Bloodline (Completed)

20

~ Regina Tso's POV ~

I am standing in the backyard of my house, and under the light of the dying sun,  I am getting ready for the Wild Hunt. I'm not participating in it tonight, as I typically don't when it's a Blood Moon. But Tori and Henry are.

Nick walks over to me. I smile at him.

"I actually have a present for you," he says.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah." He presses a piece of paper into my hand. "Wait till the Wild Hunt starts, then follow the directions on the paper. You'll find me." He winks. Then, he's gone.

I shove the paper in my pocket and walk over to where Jade and Gemma and Harry stand, by the punch bowl. Jade grins at me and hands me a glass of punch spiked with some cheap wine she got.

"You're terrible," I say to her.

She smirks. "I know!"

The smell of liquor is faint enough in the drink that it could be non-existent, but I know Jade. She spiked the drinks.

"Just make sure no one gets too drunk," I say.

She frowns. "Take all the fun away."

The music comes to a close, and I see the people getting lined up for the Wild Hunt. They stand in a line and don't say anything to each other as my mom and dad take the stage.

"Let the Wild Hunt begin!" Father shouts.

Someone blows into the war horn we have for this occasion, and the participants are off. Tori and Henry included.

My father runs to join them, and so does Lee. But the rest of us remain. Well, save for Nick, who vanished. So I go after him, walking toward the woods beyond my backyard and heading into the darkness.

The sun has set, and soon, the Blood Moon will rise. I open the letter Nick gave me.

Follow the sound of the chanting until you hear someone say your name.

That's all it says. Hmm. I put it back in my pocket and obey the words. I walk and walk, hearing the ceremonial chanting morph into my name being whispered.

"Regina ...  Regina ... "

I stop. I'm in a clearing.

Nick stands in the clearing, the warm light is a soft but bright gold color by the fairy lights hanging from the tree branches above. Nick smiles and walks over, hugging me around my neck.

"Happy Hunt," he says. He presses a box into my hand.

It's a necklace with a blood moon pendant. Made of gold, not toxic silver. I grin as he puts it on me.

"I love it," I say.

"Aww, how cute," a voice says.

I turn around. And see a girl who looks almost exactly like me standing beside another girl  ... Elara, Annabelle's daughter.

"Who are you?" Nick asks 

"That does not matter," says the other me. "Come on, it's time for you to embrace the truth of your circumstances."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"This."

She snaps her fingers and then I feel like I'm sucked into something else, and then I am in nothingness.