The Call of the Moon

by Kristy Breckenridge

  “It makes no sense. What you are telling me.” She shook her head, and looked out the window. It was still pouring rain. “I honestly don’t get how it is so dangerous. Because people who…couple up…it’s really no concern to anyone else.”

  “This…is dangerous. And it’s not just because you are human.” Sam said.

  Faye had thought she actually liked Sam, and that Sam understood her more than anyone else here did. But now she wasn’t so sure. Sam was starting to get on her nerves because it really was not any of his concern. None of his business, at all. “I will let Fenrir explain it to you.” With that said, he stood up. “In the meantime, I’d advise you to get some rest. Alright?” He stood there, and even lingered. “And hey…Faye?” He reached out, to touch her shoulder, but she still did not look at her. “I do not hate you. In fact, you are an important role in our lives. You are so important, you don’t even realize it.” With a gentle squeeze, he finally pulled away and headed out of the bedroom, closing the door gently behind him.

  Faye let out the longest, most audible sigh.

  She felt tired and drained, even after having passed out and slept for two hours. She sat there, partially laying back and partially in a sitting position, and felt her eyes getting heavy. Where she felt pain before, there was none right now, but there was a tingling sensation that still lingered there.

  ◆◆◆

  Faye must have fallen asleep, because her eyes opened up abruptly to the sound of commotion. Shortly thereafter, her bedroom door crashed open, and there stood none other than her boss. “Noct?” She spoke in a sleepy tone.

  What the heck was he doing there?

  “Faye.” He rushed over towards her, but stopped as he looked down at her on the bed. “What have they done to you?”

  “You are not welcome here.” Fenrir spoke, while barreling into the bedroom right after him.

  “Fenrir.” She spoke, while sitting up more straight. The headache had gone thank god, but she couldn’t help the blush that touched her cheeks as memories of their night came to mind. Shaking her head, she came back to the now.

  “I do not care whom has welcomed me or not.” He turned to look at Fenrir, who in turn growled in an unwelcome manner. Noct had completely turned around, as Fenrir started after him.

  “Guys stop!” She called out, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. When she stood, she felt….weak.

  So very weak.

  She stumbled back down onto the bed, and brought her hand up to her head. What the hell was wrong with her? “Noct is my…boss.” She finally stated, now looking between the both of them, before allowing her eyes to simply stay on Noct. “How did you know where I was?”

  Noct looked down at her, and it was a sorry look at that. “Look at what you have done to her.”

  Faye blinked. What was he talking about? Did he know?

  “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d have just-” He paused and delivered a hard glare back at Fenrir. “stayed where you belonged.”

  “She walked into my club. On my reservation.” Fenrir argued right back. His club? He owned it?

  “By law you are not to congregate with the humans.”

  Hold the fuck up! Why was Noct talking like that? Human? He knew of their kind?! “Wait a minute.” She shook her head. “What are you talking about, Noct.”

  “Has he not told you? About what they are?” He turned to look back at Fen. “You haven’t told her?”

  “Oh she knows everything. But none of this concerns you. I advise you to step away from my mate.”

  “Away from your mate?” Noct gave a sarcastic laugh. She’d never heard him laugh like that. “A mate that you have destroyed? Look at her. Look at what you have done to this girl.”

  “I didn’t do it. Fate did.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with me, Noct.” Faye interrupted, as she looked up at him. She felt like slumping over and falling to the floor because of how weak she felt. “I’m perfectly fine. They’ve been taking care of me.”

  “Have you not seen yourself, Faye?” Noct blinked, and then his expression turned to hurt…maybe even sorrow.

  She gave a look of confusion. “What are you talking about?” When she looked between the two, Fenrir turned away as if he knew exactly what Noct had been talking about. How long had she been sleeping, to not understand what was going on here?

  “You are sick. Faye.” Noct said. “And you look sick.”

  She was taken aback by that. She had to see for herself, like right now. With that thought in mind, her hands came to the edge of the mattress, and she carefully lifted herself. Sure, she could believe that she was sick, because she felt incredibly weak and drained. So drained she could probably sleep for another, how ever long. She walked just a few feet from her bed, to go to the dresser, that she was thankful to have mirror hanging there above it, on the wall. When she came to it, she was…shocked.

  Her skin, the color looked drained from it. Along her cheek bones, there seemed to be hollowing darkness just beginning to form. Her eye lids appeared to be doing the same number. “Why am I looking like this?” Faye wanted to cry, and she felt that sensation building up in her, that she knew wouldn’t take any coaxing to make a tear fall. She was scared. Horrified even!

  “Faye, we need to talk about something. The woman who is to help us, she is coming early. She should be back in a couple of hours.”

  “Let’s hope that this can be fixed.” She heard Noct speak, as if he were right behind her. Abruptly, she turned and looked over her shoulder. Sure enough, Noct was standing there…literally right behind her. How in the world? “No questions, Faye. Not right now. You will know of everything soon enough.” He brought his hand to her chin, and his thumb rubbed there lightly. This caused a slight growl to come from Fenrir.

  “I need to speak to Fen. Alone.” She said, and brought her arms around herself.

  “I think we have more pressing matters to attend to. Like for instance. I need to buy a new front door, before the owner gets here.” Fen stated, and then he rushed out of the bedroom. She’d forgotten all about the front door. The front door that Roy had ran into a few times in his wolf form, just to get to her.

  “What time is it?” She finally asked.

  “It is going on three.”

  It was still dark outside. She wanted it to be light. Maybe the light would make her feel better.

  “I think you should rest for the time being.” He glanced at her chest. “Where is your necklace?”

  She blinked when he brought up the necklace. “Oh uhm…” She thought for a moment. “I think it’s in my bag.”

  “I want you to wear it.” He said. “I would feel much much more comfortable if you did.”

  “Why? What is a necklace going to do? Is it going to miraculously make me feel better?” She gave a weak smile, and walked back over to her bed. She sat down upon the edge.

  “No.” He started, and looked around. When he found her luggage, that had a tag with her name on it, he immediately began unzipping it. She almost protested, but with one single hand, he made her know he wasn’t having it. “But it is silver. And wolves are not a big fan of that.”

  Just like the books. Just like the movies. How could she have forgotten that?

  “So you know what they are?” She shook her head, as she watched him pull out the familiar piece of jewelry. “How is it you know so much about them, and about my condition, so much quicker than I did? I mean, it took them…days and days to finally tell me.”

  “Like I said, Faye. You will know everything. I promise you. But right now is not the time. You need your rest.” He came over to her, settled down next to her, and brought the necklace around her neck. He moved her hair off of one shoulder, and clasped it into place.

  “I’m sick of people telling me that. I’m sicking of waiting for the unknown.” She looked down. “I’m sick of everything.” She looked over at him then. “I just want to go home.”

  He brought her into h
is arms suddenly, bringing her head down onto his shoulder. “I wish I could take you home, right now. And I may hate that Fen guy, but he is right about one thing. Going home right now, is not an option.” He planted a kiss to the top of her head. “And right now, you need to get some rest. And I will not take no for an option.” He looked down at her. “I need you better, so that you can get back to making coffee for me.”

  She smiled at that. Oh how she’d give anything to just be back home, back to her normal life. But yet…was Noct so normal as he let on to believe?

  “And when you awaken…we will find you some other clothes.” He mentioned, taking a quick gander in her direction, and at her entire form. “I don’t even want to know what happened.”

  She blushed beet red, and he grumbled. Finally, he stood. “Sleep. I’m going to go try and find out more about all of this. See if we can get the ball rolling.” With that said, he headed out the door, closing it respectively behind him.

  6

  When Faye woke, it was day light outside. It made a slow smile touch her lips, because for some reason, the sunlight always made her smile. It was warm, and loving when it cascaded over the land, and especially on her skin.

  Sliding out from under the sheets, she sat there on the edge of the bed for a moment, and yawned. You’d think after all the sleep she had, she wouldn’t be so tired, and yet, she felt like she was hit with a ton of bricks.

  Something caught her eye when she looked down. With her nightgown hiked up some, there was a bruise along her body. When she touched it, it was not tender, which was weird. Maybe she hurt herself somehow?

  Putting that thought away, she went to her suitcase, rummaged around in it for a bit, before deciding on a simple pair of jeans and her white sweater. It seemed fitting for the weather, that was beginning to get pretty darn cold out. The house itself felt chilly and drafted this day, despite how sunny it was outside. So the storm passed well, and left a good day in it’s wake.

  Being weak made it incredibly hard to just dress, but once she was done, she pulled her hair up into a sleek pony tail, before leaving the room completely.

  Walking down the hall, she could hear voices - and more noticeably - a woman’s voice. When she rounded about the corner, all conversations ceased to an end, as they all must have noticed her entrance, and took a long hard glance at her direction. “Oh my…” The woman stated, and stood slowly. She looked at Faye as if Faye had just walked in the house with mud all over herself, and tracking it on the floor.

  She understood why though. Because she’d even frightened herself when she looked in the mirror.

  “I get it.” Faye spoke in a tired tone. “I look bad.” Her arms slid around herself, as she cleared her throat nervously. “I take it you’re the woman who is supposed to help?”

  “I am.” She said, and came to step closer to Faye. The woman appeared to probably sixty, give or take, but she handled herself well. So this was the witch that Roy had mentioned about. She definitely didn’t seem like some old hag with a long bent nose and a witches brew, type of witch.

  Okay, but she did have a witches brew. It was in the entry way of the house.

  There was one thing she noticed. Someone was missing. “Where is Noct?” She asked, and took a glance around the room, and even through the kitchen from where she stood.

  “Noct is sleeping in my bedroom. He had a long trip.” The way the witch held herself, was as if Faye was missing something. As if there were truly a hidden meaning behind the fact that Noct was sleeping.

  “Okay.” She spoke. It was rather odd that Noct would be sleeping, despite if he were tired or not. She would have thought, he would have wanted to at least keep an eye on her.

  Fenrir was the only one who did not appear to register that she was in the living room. She hated that fact, because it felt like, yet another mood swing a’boiling up. “I have just arrived actually, and so, I need to know what is the problem?”

  Faye looked at Sam, and then at Roy, and finally, at Fenrir. He seemed to be looming over something in his head, but then quickly snapped out of it, and stood. “This woman is my mate.” He blatantly said.

  “The human?” The woman blinked.

  “Okay.” Faye’s hands came out, and it was clear frustration was definitely boiling inside of her. “Can we stop with the human bit? I’m me. I’m a person. I’m Faye Reynolds.” She scoffed. “I’m pretty sure, that my kind, definitely outweighs all of you.” She said as a matter of fact. “So can we just…keep that in mind?”

  They were all silent, and the witch was kind enough to at least smile in approval. “Let’s proceed, shall we?” She asked.

  “Faye is my mate. There seems to be some kind of problem here.” He started. He did not come near where Faye was, but instead, stood there in the middle of the living room with his arms crossed over his chest. “She has these markings, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Or any of us has ever seen.”

  “What kind of markings?” The woman said, now stepping even closer to Faye. Her hand came out, and a form of white electricity seeped from her palm. It made Faye take one giant step back. “Please be still dear.” She smiled in a reassuring way. “It will not hurt you, I’m just trying to figure out where-” And then she stopped, right over the spot that Faye had grown accustomed to, in the past week. “I need to take a look at this.” Her brows furrowed together, as if she were deep in thought, or as if she had just discovered something great.

  And as if Faye were just some piece of meat thrown to a bunch of dogs, she lifted her shirt, not giving a care in the world that there were three grown men sitting in the same room with her.

  The witch seemed taken aback, and even stepped back to look up at her, with fear in her eyes. “When did this start?”

  Faye shrugged her shoulders. “Which part?”

  “The vines. I need to know when this started.”

  “I don’t know really. I guess, sometime yesterday?” Fenrir replied. “She had not noticed them before, I do not think.”

  The woman had a sad look on her face. It was even sort of apologetic.

  “These come with great pain, no?”

  Faye nodded. “It’s really bad pain. It’s like…a really bad burn. Or like someone cutting me with a hot knife.” She laughed nervously. “Maybe like…a brand.”

  “I’ve seen something like this before.” The witch stated, and turned to the small group of wolves. “And it was not pretty. At all.”

  “What happened?” Roy said, now seeming entirely interested of what was happening. The witch walked back to the living room, and settled back onto the settee. Faye followed along, but instead chose one of the living chairs.

  “It was in 1534, when a man came to me about his mate.” She sat there very composed and elegant, with her hands in her lap, as she spoke. “The woman had the same problems, that Faye here has now. Only this was not a werewolf and a human situation.”

  “So this is…normal with wolves too?”

  “It can be. If the situation is left too drawn out. Most mates who find one another, usually go for one another for a life time. It is usually not troubled, by whether one wants the other or not.” She paused. “These two were from totally two different packs. Packs that hated one another. But also because their wolves were totally two different kinds.”

  “Dogs?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Unlike the Lycan, which is so much rarer than the wolf packs, they each could not stand each other. Which is quite understandable, since you both are very different. And so, the wolf pack, knew that there was no chance, for them to procreate. It was not even possible, if you think about it. There was no way to have one or the other. It would have been both and that is not even possible.” The witch looked over at Faye, trying to make her understand. “It’s almost the equivalence of a cat mating with a dog. It cannot procreate.”

  She had a point.

  “They are just two completely different beings. And that was what the two packs had a problem with. T
he female had those vines, and shortly thereafter, the male did too. Sometimes, fate just throws a really bad boomerang in our directions. And that is exactly what has happened here.” She motioned between the two of them.

  “How do you know all of this?” Fenrir asked.

  “I will get to that in a bit. But for now, just know that, this is unacceptable. This isn’t supposed to happen. But those two people could have solved a bigger problem from arising, if they would have come together. And…before you say anything, I can see that is not going to happen here, am I right?” The woman was looking between the two of them.

  Before Faye could speak, Fenrir was already doing so. “Correct.” And that actually…bothered Faye.