Hunter Moon: A Grazi Kelly Novel #2 (14 page)

Please God, please let him be alive. Please I
have to help him.

He moved suddenly. A stiff jerk of his body.
I hurried towards him. He wasn’t able to get very far his ankles
were tied to the bed frame with heavy nylon cords. I swiped my
claws against the nylon and it gave way easily. Like tissue
paper.

“You came back. I knew you would.” His voice
was weak. I nudged him to a sitting position. He was sitting in his
own waste for what must have been at least a day and I didn’t see
any food or water about. He was close to dehydrated and so
exhausted he could barely hold up his head
.
This wouldn’t be
easy, but I had to try.

“I don’t think I can stand up. I’m sorry,
brown Wolf. You have to bring more help. Sorry.” I couldn’t leave
him there. Not this time. I tried pulling him gently by the mouth,
but it was no use. He collapsed onto the floor. I didn’t know what
to do. I whined and his eyes fluttered. He was dying. I could smell
it on him.
No,no, no.

I bent my head and licked his face. I licked
the gashes on his poor abused body. I willed for something anything
to happen. To save the boy with the beautiful blue eyes.

A door slammed and I snapped back to my
senses. I smelled her,
the Witch
. The stench was of
something rotting and sickeningly sweet.

I remembered a day from my childhood, it was
a summer party in our yard. Maybe the Fourth of July? There was
pitcher of grape Kool Aid. My cousin was supposed to bring it
inside. We shared clean up duty back then. Anyway, she didn’t do
it.

Surprising, I know. It was left outside in
the heat. By the time I remembered it, a few days later the smell
was disgusting. There were loads of dead flies and mosquitos
floating on top. It made my stomach turn.

This was the same smell. I scrunched my nose
and waited under the bed. A feat since I was so big I could barely
fit. I watched the door as the Witch came in. Her shuffling step
strangely familiar.

“Stupid bloodsuckers! I told them not to
drain you! They dumped you on the floor too. The oafs! Up now my
boy, I still need you to lead me to her. Ripped your cords too,
that’s just great! Another trip to Home Depot, just what I need!
Up, up!” She hobbled more than walked and when she pointed at the
boy on the floor I could see three of her fingers were missing. I
wanted to see her face. I tried, but I couldn’t from my vantage
point.

She snapped her fingers and the boy floated
off the floor and landed on the bed with a careless thud. She spoke
an unfamiliar language. It was guttural and not like anything I had
ever heard. She waved her disfigured hand in a counter clockwise
motion. The smell of urine and feces slowly vanished. I heard a
gasp.

“There we are. Better now, boy? I told you,
you cooperate or they will finish you.”

Silence.

“We’ll see just how stubborn you are when we
have her. I’d let them have you now. How would you like that? My
pets would love to finish you for their dinner. But my masters,
they say we need you alive. Disgusting thing. You’ll be better off
when you’re dead” Still silence. I wanted to rip her throat
out.

“Fine. I’ll have water and bread brought.
Then I’ll need another vial from you! Oh yes.” She cackled and
hobbled out of the room. The mattress vibrated with the boys
shudders as he whimpered.

I crawled out from under the bed. It was now
clean and the boy’s rags were in slightly better shape than before.
His neck wounds were scabbed over, but he still reeked of death. He
had been too close to dying. He looked at me and his blue eyes
filled with sadness.

“I can’t go with you brown Wolf. She’ll come
for me. I’m afraid. Bring more with you next time. I know you
didn’t forget me. Good girl. Bring more, you must bring more!” The
room started to spin and the next thing I knew blue eyes were
replaced by green ones.

“Maria, are you okay?” My face felt damp and
I reached up to find tears had spilled from my eyes.

Guilty and powerless. What use was I? It
should be me tied up!
My Wolf snarled in my head. No, we
weren’t altogether powerless,
but still
. I could have done
something, couldn’t I? I looked around trying to get my bearings. I
was in my room. Ronan was on my bed with me. And the moon was still
out.

“I, um I had the dream again. About the
boy.”

“You were whimpering and crying. I tried to
wake you, but I couldn’t.” He ran his hands along my face as if to
assure himself I was okay. His concern touched me.

“You want to tell me about it, then?”

So I told him. I told him everything. He
stayed with me and listened. A deep furrow formed between his dark
red brows as I spoke.

He looked cute like that. Like he was
thinking too hard. I was going to tell him not to hurt himself, but
I was too upset for teasing.

“Maria, you know how everyone calls you
princess and says you’re special?”

“Yeah?” I sat up.
What did that have to do
with anything? Was I finally going to get some answers?

“I think it’s about time we knew why.”

Ronan got off of my bed and went to my
ancient lap top on the corner desk. He unplugged it and sat back
down next to me. With little effort he guessed my password and
opened up a new web browser. He logged into
Wolf Moon
using
the avatar
Chaney’sRevenge
. I stifled a laugh.

“Alright.
WM7809.
Here we go. Got it.
That’s it, now we wait.” He was half talking to himself and half to
me. I didn’t quite know what he was doing. His hands flew across
the keyboard making it near impossible for me to follow.

”For what?”

“For him to make contact. You remember the
code Randall gave us? Anyway, this
SilverWolf
, If he is who
I think he is, you’ll get your answers and so will I.”

I studied Ronan’s profile. He seemed
determined and focused, even with his hair sticking up every which
way. Chatting with
SilverWolf
did seem like a good idea. I
just didn’t like the idea of sitting around waiting. Ronan got up,
stretched and headed towards the bathroom. While he was in there I
slipped on a pair of jeans and a hoodie. I was just slipping on my
sneakers when he came out.

“Where are we going?”

“I’ll show you.”

We took my short cut and leapt out of the
window. We landed on our feet easily and Ronan smirked because he
made it a foot farther than me. I shoved him.

“I
am
taller you know, and stronger.”
I rolled my eyes and shoved him again.

“You also eat like a horse and you
snore.”

“That’s offensive, that is. I don’t eat hay
and I do not snore!” We joked back and forth as we half-jogged,
half-walked through the woods behind the house. I had a destination
in mind, but I had no desire to share it with him.

No doubt he would object. After a few minutes
I started running in earnest. Ronan kept up easily. There was no
need for further discussion and we both settled into an easy
rhythm.

I could feel the chill in the air trying to
seep into my bones, but my inner furnace or whatever you want to
call it held it at bay. I was comfortable. Not cold like I would
have been before my change. That was how I thought of my life
nowadays. Before and after my change. It was like I was two
different people. I wondered if I would ever be able to reconcile
them in my mind.

The run was too short, but it felt good. The
sky was lightening now. Sunrise would soon come. Frost clung to
most of the trees and bushes. Late fall was unpredictable in
Northern New Jersey, but I knew this extreme cold was the work of
dark magic. I was now positive that there was dark magic in the
world. I’d seen it in Ms. Vorax and in my dreams.

I just had to put my faith in the fact that
where there is bad there must also be good. There had to be some
kind of balance, right? I wasn’t sure, but I knew someone who might
be.

I just hoped
she
would let us in. She
helped us earlier so maybe that was a good sign. I was starting to
get nervous. Ronan looked at me intently.

“I’m right here.” His soft spoken reassurance
made me feel better.

We slowed down to a walk once we got to the
main part of town. It was too early for shoppers and store owners
to be up and about. But I had a feeling we would find Sherry in her
salon.

When I had first gone there with Angela I
noticed an upstairs apartment. I didn’t think much about it then,
but now I hoped my hunch was right.

We came to the Nature’s Beauty Salon and Spa
and I walked around the side with Ronan on my heels. The sage green
building was short and square and sat on a small lot with a few
parking spaces in front. There was a lemon yellow Fiat in the space
marked owner.
Cute
.

The entire downstairs had floor to ceiling
windows and neat shelves of eco-friendly, homemade beauty and hair
care products on display. The front doors was locked and the faint
red blinking light told me there was a security system in place.
Around the side was another door. It was bright red and had wind
chimes hanging in the front.

“What are we doing here?” Ronan’s anxiety was
tangible. I knew he would be upset, that’s why I hadn’t told him
where we were going.

“I’m going to talk to Sherry.”

“You cannot be serious. You want to have
dealings with a Witch? Maybe we should call your uncle Sean.”

“No! Look, if you want to leave go ahead, but
don’t rat me out. I’ll be fine. Sherry has had plenty of
opportunities to hurt me and she hasn’t. I trust her.”

“She’s a Witch, Maria. She’s probably
be-spelled you to think that!”

“You don’t have to come.”

“I’ll not leave you. Besides contacting
SilverWolf
was my idea. Either way Sean’ll have my
hide.”

The door opened on its own. Startling us from
our conversation. A lightly accented voice from inside called to
us.

“You know if you want to argue can you do it
at your home? I was up late in case you don’t remember.” Ronan
placed himself in front of me immediately and crouched into a
defensive position.

“Easy, young Hound. I’m too tired for
battles. What are you waiting for? Come in, you’re letting the heat
out.”

Hmm. I guess Witches worried about their
heating bills too
. I walked around Ronan and stepped inside
closing the door behind us. He growled deep in his throat. I
shrugged. He’d just have to get over it.

We had to walk through the storeroom for the
shop. It smelled of aromatic oils, hair, nail and various beauty
products. It wasn’t unpleasant at all. We exited the shop and came
to the residence section of the building. The little hallway was
small and painted a bright cheerful yellow. Like her car. There was
a narrow staircase at the end.

I inhaled deeply. Beneath the herbal, flowery
and somewhat chemical scents of the spa was another smell. Cinnamon
rolls or apple pie. It was sweet and spicy.

I found it calming. Homey even. Like walking
in on Nonna when she was in the kitchen baking. My stomach growled.
Werewolf metabolism.
I really needed to start carrying
granola bars with me.

Ronan placed his hand on my shoulder. I could
tell he wanted to be in front. He was afraid for me. I allowed him
to step in front of me. It was the least I could do and from his
posture I could tell he was much more at ease this way. We came to
a blue door at the top of the stairs and he opened it.

As we got closer to where her voice came from
the scent got stronger. We walked into the little apartment and I
scanned the table for cookies or something, but there was nothing
like it.

The appetizing aroma was Sherry herself. She
was lying down on a small chaise that was off to the side of what I
realized was the kitchen/dining/living room. Jeez, the place was
super tiny. I think our kitchen at home was bigger than her entire
apartment.

She had a gel mask over her eyes and cream
slathered over her face. She was a pretty woman, petite but curvy
and she smelled heavenly. I couldn’t place her accent, but that
wasn’t unusual. It’s not like I was a world traveler or
anything.

“Sit down please. Having two Werewolves
hovering over me when I am trying to rest is not very
comforting.”

I sat down at the small kitchen table. Ronan
was torn between keeping his place in front of me or sitting in the
chair that gave him the best vantage point in the room and kept his
back covered by the wall at the same time. I nodded at him and he
took the seat.

“Sherry, I need to ask you some things.”

“I know, child, so go ahead then.” Her voice
sounded weary.

“First, I think I should tell you some things
that have been happening to me. Dreams I’ve been having.” She took
the mask off her eyes and looked at me for the first time since we
entered her home. Her eyes changed from brown, to green, to gold in
an instant.
Whoa. Neat trick.

“Dreams? I’m not a Gypsy, Grazi, I do not
know much about dreamscaping. But go ahead and I will try and
help.” I didn’t know anything about dreamscaping either and from
the looks of him neither did Ronan.

I went on anyway and told her about my
dreams. First the ones of my mom and ending with the ones of the
boy prisoner. Sherry was sitting up. Her now blue eyes intent on
me.

“You say you are a Wolf when you dream of
this boy? And that you’ve touched things when you are there? Opened
doors and such?” She rubbed her hands together absently.

“This is more complicated than I thought.
First, I will tell you what I think. The dreams of your mother and
you as a child are memories that you have probably forgotten. Your
mind is trying to get you to remember something important.
Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what that is. I do not know why
that memory is so important, but I would suggest you writing down
every detail of the dream that you can. Your feelings and
impressions too, not just facts. Especially if you have it
again.”