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Merry Christmas everyone!
Yes, that's right. I said CHRISTmas! So sue me if you don't like it. I hate the politically correct term of "Happy Holidays" or "Merry X-mas!"
Xmas is still frickin' Christmas. Do you know any other holiday that ends in MAS?! No. Didn't think so mad
Anyway. I bring tidings of good joy or whatever. Because I actually like sharing this story, it's motivated me to continue on in hopes of finishing it, I'm going to give you another part. It's all in order still. Oh, and, I've started ANOTHER story that's actually really cool xDD;;
But you don't get to see that one. Anyway, here is the third part to Bloody Moon. Merry Christmas~


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There was a sound by my ear; a fly or mosquito, I wasn’t sure. I tried swatting it away yet all I got was a cheery giggle. I swatted at it again; it giggled more. What was that sound?
“Oh yeah, and your parents are worried sick about you.”
My mind clicked—the hamster running in the wheel again—when I understood the sound. Someone was talking to me. I blinked away the sleepiness to find a blond angel smiling down at me. Annemarie.
“What about my parents?” I mumbled as I sat up. Ugh, I was so stiff.
“They’re worried. Luke called to tell them you’re okay but they’re not exactly buying it. I suppose if my only daughter was missing for a day I’d be worried too.”
“I haven’t been gone a day,” I argued. “It’s only been a few hours.”
Annemarie shook her head, her gold hair flying. “Nope, not true. You were out like a light for twenty-four hours. We tried waking you but you were practically in a coma.”
Because Luke took too much blood, I recalled. Dread settled in my stomach. “They’re out looking right now, aren’t they? Or they’re coming here.”
Annemarie shook her head once more. “Wrong again. Your parents are on the phone. I told them I’d try to wake you one last time or they could come out to get you.”
“Is that why you’re in child mode?”
She nodded this time in enthusiastic little bobs. “Do you want to talk to them now?”
“Guess I have to,” I sighed.
Annemarie pulled the cordless phone from behind her and passed it off to me. My mother was already on the line so I grumbled into the receiver. I didn’t really feel like speaking long, coherent sentences.
My parents were absolutely hysterical to hear my voice. They knew I spent most of my time with Luke, they trusted him more than parents should trust their daughter with a man. So what did someone say to have my parents in such an uproar? I sighed after I hung up the phone ten minutes later. Annemarie was perched like a statue on the side of the bed, her face no longer childish and open, but thoughtful and mature. The illusion was always shattered by her voice; no matter how much she tried, Annemarie’s voice still came out like silver bells covered with innocence.
“I think it was a hybrid,” she said.
“What?”
“The beast that attacked Luke. One minute he smelled like us, the next a wolf. And now his whole room reeks because you’ve been sleeping without showering after your date.”
I sniffed myself. The familiar smells of Luke, woman, sweat, and wolf-man traveled up my nostrils. Yeah, I didn’t smell too good. Maybe it was time for a shower. I pushed myself out of bed and stood a little roughly; the drowsiness was making me dizzy for a moment.
“There are no such things as hybrids,” I told Annemarie then went to the bathroom attached to Luke’s room.
His private bathroom was nothing fancy, really. It was covered in red and tan tiles and had just enough room to fit a claw-foot tub, shower, sink, and toilet. I stripped down and turned on the shower, sighing with content when the hot water worked its magic on my muscles. I was stiff and aching from my long sleep. The heat made me feel drowsy again, until I heard the door open sometime during my shower. I could only hope it wasn’t Luke; he was known to intrude on my showers.
“Rowena?” Annemarie called.
I was relieved to hear Annemarie for once. “Yes?” I asked, stealing a little more of Luke’s shampoo; I couldn’t help it, it smelled really good.
“I brought you some clothes from Bex’s closet that you can borrow. I figure your size is closer to hers than Carrie’s. I’ll leave them on the counter.”
I thanked her as I heard the door click closed. Annemarie was perhaps the nicest female of Luke’s coven, although with there only being four in the coven, that isn’t really saying much. Or is it?
There were fourteen people in Luke’s coven and out of those fourteen I really only liked six or so. It’s not that I outright hate them, I just have to return their dislike and scorn whenever I see them. They had started all this craziness. I really wanted to like them knowing, one day, I’d have to spend century after century, decade after decade, with them as their superior. Honestly, I thought that was why most of the coven hated me; I was human yet Luke acknowledged me as his mate and was planning to turn me in two years.
Two more years as a human, I thought wistfully. What would I be like after two years and how would I come out of the turning? Would I still be the same? My mind wandered back to the story Ethan told me about Kent’s daughter, Katie. I could turn out to be like her: mindless, crazy, always wanting to kill. Luke would be so hurt if I did turn out like that.
I turned off the water when I considered I was clean, toweled off, and got dressed. Annemarie was right about my similar size with Bex; the clothes fit quite nicely. I always thought Bex was a little wide for her height, but she was beautiful. And Carrie, well, although she was skinny as a twig, she wasn’t all that beautiful. Her forehead too big, eyes too small, nose a little hooked, her cheekbones too high, lips too thin, and her chin too long and pointed. In my opinion, she looked like an ugly hag.
When I was back in Luke’s room I noticed the bed sheets had been changed and the room all together smelled much more clean and healthy. I made my way down the stairs where a different smell rose from the kitchen: delicious food. My stomach rumbled at the thought of eggs and pancakes. Thank God that’s exactly what Luke was making when I peered into the kitchen.
I snuck up behind Luke and wrapped my arms around his waist. He didn’t even flinch. Most likely, he heard my approach by my racing heart and growling stomach.
“Good morning, sunshine,” he said casually, eyes on the stove. “Glad you could finally join us. Did you sleep well?”
“Up until Annemarie came to wake me, I did.” I frowned. I’d liked to have Luke give me a wake-up call; he was particularly good at them.
He patted my arm with a chuckle. “So sorry, my love, but I was busy at the time. There was a bit of feuding right before your parents called.”
I looked up at his youthful face; he could have passed from eighteen to twenty-two depending on his expression. In vampire years, he was already over four hundred.
“It wasn’t about me, was it?” I asked quietly; I really didn’t know how much of the coven was left in the house and although they could hear me from whatever part of the house, I felt safer whispering.
He flicked off the stove and I released him so he could move. He kept his back to me. “It concerned you but wasn’t directed at you. Apparently one of the wolves you met has decided to ask you to run with him tonight.”
My heart skipped a beat, which wasn’t a good thing considering Luke was jealous enough. I could already feel it rolling off him in waves and I was afraid to see what expression was on his face. Vampires were very territorial and I was considered Luke’s; he wouldn’t share me with a “mangy mutt.”
How did he even know I met the wolves or that I wanted to go back? Well, I guess the smell certainly gave the first part away. Still, he couldn’t have known. Unless Craig told him or Bex saw something; she was the psychic for a reason. Her predictions and visions were spot on every time.
I sat down at the round, white table in the light blue dining room; it was connected directly to the kitchen by a giant doorway that I could still see Luke through. By the way he moved I could tell he was upset.
“I don’t know why one of them would want me around the pack again.” I bit my lip and searched for a lie. “I mean, I was a total nuisance the other night; they hated me.”
“On the contrary, Rowena, they adored you.” Luke’s face was neutral as he brought the plate of pancakes and eggs to me, yet I still noticed how his eyes were hard and his grip was a little tighter then it needed to be on the plate.
“That’s not true,” I laughed nervously.
“Don’t lie to me, Rowena. I can tell when you’re lying; your darkness shrivels and hides.”
Ugh, that phrase again. Luke said there was a natural life force inside everyone, some light, and some dark. The dark were the humans creatures like Luke looked for; they didn’t belong in the human world, and their spirits were probably corrupt. Fortunately that was never the case for me. Luke said I was a natural, born to be with him and rule by his side. Not that he was any form of royalty; he just liked to feel royal, that using the terms made him feel powerful.
When he placed the food in front of me I immediately shoveled it in, pouring butter and syrup as I went along. Luke was expecting a rebuttal, though, so I stopped eating long enough to mumble a reply.
“I’m not going to argue about this. The pack is nice and they told me a lot of things I needed to know. If Ethan asks, I will go tonight: no ands, ifs, or buts.”
Luke’s careful mask broke into pain as he sat in the chair across from mine. “Are you crazy? They’re volatile beasts! They are the most worthless creatures on this earth and yet you want to run off with them? And only two days after the full moon, no less!”
Weres were often aggressive and unpredictable the whole week of the full moon and a few days afterwards, but I wasn’t bothered the slightest.
“I was there the night of the full moon,” I pointed out. “Kent and his pack were nice and well behaved; not one tried to kill me, which is more than I can say for your coven.”
While it might have been hitting below the belt, it was true, and we all know the truth hurts. Luke took pride in the fact that his coven was one of the few that didn’t kill humans; actually, they barely fed off humans because of blood banks now. They rarely even talked to human kind. But for me, the first few weeks of being a part of Luke’s coven was hard. They seemed to break all their carefully placed morals and rules. All of them tried to kill me for their own selfish reasons—and a few of them almost succeeded.
Luke sighed. “There’s that burst of shadow again, rolling over your luscious form like a caress. Don’t you ever feel it?”
I shook my head; I never understood some of the things Luke said.
“Very well. Since I can’t budge you on this matter, I’ll simply have to arrange it so you’re safe at all times.”
“No!” I shouted in protest, slamming the fork against the plate. “You send someone with me and you’ll be sorry.”
He smiled. “And whatever would you do to me?”
I groaned and pushed the now empty plate towards him. “You are impossible. But I don’t care what you say, I’m going and if I have someone or something of yours following, I’ll think up a torture you won’t enjoy.”
He nodded and stood, taking the plate with him. “All right. I trust you to be smart and safe. I’m just a call away if you need anything.”
About time he learned. I was stubborn and I really didn’t want one of his coven following me. The wolves wouldn’t trust me then. “Thank you, Luke.”


Twenty minutes later and I was parking the car back in my driveway. If what Luke said was true and Ethan—at least I hoped it was Ethan—was going to invite me to spend a few more hours with the pack, I was definitely going. Maybe they would be in wolf form tonight. I wondered what their wolves looked like.
And then the figure on my steps caught my attention.
The boy was hunched over in a ball, his short, spiked dirty-blond hair doing nothing to keep him warm. I knew that body when it was fully stretched out; nothing special except the amount of body hair at his age. I also knew the face even though it was facing the ground. He had a boyish face that was cute when he smiled, especially the way his blue eyes shined.
We used to joke that he was the light to my darkness. While he was the all-American boy, I was practically the goth chick. Moonlight skin, pale gray eyes with a few silvers of black and blue, not too fat but not skinny, red hair so dark it should be black.
I sat beside him on the stairs and nudged him with my shoulder. “Hey, Matt.”
He looked up and smiled slightly almost like he was nervous. “Hey there, Wen. Long time, no see.”
“You called me just the other night; that counts.”
“Not for me.” He shrugged.
We were practically strangers now. Used to, we could talk for hours on end with enthusiasm and crack stupid jokes we’d turn into our own inside jokes. It was fun back then. Now we were always arguing, ignoring each other, or acting like there was an invisible chasm between us.
“So how long have you been waiting out here?” I asked indifferently.
“Not too long. Sucks not having a key anymore, though,” he replied sullenly.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Just being around him tugged on my insides—in the bad way. Somehow I almost forgot that I gave Matt an extra key to my front door; he used it constantly. When we broke up right in front of the whole school it was the first thing I demanded be returned.
“Why are you here?” I asked when a long silence crowded over us. A cloudy early morning already ruined by his presence. Ugh. I had no hard feelings; I just didn’t like Matt as much as I thought.
“I was wondering if you want to hang out tonight,” he replied carefully. “There’s a really cool spot on Hedge Street that I know you’ll like; full of cool scenery and stuff.”
Clever, but I wasn’t falling for it. I was happy with Luke and was planning on marrying him in two years. Hedge Street was a ploy a lot of guys used on girls, just because it was the only street that had flowers, coffee, chocolate, and jewelry all in one spot; guys used their sharp, romantic tongues to hook the girl all the time. Plus, I couldn’t make plans tonight, I was hoping for a wolf to show up at my door. I stood and stretched, going to the door.
“Sorry Matt, but I have plans with someone else tonight.” My voice sounded a little stuck up even to myself.
Silence.
And then: “Oh, well, okay then. There’s always next time.” I listened to him walk away then opened the door.
The second car wasn’t in the driveway so I wasn’t surprised to find the house empty; my parents were hardly ever home. I went to the kitchen to check the phone for messages. Only Mom called, saying she and Dad would be out till late tonight and where I could find some dinner, and Annemarie wanted me to return her phone call so she knew I got home safely. I deleted all the messages and forgot about calling Annemarie. She wasn’t my mother; I could take care of myself.
First things first, I decided and went to my room. My backpack sat neglected in front of my closet on the floor; everything was still inside, including the notebook from my Q&A session with Kent. I pulled it out, went to my desk, switched on my computer, and flipped through the pages I wrote out. I really did love the supernatural; they were interesting, put into interesting situations, and looked human yet still completely different from the rest of us. When my computer finally finished its long booting process, I immediately set to work putting all the answers in my hard drive.