Blood Moon Rising

  Blood Moon Rising

  K.R. Thompson

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Coming Soon

  More stories by K.R. Thompson

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2017 K.R. Thompson

  All rights reserved.

  * * *

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without written permission of the publisher. Inquiries can be made to Magic Quill Press, PO Box 614, Montcalm, WV 24757.

  * * *

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical or ethnic events/traditions, locales, real people, living or dead, are used fictitiously and are a product of the author’s imagination.

  1

  I KNEW WELL enough not to say anything. At least not yet.

  I’d seen what the Pack had found on their hunt. I knew what they’d stumbled upon—someone who hadn’t become lost in the woods. Someone who hadn’t died of natural causes. I saw it as plainly in my mind’s eye as if I’d been running with them. I felt the crunch of dry leaves beneath their paws as they hunted. Then I’d smelled the unmistakable scent of coppery blood—the underlying stench of death.

  Such is the curse of the Seer of the Keepers. You never know what you’ll see, when you’ll see it, or how bad it will be, I thought. But there were good things about it too. Because of this gift, I could sometimes foresee bits of the future that kept the Pack safe. That alone was worth everything. That was all that mattered to me.

  After we defeated Crow Woman and the Deadlands ceased to exist, I hadn’t expected to see anything else foreboding. If anything, I’d expected to foresee happy occasions—small bits of the future that would reassure us all of our ‘happily ever after.’

  So much for my expectations.

  Seeing a body ripped to shreds and hearing the mournful cries of the wolves had come as a shock. After the Keepers came out of Burke’s Garden, I’d picked up on their thoughts, a jumbling, and twirling mess of six voices that overlapped, skewing the words so badly that I couldn’t understand any of them. I’d ended up having to block it all out. I sat down next to Tori and my little sister on the bridge and waited, knowing Adam would find me.

  And find me, he did.

  His black wolf sprang from the forest and he shifted the second his paws touched the earth. The others weren’t far behind and when Brian came out last, I knew he was the one who had found it. A black and white mist continued to ebb around his body, even though he’d shifted back to human. He was on edge, and his wolf was lurking just under the surface, waiting should he be needed.

  Adam walked up on the bridge and knelt next to me. I let down just enough of my walls that I picked up on his thoughts. A new image came into my head—a clearer look at the body they had found. I flinched at the memory he had unknowingly given me.

  I found myself wondering what sort of creature could have done so much damage to make someone unrecognizable. Nothing in the forest, surely. It had to be something magical. Something with extremely sharp claws…or vicious fangs. I remembered the sketch of the Spriteblood that I had seen in the Book of Skin, lips pulled back to reveal her sharp, pointed teeth—teeth that could easily have killed in such a way.

  I met Adam’s silver gaze and asked one question. “Was it Wynter?”

  His eyes narrowed and he shook his head. This time he deliberately sent me a memory—one completely free of blood and no glimpse of the body. He showed me a patch of dry leaves that had been near his paws. It was covered by a long lock of rainbow-colored hair.

  I’d seen only one creature with hair like that. A Spriteblood. One who had recently turned human. “Frollock,” I whispered, my throat suddenly gone dry.

  Wynter might not have been responsible for this death, I thought. But once she learns that someone killed her sister, she’ll be responsible for someone else’s. She’ll be out for revenge. Things are going to get interesting.

  “Does your dad know yet?” I asked, when what I really wanted to know was if Wynter knew. Still, making sure the sheriff was in the loop was important—especially where murder was concerned.

  Adam nodded. “We stopped at the station and told him before I came to find you. He’s on his way out to investigate.”

  “Does anyone know where ye ol’ fairy queen lives now?” Erik asked, his voice lacking the bit of sarcasm it normally held any time he used his favorite reference for Wynter.

  Everyone shook their heads. Since her house had burned, the only place that I’d ever seen her since then was in the school library and I said as much.

  “I haven’t heard of anyone seeing her anywhere else either. Can you give me a ride over to the school?” Adam asked me. “I’d like to be close…in case my dad needs me. I know that’s where he’ll be headed next.”

  “We’ll come too,” Erik answered, volunteering the rest of the pack to come along.

  Adam shook his head. “You all go home and rest up. We may have to scout the forest and help search for clues later on.”

  I noticed that he was watching his newest Keeper. Brian hadn’t spoken a word since he came to sit next to Tori.

  Poor guy, I thought looking at the way his shoulders slumped, his hair swinging forward into his eyes. Something always seemed to happen when he went on a hunt.

  We can handle this on our own. For tonight, anyway, Adam’s voice said clearly in my mind as he reached over and linked his fingers with mine.

  “Are you sure?” Erik asked, just to be certain. When Adam nodded, he shrugged. “Okay. But if you change your mind, you let us know.”

  “Deal,” Adam answered.

  Erik, Tommy, and Michael shifted and disappeared beneath the dark canopy of the trees.

  “If it’s all right, I’d like to stay here for a while,” I heard Brian say to Tori. “You can catch me up on your ghost.”

  “Not a ghost at all,” my little sister piped up. “She is a water spirit.”

  “Tori, do you mind if Emily stays with you until we go and check on stuff at the school?” I asked.

  “Sure,” Tori answered. “Let’s go inside. I’ll make some more hot chocolate and you can help me tell Brian about everything we’ve been into tonight.” And with that, the three of them got up from the bridge and went into the house, leaving me on the bridge with Adam.

  “I take it you’ve had an interesting night too, haven’t you?” I heard the amusement in his voice.

  I bit my lip, fighting back a smile. The “ghost” was safe and sound, directly below him in the water rushing beneath the bridge. She hadn’t been a ghost at all, but it had certainly seemed that way and that particular adventure had ended only an hour or so earlier.

  And now we were heading to check on a Spriteblood. It was, most definitely, shaping up to be an interesting night.

  I linked my arm into his once we got up from the bridge and began walking toward my Jeep. “Yep, somehow I don’t think it’s going to be over for a while yet.”

  AS WE STARTED to school, I filled him in on everything he’d missed and when I finished, he told me everything that I hadn’t seen.

  “It started off well enough. Tommy headed east and we trailed him fairly easy. Brian found him in no time, so he started out again and this time he doubled back and crossed the basin to the other side to make tracking him more difficult.”

  I
mages of the Pack were running through my head and I saw the five hunting the solitary wolf up ahead. Brian’s black-and-white wolf was in the lead, the others trailing behind as they ran through the darkness, relying on instinct to show them the way.

  “He was the first one to find her.”

  I saw Brian’s wolf skid to a stop, his head turning as he scented something just a short distance off. Something that caused his heart to race, his stomach to turn. Fur rose in a stiff ridge along his back as he ducked his head and bared his fangs, ready to fight.

  The others were closer now, and like him, they were on edge now too.

  “She was lying in the underbrush.”

  I was picking up his thoughts as easily as I was hearing his words and the rest of the story played out in my head. I waited until it was finished and then rubbed my hands over my face.

  My adventure with the water spirits had been a piece of cake compared to this.

  “Do you need me to drive?” Adam asked.

  When images began zinging through my head, I’d pulled over on the side of the road and that’s where we still sat. Unfortunately, it wasn’t getting us to school.

  “No, I’m okay now.” At least, I think I am, I added silently, pulling back onto the road.

  “Let’s talk about something different,” he suggested. “Like…your birthday…which just so happens to land on Valentine’s Day.”

  I groaned. “Do we have to?”

  I’d thought that I’d managed to keep the day of my birthday secret. I’d known for a fact that I’d never told him and it wasn’t because he’d never asked. I’d just managed to evade answering him. I glanced over at him just long enough to give him what I hoped was a hard look. “How’d you find out about my birthday?”

  “Emily told me,” he replied easily. I didn’t have to look at him to know he had a triumphant smile on his face.

  “Oh.” There wasn’t much else to say. My little sister held birthdays only second in importance to Christmas and I knew she’d been more than willing to give any and all information pertaining to my birthday, previous birthdays, and anything else she’d think important for him to know. It was time to see how much she’d told him. “What’s my favorite color? Favorite animal?”

  “Green—and now it’s wolf, though it used to be a dolphin.” I could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

  I sighed. “You win. What do you want to know?”

  “Well,” he began, “before today happened, I was planning a surprise for Valentine’s Day. I think it would be a great birthday present too. Are you going to be busy Sunday?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “Good. Barring the strange and unusual happening tonight, don’t plan anything for then, okay?”

  “All right,” I answered, pulling into Bland High’s parking lot.

  The sheriff’s car was parked near the front door, but there wasn’t anyone inside. I parked next to the cruiser and turned off my lights.

  Let’s hope we aren’t needed, Adam thought, getting out of the Jeep.

  “Agreed,” I answered aloud, following closely behind him as we walked up the steps and through the big double doors of the school.

  “She isn’t here,” a cross voice informed us the second we stepped into the hallway. Mr. Giles, the principal, scowled as he pointed a flashlight in the direction of the library. “I told the sheriff the same thing, but he wanted to make certain. If you feel the need to follow his lead, be my guest.”

  Without a word, Adam started down the hall, but I stopped. “You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?”

  The magic that cloaked Mr. Giles fizzed out in a split second and I caught a glimpse of the Woodsburl hidden beneath. “No, I don’t know. She comes and goes as she wishes. I don’t know where she is when she isn’t here and since the library holds no secrets now, there isn’t anywhere for her to stay without being seen. All I can tell you is that she isn’t here tonight.” I felt the atmosphere shift the tiniest bit and the illusion of the human principal popped back into place. He opened his mouth, as if he was getting ready to ask a question, then he shook his head. “If the sheriff wouldn’t answer me, it’s not likely you would. What would bring people to see a Spriteblood at night is something I shouldn’t want to know, anyway.”

  I didn’t answer him. I only turned and ran to catch up with Adam. If the sheriff hadn’t wished to give a reason for being here, then I wasn’t going to either. I slipped through the big, ornate door of the library and bumped into Adam.

  I spotted his dad on the upper level, the beam of his flashlight traveling back and forth.

  “He told me to wait down here in case the staircase does its weird stuff again,” Adam said in a quiet voice.

  I nodded my agreement. I’d seen this room take a life of its own on more than one occasion. Once it had trapped Tommy and Michael, wrapping its slender metal railings around them in a trap that had only broken free once I’d remembered Wynter’s words that counteracted the booby trap. The instant we’d stepped into the library that time, it had felt as if every bit of magic in the room had come alive. It had become defensive, ready to guard its secrets.

  This time, I picked up nothing. It felt like an ordinary place, completely void of magic, which was strange in itself considering the being who spent so much time here.

  I left Adam’s side and ventured to the librarian’s desk on the other side of the staircase. The paneled wall behind it had been replaced and showed no evidence of having been destroyed a few short months ago. The wooden carvings still scrolled along the middle of the wall. I waited, wondering if they would ask me for the password, wondering if the hidden door would appear if I spoke the words.

  “Wise am I, ancient in all things,” I whispered.

  The wall didn’t change and no door appeared, but I had the feeling of being watched. I’d felt Adam’s gaze on me the entire time, watching and ready should I need him, and the sheriff had yet to come down the stairs so I knew it wasn’t him. But this was different.

  The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Magic was still in this room, and though it was hidden, I had gained its attention and now it was watching me. Wynter might not be here, but she’d left some part of her magic here as a safeguard and I knew that was what I was feeling.

  I turned around when I heard Sheriff Black Water’s shoes click on the metal stairs and found myself hoping the staircase wouldn’t contract like an accordion and trap him as it had Tommy and Michael. Because if it did, I had no way of knowing how to get him free. He’d be stuck there.

  Thankfully, he came down without anything happening and a few seconds later, he stood with us.

  “There’s no sign of her anywhere and unfortunately, no one knows where she goes when school is over. Giles says she has her own key to the school and comes and goes whenever the mood suits her,” he said, his brows lowering as he frowned, a familiar dent popping up between them. I’d seen that same look several times on Adam’s face.

  “Giles is afraid of her,” Adam answered.

  “It’s understandable, really,” his father nodded. “I just wish he’d had kept better tabs on where she goes when she leaves here. I don’t know how to get in touch with her to give her the news about her sister.”

  “So it was definitely Frollock?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have any clues as to what killed her?” Adam asked. “We couldn’t pick up any kind of scent. The Garden blocked everything when we were there.”

  “No,” the sheriff answered. “From the markings on the body, it was an animal. But animals kill to eat or protect. This one didn’t. There was nothing to protect and she wasn’t eaten.”

  My stomach clenched as I heard Adam’s words in my head before he spoke them.

  “It wasn’t an animal that killed her. It was someone with magic.”

  A bright flash blinded me and in the next instant I was locked in a vision. While I still stood in the library, I knew this
time had already gone by and I knew that I was seeing things from a totally different perspective—one that I was completely unaccustomed to.

  Before, I had always seen bits of the past or the future that concerned the Keepers. Now, I was staring at Wynter as she paced back and forth in her library. The tiny pages of the books that made her dress fluttered angrily, covers snapping open and slamming shut on their own accord. I was hit with one wave of emotion followed by another. First came sadness so strong that I felt my own eyes well with tears. An instant later, rage surged through me, hot and barely contained. I knew these feelings weren’t mine. While they were strong enough that I wanted to make them mine, they felt second-handed. I knew they belonged to Wynter.

  When she reached the far wall, she paused for a second, her back facing me. She stood there for a few seconds, completely still. The rage and the sadness suddenly left, as if she suddenly managed to bottle up every emotion, tightened them down, and put them away.

  I saw her head turn slightly, as if she’d heard someone come in. Then she turned and faced me and I found myself caught in her endless blue stare.

  “I know what happened to her,” she said. “And if I don’t leave, I’ll kill them all.”

  2

  BLAND HELD MORE magical beings than regular ones. At least, it seemed that way. In an effort to find more information on who had killed Frollock, Adam suggested putting a meeting place together at school for anyone there with magic to come and talk with us in hopes of finding some sort of clue to point us in the right direction. Since my vision in the library had proven that not only could I pick up on things concerning the Keepers, but other magicals too, my job was to watch and see what other bits I could pick up from them.

  Mr. Giles had approved our meeting and suggested the cafeteria, giving us—and anyone wishing to attend—special excuses to skip whatever classes we needed. Word had spread and now there were five tables of kids, a deluxe mixture of classes that ranged from freshman all the way to senior. Most of the younger ones I had seen in passing and knew only their faces. I didn’t know their names or what sort of magic they held, though by the way Adam greeted each person as they came in, it seemed he knew everything about them.