The Orcus Games: Blood Moon (The Orcus Games Novella Trilogy #1)

CONTENTS

  ~ Chapter One ~

  The Scena – 5

  ~ Chapter Two ~

  Love Bite – 19

  ~ Chapter Three ~

  Buried Secrets – 34

  ~ Chapter Four ~

  The Enchanting Extortion – 47

  ~ Chapter Five ~

  Stay in the Shadows – 60

  ~ Chapter Six ~

  Caged Love – 72

  ~ Chapter Seven ~

  Witch Bound – 84

  ~ Chapter Eight ~

  No Turning Back – 91

  THE ORCUS GAMES: BLOOD MOON

  By Louise Herman

  eBook Edition

  Copyright @ 2012 Louise Herman

  https://www.louisehermanauthor.com/

  Published by Mystical Media Publications

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 978-0-9572969-4-7

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Books by Louise Herman

  ~ The Orcus Games Trilogy ~

  The Orcus Games: Blood Moon

  The Orcus Games: Mistress V

  The Orcus Games: New Awakening

  ~ The Split Blood Series ~

  Split Blood: The Ancient Codex – Part One

  Split Blood: Rise of the Wolf

  THE ORCUS GAMES: BLOOD MOON

  Louise Herman

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE SCENA

  ~ THE CRAFT ~

  Looking at my husband, as he ran his hands through his dark brown cropped hair and helped the other wizards prepare for the Blood Moon ceremony’ I could not believe how lucky I was.

  Many of my fellow witches were unhappy with their arranged marriages and even more discontented with the lack of attraction they felt towards their husbands. But not me. From the moment my mother introduced me to Phoenix, I knew he would be the love of my life.

  Following the final stage of our marriage, it was only a few months until I was pregnant with my first daughter, and the coven blessed us with another child the following year.

  With my family complete and our coven going from strength to strength, nothing could affect my happiness.

  “Heather, I need you to make more bread. We’re going to run out, with the other coven now coming too!” Phoenix shouted over to me as I dashed to the kitchen to get started before time ticked on any further.

  The kitchen was a buzz of activity. The other witches had managed to get there first and had taken up all the available surface space with their stacks of family recipe books, chopped meats and sweet, devilish desserts.

  “Can I use this area? I need to make more bread,” I asked one of the younger witches.

  She looked at me with a deadly glare.

  “I need this space. Go make your bricks somewhere else!” she snapped. I merely stood there in shock.

  I gritted my teeth and stood my ground.

  “Move your items over before I move them for you…” I growled. All movement in the kitchen came to a standstill; everyone turned to look at the commotion.

  After a few minutes of a stand-off, she wafted back her long blonde hair and accepted defeat.

  As I moved my items in to my newly acquired bench space, an older woman with bushy red hair whispered,

  “Don’t worry about Venus. She’s just having marital problems.” Not one to gossip, I smiled and nodded, before getting on with making my magical herb-encrusted bread loaves.

  The smells of rabbit and heart stew danced around the room, battling with those of sweet, sticky pastries and homemade brews, as the witches became competitive - each wanted her creation to be complimented upon at the feast.

  Observing my competition, I went to the pantry to refill my flour and was confronted by whispers from within.

  I put my ear to the thin, wooden door and listened.

  “Just put a little in there. No one will know until it’s too late…” a husky voice said as there was some shuffling. All went silent.

  Fearing they were about to make their exit and I would be caught out, I ran round the corner and watched as Venus and an older, dark haired woman exited the cupboard, full of mischief.

  Waiting until they were out of sight, I crept in and started my investigation. There was nothing unusual to be seen.

  Feeling deflated, I went back to my work station and continued to make my show-stopping bread.

  ******

  The courtyard was ablaze with beautiful, floating coloured lanterns, radiating rich reds, oranges, blues and yellows around the richly decorated camp.

  Streamers of glittering silver lights sparkled above the camp, creating a scene suitable for any festivity.

  Phoenix stood behind me and wrapped his fair, brawny arms around my slender body.

  “It looks beautiful, doesn’t it?” he asked as he kissed my neck and gazed up at the moonlit sky.

  I nodded, rendered speechless by the new décor.

  “Where are the girls?” I asked, snapping out of my trance.

  “Don’t worry - they were getting bored so I’ve got them to paint some pictures for the night with Celine.” He looked into my icy blue eyes and chuckled at my over-protective nature.

  Celine was one of the coven’s babysitters and was very good at her role; unable to have children of her own, she dedicated her life to helping other witches look after their offspring. Her husband had been killed five years ago while protecting the coven against a vampire attack. With her small stature, curly dark brown hair, moss green eyes and ample figure, the children automatically bonded with her maternal personality.

  As I thought about how I would cope without Celine’s help, I realised that time was ticking on, so I ran to the house to get ready for the mysterious evening ahead.

  Jumping into a bath full of lavender, chamomile, damiana and hyssop, I scrubbed away the dramas of the day, and invited in the astral desires I hoped would come in the next few hours.

  Drying myself by the roaring fire in the bedroom, I watched my two toddlers having fun as they painted their favourite animals.

  “What’s that, sweetheart?” I asked my youngest daughter. She laughed and pointed to an owl, perched on the window, acting as a bodyguard for the glowing room.

  The owl proved too much of a distraction for the girls as I fought to get them into the shimmering gold bath. I finally managed to wash them and get them dressed in their traditional dark green gowns, before they realised the owl had gone and tried to find it by testing our their location spells.

  Once we’d got over the ordeal of putting on their matching bonnets, they were finally ready and taken by Celine to be with the other children.

  Grabbing my ceremonial purple velvet dress and matching robe, I checked the black and silver embroidery around the hood of the cape and the neckline of the dress, and carefully put it on. Pinning my dark locks up with silver hair pins, I was ready for the evening’s events.

  I joined my husband at the main fire in the courtyard, before we proceeded to help make the welcoming potion to help greet the new Blood Moon and all the wisdom and gifts it would bring us.

  “More pig’s heart…” Phoenix said impatiently, as I went to the fridge to find some extra ingredients.

  After searching for over ten minutes, I finally found some and went back to the camp. By
this time, the ceremony was in full swing, with the Grand Witch taking control and leading the rituals.

  Ushering us to our designated places around the table, this tall, willowy woman with waist-length strawberry blonde hair began to mumble a mantra. She was dressed in a long silver, hooded robe, with emerald green embroidery, barely covering her naked body, and as we all sat in a circle, we followed her chant and joined in her hypnotic movement as we waited for the Blood Moon to unite us.

  We held hands and a tingling sensation rocked through me. Like a bolt of electricity, my hair stood on end as my veins came alive, crawling under my skin like a snake slithering through the jungle.

  From my toes up to my eyes, the Blood Moon had truly come and we all were gifted with some of its intoxicating power.

  My eyes glowed red as I rid myself of my earthly bounds and joined my other naked brothers and sisters. We danced to the beat of the moon and indulged in the addictive brew the Grand Witch was giving to her followers.

  Gulping it down with gusto, the silver ritual goblets automatically filled themselves as we stared into the midnight sky, moving to our own mystical melody.

  “GO! CLEAN THIS WORLDLY ENERGY FROM YOUR CELESTIAL BODIES!” the Grand Witch shouted. We took her advice and left the courtyard.

  Running through the forest, the moonlight danced with us as we ran round the trees and embraced the fresh, sharp evening air.

  Like deer’s and stags running through the woods, we twirled and circled each other as we raced to our watery destination. The lake shimmered with magical silver and purple hues; we walked, spellbound, to the shore line, tempted by the haze which enticed us to enter its enchanted depth.

  Phoenix was the first to step in. Soaking his feet first, the water gradually worked its way up his body, engulfing him in a silvery substance. His body morphed into a large silver dolphin, swimming away and waiting in the distance for others to join.

  Following his lead, everyone jumped in and before we knew it, we were gliding through the water with ease, swimming with the other residents of the glittering pond.

  Spending hours playing and discovering new depths of the lake, our attention was diverted by a large bang in the sky, completed with a shower of purple sparks; we were being summoned back to the courtyard.

  Our bodies automatically transformed back to their human form as we hit dry land, and we laughed together at the bizarre experience we had just encountered, before racing back to find out what further mysteries the Grand Witch had in store for us.

  Feeling drunk on the exhilaration of our fun, we sat back around the fire and began drying ourselves. We put our robes back on and accepted silver plates, on which the Grand Witch and her helpers began to place our food.

  The stews warmed our organs and the broths melted our hearts as we tucked into the home-cooked delights. Venus was helping to serve the bread and gave me and my husband an extra slice each.

  “That’s nice of her. Maybe it’s her way of apologising for earlier,” Phoenix innocently suggested as I met her innocent glare with suspicion.

  Her smile lingered with us as she watched us intently; I waited for her to leave before investigating the bread further. It didn’t look unusual but something didn’t feel right, so I waited for others to digest my concoction before taking a bite myself.

  Mopping up the juices from the stew with the granary loaf, the others took large bites of the drenched dough with enthusiasm as they chatted and drank between mouthfuls.

  Nothing happened.

  That was until one of the witches shrieked,

  “LOOK!” She pointed in the direction of a faint simmering orange light.

  On closer inspection, we could see the orange mist absorbing one of the witches, completely swallowing her up in its dense vapour.

  “GET HER OUT OF THERE!” another shrieked as three wizards tried to fight to find her in the growing ball of fog.

  “We can’t see her any longer!” one of the wizards shouted. They fought to grasp one of her limbs, without hope or success.

  Others attempted to help too, but as the mass grew in density, more of the clan were swallowed up in the orange cloud, leaving them choking and fighting to escape.

  The orange smog spun into a heady tornado around the courtyard, as the Grand Witch attempted spells to rid the camp of this substance.

  “Okay, I’ll try the visibility spell. If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what will,” she said as she raised her arms and started chanting, “Free our sister from this smog. Make her return from this orange fog.”

  The vapour wailed and groaned it started to fade in patches, leaving behind an eerie, ghostly scene.

  Large round men with exaggerated, wide smiles and old women in orange wrap dresses with bloated heads took the places of some of the witches and wizards; others were replaced by creepy cartoon-like animals and dolls sporting equally abnormal appearances.

  The strange parade seemed to wander around disorientated, but after a few minutes they managed to form some type of order. One of the chubby women took charge and started singing a song, with a rhythm reminiscent of a nursery rhyme:

  “We want you, you want us, now let’s take you to the dust.” They all descended on us as they recited their nondescript melody.

  Running back to the Grand Witch’s headquarters, we managed to bolt the door and secure it with a table to bide us some time.

  “What are we going to do?” I cried as the Grand Witch looked for the exorcism spell.

  “QUICK! Get the cauldron started and get these ingredients from the kitchen!” she ordered as the others ran to get what she needed. Soon enough though, the creepy characters began trying to break in; there was banging into walls, knocking at windows and ramming of doors.

  “Don’t worry, there is a protection spell over this building, so they cannot get in,” the Grand Witch stated calmly as Phoenix got up to secure the window.

  He sat back down and held me close as we watched the others throw the ingredients into the bubbling cauldron. The Grand Witch grabbed her book and began chanting the spell from it:

  “Protect this home from the masses. Hold firm to prevent trespassers.”

  The liquid violently thrashed around the pot and the colours started to change with every sentence the Grand Wizard read. Her tone and tempo became faster and louder, with which the building began to shake and the walls turned into steel slabs.

  I held onto Phoenix tight and prayed for our girls as the Grand Witch threw her hand into the boiling point, releasing a vapour demon.

  She opened the window and whispered to the vapour spirit, pointing at the disturbing crowd. She turned back to us and ordered to Phoenix,

  “Open both windows and help me with the cauldron!” With that, they tipped the liquid out the window and onto the mob below, leaving them thrashing around on the floor in fits of screams and shrieks.

  The vapour demon completed the exorcism by dissolving the orange mist, eventually leaving the possessed crowd unconscious on the ground.

  “WHO DID THIS?” the Grand Witch bellowed as I pointed out of the window and witnessed Venus laughing and running from the courtyard, with the dark haired woman from earlier.

  We went with the Grand Witch to chase and confront Venus and her accomplice but upon seeing our chase, they separated. Before reaching the entrance of the woods, the Grand Witch had only managed to catch the dark haired woman.

  “You have a lot to answer for, Rosemary,” she stated, before dragging the fugitive back to the courtyard for her punishment.

  “We’ll stay and look for Venus,” Phoenix said as we continued deeper into the forest. After walking for over ten minutes, we heard rustling in the bushes.

  “Venus?” I whispered, as we slowly advanced on the moving bush. We held our breath as we parted the twigs.

  We could not believe our eyes.

  Phoenix quickly slapped his hand over my mouth before I could scream as there, crouched on the floor, draining
the blood from Venus’s lifeless body, was a vampire, intent on getting all of his hunt’s worth from this unfortunate witch.

  The male bloodsucker, seemingly in his late thirties, fed from Venus’s neck like a starved animal, only pausing for breath between bites. Sporting slicked back hair and leather jacket, Venus’s bright red blood highlighted the whiteness of his skin.

  “Don’t make a sound. Back away slowly…” Phoenix stuttered as we released the leaves cautiously and backed away.

  Stepping back into the darkness, we thought we were safe and tried to quicken our pace.

  However, I hadn’t seen the pile of twigs in front of me, and with a disastrous crunch from beneath my feet, my fate was in the hands of this supernaturally fast vampire, who had - in less than a second - thrown Phoenix into the distance and had his hands firmly wrapped around my neck.