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39. Starfield

IVY

Hundreds of people flood the streets of Starfield. Street lights shining down on its loud residents celebrating a local holiday. Even when it is two hours before midnight and the middle of a week, everyone is enjoying the night. Children are everywhere, their parents and grandparents drinking and gossiping with others, music blares from every direction, and the stench of alcohol mixed with various, individual scents of people, make it a little hard for me to track down the family we've come here for.

Mace, Jones, Luna, and I drove a couple of hours from the base to pick up a family of three vampires. Meanwhile, the rest of the pack watch over the base to make sure everyone there is safe. According to our spies in Queen's Garden, Aquila is moving fast on finding the others on Florencia's list, which means we have to be one step ahead of them. We've also been working overtime to bring people in our safe base as much and as fast as we can. Two days ago, Miko and I have spoken with Astoria and Orion to inform each other of any news. We've discussed their secret club in the dungeon, as well as the rest of the plan once Florencia opens the door to Queen's Den. While it is a solid plan, there are also lots of ways it could go wrong. We can only hope that we get the ending we want. While we wait for Florencia, we have to save as much people as possible and prepare ourselves for what's to come.

Right now, we are looking for two men, both middle aged, and a little boy no older than ten years old. Since we don't exactly know what they look like, we have to rely on finding their vampire scents. This would usually take a second. Though, the festival brings so many distractions that all my senses are a bit clouded. Too much noises. Too much mixture of scents. Too much movements. Worst part of it all is that I could barely even move through the streets because it's very crowded. I don't even know where Jones, Mace, and Luna are, anymore. I've been separated from the group the moment we've entered the scene.

It took me around twenty minutes until I caught the trail of solid iron scent. It led me to a food truck, where I found a man with dark brown wavy hair and green eyes lined up for tacos. I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief when I found him.

"I have been looking for you for the longest time."

The vampire held the box of his food against his chest, looking at me as if I'm about to steal them. "Uh, do I know you?"

"No." I grunted, shoving my hands in my jacket's pocket. "But you've heard of the Gaia pack, haven't you?" The widening of his eyes was enough answer for me.

"Gaia? Why would you be here? We haven't done anything wrong. We don't even get supplies from Queen's Garden anymore. Why - "

"You didn't do anything wrong." I interrupted, eyes traveling around the area for my friends. "The reason why we're here is to get you and your family in safety. A group consisting of a witch, vampires, and werewolves, known as Aquila, have taken over Queen's Garden and are kidnapping sacred beings, all to be put in a pocket world without seculars." Where the hell is my beta? I wouldn't be surprised if I find him in front of a hot dog vendor. There are lots of them and even I found the smell hard to resist. "Everyone who has ever received aid from Queen's Garden is on their list. So we're here to make sure you don't end up on their hands. It's either we find you, or they do. We'll be putting you in a safe place, that's all. You will be free to do as you please. You are not - "

Words failed to come out of my mouth as my eyes met a pair of orange irises.

They widened as they stared back at me, just as surprised as I am.

I blinked and rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't imagining anything.

When I looked back, they were no longer looking at me, but are fixated on the vampire beside me.