Blue Moon

"I promise. I'll tell you everything." Valeriana rubbed her eyes after he left. Why was I crying? I never cry. She used her sleeve and wiped around her eyes. She thought about the scene that had transpired as he bandaged her neck. The way he said, "You can't..." still sent shivers down her spine.

She looked at the door he had left by and wanted to figure out where he went during the day. If there was a monster out there, then how come he could leave? Did he have some sort of control over the creature? Then why couldn't he tell her where he went? And was the creature just a way to keep her here?

More questions than what answers she had. He had said that he was going to explain things tonight. Would he though? Valeriana shook her head as she ran her hand through her hair. She knew that she wasn't going to be going home anytime soon. She bit her lip and looked toward the parlor. She didn't think that the maids would appreciate the blood in the room.

She started to tie up her hair and turned the light on. Her stomach twisted at the scene. It looked like a grisly murder happened. The blood was everywhere from the parlor entrance to the seat. She gulped slightly and saw that she had a lot of work to do.

She went into the closet she had seen the maids go into and opened it. Cleaning supplies were a relief to see. She started to filter and rummage through till she found hydrogen peroxide. It was one of the few things she knew would get blood out. She pulled it and some rags out. She might be reprimanded for trying to clean up the mess. But it didn't make sense to her to leave it.

She went back and started on the carpet and the chair first, dousing both in hydrogen peroxide. Maybe she could get most of the blood out for the maids so they could clean a little mess instead of the whole scene. She started to clean up the rags and everything she had used to help him would have to be trashed.

Why am I cleaning? She had been about to pick up the bullets. Though, she started to chide herself. There didn't seem to be an escape. And that's when she remembered what the maid had said about the Valorins having to face things alone.

She shook her head. She looked over the bullets, trying to think of how he had gotten shot. Was he just running around the forest and became an easy target? Was he in the way of some hunter and the beast outside?

Valeriana looked over the bullets, seeing what caliber they were. 25 caliber. Hunters use these. Her father had been a hunter before he started to work in construction. But what hunters would shoot a boy?

A slight noise came behind her, causing her to jump, pocketing the bullets. There was a tall man standing in the doorway. Valeriana's heart pounded harder than it had from the noise.

"You scared me." She put a hand to her chest.

"As you should." Valeriana blinked slightly. He stepped into the light and revealed to be the bruish face that had kidnapped her and brought her here.

"It's you."

"Hmph." He stepped closer to her, causing her to take a step back and knock her into the table.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know what happened. All this blood, you can smell it all the way to the door." Valeriana clutched her hand to her chest. Her kidnapper was right in front of her.

"I don't know." The man raised an eyebrow.

"And yet, you are cleaning it." Valeriana thought she saw his eyes change. For a second, his eyes turned yellow. Valeriana gulped slightly.

"Didn't want to leave it to the maids." The man towered her by a good foot, causeing her to have to tilt her head to look up at him.

"That is the maids' jobs in the first place. Now, if you would like to explain what happened to Talen Valorin, I would much appreciate it."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Braum. I am the guardian to Talen at his family's request. But I've been doing that for a while. And you are a descendant to the witch that cursed the Valorin line." That was still a surprise to hear, but Valeriana tried to keep her composure.

"Why did you kidnap me? Why bring me here?"

"We are hoping to break the curse. A descendant of a witch might just do that." Valeriana's eyes widened.

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

"Guess Talen hadn't gotten to explaining yet. Talen will die this year unless something can be done. His fat is literally in your hands."

"I can't be held accountable for his life. What am I suppose to do?" Braum made a scoffed sound.

"Well, you'll have some time to figure it out."

"But I have to get back to my family. They are probably worried about me. And my brother..."

"They are fine and your brother is being taken care of." Braum cut her off.

"But my brother's medicine."

"Everything has been taken care of, Ms. Pierce."

"Why?" Braum looked confused by her question.

"Why what? Shouldn't you be happy that everything as been taken care of at home?" Valeriana bit her lip, clutching her other hand tightly.

"But my family... They must be worried that I haven't returned home." A scoff came from Braum, but he didn't care to elaborate. Though, she didn't quite get it.

"For now, I would worry about yourself. First, but explaining to me what happened to Talen. And to stop cleaning. That is why we enlisted the help of maids in the first place." Valeriana gripped the bullets in her pocket.

"I don't exactly know what happened. I just know he was shot and needed to be taken care of." There was a growl that came from the back of Braum's throat.

"Damn that boy and his recklessness."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing that you need to worry your little head about. now, if you don't mind, let the maids take over in here." He opened the door to the maids who were much more prepared than she had been, waiting outside.

Valeriana bit her lip and slowly went around Braum and past the maids as they started to file in. She was about to head up when Braum caught her arm, causing her to jump.

"Understand Valeriana, as selfless as you are, you do have to worry about yourself as well." Valeriana pulled her arm out of his grip and started up the stairs to her room. She wasn't going home anytime soon.

Your brother is being taken care of. At least there was some relief. She tried to remind herself that she couldn't believe everything Braum said. But it would be a relief if her brother was ok. She put her hand on the doorknob, noticing another door down the hallway that was slightly ajar. Braum hadn't passed her on the stairs.

"Hmm..." She looked down the stairs, not seeing Braum or the maids.

She held her breath as she headed toward the ajar door. Curiosity may have been Valeriana's weakness, but she had a feeling about the room. It was pulling her towards it. She slipped inside, barely moving the door and the sight stunned her that she almost gasped.

The room was huge with tall bookcases that went to the ceiling. There was not a lot of space between the books, but she noticed that there were stacks of books on the ground and books strewned across a desk that seemed to come out of the book shelf. She almost didn't want to go in and disturb the peace in the room.

Her subconscious told her to move, either get caught by Braum for standing in the doorway, or go in and look for answers. She took a hesitant step into the library room. She left the door ajar and was more surprised as she stepped into the room that all four walls were covered in books except the window where it had a windowsill bench. Even the bench was covered in stacks of books.

She tried to take it all in. All the books didn't really have titles on the spines, but they looked very old. She was surprised, but she kept quiet as she loomed over the books. Her fingers brushed the leather and twine bound books. The further she went, the more elaborate the collection. Some, if not many of them, seemed to be journals. Medical journals? Personal journals? She couldn't be sure.

She noticed a couple of books left open on the desk. She strolled over and started to look over the books. Her eyes widened at one because on the page was a hand-drawn picture of the collar on a neck. Her heart skipped a beat. There it was, a way to get rid of the collar. Unfortunately, the hand writing was atrocious on the eyes and a page was missing.

So Talen had been trying to find a way to take it off and couln't figure it out. Now she kind of believed him when he wasn't sure. At least he was trying. She sighed softly as she tried to sit down on the chair when she felt something scrape on the back of her leg. On the seat was another leather-bound journal with a prickly rose attached to it. She gently picked it up and saw scrawled in fancy hand writing Talen Valorin. She furrowed her eyebrows. Must be his journal.

A perk of interest and curiosity sparked in her. Answers to all her questions may be inside his journal. she looked up at the other journals, realizing they were similar to Talen's journal. Her heart clenched as she looked down at his journal and seeing how the dead rose was attached to it.

As she was about to set it down carefully, she pricked her finger against one of the prickles. She gulped and got up, a dreary feeling filling her. The world started spinning and she was starting to fill ill. She reached out to stop herself from falling.

What is wrong with me? Her vision started to blur as she saw in the doorway a petite figure.

"Excellent. She'll be out in a moment. And we'll see just how much the Valorin clan has changed. Excuse the pun."

A gruffer voice responded to the figure, but Valeriana was already on the ground, unsure of where she was. The voice had been familiar and Valeriana started to lose consciousness. She felt herself being picked up.

"Get... Away..."

"Hush Princess. This is all just a test. Unfortunately, it's your life on the line."

Panic built up in Valeriana's chest as her eyes finally went dark.