Phoenix and the Dark Star Read online

  Blake stepped up to the fireplace and looked before saying, “My dad will wring your neck if you tear up that fireplace.”

  “The parchments are beneath those bricks; I’m positive of it,” Winona insisted.

  Blake pursed his lips before asking, “And you know this how?”

  “When I died, our great-great-great grandfather came to me and told me that beneath those bricks is where our great-grandfather had hid those parchments,” Winona informed.

  “Winnie, I believe in the paranormal encounters, so don’t take what I’m about to ask the wrong way,” Blake began. “What has you convinced that what you had experienced was a vision and not a dream that your mind had manufactured.”

  “Blake, before my vision, I was never told about magic running through our veins or even about the possible existence of any parchments. It was within my vision that I found out about any of it.”

  Blake again pursed his lips and took a deep breath through his nose. As he flipped open his utility knife holder with an audible snap that caught Winona’s attention, he said, “Okay, I won’t allow you to ruin this fireplace.” He pulled out his knife as he continued with, “So we’ll do this where we can repair it later.”

  “Thanks for helping me,” Winona told him, gratefully.

  “I just hope that you’re right about those parchments,” Blake said as he squatted down at the fireplace. He then went to work to remove the concrete between the bricks.

  Five minutes after Blake had started removing the concrete, dispatch had paged him over the radio. After telling dispatch a bogus excuse as to why he’ll be unavailable for several minutes, he went back to work on removing the concrete.

  It took Blake several minutes to remove the first brick without breaking it, but after that, bricks were being removed within a few minutes apart. When enough bricks were removed, a fireproof strongbox was uncovered.

  “Well, there is definitely something here,” Blake said before he went to remove the remaining bricks that were keeping him from removing the box.

  The fireproof strongbox was custom made and it was twelve inches long, ten inches wide and eight inches deep, and once the bricks that were keeping it in place were removed, Blake reached for the box.

  As Blake was taking hold of it, he and Winona heard Clint calling, “Blake! Winnie! Where are you two?!”

  Winona and Blake slightly jumped from being startled just before Winona shared, “My dad knows that I’m not in the hospital.”

  As Blake was standing up with the strongbox, he called back, “In here, Dad!”

  Clint stepped in, and when he saw the fireplace, he demanded to know, “What the hell is going on here?!”

  Winona started her explanation first. Blake chimed in when Winona’s story came to the house.

  Once Clint heard everything that Winona and Blake had to say, Clint ordered, “Winnie, take the strongbox and get into my truck. And you, Blake, you’re supposed to be on duty, so get back out on patrol.”

  “Yes, sir,” Blake said as he gave Winona the strongbox.

  As Blake was walking away, Winona informed, “I came here on a friend’s motorcycle.”

  “Do you have your driver’s license with you?” Clint quickly asked.

  “Unless Dad had gotten my street clothes and purse from my locker at work, my license is at work.”

  “Winnie, you could’ve gotten yourself hauled off to jail if you would’ve gotten caught driving without your license,” Clint informed.

  “Thanks to you and Dad, most cops know me between here and Fort Lauderdale, and I obeyed the traffic laws.”

  Clint shook his head before saying, “Well, you’re not driving that bike back without a driver’s license. Now take that strongbox and get in my truck.”

  “I can’t leave the bike,” Winona insisted.

  “I brought the pick-up, so I’ll put the bike in back,” Clint informed. “Now, let’s go.”

  “Okay,” Winona said before carrying the strongbox towards the door. Clint walked behind her, and after they reached the outside, Winona asked, “How upset is Dad?”

  “He’s more scared for you than upset with you,” Clint informed.

  “Why would he be scared?”

  “He’s scared that you’ll go down a path that will get you killed.”

  “Uncle Clint, I know that you don’t believe in those stories that magic runs through our veins either, and before today I never knew anything about those stories,” Winona began. “Since I found out about any of this through a vision, I’m inclined to think that those stories are true. Now I’m not going to run off to Scotland to study parapsychology, but I am going to explore it here with what is in this strongbox and what I can find from the Internet.”

  “I’m sure your dad will find small comfort in that,” Clint replied as they were approaching the truck.

  Winona continued to the truck with the strongbox as Clint turned towards the motorcycle.

  The truck was a four-door with a bed large enough to haul two motorcycles, side by side.

  Winona stepped up to the closest back door before setting the strongbox down on the ground to free her hands. After opening the back door, Winona picked up the strongbox again and placed it on the backseat. As she went to push the back door close, she looked towards her uncle.

  Clint had lowered the tailgate and then pulled out a wide ramp before continuing towards the motorcycle. Once Clint was at the motorcycle, he saw that the key was out.

  As Clint turned towards the truck, he asked slightly louder than he needed, “Do you have the key, Winnie?”

  “I do,” Winona said as she walked towards Clint while fishing for it from her front pocket.

  Winona stepped up to Clint and held out the key for him to take. As Clint was taking the key, he shared, “You don’t really look anything like your Aunt Ruth, but you do have her mannerism. Your dad and I both noticed that ten years ago. So if your dad overreacts to you wanting to explore the paranormal, it’s just because he doesn’t want history repeating itself.”

  Winona grinned before saying, “I’m actually prepared to get yelled at by him. In fact, I was expecting to get yelled at by you.”

  “With what you had gone through today, I’ll give you a pass. Now get in the truck.”

  Winona nodded before turning, and as she was walking towards the truck, Clint got onto the motorcycle.

  Winona heard the motorcycle starting before she could reach the truck, and when she turned to look, she watched as Clint slowly rode the motorcycle into the bed.

  When Clint shut off the motorcycle, Winona climbed into the front passenger’s seat. Clint then secured the motorcycle before putting up the ramp and climbing into the driver’s seat.

  Chapter Ten

  At Clint’s dining room table, Winona, Clint and Clint’s wife Loretta were looking over the parchments from the strongbox.

  Except for one book (a Legacy volume) the parchments were unbound and were written in the Mikasuki language, and they were a mixture of magical rituals, incantations and journals.

  The parchment that Winona was reading talked about Blue Moon’s encounter with the wizard Lawrence Stone from Birmingham, England and the two blood drinkers (vampires) that Lawrence had pursued to the States from Ipswich, England.

  After Winona read the description of the blood drinkers, she said solemnly, “Uncle Clint, Aunt Ruth was killed by a vampire.”

  “A vampire?” Clint echoed curiously.

  “The parchment that I’m reading from talks about a wizard from Birmingham, England who had pursued two blood drinkers to here from Ipswich, England. I’m guessing that blood drinkers are vampires, and they are described as having either red or black eyes, cold skin, unbelievable strength and being able to move very fast. And earlier at the hospital, I had a dream that a man with black eyes and who could move very fast was Aunt Ruth’s attacker. That dream was what had motivated me into leaving the hospital as I did, and to look for these parchments.”

/>   Before Clint could respond, Loretta shared, “I had just finished reading the magical ritual on how to locate a blood drinker.”

  Clint sighed before flipping through the parchments that he had and saying, “I’m currently looking at the incantations that will incapacitate a blood drinker, and the correct method on how to kill one.”

  “The correct method on how to kill one?” Winona echoed. “So a stake through the heart, sunlight and holy water are not the correct methods?”

  As Loretta was taking out Lawrence’s Legacy volume from the strongbox, Clint said, “According to what I’m looking at, magic can be used to subdue a blood drinker, but the only thing that will kill one is by restraining one within a flame until the fire has completely taken hold of him or her.”

  Loretta had opened the volume and read the first page before saying, “Here’s a journal that was written by Lawrence Stone the Second.”

  “He’s the wizard who Blue Moon had met,” Winona informed. “He was the one who had chased those two vampires here from Ipswich, England.”

  “Well, the first page talks about his big game hunting expeditions in Europe and Asia,” Loretta said.

  “Barbarian,” Winona muttered, barely audible.

  Loretta grinned before saying, “According to this, Lawrence’s wife had agreed with you, Winnie.” Winona just grinned as Loretta continued with, “Anyway, Lawrence had written that he had created a spell that would freeze living animals in time without killing any of them, and that spell was the compromise he and his wife had settled on.”

  “A spell that would freeze animals in time would most likely work on vampires too,” Winona thought aloud.

  “Prior to the short number of incantations that would incapacitate a vampire, it mentions that vampires are too quick to be frozen in time,” Clint began while flipping to a certain parchment among the unbound parchments that he was holding. “I didn’t know what that meant until now. Anyway, skipping each of the incantation itself, here is the summary for one of them. Wooden stakes—magically enhanced wooden stakes that is. Anyway, after casting the incantation on the wooden stake—and if you are quick enough—driving the wooden stake through a blood drinker’s heart can incapacitate it.”

  Clint then went to another parchment before saying, “According to this one, over a dozen spells can be cast on a crystal ball and each spell would make the crystal ball perform in a specific way. Anyway, after performing the appropriate spell on the crystal ball and saying the command word or the command phrase that would activate that spell, the crystal ball will incapacitate any blood drinkers within twenty feet of the crystal ball for eight minutes…”

  “Which would give a person enough time to drive a magically enhanced wooden stake through a vampire’s heart,” Winona added.

  Clint grinned before going onto another parchment and saying, “It wasn’t word for word, but you had just said what the next line had read. Anyway, the next incantation will keep a blood drinker from being able to cross a threshold. This incantation is used to keep a blood drinker from entering or leaving a specific area; however, according to this, to make the spell work correctly, you will need to know the vampire’s human name—the name given to him or her at birth.”

  “So everything we see in the movies and TV shows are actually misunderstanding of the facts,” Loretta assumed.

  “What about a vampire seeing its reflection within a mirror?” Winona questioned.

  “If that’s in here, I haven’t gotten to it yet,” Clint said.

  “Is everything in this about vampires?” Winona questioned as she went to get another small stack of unbound parchments.

  “Before that vampire locating spell, I read the incantation on healing minor wounds that a wizard would perform on someone other than him or herself,” Loretta shared as Clint saw a troubled expression on Winona’s face.

  “Winnie, are you okay?” Clint asked.

  “I knew where to find the strongbox from the vision that I had after I was struck by lightning.”

  “You had mentioned that,” Clint told her.

  “In that vision, I was told by Blue Moon that he too was struck by lightning and survived. And then from that point forward he was the most powerful shaman that the Seminole Nation or the Creek Nation has ever seen. Blue Moon then told me that the same thing has happened to me, and that I had to find these parchments in order for me to begin my training. I found the parchments and the only thing I’m seeing here is how to find and kill vampires. Am I supposed to find and kill vampires?”

  “I would love to tell you ‘no’, but truthfully you are the only one who can answer that,” Clint told her.

  Winona gave an acknowledging nod before saying, “Okay, well, I do want to learn what is here, but I’m not promising that I’ll put any of this to use.”

  “I prefer that you didn’t put any of this into use,” Clint retorted. Winona just grinned. “In any case, I recommend that you leave everything here. Your dad wouldn’t want this in the house.”

  “I agree,” Winona replied before turning her attention to the parchments.

  Winona, Clint and Loretta were able to read for thirty more minutes before Dakota and Adam had showed up. Adam came to ride the motorcycle back to Eric’s apartment.

  Winona was the one to answer the door, and when Dakota and Adam stepped in, Winona said, “I thought that Dad was coming.”

  As Clint and Loretta stepped in from the dining room Clint was the one to say, “With how tight of a grudge that your dad has against me, I had my doubts that your dad would come.”

  “Why don’t you two just rent a boxing ring for a day and have at it?” Winona rhetorically questioned.

  “One of them wouldn’t leave the ring alive,” Adam quipped.

  “I’ve been trying to patch up things with your dad since this whole thing began,” Clint insisted.

  “I know you have,” Dakota was the one to say. “I blame that legal office assistant for updating the wrong will, and causing your parents not to have a will.”

  “Since it’s going to cost just as much to restore the house as it will to teardown and build a new one, why don’t you just tear it down and build a duplex?” Winona questioned. “That way you both could live there.”

  “Your great-grandpa had built that house himself,” Clint began. “His sweat and blood are in that house, and tearing it down just wouldn’t feel right.”

  “But feuding over who gets the house and not talking to one another does feel right?” Winona rhetorically questioned. Clint was about to respond when Winona continued with, “No offence, Uncle Clint, but you and Dad are acting like children fighting over the same toy at Christmas time.”

  “Okay, before things get said that shouldn’t be said, let’s go, Winnie,” Dakota interjected.

  “Well, I want to show you what I found first,” Winona told her mom. “Magic within us is real, and I found Blue Moon’s parchments.” Winona gestured towards the dining room. “They’re in there.”

  Dakota just gestured for Winona to lead the way.

  After entering the dining room, Dakota and Adam picked up and looked over the parchments for a few minutes.

  Within a short time of looking over what she had picked up, Dakota told Winona, “I’ll tell you right now that your dad won’t allow this or anything like this in the house.”

  “I’m leaving everything here,” Winona replied.

  “Good,” Dakota said as she put down what she had in her hand. “Anyway, we better get going.”

  “Are you taking me back to the hospital?” Winona asked.

  “Your dad figures that if you’re healthy enough to escape the hospital and drive a motorcycle here then you’re healthy enough to come home,” Dakota began. “Sorry, Winnie, but you’ll have to face your dad tonight.”

  “I know that he’ll think otherwise, but I did the right thing tonight,” Winona began proudly. “So he can yell at me all he wants… I’ll even sit still with my mouth shut and take
all he has for me. It won’t change the way I feel with what I had done tonight.”

  “Okay, well, let’s go home, brave-one,” Dakota told Winona as she gestured towards the front door.

  “Bye,” Winona told Clint and Loretta with a wave.

  “Bye,” Clint and Loretta echoed followed by Dakota and Adam.

  After the ‘goodbyes’ were said, Winona, Dakota and Adam left the house. Once outside, Adam got on the motorcycle as Winona and Dakota went to the car.

  Dakota—with Adam following her on the motorcycle—drove to Eric’s apartment building. Adam parked the motorcycle in the first available spot nearest the apartment building, and once Adam had returned the key to the motorcycle and the flashlight to their rightful owners, Adam joined Dakota and Winona in the car. Dakota then drove home.

  Shayne was watching a baseball game in the living room, and when Winona, Dakota and Adam entered the room, he turned off the TV and stood up.

  Winona had braced herself for the aftermath of her earlier actions, but when she saw a mournful expression across his face rather than an upset one, she couldn’t help asking, “Dad, what’s wrong?”

  “Sit down, Winnie,” Shayne said in a mournful tone as he gestured towards the couch.

  “Shayne, what is it?” Dakota asked as Winona was walking towards the couch.

  Shayne looked dolefully towards Dakota without answering her, and when Winona sat down, Shayne turned towards her.

  “Winnie. Travis and his father went up into some hiking trails…” Shayne was only able to get out.

  “I know,” Winona interrupted. “Travis told me that they were.”

  “The hiking trails that they went up into had been declared unsafe for the last few weeks,” Shayne continued.

  “What are you saying?” Winona demanded to know while abruptly standing.

  “Winnie, sit,” Shayne demanded.

  “I prefer to stand,” she countered.

  “Winnie, sit!” Shayne demanded more forcefully.