Xavier crossed his arms over his chest, his back was pressed against the cement wall as he stared at Twyla. He was extremely curious about the Raven haired vixen, who stood before him dressed like a nightmare in her steel toe combat boots, distressed jeans and black tank-top. She was the sort of girl who could walk into any bar and jump onto a stool and order a glass of bourbon and nobody would even blink. There was a husk to her voice which made her southern accent sound more devious than charming and he found her all the more alluring for that. But, she was dangerous, and as a vampire he had a certain respect for his own life. Witches like Twyla- meaning witches that were cool- often found themselves in very dark situations, tempted by the worst of the magical world. And if the two sisters continued down this dark path they were on, he had no doubt Twyla would become a terror.

"I'm sorry, I'm here just finding it a little hard to believe that you forgot you had an uncle," Xavier kicked his boot against the wall.

Stacking the boxes on top of each other, Twyla glanced back at her new vampire comrade and rolled her eyes. "I'm not exactly close with my family- I'm sure you'd understand."

He gasped in mock outrage. "Are you insinuating I'm that I'm not close with my family. I'm offended, I was quite the family man in my day."

"And when was that 1692?"

"No, 1982, for your information. Geez, I'm not that old."

Twyla snorted. Both Xavier and herself froze upon hearing the foreign sound, their eyes wide as they stared at one another. "Was that a laugh?" He asked, a smirk slipped onto his face.

"Shut up," Twyla threw an empty cardboard box at his head but to her dismay he grabbed it midair.

"Look at that the ice queen has a heart," Xavier stalked towards her. He threw the empty box back into the pile and grabbed the heavy boxes Twyla was trying to balance in her hands. Whereas her knees were wobbling and arms shaking from the weight, Xavier carried the load as if they weighed no more than a feather. Twyla glared at him as he put the boxes back in place. She could see the cocky little attitude within in him, it was in the way he walked with a smooth gait and that stupid half-smile on his face. It was almost as if he was asking for her to punch him, she thought.

"I'm no queen," said Twyla, her hands on her hips.

"Not yet," said Xavier, "But you'll figure it out." It almost sounded like he muttered you always do, under his breath but Twyla couldn't be sure, he spoke so fast. 

"Anyway," Xavier swiftly changed the topic, "How did you just forget that you had a perfectly alive and well uncle?"

"Like I said, I'm not that close with my family."

That was perhaps the biggest understatement of the year- Twyla despised more than half of her family and Uncle Leo was no exception. She had never actually met him, but from the way Nyx's lips twisted into a snarl and every other word leaving her mouth was a curse when he was mentioned, it was safe to say they wouldn't get along. Nana had said he was like her mother, in the regard that he married a mortal woman and though he wasn't magically inept, he wasn't fond of the supernatural world. Shortly after he got married, he shunned his entire family, leaving them with the short request to never contact him or his wife. Nana and Nyx never told Twyla why and at the time Twyla assumed it was because there was no reason but now, she had a strange feeling that she and her sister were somehow at fault for her uncle's departure. They seemed to be at fault for most things nowadays.

In the midst of her musings, Twyla's eyes settled on a tall rectangular object covered by a white blanket propped against far wall. Wondering what had captured her attention, Xavier followed her line of sight and saw the strange item as well. The two of them shared a quick glance before walking over, after a moment of hesitation Twyla swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and ripped off the sheet. It was a tapestry, of sorts. The glowing orb levitated in the space between Xavier and Twyla, it's soft hues of light illuminated the picture depicted on the canvas. The picture was of two women, their bodies were bare but twisted in such a way that nothing could be seen, their hands were extended in the air as if two hold up the large moon drawn above their heads. Inscribed on the bottom of the page, in golden letters was the name Allaki- the moon Goddesses.

"I have a feeling your Uncle might need to tell us more than just where the book is," Xavier pulled out his phone and snapped a quick picture of the tapestry.

Twyla continued to stare at the picture of the two girls as a feeling of belonging spread throughout her. Her fingers grazed over the woven threads, lingering on the dark haired beauty that paid a close resemblance to herself. She would have had to be blind to not have seen the resemblance. "You see it too?" She asked Xavier.

"If by 'seeing it' you mean the strange resemblance to you and your sister than, yes I do."

"We need to get Luna," Twyla spun around, her mind racing as unwanted images of the past flashed before her mind. She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, warding off the memories. When she reopened them, she noticed Xavier standing off to the side, with an indiscernible look on his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Don't concern yourself with me," she brushed him off and fled up the stairs, the orb followed behind her.

"We might have a problem!" Xavier said, as he ran up the stairs in lightning speed, beating her to the top.

"And what would that be?" She asked.

"Luna's not here."
.......

"Can you please explain to me how one moment you're sobbing into the phone asking for me to meet you and the next you're chowing down on pizza as if nothing happened?" Will asked.

Mario's Pizza Parlor was a popular hangout for the teens of New Brooks. The pizza tasted like cardboard covered in cheese and sauce and the 'Italian' family that ran the restaurant were actually migrants from Brooklyn- but it was the only pizza place for twenty miles. And it was a parent free zone. No adult would dare waste their money on bad food. The teenagers, however, didn't care. Luna and Will's most favored memories were shared at Mario's- it was the one place they knew their mothers' would never step foot in.

Will slid into the booth and quirked a brow at Luna. Grease dribbled down her chin, and landed on the growing stain on her sweater.

"Excuse you but I am dealing with an existential crisis. I am aloud to eat away my problems," Luna pouted as she shoved another slice into her mouth.

"I'm not judging you Luna. But we need to talk about what happened," Will began. He didn't really know how to go about the conversation, what had happened last night was far beyond his comprehension but he had to at least try, for Luna's sake. She couldn't just push this off, it wasn't a problem that would just go away.

"What exactly happened? I heard something about them and your mom being gone. But after the whole book thing and vampire, you lost me."

Pulling the straw of her drink between her lips, Luna slurped her soda in small, controlled increments. She released a sigh when the refreshing drink hit her unsettled belly. Luna had called Will, hoping he could restore what little piece of sanity she had left. Her world was falling apart, she knew that much. But everything else, everything that she needed to know to survive, she was completely clueless to. Before she made the decision to call Will, she had changed into a pair of jeans and a blue sweater. While she was in her room, all alone with her thoughts, her insecurities started to attack her mind. She thought about her mother and the mess she was now drowning in. In her mind, there was no possible way she was going to be able to save her mother. These things, whatever or whoever they were, they weren't going to play fair and she knew from what her mother had told her that they had every intention to kill her. That made her hands clammy and heart palpitate. After the phone call to Will, Luna quietly slipped out of the house and drove Mario's. In the span of twenty minutes she was practically drowning in pizza slices and free refills of coke. She ignored all of the wondering eyes and whispered conversations, news of her party had surely spread around town, but for once in her life she couldn't find herself to care what they thought of her. It was only when Will arrived, did she start to feel normal again.

"My mother, aunt and grandmother were taken by an evil force who wishes to kill my sister and I, meanwhile book collecting in the process," Luna mumbled.

Will blinked. "Come again?"

"I'm going to die," Luna hiccuped as fresh tears welled in her eyes.

Will could only stare. He had no words or thoughts to give. He was in such a state of shock, he couldn't even give Luna the comfort she needed.

"I don't know what I did to deserve this, all I know is that there is no way I can fix it. Everything I have worked for is gone."

"No, Luna, that can't be. There's got be a logical way to fix of all this. I mean, really, stuff like this doesn't just happen."

Always the man of logic, Luna thought. She adored Will, but this wasn't something he could logic through. Where things like magic and witches and vampires were involved, logic did not belong.

"You're giving me silence, Lu. Silence means nothing," Will continued impatiently.

"That's because there's nothing else to say!"  Luna's voice raised with every word until she was practically yelling at the end.

The few customers at Mario's Pizza Parlor stopped mid-conversation and stared at Luna. She offered them a weak smile before bowing her head, blood rushed to her cheeks. Will sat across from her, staring like everyone else, but his stare held no judgement. It was cold, calculating- as if Luna had just asked him to solve a complicated math equation.

"Are you sure they didn't just drink too much and pass out somewhere in the woods?" Will asked.

Luna sighed, "You know my mom doesn't drink."

"Besides," Luna took a deep breath, "The psychos left a message in blood on our wall, telling us they took our family."

For a long time Will didn't say anything and then, without warning, he pushed his coke away from him and stood up. Luna's breath caught in her chest as she thought he was going to leave her. Instead, he held out his hand to her. "Come on," he took her hand in his and pulled her into a deep embrace. "Everything will be fine. We'll figure this out, together."

"Yes, such a shame together does not include you." Luna and Will broke away only to see Twyla standing at the other side of the parlor her silver eyes narrowed into slits.

**This is another connector chapter, unfortunately they need to happen. I hope you liked the chapter regardless and I'm sorry about the errors. I honestly did not think I was going to be able to get another chapter out this week since I had to study for my last final tomorrow. Anyway, thank you all for reading and supporting the story. I hope you like it so far and please tell me your predictions of what will happen next, I love hearing what you have to say!
XOXO,
Ro.**