Blood Moon

Chapter 20: Untrustworthy

~ Trust no one, only yourself ~

I hurry inside and shut myself in my room, bracing my body against the door for support as I struggle to catch my breath. What in the world is going on? Before today all of my worries were about Hunter, Cain and Fenwick. Now I have to worry about vampires and the Crimson Stone?!

I sit down cross-legged on my bed. Dropping the book in front of me, I attempt to read the old text on the first page, giving up once I realise that none of it is in English. I sigh. Why is the name on the front in English then? How annoying. The door creaks open, startling me. Rue crosses her arms over her chest as she looks over at me, confused. 

"Aren't you supposed to be in school right now? Didn't we agree for you to continue your classes?" she states, raising her eyebrows at me. "Rue... What do you know about the Crimson Stone?" I ask, completely ignoring her questions. "Why are you bringing that up right now?" she queries, unfolding her arms. I close the book and show her the front of it. A look of surprise flashes across her face as she quickly rushes over, taking a seat on the bed in front of me. "Where did you find that?" she stares at the book in my hands curiously. 

"Monty's Bookshelf, the local bookstore in the town centre. It's run by vampires. They have a secret selection of books, that's where I saw this" I answer, handing the book over to her. "There are vampires in this town?" she growls lowly, showing her clear dislike for the bloodsucking creatures. "I think there's only 2" I add. "Why would there be vampires here? In a town full of werewolves? Something's not adding up" she asks, more so to herself than to me. "Are you sure there are vampires here?" she continues to which I nod. 

"There's this boy at school, Julian. He doesn't smell like a human or a werewolf. I didn't know what he was at first but once he started talking about a war between the werewolves and his kind, it clicked" I explain. "He told me that the Crimson Stone was supposedly stolen and the members of the House of Draculesti were killed by the werewolves and that's why the war started. He said that it's a myth though because there's no evidence to show that the Crimson Stone ever existed..." I continue as Rue listens intently. 

"The Crimson Stone chooses the werewolf worthy of becoming Alpha during a Blood Moon. The chosen one must then cut his hand open and bleed over the stone to complete the transfer of power. But, the Moon Goddess is actually the one that chooses the next Alpha, the stone is just a medium that carries out her wishes" she states, the book still closed in her hands. "Vampires don't worship the Moon Goddess like we do so what does the Crimson Stone have to do with them?" she looks down at the book before opening it, revealing the first page. "Maybe, what we know about the stone is all wrong" I suggest, realising that perhaps the stone has been used incorrectly this whole time. 

She hums in response as she furrows her eyebrows at the text. "It's in Romanian" she notes, beginning to flip through the other pages of the book revealing more text in said language. "Yeah, we're not going to get anywhere with this" she sighs, closing the book in frustration. "I don't really know much about the House of Draculesti but I have heard some stories about Vladislav III Draculesti, the first vampire" she mentions. 

"Who's that?" I ask. "Vlad the Impaler. He's even famous among humans for other reasons. None of that is important though, he was a cruel ruler who liked to torture all creatures... not just werewolves and not just humans. I'm not quite sure how he became a vampire but I have heard that he used to kill for fun and then bathe in the blood of his victims. I'm pretty sure he got imprisoned at one point because of how evil he was" she answers, making me think that it might be a good thing that we can't read the contents of this book. 

"All in all he was someone you wanted to steer well clear of, just like all vampires. This Julian, why did he tell you all of that? Does he know that you're a werewolf?" she adds. I shake my head in response. "I don't know what it is but I feel some sort of pull towards him, like a slightly weaker version of the mate bond" I confess, watching as her expression changes rapidly. She stares at me, horrified. "Did you just say what I think you just said?" she asks, in disbelief at my confession. I nod.

"You need to stay away from this Julian. I'll let Jacques know what's going on. Julian, is dangerous you hear me" she states, looking at me with a serious expression. "Could he be my second chance ma-" 

"No! Absolutely not! The bond between you and Hunter hasn't been broken on his end so that means that he is still your mate, besides it's practically unheard of for a werewolf to be mated to a vampire. It's a hell of a lot more likely that he's using some kind of magic to trick you into thinking that you are mates. I'm not quite sure what he could be using but given the circumstances and the fact that he knows about the Crimson Stone I'd say that he wants to try and use you to get to it" she alleges, convinced that Julian wants to steal the stone for himself. 

'She's got a point Wanette; something's not adding up' Kali agrees with Rue's theory. But, didn't Abby say that Julian was this great guy and- 

'Don't be so naive! It's probably just an act' she barks causing me to stay quiet. "So... What does this mean?" I ask. "This means that we need to stay weary of any vampires in this town. You smell someone that isn't human or werewolf. Run. It's unlikely that this Julian will be working alone, the vampires could possibly be planning something so we must stay alert and stay hidden. Understood?" she explains. I nod, understanding what I must do to stay safe, to keep us all safe. 

"I'll take this book to Jacques, hopefully with the help of the CWA we'll be able to find someone to translate it. The BWA will also have to be notified, just in case the vampires are planning some sort of uprising" she states before getting up to leave the room. Once she is gone I am left all alone with my thoughts and Kali. 

It's strange, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. 'You mustn't be fooled, vampires are notorious for putting on a good act' she says. I sigh. It seems like no one can be trusted around here.

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Author's note

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As of right now I plan to release 1-2 chapters every Friday. Any feedback both positive and negative will be greatly appreciated. This is my first time writing a story like this so I hope that it turned out alright.

Thank you for reading!

Yours,

xgwenux