Pulse of Heroes (53 page)

“This is your home?” Michelle asked as they
got out of the car.

“My mother’s… was. I guess you can say it’s
mine now,” Vilna answered sadly, trying not to let those feelings
drown her. She checked the time on her phone and told Michelle that
her favorite band was about to come on so they should head downhill
and afterwards they could come back and she’d show her the
inside.

The walk down to the festival grounds was
fairly short, yet when Michelle looked back up the path, Vilna’s
house was completely hidden by the surrounding trees; how clever.
The only thing visible was the ruins at the very top of the hill.
At the festival, the music was deafening, whereas all she had heard
up at the house were muffled sounds, like a stereo playing in
someone else’s home. Looking at the people around her, there was no
mistaking that she was at a rock concert. She was in a sea of black
t-shirts, tight skirts, leather and jeans, and miles and miles of
tattooed skin. It almost felt like an art show, Michelle thought,
looking at an amazing forest scene tattooed on the back of the
topless guy in front of her. Vilna, as little as she was, was able
to fight her way to the very front of the stage with Michelle
dangling behind her. There, Vilna zoned out to the music and stared
with open mouth at her idol musicians. Michelle couldn’t understand
a word that was being said, although in between songs Vilna
explained to her that they weren’t singing in Hungarian at all.
They were Armenian, and they were good.

Michelle had no idea what to make of the
screams and roars of the next band; they sounded like a bunch of
animals on a hunt and they even wore animal skins. Michelle
commented that they must be sweltering under all that dead stuff,
and was surprised when the lead singer took off a facemask to
reveal that she was actually a woman. Luckily, their set was short.
The next band was a well-known group from England:
The Sons of
Pi-Ramses
. They were even big in the US. Their stage set was
pretty impressive as it was covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics,
and large pyramids were mechanically lowered on cables from the
rigging above. They even had a sphinx with glowing red eyes. When
they launched into their big hit single,
My Septic
Girlfriend
, Michelle recognized it and was swept away by the
music. It was the same song that Samantha had been so eager to
dance to at the Prom. Michelle forced the prom memories out of her
mind and tried to just enjoy hearing the sound of something in
English for a change. A fine guy with tattoos in the shapes of
blades on each side of his neck made his way over to where they
stood and passed her and Vilna a couple of Ursus beers. Vilna
turned around and kissed him on the cheek while Michelle welcomed
his company. Vilna yelled over the music that Togor was a family
friend. Michelle whispered into Vilna’s ear that she thought he was
cute. Vilna obviously agreed, raising her eyebrows in mischief.
“You want me to tell him?” she asked.

“No,” Michelle said, blushing. “I was just
commenting.” During the next set change, Michelle had to use the
bathroom and the girls pushed their way out of the packed crowed.
But not before Togor told them that they shouldn’t miss the next
Russian band because it was his favorite. Vilna explained to
Michelle that there had been a sort of a pan-nationalistic revival
of Slavic lore, and that the band Togor was talking about sang
songs about pre-Christian Slavic myths, although most of them were
either pure fabrications or a complete mish-mash of Christian
beliefs mixed in with earlier pagan ones.

“The Slavs didn’t have a written language,”
she explained, “and the Christians didn’t like the stories about
all the other gods so they only wrote bad things about them.” As
the girls started to work their way back towards the stage, a young
couple followed them, weaving in and out between the clusters of
people. The guy was dressed very similarly to the way Adi had been,
and when he and his girlfriend finally reached Vilna he tapped her
on the shoulder. Vilna turned around in surprise to see her two
friends standing with faces full of sorrow. The girl gave Vilna a
big long hug and said something that obviously puzzled her. Then
the guy put his hand on Vilna’s shoulder and said something else to
her in Hungarian. Vilna became upset, yelling something back at him
to which he shook his head sadly. Michelle had no idea what was
happening as Vilna began shaking with rage. The young man stopped a
random girl who was passing by and asked her a question. The girl
said something to Vilna, and Vilna’s white face became even
whiter.

As the couple disappeared into the sea of
people, Michelle asked what had happened, dreading the answer.
Vilna just shook her head and quietly said something in another
language. Then she looked at Michelle and told her in English that
Adi was dead. “They said he drowned. They find him in the river
yesterday early morning,” Vilna said as if she was asking a
question. “This can not be. I don’t believe it. But the other girl
said she saw it in today’s paper. They said they found his body at
3:30 in the morning. Vilna started walking with Michelle behind
her.

“Are you sure? I mean, are they sure it was
him?” Michelle asked. “They probably made a mistake.”

“I have to find a newspaper… I have to make
sure.” Vilna’s mood digressed. She was becoming more frantic. The
girls climbed the path towards Vilna’s house. Vilna looked at the
house, then back at Michelle. “Do you mind if I go by myself to
drive to the store? I don’t know why, but I have to see this on my
own. I don’t know how I’m going to react if it’s true. Right now I
don’t believe it.” Her voice was dry and shaky. Michelle completely
understood, and told her that she would wait for her right there,
pointing to a small outcropping of rocks midway down the hill.

“I’ll sit there. I can still see the stage,
don’t worry about me… I’m worried about you. Please drive
carefully.” Vilna gave Michelle a small hug and walked up the hill.
A few moments later Michelle saw a red coup speeding up the
mountain, leaving a trail of gray and white dust behind it.

Rion was just about to give up on finding
Michelle when he saw a bright red car heading up the mountain on a
dirt road above the concert area. He had been through the entire
crowd several times, and even had to push some guy to the ground
when he stood in his way. He was already angry as it was, and could
have taken out his frustrations on the poor jerk, but decided to
spare him the embarrassment. And besides, why draw any unnecessary
attention. He only knew one thing; if Michelle was somewhere close
by, then so was Hadeno, and he would not be alone. It was one thing
for one of their kind to go up against humans, but a whole other
thing when they fought against one another. It was never just
one-on-one. Rion hoped that Hadeno was not aware of his friendship
with Elliot; that way it wouldn’t seem suspicious if he ran into
him. His goal was to get Michelle to safety before the fight began.
Haneul and Mikoto had already arrived from Japan with a few choice
weapons, and Elliot, Ando and Devin were hopefully high above the
Atlantic Ocean by this time.

No one knew what it was that Hadeno really
wanted. If he was after the clay tablet and had amassed a large
number of supporters then things could get ugly, not only here in
Europe but back in the States as well. To be safe, Kahl had
remained in California with the tablet, and they had already made
contact with Thonapa who still lived in Peru and their old friend
Jason, letting them know that their help might be needed.

Michelle sat on top of a large rock, sipping
the last drops of her Ursus and trying to remain calm about
whatever news Vilna may bring. When Rion spotted her he was
surprised to see her alone. He scanned the nearby faces and
immediately picked up Togor a few yards to her left, and an
amazingly tall man with a slick muscular body and the darkest skin
that Rion had ever seen, wearing a spectacular collection of bone
earrings decorating every possible space on his lobes. Both of them
were of his kind. But they didn’t know who Rion was; they weren’t
looking for him. It was very clever of Hadeno to bring Michelle to
such a public place; there was always safety in numbers, Rion mused
while subconsciously running his hand up and down the double-edged
short sword that hung safely in its baldric under his left arm. He
could take two of them he thought, maybe three, but not more. And
he couldn’t do it in plain day with twenty-thousand people
watching. He’d have to come up with a plan.

Rion called Haneul and Elliot to let them
know that he had spotted Michelle and that she was unharmed. He
gave them the exact coordinates of where she was, and let them know
that Hadeno had fortified the place quite well. Still, he told them
that he was going to try and talk to her and see if maybe he could
persuade her to just walk with him and then they could slip
away.

Rion contemplated his next move. He had to be
very careful with this situation; what if Michelle turned down his
offer? It’s not like he could grab her kicking and screaming.

When Michelle first saw Rion she didn’t
recognize him at all. At a distance he simply blended in with the
rest of the guys because he wore all black and his normally
striking features mixed in well amongst the foreign faces. As he
walked directly towards the rock, she sensed his urgency before she
placed his face, and immediately stood up on the rock as a way
placing space between them. “What are you doing here?” Michelle
asked the smiling Rion, trying to shake the feeling that she might
be looking at an apparition or something of the sort. The
Transylvania Rockathon was the last place she expected to see
anyone from back home.

“Not even a hello, or how are you?” Rion
couldn’t help himself, “and besides, you’re in my neighborhood. I
should be asking you the same question.”

Michelle looked down at her empty bottle,
trying to figure out if she felt dizzy from the beer or could it be
that she just stood up too fast. She gave Rion half a smile and
told him that she was just enjoying the music. “I’m here with a
friend. This is my vacation,” she told him.

Rion sensed eyes watching them so he did his
best to appear relaxed. He told her that he was there for the music
too, and asked her if she enjoyed the bands. Rion stretched his
hand out for Michelle to grab.

“Here, I’ll help you climb down.” Hadeno’s
guys began moving a bit closer when they saw him approach her.
Michelle didn’t really want to join Rion. Her anger and
disappointment in Elliot had somehow transferred to his friends as
well. They were all there that night, and they supported his
decision. They were guilty as he was.

“So I guess Elliot is not in danger any more?
I mean, you’re here, so I guess it must be summer vacation for
everyone?” Michelle said, slightly bitter. She felt dizzy again and
looked up at the hot sun above her head.

“Are you feeling all right?” Rion asked her,
inching a little closer.

“Yeah, it’s just hot and I drank that beer. I
just need some water.”

“Let’s go get some,” Rion said, pulling some
money out of his pocket.

“I can’t. I’m waiting for my friend and I
told her I’ll stay here till she gets back,” Michelle explained to
him. “And besides, I can get my own water, but thanks anyway.”
Michelle was failing to pick up on the subtleties in Rion’s
behavior, so to get her attention he brought up Elliot and watched
Michelle’s face reflect an array of sentiments. He told her that
Elliot missed her and he knew so for a fact. Michelle couldn’t
believe that Rion was telling her that crap after he had helped
convince Elliot to do what he did. Did he forget how Elliot had
hurt her and just left her there in her party dress like some
discarded rag doll? Rion sensed the wrath of negativity brewing
inside Michelle. She wasn’t taking the bait. She was very hurt and
angry, and he couldn’t really blame her.

“Why don’t you tell Elliot not to send his
friends to spy on me. He said he didn’t want me hurt, then fine.
I’m not hurt anymore. I just want to be left alone.”

“Is everything ok, Michelle?” Both Rion and
Michelle looked up to see Haden descending down the hill. He smiled
at Michelle warmly and she felt her legs grow weak underneath her.
She hadn’t even thought about Haden being there.

Haden didn’t wear his hair in a tight braid
like he did the night she met him. Instead, it was loose around his
shoulders and it was beautiful; rich, dark brown and thick like
that of a horse’s mane. He wore leather pants, that actually looked
good on him, and a tight white t-shirt that showed off every single
curvature of his muscular torso. Just like Rion had done, Haden
reached his arms up to Michelle to help her down off the rock. “I
told you that if you were by yourself you were going to get
hooligans bothering you.” Haden said, flashing a beautiful smile.
Michelle made a split-second decision that it was probably good for
Elliot to know that she had found someone new to fancy, and jumped
into Haden’s arms. Only she didn’t let go, but instead wrapped her
legs and arms around him and brought her lips to his. “You’re being
a very bad girl,” he whispered to her as he closed his eyes and
breathed in her scent, “and I certainly don’t enjoy being used by
little girls,” he said, opening his eyes back up and looking at
hers with an accusatory glare. Michelle flinched a bit, then Haden
smiled and kissed her hard and deep, and didn’t let go of her until
she was almost out of breath. “I’ll make an exception though,” he
said, kissing her again, only this time it was softer and warmer
and she felt tingles all over her body.

“Let her go,” Rion called out as Haden set
Michelle back on the ground. She felt very dizzy and curled her
fingers around his, leaning against his arm.