Romans & histoires Dark Moon: The Blood Altar

Saliva was a trigger. When they had transformed, Megan spoke, "Now you will stay here quietly, until I am back. It is your punishment. Don't be funny, else you'll attract attention and get killed." As if in a trance, Megan could feel Zain cracking up to transform, and she knew he was in the midst of humans. Racing out of the basement, she looked into the skies and commanded. "I, the one chosen, appointed to a duty by the moon goddess, and great alpha of crescent moon, I command and proclaim darkness upon the entire city this very minute!"

"Okay, Cal. We'll discuss that later. Now we have to get some rest. We still have work to do tonight for the ritual to summon the Moon Goddess." That night, Derek and Callum stood on a wooden platform his men had prepared. There was a large basin filled with water in front of them. Then, when the full moon rose high in the sky, Derek and Callum raised their hands high; they slashed their hands with a knife and dripped their blood into the basin. "Moon Goddess, I am Callum Abelard, Alpha of the Darkmoon Pack. Request you that our enemies may perish instantly." "Moon Goddess, I am Derek Abelard, Alpha of the Darkmoon Pack, asking you to return and give us double our strength so we can easily d

Instead, I would get to feel it for the first time. I looked at it in my palm, the words for the activation spell ringing in my head. Then I inhaled deeply and held the amulet to my chest as I said the words out loud: "Like the force of a flood, wield your power through my blood." And just like that, what felt like electricity coursed throughout my veins, making my eyes roll to the back of my head as my body vibrated uncontrollably. I could not see anything except a bright, red light in my vision, and my grip on the amulet went tighter, causing my fingers to draw blood from my palm.

"A great tree, colossal and venerable, rent asunder by an inferno's fury, stands bifurcated—half in desolation, half in verdant resplendence." "Fated hearts, intertwined by cosmic loom, shall rediscover their resonance amidst tempestuous tides. Their union, ordained by celestial weavers, shall ignite forgotten embers, crucial in the tempest's midst." "The Darkness, shrouded in its insidious might, shall succumb solely to the ascendance of a royal born from the crucible of loss and rebirth, one from the ashes to the fire." "Upon their visage, the countenance of the celestial orb, completed by the sacred sigil upon the union with their fated's mark."

"You are unable to" The light and darkness clashed, trembling the whole mountain. My sight dimmed as energy flowed within me. The blood moon appeared to throb like a heartbeat, increasingly rapid. Then a crack appeared. A dazzling burst of white. All became quiet. When I opened my eyes, Dahlia had vanished. The altar lay in ruins. Yet the blood moon remained aloft, darker than before, resembling an exposed wound in the heavens. Seraphine tripped and fell next to me. "What actions did you take?"

I nod, her words settling into my bones like a vow. As the sun begins to set, painting the crystal wastes in shades of crimson and gold, Thessia calls Kael and me to her tent. We enter to find her sitting cross-legged on a pile of cushions, a shallow bowl of water in front of her. The water glows faintly silver—dreamwater, I realize. For scrying or prophecy. "Sit," she commands, and we obey. She studies us both for a long moment, her sharp eyes missing nothing. "The Bloodmoon will be fully risen in two hours. Kael, are you prepared?"

Ash whispered, his forehead leaning against hers. He reached down and gripped the central chain that connected her heart to the altar. With a final, agonizing roar, he yanked it upward. The ritual didn't just break; it reversed. The crimson light of the Blood Moon was sucked into the silver chains, which then shattered into a million glowing shards. The explosion threw Morga and her sisters across the temple floor, their chants turning into shrieks of terror. The crimson glow vanished, replaced by a sudden, heavy darkness.

The noise of the battle below was muffled, as if they were in a different dimension. In the center of the plateau stood a circle of monolithic stones. And in the center of that circle was the altar. Emily lay there. She wasn't moving. Her skin was grey, her life force nearly extinguished. Damon stood over her. He held the Soul Jar, which was glowing with a blinding, pulsating light. The green energy of the ritual swirled around them like a tornado. "You’re late, brother," Damon said. He didn't look up. He was focused on the jar.

“Cheer up—a little showmanship never hurt.” One by one, the sacrifices went down, screams bouncing off the stone, blood pooling where it always did. The altar guzzled it greedily. The shadows started thickening, coiling tighter. Draven could feel the Blood Moon’s power stretching toward him across the void, like he’d just rung the world’s largest dinner bell. And he knew—tonight, everything changed. “Yeah,” he whispered, arms raised, sparks stinging the air. “Come on. Let’s make a bond that’ll outlast the damn stars.”

"But I need your witch blood for the ritual. Shadow Wolf blood alone isn't enough to break the barrier between worlds." She pulled out a ceremonial knife and began to chant. Outside, no one noticed the silver moon beginning to turn red. The blood moon was rising early. And with it, something far worse than a Shadow Beast was about to be unleashed.