Hunter Moon: A Grazi Kelly Novel #2 (15 page)

Sherry stood up slowly, as if drained of
energy and walked to the coffee pot. She turned it on and stepped
over to the fridge taking out bacon and eggs. As she placed a
frying pan on the small stove, my stomach grumbled again. I was
relieved when she kept on talking. I so hoped she didn’t hear it.
I’m such a weirdo.

Ronan definitely heard the racket my stomach
was making. His growled too and I knew he was hungry as well. He
ignored it though and continued following the white Witch around
the room with his eyes.

Nevertheless it made
me
feel better.
I may be a weirdo, but so was he I guess.
I smiled a little
at the thought.

“Second, I want you to describe to me the
Witch you saw. You said you hid under the bed and then what
happened?”

I was watching Sherry work competently around
the kitchen. I tried to concentrate. It was like I forgot why I was
there the minute she started frying the bacon and scrambling the
eggs.

Never mind, Ronan couldn’t possibly be
this weird. I’m such a freak.
The smell of the bacon was enough
to make me salivate.
Ew.

“Um, I was under the bed and saw she was
missing fingers. She waived her hand and the bed the boy was on was
cleaned and so was he. His wounds seemed slightly healed too. But
that could have been from me. I um, licked them. Like I did with
Ronan the night we fought the Wendigo. I’m not sure who cured
him.”

“Hmm, dark Witches do not cure. That was
probably you, though I am not really sure how you did this. Not
even with your little Hound here. Werewolves are so secretive.
Anyway this Witch, she did not even clean the bed. What you saw was
dark magic working to hide and manipulate the squalor that the
prisoner lives in. Whatever she took off the mattress will turn up
somewhere else in the house. Probably that rank kitchen you
described.”

She turned the eggs with the spatula and the
bacon sizzled beautifully. My mouth filled with saliva and it was
all I could do not to drool all over the table.
Yup, definitely
a weirdo.

“His wounds were healing though and he was
clean.” There was a question in my voice. She had to have helped
him. It’s what I saw.

“Not from her. I cannot explain the boy
healing. Like I said, Werewolves are secretive about their magic,
though you would probably call it
divine intervention
.
Either way,
miracles or magic
, I’m telling you though, dark
Witches can only use their power for what the Demon allows. And
Demons don’t do healing.”

“You seem to know a lot about dark Witches
for someone who is supposed to be a white Witch.”

“Yes, well so do you for a supposed Hound of
God.” She glared at Ronan and I kicked him under the table.
Be
polite.

Sherry took out some dishes and scooped up
plates of eggs and bacon. She placed one in front of Ronan and one
in front of me along with forks. The third plate she placed down on
the table I assumed was for her. It held half the food of ours.
Great, we’re pigs and she knows it.

She went and grabbed a bag of rolls and
tossed them on the table along with butter, jam and a carafe of
orange juice. Ronan sniffed his food and shrugged. I couldn’t smell
anything other than the food and Sherry’s own cinnamon scent.

“Go on now. It’ll get cold.” She brought back
a mug of coffee for herself. Ronan picked up his fork, he bowed his
head and said a quick grace. I copied him. Then we dug in.

“Thank you, Sherry. It’s really very good.”
She seemed pleased with the compliment.

“Yes, well as you’ve probably guessed I dated
Seff for a while and I know how hungry a Werewolf can be in the
morning. You must take precautions to eat properly. It will give
you strength and protect you.” I nodded and drank some juice.
Fresh squeezed. Mmm.

“Grazi, I wonder if you recall what the dark
Witch smelled like?”

“Yeah, um, you know, it was really weird. She
smelled like rancid grape Kool Aid or cough medicine. You know the
kid kind?”

Sherry looked angry, her eyes turned a dark
red and her hair seemed to move about of its own volition. Her
perfectly manicured hand gripped her buttered roll until it
crumbled to pieces.

“The Scarred Sisters. It is definite then.
And you saw fingers missing from her hand. Hmm, probably Ursula.
She is missing a nose as well or she would have smelled you hiding
there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dark Witches must sacrifice parts of
themselves to the Demons they wish to borrow power from. The
Scarred Sisters is a coven of dark Witches who go beyond what a
regular practitioner would deem responsible. Even those who follow
the dark have their limits. But not them. They have brutally maimed
themselves in order to contact the older, more powerful Demons. The
scent you described, it is death and rot, and a very high sugar
diet.”

“But it was just a dream.”

“No, it was more than that. I just want to be
sure first.”

“If you know something, tell us. Please.” I
couldn’t believe Ronan said please to a Witch. Maybe the eggs
were
be-spelled or whatever he said to me earlier.

“There are things beyond Witches and
Werewolves, Grazi. This you and your Hound here must understand
first. The Hounds of God have long since denied the goodness in
things not like them. So to them all Witches are black magic users,
all Vampires are evil and soulless, all Fairies are vile
tricksters, and so on. But there is so much more to it than that.”
I could see Ronan wanted to argue, but in the end he looked unsure
of himself and remained silent.

“Thousands of years of evolution and still we
are blinded by fear, ignorance and prejudice. It is why there are
still things like war, famine, and disease in this world. Terrible
isn’t it? We can build weapons to wipe out countries, computers the
size of a pinhead, rockets that can fly to Mars, but we cannot find
a way to broker peace with each other. Supernatural or human, we
are all still struggling with the concept of mutual cooperation and
tolerance.”

Sherry closed her eyes and took a deep sip of
her coffee. Weird, it was still steaming. I imagine that was some
magic on her part. I excused myself for the restroom and she
directed me down to the spa.

“The toilet up here is on the fritz. You can
use the one in the shop.” I went reluctantly. I didn’t want Ronan
to offend her while I was gone. He seemed busy eating another scoop
of eggs and a buttered roll with grape jelly. Should keep him busy
for a minute or too at any rate.

I thought about all of the things I had just
found out. But if they weren’t dreams how was I visiting that boy?
OMG! Is he real? Is he suffering right now while I eat eggs and
bacon?

I felt sick to my stomach at the thought. I
washed my hands and made my way back through the shop stopping to
look at some new shades of nail polish.
Ooh, Angela would love
the dark green one
. Mental note to tell her about it.

I walked silently through the hallway that
led to Sherry’s apartment. It was peaceful hear. Relaxing. Maybe a
spell to put customers at ease? I inhaled and smelled lavender and
rosemary oils. Maybe it was just aromatherapy put to good use.

I headed towards the stars. I may be new to
being a Hound of God and there was much I didn’t understand, but I
couldn’t believe Sherry was bad. She was right. Things were not
that simple. I paused when I heard Ronan’s voice.

“I know that the things Maria can do, I have
never heard of before. My ma writes me emails. She says some are
talking about it back home. There are those who think the prophecy
is coming true, they are afraid.”

“Ah, yes the prophecy,” Sherry’s voice took
on a dark quality. It gave me shivers.

I strained my ears to hear.
Finally. Some
answers
.

“‘
Against the dark ones to unite them; The
Wolf from the West will rise; Enemies, friends to war; Who seeks
truth with closed eyes; And God in His Heaven; While empires burn;
Light within dark; The rebellion ends; the Wolf destroys all; And
new dawn begins’
Only an excerpt remains and still they
tremble. And what do you think little Hound? If she is the one,
will they accept it? Will they welcome her? To change their entire
world. Or will Maria be imprisoned, mutilated or worse?”

“I’d die first.” Three short words.

That’s all he said, but my heart stopped. He
meant it. He’d die for me. I didn’t know what to say. How to
respond. But he wasn’t looking at me to respond. He was talking to
Sherry.

The Wolf from the West?
It could be
anyone. It didn’t have to be me. It sounded like nonsense. A lot of
it.
Light within dark? Rebellion, from what?
I couldn’t make
heads or tails of it.

I took the stairs heavily. He would hear me
coming then and I’d play it off like I hadn’t heard what he said.
It’s not like he’d ask.

We left shortly afterwards and I thanked
Sherry for her help. When I got back home Nonna was just waking
up.

“
Buon giorno, bella.
”

“Morning, Nonna.” I kissed her on the cheek
and went to pour some juice. I was pretty full from Sherry’s house,
but I knew she would expect me to eat. Since my change that was
pretty much the one thing she could count on. My incredible
appetite. She placed a bowl of oatmeal, four hardboiled eggs, and
sliced fruit in front of me. I exhaled and tucked in.

“You know, you’re birthday is on Thanksgiving
this year, Grazi. Isn’t that nice? We can make a big chocolate cake
for afterwards along with the pies and tiramisu,
si
?”

“Is it? Cool.”
My birthday. Hmm.
I
hadn’t even thought about it. Julianna had a huge party when she
turned sixteen. Once of those ball type thingies. I pretended to be
sick that night so I didn’t have to deal with the humiliation of
being excluded at the party. Nonna didn’t make a big deal out of it
though I’m sure she knew I was fibbing.

I definitely wouldn’t be having one. A big
party that is. I found it amazing how things like not being invited
to parties and stuff like that had ceased to matter to me. Now all
I could think about was that boy from my dream. And being a
Werewolf. And Angela and Sebby. Okay and Ronan too. So I’m not
really above all the teenager hoopla. I guess I’m just more
selective now.

I ate quietly and after rinsing my dishes and
utensils I returned to my room. There was an email alert on my
computer and my phone was ringing. I looked at it.
Unknown.
It could only be one of three people. No one else had my number. I
picked it up.

“Hello.”

“Is this
WolfGirl2014
?”

“Who wants to know?”

“You contacted me, girl.” I didn’t recognize
the voice. It was deep and accented. His manner of speech was old.
I knew who it was.

“
SilverWolf.
”

“Not on the phone. If you want to talk meet
me at Ninth Street Espresso in Chelsea Market in two hours. Bring
Chaney
, no one else.
Capisce
?”
Did he seriously
just say that?
He hung up before I got the chance to ask. I
called Ronan right away. He picked up second ring.

“Maria?” He sounded tired. Maybe he was
napping.

“Yeah, I need you to come here.”

“Right.” Funny he didn’t even need an
explanation. I called, he ran. I’d think on that later.

After explaining to Ronan the phone call, we
got on a bus to the New York City Port Authority.

“I don’t know Grazi, maybe we should let Sean
or even just Dimitri know where we are headed?”

“He said to only bring you. I don’t want to
spook him. After what Sherry told us I think we better gather all
the information we can.”

“Alright then. I’ve always wanted to go to
Chelsea Market anyway.” Thirty-five minutes later we were getting
on a subway for our meeting. Two stops over and we headed out of
the musty terminal and walked the few city blocks to seventy-fifth
street and ninth avenue.

“Since we’re going to be early, how about we
stop at the Creperie?”

“Really?” I was distracted by the enormous
brick building, the sounds around us, and the thousand smells
invading my senses all at once.

“Oh yeah, you better believe it. I’ve been
dying for a Nutella and banana crepe. Dimitri’s one hell of a cook,
but his crepes need work. Don’t tell him I said that or he’s liable
to never feed me again.” Ronan seemed to notice my agitation and he
put his hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes.

I couldn’t help it. The crowds thing again.
My Werewolf senses still needed some getting used to.

“Hey, I’m with you. Just breathe and count to
five. Only focus on what you need to. I’ve got your back, Maria.”
We inhaled and exhaled, and counted to five together. My Wolf was
contented again. I breathed easier by his side.

I hadn’t realized it, but I was about halfway
into a panic attack before he calmed me down. I wondered how
Werewolves lived in cities. There was so much stimuli to take in I
was completely overwhelmed. Ronan ordered his crepe to go and
munched on it in the hallway. Four bites and gone.

“Hey, you got a little, you know. Oh never
mind, come here.”

He stopped and tried wiping his face, but he
missed the smear of Nutella and powdered sugar. I used my thumb and
wiped it off for him. He stilled my hand and kissed the Nutella
off. A smile on his face.
Um, okay.
I admit it felt nice. I
got a little shiver down my back from that tiny kiss.

We wandered the crowded mall for a few
minutes before coming to the coffee shop. It was very different
from what I expected. The menu was quite small, but the rich scent
of fine espresso permeated the air. Clearly quality and not
quantity was their motto.
I could so get behind that
idea.