Read Red Moon Rising for Free Online

does he know you?” she asks.
    â€œWe hang out in Gym. Joking and stuff. Or we used to.”
    â€œRight.”
    â€œSeriously.” I put my feet against the edge of the glass table, which Mom would kill me for doing. “Hey, I was surprised, too, believe me. Then today he asked me if I was part-wulf.”
    â€œHe what? Why?”
    I shrug. “I don’t know. I climbed the rope faster than him, and he got all weird.”
    â€œWell, what did you say?” I can see the tension in her jaw. It’s kind of funny.
    â€œI said I was.”
    â€œUnbelievable. Thanks a lot!” she says, starting to turn that purple color again.
    â€œWell, sorry, but it’s the truth. I can’t help it.” I finish my pear and put the core on the table, careful to stand it up so only the dry skin on the bottom touches the glass. Mom doesn’t like smudges. I turn back to Jessica: “Why are you all psycho about it, anyway? I mean, yeah, Gunther Hoering is a big shot at school, but did you know he’s a complete specist? Like, viciously specist?”
    â€œSo?” Jessica is pacing back and forth across the living room, holding her head in both hands. She adjusts her tartan headband.
    I shake my head. “He’s a jerk. What do you care what he thinks about you?”
    â€œSee, this is why I don’t want you even talk ing to my friends when they’re here. You’re a social moron. You don’t get it. Why do I care? Everyone cares what Gunther Hoering thinks.”
    â€œNo, I do get it. But then when I saw what he’s really like—”
    Jess looks at the ceiling and actually growls, then grabs her own hair and pulls at it like she might tear it out of her head. “Why am I even talking to you?” She glares at me. “ Don’t talk about me again. Ever. To anyone. We’re not related. I have nothing to do with you. Understand me?”
    â€œYeah. I shouldn’t talk about you to anyone. Except seniors. And really popular people. And only to let them know that you’re half-wulf. That’s what you mean, right?”
    She smacks me on the back of my head as she storms off.
    For some reason, my ears are ringing, even though she didn’t hit me hard. And here comes that headache again.
    I reach for the pear core on the table, and…now, this is weird. My right hand won’t close. I can only bend my fingers about halfway; then they get tight. I open my hand and flex the fingers straight, but when I try to close them to make a fist I only get about halfway again. Trying to force them with my other hand only makes it hurt more.
    The knuckles on the fingers of my right hand are kind of swollen. They look like an old human’s arthritic hands. Or like Loretta’s hands, though not nearly as bad.
    I pick up the pear core with my left hand and go to the kitchen to throw it away. I’m not going to worry about this anymore. It’s probably just some kind of flu. No big deal.
    Except for one thing.
    Vampyres don’t get the flu.
    They don’t get sick.
    Ever.

H ealth class is so stupid. Like we haven’t heard this stuff a million times already. But Ms. Vaughn doesn’t seem like she’s about to stop, so I guess it’s going to be a million and one times.
    â€œOkay, trade quizzes with your partner so we can mark them. Let’s go. Number one: ISTD stands for? Michael?”
    â€œUm, A: Interspecies Sexually Transmitted Disorder.”
    â€œClose. It’s D: Interspecies Sexually Transmitted Disease . Put an X through the number if it’s wrong. Two, true or false: a human can be turned into a vampyre through sexual contact. Elyse?”
    â€œFalse.”
    â€œCorrect. This isn’t on the quiz, but can a human be turned into a vampyre from a bite?”
    We all say no, in completely bored voices. Like anyone still believes that idiotic myth.
    â€œWhat are the ways a human can be turned into a