Helena and Ray were in the latter's room. The friends were joking and their laughter could be heard by Ray's parents who were in the lounge watching news on their television.
Helena remembered Priya at prom—how she'd clutched her sequined purse like a shield, shoulders hunched beneath spaghetti straps that kept slipping down, eyes darting nervously whenever anyone approached their table. Even her smile had seemed fragile that night, a trembling thing that appeared and vanished like a skittish animal beneath the spinning lights of the dance floor.
"I remember that night!" Ray chuckled.
It was also the night Ray had come out of the closet to the world. He had brought his boyfriend Harry to the prom. And they danced like the night would have never ended.
The room suddenly turned silent as Helena and Ray tried to catch their breath.
Helena sighed. "I don't know what Priya is getting tangled up in."
Ray nodded. "I never thought Priya would become a Queen. Like I recently found out you are a hybrid and she is a witch."
"Boy, that escalated quickly." Helena said and they laughed again.
**
That afternoon, in the Moonwalker camp.
Elliot was sitting up on his makeshift bed. He was now fully healed and determined to find and talk to Kyle again.
Maybe Jenna can talk some sense into him, he thought.
Just then someone entered the tent. He expected it to be the nurse but it was the witch.
"Hi there." Priya greeted. "How are you feeling?"
Elliot smiled. "Much better. Thank you for asking."
Priya placed her tiny hands on his broad chest. "I've seen the way you look at me."
Elliot gently removed her hands. "You are mistaken, Priya. I have not fallen in love in decades."
"What about making love?" Priya asked biting her lip.
She kissed him hard on the mouth then they started fidgeting with each other's clothes.
They made love on the makeshift bed in Elliot's tent, the canvas walls trembling with each movement, their shadows merging and separating against the fabric like dancers caught in amber light. The rough wool blanket scratched against her skin as his hands traced constellations across her body, their breaths becoming a shared language neither had spoken in years.
"Bite me." Priya whispered.
"What?" Elliot asked.
"Bite me." Priya ordered.
Elliot hesitated, then sank his teeth into the tender flesh where her neck met her shoulder, feeling her pulse flutter against his lips like a trapped bird as the metallic tang of blood bloomed on his tongue.
**
They were spent. Elliot was holding hands with Priya while they were on his bed.
"No one can know about this." Priya told him. "Promise me."
Elliot kissed her hand. "I swear on my life."
She got up and began dressing herself. Elliot also sat up admiring her graceful curves.
She blew an air kiss at him before departing from the room.
Elliot was happy. In a way he never felt before.
**
Kyle and the leaders of the Enchanted Ones were in the same abandoned theme park where they had initially met. But now there were more people gathered outside.
Kyle, the leaders, and some clan members met the top honcho and group members of the Fury; a newly-formed vampire clan.
"Kyle, the original vampire." The leather-wearing young leader of the Fury said.
"In the flesh." Kyle snickered.
"So, is what they are saying true?" Matt asked. "That you have a secret weapon to annihilate the werewolf filth of this town?"
Kyle looked behind at the sneering witch belonging to the Enchanted Ones. She still looked like she wanted to kill him.
"Yes, it is true." Kyle said. "Join us and we attack the Moonwalker pack before the night of the next full moon."
Matt hesitated but then extended a hand.
Kyle shook it.
**
Damien's muscular body moved above Nina, his sweat-slicked skin catching the moonlight that filtered through the half-drawn curtains. His breathing grew ragged, shoulders tensing as he approached his peak.
Nina stared past him at a crack in the ceiling, her thoughts drifting to the forest beyond the window, to secrets and promises made under different skies. When he finally shuddered and collapsed against her with a guttural moan, she remained still beneath him, her expression unchanged, her body present but her spirit miles away.
He withdrew from her and laid by her side. "Marcus should pay for that slap."
Nina turned toward her husband. "I can't let him marry Priya. Damien please help me stop him."
Damien wondered that could Marcus even be stopped by anything?
Damien kissed her hand. "Let's convince Marcus together."
**
The next morning.
Marcus was hunched over a map trying to decipher Kyle's whereabouts. He had wanted to speak to Jenna before she had mysteriously disappeared.
"You can't marry her." Nina told him.
He was so caught up in the map he didn't even notice his daughter and his son-in-law having entered the tent.
"I'm sorry." Marcus held her cheek. "But I cannot forfeit my love for the sake of my daughter's will."
"We don't even know her, Father." Nina explained. "What if she has an ulterior motive?"
Marcus chuckled. "No witch can take on the Alpha of the Moonwalker pack."
Nina wanted to say more but Damien put a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go."
She followed her husband, hand-in-hand, out of the tent.