Standing up, Luna begins to pace, clutching at her hair in a frenzy.“Oh God, please don’t let it be you who is draining those poor women of their life blood.If it is, I swear I’ll be on the first boat out of here.No, wait, what am I saying?I’ll use Tempest’s boat to get the fuck out of Dodge this instant—and I promise not to ever come back!”
Sitting still and attentive in the chair, I wait for her paroxysm of confusion to die down before replying.
“Why are you telling me this, Luna?”
Whirling around, she comes closer as if she’s trying to force a confrontation.
“Because I need you to tell me I’m crazy!Do I absolutely want you to deny what I’m saying?You’re damn right, yes!”A haunted look comes into Luna’s eyes.“But there is something about Landslide that tells me the MC’s motto is based in truth… the dead really do ride fast.”Stumbling over a crease in the rug, she seems lost and confused.“I’m praying that you’ll tell me I am wrong.”
“If you want the truth, then I can’t do that.Sit down, please.I want you to know about Tempest’s… child.”I can barely say that last word.
Flopping down on the couch, Luna huffs and shakes her head to clear it.Then she looks at me from under her lashes.“What are you waiting for?Tell me everything.You owe me that much.”
I thought being honest would make me bear-headed with reluctance, but I was wrong.Luna is Tempest’s blood relation.If anyone is ready to hear the truth, it is she.
“There are seven Riders.Long ago, it was decided that two of us would become nomads.The population on the island, and round about these parts, couldn’t support all seven of us, so two of the original seven became wanderers.It was easy at first.A stranger riding into a two-bit town on a tired horse at night was nothing unusual.And people dropped dead like flies from all sorts of things back in the day, so a lone cowboy was not likely to be associated with the death.”
“Horse?”
“Yeah, darlin’.We rode horses before we rode motorcycles.Been here a long time.”
Seeing Luna nod in the dark, I continue.
“Ifan and Konner.They got to prefer being nomads.Never had to shave their beards or cut their hair to pretend they were younger.All they had to do was move on to the next town.Every ten years or so, they would circle back to Landslide.Bring us news of what life was like beyond Angle Inlet and the Lake of the Woods.Can’t say they made it sound very appealing.”
Luna gives a tiny chuckle.“Modern life has its ups and downs.”
I’m pleased to see that my story is making Luna forget her fears.The sweet thing should learn to relax more.If I haven’t hurt her yet, it’s not likely I’m-a start now.
“And when they circled back to Landslide in the mid to late eighties, our troubles began.Y’see, Tempest was no longer a cute li’l tween girlie by then.She was a ripe young teenager—only with a different taste in men compared to her peers on the mainland.”
Luna goes quiet as she thinks.“My mom was all about the electronic boy bands back then.Before my time.”
I allow myself to reminisce a little bit.
“Tempest grew up surrounded by Midnight Riders, Luna.Boy bands were definitely not her favorite thing.Sam set up a television and VCR for her so she could watch shows and movies on tape, but it didn’t change her tastes.Tempest was attracted to bikers.Travel stained, windswept, gruff and dirty bikers.She was pretty much immune to the Riders’ charms, because it would be like lusting after a brother or something.But fate had a different plan.”
Luna is sharp as a knife.“She fell for a nomad?”
“Yep.Tempest fell hard.She took one look at Ifan sitting astride his sweet XLH eleven hundred ride—a mean, gleaming black beast with matte chrome—and she nearly came in her lace panties.”I forget who I’m talking to as I get to telling my story, so Luna edits my language for me.
“I can do without you describing the state of my aunt’s panties to me, thanks, Shadow.And what the fuck is an XLH what’s-it?”
Luna never fails to raise a smile out of me.
“It’s not too dissimilar to my ride, which is a Harley-Davidson Dyna Super-Glide Sport, only mine has a custom T-bar.”Luna nods, so I carry on.
“Ifan was the last Rider whom I would believe capable of love.He was this great hulking brute of a man with a mane of long, black hair twisted into wind-blown braids.In all his existence, all he ever did to maintain the illusion of humanity was trim his beard every few years.”
“I’m getting the image of a real beefcake bear in my head, Shadow.”Luna’s sense of humor peeps out.“Was Tempest a full-bodied woman?I mean, she must have been to be able to handle all that!Do you have any photos of her?”
A bark of laughter breaks my somber mood.“Do I look like the sort of man who likes taking snapshots, Luna?Tempest was similar to your body shape.Maybe a little taller, maybe less curvaceous.She was no thick and juicy coochie.As for Ifan, he was like all of my brethren.Tall, grim, and long-haired.But he was magnetic to Tempest.And I suppose you could call the Midnight Riders’ appearances enticing.”
Bouncing off the couch, Luna gets animated.
“Enticing like you?And which appearance are you referring to?Your human disguise or your real one?”
For one moment, I struggle to keep my raging beast inside its cage.The fiendish thing that lives in my veins wants to rip her to shreds to protect its secret.I have no trouble wrestling it into submission.I have way too much practice disciplining my instincts.
