Crimson Moon

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of my mom’s voice coming from downstairs. She was singing a happy tune that brought a smile to my face. She sounded like she was in such peace and happiness. Not something that I see in her much anymore. I got dressed in a pair of old clothes realizing that I left the leather outfit from the castle out by the barn. I would have to have Tiberius bring me there one day so I can properly return it. Well, that is if the raging fire didn’t destroy it. Such a beautiful outfit doesn’t deserve to get ruined by nature in that way.

Walking down the stairs from the attic is when I spotted my mom and my sister dancing. I leaned up against the counter and just watched the beautiful scene. It brought a smile to my face and made me forget about all the bad things that happened yesterday.

“Come join us, Calla!” Kat called out.

“Yes, come join us, my lovely daughter,” my mom joined her.

Smiling, I walked over to them and began to dance alongside them. We were having a blast as my mom sang a song that I didn’t know but we were enjoying ourselves beside the point. Unfortunately, my phone began to ring interrupting us.

“I’m sorry guys, I’ll be back in one minute, I have to take this.”

They just continued to dance together not looking too disappointed. Walking up the stairs is when I pulled out the phone. I had one missed call from no other than Adolph himself. Dread filled my body, I really didn’t want to talk to him. I knew I couldn’t ignore him forever so I decided to call him back. He picked up on the first ring. “

Why didn’t you answer me?” was his first response as he talked into the phone.

“Well hello to you too,” is all I said back to him.

“Come meet me in the woods towards the North only two miles in. You have ten minutes. I have something to ask of you.”

That was all he said before he hung up not even letting me answer. I couldn’t just leave my family like this. It was such a precious moment going on right now I didn’t want to miss it. Especially to go see Adolph but what choice did I have? If I didn’t show up he would just come here and pretty much drag me out. Not caring if my family saw or not. At least this way they don’t really know that I’m going to see him. If they did, they would be very disappointed in me.

Putting my cellphone back into my pocket I began my descent down the stairs. I quietly watched my sister and mother’s expressions of happiness as I opened the door careful not to make any noise. Oh, how I wish I could be normal. I wouldn’t miss moments such as this over things that I couldn’t control. I miss the times when everything was great and I could live my life carefree. When my sister and I would run around and play in the woods, hide and seek to be the game of choice. I never thought I wouldn’t share a moment with them like that ever again. I wish I didn’t take those events for granted.

As I entered the outdoors, I began to make my way into the woods. Being a werewolf does have some of its rewards. One thing that I have benefitted from is the sense of direction. Before my first shift, I never knew which direction to go. If someone told me north I would be like, where is that? But now I can tell direction without even having to think about it. I began to head North making my way to where Adolph said to meet.

“What could he possibly want to ask me?” I thought to myself.

Lost in thought I stumbled over some brambles almost losing my footing. This caused the bottom of my pants to rip.

“Good thing these are already old,” I said to myself.

My mom would be so mad at me if they were a new pair. I can’t believe I am so clumsy. You would think with the powers I possess now I could manage to walk right on my own two feet. Too bad I was blessed with this whole two-left-feet scenario.

Arriving at the location in which I was supposed to meet Adolph, I noticed him just standing there looking lost in thought.

“Hey what’s up?” I asked him.

“Calla, how many times do I have to tell you that you have to respect me? It’s getting really old, really fast.” I frowned getting annoyed and pissed off with this whole thing. What in the world is so bad with what I said? I hate that he treats me like complete garbage.

“Yes sir,” I bowed my head showing him fake respect.

“Now I called you here because Rafiq told me about what they told you. Why weren’t you honest with me Calla?” His face showing anger.

“Because my head was spinning and I didn’t know what to think nor do I still know. Can I please just go back to my family? We were in a very private moment something that doesn’t happen very often.”

“Honestly Calla, you got to forget about them. They're too weak and fragile for you. I’m sick of hearing things about them.”

“Well can I please just tell them about us?”

“Enough!” Adolph boomed. “I’m sick of you asking that. You will never be able to tell them. What don’t you understand? I know you’re not smart but you’re not this dumb either. Get over it, it’s not happening.”

I frowned, sadness washing over me. I wanted to cry but I held it in and kept my head straight up. I wouldn’t let him get to me, not anymore. He just gets enjoyment out of it and I’m sick of feeding him happiness.

“Is this all you had to ask me?” I questioned him really just wanting to leave and get as far away from him as possible.

“No,” he responded. “I have something really important to ask you.”

“Yes?” I questioned.

“Marry me,” he said flat out without anything else to go along with it.

I just looked at him like he was crazy. I searched his face waiting for him to laugh, but there wasn’t anything there but a deadpan straight face. I couldn’t help it and I began to laugh.

“Are you serious? We haven’t even gone out or anything. You can’t just expect a girl to say yes just like that. Besides you don’t even like me, that’s completely evident.”

“It is your duty to marry me. You don’t have a choice.”

I gave him a look of disapproval and turned away from him saying, “you’re crazy, leave me alone.”

I tried to walk away but then he grabbed my arm spinning me around with such force to draw blood from my arm.

“Ow, Jesus Adolph, what is the matter with you?!” I exclaimed as I grabbed my arm instinctively checking to see how much blood he drew.

“I won’t tell you again Calla, it is your duty.”

“The heck it is,” I said. “Screw you and leave me alone!” I yelled back at him.

This caused him to hit me across the face with so much force making me fall to the ground. He had his claws expanded which drew a long streak across my face causing blood to splash out. My cut from yesterday healed immediately. This one on the other hand I doubted would be healed soon. It would at least take a few hours. How was I supposed to go home like this? My mom would freak out.

“If you do not marry me, Calla, I swear I will make your life miserable. Starting with that dear old family of yours. Hmm, should I start with helpless old momma, or how about that sister of yours? What’s her name again? Hmmm, ahh, Katherine is it? Quiet a pretty young thing isn’t she. I’m sure she would be a fun toy. If not that, I’m sure they will make a fantastic feast.”

“Leave them alone,” I responded a low growl rising in my throat.

“Hmm, Nah, I don’t think I will.” “You better hurry or they will be dead by the time that you arrive.”

I took off running into the woods as fast as I could. My heartbeat racing faster than it ever has before. My face was stinging with the breeze brushing up against it but I couldn’t let that bother me. My worst fears were going to come true if I didn’t hurry.

“Tiberius?” I called out wondering if he would be awake at this time for the fact that we were out all night last night.

“Yes dear Calla?” he responded within seconds.

“I really need your help. It’s Adolph, he asked me to marry him and I told him he was crazy. He said he was going to kill my family since I refused him. I really can’t have that happening. I need your help, I have no one to turn to. Please help me, I don’t know what to do.”

Panic began to fill me as my eyes shed tears. Tiberius responded “meet me at the circle like yesterday with your family. I’ll make arrangements at the castle for your family. I’m so sorry Calla, I will try my best to help your family. I swear it to you.”

I quickly ran to the house and slammed the door open not caring what they thought. They were still dancing and as soon as they heard the door fly open they jumped apart spooked. My mom’s voice coming to an abrupt stop.

“Jesus Calla!” My mom exclaimed. “Must you just barge in like that?” As soon as she saw my face she began to go quiet in astonishment. “Oh my god, Calla are you alright?” She ran towards me grabbing a towel to wash the blood off.

“What happened?” Kat asked me her eyes wide.

“No time to explain you guys are in danger please come with me,” I said grabbing my sister’s hand still in the panicking mode I was in earlier.

“Wait what?” My sister said as I took her hand and dragged her making her trip with the force.

“No time to explain! Mom come now! We don’t have time, just please, I beg of you, come with me, we are in severe danger. This is not a joke!”

They looked me straight in my face before they realized I was completely serious.

“Come on!” I yelled once more, and my mom dropped the rag she was going to clean my face off with and began to run out the door with me and my sister.

They ran as fast as they could, unfortunately for them, they couldn’t run anywhere near as fast as the werewolves could. I smelled the air to check to make sure everything was ok. I couldn’t smell anyone approaching, I just hoped they weren’t coming. With how fast they could run I would have to transform in front of them and just defend them from the others. It would be five against one and I didn’t like my odds. There would be no way I could win a fight like that. Even if I was this whole legendary white wolf female thing. Next thing I knew my sister tripped over a fallen tree.

“Kat, are you ok?” I asked running to her checking to make sure she was ok.

“I’m ok Calla, I’m nowhere near as hurt as you are.” She said as she pushed herself forward and began running.

I was amazed by her dedication. My sister really wasn’t that weak after all. Too bad you never realize these types of things unless something terrible happens.

Finally, we made it to the circle with the sight of nobody in the woods. A smell triggered my nose into overdrive. Panic struck me until I realized the scent was Tiberius and I began to relax. He ran straight towards me and my family.

“Calla, your face. Are you ok?” Tiberius asked as he ran his hand over where I was bleeding. “Did he do this to you?” He asked me.

I just simply nodded my head and said, “Come on guys you can trust him.” As I said this I pushed my sister and mother towards him.

“Come on!” he yelled as we began to run towards the castle.

All of a sudden, a smell arose to my senses. It was the smell of my old group members.

“Tiberius?” I said in my head “They’re here.”

He smelled the air realizing that they were in fact there.

“Keep running if you stop it will just worry your family more. I have the others here in the woods. They won’t let them get any closer to your family. I promise. Try to remain calm the more stress you feel the more it radiates on to them. We don’t want them to make any bad decisions, it will just make it all worse.”

“Thank you, Tiberius,” I said relieved that he planned this all through.

From behind, I heard some growling escaping from the woods.

“What was that?!” Kat called out frightened.

“Don’t worry about it just keep moving, faster if you possibly can?”

Then my mom said something that I was never expecting. “Calla is that what I think it is? Please tell me you aren’t involved in this? Please tell me you don’t have it?” I gave her a puzzling look. Did she know about werewolves or was she just going through her craziness right now?

“Mom what are you talking about?” I questioned her.

“I didn’t say anything.” She gave me a puzzled look. I didn’t have time to question her further, we had to get going.

Reed’s voice broke through mine and Tiberius’s thoughts.

"They started following you guys but once they realized we were there, they started to back off. It looks as if they were determining whether to fight or not but decided against it. "

“Thank you, Reed!” Mine and Tiberius’s voice broke out in unison.

“You’re welcome!” He responded as his voice got cut out as if he got attacked.

“Reed!” I yelled worried about what just happened. No response. “Tiberius?” I asked my face worried.

“We need to hurry,” was all he said.

I grabbed my sister’s hand while Tiberius grabbed my mother's. We tried to push them to run faster, but they kept stumbling causing us to slow down. Finally, we reached the gate access. Tiberius let go of my mother’s hand and walked up to the gate to scan his body allowing us to all walkthrough.

“The castle is just right up there,” he said as he pointed to it. “Walk up the doors and someone will be there waiting for you. I must go see if the rest are ok.”

As he said that he began to turn away. I turned around with him prepared to follow him back and help the others.

“No, Calla. Stay and get your family safe inside.”

“Tiberius please, I have to make sure everyone is ok. I have to help, it’ll destroy me if I don’t.”

Hearing this my sister said, “Calla, you are not going back there do you understand me?”

I turned around to face her “Kat, you’re not my mother. You can’t tell me what to do.”

Tiberius’s voice broke out. “Calla stay with them they need you.”

Then his voice spoke in my head. “Get them to safety first and then you can sneak out and help.” I began to shake my head and then he said, “Either that or you won’t help at all. I have to get going though, I don’t know how much trouble they are in. Get your family to safety fast!” He then turned around and ran back into the woods.

I grabbed my sister’s hand in my right and my mother's in the left. We then began to run together once more without saying a word. I spotted a single tear fall from my sister’s eye to the green floor, disappearing into the soil. This was all my fault. If only I didn’t get involved with them in the first place, none of this would have happened. My family would be safe, and Reed and the others wouldn’t be in danger. It seems as though this is all I am doing these days, putting everyone else in danger.

I asked her “Kat are you ok?” she just turned her beautiful face towards me and nodded. The pain was evident on her face.

Finally, we reached the main door of the castle. My sister and mother both gasped in astonishment.

“Calla, what is this place? Are we going to be staying here? This place is huge.” My sister said to me.

Her mouth hanging wide open and her eyes sparkling in amazement.

“Yes, we will be here for a little bit. I can’t tell you more than that for right now.”

“Why not?” She asked me furrowing her eyebrows.

“Just come on.” I tugged her hand walking into the doors. Suddenly Cassie was there along with Sarah and Delilah. They were running towards us worry on their faces.

Cassie said, “Oh poor girls! Are you guys ok? Tiberius fetched us and told me you need our help. Please come this way.”

We all jogged back to the room in which I was in previously.

“Wow,” was all my mother and sister could say.

Their eyes searching the room inspecting every inch of it.

“This one room is bigger than our entire house,” Kat said.

“I know I thought the exact same thing,” was all I could say to her.

Cassie was looking right at us saying “You guys will be safe here. Many different people will protect you here. You guys can live in this room for as long as you want. If you would like to follow me I will give you a tour.”

Without saying a word, we followed Cassie into one of the rooms.

“This right here is the kitchen,” She said waving her hand. “It has everything you should need for appliances along with utensils.” The room was a beautiful red color, way better than the floral decorations at my home. “Next, if we walk over here we have one of the bedrooms with a bathroom attached.”

“One?” Kat asked.

“Yes, of course, there are three different bedrooms. Each bedroom has a bathroom with one extra, so nobody must go through a bedroom to get to a bathroom. We want to make sure nobody has to share either a bedroom or a bathroom.”

“Wow,” Kat said in amazement. “That is super nice, no more sharing. No offense mother, but I would love to have my own things.”

“No offense taken.” My mother said in a very sweet tone. She appeared to be a little different right now. Sort of like she was in some sort of daze.

“This is the smallest of all the bedrooms. It’s not much but it has enough room for anything that you will need.” I peeked inside the bedroom.

“That’s the smallest?” I questioned Cassie.

“Yes, why?” She asked me. “Is there something wrong?”

“No, it is just huge. If this one is this big I can’t imagine how large the others will be.”

The bedroom was quite exquisite in a not-over-the-top way. For the style of the castle, this one had its own unique beauty to it. It had a large king-size bed that looked as soft as clouds. On the left side of the room pressed against the wall was a fireplace. Not something you would use in the month of June but just looking at it was still beautiful. I was too busy looking in the room with amazement to realize everyone was continuing on their way throughout the “room.”

“Calla?” My mom called out. “Are you alright?”

“Fine mother,” I said as I rejoined them on the tour.

“The next one is a bit bigger than the last but not as large as the master bedroom.”

Seeing how large this one was, I didn’t really like it. It was way too big for my taste. I like things plain and simple, while this room possessed a lot of fancy and expensive things. It even had an old-fashioned chandelier hanging from the ceiling. It had jewel-encrusted mirrors on a stand that looked like it was designed for make-up. Definitely not my taste, I thought it would be better for Kat. Thinking this I looked over to her and saw her facial expression. She looked like she really wanted it.

“Do you like it?” I questioned her.

“Oh yes!” She exclaimed. “It’s beautiful!”

Seeing her this happy made me smile especially after something so terrible just occurred. Remembering this my stomach dropped and churned. I called out to Tiberius in my head.

“Is everything ok with you guys?”

“Yes, Calla relax.” He said to me. “It was just a false alarm. It appears that they thought they could trick us by putting their sent on a deer as it ran into our territory. It caught the pack off guard, but they quickly figured out it was only a deer. Adolph and the rest turned back into the woods. There is no sign of them. We redid the markers at the territory and we will make sure to do several checks a day. We will keep you safe Calla, I promise.”

“Thank you, Tiberius.” And with that, I snapped back into what was happening with my family.

“And this right here is the master bedroom.”

My mother was the first to look inside gasping as she did so. The first thing she did was jump onto the bed and lay straight down. Giggling like a child. Cassie gave me a questioning look and I simply just shook my head signaling to her I had no idea what was wrong with her. The room was lit by candles all over. The bedspread was white and crimson. It was the largest room I had ever seen in my entire life. By looking at my mother’s face I could tell that she loved the room.

“Hey, mom!” I called out to her.

“Would you be interested in living in this room?” I asked her.

“Oh yes! Calla, please can I?”

I simply laughed and said “Of course. You don’t even have to ask me, you are the mother. You can make the decisions of who stays where.”

“Oh, thank you, Calla!” That was all she said before she just shut the door leaving us all in the hallway.

“Umm ok then,” Cassie said. “Carrying on we have the living room. This is probably the best room for you all to get together. I tend to like this room myself, to be honest.

“Hey, Cassie?” I asked her.

“Yes, Calla?” She responded.

“Is all the rooms this big?”

She laughed. “Oh heavens no! You guys got one of the biggest ones since you’re so important. Well at least for the size of the rooms. Some of the other rooms need a little more space since the family size is bigger. Don’t get me wrong, the rest are big but just not to this extent. Such as my room has almost the same layout as yours. It doesn’t have its own private bathroom per bedroom. It only has one bedroom and one bathroom. The only people who have bigger rooms are probably Adelina, Tiberius, and the King and Queens rooms. Any more questions?” She asked me.

“No Cassie, thank you so much, I think we will be good for now.”

“You're welcome, why you guys were touring the rooms Sarah and Delilah were watching your facial expressions on which rooms you liked better. They filled your clothes up in the rooms that they thought were the ones you liked the most.”

“Wait,” Kat said. “They filled our new rooms up with our clothes? They went back to our house to get them?”

I just looked at Kat giving her a sad look. “No, we got you some new clothes that we have here. I hope you don’t mind.” Cassie said.

“Oh, no it’s ok. Thank you so much.” She said. I could tell by the look on Kat’s face that she was upset.

“Hey, it’s ok. I can promise you that I will take you back to the house as soon as I can.”

“Who will look after the pigs and cattle?” She asked me. I didn’t even think of them, they were the last thing on my mind.

“I’m sure Tiberius and the others will look after them for us.”

“Hmm ok,” she said looking upset. I wish there was something I could say to make her feel better, but there really was nothing.

Delilah and Sarah re-entered the living room and I thanked them for stocking clothes for us. They said that they were surprised that I picked the smallest of the rooms available. Usually, girls like us pick the largest. I assumed they meant that werewolf girls who are spoiled pick the biggest and I explained to them that I’m not really like them at all. I guess they clearly agreed by their facial expressions and the way they shook their heads. After this conversation, all three of them said their goodbyes and left the room.

The first thing Katherine did was go to the room she was mesmerized by. “Do you think this one is mine?” She asked me in a happy tone. I could tell that she really did hope it was hers.

“I’m positive Kat,” I said to her.

With that, she opened the door and squealed in delight as she saw a sign on the wall saying, “Welcome home Katherine!” There were also balloons to add to the excitement. The first thing she did was grab my hand and throw me onto the bed with her. She started jumping up and down still holding onto my hand.

“Come on Calla! Jump with me!” She squealed. I laughed at her amusement and began to jump along with her.

“Aren’t we a little old for this Kat?” I asked her. “I mean you’re supposed to be my big sister and all. Shouldn’t you advise me against jumping on the bed?”

“Shh, you got to be a rebel sometimes in your life Calla. What others don’t know won’t kill them.”

I admired how she could be so easy and free going. This is the side of her that I hardly get to see. Usually, all she wishes to do is please my mother resulting in her always telling me things not to do. I miss this part of her. She grew up way too fast for her own good.

After a few minutes, I got up to go to my own bed exhausted from hardly sleeping the night before. As I walked in I noticed the same message and balloons that were in Kat’s room. The first thing I did when I entered the room was checked to see what clothes they left me. Happiness filled my entire body as my eyes scanned the clothes. They obviously remembered that I didn’t like dresses based on the lack of dresses in the room. Clothes that definitely fit my style littered my dresser. I closed the dresser and went towards the closet. My mouth dropped open when I realized that the outfit that I was wearing before was magically in the closet. To make sure that it really was the outfit I picked it up to examine it. It had to have been based on the little bit of ash that remained from the forest fire. I would have to ask Cassie how they managed to find it.

I put the outfit back in the closet and went straight to the bed. It was only about noon but my body was so tired from everything that has been going on these two days. My mind began to race through all of the events unfolding like they just happened. Even though it was in the middle of June I couldn’t help myself. I got out of bed and went towards the fireplace. I noticed that there were fresh logs there in which would be used for the fire. I was pretty sure nobody would get mad at me if I lit it. They probably would think I’m crazy, which is probably true, but they wouldn’t freak out at me or anything. After going through my conflicted thoughts on lighting it, I decided to just go for it. I lit a match and watched the logs light up in a brilliant hue of bright orange flames. It was stunning and relaxing. I curled back up into my bed and drifted off to sleep not worrying about anything.