Song of The Moon Artemis Lupine

by Banks, Catherine

  Ares stood up and growled at me. I flinched, but didn't take a step back. I felt something pushing at me and looked around, but there was nothing. I felt a thick substance, like mud, spread around me seeping upwards until it covered me and I couldn't breathe. I fell to the floor gasping for breath as Ares stood over me pushing his power over me. I looked up at his eyes and if I had had any breath would have gasped. His eyes were completely black, like the pupil had expanded to cover everything. He snarled. "I am dominant to you and although you do not understand our ways, you will not try to belittle me."

  I began to see grey spots as my body tried to black out with the lack of oxygen. I shook my head and rolled over on to my stomach. I felt a flame flare inside my core and focused on it. It flared higher and higher until it filled my entire body up. I looked up at Ares and smiled as I realized I had my own magic. Ares stared down at me in shock as I pushed with my hands and the internal flame at the invisible mud covering me. The internal flame extended past my hands and pushed the mud back enough for me to breathe. I gasped for breath and pushed harder with my power. Ares shook his head and I watched in amazement as his eyes cleared back to normal. The invisible flame from me snapped back inside and only a small flicker like a candle flame stayed inside me. I collapsed against the ground and closed my eyes in exhaustion.

  No one spoke or moved for ten minutes. Ares finally cleared his throat and spoke. "Well, that was interesting."

  "Did she just use magic against you?" Koda asked.

  Ares laughed. "Yep. Darren has been holding out on us. I thought he had been bitten, but apparently he comes from a line that was cursed, or he was cursed. That bastard. Now I really have to speak with him."

  I sat up slowly and looked up at Ares. "What just happened?"

  Ares smiled. "When you are cursed by a witch, or come from a line which is cursed by a witch, you gain magical powers. Apparently when I used my powers on you it let yours emerge."

  I shook my head and laughed. "Werewolves, witches and now magical powers? You've got to be kidding me."

  Ares frowned. "You've seen us change and you felt what just happened. You can't honestly think I am making this up?"

  I sighed. "No. It’s just a lot to take in. Are there any more mythological creatures I don't know about?" Everyone nodded their heads smiling. I groaned. "Great. So, when do I get to know which ones are real?"

  Ares shrugged. "When we come across one."

  I sighed. "Okay, fine. Look, I'm tired. Can I go to sleep?"

  Ares smiled. "Of course. I'll show you to your room."

  Ares extended his hand to me and I took it following him past the bathroom and into one of the four doors down the hallway. He held the door open for me, so I could walk in. The room was small, just big enough for a bed and a dresser, but it was inviting. I sat down on the bed and smiled at the feel of the soft mattress. Ares closed the door behind him and turned to me. I felt my heart speed up as I realized that we were alone in the room together. He smiled at me and shook his head. "Don't get nervous; I just want to talk."

  I slowed my breathing down and crossed my legs on the bed. Ares leaned against the door and frowned. "You really have to watch how you act. I know I told you that I was going to give you slack about treating me as Prince, but I am dominant to you. If you had been any other werewolf I would have punished you severely for what you did."

  I sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have to speak with Bret alone."

  Ares shook his head. "It is out of the question Artemis. I can't allow you to be alone with that human. If he hurt you, I would never forgive myself."

  I frowned. "Bret would never hurt me."

  Ares sighed. "You may think that, but when humans find out what we are, they turn into different people. It makes me wonder who the real shifters are." He said almost to himself.

  "Bret would never hurt me. He has always been my protector. It would be kind of hypocritical to protect me from everything then hurt me himself."

  Ares frowned. "You'd be surprised."

  "Can't we at least try to compromise?"

  Ares smiled. "Alright. What do you propose?"

  "Well since you won't let me meet with him alone, can I choose who goes with me?" I asked.

  "Who did you have in mind?"

  I shrugged. "Koda or Matt?"

  He nodded his head. "Koda."

  I smiled victoriously. "And he stands in the back of the room while I talk to Bret."

  Ares shook his head. "No. We may be fast, but I won't take the chance on him hurting you before Koda can get there."

  "Fine, after I tell Bret what I am, and Koda sees his reaction, he will stay in the back."

  "Only if Bret's reaction is decent."

  I nodded my head. "Fine."

  Ares nodded his head. "Fine."

  I raised my pointer finger. "One last thing."

  Ares groaned. "What?"

  I stopped smiling keeping a serious face. "Koda won't repeat what is said to you or anyone else. Everything that is said stays in that room."

  Ares snarled. "What is it that you will say that you don't want me to hear?"

  I looked at the ground. "Just agree."

  Ares sighed and rubbed his face. "Fine."

  I smiled at Ares and wondered if things would work out. Could I be happy with him? They seemed okay so far, but it takes a while to find out how people really are. Can I really believe that there are other mythological creatures running around? I sighed and shook my head.

  Ares sat down on the bed beside me and smiled. "I promise that I will work my hardest to make you happy. I know that this must be hard for you."

  I rolled my eyes. "No, learning that I'm not human and that I was destined to be with a man I don't know and having to deal with the fact that I'm going to have to stop my transformations all the time because I'm a werewolf isn't hard at all."

  "If your father had done the right thing and told you about us, this wouldn't be that difficult for you. He and I are going to have a long talk when we go visit them."

  "Fine, but if you kill him I won't forgive you." I said with as much anger as I could muster.

  Ares smiled. "I won't kill him. Promise." I smiled back at him and tensed as he leaned towards me. He lifted his hand, and reached towards my face, causing my heart to speed up even faster. His hand was an inch away from my face when someone knocked on the door twice. I stood up quickly, moving to the window which looked out at the village. I felt the blush on my cheeks and shook my head so that my hair fell around my face. Ares sighed. "Come in."

  The door opened and Koda said, "Ares, the King is here."

  Ares groaned. "What is he doing here?"

  Koda laughed. "Not sure, but he is requesting to speak with you."

  I stayed facing the window not wanting to go anywhere or talk to anyone. Ares stood up from the bed and walked to stand behind me. "I know you are tired, but I would like you to meet the King."

  I sighed and asked without turning around, "Will you keep your agreements about our visit?"

  Ares laughed softly. "Yes."

  I turned around slowly and nodded my head. "Alright."

  Ares smiled and kissed my cheek. "Thank you."

  The blush erupted on my face before I could even blink. Ares walked out the door leaving me alone with Koda. He smiled and shook his head. I held up my hand at him. "Don't even say anything."

  He held his hands up in surrender. "I wasn't."

  I growled and walked past him out of the bedroom. When I got down the hallway, Koda started laughing in the bedroom. I blushed darker and walked faster towards the living room. Matt stood by the entrance and smiled at me. "Ready, Love?"

  I shrugged. "What's one more werewolf?"

  He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  I shook my head. "Nothing. Forget about it." I squared my shoulders, and walked past Matt, to stand beside Ares, but stopped halfway when I saw the man he was talking to.

  To say he is a large man is a lie. He's
ginormous. At least six and a half feet tall, he towered over Ares’ five foot five frame easily. His body looked like a professional wrestler and I was just waiting for him to yell, “I’ll crush you!”. I had never been intimidated by anyone before, but he definitely intimidated me. His dark hair hung to his shoulders and his beard hung to his belly. I instantly thought of a biker and wondered if he had been living here this whole time as one. Ares turned to me, smiling reassuringly, and reached his hand out to me. I thought about rejecting his hand, but knew I would feel safer if he held mine. How childish is that? I walked quickly to Ares' side taking his hand and pressed myself against his side.

  Ares cleared his throat. "Darius, this is Artemis, my mate."

  Darius smiled, but it didn't make him any less menacing. "Your mate? I thought you said you were waiting for the one who would answer your call?"

  Ares nodded his head looking down at me with gentleness in his eyes. "I did."

  Darius stared at me for a second then his eyes bulged in surprise. "This child answered your call?"

  I glared at him. "I'm not a child."

  Ares nudged my arm to quiet me. "Forgive her, Darius. Her father decided that he was not going to tell her about us until she changed for the first time, so she knew nothing of us until I came to get her."

  Darius stared at me in wonder. "She answered your call without having her first change?"

  Ares nodded his head. "We have learned that she has actually been fighting her changes since she was ten years old."

  Darius shook his head. "Impossible. No one can fight their first change."

  Ares shrugged. "Apparently, she can. She has done it numerous times already. Tomorrow will be the ultimate test though."

  I rolled my eyes. "I keep telling you that I will not change tomorrow. Why won't you believe me?"

  Darius snarled. "Because it's impossible."

  I shrugged. "We'll see. I'm still going to try."

  Darius laughed. "She does seem to be a perfect match for you Ares."

  Ares nodded his head smiling at me. "She seems so, so far."

  I tensed beside them, unsure of what they meant, but Ares rubbed his thumb across my knuckles, calming me.

  Darius sighed. "Well, I am just on my way through. We are going to the meeting place."

  Ares nodded his head. "I have one stop to make after tomorrow night, and then I will be through. We should probably be there in three or four days, depending on how things go tomorrow night."

  Darius nodded his head and looked at me appraisingly. "Does she have magic?" Ares nodded his head. Darius snarled. "Why do you have purple eyes, pup?"

  I shrugged. "I have no idea. I didn't even know I had purple eyes until a few minutes ago.

  Ares smiled. "She has, literally, been kept in the dark."

  Darius frowned and seemed like he wanted to say something else to me, but shook his head. "Well, I better get going."

  Ares nodded his head then bowed to Darius. I looked behind me and found Matt and Koda bowing, too. I curtsied and looked at the ground as Darius walked past us and out the door. Ares stood up and so did I. He turned to me smiling. I dropped his hand and moved away from him. "What?"

  He laughed. "You really are amazing."

  I shook my head. "I don't know what you mean."

  He smiled and moved towards me making me stare at his naked upper body. "I know you don't understand. You will soon though.”

  I turned towards the windows as I felt the sun coming up and sighed. "The sun is here.”

  Koda stared at me in shock. "You can feel when the sun comes up?"

  I nodded my head. "Since I can remember. I have always loved the moon and it's like an alarm in my head goes off when the switch between moon and sun is about to happen."

  Ares stared at me in shock for a moment and then whispered, "Oh, Goddess, she might be her."

  I turned and looked at him. "Who?"

  Koda shook his head. "She can't be her."

  Matt nodded his head. "She has the right powers and abilities."

  Koda shook his head. "But she is obviously not full werewolf."

  Ares shook his head. "The prophecy says she’ll be a mixed blood."

  I walked slowly away from them towards the bedroom. Ares called, "Where are you going?"

  I turned around. "You probably aren't going to explain it anyway and I'm tired. I need to sleep."

  Ares smiled. "Of course." He walked towards me making my heart speed up again. He smiled wider and when he was close enough whispered, "I hope your heart speeding up isn't because you are frightened of me."

  I shook my head. "No, not frightened in the regular sense."

  He smiled and bent down towards me. I tried to move away, but my body wouldn't let me. He bent over my lips with just a breath between us and whispered, "I know you are fighting your feelings, and I understand, but if you would just let go it would be truly amazing." I went to answer him, but he stopped me by kissing me on the lips. I stayed tense as his lips pressed softly, but warmly against mine. My body wanted to wrap my arms around him and kiss him back, but my brain refused to admit that I could have any feelings for this man I had just met hours before. He pulled away and laughed. "You are a fighter. I admire that. Now go on to sleep. We will be in the rooms beside you if you need anything."

  I turned quickly away from him without another glance and walked as fast as I could without jogging to my room. I slammed the door shut and threw myself onto the bed. My lips burned where he had kissed me as I buried my face in my pillow. I shook my head back and forth. I can’t have feelings for this old half man, half wolf. I just met him hours ago. Shit. I groaned and rolled on to my side closing my eyes. Things will work out. I can control myself long enough to find an escape plan. I pulled the covers over my head and hummed the song my father had always sung to me as I drifted to sleep.

  "Artemis. Artemis, wake up." Koda said softly.

  I opened my eyes and looked up at Koda's smiling face. "Hi, Koda."

  He laughed softly. "Hello. It's time to get up."

  I looked out the window and saw that there was no light coming through. "Is it night-time already?"

  He nodded his head. "You slept through the day. The only reason I am waking you now is because your stomach has been growling loud enough that we heard it in the other room. Ares thought it would be best if you ate before you fought your change as well."

  I nodded my head and stood up stretching my arms over my head. I squealed as I finished my stretch and smiled. Koda laughed. "I see you're calmer today."

  I shrugged and smiled. "I figured that being nervous all the time and thinking about things I can't change is stupid. I am just going to relax and learn to enjoy how my new life is." Until I can think of a plan to escape from you.

  Koda frowned. "What was that?"

  I stared at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

  He sighed. "You flinched as you finished saying that. That usually means that you are lying or thinking something bad."

  I felt my eyes widen and turned away from him. Shit. Why the hell is he so perceptive? I sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that I can't believe I am saying this and feeling so comfortable with you all when I don't even know you."

  "I know how you feel, Artemis. I helped a wolf that wasn't told about being a werewolf until one month before his first change. He was scared and it was in the eighteen hundreds when the werewolf and witch hunts began. At least for you, things are a lot better and will be getting much, much better soon."

  I turned to him and asked, "What do you mean, ‘soon’?"

  He smiled. "The preternaturals or mythological creatures as you like to call them, are taking the world back from the humans."

  I stared in shock at him as I remembered the London and Las Vegas scenes. "You're killing all of the humans?"

  He shook his head and waved his hands at me. "No no no no no. Okay, we kill some, but we capture most of them."

  I snarled. "So you can eat them later?" />
  Matt walked into the bedroom laughing. "Now that's original. Of course not, Love. We are taking them as slaves. It's the only way for them to live as humans. Either you are a slave or you become one of us."

  I growled and felt my power rising inside me. "That is ridiculous! Who are you to decide how they live?!"

  Matt snarled at me. "They decided to kill us centuries ago. To avoid that fate, we were forced to hide in sewers and nearly starve."

  I shook my head angrily, my power radiating off of me in waves and slapping against Koda and Matt. Every time a wave would hit them they would take a step back. "It was not these people, but the people who lived during that time. It would be like the African-Americans forcing Caucasians into slavery because of what happened hundreds of years ago. That's ridiculous, because we live peacefully together, no matter what color the other is. How do you know it wouldn't be the same for you?"

  Koda laughed. "Are you serious? Do you honestly think the humans would live peacefully with a werewolf? They would be too worried that we would hurt them."

  I growled loudly and moved towards the bedroom door. Matt blocked me, making me snarl and growl louder. "MOVE!" I felt my body starting to shake and stopped growling. I stayed perfectly still and breathed slower taking big, deep breaths. Matt and Koda stared at me in shock as I kept my body calm and collected. I sighed and looked up at Matt. "I said move."

  Matt moved to the side and I hurried past him into the kitchen. I opened the fridge and found lunchmeat and took it out, swallowing the pieces of turkey and ham whole. Koda and Matt watched me from the doorway as I finished the two packs of lunchmeat. I opened the freezer and pulled out a block of ground beef. I put it in the sink and turned the water on scalding hot to defrost it as quickly as possible. After watching me for a few more seconds, Matt walked away from the kitchen and out of the house. I ignored Koda, as I waited anxiously for the meat to defrost. I poked at the meat and smiled as it started to give way. I heard the front door open, but ignored it, continuing to poke at the block of beef. I started dancing from side to side as I grew antsy for the meat to defrost. I snarled and flipped the meat over to allow the water to defrost the other side. I felt someone standing next to me but ignored him. Nothing matters but food right now.