Rhapsody

Luna stood in a dark room. It vaguely like a bedroom. The floor and walls were bare, panelled dark wood. There were no visible windows, and the room only contained a relatively small chest of drawers and a single bed shoved into a corner.

In another corner, draped under a heavy swath of black fabric whose edges brushed the floor three wooden legs jutted out in a triangle and piqued Luna’s curiosity. She walked over, the floor cold against her bare feet as she raised her hand and curled her fingers around the material. The fabric felt heavy, soft, but rough at the same time, like velvet.

Luna tugged at the cloth, revealing a canvas atop a wooden easel. The painting was indecipherable behind the swirling mass of dark colours, blues, and blacks and purples of all shades. She touched her fingers to the canvas, jerking away with a gasp when the surface flexed and rippled like water.

Gasping again, Luna spun around at a soft, cold touch on her bare shoulder, shivers of energy surging through her body. Her eyes widened as they landed on the tall, lean figure of Max Aldridge. He gazed unflinchingly down at her, fingertips grazing her uncovered skin.

Electricity sparked in the air of the small room as their eyes locked, the deep blue searing Luna straight through to her soul. Max traced his hand down her arm, a small smirk raising the left side of his mouth as a trail of goose bumps flared on her pale skin. He bent slowly towards her and, without a word, captured Luna’s soft lips gently with his own.

The kiss became very heated, very quickly. Hands fisted in hair and clothes, grabbing and twisting as they both tried to force their bodies closer. Luna had never been kissed before by anyone except her father, but her mind seemed to shut down as her body’s primal instincts took over. For despite her differing species, her body reacted much as an ordinary teenage girl’s would.

Her knees collapsed as they bumped into the metal frame of the bed. She hadn’t realised that Max had been slowly walking them backwards. Her back landed on the surprisingly soft mattress with a gentle thud, their lips never disconnecting. The familiar shots of warning that had run through Luna’s body were fading into the background, replaced by new, foreign urges, which surged through her bloodstream like nothing before.

Max broke away abruptly. His mouth never left Luna’s skin as he moved across her face and down her slender neck. Luna locked her fingers into his wild hair, simultaneously pulling him closer and pushing him away. She didn’t want to stop, but something about the whole situation felt wrong.

Her body went rigid as his teeth grazed her neck gently; instinct conjuring up images of dark creatures that haunted the nightmares of her kind. The kisses became more predatory, his hands tightening on Luna’s upper arms.

They weren’t caressing, they were restraining.

A sharp, hot lance of pain shot through her as Max violently sunk his elongated canine teeth into her neck, and everything went black...

Luna jolted awake, clapping her hands to her mouth to stifle a wild scream. Panting and gasping for breath, her heart beat out of control as the images spun through her mind. Her hand automatically went to her neck, feeling for a bite wound. But there was nothing but her smooth, pale skin.

Gradually Luna’s mind began to grasp the concept that it had only been a dream, nothing more.

Rolling over and gazing at her alarm clock, the glowing green numbers indicated that it was in fact 4:32 AM, nearly two whole hours before she was supposed to be awake. Groaning and burying her face deeper into her pillows, Luna tried to fall back to sleep, but her mind would not settle. The vivid, unwanted dreams plagued her, demanding to be noticed before fading into the depths of her eternal memory.

Sitting up in bed, Luna rested her head on the wooden oak headboard, running a hand through her messy, slightly damp black hair. Pulling it away, she saw and dimly felt the appendage spasm and shake; she was trembling.

The cause of it was extremely disturbing. It had been less than 24 hours, she hadn’t exactly made the greatest first impression, and yet Luna found herself dreaming of the insufferably handsome and unfathomably irritating Max Aldridge. Moreover, dreaming of him as something he could never possibly be.

Shaking her head in frustration, Luna pushed the idiotic notions to the back of her mind. Knowing she would never get any sleep now, she climbed out of bed, pulled on her slippers, shrugged on dressing gown, and walked out onto the balcony.

Waking to sunlight was something Luna was not sure she would ever get used to. In the Underworld, night had reigned supreme. Daylight was a foreign concept outside of a few select species that were able to travel in it, often referred to as ‘day-walkers’.

Reapers by design were day-walkers. They needed to be to collect the souls of those who died during the day, but since Luna had not yet fully grown into her powers, she was prone to rashes, boils, and burns upon direct contact with harsh sunlight.

Luna lent against the railing, exhausted from the lack of sleep. The sky was covered in clouds, the type that made the impression that it could rain, but it was very unlikely that it actually would. She wondered idly which of the houses she saw belonged to Ruby and Gavin.

Under the cover of the clouds, the young Reaper watched the sun slowly come up over the horizon, spilling warm, pale golden light over the town below. The sunlight made Luna think of the golden highlights in Max’s hair. Wrinkling her nose, she resisted the urge to smash her head into the balcony doors in frustration.

How could someone she’d spoken too all of twice be doing this to her? Luna had lived her whole life with little to no social contact with anyone other than her father and Conrad, and now she was suddenly going gaga over the first boy she meets? Admittedly, he was the second, but Gavin didn’t exactly give those kinds of vibes. Luna may have been socially inept, but she wasn’t stupid.

Still, what was it that made Max so impossible to be near...and yet so impossible to stay away?

A sudden, ice-cold gust of wind rushed past, whipping Luna’s hair forcefully around her face and shoulders. It pulled at her clothes, almost as if there were opposing forces, both trying to push her inside and drag her over the balcony.

Wrapping her dressing gown around her thin body she rushed back inside, locking the door and shutting the curtains. Shaking off the ominous air that pressed down around her, Luna walked quickly over to the bathroom and began to get ready for school, relishing the feeling of the hot water pounding her pale skin and turning it a bright, healthy pink-red, even if it was only for a little while.

Emerging from the bedroom Luna made her over to her father’s office to say goodbye. Knocking on the dark wood, her fist pushed the seemingly closed door open gently, the hinges creaking eerily in the empty hallway.

“Dad?” she called, poking her head around, “hello?”

The room was huge. Shelves of books lined the walls all the way to the high ceiling, hardwood floors with a large mahogany desk covered in books and papers in the centre, backed by a large leather chair.

It was also empty.

Spotting a plain envelope propped up on the desk; Luna made her way hesitantly into the room, feeling as though she were intruding on some strange, forbidden place. In elegant, familiar script, her name was inscribed on the front of the letter, and peeling back the red wax seal on the heavy parchment, she removed the letter inside.

Luna,
I’m so sorry I had to rush off again. Something very urgent has come up that needs my attention right away. Have a good day at school, and I’ll see you when I get home. Conrad will be waiting by the car to take you.
Love,
Dad.

Luna sighed as she read. It seemed Roger was being called away more and more these days.

It was times like these, when she really needed a girl chat, that she wished her mother were alive.

Evelyn’s death had happened before Luna could remember her, leaving a hole in their lives that had never been filled. She supposed her father had suffered more than she had, although it left her wondering how things would have been if it were different.

Luna folded the letter back up and placed it in the pocket of her black skinny jeans. She quickly left the room, shutting the door softly behind and walking back down the hall to the stairs. The heels of her boots thudded on the marble floors, echoing dully across the large, empty space.

The mansion was spacious, beautiful, and flawlessly built; there was no doubt about that. However, it would never really feel like home, no matter how long they stayed there.

As promised, Conrad was waiting patiently by the car. In his pale hand, he held a paper bag with the top rolled over.

“Your breakfast, miss,” he said, handing her the bag. Thanking him, Luna slid in through the open car door and into the passenger’s seat. As Conrad slipped in silently beside her and started the hearse, Luna opened the paper bag and tucked into a warm steak and cheese sandwich.

The car pulled into the school parking lot smoothly, once again to the stares of the student body and the surrounding faculty. Human’s certainly liked staring.

Conrad smiled and wished his young mistress a good day. She thanked him once more, noticing for the first time the strange spark of knowingness in his eyes. Shaking it off, Luna slipped quietly out of the car, glad for the thick invisible layer of sunscreen she had applied that morning as the sun’s rays danced over her skin.

“Luna! Over Here!” A voice called from the front doors of the school. She smiled, spying Gavin waving her over enthusiastically, Ruby standing calmly at his side, eyes once again covered by dark, tinted sunglasses.

“Hey, guys,” she said, a gentle smile gracing her features, “how were your nights?”

“Well,” Gavin began sardonically, “my dad decided to sleep at a motel with his girlfriend and my mum practically drank herself into a coma. You, know, the usual. How about yours, Roobz?”

“Did homework and acted as the guinea pig for my aunt’s new dessert recipe.” Ruby replied with a grimace and a shudder, tapping her cane lightly on the floor, “I love her cooking, but cake should never ever be made with that much lemon zest. It was like eating a sour sponge.”

Luna was left speechless, her lips moving silently in an attempt to form words. Gavin chuckled, patting a hand to her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, honey. That’s just a normal Monday night.” Wrapping his arm around her slim shoulders, and, with a playful squeeze, took Ruby’s hand and headed off to their first class just as the bell rang.

Luna sighed, watching them go. As she took a step away from the entrance, students trickling slowly down the halls, the roar of motors, and the violently loud screeching of tires echoed across the parking lot.

Her head whipped around just in time to see the exquisite figures of them.

Brodie.

Jonah.

Celeste.

Max.

It seemed just thinking his name now was enough to send blood flaring into her pale cheeks and the bone chilling tingles shooting back up her spine. The four of them sauntered across the parking lot, Brodie in front, Jonah with his long, lean arm around Celeste’s perfect body, and Max picking up the rear, his vibrant hair seeming to glow in the sunlight.

As they walked through the open doors, the remaining students parted like the Red Sea for Moses, transfixed by their intimidating beauty and haunting grace. The group glided, untouchable through the whispers and stares.

In a fraction of a second, Max glanced over, and he and Luna once more locked eyes. She met his gaze steadily, unflinching, even though inside her heart was beating like a hummingbird’s wings, flashes of her dream surging through her mind and warming her blood in a way that both thrilled and appalled her.

The moment passed, and Max broke eye contact. Luna’s brow creased, shaking her head to clear her now clouded mind. With a shrill screech, the final warning siren for class sounded, successfully diverting Luna’s attention to the fact that she was going to be late for Biology.

Gavin was already there when she arrived. Somehow, he had made it from one end of the school to the other in five minutes flat. Luna arrived just as the last of the students left the hall, but their teacher was absent.

“How did you get here so fast?” She asked in slight disbelief, taking a seat next to him at the table.

“Used to run track,” he admitted, “until I realised runner’s thighs made me look like a half-assed body builder and my loose jeans fit like spandex.”

“Of course, everything fits you like spandex, doesn’t it, Jameson?” Luna and Gavin looked up at the nasally, unpleasant voice. It was Sara, flanked by her three friends Miranda, Harriet, and Lin. Each wore an expression of amused contempt on their overly made-up faces, anticipating the verbal beating that Sara obviously had in store.

“What do you want, Davis?” Gavin retorted, his green eyes narrowing. Sara met his glare with a smirk, the thick layer of gloss on her collagen-plumped lips shining greasily.

“I just came over here to talk to your little friend.” Her flat brown eyes slid over to Luna, the subtle flinch of surprise as they locked obvious to no one but her.

“She has nothing to say to you, Sara,” Gavin defended, making to turn away when Sara’s hand slapped loudly down on the desk. She smiled pleasantly, the powerful smell of bubblegum body spray overpowering Luna’s nose. She had to resist the urge to gag.

“Listen up, new girl. I don’t know how they did things at your old school, but around here, I’m the top of the food chain.” Sara was leaning in so close that Luna could see the how thickly she had applied her foundation. It looked like she’d slapped on a pancake.

Luna herself only wore eye makeup, mostly because in the Underworld, to look human enough was the only way to gain any attention from others of her kind. The more like them she looked, pale and plain, the more they overlooked her. Ever since, it had just become part of how she looked.

“I don’t know what you’re threatened by, Sara.” She replied evenly, meeting her stare, “But you shouldn’t be worried. I’ve only been here a day and I have no intention of usurping whatever throne you think you have.” Sara snorted in contempt.

“Whatever. Just stay out my way.” With that, the group sauntered away to their seats at the very back of the room. Luna and Gavin exchanged a look of what-in-the-world-just-happened just as Mr Olsen finally arrived in the room. Luna breathed a sigh of relief. A distraction was exactly what she needed.

“Sorry I’m late," he began, pulling out books and notes from his bag, "I had to deal with some first years trying to burn all their textbooks. Let’s begin with the next chapter, shall we?”