Rise of the Moon (Moonlit Series Book 1) Read Free Page A

call. With a sigh, I continued on my way. Maybe it was really a coyote calling out instead.
    The walk back, alone, was always so much longer than the walk to Maddie’s house. There was a reason she was my best friend, and time definitely flew by when I was with her. The forty minute walk definitely felt that long now. But I enjoyed my time alone. When you grew up in a crowded home, peace becomes a virtue. It used to be me, my parents and my three sisters. Now, Sydney and Bree were both married with kids, so it was just Sophie, me and mom. Dad came and went on business, hardly ever home. It was empty, but time away was still appreciated. Mom was clingier than ever since Bree moved out with Nick, and Sophie was like every other little sister –annoying and frustrating.
    Up ahead, I spotted a sleek, black car parked at the head of a driveway, almost invisible except for the light of the moon hitting its roof, and a boy about my age sitting on the hood, looking at the house. Even in the best light of day, it didn’t look all that appealing, although my mother would say it had character. There was a long stretch of driveway that rounded to the back side of the house, not allowing you to see who was home unless you walked right up to the front door and knocked. It was a dark red brick, three stories with a rotting wooden porch that surrounded the entire building. The third floor was an attic, as far as I knew, with a round window facing the road. The sign hammered into the front lawn had read “sold” for two weeks now, but this was the first time I’d seen anyone around that could possibly live there.
    My heart rammed into my throat, taken by surprise that someone else was out on this road at this hour. I debated crossing the street, to the side opposite of the driveway, but decided against it. I was admittedly shy though, and while I could see that he was tall and thin, I didn’t dare look at his face. I tried to walk by, hoping he wasn’t the social type.
    “Evangeline?” he asked suddenly, and I looked up. He was handsome, with dark brown hair, silver-blue eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlight, fair skin, and pale lips. Everything about him screamed nonthreatening. That almost made me more wary.
    “Um,” I looked around, not quite sure that I believed that he was talking to me . “No.”
    “Ah, I’m sorry, you just looked like someone I used to know,” he said, looking away. He had an accent. British. And if that line hadn’t irked me, making any shy feelings I had vanish, then I might have felt a little giddy. If there was one thing I couldn’t stand, it was cheesy pick-up lines. 
    “Does that line actually work?” I crossed my arms in front of me.
    “Line?”
    “You’re kidding, right? That has to be one of the oldest pick-up lines in the book,” I said. “You just moved here –what are the chances that you’d run into someone you know here?”
    “That’s true,” he laughed, showing fanged teeth. Sharp, pointy. Different that most people I knew. Maddie would have gone crazy to see them, her obsession with vampires rivaling mine of werewolves. A chill ran down my spine and to the tips of my fingers as the moon glinted off them. “Do you live around here?”
    “Well, yeah,” I uncrossed my arms. I found myself not knowing what to do with them, and settled for putting them on my hips. When I felt like a tool, I crossed them again. “I wouldn’t just be walking around here in the middle of the night if I didn’t.”
    “That’s also true, I suppose,” he chuckled. “Though, I’d hardly call ten-thirty the middle of the night.”
    We fell into silence. I took the moment to take a better look at him. He was Maddie’s type; her type being really attractive. Was he my type? Did I have a type? As I looked at him, I couldn’t tell.
    “Well, I should probably get going,” I said, brushing my hair over my shoulder.
    “So soon?”
    “I don’t see why I should stay,” I told him bluntly.