Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted novel Chapter 120

120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

“If you ever need me, child, simply light a candle and call my name. I’ll find you.”

My eyes snap open in the middle of a deep sleep, and my heart races, a thunderous pounding in my chest that shakes my entire body.

The dream was too real, too close to memory. Selene’s ears perk up as she lifts her head from the foot of the bed. What’s wrong, Ava?

I shake my head, eyes darting to the door. Kellan’s somewhere in the apartment, ever present, always listening. I think I know how to contact Sister Miriam. The maybe–vampire lady.

Selene’s blue eyes widen. How? She sits up, her full

attention on me.

When she visited me before the ceremony, she said if I needed her, I should light a candle and call her name. 

That she’d find me. 

1

Tell me everything, Selene says, her voice gentle in my mind. Every detail.

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120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

I recount the memory, the cloying scent of incense, the invasive way she touched me, her cryptic words. The dread and intrigue she instilled in my mother.

Your mother fears her, Selene muses. As she should. Vampires are not to be trifled with. 

But she might have answers. About what I am. What’s happening to me. She seemed to know.

Selene is quiet for a long moment. Vampires are ancient, powerful creatures with their own agendas. She may help you, but there will be a price. There always is, with their kind.

I swallow hard, a shiver running through me. I’ll be careful. I promise.

Try to sleep, Selene says, curling back up. We’ll talk 

more tomorrow.

I nod, sinking back against the pillows. But sleep is elusive, my mind spinning with possibilities and fears.

Sister Miriam’s red eyes follow me into my dreams, her silken voice a whispered promise. “I’ll find you.”

I toss and turn, the sheets twisting around my legs. Power pulses under my skin, a restless itch I can’t

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120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

scratch.

What if she’s the key? What if she can unlock the

mystery inside me, teach me to wield the elements like weapons?

But Selene’s warning lingers, a cold weight in my

stomach. There will be a price. With vampires, there always is.

Shadows play across the ceiling, indifferent to my struggles. Outside, the moon is bright, almost full. Its call sings in my blood.

* * *

The days pass in a blur.

Lucas comes and goes between Blackwood and

Westwood. I don’t know the details, but I do know that

the search for my parents–and Alpha Renard–is heating up.

From what I’m told, they’re no closer to finding them.

But the fact that they’ve been so silent, so

underground, has everyone nervous.

Jericho still runs me and Lisa ra

things have changed. I’m strong

ery day, but

and he’s

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120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

begun incorporating real self–defense. Mainly, falling.

“You need to learn to fall,” he declares out of no–fucking–where, popping into my field of vision like one of those winding pop–up toys. I manage to keep my face blank even as my heartbeat spikes for a

second from the scare.

“Fall?”

The word seems to echo off the exposed brick walls of the gym, bouncing back and smacking me in the face. It’s raining outside, and he’s decided to show us a little mercy by letting us do all of our torture indoors today.

Jericho’s scarred lip curls. “Yes, Ava. Falling.”

“But I thought we were going to learn actual fighting today.”

“And how do you think you’re going to learn that without first learning how to fall?”

He has a point, I think. No, I know he has a point. But I

don’t want to admit he does, so I cross my arms and

scowl at him.

“I know how to fall.”

“Oh, do you now?”

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