Bloodstone Heart (15 page)

"Yeah.
 
That's been there for a few months."

"Then you realize that whatever you put in your pocket can go into the lining of your jacket?"

"Ummm. I guess. My iPod sometimes goes through the hole."

"What I'm getting at is that whatever you picked up that night in the alley could be in the lining of your jacket."

"Oh!
 
I hadn't thought of that."
 
She sat on the bed and handed him the iPod.
 
The next thing she pulled out was his ear buds.
 
She could get her whole hand through the hole since her hands were so tiny and she reached around the base of the jacket lining.
 
She pulled out some change, the phone number of that obnoxious waitress, receipts to the corner store and the drugstore in Dunsmuir, and then Melanie's hand touched something cold and smooth.
 
When she grabbed a hold of it, it filled her entire palm. She slowly pulled it out of the hole and held it front of them.
 

It was a polished stone or amulet. It had a hole in it at the top with a small silver ring for a chain or chord so it could be worn around the neck.
 
It wasn't gorgeous, like a crystal or diamond, but something about it was comforting. It was a beautiful deep green, like marble or granite, with red spots that looked like splatters of blood. It appeared to have been lovingly polished by hand.

"What is it?"

"I don't know! It was in YOUR pocket. Don't YOU know what it is?"

"No."

"Could it be the shiny item that you picked up in the alley?"

"Yeah. I suppose. It's about the right size."

"Hmm."

"Hmm, what?"

"Well, you do realize it's in the shape of a heart. The size of the heart-shaped spot on your back. Do you mind if I show it to Blake and the others?”

"No."

"Okay. Why don't you rest for a while? I'll check on you later." She handed him his iPod again that he had since set on the dresser and kissed his cheek. "I'm so glad you are okay, Josh.
 
I thought I had lost you forever."

He smiled at her as she quietly closed the door.
 
She went into the living room and said, "Look what I found in the lining of Josh's jacket."

Rowan said, "What is it?"

Melanie smiled and said, "I think we have that ray of light now, Blake.
 
From what I can sense from this thing, it is the reason Josh is alive. Notice its shape? A heart. The same size as the heart on Josh's back where he has no burn. I can sense the dark man on it too, very slightly."

"Rowan, can you get your iPhone?
 
Let's take a picture of it and email it to Dominic.
 
It looks old – really old." Blake held it in his hand as he looked at it some more and Rowan went to her purse to get her phone.
 
"Looks like Bloodstone, don't you think Rowan?"

Rowan nodded, "That would be my guess, but Sally would know for sure."

"It has a cool, calming effect to it."

Melanie said, "Yes, I felt that too. Very soothing."

Blake took a picture of the stone and sent it to Dominic. Not two minutes later the phone rang and it was Dominic. "Do you know what that is, Blake?" he said.

"No, that's why we sent you a picture."

"It is the 'Heart of the Crone,' others call it the 'Bloodstone Heart.' It's very, very old. Legend has it that there were two witch sisters. Margarite who had a heart as black as obsidian and Diedre whose heart was as pure as light. Margarite hated her sister and all that made her happy.
 
When Diedre fell in love with a human, Margarite vowed to hunt him down and kill him. To protect her love, Diedre enchanted a bloodstone with her sweat, blood, and tears. As long as he wore the heart-shaped stone, nothing could kill him."

"Well, that explains why Josh didn't die in the explosion."

"Explosion?” Dominic said.

"Yes, the Cauldron, Book and Candle exploded today with Josh inside. We are sure that this vampire I just sent you information on was the culprit.
 
This Dimitri, has been following Darby's friend Melanie and her friend Josh for days now.
 
We think that this is the item Josh found in the Alley and the reason this vampire is after them."

"I am sure you are right, Blake.
 
I got some information on him today. Dimitri Strotsky is the head of the newly formed Black Orchids.
 
I told you that the 'Preservers of All Life' would go in every so often when the Black Orchids would get too powerful and kill them.
 
Somehow, though, there was always someone who survived. It was thought that the Black Orchids had obtained some magical item that ensured this, but it was never proven.
 
It was also suspected but never confirmed that the said item was the Heart of the Crone.
 

"If your friend stumbled upon this item, Dimitri would stop at nothing to get it back.
 
My guess is that the explosion was not necessarily to kill Josh as much as prove that he had the Heart of the Crone.
 
If he walked away from the explosion, he was sure to have it, if not, well then Dimitri could start looking elsewhere because Josh would be dead.”

"So this guy is bad news."

"Very bad news and very smart. The only good thing is he hasn't really assembled many followers yet and I suppose without the 'Heart' he may not be able to, so he is going to want that stone very badly."

"So what can we do to keep Josh safe?"

"I don't know.
 
The 'heart' will keep him safe, but those around him will be in danger. Throwing Dimitri off Josh’s tracks somehow is the only thing I can think of until we can come up with something better."

"Well, we may need your help if things get bad."
 

"I'll do whatever I can to help. Anton could come out if need be. He's feeling much better, but he's awful worried about Darby so I don't know if he will want to leave.
 
You and I have plenty of allies if we need to call in the cavalry, so to speak."

"Thanks, Dominic.
 
If you come up with any more info, let us know, will you?"

"Of course. Take care, Blake."

"So what do we do, Blake?" Rowan asked.

He shook his head. "I don't know, but we'll come up with something."

"I already have," Melanie said matter-of-factly.

"You have? What's that?"

"You said Devon's car is still here, right?"

"Yes. It's in the garage."

"Well, the only way to throw him off of Josh's tracks is to make him think we've taken off again, which would be understandable after the scare of the explosion. Only WE won't have left. I will leave. I'll take Josh's iPhone with me, and a couple of his credit cards, and use them here and there on my way to nowhere. That should give you some time to come up with some kind of plan.
 
Josh will have the heart to keep him safe and the vampire will be off on a wild goose chase with me."

"I don't like that plan," Blake said.

"It's not your decision to make.
 
This is the only way to give you and Josh a little breathing room to come up with a better plan. In the meantime, I'll check my phone for messages from you as to when you have something we can work with.
 
If I don't hear anything for more than two weeks, I will go to the nearest airport, buy four sets of two tickets to random places and one set to Connecticut. I’ll meet up with Darby, Dominic, and Anton in CT. You can give Dominic a heads up that I'm headed that direction and if I get into a tight spot, I'll cut the two weeks short and head to Dominic's right away."

"You have no way to fight a vampire, Melanie.
 
If he catches up with you, he'll use you to get to Josh or worse, kill you."

"He won't catch me!"

"How do you know he won't follow you straight from here?”
 

"I'm guessing he's pretty concerned about you being a vampire on Josh's side.
 
He may or may not know about Dean and Rowan being werewolves.
 
If you go out in the SUV, he's pretty likely to follow you to see what you are up to.
 
He knows Josh won't be out and about today after the explosion.
 
After you leave, I’ll take off in Devon's car. Once I'm several hours away, I’ll turn on Josh's cell phone for a minute or two at some diner or motel. He'll track it and think you diverted him so that Josh and I could leave."

"That's actually a pretty good plan," Rowan said.

"Yes. It is, but Josh is not going to like that we let you do this."
 

"You didn't let me do it, I insisted. He knows I can get my way when I want it."

"But he wouldn't want you out on your own luring the bad guy towards you. I know if it were Rowan, I'd be nuts worrying about that.”

"Well then put a plan together fast so I don't have to be gone that long."

"Nice comeback, but I think you know as well as I do that's easier said than done."
 

"I have faith in all of you. You won't let me down. But we need to move fast, Josh isn't going to sleep for a whole lot longer."

"You want to do it now?"

"Yes. The sooner the better.
 
It was the bookstore today. I'm sure he knows where you live by now. Tomorrow, who knows? But if he doesn't think Josh and I are here, he'll leave you all alone."

"Just let it be known, I'm not happy with this and you should explain yourself to Josh in a note or something," said Blake.

"Right.
 
Good idea."
 

"I have an old pager,” Blake said. “I want you to keep it on you.
 
If you get a 411, it means we have information for you, if it is 911, call here immediately, if you get an 811 call Dominic immediately, but don't answer any other calls.”
 

He pulled a small blue pager out of the desk drawer and put a new battery into it, while Melanie started to write a letter to Josh.
 
She sealed the envelope after inserting the letter and wrote 'Josh' on the front.
 
She then went into the bedroom and grabbed Josh's wallet off the dresser and his iPhone out of the duffle bag.
 
She wanted to kiss him but she knew she'd wake him and she needed to get away to start the plan in motion. With his iPod blaring, he never heard her enter or leave the room. Her eyes welled up as she left the room and closed the door.
 
Dean was on the couch now and Blake handed her the keys to Devon's car.

"A Mercedes? Geez, don't you have anything less conspicuous?"
 

Rowan looked at Blake and Blake looked at Dean and they all laughed heartily.
 

Blake said, "Well, you could take my car but I think you will find the Mercedes to be less conspicuous." Melanie furrowed her eyebrows in puzzlement, but let it go quickly. Blake hugged her and wished her luck. He gave her a piece of paper with the pager codes and their meanings along with Dominic's number and address, Darby's number, and the number for him and Rowan. Melanie took out Josh’s wallet, stashing two credit cards in her pocket and giving the wallet to Blake to give back to Josh.

"Okay, Sally, ready for a ride to San Francisco?" Blake said.

"Sure." She grabbed her purse, kissed Dean, and hugged Melanie goodbye.
 

Blake said, "I'll send a code of 111 on the pager if I think he's taken the bait and is following us."

"Thanks again, guys," Melanie said as Blake and Sally headed out to the SUV.

Rowan handed Melanie the new small duffle bag that Melanie had bought that day at the department store. "I put some clothes in there along with some personal items you might need. You're a brave one. I will give you that.
 
Please be careful and call if you need anything. You're absolutely sure you want to do this?"

"I'm absolutely sure that it's the only thing that will save Josh and that's all I'm concerned about, along with keeping you all out of danger."
 

The pager buzzed 111.
 
“That's me," Melanie said. "I'm good to go. Dean, hope to see you again real soon."

"Me too, Melanie, be safe."

Melanie went out the back door and into the garage where there were two gorgeous cars parked.
 
One was a silver Mercedes, and the other a black Audi.
 
She now knew what Blake had meant when he said the Mercedes would be less conspicuous.
 
The Audi was a very sexy, sleek, and tiny sports car, and bound to turn heads everywhere.
 
She threw her bag in the car, pushed the garage door opener button clipped to the visor, backed out of the garage and onto the street. In minutes she was headed for the freeway to commence her plan.

Chapter 11

Josh woke up around 6:00 P.M.
 
He must have been more tired than he had thought – just as Lanie had suggested. He was a little sore, like you would be the day after a hard workout, but other than the slight sting of what Lanie was calling a sunburn, he felt good. He went to the bathroom and splashed his face with some water and headed for the living room.
 
The television was on and Dean was watching a baseball game while Rowan sat reading a book.
 
They both looked up as he came in the room running his hands through his hair and yawning.