Blood on the Moon - serialised EXCLUSIVE for Steemit! - 109

Blood On The Moon Cover

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My third novel was finished and published in time for Halloween 2016 and I had a launch at Waterstone's at Sheffield.

The full book cover, done by the wonderful, talented, brilliant Paul Mudie

Other Images from Pixabay or Google (Free Usage)

To read from the beginning: Here

Then change the number in the address bar from 1 to 2 (https://steemit.com/writing/@michelle.gent/blood-on-the-moon-serialised-exclusive-for-steemit-2) and so on for the next episodes.

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A murmur of voices, many voices in unison, carried across the fields and they looked towards the ruin of the manor house where the murmur had started.

They could see the terrace, overgrown and dilapidated but still sturdy and there was someone standing up there above the lawn and the steps that led down to the path and then further down to the pond and stream beyond.

A lone figure stood with his arms held up to quiet the crowd. Red, Jakob, Anton and the others made their way down through the crowd so they could hear what was being said.

As they progressed through the press of people, the closer they got to the front, the more unwilling the crowd seemed to be to allow them passage.

So that a fracas didn’t erupt, they stopped trying to get to the front and waited perhaps fifteen yards from the terrace, where they could hear the speaker. Red recognised the voice at once but she said nothing, she listened.

It appeared that Darius actually imagined that he had sent out a call for the Wolf population to come, and that this was the result – all the Wolves in England and perhaps further afield into Europe were gathered and Darius had the temerity to believe they were there for him.

Red smiled as she thought to herself, “What an arrogant ass!”

The younger Wolves, those that were easily persuaded and seduced by his illusion of anarchic revolt against the regime, may have been there on his command. They had the foreground and so had most likely got there first.

But Red knew that those at the back were under no such illusions - especially those that had been around for a couple of centuries and more, and had fought battles with Anton, Jakob and Victoria.

Darius spoke a lot on what Anton would call ‘grandstanding’.

He fluffed the egos of the younger Wolves and encouraged them with promises that he wouldn’t keep once he had his way.

Then Red’s ears pricked up because he announced the introduction of someone very special.

“Today I have been a part of history. For five hundred years, we have been straining under the yoke of dictatorship. Not from the Lycaeon, but from a Wolf that took on the mantle of a position so elevated that it had never been taken before. It is a position of power and influence and judiciary that had never before been experienced in our society. It was taken by a Wolf that had no right to the title, she had no birthright to the title and she was not Ancient. She was newly Whelped and in fact was bitten on demand for a minor player in the wars of five centuries since. Back in the time of the Wars of the Roses. She was a reward, an incentive, a gift or bribe if you will, a concubine that connived and schemed her way to the position.”

There were Wolves that didn’t know what the hell he was talking about and those that had only heard rumours and their mutterings were beginning to grow. Darius heard it and began to worry that he wasn’t going over quite as well as he’d hoped.

“I am here tonight, to try to rectify that situation. I have brought with me a new candidate for the role of Sentinel Exemplar and I ask that you join with me to enable the new Prophesised One to tear down the walls that the Sentinels erected around themselves so that they alone may break our First Laws and get away with it. I ask for you to welcome Jessica to our fold!” Darius expected rapturous applause and he did get some encouraging cheers and whistles but nowhere near as many as he’d hoped for.

Red smiled and folded her arms. Anton glanced at her and grinned too.

“That went well I thought,” he said and they both laughed.

A voice sounded loud in the quiet that followed. It was a clear, strong voice.

“What if we don’t want a new Sentinel Exemplar?” The voice came from a few rows behind Red and she thought she recognised it.

Anton nudged her arm; he had recognised the voice too.

“It doesn’t matter; there is a choice to be made.” Darius hadn’t expected a question and answer session but he couldn’t tell the thousands of waiting Wolves to shut up.

“A choice?” Another voice got in on the act. “Do you mean a vote? Like the Humes have? I didn’t come here to vote! I came here to fight!”

The comment brought forth a cheer and Red found that she was enjoying the entertainment.

Darius, it would appear, had been out of the limelight too long.

He was fading from some memory and had never featured in others.