Ties To The Blood Moon

by Robin P. Waldrop

  Chapter 39

  My body trembled long after Joseph had gone. I didn’t know exactly when my feelings for him had changed, but they must have for his touch to affect me the way it did.

  I froze when I heard a knock at my door, but relaxed a tiny bit when Aunt Bev pushed it open.

  “Gen? Are you all right?” She asked, her voice all but trembled.

  I wiped my eyes with my shirt sleeve before turning over. “I’m fine. Why does everyone keep asking me that?” I sat up and let my legs dangle off the side of the bed.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it was because I came home and found you turned into a giant wolf on top of Joseph. Mary and Abe prepared me as much as they could before you came back, but I have to tell you, Gen, I wasn’t at all prepared for what I saw. As you kids say, “It really freaked me out”.” She laughed hollowly.

  I rolled my eyes, and couldn’t help but smile a little thinking about the mental picture she had drawn. “I’m sorry. I thought I had it under control, but obviously I don’t.”

  Aunt Bev picked up my hair brush from the antique make-up table she’d bought for me and sat on the edge of my bed, gently pulling me closer. She didn’t say anything to cause tears to pour from my eyes, but then she didn’t need to. Just her gentle touch, and the fact she smelled like my mom—honeysuckle, the scent of my mom’s favorite lotion—made the memories of when I was an innocent child come flooding back.

  “I can’t believe how long your hair-” She stopped abruptly for a moment, then leaned around to see me and smiled brightly. “Hey…what happened to your curls? Did you straighten your hair or something?”

  I smiled, only slightly and shook my head. “Nah. It happened when I, um…when I was in New Mexico.” I didn’t feel comfortable talking with her about it just yet. Hell, I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it with myself yet either.

  “Well, do you want to know what I found at the library?” She rose and placed the brush back in its spot.

  I nodded and promptly wiped at my eyes in a poor attempt to erase the tears, then scooted to the edge of the bed.

  “Okay.” She said, rubbing her hands together, but not smiling. “Well, unfortunately I found out there are over three million lakes in Alaska.”

  My heart sank, and I think she saw my disappointment, so she quickly smiled and began, again.

  “But,” she said holding her index finger in the air. “There are only three waterfall caves. I looked up those three and found one where they had torn down an old bridge, but left the pylons sticking up beyond the ice.”

  Aunt Bev barely got the last word out before I leaped forward, wrapped my arms around her waist, and lifted her off the floor. I kept spinning around until she squealed, and begged me to put her down. When I did she staggered to the bed and fell forward.

  I ran and jumped on the bed next to her. “Where is this place?” I asked excitedly.

  “Oh, my stomach,” she moaned, but still smiled. “It’s down south in a little town named Tok, about a half hour away.”

  I climbed off the bed and hurried to my closet, throwing open both doors. “That makes sense. He’d have to be hiding out somewhere close so he could still come after me, but be able to get back to my mom quickly if he needed to.”

  Her smile disappeared. “What are you doing?” She sat up and stared.

  “I’m packing. What’s it look like I’m doing?” I didn’t bother to look at her. She had possibly found where Zane had my mom, so I was going to get her, and kill Zane.

  “No, Gen! You can’t just run off half cocked. You’ve got to prepare for something like this.” Aunt Bev was still holding her stomach, but she had gotten up and was standing beside one of the closet doors. “Do you want Zane to kill your mom? Because that’s what will happen if you don’t think this through.” Her expression pained. “Honey, you-have-to-have-a-plan,” she said, almost pleading.

  She wasn’t about to let me go off alone after an evil monster like Zane. I needed to somehow trick her in to believing I wasn’t going to try it on my own. After what had happened with Joseph earlier, I couldn’t take a chance hurting or possibly killing those I cared so much about. I would take William along though, because after I rescued my mom and killed Zane…I wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if I found out he was helping Zane and lying to me about it. I hoped for my sake he did really care about me.

  “You’re right, Aunt Bev. Zane is too strong for me to go alone.” I tossed my bag into the closet floor. For added measure I dropped my shoulders and sighed. “I need to work out a plan with Luna and the guys, but first I need to do some research, maybe even talk with the chief.”

  She watched me shut the closet doors, then followed me to my desk. After I sat down and turned on my laptop, I looked at her over my shoulder. “Do you know what a hybrid is?”

  Aunt Bev stepped around my chair and leaned back against the desk, crossing her feet at the ankles, and folding her arms across her chest. “Yes I do. They are the most powerful of all the werewolves and vampires.” She paused, then added, “The chief said that originally they were kept locked away by the Amalric. But as the years went by, some vampires and werewolves grew to be evil, and refused to obey the laws. The Amalric made a sort of deal with the hybrid. They were allowed to live their lives among others as long as when called, they would hunt down and destroy rogue vampires and werewolves.”

  “What about Zane? Isn’t he a hunter?” I asked earnestly.

  “He was actually the Amalric’s favorite, until greed took over and he wanted to rule. The Amalric learned of his plans to take over and sent other hunters to kill him, but he was much stronger and killed everyone the Amalric sent after him, except one… his brother. His brother couldn’t bring himself to kill Zane. Instead, he banished him from Europe.”

  “Who is his brother?”

  “I don’t know. Few people do, but that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that’s why you cannot go after him alone. He will destroy you, and then there will be nothing to keep him from taking the throne.” Aunt Bev grew quiet, and lowered her eyes.

  It was plain to see something was troubling her. “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?” I stopped typing and turned toward her. Something wasn’t right. Aunt Bev seemed to know way too much, but how?

  She sighed heavily, and stared at me before she finally spoke, again. “Gen… you’re not just an Adlet princess. You were born to kill Zane.