Chapter Two

Cries of the Moon

On their way to the car Kerry realized she hadn't given Leon her number or address. How was he ever going to find her? She didn't even live in the city.

Kerry sighed. At least she didn't have to worry about last minute regrets about the date. He seemed nice enough but after what he told her, she had a feeling this was something she shouldn't involve herself with whether he was crazy or not. After her past experiences, Kerry knew better than to assume logic over the unknown. But if Leon really was what he claimed to be, finding her would probably be no effort at all. She decided that if she ever saw him again she would ask him everything, demand that he tell her everything he knew, and she would try her best to understand in return.

Werewolves.

Life was getting bigger and stranger every second. Kerry wondered if she was the only girl to go through these kinds of things, supernatural things.

"Kerry you sit in the back with Mei. I don't want to be the one she throws up on." Alex said jokingly from the driver's seat. Tori jumped into shotgun after securing Mei into her seatbelt.

"Fine." Kerry sighed. She sometimes wondered why hung out with such jerks.

But she knew exactly why.

Kerry smiled.

Even as eccentric as they were, her friends had helped pull her out of the worst times of her life. Back when Kerry was still in her empty lifeless state, she tried to reach out to her long forgotten friends and peers at school. Most were unwilling or unsure to take her back so easily after she had ignored them for so long. Mei was the first who had accepted her back with open arms, Tori and Alex followed soon after.

In the beginning, Alex and Tori tried to drag Kerry along to events with them. Mei was a more reserved type but tagged along anyways. Kerry was unsure about all the parties and nights at first, but once her mind was almost fully clear of the dark ages, she was able to find a love for the crazy nights and allowed herself to loosen up again.

Soon, Kerry was a different person. She was more out-going, more daring, and most importantly, she stopped thinking about that past….up until this night at least. All those memories of that night were fresh in her head again but this time it wasn't in a bad way. She thought of Michel for the first time in months, her first love. Or so she thought.

Three years didn't seem like a lot, but it was. Kerry matured a considerable amount in that time span. What she thought was love at 16, could just have been a mere intrigued fascination with the supernatural…the supernatural that happened to have been in the form of a very attractive boy.

That entire time, Kerry's perspective on life distorted to include vampires and vampire hunters into the social hierarchy. Was she now to believe that other creatures and categories existed? Honestly, Kerry was surprised to see she had any skepticism left after the Marsala incident.

Her thoughts were killing her.

"Hey Tori are your parents still away?" Kerry asked. She set aside her mental issues to handle the immediate situation.

"Yeah why?" Tori turned around to face the back.

"Mei is in no condition to face her parents like this and my dad isn't expecting me home 'til tomorrow." Kerry replied.

"You guys can sleep over, I have no problem. Alex you coming too?" She turned to face the driver.

"Hmm….yeah sure." Alex turned on the radio. It was weird listening to mainstream pop after being bombarded with underground techno.

Kerry was able to genuinely laugh when Alex and Tori's horrid singing filled the car. Mei on the other hand curled into a fetal position and clamped her hands over her ears, groaning.

"Hey guys, shut up for a second, I need to call Mei's mom to tell her she's sleeping over." She dialed Mei's home phone knowing that her insomniac mother would be awake watching movies, or something of that nature.

"Hello? ….Mrs. Perez! This is Kerry! How are you? ....Really? Sounds exciting, I'll remember to watch that some day…..Yeah, Mei's right next to me. That's actually why I called….No! She's fine, it's just that she fell asleep and she's too heavy to carry….No, you don't have to come pick her up. We're at Tori's house actually and we decided to spend the night, so I'm just calling to let you know…..Okay!.....We will……Thanks, you too…..Okay Goodnight!"

"That went well," Alex thought aloud, "Kerry, you've improved quite a bit. I remember when you couldn't even lie to Ian without getting caught. You were terrible!"

"Gee thanks," Kerry mumbled.

"No really! You were TERRIBLE!" Alex continued.

"Shut up."

"I guess you learned from watching the master. MeeeEE!" Alex laughed, "I'm so proud of my little protégé!"

"I hate you."

Tori turned around to make kissing noises through her puckered lips, "You wuuuuuvvv us!"

"You look ugly when you do that."

Tori glared at her.

Their banter was cut short when Mei let out an ear-piercing cry. Kerry's head snapped towards the direction. The poor girl was thrashing wildly, only restrained by her seat belt.

"Stop the car!" Kerry yelled.

"Kerry! I can't right now! We're still in the city and this is NOT a good place to stop!" Alex cried frantically.

"What's wrong with her Kerry?!" Tori clung to the back of her seat looking terrified at Mei's possessed form.

"Open the window, give her fresh air!" Kerry had no idea what Mei really needed, but she had to do something, "What happened at the club? What did she drink?!"

"She drank what she normally drinks! Nothing was out of the ordinary!" Tori paused for a quick second, "Wait! No! That guy she was with! He kept trying to kiss her and when she gave in, he did something and she pushed him away."

"Yeah! And then she threw up on him right after!" Alex added.

'Oh my god…no….' This seemed to make too much sense to Kerry. "Where did he kiss her!?"

"He was really disgusting and practically slobbered all over her!" Tori grimaced.

"This is no time for jokes! Do you have any idea what he might've done?!" Kerry shouted. Mei had calmed down but now she was whimpering. It was so frustrating to see her friend in pain. Kerry was hoping that this had nothing to do with anything Leon. If it did involve werewolves, Kerry would have no idea how to help her.

"The guy was trying to stop her from drinking so he could hook up with her." Alex added. Kerry took Mei's closest hand. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

Her other hand was something completely different.

Mei's pointer finger looked bruised and darkened and she could feel it throbbing around two puncture marks. Bite marks.

"No no no!" Although Michel never explained the changing process, or really anything to her, Kerry had a feeling she knew exactly what happened to Mei. That shy man that approached her was a vampire. Kerry didn't know what to do. This was all her fault, if she hadn't forced Mei to go with the guy, this would've never happened! If she had only stayed with Mei and watched out for her….

"We're here, let's get her inside quick!" Alex said.

All three of them worked together to carry Mei out and into the house as comfortably as possible. They cut through the perfectly cut and healthy lawn and carefully climbed the three steps in front of Tori's front door.

Kerry adjusted herself so that she and Alex could support Mei themselves, while Tori fumbled through her bag to find her house keys.

"Shit! I can't find them!" Tori cried.

"You can't be serious Tor!" Alex groaned.

"I don't know! I must've left them in my room, you picked me up 15 minutes early! I was rushing!" Tori defended herself, "I think my window's open, if someone can help me get up to my window out back, I can climb in and open the front door."

"I'll go." Alex volunteered. She look uneasily at Mei's agonized form, she really didn't want to be left alone with such a heart-wrenching sight.

"Hurry guys!" Kerry begged.

The two girls ran to the backyard and left Kerry alone on the front steps with Mei's head rested on her lap.

"Oh Mei…" Kerry's vision grew blurry as tears formed.

"Good. I'm not too late then." A voice said.

Kerry's eyes blinked away the tears to see the intruder.

It was Leon.

He was in front of a sleek black motorcycle he parked hastily in the drive-way. Kerry didn't even remember hearing the bike approach the house.

"How did you…?!" Kerry was so confused. Did he have something to do with this?!

"Leon! It's my friend Mei! She's been bitten by one of them!" Kerry didn't try to hold back the tears that came full force now. "Oh Leon! What am I going to do?! This is all my fault!"

"It's not your fault, it's theirs." He climbed all three stairs in one large step. "I sensed something wrong earlier, that's why I left. I found that bastard that bit your friend in the bathroom cleaning his shirt." Kerry gasped. "Don't worry I dealt with him." He looked at Mei, "Now…your friend still has a chance, but you're going to have to trust me."

"Anything." Kerry cried, "Just save her!"

Leon looked grim, "Before you say anything, listen to what I'm going to have to do. I'm going to cut off the area she was bitten."

"What?!?! Her finger? No! You can't!" Kerry looked down to the pained expression of Mei's sweating face. She was losing her color, "Is there anything else?"

"No there isn't, not if you want to keep her a mortal." He looked at her seriously.

"You can't just chop her finger off!" She held Mei's infected hand up to his face.

"That's it? Hmm…it didn't spread much after all…this is a lot simpler than I thought." He sighed in relief, "I'm not going to chop off her entire finger, just where she was bit. Mind you, it's going to be a deep cut but it will heal."

Kerry didn't know what to say but this wasn't her life to give up, so she nodded. He took out a switch-knife, and took Mei's hand. Without hesitation, he cut quickly and efficiently around the punctured wound, Mei cried out in pain. Kerry was trying so hard not to throw up at the sight of gushing blood that poured from her friend's finger.

"Done." He ripped a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around Mei's finger. She was still whimpering but her breathing was steadier and becoming normal.

"Will this work?" Kerry asked hopefully.

"Yes. I can sense her mortality taking over again." He said, Kerry was finally able to get a good look at him. The club was dark and the colored lights failed to reveal the tall tan body that she could now appreciate in the normal lighting. He had a strong face and a complimenting goatee, and there was no doubt he was beyond good looking. His hazel eyes burned his gaze into her, with light brown hair, which was cut stylishly short. All in all, he had a very boyish charm to him.

He suddenly looked behind her and jumped up out of sight. Tori opened the door and gasped at the bloody scene.

"You did not just do what I think you just did Kerry!" Tori yelled.

"What?" Alex appeared from the side of the house, "OH MY GOD! KERRY WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"You guys just shut up and get her in the house!" Kerry shouted back.

Alex nodded and helped carry Mei inside, "Kerry you can't just cut someone's infected finger like it's a snake-bite!"

"Yeah it's worse than a snake-bite." Kerry muttered bitterly.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Nothing…you guys, try to clean her up and make her comfortable. I forgot something in the car." Kerry set Mei down on the couch and ran back outside to find Leon.

When she was out, he was nowhere to be seen. But she knew he was still around since his bike was still there in the drive-way.

"Leon!" She whispered, a thud from behind made her turn around. She almost had a heart-attack when she saw Leon standing right behind her, grinning.

"Don't scare me like that!" She said bitterly.

"My bad." He laughed.

"Look…" Kerry exhaled, "If it wasn't for you…I don't know what would've…thank you…" She said somewhat coherently. Kerry looked at him, truly grateful.

"No problem, anything for someone as pretty as you." He laughed, but again he tensed up like before.

"Fuck! I'm really getting tired of this shit!" He growled at the empty darkness, "Kerry, I'll see you later."

Before she had a chance to respond, Leon kissed her quickly on the lips. Kerry lost all thought. He just laughed and rode off on his bike. When Leon disappeared from view, Kerry touched her lips, unable to comprehend what just happened.

"Kerry! Get your butt in here! What are you doing?!" Kerry could hear Tori yelling from inside.

Mei was going to be okay.

That night Kerry stayed up after everyone else was sound asleep. She briefly reverted back to her old self and stared at the ceiling. This time, she was thinking of Leon. He wasn't so bad…she could see herself dating, maybe even liking him. This was under the conditions that she ignored all the supernatural factors. When her thoughts shifted to those factors, she thought about all she knew about werewolves from books and movies. She knew most of the myths were probably untrue after her experience with Michel. But still…

Michel…

Kerry's mental image of Leon, transformed into Michel. She wasn't sure what kind of relationship they had. From what she remembered, he rarely told the truth to her if he ever did at all. He could be so cold and distant, and then sweet the next second.

Kerry knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep, so she got up to get some fresh air outside. She sat on the front steps, where Mei's blood once covered before Tori sprayed and bleached it. The cement still had a pink tint to it, which Tori lamented over.

She spent a good amount of time out there. She propped herself halfway up on her elbows and relaxed. The sky looked like a dark veil, embroidered with glimmering stars. Kerry loved Tori's house because it was so secluded and private. It was nothing like Kerry's house, which was in a crowded development.

She assumed the lighter patches of blue were distant galaxies. Blue.

Kerry frowned.

She couldn't help wonder where Michel was right now. Remembering the blue eyes she saw at the club, she was unsure if it really happened

A chilly wind made her shiver, the cold weather pierced through her borrowed sweater and shorts. She turned to go back inside when another voice, this time a hauntingly familiar one, stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Stupid wolves."

Kerry knew that voice all too well. That low, smooth, velvety voice that had left her speechless many time before. Kerry stood there like ice, not knowing what to do. Memories flooded her head. Events that she had stored away were not fresh in her mind.

"It's good to see you again Kerry. Although, it's disappointing to see the type of trash you're associating yourself with."

"Michel…" She said in a whisper, barely audible to the human ears.

But he was no human.

She turned around and there he was, tall and beautiful. His dark, messy-layered hair hid his eyes, but not enough to conceal the icy blue crystals that captivated her three years ago. She didn't realize how much her 16 year old self failed to notice all the details that her matured self could now see. Perhaps, she had just forgotten how beautiful he was, although she found it hard to believe anyone could forget something so spectacular.

He was even more attractive than she remembered. Her memory did him no justice. He was wearing a very stylish suit with a navy silk dress-shirt underneath. It was like he came out of a wonderful movie.

He stood casually on the sidewalk with a hand in one of his pockets. Everything about him just seemed right, even though Kerry knew Michel could pull off anything that others couldn't dream of. But his most striking feature was the fanged smirk that he gave her, his trademark heart-stopper that could get him any woman in the entire universe.

"Are you not happy to see me?" He said in an amused tone.

"Oh Michel!" She ran towards the vampire, wrapping her arms around him.

Emotions and thoughts rampaged too quickly for her to grasp onto. She was in complete shock, but although her mind was numb, Kerry's entire body trembled in nerves that electrified her to the very tips of her fingers and toes.

He didn't attempt to return the embrace, if anything he chuckled in her stranglehold.

"Kerry, you wreak of dogs." He sounded disgusted.

She looked at him with eyes full of hurt from his words and his cold reaction. This seemed to have softened his gaze towards her. He lifted a free hand to touch her cheek. Just as she remembered, they were ice cold, without a single trace of warmth. But regardless of her shaking form, she preferred to freeze to death instead of pulling away.

"What have you gotten yourself into this time." Kerry thought he was reprimanding her because of his stern tone, but from the playful look in his eyes. She realized he was joking.

"I went back but you weren't there…," Tears began to form. "I wanted to tell you…"

"Tell me what?" His words held genuine curiosity, he waited for a response.

"I don't know…I don't know…It doesn't matter anymore, you're here now..." She choked.

Kerry buried her face into his chest. The softness of his shirt was comforting, but it wasn't the type of comfort she wanted.

She wasn't expecting anything though, not from him. Not after she walked away from him. She was lucky he didn't push her away.

Her body stiffened when she felt a loose arm wrap around her, Kerry's eyes opened wide. After a few minutes, he gently pulled her away to look at her.

"Tell me everything." He demanded.

"Hmm?" She wasn't sure what he meant by everything. Her new life? School? Dad and Ian? Her new friends?

"The Lycan that was with you, and the girl in the house."

Oh..that everything.

At the mention of lycans, Kerry was reminded of the incident at the club and rage overtook her. She pushed him away forcefully.

"One of yours bit my friend Mei." She said harshly. "Leon came and saved her just in time."

"Saved her from what? Becoming a monster like me?" He said with equal venom in his voice, then he challenged, "And before you point the finger, have you considered maybe the wolf lied to you?"

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"I guess your new boyfriend forgot to mention that it was one of HIS that bit the girl. NOT a vampire." He said scathingly.

"What?!" Kerry couldn't believe it.

"Your friend was bitten by a Lycan!" Michel spoke as he grinded his teeth, the word 'lycan' was hissed with obvious hated.

"How can I believe that? Leon saved her! Why would he save her from becoming a Lycan when he's one too!? Plus! You've lied to me so many times before, how can I believe you?!" She said helplessly as realization began to take over.

"It matters not what you believe, but I suggest you watch your tongue before you accuse an entire race," His fake grin showed his resentment to her accusations, "Especially one that doesn't think twice about dealing death to incompetent humans."

Kerry hated how his eyes were viciously narrowed. Michel's last words were calm and composed, but his trembling posture revealed the fury he was suppressing. Kerry searched for a single trace of care or humanity in him, but she couldn't find anything in his unforgiving glare. It was hard to believe the same blue eyes were full of mirth only minutes before.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Kerry asked, exasperated.

"I came here to kill the girl that Lycan sired, but seeing that her transformation was stopped, I'll let her live."

Kerry looked at him horrified. "You were going to kill Mei?!"

"Was." He reminded. "But now it seems that I've gotten something even better out of my original intention."

"What do you mean?" Kerry asked.

"You should know better than anyone, what kind of answer that is." Kerry frowned at his answer.

"Oh yeah…none." Michel grinned at her disappointment. Kerry was happy to see that his eyes had returned to their normal state, and he was no longer unstable with anger.

"Seeing that my plans have changed I'm going to have to go back, my friend is getting quite impatient with me as it is."

"There's someone else here?!" Kerry looked around suddenly scared. "Go back where?!" She didn't like the thought of him leaving.

"Yes, but you won't see him unless he wants you to. Goodbye Kerry." He turned to leave but she grabbed his arm.

"Please don't!" Kerry cried.

"You don't have to worry. My plans require you to be alive so you can sleep easy." He assured her. "You're safe."

"I don't care about that!" Kerry shook her head, "I don't want you to leave…please don't."

Michel smirked, "I see that even when you've changed a significant amount physically, you're still that little girl."

Was that a compliment or an insult? He was so vague….

"I'll be seeing you again soon." He promised.

Kerry shook her head no. She was willing to be immature if that meant keeping him with her. Michel sighed as he ran a hand through his messy hair, frustrated.

If he really wanted to go, he could've just left already, she thought wishfully. She stared at him with determined eyes. In reality, she was still terrified at the danger he emitted from a single glance. Underneath his dark lashes, icy orbs stared at her, but she didn't back down and challenged him with her own glare.

"No." She said quietly, but firmly.

"Kerry…" Michel warned.

"I'm not letting yo-" He grabbed the back of her neck and kissed her full force. Leon's couldn't compare to this. She sighed as his lips molded onto hers. Her eyes closed as she took in the sweet scent of expensive cologne. His teeth scraped her bottom lip lightly, his mouth was sweet with a mixed taste of blood…her blood. Right as Kerry was beginning to lose herself in the ecstasy of his kiss. Michel pulled back just as quickly as he approached. She opened her eyes and he was gone. Twice this had happened tonight.

That bastard….it was a trick. Kerry felt her heart sink. She frowned and her shoulders fell. She heard his laughter but Kerry knew she wouldn't be able to see him unless he wanted her to.

"Bastard."

"I can still hear you." A response came back.

"I know."

Silence….

She had won a childish victory but she was smug. Kerry returned back to the house. And for the first time in years, she slept soundlessly. She had the same exotic dream that she had years ago, in that closet when she saved his life.

Michel was back. She didn't know what would happen next or what was going on, but he was back and that was all that mattered.