An Echo of Royalty

9

    “What? How would you know that?” Nick stood up. I had almost forgotten that he and Rico were friends. 

     They waited for my reply. 

    “I was out pickin’ flowers for Trina, and I noticed blood on the ground on my way back into camp.” I spoke slow, staring into space, not seeing anything. “The blood trail went up a tree, and there was Rico, hangin’ from some branches.”

     Joe leaned my way and dropped his arms. He stared at the ground. 

    Everyone stood still, as the picture I described showed on their faces with open mouths, staring in disgust.

    “Go show me where he is. It can’t be Rico, he’s been gone for a year.” Nick said, as he took a step to me.

“That’s why I had to tell you guys.” I looked directly at Nick’s harsh eyes. “It’s Rico, and it was a fresh vampire kill; right outside of camp.”

    Nick’s eyes hardened, but I ignored it.

“Can ya show us where yuh found him? In the mornin’ I mean.” James said. 

    I looked at him, thinking about it. “I think I can. I know where I started from to go look for the flowers. I’m pretty sure it’s a straight enough path that I can show you.”

    “No, I want to see this now.” Nick took another step to me. “Let’s go.”

    Joe’s arm went around my side defensively, looking at Nick. “She can show you in the morning, for right now we need to talk about this.”

    “What’s there to talk about? Rico is supposedly hanging out there in a tree. If it’s him, we need to go get him down.” His clenched hands shook at his sides. 

    “He will still be there in the morning.” Joe spoke in an authoritative voice; deep, smooth and penetrating. He could be intimidating when he wanted to be. Nick stepped back, folded his arms and looked at the opening to the tent. 

    “Are you sure that he’ll still be there? What if he’s gone? An animal or bird could knock him down somehow. Then we’d have a mess to try to find and make sure it’s Rico.” Carter looked at me, hand out in front of him. “Not saying I don’t believe it’s really Rico,” then looked back at Joe, “but it’d be better to find out while the scene is still fresh don’t ya think?” He asked. 

    “That’s true. We can get him when were done discussing this. Is that alright with everyone?” He looked at Nick who nodded his head and seemed a little happier, before he glanced at the others.

     I looked down at my feet. It’s dark outside and I don’t really want to go back out there this late. Not with a dead body. Suddenly the dark frightened me. I felt my heart thud faster thinking about that. I held myself, Joes arm tightened around me. 

    Trina spoke, “what do we do about this? Besides going out and getting the body, what do we do afterwards? Everyone will know that he’s dead and they will panic. We need to contain the situation.” 

I looked at her. “That’s why I wanted to tell you guys first. It was a vamp kill. He still looked alive except for the blood. Besides that, I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

    “What do you mean?” Joe asked, looking down at me.

    “Think about it. It’s Rico. He’s just outside camp, and he’s right above the wild flower patch that I always go to.” I looked at them in turn. I could see by their expressions that they were trying to add things up. “How can all that possibly happen, without there being a reason?”

    “Like what?” Nick asked. 

    “They know we’re here. They did it on purpose. Why else would it be Rico hanging in that tree?”

     “That’s if it really is Rico.” Nick said with a look of disdain.

    I closed my eyes and felt things start to shut down. I breathed out heavy through my nose. He’s starting to tick me off. I spoke slowly through gritted teeth, “I do not care if you don’t want to believe me.” I opened my eyes and looked straight at him. “I know what I saw. So shut up and put some profitable input into this conversation before I hit you. Got it?” I breathed out again. I felt better; enough that I didn’t have to hold on to myself anymore. I dropped my arms. 

    Joe’s arm dropped from my waist until his hand reached mine. I slowly grabbed onto it. 

    “How would they know that you were going to pick those flowers?” Trina asked.

    “How would Rico still be alive all this time? He could have been on his way back to us,” Nick asked. “Maybe he’d been on his way back and got attacked.”

    “How do you know he wasn’t killed at night, and left in the tree. Having no connection to us?” Carter asked.

    “Why would one of them travel this far intah the woods at night? It’s the forest, they don’ travel in it.” James asked. 

    Joe hadn’t asked questions. When we had meetings in the past, he didn’t bombard with questions. He listened first and let ideas and solutions come to him. That’s one of the things I liked about him. 

    I put my hands up before another question could be asked. I looked each of them in turn. Trina was first. “The only thing I can think of is that they have a spy who has listened to us. Maybe when we’ve been in town, or it could be a d-w vamp hiding in the forest. I don’t know.” 

    I considered Nick . “I’m not sure why they would have kept Rico alive. He could very well have been on his  way back to us and got captured.” 

    I turned to Carter. “I don’t remember seeing any bruises on the skin that wasn’t torn. There isn’t a whole lot of ways to be certain about that. And how, could they possibly walk by our camp, kill someone, leave him in the tree and not come into camp for second helpings? We aren’t quiet enough for that to happen, even at night, people snore. As far as I know, everyone is still accounted for, livin’ and breathin’. If any predator walked that close to our camp, smellin’ all of us humans, hearing us sleep, they wouldn’t be able to resist coming on in, and chowin’ down. But you are right.” 

    I stared at James. “I know they don’t travel in the woods, it’s too easy to be caught in the sun. The only town in miles is the town we patrol. This is why it makes me revert back to thinking that there are d-ws around here somewhere. They can travel in the sun and not roast. They can control their hunger and they can eat like normal humans, even eat human food. They could be out there!” My voice had risen, so I tried to speak normal. “Those are the only idea I have. There has to be a connection and I think its d-ws. It’s your turn for ideas.”

    “Well, I can’ really see any othah possibilities. If that is the case, how are we tah protect ourselves? They look like us, they can be us. How are we to identify them as ah d-w?” James asked.

   They started talking to each other while Joe and I stayed quiet, listening. He held onto my hand, rubbing my knuckle with his thumb. I closed my eyes trying to think of an answer when I remembered something I heard once from his father when I first came to camp; something about the way to tell them apart.

   Joe’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “What are you thinking about?” 

    I looked at him and he brushed hair away from my face. His deep blue eyes were worried, and calm at the same time. I dropped my gaze to the base of his neck to save me from being sucked into them. 

    I could see his collar bone from the v-neck view of his shirt. “Your dad knew.” I looked back up at him more confident now. “He knew how to tell them apart.”

    “Wait, my dad? No he didn’t, at least he never said anything.” He scrunched his face in confusion.

   “I remember hearing him talk to someone when I first came here. After they hit me and saw that I bled, your dad asked someone to undress me and check for tattoos. He said to look for the birth mark. There are certain tattoos some of them have. I don’t know how they get it, if they’re born with it or stamped with it later.”

    Joe looked down at me, then he asked everyone to be quiet. Everyone stopped to look at us. “Apparently, my dad knew how to tell them apart. Echo can explain.”

    I glanced at him, mouth open. I hate the spotlight. I looked at them to explain, trying not to stammer. “Well, I remember him saying that they have certain tattoos that are like birthmarks. They checked me when I first came here. I’m spotless so I guess that was obvious enough.”

    “But how do we tell one tattoo from another? And how do we check everyone.” Carter asked.

    I thought about it, looking at the ground.

    “Trina and I can check all the girls, you guys can check all the men. We could make a list tonight of everyone in camp. Then tomorrow we could talk to everyone. We could hold off on our patrol, I think this is more important.” I looked at Joe when I said the last, searching for approval. When he nodded his head, I looked back at them. “Trina can stay here with Carter and make the list of everyone tonight while the rest of us go get Rico.” I raised my eyebrows at Nick in question. “Then you could be sure it’s really Rico.” He nodded his head.

    They nodded their heads and I walked to the door. “We will need stakes and flash lights, maybe even rope.” 

    “Wait, what about when you guys come back with the body. What if that makes whoever is the spy run?” Carter asked.

    I stood at the opening and looked back at them. “Easy, if someone is missin’ from the list in the mornin’, we’ll know who our spy is.” I pushed through the flap and went to grab supplies.

    Joe followed me out of the tent, walking with me to mine and followed me inside. “Are you alright?” He stayed near my door as I handed things to him. 

    “No, I’m not. I don’t completely know what to do. This is the hardest situation we have been in, and I need to stay mad so I can concentrate on what’s happening.” I grabbed stakes from under my cot, my makeshift dressers, and everywhere else I could find them. Grabbing what flashlights I could, I handed everything to Joe.

    I stopped and looked at him. “Are you ok?” 

    He looked at the stuff in his arms then back at me. “I’m not sure. I believe you when you say it’s Rico, but I’m scared that you’re right, and that that means we have a situation. I know what the plan is, but I don’t know what to do either.”

    I walked to him and gazed at his eyes, glad that I could. They were beautiful. I wanted to wake up to them. I stood on my tippy toes and pulled his face to meet mine in a kiss. In the back of my mind I knew that I shouldn’t, but with everything that’s happened, I wanted to get a kiss in, in case it was our last one. He dropped everything in his arms and held onto me, lifting me off the ground. We stopped kissing and hugged. 

   I leaned my head against his shoulder. “You weren’t chosen to be leader just because you could be. You can lead, and make good decisions. These people,” I gestured to the camp, “they need you. It’s gonna to be a long night and tomorrow even longer. You can do this.” I looked at him and he nodded. Letting go, we picked up my things and left my tent.