Blue Moon

Talen had woken up when he felt a burning sensation on his neck. He hadn't been expecting to see the girl above him.

"What..." His throat was dry and he couldn't really say much.

"Shh... Rest. It's ok."

Why are you here? Why did you come back? He wanted to ask so much and yet felt so much pain that he couldn't. Though, Talen did not expect to be going back to the darkness.

His stomach churned. He didn't feel like he would be waking up soon. His beast was surprisingly quiet though. Though Talen might have been too deep in his own subconscious to hear it. He only hoped that he wouldn't change before he woke up. He didn't need to freak her out more and not be able to break the curse.

Fortunately, he did not stay asleep for long. His eyesight was blurred as he saw a blinking light. He groaned, trying to rub his eyes when he heard clank, clank.

What in the world? He felt the cold metal around his wrist. He looked at the shackle and heard a small voice.

"Are you awake now?" The girl was sitting across from the shut cage door.

"Yeah..." Talen croaked as he tried to sit up. He felt like his head was about to fall off. He felt like he had tried to swallow the desert when she got up.

"Wait." She looked at him, with an expressionless, almost stoic face. "I'll be right back. I'm going to go get you some water."

She started to take the steps two at a time. This gave Talen enough time to think.

Why didn't she just leave when I was incapacitated? Why did she stay while I was out? Talen would have run, got away from the monster he was. Both figuratively and literally. He was about to snap the shackle off and stopped. It was better to give her the illusion that he wasn't going to be able to escape for now, than to truly scare her.

He sat there to contemplate and started to rub his neck. That's when he felt the bandage. He blinked in surprise and stopped rubbing it. She had helped him? Why? He didn't have time to reason as she came back down the stairs. She came over to the cage door and put the glass of water through one of the square openings.

"Here." Talen moved forward and gently took the glass.

"Thank you." He gently sipped it and set it back down. She went back to her spot and sat down, curling up slightly. He watched curiously. "Why didn't you leave?"

Valeriana looked in his eyes and he felt himself catch his breath.

"I... didn't have much choice." She lifted her hair to reveal an identical bandage to his own. His stomach started to churn again. "And it was too late to be wandering around in the dark, trying to get home."

He sighed softly and whispered, "Valeriana..."

She looked at him with a furrow in her eyebrows. He guessed he deserved that. Talen gulped. It was hard to admit to your previous actions as wrong and that you changed your view so quickly. But he felt the need to say it.

"I'm sorry for my previous actions..." He let out the breath he had been holing. She shook her head and looked down at her knees.

"I don't believe you." One knife into Talen's chest, but Talen had given her no reason to trust him. "Who are you, really?"

"I told you my name is Talen Valorin. And if you believe urban legends, I am cursed."

"There are no such things as curses." Talen gave her a look.

"After what had happened, do you really believe that?" Talen saw her rub her neck.

"What exactly is this?" Talen gulped. That was one thing he wasn't sure he could explain. He had seen it only in short use from his brothers and what he had seen.

"It's a silk collar. Voodoo and all that jazz." She didn't look completely convinced, but neither did Talen. But he didn't understand it any better either.

"Take it off." Talen felt his chest twist. He felt his mouth start to dry again.

"I can't..." He muttered as he reached for the glass to drink.

"What do you mean you can't?" Talen looked to the ground as he took another sip and added more to his guilt.

"I never used them before and I didn't exactly have an instruction booklet to magic collars."

"Then why did you put them on us?" She didn't have a hard glare on her face anymore, but he could still hear the acid in her voice.

"Was mad and acted impulsively. Shouldn't have reacted that badly."

"Because of my necklace?"

"Yes." But Talen didn't want to elaborate. And he guessed that she didn't want him to elaborate either. He started to rub his head.

"How long was I out?"

"A few hours. Sorry about the pain though." He shook his head.

"What time is it?" Talen had some worries building up. He still had some time, but how much? He didn't need to be shifting and having his beast take over in front of her.

"I don't know. Maybe 3 or 4." Valeriana was probably confused as to why he was asking for the time. Talen heard the clink of the chain on his wrist as he grabbed the bars of the cage.

"Valeriana." She flinched slightly at him calling her name. "Sooner or later, you are going to have to let me out."

"Oh really?" Talen furrowed his eyebrows, hearing the incredulous tone. Though, she didn't know him either.

"Trust me on this. And I know that you want answers." She looked away from him and Talen knew that he had her.

"Why me?" She whispered as she brought her attention back to him.

"My curse..." He started, but knew he couldn't explain it.

It will never break. You tell and you doom yourself. talen gulped at his father's words. Words that had been passed down from the witch.

"IT leads to a life of solitude. My guardians brought you here in hopes that I wouldn't have to live alone." Well, it wasn't the full truth. But it was all he could tell.

"You don't even know me." Talen sighed softly.

"It's... I don't know how to explain it." Valeriana sighed and Talen felt he knew how his brothers and all the males in his family felt. Helpless and hopeless. And having to keep the girls in the dark. It was very difficult.

The grandfather clock went off upstairs, and the number of strikes told him it was four o'clock. Some panic formed in his chest. The beast growled in his mind. It was ready to come out when the sun came. And it wouldn't care if Valeriana helped him or not.

"Valeriana, you need to let me out."

"And why would I do that? Let a crazed man back into the world?" Talen gulped.

"Because you want answers and a way out, and I'm your best bet." Valreriana shook her head. Oh please don't make me have to do this.

"When morning comes, I'm going home." Talen bit his lip.

"You can't."

"Why not?"

"The collar will stop you as it did before. And it will kill you this time." She started to bite her lip and Talen knew that had to get to her.

"The collar didn't do anything..." Though, she didn't sound convinced. And she wasn't moving toward the door of the cage.

Damn.

"Stand up." Talen put the command in his voice. She stood up and blinked.

"How... What?"

"Silence." Her lips moved again and she covered her mouth when no sound came out. He snapped off the shackle and her eyes opened wide. "Open the cage."

She was trembling as she reached for the key in her pocket and opened the door to the cage. She was about to run as soon as she opened the cage, but he was ready.

"Freeze." In her frozen state, she was in a slight running position. She didn't move and Talen came in front of her and whispered, "I really did not want to have to do that again. But I can't be stuck in a cage." He bit his lip slightly. "I'm going to take you to the room you are staying in while you are here. I'm not going to do anything else."

He looked at her, seeing the look in her eyes. They didn't hold any belief in him and it kind of hurt. But that was to be expected. He picked her up and put her over his shoulder, taking her upstairs and to the atrium. He noticed most of the doors were open or slightly ajar.

Must have been when she was trying to find a medkit. He shook his head and carried her up the stairs. He came to one of the previously locked rooms and opened it.

It was fairly large room with a bed, books, clothes, it's own bathroom. The windows were barred and between the two doors was a kind of cage door. He set her down gently on the bed.

"I'm sorry. But this is for your safety." He went to the doors, closing the cage door and locked it. As much as he wanted to just let her go, there was not enough time to do anything to help her. Talen looked at her and whispered, "I release you..."

She went limp, rubbing her neck. She stormed over to the cage door, gripping the bars.

"You jerk." Talen could see the flare of anger in her eyes.

"I had to." The time had gone off again and worry spread across his face. "I will be back tonight. You are not allowed to leave this room until I get back."

"You can't just..."

Talen slammed the door on his side shut and ran down the stairs. He barely made it to the front door with a painful howl at the sun as it started to come up. The beast had run farther out and was going deep into the forest, hunting as Talen kept it away from the house, for Valeriana's safety.