Indigo's Crescent

Prologue

                                                                             PROLOGUE

   To say that Astrid Latora ran into the arms of danger that night in May was an understatement. It was almost Eight p.m. and the Sota Moon was fast approaching; her least favorite moon of all. Frantically, she searched her purse for her car keys as she blindly ran through the underground parking garage. “I have to hurry.” She thought to herself as she finally found the keys, gripping them in her hand.

   BAM! She ran into something hard and it knocked her to the ground taking all the wind out of her. “You know, you should try to be more careful” a deep, menacing voice taunted.

   “Oh no! Not this.” Astrid thought to herself, realizing she had run into a man.

  The tall, dark figure standing over her appeared to be 6 feet tall with rippling muscles on display through his t-shirt. Flowing, dirty blonde waves fell to his shoulders with lifeless eyes so blue it was almost like looking into two dots of the purest ocean water. The aroma of the stranger wafted to her nostrils, his unbearable scent made her stomach churn as he glared down at her. “Please, sir. I’m sorry.” She pleaded, “I’m just in a rush.”

  “Oh.” He laughed even more sinister, “The moon? Yeah, I’d be in a rush too.”  

In one swift move, he scooped her up from the hard concrete and gripped her tightly in his strong arms. Being even closer to him and the stench started to make her downright sick; he began to sniff her hair as she struggled to get free. “I love fear the most.” He said, his breath hot on her neck, “something about the smell of fear makes this so much more appetizing”

His breathing intensified as the Eight o’clock alarm began to blare throughout the town. Astrid kicked and screamed, observing his piercing blue eyes fade to a dead, deep black. He would no longer be human, no longer liable for his actions in a minute and she knew this was about to be the end for her. If only her mother didn’t need the damn medicine so bad, now she was about to die for it. “I should’ve waited; I should’ve come here earlier. He’s about to kill me, I’m about to die. Think, Astrid…THINK!” thoughts racing through her head as she screamed for help, fighting him as he laughed.

  “Nothing you can do, you can’t get away and you know that.” He growled as his face began to become less human.

   Astrid’s large, brown eyes grew wider as more hair began to sprout on the stranger’s face; she knew there wasn’t much time left. Howling could be heard above on the street level, he let out a howl of his own exposing large, sharp fangs forming inside his shifting mouth. Tears began to well up in her eyes; there was no pleading with a werewolf mid shift. In her last attempt to get free, she kicked him hard in his crotch, he yelped in pain as he dropped her. Swiftly, she grabbed her purse and her car keys which fell from her hand during the struggle and began to run to her car. The stranger was gaining on her, she tried to move as fast as her 5’6” legs could take her, darting between cars to buy her some time as she pressed the unlock button on her remote over and over searching frantically for the car. Only a few feet away, she could see the lights blinking and she sprinted as fast as she could with the stranger in full werewolf form at her heels. At just arm’s length, she was knocked off her feet, her head hitting the pavement so hard she saw double. A loud scream ripped from her chest as he crept over her slowly, growling angrily. Throbbing pain radiated through her body from the force of his strike. He exposed his teeth, mouth watering as she began to cry and shake uncontrollably; closing her eyes and praying that it would be over quickly. Above her, she felt a strong gust of wind blow past her, the growling and the heat of the stranger was gone. Slowly, she opened her eyes, her vision still blurred but not enough to make out two huge, dark figures scuffling just a few feet away. Astrid scrambled to her feet in shock, stumbling backwards, her car breaking her fall as she bore witness to two werewolves clawing and biting at each other. “GO” the new wolf growled. Wasting no time, she opened the car door and started the engine before she could even get the door closed, looking in her side view mirror as the stranger was being held off by the other, tires screeching as she peeled out of the parking garage. The streets were fairly open, considering the Sota Weres ran in packs, her heart raced as she sped through the traffic and the lights; she had to make it back home.

  Astrid reached the garage, quickly pressing the close button on the garage door opener as she jumped out of her red Volkswagen Jetta and darted to the door leading to her house. The howls and growling through the streets were unbearable but she slammed the door shut and leaned against it, her heart racing a mile a minute. Taking a deep breath, she threw her mother’s medicine on the kitchen counter in a huff and angrily stomped off to her room ignoring her mother and father completely. There would be 10 more hours to endure of this, “Fuckin’ werewolves.” She angrily said to herself, her near death experience flashing through her mind.