Blood Moon Rising

Chapter Three

She couldn't explain it.

The desire to leave was desperate.

Urgency was mild, wild panic was more like it and it was raking and clawing at her. Only once in her life had she felt this way, only once in her life had it turned into an utter disaster.

"Hey you're scaring me Fayae, what's going on?"

Fayae shook her head mutely.

If she knew...

She didn't know how or why they had to leave. Only that she had to get Trinity out of there and fast.

"Let's just go OK? I'll explain on the way."

Not that she could but it was easier than the delay which had her wanting to rip her hair out and run simultaneously.

Once the car was started she took her first real breath. OK, she could think now. They were moving. Going. Away from what?

It was like something out of the twilight zone and not the nice version with hot vampires and werewolves having a go at each other.

The stranger with the piercing eyes was the least of it.

Ink black hair had been thick and long enough to curl against his forehead, bearing the unmistakable signs of someone who dragged his hands through it all too often. A rugged beard had either been left to grow or hurriedly been forgotten it was hard to tell which. The deeply worn brown leather jacket had been too bulky to determine build but no one could fake the broadness of those shoulders. She could have gotten lost there, just tracing his skin.

Fayae frowned irritability, so chalk it up to attraction or whatever. Not that the rippling danger pouring off him was normal but let's just ignore that as intuition perhaps he was a dangerous guy.

It was the voice that had her the most bewildered. She felt it like... Like there'd been someone right at her shoulder.

Someone she's known forever. It was as familiar as her own breathing.

That sigh was exasperated but resigned. Like a mother would be watching her child misbehave for the zillionth time.

How did she know that?

They were nearly home now. She could see the tops of the trees as they climbed the hill. The forest had always been more welcoming to her than the people had. Perhaps her sisters would have some idea why she'd suddenly lost her mind. The panic had faded but nausea had set in and taken hold and she couldn't wait to set her feet down on solid unmoving ground again.

"At any point are you going to tell me why we raced out of there like bat's out of hell?"

Fayae jolted. Truthfully she'd forgotten Trinity was waiting for an explanation to the craziness. She winced knowing her best friend had hung on to silence as long as possible to let her get a grip.

" You know when we were at Forest Peak... right before it happened? "

Trinity let out a puff of air. They didn't talk about that night. None of them. There'd been nothing to say, no way to make sense of it and so they'd silently agreed to put it aside. The fact that Fayae was bringing it up now could only mean something bad.

"I don't know if you remember, right before, I had like a panic attack."

Trinity nodded. She remembered, nothing about that night was easy to forget.

"I remember, you started screaming. Nyx said you kept saying Gram Aggies name."

Only Lilith had been able to calm her. It had been worse then, not a need to escape but a sickening dread. As if she'd known.

"It was kind of like that Trin, except then was worse. That guy, I don't know who he was but I felt like I knew him and it was like some damn omen or whatever."

It was a conscious choice to leave out the sigh. It felt too crazy, too intimate to share even with Trinity who knew absolutely everything about her. There'd been nothing ever she'd kept from Trinity. But she didn't understand this. How could she put into words what she couldn't reason with in her own mind.

Trinity took at deep breath, her hand finding its way to her hair again. Manicured nails combed through imaginary tangles and the hand on the wheel repeated the all too familiar drumming. She didn't understand but she was trying and that right there was why they'd been best friends since they could walk. Trinity never judged. She'd caution she'd yell, she'd threaten never ending torment but she'd be right there with you every step of the way.

Her answer however was not expected.

"I think I've seen him too."

Before her shocked half words could escape, the world imploded. Tyres squealed and her head spun as the car slid feircly down the road. Vision blurred but Trinity was right next to her. She felt something snap and screamed not hearing her own voice. Glass shattered as the car was flung upside down and then mercifully everything went black as her head cracked against something solid.