Bad Moon Rising

Lessons Learned

After breakfast, Kieran (looking a little embarrassed) indicated he had some other physical needs to attend to. His makeshift toilet, in the opposite corner of the cell, obviously gave no privacy, so I ducked into the bathroom.

Then I had an idea.

The sink was built into a standard vanity. Opening the doors below, I found a blue plastic bucket full of cleaning supplies. Bingo.

Emptying the bucket, I rinsed it out, then filled it a little over halfway with warm, soapy water. I also grabbed a washcloth and a fresh bath towel.

Kieran's eyebrows went up as I exited the bathroom.

"What's all this?" he asked, nonplussed, as I carefully put the bucket against the cell bars.

"Your bath, milord," I teased, handing him the washcloth.

I put the towel aside as I sat down. He sat, as well, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"Are you implying that I smell?"

I laughed.

"Maybe a little," I said, grinning. "I know it's not much, but it's better than those assholes throwing the water at you."

"Indeed. This is very considerate," he said, his smile warm.

He had thick, gorgeous eyelashes, I noticed for the first time.

"I owe you my thanks. Again."

"You're welcome."

I gestured between the washcloth and the bucket.

"So, uh, I guess, it's best to let you, um, do it yourself. And I'll just, um, I'll-I'll just watch. Uh, in case you, you know, need a hand anywhere."

Kieran grinned, then laughed loud as I groaned, briefly covering my face with my hands. He dipped the cloth, squeezed it, and then started washing his arms and chest.

While I tried really, really hard not to stare.

"So," I cleared my throat. "You were going to give me some background on - well, everything."

"Aye," he sighed.

He paused. I waited, focusing on the cloth as it moved back and forth from the bucket to his body.

"Shapeshifters have existed across many cultures, around the world, since time began. And as the world changed,so too did the relations between human societies and ours. Some learned to live in peace; many others could not. As a result, many shifters were hunted to or near extinction. In some corners of the world, they completely ceased to be, except in legends.

"For my people - our people - the tale is not much different. We existed all across Ireland, once, but the best and the strongest of us came from Ossory."

"Ossory," I repeated.

You're the first pure Ossorian female we've come across, Declan had said.

"Aye," Kieran said, dipping the cloth again.

"Ossory was an ancient kingdom in Ireland. Ruled by a human king, but only in name. The true power laid with the luchthonn. 'Wolf warriors'. And the most powerful, the fiercest amongst them, was called Laignech Faelad."

"f**k," I breathed. "So-wait, ancient Ireland? How-how old is Laignech?"

"A thousand years old," Kieran replied calmly." Give or take."

"Jesus Christ," I whispered.

"Aye."

Kieran started to reach behind his head with the washcloth, but winced, sucking in air between his teeth.

"Here, let me," I said, shifting onto my knees."Slide over a bit. "

He obeyed, turning so that his broad back was facing me. I dipped the washcloth in the bucket and only hesitated a moment before I put it against the base of his neck.

Kieran's muscles started to relax as I began to gently wash his back.

"I'm guessing Laignech was a bit of an asshole. "

Kieran chuckled humorlessly.

"That he was. He had extraordinary power, even for a luchthonn. It was said that he had been blessed by the Moon Goddess herself. But absolute power can become a dangerous weapon in anyone's hands - human, or shifter. In Laignech's hands..."

"It corrupted absolutely," I finished. "Sounds charming. How'd he get taken down? Or was he?"

"In a sense."

Kieran sighed and stretched his head back and to the side.

"You have the touch of an angel, anam cara."

You're welcome," I giggled."What's that one mean? "

Kieran froze, then said something under his breath that wasn't in English, but seemed like a swear.

"Another time, " he said, clearing his throat.

He took the cloth from me. I leaned back on my haunches, a little disappointed, as he turned to face me. I'd been enjoying the feel of his skin beneath my hands.

Dropping the cloth back in the water, Kieran surprised me by taking one of my hands in his. His eyes were serious.

"Laignech committed many atrocities-against humans, mostly-he had no respect for human life-but against our people, as well. He wanted more, you see. Warrior or no, he had the same limits of any other faoladh. And he loathed it."

"What sort of limitations?" I asked uneasily.

"The power to shift at will. We have strength, and the senses of the wolf, but we can only truly transform during the cycles of the moon, " Kieran explained.

"But there was more. You see, you must be born faoladh; the concept of a human becoming wolf through a bite or scratch is a human myth. Perhaps it can be done in some cultures-I am certainly no expert-but not amongst the Irish. Laignech refused to accept this.

"Above all else, he desired the power to change at will, outside the lunar cycles. And to be able to turn humans he deemed 'worthy' enough into faoladh. His blood in their veins."

"Like an army, " I said slowly.

Kieran nodded.

"I believe that is part of his intent."

"How is he even still alive?" I asked,frowning."Is he-are we-immortal or something?"

Kieran laced his fingers in mine. I squeezed them back, lightly, comforted by their warmth.

A chill was starting to settle in me - and it had nothing to do with the temperature in the basement.

This is real. All of it.

"We do age, Abby. But at a far, far slower rate," he said, eyes on mine.

"Our development proceeds 'normally' until around the age of twenty-five. From that point, it's estimated that most of us age about a year for every seven or eight. We aren't susceptible to most human diseases, and we heal at a rapid pace."

"f**k," I breathed. "Still- if he's a thousand years old, Laignech should've died centuries ago. Right? And I don't get the impression that he's a feeble old man, either."

Kieran hesitated.

"No- he's not. Laignech's an exception to the rule. Somehow, he's discovered a way to cheat death. Perhaps from the same mystic who gave him the secrets of claochlú. 'Transformation'.

"According to the mystic, Laignech would need to mark and mate a very special female faoladh. She had to come from Ossorian blood. She had to be a child of the moon-born under a lunar eclipse. A 'blood moon'. And her first turning, her twenty-first birthday, would likewise need to fall under a blood moon."

I'd been listening to all of this new information in steadily dawning horror. Pieces were rapidly falling into place in my mind, and I didn't like the picture they were forming.

Not one bit.

"Me?"

Kieran's silence was answer enough. I shook my head vehemently.

"But-but-why? Why me? Are you seriously saying that in a thousand fuckin years, he couldn't find someone else? I'm not even Irish, I'm American."

That last part sounded ridiculous even to me, but in my rising panic, I found myself grasping at anything-anything- that could exclude me from this insanity.

"It's no matter, lass," Kieran said gently, touching my cheek. "It's your bloodline. And no, you were not the first. There have been others. Three, by my count."

"What?" I said, my brow creasing. "So why-"

Kieran took both my hands in his, holding them to his chest. I stared at him, mute, as he continued in a rapid, earnest voice. His dark eyes became haunted with something I couldn't quite understand.

"When the mystic who guided Laignech realized the consequences of his actions, he tried to remedy it. He appealed to the Goddess to give the gift of agelessness to a second luchthonn.

"A former lieutenant to Laignech, who could no longer stomach the atrocities his chief so relished in. This warrior was charged with stopping Laignech by any means necessary.Any means, Abby.

"Even the death of an innocent."

"He killed them," I whispered, horrified. "To stop Laignech from mating them, and-and completing the spell, or whatever it is. He murdered three innocent women."

Kieran closed his eyes.

"Two women," he corrected quietly.

"The third one knew what was at stake. She killed herself before either Laignech or-or he could reach her."

I stared at him. I could practically feel the blood draining out of my face as the full meaning of his words hit me like a roundhouse slap.

Kieran didn't meet my eyes this time.

"It was you," I breathed.