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298. Circle
Last Updated:
2025-03-04 03:35:39
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Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 299. Forest
Theon“So, it's an insanely powerful magical ward that doesn't let supernaturals into the Hoia forest,” Ophelia says. “Which is also irreversible and only weakens on the day of the Winter Solstice?”“It kinda makes sense, doesn't it?” Hunter remarks. “The solstice days are known to have a negative effect on magic. And if the supernatural repellent in the Hoia forest is actually a ward, it could weaken.”“Keyword being 'weaken',” Leita points out. “Not entirely gone. That means we will be affected to some extent when we go in.”“The winter solstice weakens our powers as well,” Master Tsertinand joins the discussion. “So, we won't be as powerful as were now. The devil couldn't have chosen a better day for his soul devouring than this.”“We're fucked, aren't we?” Haden mutters next to me in the driver's seat, his voice too low for the witches to hear with their discussion. We'd left the Costin family about an hour ago, after getting the battery replaced. Mihai had told us the only way t
Last Updated : 2025-03-04Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 300. My wolf
Callista“So, I'm not defective?” I ask, grinning from ear to ear at the good news. “I'm not damaged, or weird?”“Goodness, no, who even made you think that?” Qaetanya asks looking horrified. “It was simply a shield, a ward if you may, to keep your wolf from emerging at your eighteenth birthday.”“Your mother did not want you to live with werewolves because she knew your scent would be an issue. So, she kept you in a human orphanage, hoping that no wolf would find you. But her plan failed, and you were discovered by a woman from the Leighwen pack. She took you back to her pack, with good intentions, of course.”I stare at the roses, letting that information sink in. I knew this from the devil, but hearing Qaetanya confirm it finally makes me think it's true, and I feel such gratitude to my late mother whom I never knew who always put me above herself every time.My heart cries at the thought of never meeting her, this woman who had truly loved me with no limitations.Tears spring to
Last Updated : 2025-03-04Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 301. Takeover
Callista“Apologies, Callista, but I need to take control of your body,” Qaetanya whispers in my mind, and her presence overtakes the control of my body.It is a surreal experience as I was relegated only to my mind. As if I were one of the two passengers in my body.Well, this is going to be interesting, I think, as I watch through Qaetanya’s eyes as she shoves away Xaveraq. Xaveraq stumbles backward, surprise flitting through his face.“Stay away from the girl,” she growls at him.My voice resonates as if we’re in an echo chamber as she speaks.Xaveraq gets over his surprise and smiles.“I see that you’ve broken from the hold the girl’s mother put on you. Congratulations, Qaetanya, I never thought you’d do it.”“You never thought I’d do anything that I did,” she tells him, getting out of the bed.I could feel her glaring at him.“Now, now, that is not true,” he retorts. “You were never that predictable to begin with, Qaetanya. Half the time, I didn’t even know what you were thinkin
Last Updated : 2025-03-04Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 302. Alarmed
TheonWe feel the effect of the Hoia Baciu forest as soon as we enter the Cluj region, and as we near our destination, the feeling only grows.I can’t describe it for certain. It’s like a strange buzz on my skin that pings a part of my mind constantly, making a shiver run up and down my spine. My mouth feels dry, and my stomach feels uncomfortable.I feel like I want to lie down for a moment and sleep. Take a quick nap.Alarmed, I turn to Haden.“Are you okay?” I ask.Haden looks just as confused as I feel, with his eyes glazed and staring forward.“No,” he answers. “I feel so damn sleepy, but that’s too freaking strange because I never feel sleepy in the daytime or even the evening. Also, I wasn’t feeling like this moment ago.”“Why do I feel so tired all of the sudden?” I hear Ophelia ask from the back.“No idea, but I do too,” Kiran yawns.“Something shady is going on,” Master Tsertinand mutters. “My stomach feels bloated.”“I think you should pull over, man, your eyes are really g
Last Updated : 2025-03-04Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 303. Escape
CallistaFinally, the day of the winter solstice arrives.I don’t even notice the day until Qaetanya tells me in my dreams.We are sitting near the rose garden yet again, and I’m kind of getting tired of the view. I long for my subconsciousness to direct me somewhere else, perhaps maybe to my room in the Rexellen castle, but my dreams stubbornly stay in the rose garden.Even though I call these sessions with Qaetanya dreams, I know they are anything but. No, these sessions are purely our conversations. I don’t know how it works, but I know that the deviless has something to do with it. It’s sort of like she summons me for an audience with her, and for some reason, it’s always in the rose garden.Maybe Qaetanya loves roses. Who knows.“Callista.”I look at Qaetanya, giving up at trying to contact my wolf.“Yeah?”She looks pale.“In one minute,” she admits, “a new day will dawn.”“So?” I ask, confused.I’ve been focusing so hard on finding my wolf that I hadn’t been paying any attentio
Last Updated : 2025-03-04Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 304. Team
Chapter 304TheonFinally, the day has arrivedNone of us had a pleasant sleep the night before, no matter how much drowsy the forest made us. I was plagued by nightmares, all of them showcasing our failure in tomorrow’s mission. Countless times in my sleep, I was too late, and the devil took Callista’s soul.After about ten of these dreams, I finally give up sleeping. But by then, a new day had already dawned.I walk to the door of the balcony in my wolf form, mindful to hide my appearance from the people on the streets. Last night, snow has fallen yet again, and I take a deep breath of the crisp, cold air. The sun is visible today, as visible as it can be in the winter sky. A ball of soft shine rose from the mountains. Its rays are too watery to reach me, but I feel their warmth as if they are from my memory.I’d turned to my wolf form to catch a break from the feelings of certain doom that haunt my human mind, but it seems like those feelings had followed me.“Do you feel her?” I f
Last Updated : 2025-03-04Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 305. Final Battle
TheonThe drowsiness is significantly less even without the witches’ efforts, but the witches complain that they are feeling the depleting effects of their power due to the solstice.“Goddess, I can’t even hold a spell for three minutes,” Leita complains after having the magical light she’d conjured moments ago vanish without her command. “How are we supposed to fight like this?”“Weapons, child,” Master Tsertinand says, pulling the large duffle bag he’d brought with him onto his lap. “The solstice might affect our inherent powers, but they have no issue on amulets. Gather around, children, I come with treats!”The trays used for breakfast sit on the trolley outside our room, and everyone in our squad has gathered in the bigger room used by the Headmistress and the others. We would be checking out of the hotel in thirty minutes, and we were getting ready…For the final battle.The sense of finality hangs heavily in the room. The exciting nature that had been on the witches’ faces befo
Last Updated : 2025-03-04Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 306. Spirit
TheonThe Hoia Baciu forest doesn’t seem like much at first sight. It’s not unlike other forests I’ve seen dotted throughout the region. We stand in front of it, and because it’s the winter season, there aren’t any tourists here, so we are free to do as we please without worrying about anybody seeing.“So,” the Headmistress mutters. “This is the famed Hoia forest.”“You can still feel the effect,” Master Tsertinand notes. “How powerful were these devils to erect such wards to last through millennia? Can't even imagine having that much strength.”“So, how are we going to find the devil and Callista in here?” Haden asks. “Roam the forest until we stumble upon them?”“What other choice do we have?” I wonder out loud, not really expecting an answer.Callista is in this forest somewhere, waiting for us and I can’t wait to find her.I wouldn’t lie, if I was her right now, captured and kidnapped by a powerful being who was basically immortal and kept in a haunted forest away from civilizatio
Last Updated : 2025-03-04
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Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 322. Epilogue
CallistaTen years later.I stand in front of Lily Lane Pup Daycare after ending my workday at Rexellen University, holding a stack of books in my arms trying to shove them into the backpack I’ve taken with me.It’s three in the evening, and the kids should be out in a few minutes.It’s summer again, the weather is pleasantly warm, and everything brims with life. There are bees flying everywhere, suckling nectar out of the numerous fully blossomed Leanderrs.The Rexellen pack town is as busy as ever, with people bustling around after clocking off from work, going on their errands, and their outings.Everyone seems happy, and they’re open and very friendly.Upon noticing me, everyone who passes greets me with a simple.“Good evening, Luna!”“Good evening to you too!” I always greet back.Some parents stop by near the daycare to collect their children, and we start pleasantly conversing with each other.I’ve been the Luna Queen of the Rexellen pack for ten years now, and honestly, those
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 321. Ceremony
CallistaFour weeks later.I walk down the shoveled path with a single lily flower in my hand, a smile on my lips, and my heart overflowing with joy.I’m dressed in an ankle-length, heavy-set gown that accentuates my form as if it had been sewn with me in my mind.It’s a silverish white in color in accordance with tradition, and a million tiny rhinestones create spiraling patterns all over the skirt. The long sleeves and the woolen cloak that accompany them give me warmth on the cold winter night.On my neck, there is a white gold necklace with a diamond as the pendant, the only piece of jewelry I wear, which is a gift from the witches who'd arrived a day before to celebrate the ceremony.The mating ceremony for Theon and me.In the background, a string quartet, comprised of two maids of the Rexellen pack castle and two guards, plays a tune that I can't quite name but can’t help but think is so apt for the situation.On either side of me, my closest friends whom I consider my family s
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 320. Gift, not Curse
CallistaA week later.Valencia Everhart was sentenced to life in prison by the Supernatural Council for assisting the devil in his criminal endeavors such as kidnapping and harboring a werewolf, orchestrating a pack takeover on the orders of the devil, attempted killing of two pack members of the Rexellen pack and the biggest crime of them all, assisting the devil in massacring the entire Galdine pack.I thought the last one was a bit harsh because Valencia never really did know about that charge, but as Valencia had confessed in the court, she’d given the devil the location and information regarding her pack.She had been under the impression the devil was going to protect the Galdine pack from Theon’s retaliation against the pack takeover, but she’d been lied to.We attended the court on the same day as Valencia did, and I’m sure that the cries that ravaged her as she learned the horrible fate that befell her pack would never stop haunting my nightmares.I felt sorry for her, and a
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 319. Afterlife
CallistaQaetanya and Xaveraq reached the afterlife together.One was willing, the other was not. One sacrificed herself, while the other, well, I had to kill the other.Xaveraq’s soulless body lays in the circular chamber, and I don’t look at it again as we exit the room, both of us still in wolf forms.I feel numb as we stumble out of the temple as soon as possible after I release the devil’s and the deviless’s souls into the gateway.None of us speak, although I could feel everyone except Theon patiently waiting for the right moment. They look stunned as we walk through the doorway. For a moment I’d been afraid the doorway wouldn’t be present because of it being only shown with the blessing of a devil and all, but fortunately, it stands.As soon as we all exit the temple doorway, it starts to shudder. And then the most bizarre thing happens.Numerous high-pitched screams ring through the air, and greyish white mist starts to shoot from all directions towards the doorway, getting su
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 318. Defeat
TheonI can’t process half the things that are happening as I stand outside the little circular room, trying and failing to get in.One moment, Callista is being choked by the devil, and the next moment, in the place of Callista, stands a majestic white wolf! The wolf shimmers as if she were the Moon Goddess herself in wolf form, stepping down from the moon to aid us in our time of need.But when the wolf looks at me for the briefest moment and howls in ecstasy, I realize that this wolf is no Goddess.That’s my mate!After months, no, years, of agonizing, Callista has finally found her wolf.But then she turns towards Xaveraq and leaps towards him with no hesitation.My scream deafens my own ears, wondering what the hell she was doing. I witness the whole scene as if it’s unfolding in slow motion.As Callista nears the devil, whose shadows are closing in on her to consume her, a flash of blinding white light erupts from her, filling the room with a glow akin to the sun.I shield my e
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 317. Amazed
QaetanyaHer wolf is beautiful, reminiscent of the first wolfwoman I met in the forests of Gaul all those years ago.She is larger than most wolves, were-creature or otherwise, and when she stands, she cuts a majestic figure, even in the confines of the squat, circular room. Her coat is a silverish white, and it glistens as if it was created by moonlight, as if the Goddess molded the wolf herself.Her emerald eyes shine as she stares at Xaveraq in confusion, and amazement, stunned to her very core.She can’t still process that after years of hope and dream, she’d finally transformed into her secondary form.I had watched her wolf grow from a pup to an adult within her as I was trapped in her mind ever since she was born. Throughout the three thousand years I’ve been with Callista’s bloodline, I’ve witnessed hundreds of pups being born within the babies, but never have I seen a wolf as beautiful as this one.Even I was in awe when she first appeared, sleeping soundly, growing along wit
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 316. Shift
CallistaThe very first time I witnessed a werewolf’s first shift I was just five years old.It was at a birthday party, and of course, it was for Ruelle.Naturally, almost everyone from my adoptive parents’ families was invited. I liked my relatives because they didn’t favor Ruelle over me to the extent my parents did. At this time, all I had were Ruelle’s hand-me-downs. Her clothes, her toys, her books…The only thing I had for myself was a pair of shoes because Ruelle’s feet had always been smaller than mine, and there was no way my feet could fit in her shoes.I loved those shoes so much.That didn’t mean I never got gifts. My parents’ relatives would always give me presents of my own when they came to visit. It didn’t matter if it was Ruelle’s birthday or mine.It didn’t matter if it was a special day, a holiday, or even a plain, random visit to see how we were doing: clothes, shoes, toys, and new books; everything a little girl could want.Granted these things would be taken awa
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 315. Goodbye
Callista“My, my, Qaetanya, you’re actually stronger than I thought. Here I thought that you wasted it all by giving that werewolf a special scent,” the devil taunts the deviless as he circles us, his eyes set on us as if he’s a predator.“I was blessed by the Goddess,” arrogantly, Qaetanya declares, flexing her digits so the electric sparks flicker around them. “Such a power cannot be hindered by anything, least of all you!”“All except the summer solstice,” Xaveraq grins before hurtling another wave of shadows towards her.Qaetanya ducks them swiftly, and the shadows hit the wall behind us, getting absorbed into the stone. Using her momentum, Qaetanya attacks Xaveraq with a light wave of her own, which Xaveraq detracts by a shield of shadows.“I told you that information because I trusted you,” Qaetanya replies to the jab. “Because I believed the man I loved wouldn’t even think of hurting me with that information. But you did exactly that. You might preach about me manipulating you
Once A Luna, Now A Stealer? 314. Monsters
TheonA pillar monster falls right in front of me, nearly crushing me, but I jump away just in time. The sheer force of the fall breaks its stone arm in two, and the eerie silverish glow in its eyes subsides. The pillar monster stops moving.“I think he died,” I tell Haden, who is panting on the other side of the fallen monster.This is the only one that we managed to fall, and by the looks of it, kill.“Holy shit, did that actually work?” Kiran screeches.He was the propellent of bringing the monster down. Now, he jumps back to the ground from the shield he’s been standing on and jogs closer to the pillar monster.Tentatively, he reaches out and touches its cracked shoulder, where some of the previously seen symbols are visible. I remember them running all around the pillars before the monsters came into being, glowing.I look at him and nod, trying to confer my thoughts via body movements.Yes, I think it actually worked.“Guys, we managed to bring a monster down!” Kiran yells back
