By the Red Moonlight

by Amanda Meuwissen

  “If there’s ever any doubt, any danger at all, ever again, I’ll be the one who kills him.”

  For now, Gordon took up the basement bed that Leo had vacated, and that Ethan had stayed in originally too. It was a cell but with a desk, all the books Gordon could want, anything he might ask for, and later, when it came time to feed, Robert would be present and Ethan too, to ensure Gordon never enthralled anyone again.

  With Gordon held captive, Nell was able to correct the runes she’d placed on Ethan to protect him from Leo to now prevent Ethan’s true sire from swaying him. Ethan believed he could resist his father of his own will, but it comforted him, nonetheless.

  Nell also ensured that Gordon would stay unconscious through the night. Eventually Ethan would face him, but he lost himself in the bustle of the house when he first woke up the next morning.

  Bash had let him sleep in, something Ethan hadn’t thought he could do anymore, being a vampire, but he’d needed it, because he felt refreshed, if still bothered by the weight in his stomach.

  Entering the kitchen, he found Bash with Leo. Bash quickly gave them each a nod and excused himself.

  “You’re going back to Glenwood?” Ethan asked.

  “The Alpha there promises to continue giving me asylum now that this has been resolved.”

  “Oh.” Ethan glanced away. Leo had still lied to him, veiled him from having lasting relationships outside the two of them for years, but he’d done it all trying to save Ethan from everything that had happened the past two weeks.

  “I hope you can forgive me someday,” Leo said, not trying to touch Ethan or do anything but say goodbye, “as you are trying to forgive your father.”

  “I’d like it if you visited once in a while,” Ethan said when Leo turned to go. “I can visit Glenwood too. And call. I’m trying to start over with Dad, but I want that for us too.” He had so little family from when he was growing up, he didn’t want to lose either of his fathers.

  It was strange, Ethan thought, when Leo smiled at him, that he’d never noticed before how the man hadn’t aged since they met.

  “I’d like that. I must ask, though. Are you sure you’re doing the right thing with your father? He’s powerful and dangerous. He could have killed countless people and taken over the entire city.”

  “Why didn’t you ever try to kill him?” Ethan asked instead of answering right away.

  “He’s my child, in a way, my responsibility. Just like with you, Ethan.”

  In the end, that was the only answer that mattered. “And he’s still my dad. I have to believe I can reach him. He’s lived in Centrus all this time, and they never knew there was a vampire here. He must have been feeding without killing anyone… even if it was only to bide time. He’s worth believing in.”

  “I really am sorry, Ethan. For everything.”

  “I know.”

  “It’s my fault. You are allowed to blame me more than him.”

  “It’s not about blame, Uncle Leo. All that matters is healing.” Ethan moved forward, feeling more confident in where they stood with each other, and they hugged, lifting one of the many weights from Ethan’s shoulders.

  Jay and the Thorntons were leaving, too, back to Brookdale. They’d been in Centrus City for weeks and needed to return home. They were saying their goodbyes in the living room after Ethan saw Leo to the door, everyone much more cordial with each other than they’d been before Ethan entered their lives, which he supposed meant he hadn’t screwed things up too badly.

  Theresa and Nell were chatting, the two resident humans in a house full of monsters, while understanding that sometimes the real monsters weren’t what you’d expect.

  “Ethan!” William flew over to tackle his legs with a hug. “Thank you.”

  “What for this time?”

  “Everything. I think I can still make my project work too. Now I can have a section about how traumatic events make it even harder for people to remember things. It’ll make a great conclusion for the science fair. It’s next week, so… maybe you can come?”

  Ethan was amazed by this kid, who still managed to turn something terrible into something good. “I’d like that.”

  “You and Bash can both come,” Theresa said as she joined them. “Have to keep diplomacy alive after we’re home, right?”

  “About that,” Bari said somewhat cryptically. Others were closing in too—Bari, Bash, Maximus, and Jay—the house positively alive and optimistic even with the new boarder in the basement. “I was talking with Jay before we all parted ways last night, and given the unprecedented situation with vampires and Seers and Nulls, oh my, maybe I’d be best served acting as ambassador for a few months. See what Brookdale has to offer.”

  “What about your job at the museum?” Bash asked in suspicion.

  “They have museums in Brookdale.”

  Ethan failed at hiding his smirk, especially since Bash looked unconvinced, and Maximus rolled his eyes.

  “It is extraordinary that this city hosts a Null and a Focus,” Jay said, “as well as an Alpha and vampire with parentage of a Seer and Focus, each able to harness both powers. You’re a city to keep close ties with.”

  “Even without a marriage?” Bash asked.

  “I told you, Bashir, I don’t need that kind of bond to want to help my neighbor. All that’s happened here will cause a stir with the other cities, but I’ll vouch for you. I’m sure Kate will too. Any emissaries just need to meet you and Ethan together, and I doubt they’d be able to resist what it feels like to be around you.”

  “Which is?”

  Jay smiled a little somberly but admitted, “Right. Although….” He glanced at his feet like a much younger man fighting a blush. “If you’d prefer additional assurances, there is precedent for marriage arrangements to pass to members of the inner circle or… to a member of the Alpha’s family. If any of the cities balk at all this.”

  “There’s precedent for that?” Bash questioned slyly.

  “Of course!” Bari piped in. “You never pay attention to history when it doesn’t suit you, brother.”

  “Are you volunteering, brother?”

  “Whatever gave you that idea?” Bari shared a brief smile with Jay. “I’m simply going to be ambassador in these unpredictable times. Anything else that happens can do without labels. For now.”

  Jay was definitely blushing.

  Deanna broke up their congregation to steal Bash and Bari away, and Maximus came forward to shake Ethan’s hand without saying more, though that gesture alone said so much. After a quick hug from Theresa and another from William, they headed for the door to await Jay outside.

  Ethan assumed Jay was simply waiting on Bari, but he stayed beside Ethan and offered a hand to him too.

  “Um, I….”

  “No more needs to be said, Ethan. Some things turn out the way they were meant to,” Jay said, prompting Ethan to accept his hand gladly. “Besides, Bari and I have a lot more in common.”

  Ethan chuckled. He’d had a feeling. “Plus, he is super hot, right?”

  “Super hot,” Jay agreed, and they laughed, smiling and parting as friends.

  Left alone, Ethan looked around at everyone still in the living room or just outside in the halls. Of course there was Bash and Deanna teasing Bari about having his bags packed already for his new adventure, a group Jay soon joined to say his final goodbyes.

  There was Nell, coming back from seeing the Thorntons out—Ethan thought maybe she and Theresa had exchanged numbers to stay in contact as a rare breed of pack-humans. Nell joined Preston on the sofa, who was showing some basic magic to Jesse. She hadn’t officially moved in yet, but she’d been there since breakfast apparently, getting to know the inner circle and the den.

  Siobhan sat close on the floor like she preferred, explaining to Jesse that she could learn from everyone if she liked, get a feel for combat, magic, stealth, maybe even find a place as an inner circle member herself one day.

  “When I retire as Warden�
�—Siobhan stretched out her legs—“I plan to leave a kickass replacement.”

  Deanna came up behind Ethan then, stopping to pat his shoulder. “Let me know if you want to skip your shift at the shop later.”

  “No, I… I think I’ll need the break, after I’ve spent some time with my dad.”

  “Whatever you need, leech,” she said.

  That was the way everyone was here, even if a little rough around the edges—accepting, communal. Even Rio was present this morning. He hadn’t known he was a Focus, but he knew everything now. They’d been trying to ease him in, considering waking up in Ethan’s childhood home amidst all that chaos had been a shock. Still, he seemed to be acclimating well.

  He and Luke were currently in a friendly, though heated, argument about what Ethan was certain revolved around Pokémon and had likely been inspired by Rio’s Bulbasaur tattoo.

  “Darling.” Bari startled Ethan, suddenly right there beside Deanna.

  Ethan accepted Bari’s hug with gusto.

  “Now, you just say the word if you need me to come back, and I will take the first train from Brookdale.”

  “I’ll be fine. I think it’s going to be just me and Dad and a lot of talking for a while.”

  “Even so. You call and let me know how you’re doing.”

  “I will. And you too. I want to hear all about your… ambassadorship.” Ethan grinned, and Bari let out a laugh that was mischievous and carefree.

  “It will be an interesting few months at the start, I think. For all of us.” Bari raised an eyebrow at Ethan and then turned to Deanna with much the same expression.

  She didn’t bother hiding the way she looked at Rio. “Round-robin of gossip weekly?” she suggested. “Without Bash. He’ll just be a drag.”

  They agreed it was a date.

  “Now come on.” Deanna grabbed Ethan’s arm after Bari went to say his goodbyes to the others. “You need to help me get Rio settled. He’s family now too.”

  Ethan never used to think he’d have so much family to go around. It soured him for a moment, since his flesh-and-blood family was a prisoner downstairs, but he refused to let that ruin all the good he had around him.

  Especially when he glanced into the hallway and his eyes met Bash’s, who didn’t seem to mind how any of this had turned out.

  Later, when everything was still and Ethan had assured Bash that he was fine visiting Gordon alone, he went down to find his father awake on the edge of the bed and sat in the chair across from him.

  “Hi, Dad.”

  “Ethan.” Gordon reached for him, but Ethan shook his head, raising his hand in kind to gesture for Gordon to stay seated, mirror images in that moment, as if glass separated them.

  “Not yet. Not for a while. We’re going to take this slow. But you are going to listen to me.”

  Epilogue

  MAYBE, IF Bash thought hard enough about it, he did love Halloween again like he had when he was little, but he’d have to wait until next year to know for sure.

  The prophecy, at least, had not turned out at all like he’d expected, and he was grateful for that.

  “You’re sure you don’t want to see it first?”

  “More than sure, Ethan. I trust you.”

  Ethan hummed approval, finished placing the stencil paper to transfer the design onto Bash’s skin. All that remained was to trace the lines and then color the picture in ink, something Bash had never experienced, but he wasn’t afraid of needles.

  He didn’t know what Ethan was going to ink him with, simply asked for it to be on his left shoulder, only as large as the expanse of the blade, and for it to be something to remember the past few weeks by as they finally began to move on.

  It was a new beginning for them both.

  Bash didn’t so much as hiss when the needle first pressed to his skin. It hurt, but there were times when it was almost numb tracing over scar tissue, even a few places that felt pleasant, like scratching a deep itch.

  “What are we doing after this?” Ethan asked, hushed as he worked, though there was no one to disturb them. Siobhan and Deanna had long since locked up for the night, leaving them in the back of the shop. “You said you had something to show me.”

  “I do. A promise to keep. Took a little longer than expected, but we’ve had a lot on our plates organizing things with Brookdale, settling the pack….”

  “Babysitting Dad.”

  “Like I said, Ethan, I trust you. He’s not a burden, and neither are you.” There might come a day when that would change where Gordon was concerned, but Bash hoped not. He hoped Ethan was right and that he reached his father someday.

  Baraka Bain had deserved his end. Maybe Gordon Lambert could earn a better one.

  An hour passed with quiet conversation before Ethan announced that he was finished.

  “Ready to see it?”

  “Your work is always spectacular. I’m hardly a worthy canvas.”

  “You are the most beautiful canvas I could ask for,” Ethan said, placing a kiss to the top of Bash’s shoulder, well above the start of his healing skin. “I hope you like it.”

  With a dazzling smile and his green eyes glittering, Ethan helped Bash from the table and led him to the full-length mirrors against the wall so Bash could look at what had been memorialized across his shoulder blade.

  Like watercolor, varied shades of gray clouds parted to reveal a rising blood moon in a starry night sky, with beautifully written script along the bottom that read:

  By the red moonlight.

  “It’s perfect,” Bash said, marveling at the way the clouds seemed real enough to move. He had seen what he thought were visions of his own past in Ethan’s sketches when he first saw them, but finally this was something they’d lived through together and Ethan had immortalized—words Bash had lived by and managed not to ruin.

  “I know you’ll heal right away, but I still want to cover it before you put your shirt back on.” Ethan did so, and then helped Bash dress despite him saying he was fine. “Now, will you tell me what you have to show me?”

  Bash considered Ethan, leaned close into Ethan’s space, saying, “No,” and pecked Ethan gently on the lips. “But you’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Do we need to call Deanna to pick us up?”

  “Our destination is within walking distance.”

  Funny, Bash thought, once they were outside making their way down the street—it was a full moon tonight, which meant it had been a month since Halloween. Felt like ages ago yet also like only last week.

  Ethan fidgeted, antsy to know the surprise, but they only had to cross the street the opposite direction from the flower shop. Bash opened the door with a key that led them into a building with rows of doors into a variety of office spaces. At the very back on the right was a new door with brand-new glass and a neatly etched name.

  “Lambert Investigations?” Ethan said in a breath. “You…. This is for me?”

  “Mayor Hedin came through with your license, but I figured you needed a place of your own, more than just a room at the den. You can keep the tattoo job if you wish—”

  “I do. I love it there. But this….” Ethan’s expression lit up with honest joy.

  “It’s yours. I’m sure there will be many mysteries to solve less harrowing than your own.” Bash held up another key, and this time handed it to Ethan.

  With a wide smile, Ethan used it to enter the office. It was nothing extravagant, but contained a desk, a chair, shelving, filing cabinets, all the usual trimmings. Even a plant, courtesy of Nell, to bring good luck.

  Bash watched Ethan trace everything with curious fingers. A PI in the pack would be good for the city, but that wasn’t the prominent thought in Bash’s mind. Ethan was happy, and that made Bash feel surprisingly fulfilled too.

  “What’s this?” Ethan asked, as he noticed a crisp case file already waiting on his desk.

  “Take a look,” Bash said. “There’s someone new to the city who I think you might want to kee
p an eye on.”

  With a curious scowl, Ethan opened the file, and it took but a moment for him to recognize the name. “Decker….”

  Indeed, the man Ethan had tried and failed to put in prison for killing his son had moved to Centrus City. “Already up to nefarious practices, according to Siobhan’s agents, though difficult to prove, so I figured, this time, you’d want to help bring him to justice the right way.”

  It was the last chapter of Ethan’s past, after all, and he deserved to be able to close it, just like he closed the case file, set it back on his desk, and looked to Bash with teary-eyed gratitude. “Thank you.”

  “My honest pleasure. Any feelings about the future?” Bash asked as Ethan came around the desk and they leaned against it, side by side.

  “Why? You haven’t had any prophecies, have you?”

  “Nothing formal.”

  “Me either. I can’t think of any particular feelings. What about you?”

  “Just a hunch that the future is going to be thoroughly enjoyable.” Slipping his hands around Ethan’s waist, Bash pulled him close. “And my hunches are never wrong.”

  “You know,” Ethan hummed, “I am a little hungry.”

  “About that time of week, isn’t it? I suppose I could let you steal a taste.” Bash leaned closer, tilting his head to give Ethan a clear view of the length of his neck. “Or are you looking to christen this shiny new desk somewhat differently?”

  Ethan grinned back at him and spun them around, crowding Bash against the desk and hoisting him up on top of it. “All of the above,” he said, kissing Bash once, twice, and then lingering, lips ever smiling when they weren’t connected.

  All the while, the moonlight shone down on them through the window, bright and golden, like Ethan’s eyes when they flashed with power.

  Even better than red.

  More from Amanda Meuwissen

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  Every Winter Solstice, the Emerald Kingdom sends the dreaded Ice King a sacrifice—a corrupt soul, a criminal, a deviant, or someone touched by magic. Prince Reardon has always loathed this tradition, partly because he dreams of love with another man instead of a future queen.