The Bolivia Mystery

Kaira brushed the unruly strands of her strawberry hair back behind her ear before putting both hands back on the table. She leaned heavily over the maps and ancient pieces of text spread out over the thick oak desk. Her coffee cup sat in the upper corner, leaving rings on the edges of the papers and at different points in the cup where the remaining contents rested for hours at a time.

The digital clock in the corner beeped obnoxiously, breaking the silence in the quiet office, alerting her that it was now after 8 pm. Kaira sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. As soon as the clock stopped and returned back to its resting state, her phone rang aggressively next to her. She turned and saw her friend’s name and picture flashing brightly on the small screen. Kaira stretched back and picked up the phone.

“Hello?” she called out in a hollow voice.

"Hey, Kaira, it’s Anya, how are you?” she called in a jittery, fast-paced tone. Kaira half-smiled at her friend.

“I’m fine, just finishing up work,” she replied, starting to gather up the papers on the desk into a neater pile. “How are you?”

“Kaira! Don’t tell me you are still in your office!” Anya snapped. Kaira could feel her face flushing. She gave up on the unruly papers and instead started packing up her purse with her personal items that ended up in miscellaneous places throughout the office.

“Okay, I won’t tell you that. What’s going on with you?” Kaira asked, doing her best to keep her friend from chastening her workaholic habits further.

“Well, I got some news that I thought you might be interested in,” she said, her voice dropping to a more serious tone. “I heard from one of my colleagues about that dig your father was on in Bolivia?”

Kaira stopped dead in her tracks. She felt a strange chill rushing up her spine.

“What?”

“Yeah, there was a guy who said he had information on some other strange events that happened there. It could be linked. I thought you might be interested in talking to him,” Ayna continued with a sultry tone. Kaira blinked awkwardly, trying to process all Anya had said. “Kaira?”

“Yes, yes, I want to meet him. Can you set it up for tomorrow?” she asked, finding the movements in her legs again.

“I figured that’s what you’d say, so I already arranged a lunch tomorrow at Alessandro's for you to meet him. Are you free around 1 pm tomorrow?” she asked, sounding a bit smug. Kaira rolled her eyes.

“I am now. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Kaira replied, before hanging up the phone. She pushed her charcoal and dust-stained hands in her pockets and headed to her favorite Thai spot on the end of the block. She hoped that Geovanny was working and would speed up the process of getting her to-go order. She had never enjoyed lingering in crowded spaces.

...

Kiara spent most of the morning puttering around her apartment, looking for anything to distract her from the time that seemed to be moving at the speed of molasses. Somehow, she still found her eyes slipping to the sporadic timekeepers in her house enough to mark the five-minute mark every hour. When it was 11:45 am, she couldn’t stand it anymore; she packed up her things and got on the bus to Alessandro’s.

The familiar restaurant was crowded - even for lunch time - Kaira slid through the people and found her way to a seat at the bar. She texted Anya to let her know she had arrived. She kept her phone on the table and tapped her foot rhythmically against the edge of the stool.

“Rough day?” a charming-looking bartender asked her. He leaned his weight onto his right leg and cleaned out a cup that looked like it was fresh out of the packaging. Kaira raised an eyebrow at him.

“No, I’m just waiting for a friend, it’s an important meeting,” she explained. She continued to look around for her friend and the mystery man with information about her father.

“Can I get you a beer?” the man asked, still in an upbeat tone. Kaira snapped her head back, ready to be defensive and explain that she wasn’t interested in shallow banter. He raised his eyes at her curiously, and her face flushed when she realized what he’d actually said.

“Um, no, thanks, just a Coke, if that’s okay,” she answered, looking away and hiding the sheepish expression on her face. The last thing she wanted was for the bartender to realize she was technically too young to sit at the bar. Before the man had an opportunity to answer her, someone touched Kaira’s shoulder, causing her to turn around abruptly.

“Whoa, girl, it’s just me. Who were you expecting?” Anya asked with an uncomfortable giggle. Kaira gave her an apologetic smile as Anya sat down.

“Sorry, I’m not sure why I’m so on edge. I guess I’m just anxious about what this guy is going to have to say,” she admitted. Anya reached over and patted Kaira’s knee gently.

“He’s not going to tell you anything terrible or scary….” Anya replied in a feeble attempt to relax Kaira’s nerves. It had the opposite effect. Anya continued to ramble on about this man who was coming to join them and everything her colleague had mentioned. Upon realizing how little Anya knew about the man they were meeting, Kaira tapped her foot more intently and started also drumming her fingers against the edge of the table.

“Anya?” came a soft, deeper voice. Kaira and Anya turned around in unison, and Kaira couldn’t stop her mouth from falling open briefly. In front of her stood a man whose beauty seemed surreal. He was nothing like many of the men she had found herself attracted to before. He had a lighter, more feminine expression with long gold hair to the middle of his back. It was pulled back in a variety of braids and beads in a Viking-like style. He had thin black plugs in his ears and a small silver ring on the left side of his nose. His smile and ocean blue eyes seemed to hide some sort of secret that Kaira found herself desperate to find out.

Anya greeted him casually and offered him the seat on the other side of Kaira. Kaira only registered that Anya had introduced her when the man held out his hand.

“I’m Thane, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard quite a bit about you,” the man answered. Kaira’s cheeks flushed involuntarily.

“So - so, um, you have information about my father?” Kaira stumbled out. Thane smirked at her and raised his hand to order from the bartender. As the man returned, Thane and Anya ordered quickly. Kaira focused on not letting her eyes linger too long on Thane’s face or lean muscle tone.

“Well, I’m not an archaeologist myself, but I am fascinated with the work. I’ve been overseeing some particular digs happening in the Bolivia area - which I do believe is where your father went missing?” he asked. Kaira swallowed the gulp of Coke and nodded quickly. “Yes, well, there’s been a lot of rumors and mythical lore about the area from locals. As it turns out, your father is not the only person to go missing from that immediate area, and we’ve noticed that all the missing have one specific thing in common.”

Kaira waited on the edge of her seat, listening to Thane’s explanation.

“What is that?” Anya asked when Kaira’s words failed her. Thane glanced at her momentarily, but his eyes shifted quickly back to Kaira.

“They aren’t human. They all belong to a supernatural species,” Thane answered. Kaira felt a knot grow in her stomach.

The three of them continued to talk about the myths and lore happening in the area until Anya explained she had to head off to work. Kaira knew she still had her own work to complete, but she couldn’t bring herself to walk away from Thane. There was something about him that drew her in, and she couldn’t help feeling as if there was some kind of connection already lingering between them.

“I’m happy to discuss this further with you and answer all of your questions, but I do have to return to my company soon. Perhaps I could take you to dinner tonight, and we could continue this conversation?” Thane offered with a delicately raised eyebrow. Kaira found herself nodding before she knew what she was doing.

...

Kaira had never met anyone so charming, and when she was at dinner with him, she almost forgot why she was there. Thane regaled her with tales of the charmed life, and despite herself, she was hung on his every word.

Kaira spent the next few weeks going to dinners and glamor parties of the rich and famous as Thane’s eye candy. She never considered herself a ‘material’ person, but there was something so alluring about his world. Thane was often introducing her to celebrities and supermodels as well as taking her to underground clubs and secret parties. He got in the habit of referring to her as ‘his girl’. The term was so ambiguous that it was hard to know which direction to take it, but Kaira found herself enjoying the connection to him too much to question it.

She sat across from him at a new restaurant that had a waitlist six months out. Thane had somehow managed to walk up to the front and get a table without so much as a call ahead.

“You said you would help me figure out what happened to my father,” Kaira threw out before Thane could continue to distract her with more important people for her to meet. He was sipping his water as she spoke and placed it down carefully with a frown.

“I’m assuming you are now doubting my sincerity?” he asked. Kaira shrugged and shrank into her seat. “Tell you what, I have another place I’ll take you tonight. There are some people there who can help point us in the right direction to finding some more answers.”

Kaira felt hopeful again, but a little nervous that she might have created a tainted taste in Thane’s mouth. They moved through dinner quietly and with no unwarranted greetings. But when they finished, Thane locked his fingers in hers and swiftly kissed the back of her hand, sending little electric shocks through her veins.

Kaira had never even heard of the Neon Inferno, but it looked like it had been around for decades. She’d never been one for big crowds or clubs, but now that she was there, surrounded by glittery and intoxicated people, she found herself enchanted with the energy in the room.

“I’ll be right back,” Thane whispered, leaning close to her ear. As he lingered, he moved in closer and gently pressed his lips against hers. Before she could respond or kiss him back, he pulled away. Kaira stared after him until he disappeared in the club.

She slowly moved through the dripping people, swaying seductively on the floor until she found the bar. She pulled up a stool and started watching, mesmerized by the magic of it all.

“Are you a friend of Constantine?” came a sharp, sing-song voice behind her. She turned to see a small pixie-like woman with cropped black hair behind the bar. Her eyes looked like they had been colored in with a pink highlighter and shone unnaturally bright in the moving strobe light.

“Who?” Kaira asked, shouting at an uncomfortable level. The bartender smiled and placed a small cup with swirling gold liquid down in front of Kaira.

“Constantine, he’s the owner of this club. You’re clearly new, I thought you might be one of his girls,” the woman clarified. Kaira shrugged. She had never heard of him, but she found herself hoping she might meet him at some point. Any man who could create an atmosphere like this would certainly be fascinating.

Kaira sat, watching the crowd, unaware of the dark man in the booth watching her carefully. He sipped his Old Fashioned and kept his snake-like eyes on the stunning woman, who looked out of place and incredibly tempting.