Bad Moonlight (18 page)
Authors: R.L. Stine
K
it and his father dragged Danielle through the windows and onto the terrace. Danielle didn't make it easy for them. She twisted and squirmed, then went limp and dragged her feet.
But the two men kept pulling her, across the stone terrace and down the steps to the yard.
“Look, Danielle,” Kit commanded. “Look at the people who have come to our wedding.”
Danielle tossed her head back. Caroline, Mary Beth, Aunt Margaret, and Billy had gathered in the yard.
“Billy!” she cried. “Caroline! Stop them! Help me, please!”
Caroline shifted her weight nervously. She lowered her eyes, avoiding Danielle's gaze.
“Billy, help me!” Danielle pleaded.
Billy stared back at her. The defeated expression on his face made Danielle gasp.
“He's going to kill you, Billy. Did you know that?” she shouted. “Kit's going to kill you because you had the nerve to go against him. Are you just going to stand there?”
“I don't believe you,” Billy responded dully. “My master would never do that.”
“You see, Danielle?” Kit whispered in her ear. “They are members of my pack. They trust me to do what is right for them.”
Danielle glared angrily at the wedding party. Caroline still wouldn't meet her eyes. Mary Beth appeared dull and robotic. Aunt Margaret smiled happily at Dr. Moore.
“You should see yourselves!” Danielle screamed. “You're pathetic! Ridiculous! How can you let Kit control your lives?”
“Insulting them won't work,” Dr. Moore told her. “Nothing will work, Danielle.”
Danielle glared at him, but she knew he was right. Nothing would work.
She was trapped.
The doctor clapped his hands like a master of ceremonies. “Let us begin,” he called.
The group in the yard formed a loose circle around Kit and Danielle.
She had never felt so alone.
Kit took Danielle's hand. “Before my father marries us, I want you to sing, Danielle.”
She stared at him, unbelieving. “You've got to beâ” Danielle broke off.
Go ahead and sing, she told herself. Anything to buy some time.
Time to think of a way out.
“What song do you want?” she asked Kit.
“âBad Moonlight.'” Kit laughed softly. “I think of it as our song.” He squeezed her hand.
His touch made her stomach tighten.
“Fine,” she replied softly. She cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and began to sing in a high, thin voice.
“Bad moonlight, falling over me,
Bad moonlight, shining down on me.
Her voice trembled. I can't do this, she thought.
She turned her eyes to Kit and his father. They both watched her. Kit had a smile frozen on his face. Dr. Moore nibbled his lower lip tensely.
“Keep singing, Danielle,” the doctor insisted. “Kit, she's wasting time.”
“She's just nervous. Right, Danielle?” Kit asked.
Danielle nodded.
Terrified
was more like it. She thought her heart might pound right through her chest.
“She's trying to figure out a way to escape,” Dr. Moore said.
Kit shrugged. “Even if she is, it won't do her any good. There
is
no escape. Not now. Relax, Father.”
Kit controls him too, Danielle realized.
“Keep singing, Danielle,” Kit told her. “Don't worry about how you sound.”
Danielle cleared her throat again. Her voice still sounded small and weak.
She coughed. “Some water would help,” she murmured to Kit.
Dr. Moore shook his head impatiently. “She doesn't need water, Kit. Make her finish the song so we can get on with this.”
Kit glanced up at the sky. Danielle followed his gaze. The clouds she'd seen earlier were still overhead. But they were moving.
The moon would shine down again soon.
“It's almost time,” Kit told Danielle. “But I'd really like to have the song at our wedding. Hum it if you have to.”
Danielle turned her back on Kit and faced the others.
“Go on!” Kit urged. “Finish the song.”
Softly Danielle began to hum the tune. As she did, she moved around in the circle of Kit's wolf pack, staring into each one's eyes.
They don't control their own minds anymore, she realized. Kit does. I'm the only one who can think for myself.
But the song would be over soon, and she still hadn't thought of a way to escape.
Humming softly, Danielle approached Billy and gazed into his eyes.
Do something, Billy! she begged him silently. Don't let this happen!
Billy's lips parted. “I tried to save you, Danielle,” he whispered. “But you ran.”
Danielle felt a surge of hope. Billy spoke to her! The real Billy, who cared about her.
“I tried,” Billy whispered again. “But I can't do any more. You will have to save yourself.”
Danielle quickly whispered, “Save
myself?
What can I do?”
“Raise your eyes to the bad moonlight,” Billy replied. “Go with it. Let it happen.”
“ButâI can't!” Danielle protested.
“You can,” Billy whispered. “Let the moonlight take you. You will know what to do.”
Danielle turned away from him, questions racing through her mind. Was this really the Billy who cared? Or the one who was Kit's slave?
Could she trust him?
Or was his advice a trick?
If it was a trick, she'd be lost. But she was as good as lost now.
Danielle finished the song.
“Good!” Kit exclaimed. “Now we will be married. Father, begin the ceremony.”
Kit took Danielle's hand. His touch repulsed her, but she forced herself not to jerk away. I have to keep him off guard, she thought.
Dr. Moore followed and stood facing them.
Danielle glanced at the sky again. The clouds floated apart, spreading away from the moon. The escaping moonlight outlined the clouds in silver.
“Raise your eyes to the bad moonlight,”
Billy had told her.
What will happen if I take his advice? she wondered.
What will happen?
“Friends,” Dr. Moore began solemnly. “Join hands as we witness this marriage, this wonderful union that we've waited for so long.”
The small group reached out and held each other's hands.
The circle drew tighter.
Danielle faced Kit. As Dr. Moore spoke, she noticed a glimmer of moonlight touch Kit's dark hair.
Could she trust Billy?
Could she?
Slowly Danielle raised her eyes to the sky. The clouds had drifted away.
The moon floated low overhead.
Danielle shivered in its icy glow, but she didn't turn away. She stared straight up into the bad moonlight.
And waited.
S
econds passed. Danielle heard Dr. Moore's voice. She felt Kit holding tightly to her hand.
Then she felt her body start to change.
Her skin tingled, then began to itch.
Her throat tightened. She coughed. Her voice escaped in a low rumble.
She felt the hair grow on her hands, over her arms. Thick and bristly.
She curled the fingers on her free hand and felt claws digging into her palms. She felt her face twist, felt her nose and mouth pull forward into a snout, felt her teeth extend as her lips pulled back in an animal snarl.
“When the bad moonlight changes you, you will know what to do.”
Billy was right, Danielle thought. I
do
know what to do.
She inched closer to Kit.
A low growl started deep in her belly. It rose up through her entire body until it escaped her mouth as a bellowing roar.
Then Danielle pulled open her powerful jaws and sank her teeth deep into Kit's throat.
She heard Kit's startled howl of pain.
She heard the shocked cries of the others.
She saw the circle break. Saw Aunt Margaret raise her hands to her cheeks in horror. Saw Dr. Moore's eyes go wide, his knees buckle.
Danielle held on.
Held on. Held on.
Dug her wolf teeth deeper into Kit's fleshy throat.
A shrill whistle burst from Kit's open mouth. He whipped his head furiously back and forth.
Danielle staggered. But held on. Held on.
Kit's whistle became a bleat of pain. Blood flowed down his neck.
The whistle became a choked whimper.
He sank to his knees.
Danielle sank with him, grunting, groaning, uttering sharp, breathy growls, her teeth buried in his throat.
She didn't let go until Kit's eyes rolled up in his head, and he sank lifelessly to the grass.
She heard the cries of the others. But turned
her eyes to the moon. To the pale, white moonlight.
The bad moonlight. Sinking once again behind the clouds.
The light fading. Fading . . .
Danielle's body tingled and ached as she returned to human form. She shut her eyes tightly and waited for the painful feeling to stop.
She opened her eyes in time to see Dr. Moore fall to his knees. His entire body began to quiver and shake. Harder. Harder. As if trapped in his own personal earthquake.
His arms flew up as his body shook even harder. And then parts of him began flying off.
His body is shaking apart, Danielle realized, gaping in horror.
Dr. Moore's arms flew off his shoulders. His ears flew away from his quivering head. And then his head flew apart. Danielle covered her mouth as it splattered on the ground.
Danielle spun away. Saw the woman who had been Aunt Margaret shake apart too. Saw Kit's body shake and fly apart. Heads and arms, hands and feet strewn over the grass.
“Ohhhh. Ohhhhh. Ohhhhh no.”
Were those sickened moans coming from her own throat?
And then, Billy, Caroline, and Mary Beth came rushing up to surround her.
Billy's eyes glistened with admiration. “You did it, Danielle. You set us free.”
“You've released us!” Caroline cried happily. She threw her arms around Danielle and hugged her. “Thank you, Danielle. Thank you!”
“Kit used the bad moonlight to hold us prisoner,” Mary Beth explained. “We weren't strong enough to break free.” Her green eyes burned with gratitude. “Thank you, Danielle. You broke his spell. We've got our lives back now.”
They swarmed around Danielle, smothering her in joyful hugs.
After many tears and cheers of celebration, Danielle managed to break away from her happy friends. She ran into the house and called home. Cliff was fine. He didn't know that anything was wrong. He was angry that she'd awakened him.
Danielle felt a strong wave of affection for her brother. They were orphans now. She'd have to fight to keep them together. But she'd faced-off with a werewolfâand won! Now she could face anything.
After telling her brother she'd be home soon, Danielle returned to the others. Caroline and Mary Beth had flopped down on the terrace steps and were gazing up at the sky.
They stared at the moon, as if seeing it for the first time. The white light washed over them, cleansing and pure.
Billy wrapped his arm tenderly around Danielle's shoulders. “We don't have to dread the moonlight anymore,” he confided. “Thanks to you.”
Danielle leaned against him. “I don't care if I never see the moon again,” she said, sighing. “Know what I'm looking forward to?”
“What?” Billy asked.
Danielle grinned up at him. “Some bright sunlight!”
“Where do you get your ideas?”
That's the question that R. L. Stine is asked most often. “I don't know where my ideas come from,” he says. “But I do know that I have a lot more scary stories in my mind that I can't wait to write.”
So far, he has written nearly three dozen mysteries and thrillers for young people, all of them bestsellers.
Bob grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Today he lives in an apartment near Central Park in New York City with his wife, Jane, and fourteen-year-old son, Matt.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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