The Moon Rises (23 page)

When Declan called Finn to tell him about Gigi,
his brother didn’t say much, just thanked him for the information and hung up.
After the search ended, Declan felt restless as the anger faded into sorrow and
loss. He decided to go looking for Finn and wasn’t shocked to learn his brother
was with Michael.

No one liked Michael, maybe not even Michael
himself. Finn though had somehow bonded with the enforcer, putting up with his
mood swings and day long bouts of silence. The two Weres existed outside the
pack system, though in Declan’s mind his little brother was part of his pack
and was protected as such.

The sign on the door said Robert Hannigan which
was some inside joke of Michael’s that Declan didn’t get. Upstairs in Michael’s
apartment, Declan found his brother who answered the door looking like he
hadn’t slept in a week.

“Mike’s cranky,” Finn said in a whispery voice.

“What’s new?” Declan replied, entering the
apartment.

“He shifted into a wolf when he heard Gigi was
dead and he refuses to shift back. I even tried giving him Alpo, but he only
growled at me.”

Declan grinned slightly, but Finn looked
miserable. Taking care of Michael was the only thing keeping the tenderhearted
kid from losing his cool.

“Are you alright?” Declan asked, not feeling okay
himself.

Finn eyed Michael who sat curled up in the corner
with his tail over his face. Turning back to Declan, he shook his head.

“Gigi was special,” Finn said in that whispery
voice. “She was so sweet and some monster killed her. It’s not right.”

Declan hugged Finn and his brother melted against
him, all the fatigue and sorrow oozing out of him. Finn didn’t go nuts for many
girls, but he had swooned over Gigi. Declan wanted her too and he had been
standing feet away when something stole her away.

“I loved her, Dec. She was the only girl I ever
loved and she’s gone.”

Declan flinched at his brother’s whispered
confession then reverted to his big brother, Alpha persona.

“We’ll figure out who did this to Gigi and kill
the sonovabitch.”

Finn didn’t let go of Declan, didn’t react to his
words, just leaned into the hug and wept. Michael whined in the corner, balling
himself up even tighter. For the first time, Declan realized the enforcer had
actual feelings.

Declan was relieved to have Finn and Michael to
console because he wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with his own feelings. In a
few hours, the sun would rise on a day without Gigi and none of them were ready
for this new reality.

Gigi didn’t want Nolan to leave because he was
beautiful and his soft eyes comforted her. Gigi watched him go and wondered how
long before she finally died. She also wondered where her ghost had gone.

When voices grew loud in the next room, Gigi feared
another monster was coming. Was it eating her friends? Would it eat her? She
didn’t care if it ate her because she couldn’t feel her body anymore. She
wanted her friends to live though.

The guard glanced back towards the noises then at
Gigi. He nodded at her, but she didn’t nod back because she couldn’t move her
body. Another loud voice echoed from the other room and this time it sounded
like Ella. Gigi looked to the wall as if she might see through it and know why
they were so upset.

A noise drew her attention back to the guard who
was now on the ground, leaning against the wall. A shadow moved closer and Gigi
felt a hint of fear. Maybe she did care if she was eaten after all. The room’s
pale light found the face of the shadow and she saw it was a man, not a
monster. Or maybe he was the man who sent the monster. The voice she heard from
the mouth of the beast.

“Gigi,” the man said quietly and his face
clenched when he noticed her wounds. “It’s going to be alright, sunshine.”

“Who are you?” she said with great effort.

The man didn’t answer, just lifted her into his
arms and smiled gently.

“Are you going to eat me?” she asked.

The man’s smile was replaced by a dark frown.
“No, Gigi. Just rest.”

Gigi didn’t even know she closed her eyes. When
she opened them, she was in her bed. The lavender walls soothed her and she
heard Nina Simone singing from the living room. Her chest wasn’t torn open anymore,
but her body felt strange.

The man was nearby, staring out the window. His dark
brown hair was a bit shaggy and he was dressed like a Were - in jeans and a tee.
Yet he didn’t have the presence of a Were. After a moment, he turned to her and
his blue eyes were sorrowful.

“Are you suffering?” he asked.

“I feel weird like when I sat on my foot and it
fell asleep.”

The man smiled slightly and walked to the bed. He
sat on the edge and took her hand.

“You’ll feel better in the morning.”

“Who are you?”

The man didn’t answer right away. “What do you
remember about before you came to the Circle?”

“Mamma Celeste cooking and Nina Simone singing.”

“Anything else?”

“No. My memories were lies.”

“Yes, they are.”

“My mind ate them and I don’t have them anymore.”

The man frowned. “That’s unfortunate.”

“Did you take the real ones?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

The man didn’t answer right away. “I’m Daniel.”

“Are you my friend?”

A hint of a smile touched the corner of his
mouth. “You fought a monster which was brave, but foolish.”

“It took my friend.”

“I’m happy you have friends, but you must be careful.”

“It was going to kill Dave and he has a family. I
don’t have anyone, so I wanted to save him. I did the right thing.”

Daniel’s blue eyes darkened and he looked
terribly unhappy, much like Anton and Nolan looked when they thought she would
die.

“Are you a witch?” Gigi finally asked when he
said nothing.

“When you wake up, you’ll be healed and you won’t
remember me. You will feel strange for not remembering, but you will remember
the monster and you will remember how you were brave.”

“I wasn’t brave. I was angry.”

Daniel flinched. “How angry?”

“So angry I wanted to tear the monster to pieces.
I didn’t though. It was too strong.”

“You must stay calm. I know it is difficult to be
calm when monsters attack you, but your anger isn’t a good thing.”

“Ella gets angry all the time. My friend Sara who
was taken would get angry. They’re good. Why can’t I get angry?”

“Because you’re special.”

“Because I’m dumb?”

“You’re not dumb,” Daniel said with a sigh.

“Why won’t you let me remember you?”

“Because it’s safer for you not to remember.”

“Am I in danger? The monster tonight didn’t want
me.”

“No, I suspect it didn’t. You must stay in the Circle
and you must stay calm and you must hide. Do you understand?”

“No.”

Gigi wanted to sit up and touch Daniel, even
though she sensed he didn’t want to be touched. Her body refused to move when
she commanded it to and she just laid there like a lump.

“I want to know things. Why are you hiding them
from me?”

“Gigi, you are a child and…”

“I’m not a child. I have a job and an apartment
and I know how to drive and I went on a date and I do adult stuff. I want to
know.”

The heat behind her words faded when Daniel
touched her face. “Anger is not good.”

Gigi sighed with frustration, though she didn’t
really want to be angry anymore. Daniel made the need disappear.

“Is Gigi my real name?”

Daniel smiled as he stood and returned to the
window. The lights in the room switched off except for the pink nightlight
which turned on. Nina Simone continued to sing softly in the next room and Gigi
felt sleepy.

“You’re not my friend, are you?” Gigi said as her
eyes grew heavy.

Daniel turned to her and she saw his face slide
into a frown.

“I love you, Gigi. Trust that what I do is to save
you from things worse than not knowing your past. You have a good life here.
Please sleep and wake up feeling better.”

Gigi wanted to ask more questions. Ask why he
loved her and if he was her family? Instead her eyes were too heavy and she
dozed off listening to Nina Simone singing about feeling good.

Anton knew loss and loneliness. His family was
long dead. His uncle Dmitri lived longer than the others, but he was dead more
than thirteen years. Many Weres in his pack had died over the long bloody wars
in the Circle. Some died while he was a solider and others when he was Alpha.
Anton absorbed the pain of each loss and lived with it. He was having less
success accepting Gigi death.

The fact that he barely knew her and would never
have really known her didn’t change the pain he felt. Anton needed Gigi - even
if he only saw her for short periods a day – and he needed to know she would
grace his life again.

Telling himself his brooding was silly or how he
had more important things to consider only made him feel worse. No matter how
silly the feelings were or the impending war, Anton missed Gigi. He hadn’t
saved her, instead standing around with the others while a monster stole her
away.

Guilt and depression hung over Anton as he sat in
his empty office, having told the others to stay home. Maybe it was wrong to
mourn Gigi the way they hadn’t mourned Katia, Monica, or Sara. Yet Anton wasn’t
the only one grieving today.

He saw the anger in Declan’s eyes when they gave
up the search for her. The Alpha preferred anger to sadness, but it would hit
him eventually. Maybe when he told his younger brother how the girl they both
wanted was dead.

Even the Master Vamp and necromancer seemed less
indifferent than usual as they departed the club. Everyone wanted a little
piece of Gigi, Anton realized. They were all greedy bastards, hungering for the
beauty and innocence Gigi provided. No matter why Anton needed Gigi, the grief
was real. Unable to shake the pain, he sat alone in his office and tried to
remember what she looked like before a monster tore her apart.

When the bell on the front office rang, Anton
tensed, wondering who would ignore the CLOSED sign. He turned the corner of his
private office and found no one, but then he smelled it – the lovely aroma of cocoa
and a wood fire.

Stepping into the office, Anton heard the file
cabinet open and turned to find Gigi with a stack of files. She glanced at him
when he entered.

“Melanie told me to file today.”

While Anton knew ghosts were real and he also heard
a ghost followed Gigi around, he always believed ghosts wouldn’t seem so solid
or smell so good.

“Gigi, you don’t have to file,” Anton said,
moving slowly so not to spook her.

“Melanie said…”

Reaching out, Anton touched her arm. Instead of a
ghost, she was flesh and bone. His mind seized upon Tobin’s ability to return
some version of Gigi. Anton also remembered the necromancer’s inability to
sense the monster which came for Gigi.

Did Tobin steal Gigi and return her to life as
some sort of plaything? If so, why was she here filing, instead of hiding away
in Tobin’s mansion?

Pulling the paperwork from her hands slowly, Anton
dropped them on the desk. His hands found her face which was warm like the
expression in her eyes.

“You were worried about me last night.”

“How can you be alive?” Anton finally asked.

Gigi didn’t answer immediately, enjoying his
caressing fingers on her cheeks. Her dark eyes were dreamy as she smiled.

“I fell asleep in the room at the club. When I
woke up this morning at home, I was fine. I don’t know what happened.”

Anton lowered his hands to the seam of her shirt.
“Can I check something?”

Nodding, Gigi was still watching him in her warm
and dreamy way. Anton lifted her shirt to her bra and found only flawless skin
where the night before was a gaping hole. He knew of the necromancer’s magic
and this kind of healing wasn’t possible for Tobin.

Most ghouls were ugly because death was ugly. Bringing
back the human body in pristine form was impossible. Even under the best circumstances,
if Gigi were a zombie, her face might look a bit too pale while her eyes a hint
too vacant. The wounds would remain though. Tobin could have sewn her up and
made her body function on a very basic level, but the Gigi standing before Anton
was unblemished.