Five Moons Rising

by Lise MacTague

  Blood. Cassidy’s blood.

  The door wasn’t locked. The handle turned easily in her hand and she pushed it open, going down to her knees and rolling over the threshold in one motion. The living room was empty. Nothing moved in the apartment. There was no sign of Cassidy. A pile of textbooks sat on the coffee table. Everything else was pretty much as it had been every other time Mary Alice visited her sister.

  Somehow, Cassidy’s place looking as normal as it did made Mary Alice even more nervous. Her stomach swirled with acid, eating at her. Whatever had gone down here had been calculated.

  The smell of blood was strong, but she didn’t see any. She looked around and noticed the door to Cassidy’s room was closed. The only damage was the missing doorknob.

  From behind the door came a muffled moan, barely more than a sob. The last of Mary Alice’s discipline was torn away. She crossed the room in two strides and threw open the door.

  The room was untouched except for the blood on the sheets. Its brilliant red seemed to be the only color in the room. Mary Alice stared blankly, unable to comprehend the scene in front of her.

  Cassidy was laid out on the bed, her arms spread, her legs crossed at the ankles. She was clad only in her panties. Scratches and crescent-moon-shaped bites marred her skin. The paleness of her flesh was streaked in crimson. Her chest rose and fell once in a choked gasp. Mary Alice was kneeling next to her on the bed before she realized she’d moved.

  She reached out but snatched her hand back, not sure if she would do more damage and not wanting to hurt her. Cassidy’s chest hadn’t moved again, and Mary Alice pressed her head to her sister’s rib cage. Her heart was beating; it was faint but steady. Blood oozed sluggishly from some of the wounds while others no longer bled.

  The bite marks varied in size by a large margin. Some were human-sized and shaped; others were longer. Wolves had done this. She stared down at Cassidy’s form, her worst fears confirmed. This was her fault. Her sister had just gotten caught in the crossfire.

  The feeling of being in bed with someone she didn’t know pulled Ruri from a well-sated doze. Whoever it was, they weren’t pack. Ruri felt absolutely no connection and rolled away, careful not to jar whoever it was into wakefulness. The woman next to her murmured sleepily and reached out a hand. Ruri avoided it deftly, taking care not to jostle the bed. The knife-edge of need that had been riding her for days was finally and blissfully gone.

  She smiled a little bit as the activities of the previous night came back to her. The woman had been an enthusiastic partner. They had fucked for hours in various positions and with various toys. Sex toys had been a new experience for Ruri. She’d never felt the need for such things, but then, she also hadn’t coupled with a human for many years. The last time she’d done so, she doubted the sheer variety of toys she’d glimpsed in the bottom drawer of the dresser had even existed.

  This was just what the doctor had ordered. Without the blinding need to mate clouding her thoughts, Ruri felt like she could finally move forward.

  Carefully, she slid out of bed. The woman didn’t move, for which Ruri was grateful. The last thing she wanted was to explain why she was leaving without even saying goodbye. She felt vaguely ashamed about using the human only for sex, but there was nothing she could offer a human except pain. Long-term couplings with their kind never ended well. Besides that, she knew nothing about the woman, not even her name. There was absolutely nothing aside from their compatibility between the sheets to indicate they might be well-suited to each other.

  Even so, the opportunity to connect with another being was almost overwhelming, and she found herself watching the woman as she slept. Ruri knew what was going on. Her wolf was trying to forge a new pack. The beast didn’t care that all Ruri had needed was some casual sex to take the edge off. She missed the company of others and yearned for more of it. Ruri couldn’t fault her, but she wouldn’t settle for a pale imitation of a real pack.

  She pulled on her clothes quickly and slipped out before her wolf could become more insistent. Fortunately, a night of sex seemed to have made her more accommodating than usual. Not being taken over by the wolf was a constant struggle for every wolven. It required constant compromise. Some never bothered to learn that art, but Ruri wasn’t one of them. She would control her beast, it wouldn’t control her. Dean had taught her to master herself. A whine issued from her throat at the reminder of her former Alpha.

  The apartment was dark, but not dark enough that she had any problems navigating the unfamiliar layout. As she headed out of the building, she grinned. A small river ran past the back of the property. She slipped through the trees and down to the water’s edge. Rabbits by the dozen had made the place home; their scent was everywhere. Her wolf smelled them too and Ruri’s jaw cramped as fur rippled across the underside of her skin. It was time to indulge her wolf. Ruri quickly stripped out of her clothes and opened herself up, letting go of her hard-earned control, one insubstantial fingernail at a time. Fur caressed her, teeth and claws gently scoring her insides. She closed her eyes and became one with the wolf.

  Mary Alice sat next to the bed, trying to read a magazine and failing miserably. Every few seconds, it seemed, her eyes strayed from the page to check on Cassidy.

  It had taken a bit of doing, but she’d managed to get her sister out of the apartment building without being seen. The humans on the floor had still been lying low without knowing why, which had helped immensely. It also helped that Cassidy wasn’t a large woman and Mary Alice was extremely strong.

  After getting home, she’d had the presence of mind to make a quick call to her contact at the CIA. Cassidy’s apartment needed a cleaning crew. When they finished with the place, no one would have any idea what had gone on in there. While she was at it, she’d also asked TC to search her sister’s phone and send messages to the members of her study group letting them know the session had been canceled.

  It helped to have someone in the CIA supra-containment unit indebted to her. Since supras weren’t considered citizens, the CIA was tasked with keeping them in check. It was an interesting rationalization. Personally, Mary Alice figured someone had decided the FBI was too much a band of boy scouts, and they’d tasked a group known for its ruthlessness to do what needed to be done.

  TC hadn’t seemed overly concerned when she asked that everything be kept under the radar. Ever since she’d pulled his brother out of a vamp nest, he’d been more than willing to do the occasional favor for her. She had the feeling she was about to stretch the limits of his gratefulness. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be to the breaking point. It was certainly to her advantage that he hated Uncle Ralph as much as she did.

  Bathing Cassidy had revealed the extent of her wounds. She’d been mauled savagely and from the varying bite shapes and sizes; there had been maybe a half-dozen of the animals. Even more concerning was that most of the marks on Cassidy’s skin had already healed. Of the dozens of bites, only five now remained. Those were still as raw and angry as they’d been when she found her sister.

  By all rights, Cassidy should have been shackled to the bed, but Mary Alice couldn’t bring herself to do it. If she was going to follow the dictates of the regulations, she would already have contacted Uncle Ralph to report a civilian turned against her will.

  Maybe she won’t shift.

  Mary Alice knew she was deluding herself. The rapid healing could only mean one thing. Cassidy was, in all likelihood, infected with the lycano-lupine virus. Her trainers and others of her platoon had flippantly called it the LOL virus, or just plain LOL for short. Mary Alice wasn’t laughing now.

  Already sweat sheened Cassidy’s body, trickling down her forehead and onto her cheeks. Mary Alice stood and wrung out a washcloth over the bowl on the bedside table. She gently smoothed the cloth over her sister’s face. Her hair was stuck to her skin. Cassidy moaned and turned her head slightly to one side. Mary Alice froze, her hand half-reaching toward her sister. It was the first movement she’d made since Mary
Alice had brought her here.

  She hovered over the bed for a long moment before settling back into her chair. To her disappointment, Cassidy made no other movements. What she really wanted was for Cass to open her eyes and talk to her, to tell her she was okay.

  Maybe I should turn her over to the government.

  The thought shocked her and Mary Alice slumped down in the chair. The government would love to have Cassidy. There was no question of that. Her sister would be quite the guinea pig. Unbidden, Mary Alice wondered how many lycans had been sacrificed in developing the serums that had been pumped into her. How human was she these days? Could she claim any more humanity than the beasts she tracked down for her masters?

  Disturbed by the direction her thoughts were taking, Mary Alice stood up. She had to do something more than sit and watch. At the opening to her room, she paused and looked back. Cassidy looked so small in the middle of her king-sized bed. Did she dare go downstairs without restraining her somehow? Hating herself, she turned back and pulled a pair of cuffs out of a small duffel bag on the floor of her wardrobe. Bright blue fur lined them, an impulse purchase that had never been used for its intended purpose. Cassidy would give her such crap if she knew that she had them. Hopefully, she wouldn’t come to while Mary Alice was getting a few things from the bottom level.

  The sound of the cuffs clicking into place echoed loudly in the stillness and Mary Alice cringed. She strode from the bedroom, her strides eating ground, but it wasn’t fast enough. She cursed the vast floor she had to cross to get to the stairs. Not for the first time, she contemplated knocking holes between the floors and installing a fireman’s pole. The place was already hard enough to heat, and having a sizable hole in the floor wouldn’t help. At least she didn’t have to pay the gas bill. Good old Uncle Ralph, care of Uncle Sam, had her covered there.

  It hadn’t taken her more than a few minutes to get down to her weapon’s locker and back up to her living quarters. She stopped in the kitchen to grab her laptop and brought it with her back into the bedroom. Between running through her exercises and doing some research, she should have enough to keep her occupied until Cassidy woke up.

  Chapter Ten

  Mary Alice ran through her katas again, the repetitive motions forging in her mind a fragile peace. Two days had gone by. Two days where she’d done everything she could, to no avail. Cassidy was still unconscious.

  Mary Alice flowed, her hands moving from over her head, then down and through, slicing the air before pausing with both hands next to her hip. She carried the motion forward, swinging the practice sword over her head and turned, sweeping the wooden sword down. Her mind was empty except for the seamless motion from one form to the next. Two long days…

  The practice sword wavered slightly in her hands and she pulled her thoughts away from Cassidy’s long sleep. Her concentration didn’t last long. Cassidy was frighteningly weak. She hadn’t eaten anything beyond the little beef broth Mary Alice had been able to pour down her throat. Beef broth seemed to be what she tolerated best. The vegetable broth she’d tried first had sent her sister into spasms of vomiting. She’d thrown up far more than the pitiful amount Mary Alice had poured into her. Chicken broth had been a little more successful, but it hadn’t helped much. At least with the beef broth she seemed to be holding on to her strength, and not losing it at such a frightening rate. Her sister had never been especially athletic or physical; she’d always been slender. Now, however, her slenderness bordered on emaciation. Mary Alice didn’t know how much longer she could last.

  Mary Alice hesitated, up on one foot, the wooden katana over her head. Her body tilted to one side and she put her foot down to keep from toppling over. She lowered the practice sword and growled in frustration, pushing hair wet with sweat out of her face with her free hand.

  “Mommy?” Cassidy’s voice broke on the second syllable.

  Mary Alice spun and crossed the room to her bedside. The wooden sword clattered to the floor as it fell, forgotten, from nerveless fingers. Her trainers would have kicked her ass for that one. The thought was inane, but she had a sudden mental image of Drill Sergeant Aoki staring at her, his face expressionless.

  “She’s not here, Cassidy.” Her sister’s hand was sweaty and cold. Mary Alice clutched at it, and then gentled her grip. “But I am.” Shit, she thought. Mom. Thanks to whatever gods might be paying attention, Sophia hadn’t yet tried to call her youngest daughter. She knew Cassidy was notoriously difficult to get hold of during exams, but that wouldn’t last much longer. Another wrinkle was her friends; they wouldn’t be happy with radio silence from Cassidy forever. Mary Alice needed to get back in contact with TC to get some cover crafted, or she’d have the cops on her doorstep when someone filed a missing persons report. Uncle Ralph wouldn’t let that slide. She’d been so focused on Cassidy’s physical state that she’d completely forgotten to cover all her bases. If this had been an operation, she would have long since been pulled off it and replaced. There was no excuse for such sloppiness, not if she wanted to keep Cassidy out of her employer’s clutches.

  “What happened?” Cassidy looked at her, the whites of her eyes so bloodshot that Mary Alice saw only red in them. “I don’t feel good.”

  “Where do you hurt?”

  “It’s not that, really.” Cassidy swallowed hard. Her voice was rough and Mary Alice let go of her hand to grab the glass of water that had been waiting. “It’s everything else.” She swallowed again.

  “Take a drink.”

  Cassidy’s hand shook when she reached for the glass. The long-sleeved T-shirt she had on rode up, revealing an angry bite mark on her forearm.

  “What is that?” The pitch of her voice climbed quickly. “Oh god, Mary! What happened to me? I remember…”

  “It’s okay, Cass.” Mary Alice put down the glass. “Just breathe. You’re all right.”

  Cassidy’s chest rose and fell rapidly; she was almost panting. Her eyes darted left and right as if looking for a way out. Mary Alice had seen the behavior before. Cassidy was about to make a break for it. She grabbed her sister’s hand and squeezed hard, hoping the discomfort would snap her out of it.

  Her sister’s eyes snapped to Mary Alice, and her blood ran cold. Instead of Cassidy’s usual dark brown eyes, ice stared back at her. Her eyes had turned a pale gray so light she would have been hard pressed to see the iris against the white, except for the red of her corneas.

  “Cassidy!” Mary Alice’s tone was one of command. Her sister would obey her; she would not shift. A sharp pain in her palm made her look down. Blood ran out from between their joined hands. Black claws tipped Cassidy’s fingers.

  Not relinquishing her grip, Mary Alice hopped onto the bed. She reached for Cassidy’s other hand. In that moment, her sister went from a sick woman lying on the bed to a crazed bundle of teeth and claws trying to escape. It was only because of her finely honed reflexes and training that Mary Alice was able to grab Cassidy’s other hand and throw herself back. Cassidy’s teeth clacked together inches short of her nose. Instinct kept Mary Alice moving while her mind screamed at her not to hurt her sister. Cassidy and her mom were the only things she cared about, what kept her from telling Uncle Ralph to fuck himself before she disappeared into the Canadian wilderness.

  She swung her knee into Cassidy’s midriff and her breath came out in an explosive whoosh. Taking advantage of her sister’s momentary immobility, Mary Alice let go of one hand and twisted the other, forcing Cassidy away from her. Muscle memory was the only thing she had to go on when she slid her arm around her sister’s neck, catching it in the crook of her elbow. Tears streamed down Mary Alice’s face, blinding her, as she tightened her grip. She dropped the other hand and cradled the back of Cassidy’s head.

  Her sister bucked against her, driving her feet into the mattress and pushing back. Sounds of ripping fabric rent the air and Mary Alice gasped, trying to see through her tears. Cruelly clawed fingers shredded the skin on her forearm, but she forced herself t
o keep the right amount of pressure on Cassidy’s windpipe.

  Cassidy’s struggles faded slowly. By the time she was finally unconscious, the skin on Mary Alice’s arm was in tatters. Blood dripped onto the white sheets. Mary Alice held Cassidy for a moment longer to make sure she wasn’t faking unconsciousness. It would have been a cunning move, one that would never have occurred to her sister, but her sister’s wolf half was another matter altogether. Her eyes filled at the thought and she sniffed deeply.

  No time to dwell on that now. Mary Alice cradled Cassidy against her chest before laying her back on the bed. The only things that pointed to Cassidy being other than human now were the blood still dripping from Mary Alice’s arm and the two foot-long gouges in the pillow-top of her mattress. The claws were gone. Mary Alice thumbed open one of Cassidy’s eyes. The iris had returned to its normal brown.

  What am I going to do? She sat on the edge of the bed and pushed a matted hank of Cassidy’s hair back from her forehead. Regretfully, she pulled the cuffs out of the bedside table. She fastened them around Cassidy’s wrist and to the bed. At least the frame was metal and not wood. As strong as her sister had gotten when her wolf tried to emerge, a wooden bed frame surely wouldn’t have been enough to hold her. As it was, Mary Alice had severe doubts that the metal frame was up to the job. She needed something else to keep her safe and contained. Fortunately, Mary Alice thought she had just the thing in the workshop downstairs.

  She would have to clean up quickly, put it in place and head back before Cassidy had a chance to wake up.

  The small basement apartment suited Ruri just fine. She’d already known it would, but she gave it a quick once-over for the sake of the manager who hovered near the door. The man was nervous, though Ruri doubted he knew why. The human was sensitive to her; some humans were. They’d never understand why her presence made them so twitchy. Most of them would avoid her, but every now and again she ran across someone who bristled at the warning from their subconscious. She wasn’t too worried; most humans could do very little to hurt her.