Moon of Shadows

by H. D. Gordon

  “Once upon a time, there was a young boy who wanted very much to see the world,” he said, and I couldn’t help a small gasp as wisps of scarlet magic appeared and swirled around his fingertips.

  This made his smile grow, his straight white teeth peeking out from behind his lips. For all of my stoicism, I’d always been amazed by magic of any sort. It was one of the things that had helped forge my friendship with Kyra, as she’d always been happy to oblige me with some trick or another. As a Wolf, the only Magic I had was the kind that allowed me to change between forms, and the varying kinds wielded by the other races had always fascinated me.

  I settled back into the cushion on the arm of the sofa, thinking that Eli was even more handsome when his face was lit up with the glow of his Demon magic.

  He waved his hands again, and a cute and smiling boy-like figure was formed out of the flickering scarlet flame that he morphed with his deft fingers.

  “The boy was clever and handsome, and quite tall as well,” Eli continued.

  I chuckled, stifling the sound by biting my lip.

  “He had everything a child could ask for, and was quite pleased with his lot in life, despite it not being particularly grand or unusual.”

  The scarlet magic morphed again and again, showing the boy running and laughing, jumping into a scarlet, rippling lake, having a meal with three other fiery figures. Though they were all happy scenes, my heart clenched. Of course, I knew who the figures were, understood that what he was showing me was private.

  Perhaps the most private thing he owned.

  I wasn’t sure I deserved it, but I listened and watched with rapt attention.

  “One day,” Eli continued, his hands moving gracefully as they manipulated the magic, “the boy and his family decided to move to a new land. This new land was said to be full of opportunity, and the people there were said to be starting a new way of life, a way of life that blended the supernatural races; Wolves living among Fae, Angels living among Demons. A place where one could better their lot in life with hard work and meritocracy. The New World, they called it.”

  I shifted a little in my seat, the urge to take his face into my hands and kiss him coming over me. Ordinarily, I would have acted upon this impulse, but it seemed nothing was particularly ordinary when it came to my relationship with Elian.

  Eli’s face darkened as he came to the part I’d been dreading. “But not everyone in this new world was ready for such drastic changes, for wherever there is change, there is always great resistance.”

  Now the magic moved so that there were all kinds of little scarlet creatures, all children. It danced and swirled, capturing my gaze while twisting my heart, for I knew what was coming. I swallowed hard and held my breath.

  “These people wanted things to stay the way they were. They didn’t believe the mingling of the races was acceptable, and they lashed out at those who were different from them.”

  My body shifted closer to Eli’s as if of its own accord, but he continued on, lost in his tale.

  “Fighting erupted among the people. People did terrible things to one another. The races that held higher status did not want to mix, and so they terrorized those who did.”

  Eli waved his hand again, and three more scarlet figures appeared. Three scarlet ropes of magic hung about their necks, which were bent at an unnatural angle, their feet dangling in open air.

  I sucked in a sharp breath as he dispersed the magic with his fingers. Once again, there was only the boy with the cute face. Only he was no longer smiling.

  “But the boy learned from all of this,” he said, his accented voice lower, almost a whisper. “He learned that it was better to be alone, that one has much less to lose that way.”

  Eli dropped his hands, and the magic disappeared. He looked away, his expression haunted.

  “I don’t know why I told you that,” he admitted. “My original plan was to cheer you up, believe it or not.

  I had to swallow before I could speak. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m glad you did.”

  When he met my gaze again, the pain there was so familiar that it could have been my own. I wished I could wave a hand and make it go away.

  The shadow of ghosts from the past cleared from his face, and he tried for a smile and mostly succeeded. “You can always count on me to brighten the mood,” he joked.

  I stared at him for a moment before acting on the impulse I’d been denying for reasons I didn’t care to examine just yet.

  Slipping my jacket off my shoulders, I tugged my shirt off over my head and moved closer to him, grinning when his eyes went wide.

  “Then let me give it a try,” I said.

  Chapter 25

  He opened his arms to me, and I positioned myself atop his lap, biting back a grin as his hazel eyes moved to the swells of my breasts.

  “I should warn you,” Eli said, though I could hear that his heartbeat had jumped up several paces in his chest, “I tend to be quite emotionally unavailable.”

  Beneath me, I felt something else jump up as well, and heat spiraled low in my belly. I let out a short laugh.

  “We have that in common,” I mumbled.

  And then neither of us spoke again as I lowered my lips to his neck and placed a kiss on the smooth skin there. Eli’s strong body tensed up beneath me, and when I flicked my tongue out to taste him, he shuddered.

  “Are you sure?” he said, his voice deeper now, his breath ragged.

  “Shut up,” I replied, and began a trail of kisses up the side of his neck before nipping at his earlobe.

  “I don’t…” he said. “I don’t want to hurt you… to break your heart.”

  I pulled back, and my head tilted in what I knew was a very Wolfish manner. “Don’t worry. Most people who know me would tell you that I don’t have one, and that you should be more concerned after your own.”

  “Well, then, we’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”

  “Do you intend to talk the whole time?”

  Eli chuckled. And then both of our mouths were occupied for some time.

  Eli’s hands slipped around to my bottom, and he stood from the couch, lifting me easily as I wrapped my legs around him. He carried me up the stairs to the loft, and laid me back gently on the bed.

  My cold heart pounded in my chest, my breasts rising and falling with the air rushing out of me. He was so handsome, and it had been so long.

  He snapped his fingers, and our clothing disappeared. I blinked, my body bare before him, and his bare before me. My eyes went to his flat stomach, to the V shape that pointed in the direction I was ready to go.

  I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the bed. As a Wolf, my strength was impressive, and I flipped him onto his back, taking the dominant position. His eyes flared scarlet, and I knew my own were glowing Wolf-gold as I grabbed him and guided him into me.

  My head tipped back and my eyes closed, ecstasy flooding through me.

  Eli watched me move atop him, gripping my hips with his strong hands, running his fingers down my chest and over the smooth planes of my stomach, pushing himself in deeper.

  We rose and fell together, our bodies saying all the things our mouths would not let us. I’d had several sexual partners in the past, as my sexuality was not something I was ashamed of, but never had it felt like this.

  As we came together, some part of me knew that I was walking a dangerous line here, that despite our mutual insistence that we were not the kind of people who got involved, there was a risk of falling.

  A real risk.

  After we finished, I removed myself from his arms, the habit of immediate departure taking over. But before I could slip off the bed, Eli grabbed my hand and tugged me back to him.

  “Stay for a while?” he asked. “Please?”

  Anyone else, and I would have likely scoffed and grabbed my boots. Instead, I found myself curling up beside him, my head resting in the crook of his shoulder.

  Perhaps it was because we were both quite broken, an
d if just for a moment, it felt nice to let someone else hold us together.

  After all, the urge to run from these feelings came from the fact that we both had walls in place that were too thick for most to penetrate. And the only reason to build a wall was to keep people out, to protect whatever was on the other side.

  I stayed with him for a while, and when he placed a small kiss on my forehead, I wondered which of us would break the other’s heart.

  On the day of Demarco’s showcase, the family gathered in the foyer so that we could travel into Faerport together.

  Even though we all lived in the same house, the estate was large enough that we often went days without running into each other, and with tensions so high, it had been a while since we’d all gathered to do something.

  Each of us was wearing our fine clothing, the twins in pretty floral dresses with white frilly socks, and me in my nice slacks and jacket. Cora and Cecelia wore big hats to block out the worst of the sun, and Zara and Nyla had braided their hair back and placed flowers from the garden behind their ears.

  Devon, as always, looked neat and tidy, his dark hair combed to perfection.

  Kyra and Delia, both silent for their own reasons, also looked beautiful. I sighed and slipped my hands into my pockets, resolving to make things right with them when we got home. I loved everyone in this room so much, and I was weary from warring with them.

  Demarco came out of his room at last, standing at the top of the stairs and looking down at all of us in the foyer. He had cleaned himself up well; his suit likely picked with the help of Devon, and his hair trimmed neatly along his head for once.

  For whatever reason, my throat got tight at the vision of him standing there. I could remember him so very clearly as a wiry, ornery little boy, making trouble and mayhem wherever he went. And, now, as he stood upon the landing in his fine clothes with a proud but hesitant grin… Well, it made my cold heart swell.

  Demarco cleared his throat, and all eyes went to him. I swallowed down the knot that was forming in my own throat and smiled as he spoke.

  “I wanted to thank you all for coming with me today,” Demarco said, “for supporting me for so long.”

  There were smiles all around, and I drew in a breath at the sight of this. It felt like it had been a long while since we’d shared joy together as a family, and it loosened my shoulders to see it now.

  Demarco looked at me then, his face going very serious. There was a glass of shine in his hand, and he raised it to me as Nyla and Zara passed around glasses to the rest of the adults in the room.

  “I especially want to thank you, Dita,” my little brother said. “For so many years, you sacrificed to provide for us—for all of us. You’ve always made sure that we had food to eat and clothes to wear and shoes for our feet. You’re the one who made sure I went to school every day, and delivered a nice swat to my head when I slacked in my work.”

  Demarco gave a crooked grin, and a few of the others chuckled at this.

  Still holding my gaze, Demarco continued, “I know I haven’t been the easiest person to raise, and I’m sorry for it. Because of you, we’ve all been given a fresh start, and I, for one, do not intend to waste it… I love you, Dita.” He raised his glass again, his eyes flowing over all of us. “I love you all.”

  I lifted my own glass into the air along with the others, and swallowed down my heart with the bitter liquid.

  “We love you, too,” Analise said, in her sweet little voice. “Can we go now?”

  Even Devon, with his perpetually weary and worried manner lately, had a laugh at this.

  As the others filed out the front doors of the house, I waited until Demarco met me at the bottom of the staircase, and slipped my arm around his shoulders as we headed out.

  “I do, you know,” I said.

  Demarco raised a brow.

  “Love you very much, that is.”

  My younger brother smiled and placed a kiss to my forehead. “I know,” he said. “I’ve never doubted.”

  I squeezed him closer, savoring the happiness of the moment.

  The showcase was in a small gallery on the southern border of Faerport. In the first floor of a squat building was an open space with clever lighting, a handful of benches, and high ceilings. On the walls, set at measured intervals, were paintings of various things.

  Demarco told me on the way over that there was a theme to the exhibit, but none of the pieces resembled the others as far as I could see.

  I’d asked Demarco what the theme was, but he’d grinned and told me he’d like to hear my guesses on the matter afterward. While I would have much rather just been told, I agreed, because he was so enthusiastic about the whole thing that I would have gone along with most anything just to see more of his smile.

  The space was set up so visitors would flow around the room in a loop, and though there were not too many people present, our group was large enough to make the place look plenty full.

  When we arrived, a Fae female with lovely emerald hair and large, pointed glasses floated over to greet us. She saw Demarco and spread her hands in welcome, cupping his face and kissing both of his cheeks.

  “You must be Miss Charlene,” I said, holding my hand out.

  She took it and kissed the back of it, the others staring on with amused smirks. “And you must be Dita,” she replied.

  I looked over at Demarco, surprised. “How did you know?”

  Miss Charlene smiled, and I suddenly knew why Demarco had taken such a keen interest in the arts as of late. She leaned in close, speaking in a whisper. “Your brother talks about you all the time. In fact, I’ve been rather excited to make your acquaintance.”

  My eyes flicked back to Demarco, who was blushing high in the cheeks. “I can only guess at what he’s said,” I replied.

  Miss Charlene laughed. “All good things, of course. But I knew from his stories that you must have a powerful presence. And then here you are, and indeed you do.”

  She linked her arm through mine, and I ignored the curious looks of the others as she led me around to the first work of art.

  “What do you think?” she asked in her exotic accent.

  I looked at the piece, feeling very much like a fish out of water. On the canvas in front of me, there were strokes of pinks and reds, all contained in a black box. As far as I could tell, it meant absolutely nothing.

  “It’s quite… red,” I answered.

  Miss Charlene laughed. “Indeed,” she said, and pulled me to the next painting. And the next, asking me with each pause what I thought of the works.

  Finally, we came to one that was at the rear of the room, about halfway around the loop that made up the exhibit. As soon as I set eyes on it, my throat closed up as though a deity had clenched it within her mighty fist.

  I was vaguely aware of Miss Charlene’s wide smile beside me, of her careful observation of my face, but I couldn’t seem to care as I stared at the canvas.

  It was rather large in comparison to some of the others, and also done in shades of mostly red, with touches of white and black that balanced the contrast. Though the brush strokes were heavy and a bit crude, I knew exactly what it was as soon as my eyes set upon it.

  Or rather, who it was.

  “How?” I said, glancing around the space and finding Demarco, who was chatting up a couple of other people at the opposite side of the room. As if sensing my attention, he winked at me, and I looked back to the painting before the burning in my eyes could turn embarrassing.

  “I… I had no idea he was so talented,” I whispered, but it was more to myself than to her.

  Miss Charlene nodded anyway. “Very talented,” she agreed.

  On the canvas, in those sharp colors, my brother had painted me in Wolf form, powerful and majestic, my head tipped back as I howled up at a blood red moon.

  Chapter 26

  “Do you like it?”

  I couldn’t help the huge smile I wore. “I’m pretty sure I love it,” I said.

/>   Demarco’s face lit up. “Good… Have you figured out the theme yet?”

  “I’ve got a couple ideas.” I gestured at the painting. “Do I get to keep this?”

  Demarco laughed. “There have been bids on it, but of course you can, if you want.”

  “I’ll double whatever the highest bid is,” I said, waving a hand. “This one is mine.”

  Demarco’s head tilted as he studied his work. “It’s how I see you, you know? How I’ve always seen you.”

  This made my throat tight again. The Wolf in the portrait looked so strong and fierce, so regal in a way that I had never thought myself.

  I kissed my brother’s cheek, repeating my claim upon the painting and earning another chuckle.

  His attention was pulled away by another visitor, and I was nearly bowled off my feet as the twins ran up and wrapped themselves around my legs. Then they saw Demarco’s painting, and their eyes went as wide as saucers.

  “Wow,” Ada said.

  “That’s you!” Ana added.

  I chuckled at this, and they ran off to drag one of the others over to repeat their expert analysis of the painting.

  The showcase went well, and I did indeed win the bid for Demarco’s painting of me. Miss Charlene assured me that it would be shipped to the house by carriage the next day, and when our group left the exhibition later on that evening, our spirits were all high, higher than they had been for a while.

  We all agreed about how proud we were of Demarco, and praised his ability with a paintbrush. Ada declared, that she, too, would become an artist, and asked if I would pick her up some supplies.

  We walked along Sycamore Street, the torches flicking to life along the canal as early evening began to set in over Faerport.

  “I’m hungry!” Ana said, looking up at me with big brown eyes.

  I grinned down at her. “Then I will feed you, my darling.”

  Down the way we found a small restaurant with seating on the outside patio, overlooking the water. The host pushed a couple of tables together for us and retrieved menus. The weather was perfectly moderate, the slight breeze blowing off the canal pleasant. Devon sat at one end of the table, and I at the other, and I met his eyes from across the way.