The Moon Rises (45 page)

Gigi’s eyes became slits as she glared at him.
“No, he doesn’t. His eyes are harder, colder. His eyes don’t show me anything.
He might love me or hate me, but I can’t tell. Even when he kissed me that day
after I almost died, I couldn’t tell if he really liked me or was just horny.
With you, I know you feel stuff. Maybe he can’t show those things because he’s
an Alpha, but I like your eyes better and so you’re stupid.”

“Sorry.”

“You should be. I made you a nice dinner and
waited for you and you came here and told me to fuck someone else.”

Finn flinched, not really thinking of his
intentions in such a stark way. Sighing deeply, he tentatively reached for
hand.

“I sometimes can’t understand why you’re with me.
I know you think it should be obvious, but I don’t see what you see.”

“I like your overalls,” Gigi said as her eyes
warmed. “I like thinking of you naked underneath them.”

Finn laughed and kissed her hand. “I’m a fan of
your work uniform too.”

Gigi slid closer, edging the kittens out of the
way. “I like the way your hair touches my skin when you’re kissing me, you
know, down there.”

Finn realized the jambalaya was going to have to
wait. He wrapped his arms around her as she straddled him.

“I like the way you kiss me. If I was smarter
when we met, I never would have let you go and Anton never would have had the
chance to stand me up. I’m sorry I want those other males, but Tobin said I
have a hole inside me that needs to be filled. I know that sounds naughty, but
I think he just means I need to love and be loved. When you’re with me, I feel
calm, but you act like you want to leave.”

“I do want to leave, but I don’t want to leave you.
I want to move out of the Circle so we can be happy together and not have to
worry about threats or wars or anything else.”

“Maybe one day we can leave the Circle, but I
don’t want you to dump me just because you feel dorky here. You are my choice
and you need to stop trying to get away. I picked you and you have to stay.”

Finn laughed even though Gigi said her words with
such grave sincerity. He knew something dark dwelled inside Gigi, something
hidden underneath the soft sweetness of her exterior. She wanted him and she expected
to keep him. She was staking her claim and hell hath no fury for the one who
took what she wanted from her.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I want to marry you.
I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but I love you and want to
spend the rest of my life with you.”

Gigi’s eyes lit up as she grinded gently against
him. “Don’t leave me. I can be a good wife. I promise I’ll take good care of
you and our kids.”

Finn thought to mention how their children
wouldn’t be human and what the trials a mother might endure with children who
shifted into pups when having a bad day. While Gigi wasn’t completely human,
she was more human than Finn and she didn’t understand anything about Weres.
She still called them dogs and was just relieved they didn’t eat people.
Otherwise she didn’t understand the heartache of having half breed children.
Finn didn’t mention any of this though because he had caused her enough grief
for one evening. When he had offered her a chance to walk away and be with
Anton, Gigi not only said no to his offer, but was deeply offended by it. He
wasn’t going to throw salt on the wound.

“You are mine,” Finn whispered in her ear as his
tongue danced along her neck.

Gigi shuddered and took his face in her hands. “I
am. I’m yours and you’re mine. I’m never letting you go.”

Finn believed Gigi. Despite how she desired Anton
and how Anton usually got what he wanted, Finn believed Gigi knew who she
wanted. The look in her eyes wasn’t naïve or love struck. It was dark, hungry,
and possessive. He was hers and she refused to let him go. Finn never loved her
more than when she stared into his eyes, hypnotizing him with the certainty of
their future together.

Gigi
couldn’t believe she had found him. Some part of her had assumed, maybe even
hoped, she wouldn’t, but she did find him and now Gigi was faced with killing
the master, maybe her master.

The home of the necromancer was in a nice
residential area. The faded pink Victorian loomed over Gigi as she sat in her
car and stared up at it. The monsters were inside and their master was probably
with them. The necromancer might be hurting Sara right then, but Gigi didn’t
rush inside. She wasn’t ready. Selfish as it was, Gigi needed to put things in
order before she risked her life to save the girls of The Moon Rises.

Returning to her apartment, Gigi thought about
Finn and how he would cope if she died. He loved her, wanted a life with her,
deserved everything he desired, but Gigi was about to risk it all.

Yet Gigi knew it had to be her who went into the
house and saved the girls. She didn’t trust the powerful figures in the Circle
to save Sara. They talked a good game, but they didn’t kill the monsters. It
was her task and she was going to complete it or die trying. Tomorrow night she
would make her move, needing at least one more day with Finn.

Standing at her door, Gigi thought about how the
old Victorian was much like the house her neighbor Bethany once said she lived
in. So many times Bethany asked Gigi over for tea, but they had never gotten
together. With possibly one day left in her life, Gigi decided to knock on Bethany’s door.

Even as Bethany answered her door cautiously,
Fred raced out to see Gigi. The witch’s dark brown hair was tied up in a bun
and her pale skin seemed paler than usual, yet she looked lovely in her purple
dress.

“I hoped you would come,” Bethany said, opening
the door. “I have many questions.”

Gigi frowned at the comment, but she entered the
apartment and took the seat Bethany gestured towards. Fred jumped up next to
Gigi and relaxed in her lap. The witch offered tea and a snack, but Gigi
declined. She suddenly didn’t trust the witch’s offerings.

“Your ghost isn’t here,” Bethany said as she
leaned back in her chair.

Gigi glanced around and realized Millicent was
indeed gone. Studying Bethany’s apartment, she noticed how every painting on
the wall – which was covered by paintings – displayed an angel of some kind.
Cute cherubs to avenging angels lined the apartment and even the blanket over Bethany’s legs revealed the face of an angel.

Bethany noticed Gigi’s interest and sighed. “Only
the Lord’s angels protect me from the hell which awaits me.”

“Why?”

“Witches.”

Gigi frowned. “Aren’t you a witch?”

“Oh, I have witch in my bloodline. I’m more a
mongrel than a real witch though. Too much breeding with humans has watered
down the magic in my family line. No, I fear real witches who can speak to the
elements and possess terrifying power.”

“Why do they want to hurt you?”

Bethany sighed and gazed at a picture of angels
surrounding baby Jesus.

“I was too young to know better. Too young and
too in love. I made a terrible choice and I must live with the burden of the
curse which clings to me, waiting to strike me down.”

Gigi suspected Bethany was around fifty, maybe
older. She wasn’t good at guessing ages especially with magical creatures in
the Circle where Silas looked forty and was over a hundred and Simon looked
barely thirty while he neared his thousandth birthday. Maybe Bethany was very
old or maybe she wasn’t old at all.

“What did you do?” Gigi finally asked when Bethany just stared at her paintings.

“My family has so little magic, but we have
served powerful families for many generations. I grew up serving witches who
cause the world to weep. One of them caused me weep. He was so incredibly
beautiful it almost hurt to look at him. Eyes like onyx and hair just as
black.  He was the finest beauty I had seen. After so many years, he remains
the most beautiful in my heart.”

Bethany opened the locket hanging from around her
neck and Gigi studied a small picture of a very handsome male who stared out at
the sky, looking powerful and dignified.

“Chogan is a powerful witch like all those in his
family. Only a few years older than me, I watched him grow into the brilliant
light he became and I longed for him. No more than a foolish longing for so
many years until I saw him by the lake one night. He was speaking to the wind
and he felt me watching him.  I thought he might be angry or laugh at my
foolish desire, but instead he took me into his arms and kissed me the way
every female should be kissed at least once in her life.

“It was as if he filled me with magic and I saw
the world the way he did and it was perfection. Yet he told me he would soon
marry another, but how part of his heart would always belong to me. When he let
me go, I felt as if my life had no meaning unless I could feel him again. I
convinced myself he wanted to escape the marriage with the suitable female so
he could run away with me like star crossed lovers do in the books I had read.
I lied to myself how love was more important than anything else in the world.”

Bethany sighed mournfully as if telling a story
of a recent loss, not one from many years earlier. Gigi sensed maybe Bethany hadn’t spoken of her pain in so long that it still felt fresh.

“I have weak magic, but there are ways for
anyone, even a human, to gain great power. Black magic, dark and ancient, scars
and consumes those who wield it, but I was in love and I believed love would be
enough to offset the evil of the magic I used. Such a fool, but Chogan was
worth it in my mind. As the day of his wedding approached, I made blood sacrifices.
I sacrificed no human life. I killed rats and other rodents and I thought this
would somehow keep my soul clean. Even if it could have, what I used the magic
for was wrong. With my magic, I seduced Chogan. I didn’t think it was wrong
because he loved me, but I stole his freewill. I beckoned him and he had no
power to refuse. He came to me and we made love and hid away from his family
and married in secret and soon I was with child.”

If not for the tears, Gigi wouldn’t have known Bethany was crying for her weeping was silent.

“Our child was created in the throes of a union
built on black magic. The child’s life never sparked, instead rotting inside me
as it drowned in the evil I had filled myself with so I might keep Chogan. The
child absorbed all the magic into itself. When the baby died, the magic died
with him. I dreamt I had a son with black hair and eyes like his father and a
smile like Heaven opening up and shining upon mankind. A child of such beauty
the world suffers for not witnessing him.”

Fred lifted his head and eyed his owner, whining
quietly as Bethany wiped the tears which slid down her delicate skin.

“With the magic gone, Chogan’s freewill returned.
Maybe he had once loved me, but I had treated him as a slave to my needs. He
felt betrayed and abandoned me to his family’s rage and to the rage of the
bride he left behind. Powerful witches hungered for my blood, but they would
not have killed me. As I had made Chogan my slave, I would have lived a hundred
years as a slave to the male I loved and his new wife. I would have cared for
his children who would be strong and healthy like our son never would. I would
have begged for death every day and no reprieve would have been offered for
witches lack mercy. They think themselves gods, but even the Lord shows mercy
to those who ask for it. Witches like Chogan and his family do not.”

Bethany sipped her tea from a little pink cup
which shook from her trembling hands.

“I fled all those years ago. I sometimes tell
myself Chogan allowed me to escape because some part of him still loved me or
at least pitied me.  Mostly I believe it was the angels who saved me.  I prayed
to God for mercy and He sent his messengers to lead me away from a life of
suffering. I don’t know how I escaped from the witches, but I found myself in a
magical flare. Do you know what that is, Gigi?”

Shaking her head, Gigi stroked Fred who was still
whining from his master’s unhappiness.

“A magical flare is a place so full of magic that
all magic submits to it. The Circle is a magical flare. For some, the heat of
the magic empowers them. For those like me, it hides me and blinds my enemies
to my existence. The Circle is the sixth magical flare I have called home.
Twice my enemies have found me and I barely escaped each time. The other times
I was forced to leave because the magic grew too strong. The creatures inside
the flare were overcome with magic which turned many of them into their basest
forms. Weres and Vamps reverted to no more than predators, consuming all flesh
before them. Witches rose up and fought amongst themselves, corrupted by their
needs for more power and magic. A necromancer lost his sanity and raised the
dead left behind by the raging Vamps and Weres. He sent the abominations
through the city, destroying all those within. No human survived. I barely did
myself. I have been in the Circle for ten years. The magic here hides, but
doesn’t consume. At least not yet and I hope to live out the rest of my years
here.”

Gigi felt great sympathy for Bethany because she
knew how much she would endure to stay with Finn. Yet no matter how her heart
broke for the witch, she sensed Bethany was hiding something.