Rebirth

Stone

I was halfway through the new book in the collection. All the books are actually pretty good with information. I was flipping pages when a picture caught my eye. I read the description and was frozen in place.

"Aira, what's wrong?", Ketan shook me.

"I screwed up", I looked at the picture.

"What? How?", he asked confused.

"This-This stone. I... We're screwed"

"Amaira, you are both confusing and scaring me. How are we screwed? Just give me the book", he took the book from my hand. "Stone of sun, huh?"

"Read the ritual below", I whisper shouted.

"To kill an ancient vampire, feed him the blood of a vampire whose strength is close to theirs. When the sun is at its highest position, trap the vampire in a circle of fire. Use the stone to intensify the sunlight and point it directly at the vampire's head"

I was struggling to breathe. Ketan dropped the book and stood next to me, "Aira, you are scaring me", he took my hand in his, "Let's breathe, okay? Deep breaths. Breathe in, breathe out", he took deep breaths and urged me to do the same. "There you go. Feeling better"

I shook my head, "I-I had the stone", I whispered. It was barely audible by Ketan managed to hear it.

He looked around with surprise all over his face. "Let's go outside", he said. We ran outside, away from the mansion, "Where is it?", he asked.

"That's the whole problem. I had the stone. Past tense. I had it fifteen years ago"

"How? I don't understand. You were just turned fifteen years ago"

"Yes. When I was alone in the whole bloody mansion, I needed to do something. I walked around and knocked over something. Some sort of secret door opened and I found this stone"

"Are you sure it's the same stone?"

"Positive. It was glowing bright even in the dark"

"Where is it now?"

"That's the whole problem. I don't know", I looked away.

"Okay, when was the last time you saw it?"

"I didn't lose it. I... I sold it", I looked down, embarrassed.

"What? Why?"

"I wanted to get out of here. I found an expensive looking gem and...", I shrugged.

"The house was filled with antiques. Couldn't you have sold one of those?", he mumbled to himself.

"Antiques. They led me to the stone. I didn't know what kind of traps were the in the mansion. One of the traps led me to the stone"

"Okay, let's think about it"

"That's not all"

"There is more to this story?", he looked surprised.

I nodded, "The man at the store called me a blood sucking monster"

"Holy shit! We're screwed", Ketan shouted.

"Calm down", I whispered.

"Okay, okay. You had the stone that could kill the guy who kidnapped you. You sold it fifteen years ago, to a guy who knew about vampires. Is that correct?", Ketan collected himself.

"Yes. We don't know if he knows about the importance of the stone"

"Either way, we need to be careful"