Dance of Moonlight

When the smoke had cleared Kristian and Jacob lifted up their heads slowly. The apartment building was nothing but rubble around them. There was no way of knowing that a four-story building had once stood there unless someone had seen it before. The way the remaining pieces of the apartments took the two by surprise. There should have been a lot of stuff on top of them, but it was like everything had exploded outwards.

There were a lot of people starting to get up from the remaining rubble. It was a miracle that no one had been hurt or died since most of the people they were looking at lived on the third and fourth floors of the apartment building. Jacob’s apartment was on the second level and he had no idea how they managed to end up on the ground unharmed.

“Jacob, we need to get out of here before the cops come.” Kristian said. “We can’t have them taking her to a hospital.” He lowered his eyes to the Brett and Jacob’s eyes followed.
She was lying there unconscious. Her hands were closed around the scroll tightly and there was a cut on her upper cheek. How it got there they weren’t for sure since they were on top of her.

“You’ll have to pick her up. I can’t do it and keep the blanket on.” Jacob told Kristian. He nodded and picked Brett up into his arms, making sure to keep the blanket around her. He didn’t have to worry about her dropping the scroll since she had a death grip on it. They made their way out of the pieces of building and got to Kristian’s car. He put her in the backseat gently and got behind the wheel. Jacob joined him up front. As they pulled out of the parking lot they could hear the sirens.

“Make it quick.” Jacob told him. Kristian got out onto the highway and floored it. He only slowed down when the police, ambulances, and fire trucks passed them.

“Where are you going?” Jacob asked.

“You two need clothes. Unless you want to walk around in blankets all day.” Kristian turned left into the parking lot of Wal-Mart since the Supercenter was the biggest store the town had to offer.

“I see your point, but I don’t have any money to buy clothes for her, let alone myself.”

“I’ll buy them this time around and you can pay me back later.” Kristian told him. When he finally found a place to park Jacob got out of the car and got into the backseat to try to wake Brett up.

“Are they going to let us in there without clothes on?”

“We’ll just tell the door greeter that you two were swimming and someone took your clothes.” Jacob didn’t say anything to that but turned back to Brett.

“Brett, wake up.” He said shaking her gently.

“Bite her, that’ll wake her up.” Kristian said from the front. He had turned around in the seat to look at them.

“I’m not going to bite her, she’s already been bit enough for one day.” He gripped her shoulder and shook her again. Her skin was incredibly cool under his hand.

“She’s cold,” Jacob said to Kristian while looking at Brett. “She wasn’t earlier, she was hot. Remember?”

“Yeah, I remember.” Kristian replied. Jacob leaned across her body and put his face close to hers. He rubbed the side of his face against hers. He pulled back enough to lick a hot, wet line up her cheek and across the cut that was there. That did it.
The sudden warmth of heat on her face brought her awake. That and the sting from the cut when he licked it. She was so cold and didn’t know why.

“Jacob?” She said turning her head to face him.

“Right here, Brett.” He said from above her.

“We’re alive?” She asked. Jacob nodded.

“Barely. And so is everyone else that was inside.” Kristian told her from the front seat. She moved just her eyes to look at him then back to Jacob.

“Is that why I’m so cold? Because of what I did?”

“What did you do?”

“I did what you showed me. I reached out with my mind but this time I felt for all the people around us and the three of us. I wasn’t going to stay there and have all those people die. I…I’m not sure what I did. But I thought in my mind of all of us in a steel room where nothing could get us.” Jacob smiled above her then leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“You put a ward around us, around everyone. I didn’t know you knew how to do that. And I didn’t know it was possible to put a ward around that many people at once.” Kristian said.

“Neither did I.” She told him. “Where are we?” She asked.

“Store. Need to get us some clothes.”

“What do we do with this while we’re inside?” She held up the scroll.

“I’ll carry it. I’m the only one with pockets.” Kristian said taking it from her hand. “Now let’s go get you into clothes so you aren’t so cold.”


“Come on, Brett. Why is this taking so long? All you need is pants, shirt, and anything you wear under your clothes.” Kristian said through the dressing room door.

“Shut up, Kristian. I hate trying to find pants.” He sighed and walked around the dressing rooms to sit beside Jacob on the bench.

“She’s a girl, what can I say?” Jacob said.

“Yeah, and it only took you about three minutes to find clothes.” Jacob shrugged. It had only taken him about that long, and a little longer to find boots. He had on a pair of blue jeans, a green t-shirt, boxers, socks and hiking boots. He had all the tags in his hand so the cashier could scan them when they were finished.

“What is it with girls that makes them take so long?” Kristian said impatiently. He really didn’t like the fact that they were out in the open after Jacob’s apartment building was blown up. And being out in the open would make it easier for Mathayus to find them.

“Kristian, calm down. She’ll be done in a minute.” Jacob said. A few minutes later they heard the door open and Brett walked out and stood in front of them.

“Well, what do you think?” She asked. Both of them looked at her and couldn’t form words. She wasn’t wearing anything revealing or something to make herself look good, she just looked good all on her own. She had on a dark blue t-shirt that clung to her body and showed off her figure. Her jeans started at her hips and flared out at the knees. On her feet was a pair of red tennis shoes with dark purple laces.

“Hot.” Kristian said with a grin.

“Beautiful.” Jacob said standing up.

“No you don’t,” Kristian said grabbing Jacob’s arm. “No kissing, no hugging right now. Now is the time to get out of the public. You know as much as I do that we’re bigger targets in the open.”

“How can he do that?” Brett asked handing over the tags for her clothes. She laid the blanket over her arm and they started walking to the front of the store. Kristian and Jacob stood on either side of her.

“He can use people, read their mind, possess them. Pretty much like he did with Jacob when you first met him. But he can do that with people that he’s never met or seen. He can randomly pick a person and see what they’re seeing, make them do anything he wants. Being in a crowd this big is just asking for trouble if he thinks we’re here.” Kristian explained.

“Would he really think that we were here, in Wal-Mart of all places? We’re supposed to be dead remember?” Brett said.

“Do you really think that he would believe us dead? Come on, Brett. He may not be here but he’s not stupid.” Kristian said.

“Well you don’t have to be a jerk about it, Kristian.” She said as they got in line to pay for their clothes. Taking the blanket she wrapped it around her to try to keep herself warm. Saturday morning was one of the busiest times in the entire week. The lines were fairly long, backing out into the main aisle. That’s one reason that Brett felt the two walking towards them. She stepped backwards to the end of the line and looked down the main aisle. There were two men walking in their direction that seemed really out of place. How many people are that big and look that imposing in a small town? Not many.

“Brett?” Jacob said looking to where she was. Kristian’s gaze soon followed.

“Are they who I think they are?” Kristian said.

“Yeah.” Jacob told.

“Who?” Brett asked.

“Later.” The guys said together.

“Forget paying. We’re getting out of here.” Jacob said and grabbed Brett’s arm. Kristian walked on her other side and they headed for the doors. They made it as far as the door greeter when two more guys walked through the doors. The three of them turned around immediately and started going for the back of the store. They could feel the four men following them. They were all going different way, but they were still following.

“Take her and go that way,” Jacob said point down the back aisle. “I’ll go this way. Maybe we can get the to split up and get them off our tails enough to get outside.”

“Be careful, I don’t want to have to identify your body later.” Kristian said pulling Brett down the aisle. “You’re going to have to loose the blanket.” He told her. She nodded and threw the blanket in a bin that was in the middle of the aisle. Her teeth started to chatter soon after the got rid of the blanket. Kristian put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to them as they walked.

“God, you are cold aren’t you?” He asked.

“I wasn’t lying.” She told him.


Jacob was walking back towards the front of the store, staying close to the wall. Which wasn’t all that close since the meat shelves were along the wall. When he made it down the middle of the aisle, two of the men stepped out from one of the other aisles. Both of them were over six five, which made them taller than Kristian. And both of them were built. Muscles bulged under their clothes without them having to flex. They were good at what they did. Which was to either kidnap people or kill them. Jacob could figure out which they were here for now.

“Magnus, Stephan.” Jacob said with a nod to each.

“You know why we’re here?” Stephan asked.

“Yes.”

“Then where is she?” Magnus asked.

“Who?”

“Don’t be cute with us, Jacob. Give us Brett and you and Kristian can go.” Jacob shook his head.

“I can’t give over something that I don’t have.” He held his arms out wide. “Does it look like she’s with me?” Magnus and Stephan both took steps towards him but Jacob moved further down the aisle. Any one that had previously been in the aisle had left it not wanting to get caught up in what was going on. None of them would call the police or tell anyone about it, everyone in this town was afraid.

“But you know where she is. And we know that Kristian is with her inside the store. You three can’t run from us. There’s no where for you to go.”

“Really?” Jacob said. “Well in that case,” Jacob ran forward with the speed that only wereanimals have. Magnus and Stephan were too, but catching them off guard would do the trick. He collided with the two and sent them flying back into the aisle they had just come from. Magnus was first on his feet and rushed at Jacob with the same amount of speed. Jacob seen him coming and braced himself for the impact. When Stephan ran into him, Jacob reached out and grabbed the other man’s shoulders, bringing him to an abrupt stop. He drew his arm back and punched Stephan and it sent him backwards onto the floor. He held his face. His jaw was broken and he was making painful noises.

Magnus was up off the floor. He didn’t plan on running for Jacob, it wouldn’t work. He stepped over Stephan and stalked towards Jacob. As he walked he let his power flare out and rain down on Jacob. Magnus was a werewolf, and an alpha. Jacob would be no match for his power since Jacob wasn’t an alpha. He shoved his power towards Jacob and was only met with Jacob’s smile.

Jacob stood there and let Magnus’ power wash over him. Magnus was powerful, but not as powerful as he was. There weren’t many people more powerful than Jacob. Many thought they were but Jacob never let on how powerful he truly was. It was the only way he could stay alive and not be challenged. That and he didn’t want Mathayus to use him to do the really horrible things. Now he was about to show how powerful he really was. Was he crazy? Probably.

His eyes had bled into a bright blue until his eyes were nothing but the color of blue. No white was showing. He let his own power flow from his skin and into Magnus. A deep growl escaped his lips.

“It’s not possible…” Magnus said, his voice dragging. His eyes were wide in shock. Jacob ran forward and grabbed two fistfuls of Magnus’ shirt.

“Didn’t think you’d meet another alpha, did you?” Jacob asked with a growl. Magnus grabbed Jacob’s wrists and pried they away from his shirt. It wound up ripping his shirt since both of them had grips of steel. Jacob walked backward out into the main aisle with Magnus following him. By the time they had both made it into the aisle, Magnus’s own eyes had bled to a deep amber color.

One advantage of being an alpha was that you could do a partial change. Both Jacob and Magnus flexed their hands. The skin started to stretch and take form. Their fingers didn’t so much as stretch as they became claws.

“Challenge, or regular fight?” Jacob asked as they circled each other.

“Challenge. I do not want to have to put up with you as an alpha, now that I know you are one.” Magnus said. Jacob nodded and the fight began.


Brett dropped down to the floor and covered her head as two wolves jumped over her. She wasn’t for sure when she had lost Kristian in the running but she had. She had ended up on the far side of the store near the bikes. There were two racks of them with two levels and there were some hanging from the ceiling.

The wolves let out frustrated howls as they slipped on the floor. Wolves weren’t made to stop fast on slick floors. Brett picked herself up and ran over to the bikes. She used the ones on the bottom rack to stand on and reach for the ones above her. She grabbed the wheel and seat of the one directly above her and pulled herself up onto the second level. She could hear the wolves jumping on the bikes below her. She climbed up on the bikes and reached for the ones attached to the ceiling. She knew it wasn’t a good idea. The brackets could give out at any moment and she would fall to the floor and be attacked by the wolves. But she didn’t have anywhere else to go. No, she couldn’t risk it. She took her hands away from the bikes above her and moved to the other side of the rack. The wolves were trying to bite her through the spokes on the wheels. She jumped over to the next rack of bikes and almost lost her grip on one of them. She pulled herself through them and stood in the middle of the bikes.

“Kristian!” She screamed. By this time the entire store had been evacuated due to wild animals running around. It wouldn’t be long until someone came to catch them and take them away, if they came at all. People in this town never did much about anything.

The wolves jumped down onto the ground and stalked the bike rack she was on. The occasionally jumped up to nip at her feet if she stood to close to the edge.

“Hey!” Kristian yelled running around the corner of the nearest aisle. The wolves turned their heads and looked at him.

“Stay up there, Brett.” He said not taking his eyes off the wolves in front of him. He reached into his jeans pocket and tossed
her the scroll. She caught it and stuffed it into her own jeans pockets.

The first thing about him to change were his eyes. They turned a straw brown color. Brett had never seen eyes look like that before. Then his body started to change. His skin stretched and shrunk in different places. He lowered to the ground as his legs and arms became panther legs. His skin was lost to the sleek black fur that took over. His clothes ripped away from his body as his body took on another form. Brett stood and watched in awe as she saw the panther form from his body. The entire transformation took no more than fifteen seconds. Why the wolves didn’t attack him while he was shifting she didn’t know but was glad of it. He wouldn’t have been able to defend himself in mid change.

Kristian whipped his tail from side to side as the two wolves charged him. Not realizing what she was doing, Brett climbed down from the bike’s to stand on the ground again. She had actually taken a few steps towards the three righting cats when she stopped herself. She was no match with two wolves. They would eat her alive.

Kristian let out a scream from his throat and smacked one of the wolves off to the side and pounced onto the other one. He started clawing and biting at him. Blood was flowing from different wounds on the wolf but none of them were major. The wolf under Kristian bit into the panther’s neck and bit down hard. Kristian let out another scream and started smacking at the wolf and finally got it away from his neck. The wolf he had smacked first jumped onto his back and dug it’s teeth between Kristian’s shoulder blades. He rode Kristian to the ground and the other wolf ran and jumped on Kristian too.

Brett cried out and ran for the three of them. With all her strength she kicked the wolf on his back hard in the head. It let out a yip and fell away from Kristian, leaving him with only one. The wolf she kicked growled and started walking for her. Brett took a few quick steps backwards and the wolf took a couple quick steps forward.

“Good, now follow me you son of a bitch.” She turned and started running down another aisle and the wolf followed. Brett never looked back as she ran. If she did it could end up being the death of her. Brett had never run so fast in her life before. The aisles zipped by her and the sound of the wolf behind her was growing louder. She heard two different cat screams and the howl of the wolf with Kristian. The sounds sent shivers up her spine and she nearly collided with the corner of one shelf. She turned the next corner and the wolf jumped on her back. It brought her to the ground and she turned when she hit the ground. She raised her arms to protect her face and throat. The wolf bit down on her left forearm and started viciously attacking it, like a dog with a bone. Brett could feel the teeth in her arm and could feel the blood running down her arm. She screamed.

She tried kicking at the wolf but couldn’t get a good angle to do it from. She lay there as the wolf ripped into her arm and screamed. A blur of black knocked into the wolf and sent it away from Brett. Kristian stood over her and let out another scream. He crouched down over her body, protecting her.

The wolf came to its feet and growled at Kristian. Kristian leaped over Brett and onto the wolf. Brett turned her head to watch them fighting while she cradled her shredded arm with her other one. She couldn’t really feel the pain. There was too much of it to register in her mind.

With only one wolf left, Kristian didn’t have a hard time fighting it and killing the wolf. Kristian walked back over to her and looked out of his panther eyes at her arm, then turned to look at Brett. All she could do was nod at him, the pain now kicking in. She let out a stifled scream and writhed on the floor for a moment. She tried to sit up and couldn’t quite make it. Kristian moved behind her and used his head to push her up. Brett doubled over from pain and could hear Kristian shifting again. This time he was going into human form. She didn’t turn around and watch, the pain was just too much to do anything else than sit there and try not to scream.

“I’ll be right back.” She heard Kristian say behind her. He ran to the clothes section and grabbed himself a pair of pants. He was not going to walk around naked. He ripped the tags and stickers off and grabbed a folded up t-shirt on one of the shelves. He started ripping it as he ran back to Brett.

He used half of it to try and wipe some of the blood away and the other half to wrap around her arm. It wasn’t doing much good. Her arm was tore up worse than he thought.

“Move your arm, or try to move your arm.” He told her. Brett gritted her teeth and raised her arm from her shoulder. “Now move just your lower arm.” Brett looked at him with wide eyes. Was he crazy? She wasn’t going to move her arm. “If you don’t try to move your arm I’m going to move it for you and it will hurt worse.” Brett swallowed and slowly started to move her arm from her elbow down. The pain shot up her entire arm and it felt like her arm was on fire, but her arm did move.

“Happy?” She said, her eyes still wide. She was beginning to go into shock.

“Yes, it means that you don’t have permanent damage to your muscles. Come on, let’s go.” Kristian stood and helped her to stand with him. The movement was too much for her and her knees gave out. Kristian caught her against his body. “Alright, I’ll carry you then.” He said and picked her up. Brett laid her head against his shoulder and wrapped her good arm around his neck to help keep the world from spinning. There was one last shriek from a cat and then the store was filled with sound of silence.


When Kristian and Brett had made it to where Jacob was, Kristian turned Brett’s head away so she wouldn’t see what he was seeing. She didn’t protest, she could smell it and didn’t want to really see it. Seeing it makes it worse.

Jacob was standing in the bloody remains of two people. There was blood and body parts strung across the floor. There wasn’t any recognizable piece that let you know that it had once been a human being. A few fingers here, half of a head a little to side. Jacob’s arms were drenched in the blood from the bodies at his feet. His hands were normal again but his eyes were still that icy blue. His eyes were locked on the pieces below him. What he wanted to do more than anything this minute was to drop to his knees and feed. It was taking a lot of strength not to do it. And he wanted to, God did he want to.

“Jacob. Look at me. Stop looking at that and look at me.” Kristian said. Jacob’s eyes lingered on the remains of Magnus and Stephan until he finally looked up at Kristian. In the back of his mind he could see Brett in Kristian’s arms and he could see that Kristian didn’t have his shirt on, meaning that he’d shifted. But what was hitting his mind the most was that Brett smelled like blood. Smelled like food. He started to walk over to the two of them, sniffing the air. Kristian would have put out a hand to stop him but his arms were a little full.

“Jacob. She’s not food. You’re not going to eat her. You here me?” He said.

“Can’t you smell it?” Jacob asked coming to a stop inches from Brett.

“Of course I can smell it. It’s blood. It’s a very good smell. But I’m not going to eat her, and neither are you, so just forget it alright?” Jacob reached out and touched Brett’s shoulder. She turned her head away from Kristian and was high enough to look directly into Jacob’s tiger eyes. They were…beautiful. But the look he was giving wasn’t. She shrank into Kristian’s chest not wanting to be so close to Jacob right now. He leaned his face in and breathed in the smell of the blood along her arm.

Kristian let his arm fall away from Brett’s legs so her feet would be on the floor. He kept his other arm around her and punched Jacob. He fell and slid along the floor a few feet. Kristian reached down and slid his arm under her legs again and picked her up.

“Stop acting like a jackass and let’s go. You don’t want to be here when the cops arrive with the two of you covered in blood do you?” Kristian said glaring at Jacob. Jacob stood and shrugged his body. He didn’t like the fact that Kristian had punched his or the fact that Kristian wasn’t letting him eat anything.

“Fine.” Jacob said and turned his back to them and walked towards the front of the store.

“What’s wrong with him?” Brett asked, her voice shaking a little.

“I don’t know. But don’t worry about it. He’ll get over it eventually. Right now we have to get you to the hospital.” He told her as he followed Jacob out of the store.