His eyes were worried as he approached me, and more tears slipped down my face. I didn’t look at him. Candido sighed.“I… understand you’re angry with me,” Candido said and grabbed a mitten. “But you came into the kitchen for a reason, right? You’re hungry? At least… let me feed you?”I wanted to tell him no. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t want his help doing anything and that I didn’t need it. I wanted to throw words about fate and the future in his face, but my stomach growled with hunger, and I couldn’t trust myself with the task of eating.I’d rather go back upstairs and curl up in bed with this guilt.So, I nodded stiffly. If I left, I’d just be back in a few hours.Candido wasted no time, pulling the brownies out of the oven and setting them aside. He crossed the kitchen to pull out food and warmed it up for me before setting it on the table.He sat across the table from me as I lifted my silverware.“Thanks.” I cut into the chicken on the plate and started to eat.“You’re w
“Well?” Candido pressed after the man didn’t speak for a long time.“I… don’t know,” he looked away.Candido frowned, and I gasped. It all made sense now. Hadn’t Francium mentioned the fact that his father wasn’t a real descendant of the New Moon Pack’s founder? How had she faded into obscurity? Was she in the same position as my mother had been?I worried my lip and glanced at Candido. Had Candido’s mother been the same position? Was she actually a member of the Blue Moon Pack?Or was she the true descendant of the Full Moon Pack’s founder?“This isn’t the time to hide things,” Candido said. “If you know something, say so.”His shoulders slumped. “I haven’t seen his mother since I took Francium from her. I don’t think he’s there. He would know better… I’ve taught him better.”“By letting his brothers abuse him?” I asked.He sneered, “What do you know?”“Enough,” I replied.Candido looked at me and hung up. “You think he’s with his mother.”“Where else would he be?”Who she was and wh
Preparing for the tunnel excursion was probably the only thing that kept me from crying all day. The first night had been so hard. I hadn’t slept at all. I kept tossing and turning. I fought with myself to call Candido and ask him to come or to let me come home, but I held back.I knew I was doing the right thing. I unpacked and reviewed my homework a few times to try and get my mind off of the silence of the condo.If I were at the Estate, I would have heard someone walking past my door by now, but there was none of that now.In the morning, I drank a large cup of coffee and tried to get through the search results of my investigation. There had been no new sightings of the vampire, but there was plenty of data on the fountain water, the air samples, and the attack on the mall in the capital.It turned out that there were three other attacks like it spread out across New Moon, Red Moon, and a few of the larger packs.The vampire had been seen at every single one though they’d all happ
“Fan out!”We darted down different pathways. I went with Armageddon and listened to the others getting farther away. I wondered if Bella would be killed or if the cage would keep her safe.Either way, she deserved what she was getting.I frowned, worrying my lip as I realized that she wasn’t wearing my mother’s necklace.Where had it gone? Was it back at Wolf Fang?I turned on my communication charm. “Can everyone hear me? Are you alright?”“It’s chasing us!” Dune and Apollo said. “Circle back as you can. We’ll try to lose it in the caves.”“Don’t lose yourself—”“Vampires!” Gilgamesh screamed.The hair on the back of my neck rose as Armageddon took us down another pathway. I felt someone coming up behind us. He stopped and turned, throwing me behind him before lifting his arm and swinging. A sharp crack echoed through the cave. A body dropped to the ground.A long strip of fire went through the air and sliced down.Something hissed further in the cave and he turned.“Quickly!” Armag
I couldn’t turn fast enough. There were people shouting through the communication system, but I couldn’t make out all of what they were saying. Armageddon stepped in front of me. He cut through the air with blade of fire and set the area near us on fire. He pushed me back towards the rendezvous point.“We found an entrance!” Someone said through the communication system. “About a three-minute run west of the rendezvous point.”“Everyone converge on that point,” Armageddon said, grabbing my hand and pulling me away. He wasn’t running as fast as he had been earlier.“You’ve used your powers too much.”“Just run, Pandora!”I looked back at line of fire. The creature had shuffled around the fire and was following us. It wasn’t going to give up until it had caught us. We passed the rendezvous point and he turned, throwing his hand back. The ground surged up and opened as the creature rushed forward. It formed a spike and pierced the creature before tumbling over itself and sinking the cre
“Isn’t that… Sibyl of the Red Moon Pack?” I asked. What the hell was she still doing here? Candido had banished her days ago.“It is,” he said lightly. “The king banished her from his territory for assaulting his ward… But what else do you see?”Not much. I didn’t recognize the building, but a faint glimmering scrip above the door caught my eye. It was the same script as the script in the vampire book. “It looks like the writing that was on the painting,” I said. “That means it’s related to vampires, right?”“Come to the haven of the children of the night,” Armageddon said softly. “It’s used to mark safe spaces. Whether the spa knows that they’re in one of those buildings, I don’t know, but it almost doesn’t matter.”My heart lurched, “You can read it? Without blood?”“What do you mean without blood?” He asked.I winced. “I… found a book full of that script, but it’s only legible when there’s blood spilled on it.”“… Your blood?”I didn’t answer, hearing the tension in his voice. I
“I don’t know, but we’re about to find out.”We drove for a while, tailing Norton. I was listening in on the conversation in the car, waiting for them to speak, but they weren’t saying anything. It was almost as if they were waiting to get somewhere else to talk. Sibyl was crying softly. Norton sped ahead, cutting through a light that was right on the edge of the capital where they hadn’t yet set up a barricade. It was a little-known or used road. We followed to keep pace, but to not be obvious. We followed him down the winding road. We went around a curve but Norton’s car vanished into a bank of trees.“Damn,” he cursed, continuing down the road. I kept my eyes peeled for some sign of them in the trees, but there was nothing.“You understand what this means, don’t you?” Norton’s voice came through the laptop.Armageddon pulled over to the side and cut the engine so we could listen.“But Daddy, I did everything—”“No, you idiot,” he hissed. “I’m not talking about your botching of the
I tried to call the number back, but there was no answer the first or second time. I couldn’t do much with just my phone, so I headed home to try and get online using Moon Shadow. Maybe I could trace the number and narrow down an area from where the call came. If it was just a prank or someone trying to lure me, it would be one thing, but my gut told me that wasn’t the case. With Francium still missing and her body gone, it could have been her.But how? Did that mean she wasn’t dead? Did that mean she had been revived somehow? But how? And why? My stomach lurched at the thought. I had to cross that bridge when I got to it, not right now. I tried to call the number again, but there was no answer. Quickly, I snuck back into the condo and stripped out of my clothes, and changed into some loungewear. Before I could get to my laptop, the doorbell rang.It was too early for anyone from school to be here, and what would they want with me right now anyway? More than that, the security team wo