THE MAYFAIR MOON - The Darkmoon Saga I

Chapter 7 - Nightly Encounters

It was later that night when I heard Alex stirring in her room and then footsteps fading down the stairs. Instinct compelled me to look out my bedroom window. I saw her, dressed in a T-shirt and pajama pants, walking briskly behind the house and disappearing through the trees.

What the...?

I quickly slipped on my house shoes, grabbed my coat, and followed.

I let the screen door shut softly behind me, and I hurried down the back-porch steps, taking two at a time. When my thin shoes hit the frozen ground, I regretted not putting on my boots and grabbing my hat and gloves. I sucked in the cold late-October air as I ran and breathed into the warm confines of my coat sleeve. Dashing into the woods, I felt swallowed up by the darkness. The wind whipped through the trees and bit at the back of my neck and ankles. I kept running over leaves and limbs, and then splash! I never saw the black water until it was too late. My feet were soaked to my shins, and the bitter cold stung my legs like thousands of needles.

But I kept running.

I knew Alex was just ahead of me, as I could still hear her movements, her feet shuffling through dead leaves; low tree branches snapped as she pushed her way through them. She continued her graceful trek through the forest as if she knew every downed limb and ankle-spraining crevice without minding her footing.

Had she been leaving the house every night to run through these woods? I knew then that was how she'd met the Vargas brothers; she'd been sneaking out in the middle of the night when everybody else was asleep.

I could see a small clearing out ahead, bathed by the moonlight. Alex slowed to a walk as she got closer. I stopped and crouched next to a tree, trying to stay warm and failing miserably. The only part of me that felt any heat was the skin around my mouth and fingers as I continued to breathe into my sleeve.

Alex was barefoot as she tiptoed over leaves and dirt. How in the world can she be barefoot?! She entered the clearing, where there was just enough light to see the outline of her thin clothes and her seemingly naked form underneath. I wondered how she didn't seem cold, though she wore much less than I did.

She stretched out her hands in an unusual gesture. It appeared she was talking to someone. I tried harder to penetrate the darkness with my eyes, needing proof that this girl was really my sister, Alexandra Dawson—I began to wonder.

I noticed another figure then. He placed his hands on Alex's face, her cheeks gently engulfed by them. And then his lips covered hers. A boyfriend? No, something about this was different, off. He guided her movements as if controlling her; how she moaned when his fingertips brushed against her shoulders. I watched, feeling my insides twist into a tangled knot. Worried about my sister in this place, I intended to leave my hiding spot and let this guy know she wasn't alone.

But then a second and a third figure emerged from the darkness, stopping me in a fearful jolt.

The first one grabbed Alex protectively and pulled her closer. The others circled them ceremoniously, their necks craning as they inhaled the air. I heard a few words, but nothing made sense. I slung the hood off my head and turned a bare ear toward them, hoping to hear something, but all I got was a blast of cold air against the side of my face.

The longer I watched, the more I realized that Alex was safe in this stranger's arms. But it was difficult to watch how she touched him and how she reacted to how he touched her.

Suddenly, the guy picked her up in the cradle of his arms, and all four disappeared instantly. It happened so fast that I staggered from the trees' safety in a frantic search for any sign of them. I stood there for a moment, freezing and confused. I could see my breath in front of me, rapidly exhaling in the cold. Finally, I ran through the woods back to our house as fast as possible, surprised I found my way so easily in the dark.