Black Moon (Silver Moon, #2)

by Rebecca A. Rogers

  “The souls and powers are just the beginning, though,” Maggie persists. “He plans on finding the original wolf that bit him and use it to start an army.”

  “An army for what?” I probe. Dozens of scenarios race through my mind, all of them insignificant. What could Alaric possibly want with a legion of werewolves? Rule the earth? He can do that without Mini-Me’s.

  “He wants to be invincible,” explains Maggie.

  I’m annoyed at how selfish Alaric truly is. “He’s kind of already invincible, F-Y-I, so excuse me if I ask stupid questions, but none of this is making any sense.”

  “Doesn’t make sense to me, either,” Ben exclaims. “When he worked with my family, he mentioned nothing of an army or my power or taking over the world.”

  Maggie observes us concisely. “You two haven’t been doing your homework.”

  “There’s no way in hell we would’ve seen this coming,” I dispute. “Sure, I can understand him siding with Ben’s family, what with the family bloodline and all, but I never expected to learn he had much bigger plans.”

  Ben point-blank asks Maggie, “What’s the reason for this? I mean, what’s he going to prove?”

  “That he’s untouchable,” she says, humbly. “He will have the power to bend time to his will. He will rule all.”

  “Okay, so how do we stop him?” Ben stands, like he’s ready to end Alaric.

  Maggie gestures for him to sit down. “In time.”

  Ben doesn’t care. Panicking, he paces the small kitchen. “We don’t have time! We don’t have anything. By tomorrow night, we won’t even be alive.”

  “Benjamin Conway, I don’t have the patience for a tirade right now. Sit. Down.”

  “I can’t do this,” he says, bolting out of the kitchen, and then the front door.

  I groan. “This is a lot to process, you know, especially the part about his family.” Glancing from the entryway back to Maggie, I ask, “So, what can we do?”

  Lost in thought, Maggie doesn’t initially reply. She stares off past the front, where Ben left. “You have to go back to the beginning, before the first Ancients were bitten and had spells placed on their souls. You and Ben have to stop them, and you two can only achieve this by working together. One cannot succeed without the other.”

  Wow. Déjà vu. “Ben and I discussed this.”

  “You have?”

  I nod. “Yeah, when his family kidnapped me and locked me in their basement. Ben told me what my power would be, because he already inherited his. He explained why his family really wants my power, how they seek to travel back to the beginning of Ancients’ time. Of course, that was before we knew about his plans for the Conway’s.

  But,” I continue, “Ben also said traveling that far would more than likely kill us. It’s too much energy; we’d have to travel in spurts.”

  “The boy’s right.”

  “So, how do we back step five hundred years?”

  Maggie’s lips thin. “There is only one way, child. You’ll be takin’ a mighty risk, if you can even take one at all.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Now that I know what I have to do, I need to wrangle Ben and clarify the plan. I find him pacing up and down the street in front of Maggie’s house, rubbing his face and mumbling to himself. He can’t lose his sanity when we’re so close to finding a way out of this chaos.

  “Come with me,” I order as I pass by, not checking to see if he follows. Whether he wants this or not is his choice, but I need to play the reverse-psychology trick on him for this to work.

  “Where are you going?” he calls from behind me.

  I don’t respond.

  Shortly, though, his feet fall into step with mine. We start the trek to Randy and Beth’s, where everyone was last seen. I can only hope they’re still alive when we get there.

  “You going to tell me about this plan?” Ben asks.

  Without looking at him, I say, “Yeah, eventually. Right now we need to focus on our families, make sure they’re okay.”

  “So, the plan part was an excuse to get me to come with you?”

  “No. I really do have a scheme, courtesy of Maggie. The idea behind it is insane, and there’s a high probability of us dying in the process, but right now, it’s all we’ve got.”

  “Great,” he mutters.

  “Have a little faith,” I tell him. “And keep in mind our family is depending on our actions.”

  The exterior of Randy and Beth’s home is untouched. If I were an innocent bystander, I’d never know that an ancient evil lurked inside earlier, or that the people who reside here—and the ones who don’t—were wiped out cold.

  Ben holds his arm horizontal against my chest, halting me. “I’ll go first.”

  “Oh, please,” I say, rolling my eyes and shoving him out of my path. “Don’t even try to play the hero. We both have loved ones in there, and I’m not about to wait, by myself, while you gallop in on your white horse and save the day.”

  Although, once we’re indoors, I realize none of these people would have known if Ben or I saved the day. Motionless bodies are strewn across the foyer and the living room. Many are Followers. Many are Watchers. The rest are those closest to us.

  “Oh my god,” I breathe, dropping to my knees beside Mom and placing two fingers against the vein in her neck. There’s a pulse. “She’s alive!”

  Ben falls to the floor beside his parents, checking for heartbeats. With a gentle nod of his head, he says, “They are, too.”

  I almost cry from happiness. The instant passes, however, when all of them—everyone in the room except Ben and me—sit up straight. Just . . . bolt vertical from the waist up. I stand, slowly. What kind of sorcery is this? Alaric’s, obviously, but I have no idea what he’s planned. All of these faultless people might blow up at any second, they might turn into zombies, or Alaric can have something fouler prearranged. I shake my head, eradicating these considerations, and, just as I do, everyone’s jaws drop, gaping O’s forming at their mouths.

  “What the hell?” Ben exclaims.

  My thoughts exactly.

  “Ben, I think—”

  At that specific moment, they all speak in monotone unison, like marionettes dangled on invisible strings. “Town Hall. Noon tomorrow. Come alone or I’ll kill them one at a time.” Then everyone falls backward to the floor with a loud smack. Eyes flutter open, blinking several times, trying to remember where they are and what happened last. Ben and I stand in the foyer, together, watching everybody awaken.

  Beth’s the first to lurch into action, especially toward the Conway’s. Raising her hands to perform magic, I stop her by evenly stating her name. She drops her hands, turning toward Ben and me.

  I shake my head. Leave them be, I say. We have something to discuss with all of you.

  The Conway’s gradually come to, and then recognize where they are. Ready to execute the same enchantments as Beth, Ben, like me, prohibits his family from doing anything irrational. When every last person is awake, I begin my discourse.

  “As everyone now knows, you were all victims of his magic. He has instructed Ben and me to meet him at the Town Hall tomorrow at noon. Unfortunately, none of you can be there. He’s invited all of his Ancient friends to tag along. Once he has both my powers and Ben’s, he’ll be traveling back to the beginning of the werewolf line to build an army.”

  Mrs. Conway narrows her eyes. “And how did you, of all people, receive this information?”

  “Mom,” Ben bites under his breath.

  She shrugs instead. “We can’t have her creating fictional stories, can we? Why would he even want your power, Benjamin? It’s of no use to him.”

  “Oh, it’s plenty useful, mother,” he snaps. “About as useful as all of you so he could get to Candra and me. He needed us to be marked so I could keep up with her thoughts, know where she was at all times, especially after her getaway. And he needs both of our powers so he can travel through past, present, and future.”

  M
rs. Conway erupts into a fit of laughter. “I must say, she has done a wonderful job of persuading you with her campfire tales, but I’m not so easily convinced. Come, Benjamin, let’s return home to him. He’ll bring us current on the truth.”

  Before I can intervene, Ben steps forward, grabbing hold of his mom and slamming her against the wall. “Have you lost your damn mind?”

  “Benjamin,” growls his father, “let her go. I’m warning you.”

  Ethan and Cameron take two steps forward, just in case, I guess.

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” I say, unsure of where that came from. I should mind my own business; they aren’t my family.

  “Candra, stay out of it,” says Mom.

  Cameron and Ethan chuckle.

  “Yeah, Candra,” says Cameron, “why don’t you listen to Mommy?”

  He and Ethan lark even harder.

  I sneer. “Careful, you two. I’d hate to freeze time, and then pick you off one by one.”

  They lose their scowls and inch closer to me.

  “Touch her and you die,” Ben threatens.

  Beth speaks up. “All of you stop and listen to what these two have to say. I seriously doubt they’d lie about something so severe.”

  I’m over it. “Let them think what they want, Beth. Ben and I will be at the Town Hall at noon tomorrow, without everybody there. And if any of you think it clever to show up unannounced, he’ll kill you. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Ben and I have an idea to discuss, privately.”

  Ben shoves his mom one last time, glaring as he stalks away. In a brief inkling, Mrs. Conway’s eyes flash with fear, but the moment passes, and she resumes her normal charade. She still doesn’t believe her own son. I’m content with Ben finding out the veracity of the circumstances, although there’s no way I’d wish this cruelty on anyone. At least my family believes me.

  “Let’s exit this disgusting joke of a home,” says Mrs. Conway, her family and Followers silently following suit. “And Benjamin,” she purrs before her grand exit, “don’t bother following.” Inhumanly, she kisses his cheek in farewell.

  Cameron and Ethan appear pained for a short time, but their faces return to the way they always look—conniving and unsympathetic.

  So, Ben just lost his family. That’s fine; let them find out what Alaric has in store for them. Let them show up tomorrow. I want to see them murdered.

  Do not trouble yourself with them, Candra lovely, says Daciana. None of what happened today will matter tomorrow, and nothing that happens tomorrow will matter afterward.

  What are you talking about?

  Because of Maggie’s plan, all of this will be changed.

  Then this conversation will never happen, and Ben will have his family back.

  Precisely.

  My heart cracks a little at seeing Ben put up a good front. Nobody makes a noise as we all stand around, watching him, waiting for a fit of laughter, an epidemic of tears—anything. He doesn’t peel his eyes from the front door, even though his family is long gone.

  “Ben,” I murmur, touching his arm. “Why don’t we go upstairs so we can discuss tomorrow’s events?”

  He barely nods, like his mind is vacant, and drags his feet following me to my room. I usher him toward the bed, lightly pressing against his chest so he’ll sit down. Staring at the carpet, he doesn’t acknowledge me when I take my place beside him. This is going to be a boring, one-sided conversation.

  “If you want, we can wait until the morning to discuss—”

  “No!” he blurts. “We need to get this over with, Candra. Whatever idea Maggie flung into your head . . . I’m in.”

  Startled, I respond, “Good, because I can’t do it without you.” I grin in hopes it’ll alleviate his grief.

  Beth steps into the doorway. “Sorry, dear, but is there anything we can do?” I know she’s artfully prying on what the plan is, and undoubtedly because Ben and I are in my bedroom, on my bed. If this situation occurred in a normal setting, I’d be flushed with awkwardness, maybe even a little giggly.

  Using my most compassionate smile to remove all misgivings from Beth’s mind, I reply, “The only thing I need you guys to do is stay far, far away from the Town Hall tomorrow. Other than that, I think we’re all set.”

  Beth, pursing her lips, turns and disappears from sight.

  “So, let’s hear it, then.” Ben delivers a sidelong glance. “Since we might die tomorrow, I’d like to know how it’ll all go down.”

  ~*~

  After long discussions all day with Ben, my family, and friends, I’m exhausted. My mind won’t stop playing numerous scenarios which might occur tomorrow, all resulting in an altered ending. Either we live or die, but the second of the two is what speaks to me. Hands down, we can’t expect to fight Ancients and win.

  Jana seems to be the most hard-hit out of everyone, for some reason; she’s cried non-stop, and just when we think she’s kaput, she surprises us again. The adults, however, are taking the news extremely well. If I’m going to die in less than twenty-four hours, I want to spend every last second in happiness, with those I love. Thank the heavens they’re all under the same roof.

  “I just d-don’t understand why it has to be youuu,” Jana states, which brings on another surge of tears. I’ve consoled her as much as I can, but nothing I say seems to do the trick. So, I hug her tighter.

  “Just think . . . if it works, I’ll see you again. If not, well, it’s up to you guys to end him.”

  Jana buries her face on my shoulder, and my shirt begins to dampen.

  “It’s okay,” I tell her. “Ben and I—we’re going to figure a way out.”

  “But w-what if you don’t?” She looks up at me, sniveling.

  “Then we don’t,” I state matter-of-factly. “Jana, you have to realize that you all need to be strong enough to carry on where Ben and I left off if something goes wrong.” And I’m fairly certain everyone in this room knows that the plan will go awry, because we’re screwed.

  “All right, everyone. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, so we’ll need rest,” Beth says, shooing everyone out of the living room. She makes her best argument about Ben and I sleeping in the same bed, but in the end, he and I win. We simply tell her that she can’t separate us, even when we’re apart. That’s a downside—or is it an upside?—of being marked. Also, Beth’s run out of guest rooms to sleep people, what with Blake and Jana, my parents, and Jana’s parents staying with us tonight. Luckily, Mom and Dad didn’t attempt to join the minor argument. I think they detect Ben and I need to be alone for our final evening together.

  Settling in under the covers, Ben asks, “Who would’ve thought I’d be under Randy and Beth’s roof, let alone sleeping in the same bed as you? Crazy.”

  “Times are changing, I think.” I lie on my back, head resting on my palms, staring up at the ceiling.

  Ben snorts. “Weird how everything relates to time, isn’t it?”

  I smirk. “I guess I never really caught that.”

  “So,” he says, rolling on his side, “what are we going to do on our last night together?”

  “I don’t know. Is there something you had in mind?”

  He runs his index finger from the base of my stomach, past my bellybutton, up to my neck, where he stops and reverses. “I can think of a few things.”

  Involuntarily, I shiver.

  “Cold?” he asks.

  I swallow to mend the dryness in my throat. “No, I’m fine.”

  But Ben being Ben, he won’t take no for an answer. Curling up next to me, he tugs at my waist until my body lies parallel against his. I snuggle my head in the crook of his neck.

  “Better?” he says.

  I nod. “Much better.”

  We’re mute for a while, and just when I believe he’s asleep, he murmurs against my hair, “If something happens to me tomorrow, I’m going to miss you.”

  I frown, even though he can’t see my face. “Nothing’s going to happen to you or me. We’
re going to make it through this, Benjamin Conway. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.”

  He sighs gently. “You don’t know—”

  I silence him with a kiss. My hands find the sides of his face to hold it steady. At first, he stills at my sudden affection, but his lips and muscles and body liquefy. He runs his fingers through my hair, pulling lightly so that my head falls back, neck arching. Bending his head, he trails kisses so featherlike, so tender, it’s like they don’t exist.

  “Ben,” I say, which sounds more like a moan than a word.

  He doesn’t respond.

  “Ben, we can’t . . .”

  “Mmm,” he hums, transmitting vibrations against my skin. “And why not?” He pushes against me until I’m on my back, and he’s on top.

  The werewolf in me says, Don’t stop, keep going, but my human self, the one that’s barely able to comprehend my own name at the moment, is telling me not to go through with this. We need our strength for the battle tomorrow. I understand that Ben wants me; we’re marked and we have a connection that most people dream of. But we can’t be together now, not when there isn’t a real cause to celebrate.

  I attempt to shove him off me, but it backfires. He crushes me under his weight, pinning both of my arms above my head. All of our vital body parts converge. Heart pounding wildly in my chest, I feel as if I’m suffocating underneath him—and ninety-eight percent of me isn’t complaining.

  Ben dips his head so his lips grace mine. Against them, he whispers, “Tell me no. Tell me you don’t want me and I’ll leave you alone.”

  “I do want you, but not like this, not right now. Please, Ben,” I plead. “Uncle?”

  “You can only call uncle if you’re being tickled.” One eyebrow rises in mock suspicion.

  “Don’t even think about it!” I warn him, but it’s too late. He releases my arms so he can use his hands to tease my sides. I erupt with laughter. “Uncle! Uncle!” I shriek, but he’s relentless.

  “Nope. Not going to stop,” he says.

  “Please, Ben! Uncle!”