Moones: Alliances of Deception

Part 1

OWEN

It was a soulless night. Nothing ventured out into the icy cold, who's arctic fingers nipped at your skin like thousands of needles. The moon was concealed behind a thick mist, shrouding everything in darkness. No one should have been out at this time of night, but I had to get home. Well, I say home, more like the Hub.  

Slipping across the frozen path, head bent against the biting wind, I only vaguely saw the shadow of the creature lurking in the darkness. I didn't stop to confront it because I knew I could never win the battle against this creature single-handedly. Pulling the collar of my coat up and wrapping my arms around myself to keep warm, I looked warily over my shoulder before disappearing down into the dark passage.  

Appearing in a dimly lit corridor, I had to bend down so that my head didn't hit the ceiling. Congealed moss covered all of the walls, making the steep journey down into the earth treacherous. Long tendrils of silvery cobwebs gripped at my hair as I slowly made my way down to the entrance.

JENNA

The scuffling got louder on the other side of the wall. An eerie feeling crept up my spine, sending my hairs into super-stand mode. We moved away from the central table, drawing our weapons as we hid in the shadows. Ready. Waiting.  

I heard a soft clunk as the secret mechanism was worked to open the door. Everyone prepared their weapons, a wooden stake or a bow and arrow here, a knife or venom-gun there. We were trained to use these unusual weapons to fight these extraordinary threats to humanity.  

Slowly aiming my bow at the small entrance, I pulled an arrow out of the quiver, setting it in place, standing side-on to get the best aim. The door slowly rolled sideways, a small amount of light flowing into the dark chamber. I could feel our unity as we all held out breath. Then I heard the groans of disappointment as Owen stepped through the door.  

"Miss me" he said with a cocky grin. His voice made me jump so much that I let go of the arrow, which went flying in Owen's direction. He only just had time to jump sideways before it embedded itself in the wall.  

"You dork, what was that for" he exclaimed, massaging his elbow which he had banged against the wall.  

"Well you shouldn't be sneaking about out there. What the hell took you so long?" Charley asked sharply, hands on her hips as she flicked her blonde hair at him.  

"Ooh, what's with all the tension? You girls seriously need a full body massage."  

" Are you offering?" asked Kayla from the corner, batting her eyelashes at him.  

"Ok, quit the flirting. What's going on outside?" I asked impatiently.  

"Not a lot actually" Owen had lost his cockiness and had suddenly become serious. "It's eerily quite. I don't know what's going on, but I did see one of them hanging out in the shadows near the station."  

"What, and you still came back here?" "You idiot." The group set up a string of protests before I coughed. Loudly.  

"Owen, you know the rules. If you thinking someone or something is tailing you, then you take a diversion. For all you know, you could have led them straight to our front door."  

"Does that mean we've gotta move again" asked Kayla.  

"I hope not" grumbled Jake, "We've only been here for two months since we moved out of that dingy basement in Jacksonville."  

"We'll hold still for a while because we've had a new report of an attack. It's the youngest daughter of the Taylor's" I relayed the information I'd managed to get by hacking into the local towns records.  

"What, you mean Claire."  

"Oh, man. This is gonna land us in some serious sh-"  

"Language, Ben" I mothered.  

"So, do we know who's behind it?" Kayla asked.  

"It's looking like the Moones. Again."  

"Oh, heck. What are we gonna do?"  

I thought for a moment. It was quite late so it meant that there wouldn't be anyone around and we'd all been resting for a good three days, so we should be OK to go.  

"Ok, team. I think it's time for Operation Eskimo" I declared. The group fell into guffaws.  

"Eskimo? Where did that come from?" asked Kayla through gasping for air.  

"All I can say is that it WAS NOT my idea" I defended.  

Owen saved me from having to try and explain by saying: "I think it's time we get going", although I think this may have been to conceal the fact that he had been the one to suggest the name. Apparently, it had a certain 'ring' to it.

OWEN

OK, that was totally embarrassing. Eskimo? Where did that come from? Still, we were standing around the block from the most recent dwelling of the Moones. After collecting our more sophisticated weapons from the armoury:

Van-Helsing 220 venom-guns (a complicated formula of various herbs and vampire venom that weakens their powers);

Stake-guns (a sophisticated weapon that can fire wooden stakes over larger distances than human strength will allow) and

Vervain darts (another amazing piece of technology to plunge vervain - a herb strong enouh to weaken vampires to the point of death- into the vampires system) - all having being created by our resident techno/doctor guy - Jake, we were now hiding in the shadows, waiting for the instruction to go.

We rushed, backs to the wall, along the passages of the houses until we reached the back entrance to the abandoned burger bar. Everything was silent, until Jenna spoke.  

"On the count of three we'll go in through that entrance directly in front of us. Once inside, break off into your pairs and keep your weapons loaded and ready at all times. OK, here goes. One - two - three."  

Everyone moved silently into the house, following their instructions immediately. Kayla followed me up the stairs, flashlights scanning the rooms for any presence. That's when I caught a glimpse of blood-red eyes glowing from the corner of a room. Nodding at Kayla, we inched forward weapons aimed at the figure. Suddenly, I saw a lamp swing through the air and doubled up in pain as it collided with my head. Then everything was consumed in darkness.

KAYLA

I heard Owen cry out in pain before I saw his unconscious body slump to the floor. I tried to move towards him, but a hand gripped my wrist. I opened my mouth to scream, but the sound was lost in my throat. The cold breath that whispered on my cheek, made my heart stop with fear. Slowly, his face came into view; always so beautiful each time I saw it. I'd know him for centuries but he was always so mesmerising. Then his red tinged eyes locked with mine, before his cold lips pressed against the hollow of my throat.