Obsidian (Mystic Stones Series #1) (17 page)

I was about to tell him I needed time to think everything over when he changed the subject.

“I wonder, why did the council decide to give you three days? Why not just change you?”

“Tom declared me a prospect. He didn’t want to force me.”

“Oh, trust me. It must have been sanctioned by the council, but I still don’t understand. You do realize he’s wanted to change you since the two of you met, right? Possibly even before you met.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they only let vampires work for Psytech, if he wanted you to work for him before all of this, then he wanted to change you back then.”

My thoughts started going back to the first day I met Tom. Tom had responded to an ad I put out and set up a meeting to look at the office spaces and warehouses. After Tom finished signing the papers, he asked me to come and work for him for the first time. I declined, of course, passing it off as a come-on. Throughout the three years I worked with Tom he never relented. Now I questioned his motives.

“I . . . I think you are right. What if he was motivated to change me before we even met face to face?”

“I’m 99 percent sure he was, but the question is why?”

We sat in silence for a while. I thought back, trying to recall everything Tom had ever said to me. I could find no hint of why he wanted to change me so badly. He could have easily done it the other night in the boat, but he didn’t. I wondered, why it had to be on my terms and why me?

“I suppose we will figure it out, soon enough. Motives always come out eventually,” Jesse said. “Perhaps we should talk about something else. Stress builds if you don’t forget about your problems every once in a while.”

“That’s true. So, how did you come into owning this beautiful house?” I asked, trying to stay with the spirit of keeping subjects light.

“Well, I inherited a lot of money from a rich uncle who died some time ago. It happens to be more than I can spend in a lifetime, so I try been trying to keep busy with hobbies and such. Traveling is also one of my passions,” he replied.

“That must be wonderful; seeing the world.”

“Yes, but seeing the world doesn’t always lead to finding what you’re looking for.”

“And what is it you’re looking for?” I asked.

“What I’m looking for can’t be found. Unfortunately for me, I will be wandering the earth until the end of my days,” Jesse replied.

“Haven’t you found something to give you a reason to call this your home? What about all these romantically styled furnishings? There must be a reason your home is so beautifully decorated,” I said as I motioned at the room around us. There was a lot of red and a lot of dark wood. Furnishings you would imagine as the background of a romance story.

“You mean love? No. I am not destined for love,” Jesse chuckled.

“Everyone is destined to be loved at one point or another. It’s whether or not you can return the favor that determines how you spend the rest of your life,” I countered, “You can either end up alone or with your soul mate.”

“I don’t know if I believe in true love. Love is for two people. Unfortunately, most of the time, only one person is truly in love with the other.”

“I’d rather try to find love than die alone,” I said.

“And how many times have you been in love?” he asked with clear disgust and sarcasm at the last two words.

I dodged the question, not wanting to reveal my feelings for Tom to a complete stranger. “Have you ever fallen in love?”

“No. Most of the women I meet want my money, not my love.”

“That’s unfortunate. It’s too bad you’ve had so much time to travel the world but have yet to meet a woman that meets your standards. I imagine you must have high standards considering you won’t even give it a chance,” I said as Jesse’s expression turn to anguish.

“I prefer not to casually date. Especially the dull-witted women of this town,” Jesse gestured out the window.

I smiled, “You should move. This is possibly the worst city to live in if you want to find a meaningful relationship.”

Jesse smiled and sent me an intense gaze, “You are both stubborn and clever.”

“And you’re both mysterious and pessimistic,” I responded.

Jesse smiled again. I was surprised a man I deemed egotistical would take part in such a strange conversation. We barely knew each other yet felt comfortable enough to talk about love.

He was witty and quick to respond to my prying questions without actually answering them. This frustrated me, but also made me want to learn more. The two of us sat in silence for a few minutes, measuring the other for reactions. The mystery about his past stirred my thoughts. I wondered if he’d had his heart broken.

Hiu and the rest of the roommates coming back from weapon hunting interrupted the silence. They had obsidian, and a lot of it. Perry stayed away from it for the most part. He said he’d take one blade just in case one of his own kind turned on him but he wouldn’t carry anything else. I could tell that just being around the obsidian made him wary.

“Hey, where dem girls?” Hiu asked.

“They’re out trying to get guns for protection against drudges. I doubt they’ll find any. The virus has made everyone want to keep and buy all the guns they can,” Jesse answered. “The whole world is starting to go into panic mode. I’d be willing to bet people are trying to link the virus to the end of the world, using the fact that it was implanted on 2/2/2020 as some sort of code.”

“Nalani went too?” I asked.

“I asked her to go along for the ride so that I could have a conversation with you and she graciously obliged,” Jesse answered.

It was helpful to talk about everything going on, but I wasn’t sure the way he’d manipulated the situation was a good sign. I was surprised at how much I had opened up to a stranger. The end of our conversation veered in a strange direction, but my first impressions of him from the night before were obviously inaccurate. Something about him hinted at deeply hidden secret. Something I wanted to uncover. It was possible Jesse wasn’t the conceited man I had thought he was the night before. The thought reminded me that I had to go try to find the statue again to ease my troubled mind.

“Well, I’m going to get some fresh air,” I said as I excused myself.

Jesse nodded at me with his eyes locked on mine. I turned, and Hiu gave me a strange expression I couldn’t quite read. Everyone else just waved.

I went out the back door and started to explore the courtyard again. The maze of tall bushes made finding my way back to the place I saw the statue a little difficult. I remembered it faced west, and that it was west of the gazebo. I started making my way over there.

The courtyard was even more beautiful during the day. I noticed there weren’t any other statues. Most courtyards had statues of lions or dogs or some kind of animal, but I didn’t even see so much as a concrete squirrel. Soon I started to think I had hallucinated the statue because I couldn’t find it anywhere.

After about thirty minutes, I gave up on my search. I drew the conclusion that Jesse must have seen it, decided to give it a chance in the courtyard and then eventually sent it back. I was under a lot of stress, but hallucinating statues that looked like Jesse seemed impossible.

I pushed it out of my mind. My thoughts needed to be controlled. They grew wild and I needed to cage them like the little beasts they were. Stress swelled up like a balloon in my head.

I started walking back into the house. Now all I could think about was the stress and how much I wanted a little wine. My mind cautioned me about my nervous drinking. I didn’t want the new roommates to think I was a drunk. After giving it more thought, I decided I should indulge a little and try to relax. After all, the stress of the last week weighed on me. It was making me worry about silly things that were irrelevant to the issues at hand.

I went to the kitchen to find a bottle of wine and came up with one-year old cheap, but good, brand. As I poured myself a glass, Alani came into the kitchen.

“Hey! Pour me some too?” she asked.

“Okay, let me get a glass.”

I got out another glass and poured Alani some wine. We both sat at the bar-height counter top. I hadn’t talked to Alani much since the shooting incident.

“How are you doing?” I asked her.

“I’m good. The hunt went well. We got some guns and ammo. But, I’m stressed like everyone else,” she answered.

“Yeah, me too. With everything that has happened it’s a wonder I’m not going insane.”

Alani looked at me with a little envy in her eyes, “You are so strong, Ava. I’ve been thinking about that guy; the drudge. I don’t know if I would have been able to do what you did. I think I might freeze in a situation like that and get someone hurt, and I’ve really been worrying about it.”

I sighed, “Alani, that’s normal. Most people don’t react like that. It’s hard for one human being to kill another human being. Even an evil human being.”

“But Hiu did it too. He killed the vampire when you guys went to the warehouse,” Alani countered.

“Yes, but that was a vampire. Plus he’s a guy. Guys go to war and stuff. It’s in their nature to have the ability to kill another human. I’m not saying Hiu is a monster, I’m just saying it comes easier to men.”

“Maybe you are right, but how did you get up the courage?” Alani asked.

“I just did. Our lives were in danger. It was either us or him, and that motivated me enough to pull the trigger.”

“I get it. I just don’t know if I could do the same. I’m still not sure I can protect my friends; my ohana.”

“Well, if the time comes, I think you’ll do fine. Just follow your heart,” I said.

Alani gave a nervous smile. I could see she wasn’t quite convinced but knew she would be okay. I changed the subject and the two of us talked for a while. We tried to stay off the darker subjects running through both our minds.

“So, how about that Jesse Sutton?” Alani said with a silly grin. She was always a little boy crazy. Ever since I met her, Alani had loved chatting about hot guys. Jesse was apparently her new eye candy. I could see why. With his boyish good looks and eyes that could stop a woman in her tracks, who wouldn’t target him for girl talk?

“He’s good looking, but a little eccentric, I think,” I said, remembering my conversation about love with him.

“Yeah, I think you might be right. He’s really quiet and he keeps to himself,” Alani mused. After that, the conversation changed to the subject of the weather and more mundane subjects.

Eventually, we drank most of the bottle of wine. We were both feeling buzzed but not drunk, which was good because Latoria made arrangements for all of the house-mates to meet for dinner and discuss everything. Alani and I ate sandwiches together before I slipped away to my room. I rested on the bed until dinner time came around then checked myself in the mirror before joining the rest of my house-mates in the dining room.

Jesse sat at the head of the table, Latoria sat at his left and I was at his right. Next to me sat Alani, then Nalani, Hiu, and Moana. Next to Latoria sat Perry, then Kassidy and Edison. The ten of us were quiet at first. Kassidy had set the table. She’d prepared a spaghetti dish. The memory of Tom making me spaghetti bombarded my mind as Kassidy served. I tried to put it behind me so I could concentrate on the conversation.

Jesse started. He seemed to take the lead easily. His confidence made him a good leader. His demeanor contrasted heavily from the night before.

“So, where do we sit as far as obtaining obsidian?” he asked. I assumed the question was meant to get everyone on the same page since he had greeted them after the weapon hunt.

Hiu answered, “We got plenty. We bought four daggers, two spears, and about eight pounds of raw obsidian that I’ll be making into daggers and throwing spikes. Add that to the three daggers we had before and we coasting.”

“That’s great. What about guns?” Jesse asked as he turned his gaze to Moana.

“We weren’t able to get as many as I would have liked, but we did get a shot gun, two rifles and two pistols. Plus we have my pistol. So, there are six guns total. I made sure all the pistols use the same bullets and the two rifles use the same bullets. We’ve got about 600 rounds of ammo, roughly 100 rounds for each gun. I’m hoping to find more tomorrow or the next day, but ammo is even harder to find than guns right now,” she answered.

“I see. Who knows how to handle a gun besides Moana, Ava, Hiu and myself?” Jesse asked, his gaze lingered on me. I turned my gaze to the strangers across the table.

“I do,” Latoria said.

“So do I,” said Edison.

“I would like to learn,” Alani said out of the blue. I had no idea Alani wanted anything to do with guns. Our conversation earlier must have made her interest in protection grow.

“Alright, I can teach you,” Jesse said. “When I feel you’re confident with yourself, you’ll have my gun. Moana you keep yours. Hiu, which one do you want?”

“I’ll take the shot gun.”

“Ava?” Jesse turned to me and stared into my eyes again.

I felt a rush of warmth on my face, “Uh, one of the pistols would be fine.”