Blood Of The Luna

Chapter 3

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I sat alone in my room, trembling with fear and soaked to the bone in sweat. I could feel a fever coming, and no matter how hard I tried to stop my trembling, I just couldn't do it. The fear was gripping, and it felt like cold talons had gripped onto my chest and were squeezing me tight.

Several images flashed in my mind, and all I could see was the battlefield from earlier. It had been so real, almost as if I had been actually standing right there. I could feel the heat from the flames, and the dampness of the earth beneath my feet. Even the screams had seemed so real, and I could almost believe that I had been standing right there. The chaos and destruction stood out prominently, and the wails of dying men still rang in my ears.

But that wasn't right. I couldn't have been there, when I had been standing on the front porch the entire time.

Or was I?

My brain felt like it had been plucked from my head and thrown around in a blender continuously. Earlier, I noticed some blood trickling from my nose when I stepped into the house, which I guessed was a sign of brain damage. Could it be possible that my head wasn't alright?

My shivering continued long into the night, when mother returned to find me buried under a mountain of duvets and sweating profusely.

"Dear God!" she swore loudly as she rushed to my side. "Alyssa, are you alright? What's going on? Talk to me!"

I was drifting in and out of consciousness the entire time, and I could hardly bring myself to stop. Mom's voice sounded far away, like she was talking on the other end of a very crappy landline. I could feel her touch on my forehead, and her hand felt cold to the touch. But something wasn't right. I wasn’t seeing her properly, and when a wave of nausea came over me, I thought I was going to faint.

But then the horrible, spinning sensation came back. It was as if my body was being transported to a different place, and when I opened my eyes, I was standing in the battlefield once again.

This time, my mind was prepared for the sight before me. And even though I knew where I would land, I certainly wasn't expecting to find the things I saw in front of me.

The woman who looked just like me was now fighting against a large black wolf, and the burly man was nowhere to be seen. Instinct told me that he was the one who had shifted into the wolf, and there was nothing but vengeance in his eyes as he continued to attack her. She was fending off each blow with her sword, curling underneath him and stabbing the underside of his belly. A great howl of pain came from the wolf, and he leapt off her and put several spaces between them before he attacked her again. His fangs were bared as he charged at her, eyes glowing with malice. The woman curled away from the attack, barely managing to avoid his bite. She was terrified, but there was no hesitation in her eyes as she came at him once again.

Steel flashed across the wolf’s face, and blood splattered across the ground as the tip of the sword grazed the wolf’s cheek. He clattered to the ground, rolling away from her while she charged at him once again. Her cry was one of rage, and as I stood there watching her swing her sword at the wolf, I wondered if I was hallucinating or if that was really me. I’d never looked so brave, or even half as fierce as I looked then.

Another s***h at the wolf’s face, and this time she immediately drover her sword into his side. His howl rang out across the hill, and he dropped to the ground with a resounding thud.

"It's over, Vlad," she said, pointing her sword at him. "You've lost."

He shifted back into his human form, and a mirthless laughter escaped him.

"It's you who has lost, Kendra," he said with a maniacal laughter. "Look around you. The battle is over. I have won."

"You cannot claim victory as long as someone stands against you," the woman named Kendra said. She took a step towards him, her sword still raised. "This ends now, Vlad."

“You and I both know how it ends,” he said. “One of us dies today, and from the look in your eyes you must know that it won’t be me.”

“So you think,” she said. “But this time it will be different. This time, I am prepared for you. This will be the last time you ever hurt anyone ever again. Your reign of terror is over.”

“Is that what you tell yourself at night?” he chuckled. “Well you must have forgotten who it is you’re talking to. Night gathers, and so does my strength with the rising of the moon. Selene may have given you her blessing, but she has failed miserably every time she went up against me. You may be her chosen one, but you are no match for me.”

Kendra raised her sword even higher, gripping it so tight that her knuckles turned white. She stood poised in the face of adversity, completely unflinching in the face of imminent doom.

“If today is the day I die, then so be it,” she said. “But you should know that I will be taking you with me to the grave.”

"So be it," he replied, charging at her once again. He shifted in midair, and his teeth nearly sank into Kendra. But she rolled out of the way and curved her sword upwards to try and find an opening underneath him. But he was prepared for that, and he kicked out his hind legs and slashed wildly at her face. She was thrown backwards, and the sword clattered out of her hands.

Instinct told me that I should help the woman. I tried to rush after her, but there was nothing I could do but stand and watch horrifyingly as the man named Vlad turned to watch her. He looked terrifying then, his face taking on a sinister darkness as he lunged at her repeatedly. Kendra held him off as best as she could manage, but even I could tell that she was on the brink of falling.

I fought with all my might to get to her, but I was powerless as he finally came to stand above her. I could see the fear in her eyes, and the panic in her eyes as she realized that she had lost. The fear resonated in me, and it was like I was the one who was experiencing the fear.

I looked away as he bit into her neck, and her piercing scream drowned in the turmoil of the battle. Tears welled up in my eyes as I felt the ghost of the bite on my own neck, and it was a searing pain which burned into my soul. Her scream was my scream, and her pain was my pain.

When I looked back, the wolf was gone, and now Vlad was standing above Kendra and watching her bleed to death. His lips were covered in her blood, and his eyes held a savage look of victory as he realized that he had won.

An overwhelming sense of hatred came upon me, and I wished I could grab the sword and run it through the man's heart. He was watching her bleed out, and he seemed to be enjoying the sight of her so vulnerable. How could this happen? How could he get away with it? She didn’t deserve this; she didn’t deserve to die. Vlad looked so happy that he almost couldn’t contain himself. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to rip out his throat with my bare hands.

But then, he did something which completely threw me off balance.

Slowly, almost methodically, he turned to face me. And when his eyes settled on me, the look of vengeance flashed in them. My fear returned once again, and I didn't know if he could see me or not.

"I see you," he whispered, and the words cut through me like a knife. I took a step back in horror, and he took one forward triumphantly. "I see all of you, Alyssa."

I screamed, and my scream burst through Kendra's mouth as well. A sudden tug came from behind me, and I was hurled away from the scene so quickly that all I could see was a blur of green and brown. I was hurtling away from the ground, and the earth beneath me was no longer solid.

With a thump, I suddenly returned to my bedroom, and my mother's voice returned more clearly. She was crying, and even though I couldn't open my eyes and see her, I could imagine the terrified look on her face.

"She'll be fine, Esme," father's voice came. "Now leave her to rest. She'll need time to recover."

"Indeed," a strange woman's voice came. "The worst of the fever has passed now. She will need to rest, and take lots of water. You will find that she is sweating a lot, but do not worry. It's just a side effect of the sedatives I've given her. Just make sure she takes the drugs, and don’t let her out of your sight."

"Thank you," father said. "I cannot thank you enough."

"Sleep well, Alyssa," mother's voice whispered as everything went dark once again and my mind went fuzzy. I was afraid of returning to the battlefield where the man would surely be waiting for me now. But thankfully, I didn't return. Instead, I drifted into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up to the sound of a chair scraping against the wooden floor. I opened my eyes only slightly, and it was to find mother sitting beside my bed. She was still in her nightgown, and from the soft chirping of the birds outside, I could tell that it was sometime in the morning.

I groaned as I turned, and mother leaned forward quickly.

"Hey," she whispered in relief. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," I muttered. "My head feels like it's stuck underwater."

"It's okay," she said. "I made some pancakes for when you wake up."

I sat up slowly, and my eyes were out of focus as I tried to blink slowly. My room slowly came into focus, and I could see mother clearly now. She was smiling at me, relief written clearly all over her face.

My eyes drifted to the pancakes on my bedside immediately, and I reached for them quickly. I leaned back as I began to wolf down the pancakes immediately.

"What happened to me?" I asked.

"We don't know for certain," she said. "I came back and found you shivering on your bed. Your body was on fire, and you kept tossing and turning. So I called your father, and he summoned a healer as quickly as he could."

"And?"

"Well she didn't tell us anything new," she said. "She just said you had a fever, and everything will be fine if you have some rest."

She narrowed her eyes as she watched me, and I kept my eyes on my breakfast. I knew she suspected something, but she couldn't come out and say it.

"Did you see something in your dreams, perhaps?" she asked. "Something which seemed out of the ordinary?"

I shook my head, still not meeting her eyes. I knew that the moment I looked up at her, she would be able to figure out that I was lying to her. I still didn't fully understand what I had seen, so I didn't want her to worry about me anymore than she already was.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Alyssa, if there's anything you can remember, then it will be very useful."

"The only thing I can remember is a splitting headache," I said. "Nothing else."

She sighed, then stood up and walked towards the door. "You should rest some more," she said. "I'll let your father know that you're awake."

I wanted to tell her not to call him, but she had already gone. And sure enough, father came to check on me a few minutes later.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Better," I said. "It's just a slight headache. I'm sure it will pass."

"Of course," he said, coughing slightly. "And listen, if this is about what I told you earlier, then perhaps you and I can have a talk about it later, when you feel stronger than this."

I smiled at him, remembering what Joaquin had told me yesterday about how much he truly loved me. Maybe he was right; perhaps father was just the way he was because he didn't know how to carefully communicate his emotions. Maybe I should give him a chance, and see if he really wasn't as bad as I thought he was.

He left me to my own peace and quiet soon enough, and I was finally free to dwell on my thoughts properly. I tried to remember what I could from my vision, and I could quite clearly see the battlefield in front of me if I tried. I could also see the man named Vlad, and the blood on his lips. His face was oddly familiar, as if I was supposed to know him.

But it was Kendra I could remember the best. All I could see was her bleeding on the ground, and the look of horror in her eyes. I felt like I had heard that name before, and it had something to do with my past. But who was she? And how exactly did she relate to my past?

Maybe it was all just a dream. I had heard about some dreams which could be so powerful that you would imagine that they were true. But something about this told me that it was real; it was like I had experienced this all before. And the more I tried to remember, the harder it was to do just that.

I remained in bed all day, resigned to my thoughts and trying to make sense of what I had seen in my visions. I thought about asking mom and dad if they knew who this Kendra was, but I thought it would be too risky. They would surely know that it had something to do with my sickness. They would make a fuss about it, and the last thing I needed was the two of them hounding me continuously for information.

Sometime past noon, I found the strength to crawl out of the bed. I made my way out into the hallway, which was as silent as a graveyard. From what I could tell, no one else was at home. And my theory was confirmed after I checked all the rooms and found that I was all alone.

Someone rang the doorbell just then, right when I was contemplating ransacking the fridge for something to eat. I made my way to the door carefully, still looking to make sure that I was alone.

When I flung the door open however, my heart dropped to somewhere in the pit of my stomach. My eyes widened in shock, and I wished more than anything that the earth would open up and swallow me completely.

For it was none other than Damian Lockheart himself, the Prince of darkness.

And he was looking at me with his eyes ablaze.

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