Pure White Of The Moon To You

[Rorye Shannon-Kearney]

August 7th 2012

Book of Kells

1:30am

Exhale soft, the telescope was adjusted quietly. The last of the regulars had filtered downstairs to finish their night with the amiable Jesse. He was doing so much better, to his relief, and hers too. Pushing for more before he was ready had been wearing on her nerves. The first year college kid didn’t know the meaning of restraint. His energy was refreshing, but keeping him from killing himself to make her feel less guilty was never easy. The doctor’s released him, and he was back to full time almost immediately. It gave her more time to tinker in her back room, and at the moment, test out one of the new telescopes she had procured from a local warehouse; adding them to the small café observatory on the roof of her ornate antique building.

One more worry off her plate.

Below, she knew Jesse was shooing people off for the night. Ear always to the ground, several incidents in past months had her rethinking the policy to stay open until 2am around the full moons. She had tons of new information on the moon driven beasts in her book room downstairs, the world since the appearance of the great crack in the sky starting to catalog what it was observing without quite understanding yet what was behind it. The incidents were in and around Central Park. If Lycanthropes had ever gotten into the city during the moons, there were many to take them down (at great cost) or at least deter them to the outskirts. Central Park though… deterring back toward the outskirts of the city may not have been working as well as previously thought. Hell’s Kitchen wasn’t exactly deserted, but it wasn’t patrolled by those that had the big guns. It was her territory. The thought hadn’t escaped her that the things might be being pushed into places that weren’t frequented. Who knew?

Dark lashes blinked slowly as she looked through the telescope into the purples that seemed to throb, especially when the full moon was bright. Being so close to the massive green space, the loss of a great deal of traffic and light over the last years made her place a prime location to skygaze. It was stunning- she found herself watching the anomaly more and more often. Far from an expert, she could still identify things that most could not. Maybe she was becoming like the ancient seafarers, learning to know the skies in order to quell the fear that hovered at the back of everyone’s throats at the ominous yet exquisite thing. It felt sometimes like she could reach up and touch it…

A flash of light several blocks over pulled her attention from the darkness, slightly chilled cheeks from a cold snap tickled with a strand of loose hair that was quickly tucked behind an ear. Eyes narrowed at the orange glow a few streets away. Curious, lips sipped from a coffee cup.

Large knit gray sweater sleeves were pulled down over her fingertips, closing the sights on the scope. Kells was surrounded by numerous day-only businesses. At night, the streets were dark, quiet and fairly deserted. A few cars now and then, but the light was different. From her vantage point, she could see several blocks over and the orange glow that continued to grow behind a building. Brows frowned, finishing the hot chocolate, about to reach over and turn on one of the outdoor lamps when a shatter of sparks down an electrical pole preceded the sound of grinding metal… the guttural animalistic sound she’d never heard before standing every hair on end.

The cup clinked on the glass table, footsteps quick, frayed jean cuffs barely swishing across rooftop. Steps were taken two at a time in her comfy hiking boots, the lights flickering. Murmur of others was heard before she hit the bottom of the steps, a half dozen patrons just finishing up.

“Everybody be quiet… All the lights, Jesse turn them off!” she hissed, one jump taking her down the small set of steps into the shop to quickly deadbolt the door and pull the blinds, turning off all the lights and racing to the back room to deadbolt it as well.

It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t going to be nearly enough.

She sprinted back to the teahouse, “Jesse, take them upstairs to my apartment.”

He looked at her strangely.

“Get them upstairs now, I think there’s a Were…”

Everyone moved at once, Jesse guiding them up into her personal apartment. There was access to the fire escape it shared with the building next door. They could move across the rooftops if they had to, stay off the street level, stay out of sight.

“My kitchen, get on the floor, be quiet… turn off all the lights.”

She ushered the last of them up the steps and locked the door to the stairs behind them, the entire shop swathed in a thick electric darkness. Footsteps were quiet, standing at the top of the small stair set into the teahouse, back against the wall. It was a crossroads that was obscured from the front windows and the stained glass of the teahouse.

The silence was deafening, seconds feeling like hours… the first sounds from outside a low breath that huffed against the stained glass, followed by shouting from outside.

Gunfire, something automatic.

The front window shattered like a waterfall, the sound that followed set permanently into her darkest memories. She’d dropped to her knees, arms over her head to protect herself until the firing stopped, and the worst scenario unfolded. It was in the shop, thrashing, grabbing what it could to throw at whomever was continuing the altercation from outside, the roar from jaws vibrating her to the bone. Its eyes. There was nothing there but rage as it zeroed in on her presence.

Cut off its head.

With what, a fucking tea spoon?!

Hands flew up to her ears again, gunfire fierce- the spray cutting off any exit strategy, lighting up the room with sharp flashes of light. It surged back outside into the gunfire, the front door now a massive hole.

Breath was quick, the sound of crunching bone sickening at the halt of gunfire, muscles springing to life at the reality of what was happening. There would be no more gunfire. She crossed the shop in blinding motion, hands flipping through keys to unlock the back room and go straight for the back door- she would not lead the thing upstairs.

Thudded steps behind her ominous, caught on the other side of the worktable by a beast that had crashed through the doorway after her like monster after a mouse. Cut off, hands snatched the old blades from the box that still sat on the counter. She was not going to play the hero, there were too many people upstairs. It stood in the shattered doorway, shiny bits of something once living plastered against fur and glinting in the dim light; chest heaved… taking a break? Deciding what to do with her? She stepped left, it leaned in that direction on the other side of the table. Right, it did as well... low growl a sputtering chainsaw to flash its teeth at her. Her skin shivered, surging to motion as it launched over the table, the weight of the air moving above as she ducked under its skull crushing grab. It was fucking fast, changing direction on a dime, the feel of bright fire across her back stumbling her forward and sliding into the hearth with a crack. Instinct sent a flailed slash back at it, inhuman growl cradling its near severed hand to its chest...

Shit.

She scuttled backwards in the momentum and found her feet before it surged after her again- going through the fireplace to get to her in a blistered rage. Ash, red hot coals and burning wood exploded through the shop, crackling almost instantly against old books to light up the room to a quickly burgeoning inferno.

She was losing ground, Red was nowhere to be found, there were people upstairs...

...and Kells was on fire.

[Rorye Shannon-Kearney]

It was the blue.

 

It had always been the blue. Soft twinkle mischievous as he handed her the helmet.  He was up to something, not even twenty four hours from throwing a tasseled cap into the air before what he’d done would probably mean her father would kill her- after he killed Michael first.  Braided plait quick, she pulled on the black shiny protection and slid behind him on his overpowered beast of a cycle.  She hated it, but tolerated his faults because..  well… she loved him dearly.

 

Eyes closed, the vibration felt through his body as she hugged his waist, zipping through the Kitchen- stopping finally on a fairly deserted block.  She knew the place, an old bank.  Victorian era stone and woodwork, the façade above an old set of apartments.  He parked and waited for her to slide off, twinkling blue catching the flip of mahogany hair as she pulled off the helmet and glared at the building.

 

“It’s an old bank,”  her brow cocked at him, the helmet clicking off the zipper on her coat’s wrist.

 

“It’s yours,”  tall stature seemed fucking proud of himself, hands in his pockets, the Scottish drawl lost as he grinned at her and rocked back once on his Harley heels.

 

She blinked,  “it’s an old bank.”

 

“C’mon…  Bee?  Imagination, we can make this work.”

 

She scratched the back of her neck absently.  It was not that simple.  He could do whatever he wanted, his family had money.  Hers? Well, there were expectations.  A family business she was supposed to go into.  It wasn’t her deal, but it had kept the family off the street.

 

“You don’t have to follow your parents’ path anymore.  You are NOT a factory worker…  sewing fucking hoodies for every sports team on the planet?”

 

Her glare was tight,  “so you think you’re going to save me? I can’t accept this.”

 

His fingers rifled red curls backward, then forward, sigh defeated… “stained glass… a café, you love to cook… books, beautiful things… a place where our friends can be. Not in a factory.”

 

She didn’t know where her bubbling anger was coming from.  The fact he thought she needed saving?  How disappointed her parents were going to be?  That she couldn’t afford a dream herself?

 

“I don’t need a knight in shining armor, I'm not a child.  I hope you got a good return policy. C’mon, I gotta go to work.”

 

He stopped her from pulling the helmet back on, loose fingers sliding to intertwine behind her neck as he pulled her face to his.  Pale blue was so hurt, her features softened.  She forgot he’d never lived her life.  Money to him was, nothing.

 

“I know you don’t… just…”  his brows furled.  “I just wanted to do something for you… you never let me do anything for you.  Plus, we could live upstairs… it’s been renovated.”

 

“Why would we live upstairs?”

 

“Because I want you to marry me.”

 

Her lips pursed curiously, and he captured them in one fell swoop.  It stole her breath, reeling in fluttering thought.

 

“Yes?” he smiled against her lips, the grin always a boyish charm.

 

Laugh was soft as she nodded slowly at first, then definitively as her dark eyes glanced back at the building… “Dad is going to be so pissed… he’ll probably kill you.”

 

“..no, you will.”

 

Wait, what?  She couldn’t breathe… lungs felt they were breathing hot gravy, thick, merciless.

 

“Bee… wake up.”

 

Coughing wracked a chest that could barely move.

 

“BEE!”

 

Air flushed into her lungs as the bookshelf that had been pinning her to the floor lifted suddenly, thrown in a vicious surge toward the wall.  Instinct scuttled her to her feet, falling backwards, another bookshelf shoved at her like a freight train.  Again, she moved, trying to gain her bearing.  The darkness flickered in deep orange, illuminating the destruction of her Kells, and the Were that was tearing it apart trying to get to her.

 

“You mother FUCKER!”  snarled out before she could stop it, snatching a medium sized glass bottle of something from one of the cabinets that had toppled over, grabbing a prayer knife that had spilled to the floor.  She hit her fist on the wall to break the glass and hurled the contents into the eyes of the Were that was throwing things aside to advance on her.  Broken glass and silver dust splashed into the eyes of the frothing beast, its hand… almost healed.

 

Fucking hell… she only pissed it off more.

 

Get it outside.  Outside she had the advantage.  She was backing out slowly, the thing following her as it cleared its vision… a dog ready to tear her apart. Hand moved out to the side to calmly slide a ceremonial sword from what was left of the display near the door.  Why the hell wasn’t it going after her?

 

She should’ve known better. 

 

Really should’ve known better… realizing the moment the blue light of her chamberstick flared to life on the battered counter that things had gone from bad to ludicrous speed.  It didn’t take a look over her shoulder to realize why the other wasn’t advancing, her eyes closing as every hair on the back of her neck sheared to life.  There was another, and she could feel its breath.  No time, she had none.  Every shred of strength, courage, ferocity she had spun in a circle with gritted teeth, blade breaking on impact after it had passed through flesh and hit bone.  Her own resounded in vibration at the sudden stop, a scream ripping from her throat from the jaws that clamped onto her arm.  The thing faltered, bite releasing and allowing her to pull what was left of the sword, ducking under flailed thrashing to stumble out into the street.

 

Eyes narrowed at her burning building that coughed up the other Were, snarling viciously at her after the other fell to the side onto the sidewalk clawing at the broken end of the blade in the side of its neck.  Its head wasn’t gone, but it was damn close.  Not a lot of time until it healed.

 

It had bitten her, narrowly saving muscles being ripped from her bone by her own offense… pain extreme.  This was not going to be how it ended.  Eyes flicked upward momentarily to see the shadow of the others moving across the rooftop in the other direction.  Good job Jesse.

 

The conscious one’s nostrils flared, looking upward.

 

“Hey!”  she hissed,  “C’mon bitches, I’m right here!”

 

Fingers tightened on the broken sword as she put some distance between her and the building, she still had the knife in her other hand.  Odds were shitty. More than shitty.  Odds always seemed to be fucked against her in her poker games.  They were her friends, her family.  This building was hers,   She would not allow either to be destroyed.  They would have to kill her first.