Obsidian (Mystic Stones Series #1) (33 page)

We waited for noon to come around, and watched as the drudges left through the gate. At 12:15, Jesse radioed the others to tell them we were going to make our move and to be ready for the next signal. The outgoing gate was beginning to lift and Jesse seized the opportunity. He threw the motorcycle into gear with a flick of his wrist and raced across the street to get through. I held on tight as adrenaline coursed through me. I was still in control of my nerves. I used the adrenaline to my advantage and made myself act quickly once we were through the gate.

Almost immediately, the guards were coming out of their booth with guns drawn. I recognized that they were the same security guards that Herrick-Peyton used, but they were different somehow. Their expressions were blank. Emotionless.

None of the men acted scared or angry. They were like zombies. I decided quickly that I didn’t want to hurt them if I didn’t have to. Jesse had his assault rifle drawn and I had my pistol.

“Put your guns down and place your hands on top of your head!” one of the guards shouted robotically.

Jesse and I didn’t move. Soon, a crowd formed around us. Jesse kept me behind him, away from any bullets that could fly toward us. Most of the men in the crowd were vampires. There were a few drudges, but only a handful. I wore my ring, so the vampires were forced to keep their distance.

Jesse and I started assessing the crowd so we could pick out the vampires from the drudges. It was easier than I anticipated. Most of the vampires were dressed in suits while the drudges dressed more casually.

“What do you want?” a voice called from the crowd.

I recognized it quickly. It was Tom. I turned to face him and pointed my gun straight at him. I knew it would do nothing but stun him, but that would give me time to reach for my throwing spikes.

“I’m here to kill you. Or don’t you remember the promise I made you back in California?” I asked.

A few drudges stepped closer and Tom laughed. Jesse pointed his gun at them. At this point, the guards weren’t a threat. In the distance Hiu, Moana, and Kapono quietly made their move. The distraction had worked.

Tom stepped forward. His stride was calm and controlled. He stopped at the border of my protective force field. I felt the ring push him away.

“You can’t kill me. You’re greatly outnumbered, you’re pointing a useless gun at me, and I’ve got drudges who will step in front of any dagger you throw at me. So, what do you really want?”

“I want you to die,” I replied.

At that point, everything seemed to happen at lightning speed. I pulled the trigger and shot Tom right in the chest. He flinched and the bullet ricocheted and hit one of the drudges in the back. Jesse started shooting his fully automatic at the crowd. Some hit vampires and ricocheted, others took out drudges. The vampires reacted, and jumped high into the air. They wanted to get to us, but my ring prevented it.

I reached for my throwing spikes as Tom called for the guards to fire. I threw one at Tom, but his speed evaded it. Jesse moved behind me to shield me from the bullets that were coming from the guards. He was about to shoot back when I noticed he would most definitely kill them.

“Don’t kill them!” I shouted back as I grabbed for another spike. I threw it at Tom but hit another vampire with it. I watched as the vampire shriveled up and his soul was sucked into the obsidian.

“They’ll shoot you if I don’t,” Jesse replied.

“No! They’re innocent! There’s still a chance for them!” I yelled back. Then I focused on the nearby river. I beckoned to the water.

A thick, steady stream weaved through the air, and the vampires watched as the water swept the guns away from the guards. Tom’s eyes followed the stream of water, to the river and he caught sight of Hiu, Kapono and Moana stealing the virus blockers. He yelled, “They’re stealing the virus blockers! Go stop them!”

With the guards incapacitated, and most of the drudges dead, Jesse and I turned our attention to the vampires. Jesse took out his dagger and started a fight with one of them. I used the water to try to push the other vampires back and give Hiu, Kapono and Moana a little more time. It didn’t take long for Jesse to finish with one vampire and move on to the next. He moved like a Special Ops agent. He struck with precision and force. I wondered where he got his training.

Once I got the vampires a safe distance away from the others, I took out my remaining four spikes and started throwing them into unsuspecting vampires. I hit two and they shriveled up like the first. Tom was practically dancing around the lot to avoid getting hit. The other two missed and landed on the concrete. One broke into pieces, the other slid under a vehicle. I had one more chance to kill Tom: my dagger.

I kept my eye on him and waited for him to slip up. Tom made his way to a dead drudge and pulled a gun off the lifeless body. I watched as he took aim, but the bullet wasn’t for me as I expected. It was for Hiu. I looked at Hiu and the others. A few drudges were fighting with them and they didn’t see Tom with his gun pointing straight at Hiu.

I screamed and hurled my obsidian dagger at him. It didn’t fly straight since it wasn’t meant for throwing, but it was too late. Tom fired and the bullet hit Hiu in his neck. The dagger I threw made contact with Tom’s arm. At the same time, Jesse barreled into him with his own dagger, but it melted away like it had at the gas station. Tom had bloodstone on him and it rendered the dagger useless.

My rage grew, and I conjured up a fierce ball of water and threw it at Tom with all I had. Jesse scrambled to find another dagger, but they were all out of reach. Tom recovered from the blow and yanked out the dagger that was in his arm and disappeared with lightning speed into the alley.

I turned to Jesse. His face was solemn and he nodded toward Hiu.

My gaze followed his and I started running to the others. Moana and Kapono were both kneeling over him. Moana was in hysterics and Kapono was trying to stop the bleeding.

Tears welled up. I paused a moment to get myself under control so I wouldn’t turn into a blubbering mess like Moana. Then I brought water from the river to wash his wound.

“W-we have t-to get him t-to a hospital,” Moana sobbed.

“Ava, if we get him to the ocean you may be able to heal him. I’ve seen it done before, but it must be ocean water to heal him,” Jesse said.

I nodded, “Let’s get him out of here then. Kapono, get Alani on the radio and tell her to get the boat ready. You will probably have to drive too,” I said, as I glanced at Moana.

“Moana, get in the truck, you are going to have to . . .” Jesse’s voice was cut off by a deafening gunshot from right behind us. I felt a sting of piercing pain in the right side of my lower back and my stomach. The bullet went through and through. I collapsed on the ground as blood flowed out of me at an alarming rate.

Jesse was at my side in an instant and took me into his arms while Kapono shot the injured drudge that was lying on the ground with his gun pointed at me. The drudge laughed hysterically until the shot rang out.

I looked at my hand. There was a lot of blood on it. I couldn’t move.

I heard Jesse’s voice, “Kapono, can you ride a motorcycle?”

“Yeah, brah,” he replied.

Jesse tossed him the keys, “Get to the boat and get ready for us. Moana, get in the back. You are going to have to calm down and get in the back with Hiu and Ava,” Jesse commanded.

Moana did as she was told, but she was still sobbing quietly. I felt Jesse pick me up and put me in the truck, then Hiu was next to me in a flash. Jesse sped out of the parking lot and broke the gate at the main entrance in the process.

In only minutes, we were at the dock. Jesse pulled Hiu from the truck and ran him to the boat and quickly came back for me. Latoria and Kapono were unloading the virus blockers and taking them to the boat. Jesse grew impatient and finished the job himself carrying four times the amount that any normal man could.

He obviously didn’t care about being discrete right now.

I was grateful there weren’t many people around. I felt faint and looked over to Hiu, who was about to fall unconscious. He was losing a lot of blood. Suddenly my adrenaline kicked in and my pain became unimportant. I slid myself over to Hiu. I lifted his head in my hands. Jesse was at my side quickly.

“Tell me what to do,” I commanded.

“Ava, you have to heal yourself first. You cannot heal him unless you’re at your best. You must use what strength you have left to heal yourself,” Jesse explained.

“He’ll die before I’m healed,” I shrieked.

“No, not if you concentrate and heal yourself first.”

I took a deep breath and concentrated on the ocean. I brought water up to myself and spun it around my waist.

“You’re doing well, just concentrate on the healing powers of the ocean,” Jesse said.

I focused in on the ocean and imagined it taking away my pain and mending my wound. I heard Alani gasp and I looked down to see I was healed. The whole thing only took a few minutes.

“Ava, this won’t be so easy. He’s not an immortal, so it will take much more time and effort to heal him,” Jesse said.

I nodded and shifted my focus to Hiu. I prepared myself by steadying my emotions once more. I brought the ocean water up on the deck of the boat and focused on its healing abilities. I tried to channel the energy into Hiu.

He was pale and unconscious. I could tell he’d lost a lot of blood.

Jesse had been right. It took much longer to heal Hiu than it had to heal myself. I worked for over an hour and took a short break every 20 minutes or so.

The breaks weren’t my idea. Jesse told me that healing takes a lot out of a siren and that in order to keep it up I’d have to take breaks. Finally, after becoming smaller and smaller, Hiu’s wound closed and he had been healed.

I was drained and weak after all the power and energy I’d exerted.

“You should lie down,” Jesse said to me.

“Hiu hasn’t woken up yet,” I mumbled.

“We will watch after him, you must get some rest. You may be immortal, but you are not invincible. You need your rest,” he repeated.

“If anything happens, wake me up,” I said.

“I will,” Jesse promised.

I went to mine and Jesse’s cabin and laid down. I fell asleep almost instantly.

I dreamt I was back at Psytech. Tom was there and it was dark out. He was across the lot from me, staring at me with feral eyes. No one else was around. He started running toward me at lightning speed, but somehow, in slow motion from my point of view. I could tell by the surroundings that he quickly approached, but I seemed to have all the time in the world to react. I pulled an enormous ball of water from the river and readied myself to hurl it at him with a dagger floating in the center of it, but before the opportune moment came, I was wakened from the dream.

I opened my eyes to see Alani sitting at the side of my bed. I glanced at Jesse’s chair. He was in it, already turned to stone.

“What time is it?” I asked. I was a little disoriented.

“It’s almost midnight,” Alani answered.

I sighed and slumped back into my pillow. “Is Hiu alright?”

“He’s fine. He woke up soon after you fell asleep. He tried to thank you, but you were out like a light. No one could wake you. Jesse wanted to wake you before he turned to stone, but you wouldn’t budge, so he asked me to stay until you woke up to make sure you were okay,” Alani explained.

“I had the strangest dream,” I replied, “I dreamt that I went to Psytech and was about to duel with Tom, but I woke up before I could see the ending.”

“Well, I’m just glad you’re okay,” Alani said before she pulled me into a hug. “Thank you for saving my brother. Jesse said the bullet hit an important vein and that even a good doctor may not have been able to save him,” Alani said quietly.

I could tell she was trying to hold back tears.

“He’s my brother too,” I said, “I will make it right. Tom isn’t going to do this ever again. I’m going to kill him. I want to do it right now,” I said as I pulled the blankets away from me.

“You can’t go right now, it’s dark out. Jesse won’t be able to go with you, and you’ll be more vulnerable. You need your rest. I want revenge too, but the next battle will have to wait.”

“I can kill him by myself,” I replied, “My vengeance is enough.”

“No, you can’t go by yourself, I won’t let you. Wait until daylight. You need protection, I wouldn’t be able to handle losing you Ava,” Alani pleaded.

“I’m immortal. I’m not going anywhere,” I said as I stood up.

“So is Tom, but there are still ways to kill him. There are ways to kill you too. I can’t let you do this. I will wake up Kapono and make him keep you here somehow,” Alani said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

I looked at Alani’s worried face. It was clear that she wouldn’t let me go without a fight.

“Okay, I won’t go,” I said. I was lying, but only because I didn’t want Alani to cause a scene. “We’ll come up with a plan in the morning,” I said.

Alani raised a brow as if it had been too easy to convince me to stay.