Daughters Of The Moon -Bonds of Blood

With every injection, the sleepiness gets easier the heaviness in my chest feels lighter, but it doesn’t stop. It never stops.

Each time I try to focus on my sisters and getting back to them, to being with Ryan the other half of me. I can’t even imagine what he must be feeling I know that whenever I think of him feel a crushing in my chest.

The sight of him laying on the ground covered in blood, gashes in his clothes and flesh leaking with blood that was dampening the ground around him as they pulled me away.

I linked him over and over to tell him I loved him he called out to me, unable to move and then he was gone from my vision the connection between us to weak it I thought he had died but I still feel a small pang of him every now and again and I know he’s out there looking for me.

Sekreta comes in over and over again the same way she has done these past weeks or months, I’ve lost all track or time, She offers no explanation or reasoning for what she is doing she just repeats she has found what she needs as I drift off to sleep as the needle enters me forcing me back into the abyss.

ONE MONTH AGO

“Ryan will you please hurry up, Cynthia is going to have her baby soon and id like to be there when it arrives “

He’s walking at a snail’s pace behind me no real sense of urgency in his steps, and boy is it winding me up.

The last few months with him have been amazing but I’m ready to see my sisters now, ready to sleep on a real bed and eat my favourite foods. We had caught up with Sekreta once before but she had disappeared when we woke up, I didn’t tell her my name or who I am but she just seemed so scared and lost.

I had told Sel this on the phone but with everything happening with Cynthia we had to turn around I couldn’t miss the birth of our newest family member.

“Artemis”

Ryan is using his angry voice now so I turn to face him.

“Artemis she isn’t due for another 2 days and we are only half a day away from the edge of the uncharted territories from there its a couple of hours drive and we will be home. So can you please just slow down we haven’t slept in 2 days you need to rest”

He’s right, I know he is but that doesn’t make me want to pay attention to him. As he gets closer and stares at me with those deep brown eyes I could get lost in, I give in to his demands.

“Okay, Ryan we will set up a little camp here for the rest of the evening/ night at then get going first thing?”

I make out like I’m asking him but we both know that I’m not we head over to a large tree, using my powers I run around the area quickly to make sure none else is about and am back before he has even taken his bag off his shoulder.

“I will never get used to that you know Arti, I’ve always known you were strong and fast but this is another level. I assume you back quickly because we are alone?”

“We are indeed alone Ry”

Gazing into his eyes I feel myself getting hot and flustered it has been a while since we have been able to be with him in that way and I am feeling it recently, I miss the feeling of being complete with each other and I know for a fact its one of the reasons why we keep bickering.

Placing our stuff down by a tree the all too familiar unpacking of items begins between and Ryan lights a small fire.

We eat and talk all the while staying alert to every noise but then Sekreta comes to my mind again. I’m constantly worried whether she is okay or if someone has caught her but something inside me makes me think I would feel it.

If she were hurt I would know, I had hoped that int he three months we have been out here we would have come across he at least once but as soon as we caught her scent we lost it again.

As I drift off to sleep I wonder what she might be like. What her mother might be like if she can tell me anything about our mother and her family.

We have lost so much and even the smallest of connections is one id be more than happy to have.

“Arti wake up, the suns coming up we have to get moving”

I’m pretty sure he just said the sun is coming up but that would mean he didn’t wake me up for the shift so he could sleep.

“Ryan you let me sleep this whole time? You must be tired”

He moves towards me kissing me on the forehead.

“You needed sleep Arti and besides when we get back to the house I can sleep all I want as you’ll be devoting all your time to a new baby”

A little pout follows his words as he stares at me.

I can’t even argue with him as he is right, I know ill be fully devoted to the baby so will Selene, Cynthia is going to have trouble getting a look in.

We begin to pack up our things as the sun rises higher into the sky, as we do I begin to feel the surge in the base of my stomach like something is wrong my head shoots up and I stare out into the forest and then I see her.

She is running right for is covered in blood, her clothes torn and fear spread across of my face. Ryan stands and looks around claws out.

“Please, please help me they are coming”

She falls into my arms and that same feeling I get when my sisters and I touches flows between us. I look behind her but I can see no one, Ryan moves on closer.

“Hey hey calm down, there’s no one there you are safe now”

Her head snaps around again looking behind her.

“They were there, I swear it..”

Her eyes flutter closed and she passes out while still in my arms, laying her down on the ground I leave Ryan to watch her while I do a quick scan of the area, whatever was there seems to have gone now.

As she breathes in and out I study her face, she is so much like our mother more so than any of us. I spend some time cleaning her wounds hoping that when she wakes up she isn’t going to run.

After about an hour her eye’s flutter open and she sniffs the air, as soon as she smells us she sits upright and backs away against a tree.

“Hey hey calm down, your safe. Whoever was chasing you is gone”

I take a step towards her with Ryan close behind and she snarls at him.

” Ryan I think maybe you should take a step back”

He doesn’t link me back just nods and sits further away. The second she does Sekreta’s eyes meet mine.

“Who are you, and why are your eyes glowing purple”

I blink having not realised my emotions were nearing the surface.

“I’m Artemis, We helped you before a few weeks ago do you remember ?”

She nods but doesn’t say anything.

“You must be hungry can I get you something to eat or a drink maybe ?”

I Grab my bottle of water and hand it to her, she drinks it as though its the first thing to pass through her lips in days.

I grab some biscuits out of my bag and hand her the packet, she takes them and bows her head eating in silence. Not wanting to scare her I go back to what I was doing before she fell into my arms.

*“Artemis” *

Her voice is quiet and soft, like a whisper almost to quiet to hear. Turning to her I see her staring at me.

“Is everything okay, do you need some warmer clothes ?”

She puts on the jumper I hand her and continues to observe me.

“Who are you Artemis?, You smell familiar like I know you”

I don’t say anything but she continues.

“I thought it when you found me last time and it scared me, its why I left I thought maybe you were one of his.”

I know she means Arlo, those he injected with her blood must have smelt like her, it makes me rage internally.

“I am not one of his Sekreta I am one of those whom he tried to attack. But Arlo is dead”

Her eyes show me the first sign of light since she found us.

“He’s really gone ?”

“Yes, he can’t hurt you anymore”

Tears fill her eyes and tumble down her cheeks, and I instinctively move towards her pulling her into me for a hug.

As soon as we touch her tears become sobs and keep her close until the sobbing stops and she’s able to catch her breath. I can fell Aria trying to push to the forefront but we cannot feel Sekretas wolf, I think nothing of it, with all the trauma she has been through its no wonder her wolf, would be weak.

“How, how did you kill him he was so powerful”

I explain the entire battle to her, telling her everything we found out even letting her know about my father, she smiles when I mention him.

“He was always kind to me on the tables, he would often tell me it was going to be okay”

It makes my smile knowing my dad didn’t lose himself even in his most difficult moments, he focused on making others feel calm and happy.

I carry on explaining to her and she listens intently, she tells me she stole a book from inside the main house, and I’m reminded of when Selene was in the library, she explains she heard it calling to her she said she felt it was as though it belonged to her somehow.

“I lost it when I was running from them, I dropped in somewhere in the woods “

I can tell its important to her as her eyes once again glaze over with tears.

“ Artemis, I have one more question for you?”

She looks nervous and I can’t get a read on her emotions.

“Who are you to me?”