“Are you suggesting I can do something about these illnesses?” she asked cautiously.
“Not only can you do something, you can heal them! If such a child were to drink just a drop of your blood, their ailments would vanish.”
“That sounds very appealing indeed, but wouldn’t they become immortal as well? How can you ask a child to make such a decision when they couldn’t begin to understand the gravity of it?”
“Is there a soul alive that could understand the gravity of the situation? Many adults would consume your blood at the mere idea of being able to live forever and they could never understand the full weight until they were desperately alone and had seen too much. This doesn’t need to be the case for the children. Tyson hasn’t informed you of the full powers of your blood. Perhaps he knew you would do the right thing and feared such a decision.” He turned to face her again. “If a werewolf drinks your blood on the night of the new moon, he or she is healed of the curse and they become mortal again. If your blood is swallowed by a mortal on the night of no moon, immortality ensues. What you didn’t know is if taken on any other night your blood doesn’t bring immortality. Instead, the consumer is healed as near to perfection as a mortal can come without actually achieving immortality. As you can guess, my anxiety to have your blood is not for myself, but for the suffering. Can you imagine the good you could bring about?”
“If what you say is true, why didn’t you approach me in a different manner?”
“We needn’t decide anything,” Parker said, completely ignoring her question. “If I can burden you with one more story, I will allow you to rest and think on what we’ve discussed. No doubt you know a little of my family’s history and my ancestor’s abhorrence to werewolves. Jothram has probably told you how cruel my family was, although I’m sure you can imagine the horror they felt when they discovered what they believed to be hellish monsters roaming the country. Jothram had spread the infection far and wide by then.
“I am not like my fathers. I have knowledge they did not and I don’t go out of my way to be cruel. My interest in werewolves is, as I mentioned before, to help others. I fought to find you so my Jodie could be whole, but it’s too late for her. If I can help others like her, I may be able to put her memory at peace. I hope you will consider giving me a chance to prove myself. Like I said, nothing needs to be decided right now.”
She refused to touch the food, or even look him in the eye after his speech and he eventually gave up, taking her from the odd dining room. She fully expected to return to her mother. Instead, he passed the elevator and showed her to a thick door that opened to reveal a lavishly decorated room fit for a princess.
“I do not want to stay here,” she exclaimed when he started to push her in. “I want to go back to my mother.”
“I told you I would tend to your mother and Beth. Let this be a test of my trustworthiness.” He smiled again and the door shut behind her. She heard the scrape of a key in the lock. When she lay down, the bed was soft and formed to her body. She fell asleep thinking of her mother and Beth, willing them to be alright.
Come morning, her grumbling stomach woke her. The sun cut through the glass windows and the shadows created a striped pattern from the bars lining their exterior. She wandered around the room, exploring her new surroundings. She showered and dressed in the clothes she found. It was late afternoon before someone came to her door. The key scraped and the lock clicked. Parker entered, followed by Mark. Felix was visible just before the door slammed, startling her from her place on the bed.
“Hello, I trust you’ve been able to rest?” Parker asked nicely.
“Where is my mom?”
“My girl,” Parker chuckled. “We have come to show you all is well with your mother and Beth. Mark put his camera skills to good use for a change.”
Mark scowled and looked to Clara as if she and he had some sort of understanding. “I barely come out with my life and he finds it amusing.”
“You brought that on yourself when you taunted your brother,” Parker growled.
“You’ve seen Tyson?” she asked eagerly. “Is he here?”
Mark and Parker erupted into laughter. “Here? Heavens no!”
Her heart fell and she averted her gaze.
“Don’t look so depressed, poor darling,” Parker attempted to sooth her. “Come with us and we’ll show you.” He took her arm and escorted her as he’d done before. There was yet another room that had been set up as a small, impromptu movie theater. There were a few rows of dusty plastic seats and a large screen TV. Parker grabbed a remote off an armrest and offered her a place to sit.
“Maybe she’d like some popcorn?” Mark asked sarcastically.
“If you aren’t going to be useful then leave,” Parker barked.
Mark muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes.
“I hope you will take this as a sign of my good intentions,” Parker said while ignoring Mark. He pointed the remote at the DVD player in the front of the room and the plasma flickered to life. The clip was obviously a home video. The image swung wildly from side to side, showing the inside of a car. Mark’s face appeared. His lips were pressed thin and he looked annoyed, but he smiled weakly.
“We’re nearly there!” he said too brightly, then shifted the lens to her mother, who sat in the backseat. She was clean and well dressed. The bruises and signs of mistreatment had faded almost completely. Beth sat next to her, sporting a bloodied lip. “How do you ladies feel?”
“You haven’t said where we’re going,” Beth grumbled.
“Would it help if I told you it’s someplace fun?” Mark’s voice asked.
“No,” she replied. Luzy watched out the window silently.
“Rita, you’ve been awful quiet,” Mark observed.
“I would rather be with Clara right now,” she whispered without looking at the phone.
“I promise this trip will be worth it.” The phone swung again, coming to rest on the driver, whose uniform gave him away as one of Parker’s wolves. “Do you have anything to add?” he asked the man. The driver raised an eyebrow and shook his head. The scene suddenly went dark then changed. They were out of the car and under the light of day, surrounded by vegetation and a field stretched before them. There was little a house at the opposite end of the meadow and Clara sat straight in her chair.
“Just go to the house,” Mark instructed as he filmed. “I’ll stay here.”
“Where are we?” Beth asked.
“You’ll see if you go there,” Mark said quickly. He sounded nervous. A person appeared in the front door of the house just before Jack seemed to vaporize from the air around Beth, his face unrecognizable when covered with joy and disbelief.
“Jack!” Beth squeaked and jumped into his arms. Tears instantly ran down her cheeks. He took her in his arms with his eyes squeezed shut as if to savor the moment. The rest of the pack followed closely behind. Callan and Dawn came and Callan didn’t stop until he had his mom in his arms, crushing her in a fierce embrace.
“Callan?” Luzy asked and leaned back to put a hand on his face. Soon there wasn’t a dry eye. Tyson appeared on the scene, his eyes roaming over the small reunion. He turned to Mark without batting an eye and Callan was not far behind.
“Where is she?”
“Now, now,” Mark said in an unusually high voice. “No need to lose your temper, brother.”
“Tell me where she is!” Tyson roared and his eyes were instantly yellow.
“You know you won’t get any information from me if I’m dead,” Mark pointed out lamely, but Tyson was lost to his wild temper. Another growl burst from him and his eyes flashed yellow. He sprang on Mark and the footage rushed in blur of color then went black. Clara glanced at Mark as he stood next to her chair.
“We worked things out,” he said.
“So I assumed,” she breathed.
“You see?” Parker cut in. “I am not a monster. I didn’t keep your mother for the express purpose of torture. I
knew I could release them when I had you.”
She saw Tyson’s burning eyes in her mind’s eye. “It’s about time too. They suffered enough at your hand.”
“What sacrifices would you make to save billions, Miss Rita? I did it all to find you and here you are. Once we have a way to extract your blood, we will save lives.”
“You seem to have made up your mind.”
“I hoped we could work together to find a way to penetrate your skin. I hoped you would come to trust me and these extreme means of locking you away would not always be necessary. Perhaps, one day, we’ll be able to forget the idea of locks and keys.” Parker moved slowly and put the remote back. The charming smile he wore almost seemed genuine. Mark fidgeted restlessly and Parker gave him a scowl. “I suppose we should be on our way, no doubt your mother and Beth will put their heads together and remember something or another that will lead them back here. Not to mention Mark is antsy. He fears Tyson’s wrath.”
“Where are we going?” she asked while ignoring Mark’s noises of aggravation.
“My girl, it would be nice if I could trust you with that kind of information, but you can see why I want to keep it secret.” Parker left while Mark lingered.
“I will bring her down,” Mark said when Parker turned to see what kept him.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“I’m not going to touch her. I haven’t got a new phone yet.”
“She isn’t for sport, Mark, you won’t be hurting her anymore.”
Mark nodded once to show he understood and Parker went to the elevator. Clara would have preferred to be alone and took a seat in a plastic chair near a window, turning her back to Mark. He was as soundless as his brother when he moved and she didn’t hear him until he stood next to her.
“Do you need something?” she asked coolly without giving him a second glance. He shoved a fist in her face, in its clutches was a pink rose. Its petals were bent and the stem broken. She gasped and turned to him, not daring to believe her eyes.
“From Tyson.”
“You mean Callan,” she corrected as she took the broken flower in her fingers, straightening the petals as she examined it.
“No, if your brother told me to do anything I would have torn his pointed little ears off. I’m not ashamed to admit my brother can easily domineer over me when we fight. Why do you think I have to use other people to hurt him? Your brother on the other hand…no, the rose is from Tyson.”
“How can it be?” she asked in a whisper and her eyes burned with an onslaught of emotion.
“Are you really that surprised? Perhaps you don’t know how terribly sentimental dear old Jothram can be. I wish I had my phone, you are about to cry—that would break his heart.”
She sighed and covered her face with a hand. “You’ve done enough to hurt him.”
He burst out laughing so loudly that she jumped. “I’ve done enough to hurt him? Have you forgotten who infected me?”
“That was an accident. Besides, most others I’ve met seem to do well enough with their situation.”
“Yes well, most of the others have someone to support them. Tyson took that from me and I’m glad I could do the same to him. I’ve waited so long for him to fall in love so I can have my revenge.” He stretched casually as if discussing the weather.
“You are harsh on him for an unwitting mistake.”
“Unwitting?” Mark sat up straight and faced her. “I don’t know what he told you, but you need to hear both sides of the story before you arrive at any conclusions or judgments. Yes, Tyson infected me, and yes it was an accident. If that were the extent of his mistakes I would readily forgive him. The one thing I can’t forgive is the murder of my Angela.”
The black spot Parker had planted in her heart against Tyson swelled even as she gasped in outrage. “He didn’t!”
“You have fallen in love with a very dangerous man. I’m sure he let you know just how dangerous he is, even if you were unaware. Because of him, I lost Angela, the love of my life. Don’t you think it seems fair I take the love of his?”
“I can’t believe you,” she whispered, emotion weakening her voice. “I won’t believe you.”
“Believe what you like, the truth won’t be denied, even by him. I spent many lives mourning her loss and my anger has never cooled, nor do I think it will. Every time I see her torn and mangled body in my mind, I want to find another way to hurt him as much as possible…short of actually killing him that is.”
She shook her head and looked away. “I wish you would leave me,” her voice shook with emotion. “You took my mom from me, will you take Tyson as well?”
“Would your rather live in blind ignorance? I can’t change what he did, but at least you know the truth. You will have to decide if you can continue loving someone who killed an innocent girl in cold blood.”
“You’re lying!”
Mark got stiffly to his feet and left the room. He returned a minute later, carrying a book which he threw in her lap. She examined it without touching the delicate worn binding that barely held the yellowed pages in place. She could see the faded lettering by a revealing tear on the cover.
“What is this?”
“Tyson’s confession. I think you would find the contents of page sixty-two very interesting.”
Fear paralyzed her body. “How do I know this is really his?”
Mark’s eyes glared while his mouth smiled. He retrieved the ancient looking book and flipped the cover open. The pages were very thin. There, in a long, elegant hand was written, Jothram Tyson. Mark flipped through the book again and scanned the page until he found the desired sentence and held it under her nose with his finger pointing out the spot he wanted her to read. Her throat suddenly burned and her eyes stung. She shook her head and turned away.
“You don’t want to see? Shall I read it out loud? ‘Mark blames me for Angela’s death and I cannot deny the truth. How could I deny what haunts my waking moments even now? I must be honest with myself, his accusations are correct, I killed her.’ He goes on to say more, do you want me to continue?” Mark asked tauntingly.
“No!” she screamed at him and covered her ears in a childish manner, but she’d already heard the condemning words. Hot silent tears started down her cheeks.
“I thought you’d like to know the truth,” he said without mercy. “You should try to get to know a person before you give them your heart.”
“He wouldn’t…”
“He would and he did. I think you’re intelligent enough to realize the truth.” Mark wouldn’t cease his taunting, but was merciful enough to give her some time to herself before dragging her out of Parker’s lair. Parker could tell she’d been crying when Mark brought her down.
“You said you wouldn’t hurt her,” Parker accused and gently took her arm.
“I didn’t lay a finger on her,” Mark said. “I just let her know some facts about the man she loves.”
Parker shook his head and sighed. “You mustn’t let Mark get to you, he’s full of hate and revenge.”
There was a sleek black car waiting for them in the driveway. The situation was made more ominous by the clouds darkening the sky. Parker took the backseat with Clara while Mark acted as their driver and guided the vehicle along the long road out. They had not gone far when a boom blasted from behind and a tremor could be felt despite the sway of the car. Clara twisted in her seat to see smoke billowing from Parker’s lair, drifting angrily from the windows.
“Sadly, it is a necessary precaution,” he said, noting where her focus lay. She turned back around and kept her eyes trained out the window, hoping for some revealing sign of where they were. Unfortunately they never came upon a major road or even another car, except the one following—a black bus filled with Parker’s men. Mark pulled into a gated area that sheltered a couple small jet planes, protected by yet another uniformed guard. He waved them through.
“We’re going up in one of those?” she asked and glanced
to the sky. The wind picked up and a flare of lightning exploded nearby.
“My girl, don’t worry,” Parker said when the thunder died down and he flashed a handsome smile. “Nothing will happen to you as long as you stay near me.”
Mark suddenly started coughing from his position as driver. Parker frowned and helped her out of the car.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” she called over a gust of wind.
“Everything is well taken care of, don’t fret.” Parker took her arm and laced it through his own as he directed her toward the smallest of the planes. They climbed the little staircase into the tight compartment. There were only four seats. Parker told her to take one next to the window and he took occupancy of the seat next to her. She was already anxiously gripping the armrest when the engine whined to life.
“You poor dear,” Parker said with a shake of his head. He took her hand and interlaced her fingers with his. “Don’t be afraid.”
“Aren’t small planes more likely to go down in a storm?”
“I assure you, this plane is as safe as any vehicle you’ll ever step in. Not to mention, have you forgotten you’re immortal now?”
Mark’s head popped over the seats in front of them. “I doubt she would survive a violent plane crash, we may be durable, but we aren’t invincible.”
“Thanks for the clarification,” she muttered and pulled her hand from Parker’s grip, which was like trying to pull from super glue. The plane jerked forward and she turned her head from the window, which was accumulating raindrops.
“Would it be better if I sat on that side?” Parker offered.
“It doesn’t matter,” she answered with a shake of her head.
The aircraft seemed to rattle quite a bit for all the safety Parker raved about. Even though she wasn’t watching out the window, she could tell they’d left the ground when she felt weightless and heavy all at once. The climb to the sky was bumpy and didn’t stop until the craft leveled out a few minutes later.
Bright Moon Page 22