Blue Stone

THE GAMES

I woke up to the phone ringing. It was Roxie, “The Celtic Games are this weekend. It is fun, they have wonderful food, games, and everyone dresses up. Won’t you come, it’ll be good for you to get out and be around people.”

“It sounds great; count me in.” I was excited now. It would be fun shopping for a costume.

I got to class a little early this time thanks to my morning wakeup call and low and behold Micah was setting there in all his glory. “Long time no see. Speaking of sight, you look different.” He was in all black, sleek like a panther only he has crystal blue eyes. He had a twinkle in his eye and smiled crooked, almost evil looking.

“Yeah, I couldn’t keep up the country bumpkin thing. I’m more of a brooding black. Why does it scare you?”

I pretended to shiver, “I’m shaking in my shoes. Seriously though it suites you. Since you’ve come out of the closet are you going to the games this weekend? You’ll fit right in.”

“Is that an invitation? I’d love to my lady.” He bowed and rolled his hand theatrically. It made me laugh.

“You are too much sometimes. That’s not what I meant.” It is so hard trying to stay a step ahead of him.

“Why didn’t you ask Kayne? He’s the golden boy.” Micah had leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk.

“Should I? You’re not going to mess it up are you?” He put his hand over his heart acting offended. “Me, why would I do that? I’ll show you who the better man is, you’ll wish you had me at your side when you finally see him for what he is.

“If you’re going to be like that, why would I ever want anything to do with you?” I was never so grateful for class to start He was beginning to irritate me. I felt drawn to him like a moth to a flame only to be burned in the end.

Kayne was busy and couldn’t go to the games. It looked like it’s a party of one as usual.

My dress is and old Halloween costume, but it fits. It has a black leather bodice with black velvet flowing out for the skirt. Under the bodice is a crimson silk blouse with Celtic knots woven through it.

A shiny black truck pulled in the driveway as I was locking the door. Then I froze as he stepped out, it’s Micah. He wore black as well and the tunic had crimson knots exactly opposite mine. He had stricken me speechless. “I told you, you’d come crawling back.” Handing me a blood red rose he took my hand and kissed it gently.

“Why are you here, leave me alone. You are not going to just swoop in and take me away from Kayne like that.” I turned back toward my car.

He clinched his fists calming himself. “Spend just a few hours with me and then if you still prefer Kayne I’ll leave you to your fate.”

“Fair enough, if this is what it takes for you to leave us alone.” With that I climbed into the truck.

“You’ve been staring at me for twenty minutes” He smiled his crooked smile.

“I’m trying to figure you out. One day your charming and sweet the next you are just plain evil.

Just then we arrived at the fair. We played games, ate turkey legs, and were having a wonderful time. “See, you’re already forgetting what’s his name, I told you I’m the better choice.” He is shamelessly flirting and playing mind games. He is good but I’m better, he can’t catch me in his traps, but admittedly I have to work to keep up with him, he is sharp. Frustrated he walked across the street to get me a drink and to create another plan; I saw that twinkle in his eye again. That is what gives him away.

Some young men came out of the bar drunk as skunks. One of them grabbed me I fought him off, but all three of them came at me at once. I hadn’t even had time to blink and Micah was between us cursing and spitting threats. It looked like it worked but one of them swung and caught him in the mouth. Blood spattered all over my face. That was when I saw his face. His eyes were black as coal, and he had fangs, “FANGS.” Then, Micah lost it he moved so fast I couldn’t really see what was happening then I screamed his name and Micah seemed to come to his senses and stopped. The police came running and drug him off to jail. I started to protest, to explain he is the hero, but the shock of his face hadn’t worn off. I realized the scum laid out on the ground were two of the Sheriff’s sons.

I followed Micah and the boys to the police station. “Sheriff Lilly, please let him go. Your boys are drunk; Micah was just trying to defend me.”

“Miss, you don’t understand he is evil and we need to get information out of him.” The sheriff rubbed his hands together, his eyes full of excitement and fear.

“What do you mean?” Blocking his path to the basement.

“He knows where the others are and I mean to exterminate every last one. Now, get out of my way.” He shoved me to the side like a kid trying to get to his Christmas presents. I followed not willing to let Micah out of my sight.

The seen down stairs is like something out of a horror flick. The walls are stone with shackles hanging intermittently, and all kinds of torture devices, laid out on a table. Micah was dangling from the beam with his shirt off. That’s when reality sank in, Sheriff Lilly is going to beat the information out of him. “Please you can’t do this. He has done nothing wrong.”

“You saw what he is and are still convinced of his innocents?” He picked up a burred up wooden cane. “You see this cane is roughed up so that pieces will stick into his flesh. Wood is one of the few things that you can kill one with.” With that he reached back and with a loud crack it struck Micah’s back leaving a bloody swelling stripe. The only thing louder than the twisted laughs were the cries of pain.

That is, when it happened. Everything went red as I clenched my fists, and gritted my teeth. My entire being was engulfed with rage at the site of Micah in pain. The room started shaking, jars lining shelves burst into a million pieces, and the torches flared. There was this voice demanding the torture stop. Where was it coming from? At that moment I realized it was me. The men that were so proud of themselves were now trembling in the corner. I slowly walked over and cut Micah down. “If you ever come near me, my family or friends again you will regret it.” We walked out without the slightest protest.

“Micah are you okay?”

He looks awe struck. “Yes. Where did that come from?”

“No idea, tell me what it was and then we might both have a clue. Please just take me home.” As we pulled into the driveway I invited him in. “Are you okay, you lost a bit of blood and you look pale?” I wasn‘t sure about everything that just happened, but wanted answers. “What can I do to help?”

He looked at me with that wicked, crooked smile. “You can kiss it and make it feel better.”

He never thought I’d do it, so I stepped closer holding his gaze, gently took his face in my hand like I was inspecting the damage and kissed his lip where it had split during the fight.

He didn’t miss a beat, “I knew you wanted me, don’t you feel better now that you admit it.” I punched him in the shoulder, walked to the kitchen and saw the trunk open, it was too late he was right behind me and saw it. “Where did you get that? You are a wicked little girl aren’t you?”

“It was my Great-grandma Ceana Jung’s. I found it under the house and the stones under the barn. Why?”

Micah wound his arms around my waist. “Nothing it just looks like some cool old stuff.” I didn’t try to get away I needed to soften him up for questions. Suddenly he spun me around to face him and I grabbed him in a hug to keep my balance. He read my actions wrong and pulled me up into such a passionate kiss that I was left trying to catch my breath.

I took two steps back to look straight into his eyes and said, “Not right now Micah, I have too much going on too many questions unanswered.”

Clearly frustrated he responded, “What answers?”

“I saw your face, what are you?” He paused for a moment deciding what to tell me. “Just as, the Sheriff said, I am a vampire.”

“Wait I’ve seen you in sunlight, I don’t understand. You and Kayne grew up together.” As the reality of it hit me. I momentarily froze letting it sink in and feeling fear and anger building simultaneously. “What’s going on? Why are the two of you so interested in me? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Why don’t you ask Kayne?” He looked smug.

“He won’t tell me the truth, and you are twisted enough to enjoy freaking me out.” I stepped closer refusing to lose his gaze.

“First, sunlight doesn’t bother us, that is a myth. Second, I don’t want to hurt you, apparently I fell for your crazy charm.” Micah shook his head.

Holding up a finger I turned toward the phone. “Hold on a minute, the phone is going to ring I‘ll be right back.” Reappearing in the kitchen. “That was Roxie checking to see if I got home okay. What, you’re looking at me funny?”

“Well you knew the phone was going to ring before it did, how did you do that?” He looked as bewildered as I felt.

“Micah the questions are for you tonight not me.” He’s not distracting me now.

“I’m not answering anymore tonight; I need to feed. Unless you feel like donating.”

“No thank you.” I put a hand around my neck like it would protect me.

Micah still looked like he was in pain. “Still, friends?” He looked downright pitiful.

“I need to absorb this. I’ll let you know.” Micah and Kayne seem to know a lot about my family and the area. Maybe the two of them can help me figure out my own mystery.

“Braeden, do you have feelings for me at all?” Poor Micah seems so vulnerable.

“Micah, considering I just found out you’re not human, I don’t know. I’ve lost or been betrayed by everyone I ever cared about, so there is no hurry on my part.” Understanding came across his face; I guessed he’d been hurt too. “I have to admit your mind games are fun.” With a playful wink from me, he lit up with one of the most brilliant smiles.

“The chase is the best part, and you are a real challenge.” Micah shoved his hands in his pockets and headed toward the door. “Well, I am calling it a night. Thank you for saving me tonight. No one has ever stood up for me before.”

As he walked out I had to sit on my feet to keep from going after him. Micah is dangerous, but my will wavers around him. I don’t know why; Kayne is the obvious choice. It doesn’t matter right now I need to focus on my quest.

Finally, alone, I turned my attention back to the trunk. Most of these books look like old remedies and recipes. Oh, now this one looks interesting. It is bound with leather and inlaid with gold in some weird language. The drawings look like some of the nick-knacks and candles in the trunk. None of this makes any since.

Changing into old jeans and a sweatshirt, more suitable attire for going back to the barn to see if I missed anything. Halfway to the barn I felt a breeze, the next thing I knew someone had me and I was flying. We were moving so fast I couldn’t scream. We finally stopped, looking around I recognized where we were. It is the old saw mill. “Who are you, what do you want?” I screamed into the distance.

“We want your power.” If I wasn’t so scared, I would’ve laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“You see the future and you sense other powerful beings. Tell us where the stones are and you can live.” Is this another vampire or more of the crazy hooded people?

“What stones?” I’m such a bad liar. They could tell that. Without a sound a fist came at me connecting with my jaw. That was when without a thought I screamed, “Kayne, Micah help!” I was hoping they had heightened senses like in the movies.

I was right, about five seconds later my chains were broken and Kayne and I was flying towards my house. When we were safely inside, I explained what happened and slowly realized there were two blurs in the saw mill. “Who was with you?”

“Micah was, he should be here by now, or if he follows his normal routine he just went home. What did they want?” About that time Micah came strutting in still wild with excitement from the almost fight. He stopped short when he saw my busted lip. You could see the rage in his eyes.

“They wanted my power, whatever that means. Look I appreciate what you’ve done but I need to rest.” They both looked at me like I was crazy.

“You were just taken and chained up. God only knows what would’ve happened if we weren’t around.”

“You gave them a good scare; they’d be stupid to try something else this soon. Please I have a lot to process and this power business to figure out.” With that they went outside and stood like sentries guarding my house leaving me to go bed.