Lunar Enchantment

The Lunae Threat

I grabbed another cookie and sat waiting for Grams to tell her story. She slowly poured herself a cup of tea as the entire room full of people stared at her.

"Well?" Amber asked impatiently.

"Patience, child," Grams said before taking a long sip of her tea. "We're an old race. We go back a few thousand years. To a time before man had written word and kept record of all things. We're from a time when there were more than humans walking the earth. Gods and Goddesses. Werewolves. Vampires. And us. The Lunari. We were able to shift into our form freely at that time. Nobody questioned it. Nobody was afraid of us. Nobody really seemed to care much back then."

"How did we start shifting though?" Aiden asked.

"I'm getting there," Grams scolded. "Our historians have said the first Lunari came about when a family was set upon by a pack of werewolves. They were hiding inside their home, trying to bide their time until the werewolves would tire of them and leave. But they didn't. They continued to attack over and over again. The mother prayed the hardest she'd ever prayed to their Gods. The father joined, and then the children. It's said that as they prayed, as the door was cracking and splintering their prayers were heard. Their Goddess came to them. Offering them safety in the form of a transformation into a beast that could easily fight back and survive the werewolves. The family eagerly agreed, fearing being torn to shreds. That night was the lunar eclipse, and as it reached it's peak the Goddess granted them their wish and let the family shift into panthers. They were able to push back the werewolves, protecting their home. 

The called themselves Lunari and kept their secret for quite some time. As the years passed the parents noticed they weren't aging like others around them. The children aged normally until they reached their 21st birthday's and stopped. As they married and had children, the children had the ability to shift upon their 18th birthdays. Their spouses though, remained human. 

A Lunari attempted to turn his wife some time later, but was unsuccessful and she died from the bite. He went insane with grief over what he did, and turned into a Luane. He craved the violence and wanted to punish humans for their weakness and being mortal. In his mind, had his wife just been stronger she would have survived the bite."

"No human has ever been turned?" I asked.

Grams shook her head. "Not that has ever been recorded."

"Okay. Wow."

"I'm not finished," Grams said, shaking her head. "As decades passed humans became more closed off. They refused to believe that we were peaceful and associated all of us with the Lunae. In the last 1300s there was a hunt for creatures like us. They massacred thousands of vampires, werewolves and Lunari alike whether peaceful or no. That's when we went into hiding. We assimilated to the human world and lived amongst them."

"Hiding among our enemies." Jake nodded his head with Grams.

"Yes. It's how we were able to make sure we survived. It's how we made sure all supernatural creatures have survived. We keep a low profile."

"Until now," Sarah sighed. "We've never encountered something quite like this before."

"What happens if we can't fix this mess?" I asked.

"The humans find out. There could be another hunt for us. I don't know," Grams said, shuddering at the thought.

"Do we know who the Lunae are?" Lauren questioned.

The adults all looked at each other, then down at their cups. 

"I'm taking that as a yes?"

"Yes. We all have family who have turned into Lunae. My brother, Connor, is their leader."

"I have an Uncle Connor?"

"We don't speak of him. He's not a very good person. Yeah, he eats people. So he's not good."

"Is he the one who did this?" Aiden looked around at everyone.

"I don't know," Grams said. "It has all of his hallmarks, but there's just something different about this attack."

"What's different"?

"The bites. See, Connor chipped one of his fangs when he was a kid. So his bite isn't symmetrical. The bites on the body at your school are."

"Is there another murderous Lunae out there?" Amber asked.

"It seems that way."

"Could they have an entire pack now?" Sam asked.

"I certainly hope not."

I took a deep breath, absorbing the weight of Grams' revelation. The room fell into a heavy silence as we processed the serious info dump she levied on us. I looked around at the faces, each reflecting a mix of shock and concern.

Amber looked like she was about to have a mental breakdown.

"So, we're dealing with a murderous Lunae, and they're probably associated with Connor," I summarized, breaking the silence.

Grams nodded, her eyes clouded with worry. "Yes, and if this Lunae isn't stopped, it could pose a serious threat not just to us but to the secrecy we've maintained for so long."

"What do we do then?" Lauren asked, her expression a mix of determination and fear.

"We need to find this Lunae and stop them," Grams declared. "But we have to be careful. We can't afford to expose ourselves to humans. We've lived peacefully among them for centuries, and one incident could undo everything."

"But how do we find this Lunae?" Jake questioned.

"I don't know," Grams mused, her gaze distant.

Amber chimed in, "We need to uncover the Lunae's motives. Why are they targeting humans so ruthlessly?"

"And if they've formed a pack, we need to figure out how that happened," Aiden added.

Grams nodded approvingly. "We have work to do, and time is of the essence. The safety of our kind depends on it."

Amber stood up and started pacing while nervously chewing a cookie. "Where do we even start? Is this even a feasible thing to do? We can't even turn into panthers yet!"

"Who said you're doing anything to help with anything?" Sarah asked her over hyped up daughter.

"Mom! I'm not going to just not do anything. How can I? I mean, what the hell."

"Amber Marie Owens!"

"Mother!"

"Sit down," Lauren whispered. "You're acting insane."

"I'm acting insane? Why isn't anyone else? There are murderous shapeshifting cats running around eating people!"

"I mean, she's not wrong." Aiden shrugged his shoulders.

"None of you are doing anything," Jake said, standing up. "You'll be staying inside until all of this is settled."

"What?" I asked. "Staying inside? That's not possible."

"I'm not just staying inside." Lauren shook her head.

"How do you plan on staying safe then?" her mom asked.

"I don't know." Lauren chewed her lip.

She looked like she was about to cry.

"We're not staying inside. That's just insane and not feasible."

"Rory, please. Can you just listen to us?"

I crossed my arms and sighed heavily. 

Mom and dad wouldn't make me just stay inside. Mom and dad!