Crossblood - Completed

Chapter 25

"There's snow!" Kai screams, flying down the steps to catch an eyeful of the five inches that'd fallen through the night. It lays in cotton-soft mounds against the grass, a sight i'd been missing since arriving in the suffocating heat of California. Moon crosses his arms much like a tired mother on Christmas, having been woken up from her son's shouts of excitement about the new-fallen powder.

"Morning." He smiles lightly, holding a steaming cup of milk and honey in his icy hands. Moon's draped in a blue robe resembling that of The Ghost of Christmas Present's, his nose scrunching up at the white fluff outside the frosted kitchen window.

My arm snakes around his waist pulling him closer to me as he giggles, his cheeks hotter than the cup he grips tightly in his weaved fingers. "Good morning to you." I think back to last night, biting my lip awkwardly as the rest of the boys rush down the steps.

Moon ignores their shouts of excitement and focuses on me, both of us seeming to be more comfortable with each other as of last night. He doesn't cringe as I squeeze his sides gently or nuzzle my Rudolph-red nose against his burning neck. "Where's your cellphone?" He asks slightly giggling at the sensation but holding my head in place, bringing the sunshine yellow cup to his still swollen lips.

"Right here." I pull away from him, tugging the iPhone from the front pocket of my sweatpants, placing it on the wooden counter so he doesn't drop his piping hot cup. "Why do you need it?" I quiz, holding him at arm's length.

Moon scrolls through the phone before bluntly answering my question. "I'm inviting your parents to dinner." He grins, walking to the dining table with a barely noticeable limp. Clide seems to notice though, his eyebrow raising up at me, eyes wandering between the traveling Moon and myself.

"Are you alright?" He asks, rubbing his hand up Moon's cotton covered arms.

"I'm perfect. I woke up at eight and talked with Andrew for a while, made everybody breakfast, watched the Today show, got on the treadmill, took my meds, wrote the chorus of a new song. I feel...amazing." Moon speaks in a daze, staring more at the ceiling than the shocked people around him.

Will scoffs. "How much did you smoke last night?"

"None." His gentle laugh rings out through the dining room. I can't help but grin at the rare smile plastered on his lips.

"Drink?"

"Nope."

"Cut?"

"Keep guessing." His smile rivals that of the Cheshire Cat as he rocks on his heels before the amused crowd of boys. His cheeks seem to catch fire as our eyes meet, him quickly ducking his head down as I turn to stare straight ahead.

"Just tell us." The oldest sighs with a playful hint in his tone.

"For the first time in what seems my entire life...I didn't have a nightmare. I didn't wake up in the middle of the night!" He shouts, hot milk sloshing over the rim of it's confinement as he jumps. There's a bustle of congratulations and shocked gasp, everyone wanting to know what had happened to Moon last night to make the miracle possible. "I guess I was too tired to have one." His face blazes red and he rubs the back of his head, eyes in a heated competition with the floor. "Maybe I just felt safe...like he couldn't hurt me..."

"Well whatever it was I'm glad it happened. I was actually beginning to worry about you." Clide smiles warmly (obviously the more affectionate of the bunch), rubbing Moon's shoulder before sliding into a gentle hug.

"Me too." Moon shrugs off his own comment, picking at the bowl of fruit under his wandering fingers. "I just wish it would last...I'm not ready to go back to waking up screaming every five minutes."

Brows furrowing at the news I decide to speak up before Moon seizes the opportunity to change thee conversation."I never knew you woke up in the middle of the night." I stare, the room seeming to quite down as Moon fumbles for an explanation.

"I never wanted to wake you up." He shrugs, playing with the bright pieces of food. "Just because I can't get any sleep that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice yours." An almost unnoticeable frown flashes across his features, the speck of emotion being drowned out by his unusual happiness. He exists towards the cream room I had entered with Andrew, walking through the doorway with my phone in hand, thumbs already in position as he dials numbers.

A British voice bursts the silence of the kitchen. "He just doesn't want to worry you that's all." James tries to smile reassuringly but even he can't rub the worried look out his weary eyes.

"I just wish he'd talk about it that's all..." Taking an empty seat between Kai and Will, I throw my head into my arms on the table, a mess of brunette hair sweeping over the wood.


"Everybody heals in their own time, Julius. We've known Moon for years and barely know a third of what happened to him." There are small mutters of agreement, James sighing to himself as he stirs his coffee absentmindedly.

"Doesn't it bother you to not know though? To not know why he's screaming in the middle of the night?"

"We ask," Will lets out a breathy sigh, the first sign of sympathy I've seen him show towards his brothers. "but every time he only gets two words in and breaks down crying."

"I-" Moon walks out of the cream room, a smile on his face that stops me mid-speech. At loss of words at how much he's glowing, how different he is from just yesterday afternoon. "W-who were you talking with?" I stutter.

"Your parents, Gabe, and their blood servants are coming over for dinner tonight. They're driving here now." He seems triumphant in his answer, as if he'd just won a competition and is awaiting his trophy by mail.

Kai crosses his frail arms against his bony chest, wincing slightly at the sharp collision. "Did Daddy say you could invite people over? Especially guys..."

"It's Jules's family he shouldn't care that much." Kai, ignoring his comments, gets up to stare outside the window painted with a variety of snowflakes.

"When do we get to go outside and play?" He frowns, running a child's hand across the frosty glass.

Moon tosses him a coat, unlocking the frozen door and yanking it open. "We can go now." All five boys run into the cold, Kai immediately running back in to grab forks and spoons from the kitchen.

"Snow sculptures." He explains out of breath, jogging back into the cold with his breath trailing behind him like cigarette smoke.

I pull my coat closer to my face as the wind whips my reddening cheeks. Spotting Moon, I run over to him, smiling when I notice he's struggling with a tiny snowman the size of a stick. The snow splits in half as he attempts to roll the middle section of the small man, a quite curse escaping his icy lips. "Did it snow in Thailand?" I ask, cupping my hands over his to help reshape the ball.

"It was too tropical of a climate for snow to fall. Besides, I would've never had the time if it did." He looks up at me for the first time since I crouched next to him, his cheeks just as red as mine and his skin seeming to pale and glow. "Shifters aren't really meant for snow."

I jump back noticing that his eyes have lightened from an almost black to a lightish brown freckled with gold. "Is it hurting you?" My voice quivers as I try to bury my panic with average concern.

He shrugs, going back to the little ball of snow in his hands. "It stings a little and I'll probably break out in blisters on my hands."

"But you play in it anyways?"

"But I play in it anyways." He laughs, falling backwards so he's facing the sky, snowflakes falling onto his coal lashes as he closes his eyes. I leave the resting boy and head to Kaiien, shocked by the masterpiece he's created.

"You're really talented!" I praise him, taking in the intricate detail of the life-size lion. It holds a clock in it's mouth by a chain, a small sack on either side of him. The beast has been sculpted to look like it's digging, placing the clock into a small hole in the ground. "What is this of?"

"It's Arehli creating the Crossblood." He smiles, obviously flattered by my previous compliment.

"Well," I sit down in the snow next to him, his wispy frame surrounded by kitchen utensils. "I do know who Arehli is but who is the Crossblood?"

"Arehli made the Crossblood to control time. He took a watch that held the times of Heaven, Hell, and Earth and placed it in the ground. He placed a rose from Heaven to the clock's right and a thorn from Hell to it's left and buried them. When he came back there was a tree with a single blossom, when he peeled back the petals there was a baby inside. So he plucked the petal off the tree and tore down the tree to make a basket. He wrapped the baby in the petals, placed it in the basket, and left it with who he saw fit best." He rambles out, never taking his eyes off the intricate mane, his fingers fixing up a few powdery edges.

"Wait," I say, leaning forward like a child. "who has the Crossblood?"

"Nobody really knows." He grins with a shrug, pleased I'm enjoying his story. "But it's been found and this snow isn't leaving anytime soon. A war is coming." He ends on a more serious tone, searching my eyes for a sense of understanding, our faces so close we could almost kiss.

"What are you talking about?"

"The Everlasting Snow will happen when the Crossblood is found. That's what the book says. I mean why else would it snow in California? I think that's why Moon is a little stressed out too, eventually people's minds will go back in time. Humans will hate us like they did before Thomas came, we'll hate werewolves, everyone will go back to killing shifters for sport. Even though our minds will go back it won't erase family bonds or anything so we won't kill Moon, we'll still love Jesse, and stuff like that."

"And war?"

"A war against species. The one with the Crossblood is the one that controls time. The one that controls time controls Heaven and Hell as well. It's a relay race for power." He explains wide-eyed as Claire and Mikayla run out into the crunching snow. They fall back into the stuff, Moon rising up in a hurry with panic in his eyes. Our eyes meet for a brief second before he jumps up and runs to the woods, Kai nodding as if understanding what he is feeling. "Like I said, Moon is fearing for his life." Kai gets up as well, joining the two girls to make innocent angels in the snow.


I can't help but stare at the woods Moon had run into, my feet carrying me to the frost bitten trees before my mind catches on to what I'm doing. Should I follow him? How will I find my way back? But what if he needs me? I look back to see if anyone notices me, stepping over icy bushes and deeper into the trees. Guilt floods through my ice ridden body as I sense piercing blue eyes stab me in my back, turning my head back to see the burning blue orbs through a crack in the trees. Kai carries no emotions in his features only a stare I can't shake from my mind as I trudge forward.

There is a stream nearby, the water rushing underneath a thin sheet of ice. The frozen leaves scrape against my coat leaving lines of torn fabric. It's a tight squeeze but I manage to make it through to the other side finding myself in a clearing with Moon seated in the middle. I was right about a stream, chunks of ice floating atop the pristine water and oddly bright fish swimming about. There isn't as much ice here, in fact it seems a good fifteen degrees warmer, hot enough for me to shed my coat and scarf and dispose them on to the greening grass.

My attention falls to the boy near the middle, he too has shed his coat but there is something different. Moon's skin has darkened to normal but the atmosphere seems off. "Moon?" I say out loud but he stays cross legged in the center as if he didn't hear me. "Moon?" I take two steps closer, stopping in my tracks as I see a part of him move slightly. "Moon!" He spins around and I fall back, scooting away towards where I came from in a hurry.

"Julius?" The thing talks and I stop, my heart racing as I gulp to swallow my fear.

"Moon?"

"I can explain just please don't freak out." My eyes scan his semi-nude body and land on his eyes where I turn my head away in hast. His entire body is covered in the same tribal print as his Tag, the black lines smothering every square inch of flesh. On his inner wrists and the center of his forehead lay glowing violet circles coming from beneath his skin. They don't appear the same as a bruise, the fluorescent purple shining bright against his skin. The brown and white of his eyes have been replaced by a demonic black, almost like mine when I sleep. He blinks and I take note of the blood-red vein-like lines swimming in the inky pools.

"I think it's too late for me to not freak out." I whisper more so to myself than him, backing away slightly as he strides towards me. Fear has me frozen as he sits next to my paralyzed frame, his hands wrapping around my trembling ones.

"This is what I look like on Descansar, Julius." The edges of his lips fight between a frown and a shy smile, eventually ending on a straight line as he stares at our entwined fingers. I stare too, the tribal on his hands smearing and fading away like wet ink.

"Even though I only took Spanish for like three weeks doesn't that just mean rest?" Not even humor can erase the confusion and fear residing in my mind.

"It's the realm of nightmares."

"Realm?" I jerk back a little, disrupting our weaved limbs. "You're an alien?"

Moon rips our hands apart, placing his own in his lap and balling them into a hurt fist. "That's offensive."

"Oh." Is all I can get out. "You..uh...said y-you'd explain...?" I stammer, wrapping my hands over his and pulling them into my lap. "Start from the beginning." I rush in before he starts.

"The Ancients were basically large shadows that roamed the land and watched over the people. One of the most important jobs was to go to the windows of the children.." He takes a deep breath, almost as if he'a pained by the retelling. "and watch over them as they slept, to keep them safe from harm. The parents would reward the Ancients with incense and dried flowers for their protection.

"But the job grew tiresome. One Ancient decided to take a child from their bed and place them in a small sack around it's waist. As a thank you he left a precious jewel in the bed for the parents of the stolen child. He killed the child and ate her." My small gasp has Moon tightening his grip on me, an emotion I can't name coursing through my veins. "For years after that one incident the Ancients were feared by humans, they were stories and myths you told children so they wouldn't get in trouble.

"Of course this angered the two older Ancients, the ones that hadn't killed a child. As punishment they vanished the youngest to Descansar to live out the rest of his days. The youngest Ancient plotted his revenge there by making an artificial human. The boy was crafted by dark magic found in the soil there. The prototype died though, and his remains were eaten like the other's. The next child was made using the incense the humans had gifted him. She burned to ash when the heat of the realm touched her. The third child was crafted with dried flowers but his bones were brittle and he fell to pieces.

"The Ancient tried once more, using the Amethyst found naturally in the realm. He sent his new child to Earth to steal from the angry people there. The Ancient wished for children but his creation returned with cats, dogs, deer, bears, every animal there is. As a punishment the Ancient, now cruel from banishment, tore the jewel's from his creation and returned to earth himself.

"The Ancient stole every child and brought them to his realm, killing off all with his experiments but one. The child no longer appeared human, but demonic in it's ways and the Ancient released him to wreck havoc on earth. The other Ancients could do nothing but watch so they retreated to make their own creation. Of course the two Ancient's beat their brother, encasing him in obsidian and burying him underneath Descansar.

"The two Ancients captured their brother's creation and dissembled it as well as their own. They were pieced back together, the Ancients using wolves for their child to ensure it would protect the people of the town just as they had. The werewolves, replacing the Ancients as protectors, couldn't help but notice the small jewels in the beds of the stolen children. Nor could they forget the havoc they had slain, the brother they killed. They gathered the Amethyst together and created a child that was too weak to stand. The eldest suggested a lion, the youngest a bear, so each time a child was created, the werewolves used a new animal to see who was right.

"The children would fight when in contact however, causing the werewolves to throw them from the town to go their own way. The safety of the town they were destined to protect was at risk with the toddlers about. What they didn't think through was that the shifters would grow and breed and create more, the genes changing to be more chaotic like the youngest Ancient had wanted. The werewolves were sent to kill them all, but they kept one in secret and bred it with their own which calmed the genetic mess inside it. So after about two hundred and fifty years of destruction, the modern shifter was born and everybody hated us!" He claps his hands sarcastically, his appearance returning to normal. "We only look like that when we mediate though and are in contact with Descansar." Moon adds on quickly, swinging our hands as a distraction.

"You're related to werewolves?"

He laughs, obviously amused that that's all I got out of his story. "They believed we could be more than just killers. He shrugs. "We owe them for that."

"They also killed you off."

"Yeah,but they saved one." He snorts, rolling on top of me to kiss my nose.

"So that was Amethyst glowing inside you?"

I touch his forehead gingerly and he holds my hand there, shutting his eyes as he presses against my palm. "We're worth a pretty price." He whispers.

"Is that why you're scared of the Everlasting Snow?"

"So Kai told you?" He grimaces, pulling away my hand and placing it on his cheek.

"Of course," I laugh. "Kai tells me everything you don't want me to know!"

"True...true." He smiles, something he's been doing a lot today. Something I wish he'd do more of. Moon rests his head on my chest and I hold him close listening to the ice break against the stream.

"Er...Moon." I break the silence mere seconds later.

"Mhmm."

"Are you horny?" I wince slightly at his expression.

"No, why?"

"You're humping me." He scrambles up to a sitting position, slamming the heels of his hands painfully against my ribs on his way up.

"Oh my god! I didn't even know I was doing that! I'm so sorry!" He stammers, falling sideways in his attempt to get off of me.

I break into laughter and he joins soon after, my stomach cramping up as I gasp for air. "Moon?! Julius?!" A voice shouts from the trees. We let our laughter be the answer, Kai and Clide emerging from the dark. "Your parents are here." Kai perks up in excitement like a new puppy.

"It's already one?"

"Yep! Daddy said to come to the house!" I help Moon up as Kai speaks, letting the small boy lead the way back to the glass house.

Moon's hand grabs hold of mine as we maneuver through the branches, the cold coming back and nipping at our ears. "They're nice." I whisper in his ear, taking note of the trembling of his hands.

"Nice people are capable of hatred." He growls.

"Hatred? Moon they won't hate you!" He stares down at the snow, whimpering slightly as we near the house. "I'm sure they'll love you."







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Note:

Chapter 25 and chapter 26 were the same chapter that is why they are being uploaded at the same time (and why this ends awkwardly).

It was just waaaaaaaay too long! And remember when I said "deep and emotional" ya that's chapter 27 ;)

Comment/vote/fan/add/etc!

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