Moonlight (22 page)

As Thaddeus watched Nate take
his last few steps towards him, a
nd as they stood eye to eye at last, Thaddeus, dropped to his knees and lowered his head.

“If you truly felt anything for Frances, make this quick for me,” Thaddeus said. “As I sat and watched her fade away, we both knew this moment would eventually come. She wouldn’t have wanted me to suffer.” He then reached into the back of his waistband and removed the gun he had earlier tried to get Winnie to kill him with. Looking up into Nate’s dead black eyes, he offered him the gun.

Nate slowly took the gun and turned it over in his hands. “A murderer and coward,” he sneered.
“A true
Lycanthrope
.”

“I’m neither,” Thaddeus whispered to himself more than
to
his executioner.

Nate heard him all the same, and whipped him across the side of the face with the butt of the gun. Thaddeus howled in pain, as his head rocked to the left.

Throwing the gun into the grass, Nate towered over Thad
deus and said, “I’ve waited
three
hundred years for this moment.
Three
hundred years!”
he screeched, spit flying from his lips and spraying Thaddeus’
s
naked chest
. “And for every one of those days
,
I’ve tormented myself
–
driven myself half
-
mad - thinking of how when I sink my fangs into your putrid heart, I want to feel it
still
beating.”

“Whatever you think happened to Frances, I’m not going to spend my last few moments trying to convince you otherwise,” Thaddeus said calmly, “we loved each other more than you’ll ever know.”

“You don’t have the faintest idea what true love is, wolf
!
” Nate screeched at him. “You’re nothing but an animal. It was I who truly loved Frances.”

Then, slowly lifting his head, Thaddeus looked into Nate’s eyes. “If you truly had loved Frances, you wouldn’t have asked her to stand in the moonlight. You would have set her free.”

With a rage which paled anything he had felt before, Nate raised his claws in the air and brought them slicing down. Thaddeus threw back his head, exposing his neck, waiting for the vampire’s claws to slice open his throat and at last set him free. Thaddeus didn’t know what came first, the
warm splatter of blood across his upturned face, or the sound of the gun firing.

Thaddeus opened one eye to see Nate slump face first into the ground. He then opened the other,
and
saw Winnie standing with the gun wavering in her trembling hands. Blood and lumps of Nate’s brain slid done the length of Thaddeus’s face like giant black tears. He armed them away, unable to take his eyes off Winnie.

“What have you done?” he howled.

“Saved your life,” Winnie breathed, dropping the gun as if it now carried some disease she might catch.

“Why?” he barked. “After everything I have put you through.”

“Because you saved my life,” Winnie whispered
,
holding her bleeding arm against her chest.

“But you haven’t saved my life
,
Winnie,” he snarled at her.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, unable to figure out why he seemed so angry. Then, looking at the scattered remains of the vampires, she added, “They’re dead
,
aren’t they?”

“
They’re
dead,” Thaddeus growled. “But there will be others. It won’t take long for Nicodemus to figure out what went on here. Just like Nate, he will come after me to avenge the death of Frances.”

“I’m sorry,” Winnie said, looking back at the house which was now nothing more than just a raging inferno.

“I had set you free. Why did you come back for me?” Thaddeus barked at her.

“Because you said we were friends,” she breathed, looking back at him. “That’s what friends do
,
isn’t it?”

Thaddeus looked back at her, not knowing what to say or do. With his temper calming, and seeing the blood funnelling from the cut in Winnie’s face and leaking down her arm, he went to her and took her in his arms.

Slowly, Winnie folded her arms around him and held onto Thaddeus. Resting her tired head against his shoulder, Winnie looked into the distance. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, she saw a little figure wearing a blood
-
red coat standing atop a grassy knoll in the distance.

Ruby
Little
raised one pale hand into the air and slowly beckoned Winnie with it.

“I don’t know what we do now,” Thaddeus whispered into Winnie’s ear as he held her.

“We do what I do best,” she whispered back. “We
run
.”

Winnie glanced up at the grassy knoll again, but Ruby
Little
had gone. In her place
, was a pool of
moonlight.

‘Moonbeam’

Book tow in the Moon
Trilogy

Coming soon!

Also available by Tim O’Rourke

‘Vampire Shift’ (Kiera Hudson Series One Book 1)

‘Vampire Wake’ (Kiera Hudson Series One Book 2)

‘Vampire Hunt’ (Kiera Hudson Series One Book 3)

‘Vampire Breed’ Kiera Hudson Series One Book 4)

‘Wolf House’ (Kiera Hudson Series One Book 4.5)

‘Vampire Hollows’ (Kiera Hudson Series One Book 5)

‘Dead Flesh’ (Kiera Hudson Series Two Book 1)

‘Dead Night’ (Kiera Hudson Series Two Book 1.5)

‘Dead Angels’ (Kiera Hudson Series Two book 2)

‘Black Hill Farm
’ (Book 1
)

‘Black Hi
ll Farm: Andy’s Diary’ (Book 1
)

‘Doorways’ (
The Doorways Trilogy Book 1
)

‘The League of Doorways’ (The Doorways Trilogy Book 2)

‘Cowgirls & Vampires’ (Book 1
)

‘Moonlight’ (The Moon Trilogy Book 1)

About the Author

Working away in the dead of night, Tim has written many short stories, plays and novels. His most recent book 'Dead Angels' (Book Two in Kiera Hudson Series Two) is now available. Tim is also the author of the paranormal romance series entitled 'Black Hill Farm' and ‘Doorways’ – A book of Vampires, Werewolves & Black Magic.

Tim's interests other than writing, include watching South Park, Vampire Diaries, True Blood and listening to
Pitbull
, LMFAO, Jennifer Lopez, David
Guetta
, Bruno Mars, Rihanna and Adele. Tim is never happier than when reading The Twilight Series, Vampire Diaries and writing his own Vampire series “Vampire Shift.”

Don't be shy; feel free to contact Tim at
[email protected]
- Tim would love to hear from you.
Website:
www.Ravenwoodgreys.com