The Moon Phase Trilogy | Protected

Jayden woke up from some knocking on the door across the hall. He groaned, getting up slowly to trudge to the door. His feet never left the carpeted floor once he set them down. He touched the door handle and it shocked him. “Ow, damn that hurt. I really need to learn to pick up my feet from the carpet when I walk.” He turned the copper door handle and opened his door, peaking out to see who or what was at Ruby and Shaun’s door. “Grant? What does he want? Where is Noelia?” He questioned.

He watched Shaun mingle with the blood sucker momentarily before letting him inside their room. Jayden knew the girls could handle themselves, so he wasn’t too worried about them. Plus, it seemed Grant was harmless. He closed his door and turned around to see Winston and a woman standing in front of him. “Ah!”

“Hush, fur ball. No one knows we are here.” The woman spat.

Jayden’s eyes narrowed, “Who the hell are you calling a fur ball?” He growled.

Winston cleared his throat, “Both of you, stop. We aren’t here to argue. We are here to speak of the prophecy and what we need to do about it.” He glared at the two and continued, “The Selene Prophecy tells us that a werewolf, a witch, a vampire and a hybrid, are to stop my brother. We know who the werewolf is, but we need to find the others and soon. There isn’t much time left before my brother is able to connect with the moon’s power and be the strongest vampire in the world. The Vampire King if you will.”

Jayden looked at Winston, his head tilted, making sure he beard him correctly, “Zandyr is trying to become a Vampire King? I didn’t know vampires worshipped Selene. Do hags worship her too?” He turned his question over to the woman who was about to burn him with silver, but Winston grabbed her and held her still with iron at her back, just an inch of burning her.

“We do worship the Moon Goddess. Witches worship Selene too. We each have our own ‘religion’ we worship, but Selene is the same for all of our species. Werewolves have their version of Moon Goddess and everything under that. We have our version of the Moon Goddess and everything under him. They are all vampires or bats, just like the gods and goddesses you worship are all wolves or werewolves.”

Jayden nodded in interest, “Strange.” His eyes gazed behind the two, watching the animated picture of a bat flying and changing into a human.

“Enough about religion! We need to speak of the prophecy and what we do about it!” The woman groaned.

“Now Atlas, be patient. You know as well as I do, the prophecy fulfillment will take time.”

Atlas rolled her white eyes and pouted. Jayden snickered and went to sit on the bed, “So, what are we going to do? How will we know when we have found the others?”

Winston smirked, “Do you remember how Ericka found you? And how she figured out that the necklace around your neck was yours? Or how the artifacts found you?” Jayden nodded. “That is how we will find the others. It will glow and feel warm when you have found the right person to wield it.”

Jayden nodded, holding his hands out, “So do you have them?”

“Atlas has one and I have the other two. We aren’t giving them to you just yet. You, Shaun, and Ericka will each receive one when the time is right.”

“Ah, okay.” Jayden suddenly had this gut feeling something bad was going to happen to his brother. They were twins after all, so they could feel one another in danger. “Um, Winston, what are you going to do to my brother? He betrayed my family and yours. I mean, I’d love it if he got punished, but he’s still my blood.”

Winston glanced to Atlas for some private time and she dissolved into thin air. Jayden rubbed his eyes a few times, just to make sure what he saw actually happened. “Jayden, Asher will pay for his betrayal. I understand you don’t want him to perish, but just because he’s blood doesn’t mean his punishment should be lessened. The punishment will fit the crime.” Winston sat on the bed, next to Jayden, his hands folding in his lap. He sighed, shaking his head, “Jayden, I understand you are worried. I promise I won’t be harming him. I will banish him from my home, just like I did my own brother.”

Jayden lowered his gaze to his bare feet, “Thank you, sir.” His voice was quiet and gentle, almost like a child being submissive to their guardian.

“I cannot promise what my brother will do to him though. He may be in danger from him, but never from me. Now get some sleep, Jay. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

Jayden nodded, snuggling up in the warm silk bed as he watched the only adult he really ever trusted with his life that he wasn’t related to, leave. “I really hope this prophecy works, otherwise we are all screwed...and Ericka is in big trouble.” He yawned, turning to his side so he could face the door, and slowly dozed off.