Page 19 of Blood Moon

Suddenly, Beauty was everywhere when Death approached the door.

Article V, Lost Letters from Aadan the First

I was fully aware of how my decision to venture off on one of the surrounding university trails looked—foolish.

Asinine, even. Especially after the reported bear attack at one of the local state parks, but that was miles away.

Classes had ended a couple hours ago, and I wanted to go on a hike to cool down after my workout.

It had been months since I’d gone for a run.

Deep in my core, I wasn’t a fan of the exercise.

It was too laborious, and I’d made a parade of faces when my therapist suggested it years ago, but once I hit mile three, there was a breakthrough in my body, a change in my brain chemistry.

Even in my exhaustion, I felt the best I had in months—which was embarrassing because I’d forgotten I could feel this good, be this relaxed.

It was everything I needed, especially after my conversation with Julian.

Behind Robertson Hall was a forest and a sidewalk that turned into a thin dirt path. A small wooden post marked it as the Austin Trail.

The sky was bright blue and radiant, hidden by a canopy of trees that cooled my brown skin. I watched squirrels chase each other, jumping from branch to branch as I popped in my earbuds to drown out the nature sounds with distinct drums and an electric guitar.

As I ventured onward, I took note of how many leaves had begun to fall, some of which crunched beneath my shoes. The further I progressed into the middle section of the trail, the more it reminded me of the nightmare I’d had.

Rena had abandoned me. She’d left me for the monster in the woods. I was defenseless against its strength, and there was no one around to save me as it sucked the life from me. The thought sent a shudder down the curve of my back, and I pulled on the straps of my hiking bag.

I found myself moving swiftly, my breathing picking up as the path twisted and narrowed. It took me up a slight hill, and below I could see the tops of lopsided shrubs, bushes, and trees.

A move too fast, and I wobbled faintly, my foot catching. Dirt and rock crumbled over the edge, dissipating before they hit the forest ground, some fifteen to twenty feet below.

I drew in a sharp breath, and my heart beat so fast I could hardly hear the music. I re-steadied my frame, wiping sweat from my brow, and momentarily allowed myself to glance at the grounds below, imagining how awful it would have been had I toppled over.

I kept at it, following the path round and round until it led to an opening. This high up, the cliff was nearly invisible. I relaxed a little. Sweat gleamed from my forehead, and a victorious smile set in. I’d made it to the top with minor issues. It was the second-best thing about today.

Ahead, and almost unnoticeable at first, were animal tracks.

Perfect imprints scaled north. I removed my earbuds.

A dog, I thought, but after a more thorough glance, the prints were much too big to belong to the largest dog.

Much too large to even belong to a mountain lion or a wolf. Could it be a bear?

I’d never seen one before, and the bear that had wandered into the area was spotted over twenty miles away. It wasn’t impossible that it had made its way here, but it seemed unlikely.

As I began to turn around, I heard a rustling up ahead. Something in the belly of shrubs moved quickly and with tenacity, sending me into a whirlwind of emotions. There was nothing but dead silence from every living thing in this forest.

Then, something strange happened. The family heirloom draped around my neck bloomed in warmth until it pricked at my skin. It shocked me, warning me to move, to get as far away as possible.

A quick look past my shoulder revealed a figure approaching from the shadows, and two glowing red orbs.

Twigs snapped, piercing me with cosmic horror.

The figure appeared humanlike, presumably a hiker who’d gone off-path.

But the eyes … they were monstrous. The person crouched, too far away for me to make out any details, poised and still in a way that only an animal could.

I shuddered, and the opal nipped me, as if yelling. Another rustle, and at once, the figure was yanked into the swallows of leaves with a sound that propelled me forward.

My breathing hitched, and I jolted down the narrowing path ahead, the ground dipping and rising in spots.

A bloodcurdling scream rang in my ears as something thick and wet was torn apart.

When the sound dissipated, it pushed me to run faster, and all I could smell was a sickeningly, sour metallic. For a moment, it flooded all my senses.

The new silence was a warning.

Whatever creature had gotten that person was now after me.

Wildflowers and weeds slid against my ankles until my foot caught on an overgrown root. I slipped, tumbling down a slope, grabbing at tufts of grass and dirt—anything to stop the momentum—until I was met with the edge of the cliff.

I cried out, a metallic tang in my throat.

The only thing keeping me from falling to my eventual death was a root protruding from the edge.

My eyes burned with tears and sweat as I bit down my next scream.

I tried kicking at the cliff to pull myself up.

I’d hoped the coursing adrenaline would supply me with super arm strength, but I supposed adrenaline couldn’t amplify what you never had.

And then a crack came, pressure releasing from the root, lowering me down half a foot. Shit. Shit. Shit. There were only minutes left—perhaps less than that—before this snapped, sending me to an impatient doom that purred at the soles of my shoes.

This wasn’t how I imagined the end of my life.

In a daze, I saw something running toward me. My fear concluded it was the wild animal rushing forward in a rampage after hearing my cries. This was it. This was the end.

But it wasn’t a beast, or a bear. It was a person, different from the strange hiker I’d seen before.

They moved fleetingly, and I caught a glimpse. A hint of familiarity: dark hair. Warm brown skin. Burly physique. They lurched forward in a bolt, and by the time I could register anything else, they’d vanished.

I was filled with astonishment, but in the next moment, the branch snapped. A shrill sound crawled from my chest as I fell. There was no pleading to the heavens, no time to make a bargain. And Bobby, he’d be devastated when he received the news.

Blackness met me when I landed, plopping hard into a sort of hole. I peeled open my eyes, expecting to take in beaming light and a staircase within the clouds.

Instead, it was the woods. A cluster of trees and broken blue sky. I was alive and safely tucked in the arms of Julian Santos.

The first thing I noticed about him was how bright and wide his stare was. How his brows knitted together with concern. When he moved his lips to speak, I couldn’t make out the sounds that came from his mouth. I was overtaken by confusion and skepticism.

How, how did he catch me?

It had been Julian at the top of that cliff, running toward me in a fuzziness of color and light.

I glanced to where I’d fallen from, finding no clear path down.

The best option was to jump. A task that should have been impossible without shattering every single bone in his legs and up his vertebrae.

Julian spoke, his voice soft, delicate. Different than he’d ever been around me. He brushed away some of the hair on my face, fingers scorching hot as he touched me. “Are you okay?”

He measured me intensely, and I followed his eyes as he hovered, pressing in as if trying to dig for what I knew, what I’d seen.

Trepidation loomed between us, and it was difficult to look away from him. But the recollection of the fall hit me again. I wasn’t supposed to survive. I was supposed to be flattened out on the broken path beneath us. I was supposed to be sewn into the undergrowth.

And I wasn’t. Because of Julian.

I opened and closed my mouth, struggling to form words until I coughed out, “How?” I looked at the cliff once more. The fear I’d had. “ How? ” I said again, my voice still hoarse, but my question was more a plea of desperation as I tried to understand.

Julian didn’t even blink. “Are you okay?” he asked slowly, and honestly, I didn’t know.

My body felt foreign to me in his arms, and I wasn’t expecting to be able to walk away from this.

When I didn’t respond, he gave me a single nod, and then said, “I’m going to put you down now.

” But I tensed, locking onto his arms, clinging to his chest.

He paused, steadying me again.

I was afraid of moving. Afraid that if he put me down, I’d wake up and realize I was dead.

Julian took a breath, his rib cage expanding against my own. It brought a sense of comfort. He smelled of oak, and an earthy musk I couldn’t name. But all I knew was that I was safe. And nothing mattered more than remaining that way.

There was a slight flare in his nose. His arms twitched. A fluttering heartbeat before he gently said, “I want to make sure you’re not injured, that you can stand on your own two feet. But in order to do that, I have to put you down … okay?”

I didn’t respond right away, and he seemed to respect that, giving me time to come around to the idea.

When I finally agreed, he released me, helping me to my feet. A sudden chill met me once we parted, and I gripped at his forearms, seeking stability. He held onto my waist until I felt comfortable to stand without him.

At once, he stepped back, gave me space I didn’t ask for. “How does everything feel?” He inspected me, probably in search of open wounds and broken limbs.

My feet tingled, and my hands were shaky as I wiped my palms on my knees. I was fine. No abnormalities, or even pain, at least not in the moment.