Chapter Three: Secrets Revealed

The crescent moon smiles down below. Ignorant of the world below. The stars glow, and the moon shines. A tear falls from your eye. The moon smiles a slim, thin grin. Now our story truly begins.

                                          Chapter Three: Secrets Revealed

“Angelica, you need to calm down,” Astra called from her broom as she descended from the sky and jumped to the ground. Her broom collapsed into a pocket-sized hand broom. Angelica growled at Astra as she moved to a lunge to attack. Astra grabbed the broken necklace from the ground, and it turned into a magic lasso. She dodged Angelica’s attack as the lasso wrapped around angelicas neck, forming a new chain.

Angelica's wolf form contorted, and her joints shifted and cracked as she turned from wolf to girl. Her pale skin was covered in Jack's blood as it dripped down her naked body. Astra kneeled next to Angelica's bruised and battered body.

“Angelica, wake up. We have to go.” Astra shook Angelica to wake her.

“What…what happened?” Angelica muttered as she came to. “Why am I wet?” Angelica looked down at her body. “Why am I naked and covered in blood?” She looked around frantically.

“Where is Jack? I had this awful nightmare…Jack!!!” His dead body lay a few feet away, ripped open and torn apart. “What happened to him?! Astra, what is going on?”

“Angelica, I will explain everything later, but we have to go now.” Astra placed her hands over Angelica’s head as the light emitted from them. As she passed her hands down angelicas body, the blood was replaced by a red t-shirt and jeans.

“What the…” Angelica muttered in shock.

“We have to get back to your mom before they get to her.” Astra snapped her finger, and the hand broom appeared. In one quick motion, she whipped it out into its larger form. She jumped onto the broom pulling Angelica with her. “Hold on tight,” Astra instructed as she pulled a glowing orb from her pocket.

“What is that?” Angelica asked in shock.

“We don t have time to fly back; we will need to take a portal back home.” Asta said as they flew up into the clouds.

“A portal, What the hell is happening?” Angelica questioned as many more flowed through her head. Astra threw the orb in front of them, turning into a round vortex of energy. As soon as the portal opened, Astra flew through to Saint George. It felt like Angelica blinked, and they were back at the house. They touched down at the edge of the porch, Astra sprinting inside, calling for Shayla.

“Shayla, I have Angelica; she is safe, Shayla?” Astra called as she ran up the stairs to the master bedroom. “Shayla?”

The door was kicked in; the room was in disarray. The vanity chair was in pieces, the bed broken in half, and the suitcases scattered all over the room. “No, Shayla...” It was clear she put up a fight.

Angelica was sitting on the porch swing, still processing what happened to jack and every other crazy thing that was happening. Astra stepped onto the porch with tears running down her pale cheeks.

“Astra…” Angelica looked up at her adopted sister with a confused and shocked expression. “What is going on? Why is Jack dead, and will you please explain to me why you suddenly have magic powers?!”

“Angelica, sweety, I am a six hundred witch, so I have always had magic powers.” Astra calmly stated as not to make her freak out more.

“Okay… we will revisit that after I have processed it, but what about Jack?”

“He was trying to kill you, but, in the struggle, he broke your necklace.” Astra explained, holding the moonstone pendant in one hand.

“So that wasn’t just a nightmare…he was trying to kill me; why would he try to kill me?” A tear fell down Angelica’s cheek as her heart broke into pieces. “Did you kill him to save me?”

“So, this is going to be a bit of a shock, but there is a reason your mom was so protective.”

“What are we really running from the mob?” Angelica snorted and sniffed up her tears.

“Well…” Astra trailed off, not sure how to explain the next part. “Yes, in a way. Not the normal Italian mob but think older and more violent and bloody thirsty.”

“You have to be kidding.” Angelica stared at Astra, and it was the funniest thing she could feel she was telling the truth, really feel it in her soul.

“There is this war that has been waged for longer than I have been alive. There is a prophecy that the werewolf-vampiric war will be ended by a hybrid of the two. Both sides do not want that to happen. So they made a law forbidding the blending of the species.”

“How did the mob get involved?” Angelica asked, confused.

“I am not sure, but I think they decided to rebrand when Al Capone was alive. I am not one hundred percent on that.”

“Why are they after me?” Angelica needed answers that made more sense.

“I am just going to say it, like ripping off a band-aid. You are not human. Your mom is a werewolf, and your dad was a vampire. As I said, that combination is way illegal on both sides.” Astra said as she paced the porch. “Jack was a werewolf too and was assigned to kill you. When he broke your necklace, it broke the seal on your powers….”

“Stop, you lost me at my mom and dad being supernatural creatures.” Angelica needed her to slow down for a moment so she could breathe. “I thought my dad died when I was just a baby, and now you are telling me he is a vampire.”

“Sweetie, he is dead. Assassins from the vampiric side found your family when you were just a few weeks old. I was there visiting. I was able to help your mother escape with you, but they captured your father.”

“So, they killed him because of me?” Angelica couldn’t hold back the tears as she broke free. Her whole life has been a lie. She was told her father was killed in a car accident. Her mother always told her stories of him and what he was like; was that a lie as well?

“Anyone who breaks this particular law is put to death,” Astra answered as she looked to the ground. “When I try to search for him, nothing appears.”

“Did you kill Jack to save me?” Angelica asked as she wiped her tears away with her palm.

“No, honey, you did.” Astra let out a smirk. “You transformed into wolf form and fileted his ass. You didn’t have control, so I replaced your necklace with some tweaks to the seal. I only partially sealed your powers; just till you can control your transformations and other powers.”

“Wait, I have powers?” Angelica couldn’t handle much more.

“Yes, you are very powerful, and I’ll teach you how to use them. I can’t take on your mom’s kidnapper by myself.”

“What do you mean, what happened to mom?” Angelica shot up from the swing to run into the house.

“She is gone, but we will get her back; from what I could see, they are going to keep her alive to find you. Now we have to leave before they come back.” Astra stated as she threw another glowing orb into the archway, creating another portal.

                                                       To Be Continued