Waning Moon Read Free Page A

stares I get from time to time, but I’m still the same person I was before I was a vampire, still the same Gabriel before I was undead and had to drink blood in order to live.”
    Tony digested what the vampire had said and tried to break free, but he was sorely outmatched. How could this guy say that he was the same person from before he had gotten infected with lyrianthropy? He wasn’t and hadn’t been since that horrible day…he hadn’t and never would be the same. He just wouldn’t. He couldn’t. With a scoff he said, “Just forget about what I said and please let me go. I just wanna go home and get wasted. Leave all this shit behind.”
    Gabriel frowned. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to do as I say and tonight you’re staying with me.”
    “I don’t wanna—arg!”
    *
    Gabriel quickly let go as Tony crumpled in pain and cried out as the shift began to take effect. His bones began to slither beneath his skin like snakes, snapped and creaked as they repositioned themselves and morphed, shagging black fur sprouted from his skin, and his face elongated into that of a cat. A clear liquid burst from his body and in his place stood a pony-sized black panther with glistening golden eyes.
    The panther growled deeply and prowled in a slow circle around the vampire, black lips curling inward to reveal sharpened ivory fangs. Gabriel’s thoughts were solely focused on how beautiful the creature before him was, so majestic, so regal. It walked with an air of refined dignity as if it owned everyone and everything, and set its gleaming eyes on Gabriel, never looking away as it stalked around him in a perfect circle.
    Gabriel held his hands up in mock defeat. The panther growled again and then in a split second it lunged at Gabriel’s throat. The vampire blocked with his arms and the enormous claws raked along his pale skin and blood began to drip onto the wooden floor. The panther gnashed its jaws in Gabriel’s face, struck again and again, until the vampire swung his fist onto the bottom of its muzzle and it immediately collapsed in a furry pile.
    Tony, now unconscious, shrank back to his human form and lay naked, curled in a wet, sticky ball. Gabriel combed a hand through his hair and sighed. The panther was much stronger than he’d anticipated, and the wounds on his arms weren’t even close to healing yet. Interesting, very interesting.
    He was right to have saved this man.
    He bent down, scooped up Tony’s limp body, and set him gingerly onto the bed. He took his Purell out of his pocket and smothered it in layers onto his hands and arms. Then he strode silently to the kitchen and grabbed a blood bag from the fridge. AB+. His favorite.
    With a shuddering breath, Gabriel flopped onto the couch, flicked on the TV, and started sipping his drink casually. His thoughts wandered astray and he questioned himself on his recent actions. Why did he save Tony? What otherworldly force had compelled him to mark such a strange man? A man he knew nothing about, only that his mind was clouded with despair and poisoned with grief. If he hadn’t come Tony would’ve most likely died…but why did that concern him? What did it matter if another person died compared to the hundreds of lives he’d taken over the centuries?
    He rested his head back on the couch and let his muscles relax and unwind. What would he do now? He had to catch this murderer for Alexander, for one. But what about Tony? He was bound to him now, responsible, like a parent. He’d have to take care and make sure Tony was happy and healthy. He, a monster. A murderer. A cold-hearted bastard.
    One that had taken many countless lives without a second thought. He who had lived in solitude for decades. Just why did he decide now to have a companion? What difference did it make? Oh, well. He’d use Tony as best as he could. Maybe the were-panther would prove to be useful somehow.
    Gabriel finished his drink, set the wrinkled bag onto the coffee table, and shifted