The Blood Moon by Amber Riel (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

Shawn ran into Ann on his way back to Jean’s. Stina and Wagner had already hurried back, but he just wanted to take his time. He was kind of annoyed at Stina for trying to get some humans to dance with her to some silly song which had been playing. He was actually embarrassed at Stina’s childishness, but at the same time, kind of envied her for that. He also wished that Millie had Stina’s personality. His sister was always serious and stressed. He wished that she would relax.

“Hey, Shawn,” Ann said. She hadn’t seen Shawn since October.

“Oh hey, Ann.” Shawn smiled at her. He was glad to see her. “So, what’s up?”

“Oh nothing. What’s new with you?”

“Well, the cottage burnt down.”

“Oh yea. Lee told me. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Everyone’s fine so I’m not worried, but Millie’s still pretty ticked at Stina for it though.”

Ann knew about Millie’s temper. Lee told her about Millie’s anger. She didn’t really know Millie all that well, but she did understand that Millie had a problem with anyone who wasn’t a lycanthrope. When she was around Millie, she would show her kindness, but Millie would threaten her. She was in love with Shawn and so she wanted to make a good impression when she was around Millie, but the lycan didn’t care. Millie growled at her and she was afraid of Millie for it too. She didn’t know if that was Millie being a leader or Millie being an older protective sister. “Yea. Millie does seem to be stressed about something.”

“It’s Millie,” Shawn replied, “she’s always stressed about something.”

Jean was looking in the fridge for something to eat. Lacy and Stina walked into the kitchen. Jean looked over at them. “What do you two want to eat?” she asked.

“Well, what is there?” Lacy asked.

“There’s chicken and potatoes.... Home made pizza.... Hotdogs and homemade fries.... Roast beef and potatoes.... Hamburgers and fries....” Jean felt bad that there wasn’t really any choices. “Sorry that there’s not much to choose from.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lacy reassured her. “We’ll eat anything.”

Jean felt better knowing that they didn’t care what they ate. “That’s good.”

“Can I cook?” Stina asked, excited.

Lacy’s eyes grew wide. She thought about the cottage and how it burnt down. She was hoping that Jean would say no.

“Sure.... You know how to cook?”

“Yea....”

“NO!” Lacy exclaimed. She had a horrifying thought about what could happen if Stina actually cooked.
Stina and Jean looked at Lacy. They noticed that she seemed to be terrified.

“Um.... Jean, Stina’s not aloud to cook.... She’s the reason why the cottage caught on fire.”

“Oh.” Jean understood why Lacy didn’t want Stina to cook and why she had that terrified look.

“But I can, that way you don’t....”

“Lacy’s a very good cook,” Stina told Jean.

“Okay then.... Lacy, you can cook whatever you want.”

“Thank you.”

Stina and Jean left the room. Lacy walked over to the fridge and picked out what she was going to cook.

Millie hid in the shadows of a dark ally. She was alone. She had left Jean’s to get some air and to think. Her eyes were closed and she listened to the sounds which were going on around her. She was leaning against a brick wall. She heard the sound of sirens and her eyes flew open. Someone was in trouble. She didn’t want to help because she knew it was a human, who was in trouble, but she believed in honoring the humans.

She sniffed the air and smelled the intense fear of a man running for his life. She also smelled the beer on his breath. She smiled because she didn’t have to move. The man was running toward her. She closed her eyes and slipped her foot out. She blended with the darkness.

A criminal ran and tripped over Millie’s foot. He was dressed in torn up, bummy clothes and he had a dirty beard to match. He stood up and instead of running he pulled out a knife and went to cut the person, who had tripped him. Millie opened her eyes and stepped out into the light, revealing herself to the man.

The man was terrified. He dropped the knife and started to back up. Millie went for the kill. She jumped and penned the man against the wall. She held him up by his collar. He realized that even though Millie didn’t look strong that she was tough and had the strength of ten men, possibly more. This petrified the man. He didn’t know much about werewolves, but he could tell that she could tear him apart.

“What did you do?” the wolf asked.

“Um.... Um....” The criminal was afraid to answer. Millie was scaring the crap out of him.

Millie was starting to grow angry. She pulled the man away from the wall and slammed him against it. “What did you do?” she growled.

The man was still to afraid to answer. He didn’t have to feel the back of his head to know that there was a bump.

Millie pulled him away from the wall and slammed him against it again.

“Okay.... Okay....” He decided to speak. He didn’t want to get slammed against the wall for the third time.

Millie raised an eyebrow. “Ah the human speaks.”

“I’m drunk....”

Millie didn’t have to ask to know that. She could smell the beer on his breath.

“I stole a car....”

Millie just kept looking at the man as if he were food, but she knew better than to harm a human, and besides, she didn’t want the taste of beer in her mouth.

“And I shot a cop.”

“So, you broke three laws one night?”

The man didn’t answer. He was afraid to answer.

Millie pulled the man away from the wall and went to slam him against it.

“Wait.... Don’t, please, don’t.” The man cried.

Millie just held him in the air. She didn’t slam him against the wall this time. She could sense that she had this man afraid and she enjoyed that.

“Yes in one night.”

The cops arrived on the scene and Millie turned to face the cops as she threw the man in front of them. “There’s your cop killing, drunken thief.... Now, put him in jail,” Millie told the cops and walked away rudely.

Millie thought that the people would have forgotten about what had happened the night before. When she walked to the bookstore, she stopped at the store across from the bookstore. She dropped her mouth at the sight of a crowd, news reporters, and cameramen standing in front of the store. She growled as she made her way to the store. The last thing that she wanted to do was talk about the night before.


A woman with red, wavy hair, wearing a long, bulging red coat to match her hair color, stopped Millie. A cop who had remembered what Millie looked like, pointed Millie out to the woman. She was holding a microphone and was followed by a cameraman. Millie rolled her eyes at the news reporter. “Excuse me,” the woman said, “I was told that you are the girl, who stopped that criminal from getting away last night. Is that true?”
Millie rolled her eyes. She didn’t like the press. She hated everything about those people. She thought that they should learn to stay out of other people’s business. How would they feel if their business was all over the news? She knew the answer.... They wouldn’t like it. Millie looked at the cameraman. “GET THAT STUPID CAMERA OUT OF MY FACE!” she growled.
The cameraman didn’t listen. He kept the camera facing toward Millie and the news reporter.
“Well, someone has a temper.” The news reporter laughed, taking Millie’s anger as a joke. “So.... Is it true?”
Millie looked at the news reporter then back to the cameraman. “GET THAT CAMERA AWAY FROM ME!” she growled at the cameraman, but he still didn’t move it, and the news reporter just laughed harder. Millie was extremely ticked off. She didn’t say anything, she took the camera and torn it apart. When she was done, she threw it on the ground. “How’s that for funny?” she asked then went to walk inside.
The news reporter had stopped laughing and looked down at the broken camera. “Wow. She was ticked off.” She looked up at the cameraman, who was looking back at her as if to ask a question.
“Really?” he finally asked.
The news reporter walked over to Millie as soon as Millie opened the door. “Wait....”
Millie closed the door and turned to face the news reporter. She was angry. “What?”
“Why did you help the cops?”
“Because they wouldn’t of caught the guy.... And besides, if us werewolves weren’t here then you dumb humans would have a high criminal rate.” Millie finally walked into the store. She didn’t want to deal with them all day.
                                                      ******
Shawn, Lacy, and Tom were watching the news, when Millie walked in. Millie stopped walking and looked up at the TV, when she heard the same words that she had just said five minutes ago. She was ticked off.
“And there you have it.... Us dumb humans,” the news reporter had said. “It’s Rose Mary Stills singing off. Back to you, Bill.”
Millie was so ticked off that she was about to explode. “That stupid human.... They were still recording me even after I broke that other camera and she knew it. I’m going back out there.”
Shawn had grabbed Millie to keep her from going back outside. “Millie, say, 'hi' to Tom,” he said, turning her toward the pastor.
Millie lost the urge to fight. She felt bad that Tom had to see her act that way again. She dropped her head in shame.
“I’m disappointed in you, Millie,” Tom told her.
“I’m sorry, please forgive me.”
“You didn’t do anything to me.”
Lacy had turned away from the TV. She couldn’t believe what she had just seen. “Rose is soooo stupid.... I hate to say that, but she is.”


Christina smiled at what she had just seen on the news. She turned off her TV and she didn’t bother to move from her chair. A tall, all black Great Dane walked next to her and sat down. “Well, this is going to be fun. I can use this against her and her pack. Once those humans see the evil in those wolves, they’re going to want them gone and the wolf pack will have no choice but to work for me.... Especially on the night of the full moon,” she told herself. She started to laugh devilishly. She enjoyed torching others.