Emerald Moon

by Deanna Kinney

  “Ren? Hmm, I’m not sure it will come to that. At least I hope not.”

  “Yeah,” the younger man scoffed.

  “What do you think Blake will do with the girl?”

  Suddenly, as if being hit by lightning, Emerald jerked to attention. “Beta! You have to go back and get Beta!” she barked. She felt serious panic at the thought of leaving her best friend and companion behind and alone.

  “Beta? Who the heck is Beta?” the first man responded, his tone sharp.

  “My dog. I left him in my car. You have to go back!”

  “A dog? Oh, I love dogs,” the young driver said, his tone laced with joy.

  “We are not going back for any mutt,” the first man replied, giving the driver a stern glare.

  “He’s not just any mutt,” Emerald stated, “he’s a very special animal. Please, we can’t just leave him there all alone. Please,” she begged, taking the man’s huge bicep in her hands, her big green eyes pleading.

  He glared down at her and soon his hard eyes softened. He huffed. “Fine, but we need to get you to base first and then we’ll send someone back for your dog.”

  She sighed then. “Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.”

  ~3~

  Emerald had no idea where they were going. Nothing looked even slightly familiar to her. The car took a few sharp turns and then whipped onto a tiny road. It didn’t even look like a road at all but more of a trail. As the car continued to follow the trail through the woods, a large house surrounded by several small houses came into view. The main house was very old, a two story, but appeared in good condition. All the lights on the main level were on. There were five other cars parked in front.

  The car came to a stop and the first man opened the door and ushered her out. He had a tight grip on her arm, but it was no longer painful. He pulled her up the stairs to the front porch and the front door swung open.

  A tall man, bald with a short white beard and mustache greeted them. “Is this her?” he asked, looking down at her with interest.

  “Yes,” the first man answered.

  “Hello,” the man greeted her. “I am Blake, the alpha of this pack.”

  “Pack?”

  “Well, I see no need to hide what we are since I’ve been informed that you’ve already seen us in our true forms.”

  Emerald only nodded. She was beginning to feel sick as the reality of the situation was slowly sinking in.

  “I am sorry we had to take you like that, but it’s as much for your safety as ours.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked finally peering up at him.

  Blake took her arm and escorted her inside. The room was decorated simply with blue sofas lining the walls and simple furnishings that one might expect for an older home.

  He spoke as he ushered her to take a seat on the sofa. “Well, humans cannot see us in our beast forms. We could shift right in front of them, and they would still see us as human. It has always been that way from the very beginning. It’s said that a sorceress put an enchantment on all humans so that no human would ever recognize us for what we really are.”

  A sorceress? Emerald didn’t think things like that even existed, but then again, she was now talking to a werewolf. She didn’t feel the situation could get much worse, but she was about to find out how wrong she was. “Then why can I see you?” she asked.

  Blake sighed. “Well, child, that we don’t really know for sure. But that’s what we’re here to find out.”

  “Can I get my dog and go home now?” she asked him, feeling the exhaustion beginning to invade her. She had so much to process before she could go any further.

  “I’m afraid not,” Blake said, his tone apologetic.

  “Sir?” the first man stepped up. “I did promise her we would go after her car and her dog. Apparently, it has some importance to her.” He gave her a stern glare then.

  “Oh, okay fine. Send Josh and Thomas after her things… and this dog of hers.”

  “Yes, sir.” And then he turned and disappeared out the front door.

  “What is that man’s name?” Emerald asked of the man named Blake.

  “That’s Riggs. He’s my beta. He’ll make sure you get your things. He’s a man of his word.”

  She hadn’t decided whether or not he was good or bad yet, but at least she knew his name.

  “I’m sorry, where are my manners. What is your name, child?” He asked her.

  “I’m Emerald Cutler.”

  “Well, it is nice to meet you, Miss Cutler. I am Blake Dandridge, and this is my pack. You’ll be safe here.”

  “Thank you. Can I ask you something?” she blurted out.

  “Of course.” He smiled and Emerald thought it seemed sincere.

  “So, there are vampires too?” she asked, just needing the confirmation to assure she wasn’t crazy.

  He laughed slightly. “Yes, I’m afraid so. They are our enemy. We’ve been at war with them from the very beginning of our existence.”

  “And humans can’t see this?” she asked.

  “No. At least not until you.”

  She lowered her head, deep in thought. How could all of this have been going on and no humans ever know? It seemed impossible to her. Was she going crazy? Had she imagined the whole thing? And yet, here she was, in a werewolf’s home, of all places. Her mind went back to the car crash, the vampires’ white pupils, the werewolves tearing the vampires to shreds. It was all so terrifying. What was she to make of it all? And what was her part to play in all of it? She hoped to find out soon enough so she could go back home, back to her normal life. If that were even possible now.

  “Do the vampires always look like that, with their faces all distorted and ugly. I thought they were supposed to be beautiful.”

  He laughed again. “Their faces can look normal, like a human’s most of the time. When they’re attacking or feeding, their faces distort like you saw.”

  “So, are they the good guys, or are you?”

  “Well, Emerald, I guess we’re both good and bad. To us, we’re the good guys. You see, we mainly fight to protect our own, our families, our land. The vampires love to kill, and they also love power. I guess you could say they’re the more conniving and manipulative species. We just want to have fun and be free. But we do love to kill vampires.” He smiled then and she knew he was telling the truth.

  The door flew open and Riggs charged in, followed closely by the younger man. She recognized him as the driver of the car that had brought her here. “Sir, the guys reached her car but there were vampires there. A fight began. They interrogated one of them, but the other one escaped with the girl’s phone. I’m afraid they have her information.”

  Emerald stood in alarm. “They have my information? I need to go home!”

  Blake held a hand up to silence her. He appeared alarmed by this information. “Do they know her possible importance yet?”

  “No. At least, I don’t think so.” Riggs answered.

  “We need to be careful.” Blake paced around the room, both hands behind his back, deep in thought.

  “Please, at least tell me you got my dog,” Emerald pleaded.

  Riggs sighed. “Yes, yes. We got your bloody dog.”

  “My dog is bloody! What did you do to him!” She charged at Riggs without further thought to her own safety.

  He stopped her with a hand to her wrist, pressing it to her chest. “No! We didn’t hurt your dog. I meant bloody as in the curse word.”

  She let out a relieved breath as the realization came into focus. “Oh. Well, that’s good. Where is he then?” she demanded.

  “You know you are a little too bold for such a small girl.”

  She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “Yeah? Well, I’m from the south so you could say I’m like a Chihuahua, I might be small, but my bark can be very obnoxious.” She continued to stare at him.

  “Fine. He’s outside. No one can seem to get even close to him. Apparently, he doesn’t like werewolves.
”

  “I can’t imagine why, and you better not have hurt him,” she spat, running for the front door.

  The younger man was laughing. “I like this girl, Riggs. Can we keep her?”

  Riggs ignored him. “Us hurt him? I think you’ve got that backwards.”

  Without further delay, Emerald burst out the front door and into the yard where she spotted her car and ran to it.

  Her heart swelled at seeing Beta safe in the front seat, but he was worked up and barking ferociously.

  “It’s okay, boy. It’s me,” she said in a controlled tone, touching her hand to his window. He calmed instantly, panting and wagging his tail. He was clearly just as relieved to see that she was okay. She opened the car door and the dog jumped into her arms, licking her face with fervor. She giggled, hugging him tightly.

  Riggs, the younger man, and a few of the others were watching the scene with curiosity. Beta, as if collecting his thoughts, suddenly sprinted off toward them, fangs showing, growling in warning.

  The big men backed up, their hands raised in surrender. They begged her to get the canine under control. It was a funny scene and one Emerald took a moment to enjoy. She knew she probably shouldn’t, but she did.

  Beta was a good dog and very obedient to Emerald’s every command. With the word ‘come’ the dog stopped growling and followed Emerald into the house without further hostilities.

  The men all sighed, clearly relieved, and reluctantly followed her and her dog inside. Emerald knew they didn’t know much about her, but she couldn’t help but feel she had gained just a little more respect from them than before.

  Once inside, Emerald and Beta took a seat on the sofa. She tried to keep up with what the men were saying. If only she were a dog. She knew Beta could hear everything they were saying, but she was only a weak human. She did catch something about a prophecy and them calling in someone named Ren. This must have been a big deal. The air in the room changed when his name was mentioned. The younger man in particular seemed thrilled at meeting this man, whoever he was. It seemed to her as if everyone was scared of the man for some reason. And yet it was if he commanded respect as well.

  Emerald strained to listen as Blake, Riggs, the younger man, and two others were speaking. “She’s taking all of this quite well,” Riggs stated.

  “Yeah. I’m impressed with the little lady,” the younger one said.

  “That can be good or bad,” Blake responded.

  “How is that bad?”

  “She could be in shock. In that case, at some point she’s going to wake up to the reality of all she’s just learned. If that happens, we might find ourselves with a hysterical little lady on our hands.”

  “I volunteer to help calm her down,” the younger one offered.

  Riggs elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Oww, what?”

  While Emerald thought what he said could be true of most people, in this situation, it was unlikely to happen to her. She was a lot of things, but weak minded was not one of them. If growing up in foster care had taught her anything, it was to be strong; that it was fine to hate her circumstances, but it was vital to her survival to accept them. Okay, so she had to admit that finding out that the creatures of nightmares were real was a bit extreme, but she had no choice but to accept this too. At least until the opportunity to change her situation presented itself.

  After some time of waiting, Emerald finally stood. “Excuse me, but can I go home now? I need to make sure my mom is okay.”

  The room hushed and the six men turned to study her as if they had forgotten she was there.

  “I’m sorry, Emerald. You cannot go home just yet,” Blake said, his expression filled with compassion.

  “But my mother! She must be worried sick by now.”

  “We will loan you a phone so you can call her, but you cannot leave until Ren gets here.”

  “Who is this Ren anyway? And why do I have to wait on him?” She was on the verge of getting angry, and she was very tired.

  Blake approached her then and took a seat beside her, taking her hand in his. “I’m sorry, Emerald. I know this is hard for you, but Ren is the key to your survival. It’s vital we wait on him.”

  “’What is he to me? And why am I so important?” She had heard them talking about her as something to be guarded at all cost, but why?

  “You are the first human to have ever seen our true selves. This is significant. There is a prophecy that tells of a woman who can see paranormal creatures in their true form. It states that this woman will bring an end to the war between werewolves and vampires, a woman who will unite the races.”

  Her eyes grew wide and she touched her hand to her chest. “And you think I am this woman?”

  He nodded. “We believe so. And if it is true, you are also in great danger. You see there are those, both werewolves and vampires, who do not want the war to end. They hate each other that much. They will seek to destroy the one who will unite them. That is why we have to wait on Ren. He will protect you. He has prepared his entire life for this moment. It’s his destiny to do so. He’s been searching for you. Now, I’m sure you are exhausted. You need to rest. Riggs, will you take her to her room?”

  Riggs stepped up beside her. “Of course. Come little one,” he said grinning down at her.

  “I’m coming too,” the younger one said, stepping up beside Riggs. “My name is Ricky.”

  “Hello,” she said simply.

  She decided she liked the one named Ricky. He was close to her own age, she guessed around twenty-one or so. He was cute in a boyish sort of way. His brown hair was curly and busy. He was shorter than the others but not by much. She also liked the big one named Riggs. He was handsome, with short black hair and intense eyes in a lovely shade of blue. He seemed a little scary, but something told her he had a soft side, while the younger one seemed to be all soft.

  She and Beta followed the two up the stairs and into the room at the end of the long hallway. The room was plain but nice, and she was thankful it had its own bathroom. The bed looked so inviting and she almost swooned with the anticipation of sleep.

  Riggs handed her his phone. Her fingers could barely keep up as she punched in the numbers to her mom’s phone.

  Her mother sounded so relieved to hear Emerald’s voice. Emerald then proceeded to tell her mom a lie. It was the first lie she had ever told her mom, and her heart felt sick for it. She told her that she got stuck in traffic and then decided to take a detour but then she got a flat tire. She had her car towed, but she would have to wait until the garage opened the next morning to fix it. She got a hotel room for the night. It was a good story and her mom bought it.

  After ending the call, she handed the phone back to Riggs. She instantly felt better. Her mom was safe and they both could stop worrying about each other.

  “Sleep well, little one,” Riggs said, turning to leave.

  “Yeah, sleep well, little one,” Ricky repeated after him.

  Riggs glared at him, clearly annoyed.

  “Um, before you go, can I ask you guys something?”

  They both turned back to her and spoke in unison. “Of course.”

  “Why do all of you seem to fear this Ren guy? The way you all talk about him you’d think he hung the moon you howl to.”

  Ricky laughed. “That’s funny.”

  Riggs shrugged, speaking first. “Well, he’s a pretty scary dude. He’s killed a lot of men, vampires and werewolves alike. He’s had a lot of time on his hands waiting for the one who will fulfill the prophecy to be revealed. He’s spent most of that time training and serving as a protector. And he’s very good at it. He’s the best of the best.” He laughed then.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “I think he was hoping he would be dead before the prophecy was revealed.”

  “Yeah,” Ricky added with a laugh.

  “And why do you say that?”

  He laughed again this time louder. “Oh man. He was not happy when we call
ed him and told him we found you.”

  “No. He was not happy at all,” Ricky repeated.

  She couldn’t fathom why on earth this Ren would react that way. “Why?”

  “Because,” he answered, still laughing, “he really hates humans.”

  “Oh yeah. He really does,” Ricky laughed along with him.

  They left the room then, shutting the door behind him. “Why do you have to repeat everything I say,” she heard Riggs snap at Ricky once the door was closed.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, stop it. It’s annoying.”

  In a normal situation, the playful banter between the two men might have put her at ease but remembering what they said about the man named Ren made her heart sink once again. So, the one man capable and destined to protect her also truly hated her. Great, just great. She was doomed.

  ~4~

  Ren Callaway stood by the bed in a dark room, his arms crossed over his chest, staring down at the one he was supposed to give his life to protect. He had arrived in the early hours of the morning. He didn’t want to wait until daylight to get a good look at the wee spit of a girl he was destined to protect.

  So, this was the one he had been waiting for? Hmm, he didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Blake had said the pack was all abuzz about their guest; a true beauty they had said. He could care less about that, and he couldn’t really tell anyway. Though he had perfect night vision, her long dark strands were covering most of her face. He could make out enough to see that she was smiling in her sleep. The girl was clearly oblivious to the danger she was in. Well, let her have her moment, he thought. She would find out soon enough. Her world was about to come crashing down around her.

  She was young, probably nineteen or twenty, he guessed, and maybe around five feet 2 inches tall, a slight girl to be sure. It was clear to him, as he studied her, that she would be no help at all when it came to keeping her safe. She was far too small to do any damage to the enemy, that was for certain. Then his eyes finally settled on her companion. He studied the dog now with interest. He was clearly protective of the girl. That was clear by the way his body was draped over hers, his full head and one paw draped over her stomach. The dog had not heard Ren enter the room. This didn’t bother him, however, since he could be a ghost when he wanted to be. When Blake had warned him about the dog, Ren was insistent that the animal be left behind. Blake had said that would be a difficult task as the girl had a great affection for the dog. But now, as he surveyed the situation anew, he realized the dog would serve a great purpose in aiding him in protecting the girl.