Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

Nicoli groaned as his head had a not-so-gentle encounter with the floor.

“Ow, the hell was that about?” he muttered as he sat up and rubbed the back of his aching head.

The pain was soon forgotten, however, when he looked up and saw the mighty vampire hunter only a few feet away from him. Nicoli gasped and was about to turn and crawl away, or scuttle, or run. Anything to get away from the man filled with murderous intent, but he stopped.

He blinked for a few moments before his brows furrowed. He could have sworn while Omen was turning about he just looked at Nicoli, but the man did nothing. His suspicion was confirmed when Omen’s eyes passed over him again, but he didn’t look at the teen.

Nicoli slowly stood. What was going on?

“Where are you, Boy? I saw you come in here,” the man barked out, but, for some reason, it was strangely muffled.

“Can he not…see me?” Nicoli said in a breathy whisper. The next time the man rotated so his line of sight was on the boy, Nicoli quickly and frantically waved his arms in the air. He then shrank back and braced himself for some form of attack…but none came. Omen truly couldn’t see him.

A crash from downstairs made both Nicoli and Omen perk up. The boy watched the vampire hunter glance around once more before leaving the room entirely.

Nicoli pursed his lips and scratched his head.

“Just what the hell happened?” he said to himself, unable to grasp how he had been spared from the crossbows arrows. That’s when he looked around and realized he wasn’t in the same room anymore.

“What the…?” Nicoli turned and gazed around his new surrounding. He was in a very small, dark room that had soft light coming from real candles, though why they were lit was beyond him. It seemed to be that a section of the wall from the original room opened up into this small space. Had the small leaf that pressed into the wall open it somehow? But that still didn’t explain why Omen couldn’t see him if he was just in a different room. Anyone would notice a part of a wall missing.

Hesitantly, Nicoli reached out his hand and approached the opening of the small room. He blinked in surprise when his outstretched hand met resistance. He patted it a few times to make sure, but it couldn’t be anything else. The wall was still there!

“What the freaking hell is going on?” he muttered as he touched the invisible wall all over. Is that how Omen couldn’t see him? From his side one could see right through the wall, but on the other the wall was visible and solid?

That’s when he noticed the wooden leaf button he had accidentally pressed before. It was floating right in the middle of the invisible wall. Nicoli figured the button must be used to go through the wall to get into the small room and as soon as the person was through the wall closed back up. That’s how he had fallen through and how he had slipped by Omen unnoticed.

Nicoli tensed and grimaced when, out of the blue, Ethan’s voice sounded in his head.

“Nicoli! Please tell me you’re all right.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, no worries. How are you doing?” the boy questioned as he rubbed his head again.

“Well, I currently have Omen on my tail, but other than that, I’m just great,” the vampire answered, but didn’t sound too concerned about it. “I was worried because since Omen is now after me I figured my decoy either worked or…you know.”

“Well, it almost was the “you know,” but Lady Luck was on my side, apparently,” Nicoli said as he looked around the room once more. “Ethan, you’re not going to believe this, but…I found some sort of secret room.”

“….reeaally?”

“Yes, reeaally. It’s amazing how this room is hidden. I’m lucky I found it at all.”

“Well, Lady Luck really does have a thing for you tonight then. That room is probably what we’ve been looking for so just snoop around and see if you can find anything important.”

“What? But what about –”

“Thanks for the concern, Kid, its sweet.” Ethan said. “But I’m good, really. I’m basically playing a giant game of peek-a-boo with Omen and just leading him around in giant circles. This is probably the only chance we’re going to get so take the opportunity to look around that room while I distract our buddy here.”

“…if you’re sure,” Nicoli said uncertainly.

“As sure as sure can be. Just contact me again once you’ve looked over everything. Over and out.”

The conversation went dead. A light ringing was left in Nicoli’s ears, signaling that the vampire had severed his side of the connection.

The boy looked troubled. Sure Ethan said he was fine, but how fine could one be with a psychopathic vampire hunter chasing after them? Nicoli decided he’d just have to search quickly.

It was rather amazing how the whole house was made of wood, but the small room was created entirely out of stone. Then there were the many fascinating item that were hidden in the room. Three tables lined the two side walls and the back. On those tables were stacks of numerous books, old parchment, and jars filled with unidentifiable objects inside. Nicoli curiously inspected a small, squat black cauldron on one table. He coughed and pulled back when he looked a little too close.

“Dear Lord that reeks,” he said, waving his hand in front of his nose to rid himself of the smell. He then moved on to look at some of the parchment. He picked up a few and began riffling through them. It seemed that all that was written on them were ingredients and directions needed for potions.

“Deloris really was a witch,” Nicoli whispered as he set down the papers. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he then grumbled as he saw black ink smeared across the fingertips of his glove. He made to wipe it on his pants when he stopped and looked at his fingers again.

Wait a minute, he thought. These papers have to be hundreds of years old. How can the ink still come off like its…fresh?”

Nicoli quickly glanced around as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He was starting to get a bad feeling. He decided to hasten his search so he could leave the secret room as soon as possible.

After a few minutes nothing of importance had made itself known to the boy. That was until he made it to the very back of the room.

“Helllooo, what’s this?” Nicoli murmured as he spied something that seemed out of place compared to everything else.

On a small pedestal was a book, but unlike the other books this one didn’t look old and worn. As if the passage of time hadn’t touched it. The cover of the book was a dark red and the spine of it was black. What astonished Nicoli was that it seemed someone had used real gold as trimming around the edges of the cover to decorate it. Then, in the very center of the cover, also made with gold, were two letters written in cursive. L and H. Nicoli tentatively reached out and traced the letters with his clean fingers.

His heart sped up a little. Could this be what they were looking for? The book could possibly be her diary where she wrote down where she had hidden the Heart. Nicoli’s brows furrowed. Though, if it was her diary, wouldn’t the letters on the cover be D M & W? What did L H stand for?

Nicoli was about to pick up the book to examine it closer when a horrible, terrible scream tore through the house. The boy whirled around to stare out the opening of the room.

“Oh God…Ethan!”

Without another thought Nicoli sprinted from the room to go to the vampire’s aid…or he would have if he hadn’t forgotten the invisible wall was still there.

Nicoli groaned as he held his throbbing nose. As tears glistened over his eyes the boy blindly reached out with one hand to locate the button. Once he found it he pressed it in and watched in awe as the space in front of him shimmered, but when another cry followed by a crash sounded he dashed through the now opened wall and darted out of the room.

As Nicoli ran through the house he could hear the sound of fighting. So much for Ethan being fine, the boy just hoped the vampire wasn’t too badly injured. The sounds of the struggle led Nicoli right back to where everything started. The entry room. The human halted when he entered and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

The room was in shambles. The little tables were crushed into piles of wood. Vases were shattered and littered all over the room. Chunks of the walls were missing, as well as some of the paintings on the walls, and, surprisingly enough, Omen’s crossbow was lying uselessly in a corner, but that wasn’t what had Nicoli gaping in horror.

The vampire and the vampire hunter were fighting all right, but it wasn’t any normal school fight Nicoli had ever seen. This was a real brawl. A life or death battle to the bitter end.

Both men were bloody in one way or another. Ethan had three arrows jutting out from his right shoulder. They were placed in such a way that the arm had a hard time moving as smoke issued from the wounds. But even so Ethan was fierce as he used a wall to leap his way to the ceiling then kicked straight down to deliver a blow that made the other man skid back a good few feet before lunging in again.

Omen’s face was covered in blood that was pouring out of his broken nose. Blood was also seeping from what looked like claw marks ripped into his shirt across his chest. These wounds only seemed to be minor annoyances as he ducked and weaved under more attacks from the vampire. In a flash the silver axe was drawn and a gash appeared across Ethan’s throat. It wasn’t enough to mortally wound the vampire, but deep enough to cause a spray of blood to come from both his neck and mouth.

Before Omen could land another hit Ethan ducked and lashed out at the man’s torso with his fist. The vampire hunter was sent crashing into a wall and he cried out as pain blossomed in his chest as fragile ribs cracked and broke, but the pain wasn’t enough to stop him and he deftly dodged as the vampire came at him with another fist.

Ethan’s blow missed and his arm went straight through the wall, allowing Omen to drive the handle end of the axe into the vampires back with so much force it would have snapped any normal man’s spine in two. The blade of the axe came next to completely sever the bone, but Ethan’s free arm wrenched around and grabbed onto Omen’s face in a bruising grip, making the vampire hunter cancel his attack to try and pry the hand off before his skull was crushed in.

“What the hell are you doing, Stupid!?”

Nicoli nearly jumped clear out of his shoes as Felix appeared out of nowhere right beside him. He tore his eyes from the scene before him to stare at the ghost with wide eyes.

“W-What?” he stuttered.

“You’re supposed to be hiding! What the hell did you come back down here for?” the ghost asked furiously.

Nicoli’s shock ebbed away and his own anger replaced it.

“What the hell did you expect me to do? Hear all this then just stay up there and do nothing?” the boy snapped.

“Duh! You’re just going to get in the way down here!”

“What about you? You can do something, so why aren’t you?” Nicoli retorted. A fight between a vampire and a ghost against one human would be a no brainer, but, as far as Nicoli could see, Felix wasn’t doing anything to help.

The ghost grunted and stared out at the ensuing fight and his brow quivered in frustration.

“Look, I can’t, okay?” he told the boy. “I’ve already tried and everything I do just seems to either hurt Ethan or get in his way. There’s only so much I can do against someone like Omen.”

Nicoli couldn’t believe it. He was supposed to be the only helpless one, not a powerful spirit like Felix. Humans were the ones who were weak while vampires and ghosts were strong. But everything had been turned on its head. Omen, a human, was the one having the upper hand over Felix and giving Ethan a run for his money. This wasn’t right.

A cry made both Nicoli and Felix’s heads turn and they stared in horror as Omen drove the axe into Ethan’s stomach, making more blood gush and paint the floor crimson.

“Well, if you’re not going to do anything, then I am!” Nicoli said and before the ghost could ask what he was babbling about the boy dashed over to one of the ruined tables.

He wasn’t sure where this burst of courage came from. Or what made him grab the wooden leg of the table, but all he knew was that he had to help Ethan. It was the only thing on his mind as he ran up behind Omen and, with a mighty yell, brought the table leg down across the man’s back, breaking it in two as it struck its target.

Nicoli had expected it to hurt the man. To stun him for any amount of time so Ethan could turn the tables to their favor. What the boy wasn’t expecting was Omen not to budge an inch before yanking the axe out of the vampire’s abdomen and sending the boy flying with a well placed spin kick to his stomach.

“Yeah…nice try there, Buddy,” Felix said with a shake of his head as Nicoli landed a few feet within his vicinity.

Nicoli would have told the ghost to shut up, but he was too busy curling into a ball and wrapping his arms around his injured stomach. A moment later he shrieked when Omen’s silver axe landed only an inch away from his face, blade buried right into the floorboard.

“Thanks, Kid,” Ethan’s voice said in his head and Nicoli was surprised to hear such satisfied mirth in his tone.

Evidentially, while Omen had been momentarily distracted by Nicoli’s vain attempt at an attack Ethan took the opportunity to disarm him of his weapon.

Nicoli sat up shakily and stared at the axe like it was an alien or foreign item he’d never even heard of before.

“You’ve gotta use it,” Felix said, drawing the boy back to reality.

“What?”

“You can use it to throw at Omen, or-or something! I don’t know!” Felix said, his anxiety mounting with each passing second.

Nicoli looked from the axe to Felix to the two men that were now in a physical hand lock, using only their own strength against the other. Being a vampire Ethan should have been able to toss Omen away like a rag doll, but somehow, the man was holding his own.

Nicoli couldn’t just throw the axe at Omen, he could hit Ethan by accident. That’s when his eyes trailed upward to the grand chandelier that was right above the fighting men’s heads. The impressive thing was only being held up by cable that, no doubt, had thing wires within it to light it. That’s when a plan formed itself in the boy’s mind. It was a crazy plan, ludicrous even, but it was the only shot they had.

“Ethan!” Nicoli cried out as the vampire pulled free one hand to sock into Omen’s already broken ribcage.

“Not now,” the vampire said gruffly as Omen pulled the same move and buried his hand in the gash across Ethan’s stomach.

“No, listen to me. When I tell you to, I want you to get away from Omen as fast as you possibly can.

“What are you going to –”

“Don’t question me, just do it!”

“…all right. I trust you, Nicoli,” Ethan said as he punched Omen in his vulnerable back.

Nicoli nodded as he stood up and took hold of the axe’s handle. With a few, fierce, tugs he pulled it free then turned to the fighting pair.

“What are you doing?” Felix questioned.

“Just wait and see,” Nicoli said as he hefted the axe up so he could hold it firmer. It was a lot heavier than he first anticipated and he hoped that wouldn’t throw him off too much. He then angled himself right in front of the men and the chandelier. Nicoli then positioned himself in a way that was all too familiar. It was a pitchers pose.

Felix looked from the boy to what he was staring so intently at. The chandelier. Felix realized what he planned to do and panic filled every inch of his see-through body.

“Are you insane!?” he cried out. “You’ll never hit that!”

“Just watch me,” Nicoli said calmly, his eyes never leaving his target. He took a moment to breathe in and focus until everything in the room disappeared and all that was left was him and the chandelier. “Little League, don’t fail me now.”

Nicoli’s body moved like pure poetry. Every muscle in his body worked to perfection and, with almost inhuman strength, he sent the axe flying. It went off like a shot and soared through the air. Both Nicoli and Felix held their breath as the axe sailed and, just at the right moment, the weapon’s blade sliced through the cord like a hot knife through butter.

“Ethan! Now!!!” Nicoli screamed as gravity took hold of the chandelier and it began to descend.

The vampire only took a second to look up and, when he realized what was going on, he slammed Omen’s head into the ground and leapt away from the area like a bat out of hell.

Omen pushed himself up and was about to go after Ethan, but he must have felt the impending danger because he also looked up. A horrified look crossed his face and he only had time to cover his head with his arms before the chandelier crashed on top of him.

The whole house shook right down to its very foundation, but Nicoli didn’t notice as he was tackled to the ground and had the wind knocked out of him. It took a few moments for his daze to pass, but when it did he realized he had his own vampire shield as Ethan lied on top of the boy with his arms around him protectively.

Ethan was the first to move as he pulled himself up enough to look down at the other.

“You al’right?” he asked, a joyous grin spreading across his bloodied face.

“Yeah, I think so…you?” Nicoli asked, finding his own question absurd given the man’s condition.

“Oh yeah, what’s a few missing layers of skin and flesh to a vampire?” Ethan asked rhetorically. He then removed himself from Nicoli as he stood up then helped the boy to his feet.

They both then took in the scene before them. The room was just as messy as before, but now glass was scattered across the floor from the candle light bulbs and the chandelier was a twisted, metal piece of scrap now, but Omen’s form could be seen from underneath it.

“Holy shit…,” Nicoli muttered as he slowly approached the wreckage. “I-I didn’t kill him…did I?” he stuttered. He wanted to stop Omen more than anything, but that didn’t mean he wanted to kill the man. No matter how hard Omen had tried to kill the boy, taking human life had never crossed Nicoli’s mind.

Seeing his distress, Ethan went to the man. He reached into the mangled chandelier to take hold of the suppression charm around Omen’s neck and yank it off. The vampire stilled for a few minutes before shaking his head.

“No, he’s alive. He’s just unconscious,” he said after hearing the man’s heartbeat. He then smiled at the boy. “It’d take more than this to kill the man, believe me.”

Nicoli sighed in relief, which didn’t last long when an excited Felix appeared in front of him.

“You fucking genius!” The ghost cried out enthusiastically. “That was incredible! I’ve never seen someone pull something off like that! Ever! Holy shit, the way you threw it and-and shit! It was so – just…fucking amazing! I could fucking kiss you! Actually –”

Nicoli didn’t have time to decipher the continuous flow of words that spewed from Felix’s mouth when, without warning, solid, cold ghostly lips pressed against his own. He stood there, frozen, for moments, even when the ghost then went to the vampire to hug him and pepper kisses all over his face.

“Gah! Felix!” Nicoli cried out when he absorbed what had just happened. “Will you two stop kissing me when you get excited!? I mean really!”

Once everything had settled down they set on what was really important: Taking care of Ethan’s wounds. Nicoli had the pleasure of taking out the arrows lodged in the vampire’s shoulder. It was a long, arduous process, and Nicoli squeaked more than once as blood kept squirting out at him – he would have to dispose of his clothes and his mother’s gloves since both were soaked in the crimson liquid from when the vampire had protected the boy and their current game of “Doctor” –.

After all the arrows were safely removed they had to tend to the shards of glass that had embedded themselves into the vampire’s back from the crash. Felix was the one to take care of those. One by one the shards of glass were taken out by an unseen force until the vampire’s body was free of all foreign objects.

They didn’t have to concern themselves with Ethan’s other wounds. His throat had already healed and his stomach was following suit nicely without help.

Then the trio turned to their next problem, and that was what to do with Omen. It wasn’t a hard decision. While Ethan worked on pulling the man out from under the chandelier Nicoli and Felix went and tore down a window curtain. They then found some rope in a closet that the owners of the house were using as a storage closet.

With items in hand the team rolled the vampire hunter up in the curtain and tied him up tight with the rope like a holiday ham. They then shoved the man into a handy closet – the same one the boys’ had retrieved the rope – the idea suggested by Felix, of course.

“So, this is where the secret room is?” Ethan asked as they stood in the study. As soon as all the commotion had settled the vampire demanded to be taken to the room Nicoli had found earlier.

“Yep, I just have to find the button first,” the boy replied as he fumbled around the wall, not remembering which leaf was the right one. “Aha, here we go,” Nicoli said in victory as he pushed in the disguised button.

“Um…nothing happened,” Felix stated the obvious when nothing on the grandeur scale happened.

Nicoli pouted. This wasn’t right. He then perked with a thought. In all the hubbub Omen had caused Nicoli had never really seen just how the wall became intangible. With that thought in mind he placed a hand on the wall and grinned from ear to ear when his hand vanished into it.

“Nothing happened my foot,” he said to the ghost before slipping fully into the secret room.

Ethan and Felix shared surprised looks before quickly following the boy. Once inside they looked around in awe at the room.

“My, my, Deloris really did have a few secrets up her sleeve,” Ethan murmured as he glanced over the items occupying the tables.

“Yeah, who would have thought any of this was back here?” Felix said as he phased easily back and forth through the invisible wall.

“That’s not all,” Nicoli said to get there attention. “I didn’t find much of anything when I first snooped around. Except for this little baby.”

Ethan and Felix both approached as Nicoli gestured to the book he had found earlier.

“It’s the only thing that looks like it’d be even remotely helpful to us,” the boy said as the vampire and ghost stared at it, almost transfixed. “I just don’t get the cover though. What do you think the initials stand for?” he asked curiously.

“L H…” Ethan said softly and he didn’t miss the astonished look Felix gave him.

“No way. Ethan, could it be…?”

“Most definitely,” the vampire replied with a wide, toothy grin.

“Most definitely what? Come on, don’t leave me in the dark here,” Nicoli huffed.

“These letters, my dear little friend,” Ethan said as he pointed at the elegant, cursive letters. “Stand for “Last Hope,” this is their seal.”

Nicoli’s mouth fell open and he stared at the book in wonder.

“Whoa…Last Hope, you mean the ones who –”

“Were the ones responsible for hiding the Hearts, that’s right. This is exactly the kind of thing we’ve been looking for. It proves Deloris was the Guardian of the Heart and this book could very well have the location of the Heart hidden in its pages. You’ve done well, Nicoli,” Ethan said and ruffled the boy’s hair affectionately, who smacked his hand away.

“Thank God we found it then,” Felix said. “I’d be pissed if we went through all of this to turn up with nothing.

“Ditto,” Nicoli agreed.

“Well, let’s take this baby out of here and go celebra – ack!” Ethan was cut off as he made to scoop up the book, but the book let off a radiant light and when he pulled back his hand it was burned.

“Warded to keep vampires away. Figures,” Felix muttered as he fussed over the vampire’s hand.

“Nothing is ever easy. Hold on, I’ll be back,” Nicoli said and left the secret room. A few minutes he reappeared with a sheet he had nicked from one of the bedrooms. He quickly picked up the book and wrapped it up with the sheet.

“I am so sick of getting burned and cut up,” Ethan muttered as he took the book when the boy offered it.

“Well, you won’t have anymore tonight. We got what we wanted, so let’s get the hell out of here,” Felix said, ready to leave the wretched house and never return.

“I second that. I am so over this,” Nicoli agreed once more.

“Best idea I heard all night,” Ethan said and the trio made their leave with their hard earned prize in hand.

************************************************************************

Deloris Mary-Weather’s house stood still once more. Time crept by and dawn was fast approaching. The silence didn’t last long as thumps sounded. One. Two. Three thumps until the door to a closet relented and Omen burst from within. He stumbled and fell to his knees, breathing heavily.

It was bad enough to lose a fight to an abominable monster like Ethan, but it was worse to wake up in a small closet and, to top it all off, be hogtied by a curtain. If the other vampire hunters heard about it he’d never live it down.

But that wasn’t his most pressing concern at the moment. His body hadn’t faired well in the fight. His broken and fractured bones were radiating pain and he was sure he was slowly bleeding internally by the way he coughed up blood. If he had been unconscious for much longer he would have bled to death.

Fighting not to collapse, Omen reached around his belt until he felt a small case attached to it. It was a case made of such tough material it couldn’t be destroyed even if a tank rolled over it. His fingers made quick work of opening it and he pulled out a syringe filled with a clear, bluish substance.

The man rolled up his sleeve and uncapped the needle before inserting it into a vein in his arm. He didn’t flinch or make a sound as he injected himself with the odd liquid. When the syringe was empty he took it out and waited. The effects were almost immediate. Omen doubled over and a strained groan rumbled from him as all the damaged bones in his body began to reset and repair themselves. His head began to clear and he sighed in relief when he was sure all the excess blood flooding his system was taken care of.

“Fucking vampire. Fucking ghost…and fucking kid for that matter,” he grumbled as he sat back and rubbed his face with his hand. He was glad he could breathe through his nose again.

His brow quirked when a little song began to play from his pants pocket. He reached in a pulled out his cell phone. He was always amazed that it survived his skirmishes with the undead. He took one look at the number and groaned as he flipped it open.

“Hello, good timing you have. I’m impressed,” he said and quieted when the person on the other end spoke. “No, actually, they did show up tonight, plus one other…just some snot nosed human punk,” he answered. He tilted his head to the side and rubbed his neck as he continued to listen. “Yep, that’s exactly why they had the human with them. Took down every talisman and barrier he could get his little hands on. I guess your little ploy didn’t work out as well as you had planned,” he said, a bit snider than he had intended, but Omen wasn’t in the mood to be polite.

“How the hell should I know?” Omen said to the other. “I was a little too busy trying to tear that damn vampire to pieces then something…unexpected happen…fine, fine, I’ll go check.”

The man hefted himself to his feet and made his way to the second floor, all the while idly chatting to the person who had called. The voice directed him to the study and he stood in front of the bare wall. He was fed information on the location of the hidden button and when Omen entered the secret room he put two and two together.

“So this is where he was hiding,” he murmured, looking out to the other room through the invisible wall. “Nothing,” he told his caller’s question. “So, what exactly am I looking for?” Omen listened for a moment then went to the back of the room and examined the bare pedestal.

“No…it’s not here,” he said. Unease grew in his chest when the other end went silent and he wanted to punch a hole through the wall. “Shit,” he growled instead. “You have my extreme apologies. I failed. They must have gotten their filthy hands on it. I’m sorry,” he apologized again.

The caller spoke reassuring words to him. The person was always so calm, even though Omen had only met them a few times, they had the patience and serenity of God Himself. A surprised look crossed his face and he grinned when the caller told him a juicy piece of information.

“Is that right? Well, maybe hope isn’t lost yet. If that’s true then there isn’t a single thing they can do with it and we just bought ourselves some time.”

The grin turned sinister and a deadly glint appeared in his mismatched eyes.

“I’ll get that book back for you and I’ll add the vampire’s head as a bonus.”

=============================================Ch. 19 End