blood of two moons

Nyx walked through the corridors of Crimson Hollow Prep. Everyone was nervous about tomorrow. Of course they were! It was a big day. It was the day they found out what their classification was. They were all turning 16 this year, and many early bloomers already got their powers. Especially the vampires, as their thirst for blood starts from an early age. Even she knew what she was gonna be. In fact, even among the vampires, she was one of the first to get her ability. But after all, the Noir clan is one of the strongest. Their abilities ranged from charm to mind-washing to blood or elemental manipulation, which is considered the strongest, as some of the strongest could even create clones that had their own mind. And she did have some abilities of a vampire: the ability to turn into a bat and enhanced physical abilities.

Nyx was brought out of her thoughts when she felt a strong shoulder roughly bump against her, too hard to be a mistake. She fell, and when looking up, she saw Lucian, an especially obnoxious werewolf whom she wasn't a fan of to begin with. “Oops! Did I hurt the delicate damsel?” he snickered, covering his mouth.

“Shut it! You did that on purpose!” she fought back.

“Now now, let's not jump to assumptions, princess,” he said with a smirk, his eyes glowing a subtle golden.

Before she knew what she was doing, she got up and grabbed him by the collar, her eyes glowing the same yellow but way more vibrant and loud—a stark contrast to the usual red tint of a vampire. Her nails had suddenly grown longer, almost like claws. “Shut up, you idiot,” she growled, her voice deep instead of the usual vampire charm, catching both her and Lucian off guard. She quickly recovered, pushed him away, and bolted off, not stopping until she reached a less crowded area under the staircase.

She wrapped her hand—the one without the claws—around her other wrist, trembling as she muttered to herself, “Come on! Go away already! How do I even have these?!” She closed her eyes, not understanding what was happening, when she felt a larger hand wrap around hers, guiding it into a fist. She opened her eyes and flinched when she saw Lucian, but his grip was too strong for her to pull away, and she felt a weird comfort in the warmth of his hand.

“Calm down and try to relax. Panic or anger just makes it worse,” he said, squeezing her hand a little. This was nothing like the annoying pup she had known since she was a toddler. He used to be snarky and irritating, not… this! But the young vampire found herself relaxing in his touch. Her claws slowly retracted as she unconsciously leaned into his touch.

But then all the stories her mother told her came flooding back to her, reminding her how untrustworthy and evil werewolves were, and she pushed him away. “Don't touch me,” she said, her voice cold, leaving no room for argument.

He put his hand in the air defensively. “Whoa there, princess, I was just trying to help. You're not what you think.”

“What do you mean!” she asked, even though she knew what he was saying, her voice desperate.

“I think—” he was cut off.

“Hey Nyx!” Kieran said, waving to her from a distance, as he and the other vampires came towards them.

“We’ll talk later,” Lucian said before leaving her alone.

“Was he annoying you again?” Isolde asked, pulling her into a hug. Her hands were way too cold even for a vampire. Nyx guessed she was practising her ice powers. Vampires were usually pale, but Isolde was almost turning into a smurf.

“No… well yeah, but it's fine, I can handle him,” she said, her eyes following Lucian over the cold girl's shoulder as she pulled away. “Anyways, what are you guys doing here?”

“We are having a party after the ceremony tomorrow night! My house!” Kieran chimed in.

“Tomorrow?... I'm sorry, I can't come out tomorrow night.”

“Why not?!” Isolde asked.

“It's the full moon!” Nyx answered.

“So? We are vampires. We have nothing to fear from the full moon!” Kieran pressed.

“But they are the strongest that night!” she answered, her voice filled with more fear than she would like to admit.

“My house, remember? There will be no werewolves. You have nothing to worry about,” Kieran said, his soft voice making her stomach knot.

“B-but… she will never let me… she's always so protective… even more so since she is alone,” she trailed off, unsure of what to say.

“Whatever, my house is open if you do plan to join,” Kieran said before leaving.

“Buh-bye!” Isolde waved before following him.

Nyx wanted to follow them, but she had something else bugging her, so she dashed to find Lucian again. It wasn't hard; he was by his locker.

“Why did you help me?” she said as soon as she was close enough that he would be able to hear her over the crowd.

“Whoa there, a hello would be nice,” he said, turning around to face her.

“I asked, Why did you help me? You hate me,” she repeated. But before she knew it, she was enveloped in his warm embrace, his warmth a stark contrast to her cold.

“I don't hate you. In fact, it's quite the opposite. And I helped you because I didn't want you to suffer alone. I knew none of the vampires would be able to help you,” he said with such genuineness it shook something in me. For some reason, my nails—if I can even call them that—grew longer, but I didn’t care. I returned his embrace. He pulled away a few seconds later, taking my hands in his… a part of me was disappointed.

“Emotions like fear, nervousness, and anger can trigger them,” he said as he held my hand in both of his, massaging the palm, which somehow made my nails go back to normal. “Other hand?” he asked, and before I knew it, I obeyed. Seeing him so focused made me wonder—were all those stories about werewolves really true?

The bell rang, indicating the start of class.

“Oh, um… I guess I should go,” he mumbled.

“Huh? Oh yeah, bye,” Nyx said, being dragged away from her thoughts.

It was finally the day of the ceremony. All the parents sat in front of us as we stood on the stage in a line. A magic glass orb floated in front of us.

The stormy weather outside perfectly described Nyx’s inner turmoil. Before yesterday, she was sure she was a vampire, but… if so what were those long nails? Why did her eyes glow golden?

Isolde went first, using a pocket knife, making a small cut on her palm, letting a drop of her blood fall onto the orb. The entire room lit up with a crimson colour, creating an almost spooky scene.

“Vampire!” the teacher announced, and she smiled and walked over to her family as others clapped.

Next was a weird monster. She had 9 tails like a fox but dragon horns. She let a drop fall onto the orb, and the whole room lit up with a rich violet—so beautiful and eerie, perfect for a uniquely different creature like her.

“Halfling! Dragon Kitsune!” the teacher announced, and she held her head up high.

Many turns later, it was Lucian who stood on that stage and let his blood fall. The entire room glowed a silver, just like the moonlight.

Then it was finally her turn, my hands trembling as she cut, hissing when she made it too deep. But when it fell on the orb, something went wrong; it was too shiny. Not crimson… more like a shiny ruby. Even the teacher looked shocked.

“Halfling… vampire werewolf,” she said, looking through her book, murmuring to herself. “This can’t be right… These are the two species which are always at war…”

Nyx’s legs felt weak as she fell. There was a loud crash from the parents' side. The Noir clan’s elder had shattered his cup as blood trickled down his hand.

“WHAT?” he shouted, looking at her mother, who seemed horrified.

“It was a mistake,” she muttered.

Nyx looked at them blankly, wondering what was happening, her hand still bleeding a lot as the cut was deeper than she thought. Before she knew what was happening, multiple orbs of fire came flying towards her.

“I won’t let you disrespect our clan like that!” Draven Reeve, the elder’s grandson, who considered Nyx his rival, said as he shot the fireballs. She knew she should run, but her body didn't move… maybe she deserved this? She closed her eyes, accepting her fate, but something knocked her away; it felt like whatever that was fell on top of her. She opened her eyes to see Lucian on top of her; his right leg was burned terribly, but there was no time to worry about that as Draven got ready for his next attack. Before she even processed the situation, the blood from the injury, which was pooling around her, hardened, creating a wall around them. Chaos broke out in the room as parents and teachers rushed to restrain Draven, some of them coming to help us. The next few hours were a blur of hospital visits and the noir clan members shouting, shunning me away.

“I'm sorry”, she mumbled to Lucian as she sat beside his hospital bed, while tracing patterns on his palm, tears threatening to fall down her cheeks.

“What for?” he asked, squeezing her hand

“Your leg… It's all because of me…” she admitted, her voice trembling

Once again, she found herself in the warmth of his embrace “It's not your fault”, he murmured in her ear

“Wh-why!? Why don't you hate me! Vampires and werewolves are enemies! And I'm both?!” She lashed out, trying to pull away, but he was too strong

“You're one of us now, love”, an older woman said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She heard from the others that she was Lucian's mom and the pack leader.

“B-but I'm a curse!” Nyx insisted, but his grip on her got tighter

“No! No, you're not. You're hope! That, despite everything, despite all our differences, vampires and werewolves can come together,” he spoke softly, reassuring her

Her eyes trailed off as she looked out of the window. The storm had ended, and sunlight peeked out of the sky. The vampires, the only family she knew for so long, had completely disowned her but the werewolves welcomed her with open arms, giving her a new chance at life, a chance to explore who she was… maybe this wasn't as bad as she thought?