Dead Moon Rising

Chapter Three

Belle drove cautiously down the gravel driveway. She recalled the potholes from the night before and chose keeping her car safe over getting to the address quickly.  As she drove, making a right down the main road which was marked as Scooter Street on the rusted green sign. She hadn't seen many people coming or going on this road and assumed the road once was a bustling street for a neighborhood but is now lonely; only used by herself and, at one point, possibly Maisie.  

As she drove through the thickly wooded area she began to consider her predicament. Though she had made it through last night fine would the vampire Edmund allow her to stay another night, she pondered.  The viciousness of the pale man she met the night before caught her so off guard she felt anything could happen to her; especially without knowledge of her own power. She was well aware of what a Were was but how to control the change she had no clue. She had been suppressing her self for so long she wasn't sure if she could make the change again at all. She had considered Maisie was a Were of some kind and she would be brought under her wing but now she felt left out to dry. 

Edmund, was involved with Maisie, somehow, but he had never heard of Belle that put a significant hole in her idea of Maisie. Maisie wasn't a proud Were looking to train a novice, she couldn't have been. At the the same time Belle had to grapple with the idea that this Maisie women knew who she was yet kept it close to her chest. Belle would expect lovers to know each others secrets yet Edmund knew nothing of her outside of a sly mention of last name. She recalled the mans use of his boney finger to accentuate that fact. If these two were truly lovers and presumably living together why wouldn't Maisie had said anything about her? Could this vampire be trusted? She sat in that thought for a moment then considered another issue. 

Blindly following the address left by the vampire was very unlike her. She had hardly known the man yet was following orders so directly. In this strange town she had to be cautious and vigilant. she continued her drive toward the address however, deciding she needed to follow any breadcrumbs left in front of her. 

She shook her head and let out an exacerbated sigh nearly emptying her lungs completely before sharply inhaling again. She began to relax, all this thinking, all this stress it was getting to her in a way she couldn't afford. She was on her own now; she had to buck up and face whatever issues come her way with a "chest of hair." She chuckled at the turn of phrase typically used by the men in her family. She remembered fondly of those memories. Those family dinners of ham and corn bread were in the rearview now. she could just barely smell her mothers home cooking. she pressed the gas a little harder attempting to speed away from her own thoughts. Her nose scrunched as she slowed the car again. Rubbing her chest imaging the "chest of hair" she was holding on so tightly to. 

Her car exited the woods and brought sunlight into her eyes and a smile creeped across her face. She felt as though she hadn't felt the sun on her skin in years after spending the night in such a dark room. The sunlight changed her mood significantly as she squinted and refocused on the road. She relaxed in her seat a bit and continued to drive turning up her radio slightly to drown out the noise of her own thoughts.

She carefully pulled up to a dirt road leading to what she could only describe as a ranch. Horses galloped in the far back and the yard was lush and quite large. She began down the long drive way and noticed two men forming in the distance near the house. She kept her pace and stared at the men through her windshield making sure they were not a mirage. Her stomach rumbled and she remembered breakfast was completely neglected this morning. She reached into her glove box and grabbed a protein bar she had stashed away before her long drive the day before.

 The men turned to her and began making their way towards her car. Both of these men were tall and strong. There was one who was clearly older with just a whisper of grey in his otherwise raven hair.  The other was at least four inches shorter than his friend but with the same tan skin and dark hair. Belle wondered if the two were brothers. She brought her car to a stop once she met the men at the end of the driveway, she cut her car off and unbuckled her seatbelt but hesitated to open her door before examining the men further.