The Moon Phase Trilogy | Protected
Twenty

“My dear, calm down. You are upstairs in my home. Ruby and Skull have helped you with your wounds. Jayden and Shaun are okay. You are safe now,” a man explained. He was lengthy with long black hair and red eyes. His skin was ghostly pale, but he was kind, even if he looked mean. Ericka’s eyes bulged out from her sockets in disbelief.

“Y--you’re the one that was lingering at my home...” she stuttered. Ericka didn’t know how she knew that, but she was positive that the man that stood in front of her was the lingering figure. While she was out for the week and a few hours prior, she had dreams, memories, that had him in it. “W--who are you?”

“My name is Winston Lytle. I am not here to harm you. I am here to help you. I have something for you, that is important for the journey ahead of you,” he explained. Ericka shook her head, trying to remember the name her dream had given her. He had observed her actions and sighed, “I’m sure the name you are looking for is Zandyr, child.”

As soon as Ericka heard the name she began to breathe heavy, “Yes...who is that?”

“He is my younger brother. I am deeply sorry about your mother. She was a wonderful woman,” Winston apologized. He set down Ericka’s moonphase amulet next to her before he left.

Ericka jumped down from the table, her feet still unstable to stand on her own, “Wait! How do you know my mother? Do you know where my father is?” she had so many questions for Winston that her head was going to explode.

“I will answer those when you are ready to hear the answers, Ericka. Please know that you are always welcome here as a guest. My children may not appreciate it, but you and your sisters are always welcome,” he told her, shutting the door behind him.

Ericka’s hands formed into fists and she clenched them, “It’s not fair! I deserve to know his answers!” She growled. Skull yelped and hid behind a chair, frightened.

Ruby put her hand on Ericka’s shoulder, instantly calming her, “Ericka, calm down. He will tell you when you’re ready. Right now, you are nowhere near ready to know what he knows. Come, you need your rest,” she told her, taking her hand and guiding her to a separate room for her to rest. Ericka grabbed her necklace before she went with Ruby. She put it around her neck and she felt stronger, the instant it touched her skin. Ruby could feel the power emerging from Ericka and smiled. “She is the one,” she whispered to herself.

~*~*~*~*~

Jayden and Shaun had finally found all of the artifacts they needed. Jayden was trying to juggle them as they headed back up the narrow stairway. “You sure you don’t want help, Jay?” Shaun asked. He knew she was trying to be nice, but he was also very stubborn when it came to doing things with help.

“No, I got it,” Jayden answered, almost dropping them. Shaun took two of them off of his hands and carried them herself. “Okay...maybe I do need some help...but I wouldn’t have needed it if the staircase wasn’t so damn narrow!” He admitted. Shaun just rolled her eyes as they got to the top of the steps. She knocked on the door with her foot and the bookcase the stairs were behind opened up slowly.

The two walked into Winston’s office to be greeted by a man in a cloak, “Ah, you found them,” he grinned as he tried to take the artifacts.

Shaun growled, “I don’t think so.” She kicked the guy in the groin, having him keel over in pain. That was Jayden’s cue to knee him in the stomach and they got out of there. They got to the door and it was swung open by Winston. He looked pissed.

He stalked towards the cloaked man and pulled his hood off, revealing his face, “Little brother, what are you doing here? I have banished you from ever coming back here,” he hissed. He pulled the cloak so tight that he was choking his brother purposely.

“Awe, Winston, I just came to visit,” he grinned, his fangs visible. His voice was strained and it was hard for him to breath, for obvious reasons.

“I don’t give a damn as to why you came. Leave my property or I will have you killed,” Winston’s eyes were blood red with anger and hunger. Zandyr just kept his smirk plastered to his face, his eyes hungry for power.

Jayden could see something in Zandyr’s hand and he nudged Shaun gently, “Do you see that? The steak,” he whispered and Shaun glanced over, seeing the wooden steak in Zandyr’s right hand. She nodded to answer Jayden, “I think I have an idea,” he stated, but in a split second, Zandyr turned, puncturing Winston in the chest. “NO!”

Zandyr spun around, his hand still on the steak, “Oh, it needed to happen. Winston and I have been fighting for centuries and I have finally had enough. He thinks he’s so brilliant and smart,” he hissed. He swung his cloak off, revealing what he had underneath; modern Victorian style clothing, fit to his body. He wore knee high black boots and there were daggers hidden within the bootstraps that went up the outsides.

“You won’t get away with this!” Shaun snarled.

“But I just did.” After saying those words, he left in a blur and Winston now held the steak that was still inside of his chest.

“Go...get...Ruby,” he wheezed.

The two stared at each other, debating on who would go find Ruby, “I’ll go, you stay and put pressure on his wound, but don’t take the steak out,” Shaun told. Jayden nodded and stayed. Shaun handed him the artifacts and quickly left the room, in search of Ruby and Skull.

~*~*~*~*~

Ericka walked around town, admiring the buildings that surrounded her. Everything was so tall and beautiful, she just couldn’t keep her eyes off of them as she walked. She glanced over to her right side and saw her mother standing next to her with each step she took. “M--mom?”

“Yes my darling, it is me. I am sorry to have left you so soon. They were too strong,” she told her. Ericka shook her head, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. She ran into the forest nearby. She stopped at a familiar tree and sobbed. “My sweet wolf pup, don’t cry. I am still alive,” she stated.

Ericka whipped her head to see her mother with ghostly pale skin and blood red eyes. She looked familiar and Ericka took a step back, “Y--you’re the one...the one who forced me to shift...the one who kept me in the dog cage that night...” she began to put the pieces together again and turned around to see a man in a cloak. “You did this!”

“Indeed I did, Ericka. It’s just so wonderful to finally meet you in person. I’m Zandyr,” he slyly smiled and caressed Ericka’s chin with his cold, pale hand.

Ericka growled and she instantly shifted to her wolf, Dusk. Her fur was dark, so she would blend in better as she attacked by surprise. “Moon child, you don’t have to do this. Your time will come to fight the blood sucker and win. You need to get your mother back, before it’s too late,” a familiar voice explained. Dusk looked around for who it was speaking, but she couldn’t see anyone or anything. She was distracted and didn’t notice a pure silver bullet coming straight at her. It punctured her skin and went straight to her heart. She struggled to stay standing on all fours and soon she fell and her world went black. The last thing she saw was her mother standing over her with no remorse and Zandyr could be heard in the background bellowing a laugh.

~*~*~*~*~

“NO!” Ericka screamed, shooting up from the bed she laid on. Skull scurried to her side and she looked at Ericka with much concern. She scanned the room, looking for Ruby, but she was gone. “Where did Ruby go?” Her heart raced and she felt like crying, the dream had felt so real.

“Shaun came to get her. Sir Winston is in trouble. She is the best healer they have here,” Skull answered.

“I need to see her, now. We need to get out of here, before anything else bad happens,” Ericka told her. Skull was hesitant about taking her to the others, but she did anyway.

As they went to find Ruby and the others, Ericka’s mind lingered on the dream. She had known her mother was still alive, but she still didn’t know why she was out to kill her own flesh and blood. She had thought the twins had turned her, but she realized it was Zandyr, the twins uncle, “You okay there, Ericka?” Skull asked as they got to Winston’s office.

“Uh, yeah. Just thinking too hard is all. I do that a lot,” she let out a small laugh and scratched the back of her head nervously. What the hell am I going to do? How am I supposed to explain this to my sisters and the Connerton’s when we get back home? Skull pushed the door open and Ericka saw Shaun, Jayden and Ruby surrounding Winston. Ruby was working her magic with helping him heal, but Shaun and Jayden were just watching, hoping he would be okay. “What happened?” Ericka asked.

Shaun turned and ran to her, wrapping her arms around her best friend in a hug, “I’m glad you are okay!” Jayden nodded and waited for his turn to give his mate a hug.

“Do I get a hug now?” Jayden smiled, hopeful. Ericka’s heart fluttered when she saw him and her cheeks flushed.

Shaun pouted, but let go of her bestie, “Fine,” she obnoxiously sighed. She kissed her on the cheek in a sisterly way and walked back to Winston’s side.

Jayden embraced her in a soft hug and whispered in her ear, “Please don’t ever scare me like that again, Blume,” he choked.

“I won’t,” Ericka replied, wrapping her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

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