Canticle to the Midnight Moon

by Val St. Crowe

  Landon didn’t say anything.

  “Don’t you agree?” I said. “Maybe you want the vampires all killed too. I know you hate what they did to you.”

  Landon struggled into a sitting position. “I… that witch killed people and tortured us and it was hell. So, screw her.”

  “You okay?” I had thought he was lying on the couch because he was so depressed over the situation with the witch, but now I wasn’t sure. He didn’t seem well, and that was strange, because I couldn’t remember him ever being sick, ever. Even when he got wounded, he healed quickly.

  “I have a headache,” he said.

  “Like this morning?”

  “Well, it’s not as intense,” he said, “but basically, it’s never gone away.”

  I was quiet for several minutes. “The cure,” I said finally.

  “Yeah,” said Landon. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. It’s got to be a side effect.”

  I twisted my hands together. “I guess if the rats had headaches, they couldn’t exactly tell Aston. Maybe that’s why the rat didn’t mate right away. Maybe his head hurt. And maybe when it stopped hurting, then he did mate. Maybe it’s a temporary thing.”

  “Maybe,” said Landon.

  “I’m going to talk to Aston,” I said.

  “I’ll come with you,” said Landon.

  * * *

  “Look, the injection is working on your brain pathways,” said Aston. “I guess that could be causing a headache.”

  “So, we shouldn’t worry about it?” I said.

  “It’s kind of a lot of pain,” said Landon. “A constant, pulsing ache. It feels like something to worry about.”

  “Take an aspirin?” said Aston. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

  I glared at him. “You’re the one who did this to him.”

  “You both wanted it,” said Aston. “I made it happen. Don’t blame me.” He gestured. “The rat is fine. Look. He’s happy and healthy. I’m sure you’ll be fine too, once you adjust.”

  “You better be right,” I told Aston. “Because if anything happens to Landon—”

  “He’s going to be fine,” said Aston. “Now, what are we doing about the witch? Even if she can get rid of the vampires, I think she needs to be put down for everything she did. She’s horrible.”

  “Well, killing her would solve everything,” I said quietly. “I wonder if we could get to her in the jail while she’s sleeping.”

  “It’s a pretty public place,” said Aston. “She probably got herself locked up in there because she wanted to be protected, not because she was making a show of good faith. It was all calculated.”

  “Manipulative bitch,” I said.

  “Maybe I could make something that we could slip into her food or give it to her in a glass of water at the council meeting,” said Aston. “Just eliminate the problem.”

  “Look into it,” I said. “That might be exactly what we need.”

  * * *

  Landon’s head hurt too much for any more lovemaking that night, but we did fall asleep in each other’s arms. He took some painkillers, but he said that they weren’t doing anything.

  I tried not to worry about the headache, even though the worry was gnawing at me. I was fairly sure that this wasn’t a good thing. But with the witch and the threat to Desta, I wasn’t sure what to do.

  The next morning, when Landon woke up, he said he thought his head was feeling a little better. Better enough that he climbed into the shower with me and we used up all the hot water.

  Later that morning, I called Desta to tell her what the witch had said. I told her that she and Viggo probably shouldn’t come back into the village, because people weren’t feeling particularly positive toward vampires around here.

  She said that she understood, and she was very alarmed by the threat the witch had made, of killing all vampires. “Do you really think she could do something like that?” said Desta.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “She’s extremely powerful.”

  When I hung up, I wondered if I’d done the right thing telling Desta about the witch. Maybe I’d caused her a lot of fear and maybe there wasn’t any good reason for it. One thing was for sure. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to my sister. We had protected each other for a long time, and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

  Landon was quiet most of the morning. He didn’t want to watch TV or anything.

  I asked him if his head was hurting, and he said that it was. I asked if it was feeling better, like he’d said. He said he wasn’t sure anymore. The constant pain was getting to him. I could tell.

  I was about to go back to see Aston, but he came to my door instead.

  “You should come with me,” he said in a low voice. “Just you, not Landon.”

  “What?” I said. “Why?”

  “I have something to show you,” he said. “It’s better if you see it.”

  “Tell me,” I said.

  He shook his head. “Come with me.”

  Feeling as though I didn’t have a choice, I accompanied him across town to his lab, where he showed me the rat cage.

  With a dead rat inside.

  My mouth was dry. “Is that… the cured one?”

  “Yes,” he said softly.

  I backed away, hand going to my mouth. I was starting to shake. “You rushed,” I said. “We wanted you to take your time without pressure, but you wanted to be part of the pack and you rushed.”

  “I didn’t,” said Aston. “I didn’t rush. I just… look, I think what happened is that some of the neurological pathways were damaged in the initial change into a bloodhound, and the treatment weakens things further until… well, I don’t know. I’ll probably do an autopsy on the rat.” He held up a finger. “Speaking of my being part of the pack—”

  “Don’t,” I said, nostrils flaring.

  “It’s only that I’m still not part of the pack,” he said. “Judah promised—”

  “Just forget about that,” I said. “You’re not going to be part of anything unless you fix Landon. He can’t die, do you understand me?”

  Aston nodded. “Okay. Copy that. Landon needs to live.”

  My eyes were filling with tears. What the hell was I supposed to tell him?

  “Look, I’m sorry, Camber, I really am,” said Aston. “If I had thought there was any danger to Landon, I swear I never would have let him take the injection.”

  “Don’t be sorry, just fix it,” I said.

  * * *

  “What did Aston say?” said Landon. He was lying in the living room again. The room was dark, all the curtains pulled.

  “Landon…” I hesitated in the doorway.

  “You were with Aston. I heard him here. I heard him say that you had to go with him.”

  “Look, I just—” And then I couldn’t continue, because if I did, I was going to burst into sobs.

  “I’m dying, aren’t I?” said Landon.

  “No,” I managed. “I’m not going to let you die.”

  “What did he show you?”

  “The cured rat, it… it didn’t make it.”

  “Blood and fangs,” he muttered.

  “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry. I should never have let you take that stupid injection. We should have waited. I don’t know why I thought—”

  “It’s not your fault,” he said. “I did it too. And we both knew it seemed too good to be true.”

  And now I was crying. Big ugly sobs were breaking out of my chest, and I didn’t know whether to run away from him or to him. Maybe my crying would be so loud that it would hurt his head worse.

  But he was across the room, his arms around me.

  I clung to him. “I’m going to make Aston fix it.”

  “Camber…”

  “I will make him fix it.”

  Landon tightened his grip on me.

  I cried harder.

  “Hell,” he said. “Hell.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVEr />
  “I just… I don’t know what I should make for dinner, because he’s not eating very much lately,” I said to Sinead as we entered the grocery store. “I want to make him all the things he likes. I want to baby him, but he says that it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t have an appetite.”

  “What’s Aston telling you?” said Sinead.

  We started into the produce section. “Nothing. He did the autopsy, but it was inconclusive. He’s not really sure why the rat died. He’s trying to dose other rats and figure out a cure, but so far, he’s getting nowhere. And Landon is getting worse every day.”

  “Like his head hurts worse?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Sometimes he tells me it’s not so bad, but I know he’s lying. He says that the pain is so constant he can’t really remember what it’s like not to feel it. It’s bad.”

  Sinead put a bunch of bananas in her cart. “I don’t know even know what to say. Sorry doesn’t cover it, and I’ve said it a gazillion times already. Sometimes I feel like you’re cursed, Camber.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It seems like everything goes badly for you,” she said. “Vivia and Judah and the vampires attacking your village and falling for Landon and… and everything.”

  I sighed. “My life is not easy. And just when it seemed like things were starting to get better, that witch came back and then Landon…” I felt choked up and stopped. I really couldn’t believe that I could still cry. It seemed like I shouldn’t have any tears left. I cried every day, more than once. Sometimes, I took extra showers just so Landon wouldn’t know that I was crying.

  “How’s he holding up?” said Sinead. “I mean, I know he’s in pain, but emotionally, how is he? Is he wrecked?”

  “Oh, you know Landon. I’d say he’s more bitter and sarcastic than usual, and he’s quieter than usual, but he’s the same.”

  “Would he be up for dinner? Can you guys come over?” said Sinead.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “If I ask him, he’ll say yes, but it’s hard for him, all the lights and the conversation and everything else.”

  “You probably want to spend every second with him,” said Sinead.

  “Yes, hell, I feel guilty for being here at the grocery store.”

  “Well, we’ll shop quick,” said Sinead. “What’s on your list?”

  “I didn’t even make one.” I looked around at the produce, feeling lost and confused. “I think I need onions. And, um, maybe some potatoes.”

  “Both good options,” said Sinead. “I’ll get them for you. Maybe I should just pick out some staples for you, and you can decide what to make with them when you get home, huh?”

  “Okay,” I said. “Sounds good.”

  Sinead loaded up my cart with vegetables and fruits and then we moved on through the store.

  I could hear part of a conversation two other customers were having near the chips and pretzels.

  “…don’t trust that Meridian woman, but I think I trust the vampires less,” someone was saying.

  “I’m with you. We’ve been under the vampire’s thumbs for generations,” said someone else. “If we can get rid of them, we have to.”

  Sinead pulled her cart to a stop. “You realize that Meridian captured me for the sole reason of torturing me and killing me for power?”

  The two women looked up guiltily at Sinead.

  “We can’t make a deal with that witch,” said Sinead. “We just can’t.”

  The women scurried away, averting their eyes.

  Sinead shook her head. “I feel like everyone in this village is losing their minds.”

  “Blood and fangs, I’ve barely even given the Meridian situation a thought lately.”

  “Well, how could you?” said Sinead. “What does it matter, right?”

  “It’s Desta,” I said. “I can’t let—”

  “Oh, of course,” said Sinead. She gave me a spontaneous hug.

  I wanted to cry again.

  We pulled away from each other.

  “I wish there was something I could do,” said Sinead. “Why isn’t there anything I can do?”

  “You’re already amazing,” I said. “Just having you to talk to, it means so much.”

  “Well, any time you need to talk, you call,” she said. “Any time. I mean it.” She pointed at the rack. “Oh, hold on.” She reached over and plucked out a container of pre-natal vitamins and put them in her cart. “If Landon doesn’t want to do dinner, then maybe we can just come by one night for an hour or so.”

  “Sinead?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you…? Those are pre-natal vitamins.”

  She looked at me. “Oh, crap, I didn’t tell you.” She put her hand to her forehead. “I was meaning to, it’s just that with everything you’re dealing with, my news, it didn’t seem—”

  “You’re pregnant?”

  She smiled. “Yeah.”

  “Blood and fangs.” I was stunned. “Um, congratulations. That’s really amazing. It is amazing, right?”

  “Yeah, definitely,” said Sinead. “I mean, it’s soon, but after Ewan and I got back from being in that dungeon, we knew that we didn’t have any time to waste. Anything could happen at any time. We didn’t see any reason to wait.”

  “I’m really happy for you.”

  She gave me a small smile. “Thanks, sweetie. I’m just sorry that it always seems like good things happen to me while you’re in the middle of a crisis.”

  “Your good news is what I need right now. I need there to be a ray of sunshine somewhere in this gloom.”

  “Look, Aston’s going to find something for Landon,” said Sinead. “I just know it. And there’s no way the council would choose to listen to Meridian. They’re too smart for that.”

  * * *

  “I move that Meridian Vine be moved out of the prison while the council continues its deliberations,” said Henry.

  “I second that motion,” said Neil.

  “The motion has been moved and seconded,” said Mary. “Any discussion?”

  I leaped to my feet. “Look, it doesn’t matter if she’s free or not, because that prison couldn’t hold her. But it’s a disturbing move that the council is letting her go free. You can’t trust Meridian Vine.”

  “I meant any discussion from council members,” said Mary. “You and Judah have been given your chance to speak.”

  I sat down, fuming. This was bad. This was awful.

  Aston had been devoting all of his energy to trying to cure Landon, not to making anything that could be slipped into Meridian’s food. And that was how I wanted it. Landon was the most important thing. But if Meridian were dead, it would be one less thing to worry about. Maybe I should be making a plan to kill her myself.

  “All in favor?” said Mary.

  A chorus of “ayes.”

  “Opposed?” said Mary.

  Silence.

  “Motion carries,” said Mary. “Meridian will be removed from the prison at once and given a cabin to stay in while the council continues to deliberate.”

  This wasn’t good, but I didn’t know what to do.

  Judah stood up. “Meridian?”

  “Yes,” said the witch from the corner of the room. Her cuffs were being removed.

  “If we wanted to protect certain vampires, would that be possible?” said Judah.

  “I don’t understand,” said Meridian. “Why would we want to protect the vampires?”

  “Our alpha’s sister—”

  “Ah, yes, I do remember that,” said Meridian, eyeing me. “Well, as long as she is outside the borders of the spell, she would not be harmed. But I don’t think it is wise to leave a vampire alive, because they can always make more vampires.”

  “It’s possible, though,” said Judah. “That would be a requirement to our acquiescence, I think.”

  Meridian inclined her head. “It’s possible.”

  * * *

  “What’s this about?” I said, coming into A
ston’s lab. My heart was beating too fast. “Have you figured out a cure? Can you fix Landon?”

  “I…” Aston shook his head. “Long story short, no. I’ve tried dozens of things on all these rats, and they all seem to be deteriorating.”

  “How long does Landon have? Do you have any idea?”

  Aston shook his head. “Longer than the rats have, but how much longer, I can’t be sure.”

  “So, if it’s not about Landon, then what is it about?” I said.

  “It’s about your sister,” he said. “If they decide to do this spell, Judah’s made it clear that they’ll make sure not to kill her. But after that, what happens? If she starts feeding on wolves or humans—”

  “She can feed on me,” I said.

  “Well, if she needed to go into hiding,” said Aston, “I thought I would let you know that Viggo had me create a synthetic blood drink. It’s essentially a cloning process. I make it in a lab, but it’s bioidentical to human blood. It’s something that Viggo wanted available in case of a natural disaster or something. Like an earthquake, stranding vampires in the city. He meant this to be an emergency food source. I was finishing it up when you captured me from the city. I thought…” He spread his hands. “Look, it doesn’t make up for anything, but I want to do something to help.”

  “Synthetic blood,” I said quietly to myself. “So, if vampires drank that, they’d never have to prey on anyone.” I thought about what Tempest had said, about the nature of vampires as predators.

  “I guess not,” said Aston. “I don’t think it’s as good as blood from a vein, but my testers said it was on par with blood from a blood bag.”

  “You were thinking about this,” I said, “but not about killing Meridian and stopping the spell?”

  “Well,” he said, “I guess I wonder if things wouldn’t be better if the vampires were gone. I mean, vampires forced me to work for them for years, you know? It’s not as if I have some great love for them.”

  “So, you trust Meridian?”

  “Hell, no,” said Aston. “But maybe we let her do the spell first and then kill her.”

  I gave him a look.

  “What?” said Aston. “If Desta is safe, what do you care? It’s not like you like any other vampires. You’d be happy if Viggo was gone.”