Crescent Moon

by Lori Handeland

  “Why are we going into the swamp?” I asked.

  “I have something to do.”

  “I don’t suppose I can convince you not to.”

  “No.”

  “Frank Tallient will wonder what happened to me. When he gets here—”

  “He’s coming?” The glare he shot my way was downright cold. This was the man I’d left in the cage. “What did you do?”

  I swallowed and forced myself to answer. “I told Frank where he could find the loup-garou.”

  “When was that?”

  “Less than an hour ago.”

  Some of his tension eased. “We’ll be there before him.”

  “He’ll raise a stink if he can’t find me. You can’t leave Luc alone.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “If you kill me, you’ll fry.”

  The death penalty was alive and well in Louisiana, though I didn’t know for certain if they actually fried people anymore, or how often.

  “You think I’m going to kill you, cher?”

  “You’ve killed before.”

  “I’ve risked more than I’ve ever risked in my life to protect you,” Adam said softly.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You will.”

  We remained silent for the rest of the drive to the mansion, as well as the hike into the swamp. The sun was up. The day was going to be another scorcher. Nevertheless, I couldn’t stop shivering.

  Adam was insane, if not a werewolf. He was going to kill me and probably everyone I’d spoken to about him. Cassandra, Detective Sullivan, Frank. Had he killed Mrs. Favreau?

  He’d most likely killed Charlie, the mystery stranger, and Mrs. Beasly. Such carnage was beyond my comprehension. But what really made me ill was the idea of leaving Luc in Adam’s care. What would happen to the child with a monster for a father?

  I stepped into the clearing first, stopping so abruptly, Adam nearly ran me over from behind.

  The cage was still there; the lock was still locked.

  And Adam was still inside.

  Chapter 37

  Dizziness washed over me and I swayed. “What—? Who—? How—?”

  Adam rushed to the enclosure, saw the lock, and turned. “The key.”

  I was having trouble breathing, so I sat down and put my head between my legs. After a few minutes, the black dots receded.

  When I glanced up, two men, so alike in appearance and yet so different, stared back. Now that they stood together, how could I have thought they were the same? One look into their eyes and the difference was obvious. The Adam in the cage was evil; the one who’d brought me here was not.

  “Twins?” I asked.

  They shook their heads, and their hair swirled around their shoulders.

  “My great-great... well, several-greats-grandfather.” The Adam outside the cage jerked a thumb toward the one inside. “Henri Ruelle.”

  The naked man bowed.

  “The picture,” I murmured.

  Henri smirked. I hated that smirk.

  “Obviously taken before you became a loup-garou.” Considering my trouble photographing them.

  “Obviously,” Henri returned.

  “Why would you leave it on the wall where anyone could see?”

  “I only wanted you to see.”

  “Grandpere likes to confuse people.”

  He’d confused me all right.

  “You said your family wasn’t cursed.”

  “No. I said, ‘Some say we are.’ ”

  “I specifically asked if you’d been cursed to run as a wolf beneath the crescent moon.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You look so much alike. Couldn’t you at least cut your hair? Make some distinction?”

  “The better to protect me, my dear,” Henri said.

  I glanced at him, then back at Adam. “You protect it?”

  “Hey!” Henri protested.

  “There will always be a loup-garou of Ruelle blood. If Grandpere dies, the next Ruelle male becomes the beast.”

  “You.”

  “Then Luc.”

  So many things were starting to make sense.

  “Your father and grandfather?”

  “They couldn’t bear knowing what they might become.”

  “Pussies,” Henri spat.

  “Who did you piss off?” I demanded.

  “I didn’t know she was a voodoo queen. She was—” Henri shrugged. “A slave. I wanted her, I took her.”

  “You raped her?”

  “No.” Confusion flickered over his face. “She was mine. I never understood what she was so angry about.”

  I rubbed between my eyes. “Why didn’t she just turn him into a bug and squash him?”

  “Too easy,” Adam murmured.

  “Dismemberment would have been too easy.”

  “She called on the moon goddess to make me a beast.”

  I lifted my head. “What?”

  “Queen of heavens, mother of creatures, lady of the wild, patron goddess of the outlaw werewolf, the instant I heard your name, deesse de la lune, I knew you were here for me.”

  I glanced at Adam, who shrugged. “He’s been obsessed with you from the beginning, but he couldn’t figure out if you were here to help or hurt him.”

  “Diana is a huntress,” Henri continued. “You rule all dark forests; you command the moon. Queen of witches, daughter of Satan.”

  “I think you’ve got the wrong Diana.”

  “I’m cursed by a woman who calls on a moon goddess, then you arrive? How can that be a coincidence?”

  “It’s a hundred and fifty years later!” I shouted.

  “Time means nothing to me.”

  I suppose after the first century, that’s true.

  “Listen,” I said. “My name is just a name. It was my grandmother’s, and you can bet your everlasting life she wasn’t a moon goddess.”

  “Did you come here to make me stronger, to be at my side until we ruled the world?” Henri asked.

  Did this guy listen? “I don’t think so.”

  “Then you came to cure me, and you have to die.”

  “Huh?”

  “The one thing Grandpere fears is being cured. He likes what he is. He doesn’t want to go back to the way he was.”

  “In life I was at the mercy of forces I could not change—weather, government, stock market, death. Now everyone is at the mercy of me. Like this, I’ll never be hungry or poor again.”

  I looked at Adam. “I thought you were poor now.”

  “I want none of his money.”

  Couldn’t say I blamed him.

  “I can understand cursing Henri,” I said, “but why the entire line?”

  “Curses are funny that way,” Adam said. “They tend to hang around for more than a generation.”

  “You’re certain killing him will curse you?”

  “I can’t kill him and find out!” Adam shoved a hand through his hair. “I’ve spoken with voodoo experts; they all say the same thing. A curse like this is on every Ruelle born until the curse is lifted. And that I don’t know how to do. No one does.”

  “So what, exactly, is the curse?”

  “He is an evil, soulless thing. A selfish prick who cares only for himself.”

  “Wasn’t he that already?”

  “I didn’t know him before,” Adam shrugged, “but most likely.”

  “I’m right here,” Henri muttered.

  “Under the crescent moon he runs as a wolf,” Adam continued as if Henri hadn’t spoken. “He murders innocents and creates more werewolves.”

  “Like Charlie.”

  “Yes.”

  “He told me he has to change under the crescent moon.”

  “He does. Many more nights of being a beast that way.”

  “A blessing, not a curse, if you ask me,” Henri said. “I like to kill.”

  “We didn’t ask you.” God, he was annoying. “Why did I see Charlie under a half-moon?”
/>
  “Charlie was a werewolf; Grandpere is a loup-garou.”

  “My head hurts.”

  Adam’s mouth tightened. “Grandpere wasn’t bitten; he was cursed. Those he bites rise and run as wolves within twenty-four hours—day, night, doesn’t matter. After that, only the full moon compels them to shift. Under any other, it is their choice.”

  Which made as much sense as anything else around here.

  “What about him?” I jerked my thumb toward the cage. “When the moon isn’t a crescent?”

  “He’s a man—or as much of a man as he can claim to be.”

  “Sounds like less of a curse.”

  “The longer he’s in human form, the more violent he becomes when the wolf is upon him.”

  I scowled at Henri, who examined his fingernails. I considered all that I knew and all I did not. “When did you find out about the curse?” I asked.

  “Luc’s first birthday.” His face softened. “Family tradition. By then you’re in love with the boy. You’d do anything to protect him.”

  “I couldn’t find a record of Luc’s birth.”

  Adam cast Henri a suspicious glance, and Henri shrugged. “Less people know of us, the better.”

  “Once your father told you the truth,” I continued, “he killed himself?”

  Sadness flickered over Adam’s face. “I was old enough to watch over Grandpere, and by then I’d had Special Forces training. Didn’t know I’d need it for this.”

  “Your father left you alone to raise your son, protect that thing, and find a cure? He couldn’t stick around to help?”

  “Knowing what was to come preyed on his mind, drove him over the edge.”

  I got the feeling Adam was talking as much about himself as his dad.

  “When I was a boy he would be gone certain nights and come home beat to hell. He was a gentle man, a scholar. He didn’t know how to fight; he had no idea how to counteract evil and violence.”

  Henri snorted but refrained from comment for a change.

  “Your mother?”

  Adam looked away, refusing to meet my eyes. “She left the instant she knew the truth.”

  No wonder he’d been so worried I’d leave him and Luc behind. Every other woman in his life had.

  “My father asked me to enlist,” he continued. “I’d always been fascinated with weapons, interested in military history; I believed he wanted me to be happy. Later I understood he wanted me trained to do the family dirty work better than he had been.”

  “You plan on taking the easy way out when Luc’s old enough to protect that monster?”

  “I’d let the curse fall to me before I’d leave him to suffer.”

  “You’ll like it,” Henri whispered. “You’ll see. The power is exhilarating. With one stroke you can kill or impart life everlasting.”

  “Unless someone has a silver bullet,” Adam said.

  “So few do.”

  “Wait a minute. Doesn’t everyone he kills rise again?”

  “No, thank God, or we’d be overrun. If he kills but doesn’t drink their blood or eat their flesh, they become a werewolf. If he partakes of the kill, they’re just dead.”

  "I do so love when they beg for their life,” Henri murmured. “I usually give it to them.”

  “Shut up, old man,” Adam said.

  The incongruity of calling someone who didn’t appear a day over thirty “old man” made me choke back a giggle. Hysteria was obviously not far behind.

  “Why are there no Ruelle girls?”

  “What?” Adam blinked at the sudden change in subject.

  “No girls born for over a century. I checked.”

  “The curse. Grandpere's voodoo queen wanted only men to suffer. I don’t think she cared too much for them.”

  “Can't imagine why.”

  Henri grabbed the bars and rattled his cage. “Let me out!”

  “Not so fast,” Adam said. “You will leave her alone.”

  Henri’s gaze flicked to me. “What if she tries to kill me? Will you protect me then, petit-fils? Will you trust her with your soul? What about the boy’s?”

  “If she meant to kill you, Grandpere, I’d be dead. She thought I was you.”

  Henri frowned. I didn’t think he was the brightest star in the sky. Or should I say the fullest moon on the calendar?

  “True,” he agreed. “She’d have slipped a silver knife between your ribs while you were doing her. That’s always the best time.”

  “You two seem to have me confused with a psychopathic serial killer.”

  “If she doesn’t want to kill me—”

  “I didn’t at first, but now that I’ve met you I’ve changed my mind.”

  “Diana—” Adam began, but Henri interrupted: “What do you want?”

  “To prove a werewolf exists and show it to the world.”

  “That isn’t going to happen.” Henri glanced at Adam. “Right?”

  Adam sighed. “Right” He let his head fall forward, and his hair sifted over his face.

  I stood, resisting the urge to shove it back.

  He lifted his gaze. “I need the key.”

  “He wants to kill me, or maybe screw me—”

  “How about both?” Henri asked.

  “Why you think I said I’d be your guide?” Adam demanded. “I wasn’t going to let him hurt you. I still won’t.”

  Sadness filtered through me. Adam hadn’t hung around because of my charms—no kidding—but because he’d wanted to make certain Henri didn’t tear out my throat or worse. And what better way to get close than to pretend he wanted to sleep with me and then do so?

  I’d been right: This wasn’t love. It wasn’t even lust, just duty.

  Voices floated on the still morning air, startling us all.

  “Frank,” I muttered. How had he gotten here so fast?

  “Hurry up,” Henri said.

  “I have to let him go, Diana.” Adam’s gaze captured mine. “If they don’t kill him here, they’ll dissect him somewhere else. If he dies and I’m possessed, there’ll be no one to care for Luc.”

  “You think Henri should be free to kill people?”

  “I do my best to contain him. And I spend the nights he can’t shift eliminating those he’s made.”

  My eyes widened. “You shot Charlie and Mrs. Beasly.”

  Adam nodded.

  There was a shout, much closer, and Adam held out his hand. “Please.”

  I looked into his eyes, saw the shadows and the pain. I also saw his fear, his need, and his son.

  I gave him the key.

  Chapter 38

  Henri barreled out of the cage and started toward me. Adam hauled back and decked him on the chin. He staggered.

  “I won’t kill you.” Adam jerked his head toward the tall grass. “But they will. Get lost.”

  Henri glared at me, a promise in his eyes, but he went, gliding into the swamp and disappearing.

  “I’ll take care of you. I swear.”

  I wanted Adam’s words to mean something, but they were only words he’d say to anyone who’d helped him protect his son. He owed me, and while I should tell him to stuff his help, I’d looked into Henri’s eyes and I didn’t ever want to run into him again alone.

  “Diana?” Adam took one step toward me, hand outstretched.

  “Don’t move, asshole.”

  Adam froze. So did I.

  Big, muscle-bound men with bandoliers of bullets strung across their impressive chests spilled into the clearing. Each of them had a rifle in his hands, a pistol on his hip, and a knife strapped to his thigh.

  Another man walked into the clearing carrying Frank Tallient. Frank’s legs hung uselessly over his helper’s arm, revealing why he’d sent me to find the loup-garou instead of coming himself.

  He placed Frank atop a rotted stump at the edge of the clearing. Frank pointed a handgun at Adam’s head.

  “How did you get here so fast?” I asked.

  “I knew you’d find him
this time, Diana.” Frank never took his eyes or his gun off of Adam. “I came to New Orleans yesterday so I’d be close by when your call came.”

  “He-he got away,” I blurted.

  Frank made a tsking sound. “He’s right here. Henri, it’s been a long time.”

  “No—” I began.

  Adam shot me a silencing glare, and I zipped my lip. Then he returned his attention to Frank. “Do we know each other?”

  Fury washed over Frank’s face. “I suppose it’s nothing for you to wipe out an entire family and leave a man crippled.”

  “Where was this?” Adam asked.

  “You really don’t remember?”

  Adam shrugged.

  “Iron Mountain.” At Adam’s blank expression Frank continued, “Upper Michigan.”

  Michigan? When had Henri gone there? And if he’d traveled that far, where else had he been? How many others had he killed? How many werewolves had he made?

  “When was this?” Adam’s voice was a bit hoarse. Frank didn’t seem to notice.

  “Seven years, one month, three days, and five hours ago, you son of a bitch.”

  Seven years meant Henri had left Louisiana before Adam had taken over his protection. That information was irrelevant to Frank. His family was dead and he meant to have his vengeance. But he had the wrong man.

  I stepped forward and Adam yanked me back. “No.”

  One glance at his face and I understood. Adam was going to let Frank riddle him with silver bullets on the off chance the man didn’t know a werewolf would explode. Then Frank would leave, believing his vengeance complete.

  “Protect Luc,” Adam whispered. “Find a way.”

  He was putting his son in my care? I didn’t like this plan. However, I didn’t have a better one, except— “He isn’t Henri.”

  “Diana...”

  I ignored Adam’s plea. Henri had lived this long; he’d no doubt live a lot longer. He was probably halfway to Acapulco by now. Frank hadn’t been able to find him without me, and I wasn’t going to oblige him by locating Henri a second time.

  “The one who killed your family and hurt you is out there.” I pointed to the swamp. “This is Adam. His great—a bunch of times—grandson.”

  “Bullshit,” Frank said. “I saw Henri maliciously murder everyone I loved. Then he left me alive to remember and mourn.”

  “He was a wolf; how do you know it was Henri?”