RED MOON

GENRE: Twilight, Fanfiction, Original Characters

RATING: PG – 13

SUMMARY: The sequel to DUSK.

est. reading time: 10- 15 minutes

o n e

past

She appeared from behind a long dead tree, all sallow dark eyes and long thin lines.

Despite the waning night, the woman was wearing far too many layers of clothing. It was a temperate evening.  However, the purpose of her clothing was disguise and not warmth.  She stepped forward and froze, glancing around, suspiciously. Her hands trembled around the tiny bundle she carried.

“It’s alright.” She said, her voice horse and full of fear.

She took time to smooth hair away from the newborn’s forehead.  His eyes, she could see were like his father’s, deep midnight blue and completely unfathomable. She shivered.  The boy would not be his father.

“You will be safe soon.”

She crept up to the emergency room doors and carefully set the bundle down.

She lingered for a moment.

“…I will find you again.”

She set off, walking at first and then  fully sprinting, cutting through the night like a passing breeze.

|
~

“Claire!  Claire!”

Ibis called to her child with her mind.  The girl had gone beyond range and blocked her tracking gifts.

Will squeezed her shoulders and reassured her.  “She is more than we are, made for this. She will return when she’s sated.”

Ibis took a deep breath and met her husband’s eyes, worry still clear in her own.

“…She knows not to feed on humans.” He added.

“Only because we have repeatedly emphasized the point.”  She said frowning up into his face.

“The drive is huge. As with all young children the id is number one…what she wants, needs in the moment.” Ibis said.

They both know her intelligence is high, but the want, the desire, is the forefront.  But Ibis has some doubts that at her young age, she will listen.

She is barely eight years old in appearance, but she is already deadly.

|
~

Claire crawled down the slope with an agility akin to mountain goat, without second-guessing a single step.

She had caught the scent of a mammal, a young solitary male coyote whose blood she planned on consuming.  She slipped delicately behind a tree and listened to the animal’s heartbeat.

It was so very close.

If anyone were to come upon this strange scene, they would see a small barefoot golden-brown girl with five barretted twists in her thick hair, wearing a pink jumper.

She would appear to need rescuing, when in fact, she was in her element.

Little Claire sniffed the air again…and this time caught another scent, one that instinctively sets her hair on end.

Her eyes go wide and she completely stills herself, the coyote forgotten.

The creature, the beast she smelled is also stalking the woods…

She peaks from behind the tree and catches a glimpse of grey fur, which ceases movement as if sensing her presence. It had to have been stalking her coyote as well.

Her hands tighten on the bark of the tree minutely, getting a good grip so she is prepared to leap away.

And then she does, bounding away at a blurring pace.  But she’d only managed to get a few hundred feet away, before it lept on her, a small grey wolf with dark intelligent eyes.

The girl bore her teeth, human in size, but still deadly, knocked it from her chest, and ran away.

The wolf did not pursue.  Instead, it now stood watching what had looked like a girl, but smelled like something else entirely as she ran away…

Another strange thing, like himself.

He was too shocked to move.

He simply watched her go.

present

Considering what it took to get here, my life has been quite blissful of late.

My husband and I have been happy. My daughter, Claire has grown healthy, though quite a bit faster than humans; with intellectual faculties, beyond her age, in place.

…But as you know, these things rarely last, for our kind.  So, we are savoring it.

She is as a teen in appearance to humans, but she is still a child to us. Will and I too, are still children by the measure of immortals.  But these things do not matter to them.

We have lived a reclusive life for the past few years…Moving even further into the mountains of Shadow, where we can hunt when we choose. We are pleased about the availability of synthetic, but it’s not the same as having a fresh kill.

Lately, I have wondered about Claire.  She is curious and sharp. She enjoys the arts, especially, but she is without peers. Human and immortal.

Perhaps, we have put too much distance between our mortal and immortal lives.  She seems a queer mix of innocence and detachment that I do not wish to see become a permanent part of her.

She cares only when she learns why she should.  This is the child, others do not see.

This is why we have decided to place her in our old school for a time, now that her physical aging is slowing to a close. Socialization with mortals, judgmental, fascinating, fragile, mortals, will help us keep her from becoming the kind of evil we’ve seen in other immortals. The kind that gives no care to anything but self.

Yes, she is like us. Born so, and therefore greater than the parts, but she will learn to care. She will learn to love beyond her kin.

|
~

I wear fairly feminine things. What I refer to as old romantic, what my mother refers to as simply old. Lace, billowy fabrics, classic colors, darkest browns, blackest blacks, and the whitest whites, puffed sleeves, and cinched waists but I don’t like showing a lot of skin.

I keep it modest.

That first day, I chose a cream-colored sleeveless turtleneck blouse and dark blue jeans. My hair was pulled back with a jeweled hairstick, in fairly loose curls.

I do not understand my parents’ push for me to associate with mortals. I have no desire to “get to know them” as Ibis wants. I would do them no harm, but I find them…fairly easy to read and therefore not very interesting.

Their creations, however are. Their books, films, music, art…Great things. So, this is what I cling to; the idea of what I will get with this, as a part of my “education”.

I will also make a small effort to find some kinship with human beings.  Nelli is tolerable, but she’s also been the exception to the rule, in my eyes.

Mostly, they seem easily agitated, slow-minded, and cruel.  They don’t know how to react to me, because of my so-called “natural allure”, my mother says. Adapted, so it is easier for us to hunt them. They want to come to us and beyond the call of their blood, I just want to stay away from them.

…Mother also says she wants me to get over myself and do the work.

My father, however, seems all too pleased with my disinterest in humans, especially boys.

Just because my mother found her husband among them, who mind you, wasn’t even really human, even back then, does not mean I wish to.

|
~

I watched the mist thicken as we travel closer to ground level, in my mother’s black 4×4.

Now, this is beautiful.

She told me about the foggy weather off-mountain, but the beauty up close is truly captivating.

I lean in close to the passenger side windshield and watch as the dense fog shifts.

Sitting up in the seat, I say.“Well, at least this part is nice.”

She glanced back at me, lips pursed.

“Remember, if you feel any change in your appetite, come home immediately.”

“Of course.”

She pulled the vehicle up to the school and I watch the myriad of students file in through the front doors, mostly white and the local indigenous native population, which outsiders wrongly assume are Mexican.

Ibis let me out.  I am to say that she is my sister.

We look no more than a year of two apart even with her make-up, so that would be the only proper explanation, for these…people.

They knew my mother. They knew my father. Knew about their marriage, and her dropping out of high school.  Will did graduate but…as far as this town knew, he and Ibis were two kids, living a life full of wrong for gossip fodder, despite their marriage.

I grabbed my book-bag and slung it over one shoulder.

I took great pleasure in waving back. “See ya’ later ‘sis.”

She rolled her eyes and drove off.

I walked confidently through the halls and of course, they all stared.

But none spoke. Being a stranger and strange affects humans that way. Well, in my eyes that was a plus.  I checked my schedule and headed to my homeroom, which turned out to have very few students, less than ten… Still too many.

I sat at the desk closest to the door and waited for the first bell to ring.

The announcements began.

“Good morning students. Welcome back-“ And that’s when things took a turn..

A student came in late, a tall thin boy clad in a plain dark gray t-shirt and jeans so worn, I was fairly certain they could walk themselves.   He looked young, but his carriage was as jaded as my own. He looked like a refugee from an indie band.

His hair stood in all directions, in that haphazard bedhead style that seems popular with young humans.  But this was not deliberate cool.

It looked genuinely uncared-for.

There was something… Almost familiar about him. I discreetly sniffed the air and recoiled. He was not human. Of this, I was certain. He smelled of the earth, animal flesh, and blood. And beneath that his own musk, an aggressive male odor that was made for marking territorial boundaries.

A sudden jolt of fear coursed through me.  I -felt…  He felt like an enemy. One who might be able to end my life, if he so chose.

I watched his nostrils flare slightly and then his eyes flickered over to me. For just the barest of moments our eyes met and that locked gaze held the tension of feline meeting a canine, both prepared to scratch, bite, kill.

To my surprise, he appeared more perplexed and surprised, than angry or aggressive. I might have even caught a flare of recognition.

He sat in my row, all the way to the very back and slumped down in his desk.

When the bell finally rang I was grateful.

As he passed by direction he purposely caught my eyes again as if willing me to speak to him.

|
~

Mother told me to leave if I felt a change in my appetite, not my aggression.  I was too curious about this creature to leave, now. My classes went by like cold molasses.

…Slowly.

When lunch finally arrived, I decided it was time to break the ice with the students. I entered the small cafeteria, and scanned the crowd using my sensitive hearing to catch snatches of conversation and my telepathy to pick up bits of emotion.

It was all very banal and shallow. I settled on a table with two students who emanated the least of this.

I slid into a seat next to a wide-eyed brown-skinned girl with her hair in a side-ponytail and a skeptical look on her face.

“Hi.” I said flashing my most brilliant smile.

“Mind if I sit here?”

They both looked at me strangely.

A round-bodied American Indian boy spoke up.  “No, of course not!  I’m David.”  He said flashing a bright grin.

The girl began shaking her head.  “-Um, who are you?”

“Claire.” I said. “I’m new.”

David shook his head.  “Yeah, you must be. Otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting with us.”

The girl shook her head again.. “Ignore him. I’m Renee.” She said, but didn’t offer her hand.

“He just has low self-esteem. Thinks you oughta’ be sitting with the top tier and uh, I gotta’ say, I don’t disagree.”

“Really? And who is the top tier?”

Renee pointed at a table full of pretty, well-dressed teens. The ones I had dismissed first for being terribly boring.  A few of the boys were making eyes at me, while shaking their heads in disbelief, apparently at my chosen table.

Was this the role I was supposed to play? Had I already failed some test?

“They…didn’t seem very interesting to me.” I replied.

“-They really aren’t.” David agreed, very quickly.

“So, where are you from?” He asked.

“The mountains. I was home-schooled.”

“Ahh.” Renee said, finally flashing even white teeth, with a small gap.  “You do belong at this table.”

“It’s usually more than just the two of us, but Cliff and Olive are out.  How are you liking your first day so far?”

“-You’re pretty.” David said, a half-mock dreamy expression on his face.

Renee made a continue motion with her hands, before I could reply.

“Um, okay…but -I’m curious about that student over there. He’s in my home-room.” I said, looking across the cafeteria at the skinny boy I saw earlier.  He was sitting alone.

“Gabriel?” She said, indicating the same boy.

“Yes.”

“He is a junior, like you since you’re in the same homeroom. Cute, I know.  But he’s also weird. …And that’s saying something coming from me.” She said sighing. “His family is local, but he’s not.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he’s so adopted. Parents are Tiwa Pueblos, very well-known family. They own the Red-Mart chain. So, he hit the adoption lottery, if you ask me.”

“Keeps to himself. Has a poor little rich boy vibe about him. We think he’s a member of Future Serial Killers of America, but don’t tell those dingbats over there that.” She said, inclining her head at the popular clique.

“The girls keep trying him, -but uh, I must say. You might actually have a chance.” She said.

He was definitely unabashedly staring at me, but not in the way she was thinking.

“I’m not interested.”  I said, looking away.

She raised an eyebrow.  “You sure?”

“Yeah.”

She sighed, her eyebrows still raised in a disbelieving fashion.

“Sure… Okay.”

|
~

I was surprised to find that I really liked my chosen companions. Renee and I both were obsessed with Basquiat and Warhol. And David and I shared a love for golden-age Hollywood.

I even showed  my sketchbook to them.  They didn’t flinch at all the geometrical drawings I’d made of my kin, but admired the intricacies. By the end of the day, I was feeling…okay with being in this school.

…Even with the unsettling creature who looked like a boy.

That is, until I went to my locker to retrieve my things for the end of the day. When I opened it, a crumpled note fluttered to the floor.

It smelled like…him.

I unfurled it.

I remember you.

He knew me.  Which meant, I knew him, too.

I had seen many immortals over the years, through Tess and Sylvia, especially. Many remained barely introduced strangers to me.

But this one, I was sure I would have remembered, a boy with the essence of an ancient beast.

t w o

When I got home, I decided against asking my parents about him. If they’d sensed any danger they’d likely take me out of school, before I had a chance to speak to him.  I was far too curious to allow that to happen.

And worse, there were no gurantees they’d know or even tell me, what he was.

No, this I had to find out on my own.

I disposed of the note at school.

“How was your day?” Ibis asked, her heavy eyes on me.

“Surprisingly good. I think, I might have made some friends.” I said.

“Good. And there were no unusual drives?”

Now, she decides to be vague.  “No.” I said, not meeting her eyes.

The silence that insued was palpable.  She didn’t believe me.  I didn’t believe me.

“Okay.” She said. And let it drop.

When I got home, I went up to my room and lay on my bed, listening to Chopin.

My mind wandered back to that note.  The smell was so familiar…

|
~

They next day, when I arrived at homeroom, he was already there, sitting at my desk, placidly watching me.

“You’re in my seat.”  I said, flatly.

“There are no assigned seats in homeroom.” He said, and slumped down.

“Gabriel.” He said, offering a hand.

I didn’t bother to take it. I had a strong urge to swipe at it.

“Still don’t remember me.”

He sat back, a slight smile playing on his unusual features. I fought back another urge to knock that smirk from his lips.

Taking a deep breath, I walked away and sat at the other end of the room.

I could feel his curious eyes on me.

|
~

By the time lunch rolled around, I was torn.

I thought about joining Gabriel, but there was still a naturally heavy antagonism that hung in the air between us.

I looked and felt around for him, but there was noth-.

“Excuse me.” he said, veering around me.

“You coming?” He looked back at me expactantly.

I blinked a few times and hesitantly followed, sitting across from him at my new friends’ table. We were the first to arrive.

His eyes scanned me in a way that made me feel like some shiny new toy, and then he breathed in, subtlely taking in my scent.

“I knew, I wasn’t the only one. Couldn’t be.”

He sat forward and met my eyes.  “You were small then. We both were. You looked liked them, he said indicating the other students, but you didn’t smell like them…didn’t move like them.”

“Wait.” I said, dawning recognition coming over me. His eyes were the same.

“The wolf?” I whispered.

He nodded.

“-A shifter….or a were.” I said.

“If that’s what I am.” He said, and I frowned.

“How can you not know? Where are your kin?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping you’d help me.”

I frowned. “You’re adopted. -My friends told me.”

“Yes.”

“Now, what about you?” he said, sitting forward.

As he got close to me, my eyes went dark and low threatening hiss issued from my lips. I felt the need to defend myself.

“Hey, Claire. I see you’ve brought your friend over.”  Renee said, from behind me. Startling me.

Luckily, she hadn’t noticed my behavior.

An odd-looking girl, plopped down next to me. Olive, I presumed.  Her skin was biege and covered in freckles.  Her huge, bushy-curly hair was a shade midway between brown and dirty blond.

It somehow meshed with her other features; huge lips, round nose, except for her eyes which were a hazel shade so pale the were almost white.

Cliff, sat next to her with his arm slung over her shoulder. He was a medium-brown black boy so skinny, most fashion models would envy his size.

He wore a bright blue t-shirt which proclaimed “all your base are belong to us.” and a kango hat.

I got the impression that he didn’t talk much…at least to people he didn’t know well.

“I know Claire from homeroom.” Gabriel said, rather presumptiously.

I hadn’t told him my name.

“Claire? Yeah, Renee told me about you.  I’m Olive and this is Cliff.”  The new girl said, her huge head of hair bouncing with even the slightest movement. She looked at me expectantly, as if it were my job to introduce this boy. Which, of course, he had made it.

Strangely enough, I probably did know him better than they did, at this point.

“Gabriel.” I said. Not at all as human as he looks, kids. I thought.

Renee plopped down beside me and briefly introduced herself. “Yeah, we’ve seen you around school, I’m Renee.” she said, warily, thankfully sounding as suspicious as I felt.

David sat on the other side of me, looking uncharacteristically tense. Not very perceptive. Jealousy came off of him in waves.  Gabriel wanted nothing of that, I was sure.

He sat back and took a bite out of his apple.

“You usually sit by yourself. I thought you didn’t like us peons.” Renee said.

“No. More like they don’t much care for me.” He said, glancing back at a girl huddled with her boyfriend, who was glaring at him.

“Yeah. Isn’t that Ricky? He has good reason. You beat him up last year after you tried to take his girl, right?” David said.

“Actually, I was defending myself and I wasn’t trying to take his girl.”

“You broke his arm.”

“Accidentally.”

“How do you accidentally, break someone’s-“

“-Yeah. How was your summer Olive?” Renee interrupted.

“Decent. We went camping up at Lake Zuni.”

“It’s possible. Don’t you think, Claire?” Gabriel continued, headless of the conversation change.

“I wouldn’t know.”

Conversation was forced for the rest of lunch and tense. My new friends’ impressions of Gabriel were solidified by his appearance at our table. Strange and a little scary. But now, they thought I should have reason to fear…

That he was becoming fixated on me. If they knew why, they’d fear me too…perhaps moreso.

~ by Raven White on August 29, 2009.