Blood Shadow: Book of Ariel

Thad and Gary took the opportunity to bask in the quiet of the ocean and lay out their future.

  “What are we going to do when we get back with the girls?” Thad asked.

  “You mean, are we going to get our own place?” Gary asked.

  “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

  “I can’t live in one of those senior communities. I already know that I’m over 55… in fact, I’m more like 155!” Gary stated.

  Thad laughed, “Would you ever think of moving out of Beach Haven?” Thad asked.

  Gary chewed on the question and had only one answer, “There was a time when I would consider doing just that, but I think we both know that our family has grown and now it’s all about family.”

  Thad nodded in accord, “Agreed.”

 

  The hockey game was almost as physical as a regular game of ice hockey as the boys lined up two deep on both sides in this double-elimination, round-robin tournament. Picking the teams might have been a real chore on most other days but on this day, everything seemed to fall into place when the guys walked into the area with the big-domed hockey game.

  “Wow! That thing is huge!” Max said to his new buddy and retro game enthusiast Aaron.

  Aaron smiled and joked, “It’s the biggest dome this side of Siberia.”

  “I’m playing with Aaron!” Max called out to the other guys to secure their spot, almost akin to calling “Shot-gun!” when you want to sit in the passenger seat of a car.

  Cal looked at Hartwell and they shook hands even before Daniel yelled, “It’s me and Drew!”

  The game was first to 11 goals in the preliminary round and then a 15-goal game in the finals. Aaron and Max were the favorites going into the tournament for good reason, as they easily dispatched of Daniel and Drew 11-7 in the first game. The cousins were so confused by the movable slides and the goalie that they beat each other up trying to jockey for position during the game.

  “I thought you knew how to play this game!” Drew yelled at Daniel.

  “The video game not this invention of evil!” Daniel replied in an exasperated tone.

  Aaron and Max stayed on to play again, and their determined rivals were none other than Cal and Hartwell, who had been planning strategy as they watched the previous game.

  “You ever play this game before?” Cal asked Hartwell.

  “Yes. Remember that summer we spent in Canada in the 1980s?”

  Cal flashed back to bar fights and the same domed game in the corner of the bar, only it was Canada vs. USSR.

  “Oh yeah, I played that a few times when I was drunk!” he said.

  “But can you play it sober?” Hartwell asked.

  “Well, we had a few beers at the bowling alley, so technically I am still a little buzzed.”

  Hartwell smirked, “Technically.”

  Aaron was more of a control-type player, so he manned the goalie and defense while Max was the wild man who wreaked havoc on offense, putting all kinds of pressure on their opponents. On the other side of the dome was Hartwell on defense and his hunter teammate on offense, which made perfect sense in the vampirical world but it remained to be seen if that would work in Cold War hockey.

  Max was a scoring machine and Aaron was a brick wall as their team moved out to a commanding 7-0 lead. Hartwell and Cal were never about blame and always looked for solutions to problems, so they looked at each other and said, “Switch.”

  Hartwell was now on offense and Cal was manning the back line, as the switch paid immediate dividends and their team closed the gap in the next five minutes to 7-5. Aaron then stopped Hartwell on a breakaway in synthetic center ice and the puck spun up-ice to a streaking Maxwell, who made no mistake and deposited the puck in the back of the net behind Cal’s goalie. The team’s traded goals after that and the final score was 11-8 in favor of Aaron and Max, who would be watching the next do-or-die matchup from the sidelines. The winner of the match would face the undefeated pairing of Max and Aaron, while the losers would have to wait until the next surprise attack of an ex-vampire’s daughter to get another shot at the title.

  The matchup of Drew and Daniel against Cal and Hartwell was definitely a pairing bent on family pride. The younger generation with all of their love of video games against an older generation that was used to doing everything physical instead of sitting in one place. The switch of Hartwell to offense and Cal to defense in the previous game continued to pay immediate dividends in this game. They moved out to leads of 4-2 and then 7-5, before stretching the lead and then winning 11-8.

  “We suck!” Daniel yelled.

  “Speak for yourself!” Andrew shot back.

  “Okay then, you suck!” Daniel said while laughing.

  Drew had given up 11 goals and couldn’t argue with such logic, “No question.”

  Hartwell and Cal were hot and continued that trend in the final game, taking an 11-8 lead against the undefeated duo of Max and Aaron.

  Aaron turned to Max and said, “Centipede,” and somehow Max knew exactly what he was talking about, although everyone else was clueless to the strategic deployment.

  Max thought of the Centipede game and how he was so adept at slithering in and out situations and continuing to score. He started passing the puck between his forwards making it difficult for Cal to set up his goalie and follow the action. The neophyte, who was much older and wiser in gamer years, scored goal after goal as Hartwell and Cal were defenseless to stop him. The 11-8 lead quickly disappeared and the champions scored seven unanswered goals to take the title and prove that, at least for a few days, they were gaming champions of the vampirical world.

  THIRTY-ONE

  After a long, hard day of work and play it was time for everyone to come together in the main room of the house and have dinner. Nicole and Carla had been churning out food for people in need, and now were joined by Kayla, Maggie, Belinda and Emily, who had completed their philanthropic duties for the day and were happy to lend a helping hand to prepare dinner.

  Somehow the six women preparing dinner also had enough time and energy to complete their initial tasks for the day, despite being dedicated to helping others for most of that time. Kayla and Maggie managed to raise funds for the group’s new non-profit organization, The Haven; Belinda and Emily both stitched together covers for the Mustang and Camaro, complete with logos, while Nicole and Carla kept making their apple and pumpkin pies as the other women focused on the balance of the dinner menu.

  The group of six guys coming from the arcade walked through the garage door and into the house, scattering for a brief moment to wash up before reassembling in the main room. And the last of the groups, the four people on a treasure hunt, were still on the course as Sharon and Agent Blake waited by the shore watching the last minutes of the sun reflect from the West on the Eastern shore.

  “Did you hear that the ladies are starting a non-profit to help people?” Blake asked.

  “Yes, and I think we should give them whatever money we earned today from our dive,” she replied.

  “Blake smiled, “Good deal.”

  “But, I’m going to beat you,” Sharon said with a confident smile on her face.

  Her former husband Blake returned the smile in kind, “In your dreams, Shar. In your dreams.”

  The calm of the sun setting was fractured momentarily by the piercing sound of two motorcycles coming closer at top speed. Thaddeus and Garrison had collected the money for the pawn shop in town and were now neck and neck about a quarter-mile away from the house and closing fast on an unimpeded path. Thad’s Triumph was obviously the faster bike, but Gary had paid attention to the details again and had structured his Harley for superior maneuverability. They turned the corner on the way to the last section of the route to the house and must have been so locked in that they were not acknowledging the obvious barriers in their way.

  Sharon and Blake stood up when they heard the bike engines, but became
concerned when the two guys weren’t slowing down.

  “This doesn’t look good,” Blake stated.

  “Thaddeus is not going to be able to stop because he built his bike for speed, not breaking.”

  Sharon’s words proved prophetic as Garrison was able to avoid the opening of the huge barn-like garage and steer his bike toward the divers before braking. Thaddeus wasn’t as fortunate, as he continued to accelerate with his 50 additional dollars while entering the garage. A huge crash and thud was heard and the house shook momentarily as if impacted by the aftershock of an earthquake.

  “What was that?” Hartwell yelled, as everyone in the main room filtered through the front door and outside the see what all the commotion was about.

  Gary jumped off his bike and ran into the garage as Blake stepped up to grab a hold of the Harley and put the kickstand down.

  “What’s happening?” Maggie yelled to Blake and Sharon.

  “Thaddeus crashed his motorcycle in the garage,” Sharon yelled back as she and Blake walked over and melted into the collective.

  “I sure hope that he noticed the folded up bouncy hut I stored in the garage?” Nicole said.

  “When did you get that?” Carla asked.

  “There were so many babies being born that I thought it would come in handy for birthday parties. But these kids are growing so fast that they will probably outgrow it between the serving of the pizza and the cake.”

  It was difficult to miss the huge folded up bouncy hut, which was in Thad’s