Chapter 58

VALERIA.

My body starts to shake, my skin prickling with the insane feeling of wrongness. I feel like I'm seeing straight through a funhouse mirror and everything looks mangled and weird. Professor Blossom, the man who was hailed as the bravest protector of the school, the one who saved me from being wrongly accused... is the one behind all of this all along.

He looks at me as though he's seeing me for the first time, then he lets slip a smile that I have never seen on his face, ever. He approaches me, touching the side of my face. I want nothing more than to push him away, but I still can't move a single muscle.

"Do you know what night this is, Valeria?" he asks softly. "It's the night of the Red Moon."

"She's not the one, you bastard," my mom spits out at him. "Let her go! Let her—"

"Be quiet," he tells her calmly, and to my horror, her mouth gets zipped shut, like the mere command that  he just gave out transcends into a real action. "It's not the time for you to speak. It's not ever the time for you to speak."

My mother starts to inhale sharply, over and over, like she's catching her own breath. It occurs to me that Professor Blossom is killing her slowly, cutting off her air supply....

That's enough to make me snap out of it. At least, just enough to say, "Stop!"

He turns to me like he's genuinely surprised I manage to break his command spell. However, when my eyes meet his, I'm back to being paralyzed again. Thankfully, his shift in attention allows my mother to breathe again, although now she's almost passed out.

I breathe slowly, trying to break out of it again just enough to say, "What do you want from me?"

He doesn't answer me. "See those words, etched on the tunnels? I know you and your friends have been here, and I know you know what they mean. The Child of the Red Moon's army is right under this School, and that army is the key to controlling the entire Society. Every creature, every group. They would be put under submission. The beast you killed is a part of that army. So is Auric."

Right on cue, Auric's form starts to change. His handsome form peels away like melted wax, revealing white skin and black veins, coupled with that curved back and sharp nails. And those milky white eyes.

My throat tightens with fear. Auric is not real. He's like that monster this whole time.

"Your friend Eden is also one of them," he says calmly."She should be here right now, but she's taking care of that upstart Stefano."

Tears start to flow down my cheeks, down to my unmoving chin. "I... I don't understand."

Professor Blossom's eyes glaze over. "Neither did I. In the beginning, anyway. You see, I thought I was the Child of the Red Moon. My father was a famous Mage, and my mother was a vampire. She was killed by him in the end, and I believed I was cursed. But when I studied here, I uncovered my true potential. I went through the very same tunnels and found the message, that the Child of the Red Moon would someday reclaim his place in the Society and bring it back to its former glory. It must be me. The Mages work for the Moon Goddess, and my mother worshiped blood. I would ascend from being an abandoned child to being the chosen one."

He snatches the knife from my hands and brings it over to Auric--or what used to be Auric. He takes it and sniffs it, then he slowly approaches my mother.

That's enough to make me move my hand. I look at Professor Blossom to see if he's watching me, but he's busy staring into space with his eyes glazing over. Not quite absent, but not quite there either.

I try to move my feet, and they budge off from the spell. Still not enough for me to stop Auric.

And now, he's starting to remove the chains around my mother's wrists.

Panic seizes me, but I have to keep Professor Blossom distracted.

"You protected everyone from the vampires," I say in a rush. "You were a hero."

"No." He shakes his head. "They thought I was, but the vampires never hurt me. You see, they don't hurt their kind."

They don't hurt their kind. Which means that I....

"Stop!" my mother yells from behind me, her voice weak. Auric is now trying to drag her into the other tunnel.

"So they don't hurt me either," I say, hoping to keep the professor's attention. "Does that mean I'm a half vampire?"

"Yes," he says, and something snaps in his gaze. From tantalized, he goes to being absolutely insane. Unhinged. "And not only that, you turned out to be the Child of the Red Moon. The spawn of the dead vampire king and the disgraced Luna. The powerful child of destiny. And I thought it was me."

Genuine pain shakes his voice, but he keeps speaking. "I thought I was the one, the leader who would unite all the Supernaturals together. When I found Eden and Auric, I thought I was the one. But no. I only keep them under my control because I feed them humans. Auric killed Murdock for me. Eden killed Sullivan for me. But it was not because of my power over them. But you...."

His mouth twitches as he looks at me. "You would summon their brethren. You will do my bidding, and they will do yours. Now all we need to do is spill the blood of your mother at this altar, and they will all come. And you will tell them to open up the borders, let the vampires in, and secure my place as the Ultimate Leader."

Professor Blossom nods to Auric, who places my weak mother down in the middle of the clearing.

He slits a cut on her arm, making her scream, but this soon gets drowned when her actual blood touches the floor.

Suddenly, the entire network of tunnels is humming with energy. Growls and low rumbling voices could be heard echoing from everywhere. Big thundering footsteps start to shake up the clearing.

The monsters are coming.

"They need to feed on more blood," he whispers. "Slit her neck."

Auric raises the blade to do just that, and I watch seemingly in slow motion as the tip glistens midair, ready to puncture my mother.

But that's when my body breaks free from the spell.

I tackle Auric to the ground, my body shifting into a huge monster form. A Wolf. He tries to push me off him, but I scratch his hand with my sharp nails, drawing black blood from him. He lets out a cry before trying to pin me to the ground, but I just bite at his neck, sinking my teeth into his jugular until the taste of blood fills my mouth.

I get away from him, knowing now that he doesn't have long to live. I bend over to take my mother, but that's when Professor Blossom stabs me with the knife. A loud cry escapes my mouth. I can feel my body starting to shrink back to my human form, so I make a wild slash at his feet. I graze his legs and draw blood, but that doesn't seem to affect him.

I shrink smaller and smaller until I fall next to my mother, with Professor Blossom towering over me.

"I really wish you didn't do that," he whispers. "But it doesn't matter now. They are coming, and you can live long enough to tell them my command."

"I'd rather die," I snarl.

But he laughs. "I only need your form, Valeria. And you know I can make you do things you never thought you would."

He whispers an incantation, and again, my body is once again not under my control. I find myself trying to get up, snatching the knife from my own body.

"That's right," Professor Blossom urges. "Now face the Shape-Shifters and tell them to let the vampires in."

He steps back, watching me step into the middle of the circle. I'm fighting myself still, but it's hopeless.

Suddenly, fire erupts around me.

I gasp as the scorching air punctures the air. I whip around, momentarily free, and that's when I see Stefano running towards me with his hands ablaze.