Riley's Redemption (A Moon's Glow Novel) (23 page)

Fun Day

“It’s beautiful,” I
gasped, as I spun around the common room of the new wing. Fun Day was in two
days and the eight families were coming this morning. But first Adrian and
Brian were giving Julia, Sadie and I a tour. The rooms were all equipped with
en-suites, built-in shelving and large closets. The common room for all the residents
to share held a mini kitchenette, for the hours that the dining rooms were
closed and a large comfortable living room. The furnishings had arrived
yesterday and Adrian had insisted on putting everything together. He didn’t
want us to see it until it was all there and in place. The rooms were painted
in calming neutral colors, with livelier splashes in the accessories. Throw
pillows, the color of violets, dotted the furniture and bright whimsical
artwork hung on the walls. The scent of vanilla filled the air, along with the
underlined smell of paint. There was a large flat screen TV, DVD player and
game system. We had all of those electronics in the main common room, but with
eight more families we needed more.

It was beyond what I
had imagined when I first thought of adding on to the shelter.

“It really is. I’m so
glad you insisted on doing this Meg,” Julia gushed from beside me as she
wrapped me in a hug. She smelled like flowers and shampoo. Her honey brown hair
tickled my nose. “Okay, enough of this. Let’s get back to the main room to
welcome the new residents.” She pulled away from me, fighting tears.

I hugged Brian and
Adrian, feeling their warmth wrap around me. I was getting emotional and if I
wasn’t careful, the tears that I was trying to hold back would flow and I
didn’t want that. I cleared my throat, stepping away from the men to take
Sadie’s hand, pulling her along with us. There was work to be done and no time
for tears. We were finally able to use the door separating the wings. We had
blocked it before for the safety of the current residents.

Each of the eight
families had children ranging from one to four kids each. After we had shown
them their rooms, explained the rules and what was expected of them, it was
late and I couldn’t wait to get home.

Julia and I separated
in the parking lot out back, knowing that although our day had been busy, it
was about to get worse in the days to come. I watched her car drive off, her
break lights glowing red for a brief moment before she turned onto the street.
I took a few seconds to breathe in the cool evening air and the quiet of the
outdoors. It had been a long day filled with noise and chaos. It was nice to
have a second to myself before going home to my wonderful husband. As I
approached the car, a chill crept over my skin. The hackles on the wolf inside
me rose as I spun around to search for danger. There was nothing there of
course, but I couldn’t help but feel the weight of someone’s gaze on me.

I sniffed the air, but
was only rewarded with the smell of dirt, garbage from the shelter’s bin and a
woman’s scent who was walking her dog about ten yards away.

“
Hello
,” I
called out; knowing that no one could be there or I’d have smelled them. When
no answer came, I shook my head, chocking it up to a long day and opened my car
door. I froze as a scent of rotted flesh entered my senses. I glanced around my
surroundings again and heard the whisper of laughter. It was male and it echoed
softly off the building. It was the exact sound I had heard in the woods the
night of the full moon. I spun around searching for the source but still there
was nothing but the scent of rot. I waited a few minutes more and when nothing
else happened I slipped into the car. As I drove away, I thought I saw the
silhouette of a man in the rear-view mirror. I stomped on the brakes and spun
around to look, there was nothing there, just the garbage bin.

With an eerie feeling
lurking in my mind, I called Sadie to make sure the shelter was locked up and
warn her to be careful. When she asked me why, I couldn’t answer her. I just
said that I wanted to be extra cautious with the added residents.

After my call, I felt
better knowing that everyone was safe. But I couldn’t get rid of the icy cold
fear that had settled in the pit of my stomach.

We were busy the next
day with preparations for Fun Day. When it finally arrived there was an
exciting, energy, buzzing through the air. I had lined up twenty volunteers to
be divided into groups for all the events and food prep.

The theme of the day
was Vacations around the World. With little to no funds available to them and
more important issues, like lack of food or shelter, traveling was the last
thing on our resident’s minds. So we decided to bring the vacations to them. We
had rooms set up that represented popular vacation spots. Each room had aspects
of resorts: massages, umbrella drinks, food and music. For the kids, there were
games, candy and even toys from different countries. The excitement in the
house was palpable. The former residents had been anticipating this day for
months and the new ones were already excited about their new living
arrangements, spending a fun day instead of worrying about their future was a
welcome distraction.

I was busy running
between rooms, checking if the volunteers needed anything. Midmorning, I
stopped in at the kitchen where Nate and Lilly were working hard to prepare
different foods from the countries we were featuring. The aroma in the room was
decadent and I couldn’t wait until lunch time when I had the chance to taste
some of what was cooking. I snuck a kiss as Nate stirred what looked like goop,
in a large pot. “Hey beautiful, how is it going?”

“Great,” I gushed
excitedly. “Everyone is having a ball. No one is worrying about their problems,
just enjoying the day.”

“That
is
the
point of the day, right?” Lilly said, smirking as she pulled a pan of desserts
out of the oven. I stuck my tongue out at her and gave her a playful slap on
the shoulder with an abandoned oven mitt.

Nate wrapped an arm
around the small of my back, leaning close to my ear. “I’m so proud of you.”
His soft, warm breath gave me tingles along my skin. “This was a great idea.”
His words were laced with pride and love. It made my insides glow with
happiness.

He was the most
generous person I had ever met and his compliment meant a lot to me, my chest
swelled with pride. “Thanks baby,” I whispered, snuck another kiss and then a
croissant from Lilly. She hit my hand with a wooden spoon just as I rushed
away, my knuckle stung for only a few seconds.

My next stop was the
Jamaican room. It was being held in the dining room and it was noisy as a bunch
of kids banged on the steel drums. I smiled at three little girls who were
dancing to the music wearing dreadlock wigs I had found at a costume store. “How
is it going in here?” I asked my mom. She was leaning against a table filled
with Jamaican souvenirs, wearing skin tight jeans and a silk, royal blue
blouse. Her long platinum hair was pulled into a ponytail. I had never seen her
looking so ordinary in all my life. She was cringing with every bang that
reverberated through the air. Instead of complaining, like I thought she would,
she gave me a half-smile. “It’s certainly…interesting.” Her eyes were narrowed
at Raul, a seven-year-old boy that was banging extra loudly on the drum. When
he saw the look she gave him, he backed away from the drum, giving a short
reprieve from the noise. Louise, a tiny little girl, all of two, lifted the
drumstick and began banging again. Luckily she could barely lift it, so it was
definitely quieter than the previous boy had been. “I’m glad I thought to bring
some aspirin.”

I stepped closer,
reaching out to touch her shoulder. It was as close as my mother and I came to
hugging. My wedding was an exception to that unspoken rule. “Thank you for
doing this. It means a lot to me that you and Dad are volunteering.”

Her gray-blue eyes
softened. “I’m glad you included us. It gives us a chance to see how much
you’ve accomplished here.” She paused, as a girl ran by wearing a colorful
Rastafarian shirt. “Running a charity wasn’t what we’d hope you’d choose for
your career, but being here, I can see how much you’ve done to improve these
people’s lives. You don’t get this from your father or me, but your grandmother
would be proud. So are we.”

After her words, I
couldn’t help myself; I hugged her quickly. “Thank you,” I whispered roughly
and then rushed away. We were not used to expressing our feelings and if I
stayed longer she probably would have ruined it with an insult.

An hour later I was
headed to the Paris room with a tray of croissants for my dad, when Sadie
emerged from the China room. She was wearing a beautiful red Cheongsam, which I
had learned was the name of the dresses women wore in china. She was also
holding a traditional Chinese fan. With her dark eyes, hair and round face, you
could almost mistake her as Asian. “You look nice in that. It suits you.” I
commented, coming to a stop in front of her.

She smiled, pushed her
hands together in a praying gesture and bowed slightly, a smile playing at her
lips. When she stood up, her eyes widened. “
Mmm
, are those chocolate?”

I nodded my head,
holding the tray out to her. “And cheese. There are also some plain ones on
here.”

She picked a chocolate
one and took a bite. “Oh that’s fantastic. Who made it?”

I grinned. “Nate, of
course.”

She was quiet as she
chewed. “I’m not surprised. He was a good cook fifty years ago too.”

I shifted the tray to
the other hand. “You know, some time you’re going to have to give me some
details about your time back then.”

She grinned
mischievously and wiggled her eyebrows. “We had some good times.”

As she spoke, the
temperature seemed to plummet and a cold chill slithered its way over my skin.
It was the same feeling I had the other night in the parking lot, but one
hundred percent stronger. “Ah, Sadie-girl. It’s been too long.” The voice that
spoke was deep and silky and it seemed to echo throughout the hall.

Sadie’s eyes went wide,
her face drained of all color as she mouthed the word “Sebastian.”

I glanced around;
looking for the man attached to the voice, but saw no one.

“Who’s your friend?”
The voice without a body asked. Again, the words seemed to echo from all around
and nowhere in particular.

I spun around,
searching for the vampire, both terrified and intrigued. I finally saw him,
only because he stepped out of the shadows of the corner near the end of the
hall. He looked about twenty, his black raven hair was cut short and his skin
was flawless. But that wasn’t what drew my attention. It was his striking, pale
blue eyes that were almost colorless. They were so mesmerizing that it was
difficult to look away. Before I could react to his appearance, he was standing
behind Sadie leering down at her. I hadn’t even seen him move.

When I stepped forward,
ready to fight for my friend, I smelled the scent of rotted flesh, the same
scent from the other night only worse. Repressing the urge to cover my nose, I
lifted my foot to take another step, prompting him to wrap his hands around her
throat. “
You know
,” he began conversationally, as Sadie’s eyes pleaded
with me to do something. I wanted to help, but if I moved he would kill her.
“I’ve never smelled so many werewolves in one building before. I feel a joke
coming on.” He leveled his gaze on me, red veins slithering over the whites of
his eyes. “How many werewolves would it take to pry a vampire’s hands from this
girl’s neck?” And then he started to squeeze.

I panicked, dropping
the tray of croissants with a loud clatter, buttery balls of dough rolled
around on the tiled floor.

Sadie whimpered in
pain, terror filling her eyes.

Panic shot through the
pit of my stomach. “What do you want?”

His hands released the
pressure, but they remained where they were. “I want her to tell me where to
find Miles and I want the werewolf who summoned me.” Again he levelled those
disturbing eyes on me and the cold shiver returned. “I don’t answer to
werewolves and it’s time this Nathaniel learned his lesson.”

The panic now
threatened to choke me at the mention of Nate’s name. When he called Henry, he
never expected Sebastian to come looking for him. Or did he? Of course that
didn’t matter now, he was going to kill Sadie and Nate and I couldn’t let that
happen. The problem was, I didn’t have a clue how to stop it. He was a vampire,
what that entailed I didn’t know and the unknown was almost as terrifying as
the fact that this man needed to drink blood to survive.

I was frozen with panic
as I watched Sebastian’s fingers tighten around Sadie’s neck once again. Her
eyes flashed yellow and then she elbowed him in the stomach. The move didn’t
affect him at all. Instead of letting her go, he lowered his head to her neck,
his teeth lengthening. She struggled and flicked her frightened eyes at me.

Finally waking me from
my shock, I started to rush forward to help my friend, but was suddenly shoved
to the side, slamming into the wall with a
smack
. Dazed, I turned to see
what had happened.

Adrian pounced on the vampire,
knocking Sadie out of his grip. His eyes were wild and yellow, his arms shaking
as he held back the wolf. Sadie rushed over and clung to me as we watched the
scene before us.

Adrian was holding
Sebastian against the wall, his arm digging into the vamp’s throat. Sebastian
was staring into his attacker’s eyes, but instead of showing fear by the fact
that a werewolf was holding him, he appeared to be bored.

“Leave. Her. Alone,”
Adrian growled, his teeth lengthening, hairs on his arms starting to appear.
Veins pulsed on the side of his neck with the strain to keep the wolf at bay,
but I could tell it was a struggle. His mate was in danger and it was instinct
to protect her.