The Fearful Moon

Gil’s All Fright Diner remains a $2.99 deal on Kindle for this month. My first novel was published 17 years ago. Time comes for us all. Since then, I’ve published a few books, so maybe you’ve never read it. Here’s a great chance to do that.

In the meantime, here’s an original free short story featuring Duke, one of the protagonists of the novel. Hope you enjoy it.

Duke came out of the bathroom to find Marcy pointing a gun at him. He rubbed a towel across his wet hair and reached for his beer on the table beside him.

“Don’t try anything,” she said.

Duke, big and fat and hairy and naked, took a long swig of his beer. The only light in the motel room came from the bathroom behind him, the cheap lamp beside Marcy, and whatever was filtering through the broken blinds. It wasn’t a big room, but shadows still filled it. He was a giant silhouette. His eyes glimmered ever-so-slightly, though you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t looking for it.

Marcy noticed. She tightened her grip on her pistol, almost squeezing the trigger. “I’ve got silver bullets in here.”

He wiped his mouth, belched. “You got a beef with werewolves?”

“No. Not exactly.”

He leaned against the jamb. He studied her like the predator he was. Or maybe not. He was hard to read. He didn’t seem scared of her.

“I’ll shoot you,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

“I believe you. Probably by accident, the way your hand is trembling.”

She tried to steady herself, but the adrenaline coursing through her made it impossible. She told herself that it was to prepare her to do what came next, but it was fear. But fear was an old companion. One she’d soon be free of.

“Did I do sumthin’ to you?” he asked. “I don’t remember you.”

“You remember everyone you’ve ever hurt?” she said.

He shrugged.

“Who does?”

Duke might have smiled. He was looking down and the lighting made it hard to tell. She suspected the smile was her imagination. Duke didn’t seem the smiling type. Admittedly, she hadn’t known him that long.

“So are you a monster hunter?” he said. “I didn’t think there were any such thing. Just stories werewolves and vampires tell each other. Like bogeymen. Well, I’ve met a couple of bogeymen, so I guess not exactly like that.”

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time,” she said. “Someone like you. And tonight, I’m going to end your curse.”

He moved toward the bed. She waved the gun at him.

“Careful now,” she said.

He held up his hands. Even in his current human shape he was a large and powerful man. It was only a half-moon tonight, which meant his wolf side was only half-as-strong as it could be. But a large man with only a touch of superhuman strength was enough to kill her easily.

There was comfort in that. It made her fear tangible, not just a vague feeling squirming in her gut.

He sat on the bed, his back to her. “If you kill me, you’ll get the curse. That’s how it works.”

“I know.”

“Why would you want to be a werewolf?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Uh hmm.”

She waited for him to say something else, but he only sat there, half in shadows, his large vulnerable back to her. She could pump him full of silver in seconds.

“I’ve always been afraid,” she said. “You can’t understand.”

“Everyone’s been afraid,” he replied.

“Look at you,” she said. “You’re huge. Even before becoming a monster you never knew what it’s like to feel small and vulnerable all the time.”

“You’ve watched too many movies. I’m not a monster.”

“Sorry,” said Marcy. “You know what I meant.”

“I know.” He turned his head slightly toward her. “Sumthin’ bad happen to you?”

She laughed. “Oh, you’d like that. Some Freudian excuse. Well, no, nothing like that. It’s just something I’ve always felt. Like deep down. Even as a kid. All the other children ran and played and dared so much, but I couldn’t shake the truth. We’re all exposed. We’re all defenseless against the chaos of the world.”

“Uh hmm.”

She tried to read the response, but whether it was skepticism or sympathy or nothing in particular, it was impossible to decipher. He was a wall. Had been since the moment she’d met him in the dive bar across the street.

He wasn’t her type, but she gave him a second glance, like she gave everyone. Looking for the signs. She’d spent years searching. It was a ludicrous quest, but her ominous dreadful companion kept her looking. Seeing the pentagram scar on his palm and the way his eyes shone when the light it them at just the right angle, she could hardly believe it had finally come.

Seducing him had been easy enough. The sex had even been decent, though she could only enjoy it so much. Being naked with a stranger didn’t help her anxiety. Knowing he was a werewolf hadn’t helped.

But it’d all been worth it.

“You ever look at the moon?” he asked. “Really looked at it?”

Her finger rested on the trigger, but something stopped her from pulling it. “Yeah.”

He might have chuckled based on the way his body shook, but if so, it was too quiet to hear.

“I never did. Not until I become a werewolf. Becomes kind of important after that. I’ve spent a lot of nights looking at it now. Not just looking. Listening, too. You can hear the moon.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

This time he did laugh. The low, humorless rumble reminded her of the beast just beneath his flesh.

“You don’t need to be a wolf to hear the moon. We all hear it. I hear it louder than I used to, but still not that loud. It’s still only a whisper. The moon knows secrets. Wants to share them with us. But it’s too far away. It can only offer mumbled hints. Except for one thing . . . . ”

He opened the ice chest beside the bed, grabbed another beer, popped it open.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” she said. “What’s it say?”

“We look up at the moon, and it’s so big, so powerful. It was here before us. It’ll be here long after us.”

Duke took a long drink. He rolled the bottle across his forehead.

“But it’s still just a tiny fuckin’ speck in the universe. The moon feels the same as any of us. Hell, you two have a lot in common. But I s’pose you’ll find that out soon enough.”

Marcy lowered her gun a hair.

“You don’t want to shoot me,” he said. “You could’ve done that before we screwed. Could’ve done it after I stepped out of the shower.”

“No, I don’t want to,” she admitted. “But I need to.”

He stood and turned to face her. He was stark naked, and she had the gun. He was still an overwhelming presence, filling the room.

“We’re all scared,” he said.

He transformed. She knew the change could be painful. It was a testimony to his strength that he barely flinched as it happened. He grew even larger. Shaggy black fur sprouted across his body. His arms elongated, and his hands became claws glinting in the gray shadows. His jaws parted in a gruesome smile, flashing rows of pointed, yellow teeth. He was fatter and hairier and bristling with magnificent power. It was everything she wanted. Everything she’d been looking for.

He fixed her with his predator’s eyes, and she was overwhelmed. He could’ve been on her in an instance, tearing her apart. But he just stood there as her senses returned. She pointed the gun at his heart.

His bestial voice rolled like a growl from his toothy muzzle.

“Doesn’t mean we have to become monsters.”

He crossed the room slowly, moving around the bed. By the time he reached her, he was human again. He took her gun and pulled her robe up higher on her shoulder. He gently placed his calloused hand on her cheek.

Marcy got dressed. Duke slipped on his underwear to see her out. He offered her the gun back, but she waved it away.

“Maybe I don’t need that anymore.”

Under the light of the fearful moon, he smiled.