The Lunar Effect (The Ayla St. John Chronicles Book 1)

by C. J. Pinard

  “I know it won’t, but I disagree with you on the feeling better part.” I brushed a lock of black hair from in front of her beautiful chocolate eyes with my fingertips. “I will feel so much better after I rid the world of evil.”

  She looked at me in the eyes, hers bouncing back and forth between mine. “Is that where it will end? Killing those two?”

  I shrugged a shoulder. “I’ll let you know.”

  I kissed her on the cheek, wrapped her in a tight hug, and whispered, “Thank you,” into her ear.

  “Love you, girl,” she said back.

  “Love you, too,” I replied. And with that, I turned and walked out the house I’d lived in for two years, happy my parents had allowed her to keep renting it (it was probably a witch thing), and that she’d found a roommate to share the rent.

  I looked around dismally at the studio apartment on the sixth floor I’d rented in Lo-Do—Lower Downtown Denver, as it was nicknamed. I set my suitcase and backpack down and they echoed in the empty space. Leaving them on the floor, I walked over to the large bank of windows that took up the west wall of the tiny space. I had a perfect view of the Rocky Mountains, but that was the only thing nice about the view. The rest was all buildings, cars, and streets as I looked down.

  I looked up, thankful that the previous owners had left a curtain rod, and made a mental note to go and get some curtains from somewhere so people couldn’t look in at night.

  A knock on the door had me turning and heading toward it.

  Ryder stood on the other side and greeted me with a smile. “Hi, beautiful.”

  “Hi,” I said, reaching up to plant a kiss on his lips.

  He snaked his arms around my waist and kissed me back. We stood in the doorway kissing for what seemed like a few long minutes before I eventually pulled back and smiled up at him.

  “Your stuff is on the street, piled into the back of my truck. Aden’s waiting down there for us to bring it up,” he said quietly, smiling down at me.

  “Thank you. Guess we better get to it,” I replied.

  “I can’t believe you dropped out of school,” he said suddenly, as if he hadn’t meant to.

  With a sigh, I replied, “I had to, Ryder. My head nor my heart were in it.”

  “You should have just finished, then decided what you wanted to do,” he came back as if he’d been holding it in.

  Ryder hadn’t said much when I had told him I was dropping out and moving downtown. I could tell by the look on his face he didn’t approve, but I couldn’t muster up enough fucks to give at the time. I didn’t want to hurt him, and I had hoped we could continue our relationship while he finished college on his football scholarship, but I was determined to do this, and if he wasn’t onboard, I wasn’t going to let him bring me down. I loved him, but my quest for vengeance was driving me to do what I needed to do… for me… for my birthmother, Amy… for Austyn.

  Ryder had proved he still loved me and supported me, as he was here now. And hand in hand, we took the elevator down to the ground floor and began the painstaking task of bringing what little furniture and belongings I owned up to my sixth floor apartment.

  “Thank you for calling Carter Homes, how may I direct your call?” I answered the switchboard with the most cheerful voice I could.

  “I need to speak to Louis Carter immediately!” an angry voice greeted me.

  “Yes, sir, let me put you through—”

  Before I could finish my sentence, let alone push a button, his voice came again, “Don’t you dare put me through to his voicemail! I need to speak to Louis himself!”

  I gritted my teeth. “Of course, sir, just one moment.” Before the angry caller could retort, I put him on hold and dialed Louis’s extension.

  “What?” he answered.

  “I have someone who wants to speak to you,” I said timidly.

  “Well, who is it?” he asked, seeming annoyed. It was only my third week and I already hated this guy.

  “Not sure, but he sounds angry, and instructed me not to put him through to your voicemail.”

  “Well, do it anyway, I’m busy,” he came back.

  “Do what?” I asked, incredulous.

  “Put him through to my goddamn voicemail. God, are you dense or what?” he asked before huffing in annoyance and hanging up.

  I pushed the hold button. “I will transfer you now,” and with that, I patched him through to Louis’s extension, hoping he’d actually answer and not let it go to his voicemail, but I wasn’t very optimistic at this point.

  In the three weeks I’d had this job, I had gotten more calls from angry homebuyers than anything else. Carter Homes apparently was a shoddy homebuilder at best, and taking calls from the angry homeowners was about all I did all day. It made me exhausted by the end of the day. The twelve bucks an hour they were paying me sure wasn’t worth getting screamed at for eight hours a day.

  As I left work on a particularly average Friday, I walked the six blocks to my apartment, happy I had a couple of days off from this idiotic job. I had no plans for the weekend, as Ryder was hitting the football practice hardcore—some NFL scouts were coming to the college to see if they wanted to recruit him. He had asked me to come to the college for his game, and I was considering it, but still hadn’t committed. I loved watching him play, but Friday nights were a hotbed of vampiric activity around here, and I needed to be around to see if I could spot that asshole who had killed my brother.

  Ya know, priorities.

  I went into my apartment’s front door and took the stairs to the sixth floor. I never took the elevator—ever. The last time I’d ridden in that thing was when I was moving in.

  After making a quick salad and scarfing it down, I took a shower and proceeded to paste my face with makeup, and make my blonde hair as big and sexy as I could. Through a shitload of research, I had learned that vampires were horny assholes, and I intended to use every asset I had to lure one.

  With my eyes lined in black and looking smoky as could be, and a skintight black mini-skirt pasted on my body, matched with a chunky pair of black heels and a red top, I left my apartment and headed toward the streets where the bars and clubs were.

  Chapter 17

  Once I had discovered what an asset my wolf sense of smell was, I had stopped hating my curse as much. Yes, it sucked to be completely incapacitated three days a month due to this damn curse, but as a human, to be able to use my sense of smell to my advantage was kinda worth it.

  This was how I found out where the vampires hung out. At a vampire-stinking bar in Lo-Do called Moon Chasers, I promptly placed myself on a barstool at the bar and ordered a Red Bull and vodka, thanking the very obvious vampire bartender with a lift of my drink. As I sipped it, I looked around.

  The name of the bar had thrown me at first; I thought maybe it was a werewolf bar, but it wasn’t. I had found out through eavesdropping that vampires used to be called moon children but did not want the word ‘child’ in the name of their bar, so they modified it. I found it odd that they would be called moon children, when quite obviously the werewolves were the ones owned and controlled by the moon. I figured it had something to do with the night, but didn’t care enough to investigate further.

  But that was neither here nor there. As of now, this bar completely reeked of vampire stench. I was glad my sense of smell was stronger than theirs was. According to everything I’d read—and everyone I’d asked—we could sense a vampire just by smell. Theirs was keen, but not as strong as ours… and I planned on using that to my advantage.

  I grabbed my cocktail, sipping it through the little black straw, and turned around to survey the bar. I had been coming here every Friday night for weeks. I had been hit on several times. I had been asked where I was from, what my sign was, and if I had a boyfriend… and I had ignored them all. I didn’t come to Moon Chasers for a boyfriend or even a hook-up. I came here for one reason only: to find the vampire who had killed my brother last year.

  I wasn’t going to s
top until I found him, either. But it wasn’t like I could go asking about some random vampire in the bar. That would raise red flags… so I used what little assets I had to get the information I needed—a pretty smile, red lipstick, and a short skirt.

  My phone vibrated in my hand I reluctantly looked at it.

  Ryder: Halftime. I think we’re going to win this one!

  Less than enthused about that, I replied: Good luck, baby!

  I meant it—I hoped Ryder succeeded, but I had other things on my mind. I was on a mission to find that murdering platinum-blond freak vampire piece of shit. I had already fantasized about killing him so many times in my head. It was slow and methodical… he would know what he had done, and he would pay for every blood-soaked sin. I would torture his ugly ass for hours, and when I was done with him, I would tie him to a tree and let the sun finish him off while I filmed it on my cellphone so I could watch it over and over.

  That would make me happy. That would quell the stormy ocean of rage thundering inside my soul.

  This bar I was in… it was useless. I saw several vampires, but none were the ones I’d been looking for. For hours I sat there nursing drinks, barely sipping them for the fear that my target would walk in and I’d be too tipsy to miss him. I wouldn’t say it was a boring post; I would say that I had a lot to learn, and that once the vampire I was actually looking for made an appearance, I didn’t want to be too late to get him. I was afraid he would slip through my fingers. I couldn’t say the post was a loss, though. I learned so much about vampires just by listening to them talk amongst themselves or striking up conversations with them myself. The information was priceless.

  I chanced a quick glance at my phone and noticed it was almost two a.m. It was clear I would not find who I was looking for tonight. It was possible that albino-looking asshole didn’t even hang out here. It was possible I was going to need to broaden my horizons.

  With disappointment once again clinging to me like an old friend, I paid the bartender and disappeared out the front door and into the night, a horde of phone numbers in my pocket.

  Without even looking down, I pulled the wads of crumpled numbers from my pocket and deposited them into the first trash can I crossed paths with.

  I was thankful that the walk to my new apartment wasn’t far. The night was still and quiet, with a slight chill beginning to form in the Colorado air. I walked fast with my head down, determined to get home in order to get rest. Tomorrow I would plot how I was going to spend the following night luring in that bloodsucker who had taken Austyn from me.

  I picked up the pace, walking faster in these ridiculous shoes. I was a tennis-shoes-and-shorts-with-a-hoodie kind of girl, so I wanted to take off and throw into oncoming traffic the wedges that were currently murdering my feet. But even through the pain, I continued to walk fast, just wanting to get home.

  The last corner I needed to turn to get home was just ahead, and I made my way toward it. Smiling that I was almost there, I folded my arms across my chest and thought about nothing but my nice, warm bed.

  My sore feet took me around the corner, my apartment just a block or so away now. I hated that this alley was a shortcut there, but it shaved off so much time to get home, I couldn’t resist using it. I hurried though it, my building within view now.

  As I was just about through the alley, the end in sight, I felt myself being lifted off of my feet. As I breathed in to scream, a hand was clamped over my mouth, my screams cut off.

  Shoved against the rough brick wall of the alley, my head thumped painfully against it. With a scent of vampire assaulting my nose, and his face just inches from mine, I heard him whisper against my lips, his hard body pressed against mine, “Shhh, little girl. It’ll all feel good in a minute.” His mouth moved from my ear to my neck. I stood frozen in fear. “I’ll make it quick and painless,” he promised silkily.

  Oh, my God. He’s going to fucking bite me! my mind screamed. My instincts instructed me to push against him, to resist. I could feel my blood heating up like I was about to shift.

  Without another word, the vampire brushed his cold breath against my cheek, jawline, and then my neck before a piercing pain ripped through me.

  My mind screamed at me to yell, to cry out of for help, but my screams were halted by his ice-cold hand on my mouth. He removed his filthy fangs from my neck long enough to say, “Scream, and I’ll kill you.”

  His threats meant nothing to me. I wasn’t going to let some dirty bloodsucking leech tell me what I could and could not do. Raising my knee to his crotch, I shoved it as hard as I could into his sensitive man parts, and was happy when I received the desired result. The vampire, clearly still vulnerable to human pain, pulled away from me immediately, screaming out in pain.

  I smiled at his agony, rearing my arm back and smashing my fist into his nose. “Don’t you fucking bite me, you disgusting leech!” I screamed as my knuckles made contact.

  Unfortunately for me, his healing ability kicked in and the only reaction I got from him was anger. After punching him, I had tried to turn and run, but it was no use. He had caught up to me, and with superhuman strength, had dragged me by the hair back into the alley as I screamed the most vile things I could think of at him.

  Reeling at the pain in my scalp, along with being scared and angry beyond belief, I railed against him. I screamed and pulled at his ice-cold hands as they gripped my hair, but it was no use. He slammed me down on the ground and then pinned me against the filthy concrete, his entire body on top of me in a disgustingly intimate pose.

  “Get off me!” I screamed, pushing and flailing against him.

  He just chuckled wickedly and used the palm of his cold hand to press my forehead against the ground, and then he wrenched my head painfully to the side. “How many times do I need to tell you to shut the hell up?”

  I let out another scream.

  Then he leaned down and bit into the side of my neck that wasn’t already torn open and bleeding. He let out an orgasmic groan as I felt his teeth pierce me.

  I screamed out once again, but this time I said in panting, pained breaths, “I’m a wolf, you idiot! My brothers are going to kill you if I don’t find you first after this!”

  That made him freeze. He stopped feeding from me, and then I heard him swallow hard. He looked down at me with his red eyes, blood dribbling off the side of his mouth. Then he jumped off of me. “You’re a fuckin’ wolf?”

  I nodded, tears standing in my eyes as I suddenly remembered that I only now had one brother who could avenge me.

  He began to spit my blood from his mouth, but not much came out. He took off at preternatural speed out of the alley and left me lying in on the cold, hard, filthy ground.

  With my last thought of him knowing he thought the myth that wolf blood was toxic to vampires, I let out a sputtering chuckle. I knew it wasn’t true, but I was happy I had scared him nonetheless. Then, I then passed out.

  I woke later, still lying in the filthy alley, unsure of how much time had passed, but knowing I’d been there a while. Shivering, I feebly grabbed the strap of my purse, which lay just inches from me, and dragged it toward me. I felt around in it until I located my phone. I saw it was well past three a.m., which meant I’d been in this alley over an hour. With what little strength I had, I pushed the button to dial Aden’s number and asked him to come get me. His reaction had been hysterical, at best.

  My vendetta to kill just got another tally. This piece-of-shit vampire, along with the one who’d killed Austyn, and my birth father… they were all going to fucking die… by my hand.

  Chapter 18

  As I blinked open heavy eyelids, my eyes struggled to focus on the group of people around me. Aden, my mom, Ryder, and Sanja.

  I then attempted to sit up, remembering why I had been incapacitated.

  “Shhh,” Mom said, gently pushing me back down onto my sofa. “You need rest.”

  “No, Mom,” I heard Aden say, “she needs to get up and move around. We can
heal faster if we get our blood pumping. But you should know this, since you raised three werewolves.” His tone was bitter and unforgiving, and it made me sad.

  I also didn’t blame him.

  “But she’s already lost so much,” Mom replied, tears standing in her eyes.

  Trying to sit up again, I chanced a glance at our mother. She shot a look at Aden, and then looked down, and I could tell she was hurt by his wounding comments. Sadly, they weren’t anything I wouldn’t have said myself.

  “He’s right,” Ryder chimed in, moving to sit next to me on the sofa. He gently pulled back a makeshift bandage someone must have put on my neck, and winced as he looked at it.

  “Go get me a warm washcloth, please,” Ryder said to no one in particular.

  “On it,” Sanja said, disappearing into the bathroom.

  “I could do a healing spell,” Mom said, wringing her hands together.

  We all looked at her, and for some reason her comment surprised me. I was so not comfortable with the fact that she was a witch yet. Not even close.

  “Also, already on it,” Sanja said, appearing from my bathroom with a washcloth in her hand.

  She walked over to my mom and held the cloth out. “Repeat after me.”

  With wide, excited eyes, my mother simply nodded and placed her hand on the washcloth.

  “Celeriter sanandum,” Sanja said in perfect Latin.

  “Celeriter sanandum,” Mom said.

  They chanted it in unison over and over until I swear I saw small stars float up from the washcloth. But as quickly as I saw it, it was gone. Judging by the gasps from Aden and Ryder, they had seen it, too.

  Sanja then walked over to me and said, “Hold still,” before wiping the blood from my neck. Then she held the warm, wet washcloth firmly against the side of my neck that hurt the most. She closed her eyes and chanted in whispered Latin again.