Ebon Moon

“Be careful,” Collin said. “They may be armed with silver weapons.”

  She slipped out of her jeans and stood naked in the dim light of the barn. “Stay with the child, my love. I’ll be back to feast.”

  “Make it quick. We only have a few minutes more before the Ebon Moon is gone,” Collin stated.

  Roxie fell to her hands and knees and transformed to her Wolfkin form. Once completed, she gave him a last look before emitting a low growl and darting in a loping gate out the door of the barn.

  * * * *

  Terry raced from the patrol car to the storm cellar door. On the other side, a woman shouted and pounded against the wood to get out. He thought he recognized her voice. Laying aside the crossbow, he crouched and reached for the padlock on the hasp of the door.

  “Jess,” he said, “is that you?”

  “Yes,” she answered through a space between the wood planks. “Oh God, who is that?”

  “Terry,” he replied. “The door’s padlocked. I have to find something to break the lock with.”

  “Hurry,” she said. “I’m down here with a monster! It’ll be free soon!”

  “Okay.”

  He searched the ground around the cellar looking for a brick or a two-by-four to break the lock. He found nothing in sight.

  Without warning, the coyotes grew eerily quiet.

  Terry turned toward the barn.

  A dark blur raced toward him.

  Driven by reflex and fear, he twisted to the side as the growling shape flew past, shredding his camouflage poncho with its claws. The attacking beast landed in the grass a short distance away. Terry spun to face his attacker. This time the werewolf was female, signified by her fur-covered breasts. In the fading moonlight, it hunkered down on all fours and glared at him with burning red eyes. He glanced at the crossbow that lay near the cellar door. It was too far away for him to reach.

  “Nice girl,” he muttered, pulling the two gasoline-filled bottles from the poncho. Crouching, he placed them on the ground. “Don’t want any trouble, girl.”

  The creature growled but kept watching him with her evil red eyes.

  “You don’t want to eat me, do you, girl?” He removed the lighter and ignited the ends of the gasoline-soaked rags. “That wouldn’t be nice.”

  He grabbed both burning bottles and stood while the creature rose up on its two legs.

  “Eat this instead!” he shouted and pitched the first bottle at the monster.

  Faster than he could follow, the she-creature ducked to the side, causing the Molotov cocktail to shatter against the side of the barn wall. The splash of flaming gas ignited the old wood planks.

  “Oh shit,” Terry blurted out.

  The werewolf raced toward him and he threw the second Molotov cocktail. In midair, she caught the bottle and prepared to throw it back at him.

  “Oh shit!” Terry repeated louder.

  Suddenly, Sid appeared at his side with the shotgun leveled at the beast.

  “Catch this, bitch,” he said, pulling the trigger.

  The shotgun boomed. The blast shattered the bottle, showering the creature in burning gasoline. She howled in agony as her fur caught fire. Engulfed in a billowing inferno, the monster fled for the barn and collapsed just inside the door.

  “What are you doing here?” Terry turned to Sid in shock.

  “I knew you’d get your ass in trouble, so I followed you.” Sid jacked another round in the shotgun, ejecting the smoking cartridge. “Who’s in the cellar?”

  “Jess,” Terry answered.

  “Should have known,” Sid replied.

  * * * *

  Ear against the cellar door, Jessica strained to hear the events happening outside. Below her in the dark, metal grated against cement as the horrid thing fought being cuffed to the pipe in the wall. Any moment it would be free to maul her to death. Time was running out.

  She heard the boom of a firearm, more voices, and something howling like a wounded animal.

  “Jess,” Terry said again through the space in boards of the cellar door.

  “I’m here.”

  “Step back. Sid’s going to shoot the lock with a shotgun.”

  “Make it quick,” she replied and squatted on the steps as the rending sound of the metal pipe tearing free from the wall echoed in the cellar behind her.

  The shotgun went off, blowing chunks of wood splinters in her hair. Out of the corner of her eye, the dark shape of the freed werewolf appeared at the bottom of the steps. It snarled up at her with hungry red eyes and dripping maw. Jessica threw open the cellar door, causing Terry and Sid to stand back in surprise.

  “Run!” She slammed down the door behind her. “Run like hell!”

  “Where?” Terry asked.

  “The sheriff’s car,” she answered, already sprinting toward the vehicle twenty-five yards away. “There’s a pistol with silver bullets in the glove box.”

  “I know that gun,” Terry replied, running at her side. “It’s Mr. Higgins’s pistol.”

  Jogging with the shotgun, Sid lagged behind them both.

  The cellar door burst open again. From the subterranean darkness, the beast leaped out to the surface and roared in rage.

  “Fuck!” Sid cursed, turning around.

  With the erratic beam of the flashlight bouncing in front of her, Jessica reached the side of the patrol car. Behind her, the shotgun boomed followed by screams mixed with growling. She flung the flashlight against the driver window, shattering a hole through the safety glass. Reaching in, she unlocked the door and lunged into the front seat.

  “Sid’s in trouble,” Terry stated at the open car door. “I’ve got to help him.”

  He turned and disappeared back the way they came.

  Jessica fumbled with the latch on the glove box. “Come on … open, goddammit,” she muttered in desperation.

  The compartment popped down and she groped inside for the pistol. Her hand wrapped around the grip as Terry shouted somewhere outside. Pistol in hand, Jessica dived out of the car, rolled to her feet in a firing stance, and took in the situation before her. Half the distance back to the cellar, the huge werewolf loomed over Terry’s prone form sprawled out on the ground. One crossbow arrow jutted from its left shoulder.

  “Hey!” she shouted at the horror.

  It turned its attention toward her with rage-filled eyes. Jessica blinked in disbelief at the full sight of the horror. Covered in thick brown fur, the creature stood eight feet tall with a wolflike face showing a maw of canine teeth. The nightmarish sight caused Jessica to freeze. Her finger hesitated against the trigger.

  “Shoot it!” Terry screamed.

  Suddenly, the monster jumped toward her as she pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession. The pistol flashes illuminated the horrid beast in mid-leap before it knocked her to the ground. Jessica lay pinned beneath its weight with the werewolf’s wet maw and hot breath against her neck. Before its bite sank into her flesh, it let out a gasping moan and collapsed heavily atop her. Shocked, Jessica rolled it off and scrambled to her feet. The creature was dying. Blood pumped from two bullet holes in its chest. She watched amazed as the beast’s fur and claws retreated, leaving nothing but the naked body of Sheriff Sutton.

  “Jess,” he whispered in a rough voice while reaching a hand toward her. “I’m finally free.”

  He coughed a last breath and died.

  “Rest now in peace,” Jessica said, tenderly stroking her hand through his sandy brown hair, the way she had when they made love the night before.

  Terry reached her side with a look of concern.

  “Are you bit?” he asked

  She wiped a tear from her cheek and shook her head. “No.”

  “Thank God,” he replied.

  “What about you?”

  “Another second and I would have been. I’m glad you know how to shoot a pistol.”

  “What about the other werewolves?”

  “The female is dead.”

  “Roxie, which
leaves only Collin now,” Jessica stated and asked, “How’s your friend?”

  “Sid!” Terry turned. “Are you all right?”

  “Oh man, that fucking werewolf kicked my ass,” he replied in a weak voice from where he lay sprawled out on his back in the grass.

  “Oh, no!” Terry rushed to kneel by Sid’s side. “Oh, hell no!”

  Jessica followed, realizing for the first time the wooden barn was now ablaze. Rolling flames engulfed one wall and spread across the rotted wood shingles on the roof. Her heart sank at the sight.

  Megan’s in there!

  In the firelight, blood gushed from ragged gashes on the side of Sid’s neck and head. He looked up at both of them with glazed eyes.

  “I’m all fucked up,” he stated.

  “I’m here, bro,” Terry replied, lifting the skinny young man and holding him in his arms. More blood spurted from Sid’s torn neck. “Hang on. I’m going to get you to the hospital.”

  Jessica glanced again at the burning barn.

  “I’ve got to save my baby,” she said, dropping open the cylinder on the pistol and counting her live rounds. Only three silver bullets left.

  “I know,” Terry replied with the glitter of tears in his eyes. “But I can’t leave Sid like this. He’ll die. I have to get him to the emergency room. I’ll bring help as fast as I can.”

  “You do that.” Jessica slapped the cylinder back. “I’m going to go get my daughter.”

  She sprinted toward the fiery structure of the barn.

  * * * *

  Collin heard the Molotov cocktail shatter against the side of the barn wall. He turned his attention from the sleeping girl to concentrate on the events happening outside. A shotgun blast sounded followed by the agonizing screams of his sister.

  Her horrible screech of agony grew louder. Seconds later, her flaming body collapsed inside the open barn door. He rushed to her. Fire had immolated her skin to a sickening black, and the smell of burning flesh and gasoline nearly forced him to wretch. Scooping handfuls of dirt from the earthen floor, he tossed it on her in a desperate hope to put out the fire. Flames spread from her burning form along the hay on the floor, but remorse for his sister blinded him to the fact that the barn was also on fire.

  “Sister!” he bellowed in shock. “No!”

  He threw on more dirt and managed to smother her flames, but he knew it was too late. Her beautiful body had been reduced to a blackened mass of smoking charred flesh. Deep loss filled his heart, and Collin turned his face up to the eclipse showing through a hole in the roof.

  “Not her!” he screamed, unheeding of the flames raging behind him.

  Reveca was dead. Nothing could bring her back now. Tears formed at the sight of her burned body. His rage and sorrow brought on an instant transformation. Clothes ripped away as the body of the beast replaced his. In horrible torment, the monster howled. Everything was lost now, his dreams and hopes as dead as his sister lying before him. Without Reveca nothing mattered. The beast clawed open the blackened torso and ripped the heart from her chest. It swallowed the organ whole and howled mournfully again toward the sky.

  The face of the Ebon Moon was in complete shadow.

  Licking sharp teeth covered in gore, it turned toward the sleeping child.

  Time to feed, Collin spoke inside.

  * * * *

  Terry held Sid while running to where the truck sat parked near the trees. Thanks to the adrenaline surging though his muscles, he seemed to carry a hollow plastic mannequin instead of the weight of his friend. Sid’s wounds bled profusely with each step he took. Only another fifty yards to reach the truck, but it seemed miles away.

  “Put me down, man,” Sid said in a soft voice.

  “No,” Terry replied. “We’re almost there.”

  “I’m not going to make it.”

  “Oh, man.”

  Terry lowered his dying friend to the ground. More blood spewed from the bite wound in his neck.

  “Fuck.” Sid winced.

  Terry started to weep. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” He showed a weak smile. “I saved your ass, didn’t I?”

  “You did.” Terry held tightly one of Sid’s bloody hands. “You’re a good friend,” he added, choking back emotion.

  “You got to help Jess now,” Sid said and coughed a rattling wheeze. Bloody foam colored his pale lips. “Just promise … you’ll kiss her … one time for me.”

  Sid’s grip went weak as his eyes rolled back in his head. Swiping the tears from his vision, Terry stripped off the torn poncho and covered his friend’s body.

  “I will, brother,” he said, standing to his feet.

  * * * *

  Megan coughed awake to smoke in the air.

  It burned her nostrils and made it hard to breathe. She sat up to take in her surroundings. She didn’t know where she was but saw fire burning everywhere. Crackling flames ran along the walls, and burning bits of hay dropped down on her like fiery snowflakes. She spotted her mother’s car through the thickening smoke.

  “Mommy!” she shouted above the roar of the fire.

  She clamored to stand. Something growled like a big dog nearby.

  Megan turned.

  A short distance away, the Bad Wolf stared at her with eyes the color of the burning flames. The terrible beast snarled low in its throat. Megan sprinted for the Camaro in the hope that her mother would be waiting inside. She saw no one when she reached the passenger window.

  “Mommy!” she cried out again.

  The Bad Wolf’s reflection appeared in the window glass. Screaming, Megan ducked and crawled beneath the Camaro as the beast grabbed at her. The monster howled in anger and bent down to snatch her out from under the car. Scooting back along the dirt floor, she pressed her small body farther under the chassis. Black claws groped blindly for her, but she managed to stay just out of their reach. The horrid face of the Bad Wolf bent low to see her location with evil red eyes. It pulled back its lips in something resembling a grimacing smile and grabbed her foot.

  “Mommy!” Megan screamed again at the top of her lungs.

  * * * *

  One quarter of the barn was aflame when Jessica reached the building. The hundred-year-old wood of the structure was going up like a matchbook, and the entrance had become a wall of flames. The heat from the blaze was hot on her face as she continued down along one wall looking for another way in. Jessica paused and listened. She heard something above the roar of the inferno consuming the barn.

  Her daughter’s muffled cry.

  “Megan!” she screamed back and desperately searched for a way inside. Just above ground level, she noted one piece of siding looked rotted and weak. She tore at the old wood. The board gave way and she flung it aside. Smoke poured from the hole as she wriggled in on her belly through the narrow opening.

  “Mommy!” Megan screamed again, this time louder and nearer.

  Jessica sat up on her knees and peered in the direction of her screams. She spotted the Camaro and the huge form of a black-furred werewolf kneeling by its side.

  “Collin!” she shouted. “Get away from her!”

  The monstrous creature turned toward her and growled.

  Jessica snapped up the .38 pistol and pulled the trigger. The beast threw itself to the side as the gun went off. The bullet winged the fur on one shoulder and knocked through the passenger window in a spray of glass. The creature bounded over the top of the Camaro and disappeared.

  Jessica crossed to the car with pistol ready. Very little visibility prevented her from seeing far in the thick smoke.

  “Megan?” she called out.

  “I’m here, Mommy,” her daughter said from under the car.

  Jessica knelt on one knee and reached down.

  “Baby,” she said. “Take my hand.”

  Small fingers wrapped around her palm, and Jessica pulled Megan out from beneath the Camaro. Grease and grime covered her torn T-shirt and face.

  “Mommy, y
ou came for me.” Megan hugged her tightly around the waist.

  “I promised I would protect you,” Jessica replied, opening the passenger door. “Get in the car, baby, and lay on the floorboard. The air will be easier to breathe down there.”

  “Okay, Mommy,” Megan said and slid onto the floorboard of the passenger seat.

  Jessica coughed from the smoke and contemplated a way to escape. Embers of burning wood and hay floated through the stifling air. The fire consuming the old wooden roof had turned the hayloft into a hellish inferno. Burning timbers overhead cracked under the relentless flames. The structure would not remain standing much longer. She needed to get Megan out but had to deal with the werewolf first.

  “Collin!” she screamed above the roar of the fire. “I’m waiting, you son of a bitch.”

  She caught movement beneath the hayloft. A dark shape growled and leaped aside. Jessica fired the .38, but the smoke in her eyes made it hard to focus on the target. The bullet missed and kicked up splinters from one of the support pillars holding up the fiery loft. The werewolf retreated once more into the thick pall.

  It’s baiting me, Jessica thought. It’s trying to get me to use all my ammo.

  Jessica glanced inside the Camaro. The keys were in the ignition!

  Oh God. I can drive out of the barn!

  She leaped inside and slid over the console into the driver’s seat.

  “Keep your head down, baby,” Jessica said to her daughter. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

  She reached for the ignition key.

  The werewolf attacked then. Its dark shape loomed in the smoke outside the driver window. Claws shattered the safety glass and hooked onto the car door. Jessica screamed and threw herself back as the beast ripped off the door and flung it into the fire. The violence of the motion caused her to drop the keys to the floor. The werewolf growled, attempting to grab Jessica. She dodged back but not before the creature snagged her hair with its black claws. Yanking herself free, she twisted into the passenger seat and brought up the pistol in the hope of getting a good shot. The beast was now halfway into the car and nearly upon her. In fear and desperation, she kicked out against its horrid face and slobbering maw.