Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
But this can’t go on forever.
I can feel the wooziness in head, the way my knees shake, how my crop top is soaked in blood…
Shouldn’t I be unconscious already?
Just a little longer, Selene says, an encouraging presence in my mind. They’re almost there.
It’s only then that I notice the sounds outside of our little area.
The howls in the distance.
The sound of sirens.
The snarling and growling of wolves here, fighting. Perhaps they’re on the other side of the house.
There’s an occasional crash. A lot of slurs.
It’s crazy how it’s so relatively peaceful back here, with only Teddy and Bren’s corpses, Lisa’s unconscious form, and the vampire in front of me.
He’s changing tactics, his fury fading, his face wary. “Come with us, kitten. I’ve been searching for so long. Don’t you want to know the truth of your story?”
My story?
“Don’t you hate these stupid ke? Their rules? Their old ways?”
He reaches out a clawed hand, all the deranged anger gone, his face once again settled into that pale, deathtranscendent beauty. Come with me, kitten. I’ll keep you safe, teach you your powers. Tell you the truth about that wolf inside your soul.”
Don’t agree with him. You’re half in contract. Any agreement will bind you. Selene’s words are urgent, and I have so many fucking questions, but I’m swaying on my feet, even with this energy flowing through my body.
“No.” Honestly, I’m shocked I can even speak. I don’t know how bad the damage to my neck is, but it can’t be small.
Yet when I bring my hand to my neck again, the skin is smooth and unblemished beneath my fingers, beneath the blood coating every part of me.
No wonder I’m not unconscious.
The pain is there, throbbing, but the damage has disappeared.
Only the faint outline of my coar remaine
“Come along, kitten. You and your friend, too. I’ll give you the freedom he can’t. I’ll give you the knowledge she won’t. Come, Ava Grey, Ward of the Witches. You seek a home, and I have one to give.”
That little girl inside of me, the one desperate for the love of my family, sways toward him.
But the rest of me holds her back, despite the faint tingle of the ecstasy I’d felt taunting me from beyond the pain when he bit me.
“No,” I say again, trying to make sense of it all. “I’m not leaving here.”
He steps closer, and I fall to my knees with a groan. I can’t hold on to the power, feeling it pour out of me. For a second, I can almost imagine golden strands connecting me to the earth, but they disappear in a blink.
My vision’s still spotty.
The vampire kneels before me, cupping my cheek with a soft croon. A lullaby, I think.
Ava!
“No,” I whisper, not sure if he asked me any questions.
Everything’s a blurry mess. I can’t see him anymore, the only sound a roaring in my ears. My blood, maybe, rushing through my veins.
There’s pain on my wrist, the feeling of something slicing skin.
Then something cold against it, and power infusing into my blood again.
One heartbeat.
Two.
My vision clears a little, to see the vampire kissing my wrist. It’s a soft, sweet movement that sends pleasure through my painwracked body.
Pain.
That’s what I’m feeling.
My body feels like it’s tearing apart, and the only relief from it is his lips on my skin.
He laughs, I think. It’s hard to tell.
I can see his tongue lapping at my wrist, and I’m surprised to see it’s so pale, disgusted to see the blood -my bloodon it.
“What a good little kitten,” he croons, and danger signals in the back of my head.
I yank at my arm, but he holds it tight, leaning forward to press his bloody mouth against mine.
It’s ironrich and disgusting, this brief press of our lips.
“You’ll be begging me to fulfill our contract,” he breathes. “Don’t worry, kitten. I’ll come back for you.”
I hate that I sway toward him, desperate for more contact. For relief against the pain.
He knows it, too, because he laughs. It’s definitely a laugh.
And then he’s gone, and something inside of me rebels, wanting him back.
Ava!
Selene’s mental presence seems to fill my head, buffering me against the pain in my body. I’m almost there. Just hold on a little longer. The blood haze won’t last once he’s gone.
Once he’s gone?
Something in the back of my mind niggles at me, and I blink against my darkening vision. He disappeared from view, but now he’s back.
But he’s walking away from me.
Holding a body.
Wait, no.
That’s not a budy.
That’s Lisa.
“Wait-“
But he disappears, the world shifting around him like a heat mirage, distorting for moments before returning to normal.
Only he isn’t t
“Ava!”
Kellan’s familiar voice should bring hope, but all I feel is despair as I stare into the distance, wishing that vampire would reappear.
A thousand of them could come and it would be fine. As long as they bring Lisa back.
“Ava! Can you hear me?”
Kellan’s face swims in and out of focus, a hazy blur against the night sky. I squint, trying to bring him into clarity, but it ike trying to grasp smoke.
“They have Lisa,” I whisper, the words scraping my throat raw. “The vampire… He took her.”
Kellan’s eyes widen, a flicker of anguish passing over his features before he schools them into careful neutrality. But I can see the tension in his jaw, the rigidity of his shoulders. He’s barely holding it together.
“I know, Ava. We’ll get her back.” His voice is strained, distracted. Like his mind is a million miles away even as he’s right here with me.