Emerald Moon Read online

  Emerald Moon

  DeAnna Kinney

  Copyright © 2020 by DeAnna Kinney

  ISBN- 9798610768731

  Published by Kinney Publishing

  Editing by Dandria Young Bradley

  Cover Design by Luminescence Covers

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the owner.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, places, or actual events are purely coincidental.

  More Books by DeAnna Kinney:

  The Charity Series:

  Charity Moon (Charity Series Book 1)

  Charity Rising (Charity Series Book 2)

  Raven’s Rose (Charity Series Book 3)

  Charity’s Storm (Charity Series Book 4)

  Charity Rain (Charity Series Book 5) The Drake Triplets

  Charity’s Light (Charity Series Book 6) Anora’s Story

  Charity: A New Beginning (Charity Series Book 7)

  A Charity Christmas Novella

  The Cross Series:

  Calico Cross (Cross Series Book 1)

  Tender Crossing (Cross Series Book 2)

  Double Crossed (Cross Series Book 3)

  The Lavender Series:

  Loving Lily Lavender (Lavender Series, # 1)

  Leaving a Lavender Legacy (Lavender Series, #2)

  Stand Alones:

  Box of Gaza

  My Forever June

  Jewels of Sanctum

  Exposing Kitty Langley

  Running from the Mark

  Christmas at Clove Cottage

  I Was a Fairly Hairy, Slightly Scary, “PINK” Werewolf

  Saving My Rock Star

  Rumor’s Out!

  Children’s Books:

  Sammy the Sea Cow Makes a New Friend (Sammy, Book 1)

  Sammy the Sea Cow Learns a Valuable Lesson (Sammy, Book 2)

  Sammy the Sea Cow Loses His Way (Sammy, Book 3)

  *Available on Amazon.com

  ~1~

  She ran as fast as she could, speed her primary thought. She ducked, but a branch jabbed her, hitting her face and sending a sharp, but brief, pain across her cheek. She was being pursued by something, something big and angry. Somehow, she sensed that whatever it was, it wanted to destroy her, but her mind couldn’t fathom why. Emerald had always been a good person, for the most part. She never would have conceived of hurting anyone, not on purpose anyway. Her mom enjoyed teasing her because she went out of her way to protect any animal in danger. Every spring, Emerald would stop her car in the middle of the road just to help a turtle find its way to the other side and avoid a pending death by oncoming cars. But this thing, a beast of some sort, was a totally different story. It wanted to kill her, and she knew that if her legs faltered, it would be on her in seconds and it would not stop until she was in pieces.

  Her chest heaved with an exertion she was unaccustomed to. She hadn’t made a habit out of regular exercise it was true. She regretted it now.

  The beast was almost upon her, its vile, heavy breath kissing across her back as a cruel reminder that her fragile life was in its hands. But not as long as she had breath and any strength left to her. She would push and fight until the very end. She had to. She had a purpose, a very important purpose, and she refused to let that go, at least not as long as there was any hope that she might prevail. It, however, was looking quite grim at the moment.

  A searing pain shot into her side as the beast struck her, sending her flying into the air. She landed hard; her breath knocked out of her. She cried out in pain, grabbing her side, and felt the warm liquid pouring from her wound and slipping through her fingers. The beast stood over her, saliva dripping from its fangs and landing hot on her face. The image was clear now. It was a wolf-like creature. It was huge and terrifying with dark red eyes glaring at her with such hatred.

  She drew in a sharp breath and forced herself to be brave. She gave no thought as the words spilled from her lips. “You don’t scare me!” she lied, yelling in its face. This must have surprised it, and it backed up slightly in response. “You have no power over me!” She continued to scream at it as she inched her way backward. It stood still, its anger seeming to falter slightly. It actually appeared confused. Without warning, a long silver gleam caught by the glowing moon flashed through the air and across the neck of the large beast. It happened so fast she barely had time to register what was happening as the beast’s head was sliced from its body and sent flying through the air. The headless form collapsed at Emerald’s feet. She felt her mouth fall open in shock as she gazed up in wonderment at the dark figure now towering above her. His sword was still in the air with the beast’s blood dripping from the blade. It was a man, a very large man. Yet she could only make out his silhouette in the darkness that engulfed him.

  She screamed, her chest heaving as she sprung up in her bed. Another dream. It was the same dream as the previous five nights, but this time it was different. This time she stood up to the beast. This time she wasn’t alone, and this time she was rescued by someone, though she couldn’t make out who. Was he friend or foe? She didn’t have time to find out as the clawed hand of the headless beast grabbed her leg, jolting her from her dream.

  She reached to her nightstand, grabbing her journal and pen. Her hand flew across the page as she etched the fresh memory of her dream into her journal. What was the significance of the change? Every night prior, the dream had ended in her death as the beast sank its fangs deep into her neck. Everything went black after that and she had always awakened then. But this time she had fought back, giving pause to her enemy, allowing time for her savior to deliver the death blow.

  She shook her head, as if it would clear her mind. She had no idea what the dreams meant or why she was being plagued by them. But the one thing that was consistent with all of them was the strong sense of purpose to her life; like she had something really important that only she could do.

  This actually wasn’t the first time she had been plagued by dreams she didn’t understand. It had been something she’d experienced all throughout her life, even as a child living in foster care. She would share her dreams with her many foster parents, but they would brush them away. ‘Just dreams’ they would always tell her, and she would believe them. She had no reason not to. But now that she was older, she had a nagging suspicion that her dreams were a little more than just that, though she was still unsure of how or what they were exactly.

  Emerald’s loyal dog, a Siberian husky named Beta, groaned and stretched his full length out along her bed, obviously protesting the early wakeup call. Beta never reacted to Emerald’s dreams. The dog had actually gotten used to his owner jumping up from her sleep, all sweaty and bothered. At first, however, her jolts had alarmed the young dog, but soon he became accustomed to the disturbance, realizing that his owner wasn’t actually in any real danger.

  “Good morning, Beta,” Emerald whispered, giving the sleepy dog a little kiss on the top of his head.

  She closed her journal and stood, stretching. Her back and neck cracked, and she sighed in relief. She really needed to stop cracking her neck so much. Her dad used to fuss at her about it, saying one day she would suffer from arthritis, but she was too young to worry about that kind of stuff. She enjoyed the feeling too much to stop the habit now.

  Thinking of her dad still made her feel sad. She really missed him. Although it had been two years since he passed away, in some ways, it still felt like yesterday.

  John and Betty Cutler had adopted Emerald when she was eleven-years-old. She had been in multiple foster families before that, but as soon as she wo
uld start to have feelings for the families, she would get pulled out of the home and sent to live with another one. Her early childhood was a cruel one, her heartstrings being pulled in all different directions. But even with the pain of loving people only to eventually lose them, she loved without hesitation.

  She had longed for a family of her very own. That all changed when John and Betty came to visit. She had seen the two of them in a dream a year earlier. And when they stepped into the room to meet her for the first time, she knew they were the ones that would take her home for good.

  She’d enjoyed a loving, safe environment with her adoptive parents. John was a caring and gentle man and her bond with him was strong. However, it had taken longer for Emerald to connect with her new mother. At first Betty was kind and sweet, encouraging John to build a relationship with his new daughter, but it seemed to Emerald that once the bond was established, her new mother resented it and pulled away from the young Emerald. It wasn’t until the untimely death of her father from a heart attack two years prior that Emerald had grown closer to her mom. It was just the two of them now, and though sometimes she could still feel the tension there, she knew her mom loved her and that was enough for her.

  The love she shared with her dog, Beta, however, was a different story altogether. A few years back, Emerald had discovered the young husky hanging around her house. Her dad had tried shooing the dog away, but it would always return as soon as he left. It didn’t seem to want anything in particular. It didn’t whine or beg. It just hung around. He followed Emerald to her car every morning before school. He was also there when she returned home from school. She knew better than to ask her parents if she could keep him. They had made it clear from the beginning that no pets were allowed, especially dogs. Her mom had a fear of dogs, big or small.

  But that all changed one morning when Emerald went to the mailbox to fetch the mail. She was fifteen at the time. Just as she was approaching the mailbox, a black van pulled up alongside her and the back door slid open. A man grabbed her from behind and tried to throw her into the van. The husky was there in an instant. It jumped the man, clamping his jaws down on his arm, growling and jerking from side-to-side. The dog was ferocious, and Emerald had never seen anything like it before. He was protecting her. The man eventually was able to get loose and get back into the van, and it sped away. The man, along with the driver of the van, were later arrested when the injured man showed up at the hospital for stitches.

  After selling the dog’s heroic actions to her parents, Emerald was finally allowed to keep the dog. Her dad had said he felt relief knowing the dog was there to protect her. She named him Beta as he quickly became her side kick, following her everywhere he was allowed.

  Emerald took her shower and dressed for the day. She made extra time to brush Beta, so he was especially soft. The last thing she wanted was for him to shed when he cuddled with, or was petted by, the patients at the hospital. Huskies were known to be bad shedders. As a certified therapy dog, Emerald took extra care to make sure Beta was shed free. Beta was a great comforter, and it didn’t take Emerald long to recognize his special attributes. Not to mention he was a visually striking animal. Thick, dark grey hair covered his body with a face of mostly white. His eyes were a mesmerizing ice blue. He actually took on the resemblance more of a wolf than a husky.

  Emerald spent her summer days taking Beta to visit hospitals and nursing facilities. In the fall she would begin her college classes and would have to put the visits on hold for a while. She knew Beta would miss it since he seemed to really enjoy visiting the patients, especially the children, but with her own sense of purpose pushing her, Emerald felt she needed to be doing something important herself, and becoming a nurse was how she planned to start. Helping people was what she longed to do.

  ~2~

  “You were such a good boy today,” Emerald said, patting Beta on his head. He sat up tall in the passenger’s seat as always. “Such a sweet gentleman. The children loved you. I think you need a reward,” she added, pulling her car up to the drive through window for vanilla ice cream, Beta’s favorite.

  She sat the bowl of ice cream in front of the dog and he made quick work of devouring it.

  She was leaving the big city and heading back home to her little town in Frazier when she spotted the traffic jam ahead. Making a quick decision to avoid it, she took the first exit to travel the back way. It was a quiet detour and one she wasn’t that familiar with. She had ignored Beta’s quiet growls of warning when she’d taken the exit, but what else could she do? If she’d stayed her course, it would have been midnight before they got home.

  She rubbed his head in reassurance. Beta had a great sense of danger and let her know when he sensed something off by a series of quiet growls. They had proven to be true every time, but this time she had to listen to reason. She was tired, and it was already turning dark.

  Her stomach felt slightly queasy on the curvy road they were currently traveling, and she slowed the car down some. They were the only ones around, so it didn’t matter anyway. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a red car appeared on her bumper. Impatiently, it swerved around her and disappeared around the next curve. It was driving very dangerously.

  “Oh my word!” Emerald squealed, putting her hand to her chest as if to slow her shock.

  Seconds later, there was another car, a white one. It sped around her without even a hesitation. Was it chasing the first car? Emerald wondered.

  No sooner had her heart rate began to slow when she heard a loud crash. Seconds later she spotted the smoke billowing into the sky ahead of her. Her heart clutched. “Oh, Beta, I have a very bad feeling about this.”

  She sped up, reaching the crash site only moments later. The two cars were mangle together like pretzels. If they weren’t different colors it would be hard to tell where one ended and the other began. With her heart in her throat, she jerked her car over to the side of the road and grabbed her phone. Beta was growling.

  “You stay here, boy,” she said, jumping out of the car and slamming the door shut behind her.

  The dog protested but she ignored him and ran to the site of the crash.

  Smoke was billowing around her, and she coughed as she made her way to the first car, the red one. She approached the driver’s side and noticed the window was busted. There was a man in the driver’s seat, his head resting on the steering wheel.

  “Sir, are you okay? Sir?” She tapped his shoulder. Nothing. She gently grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. His head flopped back against the back of the seat. His head tilted up. Emerald screamed, covering her mouth with her hand.

  He was dead. His head was sliced open at the temple. But this wasn’t what shocked her the most. Two long sharp fangs protruded from his mouth. His face was distorted in a scary way and his eyes were wide open and the pupils were white. What? Was this some sort of joke? Her mind stammered. She tried to reject the thoughts swirling around in her head, but she couldn’t fathom any other explanation for what she saw. A vampire? She quickly gazed into the car at the others in the backseat. There were two more of them and they looked the same as the first one. Without further delay, she pressed 911 on her phone. She jolted at the sound of the door of the second car, the white one, swinging open. Two large men fought their way out of the mangled vehicle, taking a moment to shake off their daze.

  As if not seeing her, they jerked the doors off the red car and dove inside. Emerald barely registered the 911 operator calling to her from her phone. She dropped her phone then, covering her mouth with both hands to stifle her screams as the two men’s forms changed. Where there was once skin, hair now covered them. Terrifying growls filled the air and the car shook with the violence that Emerald was now witnessing. The two beasts tore the vampires to pieces right before her very eyes.

  Something small hit her and landed at her feet. She gazed down with reluctance, her eyes growing wide, as she registered an eyeball…with a white pupil. She couldn’t hold back the screams any lon
ger as she backed away, covering her face as if it would make the images disappear.

  The car stopped shaking then and slowly the furry men exited the car and turned to her.

  Instinctively, she threw her hands up in surrender. “Ummm, I-I-I…” she stammered, trying to get the words out. “I didn’t see anything. Please, I didn’t see anything.”

  But it was too late. The men, once hairy beasts with large snouts and fangs now resembled men again. They approached slowly and she knew she was in trouble. One man grabbed her arm, squeezing painfully. “What did you see?” he demanded, blood dripping from his mouth.

  “I-I…please don’t hurt me. I won’t tell anyone. Who would believe me anyway? I mean there are no such things as vampires and werewolves,” she mumbled. She felt nauseous just saying the words out loud.

  “What did you say?” he asked seemingly stunned by her words. “You mean you saw us?” the man asked, unable to hide his surprise.

  “No,” she answered. “I didn’t see anything. Please let me go.”

  He turned to the other man who now stood right behind him. “We need to go. Now.”

  The first man was still holding her arm firmly when a car sped toward them, stopping with a screech once it reached them.

  “Get inside,” the first man ordered Emerald, pushing her into the car as the door swung open. Emerald and the two men disappeared inside the car and it sped away.

  Emerald sat in silence, clearly in shock, as the men spoke around her.

  “She has seen us,” the first man said.

  “How is that even possible?” another man asked. “Humans can’t see our beast forms. What does this mean?”

  “I’m not sure. Blake will know. We just need to get her back to base. He’ll know what to do.”

  “Do you think they’ll call in Callaway?” the younger man driving asked, looking in the rearview mirror at the small woman sitting with his friends.