Read Elfmoon for Free Online

gasp.
    “Remind me to never piss you off,” Daniel offered next to me. Though his words were light, the look on his face was wide-eyed and a little scared.
    “I doubt you’ll forget,” I replied, trying to smile, but I think it looked like a grimace. I caught my breath and moved forward, already feeling the effects of expending so much magic. When I was close enough to the bodies, I nudged the beast in the shoulder with my toe. His body jiggled, but otherwise didn’t move. He was definitely dead. The shredded clothing still struck me as odd, giving me a prickling feeling on the back of my neck.
    “What do you supposed they are? Werewolves?” Daniel asked as he stared down at the body with me.
    “No.” I shook my head.
    “How can you be sure?”
    “Have you ever seen a werewolf shift?”
    “No.”
    “I have,” I said, turning my face away from the bloody mess at my feet. “They don’t look like this, they look like wolves – huge, giant, terrifying wolves, but wolves nonetheless. I have no idea what the hell these things are.” Fewer people were running around now, many having made it out of the park and running for home, but I could still hear cries of terror down the midway. The Great Bonfire was  standing sentential in the middle of the clearing, unlit. The torches around the fire were still burning, though one was lying on the ground, the flame guttered out against the dirt.
    “It looks like when the sun set, they were about to light the fire, but then these things came and all hell broke loose.” I turned on my heel, taking in the scene around me. “And they’re wearing clothing, and that brownie knew what it was.” I looked up at the sky then, seeing the full moon hanging high above us. “The Moon Madness, that’s what he called it, right?”
    “Right,” Daniel nodded.
    “Do you think the full moon on the solstice did this to people?”
    “People? Like normal, non-were people?” Daniel asked, his voice pitching in fear.
    “Yeah,” I nodded.
    “If they aren’t weres, then they have no control over this,” Daniel said, looking up and around. I could almost feel his anxiety rippling off of him. “And they won’t be able to stop themselves.”
    “Right, and that also means they’re just innocent people.” I glanced down at the beast I had just killed. “And that means I’ve just killed someone.” My legs gave out. If Daniel hadn’t been standing right next to me, he wouldn’t have caught me in time. I clung to him, getting my nerves under control before I could stand on my own again.
    “You okay, luv?”
    “Yeah, I think so, but I have to find Roxy.”
    We walked to the midway, keeping close to the tents and stands, trying to keep to the shadows to hide ourselves. I was trying to keep my magic close to the surface, but I didn’t want it to light my hands or eyes and give us away. Keeping it at bay would cost me a few moments when I wanted to call it, but it was a risk I had to take to keep us safe as we searched for Roxy. We could hear the snapping of bones and growls and screams and howls all around us, making my already nervous stomach lurch as we moved. At one point Daniel stopped me, pulling me close to his body, deeper into shadow, as one of the beasts loped past us, its claws churning the ground as it ran, leaving the stench of death in its wake.
    Just as we were about to continue forward, we saw another beast running down the midway, followed by a pack of them, all of them following the first, headed back towards The Great Bonfire. When the last one ran by us, I chanced a look and could see them attacking the bonfire, pulling it apart just as they had the innocent people.
    “What are they doing that for?” Daniel whispered over my shoulder.
    “I’m not sure,” I said slowly, “but we light the fire to cleanse us and protect us.”
    “Cleanse and protect?” Daniel repeated. “Cleanse and protect from what exactly?”
    “Uh,” I hesitated, thrown for a moment