Moon of Shadows

by H. D. Gordon

Into my head, because the bastard didn’t even dare to speak the words aloud, Bain growled, “I’m going to fuck you, bitch. Then I’m going to kill you. And then I’m going to fuck you again.”

  Rage simmered in me. The threat one no female could take lightly. A familiar haze came over me, the sort that preceded a storm.

  When I yanked his arm up higher this time, I didn’t stop until I heard a very satisfying snap and pop.

  His yowl of pain was music to my ears.

  But at that moment, as fates would have it, a group of ladies in dresses similar to mine came walking around the corner. What they saw was Arsen Bain with a broken wrist and dislocated shoulder, agony written on his face and false pleading in his eyes.

  And me, in my true form, moments before I was about to take another life.

  When they ran off to surely get help for the bastard leaning against the wall in front of me, cradling his ruined arm, Arsen Bain gave me a smile that held promises of things to come.

  Chapter 20

  The sound of the gravel crunching under the wheels of the carriage followed us home. I glanced up at my brother, who sat across from me in utter silence.

  “Devon,” I said, “You should have heard what he said to me. I didn’t start it. It wasn’t my fault.”

  Devon shook his head. “It never is, Dita.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” I snapped.

  He blew out a heavy breath and waved a hand, staring out the window as if he could not bear to look at me. I clenched my fists in an effort to mitigate my anger.

  “Never mind,” he said. “Just forget it.”

  “Do you even care to hear what happened?” I asked. “Or are you just going to take the words of some fancy females who think they saw something they didn’t.”

  Devon turned from the window and looked at me. “So you weren’t about to kill Arsen Bain in the hallway of the Grand Hall?”

  I scoffed, but couldn’t deny it. “You don’t understand,” I said, trying to explain, but Devon cut me off.

  “Let me guess. He made some threat. A threat you couldn’t ignore or let slide.”

  I spread my hands. “Yes!” I said. “That’s exactly right.”

  “That’s my point, D. You’re too quick to react with violence. Gods know I love you more than the moon loves the night, but that’s one of your flaws. It always has been, ever since we were pups. Violence should be a last resort, not a first.”

  My eyes narrowed on him. “You’re wrong about that, and that’s one of your flaws. You’re soft. Always have been, ever since we were pups.”

  “Now you’re just being cross. That’s why I said forget it.”

  I folded my arms across my chest and turned toward the window for fear if I did not, I might literally bite my brother’s head off.

  “I guess there’s nothing more to say, then,” I said.

  We rode the rest of the way in silence.

  When had being in the house become so unpleasant, or had it happened gradually when I hadn’t been looking?

  Devon and I could barely look at each other, and Delia mostly stayed in her room all day, crying and sulking and refusing to acknowledge my existence.

  At first, I could only think cross things about this. After all, what had I done to Delia to deserve this treatment? Other than raise and feed and clothe the little brat? But after another week of this, I couldn’t get Devon’s words to me out of my head. Delia had watched me beat the father of her child to a bloody pulp, and even though I still felt I had not been in the wrong, I was sure she saw things very differently from her perspective.

  On top of this, Kyra had given up trying to talk to me, and I couldn’t really blame her for the way I’d been dismissing her efforts. It seemed to me that the seams were fraying around the edges of my life.

  When I’d taken all of them on that ship, sailed across the great Servian Sea and then halfway across a new continent as well, I had foolishly thought that all of our troubles were behind us. I chalked this former belief up to a key ignorance about how things worked in life.

  I kept expecting some kind of retaliation from the Cartier camp as well, but another week passed and there was no news from them. I wasn’t stupid enough to allow this to lower my guard, but I was grateful for the reprieve, nonetheless.

  I thanked the Gods for the twins, because they were always happy to see me, and I filled up a good portion of my time with them, but when they were at school, there was little for me to do but wallow in my musings.

  Since Kyra had the distillery operation on lock, and my brother had taken control of the business decisions, and Cora and the others managed the house, I found myself in need of something to do. So I started riding the train into Cerys everyday and helping at the pubs.

  At least Gerald was happy to have me.

  A party of Wolves came in to celebrate one evening, and we got so swamped that I was slinging glasses of shine and taking payments along with the other employees. I didn’t mind the work, because it was busy enough that other things couldn’t really infiltrate my thoughts, and it also left me dead tired by the end of the night.

  “You did real good tonight, boss,” Gerald said after the last of the customers left along with the other cooks and waitresses. “I think the staff was impressed. I know I was.”

  I smiled, coming over to the bar and sliding onto a stool. It felt good to be sitting.

  Gerald poured me a glass of water and I drank it with a nod of thanks.

  “You’re the one who’s done a great job,” I said. “This bar is our top earner, and I believe a good part of that is due to your dedication.”

  Gerald beamed. We chatted a little longer before we decided to call it a night. He shut off the lights, and I grabbed my jacket from the back, promising I would lock the door behind me on the way out. I would have to catch the late train home, but I didn’t mind the journey. Currently, it was more relaxing than being at home.

  The torches lining the street outside the pub flickered on the dark pavement, and the moon was visible between the stone buildings. The weather was getting warmer everyday, the spring season in full swing. The evening was relatively quiet for it being a week night, most people in the city having gone to bed hours ago. I actually preferred the off hours. The city looked different at night, as if the darkness transformed it into another world.

  The click of my boots on the pavement was the only sound, my shadow the only company.

  I had just rounded the corner when the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I paused in my tracks. My senses heightened, and though my strong nose and ears picked up nothing, my instincts told me that I was no longer alone.

  I shifted into my Wolf form. I did not have my guns, and tooth and claw were better weapons than feet and hands.

  My head was low between my haunches as I kept moving down the dark street. A hundred paces ahead or so was Sixth Street, which was always busy and crowded, no matter the time or day. If I could make it there, whomever was watching me would likely think twice about a fight in open public.

  But my instincts told me that I would not make it there.

  And, as usual, they were right.

  There were any number of people who might want to stalk and hurt me, but I was surprised when the three Vampires I’d beaten up in defense of Demarco floated out of the shadows. I’d more expected Arsen Bain.

  Three sets of unblinking eyes pinned me, fangs bared as they made to move in. Ears pressed flat to my head, I let out a low growl as my own eyes flared Wolf-gold in warning and the fur on my back stood on end.

  In the space between heartbeats, I braced for the fight.

  They moved in on me in tandem, like a pack of pale devils. I snapped my jaws and caught the one in front of me by the forearm, my teeth sinking deep into the cold flesh. The Vampire hissed at the same moment I felt a powerful impact to my right side and the hard sole of one of the other Vamp’s shoes connected with my ribs.

  I was too large a beast for
this to send me flying, but the growl that tore up my throat was one of pain.

  I whipped my head to the side, my sharp jaws still sunk deep in the other Vamp’s arm, and ripped a good chunk of it free with my teeth. I spat the meat on the pavement and stole another chunk from the thigh of one of the others.

  The fight probably only lasted a handful of minutes, but time is relative, and each blow I gave and received was done so in a sort of heart-pounding slow motion. Blood from both sides splashed the pavement, like splotches of oil under the dark of night.

  Flesh and muscle and bone was shredded between my jaws, but the Vampires were strong, and their combined and continuous blows were taking their toll. I couldn’t feel much beneath the rush of adrenaline, but I knew tomorrow would be a world of hurt.

  If I made it until tomorrow.

  One of them grabbed my tail and yanked it hard enough to elicit a high-pitched, canine squeal from me. At the same time, another sank its fangs deep into my shoulder, and a flood of panic washed over me as I felt him suck blood from my veins.

  Then another set of teeth was in me, on my hindquarters, and more blood was withdrawn.

  The bastards were going to drain me alive if I didn’t stop them.

  I thrashed and jerked, managing to throw one free, but not the other. They were swarming me, and each time I dislodged one, another would leap in from the sidelines.

  Well, then, I thought through the haze, if I was going to go down, then I would take at least one of them with me. No one would leave this street unscathed.

  Stars danced behind my eyes and pain webbed in an explosion through my head as a knee made contact with my temple. The world tilted and blurred at the edges. I snapped my jaws rather blindly and listened to a growl that was so weak it took me a long time to realize it had come from me.

  And the Vamps were still drinking of me, pulling the blood from my veins drop by drop, my head growing lighter with each passing second.

  With my last bit of energy, I focused in on the biggest Vamp of the three and launched my aching body toward him, my maw yawning wide, the target his pale throat.

  When I closed my jaws around it, snapping my powerful teeth shut with the force of an alligator, I heard his final breath left his body.

  The other two Vamps looked on in horror, and then they were gathering up their fallen comrade, and hurrying away.

  I stood for several long, heavy seconds, listening to the pounding of my heart. The light from the handful of torches lining the street flickered, making the blood on the pavement glitter. My pulse was racing, my body trembling slightly even though it was not in the least cold.

  When my legs gave out beneath me, my paws sliding over the pavement, I knew I was going to pass out right there in the street, but there was little I could do to stop it.

  As the right side of my face hit the ground, my vision tunneled in the way it tends to do when one’s body is on the verge of giving out, and I spotted a white card on the pavement not far from my nose.

  I tried to lift my head and read it, though my gut whispered that I already knew what was printed on it, but it was no use. The darkness was calling, and it had plans for me to stay a while.

  Just before I was pulled under, a pair of black boots appeared in front of my face, and a female figure squatted before me, plucking up the white card with scarred and calloused fingers.

  “What happened, sister?” the stranger said.

  The last thing I saw was a beautiful face, and then I was gone.

  Chapter 21

  I awoke, and did not know where I was.

  When I tried to get up my entire body screamed at me. I blinked. I was still in my Wolf form, and there was not an inch of me that was not hurting.

  My head fell back down again, too heavy to hold up.

  “Easy there, sister,” said an unfamiliar voice. “You took quite the beating.”

  It was a terrible effort, but I shifted back into my mortal form. Then I lay panting for a few long moments before I pulled myself up.

  “You’ll heal faster as a Wolf.”

  My vision finally cleared enough for me to see whom was speaking, and I blinked several times to make sure I wasn’t imagining things.

  “Are you…Nia Night?” I asked, though I knew the answer.

  The female before me had been slipping something into her boot, but she straightened now and gave me a grin that was both beautiful and wicked.

  “You know me?” she said.

  I nodded, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed I’d been lying on. “I’ve followed your fights since the beginning. I’ve won quite a bit of money off of you, actually.”

  Her grin faded a little, but she nodded, surely having heard this a hundred times before.

  “Where am I?” I asked. “What happened?”

  Nia was busy filling a bag and strapping various items and weapons to her person. She wore boots like mine, with flat, thick soles, and a black jacket with a deep hood. Her hair was wild and curly, her skin a shade or two darker than mine, but her eyes as green as the rolling hills of the north.

  “I found you on the street,” she answered. “Someone had left you half dead.”

  I suppressed a groan as pain shot through my midsection. I was pretty sure I’d broken a rib. “You should’ve seen the other guys,” I mumbled.

  This made her chuckle, and I had to remind myself that staring was not appropriate, even if I was mildly star-struck. Nia Night was a fighter from the slums, a Wolf who earned a living fighting in a ring against other Wolves, and her record was nearly perfect. Forty-six and one, to be exact.

  “Well, you’re welcome to stay in this room until noon,” she said. “It’s paid up until then. I just didn’t think it right to leave you out on the street in the condition you were in.”

  In all my life, I could count the number of times I’d received such kindness from a complete stranger on one hand, and it never failed to amaze me. I was loyal to my family to a fault, but I’d never been inclined to care about people I didn’t know. I supposed when just surviving took so much effort, it was difficult to concern oneself with anyone else. Or maybe that was just an excuse for my cold heart.

  “I’m in your debt,” I said.

  Nia Night waved a hand and finished with her packing, slinging the bag over her shoulders and pulling the large hood over her head, concealing that magnificent hair of hers. “Females have to stick together,” she said. “I’m sure you would’ve done the same in my position.”

  I shook my head, grimacing as a fresh wave of pain coursed through me. “After the life you’ve lived,” I said. “You still have such faith in people?”

  Nia’s head tilted, and for a moment, I saw the Wolf in her eyes, the Wolf that stepped into The Ring with some of the best fighters our world had to offer, and routinely came out on top.

  “Faith is something we get to choose to have,” she said. “And a hard life is made even harder without it.”

  I swallowed and nodded.

  “Are you leaving?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’ve got a fight in Gnorken this weekend, and the travel will take three days, so I must be going.” She studied me a moment. “You’re a strong Wolf, though. I trust you can look after yourself.”

  One side of my mouth tipped up. “Believe it or not, I’m usually quite good at doing just that.”

  Miss Night nodded and held out a hand to me. I stood from the bed with some effort, taking it into my own.

  “We have that in common then, Miss…?”

  “Silvers,” I said. “Dita Silvers… and I really am honored to meet you. Thank you for picking me up.”

  “You’re welcome, Dita. If you get the chance, do me a favor and pay the kindness forward.”

  I nodded my agreement, though I would likely do no such thing. In my world, kindness could get you killed.

  Just before she left, I remembered something.

  “Miss Night?” I said.

  She turned ba
ck, eyebrows raised.

  “When you found me on the pavement, did you happen to pick up a white card as well?”

  “Actually, I did,” she said, and reached into the inner breast pocket of her jacket. She removed the white card and held it out to me.

  I took it, reading the name printed across it with no amount of shock.

  “That’s a powerful Wolf right there,” Miss Night said, nodding toward the card.

  I released a slow breath, and thanked her a final time. She looked as if she might want to impart another warning, but thought better of it, and opened the door to leave.

  “Good luck with your fight,” I said.

  Nia Night gave me her stunning smile. “Luck’s got nothing to do with it.”

  I did stay in the dingy room in the inn for a while longer, if only to let my body heal a little and to clear my head.

  Sitting on the bed, I stared down at the white card in my hand, reading the name for what had to be the millionth time in the past hour.

  Carson Cartier, it read.

  Now, was there a possibility that the card had not been dropped by one of the Vamps? That it had been coincidently lying there on the pavement before my face? Yes, of course. I hadn’t dropped it, because I still had the card Cartier had given me. I examined the two, identical in every way.

  The son of a bitch. If I was right, then I had been all along, and Cartier had been behind not just Demarco’s attack, but the one on me just now as well. Either way, I had to tell Devon and warn the others, and this time, I would need to make them listen.

  My brother thought males like Cartier could be handled diplomatically. I fundamentally disagreed.

  I stood from the bed, the small room quiet around me, suddenly anxious to get back home and watch over my family.

  My body was still battered, and for the second time in a moon cycle, I had taken a real beating. I was hoping that it wasn’t going to become a habit.

  It took longer to get to the train station than it would have had I not been limping along like a crazy person. In fact, the female who sold me the ticket asked if I needed medical help, but snapped her mouth shut and went back to minding her own business when I only looked at her.