by S. M. McCoy
“In a way.” He nodded. All I wanted was a straight yes or no…but all I was getting from him were maybes and kind of. In a way…I closed my eyes to calm myself.
“We’re looking for her father’s things; they were sold to this pawn shop from a storage auction nearby.”
“What are you looking for?” he asked.
“We just said…my father’s things,” I repeated to the buff Dragon.
“No, child.” Who was he calling a child, I wasn’t that much younger than him. “What exactly are you looking for?” I was getting frustrated to say the least. Who did this Dragon guy think he was anyway?
“The Blood Moon Ring,” Aislin clarified for me. But that wasn’t what I was looking for. I was looking for answers. Aislin wanted the Blood Moon Ring to help…but that isn’t what we should’ve been asking for, especially since we didn’t know what price he wants or the kind of things he was willing to trade for. It all seemed a bit too mysterious for me. She seemed way too calm.
“Aw, yes. I recently searched for that for another.”
“And you found it?” Aislin urged him to answer and I could tell she was resisting the sound of desperation in her voice.
“Of course.”
“And where is it now?” she pressed.
“With the buyer of course.” His eyes looked like they lit up at the thought.
“Who was the buyer?” Aislin was getting just as impatient as I already was.
“The ring is a true treasure. Its history a long one. Have you ever heard the story of its origin?” He put his book down on the counter and leaned back farther in the chair.
Whether I wanted to hear a story, he was prepared to tell me one. I wasn’t going to stop him either, or dare interrupt, not after the power I felt in that instant before.
“It was created as a curse, meant to trap the power of an ancient queen who ruled over her people with the fear of demons who came from the shadows leaving her people weak and dying. It was the Abernithy family who stood against the demons. Lulled them away from the queen’s defense. Gifted the queen with a ring that was made of smooth red wood and as the moon bounced off its surface, it glowed the red ruby blood of her dying people.” He looked serious and stared over at Aislin intently.
“Using it doesn’t release the queen does it?” I asked, concerned.
“Not by accident.” He shrugged. “It’s a powerful trinket if harnessed correctly.” The Dragon nodded to himself and in that moment he looked like a wise old man to me. He probably got it from his grandfather, that calm educated demeanor. But why did my mother have such a ring to begin with? I could use it to save her.
“It was her mother’s ring, passed down over the generations.” Aislin looked forlorn.
“I can’t help you with that item, the price would be too high for you to pay. I’d have to get it back…or you could.”
“Who has it?” She was defeated and the young Dragon didn’t seem to be fazed at all by her crestfallen face.
“We know what you want, White Witch. Now for the child. What do you want?” He shifted in his seat and lifted his feet up onto the glass countertop.
That was the first time anyone asked me what I wanted. And the first time that I had trouble verbalizing what exactly that was. I wanted to free my mother. If I was a magnet for the vampires of this world, it meant I got it from her. I needed to know why she left me to figure things out on my own, why she left us, my dad, and me…but most importantly…if she was actually alive.
Dreamwalkers—that kept repeating in my head and I couldn’t shake that I used to know what it meant.
I didn’t even say anything and he smiled like he knew my thoughts…and maybe he did because the next thing he said was, “Ah.” A soft understanding washed over him; he didn’t seem like a wall deterring my quest anymore, but more like a door that merely needed the right key to open. The Dragon smiled gentle, like an older brother concerned with me scraping my knees while climbing trees higher than I should. My journey wasn’t about being safe or what I should do, but about escaping a fate that doing nothing would lead me to.
Aislin looked between me and the Dragon trying to read the interaction. I thought she could connect with my thoughts, but after being away for a month I don’t think she could get into my mind anymore like before, or the Dragon was controlling the astral pawn shop. We were on his turf and his rules were law while we were there. Which was both assuring and terrifying.
“What you want is unfortunately a dangerous path. There is a reason for everything and for everything a reason. Reason though sound will not save you so you must follow the unreasonable. I can give you only a direction, and for this I would only ask for one favor, do you accept?”
It was hard not to trust the guy. He was after all a businessman and repeat business and word of mouth were the only things worth keeping intact as well as making his own. He had to stay in business somehow. No one did anything for nothing these days. And only needing a favor seemed like a lot less of a price than he could ask for.
“A favor?” I asked like any curious sane person would. I risked the question; even though with how cryptic he seemed to be I had doubts he would reveal much more than that, but he saw value in needing my help in the future.
“Like any favor, it has no name until it’s called upon.” He shrugged and I knew it was a take it or leave it opportunity.
“I will not be some supernatural assassin for you.” My face was stern and I was serious about clarifying what type of favor I would be giving to him. I actually got a chuckle from him and he smiled.
“I would never play a game with the reaper; she takes her job very seriously. And such jobs would never be left in the hands of a child. I swear upon this favor that you will never have to take another life of my asking. I cannot offer greater certainty, nor will I insist you take the path I would give. It will lead you to your desire, but the choice will always remain yours how long you stay on the road, and the favor will still be mine to use at a time of my choosing.”
“You don’t even know how long I’ll live.” I questioned his desire to have a favor from me at a time when even my life was at risk.
“That is the gamble.” He nodded.
“Be careful Crystal…a favor can be a high price to pay,” Aislin warned.
The Dragon shrugged again leaving the decision entirely up to me.
What I had wasn’t much. I knew that I had to find my mother, but I kept thinking about what would a man as powerful as the Dragon want with a favor from what he called a child…unless he knew something I didn’t, which seemed to be my life’s status quo, of which I wasn’t fond. Then again, maybe there were lots of supernatural beings intrigued with being connected to all energy sources. What kind of things could they do with the knowledge I lacked?
And I wasn’t fond of turning back or playing possum either.
So I knew what had to be done.
I would take the deal.
A broad grin crossed his face and Aislin’s eyes widened like the whole deal was happening behind a curtain she couldn’t see through, and she was right because the astral plane was a big giant curtain hiding the supernatural magic of the world from everything else, the blurs. The Dragon extended his hand to me. I took it and everything went slow motion. A green flame rose from behind him and his eyes glowed.
His voice went low and guttural, muttering an incantation I didn’t understand while clinging on to my hand tightly.
Aislin’s concerns only an echo behind me, vibrating in the stale air around us. The heat from the flame licked around his large muscled arms and an orb rumbled forth from his stomach extending it like a blowfish. The bubble moved and spiked out like energy was building inside him. It moved up from his stomach, through the chest, compressing down only to expand out again like a fan-throated lizard from his neck. The lump rose into his mouth puffing out his cheeks, much too large for normal cheeks. He was like a tuba player, mouth skin taut and violet. Behind the thin skin gre
w a greenish-amber glow.
The Dragon brought my wrist up to his mouth, releasing a torrent of flames wrapping itself around my flesh. The flow lapped at my skin, drawing out sweat, but I didn’t feel any heat. I watched awestruck as the flames created five lines on the inside of my wrist, they shone, then faded until black like pyroclastic glass. I understood then why they called him the Great Moon Dragon, if all his deals consisted of an event like this.
“It is done.” The fire dissipated and he released my hand.
“Five tilde symbols?”
“These marks are tied to your soul. Five is the power of the spirit, locking you into our contract until it is completed. It will only be activated again at the time I call your service. You will return to fulfill your end of our bargain.” He lowered himself in his chair again, kicking his feet up as if nothing had ever happened.
I stared at my new tattoo, I had made a deal with the Dragon for better or for worse. Aislin rushed to my side and held my wrist in her hands.
“What have you done?” She sighed and turned to the Dragon who was now ignoring us as if business was over. “What about the ring?”
“Lucky for you, White Witch, that the child’s want will lead you to what you want most as well. How you acquire it from there is up to you. Follow the child, the ring will come.” The Dragon kept calling me child and I really wished he wouldn’t. If I was capable of making a life pact for a favor with him then I was old enough for him to call me something different than a child. I was about to say something until he continued.
“Wanderer Child, when the full moon is high, a monster you will become. Do not run at first; let it come. In the moonlight a truth will be revealed, but only in part. Follow it with speed, because no time must be wasted. Do not be too trusting of any that follow you in turn, for each has their reasons, both honorable and seeded in betrayal. Truth is fickle and often hidden behind walls of our own construction. Open your eyes, and it will be revealed. You will not see me again and there is no need, until the mark glows strong and a favor is won.”
“Where?” I asked quickly, knowing that he was wrapping things up and kicking us out of his shop.
“You already know that.” He smiled and the whole room got dark, lit up only by the moon, which used to be the ceiling of a pawn shop. It was the park and the wooden bench where I used to sit and watch people walk their dogs and have picnics. It was only there for the time that my eyes stayed open; as soon as I blinked it was gone. It was only in my mind. Which was freaky, because technically I was already in my mind surfing the astral plane. But somehow I knew when the whole room faded to the park, that only I could see it. The Dragon was pixelating into the background, becoming a blur behind the astral veil.
“Where did he tell you to go?” Aislin asked, confirming my suspicions.
“He didn’t.” I felt lighter knowing even though the Dragon had his own goals he was on my side in a strange way. He needed me for something eventually, but he had no reason to keep a secret from me, yet he had no reason to reveal more than he needed to either. Business is business and knowledge is valuable, I understood.
Part of me wanted to tell Aislin…but the other part was cautioning me not to. I chalked it up to feeling guilty that I was looking for my mom, when Aislin was everything a mom should’ve been when mine wasn’t.
I was going to free my mom. That I knew for a fact. She was the only family I had left, and apparently she had already sacrificed for me already. Time to return the favor before my time ran out. At least one of us was getting out of this.
Even if it meant going face to face with a monster. The Dragon didn’t say anything about dying there so it gave me a big sense of power and confidence to stand there baiting danger. I had the upper hand; I wasn’t afraid.
Let’s just hope I still thought that way when I was actually facing a monster and danger was inches away.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The First Seal
“Just needed to do this on my own,” I assured myself as I left Aislin sleeping in bed. Walking down the street toward the park still wearing my Godsmack night T-shirt and a pair of black jeans I found on the floor. The street lamps spotlighted my journey until I got to the park entrance. The forest trails weren’t lit except by the light of the moon, and tonight was especially bright due to the full moon.
“I told you not to make me come back here.” The dark angel’s voice rumbled behind the bushes.
“I didn’t make you do anything. You were already here.” I corrected.
“Why can’t you at least try to stay out of trouble?” He appeared on the log bench beside me.
“You’ve been following me.” I sighed.
“I wasn’t following you, I was following him,” the dark angel grunted.
“I’m not defenseless.” I pressed my lips together, annoyed that he was watching me like a stalker.
“Not very good at staying out of trouble either,” he retorted.
“What kind of thing is that to say?” I yelled, and then hushed again realizing I was in the middle of a walking trail in the dead of night, where all kinds of creepers could be listening…and one of them was with me.
“You know why you’re here?” he asked.
“To find answers.” And him, because according to the cryptic Dragon he could lead me to my mother.
“All you’ll find here is trouble.”
“Like you?” I looked him up and down, knowingly, even though I had yet to know really all that much about him at all. Other than he was dreamy, perfect looking, smelled like a freshly baked cinnamon apple pie, could heal himself in the moonlight, and had a really neat castle loft in the mountains somewhere. Oh, also he didn’t try to kill me—that’s got to be a plus in some column, right?
I bit my lip knowing I was making light of something much more serious than that. There was something between us and I struggled against it. I didn’t want there to be that heat in my stomach when he spoke to me. I didn’t want to be looking at the way the moon glinted off of this skin, or how his shirt rustled against his firm abs in the wind. Those few upper buttons undone and flapping open to reveal his chest. I gulped back my stupid thoughts, reigning them back in.
He turned his face away from me like a guilty defendant facing a jury panel.
“You won’t even tell me your name, it’s weird.” I sighed.
“You already know my name.”
I could sense him staring at me from my peripheral. “What, in a dream?” I laughed.
“Yes,” he said, matter of fact. So serious about it I turned to face him while we sat on the wood bench. “You admitted it to me yourself. You’ve seen me in your dreams.”
“I don’t remember half my dreams.” I rolled my eyes. He was expecting me to believe first that I actually remembered most of my dreams during a time where I hardly remembered anything at all, and second to think my dreams were real. I huffed realizing that wasn’t too far of a stretch anymore after going through astral projection land, or believing in dragons, seers, vampires, and witches.
“I need you to tell me what you remember,” he urged.
“Why is it so important?” I questioned.
“Never mind.” My angel turned away again, frustrated.
I threw up my hands in resignation to the whole thing. “Fine.” I’d admit to magic, I’d admit to having crazy dreams, I’d admit to feeling oddly connected to a man who stalked me in the night, and I’d even admit I was a freak of nature who attracted the oddities of a secret underground world. What does he want from me?
Quickly I took up his hands in mine and pulled him to face me once again. He was turning away and I felt like he was going to leave before I had my answers. I stared deep into his violet eyes and felt the whole world around us fade away. My eyelids became heavy and in the darkness I could still see those light purple orbs letting me in. Without having any of his secret drugs, I felt him again.
Show me what you see, I begged in my mind.
My
T-shirt became tight and I looked down to see a corset and below it the threads of blue fabric were raveling themselves together and rushing down to form a dress. I felt transported into a different time.
“Grace…” he whispered to me and I saw him shake his head to free himself from the cobwebs of his mind.
We were back on the mountaintop castle loft. I could even feel the wind from the window and taste the mist in the air. I was still holding his hand.
“Look at the moon.” It was full, bright, and blue. The sky was too cloudy to see the stars beyond them, just the moon escaping from the clearing, and a hazy shadow moving in front of it.
“The blue moon.”
“I don’t remember ever seeing one before.” I smiled even though it was partially covered.
“We aren’t supposed to be seeing it here.” He looked around concerned. I followed his gaze to see another oddity. The ceiling wasn’t there anymore and behind us was also a crescent moon. It glowed red and its craters were deep black and shadowed.
“What’s going on?” I looked back and even the window frame was gone.
“The moon is communicating with us.”
“The moon can’t communicate with us…” The ground misted beneath us. I could feel myself lose control and it was disorienting. There were three moons hovering above us.
“The Drawn are directly connected with the moon and its power. It communicates with us every night.” He closed his eyes and let the light shine on him, blue from one side and red from the other, purple meeting in the middle.
“I’m not Drawn…”
“I didn’t know for sure until now, but you are. You have the gene. The moon is giving us a choice.”
“A choice?” I panicked.
“Take my hand.” He offered his open palm to me.
I reached out in a daze.
“Tell me my name.” He grabbed me in his arms, his hand resting on my lower back and pulled me close. Pressed against his firm frame, his hard abs against my corset I could sense my breath escaping me. His other hand reached up and traced my neck and cupped my cheek. Those violet eyes delved deep into my soul and I couldn’t breathe.