CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

Scarlet stared into space as the memory of the previous evening flooded her mind. Tears streamed down her face as small gasps escaped her lips.

“Archie... Oh no, Archie.” Heart-wrenching sobs escaped her throat.

Stephan pulled her into his arms and stroked her brunette hair off her face. “You didn’t mean to. It was beyond your control.”

“Scar, we are here to help you and no one else will get hurt.” Kayla squeezed her toes to reassure her. She had to know that they didn’t judge her and they didn’t hold it against her.

“One-o-two,” Scarlet whispered those words as she remembered the police and the neighbors that had flooded the hallways the previous night.

“What did you say, my love.”

To Stephan, like the others in the room, the numbers didn’t mean anything to them. But it meant everything to her.

They were oblivious to what she had done. “One-o-two.” She whispered again. She had stopped crying and her face was no expressionless. Her limbs dropped from where they held Stephan tightly to her.

“One-o-two is the door number of the woman I killed last weekend. She lives a floor above me and like Archie, I killed her.” She was talking like a robot, there was not even a flicker of emotion on her face. “She was concerned about me and I killed her. Archie insisted on making sure I was fine he said he was in love with me. I told him to leave, as soon as I realized I had killed the lady upstairs. And when the baby began to kick, I told him to leave but he insisted on staying.” She paused when a lump rose in her throat.

“Scarlet, you couldn’t control it,” Stephan whispered in her ear.

“No, I couldn’t control him, he controls me.” She wrapped her arms around her belly, “That’s why I told him to leave.” Scarlet shook her head, “But he wouldn’t and when I felt my body heating up, it was too late. The last thing he saw, was my eyes. His eyes.”

Scarlet looked up at Kayla and Solara, she wanted to see what she had done to both of them. How she had killed them mercilessly and drained them of their blood.

When they both winced and turned away, she knew they had seen it all.

“What is it? I thought you couldn’t get into her head.” Stephan had seen their reactions.

“He is asleep. When he sleeps everything goes back to normal.” Scarlet answered him, her eyes on her round stomach. “Show him, Kayla.”

She wanted Stephan to see what she had done, considering this was his child too. He needed to know what they would soon face and handle.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t understand any of this. I’ll teach him once he’s born, let’s just concentrate on him for now.”

“How do you expect me to move past this? My son who hasn’t even been born yet is capable of things I don’t understand. If he is this strong now, what about once he is born.” She caressed her belly, “I took away someone’s mother and someone’s son. It’s my fault and I can’t get past this. You were right Nikki, I was in way over my head.”

“Listen to them, right now you need to be as relaxed as possible. Don’t aggravate yourself because the child will feel it. He will think you are being threatened and that’s not good. I for one I’m not looking forward to getting you off the ceiling.” Nikki felt awkward reassuring her but it was in their best interest.

“What ceiling?” as soon as Scarlet asked Kayla filled her head with the image of her hanging from the roof growling at them.

“Huh? How did... whatever.” She gave up trying to rationalize anything she had done during her pregnancy. It was all too bizarre and it honestly frightened her.

Scarlet stood up to go to the bathroom, Stephan and Kayla hovered over her, shadowing every step she took. She noticed she was only dressed in a t-shirt, she asked Stephan to get her the extra-large cotton shorts in her draw. She didn’t need both of them watching her as she took a leak.

Kayla helped her into the shorts and back to the bed. Her body was becoming too heavy for her feeble legs, and Kayla had gotten impatient with the tiny steady steps she took and carried her to the bed.

Stephan sat behind her, holding her up and cradling her at the same time. scarlet was afraid of going back to sleep, she knew that the baby took over her body when she was unconscious and Stephan and her friends were here, she didn’t want to miss any opportunity to spend time with them. She fought the exhaustion she felt and insisted on taking part in the conversations.

“So Stephan, what have you been up to?” Solara had pulled the other armchair closer to the bed, he cradled Kayla in his lap.

“I have a feeling that you already know.”Stephan smiled back at him, his expression showing that he didn’t regret the killing spree he had been doing the past week.

“Mathias came and filled us in, yesterday.”

“This is how I see it, it’s either me or them, and since I have too much to live for I figured them.” He held Scarlet tightly in his arms. She was the one keeping him rooted on this planet.

“He said you were feeding on them too.” Solara was amazed at how much anger or courage he had to feed on another creature.

“I was just testing Vincent’s theory and he was right. It gives you one hell of a boost.”

Scarlet cringed, she remembered how rejuvenated she had felt that Sunday night, although at that time she didn’t know what had happened, and the source of that power was from another human being.

Stephan looked down at her, but she shook her head. She wasn’t about to share her post-feeding stories as he had. Unlike him, the death of those two people was tearing her apart.

“Yesterday was one heck of a day, I thought I was going to lose my mind. First Mathias comes in with Stephan’s activities, and then I get a call about my best friend.” Kayla stared at them both thinking of what a troubled couple they were.

“Where did they find you? We thought they would be searching for days.” Solara never thought that Stephan was that far from home, but he never suspected that he would be that close either.

“I was at the beach, thinking.” He smiled at Scarlet.

The beach was his place, he spent his time either with Scarlet or thinking about Sotera.

“Why didn’t you come with Vincent.” His smile was making her flush, so she decided to re-route the conversation before any questions were asked.

“He had to stay behind. My activities as earlier highlighted, offended many vampires. They thought it was best if they stayed behind just in case they were to drop in.” Stephan hadn’t thought of the full ramifications of his activities, not until now.

He dreaded the thought that the vampires would tear through town just to find him. He would give himself up before anyone else was killed for his mistake. Stephan already had four notches on his belt, Sotera, Marcie, Archie, and the lady upstairs.

Although he wasn’t directly involved with the death of the last two, he felt it was his fault. This was his child, and his actions were his responsibility.

Solara and Kayla were gingerly kissing in each other’s arms, so instead of watching Stephan and Scarlet talked about the baby.