By the Pale Moonlight Ch. 05

"Was it someone else? Gideon asked someone else to take away your ability to speak?" James felt himself burn with anger at the question he had to ask. He was a Beta of Gideon's; He had served under him for over a century. Gideon had saved him from himself. He trusted him with his life. It seemed Gideon didn't feel the same. He had kept secrets, even ordering someone to have their free will stripped away. Who...or what... could do that?

"I asked her. The only way to protect something so precious was to make sure I could never talk about them."

A large rusty truck screeched to a stop at the entrance of the alley. Its' horn honked twice before two people jumped out.

"Momma!" A woman screamed and ran towards Kitty. She pushed James out of the way and scooped the injured woman into her arms. "Momma, I'm so sorry, I never should have left."

"Hush, you fool." Kitty looked up at her daughter, her brow was tense with worry.

"Bella, pick her up, we need to get her back to the house as quick as possible. It looks like one of those things took a bite out of her shoulder." The man with her said. He opened the bed of the truck and motioned her inside.

"Momma, I'm going to Kill that bastard, I promise." Bella stood up, she looked like her mother. She had long dirty blond hair and emerald green eyes. She was short in stature, but her attitude more than made up for her lack in height. She wore tight black jeans and a black tank top, her large breasts barely contained in the shirt.

"Shit, Bella, put those things away." Kitty grunted as her daughter lifted her off the ground. Bella laughed and wrapped her arm around her mother's waist. They hobbled slowly over to the back of the pickup truck.

"Momma, have you been crying?" Kitty pressed he face against her daughters ear and whispered lowly, Bella nodded and looked away.

"Give me a hand, Joshua." He walked over and took Kitty out of her arms. Bella jumped into the bed of the truck and motioned for Joshua to hand her over. They sat her on the back door before Bella pulled her into her lap and backed up. Joshua turned to James.

"Sorry you had to get involved in this, Sir. But thank you for helping out Bella's Ma. We'll call and let you know how she's doing." He tilted his head in a bow before closed the hatch and walked around to the driver's side door.

"Wait" James walked to the side of the bed and looked in at Kitty and Bella. "Kitty, what happened to Tara? Where's did she go?"

Joshua started the truck up and it roared to life.

"She's with a friend." Joshua shifted the truck into drive and started forward. "Don't worry, she's safer now than she ever has been." Kitty yelled as the truck sped up and drove out of sight.

James sighed. He was nowhere closer to finding Tara. He was just left with even more questions. Gideon knew about his daughter; Kitty even knew about her. Even though Kitty had "Left" her duties as Beta, it seemed she was still involved with pack business, or at the very least, involved with Gideon's secret life.

Who could he have been involved with that had that sort of power? Vampires could cause confusion, paralysis and euphoria, but they didn't have the sort of long term ability that seemed to possess Kitty.

"Witches..." James whispered out loud. True witches didn't exist anymore. He had heard stories from Gideon of rituals the witches used to perform. They would help create a balance of power every hundred years or so. Gideon had been involved in a few, before the witch trials sent most of them into hiding. They were eradicated around 200 years ago; the vampires had found out the allure of their blood.

Gideon never told James what the ritual involved, he said it was very personal and very spiritual. He even confided in James that the only reason he had so much power was thanks to the witches. After Gideon told him that, he seemed to immediately regret his decision and never spoke of the subject again.

Witches were a sore subject with older Wear Alphas. They all knew about them, though they never talked about them to anyone outside the Elder circle.

There were too many flukes with this girl for all of this to just be coincidence.

James pulled his phone back out of his pocket and dialed Cane.

"Sir?" Cane answered, it seemed he had been expecting James.

"Good call Caine. They just left with Kitty."

"When you told me what happened I knew who to call. Bella's a real piece of work but she'd do anything for her mom."

"We have a bigger issue than that, Caine. I need another clean up team to come here. I have another Eaters body. But our biggest issue is the one Dante's on right now. The Eater he's cleaning up is Clarice Moretti. Two of her siblings followed Tara's scent to Good Times. That's why it was hit." James took a deep breath and sighed. His head was beginning to hurt. "The Moretti Kids have been slinking all over my territory without my knowledge. Everyone been too afraid to say anything. Have you heard any mention of this?"

"I had heard talk of some Vampires causing trouble, but when I offered help I was told that it was being taken care of. The way they all made it seem, I thought they were just some low level Beaters. I never imagined they would be Eaters, never the less Moretti's." James could hear the stress in Canes voice. He had been asking a lot of his beta since Daniels disappearance. He only had a few people he could really trust.

"Cane, call a meeting of all of my Betas and Leaders. Have them meet at the compound tomorrow night; no exceptions. I need to know how far this Moretti problem has spread. Well also have to get in touch with the Vampire Elders."

"Yes, sir. See you tomorrow." James hung up and looked around him. He smelled Kittys' bewitched blood, Taras' mysteriously earthy blood, rotten vile vampire's blood, and the somehow familiar blood of an unknown Wolf. The wolf that Kitty trusted to keep Tara safe, who could she trust more than James with Gideon's secret?

He could sense a lot more blood would be shed soon.

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Her high heels clicked as she walked down the marble staircase. She always loved the hollow empty feeling of mansions. The cold stone, the wide open space, the endless rooms and hallways. America didn't have many worthy Mansions. Everything here was new, she longed for the haunted echo's that lived inside of old castles. She desperately missed Germany. Her hand trailed down the black metal banister.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. It was the middle of the day and she was bored. Giovanni was holed up in his office planning his revenge on the peculiar smelling human.

What a bore.

He was always more interested in plotting the next war than having fun. He certainly was just like their father. He was the oldest of her siblings and remained the most determined to take control of the clan after their father's demise. At least that was one thing they had in common. It was family tradition to kill your parents once they became useless. She chuckled to herself at the amusing thought. That must have been why her father sent them to this useless county.

She heard muffled laughter coming from somewhere in the house. Turning on her heels she followed the sound. Her shoes clicked and echoed though the long white hallways. There were paintings and art carefully placed throughout the house, none of it interested her. She walked past a vase her brother had bought a few centuries ago. It was made by some human in China, Giovanni had been infatuated with them for years. She flexed her fingers out and gracefully ran a claw along the outside of the embossed vase. It tilted and shook and slowly fell over onto the floor with a crash. Marietta crunched over the mess with a content smile on her face. She couldn't wait to see the look on her brothers' face.

Eventually the sounds she was seeking became louder and she came upon a partially opened door. She pushed it open further and peaked her head inside. She saw Marcello lying on a deep red sofa throwing darts at the wall.

He wore black dress pants and a gray button up shirt. His blouse was disheveled and untucked giving off the impression of a lazy and un-kept child. His hair was light blond and wavy, the mid length locks were combed back and at some point gelled, though the shine had faded leaving his hair dull and crimped. His feet were bare and one leg rested, bent on the floor.

What a bore.

She turned to walk away when she heard a thud, then a whimper, then a throaty laugh from Marcello. This is what she was waiting for, Some real entertainment. She pushed opened the door and looked at the wall opposite of her bother.

A woman hung in the corner. Her arms, tied together above her head, were held up with a rope attached to the ceiling. She was held so that she was standing on the tips of her toes. Her hair was bleach blond and matted into knots. Her face may have been pretty if it weren't covered in bruises. Though she preferred the girl look like this.

"Marietta, meine Liebe! Have you come to join me for an afternoon snack?" Marcello stretched his legs out on the couch. He leaned to the side and picked up another long tipped dart from a small table. He took aim at the woman on the wall, she started to shake and whimper knowing what was coming her way. He pulled his arm back and forcefully tossed the dart at the girl. It stuck into her thigh with a thud. She cried out as tears streamed down her face.

The girl's body convulsed with hiccuping cries. Her soft breasts heaved and jiggled against her slick skin. She was coated in a mixture of fear and sweat. Darts stuck out of her in various places; four in each thigh, two in her right arm, three in the stomach and one lone dart stuck out of her rib cage. Small streaks of blood trickled down from each perforation. Marcello had always been a good shot.

He chuckled lightly and reached his hand out to his sister.

"Sit with me, my love. It's been far too long." Marietta slowly sauntered over to him. Heel, toe, she gently walked over the Persian rug. She placed her fingers into his palm. He drew her hand towards his face and left a long kiss on the back of her wrist.

"It has only been 2 days, if you would have come with us we needn't have been apart so long." Marcello rubbed his cheek against Marietta's skin. He chuckled.

"Come with you chasing after little Clarice." He pulled her down onto his lap and ran a hand down the curve of her hip. "What a bore."

Marcello drew her close and breathed in her scent. "Ohne dich kann ich nicht leben."

A pitiful whimper came from the end of the room. Marietta pushed herself up and ran a thin claw down Marcello's chest. She popped each button off carefully and rubbed her fingernails delicately against the muscles adorning his stomach. She leaned forward and kissed a trail up his sternum. Upon reaching his neck she lifted her face up to meet his. Her eyes were blood shot.

"I'm hungry." Her face began to crack and fall apart as she poor girl, trapped in the corner, began to scream.

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Authors note:

Thank you all for reading, I love the feedback. For those of you who believe Tara Is too weak or too bitchy, I apologize. I want to portray her as a realistic character, and if any of this had happened to me, I know I would be in a constant state of freak out! I am trying to slowly develop each character and not rush through this story. I had no desire to create an all-powerful character nor a damsel in distress, but I can promise that she will be able to handle herself in the time to come.

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"Ohne dich kann ich nicht leben" is roughly translated to "Without you I can not live"