CHAPTER 4: Blood Moon Rising
996 Words
Rene hadn’t told anyone about the graveyard.
Not Mira.
Not the police.
Not even herself, not really. Because it didn’t feel like something she had experienced.
It felt like something she had remembered.
Except—now the mark was growing again.
What used to be the size of a half-dollar now reached across her shoulder like roots seeking something deeper.
And worse than that...
She felt him.
Everywhere.
She couldn’t sleep. Not without the dreams. And they were getting clearer—longer.
Not just fire and shadows anymore.
Now there were whispers in languages she didn’t know but somehow understood. Screams in the background. And eyes. Always his eyes.
Amber.
Watching.
Waiting.
Tonight was the Blood Moon.
Everyone at school was buzzing about it like it was just another t****k trend. “Witch vibes,” some girl said. “Let’s do a bonfire,” someone else added.
Rene tried to block it out. But the air—it felt wrong.
Too thick. Too loud. Like the sky was screaming without sound.
She barely made it through her last class. Her skin itched. The mark throbbed like it had a pulse of its own. Her reflection in the window at the back of the room blinked twice when she only blinked once.
She didn’t go home after school.
She ran.
The field behind campus was empty, quiet.
The wind was still.
But something in her knew—this was where it would happen.
She didn’t know what. She didn’t want to.
But the mark burned. She peeled off her jacket, her hoodie, until her bare shoulder faced the sky.
The sun dipped lower.
The moon climbed higher.
And then, as if pulled by a thread—
The sky ignited.
The moon went red.
Deep, bleeding red.
And the mark on her skin split open—not bleeding, but glowing from within like magma.
Rene dropped to her knees with a scream. Her hands dug into the dirt. Her vision swam with gold. She couldn’t breathe.
The world was tearing open.
And from the center of that rupture—
He appeared.
Kael.
The man from the graveyard. The dream. The voice.
He stepped out from nothing, clothed in shadows, hair black as night, and eyes—
Those eyes.
He wasn’t beautiful.
He was terrifying.
More creature than man. Like something sculpted from a myth that had been cursed to exist.
He knelt in front of her, his voice low.
“You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”
She backed away, panting. “What’s happening to me?”
“The mark is answering the moon,” he said. “It’s part of the bond. The prophecy has started.”
“I didn’t ask for this.”
“No one ever does.”
He didn’t reach for her, but he didn’t need to.
The air between them pulled like a magnet.
Like gravity.
Like something ancient had just remembered itself.
She pushed to her feet. Her legs were shaking. “Why me?”
Kael’s jaw tensed. “Because your blood matches mine.”
“That doesn’t mean anything!”
“It means everything.”
---
The sky cracked open.
Lightning tore across the clouds—except there was no storm, no thunder.
Just light.
And shadows that moved wrong. Too fast. Too fluid. They began curling around Kael’s feet like they recognized him.
And then Rene saw it—the others.
Figures.
Not fully human. Not fully anything. Emerging from the woods like mist shaped itself into soldiers.
Kael turned slightly, voice sharp. “Stay behind me.”
“Who are they?”
“Hunters. They followed me through the Rift. They want to take you.”
“Why?!”
“Because you’re not supposed to exist anymore.”
One of the figures stepped forward. Its face was hollow. Its eyes pure white.
It pointed at Rene and hissed, “The mark is awake. Kill her before it completes.”
Kael was already moving.
Faster than light.
One moment he was beside her, the next—
The first hunter burst into ash.
The rest charged.
Rene couldn’t move. Her mind screamed, her limbs locked.
Kael ripped through them like smoke and flame. His body moved like it remembered war. Like it belonged to war.
For the first time, Rene saw his full power.
And it scared her.
When it was over, the field was silent.
The grass scorched.
The air heavy.
Kael stood, chest rising and falling, black blood splattered across his arms. His eyes met hers—no longer glowing.
Human.
Or close to it.
“You’re not safe anymore,” he said.
“I gathered that.”
He started toward her.
She took a step back.
“Don’t.”
Kael stopped. His voice lowered, softer than it had been all night.
“If I meant to hurt you, Rene... I already would have.”
She wanted to believe him. But her body was still buzzing. Still burning. The image of what he’d done—who he was—was burned into her mind.
“I don’t trust you,” she whispered.
“Good,” he said with a strange smile. “That might save your life.”
The sky began to return to normal. The moonlight dulled.
Kael reached into his coat and pulled something out—a page.
Old. Burnt at the edges. Torn from a book.
He held it out.
She hesitated.
Then took it.
On the page was a hand-drawn image.
A woman.
She had Rene’s face.
And Kael’s arms around her waist.
Below, a single line written in a forgotten tongue translated itself before her eyes:
The marked one shall awaken the flame that ends gods.
Rene’s fingers trembled.
“What is this?”
Kael’s eyes met hers.
“Your past.”
“And your future.”
He turned, walking into the darkness, melting into it.
The air stilled.
And Rene was alone again.
But this time...
She wasn’t afraid.
She was angry.
And awake.
- Writer
