Page 1 of Blood Moon
Forbidden was the apple, but she ate it anyway.
Article I, Lost Letters from Aadan the First
It was the light flickering from the candle on my bedside table that caught my attention.
The way it wavered from the appearance of her, my mother.
Brown skin and loose black curls almost aglow from the golden flame.
A face that had always been too angelic for this era, with a button nose and bloodred lips that still hadn’t been wiped away from the day.
A siren , I’d once heard someone say about her.
Rena hummed the start of an old melody. A sweet and soothing thing. Melting, almost.
“ Mama, ” I whispered as she pulled the blanket over me and tucked me in. I was only eight then, and I watched her as she kneeled beside my bed, her eyelet gown close enough that I could run my fingers over the pattern.
A smile, and she smoothed back the few curls that had escaped from my braids, planted a kiss on the side of my head. Her touch was always so cool in comparison to mine.
“ Mirabella, ” she whispered in the same tone, smiling.
“A story? Please,” I squeaked out. Begged. When I was five, she read to me every night, and when I learned to read, she made me read to her, but today, I wanted to hear the story about the wolves.
She squinted, pursed her lips. “What kind of story?” A question she knew the answer to.
I smiled coyly as I pulled my comforter to my nose. “The wolves,” I said, the sound muffled a bit by the blankets.
Mama narrowed her gaze. “It seems I’ve made a monster.” She poked me, and I laughed. “You aren’t tired of this story yet? Didn’t we venture into town to get a book that tells you all about the wolf legends of Timber Plains last week?”
I shrugged. “But the story that you tell isn’t in there. I looked.”
She pressed her lips thin, leaned back, and after a quick moment of contemplation, she grabbed the wicker chair from the corner of the room and placed it beside the bed.
“Okay,” she started, crossing her legs, and her boney fingers picked at a piece of lint on her gown.
“If I tell you this story, you have to promise you’ll go to sleep and stay in bed,” she said, cocking her head.
“I don’t want to hear the pitter-patter of your little feet running through the halls. ”
I sighed. Nodded. Agreed. Anything to get her to tell the story.
A pause, and she adjusted in the chair. “A long time ago, when the seas had dried and the prairies were formed in the Midwest, there was a war between immortal creatures.
“The vampires possessed significant power, ruling over the humans and destroying cities across Europe, eventually making their way to Africa. Some say the vampires were birthed from darkness due to their desire for blood, others say they were birthed from light since they could walk in the sun.
“But it was because of their bloodthirst that werewolves were born.
“There was a god who heard the humans’ cries and pitied them so much so that one evening, during an autumn moon, the heavens parted above the coven, and there—where Somali is known to be today—fell a man who turned into a wolf.
His existence triggered an emergence of other werewolves, causing mortals to transform at random around the world.
“When the vampires caught wind of this, they escaped to North America, settling in the Midwest in a hidden, magical village, in hopes of hiding from their demise.
“And while the wolves looked and looked for these mysterious creatures, they could never find them.
“But one day, during a full moon, a pack of wolves finally made their way into the hidden village of vampires, taking out as many of them as they could—along with any other immortal who dared to step in the way.
“On that same night, a lone wolf stumbled across a vampire hiding in the woods. Her plan was to attack the wolf, but the instant they saw each other, they fell in love. Some say that in that moment, they were sworn to each other. Fated mates.
“A love between the two of them was forbidden. Vampires and wolves didn’t belong together, but sometimes you couldn’t help who you loved—whether they were mortal or immortal.
“Desperate to be together, the vampire and the wolf met with the rulers of each coven, convincing them that if the two groups formed a pact, they’d be better and stronger than any immortal, and they’d create unity for once and for all.
“The rulers agreed, and for a long time, they lived happily ever after …” Mama came to a halt, sat up, and patted her leg. “I’ll tell you the rest when you get older,” she said, swiftly getting up and returning the chair to where she’d gotten it.
“But there’s more?” I’d heard the legend numerous times, and never had she indicated there was more to the story.
“There is, and yet … the story gets much more complicated,” she said, returning and closing the blinds to my window before sitting on the edge of the mattress.
My bed used to be against the wall where the window was, but it was moved one day when I was only four years old. I never questioned why that was.
“Complicated how? ”
Rena twisted her lips, debating how to respond. “Well, it turns out, the wolves and the vampires aren’t supposed to be together after all.”
I gasped and sat up, my braids flinging forward. “Why not? You said that sometimes you love who you love even if—”
She pressed a hand to my shoulder, encouraging me to lie back down. “I know what I said, Mira. Sometimes you can’t help falling in love, but sometimes love gets complicated … with adult things.”
I scrunched my brows together, and she kissed me on the forehead again, tucked me back in. “When you’re older, I’ll tell you.”
“You promise?”
“I promise,” she said. “Goodnight now,” she whispered, and with a single blow, the candle was out. The smell of smoke lingered in the air. And then she was gone, leaving the door cracked open behind her.
Though the blinds were shut, shadows still filled every corner of the room. A mirage of long, sharp nails moving in and out through a lattice of leaves. A feeling that made my stomach swell, my breathing labored.
I sat up, turned to look.
There, between the small opening in the blinds, was nothing. Just pine and oak, the trees that inhabited our backyard. I settled back in place, tossing the blankets over my head, still anxious that it was more than just shadows.
And with my eyes sealed closed, I wondered what the rest of the story was, and why the immortal creatures couldn’t live happily ever after.