Vanilla Moon: Awakening

by Airiel Hawkins

  The smells led me to a car stall that only had a large rock laying near where the trunk would have been. I felt my entire body start to shake as I bent to pick it up. I didn't have to bring it all the way to my nose to smell the blood on the side I hadn't seen yet. I looked around, wondering where she could have gone. Where could they have taken her? Adamsville wasn't that large of a town. If I could just figure out which direction they had gone, I could narrow down the search for her a considerable amount.

  Unless, of course, they left town... in which case, I'd never find her because once you passed the town's boarders, it was easy to get lost. Too easy. My heart began to race, and I let loose a silent prayer that she was still somewhere near. I tried to focus on the connection I had with her, but I couldn't because I was so distraught.

  I turned the rock around and saw her blood on it. Fury hit me like a sack of bricks, and I threw the rock as hard as I could at the asphalt. It shattered and crumbled, destroyed. Broken...

  Then it hit me. Ceres's original reason to come out here was to help Alan and Addie with a rental dispute. That meant that they had an entire empty house that was perfect for gathering the coven and performing their rituals. Who knew that what Ceres had come here to help save would turn into the setting for her own destruction?

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Before I knew what I was doing, I was running to my truck while calling my father. He answered on the third ring as I started my truck. I pulled out with squealing tires and explained what happened as I drove. I told him where I was going and why. I also told him that I'd be in serious need of backup. A lot of backup.

  "I can't send anyone out after a woman that I haven't introduced to the pack yet," my father informed me with regret in his voice. "You know that. She's not an official member of this pack until she hunts with us for the first full moon. All we have right now is the family."

  I let out a rage-filled growl. I glared at my phone and reminded myself that it wasn't the speaker, it was the medium. Throwing it through the window wasn't going to do me any favors. At least the snow was starting to melt. The roads were clear. That was all that mattered. "Fine," I spat. "I'll call Riley and Luke."

  "Do it," my father agreed. I could hear in his voice that he wanted to send the Guardians out to me so that I could use them, but he couldn't justify it. He could almost do whatever he wanted on a whim. Knowing that, he tried his damnedest to make sure that things ran smooth and fair in the pack. We were a small town. We couldn't afford selfishness and greed.

  At least, he couldn't afford selfishness and greed. I could, so long as those two things came together in a positive way. Was risking my own neck and wanting the pack at my back to save Ceres selfish? You bet your ass it was. Was not caring how I got her back if it happened greedy? Yes. Did it matter why I wanted her back if she continued to help make me a better man? No.

  I hung up on him and called my cousin. I drummed my nervous hands against the steering wheel while I waited for the light to turn from red to green. I was in a hurry to get to her, but I didn't know what to do when I got there. I couldn't just run in there and hope to rescue her. They would kill me in an instant. I needed a plan. I needed some way to communicate with her.

  Riley answered his phone with irritation. "Dude, I'm walking out of the apartment right now. I'm on my way to the diner. Just because you have a day off doesn't mean the rest of us do," he said.

  "You're not going in," I said with a note of rage in my voice. "You've got to come up to Addie's old house. They have her."

  "Give me ten minutes," Riley said. "Don't die."

  "I don't plan on it," I replied before I ended the call and scrolled through my contacts for Luke. I found him as the light turned green and I sped through the intersection. He was also quick to answer. "Addie's house," I said. "I need your help. Alan kidnapped my mate."

  "Holy shit," Luke replied. "Yeah, I'll be there," he said. I hung up and tossed my phone onto the seat next to me. I prayed to whatever gods were out there listening that I'd be able to get her out of this one. I cursed myself for letting this happen. I should have been more watchful. I should have paid more attention when she stopped following me. I should have left her at home, where she would have been safe....

  I should have done a thousand things and she was paying the price for my arrogance. I will protect you. The words were like acid eating away at my self-control. I'm an idiot. A fool. A complete moron. I should have done so much, and now there's only one option....

  I slammed my fist against the steering wheel and hated myself for thinking that she was going to be fine when I didn't know that for certain. I should never have doubted her.

  "Fuck!" I cried as I hit the steering wheel again. I heard something crack but I ignored it as I pressed the gas pedal down as far as it could go. My truck picked up speed. I wasn't far from Addie's house, but I wanted to make sure that I got there before they hurt her.

  I finally neared the house where I had lived through the worst night of my life. I had to force myself to park the truck down the road so that they wouldn't see it. Then, I had to force myself to sneak up on the house, in broad daylight, and not burst through the front door....

  Easier said than done.

  The house was in pitiful shape. They boarded up the windows, and the front porch was half-rotted away due to weather and termites. The screen door was hanging off its hinges and the paint on the front door was peeling off in strips. When I'd last seen this house at this close a range, it hadn't been anywhere near this bad. It was obvious that ten years could do a lot of damage. The house didn't look as though people had been living in it for ten years though. It looked as if it had been completely abandoned for ten years, not that the renters made a sudden decision to take off. Either they were lying about the renters, or there was something else going on around here.

  I moved closer to peek through the slats in the window of the living room and saw Ceres tied to a chair with a blindfold and gag tied around her face. It was dark and I couldn't see a lot of details. I could tell that she had a trickle of blood coming from her hairline and another one dripping from somewhere behind the gag. There were tears on her face. More blood was turning her hair red. She already had bruises.

  My heart broke at seeing her in such a state. She slumped forward, causing her hair to hang in front of her face. I wanted to burst in there, filled with rage, and get her out while killing the two of them in the process. Life would have been so much easier if we'd just killed them years ago....

  I looked around a little bit more and saw shadows moving back in the kitchen. There were two of them dancing across the back wall and I wondered who was in there. If it was Alan and Addie, I knew more people would come by soon. They were never alone for long.

  My eyes caught sight of the staircase as well and the memory of the last time I had walked up those stairs flooded me. Abigail and I were going up to her room because I was under the impression that Alan and Addie were out of town. Abigail said that she wanted to study, but she had other plans in mind. I didn't mind making out with her, but when it came to moving to the next step, I tried to fight her off. I wasn't all that convincing because my body had responded to her, but even if the body is willing the mind can still call rape. I hated that she was my first. I hated the memory of her sitting on top of me and forcing my body inside of hers.

  Bile rose in the back of my throat at the memory. This house was a hard place for me to revisit. This block was an area of town that I avoided at all costs. Knowing that the Ainsworths were trying to take something else away from me and that it brought me back made me tense and want to attack.

  I had to force myself to go back to the truck and wait for Riley and Luke to show. While I waited, I saw two cars drive up to the house and pull onto the lawn. We had been evenly matched before, but now they had tripled their numbers. Three-to-one odds were still good for any Lycan, but I wasn't happy about them. Of course, three-to-one was only good if we could get to them before t
hey started attacking us with magic. I had a sudden wish that I'd brought my gun with me. Or that I'd kept it in the cab. I mentally chastised myself and made a mental note to not forget it again anytime soon.

  Riley pulled up behind me in his car with Luke right behind him. When they reached the truck, I was itching to jump out of my skin. "When I last checked, they were all in the living room," I said. "There was just Alan and Addie with her to begin, but seven more people have showed up since then. I don't know if they've moved her or not."

  "We'll plan on them moving her, that way we can find a pleasant surprise when she's still there," Riley said. "We'll check one more time when we get up there anyway. Are there any back ways into the house or are we busting in through the front door?"

  "There may be," I replied. "I know there's a back door that leads into the kitchen. There's also a garage door but I don't know if we can get to it."

  "So, you scoped it out, but you didn't scope it out well?" Riley asked. I knew he was trying to be funny and lighten the mood somewhat, but we were getting ready to charge into a fight we weren't sure we could win. I didn't have time for jokes. Ceres didn't have time for jokes.

  I glared at him and had to fight the urge to throw a punch at his face. "I'd like to see you fucking focus when they have your mate tied, bloodied, and beaten," I spat.

  Riley sighed and put his hand on my shoulder. "Right," he said. "Well, let's go get the girl," he said.

  I looked toward the house with my heart slamming against my ribcage. Yes, I had support now, but were we enough? Were we going to be able to save Ceres and get her out of there without any of us dying? These two men were more than just my cousin and my best friend, they were my brothers. If my actions got either of my brothers killed, I didn't know that I'd be able to live with myself.

  Of course, without them, I wouldn't be able to save Ceres and I couldn't live without her either. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if my actions, or lack of actions, caused her death. I wouldn't be able to survive this life and everything I needed to do in it without her by my side.

  Luke and Riley understood that, even though they had never encountered their mates. They understood that the witches had tied my heart to that chair and that if hers stopped beating, I would be a lifeless shell.

  I looked at Riley, and sighed. I nodded to him and looked at Luke. Luke nodded at me before we headed up the street.

  We approached the house with caution. Riley and Luke looked at the house in much the same way I did. We were all surprised at the deterioration of the building. Luke looked at the garage door and shook his head. "Rusted," he whispered. Riley and I nodded.

  We were as quiet as possible as we walked around the garage to the back of the house. I looked around the corner and saw a Witch sitting on the rear porch, smoking a cigarette and signaled to Riley and Luke to stay back. They nodded and stopped moving forward.

  The Witch stood up with a sigh and started walking around the back yard of the property. I shrank down a little bit to keep him from noticing me. When he turned his back to the garage, I rushed to him and snapped his neck. He didn't have time to scream or make any other indication that something was amiss.

  I dragged him back to the side of the garage and lay his corpse down. I looked at Riley and Luke. They stared back at me in shock. I couldn't let myself acknowledge that I had just killed for the second time. If I did that, I would hate myself. This, I reasoned, was because it was the only way to protect Ceres. She was the priority. She was the goal. Anything that happened along the way to rescuing her was collateral damage that we could deal with later.

  I looked back around the corner of the garage and saw that the coast was clear. I focused on what I saw around the door. There was a canister of turpentine that I hoped was full. I was forming an idea.

  I looked back at Riley. "I need a cigarette," I said.

  "What?" he asked in shock. "Now? Why?"

  I smiled. "Because I'm going to make sure that this house never torments another Lycan again," I said. "We need some time, so I'm going to set a fucking fire and burn this piece of shit house down. Give me a goddamn cigarette."

  "Shit!" Riley muttered. "Fine," he said. He pulled his pack out of his pocket and put one in his mouth. He lit the cigarette up before he handed it to me. I circled around the house, staying as close to it as I could. I made it to the back door and picked up the turpentine. I popped the lid open and was happy to find that it was still full.

  I looked at my cousin and best friend again. "Someone take the front," I said. "Someone come with me through the back."

  Luke nodded. "I got front," he said.

  "I'll go with you," Riley replied.

  I nodded. "Let's do this," I said with a sigh before I opened the screen door.

  The door squealed as I opened it. I held my breath and waited for another sound. Luke disappeared around the corner of the garage and I knew that we'd have time to set this plan in motion. I crept into the mudroom and looked around the corner of the open doorway. The kitchen was empty, but I could hear voices nearby. The door on the other side of the kitchen was now closed. I remembered seeing shadows earlier. I set the cigarette down on the mudroom floor and started pouring the turpentine from near the cigarette to the gas stove. Riley followed me into the kitchen and stood near the door. I went back to the cigarette and moved it into the turpentine. We had a few minutes before it would catch fire. Then, we'd need to leave before the gas line blew.

  I stepped up next to Riley and looked through the door at what was happening beyond the kitchen. I could hear the Witches arguing with each other. Through the window, I saw Luke reach the front door. I looked at Riley. "Let's go," I whispered.

  Chapter 15 ~Ceres~

  I didn't know where I was when I regained consciousness. My body had slouched forward and I was in pain. Alan had blindfolded and gagged me. My head was throbbing. I could taste blood in my mouth. Every inch of me ached. My shoulders burned because they had tied my arms behind me. My legs were stuck in their position as they also tied my ankles and knees to the legs of the chair. My chest hurt. I felt like I couldn't breathe well. I was taking in breaths, but they weren't good enough. They were shallow. My back ached and the pain was creeping up into my neck. My butt was going numb. I hoped there was an end to this torture in sight.

  I sat up straight to relieve the stress on my shoulders. It seemed to ease things a little. I could breathe somewhat easier, but the gag was making it difficult. I tried tonguing it out of my mouth, but it didn't seem to work. I could swear that it was causing the opposite effect, so I stopped before I choked myself.

  I took in as deep a breath as I was able to and tried to focus on my surroundings. I couldn't see anything. The blindfold made sure of that. I made a conscious effort to keep my eyes closed. That way, I could trick myself into thinking that I was choosing not to see what was happening around me. If I could believe that it was my choice not to see, I could calm my racing heart down a little and maybe survive this by staying calm. Staying calm was going to be difficult, considering that Alan had just kidnapped me from the store, and no one had tried to stop him. Bits and pieces were starting to come back to me. The longer I was awake, the more I was going to remember. I turned my focus back to what was happening in the here and now. I needed to put the events of the past aside for a while. I needed to keep my mind on what I could control and what I knew about my current situation. I knew that it was difficult to breathe and the rag in my mouth was the only thing I could taste.

  I could smell...

  The air was thick with dust. Everything around me smelled old and musty. There was a slight breeze of fresh air, but it was intermittent, and I almost couldn't be sure that it was there. I tried to take in a deeper breath to inhale more, but the dust made me want to cough and I didn't want anyone to know that I was awake. The scent of animal urine and feces told me that humans didn't live here anymore.

  I could smell a range of emotions from the group of people I coul
d hear in the other room. There was rage, which was sharp and sour to my nose. Hatred, which was almost identical. Anxiety, which was sweeter, but still sharp. I knew what these emotions were by instinct. The one that surprised me was the regret. It made me sit a little sturdier because it made me wonder if, perhaps, I would have a way out of this mess.

  I could smell the magic in the house. It was acidic, in a way. Acrid. It made my mind jump to danger and kicked in my flight or fight instinct. I wanted to fly away. I wanted to get out of here. There was the smell of old herbs and long-forgotten wax. Wherever I was, I knew that it had a been a long time since this place was last used. I had the feeling I was in a house, since I didn't know of many other places that I could be in this town.

  I wondered, for a moment, if I was in Addie's house. I wondered if the reason for my arrival would be the setting of my destruction. Wouldn't that be poetic?

  In that moment, I knew exactly where I was. The thought had crossed my mind and now it settled in my gut, just like everything else I knew. Yes, I was in Addie's house. This was the same house Abigail had taken advantage of Wolfgang in. This was the same house where he had survived the worst night of his life. I wanted to burn it down.

  I smelled something in the air mixing with everything else. I recognized it as the pungent scent of turpentine. It was apparent that someone else wanted to burn this house down too, and I hoped it was my Wolfie. My heart rate kicked up a notch and I wondered what was going on in this house.

  I took in a deep breath and let it out slow, which was a lot harder to do when you only had your nose and a gag in your mouth. It was astonishing to me to realize just how important your mouth was when breathing deep. I had to relax. Panicking would do me no favors. I turned my mind back to what I could do.