Luna's Ascension

Chapter 5: Answers Demanded

I awoke in the dark to the sounds of laughter coming from down the stairs. Getting up I made my way towards the voices and found Leo sitting with my mother at her kitchen table. “Oh you’re awake.” My mother said, looking up at me. “Are you hungry?” She offered, lifting her wrist where I could see the small puncture wounds Leo had left. 

“You’re taking this way too well.” I said, ignoring her offer. “I’m sure Leo can go fetch another frat boy.” 

“Oh don’t be silly, it’s the least I can do for you.” She said, waving her hand dismissively. 

“Luna is right, we should really be heading out, but thank you for your hospitality.” Leo smiled down on her as he kissed the back of her hand. 

“Luna?” Gabriella asked, looking at me. 

“I changed my name after I was turned.” I explained. 

“Oh. I like it.” Gabriella smiled at me, “Kinda wish I had thought of it now, it suits you.” 

“Thanks. Well we should be leaving, make sure to contact us when you have your affairs settled.” I smiled at her, and she crossed the kitchen wrapping me in a tight hug. 

“I will. I can’t wait to spend more time with you and get to know you better. Let me know when you guys make it back safe. Leo, make sure she eats.” She said, bidding us farewell. 

“That went better than expected.” I said, as we pulled out of her drive. 

“I told you she would be accepting of it.” Leo stated smugly. 

“Really though, swing through the city, I’m hungry.” I said, rolling my eyes. 

“Sure thing.” Leo smiled, “It’s about time for you to learn to hunt anyways.” I groaned, and leaned back in my seat ignoring him. Ignoring the fact that it was me who brought up eating first rather than him forcing it on me. Ignoring the fact that I now justified feeding off of people with the fact that we compelled them to forget. Instead of contemplating my new found loss of morals I stared out the window at the winding mountainscape, the trees, and boulders that loomed ominously overhead, the fragile looking netting meant to catch the boulders in case of a landslide, the multiple road signs warning of falling rocks and drive off spots for semis incase the road became too steep for them to maintain control. I contemplated how all these signs and warnings worked for a vampire. Would I die if a boulder fell and crushed my head and heart? Or would my body find some way to heal itself? If a semi lost control and crashed into us severing my spine would I be killed or paralyzed or would my immortality kick in? I contemplated asking Leo, but that would defeat the purpose of me ignoring him. So instead I fantasized of accidents that could lead to my doom, then immediately felt guilty as I remembered the prophecy and how I’m supposedly the only one who can save humanity. I turned my anger from Leo to God, why send a child to fight this battle? I glared at the night sky, the moon shone full and bright, distracting me from my angst as I remembered my mother was a witch, and I wondered if she had any special rituals to perform tonight. I wondered if she would break the gag order and tell her coven about her vampire daughter. I wondered if I possessed a magic I never got the chance to learn about as my mother's words echoed in my mind ‘I don’t think I can keep my magic if I become a vampire’. By the time we reached the university I was starving and pissed off. Pissed at Leo for turning me, pissed at my mother for abandoning me, pissed at my missed opportunity to practice magic, pissed at God for sending me to defeat Ivan, and pissed at myself for willingly beginning to hunt for my prey. 

I wandered the campus aimlessly in my jeans and hoodie until I found the houses that boasted large greek lettering, I walked by three with women playing bouncer before I found my target. The house letters were in red and white and the door was guarded by a tall, broad shouldered guy that was loudly rating girls before allowing them entrance. I ground my teeth at the overt sexism, but tousled my hair nonetheless and lowered the zipper on my hoodie revealing my cleavage poking out from the top of my black camisole. Walking up I flashed him a flirty smile and handed him a $10 bill as he let me past. The noise and smells were overwhelming to my heightened senses. The flashing lights messed with my nocturnal vision as my pupils dilated and constricted causing momentary blindness, the mix of voices shouting and the music pulsing through the air made me want to turn around and run, I could smell the multiple liquors mixed in the jungle juice along with three different types of beer, someone puked in the bathroom upstairs and I was pretty sure I smelled urine coming from down the hall. Not to mention all the sweat, cigarettes, and m*******a swirling together to add the odor of a locker room on top of it all. I was immediately nauseated on top of being overwhelmed. I grabbed an empty cup, and forced myself to sway as I walked, until I stumbled into someone. 

“Hey there, you okay? Come on. Let’s go get you some fresh air.” I nodded in a way I hoped appeared helpless as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and led me out through the kitchen. The warm night air hit me in the face, I didn’t expect the humid night to be refreshing but after that hell hole of overstimulation it was like receiving a warm towel from the flight attendant. I gulped the fresh air down greedily and looked up to my prey. “Better?” He asked, smiling down at me. His dark hair hanging over his blue eyes. 

“Yeah thank you.” I smiled looking up at him through my lashes. I batted my eyelashes as I put the smokey tone of compulsion in my voice, “We should take a walk.” 

“Yeah, let me show you around.” He smiled as his eyes became glazed as he entered the dreamlike state of compulsion. 

“Let’s go somewhere a little more private.” I purred to him, taking his arm as he led me to a secluded spot off the main trail out of view of the campus security cameras and path lights. I pushed him against the wall, “Be still. I don’t want to hurt you.” He nodded, still under my compulsion. I sunk my fangs into his neck right where Mist had shown me on Jason and he let out a little gasp. “Shhh it’s alright.” I murmured, licking up the drop that was heading towards the neckline of his shirt. “Pull up your collar and go back to the house. Forget my face. If anyone asks you what happened say you went for a walk, if they ask about the marks on your neck say you stumbled off the path and ran into a tree.” He nodded again. I focused on returning my voice to normal. “Hey man, what happened to your neck? You okay?” I asked him. 

He blinked a couple times and looked at me, putting his hand to his neck. “Yeah I’m fine, just stumbled into a tree, must have had more to drink than I thought.” He said. “I’m about to head back to my house, you wanna come?” He offered. 

“Nah man. I was just on my way home.” I smiled making sure to walk in the opposite direction, back to where I knew Leo was waiting for me. 

“That was quicker than I thought it would be.” Leo said, starting the car as I slid into the passenger seat. 

“Like you said, frat guys are easy targets.” I shrugged, “Come on, we can make it to West Virginia before sunrise if we get a move on.” I said. 

“Yes ma’am.” Leo said mockingly. 

“Hey you’re not the only world traveler in this vehicle.” 

“I know.” He said, and I instantly regretted coming into his class for the past four years and telling him about all my fun vacations. Back when I just thought of him as my cool teacher. “Sorry.” He muttered, sensing my tension. “Just so you know it wasn’t all a farce. You really were very bright and one of my favorite students based on your academic merit alone. Don’t forget I was a teacher for a few years before I had the privilege of teaching you and moving my agenda forward. For what it’s worth I am deeply sorry I had to break that trust and bond we had.” 

“Well you’re still my teacher in a way.” I shrugged. “But I won’t lie, it is different, and I definitely don’t trust you anymore.” 

“I know.” He sighed, “I’m remaining hopeful that with eternity ahead of us you might find it in your heart to forgive me one day.” 

“Why? So you can be my step-dad?” I sneered at him. He at least had the decency to look embarrassed and let the conversation end. I turned up the radio and stared out the window as we made our way back north west. We fell back into our rhythm of car rides with the music blaring, shady motel rooms, frat boys for lunch, and sleep for the rest of our trip. 

When we got home all the servants were awaiting us. Kenneth took the car to the garage, Kelly took our bags to our rooms, Candy and Jesper offered their arms to us to feed. Leo immediately took Jesper’s arm, and I took Candy’s. After dinner I excused myself to my room. I noticed my phone was sitting on the bedside table with the charger plugged into the wall. I hoped it was Kelly who had found it in the bedside drawer and charged it. I unlocked it to find several texts from Mist and Matt. Mist apologized for getting back to me late, and asked how things went with my mom. Matt’s messages said he hoped I was having fun with Aubrey and that he loved me and couldn't wait for me to be home. I told Mist how it went with Gabriella and that she is a witch and planning on relocating in a month. I told Matt that I loved him too and missed him so much. I took a careful selfie making sure my fangs were hidden and sent it to him along with the pictures Leo took during our trip. The sun started to rise and I put my sunglasses on, while I played with my locket and enjoyed watching the sunrise for the first time in over a month. Finally, exhaustion caught up with me and I closed the blinds and curtains using my remote control before going to bed. I startled awake midday as I heard someone entering my room. 

“Don’t worry it’s just me.” I heard Jesper say. 

“I didn’t invite you this time, Jesper.” I snarled in his direction baring my fangs. 

“I just wanted to apologize for pressuring you into letting me stay last time.” He said, lingering by my door. 

“If that were true you would have waited until sunset. Get out. Now.” I felt the compulsion slip into my throat as I watched him leave the room. I got up and locked the door behind him but was too wired to fall back asleep so I threw on a hoodie and my sunglasses and went out to sit on the balcony outside my room. The sunlight was warm as I enjoyed the view of the forest below me, and the sounds of the birds chirping. There was a soft knock on my bedroom door, so I went inside and threw the door open expecting to see Jesper. Instead Kelly stood there panting for air with her face flushed. 

“Kelly what is it?” I asked. 

“Um..there’s someone at the door for you mistress.” 

“For me?” I asked, shocked. My mother wasn’t supposed to be here for another month. 

“Yes, it’s a young man, mistress. You need to hurry, he almost attacked Jesper. Kenneth was able to hold him off, and Candy got Jesper out of the hall, but he’s demanding to see you. We told him no one by the name of Cindy was here, but he insisted he knew you were here.” 

“It couldn’t be” I muttered as I ran down the hall and stairs to see Matt sitting in a chair with Kenneth eyeing him suspiciously. 

“Cindy! Where is Aubrey?” Matt demanded. 

“Matt. I can explain, but first what are you doing here?” I asked him, “How did you find me?” 

“I tracked your phone,” he answered, “and it showed a different story than the one you told me.” Oh he was pissed. “So where the hell is Aubrey? What are you guys doing here?” 

“What is all this ruckus?” Leo demanded, as he descended the stairs. 

“Mr. Wright?” Matt looked confused, then hurt as he glanced between Leo and I. 

“Matthew? What are you doing here?” Leo asked him, oblivious to the imaginary dots Matt thought he was connecting. 

“Matt. It’s not what you think.” I said, “Let’s go outside and discuss this.” I said using my compulsion tone. Matt blinked at me tilting his head to the side. 

“I’m not going anywhere you can explain it to me here and now. And you better do it quickly.” He snarled. I was baffled that my compulsion didn’t work on him. 

“Mist’s descendent.” Leo gently reminded me, and I nodded. 

“Who the hell is- no. You’re not distracting me, what the f**k is going on here because I can tell you what it sure as hell looks like.” Matt demanded. His face was flushed red, his posture went so rigid he began to tremble with the tension in his muscles. 

“Okay. I went to Aubrey’s party, and got way too f****d up. By the time I was conscious again Aubrey and Leo had already gotten me to Wisconsin. Aubrey is actually a shapeshifter named Mist, and a vampire. She turned me, and ran back to Romania where she is from. Leo has been teaching me to be a vampire over the past month.” I explained, knowing damn well I sounded crazy. He laughed in my face, but before he could accuse me of lying I flitted over to him and slammed him into the wall baring my fangs. He looked scared for a minute before I released him, he hesitantly reached out and touched my fangs, but kept looking at my eyes. 

“You believe me?” I asked. 

“Your eyes turned black when you did that, and the fangs aren’t fake.” He reached out and held my wrist, he adjusted his fingers multiple times before placing them on my neck, he took a step back after not finding my pulse. 

“Why?” He asked Leo, “Why did you do this to her? Jesus, this was your plan all along, wasn’t it?” he asked, “that’s why you assigned her all those vampire novels to read and do reports on. You were grooming her for whatever this is?!” He motioned towards me. “I need a f*****g drink. You guys are servants right?” He asked, turning to Kenneth, Kelly, and Candy. They nodded. “Get me something strong please.” Kelly nodded and took off towards the parlour as Matt sank back down in his chair. “And you!” He pointed a shaky finger at me, “How dare you just run away and leave me behind like I was nothing. Why didn’t you come for me?” He asked, tears filling his eyes. “Why didn’t you come to me, why haven’t you turned me? You said you would love me forever, but when forever became a possibility you abandoned me without a second thought!” His shaking from anger became sobs of pain. Leo looked awkwardly between Matt and I before heading back up the stairs. Kenneth and Candy also found somewhere else to be. 

My throat constricted making it so I couldn’t speak as I approached his chair and held my hands out to him. He rubbed hastily at his eyes before taking them, and letting me help him to my feet. I searched for Kelly’s consciousness mentally informing her to bring the drink to my room, as I led Matt up the stairs. I opened the door to my room and Jesper was sitting on my bed, Candy rushed in apologizing and Kelly was right behind her with the drink. Matt bristled with rage. 

“Is this your room, Cindy?” He asked me tensely, his eyes never leaving Jesper. 

“It is.” I answered, “Jesper, I don’t know what you’re doing in here, but as I told you earlier you need to leave.” I felt the compulsion enter my tone and Jesper glared as his body betrayed him getting up and leaving the room. His steps were clumsy as he tried fighting the compulsion. “Now.” I snarled, baring my fangs and pushing harder with my mind. Jesper ran from the room, Candy returned from the linen closet and immediately changed the bedding as Kelly handed Matt his drink before they both excused themselves and left the room. 

“At least you didn’t turn him.” Matt said, tersely. 

“He’s a glorified blood bag.” I said waving my hand dismissively at the door. “Kelly’s my servant, but due to her condition I can’t feed off of her. I don’t want to risk hurting her or the baby.” I explained. He nodded numbly as the fight left him with Jesper gone. He sank down sitting on the other side of my bed. I sat next to him and put my hand over his. 

I took a deep breath to prepare myself, “I didn’t come for you because I didn’t want to accidentally kill you as I was learning to control my blood lust. Then when I had control I knew I would end up turning you if I saw you so I stayed away, out of respect for Mist.” 

“Mist who actually was an ancient vampire pretending to be Aubrey right?” 

I nodded, “You are the last of her bloodline. She came to America to protect your grandmother, and then you. She has spent centuries protecting her bloodline, and I didn’t want to disrespect her by turning you, after she left protecting you as my responsibility.” 

“I don’t care what she wants.” Matt growled. “I know what I want, and that has always been you.” He pulled a knife out of his pocket and pricked his fingertip. The scent of his blood was intoxicating. I put his finger in my mouth sucking gently, using my tongue to prod the pad of his finger in order to push more blood out. He let out a groan, and I was on top of him. I kissed him hard, knotting my fingers in his hair. I bit his lip and sucked the blood there too. He nipped my lip back before biting my neck hard, I moaned and without thinking sunk my fangs into his neck. His blood tasted so good, I couldn’t help myself and I drank, and drank until the ache inside of me numbed. When I finally forced myself to stop Matt was laying there pale, and smiling at me. 

“What did you-” I was cut off by him touching my bottom lip. I licked it and tasted my own blood. 

“That’s how it works in the books right? Blood for blood?” He groaned clutching at his chest. 

“Matt you i***t!” I growled, “What did you do?!” 

“I took what I wanted.” He gasped as he dropped the whiskey glass letting it tumble across the floor. A sweat broke out across his forehead and I helped him lay down in my bed. I reached out to Kelly asking for a bowl of cool water and a cloth. A few minutes later and she was knocking at my door. 

“Come in.” I called her. She opened the door and entered, “Can you get me more comfortable clothes to change him into?” I asked. She simply nodded and left. She came back a few minutes later with a pair of basketball shorts and a wife beater tank top. 

“He’s going through the change, isn't he, mistress?” she asked, concern was lining her face. 

“Yes.” I let out a sob. 

“I’ll help you change him then give you your privacy. I’ll also explain to the others.” 

“Thank you.” I told her as we took off his black jeans, the chains rattling as they fell to the floor, we put on the basketball shorts and decided he would be most comfortable shirtless. True to her word Kelly left and I locked the door behind her. “I’ll call you when he awakens and needs blood.” I said. 

“I’ll send Jesper.” She winked, before heading back down the hall. 

I made my way back to my bed and closed the blinds and curtains, I shut the curtains of my canopy tight as well, and contemplated putting my locket on him. I decided against it, instead removing his class ring and setting it aside for my mother to bless before she made the final decision. Then I lay down next to the boy I loved as he died.