Insolita Luna

by M. J. O'Shea

  They hadn’t tied him to a chair and he wasn’t cowering in the corner naked, but the sight of his bruised face and bloodied, cut lip was enough to make me want to roar with rage and start killing whoever was responsible. I clenched my fists, ready to start smashing at the walls, the floor, anything that could withstand my wrath. Oh my God. This is how he feels when it’s me. The moment of clarity didn’t make my anger any weaker.

  “Miles, come here.” The sound of his voice, on the other hand, did. He needed me, not my vengeful rage. I went to him, kissing his poor broken lips and brushing my mouth across his eyelids. “Untie me. My shoulders hurt.”

  I did, and the second his hands were free, he turned back around and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly. I held on to him just as tight, thankful that I could feel him again. He was in odd-smelling borrowed clothes and he looked like hammered shit, but I was so glad to see him and touch him again that I couldn’t find it in me to worry. I’d save it for later.

  “I’m so glad you’re okay. You didn’t see who did this?”

  “No. Just the vampires who roughed me up. I haven’t even seen them in hours.”

  “Vampires? Then why did we smell wolves outside?”

  PC shrugged, then winced. “I haven’t seen any werewolves. I don’t know why—Noah, look out!”

  Noah ducked and I turned in time to see a long blade swiping the air over his head—right where his neck would have been. I went to help, but Zack was faster. He kicked the heavy knife right out of the vampire’s hands. It clanged across the floor, bouncing from the strength Zack used to kick it. Noah used that one second of distraction to turn and grab the vampire in a headlock. I ran and picked up the knife and tossed it to Zack, who pointed it right at the vampire’s heart. The vampire bucked against Noah, struggling.

  He was huge, much bigger than any of us, and it looked like Noah was having a hard time holding him down.

  “Zack! He’s getting away! Noah can’t hold on.”

  Zack moved faster than I’d even known was possible. He swiped at the vampire’s chest with the knife, opening a big angry gash. The vampire howled, distracted by his pain, which gave Noah the time he needed to get leverage. Zack kept his blade pointed at the vampire’s chest, so close that I couldn’t tell if it was digging into the rapidly healing gash or if it was just a few centimeters away from it.

  The vampire made one more half-hearted effort to struggle, which resulted in Noah tightening his grip and Zack pushing his knife into the vamp’s skin enough for a new little river of blood to seep through his shirt.

  “Jesus, let up. I’ll cooperate. I don’t feel like getting killed today.” The vampire’s voice was deep and gravelly, annoyed more than afraid.

  “Where’s Silivasi?” Noah asked without preamble. He sounded dark and aggressive, nothing like the soft soul I thought I knew. He pulled up on the vamp’s neck, jerking him against his chest. I’d never seen Noah like that before. I was impressed and a little afraid of him. The fact that I had a lot to learn was very apparent.

  “There is no Silivasi,” the vampire croaked.

  Noah squeezed his throat a little harder. “Stab him if he lies again,” he said to Zack, his voice cool and methodical.

  Zack shoved the blade a little harder against the vampire’s chest. Again, I was impressed… and surprised. I guessed Zack’s peacekeeper attitude only went so far. Once someone he loved was threatened, he’d do anything to help them. I had to admit I understood.

  “I’m going to ask one more time. What the hell is going on here? Where’s Silivasi?”

  “Let up… and I’ll… I’ll tell you everything I know.” The vampire’s face was turning purple, and it sounded like it was a struggle to talk.

  “Not very loyal, are you?” Noah asked as he let up slightly on the stranglehold he had on the vampire’s neck. The vampire breathed in one long breath and coughed a few times.

  “Jesus, you squeeze hard. And no, I’m not very loyal. Not when I’m going to die, at least. Bastard doesn’t pay me nearly enough.”

  “Silivasi?”

  “No. I was telling you the truth. He doesn’t exist.”

  Zack pushed the blade in again, causing the vampire to wince and try to retreat.

  “The truth better start now or else he’s going to do a whole lot more than nudge you with that thing.”

  “It is the truth! There is no Silivasi!”

  “That’s impossible,” Noah scoffed. “I’ve heard stories about him my whole life. He’s legendary—every hunter’s ungettable get.” He squeezed a little harder and the vampire grunted.

  “Ugh…. I guess he exists… but he’s probably in the Black Forest somewhere howling at the moon. This has nothing to do with him—shit, will you let up already? I’m cooperating like I said I would!”

  “I don’t trust you not to kill us the second I’m caught off guard.”

  “Ask your little lycan friend. I didn’t hurt him. Not really, anyway.”

  PC separated himself from me and got right in the vampire’s face.

  “If there’s no Silivasi, then who do you work for?”

  “What are you going to do to protect me if I help you, lycan?”

  “I’ll tell my pissed-off vampire friend not to stick that big knife the rest of the way in your chest for one—and I might tell the council you helped us. Hopefully they’ll give a shit and not focus on the fact that you helped abduct me and Lord knows what else.”

  The vampire sighed and hung his head against Noah’s arm, his dark, greasy hair flopping in his eyes.

  “You have no idea what’s going on in your precious lycan council, you stupid little puppy,” he sneered at PC, condescending.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about your lycans being corrupt and easier to buy off than a half-price hooker. I never worked for Andrian Silivasi. I work for M—”

  There was a loud crash and the door to the room flew off its hinges toward Noah and the other vampire. We all ducked as it slammed into the wall, splinters exploding all over the place. I looked up in terror, expecting to see a mob of mercenary vampires. It was a huge relief when I saw PC’s mother bursting in with a lanky-looking red-haired man in tow. Less of a relief was the fact that Michael Komarov was right in front of them.

  “Mom, I’m so glad you’re here, and…. Dad!” PC sounded as relieved as I felt.

  PC’s parents came forward to hug their son. His mother hugged me as well.

  “Kill the vampire.” Michael Komarov’s voice rang out, imperious over the greetings. Everyone went silent for a second, then turned to him.

  “He’s got information—”

  “We can’t just—”

  “I want to get PC out of here—”

  Everybody spoke at once. I, the newcomer, stood back, looking from my friends, to PC’s parents, to Michael Komarov and a very pissed-off-looking vampire. Suddenly, I remembered what he’d said right before the door had burst off its hinges:

  I work for M—

  There was no way. But I couldn’t discount the look that passed between Komarov and the vampire.

  “Kill him,” Komarov said again, this time to Zack.

  The vampire spun out of Noah’s grasp and lunged for Zack, grabbing the knife from him.

  “I refuse to die for you, asshole!” he yelled at Komarov and swung through the air with the knife. It looked defensive. Even I didn’t think he was aiming at anyone. But he managed to get PC, slicing him across his arm and chest through the shirt he was wearing. “This is who your leader is,” he grunted, pointed his huge knife right at Komarov, backing through the door as he spoke. “He was behind the whole thing.”

  Then, in a blinding swish of movement, the vampire disappeared.

  The room exploded in movement. Komarov turned to run for the door, whether to chase the vampire or escape himself, I couldn’t tell. PC, bleeding and pale, went to stop him.

  “Out of my way, you stupid boy,” Kom
arov growled; then in midstride he shifted into a huge gray-and-white wolf and flung PC against the wall before he flew from the room, lightning fast. The crunch when PC hit the wall was sickening. I ran to him just as both of PC’s parents jumped into the air, turned into snarling wolves, and ran after Komarov. Zack and Noah looked from the doorway back to us a few times, indecision clear on their faces.

  “Go, guys!” I shouted. “I’ve got him. Find Komarov.”

  They took off running as fast as the wolves. I could hear the stairwell door slam only seconds later. I’ll have to try that, I thought for one abstract moment before turning my attention to the limp form at my feet.

  I fell to the floor and gathered PC in my arms, draping his upper body against me to support it. His chest was bright red, and when I gingerly pulled his shirt up, the side of his ribcage looked bent. A huge purple mark was spreading under his skin.

  “Miles?” His voice was weak, thready. It scared me.

  “Yeah. I’m here. You’re going to be okay.” I didn’t know if that was true, but I needed it to be true. There was nothing for me if PC died. I started ripping my clothes off, shredding my shirt into bandages to stop the bleeding.

  “The cuts will be fine,” he moaned. “I got the air knocked out of me, though.”

  I started to wipe the blood off his chest. His cuts were healing visibly but still looked scary and deep.

  “You sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” I could’ve smacked myself on the forehead as soon as I said it.

  PC snickered weakly. “And what exactly would they do with me there? I’ll be fine.”

  I was still trying to wipe off PC’s cuts when the others returned.

  “Where’s Komarov?” PC demanded weakly. He brushed off his mother’s attempts to check him over. “Mom, I’m fine. Where is he?”

  “He got away, darling. We were too slow. We’ll find him, though. Every lycan in the city is looking for him now.”

  PC went to sit up but winced. “I think one of my ribs is broken,” he said on a groan. His face looked a little too ashy for my comfort.

  “Is there somewhere we can take you to get checked out? I mean, obviously the regular hospital isn’t going to work.” I was still supporting his upper body against my legs. He tilted his head back to smile at me.

  “Yes, we have physicians, Miles. He’ll be okay. Georges, love, you haven’t met Miles yet. He’s PC’s mate.”

  PC lifted his hand to cover mine where it rested on his chest. I smiled at the tall red-headed man who had PC’s full lips and high cheekbones. I was worried for a moment until he smiled back at me, his face open and friendly.

  “I’m sorry we couldn’t have met under better circumstances,” he told me in lightly accented English.

  Zack and Noah, who’d been standing silently, moved forward.

  “Hey, guys?” Noah said quietly. “We need to move soon. It’s going to be dawn in less than an hour.”

  PC went to move. “Can someone help me up?”

  Five very concerned sets of arms went to lift him. He laughed weakly.

  “Maybe just Miles, huh?”

  I draped his arm around my shoulder and pulled him up, as gently as possible.

  “You okay?” I asked, once I had him standing.

  “Yeah.” His complexion, if anything, had grown even paler. “Let’s get me to the doctor so I can get some serious drugs.”

  Chapter 20: Unfinished Business

  PC HUNG up his phone and wandered over to the couch where I was sitting, valiantly trying to write an outline for one of my English thesis papers, and flopped down next to me. At the moment, I felt like there was no way I was ever going to pass any of my classes. Even with the hastily manufactured doctor’s notes proclaiming that I had mono and had to work from home, and even with Zack’s generous offer to help, I was still slipping farther and farther behind. Of course, my lack of work ethic had absolutely nothing to do with the mop top of red-brown curls that had just landed in my lap, disrupting my carefully organized note cards.

  He’d been sleeping for the past couple of hours, doped up on enough pain meds to knock out an elephant. His mother’s call had pulled him out of the coma, and apparently he was awake enough to come to me but still goofy enough to have no clue where he was flinging his limbs.

  “Hey! I had that all organized. I’m going to have to start over, you know.”

  “Sorry.” He gave me that cute sheepish grin I was so completely in love with. I could never get annoyed when he smiled like that.

  I leaned over and kissed him, awkward angle and everything.

  “No you’re not. It doesn’t matter, anyway. I wasn’t really working that hard. I don’t know why I even pretend my mind’s in school anymore. What did your mother say?” I’d heard bits and pieces from his end, but I wanted more than just the gist of the conversation.

  “More of the same, which is essentially nothing.” He looked frustrated.

  “No Komarov?”

  “Huh-uh. He’s like a ghost. Gone.” PC made an annoyed growly noise, one of his signature noises I’d come to know so well. “When I think of what he did, of how many kids died, I still can’t believe it. His own people!”

  “And whoever was working with him on the council won’t step forward?”

  “No. And they’ve managed to cover their tracks well. We’re going to get to the bottom of this eventually, though.”

  “What will happen to them when they’re found out?”

  PC shivered. “I don’t know. Traitors aren’t appreciated anywhere, but with the lycans, loyalty and honor are everything. Death will seem nice compared to whatever happens to them.”

  “They deserve it for what they did. And it could have been so much worse. What if he’d managed to actually start a war with the werewolves? To them it would have seemed like an attack without provocation. I can’t even imagine the repercussions. So many more could have died.”

  PC twitched and shook himself, ridding his body of the bad thought. “Awful. I’m just glad it never went that far. What already happened was bad enough.”

  “What was he thinking?” I’d asked myself the question a million times. What was Komarov trying to gain from all this? If he’d actually been successful at starting a war and killing off half the lycans, what would be the good part of that?

  “Hell if anyone knows what his endgame was. The man’s a lunatic. He didn’t tell the vampires much. None of the ones we’ve got in custody really knew anything other than he was planning on getting rid of the ‘bureaucratic mess that was the lycan council.’ I’m guessing that when the bureaucrats finally do catch up to him, there are going to be a few very intense question-and-answer sessions.” PC’s grin was wicked. “I’d like to be a part of that.”

  I tightened my grip on him instinctively. I didn’t want him to even be in the same building as that lunatic.

  He flashed me a knowing smile. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m so far down on the pecking order of lycan importance that there’s no way I’ll be there, even if I want to.”

  “Good. Not that I begrudge you your pound of flesh, I’m just happy that you’re far away from him. Has anyone ever figured out why he had you kidnapped, by the way? That seemed to be kind of a weird tangent from the whole party.”

  “We can only guess that it was to incite action. The elders had voted to attempt peace talks with Silivasi. That wasn’t going to work for Komarov in so many ways. He wanted war, probably so he could look like a big hero, and obviously he needed to keep the council as far away from Silivasi as he could get them. I can’t imagine what’s going to happen when Silivasi does get wind of this whole thing.”

  “Shit.” That hadn’t even occurred to me yet.

  “Yeah. It’d be kind of entertaining to let Silivasi shred Michael Komarov to pieces.”

  “And you’re sure Silivasi’s not just a myth?”

  PC nodded. “He’s real. I’ve heard he’s kind of a nutcase—stomping around in his big old
creepy house like Count Dracula with long capes and stuff.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You can’t be serious.”

  He shrugged. “Probably just stories. But he is still alive. That much I know. I think the council even sent a delegate to talk to him. Make sure he didn’t blame them if any of this happened to come down on him for any reason.”

  “I thought he hated lycans.”

  PC snickered. “He does. They weren’t that stupid. I heard they sent a hunter—some dumb human kid who volunteered to be howler bait.”

  “Hey!” I poked him hard in the side. “I was ‘some dumb human kid’ not too long ago.”

  “Yeah, but you were my dumb human so I loved you anyway.”

  I poked him in the side again, but it was mainly to cover up the odd little jump my heart made when he said he loved me. Even though I knew it was true, talking about it was something PC would never be good at. I hadn’t heard the words very many times. And I was fine with that. I was. I knew he loved me even if he didn’t say it much. But it made the times he did say it feel so special.

  He squirmed when I poked him on the side; then he must have decided he wanted to move, because he crawled up to straddle my thighs, never a position I found resistible, not like many of them were. Books and notes completely forgotten, I clasped my fingers around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss. The kiss was just getting to the place where I was going to start tearing his clothes off when he groaned and pulled back and started to get up. I hooked my fingers into the waistband of his flannel bottoms and tugged him right back to where he’d been.

  “Why’d you stop? I thought we’d decided to ignore the rules and you’re feeling way better, right? It’s two weeks until the ceremony. I can’t not touch you for that long. I’ll go crazy.”

  “It’s not the lycans—or my ribs. You gotta work on your school stuff. I promised her.”