“Are we being arrested?” Daniel asked, but the cops weren’t inside with us yet. We watched through the metal lattice that separated us from the front seat and saw some of the officers climbing into their cars, while others, dressed in riot gear and carrying full body shields, formed a human barrier and started walking forward. In another moment, the two officers that had ushered us into the car joined us. All the other cars around us came to life and we started creeping down the road behind the human shield.
“Excuse me,” I said, my fingers holding onto the lattice. “What is going on?”
“We’re trying to get the damn things back to the park,” the officer in the passenger seat said. By his tone, I could tell they weren’t trying to be rude or abrupt; they were just consumed with their task.
“At least they believed us,” Daniel said when I let go of the divider and fell back into the seat next to him. I tried not to watch what was going on outside the car, but I couldn’t help but catch a few glimpses of violence as the human shield tried to keep pressing the beasts backwards, catching them with shock sticks and clubs when they tried to sneak around the edges, back to the cars. I flinched when I saw one officer strike down a moon-stricken with the crack of his club across its head, and then again on its back, and then two others converged upon it with their shock sticks, only then making the beast go still.
“Is that necessary?” I asked, but no one answered me. I guessed it was futile to worry about that since I knew we were herding them back to The Great Bonfire where, once they breathed in the cleansing smoke, they would collapse and die before our eyes. Daniel’s hand captured mine, his thumb gently caressing the heel of my palm, trying to comfort me.
Though we were only a few blocks away from the park, it was slow going trying to get the beasts to go the exact route the officers wanted them to go; other cruisers had to leapfrog ahead to block off other roads before the beasts reached them. When we finally made it to the park, the cops left their cars blocking off the roads leading into the neighborhoods – it was the best they could do to keep them blocked in. I think the hope was that the obstacles of the police and the cars would make the beasts run into the park to get away and eventually run through the smoke of the bonfire.
“Oy!” Daniel shouted suddenly, jarring me out of my thoughts. The two officers had gotten out of the car, and it didn’t look like they were letting us out.
“What?” the driver stuck his head back in the car, glaring at us through the grate.
“Are you just going to leave us here?” I demanded.
“Yep,” was his curt reply before he pulled his head back out of the car and slammed the door in our blinking faces.
“Well, what the fuck?” Daniel asked for both of us.
“Why did they even bring us if they were just going to shut us up in the car?” I asked even though neither of us had the answer.
I turned to watch out of the window facing the park and saw the police moving in formation, directing the snarling, snapping beasts backwards. In the distance, the glow of The Great Bonfire could still be seen above the treetops and the billowing smoke curled into the sky. A knot in my chest loosened when I realized this could all be over soon. I was sorry for the families that would lose loved ones, but at least the horror would be over. We could wash the blood from the streets and bury or burn the dead and get past this nightmare.
“Oh, gods,” I whispered, my thoughts of peace evaporating with a new dawning horror; three police officers were baiting a beast backwards with their shock sticks, the tips igniting in sinister sparks. The beast they were attempting to corral was angry and snarling, lashing out with claws and snapping teeth. All the while, the remains of a tattered sundress fluttered around its body, hanging lamely from the halter-top around its neck.
“What is it?” Daniel asked, craning his neck to look over my shoulder at what had caught my eye.
“That’s Roxy!” I screamed, pounding my fists against the door, cursing its lack of a handle to let me out. I spun in my seat and lifted my feet and frantically kicked at the window, but it never gave. Daniel was next to me yelling at me to calm down, trying to contain me, but I batted his hands away with another scream. They were going to kill Roxy! That just couldn’t happen!
“Taryn, please!” Daniel tried again, but his words were lost to me in my panic. I tried to kick out the lattice barrier in front of me, but I only succeeded in jarring myself, nearly biting my tongue. I screamed wordlessly and felt my magic lash out of me, awakened by my mindless rage. The electric power pulsed at my hands and, without thinking, I threw my power at the door and was rewarded with the sound of twisting metal and shattering glass as the door came away from its hinges.
I scrambled out of the car and took off at a dead run toward Roxy and her captors. Daniel was hot on my heels, yelling for me to wait or to stop or something, I couldn’t be sure; my whole world had narrowed down to my goal of saving Roxy. They were almost through the gate of the park. I threw myself at one of the officers, hitting him bodily at the waist, and we crashed to the ground, his shock stick flying from his grasp into the foliage around us.
“Roxy!” I screamed, kicking at the officer under me, trying to get away from him. One of the other two officers looked away from Roxy to see what had happened to his partner, and she took that moment to strike out at him. Roxy struck the cop in the face, sending him reeling and unconscious to the ground. The last officer still standing hit her with his shock stick, making her howl in pain and lash out blindly. I balled up my fist and punched the officer under me with all of my strength, made all the harder with my magic alive in my hands, and he went limp under me.
I got to my feet and rushed forward, yelling and begging the cop to stop, that Roxy was my friend, but he wouldn’t look away from her. I had enough sense still to know if I attacked the last cop, Roxy would probably strike out at both of us. The cop had managed to get Roxy through the gates and started down the midway while I was wrestling with the other cop. I could see the rolling clouds of smoke filling the area, coming ever closer to us. Closer to Roxy.
“Roxy, it’s me,” I said, putting my hands out in front of me, trying to get her to hear me, recognize me. She growled and snapped at me. The pendent around my neck vibrated with power; the closer I got to Roxy, the brighter its light shone, and I could see Roxy’s black eyes narrow at the sight of it.
“Lady, whoever she was, she ain’t now; you’re only wasting your time,” the cop said to me as he continued to urge Roxy backwards.
“Taryn!” Daniel yelled behind me, startling me, but I didn’t take my eyes off of Roxy. Roxy, however, looked towards him, and a nasty bit of drool slipped from her muzzle. In one moment she was taking a step backwards, and in the next she was leaping over our heads and rushing towards Daniel. I screamed and spun on the spot and ran after her. I called on my magic again and used it to propel me forward and leaped onto her back, wrapping my arms around her neck and pulling backwards. We hit the ground hard, knocking all of the breath out of me. Roxy thrashed above me like a turtle on its back, growing and snarling madly.
Suddenly the pendent at my neck flashed bright enough to blind me. Roxy howled and screamed, her back arching, pushing her shoulders into my chest as if she were caught in some horrific pain. Slowly her howl died away to a whimper and, for a second, I thought I heard her sob in her natural voice, but before I could be sure, she was back to the snarling, snapping fur ball of anger. Her moves were more sedate now, as though she were afraid of something and trying to get away from it, rather than trying to get at something to attack it.
“Sunnovabitch!” the third, as yet unharmed, cop said as he circled us, his shock stick held out in front of him.
“Don’t!” I yelled at him, straining to hold Roxy down without getting sliced by her vicious claws, feeling the pendent still burning my skin as if it were trying to repel Roxy.
“Taryn!” Daniel was back, catching his breath with his hands on his knees, staying well bac
k from us.
“Daniel, don’t let him do it!” I screamed and was relieved to see him move towards the cop, making him take his attention off of us.
“Don’t do it, guy,” the cop said, shaking his head slowly.
“Just leave her be,” Daniel said, trying to negotiate with him.
“Look, you guys saw what these things were doing,” the cop said, his voice switching to a calm, soothing tone as if he were trying to talk us off a ledge. “I’m sorry that was a friend of yours, but there’s nothing I can do about this.”
“She’s a Bright Elf,” I screamed. My arms were starting to burn with the effort to control Roxy.
“What does that have to do with anything?” the officer asked.
“All of the others have been human,” Daniel offered.
“So?”
“She shouldn’t have changed!” I yelled, though I don’t know how I knew that for sure; it just seemed that all of the other moon-stricken were humans.
“Taryn,” Daniel said, creeping closer to us. “Didn’t you tell me Roxy was part human?”
“But maybe her elf blood can save her.” I was crying now, feeling the tears rolling backwards off my face and into my hair. I couldn’t let them kill Roxy; she was my best friend and like a sister to me. I just couldn’t sit back and let them march her into the smoke and watch her die.
“If you think her elf blood can save her, then maybe you have to let them try,” Daniel said, his voice low. He was much closer to me now, but still outside of Roxy’s reach.
“No!” I yelled, clutching Roxy’s writhing body to me in spite of my protesting muscles.
“It doesn’t matter,” the cop said, and Daniel and I looked to see him pointing down the midway. When I craned my head in that direction, I saw the smoke had reached us. It billowed and roiled along the walkway and converged upon us. The smoke slipped into me, filling my lungs with the burning, cleansing essence of the bonfire. I sobbed as it washed over us and I felt Roxy’s body go limp on top of me. Her bones were shifting under my arms and legs, her head lulled back on my shoulder, putting her cheek next to mine.
I watched as her face contorted like melting wax until it settled magically back into place and her soft, pale face was hers again. I felt her thick, curling, dark hair cascade over my shoulder when the tuffs of fur disappeared. Her weight was normal again and I clung to her, my eyes shut tight, terrified to see the life missing from her once bright eyes. I rolled us to the side, her body sliding to the ground and off of me, but I kept my arms and legs wrapped around her body as I wept. I could hear Daniel whispering to me, felt his hand on my shoulder, but I wouldn’t turn to him. I wouldn’t let go of Roxy.
And then Roxy coughed. My eyes flew open at the sound and I scrambled to sit up and look down at her. Roxy’s eyes were fluttering open slowly. When her vision came into focus, she looked up at me in bewilderment.
“Roxy?” I asked, choking on her name.
“Tare,” she replied. “What’s going on?”
“Sunnovabitch,” the stunned officer said as that seemed to be the only exclamation he was capable of. I didn’t know what happened, and I didn’t really care just then. I collapsed on top of Roxy, hugging her as hard as my exhausted limbs could.
“Guess you were right, luv,” Daniel said from somewhere behind me.
“About what?” I asked, still not pulling away from Roxy.
“Her being a Bright Elf; maybe her human blood made her a victim to whatever the Madness is, but her elven blood saved her?” Daniel explained.
“What are you talking about?” Roxy asked. Her body was trembling against mine, from exhaustion, I figured.
“Something happened tonight that made a lot of people shift into these,” I struggled for the word, but there really only was one, “beasts.”
“You were one of those people,” Daniel added.
“The smoke from the Great Bonfire stopped them, made them change back,” I said, sitting back finally and brushing the tangled hair back from Roxy’s still confused face. “But it also killed them.”
“But not me?” Roxy asked, catching up slowly.
“I guess not,” I said, sniffing and roughly brushing the tears from my face. The time for explanations was over as other officers were there in another moment, pulling us apart and carrying Roxy over to a waiting ambulance to check her out. They seemed to be mistaking her for a victim of a beast rather than as one of the moon-stricken, for which I was grateful. I looked to the cop who had witnessed her transformation. He was wide-eyed and slack-jawed, but when he saw me looking at him, he closed his mouth and swallowed visibly. I lifted my brows and tilted my head to the side, holding his gaze. Finally he nodded, just once; he wouldn’t tell them Roxy had been one of the stricken. I smiled and nodded my thanks to him before turning to find Daniel’s waiting arms.
The next evening, I asked Daniel to drive me back over to the park. The bodies had been cleared away, and they had started to break down the tents and booths from the failed festival, leaving the area looking abandoned and a little sad. Few people had gone back to work today; the city still reeling from so many deaths, so the businesses in the area were still dark and closed when we pulled up.
We walked through the midway, now scattered with debris, and I recalled the sweet and salty scents from the night before. It had all changed so fast, so horrifyingly fast. When morning came, the clouds started rolling in, obscuring a bright blue sky with their dark, menacing grey. I wondered, if it had been cloudy last night and the moon hidden away, would the nightmare have happened? But it didn’t do to dwell on “what if’s.”
I took Daniel’s hand, intertwining our fingers, as we walked. The Great Bonfire was a black mass, with embers still popping and smoldering; custom dictated that it had to burn itself out, otherwise the magic and power would be rendered weak.
“How long will it burn?” Daniel asked when we stopped in front of it.
“No way to tell,” I said. “Last year it burned for four days before it finally stopped.”
“I guess if it starts raining, it won’t last that long,” Daniel replied, looking up at the sky. I tilted my head back and looked as well. The clouds were darker now and somehow seemed closer than they had in the light of day. I pulled my eyes away from the sky and looked around us. Last night this area had been filled with dancing and music, and now the stains of blood and death were still on the ground.
“At least the rain will wash the shadows of pain and death away,” I said quietly, my voice catching, remembering the thought of nearly losing Roxy.
“C’mon, luv,” Daniel said, pulling on my hand, urging me to look away. We started walking down the sloping hill behind The Great Bonfire. I pulled us to a stop when we had walked far enough that we could no longer see the black mound of the bonfire over the crest of the hill, feeling well hidden by the hill and the coming darkness. I sat on the ground, tugging on Daniel’s hand to sit with me. The grass was cold and a little damp, but I didn’t really care. I pulled my boots off, pushing my toes into the grass, wanting to feel closer to the earth, closer to living and green things.
Daniel settled down next to me, putting his arm over my shoulders and pulling me into the warmth of his body. He was wearing a black motorcycle jacket that was worn and creased, making it soft against my cheek as I snuggled close. After a few moments of quiet, I pushed him to lie back, keeping curled under his arm as I looked up at the sky. It would have been nice to see the stars twinkling so far above us, but the clouds were rolling and thick, and I could feel the storm coming. I felt Daniel’s fingers toying with the ends of my hair as he stared at nothing.
Daniel shifted next to me, rolling onto his side to face me. His features were lost in shadow, but I found his mouth easily with the tips of my fingers, tracing the edge of his lower lip, over his jaw, crooking my fingers under his ear and drawing him down to me. I slipped my hands under the collar of his jacket as he lowered his mouth to mine, pushing it back and off of his
shoulders. He obliged and pulled it off of his arms, blindly tossing it to the side. His hand was in my hair then, his fingers brushing it back from my face, curling into a fist and holding tight while he kissed me. I turned further into his body, lifting one leg to hook over his hip as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
Maybe it was the relief of Roxy surviving last night, or maybe it was the need to erase the terrifying images from last night, but I suddenly needed to feel the warmth of another body, another heart beat pounding in time with mine. I tore at Daniel’s t-shirt, pulling it over his head and tossing it away, dropping my hands to his belt, tugging at it. Daniel lifted me to pull my sweater over my head, my hair flying out in golden wing as the sweater came off of my head. In less than a minute, we were naked and twined around each other on the grass, the blades bending under us, cutting into my bare thighs.
Thunder rolled in the distance and the first few drops of rain struck our bare skin, sliding down the curve of our bodies, settling into the hallows created by our twisted legs and torsos. Daniel was on top of me, his face just inches above mine, his arms under me so that his hands curled over my shoulders and my legs were wrapped around his waist. When he pressed his cock against my opening, pushing deep inside of me, his nails bit into the soft skin of my shoulders. The pain awakened the memory of the bite that had originally brought us together. My body spasmed around him and I cried out his name as the sky opened up and rain washed down all around us.
I pushed at his shoulders, gripping his thighs with my legs, and rolled us over so that I was straddling his hips, pushing his cock ever deeper inside of me, and I began to ride him. The rain cascaded down my body, over my breasts, between my thighs, so cold it made my body shiver and my nipples harden, perking into tiny pink buds. Daniel’s hands reached for my breasts, massaging them slowly, brushing his thumbs over my nipples, over and over again. I rocked back and forth, sliding up and down his shaft, closing my eyes and giving myself over to the feeling of his hands on my body, his body under and inside me, and the magic inside of me began to swell, making things low in my body respond.
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