Chapter 4: Moon Clan

I awoke with the sound of beeping, thinking it was just like any other morning I sat up and began to stretch. I let out a strained yelped as I felt pain rushing up my sides, I looked down and was greeted with bandages on my waist and stomach. IV lines outstretched from my arms and unknown liquids were being poured into me.

With a start I realised I was only in shorts and a bra, my face redened when I remembered the doctor striping me down to get better access of the wounds. Was that really necessary though?

I sighed heavily and looked around the room. It looked like a standard hospital room, except for the large man standing in the corner. I did a double take and saw he was gone.

"Holy. . .shit" I breathed, how can a guy that big just disappear? Unless he wasn't even there. . .yep, that's it, I'm just going crazy. Maybe witnessing and being the cause of those men's deaths were what made her fall off the edge.

"Look behind ya, toots" I jumped, I regretted it immediately. I hissed out a cuss and glared at the person who scared me. The man that I saw earlier stood at the other side of the bed. I saved my shock and curiousity as to how he got there so quick for later, thinking that letting my anger be known was more important.

"Do you mind not scaring me to death, Thorn?" I growled, his eyes widened for a split second then he adjusted himself. His lips turned up into a smirk as he peered down to me.

"Shouldn't you be thanking me for saving your life?" A smug tone was practically dripping from his mouth as he spoke. Bile disgust pooled in me and my eye twitched in anger.

"Shouldn't you be thanking ME for doing your job?" I asked making sure my tone was as horrible as his. His smile twitched slightly, he opened his mouth to speak when someone cleared their throat to get our attention. We both looked at the guy standing not far from the door.

He seemed to be below twenty and relatively young. He shifted from one foot to another when both our gazes bore down on him.

"T-the Boss want to see you b-both in the common room in f-five minutes." He stuttered out. My heart ached for the young boy and my teacher instincts told me to reach out and comfort him. . .so that's what I did.

Before I could even think, I was already up and walking slowly and calmly to the boy. Both he and Thorn froze, waiting to see my next move. I got closer to him, held out my hand and smiled. He seemed to have stopped breathing when he saw my friendly gesture.

"Are you gonna keep my hanging?" I say lightly, he inhaled and cautiously grabbed my hand. I shook his hand gently and smiled down at him brightly. He calmed down almost immediately, he nodded to me in greetings then turned around and left the room.

I watched him leave, still having the urge to follow and protect him. I was about to when I realised something. . .my eyes. I gasped lightly and looked frantically around the room, trying to find something to block my eyes from the world.

I growled in frustration when I came to the conclusion there was nothing in the room apart from the bed , medical supplies and the man. Oh yeah, him. He was the one that broke my glasses, oh he had no idea the kinds of things I'm thinking of doing to him.

"What are you just standing there staring at me for? Boss called us and we better be there quick." He said, I could tell he was tense. The audience with his Boss might be a reason but then again, I have no idea what this guy is thinking. Ever.

I sighed, my head hurt too much to even give it much thought. He led us out of the room and walked down many corridors, I swear this place is a maze. After a couple of more turns we stepped into a wide room, first thing I noticed was the number of people present.

I swallowed hard, feeling their sharp eyes on me and every move I made. The second thing I noticed was the large chair resting in front of the place. In it was a man with an intimidating aura around him and a presence that screamed death.

He looked at me with both amusement and curiosity as he took me in little by little until he met my eyes. He stared for the longest time without saying anything, just staring right into my eyes. Finally, finally, he spoke,

"So. . .I heard you were the one who took down those bastards yesterday. Is that true?" I was taken aback from the question, I felt hesitant and was about to tell him no, when guilt struck me and I couldn't bring myself to.

"Yes, I am. I am sorry for taking away the kill from you, but they were endangering the life of my students and I couldn't sit around idle." Even with fear threatening to claw out from my throat, I stood my ground and met him with a steady gaze.

He leaned back on his chair and chuckled, "It's perfectly fine Miss Holt."

At that point I just stopped breathing. Now how in the bloody hell does he know my name?! The man seemed to have read my mind as he answered.

"After the commotion you and those bastards have made in my clan, I had you searched thoroughly. I wanted to make sure there weren't any. . .complications when you were here.

Complication, eh? So he was just seeing if I had any family members and if they cared enough about me to be a problem. I breathed in deeply, a saddened smile crept on my face.

"I assure you, sir, there is no living family that I have who values my existence enough to even notice my disappearance. You can even say I have no family." I closed my eyes in reverence to my parents and grandparents. I will truly miss them.

I felt small arms around my legs and I opened my eyes to see who was touching me. A child of about eight was looking up at me, she smiled so innocently it almost made me cry. She wasn't old enough to judge people by appearance, but she was old enough to know when people were sad and needed consoling.

What a smart child, this one. The parents didn't even flinch when the child approached me, so I had no idea who's it is. It was so quiet I don't think anyone was even breathing. I smiled back fondly, feeling much at ease with the presence of a kid.

"Isabelle seems to have taken a liking to you. She's so shy around new people but she came right up to you." The man's baritone voice had hints of fascination and curiosity. I looked up at him then the child, they looked nothing alike so it was safe to assume he just knew her.

"Isa, up! Isa, up!" The little girl changes while jumping against me. I giggled softly, I bent down as far as the wound would let me and hefted her up. The pain on my sides and arms had me grimacing in pain. I covered it as quickly as I could to not alarm her.

It may had worked for the kid, but everyone else could see my discomfort. Everybody remained silent, they seemed to be in awe of what was happening. I looked at each of them in confusion when their Boss spoke again,

"Well, this is certainly interesting. You are very good with children. You haven't even been here five minutes and she already sees you as one of us."

"One of us? How? I haven't done anything for her to think that."

"That is why it's so abnormal. Her liking to you could be enough to allow you part in our clan, but Thorn has proposed to you being a spy or fighter. For that you must fight him and we can see what you know."

I looked at Thorn with a brow raised, I wondered what his fighting style would be or how strong he was. Just by looking at him, I could tell he was strong and difficult to bring down.

"Grandpa, will Auntie get hurt fighting Uncle?" Isabelle asked sweetly, every person in the room stared at her in shock, including me. This girl just called me. . .Auntie?

"W-What?" I asked in shock. She looked at me, deadpanned and said, "Auntie. . ." she pointed at me, "Uncle.!" she pointed at Thorn. She bounced slightly in my arms, clearly happy with herself.

I almost dropped her, but my desire to keep her safe prevented me from doing it. Thorn looked to be in a much similar state as well as everybody else. I lowered the girl slowly to the ground and faced their Boss slowly, still recovering from the shock.

"So all I have to do, is fight him?" I ask, he nods. I turn to face Thorn after murmuring to the girl to go stand back. He gives me a glare that clearly states, 'we are not going to speak of this again' before lunging towards me.

He was so fast I almost missed him, but I was able to Dodge on time after I focused on him. I snapped my hand out to where his neck should be but I hit air. He was gone again.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to hone in on his location when just out of the corner of my eye I see him coming. I turn and round house kick him, only for him to crouch down and dodge.

He got up quickly, grabbing my arm, I howled in pain when he sunk his fingers into a deep scratch. If it was by accident or on purpose it didn't matter cause I was pissed. I grabbed his arm, twisted my body and flipped him over my shoulder.

Right before he hit the ground, I felt him pull my arm and try to pull me down with him. It doesn't work and he resorts to kicking my chest. I was sent flying back with such force I ricocheted out the wall, not wanting to be humiliated further I landed on my feet but hugged my chest tightly.

This. . .this was definitely going to be dangerous. This man is strong, I underestimated him, can't do that anymore. I growled and lunged towards him with the greatest speed I could muster.

I felt my consciousness fading, but it wasn't like I was going to pass out, more like loose myself to something. I remembered back to fighting the shooters in my school, and how this happened as well. It ended badly, they were slaughtered painfully and I enjoyed it.

I couldn't let that happen again, not with children watching. I pulled back before I could even land a punch on him, he stared at me as I stood still. Breathing in deeply I tried to control my thoughts, I cleared my head of all thoughts.

Thorn didn't seem happy about this though, he scowled and brought his face inches away from mine,

"What the hell are you doing? Yer not supposed to hold back!" Oh this guy was definitely mad for sure this time. Even though I didn't want to, I had to explain myself to him.

"Believe me, this is for your sake! I don't think you want me to go on a bloody rampage, now do you?" I ask, my anger slowly building up inside me again. My body started to tremble, and he notices.

"Tch, you're just like ya parents. Cowardice and weak!" He spat, malice and hate mended in each word, each letter. Oh, he didn't, this bastard didn't.

"DON'T. . ." I started, but decided against it. This was what he wanted, "don't you dare. . .talk about my family that way."

"And don't get me started on your grandparents! They were blind to think you were a normal kid, not with those eyes especially! Your other grandparents, they were right, you are an abomination!"

My head began to spin and my heart increased speed, everything was starting to get weird, but that didn't matter right now. I was growling like an animal filled with bloodlust by the time he finished.

The bastard looked very well amused with himself with the reaction he got from me. That just made me want to bash his head in even more. I realised what he was doing, but it was too late. I was gone.

------------

I was suddenly surrounded by cold darkness and I knew that I was beginning to kill. Burning hot tears ran down my face, desperation taking over me in waves. All of these innocent people will get slaughtered unless I am killed.

If that's the case, I'll die knowing that I was stopped. My eyes wandered over the black terrain, nothing was in color, it was all black and nothing else. My heart squeezed tightly against my chest, pain clouded my thoughts as it began suffocating me slowly.

Dread and regret washed over me, was I really to leave my students without even giving in some sort of fight? No, of coarse not. Even if the pain kills me, I will not let my students know me as a murderer.

The pain in my body increased drastically and I fell to my knees screaming. Sobs shook my body as I held myself together with my arms. The pain was too much, but I had to do it, or else I would disappoint my students even further than I already did.

I wished someone was here to help me, someone to already be here to comfort me so that I wouldn't have to be alone here in this dark, cold place. Everything hurt, everything was broken. Mind, body, and spirit. It was all destroyed to bits within me, never something for me to rediscover.

I felt something near me this time, I felt a warmth engulf me. It began fighting back the cold that was threatening to take away my life ever so slowly and painfully. Hands reached out from all direction to grasp me, to hold on to me for dear life.

They held on, soothing my pains and fears until they were slowly dissipating into the far reaches of my mind. I have never felt anything like this on a long, long time. My parents were the only ones who reached out to me whenever I had an episode.

Who were they? Who were the people that were touching me and made me feel safe? Is this death or is this freedom from my curse? Whatever it was, it was pulling me out of this dark place.

I hear voices from the other side, from reality. They are calling out to me in desperate voices, were they my family? Was I finally dead and now I'm with them again? Wait, no, these are different. I haven't heard these before in my life.

-------------

The black began to fade and I was blinded by a shining light that pulled me back into my body. I woke up gasping for air and sweating like a wet dog. I was on the ground and my throat and body ached harshly.

I looked around frantically, preparing for the worst when I saw every single Clan member from the room looking down on me with faces that ranged from awe to respect. At the corner, I could see Thorn standing in there with bleeding wounds.

I stare at him and he at me, I looked down at his bandages and get up immediately. I walked up to him slowly, not wanting him to be scared of me. He doesn't even flinch as I approach him

"I'm sorry." I whisper hanging my head to ground. He looks at me in silence for the longest time before chuckling and replying,

"It was my fault, kid. You told me yourself that it was dangerous, guess you know I don't listen." He said before punching my shoulder playfully, I continued to stare down

"Were there any. . .hurt?" I ask my voice trembling slightly. He shook his head, 'no' then looked at two other people behind me.

"Take her to her bed, she's exhausted and could pass out any moment now."

I scoff, "I just woke up, I seriously dou-" right on cue my legs give out beneath me and I was set to fall if it weren't for Thorn's arms pulling me up by the waist. I couldn't understand why my body was so weak, but I was too tired to even think straight.

Thorn walked me gently to the bed and layed my down slowly. As soon as my head hit the pillow I lost all ability to think and I fell hard into the deepest sleep I ever had. I didn't dream of anything, I just slept the whole way.