sound; just a low humming from air passing over the microphone.

She went to the bathroom, started the hot water running and peeled off her clothes. Then a voice came on, startling her. She walked back out and looked at the screen, but still, no one sat at the desk.

"Hello, viewers," a female voice sounded out. Judging by the volume of her voice, which was just a bit too loud, she stood right by the camera that was filming the desktop.

"Today, I'll be giving a brief newscast during which I must remain anonymous. Normally, this would be shot from the city of Akron, but I'm filming from the smaller studio office, in Cuyahoga Falls, because Akron has been shut down. That's right, it's been shut down. How does one shut down a city?

Well, let me begin by telling you that I went to work, as usual, this morning. My commute is from a town right outside Barberton. When I got to the Akron ramp, it was to find a bottle neck effect of cars. Not long after waiting, I realized many cars were being turned around, but I continued to wait so I could see what was going on.

When I finally got to the head of the ramp, army personnel were kind enough to tell me that no one was allowed into the city; then they forced me, like old luggage, into a medical van with a few dozen other people. They padded me up and down, and then took blood samples.

An hour later, they released me. Now the good thing is I'm not infected with whatever crazy virus is going around, but I can tell you this, people: get out of the city. While people weren't allowed into the city, there were people being kept from leaving, which can only mean one of a few possibilities. You've seen all the disaster movies, so use your imagination," she said, sounding scared. "I doubt anyone will be back to report on this channel, not for a while, folks. Be smart, stay safe."

There was a knock at her door.

"Just a sec," she said. Quickly, she got back into her clothes. Out in the hall, the others were already there.

"Some of us heard the newscast that played in your room. I think we should get out of here," said Michelle.

"We can't; not until we've figured out who's behind this," said Emil.

"Well, I can't stay," said Starr. "I need to get back to the clinic. If there's any possibility of what that lady was suggesting, then who knows how long before our city is a target."

"Just call them," said Alin. "We can't release you. We are all we have."

But she didn't have to call because her cell phone rang.

She whipped it out and pressed the green icon.

"Starr?"

"Yeah, Marla?"

"Lily's been bitten."

Stunned, Starr said nothing for a moment. She looked around at the Fleet members, wondering if they'd heard.

"Alright, I'm coming back. In the meantime, I need you to do as I tell you without question: Tell everyone to pack their things. We need to leave the clinic, immediately. There's not a second to waste."

"Where are we to go?"

"It doesn't matter, as long as you leave the city. If you get done packing before I get there, just leave. I'll catch up with you later."
Chaos
Chapter 4

Although they were reluctant to let her go, Starr gave them no choice. She took the SUV back to NYC, and the Fleet went to question Boston residents who were members of the Order of Negru.

When she got to the city, it was to find that, other than the occasional vampire, it was even more deserted than before. At a stoplight, a few blocks from the clinic, she rolled down the window. All she could hear was the wind blowing trash and leaves down the street.

Normally, street parking was illegal, but since there was no one around, she pulled up in front of the clinic. As she got out of the car, air blew around her face and through her hair. On it was a strangely voided scent; perhaps it was a sign that people had already begun to evacuate.

She leapt over the fence and pressed the bell. Starr's key was lost when her plane went down while on her way to Ukraine.

Misty, an eleven year old who followed one of the girls to the clinic a year ago, opened the door and exclaimed, "Hey! You're back!"

Inside, she found a handful of the kids sat in the back waiting room, watching a movie.

"What are you guys doing? Why aren't you packing?"

They looked at her strangely, as if Marla didn't tell them anything.

"Okay, listen up. We have to leave the city, tonight. You guys need to pack your things this instant. Bring only what you can't live without. Tell the others, now go."

But they just sat there.

" _What are you waiting for? Get to it! I don't know how much time we have!_ "

Slowly, they got up and went to their rooms. From outside, she heard voices. Out back, Lucenzo sat and talked to Lily. A body slowly burned in the fire pit.

"Starr!"

Lily stood and hugged her. Her eyes were dilated and bloodshot, and her scent had changed.

"I'm like you, now!"

"How did this happen?" she asked, trying not to sound sad.

"We were sitting out here because we were tired of being inside all the time. A vampire got in, somehow, and ran at us so fast. There wasn't time to get inside. Before I knew it, his mouth was on me," she said and held out her arm. A chunk of flesh was missing from it.

"Who was out back with you?"

"Me, Bielz and Misaki."

"Okay, well here's the deal. We need to pack and get out of here. We have to go. No questions; just do it."

Lily looked at her strangely.

"What's going on?"

"We need to leave the city."

"But, why?" asked Lucenzo. He stood up and walked over.

"Some cities may be facing quarantine and worse."

Lucenzo's eyebrows rose into his forehead. Lily said no more, turned around and went to pack.

"You must tell the others."

"Where are they?"

Lucenzo motioned her through the back fence, into the alley.

"We took it out here because the bodies got to be too many.

Marla, Mica, Shane and Bielz stood around a blazing trash can fire. They were covered in blood and ash. Next to them lay a heap body parts.

"What are you guys doing?" asked Starr angrily. "I told you that you need to leave the city, immediately."

"Why? Where are we gonna go?" asked Mica.

Starr looked at her a moment, and then it came to her. "We could go to Lake George. There's a cabin I spent some time in, before I came here," she said.

"Why are we gonna risk going all the way out there? We're safest here."

"Safe? You want to stay here and burn bodies all day long? This is ridiculous! And the stench?!"

When they said nothing, she continued with, "Look, we have to. While I was in Boston, I heard a news report from Ohio; they quarantined the entire city of Akron. The woman implied that other more extreme measures could be played soon. So, if it can happen there, then why not here?"

"What kind of extreme measures?"

"Use your imagination, Marla. If the government wanted, it could turn its weapons on all of us. Major cities will always be the first target because virus hits the hardest in places with large population."

They stared at her miserably.

"The summer before last, my family and I went to a place called Lake George. We rented a large cabin there. It's about three hours from here. There's fresh air, wild game, fishing. We'll have to be cautious because it'll be easy to get ambushed out there, in the middle of forest and all, but there's enough room for all of us, and more importantly, we'll be safe from military cleansing efforts."

Finally, they all agreed. Everyone at the clinic set to packing a bag for their trip to the lake. Lucenzo, who hadn't brought much, packed up the kitchen and other supplies.

As they worked on the clinic, Starr went to look for a moving truck. When she made it up the street, to the neighborhood's moving hall, it was to find all the trucks and vans had been taken.

She turned back around and walked further up the desolate street. Ahead, she spotted a half-naked vampire. He must have sensed her because he turned around and ran at her.

As he got closer, she spun a back kick at him. He flew ten feet back into the street where he was run over by a yellow school bus that didn't stop.

Seeing the bus reminded her that her old high school kept a couple buses parked on its lot; that and she could check out the medical and food supplies.

Despite a broken leg and arm, the vampire managed to push itself off the ground. Once again, it came at her.

Starr found that she liked it when they approached her more slowly because it gave her a chance to practice her spinning kicks precision. Lately, her positioning was off, which could lead to personal injury. Not that she remained injured for long, but a broken ankle, even for five minutes, could cost her.

As the vampire got close enough, she positioned herself, carefully. When he got close enough, she spun out a perfect 540 angled kick, punting his head like a football high and through the air.

Instantly, the body dropped to the ground.

Starr waited to see where the head would land this time. It flew for seven long New York blocks before splattering on the ground.

"Sweet!" she muttered to herself. "But I could do better."

When she turned the corner of her old high school, she stopped and stood still, a moment. From inside, she heard voices and a smacking noise.

She focused on the inside of the building. First, she scanned the halls and most of the classrooms, and then the kitchen and cafeteria. Next, she looked at the gym where she saw five people, two played basketball as the others lounged about on yoga mats.

When she realized they were just students, she continued to the double doors. Easily, she applied pressure to the handle and broke through the lock.

As quietly as she could, she walked through the halls, toward the gym.

Everyone jumped when Starr entered.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

Then she recognized two of the people who rested on the mats: Rachel and Chloe. Both were a source of daily torment for her, when she went to school there. A small girl with long, dark hair lay next to them.

"Starr," said a guy with the basketball in his hand.

After a moment, Starr finally recognized him and his friend; they were both on the basketball team. "Rick and Josh, is it?"

"Yeah, that's us," Rick said and spun the ball. "Our families were infected by the virus that's driving everyone crazy. This was the only place we could think of with enough food and supplies to last. We're only surprised no one else is here."

"What are you doing here?" asked Josh. "If you're looking for food, there's still plenty in the kitchens."

"Uh, well," she said. "Actually, I came to get a bus and load up any supplies I could find. The city is in danger of being quarantined. My friends and I are leaving the city tonight. You should come with us."

"How do you know the city's to be quarantined?" asked Josh.

"It's been reported that the government moved on Akron, Ohio; they weren't letting anyone in or out. There's a possibility that government could use violence against us, in order to control the virus."

"So there's no cure?" asked the small, dark haired girl.

"No, and if we stay in the city, we face the possibility of being destroyed."

Rachel and Chloe sat up on their mats. Rick and Josh looked scared. Maria's face turned red.

"So my friends and I are going to a cabin in Lake George. We'll be safe and out of the way. There's game and fish, as it's right on the lake. Aren't you're tired of staying indoors all the time? But I need your help first. We need a bus, which I can drive. Also, I need you to help me load it with all the food and medical supplies. I mean, we need to take everything."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere," said the dark haired girl. "My family is Upstate. I'm gonna find them. When this thing hit, I was visiting my cousins."

"What's your name?"

"Maria."

"Maria, you'll likely not survive. These things are strong. There's no way you'll be able to defend yourself."

The girl opened her mouth to argue.

"I don't want to argue because I haven't time. I'm just warning you," said Starr. "We'll set you up with food, a car and a weapon, okay? What about the rest of you?"

"Well, my immediate family is gone, as far as I know. I'm not from New York, originally, so I don't have any other family close by," Josh thought aloud. "Yeah, I think I'll come with you. I'm tired of being cooped up here."

"Me, too," said Rick.

"You guys?" she asked Rachel and Chloe.

They turned and whispered, ferociously, with each other.

"Yeah, we're coming, too," said Rachel.

When 2 p.m. came around and Starr hadn't returned, Marla called her cell phone. She explained about going to the high school, finding her schoolmates, and that they were loading all the supplies into a long bus. By 5 p.m., they'd managed to completely clean everything of value out of the school, leaving just enough supplies for Maria who was determined to go her own way.

Back at the clinic, they spent another couple of hours packing the bus with all the clinic supplies. It wasn't until ten '0' clock at night that they finally all crammed into the school bus and made their way to the freeway.

Every few minutes, a car would speed past them on the freeway. Alongside the road, there were many abandoned cars. A couple of times, Lucenzo slammed on his break and swerved, trying to miss an unmoving vehicle that was stopped in the lane.

Lucenzo, eventually, slowed down to about 40 miles per hour, which meant they didn't make it to Lake George until nearly dawn.

Starr, who was exhausted, tried to sleep, but the others chatted incessantly. Rachel, Chloe, Rick and Josh seemed to get along with the others just fine. In fact, Starr sensed that they were all relieved to have someone else to talk to. Rachel and Chloe didn't say much to her. Smart, really, because Starr wouldn't hesitate to kick their asses off the bus.

When Lucenzo turned on the radio, Starr, thinking of Boston, almost shouted at him to turn it off. But then, she stopped because a person was delivering a real news cast.

"The government has issued a warning that all residents, who are of sound mind, should leave the city by night fall. You have until midnight. The government has issued a warning..."

Starr walked up to the bus to talk to Lucenzo.

"There was no date mentioned in the forecast. Do you think they already attempted to exterminate the city?"

"I don't know," he said.

"Why would they warn people to leave? Wouldn't they want us to stay? What if people spread the virus elsewhere?"

"You haven't seen someone get infected, have you?"

"No, not yet."

"Well, the change is instant. They lose their minds, so there's no way they could comprehend a radio broadcast. No, they're off, running through the streets, looking for food."

"That's not true. Look at Lily; she's fine."

Lucenzo looked up at her, and then glanced behind him.

He whispered into her mind: _That's because I keep giving her antiviral, but it's only temporary. I don't know if it'll work for long._

_Poor Lily,_ she whispered back.

They reached the cabin a little after 5 a.m. Most of them were too tired to unpack, so they all found areas of the dark cabin and went to sleep.

Lucenzo went to room with Lily, alone. Thinking back to when she was first turned, and how she had blackout periods, Starr thought it was a good idea.

In the morning, Starr went downstairs and found Lucenzo making breakfast while several of the kids were down at the dock. Feeling groggy, she grabbed a cup, poured herself hot coffee, and went into the living room.

From her pocket, she pulled her cell phone, dialed Chanler's number and left a message. As she sat there and sipped her coffee, she saw that she missed a text message. She touched the icon. The message displayed.

'Mom: Meghan? Are you there?'

Starr choked on her coffee and sat up. She just hoped her mom wasn't smart enough to track the phone, for she was the last person in the world that she wanted to see.

Minutes passed as she contemplated the message until Lily walked into the living room.

"Hi." She sat on the couch. "You know, you haven't said much to me, since you got back."

"Yeah, sorry, it's just been so hectic. How are you?"

Starr leant over and rubbed her shoulders, as she normally would. But as soon as she touched her, she had an instinct to pull away: the scent, it was like her inner demon was repelled by her.

"You think I'm disgusting, don't you?"

"No," Starr lied.

"Yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes. I can sense your disgust. It's okay; Lucenzo explained everything to me."

"Well, I can't explain it, but my inner demon is threatened by you, and those like you. Do you understand what I mean by inner demon?"

Sitting next to Lily was the first time she'd ever been up close, for an extended period of time, to one of the new vampires while it was alive. As she observed her eyes, her skin and tried to probe her mind, she realized that there really was something completely different about her, and not just that she had an older viral version inside. This was something else; she was something else; something evil, and beyond animal.

"How do you feel?" Starr asked.

"Well, at first it was touch and go, but then, everything cleared – Lucenzo must have given me the antiviral. One day I was just hungry, and the only thing I could think of was eating people and feeling their blood, and then it's like I woke up from a dream. My head cleared and I was myself again."

"Are you sad that this happened to you?"

"No, this is what I wanted: to be like you."

"You're not like me, Lily."

"Not exactly, you're right about that. Lucenzo explained it all to me. He says when I'm old enough, he'll turn me completely. He says it's too late, that there's no going back to human for me, but that I might still grow."

Lily zoned out, momentarily. Her face was completely dead pan.

"Lily?"

From the kitchen, pancakes wafted into the living room.

Then, as if coming out of a catatonic trance, she said, "Even the smell of pancakes doesn't appeal to me anymore. I'll eat it but still be hungry."

She got up and went into the kitchen. Starr followed her.

In the sink, a couple logs of ground beef sat, thawing.

"I guess we're having burgers for lunch?" Starr asked Lucenzo.

A funny scent so foul, filled her nose; it came from Lily. She stood dead still, looking at the meat. Her pupils were completely dilated. Spittle leaked out of the corner of her mouth.

Lucenzo left the kitchen, hurriedly.

"Lily?" Starr asked.

"Be careful," said Shane from behind her. "When she gets like this, she's most dangerous. She'll eat just about anything."

"What's happened to her?"

"Lily," Shane shouted and smacked her.

Her eyes shifted away from the meat.

"Thanks," she said, and went outside.

A second later, Lucenzo ran through the kitchen after her. In his hand, he held a needle.

"Listen, Starr, I know you don't want to hear this, but she needs close supervision. They may be vampires, but they're nothing like us."

Starr, who was still having trouble forgiving Shane for the last time they were together, because she tried to kill her - twice, didn't acknowledge her. She grabbed some breakfast and walked down to the dock.

Kids ate and swam. Starr had never seen them look so happy.

"Hey, Starr."

She looked to her left. Bielz was headed toward her.

"Hey, there, breakfast is ready."

"I don't feel much like eating."

"You look kind of down. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay if you can discount the fact that the world has ended. You know, I never thought I'd miss it."

"Bielz, the world hasn't ended," Starr said as she sat on the wood bench. "It's just been disrupted. Once these vampires have been wiped out - and they will be, then everything will go back to normal."

Bielz sat next to her.

They watched as Lucas, a boy from Harlem who'd been at the clinic a year, stuffed a piece of bacon in his mouth; then canon balled into the water, splashing the other kids and their breakfast.

"Will you tell me what happened with Antony, when you went to Boston?"

That was it; the question that Starr was dreading. How much should she tell her? How much should she hold back?

She chewed slowly, and then said, "Lucenzo told you a about it, I thought."

"Yeah, but I don't know him. I only know what he told me, but you were there."

Starr took a bite of her pancake, chewed a moment and said, "Antony went crazy and killed people. I tried to help him to escape, and instead, he tried to kill me."

"Why?"

"Antony was greedy. He killed and stole recklessly. The things he did were all over the news. He put us all in danger. And then when I tried to help in escape, he turned on me. We tried to warn him, but he didn't listen. Instead, he put himself in danger, which forced his inner demon to put him in survival mode – what we call vamp outs. I should have never turned him."

Bielz stood up and walked to the edge of the dock.

Over the next few days, Starr caught Bielz staring at her. The hate in her eyes was apparent, but Starr couldn't be bothered to care. Life at the cabin was too good and fun for the kids. Their joy was infectious. Starr found that, for the first time in months, she genuinely enjoyed herself. She joined in the games they played, laughed herself horse several times, swam and chowed down barbeque.

Periodically, they surfed the radio and television for news, but none was found. No one bothered them about the cabin, either. There were no neighbors, not a single one. The only worry she had was that she hadn't heard from the Fleet members, yet. At the same time, she was relieved and hoped they'd never bother her again.

Rachel and Chloe buddied up to her as well, and even thanked her for bringing them along. It was a day that Starr had never imagined, for she always spent time plotting their revenge. But, she found without all the high school shtick, they weren't bad people. They helped out with the kids, had even taken to working in the garden, and Chloe had a knack for setting animal traps. She managed to capture several deer in a pit as well as net a medium sized boar. All good for their dwindling food supply.

"My dad taught me," she said that afternoon, as Starr drooled over the thought of having a kalua pig for dinner.

Starr had to constantly remind herself that this was not a vacation, but it sure felt like one- a long deserved one.

No more messages came from her mother, which was a great relief because, whenever she thought about confronting her parents, she felt ill. This was her new life, and even though it was out of control, she felt that it was easier to put her past behind her. Chanler wouldn't have agreed, but then who was he?

The sight of him showing Michelle affection angered her. What was so special about Miss Whiny? And as she watched the pig on the spit, that night, she was briefly reminded of her round face.

Every day, she knew her good time would come to an end sooner rather than later. But she tried to push those buzz-kill thoughts to the back of her mind. Then, one evening, as she washed dishes, she heard a terrible ripping sound, followed by a loud lip smacking. The noise came through the window.

She turned off the water and dried her hands.

The scent of blood fragranced the air, and grew stronger outside.

Lily was on all fours in the flower bed. Her head was in a bush of flowers.

"Hey, Lily! What are you doing?" she asked, but she didn't answer.

Gently, Starr urged her back and saw that she was eating a squirrel. Its entrails dangled from her mouth all the way to the ground, and its little toes still wiggled.

"AAAaaaaggghhh!" screamed Misty, who'd come up from the dock.

The scream jarred Lily. She leapt to her feet and made to charge her, but Starr caught her by the neck and wrestled her back.

"Go inside," Starr yelled at Misty.

After she disappeared inside the kitchen, Lily returned to her squirrel.

The other kids came up to see what the screaming was about.

Becky and Kay froze with eyes bugged out, until Starr said, "Get in the house, find Lucenzo."

A minute later, Lucenzo rushed out.

"Let me take care of her," he said hurriedly, putting his arm around her and lifting her from the ground. "Go inside; it'll be fine, I promise."

She did as she was told, and walked back into the house.

"Okay, everyone, Lucenzo's taking care of it, so don't panic. She'll be fine."

"Yeah but what if she infects one of us?" asked Mot, another kid from the clinic.

"Yeah, I don't think she should be staying with us. You should do something about it, Starr," Lucas added.

Starr didn't know what to say, so she remained silent. Deep inside, though, she knew they were right to be worried.

"Starr, can we talk?"

She turned around. Shane was behind her.

Too tired to hold her usual grudge, she said, "Yeah, sure."

She followed her out into the garden.

"I know you think I should keep my nose out of other people's business, but I think you need to watch out for Bielz."

Starr rolled her eyes and said, "What is it, now?"

"I've been practicing closing out other feelings and thoughts, but I can't ignore the feelings I get from her. She's glad that Lily was turned, and when she watches you watching Lily, she smiles, sometimes."

"Smiles?"

"She hates you. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she were the reason Lily got infected. She wants to get back at you, for Antony."

"That's ridiculous, Shane. Why would she hurt Lily?"

"Do you really need to ask? She was in love with the boy you ran away to Boston with, and then murdered."

Then she turned and walked back inside.

Shane was wrong, thought Starr. Bielz would never do that to Lily because Antony loved her like a sister.
Beast Inside
Chapter 5

The next day, the kids all seemed pretty down. As usual, they fished at the dock, but they avoided Lily. A few times, Starr caught them staring at Lily with fear and loathing in their eyes.

_Poor Lily,_ thought Starr.

Lily took it well. She knew they were afraid of her – and even repulsed, yet she pretended to be oblivious.

The kids took their meals to the dock, and only returned to the house to clean their dishes. Everywhere they went was in groups of two or more. This hurt Lily, but Starr thought it was a good idea.

Lily wasn't the only target of distrust: they were mad at Starr, Mica, Marla, Shane and Lucenzo for refusing to abandon Lily. The kids watched her with just as much disgust. They quickly turned their heads when she looked back.

"They think we'll turn on them, and try to eat them," Shane told them.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Marla. "After all we've done to protect them, really!"

"Screw them," said Starr. "We're not gonna just throw her out into the streets. They're selfish brats."

Over the next few days, Lily became even more sullen.

But Starr didn't try to comfort her, either, because whenever she got close to her, since that day with the squirrel, her inner animal threatened to come out. A couple times, when in the same room with her, she started growling and her fangs protruded.

Lily pretended not to notice. She ran outside and wasn't seen for the rest of the evening. Starr could hear her crying, through the walls. Although she wanted to, she didn't go to her for fear of vamping out on her.

Rachel and Chloe had become extremely wary of the situation, too. One day, they came to Starr and told her they'd be going to Rachel's grandmother's house. They hoped to find Maria, from the gym, along the way.

Funnily enough, Starr was sad to hear they were planning to leave. She gave them a machete and a pistol, and spent the day showing them how to use them. Then, the next day, they gave her a hug and thanked her for everything, before walking off, down the road.

"Hey," called Starr.

"Yeah?" asked Chloe.

"What was it you were doing at school? You know, when I was following you?"

"Modeling, or so we thought. The guy was a creep and it turned out to be an escort service," said Chloe.

"Yeah, but he's dead, now. A vampire got him," Rachel smiled. "Bye!"

Starr and the others watched them walk away for a few moments.

Starr returned to the dock, feeling an all-time low. Lily was a zombie, the kids didn't trust her, and parts of group wanted to leave. It made her feel empty and unnecessary. Since being turned, her number one concern was protecting the kids, and she was failing, terribly.

There was a wrestling in the trees behind her.

"Hello?"

No one answered. She turned back to the water.

"Behind you, Starr!" called Lucas.

Starr whirled around, right into the arms of a vampire.

Mot came up and smashed in his head with a metal bat, just as he was about to take a bite out of her neck.

She fell to the ground, breathing hard. "Thank you."

Then, as she looked up, she saw another vampire running down the bank towards the others. "Get inside the house," she shouted at Lucas.

Starr snatched the bat from his hand and ran back up the dock.

A hard bash to the head and it fell to the ground. She was about to drag him off into a clearing behind the trees - to obliterate his skull and burn him without the kids seeing. Then her worst nightmare came true: a dozen or so vampires ran through the trees, and they were headed in her direction.

In her vampire voice – majestically amplified and sounding like a demon from a movie, Starr shouted for Marla, Mica, Shane and Lucenzo to help her. A moment later, they arrived. To her surprise, even Lily came with a machete in her hand.

The vampires ignored Lily, probably sensing she was like them, and went for the others. Lily took the opportunity to behead them from behind.

Two vampires ran at her. Starr delivered, flawlessly, a pirouette-like spin, which she learned from Parker - a fencer in Romania. She spun her long knives, beheading them so they dropped to the ground effortlessly. To her right, Mica struggled with a female vampire who had her by the hair and was slowly inching her neck toward her mouth.

Lily ran up, behind her, and cut off her head, spraying Mica's face with blood. Worried more about infection, she immediately ran down to the dock and jumped in the water.

One fat vampire was looking, hungrily, at Starr, but her butterfly kick sent him back a yard, and then down to the ground where she sliced her knife through his neck.

An arm enveloped her waist and pulled her backward. Carefully, she positioned her knife, leaned her head to the right and speared him in the head. His blood spilled all the way down her front.

Lucenzo pulled the last vampire off Shane who was crying. He ripped off its head. Marla emerged from the water and ran back up to the house.

Just when they thought they were done, there was another scream.

"Go, you guys," yelled Lucenzo. "I've got it, here."

Starr ran back up the bank, followed by Marla, Mica and Shane. Three more vampires were up on the porch, but Starr couldn't believe what she next saw.

Bielz grabbed Misaki, an Asian refugee Starr rescued from smugglers, and threw her at the closest vampire; then ran inside the house. Fortunately, Starr made it to the platform just in time, and killed him before he could hurt her.

Figuring that Mica, Marla, and Shane could handle the other two vampires, she ran after Bielz.

Inside, she found Misaki screaming and beating on her.

Starr pulled them apart and screamed at Bielz. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You threw Misaki at the vampire!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Shane was right about you, wasn't she?"

"What?"

"You purposely got Lily infected, back at the clinic! Why?"

At first, she stared, silent and defiant, but then decided to confess.

"Because you killed the only person in the world that cared about me," she said angrily. "I did it to get back at you!"

"Bielz, I told you, Antony was not in his right mind. He was insane, killing people, and he tried to kill me."

"If he hadn't gotten mixed up with you, in the first place, he never would have never done those things. He would have stayed with me."

"Fine, you're angry, but how can you betray the people who would save your life?"

Bielz didn't answer. She ran up the stairs.

Shane, who'd been watching said, "I'd follow her, if I were you. She's up to something."

Starr bounded up the stairs.

Bielz was in her room, packing a bag.

"How could you do that to an innocent girl?"

She still refused to answer. When she had all her items packed, she ran back downstairs. Starr followed her out into the forest.

"Bielz!" she shouted. "Come back! I'm not done with you!"

Finally, Starr stopped following her and watched as she disappeared through more trees. It was just better to let the girl go, she thought.

As Starr made her way back to the cabin, Shane watched her from the window with an I-told-you-so look in her eyes.

The next day, was a depressing one. Everyone was glum. No one wanted to go outside. Mica was kind enough to bring Lily up to speed about the fight with Bielz and how she left. They expected Lily to be upset, and to confirm if Bielz was responsible for her getting bit. But instead, she quietly left the room and wasn't seen again.

In an effort to make everyone feel safe, Lucenzo set to cutting back the trees. The vampires arrivals was a surprise because they couldn't see clearly. Cutting back the trees would at least make it visible, giving them more notice, if anyone at all happened across the property.

When Shane could no longer tolerate feeling everyone's down energy, she went out to help Lucenzo. Starr, feeling angry and frustrated, followed suit.

She was angry with herself because she should have sensed Bielz wasn't to be trusted. Was she a vampire or what? Where was her instinct? Why did it fail her?

But she knew the answers to her questions. It was because she was too concerned with her own problems, with the Fleet, the Council and Credenza.

"Starr," said Marla, as she hacked down a small oak that was covered in ivy. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah," she said, and set down her hatchet. There weren't enough axes for everyone.

She followed Marla five hundred feet away from the others.

"You know, Mica will still hear us," said Starr.

"Yeah, it's not her I'm worried about."

"What is it, then?"

She got up close to Starr and whispered in her ear.

"Stay close to me because Lucenzo has very good hearing, too, though he doesn't let it be known." She paused and looked around. "Last night, in the back, I saw Lucenzo feeding Lily."

"So, what? We're vampires; we have to eat what sustains us."

"That's not what I mean." She swallowed hard.

Starr watched her a moment.

"Just say it: whatever's on your mind."

"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it was the scent."

"The scent of blood? You gotta eat, Marla."

"No, I mean the scent of what they were eating; I don't think it was animal."

She jumped at the sound of leaves crunching.

"Let's go," said Starr. "Someone's coming."

Marla didn't get a chance to finish what she wanted to say.

Starr wanted to confront Lucenzo and Lily – to find out what had got her scared. But something inside her told her to wait and watch. There was already a rift in the relationship between the kids and the vampires of their group. The last thing they needed was a rift between Lucenzo, Lilly, herself and the others. So, for the rest of the day, Starr observed Lucenzo and Lily; Marla, Mica and Shane watched them closely, too.

Lucenzo appeared to be oblivious to their sudden attention.

About 7 p.m., Lily announced that she wanted to take a walk.

"Oh, I'll come with you," said Lucenzo.

Starr watched them steer right, into the new clearing, and then disappear into the trees. Using her mind, she followed them, but he was cloaking his thoughts. So all she saw was blackness.

Not wanting to lose them, she quickly left the house and followed Lily's scent into the forest. She followed them out for nearly a mile, until they stopped near a shed.

Quietly, she got closer and closer, to see what it was they were doing. True to Mica's word, Lily sat on a stump as Lucenzo went inside and came back with a small black bag.

From inside, he pulled out a needle and a vial. After pulling some of the liquid into the needle, Lily rolled up her shirt and allowed him to inject her.

As he whizzed the clear liquid into her vein, she sighed with relief. A slight rosiness appeared on her cheeks. Lily's eyes became less dilated, and she looked more alert.

Lucenzo put the needle in the bag and went back inside the shed. This time, when he came back out, he carried something oblong and wrapped in a black plastic bag.

He pulled back black tape and plastic, revealing a partially eaten and emptied torso. Lily crouched down over it and took a large bite of flesh.

She walked up to them.

They looked up, startled.

The face of the torso was still intact: it was Rachel. She'd never made it out of town, for she had become Lily's meal.

"So this is what you, two, have been up to? Did you get Chloe, too? And Bielz? " she asked. Her voice quivered with anger. "How could you do this to one of our own?"

But she didn't get the answers to her question.

Lucenzo was older and very fast. He whipped around her at flashing speed.

Starr spun around and readied herself to fight, but then there was a sharp piercing through her neck that hurt like hell.

Lily was screaming.

Next thing she knew, she was looking at the dark sky through the trees, and then all went black.
Beheaded
Chapter 6

When she came to, she was lying on a table, under the light of a lamp. Her neck hurt incredibly. She tried to raise her hand, but it wouldn't move; it laid there like a foreign object.

Lucenzo walked into the room and said, "Yes, it hurts. I wouldn't try to talk, right now, if I were you. You'll get better but it'll take some time."

He walked up to her with a large u-shaped hook needle and pulled at some thread in her neck.

"I'm sorry I had to do this to you, Starr, but I can't have you running off and telling everyone that I'm the bad guy, just yet. Lily must eat human meat; otherwise she'll vamp out, no matter what I give her. It's just the way it was made."

Starr tried to speak, but it hurt too much.

"Just keep still."

She whispered into his mind. _What do you mean by 'it's just the way it was made?'_

His eyes flicked at her, but he didn't intend to answer any questions.

Lily entered the room.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

"Yes, I think so. It will take months, maybe even years, but she'll be fine. Maybe a bit slower, not as good of a fighter, but she'll live."

Starr was pissed at hearing this. Her strength and speed was her number one asset.

I'm gonna get you for this, asshole! You'd better pray I have a full recovery, or I'll find you and kill you. For that, I'll use every bit of strength and cleverness I can.

He looked at her and sighed. Then he walked over to a cabinet and pulled another vial and a needle.

He injected her and she went out like a light.

~~~

She woke, feeling pain so severe in her head. She tried to sit up, but her body ignored her commands.

Someone was in the room with her.

"Starr, are you awake?"

She just barely managed to whisper, "Yeah." Even her tongue resisted her.

"I brought you something to eat. Lucenzo says it's the only thing that will help you heal faster."

She had with her a little bowl and a spoon. Gently, she pried open her mouth and inserted spoonfuls of blood.

Swallowing was excruciating.

"Don't try to swallow. Just let it work its own way down your throat.

"Where... he...?" Starr whispered painfully, through the blood as it sat at the back of her throat.

"He's at the cabin."

"And u- u?"

She couldn't say "us" because opening her throat to utter the vowel was too painful.

"We're still in the shed."

Lily put a few more spoons of blood into her mouth.

"I know you're angry with me, but I don't want to go back to being the way I was before. I don't want to be a twelve year old vampire, forever. I have no choice but to stick with him. He's got an antibody that keeps me lucid; he feeds me so that I don't vamp out. If I lose him, then I lose consciousness. That's the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. I hate this, being what I am; it's awful. Everybody hates me; even Lucenzo is repulsed by me. People look at me like I'm a nasty fungus or parasite. I especially hate it when you look at me, Starr."

Starr just stared at her.

Lily tried to give her another spoon, but Starr whispered, "No... hurts...," and closed her mouth.

"He said you wouldn't be able to eat much. I'll come back tomorrow, though."

She turned out the light and left.

Starr tried to move her hand, but it was like trying to pick up a ton. It barely moved, though she tried so hard.

She tried to think of what to do. All she knew was she didn't want Lucenzo around them, and that he needed to be dealt with.

_But then, what about Lily?_ she asked herself.

~~~

Days might have passed. Lily hadn't come back as soon as she'd said she would. The pain in her neck was bad, but it was better than last time she woke.

She needed blood; she needed to eat. It was the only way to speed the healing.

Starr tried to communicate telepathically to Shane. But after an hour, when nothing happened, she gave up. Shane had been practicing closing her mind, so it would be harder to call her.

But then, just as she almost passed out, again, from the pain and weakness, someone broke down the door.

The light came on and in walked Shane.

She gasped.

"Lu- Lu," was all she could get out.

"Don't speak," she said. "They're gone. I think he knew we were onto him. He and Lily took off, together, sometime last night."

Shane picked her up, carefully, and carried her back to the house. She set her down on the bed in her room. The kids crowded outside her door.

Then she passed out again.

~~~

She woke up again.

Someone was putting something in her mouth.

"Starr?" asked a familiar voice.

She opened her eyes and saw Chanler, sitting next to her with a bowl in his hand.

Amazingly enough, her throat hurt much less.

"Did you get them?" she whispered.

"Lucenzo and Lily? No, but we will."

He spooned a bit of blood. Starr was surprised to learn that she could open her own mouth again.

"The kids?"

"They're fine; everyone is fine. We got here as soon as we heard you'd been beheaded."

He set the spoon back in the bowl, and said, "I must admit that I was really worried about you."

He pressed her hand to his mouth. If only she could have fully felt her limbs, she would have, surely, enjoyed feeling his lips.

"Vampires?"

"Let's not talk about it, just now. You need to rest. Besides, you've got some visitors."

Then someone else entered the room. The person carried towels, which she set on the desk near the door.

It took a moment for her to recognize her mother's face.

"What...?" Starr asked. "No, no, go, go," was all she could get out.

But she simply stared at her.

"Starr," she said. "Where's Meghan?"

"Go, go, GOOO!!!" she shouted.

And then she blacked out again.

Beheaded

Vampin Book Series #8

By Jamie Ott
Copyright © 2012 Jamie Ott. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used without written permission.

Surprise Visit
Chapter 1

Her father insisted they talk, down on the dock, privately.

For days, she'd been telling her parents to go away. Although it wasn't so much that she wanted her father to leave, but her mother, well, that was another story.

Despite her telling him to go to hell, he bent over and picked her up from the bed. He carried her down the stairs, through the kitchen and down the wood slatted path. Then he put her down, gently, on the sun warmed bench.

"Ho-o-ow," she spoke slowly, "did you find me?"

"I got my cell phone bill, and there were charges on Meghan's account. We activated the GPS tracking on the phone, and here we are," said her mother.

Starr lost her phone in a plane that went down on its way to Ukraine. Since then, she'd been using her sister's old phone.

Slowly, she reached her hand up to her neck and was surprised to feel that the stitches, which had been holding her head to her neck the last week or so, had been removed.

She used all her strength and concentration to lower her hand onto to her lap, without it dropping like dead weight. When there's no muscle control, or brain impulse, simple things like raising and lowering her hand had become near impossible.

"Where's Meghan? Why do you have her cell phone?" asked her mother.

Since Mom had arrived, she had neither said "Hello," "How are you," or "How did you get like this?" The only thing she cared about was Meghan. Starr had been gone a year, without a word, but they didn't seem to care very much about that.

Briefly, an image of Meghan, lying in a blood drenched bed, flashed in her mind.

A couple questions whizzed around in her mind. How much should she tell them? Would they believe her? Or would they blame her for everything, as they did when Meghan was abducted? Further, what would get them to leave the quickest?

She looked into her mother's eyes, slowly opened her mouth to reply. For a moment, she almost told her the truth, but instead said, "I - I..." she muttered and then paused for the pain. "Don't know."

"What happened to you?" asked her father.

"I, uh." She moaned in pain a second, and then continued, "don't want to say."

"Why not?" Her mother shouted.

"It's... none... of... your... business."

"Starr, you've had stitches all around your neck! You look like Frankenstein's monster! I want answers, and I want them _now!_ " she said, her face turning red.

As usual, her father just watched on, hardly saying anything. Never did he ever come to her defense.

Being spoken to like that reminded her that she was still, technically, a child and a minor. In the real world, she would have owed her an explanation, but now, things had changed.

Starr didn't have the strength to reply. Since the accident, prolonged activity wore her out, quickly. Simply sitting and talking, as they did, was the worst because she was too weak for emotion and concentration.

She simply stared, willfully, into her eyes.

"Fine," said her mother angrily. "I'll go pack your things. Your father will put you in the car and..."

But Starr cut her off.

"I'm... not.... co- co-," she stuttered and choked. Words with hard C sounds were especially difficult. It had something to do with the way her throat had to form to get the sound out. Slowly, she rose, and skipping the word come, said, "hooome with you."

"Oh, yes, you are!"

Her mother put her hand on her arm and yanked her back.

A loud animal growl issued, uncontrollably, from Starr's throat, scaring her.

Mom yanked back her hand. Her mother and father stared disbelievingly at her. Slowly, they backed away.

Judging by the looks on their faces, she must have accidentally called forth her inner demon.

Pain and tiredness was winning her over, once more. She looked up the dock to see Misaki running to help her back up to the house.

She put Starr's arm around her neck.

"This conversation is over," she said. "You may, both, leave, now. When I wake, I don't want to see you here."

Then Misaki, carefully, guided her back up the slats of the dock, up the wooden path to the kitchen porch, and back inside the house.

Chaos reigned as usual. Mot, Danny and Kay fought over video games while Misty, Becky and Lucas chattered in the corner of the living room.

Ever since her accident, a lot of noise and commotion overwhelmed her, making her feel dizzy and disoriented. She often wished they would spend more time outside, but since being surprise-attacked by a dozen vampires, they were afraid to leave. Starr was their strongest protector, and with her barely able to move her limbs, they didn't feel secure.

Misaki helped her up the stairs to her bedroom.

Once down on the bed, she said, "Mica?"

Mica was one of her closest friends and fellow vampire. Her hearing was most extraordinary. In this time of injury, she'd become her best friend because she exerted the least amount of strength, talking, while with her. Sure, Shane would have been better, being a telepath and all. She'd even rescued her from the shed where Lucenzo stored her. Despite these things, she was still unable to forgive her for trying to kill her. Plus, she hated telepaths. She never knew what they could glean from her mind.

"Hi." Mica appeared at the door.

"Did you hear all that?"

"You can just whisper; I'll hear you plainly. Yes, I heard the conversation."

Misaki left the room. Mica sat in the chair next to her bed.

"I don't want them here," she whispered. "You must insist that they leave. Tell them I don't know where Meghan is."

"But, Starr, you do know what happened to Meghan. Don't you think they have a right to know?"

"Know that their daughter turned into a whore? Know that she let a man beat her, give her drugs, and then kill her?" When Mica didn't answer, she said, "No, it would just be one more thing they'd blame me for."

"What if you went home for a few days? Spent some time with them?"

"Mica, you seem to be under the impression that they care about me. The truth is I was always treated like an inconvenient obligation. Meghan, with all her flaws, was treated like a porcelain doll; she was always rewarded for screwing up. Besides, if vampires are vamping out and killing people, en masse, the safest place to be is here with you guys."

Misaki entered the room with a mug of chicken blood and a straw. She stepped in front of Mica, sat on the bed and held the cup of warm liquid up to her mouth.

"Freshly killed chicken's blood?" she asked, as Misaki positioned the straw between her lips.

"I found an abandoned coop, a few miles down. They'd been living in the forest. Chanler helped me bring them back. Misty freaked when she saw me wring one of their necks, haha."

"You?" Starr mused.

"Yeah, I had to do it all the time, back home."

Starr often forgot that Misaki was from a place that was not only of technological advancement, but also still had its roots in farming and superstition. It was for that reason she loved Misaki, only second to Lily; in her, she found wisdom, healing, super intellect, and a basic street sense that put her above all the other kids.

"Thanks, Misaki."

"You saved my life, so I owe you one. No need to thank me."

As she put the straw back up to her lips, someone came and stood in the doorway.

"Chanler? Why are you back so soon? Did you find Lucenzo and Lily?"

"Not now, Starr," he said. "I don't want to worry you. I just wanted to check in on you. I didn't think you'd be awake."

"I guess that means you didn't find them."

He didn't respond, but the look in his eyes told her she was right. "

I need to know what's going on," she said, getting agitated and accidentally choking on a bit of the blood.

"Ahuh, ahuh," she coughed and cried, for the pain was terrible.

Misaki lent her forward, and then told her to swallow again.

Chanler entered the room and sat behind Misaki, on the bed. He looked at her a moment; then his eyes shifted to Misaki, and back to her again.

"It's okay," Starr said, comprehending his glances. "You can speak in front of Misaki."

He sighed and said, "We spoke to a few members of the Order of Negru. They claimed to know nothing, and to be honest, I believe them. Besides, they're still in good standing. Despite our differences, I doubt Madam Balaji would have anything to do with this new vampire species. The Negru are bourgeois elitists who enjoy being special, so creating an inferior vampire race wouldn't appeal to them, I don't think. So then we spoke to a few members who we've known to preach world domination values. No one knows anything.

On my way back here, Michelle called me. She and the others ransacked Lucenzo's house in Boston. They found a picture of Lucenzo and Amir, the Ukranian we met in Fedir. It looks like Amir was a member of the Order back when it first started in the nineteenth century, which is probably why no one remembered him. Most Order members, now, are less than a century old, including its new headmistress, Madam Balaji."

"Are you going to track him?" whispered Starr.

"You'd think so, but we've gone an unconventional route. It's one we never thought we'd ever do."

"What?"

"We're working with the Centers for Disease Control."

Mica gasped. Even Misaki, who wasn't a vampire, lowered her mug and looked at him.

"What about exposure?" asked Mica.

"We need a mass plan to exterminate all the vampires, and we need to decontaminate those places where the virus was leaked. We don't have the resources, so we have no choice but to go to the government. Once the job is done, and order is restored, we'll disappear without a trace. They'll never be able to prove we were with them."

"In this day and age of technology, how can you possibly guarantee that?" asked Misaki.

No one answered.

Starr tried to think about what working with the CDC could mean for them.

"I was hoping you'd help us. We need you."

"You need me?" Starr asked. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I can't even feed myself."

"Yeah, but that won't be for long. You'll be fine, soon enough."

"How long do you think?" she asked hopefully.

"Couple of weeks, maybe; although you may not feel completely back to normal for months, and even then, you may still have strange things, anomalies, twitches; moments when your body doesn't obey you right away. These types of injuries are devastating even for us, but you _will_ recover."

Starr didn't know whether to be relieved or depressed. She couldn't stand the thought of being in bed while the others were taking action, and she, certainly, hated the idea that she wouldn't be as physically fit as she was before. Truth was, she liked kicking butt; the rush she got from it was the only thing that came close to being alive.

"What about the breakouts in Europe?" Mica asked.

"Well, we have to worry about it later. For now, we're gonna send intelligence reports to the other governments. Several of the last Fleet members have gone to meet with the Ukraines and the Romanians, where the outbreaks first happened. After, they're coming back here."

"How is the cleanup effort gonna work?" Mica asked.

"The CDC had ordered quarantine, and was considering completely destroying cities, like Akron and NYC. Now that we're on board, they hope to comb through the cities. This is equally dangerous and could get us all killed or infected, though, so that's where you come in, Starr."

She looked at him, questioningly.

Reading her facial expression, he answered, "We don't have any remote viewing telepaths in the Fleet. If you can help us pinpoint, exactly, where the vampires are, then we can determine whether we go in and kill them by hand, or bring the Big Fire if there's too many of them."

"Why did you come back? Shouldn't you be with your men?" asked Mica.

Looking Starr in the eyes, he said, "I came back to protect you all."

The chicken blood, finished, Misaki stood up and left the room.

"I'd better go inform the others," Mica said and followed her out.

"Michelle's in Romania," he said, as he moved closer up the bed, filling the spot where Misaki sat, a moment ago.

He leaned over and closed in on her face. When he pressed his warm lips to hers, she felt blood rush through her brain. The sensation was too much for her and she passed out.

The next thing she knew was someone turned on the light. It had been like this, off and on, for a while: one moment, she was awake, aware and having a conversation and the next, she was dreaming. Then she'd suddenly wake and there would be someone in her room. Sometimes, it was hard to know when she was really talking to people or not.

A muscular man sat next to her on the bed. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "You're not dreaming," he said.

"Michael?"

"Yes."

"How did you know we're here?"

"My dad told me."

"Does he know where Lucenzo is?"

"If he does, he's not saying. Can you speak up? I can barely hear you."

Chanler entered the room with a cup and straw.

"It hurts her to speak," he said, sounding annoyed. "Lucenzo cut off her head and sewed it back on, a week and a half ago. She's still healing."

"Will she be alright?"

Starr heard a slight loathing in Chanler's voice, as he said, "Eventually." He sat on the opposite side of the bed, moved Starr upward, and adjusted the straw to her lips.

"I don't understand; I thought beheading killed vampires."

A sour scented pheromone, almost reminiscent of spoiled milk, filled her nostrils.

_Was Chanler jealous?_ Starr wondered.

"If you reattach the head, immediately, death can be prevented. Lucenzo didn't want to kill her, but only to stop her from telling us, too soon, that he was the one responsible for the attempt at a vampire apocalypse."

He leant over and put the straw to Starr's lips.

"Can you do that later? I want to talk to her, privately," asked Michael.

"No, she needs her strength." He looked at him through slit eyes. "This will keep her awake longer, and speed her healing."

"It's alright, Michael. You may speak in front of Chanler."

"Well, I just wanted to say that you were right, Starr."

"About what?" asked Starr, letting the straw drop from her lips.

Chanler pulled back the cup, sighed loudly, and looked at Michael.

Michael turned his head toward Chanler and asked, "Do you mind?"

"Yes, I do mind."

He stood up and said, "Dude, what is your problem? You wanna have a go?"

Misaki entered the room.

"What's going on here?" she asked, sounding far beyond her years.

"Chanler, please wait outside. Michael and I need to talk, before I pass out again. Please," she whispered, as the pain was mounting in her neck and head again.

"I'll be back; don't let her pass out. She hasn't eaten in a few days because we've been unable to wake her."

They left the room.

Misaki closed the door behind them.

Michael sat back down on the bed and held her hand once more.

"I'm so glad you're alright."

"Michael, what is it you were going to say?"

"Just that you were right about my father; there are things he's not telling me."

He paused, looking uncomfortable.

"To answer one of your questions, from last time we spoke, I turned you. I know I did. We've been friends forever, and I would have never let you die, but..."

He stood up and paced the room, as he ran his hand through his hair, agitatedly. "My father has been acting peculiar. When the virus first broke out, he came to see me and make sure I was alright. There were times when he'd disappear, both physically and mentally. I knew he was communicating with someone, telepathically too, but he wouldn't tell me who, or what was going on. Anytime I'd try to probe his thoughts, I'd see a dark tunnel. He's definitely hiding something, but I don't know what.

One thing he said, before he last took off, was to follow you and make sure that you were safe. I should have caught up with you weeks ago, but I had to look after my mom. Besides, let's face it, you can take care of yourself. But then he returned and was so angry with me. He told me to get here or he would beat me, so here I am. Really, I hadn't a clue that you'd been injured. If I had, I would have come sooner."

Starr merely looked at him, trying to deduce what everything he'd just said could possibly mean. Unfortunately, processing thoughts was difficult, as she was prone to severe fatigue after thinking too hard.

"It's just strange..." he said.

"I think you should leave," Starr interrupted. "If he asks, tell him I kicked you out. Whatever he's up to, I don't need you leading him here. He could be working with Lucenzo, for all we know."

"First: I'm not going anywhere until you're up and walking around. Second: Why would my father be connected to Lucenzo?"

Starr's head was starting to lull. The fog was getting thicker. She felt herself slipping into sleep.

Next thing she knew, Chanler was in the room again, trying to feed her. She told herself to drink, but it got harder and harder to draw the liquid through the straw.

The room got darker and darker, and darker...

Suddenly, she was awoken by Misaki.

"Come on," she said, pulling her into a sitting position.

She set a plate of little pink, oval shaped chicken brains on her lap. The scent aroused her. She was very hungry. Her fangs protruded forward as she felt the pink slip and slide between her thumb and fingers.

Amazingly enough, her hands worked much better than when she was awake, last.

"How long have I been asleep, this time?"

"Three days," she said.

"I feel like some of my energy has returned." She picked up a soft, cold pink brain, and relished its tongue-like feel in her mouth.

"Today, I'm gonna take you for a walk. You have to keep moving, so that your body will heal right."

All of a sudden, a walk sounded great. She wanted to see and feel the sunlight.

She was still fairly slow. Her legs were dead weight.

Dents formed in the wood bannister, which she gripped hart to keep her standing. Progress wasn't quick enough for her, but it was happening, and for the first time, she felt like smiling -- until she walked into the kitchen, where her mother cleaned morning dishes. Her father sat at the table, reading an old magazine.

"What the hell are you still doing here?" she asked viciously.

"We're not leaving until you're well enough to come home."

"Mom, even when I'm fully recovered, I'm not leaving with you. You can't make me. Things have changed, and you need to accept that and move on."

"You're still my daughter."

"Yes, but not that you ever cared. I'd been gone a year, and never once did you come to find me."

"I didn't know about GPS, or that I could track you down, until I called the phone company..."

"Yeah, you didn't learn about GPS until you called about Meghan, right? Not once, did you ever bother to check up on me, huh?"

Her mother didn't answer.

"Here's what happened to Meghan: she was murdered by her scum, pimping boyfriend. He also stabbed me in the back, and I would be dead, too, if it weren't for Michael. Remember Michael?"

Mom said nothing.

"I always knew she was your favorite, but I never realized how little you cared for me until she was gone. Now, you want me to come home and be your daughter, again? I don't think so. Don't think you can force me, either, because like snapping twigs, I can still break your limbs, even injured like I am."

Her mother's eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

Ignoring her, Starr continued past, through the backdoor. Misaki followed.

Outside, the air was fragrant. She heavily breathed in the moist pollen rich air. Not that her kind actually breathed anymore, but the taste of air was, sometimes, as refreshing as a cup of blood.

"Oh, wow," she said. "Spring is coming, and it's gonna be a lovely one, here on Lake George."

"Do you think you can walk to the doc on your own?" asked Misaki.

"Yes," she said.

Although it took her nearly thirty minutes to step down the six steps, and walk the wood slatted path, she managed to make it all the way to the end of the dock without falling.

Shane got up from her spot on the bench, allowing Starr to sit next to Becky and Kay.

Seeing the way the sun's rays bounced across the water entranced Starr. For the first time, since being at the cabin, she truly looked at her surroundings: the trees, tall and abundant, blanketed the bank. Occasionally, ripples of water moved across the surface when birds plunged into the water, catching fish and devouring them.

Suddenly, she felt a strange presence, like someone was watching them. Gently, she turned her head toward the house, and for a moment, could have sworn she saw white and red among the trees.

Exhausted from her walk down to the dock, she couldn't think much of it. She turned her head back in time to catch Misty leap a cannon ball into the water.

Starr smiled when water splashed her hands and feet, because she could feel it! She was getting better!
Almost Healed
Chapter 2

Over the next few days, Misaki came around and took Starr on walks along the bank. She'd even practiced Tai Chi – tuishou with her.

"Why did you never tell me? You know I'm miserable because I don't have anyone to practice martial arts with!"

"Because I didn't want to practice with you, silly." She laughed. "You'd kill me! But I think it's good for your recovery. I was teaching Lily before she ran off with Lucenzo, but she just got bored. She has this crazy idea that she wants to be a warrior of some sort, but she doesn't have the patience to properly learn."

Starr laughed and nodded her head. What she said about Lily was true: she was all romantic notions with not an ounce of discipline or perseverance.

With each stretch, she felt tugs and pulls on certain tendons and muscles. Sometimes, the exercises made her cry out, but with each repetition came a bit more ease.

By the end of the week, she was able to stay awake for hours, as opposed to minutes, without passing out.

Both Michael and Chanler kept a watchful eye on her, helping whenever they could. After a while, they became unbearable to be around. When Michael tried to take over feeding her, as her arms were still too weak to hold things for extended time, Chanler punched him in the face, sending him clear through the wall into the next room.

Misaki ordered them to stay out of Starr's room, permanently.

Her parents still slept in the den. They flat out refused to leave. A couple times, Starr caught them staring at her.

Her mother was the most irritating. She was perfectly skilled at acting like there was nothing wrong in the world. She could be found, going about mothering all the kids until they were rolling their eyes and cursing under their breath.

Despite the situation with her parents, and everything wrong in the world, Starr couldn't help but be extremely chipper when, one morning, she woke up on her own. Up until that point, she'd slept like she was in a coma, and only woke when someone decided they wanted to talk to her. To wake up on her own was a sign that her brain was returning to a normal state.

Happily, she decided to take a shower on her own, too, though Misaki checked in on her, periodically.

Down in the kitchen, she was greeted by all the kids who clapped and cheered for her obvious healing improvement.

"Health improvement seems like kind of the wrong words," Misaki said, "especially considering you're not, technically, alive.

"Are you gonna have breakfast with us?" Lucas asked.

She smiled and said, "Yeah, I think so. The sausages smell really good."

Like a gentlemen, he stood up and pulled the closest chair, to her, out. She leaned on his shoulder as she settled down into the seat, and he gently pushed the chair inward.

"Coffee?" he offered.

"Yes, thank you."

"I'll get it," said her mother.

Lucas sat back down and tried to serve her food.

"No, I'll do it." She leaned forward and pulled the plate of sausages toward her.

"Your speech is much better," said her mother, as she set a white, hot mug in front of her. "I didn't know you drink coffee."

Starr opened her mouth to say something spiteful, but Chanler put his hand on her lap and squeezed, gently.

"Wanna go for a walk after breakfast?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, eyeing Michael as she said this.

He smiled and shook his head.

As they finished breakfast, a loud rumbling rattled the windows of the kitchen and vibrated up through the floors, shaking the table.

Then, through the window over the sink, they watched a black helicopter settle down onto the bald patch that Lucenzo and the others cleared of trees, weeks ago.

Starr recognized the helicopter at once.

She and the others went outside. The door slid open and out came a couple members of the Fleet: Alin, Saul and Michelle.

Starr felt like the coffee in her stomach had turned to acid, and was burning through her stomach lining.

"Hey, Starr," said Alin. "I hope you're doing better. I'm so sorry about what happened."

"Hi, Starr," said Saul.

Michelle, who paid no attention to Starr, walked up to Chanler and kissed him on lips.

The acid in her stomach burned up into her esophagus.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Starr, slightly annoyed.

"We told Chanler that we'd meet him back here," Alin replied, sounding shocked at Starr's disdain.

"We can't stay," said Michelle, looking at Chanler. "We need to go to Georgia, immediately."

"Why now? What's the rush?" he asked.

"Vampires stormed the Parliament's Chamber."

"Which chamber?"

"Romania's," Saul said "We think Lucenzo and Amir have, somehow, organized these new vampires to march together."

"What do you mean by march? They're crazy, mindless zombies, like rabid dogs." Chanler said.

"We're not sure," Alin answered. "We were having a meeting with the prime minister and his secretary when we were attacked by at least a thousand of them."

Starr heard the others gasp and make sounds of shock.

"How many survived?" asked Starr.

"Everyone is dead. We think there may be a plan to try and pull off something similar here," said Saul. "We need you to come with us, now, to the CDC."

"I can't. You guys have to go without me."

"What?" Michelle shouted. "What do you mean?"

"I can't leave everyone, here, unprotected."

She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him back over to the helicopter where they argued, ferociously.

"Okay," said Alin, rolling his eyes. "We need to go, and we need you to come with us, too, Starr."

"Absolutely not!" said Starr's mother.

"Mother, shut up!"

"Starr, don't talk to your mother that way!"

"Dad, shut up!"

Chanler stormed back up to the group.

"Alin, there is no way that Starr can go anywhere. She's still recovering."

"We can't leave her behind; Credenza's orders."

"Credenza's orders were to protect Starr, and so I'm staying. Besides, where's Credenza? When's the last time we heard from her? Not since before the virus broke out. We don't even know if she's alive."

"Well, then, I'm staying too," said Michelle hotly.

"Michelle, you can't stay," said Saul adamantly.

"Michelle!" said Alin through clenched teeth. "Get your ass on the helicopter."

She walked away without another word.

"I swear she is driving me cr-r-r-azy," Alin rolled his r harshly. "I don't know how you put up with it," he shot at Chanler.

"I expect Starr should be capable of a mission in a week or so," said Chanler.

"Okay, I'll give you that, but I expect you all to be ready to leave when we come back. No excuses!" said Alin.

They walked back to the helicopter. One by one, they leapt in and closed the door, but then, they just sat there.

Everyone stood, watching in silence and wondering what the heck they were doing.

Finally, the door slid back open and Saul leapt out, followed by the others. They huddled around the engine.

Chanler walked down to them.

After a few moments, he returned.

"They'll have to stay here until it's working again."

"They'll have to sleep in the attic," said Shane.

So Michelle and Chanler spent the day cleaning out the attic while Alin and Saul worked on the helicopter. Every so often, Alin would run off down the road to other people's cabins and look for parts.

Starr managed to stay awake for most of the day, though the feeling of acid in her stomach was what motivated her.

That day, the kids spent more time outside. Starr supposed they felt safer with the Fleet members around; either that or the screaming and shouting that came from the attic was driving them crazy.

She sat on the dock watching as they fished planters out of the water and jumped off the dock, just like before they were attacked by the vampire mob and Starr was reduced to nearly a quadriplegic.

Misaki walked past the helicopter, down the dock and sat next to her.

"Michelle and Chanler are still fighting," she said with a slight smirk. "Why doesn't he just break up with her? She's a major you-know-what."

"I don't know," said Starr, pretending not to care, yet using her mind to probe the house and see what they were arguing about.

"Because when people make promises to each other, they should keep them," said Shane, sounding irritated.

"What's up, Shane? What's your problem, now?"

"Well, for one, it just seems that trouble follows you wherever you go. Now, instead of these so called Fleet members going off and taking care of business, they're stuck here because of you."

"How can you blame Starr for a helicopter breaking down? For all you know, if they hadn't stopped, the helicopter would have stopped midair, and they'd have all died in a crash," said Misaki angrily.

To her surprise, Misty came to her defense, too. "If it wasn't for Starr, none of us would be here right now. We'd still be stuck in the city, smelling burning bodies and risking being blown to pieces by the government. I'd say we're pretty lucky."

"What about everything I've done for you and for this group, but all you ever do is criticize and guilt-trip me. I don't know what your problem is, but whatever it is, you need to deal with it and stop putting your issues on me. If you don't like the situation, then leave. No one is keeping you here."

She looked at them all, rolled her eyes and walked off.

"Don't worry, Starr. She's just scared. She wants this nightmare to be over with, and for everything to go back to the way it was before," said Misaki.

"I know, but I'm sick of her always blaming me for things. I don't understand why she doesn't pick on someone else."

"You take on the responsibility for the group. We all look to you, which makes you an easy target for blame and anger."

"Yeah, well, tell her to get some therapy," said Kay, as she reeled in a halibut. "She's driving us all crazy."

The Fleet members were there for several more days. Alin and Saul went to town to search the general store for more parts.

Chanler stopped coming to visit Starr. Michael noticed and looked after Starr when Misaki couldn't.

"I don't know what you see in that backstabber," he said to her. "He needs to make a choice and stop stringing you along. Look how he treated me, out of jealousy, yet he has a girlfriend. Oh come on, let me kick his ass for you?"

"Haha," she laughed. "No don't. It's not worth it."

Michelle rarely stayed in the same room with Starr, and was hardly seen at meal times.

"That's because she knows she's in the enemy's house," Marla said smartly.

Chanler didn't talk to Starr again, until one evening when she sat on the dock, alone, watching yellow and gold rays expand across the sky and turn to violent shades of orange. Birds flew to their resting places in the trees.

"Hey, Starr," he said.

She started, and blood rushed in her head.

More quickly than she'd moved in days, her hands flew to her head to put pressure on the back, where it pulsated, painfully.

"Oh my, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you, or cause you pain."

She propped her elbows on her knees, rested her head in her hands and closed her eyes: it was all she could do when her head pained her.

"I'm sorry about Michelle and how she's been behaving."

She said nothing and continued to rub her scalp.

"She senses that there is something between us."

She re opened her eyes and sat up.

"Did you tell her that there wasn't?"

"Yes, but I think she can tell that I wish there was." He moved closer to her.

He reached out for her hand, but she pulled back quickly.

"Wow, your reflexes are certainly bouncing back."

"Look, Chanler, just go back to your girlfriend and stay away from me."

He reached out for her hand again, and said, "Starr..." She pulled back once more, stood and walked to the end of the dock.

"Starr, I like you but I'm seventy years older than you. Michelle, well, she's been there for me, for a very long time. It's just not that simple."

Looking at the water, she said, "I know it's not, which is why I'm making it simple for you. When the helicopter is fixed, go to Georgia, to the CDC, and don't come back. Stop leading me to believe that you care about me."

He walked up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders, but she didn't want to talk anymore. She turned and said, "Eventually, even the closest of friends need to part ways."

And then she made her way back up to the house. As she neared the back door, from her left, beyond the garden, she heard a rustling in the trees.

"Hello?" she said timidly. "Who's there?"

When no one answered, she went to inspect.

She walked through the garden, past the roses and the peach tree.

The trees rustled once more. She tried to pick up a scent but got nothing. Since being beheaded, that sense had gone to hell, too.

Unsure if she'd be able to kill a vampire, Starr went back to the house.

Mica was helping her mother make dinner. She stood over a mound of potatoes, raking them at the speed of light with a peeler. Her mother watched her, looking extremely pleased. The scene reminded Starr of how much she hated peeling potatoes, and how Mom always made her do it anyway.

She asked Mica into the garden.

Together, they walked outside as Starr explained what she'd seen and heard. Mica picked up the spare machete that hung on a nail to the side of house and disappeared into the trees.

When she came back, she was empty handed. "I didn't see anything," she said.

Departures
Chapter 3

Alin and Saul didn't return from town until the next morning. In bags, they carried all kinds of things that Starr knew not. Then they spent the day on the back porch building and welding whatever it was they planned to fix the helicopter with.

Chanler cornered her in the kitchen.

"So we'll probably be leaving today, if they can get their work finished," he said, motioning to Alin and Saul through the window. "I feel bad about it though, like I should be here."

"We'll be fine."

"Okay, well, you'd better call me if you need anything at all."

Michelle appeared at the door, smelling foul. Her jealousy stank up the kitchen.

"Bye, Starr."

He walked out of the back door without even a hug.

Michelle followed him out.

A few hours later, they managed to get the helicopter to work. After Saul flew it around the mountain, he landed and declared that they could finally depart.

Alin, Saul and Chanler went around and said their goodbyes while giving hugs to those they'd become close to. Michelle stood at the helicopter with hands crossed, watching them with a repugnant look on her face.

"Starr," said Alin. "We'll be back for you, okay?"

"Okay," she smiled and gave him a hug.

"What about me?" asked Saul.

Starr smiled hugged him, too.

They walked halfway down the wood slatted path, veered off to the right and climbed inside the helicopter.

In the center of Starr's chest, a pulse thundered; it almost felt like her heart beat. As the helicopter flew away, the pulse grew in strength. More than anything, at that moment, she wished she could have kissed Chanler goodbye, the way that she'd wanted to kiss him for a while now.

Back in the kitchen, her mother tried to talk to her again.

"I've been watching you and Misaki practice Tai Chi."

Starr closed her eyes and ordered herself to remain calm; not to get angry and lose her temper.

"I'm still not clear on who those people were."

"They're members of an organization that protects the world from things, like what's happening, right now."

"Well, they haven't been doing a good job, have they?"

"Actually, they have," she said angrily.

"So when did you become one of these things?"

"You mean a vampire? It was the night I found Meghan."

"Is it true? Those things you said, about her, the other day?"

"Yes."

"Meghan would never do those things. I just don't believe it."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Because I hoped you might have a conscience!"

Starr rolled her eyes and made to leave the kitchen.

"Wait, I'm not done yet."

" _What? What do you want, Mom?"_

Starr's voice echoed off the walls.

"Your dad and I plan to leave tomorrow."

" _So?"_

"I just thought you should know, in case you'd like to come with us."

"Great! Goodbye!"

She walked back outside faster than she meant to. Her limbs were still not so quick or accurate. She tripped on her ankles and stumbled flat onto her face.

Shane, who was digging in the flowerbed, under the kitchen window, helped Starr to her feet.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Uh, Starr?"

"Yes?"

"I just want to say that I'm sorry about what I said on the dock."

"You are?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, I'm just having a hard time with all of this. I know everyone else is, too, so it's not an excuse."

"Well, alright, thanks. I guess," she said awkwardly. Shane was not the apologetic kind, so that was a huge deal.

There was another sound of a rustling beyond the clearing that made her turn around.

"I heard it too," said Shane. "It's Bielz. She's sneaking around, and thinks we don't know it's her, but we do."

"Have you tried to talk to her?"

"No."

"Have you read her mind?"

"No, Starr," she said agitatedly. "I'm trying not to do that anymore."

"Sorry."

"But I do feel her feelings; I can't stop that for some reason."

"And?"

"Well, I think that's why I got so mad at you yesterday. I knew, in my mind, that I was being irrational, but I had this feeling in my gut, like I wanted to kill you. As I walked back up to the house, I heard breathing and I knew it was her. I could feel her hatred of you: curse of being an empath," she concluded.

"She's got it in for me, doesn't she?"

"She's always had it in for you."

"Do you think she's dangerous?"

"Most definitely," she said as she pulled her gardening gloves off, and ran her hand through her dark hair. "But you don't need me to confirm that. You know in your gut that she's crazy."

"What is she doing in the trees? Where is she sleeping?"

"I think at the next cabin, over. She seems torn: on one hand, she wants to come back, and on the other, she wants revenge."

Starr looked back at the trees and wondered how worried she should be.

"You should be very worried. She's gone, now, though."

Starr had a hard time falling asleep that night. Again and again, she went over, in her mind, about what happened in Boston with Antony.

Did she really have to kill him? Should she have tried harder to control him? How much responsibility does one have to the fledglings they create?

To Marla, Mica and Shane, she had none. They were more than able to take care of themselves.

Why didn't she listen to her first instinct about him? Which was that he was a very dangerous person? What moron would turn a psycho into a vampire?

Clearly, Bielz was just as dangerous as Antony was. Now that she was on her own and sneaking about, Starr couldn't help but wonder if it were better to kill her, rather than hang around, waiting for her to attack.

Shane was right: she was dangerous. Why else would Bielz snoop around all the time, if not to be menacing?
Goodbye, For Now
Chapter 4

All the kids crowded around the kitchen for breakfast because Starr's mother insisted everyone have breakfast together. Starr finished her breakfast quickly, and then went down to the dock.

It wasn't long before Misaki joined her, followed by Misty and Kay, who had taken an interest in Tai Chi. Together they did their exercises on the dock, under the warming morning sun.

After, Starr and Misaki spent the rest of the day going from cabin-to-cabin, looking for food and supplies, as theirs were already running low. They didn't want to risk running into town until they had no choice.

Starr and Misaki walked up to a cherry log cabin with a fishing boat and camper parked in front. It was a lovely two story, also just off the bank of the lake.

"Do you think Lily will really be okay?" she asked as she walked up the half dozen steps to the porch landing.

"Hold on," said Starr, pulling her back by the arms and trying to sense if there was anyone inside.

"Sorry, just want to be safe," she told her. "You miss her, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. Next to you, she was my best friend in the world. I don't know what I'll do without her. Everyone else isn't the same."

The recovery of Starr's hands was the most disappointing. She turned the knob of the front door too hard, and it broke into several pieces in her hand. Before her accident, she would have simply turned the knob, and broken the lock while leaving the knob, itself, unhindered. This time, she couldn't command her hand to find the perfect balance between too hard and too soft.

Misaki must have seen the frustration on her face, for she said, "Don't worry, Starr, it's just gonna take some time. You remember what Chanler said? It could take months before you're back to normal."

Starr looked at Misaki, nodded her head and kicked the door open for her to enter the house.

Remembering her question, only moments ago, she answered, "As long as Lucenzo keeps giving her whatever antibody he's got, I'll think Lily will be fine. If she can last, being this...thing, for another couple years, we'll turn her."

Inside, the cabin was dark and cool. She sniffed the dank air. No one had been there in months. The couch and floors were covered in dust, and the electricity didn't work.

"What if the Fleet kills Lucenzo, and no one knows how to make the antibody? Will they have to kill Lily, then?"

Starr couldn't decide if she should lie or not.

"It's okay, be honest."

"I think so, Misaki. It's sad, I know, but we just can't have these things running about. Just one could start this whole thing over again, and spread the virus."

She was about to walk into the kitchen when Misaki put her hand on her shoulder.

"I have a favor to ask of you," she said, looking her straight in the eyes. "If one of the vampires should turn me, I want you to kill me."

"What? I won't! Not if there's an antibody!"

"I don't want to be turned, not ever."

"Why not?"

"I'd rather go into the afterlife."

"You believe in the afterlife?"

"Oh, yes, everything and everyone is reborn. Our souls never expire, and there is a world out there beyond this one. There, our ancestors wait, and will meet us when it is our time."

Starr smirked.

"You don't believe it?"

"Well, no," Starr said apologetically.

Later that afternoon, she and Misaki returned with a bag, each, full of canned food. Inside, she watched her mother and father carry their packed bags to the car. Before they left, they asked Starr to walk outside with them.

At first, she refused, but then Michael and Misaki gave her a stare that clearly communicated that she was being a jerk.

They walked slowly down the front driveway.

"So, uh, are you going to be okay?" asked her father.

"Yeah, of course," said Starr.

Her mother turned and looked at her awkwardly. "I'm sorry for how things played out. I wish we could have been better."

Starr's eyebrows rose. It was in interesting apology, full of denial as usual.

"But, I love you," she said tearfully, and then leaned in for a hug. "You're still my daughter and I hope you'll come home, soon?"

Starr shook her head and looked away. "It's not that I don't want to come home, but I have responsibilities, now. I moved on."

"What do you mean by 'responsibilities' and 'moved on?'" she asked spitefully. "You're nearly seventeen years old. What about school and college?"

"I took passed the GED test and enrolled in college, before all this happened. Anyway, I have to look after the kids. It was a promise we made when we took them in."

After a few moments of silence, where they looked at each other, her mother said, "Okay, well I guess we'd better get going. Why don't you hold onto that cell phone? Just in case," she said.

After one more round of hugs, they got in the car and drove off.
Almost Normal
Chapter 5

It was a quieter dinner that evening. For once, everyone had hardly anything to say. Then, out of the blue, and breaking the silence, Mot asked, "What will happen, if they cannot kill all the vampires?"

Starr stopped with her fork midair. Mica, Marla and Shane looked at each other, and then they all looked at Starr. The others stared at her, too.

"Why's everyone looking at me? How should I know?"

"Well, you're working with them, aren't you?" asked Mot.

"No, I'm not, despite the impression you've gotten."

They all continued looking at her, as she took her bite and chewed.

Finally, she said with irritation, "It's not going to happen. Everything is going to be fine. These vampires are as dumb as dogs. It'll be like killing rodents, easy and quick."

"Yeah, but even rodents escape. There's always one that gets away and starts and infestation elsewhere," Becky replied.

They turned back to their plates, in brooding silence.

"Come on, guys," said Misaki. "Cheer up!"

"The world is on the brink of being over, so I'm sorry if I don't feel like making jokes," said Lucas.

"Ja!" said Mot, in Danish. "When I came to this country, I thought I was safe, but now..." he trailed off.

After dinner, Starr couldn't wait to return to the quiet of her room. Everyone's mood was affecting her, making her feel even worse. What did they expect of her? She wasn't God. They were safe, warm, fed. Couldn't they stop complaining?

Despite everything, that night she had no trouble slipping off into a deep sleep. She dreamt of running down a hallway so fast that she'd crossed half the world in less than an hour. She was strong and invincible, once more. The dream made her happy.

She wasn't down long before a funny smell tickled her nose. Sleepily, she raised her hand and mushed it, trying to relieve it. Starr rolled over onto her side and took a deep breath. Then she hacked loudly.

A taste of something foul masked her tongue and throat. Both which burned and scratched when she took another breath. She opened her eyes and immediately closed them again. The air burned and stung them, too.

She reached over and turned on the lamp.

Through squints, she saw the grey cloud hanging on the ceiling.

Quickly, she got out of bed and put her shoes on.

"Starr," Marla called to her through the door.

"I know," she said and opened up to find her in the hallway. "I can smell it."

She and Marla went to each of the kids' rooms, woke them and told them to put on their shoes and jackets on.

Starr waited in the hallway to make sure that no one was left behind.

Misty, Kay, Becky, Danny ran through the hall and downstairs, followed by Lucas, Mot and Misaki.

Starr ran down after them.

At the bottom of the stairs, all the kids were crowded about, talking in a panic.

Immediately, Starr noticed the temperature increase coming from both the kitchen and the living room. Through all the windows, Starr saw orange flames highlight their frames.

"We can't get out!" yelled Misty. "The door is too hot, and the back is on fire too."

"Can't we bust through the wall?" asked Danny.

"How the hell are we gonna do that?" replied Misaki.

"Where's Marla, Mica and Shane?" asked Starr.

"We're here!" said Shane. They ran down the stairs. "The entire house is encircled in flames."

"We didn't want to panic everyone, so we went to look for other possible escape points," added Mica.

"And?"

They didn't respond.

"We have to jump through a window," said Mot. "It's only one story."

"So we escape fire for broken limbs?" asked Becky.

"At least we'll be alive," shouted Lucas, who darted up the stairs, followed by the rest of them.

Quickly, Starr looked around, trying to get any ideas on how to make their falls easier.

Then, eyeing the couch, she wondered if she had enough strength to lift it. She ran over and picked it up and carried it up the stairs.

"Get out of the way!" shouted Starr.

Quickly, they cleared the landing so she could drag the couch into the closest room. Then she slammed it into the window, taking out half the wall and leaving an enormous gaping hole. Then she carefully dropped the couch down onto the lawn.

She slid the bed over to the hole, and then motion for Marla, Mica and Shane to come closer.

"Okay, you guys jump first; then reposition the couch. I'll help throw the kids onto the couch. You guys position yourselves around the couch, so that you can catch them if they miss."

Even as they leapt out of the hole, the flames licked higher and higher, she could feel the heat on her skin.

She watched as they moved the couch just so. Marla stood in front of the couch, Mica stood behind it, and Shane signaled that they were ready.

Starr turned and motioned the kids to come quickly. First up was Misty, whom Starr picked up and gently tossed her 60 pound frame right onto the couch. Misty bounced off and painfully onto the ground, but she got up and was totally fine.

Next was Lucas, Kay, and Becky; all who Starr gently guided out of the hole, so that they'd fall perfectly.

Lastly, Danny, Mot, and Misaki made perfect leaps on their own.

Then, just as Starr was about to jump, herself, someone said her name.

Thinking she'd forgotten someone, she turned around.

"Starr," said the voice again.

She walked out into the hall.

Bielz was standing there with a large blow torch in her hand. Immediately, she sent a jet of flame right at her.

Starr's reflexes were still quick, for she hit the floor instantly, and then rolled over just as Bielz lowered the torch.

Briefly, she considered leaping out of the window and leaving her behind to die, but her conscience kept her planted where she was.

Bielz sent another jet of flame, and Starr bounced to the left side of the hall and said, "Listen, Bielz, we have to go; otherwise, we'll both die."

Suddenly, the whole hallway was brighter and hotter. Bits of the ceiling fell down as the stucco melted off.

"Bielz," she tried once more, but she just sent another jet of flames.

"You're evil! You all should die!" she screamed.

Starr ran at her, in an attempt to disarm her.

The next thing she knew, she lay face down, covered in hot rubble. The landing had collapsed.

She tried to rise but couldn't

The heat was killing her; her skin felt like it was melting.

_Get UP!_ She shouted at herself, but she couldn't.

Her head hurt so badly and she was numb from the neck down. The fall must have reinjured her, for her limbs would not obey her commands.

She was going to die, she realized. There was no way that anyone could save her, now. But at least the others were alright, and that was all she cared about.

The pain in her head started to dull.

She felt sleepy, and she was glad. Maybe it was better to fall asleep than to feel the pain of being burnt alive. So she closed her eyes and allowed the heat to take her away into unconsciousness.
Into the Darkness
Chapter 6

Cool air rushed over her skin and all around her; it felt so good. She hoped to feel more of it, and more did come. Instinctively, she drew the cool air into her lungs, and it was moist and sweet.

She opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness. Cloud, barely visible, passed by, touching her skin and leaving dew behind.

Her soul was flying to the afterlife, she thought.

Then something slapped her on the arm, not once but twice. She looked and saw that it was dark material, and it made flapping noises.

She followed the material with her eyes and saw that an arm with a white hand groped her rib cage, and another arm groped just under the back of her knees.

Looking up, she saw a white-as-snow face, and black as pitch eyes with hair to match.

She looked like a statue. Her skin was hardened and without a single line on it; from her came no scent and no pheromone.

It was Credenza.

Starr looked below. Mountains flew by, under her.

"We have to go back," she said.

Credenza ignored her.

She fidgeted and moved around.

Credenza, who was a powerful telepath, said into her mind, _be still._

When Starr refused and kept talking about making sure her friends were alright, Credenza turned her onyx eyes down to hers and held her gaze.

Starr felt sleepy again. She tried to tell herself to stay awake, but her lids got heavier and heavier. Finally, they shut out the night.

Black Fleet

Vampin Book Series #9

By Jamie Ott
Copyright © 2012 Jamie Ott. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used without written permission.

ISBN-13: 978-1467970023

ISBN-10: 1467987023

For all inquiries, please contact ladysonoma@americamail.com
Awake or Dreaming
Chapter 1

Her bed was extremely hard and cold.

_Time for a new mattress,_ she thought.

Starr reached around for her blanket, but only felt the surface of something smooth and hard.

She opened her eyes and propped up on her elbows. Through narrowed eyes, she looked for her blanket, but, instead, saw that she wasn't even in bed; she was lying on a cold black table.

Thinking she was dreaming, she rubbed her eyes, roughly. When she reopened them, panic enveloped her.

She looked around the room, but nothing looked familiar.

Except for a single set of red velvet curtains, the room was plain; the walls were bare and white, and the wood floor was dusty.

Then she noticed that the thick ray of moonlight that beamed across the room, from between an opening in the curtains, was disrupted by something at the foot of the table.

Propping herself up higher on her elbows, she noticed it looked like an altar.

The moonlight was snuffed out, for a few seconds, leaving Starr in complete darkness.

Carefully, she got off the table and walked to the window. She pulled back the curtains, looked out, and saw that a small hive of bats had just passed, and were flying off for a night hunt.

Looking down, she saw she was on the second story of an unfamiliar stone house. There were a couple acres of mown lawn. A mile or two out was a drop off that was barely visible through a large mass of fog rising upward.

She turned back to the dark room.

Using her power of remote viewing, a form of extra sensory perception, she sensed the rest of the house to see if anyone else was there, but there was not.

Starr turned her attention to the altar.

On it, laid a few burned down candles, a bowl of salt, a dagger and a silver goblet with a rosary draped across it.

Starr noticed a charred smoke smell, about the place. Looking down, she realized the smell came from her, as her pajamas were ripped, stained, and ashy.

A painful twinge shot down her neck, making her whole body jump.

She rubbed her neck and made to get a closer look at the items.

Immediately, she took interest in a black leather book that lay in the center of them all.

On the front, etched in gold letters, were the words Necro-Grimoire.

Although the pages were written in Latin, Starr could tell that it was a very special book. The Grimoire's paper was heavier than books of today, and the edges of it were really rough, almost as if they'd been cut.

Judging by the smell that came from the book, it was old, too.

Starr didn't know, exactly, what a Necro-Grimoire was, though she'd heard similar words in movies. If she were still alive, her pulse would have quickened; not only was she somewhere she didn't remember coming to, but to find such items so close to her, upon waking, scared her.

She put the book in her pajama pants pocket and made to leave the room.

Whoever brought her there must not have realized that simple locks couldn't keep her in.

Gently, she applied more pressure to turning the doorknob, breaking the lock easily.

Even though she sensed that she was alone, there was always the possibility that someone was masking their thoughts or their scent.

Slowly, she poked her head out of the door.

The hall was large and empty of any decorations as well: no tables, chairs, pictures, or anything, just dust.

Quietly, she made her way down the dark stairwell.

The bottom floor of the house was just as empty of furniture, or any personal touches, as was the upstairs.

When she stepped onto the bottom landing, she was instantly distracted by the moon, which appeared so large and white through the living room's glass door that it looked as if it were sitting on the grass.

Momentarily entranced, she walked across the Spanish tile floors, and slid back the glass door, breaking the little metal latch, absentmindedly.

The sky was blackish, and the fog felt moist and fresh on her skin. She walked across the grass to the drop off, and then peered down into the houses on the lower incline of the hill.

She heard thoughts, like little whispers in her ears, coming from below.

In one grey stone dwelling, two people argued as they got ready for bed. On the other side of town, a couple made love as their teenage daughter climbed out of a window.

Many miles to her right, several bored teenagers horsed around, in a marsh, drinking booze they'd stolen from their parents: two of them weren't wearing shoes, for some reason.

Starr could smell their blood all the way from where she stood.

One of them went to urinate in the marshy water of the river.

She sensed the animal, lurking, even before it stirred the surface of the water; it was hungry and knew it needed to put the colorless beast down, fast, or he'd get away.

It leapt out with lizard-like reflexes, scaring the kid into a backwards stumble onto the muddy ground. The alligator waddled on top of the kid, quickly.

Hearing him scream, the others ran, from out of the trees, to help.

Suddenly, she wanted to be there; not so much to help the guy, but to see the animal whose hunger she could feel. Never had she had such a connection with an animal before.

How was she to get there? She was so far away?

But, then, almost as if her inner demon were answering her, she levitated.

From below, she could hear the teens shouting. She commanded her body to go, fast.

And she did, fast like the wind she flew down to the spot where the largest, of them, was attempting a back grip on the alligator. One of the other kids held a shotgun, pointed at the animal's head, and screamed at his buddy, telling him to try to get out from under it so he could shoot.

Her feet touched down amongst the clump of trees to their right, but they were too busy to notice.

She walked out, pushed the large kid away, and yanked the alligator off by the tail.

The alligator was angered, and it looked at Starr with complete ferocity. She could feel the animal's surprise; it felt hunger, fear and rage all at once. It wanted to rip, tear and kill her, right there on the spot.

Uncontrollably, a growl issued from her throat, as is what happens, sometimes, when in danger: a vampire's demon, within, would take over, and there was no stopping it.

She felt her fangs protrude, and they reached down to their full length, lightly touching her lower gums.

The alligator looked like it wanted to charge her, but it was entranced by her eyes.

Starr felt her power over the animal, and it excited her.

_Go back to the water,_ she commanded, into its mind.

The alligator obeyed.

Fascinated, she watched it walk backwards into the water, and sink below the surface.

As she watched, it occurred to her that something was seriously wrong, for she'd never done any of the things she'd just done, before.

Yes, she was a strong vampire, but she was young; less than two years old. For most, it took at least a century for new fledglings to grow into all their new powers.

Until her waking, a few moments ago, she'd never been able fly, talk to animals, or sense people from miles away. Combine these things with the fact that she had no recollection of how or where she was, and the situation didn't look good.

Starr needed answers right away, but she had the strangest feeling she needed to be somewhere, at the moment.

Her neck twinged again, distracting her from her thoughts.

"How in the hell did you do that?" asked one of the young men, in a terribly thick southern accent.

But when she turned, he screamed and ran off, shouting, "Demon! Courir!"

They ran as quickly as they could.

Starr just stared at the backs of them.

Judging by the man's accent, and use of the word courir, she must be in Louisiana, somewhere, but why and how?

She sat on the bank and watched the water, trying to remember anything.

The alligator poked its head out of the water. Its large yellow eyes watched her, curiously.

The last thing she remembered was saying goodbye to her parents, but that had to have been a few days ago.

Slowly, the alligator walked up the bank of the marsh, and then lay down in front of her, watching her with its mouth partly opened.

Then she heard someone rustling in the trees, and the cocking of a rifle.

Superstitious swamp folk had banded together, and were coming to kill her; another strange thing, for Starr was not, normally, a telepath.

_Go_ , she said into the alligator's mind.

It slithered back down the bank, and sank under the water.

She stood up and moved into the trees, away from the clearing.

Hearing the small mob's thoughts, she realized they thought she was one from the new vampire species; the ones that were more like rabid dogs, rather than supernatural humans.

"Stop," she yelled through the trees. "I'm not like them."

An old man shouted, in French, "Diable," and shot aimlessly in her direction.

Starr could have stopped him, but she decided to walk on down the river bank.

~~~

She didn't make it to another town until sunup. Yes, she could have flown, but she didn't know where she wanted or needed to be. Walking was just something to do, for the moment, while she tried to figure it all out.

The town was a dusty old place where the people all wore dirty overalls. Many of them appeared to have never learned about teeth brushing while others didn't care for shoes.

She must have been a sight to see, too, for they stared, hard, at her.

Still unsure of what to do, she continued until she reached the other end of town, where she sat on a dusty bench and watched the river ripples.

A dirty blue truck caught her attention as it blew up dust and rattled its way to a red wooden restaurant some hundred feet to her right.

The sun reflected off a silver metal box, next to the entrance door: it was a pay phone.

Eagerly, she went to make a phone call, but as she lifted the hand piece, she realized she didn't know any numbers; she always relied on her cell phone for that. Whenever she got new ones, she'd enter the numbers into her memory card and never think of them again.

_Damn!_ she cursed.

She looked at the phone's address which was printed beneath a piece of plastic above the numbers; it said Red River, LA.

Just then, the door to the restaurant opened, and out came a man with a cigarette in his hand.

"You gonna use the phone?" asked the man.

Starr shook her head and moved aside.

Coming from the restaurant, the whispering and thoughts of so many people was a bear. More than anything, she wished she could silence them.

When the man sparked a match, the fire caught Starr's eye, for some reason.

She stared at the little orange flame, feeling, again, like she needed to be somewhere, and then like water breaking down a dam, memories flooded her mind.

"Oh my!" she gasped, and sank to her knees.

She was talking to Bielz when the landing, they stood on, collapsed, and they were buried under the crumbling fiery cabin.

Covered in rubble, and her neck reinjured, she couldn't move. She thought she was going to die, but was rescued by Credenza, who was the leader of a world vampire police organization. Flying into the night was the last lucid thing she remembered.

She felt another twinge in her neck which she rubbed. Lucenzo beheaded her, a few weeks ago, and, up until being rescued by Credenza, she was in recovery, and had only begun to move on her own, when the fire had been set.

Credenza must have done something to heal her. But, what? And why bring her to Louisiana?

_Oh well,_ she said to herself.

It didn't matter because she needed to find the others and make sure they were okay. Anything else would just have to wait.

With that thought, she took off into the air to find them.
Next Door Over
Chapter 2

Flying long distance was something that took a little getting used to. Direction, while in the air, was hard to grasp.

Somehow, animals always knew which way they wanted to go though.

Using the idea that she was, now, more animal than human, she told herself, repeatedly, that she wanted to go northeast, back to the cabin's sight, and back to the kids. Although she landed in the wrong state, twice, it worked, for she made it onto the bank of Lake George, in New York, by the time the first stars, in the sky, began to shine.

Evidence of the fire was still present. The sky had a nasty brown tinge, and the setting sun looked bright cherry red through it.

Then she noticed, as she looked around, that the cabin wasn't the only thing affected by the fire, but so was the entire side of the bank.

For nearly ¼ of a mile, from where she stood, all the trees on the upper part of the bank were burnt up. On the lower half of the bank, the trees that hadn't been burned were black and charred, and all their leaves lay in piles of ash at their bases.

Another thing that seemed to have improved, since she woke in Louisiana, was her sight. As she looked through a barrage of charred trees, a mile down, she saw that another cabin had been burned to the ground; the only thing left was its cement foundation.

She went to the pile of blackened junk that was, once, the cabin where she and the homeless kids, from the clinic, stayed.

Starr kicked up the dirt and rubble, wondering if her beloved ruby studded sickles had survived the fire, or even the sterling silver and nickel nunchucks Antony had given her, before he vamped out, forcing her to rip off his head.

As she kicked up the rubble, she stopped over a particular spot of ash.

She could smell her there; the one who set the fire. Bielz died on that spot. A smoldered scent of flesh, burnt to a crisp, still resonated on the blackened bits of wood and debris.

Distracting her from her thoughts came whispering from further along the bank.

Listening intently, she tried to hear if it were the kids.

The trees rustled, violently, from many yards away. There were many of them coming: the new species of vampires, and they were hungry.

Quickly, she looked for something to behead them with. She dug through the rubble, and tossed random chunks of material aside, hoping to find one of the machetes they always kept by the side of the house, but there was nothing.

It was too late; they were nearing.

Her inner demon wasted no time; her fangs drew, and she felt her skin grow warm, and her night time vision became even clearer.

Quickly, she ran up to the first vampire and gave it a jumping front kick to the face, sending his head spinning, flying over the trees.

For a split second, she stood stock still, in surprise. The kick, and separation of the vamp's head, seemed too easy; almost like punting a football, there was little resistance. In that moment, she realized that, not only had she acquired new powers, but that her strength had greatly increased.

Two vamps came at her, from behind, but she didn't turn, like she normally would have, for she could hear and calculate their movements.

Together, they put their hands on her shoulders, and opened their mouths to bite her neck.

Starr reached up and, like inserting her fingers into a bowling ball, grasped them by their heads, digging her nails into their craniums, feeling the bone break inward, and the softer flesh within; she yanked their heads off their bodies.

Four more vampires came at her.

In the stance of a perfect port de bras doing a flat footed pirouette, she made a 360 degree turn, using the heads to bat off the skulls of the first two oncoming vampires.

She smirked as she looked down and saw how the skin had nearly, entirely, been ripped away from the skulls: her hand was the only thing keeping the heads together.

Before, it would have taken a lot of work for her to kill that many vampires, but now it was so easy.

There were still two more left.

She dropped the bloody skulls on the ground.

One thing she'd always wanted to try, on someone, was a flying kick. Combined with her new power, she expected it to be quite fun.

Starr readied herself in a straight stance, a second, then ran and leapt into the air with her leg at an angle, flying her foot into its head, spattering blood everywhere, and all over her pajamas.

"Yuck!" she said aloud, and told herself she'd never do that again.

Then, suddenly, the last vampire, a big fat beast of about six and a half feet came at her. His body was the shape of a whale, he was unusually strong, and his hands were huge.

When he grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her toward him, fury and rage boiled in her. She pushed up his wrists, stood back and made to strike, but she merely side kicked her foot into flame.

The vampire screamed and fell to the ground as his body combusted.

It took a moment for her to realize what she'd done.

The only people she knew who could set fire through kinesis, alone, were Credenza and a vampire who worked for her, Alin.

_What could all these new abilities mean?_ she wondered.

Did Credenza, somehow, transfer powers to her?

Did it mean she was in Credenza's debt? If so, she would have a fight on her hands, because one thing Starr had said, over and over, was that she wanted to be left alone.

Someone called her name, from the trees higher up on the bank: it was Lily.

Lily had been bitten, weeks ago, by the new species of vampire. After, she immediately turned into a mindless organ eating, blood drinker, like the others, but, with the help of Lucenzo – the one responsible for the viral outbreak that turned thousands of people into the raging monsters – she had managed to hold onto her humanity.

"What are you doing here?" Starr asked surprised.

"We never left," she replied. "How did you do that?"

"Set him on fire? I'm not exactly sure," Starr said, as she took a couple of steps towards her.

Lily stepped back with a look of fright in her eyes.

"Why are you afraid of me?" Starr asked, feeling a little surprised by her instinct to retreat.

"You're," she paused, "different."

"So are you," said Starr, taking in her appearance.

It was almost as if she'd never been bit. Not only was the sickening pheromone smell gone - a cinnamon-like scent the new vampires had - , but her eyes were no longer dilated and her skin was rosy, instead of waxy white.

"Well, I should go," she turned.

"Wait," Starr said, and walked up to stop her.

Unaware of her increase in natural speed, such as walking, she appeared in front of Lily, with her hand on her shoulder, within a second.

Lily gasped and asked, "How did you move so quickly?"

"I...," she trailed off, wondering what she should say. After a moment, she repeated, "don't know."

Starr couldn't help but be amazed at her healthy appearance. Before, she was constantly drooling with a zoned out look on her face, like a zombie from a movie.

"Are you infected, still?"

"Yes, but the virus doesn't have as strong of a hold on me anymore."

"Is Lucenzo still treating you?"

"Yeah," she drawled, and her voiced quavered.

Ignoring her discomfort, she asked, "Where is he?"

"I won't tell you. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even be here, right now. I can't let you hurt him, because that would be hurting me."

Starr just watched her. She didn't know what to say.

"I don't want to hurt..."

"I gotta go," Lily interrupted.

Starr watched her walk into the trees.

When she'd made it, approximately, ten yards away, Starr went in after her.

When Lily turned her head backwards, at the sound of a crunching leaf, Starr levitated and continued after her.

She followed her further up the bank to a large three story cabin some miles out. Heavily surrounded by trees, it stood in the nook of a rock hill, next to a large red barn.

Starr watched Lily walk up the three wood steps, across the porch and through the front door. She was about to follow her inside, but, then, she felt an insatiable hunger for blood coming from the barn next to the cabin.

Quickly, she probed it with her mind.

What she saw filled her with fear and anger.

Inside there were a dozen or more naked vampires. Clearly, Lucenzo had experimented on them, as some were missing arms and legs – it was easy to see that they'd been neatly cut off - , and others had needle marks on their skin and faces. They lay on top of each other, like stacked books, with eyes open, thinking and dreaming of blood.

There were several rows of the vampires piled in stacks of ten.

_How did he get them to behave like that?_ she wondered.

Feeling like she could throw up, even though she weren't alive, she turned her focus to the house.

Lucenzo had cooked dinner, and Lily sat at the table and proceeded to tell him that she saw Starr.

_Well, you might as well come in,_ Lucenzo whispered telepathically into her mind.

She would have liked to have gone in... gone in and killed him for beheading her, but it was only for Lily that she didn't.

The cabin had enormous ceilings that rose up into the third floor, and the kitchen and living room were one large space. There were cozy looking couches and a large screen television in the living room section. Behind them was a counter, around which Lucenzo and Lily sat with a casserole dish in their midst, and table settings in front of them.

"I'm glad to see you are better," he said, as he stood up to give her a kiss on the cheek.

She side stepped around him, and sat at the empty chair.

"Well," he said, surprised by her speed, "You've healed fast. Normally, a beheading, if reattached immediately, can take months and months," he said happily.

To hear him speak of nearly killing her as though he'd only stepped on her foot made her livid.

"What kind of sick things are you doing to the vampires in the barn?" she asked, trying to repress her anger.

"Well, I'm using them to create vaccines," he said vibrantly, as he went to the cabinet, picked up a plate, and sat back down.

"You're making a vaccine to help those you've infected?"

He pulled the casserole over to himself, and piled some onto the plate, and then set it in front of Starr.

Lily remained silent and looked from Lucenzo to Starr, repeatedly.

"We can't possibly save everyone, Starr."

"You realize the Fleet has gone on a mass mission to exterminate all the vampires?"

"Well, they shall not succeed," he smirked, and looked straight at her with his crystal blue eyes.

Starr picked up the fork he set in front of her, and contemplated her chances of killing him with it. Feeling him watching her, she made to take a bite in an attempt to mask her thoughts, but paused and asked, "Why did you release the virus?"

"For the same reason as before: to change the world."

"Before..." said Starr thoughtfully, remembering back to her time with Chanler in the Transcarpathian Mountains. He mentioned that it was _one_ person who was responsible for all the vampire outbreaks in the last thirty years, but that they always failed to track him down.

Lucenzo pushed his long red hair back, and took a bite of his casserole.

"Lily, Sweetie, eat," he said.

Starr continued to watch him, and then he said, "I did it so we don't have to live in the shadows; so we don't have to hide anymore; so we can start a new world. Just think of all the things we, vampires, could do: eliminate the need for government, no more hungry people, even homelessness would no longer be an issue. If we could turn the brilliant minds of today, and have them always, we could have some major technological advancement, even space travel would be more attainable. I want to see man progress faster. Perhaps man could never survive the atmosphere of Mars, but just maybe a vampire could."

Starr didn't know what to say. His argument seemed fascinating to her, but she still thought his actions were wrong.

After a moment of silence, she asked, "Where are your friends? Nico, Kris, and Mick? Have they been working with you all along?"

"They're fine," he said, as he took another bite of casserole.

"And your brother, Fernand?"

"Fine," he repeated.

"Where's Amir?"

Amir was the vampire in league with Lucenzo.

He set down his fork and sighed, loudly.

"These questions are pointless. I'm not going to tell you anything," he said. "Lily's missed you, so why not eat and let's talk like we used to."

"After what you did to me, I cannot," she said angrily, as she stood up to leave. "The only reason we don't fight is for Lily's sake."

She left the cabin, and walked down the steps.

Then, as she walked into the trees, she got a familiar tickle in her ear. She rubbed it but it turned into a buzzing.

A moment later, she was down on her knees. Starr was getting a vision: Chanler was in a room, calling for her.

Next thing she knew, she was flying through the air. She didn't know where she was going, but her inner demon seemed to know that she needed to reach Chanler.
War Time
Chapter 3

She landed on a grass field, before a clean and narrow street. Across from where she stood was a row of cement buildings, with thick bullet proof glass panes that went on for a couple of miles.

Starr scanned their insides, trying to see if anyone were in them. At the furthest end to her left, she heard a discussion taking place.

Looking in, she saw a dim lit room where a dozen men in suits sat at a table discussing. Some of the Fleet members were there, listening.

The Fleet was an organization of enforcers, put together by Credenza to make vampires oblige human law, and, when they didn't, see to their extermination.

She walked the mile or so to the furthest end of the drive. When she approached the large glass door, she leaned her head against the glass and looked in.

Inside, there was an empty check-in counter and a door right behind it; to her left, a set of doors; to her right, two elevators.

She pressed the bar of the door and found that it was locked. Gently, she applied more pressure, but it didn't respond.

Annoyed, Starr looked down at the metal panel with the green flashing light, below the bar. Using her mind, she looked inside the metal and focused her kinesis on burning out the wired board inside.

After a moment, it hissed and sparked, and the light went out, but the door still wouldn't open.

She stood back and braced herself, and then, using all her strength, she kicked in the door, breaking the bullet proof glass into several parts, sending a large chunk of it flying back, and tripping an alarm.

Lights blinded her eyes with flashing red and white as a most annoying siren raided her ears, making her recoil.

Although her ears and eyes had increased in strength, it seemed they had become more sensitive, too.

Pressing her hands onto the sides of her head, she forced open her eyes and saw two military men with rifles come from a door behind the desk.

They came at her, shouting for her to get on the ground. Starr knew she should have complied, but didn't like the guys waiving guns in her face, and trying to be tough with her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm here to see the Black Fleet, from the Council."

"I'll shoot you, Miss," said the man to her right.

Quickly, Starr grabbed his gun and broke it in half, and then threw it on the ground.

The man next to him shot, but Starr's reflexes really had grown, for she saw the bullet come at her, out of the corner of her eye.

She moved her head to the side, grabbed the gun by the barrel, and pushed it back, whacking him in the face with the butt.

The man fell flat onto the ground.

Starr heard the footfalls of other soldiers, coming from behind the door.

Quickly, she went through one of the doors to her left, and found herself in a stairwell. She followed the scent of the Fleet members up to the seventh floor.

Once she exited the stairwell, another alarm went off.

Starr ignored it and continued right, down the hall, turned the corner, and found herself facing the remaining members of the Fleet: Chanler, Alin, Sari, James, Emil and, their pilot, Saul.

With them were about a dozen men in suits.

"Nice job," said Alin sarcastically. "You could have just knocked."

Men flooded the floor from the elevators and the stairwell.

"It's okay," said Chanler. "This is Starr; the one we were telling you about. She can help us."

The military men looked at the men in suits who nodded to them, indicating that they could leave.

The Fleet members looked her up and down, taking in her appearance.

They walked up to her.

"What, in the hell, happened to you?" asked Emil, with a little smile in his eyes.

"I was in a fire."

"So you just came straight here?" asked Alin.

"No, Alin, it's a long story. I don't want to get into details right now."

"What have you been doing?" he asked more accusingly.

Alin was always a sharp tongued serpent with a cut throat attitude.

"What do you mean?" she said, knowing that he was onto her.

"You seem different."

She said nothing.

"Why are you in your pajamas?" asked Chanler.

"Hello? Did I not say that I was in a fire? The cabin burned down!"

"Isn't there something we can do, Bob?" he turned and asked a man in a white shirt and tie.

"There are spare clothes, downstairs, in the military supplies room."

"I'll take you," said Alin. "They won't know you, and we need to talk."

He motioned that she follow him. They walked back to the stairwell, and he held the door open for her to enter.

"How did the cabin catch fire?"

"Uh... well, remember Bielz?" she asked as she looked down the stairwell.

"Yeah."

"Well, she kind of had it in for me. I killed a friend of hers; he had a habit of vamping out."

"His name was Antony; I heard about him."

"Yeah, well, Bielz was angry about it and set the cabin on fire to get back at me."

"Where are the kids? Are they okay?"

"I don't know," she said, looking down as they stepped. "I got them out of the house, alright, but then Bielz was still there. She refused to leave, though I tried to talk her out of it. It's almost as if she wanted to die, and I don't understand why; things weren't that bad for her. I wanted to save her, and I could have, but then the landing collapsed, reinjuring my neck and I couldn't move."

"Who did it?"

"I told you, Bielz did it."

"Not who set the fire, but who healed you? You're prancing about as though you've never had your head cut off, which is an injury that you should still be recovering from. I know someone healed you, and that is a big deal. Who was it?" he asked, turning his face toward her.

She was sure that Alin was trustworthy, but Starr couldn't help but feel that, at the moment, she should keep her mouth shut.

As they reached the last step, she said, as she looked back at him, "Look, Alin, I don't want to be rude but, for the moment, I think I'd rather not talk about what happened to me."

"Starr, there is a reason that I asked. When you're healed by another of our kind, you become bound to that person by a supernatural rope, if you will, bound by blood forever."

"What does that mean?" she asked in a small voice.

"It means that you can see into each other's minds, and when one of you hurts, or is in danger, you can sense the other's urgency; you can even sense happiness at times. The person who heals you will always be able to find you, and you, them. Like following a trail ablaze, your blood will stand out against the world to that person."

As he spoke these words, her forehead became extremely warm; suddenly, it felt like an invisible rope were around her neck, and getting tighter and tighter.

Alin walked through the door, and held it open for her.

Credenza healed her on purpose, and she knew it had nothing to do with wanting to save her. It was her way of keeping tabs on her.

He led her into a dark grey hall, to a door with a broken padlock. Next to the door was a desk, behind which sat a soldier.

Alin nodded to the man, and they walked past him, through the door. Inside was a large closet, in which there were guns and ammo, and other gear in the front.

Further to the back, there were military clothes, with the familiar U.S. Army camouflage brownish-green. Starr picked out a pair of the sturdy cotton pants, a white shirt, socks and shoes.

After, Alin led her to the showers, on the opposite end of the hall, and told her to meet him on the seventh floor when she was done.

The lady's shower and locker room was just as dreary as the rest of the building. It had plain grey walls with no decorations.

She walked over to a bench and undressed. Then she pulled the Necro-Grimoire from her pajama pocket and carefully stuffed it in the cargo pocket of the army pants.

Never, in her life, had she enjoyed the feel of hot water on her skin. Her kind didn't sweat anymore, but their skin could get clammy, as dew and other environmental factors settled into their skin. At the moment, it was the smell of char that clung to her pores.

After she was refreshed, she dropped her pajamas in the trash and took the stairs back up to the seventh floor. She made her way to the room in which the Fleet members were working with three of the men in suits. Together, they looked down at maps, and picked out the routes they'd take to each state capitol, and rid them of vampires.

Starr stood at the door, a moment, and, silently, watched them.

Listening to and watching the man Chanler called Bob, it was easy to tell that it was no pleasure for him to be in their company. The corners of his mouth were forced into a downturn, and his eyes were expressionless. His scent was something foul, a clear sign that he was beyond hating them, but loathed them.

Starr moved to the seat closest to the door; Bob flinched as she sat.

A look of surprise appeared on all their faces.

"How did you do that?" asked Chanler.

"Do what?"

"Nevermind," Alin cut in. He looked, knowingly, at Starr, and then turned back to Bob and the other men.

After a few more words, Alin said, "So, Starr," in his light Romanian accent. "There is no time to go into major details, so here's what's happening: We're gonna start our cleanup efforts in D.C. It is important to secure the capitol, before Lucenzo and Amir release a new batch of virus, or organize their vampires to attack."

When she said nothing, he continued, "Now we're just gonna go through and kill all the vamps, and then the military is gonna come through and take over. We'll move on to New York City, where the immediate concern is securing the United Nations."

Chanler added, "After we've secured the Nation's Capitol and the U.N., we're gonna split up: me, Michelle, and James will visit the governors, in their states, and lend a hand where we're needed; you, Alin, Emil, and Saul will hunt down Lucenzo and kill him, as we're pretty sure he's still on the East Coast somewhere. This way, you'll be close to home, you can find Lily, and, after he's dead, you can take her back to the clinic with you, if you should decide not to kill her, that is. After, Emil and Alin will continue on, with Saul, to Romania, where they'll hunt down Amir and his followers."

"And you're welcome to come, of course," said Emil sounding hopeful.

Starr flushed with a combination of frustration and guilt.

"Why do you need me to hunt down Lucenzo? I'd rather go home, if I may."

"Lucenzo shares the blood of an elder, so he's strong. We need our strongest people on him," Alin answered.

He must have seen the heat she felt in her face, for he asked, "Is something wrong, Starr?"

"No," she said, pursing her lips as she looked sideways and shook her head.

"I've finished, downstairs," came a familiar voice.

She turned her head and saw the unmistakable round face of the short tempered Michelle.

"It's getting late; I need to eat," Bob said, and his cohorts, whose names she didn't catch, murmured in agreement.

Alin, who seemed unable to stop watching her, asked "Starr, how about I show you where we're sleeping tonight?"

Then, without waiting for an answer, he motioned with his hand for her to follow him.

Feeling a familiar burning sensation, in her stomach and esophagus, at the sight of Michelle whispering into Chanler's ear, she stood up and followed.

"How long have you, all, been here?"

"Not long," Alin replied. "After we left Lake George, we returned to Boston."

"Why?"

"To search Lucenzo's house again, and then his office. Ever since we heard he'd been treating Lily, we've tried to track down any information on the antidote he's been giving her."

"Did you find anything?" she asked, hoping that Lily would be okay if Lucenzo died.

"No."

"Why do we always take the stairs?" she asked, as he held the door open for her.

"If power should die, then we could be trapped inside. Vampire strength or no, it could be a real hassled getting out of there. "

They made it up several flights and exited the stairwell when Starr had a sudden clouding of vision: a feeling of sudden happiness overwhelmed her, making her feel heady.

"Are you okay?"

It took a moment for her vision to clear. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said.

One thing Starr hated about many vampires, like Alin, was a good number of them grew into telepathic abilities. She had yet to meet one as intrusive as her best friend, Shane, but it was still aggravating.

Although she had fits of telepathy, here and there, it was likely that Starr would never grow into abilities like theirs, and, for that, she was thankful. She was glad to be a poor telepath, but, unfortunately, that meant she was also poor at blocking mental intrusion.

"The flashes are sometimes symptoms of the blood you share with another; you're feeling her emotion. Don't worry," he said. "You will get used to it, and learn to shut them out. The first time is always a surprise."

She did a double take and stopped.

"Yes, I know, it was Credenza," he paused too. "Given her protectiveness over you, it's not hard to figure out who would have saved you. Plus, your reluctance to speak of it also gave it away, for if you were to admit, then it would be like admitting you're indebted to her. You only want to return to a normal teenage life, not be indebted to an ancient vampire."

"How do you know about sharing blood?" she asked, wanting to change the conversation. "Were you ever healed?"

"Once, by my brother, but he is dead now."

They exited the stairwell and walked through a brightly lit hall to a room at the end.

"We're all in our own rooms," he said. "Here is how you set the lock."

He opened the door and held in the zero button, of the number panel below the door handle, until the light blinked red several times.

"Okay, punch in your code."

Inside was a basic cement room that looked like a jail cell, with a silver sink and tiny bed that was bolted to the wall.

Tired of the leather book swinging about, in her pocket, Starr pulled it out and tossed it on the bed.

"What was that?"

Alin walked up to the bed and picked it up.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, pushing his eyebrows even closer together than usual.

When she said nothing, he added, "It looks very old. I can smell age coming from the pages, though the leather binding is not quite as old as the interior: someone had it rebound."

"Can you read it?"

"I don't read Latin."

"But isn't Romanian the language that's closest to Latin?"

"Yeah, it's pretty close, but it's kind of like what old English is to Modern; completely different. Maybe you can spot a word here and there, but it's mostly gibberish."

Starr felt disappointed.

"I can tell you this, though: A grimoire is a book of spells. Necro, from the Greek word Nekros, means dead."

As he said this, Starr felt her skin grow warm.

He seemed not to notice, as he flipped through the pages once more, and then tossed it on the bed.

Dinner was a stiff necked affair. The fleet sat on one side of the room while a blend of military and suits sat on the other.

Saul and Emil sat whispering to each other while Michelle and Chanler bickered at their end of the table. Sari, James, and Alin listened, intently, to the guys across the room. Periodically, they'd look each other in the eyes, and Starr knew they were communicating telepathically.

Every so often, the Fleet members would look each other in the eyes, and grimace about the conversations they overheard.

The military men and their suited cohorts didn't seem to realize that vampires had exceptional hearing; they didn't notice that every time they'd called them monsters, abominations, and unnatural, they'd heard. When a man, named Steve, suggested they get some torches and barbeque them all, Bob agreed with such seriousness that Starr got worried.

When a guy replied to Steve, "...I'd like to get a hose, hook it up to some holy water and shove it up their asses..." James rose out of his seat, demon eyes alight, and ready to trash them all, but Chanler ordered that he sit back down.

"We all know how they feel about us. Let them act as though we're oblivious to them," he commanded.

"This is good," Starr added, "because if they're planning to double cross us, and I think they are, we'll be ready for them."

"Oh, so you're one of us, now," said Alin, raising his eyebrows comically.

Later that night on her way up to bed, she caught up with Chanler in the hall.

"How long do you think this cleanup is gonna take?"

"Years, unfortunately. Every governor is responsible for cleaning up their own state, but we're just gonna visit with them and help out with any difficult areas, or mass accumulations, so our part – the Fleet's roll – should only last a year or two at most. Most civilians are gonna be faced with the responsibility of taking vampires out, too, and especially if they want to move back into their homes and return to work, and a normal functioning society. We can only hope that innocents don't get killed, and that people handle this responsibility well."

Starr was getting impatient. She couldn't care less about their tour of duty. "Yeah, but how long to clean up D.C. and the United Nations?"

"All you want is to go home. Starr, how can you be so selfish?"

Suddenly, it felt like hot coals were in the pit of her stomach.

"I just missed my seventeenth birthday because I was in a fire; I haven't been to school in over a year; I've been burned, decapitated, shot more times than I can count. People, my age, are supposed to be worrying about college and friends, and clothes and makeup, but, instead, I'm here with you!"

Cutting their conversation short, Michelle walked toward them with a look that said 'get away from my man.'

Starr said nothing more, went inside her room and closed the door.
Messy Cleanup
Chapter 4

The next morning, Starr showered, went for an early breakfast, and went down to the front of the building, with the Fleet members. As usual, the Army men kept to themselves.

Moments later, three trucks drove up. She and the Fleet climbed into the middle one, while everyone else climbed into the others.

Seventeen hours passed before they made it to the onramp into DC; they didn't stop once, except to change drivers.

They all parked on Pennsylvania Avenue, right in front of the White House South Portico, which the Army wanted to inspect first.

Alin told them to wait.

Seeing the White House was a shock, and not just because it looked smaller, to her, than it looked on television and in history books, but because it was completely trashed.

Many windows that were visible from between the trees were broken. From one window, bloody handprints could be seen on the outer ledge, followed by heavy black smudges right below them; likely shoes from someone trying to slow their fall.

The double doors of the South Portico were busted into bits. On the East Side of the property, a pile of arms, legs, heads, and torsos had been stacked next to a charred out section of the lawn.

"Well, Starr," said Alin. "This is where you come in."

Starr's ability to see in other places, otherwise known as remote viewing, was a power that no one in the Fleet had.

She probed the ground floors, first: Next, the Red, Green, and Blue Rooms, followed by the rest of the West and East Wings.

Then she extended her view to the Executive Residence, where she said, "I see a couple in what appears to be a guest room."

Steve, from dinner, the night prior, said, "Okay, let's go."

"No, wait," she said strongly, wanting to try something she'd thought of in the night.

She concentrated, hard, on one of them, and it burst into flames.

Starr couldn't help but be pleased as she went after the others and picked them off, one by one.

"What's going on?" asked Chanler.

"Shh..." she said, trying to concentrate on the last one, but his incessant talking agitated her, making her accidentally obliterate the last one, sending chunks of meat and blood everywhere.

"Starr, answer me."

Annoyed by Chanler, yet intrigued by her new abilities, she replied "They're gone."

"Gone?" asked Emil.

"Burned the first couple; obliterated the last one, thanks to Chanler. Let me check the rest Executive Residence."

"Well?" asked Alin, after a moment.

"I hear something; it's in some sort of storage room, but I'm having a hard time penetrating the walls. I think it's some sort of panic room."

"Wait!" commanded an older military man, Sergeant Kale. "You might be viewing the Presidential Shelter; a place that's supposed to protect them in war times."

"The president isn't in there; it's just a girl."

"We need to check it out before you do anything."

He turned around and signaled to the men, who climbed over the wrought iron fence.

Starr and the others leapt over the black metal bars and landed on the grass beside them.

As they walked around to the Executive Residence, Starr observed all the dead bodies along West Executive Avenue, most of which had their cavities eaten clean out.

They forced their way into the president's residence, and found their way down to the storage rooms. From behind a tapestried wall, they sensed a presence.

"Stand back," said Alin, who concentrated on the door, but when he couldn't melt it with pyro-kinesis, he asked Starr to help.

After a few moments, they melted down the door and, from inside, a pubescent teen with pig tails came out.

"It's too late," said Starr. "She's turned."

Sergeant Kale shouted, "Wait!"

Alin paid no attention, as he pulled a large knife from his belt and hacked off her head in one swipe.

"That was the president's daughter," he said somberly.

"Not anymore," said Chanler.

Back outside, on the lawn, Starr probed buildings, looking for vampires, and it didn't take long for her to find them. Along the Constitution Avenue, nearly every building had hundreds of them, like cockroaches on a three week old corpse.

"Well," Starr sighed and walked across the lawn. "We definitely have our work cut out for us.

She leapt over the black metal bars and proceeded across the street, and then headed toward the Federal buildings, followed by the others.

Hours went by with them killing vampires, who often came at them like rabid dogs. Starr found that it was impossible for her to use her mind to obliterate all of them, for it made her extremely weary, so she shot as many as she could, and beheaded them when they got too close.

By nearly midnight, they'd cleaned out almost half of the Avenue; from the National Mall all the way down to the Gatehouse, and then Capitol Hill.

The Army men killed vampires pretty well for their selves, but on the few occasions when they got into trouble, they acted like they would have rather died then be helped by Starr and the Fleet.

"A thank you would be nice," said Michelle at one point. "We just saved your asses."

"Yeah, and it's because of you that we're in this mess to begin with," said a blond man, and then he walked off.

Exhausted, they camped on the grounds of the South Portico that night.

There were two large campfires; one in front of the West Wing, where the Army camped, and the Fleet's fire, in front of the East Wing.

The soldiers ate army meals while Starr and the others roasted a lamb that Emil picked up from a butcher. Despite offers and envious feelings, the soldiers refused to touch any of their meat.

"And look," he exclaimed to Starr, in his Swiss accent. He rested the lamb on his shoulder, and unraveled a paper bag, but Starr could already smell what was inside, and her inner demon wanted what was wrapped in that white shiny paper, and secured with white tape. "Lamb brains. Americans have good taste, after all. We ate this even when I was human!" he grinned.

Emil, helped by Sari, sliced the bloody, spongy brains and put them on a platter with crackers, sliced goat cheese and sundried tomatoes.

Every once in a while Starr would catch him watching her out of the corner of her eye.

"You know, Starr," said Emil, as he leaned over and sliced off a large chunk of lamb, placed it on a plate, and handed it to her. "Things aren't so bad at the Council. There needs to be people in the world, like us, because, otherwise, it would be absolute mayhem. Imagine the world without laws, without police, or military. Despite all the work we do, it's quite an adventurous job."

"I would love to work with you, but there are other responsibilities that I've got. Also, the kids at the clinic: Who would take care of them?"

"What if you and the kids come to stay in Romania, for a short while? I have a feeling that things are going to get worse, for everyone, before they get better."

"No, Emil. I appreciate the offer, but what would the kids do while trapped in a castle in the Carpathian Mountains?"

After hours of eating and talking, Starr and the Fleet finally settled into their sacks for a rest.

At dawn, they climbed back inside the trucks and drove through the outer neighborhoods, looking for more vampires.

Meanwhile Sergeant Kale called in a cleanup crew, to come and remove the bodies from the government buildings and burn them.

Luckily, they made it through the neighborhoods of the city fairly quickly, and found themselves headed to New York City by late afternoon.

This made Starr extremely happy, for she wanted to see what her chances were for moving back into the clinic because she missed the city life.

When they came upon a barrage of cars that blocked the entire freeway, they decided to go off road. They turned right, onto a slippery, grassy bank and down into what looked like soaked mud, but turned out to be a bog of broken pipes.

The first truck and the Fleet's managed to get across the mud, but the third truck sank as if the earth disappeared from underneath it.

The men screamed as they were nearly swallowed.

After they got them all out of the truck, they set about trying to tow it out. When nearly an hour of trying passed, they finally managed to drag it out, but not before breaking the other truck's axel.

The ground too soggy, Starr, the Fleet, and the soldiers made their way to a dry spot, a mile up, where they could camp.

Sergeant Kale and a few of his men rode on into the city, and looked for supplies and didn't make it back until after dark.

When they realized they'd be there all night, Emil grabbed Starr by the hand and said, "Let's go look for kindling."

As they went into the brush, he asked, "So what's up with you and Chanler?"

"What do you mean?"

"I see the way you two look at each other," he said as he winked at her.

Starr laughed mildly, "We had a flirtation, but he's with Michelle."

"Du bist schon," he said in German. "Don't waste your time pining when there are other men out there who would love to be with you."

She pulled some moss off of a tree and turned.

He was looking back at her, the sun gleaming off his blond head, making his blue eyes look light.

"I loved the way you came into the government building. I could not have done it better myself. The others would not say, but they were just as amused."

Starr said nothing. Sure, Emil was very good looking, but Starr had never thought of him as a love interest before. Never, had she a clue, and not ever even sensed, that he noticed her.

"Have you ever been to Switzerland?" he said, switching his 'w' for a light 'v'.

"No."

"I'm from a small town called Grindewald. Lots of tourists, there, but when they aren't, it's a lovely little town with snowy peaks. That's where I was first turned. I have a beautiful home there. You should come visit me this summer; you will love it."

Not knowing what to say, she turned back to the moss.

"See up there?"

He was pointing to something in the trees: there were ripe cumquats.

She leapt up onto a thick branch to gather as many bunches as she could. As she reached for a particular bushel of healthy untouched by bugs or animals fruits, she felt the branch waver.

Next thing she knew, she was in Emil's arms. He held onto her as cumquats from the rattled tree broke loose and fell all about them, some hitting them in the head and landing on the ground.

For a moment, their eyes met. His body gave off a highly sweet pheromone. Starr's inner demon was receptive to it, for every pore in her body suddenly felt alive, and from deep within her womb came a light growl.

Back at the camp, the soldiers had returned with parts to repair the truck, but their lift had broken. A few of the vampires went to help lift the truck while the soldiers fixed it.

Later that evening they sat around the camp fire. Starr stared into the flames, wondering about the kids until Emil came and plopped down with two dead squirrels in his hand.

He sat annoyingly close, and whispered, "You want one?"

Starr's demon lightly growled at the sight of fresh meat.

With their hands they pulled back the fur and threw it in the fire, and then ate the squirrels raw without discarding their innards.

"Do you have to do that?" asked a young soldier named Dave. His eyes were wide and his lips were peeled back, in disgust.

They hadn't thought to consider that there were humans who might be offended.

"You don't like it then leave, Boy!" said Emil with eyes that had turned iridescent.

"You should be put down with the other vampires," he said, and grabbed a lit log and walked off to find his own spot.

The other soldiers, sickened, grabbed some firewood, from the pile, and followed.

That night she lied in Emil's arms and fell asleep. She wasn't crazy about him, but it felt nice to be held. The more she thought about him, and looked at him, the more willing she was, to engage his flirtation.

A relationship was still something she'd never had a real chance to try. There was Antony, before she killed him, but she never had sincere feelings for him, and he certainly didn't have them for her, not really, anyway.

Deep feelings were something that was hard for vampires to feel, but Starr would have loved to know love, at least once.

Before she drifted off to sleep, she felt someone watching her with disgust. She opened her eyes and it was none other than Chanler who lay with Michelle; her arm on his chest and face in the nook of his shoulder.

_Hypocrite,_ she whispered into his mind.

The next day, they arrived in New York City by eight that morning.

As they made their way to Turtle Bay, Starr took glances into buildings here and there. What she saw made her very sad. She knew it would be awhile before she and the others could return to the city.

They parked right on the plaza.

Sargeant Kale said, "Let's start with the Conference and Visitor's Center."

"Okay," said Starr. "It seems clear."

Cautiously, the first of Kale's men went inside, followed by Starr and the Fleet, and the rest of the men.

"Most of the lower floors are clear, but we should look at the," Starr paused and looked at the map displayed behind plastic on a stand, "here," she pointed as she walked up to it, "the Secretariat Building, and there's a ton in the General Assembly, and of course the Hammskjold Library."

After a short discussion about who would handle what, Starr and the Fleet went to the General Assembly where the most of them were trapped.

When they stepped off the elevator, Starr heaved; like before, the vampires had taken to eating each other. Normally, rotted corpses didn't bother her, but the sight of so many together with emptied cavities disgusted her.

It didn't take long for the vampires, that hadn't been eaten, to find them. As they walked up either side of the rows, from open doors on both sides of the short podium came a few; they shot accordingly, but more came, and then more. Finally, it was a like a stampede of vampires, and not even they could shoot fast enough.

Within moments, they were completely surrounded by them, Starr, for the first time in a long time, felt panicked.

They were getting too close, and she thought, for a moment, that her end had finally come.

"Starr," called Emil, but Starr kept fighting and shooting because to let up, even for a second, would mean she would be their next meal.

The vampires closed in even more on her. She heard Michelle screaming on the other side of the room; they must have been surrounded, too.

" _Starr_ ," called Alin from somewhere on the other side of the room. " _Burn them up!"_

But her emotions were so rattled that instead of setting them aflame, she made them explode, covering them all in blood and guts.

It was still not enough, as the vampires got closer. Emil stepped in front of her, trying to protect her.

Something hot and wet ran down her face.

_Am I crying?_ she asked herself, as vampires rarely could do such things.

That was it; it was the end.

She gave up.

Starr wrapped her arms around his waist and turned her face into his neck, and prepared herself for the pain of being ripped apart while still alive.

Starr could feel their hunger; hear their thoughts. It was suffocating her, as their desires to hunt and kill swallowed her consciousness.

One reached out and touched her. She closed her eyes even tighter, and her mind shouted, _NOOOO, STOOOP!!!_

But the first bite never came.

"Starr, look," said Emil.

She opened her eyes and saw hundreds of frozen faces. Starr pulled her head away from the nook of Emil's neck, and looked around.

All the vampires around them stood stock still.

Suddenly, she had a flash back to the marsh in Louisiana.

_The alligator,_ she reminded herself.

There were shouts from the other side of the room.

Starr spoke to them all, telling them to stop.

"What happened? Why aren't they moving?" asked James.

"It's you, isn't it?" asked Emil, as she looked up into his crystal eyes.

She made a small smile, and he smiled back at her.

It was a long hard day, moving from floor to floor. They'd go into a room, Starr would tell them to freeze, and then they'd go about and kill them one by one. Starr hated to admit to herself, but she was pleased, and so was everyone else – except the soldiers who remained grumpy as usual.

But even more, she was touched by Emil's willingness to die with her, and how he stayed with her, when he could have run. After that, she looked at him with a new respect and admiration.

_After all,_ she asked of herself, _where was Chanler?_

Chanler sensed Starr's change, too. He knew he'd lost Starr to Emil, and instead of being friendly about it, and trying to make it up to Starr, he turned real cold. He was the only one who didn't congratulate Starr for her work that day. Neither did Michelle, but she had a permanent little smirk on her face.

By the time the sun started to set, everyone was ready to call it a day. They were messy, smelly, and covered in blood and body parts, but they'd managed to kill all the vampires in the entire 39 floor building.

Starr and the Fleet wanted to stay at the Marriott on 42nd, thinking they'd earned it, but the Army insisted they stay at a Ramada Inn in Queens.

Too tired to argue, they agreed.

After inspecting the neighborhood for vampires, they all took rooms on the second floor; the soldiers on the first.

After hot showers, Starr and the others met down in the Ramada's tiny restaurant and bar. Emil was already in the kitchen, cooking what he could find.

"You call this meat?" he asked James. "Just terrible! The food here is just terrible."

James rolled his eyes as he sifted through rotted fruits and veggies, and Sari set to thawing frozen bags he'd found in the freezer.

Starr hated the kitchen and, more than anything, she wanted to hang in the dining room and drink, but she wanted to see Emil.

Emil saw right through her, for he said, "Starr, go ahead and wait in the restaurant. We've got everything under control, here."

As she made her way back to the dining area, she pretended not to notice that both Chanler and Michelle's eyes were following her.

She laughed inwardly, _The wheels have turned._

Alin was behind the bar.

"Starr, aperitif?"

"Yeah, you know it, after today," she sighed. "How about an orange vodka and seven up."

"Well, just for the record, you were phenomenal. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you're cut out for this. Maybe it will take some time, but one day, we'll get you," he said with a smile.

Starr smiled back. Inwardly, Starr was starting to agree; she was cut out for the job.

Today felt really good.

"Godfather, please," Saul came up and sat next to Starr.

"Where are the soldiers?" asked Alin.

"Oh, they're outside being sour pusses as usual."

Despite the state of the kitchen, Emil managed to cook a hearty meal. As usual, Michelle kept Chanler to herself, but, not as usual, was the scowl on his face and the constant fleeting glances out of the corners of his eyes, at Starr.

When Alin, Sari, James and Saul finished, they went to the kitchens to clean and find dessert.

"So, Starr, tell me about yourself: How did you come to be a vampire?"

"It's a long story, but my friend, Michael, turned me."

"Oh, yes, Mick's kid."

After a moment of silence, he asked, "What kind of childhood did you have?"

"A nice normal one that I wish I could return to," she smiled, as she sipped her drink. "You?"

"Well, as I said, I grew up in the mountain-ski town called Grindewald. My parents had a café, before they retired, and now my brother, Egon, runs it."

"Your brother is still alive?"

"Well, ja. How old do you think I am?" he grinned. "I'm twenty –five; I was only turned a few years ago. Before that I was a Swiss Guard 'vorking' at the Vatican," he said. "I think that is partly why I like you; not just because you're hot and kickass, but you're the only person I can relate to, at least somewhat. Most of these guys can't even send simple text messages; they're worse than my grandparents, haha."

"My Grandparents aren't much better, either," she laughed lightly.

"Speaking of, what is your number?"

"I lost my phone in the fire, but I'm sure we'll see other again soon enough."

Inwardly, she hoped....

The guys came back with a couple frozen cakes and dishes. Everyone settled at the bar, even Michelle and Chanler, and had dessert.

Later that evening, Starr went to bed feeling quite satisfied: she was clean, full, and now a bed with a fluffy comforter was waiting for her.

She threw her clothes on the floor, with thoughts, like marbles, of Emil rolling around her mind, and climbed into bed.

She was only down an hour when there was an urgent knock at her door, waking her out of a heavy slumber.

"Just a sec," she called, as she clumsily put her clothes on.

"Yeah," she said as she opened the door.

No one was there.

From a few doors over, there was knocking on other doors. She stuck her head out and looked right: Alin was trying to rouse everyone from their rooms.

"Okay, everyone," said Alin. "We need to get out of here, now."

"Why?" asked Michelle, attitude boiling under her surface as usual.

"The soldiers are gone. I went around to perform security checks, and then to check on the soldiers, and they're gone."

"So, what are you saying?" asked Sari.

"I'm saying that something is not right."

"Wait," said Starr, who automatically set to sensing the other rooms. "I hear something in the stairwell; there's something there. I don't know what it is."

"I hear it, too," said James. "A beeping noise, like a digital clock."

And then Starr's eyes met James, whose eyes had widened, wildly.

"OUT, NOW! IT COULD BE A BOMB!" he shouted.

And he ran to the hallway, followed by the others.

Instead of taking the stairs or the elevator, he leapt through the window, fell to the ground and ran across the street.

Starr and the others followed.

A moment later, they stood across the street, looking at each other.

"Are you sure it was a bomb?" asked Alin.

"No," he sighed. "I guess I've seen too many movies."

But then there was an increase of heat, and a sudden brightness that glared in their faces. They looked back at the building: the first floor was massively alight.

One minute later, the sounds of blasts came from within the building, the ground rumbled heavily, and all seven stories caved inward.

"Wow, they really took the time to do us in," said Sari. "They even professionally wired it so as to implode, which means they must have set this up days ago."

"What do we do, now?" asked James.

"Well, it's just as well they should think we're dead, and that way we remain anonymous. This is a gift unrealized," said Starr.

"What about our tour?" Emil wondered.

"Consider it canceled. Now, we go after Lucenzo and Amir," Alin replied.
Almost Home
Chapter 5

They landed on the bank of Lake George half an hour later. Starr hated telling the Fleet she'd known where Lucenzo was for a while, and had not even bothered telling them or trying to take him out.

Worse, she hated betraying Lily, but what could she do? Lucenzo and Amir had to be stopped, or they would continue their attempts at a world takeover.

It may not have been a perfect world for a vampire, but she couldn't imagine a world run by Lucenzo and Amir. She wanted the world she knew, the world as it was, now.

Starr especially didn't want a world policed by the stinking scent of the new species. What would it be like to see them on every street corner, forcing people, like Starr, to do as a dictator commanded?

Over and over, she wondered what she would do with Lily, once she got there?

Turn her?

She was only thirteen.

Well, hopefully, Lucenzo would have been kind enough to entrust the antidote to her, for, even if he didn't survive, he was extremely loyal to her. And, as long as she had the recipe for the antidote, then Starr would do whatever it took to procure it for her.

Their arrival to the lake further proved that Starr was right: Lucenzo and Amir needed to be taken down, immediately.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Michelle, a look of petrified fear on her face.

Looking up the bank, into the trees, the backs of many bodies stood stiff, not turning to look at them, not flinching, or fidgeting, but standing like hundreds of statues in the trees.

"Why don't they attack us?" asked James.

"Lucenzo controls them, probably the same way that Starr did, back at the U.N.," Alin answered.

"I don't want to go in there," whimpered Michelle.

"We have to," said Alin, who walked up the bank and into the trees.

She and the others followed.

"Starr," said Alin. "Walk up front with me, please."

Standing next to every other tree they passed were the still bodies of vampires, all standing and staring in the same direction, which was toward the cabin where she met Lucenzo, last time, she soon realized.

"My god," Alin breathed. "There's got to be thousands in this forest, alone."

Their white skin gleamed under the rays of light that poked through the leaves of the tall trees.

As she passed them, she looked at their faces, wondering if it were possible to break them from Lucenzo's control; in other words, relinquish his mental hold on them, perhaps by striking them.

The answer to her question came, a moment later, when there was the sound of something large toppling onto leaves, making loud crunching noises.

They turned back and saw Michelle looking down at a vampire she'd run into. It fell over and laid there like dead weight, and didn't stir furthermore.

She tried to sense if they were hungry, like she did with the alligator, but it was as if they were pieces of cold cement.

When they approached the cabin, Starr stopped a moment.

"What's wrong? Why have you stopped?" asked Alin.

Starr's chest heaved and moisture bespeckled her face.

Alin looked at her and said, "Don't be frightened, Starr. You're stronger than they are. I can sense this about you. Even if you can't fight them all, I don't think they'd hurt you, anyway, not as long as Lily wants you alive."

She patted him on the shoulder, sighed and walked up the steps, across the porch and opened the door without knocking.

The room was dark.

Instinctively, her demon came out. She felt her fangs extend, and suddenly her night vision became even clearer.

"No one's here," said Alin, whose fangs were bared, and eyes a glowing shade of red.

"Do you smell that?" asked Chanler, with lavender and red iridescent eyes.

Starr inhaled; there was a draft of air flowing into the room.

"It's coming from the kitchen," said Emil around a mouthful of fangs, and who was giving off a hazy white aura.

Carefully, they followed the draft to the kitchen, and, carelessly, down into a cellar.

Across the room, the ground door was open.

They intended to continue outside, but then someone shut and barred it. Quickly, they turned to exit back through the kitchen door, but it was shut, too.

"God, we're so _stupid!_ " yelled Saul. "How could we fall for that?"

"Who cares?" asked Michelle. "Doors can't keep us!"

"Don't you think they _know_ that, Michelle?" asked Chanler.

But then things got worse.

"Do you smell that?" asked Sari in a slightly higher voice.

Suddenly, the walls were engulfed in bright orange flames.

A loud wailing noise, like an elephant only worse, came from Michelle.

" _Shut up!"_ yelled Alin, whose demon voice, now, sounded digitally altered, like in a movie. " _God, Michelle, I don't know why we keep you!"_

"What do we do?" asked Starr.

"Let me think."

"Okay, I got an idea. Can you burst the pipes?"

"What?"

"Explode them, the way you blew up the vamps, back at the U.N.?"

She shook her head, "I don't know."

"Just try! You're our only hope; there's no way we can break through the ceiling before we're toast," said James.

At first, she didn't know how to go about doing such a thing, but, then, they told her to concentrate, and they all got really quiet. All she heard was the flames licking. She told her inner demon to help her find water in the walls.

After a moment, she'd located the pipes. Starr saw them, clearly, in her mind, and focused on heating the metal.

Seconds went by; she saw the pipes expand under her concentrated pyrokinesis. Then, suddenly, she felt little trickles of water, but as the others took steps closer to her, Starr began to panic because she knew the fire was closing them in.

She'd felt fear a lot, in the last few weeks, and, once again fear gripped her; a feeling that was hard for vampires to come by.

Her chest tightened, and her skin got extremely warm. She couldn't do it, and she felt tears run down her face, again.

The panic became even more real, when she saw a flame ignite Chanler's pant leg, making her scream, and, with her scream, jolted her emotions, making not only the pipe burst, but the entire ceiling split down the middle.

Next thing she knew, the fire was out, but they were up to their middles in water.

Chanler sighed loud and gratefully.

James and Sari ran at the kitchen door and easily kicked it in; Starr and the others followed them out.

"They're moving!" he said, looking out the window.

Out onto the porch, and true enough, the vampires had begun to recede into the woods.

"Let's see where they're going!" shouted Alin urgently.

He leapt off the porch and ran into the trees, followed by Starr and the others.

Quickly, they ran past them, trying to find the lead, that is, the beginning of the herd.

They follow them for a quarter of a mile, at which point, the vampires had begun to assemble themselves into a line, almost like an invisible funnel forced them.

They followed the line, and it led them to a curved road where half a dozen semi trucks were parked. The vampires crawled into their beds and stood face to face in them.

As the first one got full, the line moved to the second and third truck.

"We gotta stop these trucks from leaving," said Michelle.

"Tell us something we don't know," Emil retorted.

"Well, this ought to make things easy," said Chanler as he pulled his hand gun.

The others followed suit, and they began shooting the vampires in the head, one by one, while Saul went to disable the trucks from under their hoods.

Starr and Alin combined their pyrokinesis and set to burning up the first full truck. Alin could have done it himself, but he wanted Starr to practice controlling it, since she was new at it.

They'd only managed to kill off a few hundred vampires before they were attacked by a dozen people in black outfits with masks to match.

Their attackers flew at them from the sky. Two came at Starr, pointing guns at her.

Starr looked at their weapons and heated them, making them release their grips. Then she ran at them both with a scissor kick, dropping them instantly.

She turned to help Alin, who was getting his head kicked in. Starr dragged the assailant back, with an arm around the neck, and landed an axe kick when he turned around.

They went around to help the others, and it wasn't long before the Fleet had their attackers bound.

Next, they returned to killing the vampires, but then they started to move away from the trucks.

"What is going on?" asked Emil.

"They're turning on us," said Starr.

And though they fought hard, there were simply too many of them.

It wasn't long before they were surrounded.

"Starr, stop them!" shouted Alin.

"I can't! Lucenzo's mind control is stronger than mine!"

Once more, Starr thought it was the end, but then her skin got really warm, and a tingling sensation traveled her every pore, almost as if her blood had come to life and was traveling in her veins.

A familiar sensation came over her.

"Look," said Chanler, pointing at the large white moon.

She looked up and saw the figure of a woman, highlighted by the moon, flying in their direction.

The figure stopped above them and pushed the vampires back, telekinetically, and then she proceeded to killing them all.

She was strong, probably the most powerful vampire in the world, for she could kill with just her will.

As simple as turning off a light switch, they all dropped dead, one by one.

Once done, she landed on the ground, looking majestic as always, with waist length black hair and eyes glowing like embers.

Credenza was frighteningly beautiful, but her skin was a mask of the person she was, inside, which was cold and deadly. The blood in Starr told her that and, for a moment, she felt like she was Credenza.

"Nice job, protecting my protégé," she said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

The vampires in masks began to stir. Starr looked to them, but was distracted by a disturbance of the moon's ray.

From the sky, the light was partly obscured by a row of vampires flying towards them.

They were even more majestic, more god like looking creatures than Credenza. Each one was seven feet or taller with long hair and eyes with flames that danced inside them.

Starr found them hard to look at.

"Where do you think you're, all, going," Credenza asked of the vampires, who were trying to escape.

Then, like an invisible hand pulled them, they were yanked back to the ground and pinned there.

"Starr and I will go after Lucenzo and Amir, I hear them up aways," she said, looking back into the forest, and then her eyes settled on Starr's. "We need to talk."

Meeting Again
Chapter 6

Starr didn't know how to start in her approach to Credenza. For the last few months, and even the last couple days, Starr had a million questions for her, but even more, she always imagined that she'd be strong and defiant; that she'd tell Credenza to back off, and she'd be forced to respect her wishes, but seeing her in that way, with such powerful vampires at her side, she was silenced. It made her realize that she needed to better assess who this person was and how morally righteous or corrupt she was, before standing up for herself.

Vampires dropped dead as they passed them.

After it became apparent that Credenza intended to say nothing, Starr asked, "I thought we needed to talk?"

"I figured you needed a minute; you seemed surprised to see me."

"Well, yeah, it's a shock. The Fleet's been looking for you, and then all of a sudden you show up and you're fine. They thought you were dead, and who were those vampires in the sky?"

"They're the last Primordial; the first vampires."

"The first vampires? But I thought the first were like these species, here, crazed by the virus?"

"The first _humans_ , bitten by vampires, couldn't stand the infection; it was they who went crazy. Centuries went by, and humanity adapted, passing along an antibody along with the virus."

At first, she didn't' get it, but after a moment, she asked, "You speak of the Primordial as if they're not human?"

"The real vampires were an ancient race that'd begun to die out back during the Bronze Age. Later, what was left of them, were sometimes depicted in ancient Greece's tragedies, but they mistook them for gods."

"If they're so superior, then why did they die out?"

"Every species goes extinct; it's nature. Groups live and then they die, and especially if they run out of options for breeding, as nearly every primitive group, on this planet, has. Every culture, and every race and ethnicity, has, at one time, belonged to several others."

"So the Primordial are not immortal?"

"Yes, they're immortal, but some of them destroyed themselves because they were ready to die, and others ebbed away."

"What do you mean by ebbed away."

"Meaning they receded, slowly, from the physical world. As we, vampires, age, our bodies harden and our minds grow weary; eventually we slip into semiconsciousness, and finally unconsciousness."

"How long does it take?"

"It takes millenniums to get to that point, but there are ways to prevent it from happening; one needs to stay active, and to stay involved, for that, one needs to desire life."

"Why didn't they just do that? Why didn't they stay active?"

"As you've already surmised, in the past, living forever is like having the same nightmare over and over again. Life isn't easy, and living it, repeatedly, is even harder. To quote you: 'each time – each life - with the same painful punch lines.' Nothing changes, not really."

Starr remembered back to the contemplation she had of her closest friend, Marla, who was the softest vampire of them all. To live forever, you need to be hardened. With all the pain, and all the love lost, and this cycle repeated again and again, it was certain that some vampires would never make it to the point of 'ebbing away,' as Credenza said. The loss of feeling, caused by the virus, was a benefit to their survival, only it didn't affect everyone the same.

"Are you a real vampire?"

"Half," she answered.

She wanted to ask more questions, but they'd approached a large hill. Credenza signaled that they should jump, but Starr wasn't strong enough to jump so high, and had to levitate.

When she landed, she said, "Well, tell me what it was that you intended to."

She was relieved that Credenza invited her to speak, and wasted no time in saying, "I want to be left alone; I want to go to school, to see my friends, to have a normal life."

"And you should have it."

"I should?"

"I thought you'd be thrilled to join us. We are warriors. Once, a warrior was the pride and envy of nearly everyone born. Heroism meant riches, rewards, honor, respect, a grand marriage..."

Completely baffled, she asked, "What in the world would make you even think that I want to be a warrior? This is not the Middle Ages."

After another moment of silence, she said, "I appreciate everything you've done for us, and, from here on out, you will not be bothered."

She turned to walk off, and signaled Starr to follow.

"I've just one more question. What happened on the night you rescued me? Why did you leave me in that house, alone?"

She followed Credenza in the direction of a dark house that was up ahead.

"I healed you, and now you're powerful. Now you can protect your kids."

"I could always protect them. I never needed you, never," she repeated. "You know that, so why?"

When Credenza said nothing, an alarm went off, inside her brain. It was a simple question, and there was no reason for her not to answer, unless she was hiding something.

As they got closer to the house, Credenza walked faster, making it hard for Starr to keep up.

"Why won't you answer my question?"

She followed her inside the dark house. In the dusty, moldy living room, Lucenzo and Amir were pinned to the floor by invisible bonds.

"Why did you make us fight, if capturing them, yourself, would have been so easy?"

"Because I have better things to do. Besides, I'm trying to retire. I've been handling small matters, like these for centuries. I'm done, unless it is absolutely necessary that I participate."

"You call a vampire apocalypse small matters?"

"Yes, small. If this is a war, it is the pettiest I've ever seen. We suffered way more casualties when the Mongols came to our city."

"Enough chit chat! Let's get this over with," said Amir in a thick Ukranian accent.

"Oh, let's not rush things," Credenza mused. "Starr has something to ask."

"Where's Lily?"

"She's gone. Don't worry, she has enough antidote, and she knows how to remake it. As long as she follows my regimen, she'll be fine."

"But did she rejoin the kids from the clinic?"

"I don't think so, sorry. She seemed to think that no one wanted her, there, and I thought it best she not tell me anything, in case we were caught, after she departed. No doubt, some would insist on her destruction."

"The Primordials are getting impatient; they are calling me. We will go now." said Credenza.

"Do we have to do this? Do you have to kill him?"

She wasn't sure where her sudden compassion came from, but she knew that Lily would have wanted him spared. Starr was angry with Lucenzo, but she wasn't sure that she wanted him dead, either, and especially after all they'd been through.

"Amir, yes; Lucenzo, no. His father is Vidar, one of the Primordials, and he's ready to take him home."

Starr looked at Lucenzo and it all made sense. There was always something pure about him, and about his scent: it was sweet and pleasant, unlike others who barely had any scent at all, after being turned – except in extreme cases. Several times, she'd mistaken that sweet air for attraction, but it was his natural animal pheromone.

"Where's home?"

But Credenza was silent.

_She won't tell you,_ Lucenzo whispered into her mind. _It is a hidden peak, in the north, that no one has seen in millenniums, since the shifting of the Earth._

"Funny, I thought you were turned after World War II, after you came to America."

"I never said that. In the forties, I was posing as a human boy, at the academy where I met my friends; it was my first time away from home."

"Are they safe? Nico, Kris, and your brother, Fernand?"

"Yes, they're fine; they're hiding."

Finally, Credenza said, "Alright, we gotta go."

"I won't fight you, but you are not to kill Amir; he is to be spared. He only acted under my control. I forced him to do everything."

"Fine," she said. "We'll let your father decide."

And then, like an invisible hand held them, they floated through the air, behind them as they made their way back to the road.

As they walked back, Starr wondered how long it would take for them to burn up all the dead bodies and distribute their ashes?

When they got back, the ancient vampires stood on the road, with heads high, in a line with their hands behind their backs. Just like Emil, their skin gave off a hazy, glowing aura, only brighter, making her wonder if Emil was part Primordial as well.

The Black Fleet stood some feet away from them, in a semicircle, looking perplexed. On the ground, their assailants, from earlier, lay dead. Starr noticed they had no evidence of bodily harm, the Primordials, likely, told them to die, the way Credenza did just moments ago.

As they approached, Starr noticed how one particular vampire with blazing orange-red hair and the bluest eyes she'd ever seen, looked Credenza direct in the eye; they were communicating telepathically.

Briefly, his eyes averted to Starr's, and, for a moment, she felt like she was under the burning ray of a laser.

Lucenzo and Amir floated toward them. Without a word, the Primordials ascended back into the air, and, just as they took off into the sky, Lucenzo whispered into Starr's mind.

Whatever you do, don't trust Credenza, she has plans for you, and they aren't kind. I'd start with the Necro-Grimoire, if I were you. I'll see you soon, and I hope that we can be friends, again.

Next, Credenza disappeared without a goodbye. She left so fast that Starr wasn't sure if she walked away or flew.

Starr felt in her pocket to make sure the Necro-Grimoire was still there.

Good to Be Home
Chapter 7

It took a whole week to burn all the bodies. Though she scrubbed and sudded and soaked, she could still smell the sickening cinnamon, burnt flesh and bone, and char and ash.

After they'd burned their last bodies, they took the evening to feast on the opposite side of the bank, where the air was fresher.

Saying goodbye was sad, because she would have liked to have spent some time with Emil, but the last thing she wanted was to spend more time doing Fleet stuff. The best thing to do was distance herself.

A tingling sensation shot down her neck and chest when he kissed her lips and told her to call him as soon as she got another phone.

Starr knew that if she bothered with getting another phone, it would only be so that she could talk to him, as she hated talking on the phone normally.

Chanler, of course, scowled.

As she watched them levitate into the blue sky, she tried to think of what to do next. Should she try to find the kids? Or should she find a cabin and have some alone time?

She was always torn between the next thing that needed doing, and relaxing in peace and quiet.

Starr walked along the bank, thinking about everything that had happened in the last few weeks. Every once in a while, she'd pull out the Grimoire and flip its pages.

By late afternoon, she sat on a bald, sandy spot of the bank and stared at the water.

Making her jump, from up the bank, came the sound of laughing and talking.

She stood up and turned around.

Facing her was Misaki, Misty, and Lucas, from the clinic; they were both rescued and abandoned kids that Starr, and her friends, had vowed to look after. They stopped, still, and stared in silence; their eyes wide.

Starr felt a smile spread her face. An emotion she hadn't felt in a long time struck her: happiness.

"Is it really you?" asked Misaki.

"Yeah, it's me."

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile before; it's almost ghastly, like Wednesday Addams-ish," said Lucas.

"Why aren't you dead?" Misty asked.

"I was rescued."

"How? The cabin was completely caved in. There's no way you could have survived."

But before Starr could explain, the rest of the kids from the clinic showed up, including her best and closest friends Marla, Mica, and Shane who couldn't have looked more shaken by the sight of her.

"I knew you were alive!" shouted Shane. "Haha, didn't I tell you. I kept telling you, I felt her; she's alive! You were here, a while back, I felt it!"

With tears in her eyes, Marla grabbed Starr and nearly choked her to death. A second later, the arms of several others closed her in, tightly.

"If you're alive, then where the hell have you been all this time? Why did you not tell us?" she asked.

"I'm sorry; I would have if I'd known where you were."

"We were just, here, on the other side of the bank. You, being what you are, should have found us with little difficulty!"

"I got sidetracked. Listen, I can't explain it all now. Have any of you seen Lily?"

"No, isn't she with Lucenzo?" asked Mica.

Starr looked at her, and then looked at the kids, and then at the dirt.

"Well, let's talk about it as we walk back to the house," she said, and then walked back up the path; Starr, Marla, and Shane followed.

In as concise a way as she could, she proceeded to tell them everything; how she woke in Louisiana; how she found Lily in Lake George; about the CDC and how they betrayed them.

But then her speech slowed, when she got to the part about Credenza, the Primordials, and Lucenzo's warning.

Instinctively, she felt for the Grimoire in her pocket.

"So the first vampires were a completely different race?" asked Shane.

"Yep."

"And Lucenzo was one of these?"

"And so is Credenza; well, she said she's half."

They walked up the sandy bank and through a cluster of trees. Next, she followed them several miles up a steep incline and found herself atop a four square mile mesa top.

"It'd be hard for vampires to sneak up on us here," said Marla.

"Wow," said Starr, eyeing a large white three story house complete with white stucco walls, fencing it in.

They opened the wrought iron gate, and passed a pretty flower garden.

Inside, the house was cool with wood floors and a large living room. They gave her a tour through the back, which had a swimming pool, hot tub, and gas grill.

Then they led her upstairs to the last room at the top.

"This can be your room," said Marla. "Oh, and I have something for you."

She walked out and came back a moment later.

In her hands, Marla held her favorite ruby studded sliver moon-shaped sickles.

Year 2 schedule for release 2012.

Other works include:

Adventures of Jacko the Conjurer

Funk's the Chocolate Loving Vamp

Maternal Absence

Misguided Trust

Blackthorn: In the Tween

A Very Blakely Christmas

Sisterlings
