Page 53 of Blood Moon

And after, that suffering will embed itself in us like flowers.

Article VII, Lost Letters from Aadan the First

No sound came out when I tried to scream.

My next instinct told me to get in the car, but I only had enough time to pull on a single handle, hoping it would give, before I realized it was locked.

Behind me, the boy was still coming.

Faster now, with ravenous eyes, and I remembered where I’d seen him. He was one of the football players, one of Sev’s friends. Now here he was, coming for me, and with a laugh. Like this was some sort of game.

And for him, it probably was …

I took off, running down the parking lot, Seven’s suit jacket flinging away from me.

I hit the sides of cars with my hand, hoping someone would be inside one of them and hear me, but the motion only slowed me down, and the person behind was closing in with unbelievable speed.

It pushed me to run faster, until my heel turned inward, causing me to fall and slightly twist my ankle.

A cry came with the pain, and I gritted my teeth as I pulled my heels off and threw them at him. He laughed, dodging them effortlessly, and I was back on my feet, limping as fast as I could, knowing he was moments away.

My vision blurred at the realization that when he caught up, something awful was going to happen. But above, in the trees that lined the lot, the leaves rustled. Someone jumped from branch to branch, and I felt enclosed. There was no way I could escape them both.

The person in the tree landed on the path before me. To my disbelief, it was Julian.

His fists were balled, and he had on no shoes, only the white dress shirt remaining from his tux. Julian was planted in a stance, a snarl slipping between his teeth. I flinched, but he let me pass him like I wasn’t there at all.

“She’s ours!” The guy yelled, and then I heard a collision of some sort. Dumb as it was, I paused to see what was happening. What did he mean by ours?

Julian pushed the football player in the opposite direction, but the football player pushed Julian back harder. He fell and should have landed on the ground, but instead, his clothes shredded, and before me appeared a larger-than-life gray wolf.

Still, it was miraculous. There was a wolf, a wolf.

I scurried behind a nearby car and ducked.

Someone smashed into something, and when I looked, I saw two wolves fighting.

Two. The football player was larger with bigger claws and red fur, almost identical to the sketch of the man I’d seen transforming in the folklore book.

Julian was smaller in size but much stealthier.

Car alarms rang as they tumbled into them. I took that as an opportunity to escape, leaving the area and sprinting down a sidewalk. In the distance, a cityscape. If I got far enough away, I could figure out where I was and call for a car.

I hiked the trumpet of my dress above my calves, limping downhill as fast as my adrenaline would allow me to go. My ankle wasn’t sprained; I at least knew that much. I’d had a sprained ankle before, but it was probably just swollen, a little bruised—with medicine and ice, it would go down.

Minutes into running and crying, I heard the sound of someone rushing behind me. A look, and it was Julian. He’d changed, and was now wearing a pair of gray shorts and pulling a white shirt over his torso. “Mira! Wait!”

I did no such thing. Nothing made sense anymore.

But Julian was so much faster than me, and it didn’t take long for him to catch up and block my path, abruptly forcing me to stop.

“Listen to me. It’s not safe for you here. We have to leave now.”

I shook my head while I tried to catch my breath, too tired and too stunned to say anything in response. That football player was a wolf, and he was after me. It was happening.

“Please,” Julian begged. “We have to go!”

I stood upright, looking at the murky evening, the far-away city, the amount of time it would take me to get there. If Julian could catch up to me in seconds, how much quicker would it take one of those larger wolves to get me?

Leaving with Julian was the best option, and I knew it. “Okay, fine. Whatever. You don’t have to yell,” I huffed.

He gritted his teeth. “If you would just listen, I wouldn’t have to.”

“Why would I listen to you when you still refuse to be honest with me? It would have been helpful if you said there were other wolves here!” I shouted. “And why is that wolf so damn large? God! How many more are there?!”

Julian dismissed me. “Look, my car is parked nearby. You have two options. You can hop on my back, or I can carry you. Either way, we need to go.”

I didn’t like either option. “I can run just fine.”

He looked at me like I was joking. “Not with that ankle you can’t.”

I eyed the swollen thing and grimaced. “It’s not that bad. It’ll heal. I’m fine.”

“It’s not going to heal if you keep—” he paused, exhaled through flared nostrils. “We’re not going to argue about this. Choose one, please. ”

“Fine,” I grunted. “Turn around. I’ll get on your back.” When he did, I pulled my dress up and hopped on.

He hiked me up. “Hold on tight,” he said, and then we were gone.

We moved so fast, it felt like we were flying.

The night blurred into a sea of darkness, and I had to close my eyes to keep from feeling dizzy.

Less than two minutes—that was probably how much time had passed before we made it to his jeep. It was parked a few streets over.

Julian unlocked the doors, and when I climbed in, he snapped for me to buckle my seat belt, which I was already doing. I started to yell, but the door had already closed. The moment he turned the car on, he was speeding down the empty streets. “Will you slow down!”

He glared at me, reduced his speed.

I pulled my phone from my purse. “I’m calling my dad.”

“ Don’t do that,” he said, muscles stiffening.

“Why not? He’s a sheriff. He can help.”

Julian clenched his teeth. “Not with this.”

“But if I explain it in a way that he might understand …” I let the rest of my sentence go unfinished, because it didn’t matter what kind of danger I was in, Bobby would come if I asked.

“That guy back there was clearly after me because of, what, my blood? ” I tried to wrap my head around the fact that it was actually happening, that werewolves were after me today, right now.

Every fear I had was summed up in this moment. “This isn’t okay. None of it—” Julian swiped my phone away in one quick move. I screamed. “Give it to me now, or I swear to God I will jump out of this car!”

He pressed on the brakes so hard, his tires squealed, and the car skidded to the left. “Why are you being so difficult?” He said once he pulled over. “Can’t you see that I’m trying to save you from them?”

“Why are you being an ass? Can’t you see that I can’t trust you right now?!”

“Someone clearly has an only child complex …” he mumbled.

I scoffed. “What was that? I don’t have a complex! This has nothing to do with being an only child,” I said, sneering at him and biting back tears. “I’m pissed at you, and I don’t know what’s happening!”

“I’m saying that you’re being ungrateful. This entire time I’ve been warning you! I’ve been telling you to leave. Not once did you ever listen.” He glowered. “I told you I was a monster. I warned you of the danger. Now here I am, saving you, and you can’t even say thank you? C’mon, Mira.”

I lowered my voice. “You act as if it’s so simple. It’s not, Julian,” I said, swiping away tears. “All of this is absurd. And I get to freak out, okay? There are creatures after me!”

Julian fumbled with what he wanted to say next. “Mira, I’m sorry … you’re right … and fighting isn’t going to help us right now.” He took a breath. “There is something else I need to tell you.”

My throat swelled, and I sat up quickly. “Julian,” I said, bracing myself and already frustrated. “What is it?” I couldn’t handle another thing. I gripped the door handle, squeezing so hard it burned.

He didn’t skip a beat. “I’m not just a werewolf,” Julian breathed. “I’m a vampire, too.”