Luna's Ascension

Chapter 8: A Homecoming

Days passed as we fell into our routine of hunting, training, and doing ordinary, mundane things like playing video games, reading, and exploring hobbies. Archer took to our new lifestyle with an enthusiasm I was not prepared for. If he wasn’t paying video games or training himself, he was assisting Leo with training me. By the end of the week, Leo was confident enough in both of our skillset to let us go hunting on our own. 

“Alright Archer one last time, how do you identify a sinner?” Leo asked, for what seemed to be the thousandth time. 

Archer sighed, “I have to stare at them and focus until I see their aura. I can only reap someone with a black aura.” 

“Good. And if you can’t find their aura?” Leo pressed, knowing Archer sometimes had trouble with his vampiric abilities. 

“I will ask Luna.” Archer answered, his tone was that of disappointment. He was actually trying really hard for once, and enjoyed being a vampire. Therefore it bothered him that the finer skills such as compulsion and seeing through the veil of death didn’t come easy to him like they did for me. 

“Alright, Luna, this is the last night of your first month as a vampire, so you absolutely have to harvest one sinner. Archer, I know you’re only in your second week, but sooner is better for meeting your quota. Kenneth will be driving you to downtown by the campus where you can patrol the bars. Your attire will help you blend in.” He said, looking us up and down with distaste. I wore a black, leather miniskirt and lacy corset with fishnet stockings and thick heeled, thigh high boots. Archer wore black skinny jeans with a studded belt, his belt buckle advertised the cult classic vampire movie “The Lost Boys”, His black t-shirt had the Godsmack logo, his fake septum piercing, eyebrow piercing, lip ring, and dark eyeliner rounded out the look. My make up was dark and smokey with thick eyeliner and dramatic false lashes with black lipstick and fake lip rings, and septum piercing. Leo didn’t hide his dislike of our edgy fashion choices, but I didn’t hide my dislike for being a mere pawn in his game. Our scythes were difficult to hide, so Leo handed me a small, black, designer backpack with an enlargement enchantment placed on it. Basically it worked like the TARDIS and was bigger on the inside, it also had enchantments to trick metal detectors. 

“For someone so close to the mad king you sure have a lot of items gifted to you from witches.” I pointed out to Leo. 

“I received all these items prior to Ivan’s insane power grabbing. And I paid a small fortune for each of them. The children of the moon don’t work for cheap. Now stop stalling and go to work.” 

I turned to find Kenneth waiting with the door open for us. We followed him out to the vehicle and I enjoyed not having to wear heavy layers or sunglasses, as we made our way downtown. The bars were packed with people out for Independence day weekend. Archer and I stayed close to one another as we weaved through the crowds. Kenneth waited by the car to escort us home when the job was done. 

“Alright, anyone standing out to you?” I asked Archer hopefully. 

“No there’s too many for me to pick up on anyone’s aura.” He said, frustrated. “How about you?”

“Opposite problem. I can see everyone’s but they are all blended together in a silver mist.” 

“Maybe we should lure someone away, and do it that way.” 

“Great idea.” I said, pulling up my corset a little. “I’ll go find the weakest in the herds. You just pay attention to my consciousness.” 

“Sounds like a solid plan.” Archer said. With his consent I walked into the nearest bar. I sat for ten minutes before the first man approached offering to buy me a drink. I smiled, and accepted as I took my time separating his aura from the rest of the room. When I determined it was black, I turned on the charm. Making sure to laugh at whatever stupid thing he said, touching his arm frequently, and when I finished my drink I batted my eyes at him. 

“Wanna get out of here and go somewhere more quiet?” I asked, innocently, “I’d like to get to know you better.” 

“I was just gonna say the same thing.” He smiled at me and led me to the alley behind the bar. I mentally sent my location to Archer who made his way to us quickly. “Hey buddy, we’re kind of busy here.” the guy called out. Archer ignored him, continuing to make his way to me. “Hey, I said get lost.” The guy moved to shove Archer who grabbed the guy’s wrists and pinned him to the wall. Archer held him there with one hand while he reached in my pack, tossing me my scythe before grabbing his own. 

“Good choice, babe.” Archer smiled at me, “Seeing as how tonight is your deadline, ladies first.” Archer motioned to the guy as he stepped back, handing me my cloak. I donned the black cloak over my outfit. 

“What are you guys? Some kind of cult?” the guy asked, trying to hide his fear.

“Something like that.” I smiled, as I twirled my blade in the air, catching it. 

“I don’t want any trouble.” He put his hands up looking to Archer, “She didn’t say she was seeing someone.” Archer only laughed. While the man’s attention was on Archer I seized my opportunity and swung my blade chopping off his head in one fluid motion, his head made a disgusting wet thud as it hit the ground before rolling a little ways away. I gagged and stopped my breathing, so I wouldn’t be tempted to drink his corpses cooling blood. 

“Is that it?” Archer asked, and I shrugged. 

“I don’t know it’s my first time too-”

“Hey what the hell guys?” The man’s voice reached us and I turned to see his spirit standing there. “You got some nerve scaring someone like that!” 

“Ughhh...do you wanna tell him?” Archer asked me. 

Sighing, I pointed my blade to his carcass lying next to him, then to his head that had rolled across the alley next to the dumpster. There was a flash of light and then a person with a silver aura stood next to the man, she wore her gray-brown hair in a tight bun, and a gray suit. 

“Cody Jacobson?” The woman asked the man. 

“How did you know my name?” Cody asked her. 

“I’m your guardian. Your case has been terminated, and you have to come with me now.” She answered. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” Cody said, as he backed away from the guardian. 

“As a deceased being you must accompany me.” The guardian tried again, this time grabbing the ghosts wrist. “You’re a new reaper?” she asked, turning to me, “And you’re working with a vampire?” 

“No, we are both vampires. I’m Luna, and this is Archer.” I answered her. 

“Strange.” The woman said, “Anyways, I’m Belladonna, Bella for short. See you next time.” Another light appeared and both the woman and the man’s spirit were gone. 

“That was weird.” Archer observed. 

“Yeah. But we still have one more soul to find.” I responded, taking a baby wipe from out of the bag as I wiped off the blood on my face and hands, I removed the cloak and put it back in the bag. “You wait here while I find the next one.” After he returned my scythe to the bag, I proceeded into the bar next door, instead of sitting in wait I took to the dance floor. It wasn’t long until another man was grinding on me. I turned around putting my arms around his neck as we danced. As his hands wandered I observed him, noticing his aura was gold I excused myself to the restroom. When I came back out he had found a new partner, but the bartender gave me a drink from a woman down the bar. She winked, and I approached. Her aura was black, so I chose to be forward with her. It was trickier with women, but at the same time they trusted other women more than men. 

“Did you come alone?” I asked her, “Don’t want a crazy girlfriend coming for my head.” I laughed. 

“Oh, I come here alone far too often, rarely do I find someone as intriguing as you though.” She smiled, twirling her straw in her hand. 

“I understand you there.” I sighed, “It’s hard finding someone on our team.” I took a sip. “Wanna get out of here?” I asked her, “It’s a little too loud to get to know each other properly.” I said. She nodded and I led her back to the alley. “It’s a shortcut to my car.” I lied. She hesitated only a moment before following me. I could hear her rummaging through her bag for her pepper spray or knife, just in case. A routine I was well aware of. I turned around, “It’s okay, just relax.” I said, feeling the compulsion ease into my tone. “I’m not going to hurt you.” That part wasn’t a lie, I had already met my quota. I led her to the other side of the dumpster where Archer stood in wait, his scythe poorly concealed behind his back. I felt her start to panic and could hear her pulse begin to quicken. “Shh..it’s okay.” I said to her, “Calm down.” her pulse began to slow at my command and she loosened her posture. 

Archer wasn’t as quick as he approached her. Not even bothering to put on his cloak he pulled her hair back exposing her neck before sinking his fangs in and drinking deeply, the smell of her blood called to me. Before I registered my actions I was joining Archer and drinking deeply from the other side of her neck. When her pulse slowed we stopped, Archer using his scythe to behead her, effectively obscuring the bite marks, and her body crumpled to the ground as her head rolled away. Archer put his scythe back in the bag and pulled out a pair of sweats for each of us that we put on over our blood splattered clothes. I fused the baby wipes in the bag  to wipe up our hands and faces as the bright light appeared. A brown haired man with round glasses, a gray suit, and silver aura appeared in front of the woman’s ghost. 

“You said you wouldn’t hurt me.” She cried. 

“And I didn’t.” I answered back, but felt the guilt gnaw at me. 

“A new reaper?” The man asked, looking at me, “And a vampire?” He glanced at Archer. 

“Nope, just two vampires.” I said, “What are you?” 

“We are the guardians.” he answered, “We watch over people as they live and escort their souls where they belong after death. Who are you?” he asked me. 

“I’m Luna, this is Archer.” I answered, “And you are?” 

“Aleksander. Well I’ll be seeing you around. Meredith, let’s go.”  

“Where am I going?” Meredith asked, but we didn’t hear the answer as the bright light appeared taking both of them with it. 

“Hell.” I sighed, “You’re going to Hell Meredith. Alright, let’s go before someone finds these bodies.” I said turning to Archer who directed me back to the car and Kenneth who drove us home. I spent the drive staring out the dark windows into oblivion as I contemplated what I had done. ‘You said you wouldn’t hurt me’ Meredith had said. Her accusatory glare remained in my mind. She’s a sinner. I kept telling myself, but it didn’t ease the guilt that I had ended two people’s lives tonight. After arriving home I went straight to my room and showered. Archer stayed to talk with Leo about how it went and to clean the blades and our clothing. By the time he came to bed I was already pretending to be asleep. 

The next evening I was sitting in the parlour reading when I heard a knock at the front door. Kelly opened it, and then began excitedly chatting with our new guest. 

“Oh no ma’am don’t worry about it. Jesper will take your belongings to your room, and Kenneth can put your car in the garage. I’ll show you around.” Kelly was using her best hostess tone, curiosity got the best of me and I put down my book to take a look. 

“Kelly, who is it?” I asked, turning the corner, “Mom!” I yelled, running over to her. She held out her arms and embraced me. “It is so good to see you.” I said, taking in the scent of her. She smelled like the forest and rain, it instantly soothed my troubled mind. 

“Hello Luna.” my mother laughed. 

“Kelly, can I show her around?” I asked, eagerly. 

“Yes, of course, mistress.” Kelly answered. 

“You get called mistress and I get called ma’am?” mother asked me. 

“I’m sure Kelly will call you whatever name you prefer.” I smiled up at her. At 5’9 she stood a good half a foot taller than me, but considering the wicked boots she was wearing and that I was barefoot, it was closer to a whole foot of difference at the moment. I started the tour upstairs in the room of scythes and worked my way down until we made it to the training rooms, on the way back up we stopped in Leo’s office. “Look who finally arrived.” I said, making a dramatic gesture to show off my mother. 

“Ah Lyra it’s so good to see you.” Leo said, standing he kissed my mother on the cheek. I raised my eyebrow at the strange pet name, but didn’t mention it. “Your room is just down the hall, I’m sure the staff have it set up already. Although, have you had the pleasure of meeting Archer yet?” 

“No, I have not.” my mother smiled, “Where is your lovely boy, Leo wrote to me last weekend that he had arrived.” 

“More like hunted me down.” I groaned. “I think he’s in our room, I’ll show you the way.” We walked down the hall and I knocked on the door to my room.

“You can come in, I’m decent.” Archer called from the other side. 

Laughing I opened the door, “Mom this is my boyfriend Archer.” I said, “Archer this is my mother Gabriella.” 

“Oh please, you can use my coven name Lyra.” She smiled as she took Archer’s hand. “Gabriella is only the name I use for work and enemies. Can’t curse you if they use the wrong name.” She winked at that. 

“So, Archer, Leo told me you don’t have a blessed item for sunwalking yet?” She asked. I made my way to the bedside table and pulled out his class ring handing it to her. 

“Will this work?” I asked. 

“It most definitely will.” She cupped my cheek before taking the ring from me. “I’ll give this back tomorrow night.” She said to Archer who only nodded. “It was nice meeting you.” 

“It was nice meeting you too.” He smiled. 

“He’s a good boy.” My mom said as we left my room. “His silver aura is bright, showing prior to becoming a vampire he was a golden boy.” 

“I know.” I said, “Before I knew what auras were I would sometimes see his shine through when he was being especially sweet or thoughtful, and I focused on why I loved him so much and who he is as a person. That’s part of why I didn’t want to turn him into a vampire.” 

“You never know, trauma can change a person to their core. It’s obvious he loves you very much, losing you may have led him to destroying his own aura with sins to cope. Plus I’m glad you have someone you can rely on from your past life to help you.” 

“I suppose you’re right.” I said, opening her door. “So I could see auras and ghosts because I was part witch?” I asked her. 

“Yes, although there’s no part about it, you either have witch blood or you don’t.” 

“Does that mean Wendy is a witch too?” I asked. 

“No, sometimes it can skip a generation, or an entire branch if the witch so chooses. My grandmother was a witch, my mother swore off the arts, but my grandmother and I were very close. I learned the art through her which awakened my latent ability. Witches like shifters settle at the age of twenty-five so long as you learn the art by then it’s yours and you will pass it to your offspring. If by twenty-five you don’t pursue it, it becomes latent and gets passed onto your children in hopes they will use it. Some witch families have let the art die off in their entire tree where even latent ability is no longer genetically passed. My sister, like my mother, devoted herself to the Catholic church, so by the time the latent ability would be passed to Wendy it was too weak to ever be activated. Such a shame. You my dear, would have been a very promising witch.” She said smiling at me, once again cupping my cheek. 

“You mean if I were still alive.” I corrected her. 

“Yes,” She said looking sad for a brief moment, “but you will be a very strong vampire.” 

“How do you know?” I asked her. 

“I did a reading after our first meeting, but if you’re still nervous we can do a reading together.” 

“I think I would enjoy that.” I said, “So are you still deciding whether you want to give up your arts for vampirism?” I asked. 

“Yes, I am. My grandmother has long passed, my mother, sister, and I are not on the best of terms. The only family I have left is you. I found a suitable replacement for me with my coven back home, so if I wanted to I could very easily become a vampire. I could make up the last 18 years I missed with you in tenfold. Even more, and I could still pass my knowledge onto you. Even if you can’t be a witch now, there are still ways we can practice the arts together. I would just no longer be able to cast enchantments or give blessings, so if I do decide to turn into a vampire it would have to be after Wendy and Charlie are recruited so I could give them their blessed items. Speaking of which, do you want to see how it’s done?” She asked, holding up Archer’s ring. I nodded my head. 

She crossed the room to her bags and began rifling through a bag with a black, white, and blue paisley design. She began pulling out items such as candles, a silk cloth, a mason jar of water and pearl dust, a small vial of dirt and another full of flower petals, crystals, and a carved stick that was lovingly stained and polished. She went to her vanity and laid out the cloth grabbing it by the center, she twisted it up and dipped the center into the water, laying the cloth back out on the vanity she placed the ring in the center before dipping her fingers in the water and dripping it over the ring. She then sprinkled some of the dirt and dried flower petals around the ring. Lighting the candle she began to speak, “Oh Gods of earth, and sky, and blood, rulers of the moon and sun, I call you here to bless this ring, and it’s wearer. As a child of the moon, I pray you bless my future son so he may be blessed by the glory of the two heavenly bodies. May the moon bring him guidance, and the sun once again bring him warmth.” The candle flickered out and then, even though no match was struck, relit itself. The flower petals darkened, turning to ash, that my mother mixed in with the dirt drawing symbols to represent the five elements: earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. “Thank you Gods for your protection, I offer my blood in exchange for your aid.” My mother pricked her finger with a sewing needle adding a drop of her blood to each symbol she drew in the dirt, before pressing her finger to the ring. Her blood soaked into the symbols following the curves of the designs as it turned the dirt to a red clay. The fingerprint on the ring glowed as it etched itself deeper into the metal, leaving the grooves of my mother's fingerprint with a deep red stain. “Blessed be the Gods.” My mother bowed her head in thanks before blowing out the candle. Then she carefully took the dirt and placed it in a new vial. “Magic comes at a price. A simple protection charm like this only requires a few drops of blood and for the earth involved in the ritual to be returned. I followed her outside as she sprinkled the dirt in the garden. “And that’s that.” She smiled handing me the ring, “You can return this to Archer now. I think I’m going to rest for a bit.” She tousled my hair before going back inside. 

I ran back to my room throwing open the door to find Archer laying in bed playing on a handheld gaming device. “Here you go.” I said proudly handing him the ring. 

“It’s done?” He asked, incredulously. 

“Yup.” I answered. “It was so cool! You should have seen her.” I explained the ritual to him and he just nodded along as he twirled the ring on his finger. 

“I’m glad you had a good bonding experience with your mom.” He said, pulling me onto his lap. “Now let’s have an even better bonding experience ourselves.” He added, with a low growl as he wrestled me under him playfully kissing and nibbling at me. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as I playfully attempted to fight back. 

After getting cleaned up from fooling around, I went to Leo’s office. “I have a question.” I said, sitting in one of the chairs across from his desk. He looked up at me, and set whatever he was reading aside. 

“No please do come in, Luna. What can I help you with?” He asked, with more than a hint of sarcasm lacing his tone. 

“Why would I be confused for a reaper?” I asked. 

“Ah, you met the guardians.” He observed. “I’m assuming it’s because your aura still has a golden hue to it. Not quite human, but not quite untouchable. The only other being they would encounter with a similar aura would be a reaper.” 

“Why is that?” I asked him. 

“Reapers are damned souls who get the chance to redeem themselves by harvesting souls when their natural time comes to an end. While they collect souls and work for death their aura changes from black to gold. Guardians are the only ones who really deal with them regularly though, so anyone else who can see an aura would just consider you a good soul no questions asked.” 

“Why is my aura still golden hued?” I asked. 

“I don’t know.” Leo answered, honestly. “Part of me thinks it's because you are still clinging so hard to your morals and being a good person, part of me thinks it may be something genetic.” He mused. 

“Like because I have witch blood?” I asked. 

“Yeah, or something on your dad’s side, but I’d wait a while before talking to your mom about him.” Leo suggested. 

“Don’t you know who he is?” I asked. 

“No. Your adoption was done at the hospital after you were born, so the Waterloo’s signed your birth certificates. It was only through extensive research I was even able to find your mother.” He answered. I sighed, I may have immortality but that didn’t mean I had forever to find out about my father. I remembered the way my mother had glossed over his existence when we met before and had to agree with Leo that pushing it with her did not seem like a good idea.

“Well, thanks for answering my questions.” I muttered in defeat. “So when are we going to recruit the final two members?” I asked. 

“Well, Charlie graduated this year like you so we could recruit him any time now. As for Wendy, we will wait like we did for you until she is 18, so next year.” 

“Alright, well if we have to wait on Wendy anyways we can wait on Charlie too, turn him just a little bit before her.” I suggested. 

“Yeah, I suppose we could.” He mused.