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JESSE WAS HAVING AN attack. I ran, away from my dangerous lover, as fast as my legs would carry me. I hated not being there for him, but it was far too dangerous.
About twenty minutes later, he called out, “Taylor!”
I glanced back.
“I’m okay now,” he assured me. “I’ve got it under control. I just needed to focus, that’s all.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked as I made my way back to him.
He wiped blood off his face, and I arched a brow. “I-I killed an animal,” he said. “I’m not proud of it, and it goes against everything I believe in. I’m supposed to help them, not hurt them. But if I hadn’t gone after the animal, you’d be dead.”
I cupped his face.
“As much as it kills me to say it, you just...we can’t be alone.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I said. “You’ll get better, and then we’ll have plenty of alone time without you wanting to hurt me.”
“That’s all I want.”
Jesse suddenly glanced into the vegetation.
“What?” I asked.
“They’re back.”
Deep, guttural growls suddenly pierced the air.
I shook my head. “They sound pissed.”
He laughed. “I love pissing them off.”
And on that note, we left, knowing that the werewolves were back on the prowl.
* * *
JESSE AND I SPENT EVERY minute together, and when we weren’t together, we couldn’t stop texting and calling each other. My mom noted that we were inseparable, and that was putting it lightly. I didn’t try to pry into Jesse’s hidden world; he had told me more than enough, and I felt honored to be trusted with such privileged information.
If I hadn’t been told that Jesse was a vampire, I wouldn’t have believed it, because he seemed more human, more humane than a lot of people I knew. He was warm, inside and out, he had feelings, and he enjoyed real food and not just disgusting things like blood sausage. He went to work every day, hung out with friends, and dated me. Only his superhuman senses gave him away.
On a lazy Saturday afternoon, he had family obligations to tend to, so I decided to hang out with my family too. Max, my big German shepherd, cuddled up next to me while I watched a movie with my parents.
When my cell phone rang, I answered it without even looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”
“Taylor!” My friend sounded troubled and frantic.
“Julie, what’s wrong?” I asked.
“I won $5,000 with my lottery ticket.”
“Whoa! Congratulations!”
“No, you don’t get it. It’s not that kind of lottery. This is...it’s absolutely horrible.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
I bit my lip. “What’s going on?”
“I was given a...gift, just like you were.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m looking out my window, staring at a white buck,” she said. “When I called my mom over to check it out, she couldn’t see it, and she just rolled her eyes at me, told me she hopes I’m not getting mixed up in drugs and drinking, then went back to washing dishes.”
“Oh my gosh,” I said. I shot a look to my parents, who were scowling at me for interrupting our family time. “I’m sorry, but I’ve gotta take this. Julie’s upset.”
“Sure, honey,” my mom finally said while Dad kept munching on popcorn.
I smiled at them, then walked upstairs to my room and shut the door.
“I don’t want this lottery ticket,” Julie said.
“Hey, it’s better than what I got. All I got was a huge fish that I ended throwing back in the lake.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I was fishing with Jesse, his brother and his sister. And I caught this huge fish right before I saw the white buck. They said something about getting ‘blessings’. I guess that was mine. I mean, it was neat to out fish all of them, but I would’ve rather had a little cash for painting supplies.”
“I got the lottery ticket and won right before I saw the buck. This is all so weird. Could we really be cursed?”
I blinked and sighed. “So you’re back on that cursed thing again, huh?”
“Only you and I can see it. Think about it. There’s no other reasonable explanation.” She let out a trembling breath. “What’s going on? I need to know. I need answers, and the buck sure isn’t going to give them to me. He’s just down there nibbling on grass.”
I could tell there was something else she wasn’t saying. “That’s not all, Jules. What are you not telling me?”
“Well, I, uh...you know that woman, that spirit or moon princess or whatever?”
“Yeah.”
“She talked to me yesterday at the lake and told me I’m chosen. Then, these words appeared in the sand, like someone was writing them with a stick.”
“What words?”
“You’re chosen.”
I furrowed a brow. “What?”
“I swear, Taylor! Then she gave me that same spiel she gave you. I’m not making this up! You, of all people, should know that.”
“No, I believe you. Did you get a chance to see what she looked like?”
“No. The wind was blowing too hard. I just heard her voice.”
“I wonder why she didn’t choose you when you were with me at the altar site.”
“I asked her that, and she said it has to be done one at a time when the moon is in a certain position or something. Heck, I don’t know. It’s not like I have a copy of Moon Princess Curses for Dummies. I do know I’ll be protected until the first full moon of the new year...and now your enemies, the ones who are trying to hurt you, will be after me.”
“Werewolves will protect you,” I said.
“Oh my gosh!” she said hysterically. “Do you know how crazy that sounds? I didn’t sign up for this crazy train, so how the heck do I get off it? I’ll freakin’ jump if I have too.”
“Take a deep breath. I’m coming over.”
“Okay,” she said. “Just hurry.”
“See you soon. Just hang in there, okay?”
“Okay.”
I hurried downstairs and explained that Julie needed me. They understood, so I jumped in my car, raced over there, and knocked on the door.
Julie answered, then pulled me upstairs and shut the bedroom door. Her eyes were red and bloodshot. “I’m just a normal girl, Taylor. I don’t wanna get involved with vampires and werewolves.”
I gripped her hands. “It’s okay. We’ll get through this together.”
She took slow, deep breaths. “I want to believe that.”
“That’s it. Keep breathing. Don’t have a panic attack.”
“Something happened that day when we treaded on that sacred land, and I’m scared to death to find out what.”
“It was me being marked then, Jules, not you.”
“Well, now I’ve caught up with you. I just wanna have fun this summer and meet a hot guy. Is that too much to ask?”
“I know.”
“I hope you don’t think I’m shallow, because I plan to work my butt off in school come September. I’m a teenager. I’m supposed to go out and have fun.”
“You did meet Grant.”
“Oh my gosh! Grant! He can’t know about this. Promise me you’ll never tell him. I can’t have him thinking I’m crazy. Not one word about the moon princess and werewolves or any of it, okay?”
“Scout’s honor,” I said, making a cross-my-heart gesture.
She pulled the curtains and looked outside. “So...are vamps after me too?”
“They might’ve been after you all along,” I said.
She arched a brow. “What do you mean? Why?”
“That guy at the party wanted both of us, just like at the lake. You might not have been officially marked yet, but he knew, and now they want us both. We were chosen, for whatever reason, and he knew it.”
“But they haven’t tried to sacrifice me.”
“Not yet,” I said grimly.
She gasped.
“Or maybe your werewolves have been able to fend them off, even without you knowing,” I said.
“I’ll run. I’ll go stay at my aunt’s house in Virginia.” She shook her head. “Come with me,” she whispered. “We can pack a few suitcases and jump in my truck and—”
I pressed a palm to my chest, fighting the anxiety building up inside at the thought of leaving my parents and Jesse. “I can’t do that.”
She flashed me those blue eyes. “Because of Jesse?”
“Mostly, yeah.”
“Well, I’m glad you have your very own personal vampire bodyguard, but some of us aren’t so...lucky.”
“What about Grant?” I asked. “You two seem to be hitting it off.”
“Yeah, until he finds out I’m a nutcase.”
“You’re not a nutcase.”
“If I stay with Grant, I’d be putting his life in danger,” she said. “He got rammed off the road because of me. He could’ve died—not to mention that his car was totaled. I can’t put his life in jeopardy again. I won’t. I’m just not that selfish.”
“So what are you going to do?” I asked.
“I have to break it off with him, so he won’t get hurt.”
“No, don’t do that.”
“I have to. I can’t...there’s no way to explain that I somehow got myself tied up with homicidal vampires and werewolf bodyguards. It just won’t fly with somebody as hot as Grant, someone who could have any other girl—a sane one at that.”
“Then I say we take charge and figure out what’s going on.”
She stood. “I agree.” She walked over to her desk, retrieved a spiral notebook with a red cover, and handed it to me. “Let’s start jotting down facts and investigating, putting the puzzle together.”
“I like that idea.”
“Put this down,” Julie said. “The woman said it’s our destiny to free them from the curse.”
“Sure, the werewolves are protecting us, but how do we know they’re not working for somebody else?”
She tapped her chin. “Good point, but we both have werewolves protecting us from the vampires who wanna suck us dry, so we can’t help the people with the curse.”
“It has to be werewolves,” I said. “They’re cursed, just like the vampires.”
“True.”
I pondered. “Maybe...the werewolves want to break free from the curse. Maybe they don’t want to change into werewolves when the moon comes out.”
“Or maybe they just want to be human altogether.”
“So they want to break the curse on the first full moon of the new year?” I asked.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” she said. “That’s why they’re protecting us only till then.”
I tapped the pen against the notebook. “Why would supernatural beings need us to break a curse that’s been going on for hundreds of years?”
“Heck, maybe thousands.”
“What’s so special about us that we’ve been marked?”
Julie shrugged. “I’m not anything special.”
“Me neither.”
“I bet your vampire boyfriend wouldn’t say that.”
I laughed. “Don’t get me thinking about him, or else I won’t get anything done.”
“Yeah, well, your lover boy has the prettiest blue eyes, and—
I tapped her arm. “Back to figuring out what’s going on, okay?”
“Sure.”
“So...we’ve been marked, and we are key to the werewolves breaking their curse. That makes us prime candidates for the vampires’ murderous rampage, because they hate the werewolves and don’t want them getting the edge on them. I think the curse has something to do with the werewolves’ ties to the moon. It’d be hard to do things on nights like that. The vampires like having the upper hand. They can come out anytime at night.”
“Taylor...” Julie said.
“Yes?”
“What if Jesse turns on us? I mean, he is a vamp after all.”
I shook my head. “No! Jesse would never do that. He’s not with the normal vampires and wants no part of them. He only talks to them to keep the peace, and he’s never even invited to their ceremonies. He likes it that way.”
“What kind of ceremonies?”
“Moon ceremonies and stuff, I guess. I don’t really know. Not my kind of party.”
“It’s weird that both supernatural races are so connected to the moon.”
“Yeah.”
We debated all kinds of different scenarios for hours, and before I knew it, it was dinnertime. We had fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
When night fell, I knew I needed to get home. I would’ve stayed the night, but I had to work early the next morning.
Julie’s mom’s sudden scream made me jump, and we raced downstairs to see what was happening.
“Mom! What’s wrong?”
Frantically, she looked out the window while talking to someone on the phone. “Yes, I’m sure! A pack of wolves is attacking some poor hiker in the woods!”
I peered out the window, into the dark night. Moonlight poured down in a silvery glow, but I didn’t see anything except shadows from the trees swaying from the breeze outside. “Poor hiker, my butt,” I whispered to Julie.
“It’s started,” Julie whispered back. “The vampires are after me, and my werewolf bodyguards just fended one off.”
“You girls go upstairs,” Julie’s mom ordered, hanging up the phone. “I’ve already called 911.”
Julie looked out the window, then turned to her mother. “I don’t see anything.”
Her mom pushed the curtains aside. “He’s gone!”
“Good,” Julie whispered.
“Why would you say that? He could be hurt and bleeding or—”
“Mom, that guy shouldn’t have been on our property. What if he was trying to break in?”
“No, honey. He was running from the animals.”
In the middle of that tense moment, somebody knocked on the door, and my heart lurched.
“Help me!” a man’s trembling voice said. “I need help!”