“When are you leaving?” Chase asked, taking the cup offered to him, eyeing the contents unenthusiastically as he and Luna sat at the table.
Handing another cup to Luna, Cassandra shrugged, the smile fading. “After we’ve spoken, to be honest. It’s time for me to go – it’s far too dangerous for me to stick around now - but I couldn’t leave until I talked with Luna.”
“Why?” Luna asked before something dawned on her. “Oh, how rude of me. Cassandra, this is Chase.”
Lips curling into a smile, the flame-haired seer glanced at him from bottom to top, and then back down again, her eyes clearly showing her approval. “Chase, huh? So, you’re the other werewolf in her life. Hmm, you’re cuter in the flesh than in my visions.”
Her words had Luna knotting her brows as annoyance sizzled along her nerve endings at the other woman’s flirtation. “Why am I here, please? What information can you give us?” she pressed.
Cassandra walked back to where her cup stood but didn’t pick it up. Wearing black jeans, a blue checked shirt, and dust smeared across her forehead, the thirty-something seer appeared rattled for a moment before looking upwards. When she met Luna’s eyes, she gave her a tired smile. “After our last meeting, when you brought the dhampir, I started doing some research. The prophecy, the one who wants you. I learnt quite a few interesting things.”
Glancing at Chase, Luna could see his face had turned serious, and he creased his brows. “What kind of interesting things?”
Breathing in deeply, Cassandra concentrated on dipping her tea bag in and out of the cup before finally taking it out and placing it in the bin. She exhaled loudly, but the tension remained within her shoulders. “For one thing, the alpha of the Crescent Moon pack is cursed, did you know that? My visions of him as a child were sweet and innocent, but then he starts dabbling in magic and all kinds of dark things during his teens. Crossed a few witches during that time and was cursed never to leave the country. I don’t know the details though, just the general gist of it. I won’t tell you some of the things the spirits showed me – as it is, I’m going to have nightmares for months.”
Scoffing, Chase took a sip of the tea and tried to hide his distaste. Luna couldn’t help a small smile. Tea was not his choice of beverage. “We already know he’s a sadistic bastard, but the curse is new to us. Pity it’s nothing we can use to our advantage.” A visible shudder ran through Cassandra’s body, as if her body had been plunged into ice.
Shrugging, Cassandra picked up her cup and inhaled. “That’s not the only thing I saw, wolf, but it wasn’t the worst.” A grim expression marred her face, the light dusting of freckles over her creamy flesh standing out as her face paled. “Do you remember what I told you last time?”
Cassandra laughed softly. “Oh, yes you do. Your brother is the alpha, but you are destined to become the founder of a new dynasty. One that can either create a new hell on earth, ripping the portals to the demon world wide open allowing humanity to suffer, or to save it.”
The world swam in stripes of colour and heat. Destroy the world? The founding of a new dynasty? What was she talking about? “Non. Non. You have the wrong woman, I don’t know what you mean.” Apprehension coated her words. Luna looked at Cassandra while her stomach became tight and her mouth ran dry.
Luna nodded. “That I would found a new dynasty that could open the gates to hell and destroy all life as we know it if they got hold of me? Pretty hard to forget.”
Chase’s jaw tightened. “They’re not going to get you, princess. We’ll make sure of it.”
“Do you remember what I said if you went with them?” Cassandra pressed, urgency in her soft tone.
Cassandra shook her head. “I tried looking but it is unclear. If she goes with the other pack – willingly or unwillingly – then the dynasty she births will be the one to open the portal to the demon world. The world will be consumed in flames and humanity will all be extinct. In turn, the vampires and other blood-drinkers will fight over the remaining humans. There will be total chaos. Death on a scale you cannot believe.” A look of horror spread across her face, shivering with the memory of what she had seen. “But if she doesn’t go with them, then she will give birth to a dynasty that will save it from a great disaster. The details aren’t clear, and I’ve tried everything within my ability to find out, but still I cannot see.” An emotion Luna couldn’t quite determine etched across the other woman’s face. “There is something else that I saw but couldn’t focus on it properly. I’m sure it’s important, but for the life of me I can’t see it. I think it may come to light when you and I meet next time.” Cassandra shrugged, her face nonchalant as she turned her back on them to start opening cupboards.
Again, Luna nodded, but this time a chill seeped into her bones. All of a sudden, it felt as though the temperature had plunged significantly. She didn’t like the idea of where this was heading. “You said if I went with them, either by my own accord or not, that would lead to the demons breaking through into this world.”
“That’s right. They are coming for you. From my visions, I know they will strike hard and fast.”
“They’ve already started striking. A witch was sent after her yesterday. Luna only just managed to escape. They seem to like sending one or two people at a time,” Chase informed her, attempting to hide a grimace as he sipped the tea.
“From what I hear about this pack, they like to maintain an air of secrecy. Get in, get out, without the humans being aware of them,” Cassandra told him, shrugging. “No doubt that’s what they’ve been doing. Easier, I suppose.”
Quickly trying to squash down the shiver of fear in her gut, Luna took a deep breath and asked the question playing on her mind. “When will they come next?”
Cassandra shook her head. “I can’t say for certain but expect a large attack within the next few days. There’s something I need to show you, but neither of you are going to like it.”
Removing the cups from the table, Cassandra moved around the kitchen quickly, drawing the blinds so that the room plunged into near darkness. Glancing at each other, Luna could make out the tell-tell signs of anxiousness in Chase’s brown eyes. Within a moment, Cassandra sat down at the table, facing Luna, a small silver knife laid beside the velvet-covered object on the table.
Trepidation shuddered down Luna’s spine. “What is the knife for, Cassandra?” she asked.
Silently, Cassandra whipped the velvet off, revealing a large, perfectly round crystal ball resting on a brass base. “I know it’s probably very stereotypical for a seer to have one of these, but it’s a family heirloom, and it works for me. It’s over seven hundred years old.”
“It’s beautiful,” Luna replied, appreciating the thousands of lights reflecting off the surface. Unlike many of the crystal balls she had glanced in shops, this one wasn’t clear. Patches of the crystal were thick, displaying an ethereal silvery light, almost like moonstone. In the darkness, it was a beacon of light.
“Hold out your hand, Luna,” Cassandra said, her voice forceful.
Without hesitation, Luna placed her right hand over the ball, still mesmerised by how many shades of silvers and whites the ball possessed when a sharp pain filled her senses. “Ouch! Why did you do that?” she cried, trying to pull back her hand but Cassandra’s tight grip meant no escape. A thin red slit appeared, quickly blossoming into a bloody line that pooled into her palm.
“I’m sorry, Luna, but I need your blood for this,” the seer replied, a small grimace on her face as she turned Luna’s hand over. A drop of blood fell onto the top of the crystal ball, quickly followed by another, and another, until it seemed as though dozens of rivers of her blood were trailing down the sides, coating the air with a metallic smell.
“You could have just asked,” she muttered, finally snatching her hand away. Upon hearing his snort, Luna twisted her head round at Chase. “Be quiet, you, or I’ll stick a couple of deworming tablets in your steak.”
“It’s a good thing you brought me
this time instead of Fang Face,” he told her with a wink.
Suppressing a smile, Cassandra hurried to explain. “Like many magical creatures, seers often use blood to help make visions clearer. Some things are not always so easy to determine, especially when there is so much darkness surrounding a person, but blood acts as a light – it helps us to see. And you are surrounded by darkness, Luna. It is attracted to your light.”
“I’ve already got two men attracted to me; I don’t need anything else, thank you very much!” Luna snorted, unable to hide the sarcasm in her voice.
This time, both werewolf and seer couldn’t help but laugh. “There are some people in this world that the universe is naturally drawn to. You happen to be one of them. Mind you, it always helps when it’s yummy men that are attracted to you.” Glancing at Chase before giving her a wink, Cassandra suddenly dropped the light tone. “I need to show you a few things before I leave. Time is running out. Watch.”
A heavy silence hung in the air as all three glanced down at the crystal ball. The entire object was covered in blood. Luna glanced down at her hand. The cut was so small, how could there be so much blood? A shimmer caught her eye. The blood had taken on a shimmery tone, as though fine glitter had mixed with it. The first stirrings of power licked the top of Luna’s skin, and as she inhaled, she caught Chase leaning forward. The intensity of the shimmer grew stronger and stronger until it burst into an explosion of light that forced her to shield her eyes with her hand.
When she glanced down, Luna made out an image in the ball, now devoid of all her blood.
A small boy, aged around five or six, dressed in shorts and suspenders over a dark t-shirt, playing with an old-fashioned train. The images were blurry, but she could make out a pair of adult legs. One moment the boy was looking upwards, the train clutched in his hands, the next, blood pouring out of his nose, seeping into the dirt as he lay sprawled on the ground. A tear fell from the corner of the boy’s eye before it faded into mist.
The next image showed the boy in the woods. Scantily dressed women in the middle of a dark forest chanted, their faces turned towards the moon. A young man stood before them, anger and hatred burning across his face. Tendrils of emerald light snaked around him, swirling upwards and then poured into his open mouth. Mist swallowed the image only to be replaced by a something new.
This time, all Luna could see was blood. Peering closer, she could see a mass of bodies but could hardly tell which parts were skin and which were bones. Bile rose up in her throat, burning as she tried to swallow it down.
“What is this?” Chase asked, attempting to keep his voice steady but failing.
“From what I can tell, these are the images of the alpha who’s after Luna,” Cassandra responded, her own voice struggling to maintain its composure. “But it’s the next image you want to watch.”
The images of blood and mangled bodies disappeared only to be replaced by dark, twisted shadows. These shadows poured upwards from the earth, their inky darkness staining the ground as they slithered across. Plants withered in seconds; trees shuddered before collapsing, the sky darkened overhead, and the stars fading until the shadows consumed the land. Humans ran from the shadows but couldn’t escape. Expressions of pure terror stretched over their faces as the shadows devoured them completely. An overwhelming chill flooded Luna’s body as she watched people die in horrific ways. One man was ripped in half, his lungs and entrails spilling onto the floor; a young girl had her head torn off by a shadowy figure. Blood coated everything. In the distance, she spied herself in the clutches of a strange man, her protruding stomach straining against a blood-splattered dress, and a knife embedded in the centre of her belly. “Enough!” she cried, hot tears spilling from the corners of her eyes.
Cassandra shook her head. “I keep getting this image. Over and over again. It’s always the same. If he gets you, this is our fate. Humanity will die. The demons will control the world.” The layers of hopelessness and despair were unmistakable in her voice.
Mist filled the crystal ball once more. A lush green forest replaced the dead world, and wolves gathered around a figured clothed in white robes. Suddenly, the wolves threw back their heads, howling at the moon. The shadows masking the figure’s face melted away, revealing bright green eyes. Luna’s eyes. Luna gasped as she watched herself smiling down gently at the wolves, a silver crown perched on her head, and the werewolf’s dagger tucked into a belt resting on the side of her hip. In the crystal ball, the figure of Luna raised her hands, tendrils of silver light swirling radiating from her palms. All at once, her face transformed into an expression of sheer madness and hatred, her robes now stained in black before reverting to white and her gentle countenance. But then it changed back to black once more, then to white, then black again. Blood spilled across her robes, then changed to rose petals as they faded back into clean white robes. Silver light rose upwards, enveloping her until the whole scene faded back into mist.
Panting heavily and blinking several times, struggling to keep the tears at bay, Luna swallowed the knot in the back of her throat. Croaking out, she asked, “What was that, Cassandra?”
The flame-haired seer sat forward in her chair, her head tilting down as her eyes fixed onto Luna’s, causing shadows to forebodingly cascade beneath her cheekbones. “What you first witnessed is the alpha’s transformation into the monster he is today. His curse transformed him into a psychopath, Luna. If you should fall into his hands, it means the demons will enslave our world. You need to be aware of this.”
“We were aware of this last year,” Chase snapped, his hand reaching for Luna’s, grasping it tightly. “Why show us this?”
Cassandra sat back in her seat and stared at him, her eyes hard. “Because until now, no one really understood the severity of this. Nothing will survive. No one will survive.”
“What was the last image about?” Luna asked in a small, tired voice, hoping to deflect the rising tensions in the room.
“Your curse,” Cassandra told her matter-of-factly.
“My curse?” Luna frowned, confused.
“I’ve been seeing this image for a while now. You seem to have taken on the role of alpha of your own pack.”
“I can’t be alpha – I’m human.”
Cassandra fixed her startling blue eyes on her, those eyes that seemed to Luna as though they could see every thought and feeling that ran through her head. “Stranger things have happened. From what I gather, you’ll suffer a curse similar to this other alpha. Some curses can transform the sweetest person into pure evil. Maybe it transformed him as a child, creating the monster he is today. You seem to hold great magic, Luna. There is something more than just a mere human about you. You will inherit great powers, werewolf powers stemming from the great werewolf king. But the curse could transform you into a monster. It will change you if you let it. There is always a choice. Choose wisely.”
Without saying anything, Chase and Luna watched the seer get up from the table and open the blinds. Luna momentarily squinted against the bright daylight streaming through the window, but it didn’t do anything against the darkness that was threatening her mind. Opening a cupboard, they silently watched Cassandra pulled out a vial and returned to them.
Placing it in front of her, Luna could make out some kind of dark liquid inside. A chill prickled down her spine. “What is this?” The question had escaped her lips before she could stop it.
“A concoction handed down through the generation to us seers. As you can imagine, our services are in great demand, and many would exploit our gifts for their own nefarious schemes. This is why my daughter and I are leaving. Others can force our gifts. To escape this fate, we tend to drink this. It’s lethal. Just one drop will kill you instantly and painlessly.”
Cassandra picked up the vial and pressed it into Luna’s hand. Her eyes bored into Luna’s, now wide with panic. Fingers curled around Luna’s hand. “Listen and understand, please. You cannot go with this man. You can’t even say you’
ll go with him, even if it is just to placate him. If you do, it means all life on Earth as we know it will be destroyed. It doesn’t matter if you’re willing to go with him or not – as soon as he has you, the demons have us. They will devour humanity, reduce it to ash and embers. This vial is the only way to escape that fate. I wish there was something else I could give you, but this is all I have. I’m sorry, but for the world to live, you may have to die.”
Ten
“For the world to live, you may have to die.”
Cassandra’s words kept repeating in Luna’s head, each word a thorn digging into her heart, causing her mind to spiral into a black abyss of chilling possibilities. Goosebumps pricked down her arms as those words played over and over again. The vial sat in her jacket pocket, the dark liquid sloshing from side to side each time the car drove around a corner.
Since they had left the seer’s house, an uncomfortable silence hung in the air and showed no sign of dissipating. Hopelessness, fear, and denial consumed her all at once, clouding her mind that she couldn’t think straight. How could this happen to me? Why me?
The scenery was a meaningless blur of white and grey as she stared out of the window. At any other time, Luna would love it, but at that moment nothing was registering apart from pain and despair and curses.
For her entire life, Luna had felt as though a curse hung over her head. Abandoned, lied to, at the centre of a prophecy … now a curse? A real freaking curse? Trapped in a bloody fate with no way out. The thought sent another stab of pain through her heart. Finding it difficult to breathe with all the emotions that came welling up, Luna blinked back hot tears that gathered at the corners of her eyes. I will not cry again, damn it!
Temptation Of The Moon: A Silver Moon Novel Page 8