CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

She was human and a child like the one she was carrying was unorthodox. Sure he had heard about humans and beast being able to conceive, but it never favored the human female. This was worse. He was amazed at the courage and love that she must-have for the child. Their child. She loved him enough to take him away not knowing how to handle a child of that sort. Human, Vampire, and Beast.

“She has been missing work and her work-mate says that she has been behaving strangely. And has been having severe abdominal pains.” Vincent’s mood had done a one-eighty. The fact that Scarlet was in trouble wasn’t amusing.

He rubbed his hands on his temples. This was bad.

“Let’s go.” He started walking towards the car.

“Stephan I think it would be best if you went alone.” Xavier followed him behind. “We need to stay just in case your recent acquaintances come looking for you. The safety of the locals is important.”

Stephan didn’t understand how the four of them could stop the army, he was sure was after him, but he wasn’t about to argue. Time was of the essence and he had to go to Scarlet.

“Fine, Vincent I’ll call you if there is any news.” He knew that Vincent would be worried, he was close to Scarlet.

Stephan got into his car and began a new round of pleading with the almighty. He was amazed at how many different ways he was able to endanger Scarlet’s life.

Stephan was lucky to find a flight that was departing right away. If he could be sure that running there would be faster he would but at the moment he had to be patient and settle on depending on the manmade aircraft.

Scarlet was still on the floor, at the corner. She shut her eyes escaping the reality of now, from the cold dead body lying a few feet from her bed. She had been sitting there for hours, she didn’t know how late or how early it was.

The knock on the door startled her, she sat upright ready to dash into the bathroom if someone decided to force their way in. She stared at the door expecting someone to come crushing in, seeing what she had done. She didn’t know what she would say if she got arrested. How would she explain this?

Another knock on the door and she started hyperventilating.

Kayla stood outside Scarlet’s front door, she was sure she was home, where else would she be at six o’clock in the morning. Besides she could hear her ragged breaths through the door and read her frightening thoughts.

She knew something was wrong but she wasn’t sure what. All she got from Scarlet’s terrified pleas not to be caught.

“Scarlet, it’s Kayla and Solara. Open the door for us, honey.” She knocked again and waited.

Scarlet debated whether or not to open the door. The last thing she wanted was for her best friend to see what she had done, what she had turned into. But she needed the help.

The baby hadn’t shown any indication of being awake ever since Archie died, she assumed Kayla already know what she had done.

“What is she feeling so guilty about? What did she do?” Solara asked Kayla hoping she had caught what he had missed.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be good if she is afraid of me finding out.” Kayla returned her focus to the closed door. Her finger wrapped around the knob and to her surprise, it turned. The door had been open the whole time.

Scarlet saw the doorknob turn and heard it click open, she hadn’t locked it. A new wave of panic went through her, there was no hiding now, not from two vampires.

Kayla, Nikki, and Solara walked into the semi-dark room. They noticed the other smell in the room that wasn’t Scarlet. Solara dropped their bags on the floor and reached out for the light switch on the wall.

Scarlet hunched over in a corner was the first thing they saw. Kayla rushed to her while Solara locked the door. Nikki only took a step aside her eyes taking in everything in the room at the same time. Kayla knelt beside Scarlet and put her arms around her.

She willingly leaned into the hug, tears falling from her eyes. Scarlet sobbed into her friend’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Scar? What happened?”

She didn’t move and didn’t make any indication of answering her. Scarlet continued sobbing sure that they would find Archie on their own.

Kayla pushed the stray hairs that fell on her face away from her eyes. Scarlet’s forehead was sweaty making her hair wet. Kayla looked into her eyes and saw how empty they seemed. She was the shell of a person, staring at the corpse across the room not blinking at all.

Solara took it upon himself to look for the source of the other smell. He didn’t have to go far because from where he stood at the women’s side he could see it in plain view.

He used his finger to indicate what he had found to Nikki, Kayla already knew. She had gotten a sneak peek from Solara’s mind and turned Scarlet’s body away from it.

“Scarlet what happened?” Solara was asking the question. He didn’t understand why there was a dead man on the floor. He didn’t suspect Scarlet to be the perpetrator of his death, he looked a lot bigger than she was.

His theory was heavily disputed when Scarlet let the memory of the night’s events flow through her mind. He was amazed at what he saw, he couldn’t help but gap at her.

Solara, get that body out of here.

He nodded acknowledging Kayla’s mental order. Solara knew that she wouldn’t be pleased with it, but he beckoned Nikki to help him dispose of the body. She frowned and made a face that was less than flattering but still got up to help him. He got some of the garbage bags that Scarlet had in the mini-kitchen.

“Solara what’s the plan?” Nikki watched as he unrolled a couple of bags, and tossed them on the floor.

“We are going to put him in these bags.” He intended to fit Archie in the bags, obviously not whole but in little pieces.

“You want to rip him apart and put him in the bags. Ok, that sounds like a good plan. Then what do we do with the bags.”

“Let’s do this one step at a time.” Solara moved Archie’s body to its back.

Kayla pulled away Scarlet’s face when Solara began tearing Archie’s body into small pieces. Although she couldn’t see it, she could hear the silent tearing of the skin and the crunch in the break of the bones. She could also hear them drop the pieces one by one into the garbage bags.

Solara packed the small pieces into four bags, just the right size for it not to look suspicious. He decided that it would be best to throw them in a river. Solara and Nikki left the apartment, first to search for rocks to weigh the bags down, then to the river.

Kayla ripped the bloodied clothes off her body and replaced them with the triple X t-shirt she had packed for her. It was Stephan’s and she thought it was the only thing that would fit her, and besides, it was easier to pull it on her.

She tried to move Scarlet to the bed but she didn’t budge. She decided to carry her. She tucked her under the covers and sat next to her, watching and waiting for her to wake up from the comatose state she was in.

Scarlet curled in the bed and stared into the space between her and Kayla. She closed her eyes and let the darkness envelop her. She wanted to sleep and hoped that when she woke up it would all be over.