Bad Moonlight (17 page)

“Danielle.” Dr. Moore's forehead wrinkled in concern. “Try to calm down and tell me what happened.”

“I can't calm down!” Danielle cried, pacing the office again. “You don't understand, Dr. Moore! You don't know!”

“No, I don't,” the doctor answered gently. “You have to tell me, Danielle.”

“They're werewolves!” she burst out. “I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. Billy and Caroline and Mary Beth—they're all werewolves. Aunt Margaret, too, except she isn't my real aunt. She's—”

Dr. Moore held up his hand. “You've lost me. I'm sorry. Please. Take a deep breath, Danielle. Start at the beginning.”

Danielle forced herself to stand still. She took a deep, shaky breath, crossed her arms over her chest, and began to talk.

She told him everything, trying to keep it all straight. She kept her voice as calm as she could so he wouldn't think she was crazy.

Dr. Moore listened without moving, without blinking. When she finished her story, he strode to the small refrigerator in the corner and pulled out a carton of orange juice. “Drink some of this,” he instructed, handing it to her. “You're in shock.”

“No—I'm not!” Danielle declared angrily. “You've
got
to believe me! I'm not making any of this up! I'm not!”

“Did I say you were?” he replied. “You're burning up too much energy too quickly. Your body needs the sugar. Or, if you like, I can give you an injection to help calm you down.”

“No!” Danielle grabbed the carton and tilted it to her mouth. “I have to stay alert.”

The doctor nodded calmly. “That's fine. I want to help you, Danielle. But won't you at least sit down? You need to rest.”

Danielle shook her head. “Billy might figure out
that I came here,” she said. “So we need to think of some way to catch them.”

“A trap?”

“Yes.” Danielle drank some more orange juice. “It'll have to be inside. If they're out, under the moonlight, they'll change into wolves. And then we won't stand a chance.”

“Yes, I see.”

“You do?” Danielle asked. “Then you . . . believe me?”

The doctor nodded solemnly. “I believe you.”

“Thank goodness!” Danielle finished the juice. She felt better. Stronger. “Okay. So, let's figure out how we're going to trap them.”

A knock on the door made Danielle drop the juice carton. The orange juice puddled around her feet.

“Dad?” a voice called. “Where is she? Is she in there with you?”

Danielle recognized the voice at once.

Kit!

Danielle's heart raced. Kit was alive!

“Yes, Kit, your bride is waiting for you in here,” the doctor answered. He pulled open the office door. “How did you let her get away?”

Chapter 31

NO ESCAPE

K
it stalked into the office. “Thanks, Dad,” he said solemnly.

His expression brightened as he turned to Danielle. “Here you are!” he exclaimed.

Danielle could almost feel the blood draining from her face.

I had it all wrong, she realized.

I made the wrong choice.

It's not Billy. It's Kit.

They want me to be Kit's bride.

“I don't understand how you could have let such a thing happen, Kit,” Dr. Moore said, shaking his head. “You're very lucky that she came to me, or she might have gotten away.”

“Sorry, Dad. It couldn't be helped.” Kit grinned at Danielle. “But she's here now. So everything's okay.”

“No!” Danielle whispered hoarsely. She backed behind the desk as Kit started for her. “Don't come near me!”

“Danielle, listen—” Kit began.

Dr. Moore cut him off. “Leave her alone for a few moments, Kit,” he ordered. “After all, she's had her share of shocks tonight. Give her a chance to calm down.”

Kit nodded. “No problem,” he murmured. He sat down in the deep armchair in front of the desk.

“How did you get away from Billy and the others?” Danielle cried.

Kit shrugged. “Simple. As soon as you took off in the van, I let the moonlight do its work. Billy and the others are no match for me.”

“You're one of them,” Danielle said numbly. “All along, you've been one of them.” She turned to Dr. Moore. “And you're Kit's father, so you're one of them too.”

The doctor nodded gravely.

“But I'm not just one of them, Danielle,” Kit told her. He leaned forward in his chair. “I'm the pack leader.”

“I thought Billy—”

“Billy!” Kit waved his hand as if swatting away a fly. “Billy does what I tell him to. Know why I made him band manager? To keep you from guessing the truth about me. But he and Caroline and Mary Beth—they are all under my control.”

“As you will be soon,” Dr. Moore told Danielle quietly.

Danielle shook her head furiously. “You're both crazy! It's not going to happen. You might think you can control me, but I won't let you!”

“You don't have any choice,” Kit told her.

“My son is right,” Dr. Moore agreed. “But there's no reason to panic. You are already being controlled.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Danielle cried.

“Your therapy,” Kit said. “Your visits with my father.”

Danielle stared at the doctor.

“It's really very simple,” Dr. Moore told her. “I haven't been treating you at all. While you were hypnotized, I gave you suggestions. Planted ideas in your head that would make you fall under the spell of the moonlight.”

“You need moonlight to change,” Kit told her. “But it isn't enough. You have to
want
to change, too. At least at first. So Dad gave you the desire.”

“Hypnosis is such a wonderful thing.” The doctor chuckled. “I even planted your songs in your mind, Danielle!”

The songs, Danielle thought. Weird songs about killing and howling and clawing and dying. Now she understood why she'd been writing that stuff.

“See, Danielle?” Kit said. “The control is already happening. It's been happening for almost three years.”

“You're lying!” Danielle shouted. “I didn't even know you three years ago!”

“But I knew you,” Kit told her. “Maybe you don't remember. But three years ago you went to a rock concert in the park. A bunch of bands performed.”

Danielle did remember that concert. Not because of the music, though. She remembered it because three nights later, her parents died.

“Mine was one of those bands,” Kit went on. “Different musicians, but the same roadie—me. When the concert ended, I saw you hanging around, hoping to get autographs. And that's when I knew.”

“Knew what?”

“That you would be my bride.” Kit's pale blue eyes gleamed.

Wolf eyes, Danielle thought.

Danielle shuddered. How could I have ever thought his eyes were beautiful? she asked herself. They're so cold. So . . . dead.

“Once I had chosen you, I worked out a plan to make you mine,” Kit continued. “First, of course, I needed to isolate you. To get you alone.”

Isolate.
The word hit Danielle like a hammer. She knew what Kit was talking about.

“My parents,” she uttered in a voice filled with hate.
“You
killed my parents.” Danielle fought back the urge to hurl herself at him. Scratch and kick and bite. Anything to hurt him as much as he'd hurt her.

Kit nodded. “And your aunt. I had to get them all out of the way, or my plan wouldn't work.”

“It
isn't
going to work!” Danielle told him hotly. “I
promise you that. You can kill as many people as you—” She stopped, remembering.

As if he could read her mind, Kit nodded again. “You're thinking of Joey and Dee. You're right, Danielle. I killed them too.”

Images of their bodies flashed through her mind. Shredded and torn. She blinked the ugly pictures away and stared at Kit. “Why?” she demanded. “They were part of your group. Why did you have to kill them?”

“Joey knew you belonged to me, but he flirted with you anyway.” Kit's eyes glared angrily. “I warned him not to come on to you. But he wouldn't stop. I couldn't put up with that. Joey had to go.”

“What about Dee? What did she do, forget to bow down to you?” Danielle screamed.

Kit jumped up, clenching his fists.

“Kit,” Dr. Moore said. “Don't let yourself get angry. We're too close, son.”

“Right.” Kit slowly relaxed his hands. He advanced slowly toward the desk.

Danielle trembled.

But Kit passed her and strode to the little refrigerator. He grabbed a bottle of water and took a long swallow. “Dee tried to warn you about me,” he told Danielle, as if there hadn't been any interruption. “She betrayed me. She tried to warn you away. Tried to make you leave the band.”

Danielle closed her eyes. Dee tried to save me, she suddenly realized. I thought she hated me. But all the time she was trying to warn me.

And Kit killed her for it.

“Don't you understand, Danielle?” Kit asked. “I couldn't let Dee warn you. I worked too hard. I couldn't let her frighten you away and ruin everything.”

Danielle shook her head sadly.

Kit sighed. “And then Billy tried to save you too.”

“Billy?” Danielle's eyes flew open. “I thought Billy works for you.”

“Yes, he's my slave, like Mary Beth and Caroline,” Kit agreed. “But it's hard to keep control of a wolf-pack a hundred percent of the time. Especially in daylight. And Billy started to get some ideas of his own. Earlier tonight he really wanted to save you. Luckily, you chose to come to me.”

“Poor Billy,” Dr. Moore murmured.

“Yes, I liked him too,” Kit said. “But he'll have to die for trying to save you, Danielle.”

“You're sick!” Danielle cried. “What do you have to kill him for? Just let him go!”

Kit's eyes grew colder. “No one betrays me. No one.”

Danielle shivered under his icy stare. “You'll have to kill me too.”

“Never,” Kit whispered. “I would never kill you.”

“The bride of a werewolf is completely under his power, Danielle,” the doctor told her. “Once you and Kit are wed, you won't
want
to turn against him.”

“You'll forget everything but how much you love me,” Kit added.

Danielle turned her head away. She couldn't stand
the sight of him. How could I have ever let him touch me? she thought.

Kit sighed again. “I guess I can't expect you to be glad yet,” he told her. “But you will. You will, Danielle.”

Never, Danielle thought. I'll never be glad, because it's never going to happen!

She had to get out.

Without turning her head or raising her eyes, she glanced quickly around the office.

The doctor stood at the door. Kit near the desk. I'm trapped, she saw.

Or was she?

Behind the desk tall windows opened onto a terrace.

Beyond the terrace stood the yard. Beyond the yard, the river.

Smash the windows, she told herself. Grab the desk chair and smash the windows. Then run for your life.

The chair was one of those heavy leather ones. She wouldn't be able to lift it. But it was on wheels. If she rammed it against the windows, it might do the job.

“It's time,” Kit announced. “Come, Father. Perform the ceremony. Marry Danielle and me out in the yard. Under the moonlight.”

Kit and his father started toward Danielle.

With a frantic cry she snatched the stapler off the desk and threw it at Kit's face.

He ducked, and it smashed against the wall.

Danielle grabbed the chair.

But before she could send it crashing into the window, Kit leaped forward and grabbed her. He drew his face close to hers. “You can't win,” he whispered, his hot breath making her flesh tingle.

Danielle spun around, grabbed hold of his hair, and yanked as hard as she could.

Kit gasped.

Danielle kicked out at him and yanked his hair again.

Then a strong hand clamped down on her shoulders. “You're only making it harder on yourself,” Dr. Moore told her. “Get the windows, Kit.”

With the doctor holding her, Danielle watched furiously as Kit opened the windows to the terrace.

“Come, Danielle.” Kit turned to her, smiling. “Come be my bride. It's time.”

I have no choice, Danielle realized to her horror. I cannot escape.

Chapter 32