Lunar Flare Book 1: Crimson Moon

Chapter 9

"Where are you, Thedrick? Come out, don't make this harder than it has to be," Beowulf's voice echoed through the room, a manic edge to his tone.

Thedrick clamped his hand down over his mouth more tightly, his body trembling where he was squished into his hiding spot. He could picture the gigantic soldier stalking through the room, that wooden stake gripped tightly in his armoured hand. Thedrick felt more tears prick in his eyes, and he tried desperately to steady and quiet his breathing and not to sob, less he be discovered.

Less than a week ago, Thedrick would never have pictured himself ending up in this sort of situation, being chased through the castle by his lover who was trying to plunge a wooden stake through his heart. But life certainly takes strange turns, especially for the jester.

It all started simply with Beowulf acting rather strangely, which Thedrick could mostly brush off at first, but after a while it started to become more of an issue. All these strange behaviours were also accompanied by Beowulf becoming a lot more distant from Thedrick, not spending as much time with him and dodging his affections, at first to Thedrick's chagrin and then leaving him wondering what he had done wrong and if Beowulf was no longer interested in a relationship with him.

As for the other strange behaviours, firstly, Beowulf baked some bread and offered it to Thedrick in what seemed to be a rather sweet gesture. Thedrick was already hesitant to take it, knowing full well he wouldn't really be able to eat it, but when he smelled it, he found what he thought would be a fair reason not to accept the offering. It seemed that Beowulf had gone very hard on the garlic in this loaf, which Thedrick wasn't too much of a fan of. So, he politely declined it, stating he didn't really like garlic. And Beowulf gave him a very strange look when he did so, which Thedrick hadn't a clue of the meaning in the instance.

The next strange occurrence was when Beowulf offered Thedrick a set of prayer beads, nestled in a box on a piece of velvet. The soldier said it was to keep him safe from evil spirits. Thedrick declined the offering as graciously as he could, stating that he wasn't religious, but he appreciated the thought nonetheless. When he expressed this, Beowulf's eyebrows narrowed, and he snapped the box shut and left. Thedrick was worried he had offended him by declining the gift, and maybe he should have accepted the offering instead.

The following incident was where Beowulf had seemingly 'accidentally' spilled some water on Thedrick, but then watched carefully for his reaction. Thedrick simply grimaced, shaking the water off as best he could while Beowulf gave his apologies. Thedrick said it was fine, no harm done, but when he looked up at Beowulf's face the soldier had a very confused expression, which confused Thedrick as well.

If Thedrick had been a little smarter, he might have been able to put the pieces together ahead of time, and of course now they seemed so obvious. But he had actually been caught off guard when Beowulf had confronted him, accusing him of being a vampire.

"W-Wulfy! What are you talking about?" Thedrick had exclaimed, the pitch of his voice rising with his nerves.

"I told you, I've figured you out, vampire," Beowulf spat as he loomed over the smaller man.

"B-B-But, that's crazy!" Thedrick exclaimed while trying to back away, cowering under the shadow of the giant man. "You've seen me outside, in the sun!" he tried to reason desperately.

"Dark magic tricks might be easy for you, but I won't be fooled," Beowulf growled, lifting up the wooden stake he held in one hand. "I won't let you hurt anyone else, monster."

"I- I- I- I haven't hurt anyone!" Thedrick cried out, backing up as Beowulf took a menacing step towards him. "Wulfy... please don't be like this," Thedrick looked up at the soldier pleadingly.