BlueK Dynasty: The 1st Seven Days (25 page)

He needed to lay low, get
the boys off his trail for a bit. He wouldn’t need days but hours
to think of a way south and out of the city. He was thinking he
would have to go east to get around the barricades and the mayhem.
Leon could take the bullet train that ran along the coast down to
the border and cross over. By tomorrow afternoon he would be far
from questions, the police, and Santino.
  

But where could he hide
until the train departed without being noticed? The gym was out of
the question—he could never go back there. He couldn’t go back to
his brother’s house in south Alexandria either even though it was
empty; the police had the place barricaded. Downtown Alexandria was
too crowded and hectic around this time, and Leon would have a hard
time trying to blend in with people who were dressed to party in
the club scene. West Alexandria was residential, and he was sure
the police and the news had tipped the section off to the night’s
incidents in the other part of the city.
  

Leon had only one place he
could hide out until the next day. He didn’t know where he would go
when he got there. But as long as it was far enough away to keep
Santino off his trail, that was all he needed.
  

28.

The Rosales
Siblings
  

Kurma shoved the bouncer
to the side. He was manhandling her brother, Inis, who was five
inches taller than the bouncer was. Kurma was saving the guy’s
life, really. Inis wasn’t like the calm before the storm. He was
hot-headed and rash; he was the eye of the
storm!
  

The security guard looked
at Kurma like she was crazy. She stared him down and knocked the
VIP rope over onto his foot. “Do something!” she
barked.
  

Inis pulled Kurma away and
hugged her tight. So she had run away to hang out with a group of
scantily dressed girls. It was time to take her home; their mother
was going crazy, and he and his brother needed Kurma back. Nobody
knew how to handle their mother like Kurma.
  

“
Do you
know what I’ve been going through?” he
asked.
  

Kurma pulled her little
brother into a corner with dim lighting. She needed him to
understand her reasoning behind everything. She had only one chance
to get him the message, because she wasn’t leaving with him. “I’m
sorry I left and didn’t tell anybody.”
  

“
We need
to call mom right away! She’s going to be so happy I’ve found
you!”
  

“
No!”
Kurma said loudly. She shook her younger brother, who loomed over
her. “You can’t tell anyone you’ve seen me tonight. Do you
understand?”
  

Inis wanted to shake some
sense back into his older sister. “I’m not leaving here without
you. Do you even care that we’ve been putting up flyers and looking
for you all over the city? Mom’s reported you missing, and this
whole time you’ve been running around with some random girls!” Inis
yelled in Kurma’s face. “Have you forgotten about your family? Were
we so bad you had to run away and get some fake
replacements?”
  

Inis didn’t have to ask
any more questions he already knew the answers to. This was all
Santino’s fault; he had created a monster who wanted to be so
perfect and popular, just like Santino was. Kurma shouldn’t have
been hanging out in a club dressed like this. Neither should he,
though—they were both underage. At least he had an excuse. He was
looking for his brother, who had started selling pills to a group
of college boys earlier in the semester. Inis and Allie had kept it
a secret from Kurma, who would have flipped. But none of that
mattered now, since Allie had gone MIA like Kurma
had.
  

They must be going through
some teenage phase
, thought Inis. He
needed them both back home and in one piece.
  

“
Look,
Inis, I love you, I really do. But there’s something seriously
wrong with me, and I can’t be around anyone right now,” Kurma
explained.
  

“
Really?” Inis yelled. “You look fine to me, sis. Stop all of
these lies. Where’s Santino? Is he putting you up to
this?”
  

“
Santino? Of course not. Listen to me, Inis. I’m a Raptor, and
I will never be the same sister you used to have. Do you
understand? I might touch you or Mom or Allie, and I can’t have
that on my conscience right now.” Kurma began to get choked up.
 
  

Inis wasn’t giving her his
full attention because he was looking at his brother. “Allie!” he
screamed over Kurma’s head. He tried to wave his brother over, but
was caught off guard by the crowd. Something didn’t seem right.
People weren’t dancing anymore. They were running here and there,
knocking over chairs and falling on the ground, getting trampled as
other patrons attempted to flee.
  

“
Brother, are you even listening to what I’m trying to tell
you?” Kurma asked. She looked into his face and noticed his panic.
She tried to think of something that would get him
to
 
understand her new Raptor state. “Tell Mom I love her, and
tell Allie I miss him so much and I’ll be home soon, just not
now.”
  

Kurma went to hug her
brother but was knocked aside. Inis ran back out into the thick of
the crowd. Kurma turned, bewildered, and saw he was running to help
out Allie. Kurma hadn’t seen her brother in a week almost; he
looked so tall and handsome. What the hell were these two doing in
the club anyway?
  

She began to go after her
brothers, but stopped dead in her tracks. Standing behind Allie was
a bear of a man with huge teeth. He had chalk-white skin and dark
veins all over his face.
  

Kurma’s heart stopped, and
she had no pulse to speak of. Everything seemed to be going in slow
motion. Her feet didn’t move fast enough, her hands couldn’t reach
her brothers quickly enough, and Inis didn’t reach Allie soon
enough. The man bit down on Allie’s shoulder and tore into the
skin.
  

Inis rushed to his
brother’s aid and tried to pull him from the attacker, but someone
came from behind and put Inis in a headlock. He fought the guy off
and saw it was the bouncer from earlier. He head-butted the guy and
split his face down the middle. Inis turned to see Allie being
dragged off by another guy who looked just like
Santino.
  

Turmoil was everywhere as
Inis tried to get through the crowd to his brother. He prayed that
Kurma stayed tucked away from the drama. He didn’t need her getting
involved in this. How would he tell his mother he had found her and
then lost her again?
  

29.

Raptored
  

Santino had done this.
These creatures were just like him: deadly fiends from hell with an
appetite for humans. Kurma had seen Santino with some other guys
dragging her brother off. Allie was hurt, Kurma had seen that too.
He had yelled out in pain as
 
that thing
 
had bitten into him. She’d
wanted to cry; she’d wanted to protect her brother but hadn’t.
She’d wanted Allie and Inis away from her so she wouldn’t turn them
into what she was, but all she had done was let something far worse
get a hold of Allie. She’d done everything
wrong.
  

Kurma’s body floated with
the crowd as people ran out of the club and onto the streets. She
was dazed. People were being attacked; everyone was screaming; the
streets were alive. She needed to find Inis. She had to warn him
about Santino, tell Inis what he had become, but she had lost him
in the crowd. Kurma had lost everyone; her mind was all over the
place. She never should have come out, never left her family’s
side. Tears finally broke through, and Kurma fell on the curb,
blinded by her grief. How could Santino do this to her? First he
tried to kill her, now he was going after her little brother. Kurma
wiped her eyes. If he was going to go after her family, he would
have to go through her.
  

Kurma got her balance and
stood up, sniffed, and wiped the tears from her face. She had to
find Santino and put an end to this. She wanted her brother back in
one piece. She would do whatever she had to.
  

“
Kurma!”
Rimselda screamed. She ran out of the crowd’s current and pulled
Kurma to her. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. It’s time to
go. Something’s happened.”
  

Kurma shook Rimselda’s arm
off of her. “I have to do something first,” she said with a dull
voice. “I have to get my brother back.”
  

“
Chelsea
said she saw a swarm of guys attacking people outside the club. We
have to go now!” Rimselda pleaded. “We can find your brother later,
alright?”
  

“
No,”
Kurma yelled. She walked off without Rimselda. All she had to do
was follow the noise and that would take her where she needed to
be. Follow the stench that was Santino. Kurma remembered the smell
of his blood when she had stabbed him in the bathroom. She didn’t
care about the screams, the people crying, the police who attempted
to stop the turmoil, the car accidents, the assaults, none of it.
She walked on with a mission, a duty; she had to see this through.
She couldn’t be with her family at the moment, but that didn’t mean
that she wouldn’t try to protect them. Allie wasn’t dead, but he
was hurt somewhere out there with Santino, and she would find the
both of them if it was the last thing she
did.
  

Rimselda watched Kurma
walk away by herself. She didn’t want her to go out into the night
like that. She nervously stomped her feet.
  

“
You
guys!” she yelled out to the girls, who were hiding behind a flower
cart. They all inched around the front to hear
Rimselda.
  

She stood in the street,
unaware of the mayhem around her. “We can’t just let her leave by
herself.”
  

“
We
don’t even know what’s going on with her,” Jackie said. “I say we
get out of this mess before we become somebody’s
dinner.”
  

A Phantom ran by and took
a swipe at Chelsea’s head. She ducked away just in time. The
Phantom kept on running.
  

“
Did you
see that?” squealed Chelsea. “Almost took my head clean
off.”
  

“
We saw
it, Chelsea.” O’bellaDonna chuckled.
  

Rimselda wasn’t leaving
Kurma and that was final. She started running after her friend and
yelled back, “I’m going with or without you
guys.”
  

O’bellaDonna ran after
her. “Raptors rule!” she screamed.
  

Jackie felt her arms itch.
She wasn’t scared at all; she liked the adrenaline, kind of like
stealing a car. “Babes, you coming?” she asked Chelsea, then ran
from the cart and jumped over a couple being mauled by a
Phantom.
  

Chelsea didn’t have a
choice. Everybody was gone, and she wasn’t trying to stay behind
like last time. She bounced around for a bit to psych herself out,
and then ran off after her friends screaming, “Here I
come!”
  

30.

Phantom versus
Raptor
  

Kurma now had a band of
girls who were coming to help. She didn’t have to do everything
alone. She would have smiled at the thought. However, she was face
to face with Phantoms that had her brother face down on the
ground.
  

The old wharf in the east
of Alexandria was known for its many piers where ships docked and
unloaded their goods. During the day it was a sight to behold with
its clear waters, sea animals, and bountiful fleet of ships jazzing
the old wooden place up. At night though, as Kurma walked the deck,
she saw only morbid black shadows, and smelled only the sickening
scents of seaweed and blood. There were six Phantoms and only one
of her. Kurma’s brother lay at the feet of Santino, who stood in
the middle of his gang.
  

“
I knew
you would come for him,” Santino said.
  

“
Shut
your face!” Kurma yelled.
  

The Phantoms didn’t like
that. They all growled at her and showed their hideous teeth. Kurma
hissed back, defiant even though she was out
numbered.
  

“
You
don’t understand. I never wanted any of this to happen,” Santino
said.
  

Kurma didn’t want to hear
any lies. She just wanted to get her brother back to her mom and
away from things like her and Santino. He didn’t belong in this
kind of world, where creatures ate one another and where rules
didn’t apply. Allie needed to be where order was, where safety
meant something.