A huge crow sat in the trees to the east of the beach hut. It was perched high up among the branches out of sight.
The light summer evenings were Jem’s favourite time of year, but they also presented him with the biggest challenge. A lack of darkness made it difficult to hunt and to run undetected. As he stood in the doorway of the beach hut after the sun had set, he had a burning desire to do both.
They had been back at the beach hut for a couple of weeks and novelty of being able to come and go as he pleased again hadn’t worn off. If Stefan had been allowed to have his way, they would still be trapped back at the castle. He was grateful to his mother who had eventually intervened on their behalf and convinced Stefan to let them return home.
Behind him, Jem could hear Luna crying. She was teething and nothing was settling her for long. At almost nine months old, the baby was quite clingy to Trine making it hard for her to find time to hunt. Knowing how challenging things were for his mate made Jem feel a twinge of guilt about heading out for a few hours.
Drawing his wings about him, Jem transported himself up into the hills behind the village. He touched down lightly near a stand of pine trees, checked around him for any obvious signs of danger then set off along a forestry track at a fast pace. A run first then he would hunt.
Ever since his mother had injected him with her potion, his Rabbia Sanguigna had remained quiet. He hadn’t felt the urge to savour human blood for months. While they had been confined to the castle, she had insisted that he still take some every week but he hadn’t had any since they had returned home. In his heart, he hoped that her cure had worked, He had no stomach for taking any more human lives.
A few miles from where he had started his late-night run, Jem paused, sensing movement in the air. His eyes were drawn towards an old, abandoned bothy off to the right. Something about the semi-derelict building felt off. Curiosity got the better of common sense and he turned off the trail to investigate. When he reached the low crumbling building, he gently pushed the front door open. The wood was so split and rotten that Jem was afraid it would disintegrate if he used too much force.
Death and decay filled the building’s single room. Quickly, his eyes became accustomed to the dark and he spotted something lying awkwardly in corner beside the fireplace. It was a body, a male body. Its features were barely recognisable. Off to the side lay a large stone with dried blood and clumps of hair stuck to it. Whoever the man had been, he’d been beaten to death, his skull smashed to pulp by the rock. Taking a closer look, Jem recognised that the man was wearing a prison uniform, a Level Zero uniform. With a feeling of dread, he realised that he was looking at David, the prisoner who had escaped at the same time as Anna. Something was clutched in the corpse’s fist. Carefully, Jem pried open the decaying finger. Three feathers fluttered to the ground. Black feathers with purple tips…Anna’s.
“Fuck,” he muttered, slipping the feathers into his pocket.
Staring down at the dead vampire, Jem acknowledged that he couldn’t risk leaving him there. He couldn’t take him back to the beach hut. Somehow, he had to get him back to the castle.
“Mother,” he thought, focussing his mind on an image of Meryn. “Mother!”
“No need to shout, Jeremiah,” she scolded him, her voice crystal clear in his thoughts.
“I’ve found David. The missing prisoner. He’s dead.”
“Where?”
“In an abandoned bothy a few miles from the beach hut,” replied Jem silently. “He had some of Anna’s wing feathers in his hand. His skull has been smashed with a rock. I need to know what to do about the body. We can’t risk humans finding him here.”
“Stay there. I’ll send someone to fetch him,” instructed Meryn.
Unable to stomach the smell any longer, Jem stepped back outside, immediately taking a deep breath of fresh cool night air. Scanning the surrounding landscape, he wondered if Anna was out there somewhere watching him. All he could see was heather and gorse and long grass. There were no obvious hiding places for her. A chill ran through him at the simple thought that the dark angel had been this close to his home and his family.
A few minutes later, he sensed a movement nearby and seconds later Michael, accompanied by two Level Zero guards appeared round the side of the building.
“Jem,” greeted Michael calmly. “I got your message. Where is he?”
“Inside,” replied Jem, reluctant to go back into the bothy.
Michael signalled to the two guards to retrieve the body then turned back to Jem, “Tell me how you found him? You’re a long way from your beach house.”
“I transported myself here to run and to hunt. I usually do. When I reached here, something felt off. I saw the bothy. Went inside and he was just lying there,” explained Jem. Reaching into his pocket, he produced two of the three feathers. “These were in his hand.”
“Anna,” stated Michael as he took the feathers. “Have you seen or heard from her?”
Jem shook his head. “There’s been no sign of her. We’ve been extra vigilant.”
“Stefan’s going to want you back at the castle after this,” commented Michael. “He has a duty to protect your bloodline.”
“We’re staying here.”
“That might not be your choice to make, Jem.”
“I’m head of the Cinque Famiglia apparently so I say we’re staying here.”
“To be honest,” began Michael. “I’d feel the same. I’ll try to persuade Stefan to let you stay here. If there’s any suggestion that she’s here though you need to let us know immediately. I know she created you but she’s dangerous. Very dangerous and unpredictable.”
“I know.”
Behind them, the two guards emerged carrying a body bag between them.
“Master Michael,” began one of them. “The prisoner David has been drained of blood. If Anna killed him, I think she fed from him too.”
“Shit,” muttered Michael.
“If she fed from him, would that not make her ill?” questioned Jem, trying to recall the vampire history lessons Trine and Meryn had drummed into him.
“Not if she mated with him first,” replied Michael. “We need to get him back.”
“Of course,” nodded Jem. “If I see or hear from her, I’ll be in touch via my mother.”
“Be careful, Jem. No risks.”
“I hear you.”
After Michael and the guards left, Jem stood leaning against the stone cottage gazing out over the moorland. Knowing that the dark angel was out there somewhere was making him anxious. Why had she risked coming back here?
It was almost dawn by the time he returned to the beach hut. He had come upon several deer grazing near a patch of woodland and had fed from one before killing a second, draining its blood into the flasks he carried to help feed Luna. Raising a vampire baby was proving to be more complicated than raising his human children had been. The baby needed her mother’s milk and blood to thrive. It would be several years before they would be able to start teaching her how to hunt for herself. Until then, he needed to split the hunting duties with Trine.
When he entered the hut, he found Trine sitting by the wood burner with Luna cradled in her arms.
“I was beginning to get worried,” Trine confessed, an anxious furrow knitted into her brow. “I expected you back hours ago.”
“I went for a long run first,” replied Jem, deciding against mentioning finding the dead escaped prisoner. “Took me a while to find some deer too.”
He passed her the two flasks that he’d filled. “And how has our little princess been?”
“Grumpy,” stated Trine. “I think she’s teething. I can see the tooth just below her gums. Hopefully the blood will settle her for a few hours.”
“I could try to find something to help in one of the shops,” offered Jem. “I remember there was a gel that helped…” He faltered then added, “Before.”
“I’ll try anything,” admitted Trine wearily as she reached for his hand. “You miss them, don’t you?”
Jem nodded but remained silent.
“You can talk to me about your previous life, you know,” persisted Trine softly.
“I know,” he acknowledged, running his hand through his hair. “It’s easier not to. I’ll go and see if I can get something to help her gums. I’ll be back.”
“Be careful. It’s getting light outside. Maybe you should wait until tonight.”
“Perhaps,” he agreed.
“Go and rest. I’ll feed Luna and join you as soon as she’s asleep.”
Alone in the bedroom, Jem removed the feather from his pocket and lay on the bed twirling it round between his fingers. An uneasy feeling had settled over him and he couldn’t shift it. With a sigh, he opened the drawer in the bedside cabinet and slipped the feather under a book that he had been reading on and off for years then closed the drawer.
A tiny mouse squeezed under the door to the beach hut, pushing a pearly black, blue and white pebble ahead of it. With great determination, the small rodent guided the stone through the hut and down to Luna’s nursery where it managed to climb up and push the pebble under the mattress of her cot. Silently the mouse disappeared back the same way it had come.
In the week leading up to the full Rose moon, life settled into a gentle routine around the beach hut as Jem and Trine shared the chores and parenting duties. Luna’s tooth had popped through and as result she had been more even tempered. Their evenings and nights were busy; their days were spent sleeping or safely indoors out of sight of the dog walkers, runners and cyclists who formed a parade past the hut as they travelled along the narrow coastal path. With some guidance from Meryn, they placed a cloaking spell around the hut that made it look deserted to any casual observer. The spell also soundproofed their home and prevented Luna’s cries from attracting any unwanted attention.
For the first time since Luna’s naming day, they felt safe. So caught up was he in domestic bliss that Jem all but forgot about the feather he had hidden in the nightstand and the dark angel’s presence.
“Jem!”, called through Trine. “Did you bring in more logs yet?”
“No,” he called back from the bedroom.
“I asked you to do it this morning,” replied his mate sounding frustrated. “In fact, I asked you to do it yesterday too.”
“Trine,” stared Jem striding through to the living room. “You’ve not asked me to fetch logs. You sent me off in search of horse blood for Luna.”
“No, I never.”
A cold chill crept over Jem as he began to sense what was going on.
“Did you send me out to grab more nappies last night?”
“No!” retorted Trine sharply. “Why would I? We agreed I could hunt last night, and you’d stay with Luna.”
“Fuck!” roared Jem, running his hands through his hair. “I need to reach out to Meryn. Where’s Luna?”
“Napping downstairs in her cot. I just checked in on her.”
“Check on her again and bring her upstairs until my mother gets here,” instructed Jem firmly.
Without questioning him, Trine ran down the narrow staircase, her wing tips catching on the edge of each tread.
Focussing inwards, Jem reached out to connect telepathically with his mother. Initially he sensed her blocking charms, but he persisted, silently yelling her name.
“This better be important, Jeremiah!” Her voice reverberated through his mind.
“It is. I need you here now. I think Anna’s been shapeshifting. She’s been in the house,” he revealed, trying to keep the rising panic out of his words. “Bring Michael with you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Bring Michael and hurry.”
Shortly before midnight, there was a rustling noise outside the beach hut followed by a sharp knock at the door. When he saw his mother and Michael outside, Jem let out a long sigh of relief. Within a few minutes they were all seated in the small living room with a glass of blood infused wine.
“Start from the beginning,” encouraged Meryn, reaching out to take her squirming granddaughter into her lap. “Don’t leave anything out.”
Avoiding Trine’s gaze, Jem explained about going for a run and finding David’s body with the purple tipped feathers clutched in his hand. Sheepishly, he confessed that he had kept one of the feathers.
“Why?” asked Trine quietly.
“I don’t know,” admitted Jem with a shrug of his shoulders.
“She’s his maker, Trine,” reminded Michael calmly. “There are blood ties that Jem can’t undo and emotions that he can’t help but feel.”
“Michael’s right,” added Meryn. “Do you still have the feather?”
Jem nodded.
“Good. We might need it,” stated Meryn. “Has anything gone missing or turned up unexpectedly in the house?”
“Nothing we’ve noticed,” replied Trine, looking round the room.
“What about in Luna’s nursery?”
“Come and check for yourself,” invited Trine, getting to her feet.
Still holding the baby, Meryn scanned the nursery using her highly tuned intuitive senses. Her attention was drawn to the baby’s cot.
“Jem, lift the mattress please,” she instructed, her senses twitching.
Having tossed the baby’s soft toys onto the floor, Jem pulled out the mattress and bedding. In the corner, balanced on the wooden slat sat a crystal that shimmered blue and green.
“Where did that come from?” he asked, looking at Trine. “Did you put it there?”
Trine shook her head as she reached through the bars of the cot and picked up the stone. “Labradorite?”
“Yes,” confirmed Meryn. “A good choice to be fair.”
“Was it meant to harm Luna?” demanded Jem sharply.
“No,” replied Meryn instantly. “My guess is that Anna wants to awaken Luna’s natural magic. Labradorite heightens intuition and encourages psychic development. It’s essentially a stone of protection. I don’t believe she means to harm Luna.”
“She wants to teach her,” whispered Trine a realisation creeping over her. “First the grimoire and now the crystal.”
“That would be my guess too,” agreed Meryn, looking round the room.
A book on the wooden wall mounted shelf caught her eye. It’s creamy coloured cover appeared to shimmer making it stand out from the story books around it.
“Michael,” began Meryn. “Can you bring me the cream-coloured book from the shelf, please? Second last one on the left.”
Reaching for it, Michael lifted the small leather-bound book down and examined it. He flicked through the pages then looked up, a puzzled expression on his face, “It’s blank. Nothing in it. “
“Yet,” added Meryn cryptically.
“Yet?” echoed Jem feeling totally confused about where the strange book had come from.
“It’s Luna’s grimoire, isn’t it?” asked Trine taking the book from Michael.
Meryn nodded.
A huge crow sat in the trees to the east of the beach hut. It was perched high up in the leaves out of sight as the full Rose moon shimmered casting a bright creamy trail across the river.
Coral McCallum 