Hallowed Moonlight

chapter two

Blood. The smell of blood; that thick scent that reminded me of copper. It was the first thing that my senses noticed as I attempted to open my eyes. My eyelashes fluttered against cloth and panic surged within me. A solid black piece of cloth covered my eyes and prevented me from seeing my surroundings.

My next instinct was to move my arms and legs but they also were bound. It seemed that I was strapped to a chair. The ropes cut into my skin as I struggled against them. The rope burns caused me to cry out in pain and the sound reverberated back into my own ears.

Anxiety now peaked, I had no form of rational thought. All I could think about was getting out.
Then it dawned on me.

My powers.

Being a tenth generation witch did have its perks I suppose, though it had been so long since I had actually conjured anything that I wasn't even sure I could anymore. Centering my focus to my fingertips, I tried to force a flame to appear but I felt no magick flow through me. I honestly wasn't surprised but I knew that Grandmere would've been so disappointed.


If magick wasn't going to help me here then I would have to try something else.

I started frantically biting at the ropes, cringing in pain when I ended up biting down on my tongue hard enough to draw blood. Through the pain, I continued to bite at the ropes, chewing into each strand with the hopes that I could get out before whomever captured me came in.

"Hey! Stop that! Call the boss and tell him she's awake - and bleeding"

A males voice startled me out of my mission.

"Hello? Who are you? What do you want?" I called out pathetically though I received no reply.

I contemplated following the mans instructions but decided fuck it. If I was going to die today, I was going down fighting. So I continued my previous mission on biting the ropes. I paid no attention to the blood that was filling my mouth. I wondered if it was from my tongue or if I was cutting my gums up with the ropes.

I continued with determination like this for what seemed like a while.

"Stop." Another male voice, a different one.

My face was pulled away from the ropes and the blindfold was ripped off of my eyes. Squinting from the bright light that followed, I took in my surrounds. It was surprisingly not a dungeon. It was just a normal bedroom. Actually not a normal bedroom, a very beautiful and obviously expensive one.

There was a large canopy bed, maybe a california king. Dark red curtains covered the windows completely so that I couldn't see out. I was sitting in a sturdy wooden chair that had matching red furnishings.

"Katherine" Hearing my name jolted me out of my surroundings.

Looking over at my captor was even more surprising to me. He had dark black hair that was sort of shaggy and made him look mysterious. His eyes were bright blue and he had a well kept beard. He looked like an adonis with the perfect physique!

He seemed pleased by my assessment of him because he cocked his head to the side and smirked. I looked away with my face hot in embarrassment and rage. Yeah, he may be attractive but if he was the one who had taken me then he's the enemy.

"What do you want?" I questioned tentatively, worried about what his answer could possibly be.

His eyes darkened a shade, in a way that I knew was obviously not human and I bit the inside of my cheek. Great. Just when you think you can get away from the supernatural. . .

I had escaped my coven and not even used my powers in years. Yet somehow I seemed to attract this world into my life without even trying.

"You." Ah, yes. Just the answer that I had been dreading.

"Cool. Well, I don't know what to tell you cause that's not happening." I wasn't particularly sure if by me, he meant he wanted a date or something more dangerous. Especially considering the look in his eyes.

His brows furrowed, at first in confusion then in slight annoyance. This guy was really starting to get on my nerves. I looked down at the ropes once again. Come on, magick! Can't you help me for once in my entire life!

"It's not gonna work." He stated as he started walking closer to me. I immediately stiffened as he came to stand behind me, leaning over my shoulder. He hand came around my head and slightly grazed my neck as his hand descended lower down my body. I frantically started squirming in my chair, worried about where this stranger was going to be touching me.

I paused once his hand slipped into my pants pocket and pulled out a tiny stone. The reddish-amber color surprised me and made my breath hitch with realization. Painite. A rare stone, though beautiful - it was a sort of Kryptonite for witches. They dull the powers of witches but due to their rarity, I had only ever seen them in books.

The laugh that escaped me was cold and bitter. Suddenly everything made sense. My powers hadn't worked well during the attack because of the painite, the only reason that I had been able to use them at all was because of the Goddess' blessing. My powers wouldn't work now because of this damn stone. Witches were pretty secretive about the way that stone affected them, you don't really want everyone knowing your weakness after all. So it was sort of surprising to me that they even knew about it.

"You guys know your shit, I'll give you that. . ." I ground out through clenched teeth.

He slipped the stone back into my pocket with a sigh. "I wish it didn't have to be like this but you have to declaw a cat if you don't want it to scratch the furniture." He whispered close to my ear and his condescending tone made me ball up my fists.

I froze when he leaned forward to wipe a bit of blood that had leaked from the corner of my mouth due to me fighting my restraints. He lightly caressed my wrists where a strong red line had now formed in my skin from rope burn. I hissed at the contact between his fingers and my raw skin. His frown deepened as he examined the wounds that I had received, even the ones from the previous night.

"Blaze, get her some medical attention. Make sure that her wounds are attended to properly."

The door man nodded shortly before heading out of the room with a hastened pace. The Alpha turned towards me once again, this time with a softer expression that caught me off guard.

"We'll get you fixed up in no time." He responded with affection.

My face scrunched up with confusion and disgust. "Well considering that you were the ones who injured me, you can probably understand how that's a little hard to believe."

A look of surprise came over the Alpha's face, then one of realization and hardened anger. "So you think that we were the ones who attacked you last night?" It was formatted like a question but was said more like a statement.

I shrugged, "What else am I supposed to think when a bunch of wolves attack me and I wake up to being captured by some. I can do simple math you know. One plus one equals two."

The Alpha sighed. "That pack last night wasn't mine. We intervened."

Though I was surprised, I didn't let it show on my face. I had some reservations on the truth of his statement honestly. If he was telling the truth, then why did they capture me and take me here. Why would I be tied to a fucking chair?

Before I could voice my opinions on this, there was a heavy knock on the door. It cracked open and a young woman entered. She had the fairest skin I had ever seen and striking white hair. She was dressed in a doctor's coat and was holding onto a clipboard. Very stereotypical.

Even from far away, I could see that her fingernails were almost talon like as they gripped onto the wood of the clipboard. When she turned towards us, her eyes made me freeze. They were bright yellow and had no whites, her eyes were so big and wide that they reminded me of a bird.

"Altaira, this is Katherine. She has a couple wounds on her that I would really appreciate if you could help me with."

Altaira nodded and immediately came over to me. She pulled over a chair and sat in front of me, scanning all of my injuries. For some reason, her presence was oddly soothing and I immediately could tell that she wasn't going to harm me.

"Altaira is a Caladrius. So she can heal you in no time. She is also trained in standard western medicine as well. She helps us heal the pack whenever someone gets hurt."

Ah, Caladrius. That explains it. They were a bird like creature that was fairly rare. Caladrius had a power to take away someone's pain, though it would then be inflicted on themselves. They were typically very calm and kind creatures. Though I only knew this from a book I had once read, I had never seen one in person before.

Altaira looked up at me and smiled. "How are you feeling, love?"

Her mothering tone was comforting and I couldn't help but respond with equal kindness. "I'm alright, don't worry about me." I would feel guilty if someone I didn't know took my pain away and had to feel it themselves. That seemed like something that would be very intimate.

"Yes. These all do just seem like flesh wounds. Though I was a little concerned about the fact that you hit your head and lost consciousness. With the possibility of a concussion, I kept a close eye on you but so far you seem alright."

Altaira reached out her hands and place them on my wrists, within seconds I felt a warming sensation that spread throughout my body. When I looked down, I could see that my rope burns had now disappeared and that some had appeared onto Altaira. There was also a small amount of blood coming from the corner of her mouth and I could clearly see that there was some dried blood on the crown of her head, staining her perfectly white hair.

"Do you feel a little better dear?" I nodded, stunned to speechlessness.

There came another knock at the door and the man that the Alpha had called Blaze came back into the room, his eyes were wild and had started to glow. His chest was heaving and the panicked look that he gave made me immediately alert.

"Boss, we need you right away."

The Alpha sighed, looking back over at Altaira and I. He scanned me and seemed satisfied with my care before leisurely heading for the door. On his way out he gave me one last fleeting response. 

"I have some business to attend to but I'll be back soon. Don't cause anymore trouble." Both men disappeared from sight, the door closing hard behind them.

"Don't let Jaxon intimidate you. He just likes to appear as if he is big and bad." I watched as Altaira wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. She stood up and started pulling something out of her pocket. I realized that it was some bandages and felt a pang of guilt as she wrapped them around her wrists.

"These will heal in no time once I put some ointment on them. You don't have to worry about me, I'm used to this kind of thing." For some reason, that didn't make me feel any better.

"Do you know why they took me here?" I questioned, looking around the room for the possible answer for what they actually needed me for.

"Yes but I can't really tell you that. I'm sorry. That's more of Jax's business than my own and it would be better for him to tell you himself." I was disappointed by her answer but not shocked.

Altaira leaned over me and she placed one of her talons along the side of the rope. With a quick swipe, they slagged from the wrists and fell to the floor. She then reached into my pocket and pulled the painite out, throwing it in her own pocket.

"Though I will say that I don't agree with Jax's methods in this situation and I certainly can't let one of my patients suffer as such." Altaira's eyes lit up with a fire that I didn't expect and a grin eased onto my features. I mouthed a relieved 'thank you' as she headed for the door. With a nod and a smile of her own, she was gone.

Now all I had to do was figure out a way out of here.