Blood on the Moon - serialised EXCLUSIVE for Steemit! - 16

Ch1 Jessica (Rabbit) has entered the Lion’s Den – Wolf’s Den – of her own accord and is neck-deep in her greatest desire (Be careful what you wish for).

Ch2 Red is speaking to a Wolf she knew from long ago and has been astonished once by his revelation.

Ch3 Jessica is in over her head, no other human in sight and is bouncing from one encounter to the next - including in the dream-state.

“Please don’t call me that. My name is Jessica. ‘Rabbit’ was a nickname which I have grown out of.”

“Don’t you like it? I think that it’s perfect for you. There is a fabulous incongruity to it, especially in light of what you are about to become.”

She glanced about her uneasily then. “I hope that Paul doesn’t take much longer.”

Jessica didn’t need to look around to know why the other was unsettled. The disinterested glances of earlier had altered steadily and now most wore expressions of deep absorption in Jessica and she remembered Falco’s words - Legitimate Prey.

Almost on cue, the door to the stairs opened. Falco appeared with Paul directly behind him. They approached the table where Jessica was sitting and both smiled at her consternation.

“Good morning, madam.” Falco ignored Jessica as he took the proffered hand of the female Wolf and bowed as he kissed it in an act of chivalry straight out of the old movies.

The tension in the bar was palpable, every eye now watched.

Falco, still ignoring Jessica, turned to fully face the onlookers and addressed the whole room. “Our newest member - if all goes to plan.” Was all that he said as he took Jessica by the hand and encouraged her to stand.

He turned and, without waiting for approval or otherwise for his announcement, he led her back to the stairs. Jessica didn’t know what she had expected as a reaction to Falco’s announcement, perhaps a cacophony of howling, but there was only a curious murmur to be heard and that was silenced as the door at the bottom of the stairs closed.

At the top of the stairs, Falco took Jessica’s hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes. She didn’t avert her gaze even though she wanted to.

He scared her very much and not just because she knew what he was, but because she couldn’t tell what he was just by looking at him. Somehow she realised that the few Wolves she had identified in two years of searching were the tip of the iceberg.

She also fully realised the extreme danger she had been putting herself in. What she did not know was how or why she had got so lucky on this occasion, or indeed, if she had got lucky at all.

Paul took her hand from Falco and she broke the spell by looking down as his hand touched hers. Suddenly she felt bone-weary and spent. Paul led her to a door very close to where they had been standing. He opened it and gently pushed her inside the room. She was mildly surprised that it was an ordinary bedroom.

“The shower is through the door, there are towels and a robe. I appreciate that you’re very tired, but please shower before you get into the bed. It won’t matter if your hair is wet, the pillow will dry.”

“I’m so tired, can’t I just…”

“Don’t argue or I’ll stand at the door until you’ve showered.”

Jessica didn’t have the energy to argue and so she did as she was told and once clean and dry - apart from her hair - she got into bed. Paul opened the door again and said, “I bet you feel loads better for that. There’s a lock on the door, but it won’t be necessary, unless you really feel the need to lock it. Goodnight.”

She didn’t hear the door close. She was asleep.

Chapter 4

Jessica woke up to a gentle knocking upon the door.

As she emerged from the deep sleep she had been enjoying, she realised that she was in a strange room and lay thinking for a moment until it all came back to her. She had slept in the borrowed robe and got out of bed to answer the door. Falco stood there, with the strange woman Paul had left her with. She said nothing, but opened the door wide and stood back to allow them into the room.

She closed the door behind them and followed.

“Good afternoon, Rabbit.” Falco said.

“Hello again.” Jessica replied. “I suppose it’s no use asking you to use my name is it? No one seems to want to use ‘Jessica’.”

Falco smiled indulgently. He had about him the air of an elder statesman, yet he couldn’t be more than three or four years older than Jessica herself.

And the woman to whom she had not yet been introduced, she too was of indeterminate age, though her bearing and confidence seemed to give the impression of a woman much older than the smooth skin would have Jessica think.

“Jessica is so formal,” the woman said. “I told you last night; ‘Rabbit’ suits you far better.”