By the Pale Moonlight Ch. 04

"What can I get you, honey." A blond haired woman in her mid-40's asked. Her voice was two packs a day hoarse and her clothing old and worn.

"Just some water... Do you serve food?" The bar tender tossed an old greasy menu at Tara and walked away.

"Trust me, you don't want any of that." A large man sat next to her. "I had the French Fries once and couldn't leave my house for two days" He slammed his fist on that table and laughing loudly, threw his head back.

Tara placed the menu down as the bartender slid a dirty glass over to her. She looked inside of it, there were things floating in it. She placed the glass back down and stared at the bar.

"Kitty give this girl a Bud, she looks like she needs it." The large man bellowed patting Tara on the back.

"Oh, no sir, I'm not 21..."

"Bullshit, take the damn beer girl. Unless you want to stick with your water" He made a repulsed face and Tara stifled a giggle. She took the unopened beer from Kitty and attempted to pry its lid off.

"Give It here, girl" He took it from her, quickly ripped the cap off and handed it back to her. Tara took a swig and gagged. Beer was disgusting. The man laughed at her reaction.

"What's your name girl." Tara took another disgusting mouthful of beer.

"I'm Tara." She shivered as the liquid slid down her throat

"Well Tara, we don't normally get college kids in here, especially ones covered in blood"

Oh shit.

Tara had forgotten all about the blood. She looked up at the man, eyes full of desperation. How would she explain this, what if they called the cops?

"I...I can explain..." Tara stumbled over her words.

He laughed again.

"Don't worry girl, I said college kids don't normally come in covered in blood. I didn't say that we've never seen it before. Kitty, do you have any spare clothes in the back"

Kitty flipped him off and walked through a dingy curtain into the back room.

"Kitty may seem like a hard bitch, but we call her kitty for a reason, she's all purr. Come with me, girl. I'll get you cleaned up." The man stood up and put his arm out for Tara. She hesitated, she hadn't had any luck with strangers lately... though something about this man made her feel as though she could trust him. She stood up and instantly shrank. She realized just how large this man really was.

Tara was fairly tall for a female, being a few inches under six foot, and she was dwarfed under him. She barely stood at his shoulder.

"My name is John by the way" He walked towards the side of the bar and through a Curtain hanging from the door frame. Tara reluctantly hurried after him. She looked around the bar before she passed through the curtain, the entire room was empty.

Tara pushed past the curtain and walked into a well-lit stock room. It was a bit smaller than the bar with couches and a table situated to the left, and a small dingy kitchen to the right. She was suddenly very glad she hadn't ordered any food. Besides two doors in opposite corners of the room, the only things in there were kegs and boxes of liquor.

Kitty walked up to Tara and tossed a heap of clothes at her. Tara caught half of it, and bent over to pick the rest up. Kitty scoffed and walked back over to the curtain.

"My daughter left those behind last time her skank ass showed up. You can keep em'." She glared at John before pushing the curtain to the side and walking back into the bar.

Tara looked at the clothes that Kitty had given her. A pair of tight black jeans, a black long sleeved top with intricate slices taken out of the arms, chest, and back, and a faux black leather jacket. She was used to wearing black, but this was a little much. John laughed.

"Hahaha, Kitty daughter is a little out there, but her clothes should fit you. The bathroom is in the corner, take your time." He sat down on the couch and motioned her to the right hand wall. Tara took her mound of clothes and walked into the bathroom. She turned on the light and closed the door. It was fairly normal, and surprisingly clean. A long full length mirror was nailed into the back of the door.

Tara was an absolute mess. Her face was covered in dirt and blood, her hair was messy and half out of its bun. Her clothing was unsalvageable. Coated in blood, they reminded her of Claire. She stripped off her top tossed it into the trash can, next came her pants, they too went straight into the trash. She now stood, nude, staring at her bruised bloody flesh. She grabbed a wad of paper towels off of the counter and, wetting them, started wiping herself down. She started on her arms, then her hands. Her face was next, she scrubbed and scrubbed attempting to remove the filth.

She took her hair down and struggled to run her hands through it. She managed to make it acceptable enough to throw back into a bun on her head.

This was as good as it was going to get without taking a shower. Tara sighed, she still hadn't taken a shower... in fact all of her clothing was still in the laundry room with...with that thing. She grabbed onto her necklace and closing her eyes, gave it a squeeze. She sighed and grabbed her new clothes off of the counter.

She carefully pulled the pants up over her thighs, they were very tight. She jumped and wiggled and finally they slid over her ass fitting perfectly, she buttoned them and reached for the shirt. After a few tries she was finally able to figure out which holes were for decoration and which holes were for her limbs. She looked back at herself in the mirror, she looked ridiculous.

Her cleavage shot out of various cuts and she had far more flesh showing than she ever had before. She put the jacket on and taking a deep breath, walked out of the bathroom and into the back room.

John was sitting on the couch reading a book, funny, he didn't seem the reading type. Finally, in the light she was able to get a good look at him. He wore dark jeans and a plain black t shirt, his brown work boots were well worn and dirty. His arms were thick and muscular with various tattoos peaking from underneath his sleeves. His face was clean shaven and his short hair was black and coarse. Scars adorned his face, though somehow she felt that he would look silly without them. He looked to be in his Mid-30's though she felt he may have been older than he looked.

"Well aren't you a sight, girl. You look much better out of those dirty clothes." Tara attempted to fix her shirt in embarrassment, causing John to laugh louder. His booming voice was soothing.

"So why were you covered in blood, Miss Tara? You don't seem to have any wounds." He placed his book down. "Does it belong to someone else?"

"No its mine" Tara rubbed her thumb over her palm, feeling the scar that had taken root. "I cut myself earlier and someone attacked me... but I'm all healed up now." She turned her hand around to face John.

"you got that earlier today, did you?" John reached out and grabbed her hand, running his thumb over the thin fresh scar. "Quite a fast healer, huh?"

Tara jerked her hand out of his grasp and slowly backed away.

John scoffed and sat back throwing his legs on top of the cheap coffee table. They landed with a thump causing the table to creak under its weight.

"I'm not going to hurt you, girl, calm down."

Tara grabbed her necklace and shifted from one leg to another. She was getting uncomfortable, there was something about this...John... He seemed almost too familiar with her.

"Let's ask an easier question." John was quite the talkative one, wasn't he? "Why come here? This isn't exactly a college bar. I doubt you were planning on meeting friends here."

"I just didn't want to go back to my dorm tonight, that's all" Tara was a terrible liar, she had never been able to get away with it with her mother. She stopped trying all together after a while, it wasn't worth it.

"You can trust me; I give you my word." John seemed sincere.

"Sorry if I don't take your word for it. I haven't had the best luck with trusting people lately."

"That's quite the interesting necklace you have there." Tara hadn't realized she was still holding it. "Family heirloom or something?"

"No, I actually found it, as weird as that sounds. It's beautiful, though."

"Your right, it is beautiful. Hold onto that tightly. Do you know what it is?" Tara shook her head, no. "That, my dear, is called a moon stone. It's thought to grant immense power to its wearer. Keep it safe."

"John." Kitty yelled from the doorway. "They're back..."

John sighed and stood up.

"Tara, stay back here all right. In the business we're in we deal with scum every once in a while. Stay back here and you should be fine." He patted her head and smiled crooked, his front tooth had a chip taken out of it.

He walked over to the doorway and whispered something to Kitty, she nodded and they both walked through the curtain.

Tara stood, alone. It was eerily quiet in the back room. The old refrigerator chimed in with an electric hum. She could here muffled talking from beyond the curtain. Whoever they were talking to sounded furious.

"Killed her!" Tara heard that perfectly clear. She slowly walked over to the doorway and peaked through.

Kitty and John were talking to three people, it looked like two men and a woman. The men were tall, lean and fairly attractive. They sported neat, jelled hair and clothing too nice for them to be here on a social call. The woman was taller than the two men. She was beautiful with long blond hair and a heart shaped face. She wore a simple blue dress and black high heels. One of the men seemed very angry, the woman seemed indifferent.

"Calm down Giovanni, we don't need any trouble." John held his hand out "No one new's been through here all night."

"Don't you lie to me, you mutt... I followed the scent here... whoever killed my sister came in here not long ago. Either you bring them to me, or I burn this place to the ground." His hissed his words through closed teeth.

Tara clasped her hand over her mouth, they were talking about Claire. That meant those three must be...Vampires...Tara began shaking. She let go of the curtain but stayed next to it.

"You better do as he says, he had a soft spot for that little runt." Tara heard a females' voice, it must have been the woman that was with them. Her voice sounded like music, it flowed and weaved together.

"Don't you dare call her that, Marie." Giovani spit. "She was reckless and ambitious, yes. But she was our sister, how are you not more enraged." His words grew louder as he spoke. Tara felt her body tremble at the sound.

Marie laughed haughtily.

"The beast that killed our little sister is hiding in the back room, can you not smell the blood! You arrogant fool, close your mouth for a moment and you would have smelled it the second we walked in."

"TARA RUN!" John yelled, his booming voice vibrated through the bar.

Tara froze. She began to hear the sickening sound of bones cracking. She heard a high pitch scream, then fighting. John grunted and yelled. Tara could hear wood breaking and fists striking flesh.

Kitty suddenly pushed through the curtain. She stared at Tara.

"What the fuck are you still doing here, get out!" Tara remained frozen, she slowly backed up, arms out in front of her as if they would protect her from the oncoming storm. "The door to the left go now!"

The curtain crashed down as John was thrown through. Tara screamed and ran over to the door. She looked back at john, his shirt had been ripped off. Gashes graced his entire body, he was dripping in blood. He stood up and looked at Tara.

"What are you waiting for girl, get out of here. I'll take care of them, don't worry about me." He coughed and spit a wad of blood to the side. He quickly jumped up and turned walking towards the door. Tara looked at his back, he was covered in tattoos, most of them were coated in red sticky blood. Though on his shoulder one stood out to her. It was a Large black wolf.

Tara gasped. It couldn't be.

"John!" Tara called out to him. He stopped at the doorway and looked over his shoulder at her. "That tattoo on your shoulder..."

He laughed loudly and ran out of the door and back into battle.

Tara opened the Exit door and ran outside. She was in an alley way, looking right she saw a dead end with some trash cans. She turned to run out and stopped. There was someone standing at the entrance of the alley.

"So, it was you who killed my sister..." It was Giovanni. Somehow he had gotten away from John, Tara hoped he hadn't killed him... She had so many questions to ask. "How the hell did you do it...You disgusting little insect..." he stepped forward into the light of a street lamp. His eyes were blood shot.

Oh no, it was happening again.

Giovanni lunged at her. His hand gripped her throat as he threw her against the wall. His nails were sharp daggers, they plunged into the sides of her neck. Tara gripped his hand desperately gasping for breath.

"Do to me what you did to her!" He screamed at her, His face contorting. His mouth unhinged revealing rows of razor sharp needles. His nose shifted collapsing upon itself until it revealed two long nostril slits.

If Tara could scream she would have. She was stuck and frozen in terror. Giovani threw her to the side and licked his fingertips.

Tara gasped for breath and on hands and knees scurried as far away from him as she could.

"Your blood!" Giovanni moaned in ecstasy. "This is what enticed my sister so. You taste of mother earth! Herbs and musk, Ahhh..." He sucked on his fingers and tapped his claws against his teeth. "I need more; I need it all!" Giovani opened his mouth and rushed head first at her. Tara screamed and held her hands up. She was going to die.

Tara heard a crash. She looked up to see Giovani slammed into a wall, Kitty was standing in front of her. Chest heaving with heavy breaths.

"I thought I told you to get your ass out of here" Kitty growled at her. Tara stood up and rushed around her. Giovani shakenly stood up.

Kitty started twitching. Her arms snapped forward with a sickening crack. Her hands widened and fingers shrank into sharp claws. Her ears shot up widening on top of her head. Her nose along with her mouth elongated, cracking together into one. Beige fur shot out covering her entire body.

Tara slowly backed up out of the alley. She heard Kitty pounce on Giovanni.

Tara turned around as she heard the sputter and roar of a motorcycle. John sped up to her and screeched to a stop.

"Hop on" Tara didn't even think twice. There was no way she was staying here.

She jumped onto the back of the motorcycle and wrapped her arms around Johns back. She was now face to face with the wolf Tattoo.

Tara gripped his waist and pressed her face into his wounded back. John threw his head back and released a loud howl before revving the engine and speeding away.

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