Fate of the Blood Moon's Path (13 page)

“Alright. Lets go.” I smiled at them.

Almost everyone was outside watching us leave. Yet, no one would leave their front porches. They all stood very still watching us walk towards our destination.

I turned to look for the Six, but I didn’t see them anywhere. I sighed to myself. I just didn’t want them to get hurt. Why couldn’t they understand that? I wanted them to understand that; James especially.

I would get through this weekend and do what I had to do. This is now. That is one thing that I have learned. The future is going to happen no matter what I do. That’s all there is to it. Once you are born, your destiny is set in stone. Only the little things can change. There is no right or wrong path to choose. It chooses you. And there is no right or wrong decisions pointing you in the right path, you decide the right track. Even though every path will lead to the same outcome.

“So where to?” Rayna asked as we entered the forest.

“Up.” I said simply as I looked toward the trails.

“Towards the meadow?” Micah asked me suspiciously.

“Yes.” I sighed. “Towards the meadow. That is where everything has been going on. Or, has happened.”

“And you’re sure that you want to go up there?” Rayna asked.

“What choice do I have?” I kept walking, not making eye contact with either of them.

“I just thought…I don’t know.” Rayna started.

Micah cut her off, “Why don’t we split up? We each take a different path and meet at the top. That way we don’t miss anything.”

“That sounds good to me.” I smiled at them. “I’ll take this one.” I pointed towards the right. This path went towards the shoreline. I knew who would be there, and I didn’t want Rayna or Micah to run into him.

“I got this one.” Micah said, going left, as he kissed Rayna on the forehead. Rayna took the one that we were all on already

“See you at the top.” She gave us both thumbs up.

I could see and hear Draven’s thoughts. I knew he’d be out here. I heard other thoughts, which meant that he wasn’t alone. If any of them got sniffed out by my fellow trackers, that’d be the end of the Vampyre innocence I had thought I could talk everyone into.

There’s this huge part of me that doesn’t want to hate the Vampyres anymore, and I can’t figure out why.

Draven stepped out from behind a large tree on the cliff area, and smiled at me.

“Where are your friends?” I asked him.

“Out there somewhere.” He motioned with his hand.

“You know that you don’t need to be out here. I’m a big girl, I can handle this myself. I’ve been doing it a long time.”

“Cocky.” He leaned against the tree.

“Not really.” I glared at him.

“I was given an order to come out here with my men, and that’s what I did. Who am I to decline? I‘m given an order, then I give out the orders. It‘s just a big circle Angel.”

“Other wise you will so tragically be killed for disobeying an order…blah, blah, blah. I got it.” I said, being a smart ass.

“Don’t your people give orders like this?” He asked, now crossing his arms with a questioning look on his face.

“No. Far from.” I stated. I started to walk back up the path some more. He was right on my heel.

“Why is that?” I could feel his eyes on me looking up and down. I saw in my head that he was looking at my gun strapped to my back, and the rest of me.

“Why is what?” I asked.

“Your order giving…” He started and I cut in.

“The Elders suggest orders to the Chief, my father, but I am not really like the others, remember?”

I heard him snort a laugh. “But you give orders to those who came out here with you and you held back the others.”

“I don’t really give orders to Rayna and Micah. We are equals in my eyes…We do our best to work together.”

He was at my side now, “You are first in command, are you not? You shouldn’t treat them as your equals.” He raised an eyebrow with his question. “Have you not told them about me?”

“No. And I don’t intend to.”

“I suppose that makes sense.” He nodded. “I’ll take my leave now. I won’t be far, but what haunts this forest will be out at night. You have a few hours.” Before I could ask him what he was talking about, he was already gone. I could hear the footsteps of Rayna and Micah in the distance as we neared the top. The meadow would be in view soon enough. The place that I feared the most.

After we figure out what is
haunting
this forest, I would tell Rayna about him. I have to. I cannot keep him a secret from her. I trust her with my secrets and any information that I give her. It already looks like she knows that I am hiding something from her anyways. She’ll be asking me soon enough.

“I’m going to get some more wood for the fire.” Micah stood. He motioned for Rayna to stay seated. She did. “I’ll be fine. Man have big gun.” He tried acting macho, and it was quite comical. We both laughed at him. He was truly one of a kind.

“You’ve got yourself a comedian.” I continued to laugh as I went back to sharpening my knives.

“I know.” She laughed too. “Can I ask you something?” She looked at me with all seriousness now. I knew this was coming.

“Sure.” I looked back at her waiting for her questions.

“You’ve been acting strange lately.”

I cut her off. “That’s not a question.” I smiled.

“Wench.” She wrinkled her nose at me, “I’m getting there. Ok, so you’ve been acting strange lately, and I know that its not because of James. So you want to tell me why? There’s no ears out here to listen to us now.” She looked around.

“Oh there’s ears.” I whispered. “What makes you think it isn’t because of James?”

“Because you and James have fought
a lot
over the years, and you’ve never acted like this before. You always shake it off because you know he is just an immature little boy who needs to grow up.”

“True enough.” I laughed. “Um, no. You’re right. It is not because of James. I just have…a lot going on in my head.”

“So talk to me. You know you can. I’ve always been there for you, and I always will be.”

“Rayna…”

“We have known each other for how long now? You tell me everything. Please. Talk to me.” She leaned towards me.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the rock I was sitting next to.

I was about to open my mouth when we heard it. There was a loud bang, and then a gun went off in the opposite direction that Micah went in. Micah was at our sides in a flash like he was a super hero, minus the cape.

“What the hell was that?” Rayna asked.

“Whatever haunts the forest.” I said, in a mocking tone. Obviously neither of them got it. I could see a sneer from Draven in my head. He was close. As were his friends, and I was surprised that Rayna and Micah couldn’t sense them.

“Slowly.” I said to them as we made our way silently towards the noise. It was near the meadow. Great.

There were more shots in the distance, and sticks being broken. The noises were getting louder as we neared them. I reached around and grabbed my shotgun from my back. Micah grabbed for his knives, and Rayna her pistol she carried at her side.

“Psst.” Micah pointed in the direction he was going to take.
You two stay together.
He said to us telepathically. We both nodded, but Rayna’s was with a pleading look.

Just be careful. I’m not going to lose you.
I heard her say back to him in both of our heads. He nodded to her, and she came up slowly behind me.

Aww you two are so damn cute, can we go kill this thing now?
I said to them both through our minds.

I saw a campfire in the distance. We took cover on the outside of the meadow in the tall grass. The tree’s near us were thick, and that’s where we saw Micah taking cover. The smell of blood was thick and metallic, burning our nostrils. I could see the look in Rayna’s eyes, and her pupils were becoming quite large. I’m sure that mine were doing the same. We both looked at each other and tried to hold our breath. It felt like we had swallowed hell.

“Did you think that you would survive?” A deep voice came out from the tree’s. Whom ever the voice was speaking to, didn’t speak back. There was a slight whimper that came from the girl’s mouth.

“Just a human girl.” Another voice said laughing out loud. It shook the leaves on the tree’s. All of whom ever was out there started laughing. This voice. I swear it sounded demonic.

This is when it all happened. This is when I heard it. There were no gun shots at first, but a clashing of blades. The fire when out, as if it were magick, and then there was a howl.

All three of us stay put.
I said to Rayna and Micah. They both agreed.

Until we knew what we were up against, it would be best to just stay where we were. There’s nothing like going into a fight blind.

Once the blades and the gunshots were done, the fire re-lit itself and was even brighter. All there was left were dead bodies laying there in the light. Micah came up next to me and Rayna. All of our faces showing no emotions. None of us knew what to think about what had just happened. Just standing there with our feet planted there on the moss covered ground. The smell of blood was so strong it was almost unbearable.

Those who were dead; all humans. There was no other smell about them. It was definitely human blood, and they have the strongest smelling blood. The tastiest. The most satisfying.

“Come.” I motioned forward. I stepped out of the weeds and walked towards all of the death.

“There’s no one alive.” Rayna called over to me.

“What the hell happened?” Micah asked me. “This is a child.” He knelt down next to the body. “Just a child.” His voice cracked.

Four dead bodies, and we couldn’t save any of them. This was all very strange.

“Look! Wolf tracks.” Rayna said as she neared the fire.

“Are you serious?” I walked over.

“What the hell…” Micah said.

It had been a long weekend out there in the woods. All we found were dead bodies, blood, and some wolf prints. It didn’t make sense. I had decided that I was going to end up doing something drastic as I told my father I would. I had to go to the Vampyres. I had to find out what was going on. Somehow, I’d get there.

It was a Tuesday night, around three in the morning, the witching hour, and surprise! I couldn’t sleep at all. I had too much going on inside my head. Like usual, I decided that I was going to take a walk outside by the lake. Probably not the brightest idea, but then again these days I didn’t really use my head a lot.

“Is it smart to be out here alone?” I heard Draven’s voice from the darkened tree’s. I could sense others with him.

“No.” I simply stated. I have to admit, I was a little nervous with the others standing there with him.

“Then why are you out here?” He asked, coming into view and walking with me now.

“Because this is my land and you’re not supposed to be here.” I smirked. “Perhaps I’m hoping to be abducted by aliens or something.”

“That can be arranged.” He smiled. He turned and nodded to his friends. They took off in the other direction. “Why do you want to be abducted? Are you not happy here?”

“Why do you look so familiar to me?” I stopped and looked up into his eyes.

He didn’t say anything. He stopped in his tracks and stood still. He looked at the sand and the pebbles as if it were interesting. It truly was not. Why was he hesitating?

“Why do you…” I asked again, being cut off.

There was a quick moment of hesitation from him. With great speed, he had his arms wrapped around me tight and his lips came crashing down on mine. It felt like an eternity that we stood there taking each other in. Breathing deep and learning each others scents.

Then it hit me. And it hit me hard. I knew who he was. I knew where I had seen him before. I stopped kissing him with passion, and it took a great effort to push him away from me. Wiping my mouth and turning around towards the lake with tears in my eyes. I was almost disgusted with myself.

“Why?” I asked.

He stared at me with a look of pain in his eyes.

“You were there when Scarlet’s family was killed…”

He said nothing.

Angel.

9.

What Silence Holds.

1646.

I had never seen a sight that was quite like this one. Carriages that were made of gold and silver, crowns on the heads of all those riding inside. All the men on black and white draft horses, and were practically glowing in the dark.

“Who are they?” I asked Quinn, who was now standing beside me. He must have followed me out here.

“Only part of the Black Thorn.” He responded in a whisper.

“Only part?” I asked him. I didn’t look over at him. I just kept staring at all of those who were passing by. They were dressed in navy blue cloaks with gold trim, prancing like they were royalty.

“Yes. There are only few who come out. The rest are hidden.”

“Hidden? Where?” I asked finally turning to him.

“No one knows.” I turned and looked at him, we made eye contact.

“Don’t let Scarlet out of your sight. I will return later this evening.” I said turning back.

“You mean to follow them?” He asked me in surprise.

“I do.” Was my response.

“Are you bloody mad?” He paused. “You will only get yourself killed.”

“If I’m lucky.” I stated. “Watch her.” I pointed towards the other side of the darkened woods where I knew Scarlet was located.

“Fine.” He scowled. “You are sure you know what you’re doing?”

“Can you smell me?” I asked him. He looked at me like I was crazy. “Can you?” I asked again.

“No.” He was still confused.

“Exactly. They will never know that I’m there.”

With that I took off into the darkness. I stayed far away from them so they wouldn’t sense me. I was only curious to watch them and get a feel for who they really were. I’m pretty sure I knew what they would do to me if they caught me. I spent at least three hours following and tracking them. Then we came to their little, actually big, whichever you want to call it, hideout. I smelt smoke. Fire. And blood.