Waxing Darkness by Jose Luis Solorzano
Chapter Ten: Family
Security gone,
time passes all of them by.
Life continues now.
It had been about a week since the events of what happened on Halloween. Luis was lucky that he didn’t get in too much trouble for staying out so late. Luna on the other hand didn’t seem to have such smooth sailing. She didn’t return home that night, and hadn’t gone back since. Chelsea had welcomed into her apartment with open arms, allowing her to do whatever she wished during the night. One night, the two of them turned into their wolf forms, just running though out the desert that was in El Paso. They would bark happily and play as if they were both pups again. It was the most fun that Luna had had in such a long time outside of being with Luis. Luna still attended school and cherished every moment with Luis she had.
No one had seen Erika Ramirez since that Halloween afternoon. Both Luis and Luna felt awkward, knowing that she probably had to run as far away as she could. The official story was the she was now considered a missing person and the authorities were searching everywhere to find her. So, on the first day back, they didn’t have to attend their final class because their teacher wasn’t present at all. However, they would be cycling through a number of substitutes for the remainder of the semester as the school tried to find another candidate for another good math teacher.
One day, after school had ended and Luis was taking care of Luna, he asked “Did the school board know that Ms. Ramirez was a vampire?”
“Of course not,” Luna laughed. Luis hadn’t seen exactly what was funny though. He was the one that almost because dinner for his math teacher. “Trust me; there are vampires, werewolves, and witches everywhere. I can spot one in a minute; I’m that good. But we can’t just go around and blabbing to others what we truly are. No one wants another Salam Witch Trial.”
“Are you telling me that they caught real witches back then?” Luis asked with astonishment. The Witch Trials were a subject that Luis was deeply interested in, knowing most of the lore and legends that surrounded that point and place in time.
“Nope,” Luna answered with a gleeful tone. “Not a single witch had been caught ever. But, of course, there was times where witches decided to mess with the humans and make them think that others had magical powers. Whenever it turned out bad, it was the vampires and werewolves job to hunt down those terrible witches and bring them to justice.”
“Wait,” Luis interrupted, “you told me that no witches were killed during the Trials.”
“Yeah,” Luna reassured, “no one died in the official trials. Whenever someone goes bad and wants to mess up the co-existence between the supernatural and the normal, someone has to intervene”
Victor had transformed back into his human form two days after the incident, but he seemed to refuse to leave his office all day. Luna received calls from her mother and brothers every day, telling her that she needed to come home and they were going to talk it out. Every time, Luna refused their proposal, untrusting of the entire family. She didn’t trust that her father could control his temper, and she didn’t believe that they would listen to what anyone had to say.
There was nothing that the Estrellas could do to convince Luna to come home. She had obviously made up her mind, and she was of legal age to leave the house. They didn’t want her to be away from the family; Emily, at least wanted to try and work things out. On Halloween night, Luna had made a promise to herself, which was that she wouldn’t return home until she transformed Luis into a werewolf. It was to ensure that he wouldn’t be left out of what was happening and she wanted to make sure that her family wasn’t going to find some way for them to break up. The idea of them leaving each other was abominable. Chelsea and Luis were a part of her family plain and simple, and she wouldn’t make a decision that would exclusively leave the both of them out.
To both Luna and Chelsea’s surprise, Luis was very anxious to turn into a werewolf. He had seen both of the girls in their wolf forms and was completely amazed by the way they looked. Like giant dogs, they were very clean and very graceful. He had Chelsea explain to him again the entire process of the human’s First Transformation. From what he understood, he had to be bit by either Chelsea or Luna (although he preferred it to be Luna) on any day and he had to just make sure the mark was hit by the moonlight when it was a full moon.
“So, why don’t you bite me right now,” Luis asked Luna as the two of them walked to his place after school. “It’s just one more thing to get out of the way. It’ll insure that I’ll become one of you guys.”
“What are you going to tell everyone at school, and your family, when you come home with a giant bite mark on your arm,” Luna questioned in a stern tone. “I’m going to bite you the afternoon of the full moon, which is around Thanksgiving, so be patient.”
“And what if I decide to ask Chelsea to bite me,” Luis said with a sneer in his voice.
“Then I’ll bite both of your heads off.” Luna groaned.
“I’m only kidding, Luna,” Luis said with a desperate laugh. “You know you’re the only one I want to bite me.”
“Gross,” Luna playfully exclaimed, shoving Luis into a tall bunch of bushes. “I didn’t know you were such a pervert. You truly are a dog, aren’t you?”
Luis laughed. “You know you enjoy the teasing.” Luis said, wrapping his arm tightly around her waist. The lighting seemed absolutely right for this moment. It was chilly, so Luna went in deeply into Luis’s arms. The two of them slowed their pace as they watched the sun set behind the mountains.
“I love you,” Luis told her, planting a soft kiss upon her cheek.
“Yeah, yeah,” Luna playfully groaned, hanging onto Luis tightly. “You know I love you too.”
The two of them saying “I love you” was a new development in their relationship. The first time Luis said it to her was on Halloween night, when Luna was too scared to fall asleep. She seemed to have not rested for days, something her body wasn’t used to. He stayed there, holding her, whispering “I love you’s” well into the deep, midnight hours. It wasn’t something that was out of the blue; Luis had his own definition of what love was, and by that definition, he loved Luna with all of his heart. On that night, she was able to rest peacefully; even though Luis had to return home in the early hours of the morning.
It all was going better than Luna could have ever imagined. Part of her believed that it was all just a weird dream, and she would wake up from it any minute, back in her room, completely alone. Those thoughts quickly vanished when she was with Luis and Chelsea; she knew that they at least cared about her wellbeing.
It was two weeks before the scheduled full moon. The three of them were at Luis’s house, the first time that Chelsea had visited his house in fact. It was almost sunset and Luna’s phone began to ring. It was about time for her daily call from her family, trying to explain why she needed to come home. They tried every excuse in the book, but Luna believed she knew better than to believe them. She put the phone on speaker, to make sure that the two others would be able to listen in as well.
“What is it,” Luna answered in a melancholic tone.
“You need to get over here now.”
It was a different voice than Luna was used to. It wasn’t her parents trying to communicate with her, but it was Phil. She could imagine him, holding the phone in his large hand, with her parents looking desperately in their son’s eyes. She didn’t understand why they chose to go this change of pace. It doesn’t matter, Luna thought, I’m not going back until the full moon.
“You’ve yet to give me an argument of why I should go back,” Luna said flatly.
“How about because we’re your family,” Phil answered sarcastically. “Oh, how about this: Mom is worried sick about you. She’s the one who keeps bugging you every day, trying to get you to come home. Quit acting like a little brat and get your ass back over here.”
“With my wittle tail between my wegs,” Luna mocked. Her voice than changed to her nor
“Then how about this,” Phil said, his voice growing deeper and angrier with every syllable he spoke, “you and mom meet somewhere, in a public place; you can even bring your two little friends with you.” His voice grew much lower and kinder. “Listen, she’s losing sleep because she doesn’t know if you’re okay. Just do this for her, please.”
Drake loved how much more powerful he was these days. His mind reading had become much stronger and much clearer. He was also much stronger and faster than he had ever been before in his life. Who did he have to thank? Drake always smiled when he thought of those who were sacrificed to give him his strength.
They weren’t innocent, that’s for sure. He couldn’t hide his smile every time he thought of his victims. They were all guilty for the same crime: existence! I will be their judge, jury, and executioner. They all deserve to die!
His favorite new addition to their group had completely changed from Karin to Light. Although Light didn’t have a particularly useful power, Light at least saw everything the same way Drake did. In his lifetime, Light enjoyed playing sick jokes on those who were much smaller than him. Now that Light was a vampire, everyone was on a step lower of the food chain. Whenever either of them went in for the killing blow of a human being, they would both laugh as if they were hyenas in the savanna. Drake was the sibling that Light had always wanted, forgetting completely about Maka most of the time.
Maka did her best to mingle in with the other vampires but seemed to be complete alone. Alexis was always too stunning for her to approach and she was afraid to look Karin directly in the eye. While Alexis had her movies, Maka had her books. In the daylight hours, everyone was still doing their own thing. When the sun began to set though, that was when they started to plan. With the rise in his numbers, Drake felt more comfortable letting his followers loose in El Paso. It was the same monologue with Drake every time, sometimes a little bit of a variation here and there, but the meaning was always the same.
“Our ex-leader, Alexander, is still out there. He had planned to kill me so long ago; he is a traitor to our family and to vampires everywhere. Always be on guard that he will attack you if he gets the chance. Do not allow him to get the chance. If any other vampire comes in that is not familiar with you: don’t ask questions, attack! It is either us, or them. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not looking forward to dying because of a traitor’s mistake!
“Remember, you all were chosen for one reason or another. There is no room for chance when fate is involved with the dealings. There are only truths, and the truth is that we are the superior being. Our old leader believed that we could co-exist with the humans, but what he spoke were lies. Look at how the humans treat wild game out in the jungles and in the forests. They attack them, and use them to sustain themselves until they need to eat again. Aren’t we extended the same courtesy by the Universe, to hunt our game and to feed off of them as much as we please, indiscriminately? Go forward, and reap the benefits that you have earned as being the superior being!”
After his speech, Drake would break off the group into teams, one of which goes out to hunt for the family while the others hold down the fort. Tonight, it was Karin and Maka who went with Drake to hunt while Light and Alexis made sure that their home was safe. Alexis didn’t have any trust in Light to keep things simple, but she knew that it was always best to obey Drake’s orders. She lived for the kisses that Drake planted on her, and so much more that she didn’t experience in her moments of life.
It was well past midnight and Alexis had decided to sit around and watch television. She was tired of being around Light’s presence; she just couldn’t see what Drake saw in the boy that made him useful. Yes, he was fast, but only slightly faster than most vampires. He had no respect for those who were superior to him and he seemed to just go off and do whatever he felt like doing. Alexis didn’t care what Light was doing with his time alone, she was just glad that he was nowhere around to bug her.
And the feeling was mutual with Light. Although his emotions had always been twisted from the norm, he knew that his feelings for Alexis were filled with discontent and dissatisfaction. He saw her power to be much more useless than his, seeing that scents can only work so far on certain people. Light was well on to Drake’s game with Alexis since the very beginning, which is why he hadn’t said much to provoke a fight with her. If it came down to a fight, Drake would have to side with Alexis for the sake of his plans. That’s how he became motivated to become much stronger, to show that he was a more valuable asset to him than Alexis would ever be.
All Light wanted to do was to see the world around him burn to ashes, no matter whoever was the one who struck the fire first, he would just want to help the fire spread. Deep down, he felt that was what he thought Drake wanted as well. The flames would probably rise much higher if the both of them worked together, but he also wanted to be the only one to enjoy the flames. No one was safe from his striking force, not even his twin sister. They were all just fodder for the flames, and he would laugh at them equally as they sacrificed their bodies for his amusement.
Luna wasn’t used to being in a public place when it was nightfall. Usually, she would be inside her house (or, more recently, Chelsea’s house) or patrolling the streets. She was never very social, so she didn’t go out to parties nor do any other things a teenager might do on rowdy nights like tonight. In a sense, the feeling of sitting inside a booth at a fast food restaurant during a moon-light night was overwhelming. Luna had been waiting in the booth for a little lover ten minutes, slowly taking bites of her hamburger and fries. Luis and Chelsea were a few booths down from her, keeping their distance for mostly the sake of Emily. As long as Luna knew that they were at least in the same building as her, she’d give her mom the privacy that she asked for.
Emily walked slowly into the restaurant, doing her best not to make herself noticed by everybody there. As she spotted Luna, surprised that she was sitting all alone, her stomach began to turn. Her goal tonight was to bring her daughter home with her, no matter what. She knew that her goal was practically improbable to reach, but not entirely impossible.
Emily took her place at the table, being treated by Luna’s poker face. They stared directly eye to eye for thirty seconds. Emily realized that she wasn’t sitting with a little girl who had a false understanding of the world, but a young woman who has gone through plenty of her own experiences. What she was planning to say seemed no longer relevant as she stared her at her daughter’s eyes. Yes, she still wanted Luna to return home, but she wasn’t going to belittle her with words that would only persuade an ignorant child.
“Are you doing okay,” Emily asked, being cautious with her tone of voice.
“I’m fine,” Luna replied with a slight monotone. “How’s everything at home?” Luna didn’t really care, but she felt that it was the standard protocol to ask.
“It’s the same as usual,” Emily replied. “Your father really is sorry about what happened on Halloween night, but, you know how proud he can be with things. We really do want you back home, sweetheart; all of us do. We’ve heard that Erika still hasn’t been found anywhere; don’t you think the safest place for you to be is with your own family?”
“I can manage with Chelsea,” Luna answered. “What about Luis’s safety? He knows about us, and he’s sworn to not share our secret. Like it or not, Luis will become one of us very soon. I care about him; don’t you think that Erika would want to go after him after what happened? If he becomes one of us, he’ll be safe.”
Emily paused. She didn’t know how to exactly answer her daughter’s questions. She didn’t want to lie to her daughter simply to bring her home, but this was also something that needed to be talked about with Victor. There was only so much that she could do, mostly because she was the only one in the family who couldn’t
“I’ll talk to your father on that one,” Emily said, watching Luna’s face. Luna’s mouth twitched and seemed to lower her brow, breaking the eye contact. “I understand that if he chooses to become a werewolf; there is no way that we can stop that. I cannot promise that your father will accept him into the pack though. As for his protection, if your father is okay with it, you’ll be the one monitoring his house every night until Erika is caught or until he goes through his transformation. Will that be okay?”
Luna pondered for a few moments and then pretended to ponder for much longer, to make it appear like she was seriously thinking all of it over. To add to the effect, Luna took a long sip from her drink. She stared passed her mother and towards Luis and Chelsea, who were doing their best not to draw attention to themselves.
“Sounds fair enough,” Luna told her mother. “I’m still not going back though, not tonight. If you can convince dad that I can watch over Luis’s house until the next full moon, then I’ll move back in.”