Waxing Darkness

by Jose Luis Solorzano

Chapter Sixteen: Actions

  Too slow to save them,

  They must face the aftermath.

  Prepare for next time.

  Luis’s limp didn’t seem to get any better as they made their way back to his house. Luna and Phil knew that a werewolf’s body was resilient and could talk almost anything. The blood had appeared to stop flowing out of the wound, but he wasn’t healing up as quickly they expected he would. The knife must have dug in much deeper than they had anticipated. Through it all, Luis still insisted that he was fine, that he was proud of his scar.

  As they got closer to the house, they noticed a bright orange glow slowly rising in the distance. It was too early for it to be the sun; Phil worried about the worst. With Luna and Chelsea by Luis’s side, he ran up ahead to see what the damage was. The trio walked, side by side, awaiting their leader’s return.

  “I still think you’re an idiot coming back for me,” Luna nagged. “I almost had him off of me by myself; I didn’t need you to help me. It’s my fault that you’re like this.”

  “Quit it, Luna,” Luis told her, doing his best to increase his speed, ignoring the burning pain. “You weren’t fine; that guy had you pinned to the ground. I couldn’t just let you get hurt. I’m proud of my scar. If I’m an idiot for saving someone I care deeply for, then I’ll proudly take that title.”

  “They do say only idiots fall in love,” Chelsea added, trying to add humor to the situation. She then thought back to the ending of their battle. “What I don’t understand is why we couldn’t attack them at their hideout. I mean, we had them right there, they were ours. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Maybe it was for the best,” Luis commented. They were getting closer and closer to the house, the light becoming brighter and brighter. “Think about it, we all weren’t in the best of conditions when we reached their hideout. Those vampires could have probably easily overtaken us. At least now, we bought ourselves some time to come up with a plan.”

  “We need to figure out why we can’t go into their hideout.” Luna insisted. “As long as that shield of there is up, they’ll always be able to retreat back there whenever things become too dicey for them. Once we get rid of that line of defense, then we can start worrying about taking them out.”

  “It’s obvious that the treaty is still in effect,” Chelsea told them. Both Luis and Luna looked and Chelsea, completely dumbfounded. “Think about it for a second, as long as the treaty is in effect, you can’t kill them or enter their base. You may have seriously injured them as they did us, but they do have the ability to fix up their bodies. I don’t know how they’re doing it, but that contract is still in effect, meaning that we cannot kill each other until it is broken.”

  They had reached the corner where they would enter the street where Luis’s house was. The light was brighter than ever. Before they turned, Phil had cut them off. His eyes were like glass, focusing mostly on Luis.

  “Turn back,” Phil instructed them. “There’s nothing for us to see here. We need to go to Chelsea’s house. You’re going to have to go buy Luis and me some clothes as soon as you guys change back into your human forms. I don’t want any questions, just do as I say. Now!”

  “What the hell are you talking about,” Luis said, breaking past Phil.

  Luis turned the street, only to be greeted by the grimmest sight he could ever imagine. Right in the lot where his house was supposed to be was a giant, unforgiving flame. A number of people were standing outside the house, screaming for help. There was nothing anyone to do to douse the flames. The structure collapsed on itself, the foundation becoming far too weak to support itself anymore. There was a loud crash, a couple of screams, the sound of an explosion from the property. The fire had grown much taller, a bright mushroom cloud rising from the flames.

  Luna appeared by Luis’s side, her eyes latched onto the flames. She did her best to avert Luis’s eyes, to get him away from the sight. She used her head to move his body, avoiding hurting his cut leg as much as people. Chelsea joined in, doing her best to ignore the flaming building. Luis’s heart had sunk. Ignoring the pain, he ran away from the house. There was no way this could have been just a mere coincidence. He felt stupid for allowing that vampire into his mind. It didn’t matter to him how long it took, he was going to break the shield and kill every single one of those vampires.

  “Get back here,” Phil ordered.

  “Just leave me alone!” Luis told them, running as fast as he could.

  “Luis, please stop,” Luna asked him as she tried to catch up. She was amazed by how quick he was going with his deep wound. “You have to listen to me. You can’t change anything; they’re going to kill you if you go anywhere near there without a plan.”

  “Then I’ll take as many of them as I can with me,” Luis growled at her. “Stay away Luna. I’m not letting anyone stop me.”

  Luis had increased his speed, unable to ignore the pain that was burning from his left side. He began to whimper with every single step he took. Luna knew that if he didn’t stop, it would cause serious damage to his entire body. Desperate to stop him, she increased her speed and jumped. Luna tackled Luis to the ground, the two of them beginning to roll down a ditch. Luna made sure that she had Luis pinned down to the floor, making sure that he wouldn’t try any way to escape.

  “Let me go Luna,” Luis barked; his tone much harsher than he had ever spoken to her with before. “What if it was your house that burnt down with those you cared about inside? Would you let me stop you?”

  “Just shut up,” Luna ordered him, her tears falling onto his fur. “You have every right to be upset. I’d probably act the same way if I was in the same position, but I know that you’d do anything to stop me from doing anything stupid. Your family didn’t deserve what happened to them, and the vampires will pay for it. Don’t let their death be in vain by you doing something stupid. I know it’s not much, but, you still have me. I’m not going to abandon you Luis. You can’t allow them to get to you. I love you.”

  Luis’s rapid breathing began to slow in tempo, his rage slowly becoming calmer. He knew that Luna was right; he would go after her and try to stop her from doing anything that would risk her life. Since day one, Luna had been his best friend; someone that he could always find comfort in. Chelsea and Phil followed them down into the ditch, checking to see if Luis had gone through any more damage. Miraculously, he didn’t seem to have damaged his wound any further than it already was. They all helped Luis out of the ditch, and they all ran away from the glow, to a much safer place.

  Drake didn’t seem to wrap his mind around the entire mess. Everything had gone according to his plan, just like he imagined it. He wanted to lead the werewolves to their complex, making it easier for him to finish them off. Once they were all gone, then he would be able to take the entire town hostage. As long as the pack lived, he still wasn’t free. As the sun began to rise over the mountains, he tried to figure out why the treaty was still protecting them. Quietly, Alexis made her way into his chambers, her body shaking. Everyone knew not to mess with Drake when he was in one of his moods. He turned to her, his face unsympathetic towards her.

  “What is it that you need,” Drake asked Alexis with a voice that could cut through glass.

  “The girl, she’s awake,” Alexis informed him, her voice very shallow. “Drake, what are we going to do with her.”

  “That is of no concern of yours!” Drake sneered at Alexis. “I will do with her what I please.”

  He quickly made his way passed Alexis and out of the room. Alexis remained standing in Drake’s room, clutching deeply to her chest. She couldn’t understand what was wrong with her body. For a long time now, she was in love with Drake; she believed that he did have her best interests at heart. She thought that all of these new members were Drake’s way of granting one of her life long dreams, having a family. Alexis didn’t want to bring herself to face the reality that was her current situation. She didn’t want to see the man she loved as a power
hungry tyrant who only cared for himself.

  But he kissed me, he pleases me, Alexis thought to herself foolishly. That has to mean he loves me, right? He’s just frustrated, not sure about what he wants to do next. He was going to free our family tonight, but his plans were postponed. Drake does love me. He wasn’t able to save me from getting my arm ripped off because he was busy dealing with the wolves, not because he didn’t care. He does love me. Mistakes happen, and we need to know how to forgive others for the mistakes they make, no matter how severe they are. Drake, he does love me.

  Drake made his way down the building to the sixth floor. He expected Maka and Karin to obey his orders in bringing the prisoner to this floor and make sure that she is securely locked their hostage up. They had taken out a group of police officers only a few nights prior, so they had the proper kind of restraints in case they needed some. As he left the elevator, he was being followed by Light, who seemed very curious with Drake’s plans. He knew better than to ask ridiculous questions when Drake was in such a foul mood. Standing outside the door was Karin, who was keeping the girl within a trance.

  “Release her,” Drake ordered Karin. “We need this girl to keep her sanity. She’s useless if she doesn’t even know what’s real or fake anymore.”

  At once, Karin broke the spell that she had on the girl inside. Her eyes appeared to be in a daze, her throat severely inflamed. Ashley and Drake met eye to eye, her right arm handcuffed to a water pipe; she didn’t seem to be struggling at all to get away. This oddly intrigued Drake’s mind much more than the treaty for the time being.

  “Do you know where you are,” Drake ordered out of the girl.

  “No,” Ashley answered weakly.

  “Where were you before you ended up in this place?” Drake forced the question onto her, as if her very life depended on her answer.

  “I had gone to sleep in my room,” She answered after a brief pause. “When I woke up, this place was padded, but when you entered, all the padding when away. It was like magic.”

  “What is your name?” Drake asked. He knew that she was going to fall unconscious again very soon, but he needed to know as much from her as possible.

  “Jessica,” Ashley lied. She may not have been in the proper state of mind, but she didn’t want to reveal to them her true name. Ashley told the strangers the first name that popped into her mind.

  There was nothing more that he wanted to ask the girl for the time being. He left her in the room as she began to cry herself to sleep. If he was going to keep her here, then he was going to have to learn how to satisfy her human needs. There was no way that he was able to leave the hideout now, but he was going to have to get the young woman food, water, and whatever else they required to keep her alive.

  He closed the door behind him, and locked it, making sure that no one else was able to get into the room, no matter what. Everyone followed him as they ascended back to the thirteenth floor. No one was willing to speak to anyone, fearing an early death. None of this was supposed to take place; if everything had gone according to plan, the young hostage would have become a snack for them.

  Light seemed lost in trying to track Drake’s thoughts; it was another moment where he feared that Drake was going way off track. To him, there was no need to keep the human girl as a prisoner, even if she was the sibling of a werewolf. It was obvious that the girl was human; if she was anything else, she wouldn’t have been able to cross the barrier that was keeping them safe in the first place.

  “Why don’t we just turn her into a vampire,” Light asked as everyone paced around the thirteenth floor, trying to make sense of everything. “What do you think is going to hurt that kid more, knowing that his entire family is dead, or knowing that his very own flesh and blood is now his enemy?”

  “You talk too much,” Drake muttered to Light. “Maybe if you learned to shut your damn trap for a few minutes, then you’d be able to think and figure out why I haven’t changed that stupid girl yet! Tell us Light, do you have any other plans that we could use? I’m sure we’d all love to hear you input and lead us straight to the Gates of Hell!”

  No one moved. If Drake wanted to take down Light, then there was no way they were going to stop him. If anyone tried to stop him, they’d only end up dead as well. Light looked for help from his sister, who wouldn’t even look him in the eye anymore. He had completely severed ties with her. His knees buckled, waiting for Drake to come in and finish his life. Seconds passed, and anticipation built.

  “Don’t misunderstand what is going on here,” Drake informed Light, also directing his anger at the rest of them. “The only reason that he is still alive right now is because we need him in order to take down the wolves. From this day on, you are merely a tool, used to craft our escape from this situation. If you ever think about crossing me, or questioning my authority, even for a second, I promise that I will end your life quickly. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

  Light nodded. Norma had rushed to his side to comfort him. She held onto his side, but he couldn’t figure out why. Light couldn’t understand why this girl was hugging him in such a way, after what he had just gone through. Maybe she was simply happy that they made it through the night and wasn’t killed by the werewolves. He raised his arms around her, simply to mimic the actions that Norma did. There was no emotion in his actions; this was the opposite of how he wished to feel. Norma released him, now simply clutching onto his hand. She held on tightly as they awaited their new orders from Drake.

  “You may be asking yourselves, ‘What is our next step’,” Drake began, giving himself time to think. “It is obvious that we are protected by this shield, but that also means that we cannot destroy the menace that wishes to destroy our lifestyle. Somewhere in that ancient treaty that Alexander forged so long ago is some sort of loop-hold. Magical treaties are the strongest bond in the world; it consciously knows when it has been broken and punishes the party that severed it apart. For all intents and purposes, we have not broken this ancient deal. To this, I say, that we continue with our ways and do as we have done; feed on the blood of the humans, all of whom who are guilty of simply living, and convert those who are worthy of a second chance.

  “As for the girl, we need her alive,” Drake continued, pacing around the room. “As long as she is alive, the wolves will stop at nothing to get inside. That will work for our advantage. They will find whatever means possible to break the contract themselves, doing our job for us. And once they have found a way to break the treaty; that is when we strike. They will act like fools and come in after us, only to be trapped by their own blind justice. Then, once they have been extinguished, we will test if the girl is worth enough to join our ranks.”

  Everyone lightly cheered around him, not bombastically, but enough to feed his ego. He knew how to speak to others, to get others on his side. Drake was a master of fallacies and manipulation. Everyone was blindly being led by him, not knowing the truth of what happened when Alexander disappeared. Even if he decided to tell them what truly happened that night, he knew that they would still follow him wherever he told them to go. They were all his tools, crafted to be used until something better or stronger came along. As soon as that time would come, he would get rid of the old, as he did with Alexander.

  The Sunday morning sun was covered behind the grey storm clouds. Inside of Chelsea’s apartment building, she had returned with a fresh purchase of men’s clothes. She walked into the room, where Luna was quietly watching television right next to two giant wolves. If anyone else had walked into the room, they would have figured they were imagining things or have just gone completely mad. Phil was the first to enter the bathroom to transform. Luis had been curled up into a ball in the corner of the room, hiding in the shadows. Chelsea knelt down next to him and petted his head. She could only imagine the kind of pain he was going through. As soon as Phil exited the bathroom, Luis trotted over to get changed.

  The process of transforming was painful for Luis. As a human, the c
ut manifested itself entirely on his left shoulder. If it had gone any deeper or was implemented a little bit lower, he would have most likely been much more severe. Luis groaned and ached as he tried to get his clothes on. Tears fell from his eyes, trying his best to place on his shirt. As Luis left the bathroom, he was met with Luna, who did her best to smile.

  “Chelsea told me to help you with this,” Luna informed him.

  In her hand was a small sling for his arm. He realized that he had probably caused serious damage to the inside of his arm by doing all that running. He simply nodded, taking a seat on the bed. As Luna tried her best to get the sling around him, he stared at an empty spot at the ceiling. He never thought that the death of his family would have done something like this to him. They always fought and hardly ever saw eye to eye. He couldn’t wait to get out of the house and have his own life. But now, he was depressed. There was no one left around to bug him, whether it be someone to bring him down when he was feeling proud, or to make his life much rougher than it needed to be.

  “Y’know,” Luna began in a soft voice, “when I was a little girl, I always wanted to be a nurse. I’m pretty good at this sling stuff.”

  “A nurse?” Luis lightly chuckled. “How would you do that with balancing being part-wolf; it seems almost impractical.”

  “Yeah, I know that now,” Luna told him, making sure his arm was tilted at a decent angle. “When I was a kid though, I didn’t think about that stuff. All I wanted to do was help people when they were feeling sick and help them get better. It’s the doctors who get all the credit for making their patients better, even though it’s the nurses who do all the work.”

  “She’s right,” Phil commented. “I remember when we were kids and I got sick with the flu and she kept bringing me glasses or orange juice. The only thing is she never stopped bringing them, so a lot of the juice went warm. And she wouldn’t leave my room until she saw me finish every single glass. In the end, she got sick as well, but she always checked to make sure that I was okay.”

  Everyone in the room began to laugh. They were all facing the television which was on a news show, talking about the fire at Luis’s house. They listened and heard that there have only been two bodies found throughout the rubble, the bodies of two full grown adults. Luis began to smile, beginning to hope that Ashley had snuck out in the middle of the night. Nothing else seemed to be found at the site that shows how the fire started.

  “We got a friend down at the police station who’s a witch,” Phil told Luis. “We’ll tell him that you were with us the entire night, and he’ll come up with an alibi for you that he can sell to the rest of the force. We’re not going to have them suspect you for arson just so you can collect the insurance.”

  “Thanks,” Luis said weakly. It wasn’t the best news, but at least it wasn’t bad news.

  “They probably got your sister though,” Phil continued. “I don’t know what they’ll do with her though, hold her hostage, kill her, or maybe turn her into one of them. Anything’s plausible. What we need to do is find out why the treaty isn’t breaking and figure out a way to break it ourselves. Where going to help your sister Luis, that’s a promise.”

  “So, what are we going to do now,” Chelsea asked.

  “We’re going to leave this place once our semesters end,” Phil said. He knew that everyone in the room trusted him. Everyone in the room was thinking the same thing he was: they needed to look for someone who knew about treaties and how to break them. Luna and Phil couldn’t return home, and they knew Rick was never going back. They hoped that on their journey, they’d find Rick and have them join their team.

  “We’re going to start in Los Angeles,” Phil continued. “I’ve heard somewhere that there’s a powerful witch there who could probably help us. If anything, it’s a start to get us going in the right direction. We can’t just sit on our laurels as the vampire’s take over the town. We’ll only be gone for a little while, but it’s for the best if we want to save everyone else.”

  Silently, everyone was in agreement. They were going to find a way to bring an end to their enemies, and looking around was the best way to start. They were hoping to find allies who would join them in their cause, or at least aid them in any way possible. They needed to raise their numbers, for they knew that the vampires were raising theirs. Some would say that it would be impossible for them to take out the vampires, to just surrender with their tails between their legs and not interfere. But they knew that fighting was the right thing to do.

  Luis shifted his gaze over to Luna, who smiled at him. She planted a small kiss upon his lips. They tightly held hands as they planned on their new life together. They were in love with each other, and they loved Phil and Chelsea as well. It was a small, but it was a family, a real family. She wrapped himself around Luis and Phil started to plan their movements.

  THE END OF BOOOK ONE