The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 16

REMY

\t"So what is it you want to know about blood moons?" Daniel asked from behind a pile of books. He had disappeared almost immediately after we entered the house, and I had only managed to catch glimpses since then.

\tl stayed put by the front door, a little afraid of getting lost among the hordes of books. I couldn't fathom how Daniel managed to live in such a cluttered space. I didn't remember his house looking like this the last time I saw it. \t"Ginger told me total lunar eclipses can affect werewolves and sorcerers, but she didn't know how exactly. She gave me this book, but I couldn't make any sense of it, so I was hoping you knew more."

\tDaniel's head popped up to my left, surprising me. I thought he had been on the other side of the room. "You have a book?"

\tl nodded slowly and then pulled the book out of my bag. "It's old English or something, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

\tDaniel scurried over to me and took the book from my hands. He ran his hand slowly over the leather cover before sniffing the book. "This is a very old book. Ginger has been holding out on me for this."

\tThe way Daniel caressed the book made me feel a little uncomfortable, and I found myself taking a step back. "So, uh, can you read it?"

\tDaniel opened up the book and began scanning the pages quickly. "It's a little outside of my range, but with a little bit of time, I'm sure I can figure it out. If you come back tomorrow after school, I should have some deciphered by then." \t"That's fast." If I had taken the time to decipher the book on my own, I was sure it would have taken weeks at the minimum.

\t"l probably won't have it all done by tomorrow, since I'm working on a project for your mother, but I will have some information by then. You're not in a rush for this, are you?"

\tl quickly shook my head. "Not really. I'm just curious." And I had six months before the total lunar eclipse occurred, so I knew I had plenty of time for research. "What are you working on for my mother?"

\tDaniel's body tensed, and he quickly closed the book. "Nothing big. Just some small research."

\tHe was practically sweating already, and I knew he was lying. He was asked to work on something and keep it a secret. There seemed to be a lot of secrets going around recently, and I didn't understand why. I planned on getting to the bottom of it all, though. I knew asking Daniel directly would do me no good. Even if his lies were obvious, he wouldn't spill the truth to me.

\t"Okay, well, good luck with that. I'll stop by after school tomorrow," I said. I backed out of Daniel's house, wondering what he could possibly be working on that needed to be kept as a secret from me. Maybe there was a chance I could snoop around when I came back tomorrow.

\tAs I walked off the porch, the familiar feeling of being watched filled my veins. My hair was standing up again, and this time when I looked into the brush in front of the forest line, I was sure I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes. They were gone with a blink, but I dashed forward. I wasn't about to let this creep get away again. I pushed through the brush, but there was no one there.

\tFor a moment, I thought I was going crazy, but then I saw a small piece of torn fabric. I picked it up and sniffed it. It didn't smell like it belonged to a werewolf, sorcerer, or human. It was a scent I had never encountered before, and the need to replace the person this fabric belonged to grew stronger.

\tl moved deeper into the forest before stripping off my clothes and stuffing them in a small bag I tied around my ankle. I tossed my bag to the side before I changed into my wolf form, and my sense of smell increased ten fold. I smelled the fabric again, and this time I picked up on the trail the person left immediately. I ran along the path, and I could practically see the scent flowing off the world around me. It had a blue tint to it, and it smelled of mint and raspberries.

\tWhoever left the trail moved fast. I should have caught up to them by now, but they were nowhere to be seen. I pushed myself to run faster. This person had been watching me, and I was determined to replace out who they were.

\tl kept running, and then the trail suddenly stopped. I slowed down and looked around, but I didn't see any signs of this person. It was like they had vanished. It was possible they used magic to shift away from here, but I didn't smell the familiar bitterness that filled the air when magic was used.

\tA branch cracked from above, and when I looked up, I saw a figure flying down at me with a wild look in his eyes. I rolled away just in time and bared my teeth at the figure as a warning. Standing before me was a young man with black hair and pale skin. His eyes were yellow and bright, and they were definitely the eyes I had seen looking at me before. He was wearing a long, dark coat that covered him from the neck down. Beneath the coat, he had on a white button-down shirt and a pair of blue jeans. None of it seemed fitting for the summer heat.

\tHe was standing in a defensive position, watching me carefully. He was ready to defend himself, but he wasn't making any motions to attack me first. I watched him carefully, making sure to stay aware of my surroundings, just in case he wasn't alone. \t"Who are you, wolf?" his deep voice echoed, making me jump backwards.

\tl didn't know how to talk back to him, since it wasn't like we had an open link between each other, and I wasn't about to take the time to shift back into human form. It would have left me too vulnerable.

\tHe seemed to relax his stance a little as he watched me. He rolled his eyes and said out loud, "I can't understand you in that form, so you're going to have to shift to your human form." He waited for me to do something.

\tl didn't move at first. Werewolves were most vulnerable while shifting form, and I still didn't know if he was friend or foe.

\t"Trust him," Raven said.

\tl was starting to get annoyed at Raven's little comments. They weren't exactly helpful with how vague they were. However, I did trust Raven. I motioned for the man to move away.

\t"I won't hurt you, if you don't attack me," he said. I growled in response, and he lifted his hands and took a few steps back. "Fine."

\tl shifted as fast as I could and pulled on my clothes. Then I said, "Tell me who you are?"

\the narrowed his eyes at me. "I asked you first, wolf."

\tl didn't sense a malicious intent from this guy, but I didn't know him, and I wasn't about to let him control this conversation. I growled and said, "You're the one invading my territory. Tell me who and what you are right now, or I'll call the alpha here." \tHe tilted his head to the side. "You haven't alerted your alpha yet? That's surprising." He tapped his chin with his fingers. "Fine. If you must know, my name is Blade, and I'm a vampire. Although, I'm surprised you couldn't tell that just by the scent of me. I could smell this town from miles away with how many wolves live here."

\tA vampire? What was he doing here? This was far from the vampires' territory, and I had never heard of one coming into werewolf territory.

\t"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

\tHe waved his finger at me. "Nu-uh. I told you who I am. It's your turn to tell me who you are."

\tThe hair on the back of my neck rose, and I was about to snap at him, when I heard Raven's voice in my head.

\t"Tell him who you are," she said. "He's not a threat. Can't you feel it?"

\tMy body relaxed at Raven's words. When I took the time and really looked at Blade, I understood what Raven was talking about. Nothing about him felt dangerous. In fact, I was itching to know more about him. Something about him was drawing me to him. \t"I'm Remy. Now are you going to tell me what you are doing here?" My voice was calmer now, and I felt less defensive as I stared into Blade's eyes. There was something about him that sparkled, and there was a gentle pull in my chest.

\tBlade hunched over so he was eye-level with me and smiled. "Remy. What a pretty name." He licked his lips, sending a chill down my spine. "I'll tell you what. Meet me at Ridgeview Lake tomorrow when the moon is at its highest point, and I'll tell you why I'm here. I'll tell you anything you want to know about me or vampires. The one condition is you can't tell anyone about our little meeting today or tomorrow. If you do, I won't be there tomorrow night. Understood?"

\tl nodded my head, unsure if any of this was a good idea. Part of me knew I should link my father and the rest of the pack and let them know there was a vampire here, but something about him made me hesitate. He had been watching me earlier, but now he was offering an explanation for everything. He was offering me answers when everyone else was keeping secrets from me.

\tHe gave me a smirk and said, "Good girl," before flashing away in a heartbeat.

\tl blinked my eyes a few times, and I knew he hadn't used magic to disappear. I could still see his scent in a trail before my eyes. He moved deeper into the forest, likely so he wouldn't be seen by anyone else, but he was fast. I knew very little about vampires, other than they had been part of a great war between the three magical beings, and they agreed to stay in their own territory afterwards. Now I knew they were fast-at least this one was.

\tl had learned some about sorcerers from my mother and Ginger, but vampires had never once been mentioned. The only thing I knew about them was from the fairytales humans weaved, but clearly they weren't accurate. Blade had been in the sun just now, and he didn't erupt into flames. I assumed most of the other things I had heard about were just as false or at least twisted truths.

\tNo one in the pack would know about vampires as far as I knew, and even if they did, I had a feeling no one would tell me what I wanted to know, which meant the only way to replace out was to ask Blade himself.

\tWhen I was sure Blade was gone, I started making my way back into town. I had been so focused on following his trail that I hadn't realized just how far out of bounds I had gone. If my parents found out, I was sure to be scolded. When I got closer to the edge of the forest, I shifted back into my human form and got dressed. I walked towards the street, and that's when I felt a familiar presence behind me.

\tl turned and saw Mason standing behind me with his arms crossed over his chest. I had been caught red-handed.

\t"Oh, hey Mason." I tried to smile and play it off like I wasn't doing anything wrong, but I knew my smile looked as forced as it felt.

\tHe held up my bag that I had left when I shifted earlier. "Do you want to tell me now why you went out of bounds without an escort, or do you want to wait until we get back to the pack house so you can tell your father, too?"