Blood Moon (25 page)

“Really?”

“Okay, well maybe I’d ask, but I wouldn’t expect you to go along with it.”

“So how come you haven’t asked me to fight with you or asked me what she plans if you show?”

“Because whether she respects you or not, you respect her and I can tell you couldn’t betray her, even if you don’t believe in what she’s doing.
 
It’s a noble trait, but I don’t think it goes both ways.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning if your sister thought it would benefit her, I don’t think she’d have a problem betraying you. But I could be off base here. I don’t know her, I’m just surmising from what you’ve told me.
 
Have you ever considered that your sister is not obsessed, but possessed?
 
Maybe by your ancestor Suzanne?”

“No. I hadn’t, why would you suggest that?”
 

“Just a thought. I could be wrong. If it’s true though, its not your sister behind this evil, she’s just trapped inside and along for the ride.”

“That’s a horrible thought.”

“Not any worse than manipulating you against your will. Besides, I’m just pointing out possibilities.”
 

“So now what?”

“I don’t know.
 
Nothing’s changed really.
 
I suppose we’ll fight come the Blood Moon on Thursday, unless you can talk her out of it.”

“Not likely.”

“That sucks.”

“Sure does.”

And they sat there for a long time just thinking about that. Finally, Sally got up and said, “I better go. Thanks for talking to me. Under different circumstances, I think I would have liked to call you and your sister my friends.”

“I think I would have liked that. Be safe, Sally.
 
Don’t get killed for your sister’s obsession.”

“I’ll try not to. Goodbye, Darby.”

“Bye, Sally.”

Darby closed up the shop and put a sign on the door that the store was temporarily closed due to personal reasons. She checked all the doors and windows and pulled the cash out of the register and locked the door behind her.
 

It felt weird driving Devon’s Mercedes.
 
It was nice, but it wasn’t hers.
 
She missed her little car.
 
The insurance company considered it totaled and were getting ready to issue her a check, but she had no idea what to replace it with. With all that had been going on, she just didn’t want to deal with it. She drove home and found Devon in his room working.

“Here are your keys, Sweetie.
 
The bookstore’s all closed, so I probably won’t need your car for anything for a while. Thanks though.” She sat on his bed, bouncing a bit, and then lay back on it and sighed.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Oh yeah. Fine. There was a note from Allison.
 
She resigned and is moving to New Hampshire.”

“I’m sorry, Darby.
 
I know she meant a lot to you.”

“She did. Does. I don’t blame her, though. It’s a lot for anyone to take.
 
By the way, you won’t believe who I ran into at the book store, when I was closing up.”

“Probably not.
 
Who?”

“Sally.”

“Sally? Yeah, I wouldn’t have guessed that.
 
Any trouble?”

“No.
 
She just wanted to talk.”

“Talk? About what?”

“About how she feels as trapped as I do, about being in this fight.”

“Really? So the push is from Rachel then.”

“Definitely.”

“So why doesn’t she bow out?”

“Would you bow out if your brother was involved in something that could kill him, even if it was dumb?”

“Probably not, but I’d try like hell.”

“I think she is.
 
She didn’t know Rachel intended to kill those women, so maybe she’ll try harder. I doubt it will help.”

“Any chance she can talk Rachel out of this nightmare?”

“Not likely. I think she’s tried, but she can’t seem to get through to her. Plus, Sally seems to feel that Rachel is putting spells on her to make her do things when she doesn’t want to do them.
 
Manipulating her like a puppet and using her power to increase her own.”

“What do you think Rachel would do if she knew Sally came to you?”

“I don’t know.
 
I hadn’t thought of that.
 
She’d probably think she had betrayed her.”

“That’s what I would guess.
 
She took a very big chance coming to you like that.”

“I guess she did. She said under different circumstances, she would have liked to have called Rowan and I friends.”

“That would have been nice to have had another witch family to talk with, but I don’t think that will happen, Love.”

“I know. I also asked her if she would redeem herself, if she could.”

“What was her answer?”

“She thought she would, or at least try.”

“Then there’s still hope for her, but she’ll have to split ties with her sister.”

“I know.
 
I had suggested to her that maybe Rachel wasn’t obsessed but possessed by their ancestor Suzanne in a second attempt at this power.”

“That’s an interesting concept.
 
What did she say to that?”

“She found it disturbing, as I would, but I think it got her thinking of other possibilities.”

“That’s a start.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I like her. Underneath everything, I think she has a good heart. I don’t want to fight her or hurt her.”

“My guess is she feels the same way.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t change anything though, does it?”

“I’m afraid not, Love.”

“I saw you were busy this morning in the kitchen.”
 

“Yeah.”

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“No. I hate all this. I looked at all those charms and potions and thought how tiny and insignificant they were compared to the love I have for those I’m giving them to, and my entire being ached.”
 

He grabbed her hands and pulled her off the bed to a standing position in front of him.
 
“I was saving this for a happier time, but I think you could use a little something just for you.” He led her to the living room, to the baby grand in the corner, sitting her next to him on the bench.

“I didn’t know you played?”

“Why would we have a piano if no one played?”

“I guess I always assumed it came with the house.”
 

“No. It was a gift from my mother when I was very young.
 
I used to play a lot, even composed a bit, but I lost all interest until rather recently - until I met you.
 
I started playing again the night I met you. I guess I’ve found my inspiration. I wrote this for you.”

And he began to play a ballad that sung to her heart and soul.
 
Nothing ever had sounded so lovely to her.
 
His nimble fingers slid elegantly along the white and black keys as if no effort was involved with making and mixing such beautiful tones together.
 
The melody haunted her and her eyes welled with tears as he continued.
 
Both hands simultaneously playing different things, but blending perfectly and effortlessly.
 
She was amazed by yet another talent he possessed and mastered. The tears ran down her face as he finished the last notes of the unforgettable composition. She rested her head on his shoulder as he pulled his hands to his lap.

“What do you think?”

“I think it’s the most beautiful thing I ever heard, Devon.”

“I’m glad you like it. I named it after you, ‘My Love For You’.”

“What an amazing gift! Thank you, Devon. I love it.”

“And I love you, Darby.”

Driving through what looked like a forest on the outskirts of Bonnie Doon, Sarah Fontaine heard a loud noise come from her car as it veered to the right.
 
Oh no
, she thought. She pulled over to the side of the road to find one of her front tires had blown.
 
It was dark, but at least she was only about a mile from the little town, Bonnie Doon, through which she’d just passed.
 
She grabbed a flashlight out of her glove compartment, hitting it a couple of times with her fist as the batteries were a bit old and the light was kind of dim.

She headed back up the road.
 
She walked for about fifteen or twenty minutes before she reached a closed gas station with a telephone booth.
 
She stepped in it only to find it had been vandalized and didn’t have a receiver.
 
She stepped out of the box and started to head back up the road towards hopefully another telephone when something hit her from behind and everything went dark.

Chapter 23

The next few days were filled with practicing and testing potions and skills.
 
Darby spoke to Dean several times during these days, telling him that there was no need to put himself in danger. This was not his fight and she wanted him to stay out of harm’s way.
 
But like his vampire friends, he was stubborn and insistent that any fight that was hers was his too. He had no family anymore and felt his family was here now. He was even planning on selling the house in Colorado and settling down here.

There was no mention from anyone of Allison’s whereabouts.
 
They all felt that if Dean wanted to talk about it he would, but there was no sense in making an already stressful week even worse. It was apparent to Darby that they wouldn’t be seeing Allison any time soon, if ever. Dean took it very hard but he tried to keep busy. He worked with Rowan all that week in the forest out of sight of people.
 
They worked on controlling her emotions so she could turn when she wanted to turn, not because her emotions made it so.
 
They also worked on fighting techniques.
 
Normally, werewolves would hunt in a pack and their fight strategy would involve that, but there was no pack as it was just the two of them.
 
However, with vampires and werewolves being so similar, they thought it might be advantageous to have Devon and Blake join them the last couple of days to see if they could work like a pack.
 
Some things worked and others didn’t but they learned a lot from one another and had some laughs along the way.

Darby handed out the charms and talismans to each of them.
 
Devon already had his from before. She put the pewter moon charm around Rowan’s neck.
 

“I made this rather long, because I wanted it to fit around your mane of fur when you become a wolf.
 
It will serve no purpose if you can’t wear it.
 
It has been empowered by the moon goddess Diana, protecting and repelling you from any form of silver that may come your way.”
 

Then she kissed her sister and walked over to Dean.
 
She slipped the charm over his neck and said, “This will do the same for you, Dean.”

She walked over to Blake and slipped the Celtic/Druid talisman over his head.
 
“And this, my string bean…”
 

His eyes grew huge.
 
He tried not to move his lips as he said, “Not in front of Dean…”

“Oh sorry, my ‘bad ass’ vampire brother…” she started and was interrupted by Dean.

“What was that, string bean?” Dean said deviously, loving every minute of Blake’s discomfort.
 

Blake rolled his eyes, looked at Dean, and said, “That’s Giant string bean to you, Dog Face.”

“Dog Face? There’s a big difference between dogs and wolves. Wolves are way cooler.”

“I don’t know. They are all fuzzy and dog-looking to me.”

“What about your girlfriend?” Dean said, thinking he had won this battle.

“Rowan’s in a class all by herself.
 
She looks hot as a wolf, amazing as a witch, and sexy as a girlfriend.”