Cascades of Moonlight (The Parker Harris Series: Book #1)

  Once my equanimity returned, I looked back to see what it was and there was a man lying in the road. I got out of my car and walked toward him to see if he was alive. He looked up and screamed, "Quinn!”

  I ran toward him, but he shouted, “Run, Parker!” A woman stood a few feet behind him, smiling at me. I turned to get back in my car, but she was too fast. She grabbed me by the neck and slammed me against the door.

  She held me up in the air against the car and smiled at me in the evilest way. “Well, well, well, we finally meet, officially. Allow me to introduce myself…I'm Lizzy, the real love of Quinn’s life…er …well, afterlife.” She laughed maniacally as she said this.

  Quinn looked at me with pain in his eyes. “Don’t listen to her, Parker…I love you!”

  Liz turned to him and said, “Aww…how sweet…you're such a great liar, Quinn, but you don’t have to pretend anymore. In fact, she'll cope with it. She encouraged me to fight for you, remember that, Parker? That day at the rest stop when you were so upset, yet you took the time to help little old me with my problems.”

  I thought back and remembered the girl I spoke to that day, the day I ran out on them for talking about changing Jackie. That seemed like years ago, everything has changed since then. She continued her taunting, “How do you think I knew where you were? I followed you from your house." She turned her focus to Quinn for a moment, "She needs to know that we're together and that she's just a pawn in your game.”

  Quinn’s response was a mixture of rage and grief, “Shut up, Liz! You're a liar! You're trying to ruin my life because I ruined yours, but there's no need to bring Parker into this. She hasn’t done anything to you, just let her go…please,” he begged.

  Her grip tightened on my neck and I could hardly breathe now. I tried to make myself angry, tried to make myself shift, but all I could feel was sad, scared and confused. Gasping for air, I tried to speak, “I…love you..Quinn…”

  As I spoke, she covered my mouth and I tried to bite down on her hand. She responded with a blood-curdling scream that faded into laughter. “You silly girl, a werewolf can bite a vampire, but at the moment you're just an average human child.”

  My teeth ached, it was like biting into stone. She whipped me around to face her. At that moment, Quinn came running and grabbed a hold of Liz and, when he did, she threw me as far as she could. I landed hard on the ground. I rolled over in pain and, when I looked up, Will was standing above me and his hand was extended to me.

  He helped me up. I turned back and saw that Quinn and Liz were struggling, then I saw Mitchell swoop out of the woods. He ran towards them and pulled Quinn off her. Quinn realized who had him and he turned on him. “You traitor! You were supposed to be my friend; you were supposed to be Parker’s friend! You should've protected her!” Quinn kept pushing him, but Mitchell wouldn’t fight back, he kept shaking his head 'no.'

  All of a sudden, an arm came across my chest and someone had me in a chokehold. “You're so gullible, Quinn. Mitchell never betrayed you, you were right about me all along.”

  It was Will speaking and he was the one who had me in a chokehold. “Why are you doing this Will? She's a vampire, how do you even know her?” I bellowed.

  Will started laughing, “Isn’t that how it works around here, vampires and werewolves fall in love instead of being enemies the way they're supposed to be?” He continued, “Only I'm not in love with Lizzy like that…she's my sister and that sorry bastard that you love…ruined her life after I saved her from being a monster once.”

  Quinn spoke next, “What the?…Liz didn’t have a brother, I knew her for years and I would've known about it.”

  Liz walked toward Will and she put her arm around him. “When William was bitten and turned I was only five. He had to run away and you and I met when we were twelve, Quinn. Our parents refused to mention his name. They knew what he had become and, instead of trying to help him, they tried to kill him. We lost touch for many years after that and it wasn’t until I changed into a vampire that I knew what he felt and I had to track him down.”

  “So, Quinn actually brought the two of you together, shouldn’t you thank him?” I asked sarcastically. Liz turned to me, ran her finger down my face and, faster than I could blink, she bit a chunk out of my arm and spit it on the ground. My arm burned as I screamed out. Quinn tried to reach me, but Will just choked me harder. Mitchell stood there looking at me, in the same way as Quinn, both were scared for me, they both loved me. How could I have ever thought Mitchell was the bad guy? How could I have trusted Will, and…Poor Jackie!

  There was a car coming down the road at that moment and it came to a stop. When a person got out, I realized it was Jackie. When Mitchell became conscious of who it was, he ran to her. She embraced him and I watched as her hand disappeared behind her and she pulled out a stake from her back pocket and lodged it in his chest.

  “Mitchell!” I screamed. Jackie pulled out of his embrace and looked at Mitchell, who was in shock. She shoved him away from her and he fell to the ground. Her motions were zombie-like. She never even flinched after attacking him and then she stood there frozen in place. At that moment, I realized she may be lost to us forever and my chest hurt at the loss of my sister and friend. Quinn started to run to her and she started shaking all over and she shifted.

  “Quinn! Get away from her!” I screamed. Liz turned to me again and shoved her hand over my mouth.

  Will leaned over and whispered to me, “The part where Jackie and I fell for each other, that part was true. It was me who persuaded her to lose trust in all of you. In fact, I'm the one who convinced her that Mitchell actually wanted you and that was easy to do since he was busy protecting you when I took the chance to bite her that night of the full moon. She's rather easy to influence.”

  With every bit of energy I could utilize, I fought back against his hold. His touch made me cringe with disgust. “Oh yeah, and there's something you and Jackie have in common, another BFF trait, you both were changed by the same wolf.”

  Shocked I gasped, “What…how can that be..?”

  Will chuckled, “You really did find me after a black bear attack, it had just been a few years earlier than you thought. I was bleeding in the woods and you came upon me.”

  His fingers were caressing my face affectionately. “You looked so beautiful and it was so sweet how you tried to tend to my wounds. I bit you in the hopes that I could run into you as human and we could be together. It’s only natural for two wolves to be together, but, unfortunately, I was too late. You had already met that thing over there. You never even gave me a chance.” He was giving me light kisses on my face as he talked, my stomach lurched, his touch was nauseating.

  “This could've all been avoided if you had just fallen for me instead of Quinn. But it doesn’t matter now, I have Jackie and my sister and I don’t need anything else…except revenge for her.” He moved his arm in a quick motion and threw me down on the ground. I lay choking and gasping for air. He shifted in front of me and within seconds, he and Jackie were at a stance on opposite sides of Quinn, both growling at him and ready to pounce.

  Now I was angry, I could feel my insides quivering and I tried to control my stance as I began to shift. The anger quickly engulfed me and it quickened my transfer. I ran and guarded Quinn, growling at Will and whimpering at Jackie. Will snapped at me and all of his teeth were visible in an angry snarl.

  A loud piercing whistle rang in my ear and I crouched, moaning in pain. Jackie and Will’s focus moved from us and they ran to the noise that was coming from Liz and the three of them were gone into the woods. I went to Mitchell and nudged him with my nose; he groaned and tried to stand, but screamed out.

  Quinn came over, placed one hand on Mitchell’s chest and the other on the stake, and yanked the stake out for him so the wound could start to heal. Mitchell let out a bellow of pain and I growled at Quinn. He stepped back look
ing wounded by my reaction. Mitchell sat up and looked at Quinn, “Thanks, man. I must say I'm really getting tired of being staked.”

  Quinn put his hand out and Mitchell took it and helped him up. I growled at Quinn again. He knelt in front of me with his hand extended towards me. “Parker, please baby, change back for me. I'm sorry about everything. I can explain if you just give me a chance.”

  Mitchell started toward me and I whimpered, “Quinn, I think she wants to know why you told her not to trust me…she's still unsure who to believe in all this. It’s not surprising; her head has been filled with a lot of lies from the people she trusted the most.” As he said, this his hand went to his chest where the stake had been and I knew he was thinking about Jackie.

  The stake through his chest was not nearly as painful as the metaphorical knife she shoved into his heart by betraying him. Quinn smacked his hand against his head in comprehension, “Of course. Look, Parker, Liz tricked me, just as she tricked you. Every time she was on the phone she said Mitchell’s name. She had me convinced that he was the one helping her. She hit him over the head when she first found us, but she left him alive so I thought it had to be true. It’s not like her to leave witnesses.” He held his arms out to me and I ached to go to him. “Please, Parker, I just want to hold you. I missed you so much…” It was heartrending to see him look so defeated.

  My body began to revert back to my human form. A few minutes later I was my old self again…and very naked. Quinn took his shirt off and threw it to me. I quickly covered up. Standing up, I looked at him. I forgot how incredibly sexy he is, especially without a shirt on. My heart began racing as it always did when he was near. He smiled that gorgeous smile that I never could resist.

  Without further hesitation, I smiled back and ran toward him and threw myself into his embrace. He placed his arms around me and lifted me into the air. He was relishing the moment, smelling my hair, my skin; he was rubbing my back and whispering I love you, over and over in my ear. I whispered back, “I love you…I missed you so so much.”

  He pulled back from the embrace and looked at me, moving his hands to my face, “You're so beautiful, I missed looking at this face.” He kissed my forehead and continued, “I thought you were dead. She locked you in that cave and made me leave you there. She said if I didn’t that she would torture you to death and she threatened everyone you love knowing that I couldn’t live with myself if she hurts you like that.”

  His eyes dropped from mine as a look of shame came over his face. “She promised that if I went with her she'd leave you alone and she'd make sure someone would get you out of the cave once you changed back. I never should've believed her, you shifted back before the cave was closed over and I had to say goodbye to you. The look on your face tormented me the entire time I was away. That day I called and heard your voice was the biggest relief in the world for me.”

  I stepped back from him. “How did you get to keep calling me? She didn’t have you locked up or anything?” I asked a bit suspicious still, it was hard not to be with Jackie and Will’s betrayal still fresh in my mind, I didn’t know who I could believe anymore.

  “She kept me locked up in silver chains so that I couldn’t feed,” He held up his wrists and showed me the mangled skin that was still in the process of healing, then he showed me his legs too where there were matching scars around his ankles.

  “Her plan was to starve me and let me loose in the town. She wanted to make me the monster she is and said once I embraced that, she and I could be together. I never wanted that, I never wanted her that way. A few times she would let me loose in a room and I found a phone in a drawer. I assume now that she left it on purpose so I could help her drive you nuts, making you doubt everyone including me. She knew I wouldn’t tell you where I was because I would want to protect you from her and wouldn’t want you to try and track me down. I’m so sorry.”

  I took his hand in mine and assured him that it was okay and that I understood. He leaned down and kissed me, something I had missed more than anything was the feel of his lips on mine.

  We embraced again and I opened my eyes and saw Mitchell standing there with a pitiful look on his face. My heart hurt for him because he had fallen for me and was still in love with Jackie. In one day, we both ripped his heart out. I care about Mitchell, he was one of my best friends now. But Quinn, I couldn’t even put into words how I feel about him. Even though Mitch and I kissed, and it stirred feelings in me, it was nothing compared to the tingles I get with Quinn. Our eyes met and I smiled at him sorrowfully and he returned the same sad smile. I closed my eyes and nestled my head into Quinn’s neck.

  Quinn let go of me and walked toward Mitchell. “Thanks for taking care of her, man. I'm sorry I thought poorly of you.” He extended his hand and Mitchell took it and they did the manly one arm hug with a pat on the back. I wonder if Quinn will be so forgiving when he finds out Mitchell and I kissed.

  It was my turn to apologize, “I’m sorry too, Mitchell. I didn’t know who to believe and I was so confused, I shouldn’t have doubted you of all people though.” My arms wrapped around his neck, I hugged him and kissed his cheek.

  He held on to me longer than he should have, it was awkward with Quinn standing behind us. He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I’m happy for you. You and Quinn belong together. I just wish Jackie and I got the same happy ending.”

  I looked in his eyes and realized he meant it. He was an amazing man that would make any girl lucky, once she gets past the whole vampire issue of course.

  Chapter Twenty