Canticle to the Midnight Moon

by Val St. Crowe

I curled up on his shoulder, and he ran his fingers lazily over my back, and I didn’t think I’d ever been this happy.

  “So, I have a plan,” I told him.

  “Really? You’re industrious this morning.”

  “The plan is to stay in bed for the indefinite future,” I said. “Maybe leave the bed for food if we get hungry.”

  He laughed softly. “Oh. Well, that is a good plan. A very good plan.”

  I let my fingers scamper over his chest. “I thought you would like it.”

  “I do.” And he was kissing me again.

  And I thought I might get lost in those kisses, and even though we had just made love, I thought I could maybe be convinced to give it another go. “Mmm,” I sighed. “Although you were saying all that stuff about couches and tables and—”

  “We could give the bed a good run, though,” he said. “I mean, I’m not at all bored with the bed.”

  “Oh, me either,” I said, squirming against him.

  “Yeah, so the bed plan is solid,” he said.

  I thrust my hand between his thighs, and I thought it was funny, because I wasn’t sure when I’d gotten so comfortable with his body, but I was. It was familiar to me now. I knew the topography. And it was nothing to touch him anywhere I wanted, even where I was touching him now, squeezing him, stroking him.

  “Camber,” he groaned. “You’re going to kill me.”

  I let go of him. “Oh, sorry.”

  “No, I didn’t mean you had to stop,” he said, grabbing my hand and guiding it back. “No, I want you to do that whenever you want. I just can’t even believe that we’re really even… like, I keep feeling like it might be a dream, and I’ll wake up.”

  “It’s not a dream.”

  “Maybe we’re still captive in that dungeon and the witch is messing with our minds, and we’ll wake up and she’ll kill us right in the moment we realize it’s not real, because our suffering will give her immense power.”

  I drew back. “Landon! How can you even think something like that?”

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “I don’t know why you’d even bring that witch up,” I said, furrowing my brow.

  “I’m sorry I did,” he said. “Because this is the second time in the last few minutes you’ve stopped giving me a hand job, so—”

  Someone knocked on the door of my cabin.

  “Damn it,” I said.

  “Just ignore them,” said Landon. “Back to what you were doing.”

  I swung my legs out over the bed. “I’ll just get rid of whoever it is. It’s probably Sinead or something. We don’t want anyone coming around and trying to look in the windows or whatever.”

  “Fine, but be quick,” said Landon, reaching across the bed for me.

  I giggled. I leaned over and kissed him long and hard.

  He ran his hands over my body, my breasts, my waist, my hips. “Hurry back,” he told me in a throaty voice.

  “Yes,” I said. “Definitely.” I threw on a robe and went through the house to the kitchen and the front door. As I did, I put my finger my lips, which felt a little raw from kissing. My whole body felt loose and used in most wondrous of ways. I got to the front door and opened it, and it was Sinead.

  “Camber,” she said. “You’re not dressed?”

  “Um, it’s not really a good time,” I said.

  “You need to get dressed.”

  “See, Aston found the cure, and so Landon and me, we’re kind of—”

  “She’s down by the market,” said Sinead. “In Grover’s Square. She hasn’t hurt anyone yet, but we don’t know what she’s going to do.”

  “Wait, what?” I said. “Who’s in the square?”

  “The witch,” said Sinead. “The one in the black robe that kept us in that dungeon.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “You know what you did is you jinxed us.” I threw open a drawer and tugged out some clothes.

  Landon sat up in bed. “Are you getting dressed? I thought we had a plan.”

  “You mentioned that witch,” I said. “You had to mention her.”

  “What are you talking about?” he said.

  “She’s here,” I said. “She’s in Grover’s Square, and Ewan’s there, and Sinead is waiting in the living room for us to get dressed and come with her.”

  Landon got out of bed right away and started getting dressed. “How can she be here? Her head was removed from her body. We killed her.”

  “Apparently, we didn’t,” I said.

  “Well, hell,” he said. “Everything was going so well for us. We should have figured that couldn’t last.”

  I grimaced. “You’re right. We don’t get happy stay-in-bed-for-days time. That’s not us.”

  Landon buttoned his pants and snatched up a t-shirt. Then he suddenly stopped, going tense. He grunted.

  “Hey, what’s up?” I said. “You okay?”

  He steadied himself by grabbing onto the bed. Bent over, he said, “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just a headache. Came out of nowhere.”

  “A headache?”

  “A bad headache. Like, a crazy bad—”

  “Landon.” I went to him and put my hand on his bare back.

  “No!” he said.

  I recoiled.

  “Sorry, just don’t touch me.”

  “It’s that bad?” I said.

  He straightened slowly, his features contorted. “I think it’s fading. It’s just…” He nodded. “Yeah, it’s better now. Maybe it was from standing up too fast.”

  “I don’t think that’s a thing.” I licked my lips. “Sometimes, if you stand up too fast, you get dizzy, but you don’t get don’t-touch-me pain.”

  “We don’t have time to worry about it.” He yanked on his shirt. “Sinead’s waiting for us.”

  Sinead looked us over when we appeared. “So, you guys, um… Congratulations, I guess? Or maybe this is a thing I should just not comment on.”

  “Probably,” said Landon. “Let’s go.”

  We hurried to Grover’s Square, where half of the village seemed to be gathered. The witch was standing in the middle of the crowd, her hood thrown back to reveal long raven-colored curls. She gazed out at the crowd with narrowed, gray eyes. She was beautiful and terrible, and I waited for her to start to make someone float or for a person to explode into energy.

  We couldn’t let her hurt anyone.

  What should we do? Maybe I should make everyone shift, and if we all attacked her—

  “I see that the alpha has arrived,” said the witch. “You will most likely be wary of me, since I kept you captive. But I promise, I have come without any intention to harm anyone.”

  I stepped forward, through the crowd. “Why would we believe that?”

  Landon was behind me, tugging ineffectually on me, trying to stop me.

  I shook him off.

  He glared at me. “Can you, for once, try not to get yourself killed?”

  I ignored him and addressed the witch. “You have proven to be ruthless and cruel. Give me one reason not to have my pack shift and attack you.”

  “Because I mean you no harm,” said the witch. “I have been here for nearly three-quarters of an hour, and I have not harmed anyone. If I wanted to, however, I could have razed your village to the ground.”

  Judah rushed into the square, Tempest trailing behind him. He saw me and sprinted to my side.

  “Ah, the male alpha is here as well,” said the witch. “I have a proposal for you, then.”

  Judah folded his arms over his chest. “How did you get through our protection spell?”

  “A flimsy bit of magic like that?” said the witch. “What do you take me for?”

  “What’s your proposal?” I said.

  “I would like to address your council,” she said. “You do have a council, don’t you? Most packs do.”

  * * *

  “Thank you,” said the witch, standing at the front of the main lodge, all the members of the council sea
ted in front of her. The rest of the pack was crammed into the lodge and spilling out of the doors, into the hallways and out of the building. Everyone was there. Everyone wanted to hear what the witch had to say.

  I had agreed to her request simply to buy time. I’d called Desta and told her what was going on, and she and Viggo were coming back. We would need all the help we could get. I would have the pack attack her if I had to, but I knew that would result in casualties, and I wasn’t prepared to let any of my wolves die needlessly. As long as she wasn’t killing us, I would let it be.

  For now, anyway. But I was going to find a way to kill this witch once and for all.

  “My name is Meridian Vine,” said the witch. “You may call me Meridian. I hope to be a friend to this pack, as you have—in your own way—been a friend to me. I must admit that I lost my way recently, but your alpha and the others with her saved me. If they had not taken my amulet from me, I might never have come to my senses and remembered my mission. I was drunk on power, addicted to it, and I did awful things because of how badly I wanted more power. I was willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone in the pursuit of it. I was not myself, but a creature devoted only to the pursuit of power. But when I lost my power, for the first time in a very long time, my head was clear, and I began to realize what I had become.”

  Meridian paused, looking out over the council. She took a deep breath and then began to speak again. “I was a monster, plain and simple. There is no excuse for what I have done, and I do not come here for forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. I don’t seek it. What I want is a chance for redemption, to use my power for good instead of for ill. I know strong magics and I know how I can access them. It does not require death to access the magic. I can create a very strong spell with only blood, but it is more difficult, and it will take more out of me. I don’t mind this. I want to atone.

  “The vampires,” she continued, “they are a scourge on our land. They have taken over for hundreds of years, and driven you—the native people of the land—into hiding in these woods. They have chased away, exiled, and killed witches like myself. They do this out of fear, not because of any natural superiority. No, they know that we make them weak—witches and wolves alike. They fight against us because they do not want us to fight them. And we have all been so downtrodden for so long that we do not fight back, but that must change.”

  The main lodge was completely silent, but at this, people began to exchange looks. They were confused by what the witch said. They were inquisitive. I could reach out and touch the minds of the pack if I wanted. I could force them all to feel hatred for Meridian, but I didn’t do it. I knew that was a wrong move. People were entitled to their own emotions, for one thing. For another, I only ever affected the pack’s emotions for their safety. Making them angry would make us all less safe, not more.

  “I can change this,” said Meridian. “We can do it together. I am powerful enough to create a spell that will destroy every single vampire. It will reach out as far as the borders, to the oceans on each side, and once these vampires are dead, I will use their deaths to power another spell, one that will kill all the vampires, even those overseas. Then, free from our oppressors, we will all be able to step into the bright light of a new day. This is what I would like to do to make up for the evil that I have caused. I would like to do good for the entire world.

  “I have come to you,” she continued, “because you are the pack that showed me the error of my ways. I want to do this together. All I would need from your pack is a small donation of blood. One blood bag each, far less than the vampires would seek to take from you if you would become citizens. I will use that blood to create the spell.”

  It was quiet again.

  Meridian looked out at all of us, her eyes gleaming. “You may wish to discuss this. I will give your council time to do so. Thank you for hearing me.” She bowed her head.

  No one seemed to know how to respond.

  And then someone in the audience started clapping, and the clapping spread sporadically, but not to everyone. It sputtered and died out and it was quiet again.

  Meridian took a seat along the far wall.

  And I hurried to take her place. “We can’t trust anything this witch says,” I said. “You know that she held myself and other members of our pack captive. You know that she wanted to kill us. She is evil too, just as bad as the vampires, worse even, because she killed indiscriminately. Giving her anything would be a mistake.”

  Neil stood up. “I can understand why you would say so, Camber, but you have to admit that if Meridian meant us harm, she would not have bothered to come and address the council. She would have simply begun killing. That she has not done so may indeed mean that she has changed.”

  “We don’t know why she’s doing what she’s doing,” I said.

  “We don’t,” agreed Henry, also standing. “But the prospect of true freedom, of no vampires at all anymore, it’s something that I cannot deny is appealing.”

  “Yes,” said Neil. “Imagine it.”

  “But the witch, she’s got to have some ulterior motive. Who knows what she might do with our blood?” I said. “Maybe she’s come here for revenge, since we took away her prison. She was killing the people inside for power, you know. She may be very angry with all of us and wish to do us harm.”

  “I assure you,” said Meridian. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

  “The council will consider all of this,” said Henry. “We have a lot to think about. A lot to discuss. We will meet again in order to do so. It may take quite some time before we can come to a decision.”

  “In the meantime,” spoke up Meridian, “as a show of good faith, I will be happy to stay in your prison. That way, you will know that I am no threat.”

  “Like you couldn’t break out of that prison anytime you wanted,” I said.

  “We appreciate that,” said Neil.

  Meridian came forward, holding out her hands to be cuffed.

  I clenched my hands into fists.

  * * *

  “She’s up to something,” I said to Judah. “You believe that, right? You don’t think the witch is telling the truth?”

  “I don’t know anything,” said Judah. He was standing outside his house. I had come to talk to him alone after the council meeting.

  “Talk to Sinead and Ewan,” I said. “They were with the witch even longer than I was. They know that she’s cruel and horrible.”

  “Well, she didn’t deny what she did, did she?” said Judah. “But she claims she’s changed.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t believe it.”

  “What if she’s telling the truth?” said Judah.

  “Well, what if she is?” I said. “I don’t think destroying all the vampires is a good thing.”

  “Of course you don’t,” came Tempest’s voice from the porch of the house.

  Judah turned around. “Tempest, can you—”

  “Well, I’m only saying,” said Tempest. “You can’t expect her to make any other call when her own sister is a vampire.”

  I spread my hands. “That’s true. I don’t want my sister hurt.”

  “Well, if your sister was outside of the borders when the spell happened,” said Judah. “What then?”

  “How would she live afterward?” I said. “Hiding in secret? How would she feed?”

  “But that’s the exact problem with the vampires,” said Tempest. “Every other creature makes its way in the world without needing to drink the blood of the others. We can’t ever be free of the vampires because they will always prey on us.”

  “Tempest is right,” said Judah. “It’s not as if we can make peace with them. But I understand that you’ll fight to your last breath to keep your sister safe.”

  “I am the alpha of this pack,” I said. “I can force wolves not to give that witch their blood.”

  “Maybe you could,” said Judah. “But if you did that, if you tried to force your will on the pack, I would stop y
ou.”

  “And how would you do that?” I said.

  “Any way necessary,” he said.

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “He’d have to kill you, Camber,” said Tempest in a quiet voice.

  “No,” said Judah. “I never said—”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I said to Tempest. “You’ve always hated me.”

  “Well, it’s not as if you don’t hate me too,” said Tempest.

  “I don’t wish you dead,” I said. “I have fought for you to be with Judah and to have a place in the pack. I’ve treated you with respect. Whatever grudge you have against me, it doesn’t make any sense.”

  Tempest folded her arms over her chest.

  Judah sighed. “I have to admit, Tempest, she has a point.”

  “Oh, you always side with her,” said Tempest and went inside, banging the door closed behind her.

  “Look, we’ll let the council know—and Meridian know—that Desta has to be spared,” said Judah.

  “It sounds like you’re already decided that we’re going to do this,” I said.

  “No, I’m not,” said Judah. “You’re right. We have no reason to trust Meridian. We need more information about her, and we need to deliberate. I don’t know what I think yet. But I wish that you’d open your mind a little, Camber, instead of just being firmly against this. This could be a great opportunity for werewolves everywhere. This could change everything.”

  I had an errant thought surface in my brain. Landon and I escaping from the city, telling the bloodhounds that we were going to free them all and change the world.

  And I’d thought that if the cure Aston made worked, that we could use it to cure all the bloods and to lead a revolution against the vampires.

  And what had I expected those bloods would do to the vampires? Give them big, big hugs? No, they would have killed them. How was this really all that different?

  No. I wasn’t going to consider this. I wasn’t.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  When I got back home, Landon was lying face down on the couch in the living room. “What did Judah say?”

  “He said he needs more information before he can make up his mind,” I said. “Which is complete bullshit if you ask me, because there’s no way that Meridian can be trusted.”