Book 8- Blue Moon

[Yoko]

There were small, boxy cabins scattered around the clearing like a Motel 6 that had been cut into pieces. There was a neon sign, pale in the sunlight, that said Blue Moon Cabins.

(Blue Moon, page 38, paragraph 3)

Reference
A cabin retreat located in the Ozarks
* owned by Verne

[Yoko]

Chapter
Summary
1 While dreaming of Jean-Claude, Anita is awakened at 3 AM by phone. It's Daniel Zeeman. Richard is in jail for attempting rape.
2 Anita calls Catherine in order to get the name of a good lawyer. She gives her Carl Belisarius. Anita then begins to pack and Jean-Claude shows up. He knows about Richard and tells her Colin has refused to allow her or any of Jean-Claude's people to come. Anita makes him call Colin and ends up letting her temper get the better of her. Jean-Claude is angry and insists Asher and Damian come along with the wereleopards.
3 They use Jean-Claude's private jet. Jason, Zane, Cherry and Nathaniel are on the flight and they discuss options before they arrive.
4 Landing at Portaby Airfield in Myerton, TN, an airport worker named Ed thinks that they are part of Frank Niley's group and points them to Milo, but Jamil claims them. They load their luggage into a black van (including coffins) and go to the Blue Moon Cabins. Jamil doesn't think Anita can handle the situation and tries to prove it. She protects herself with her browning and knife and settles her dominance over him. Verne shows up to bring them to cabins.
5 While in the cabins, Anita calls Daniel (no answer), Catherine (leaves a message) and Carl Belisarius. The later is pissed because Richard refuses to see him. She gets him to tell Richard she was the one who hired him and he calls back with success. Anita and Jason change clothing and head to the jailhouse.
6 Enroute, Jason points out Shang-Da to Anita. He is sitting on a porch nearby. Anita and Jason then enter the jail. Maiden allows only Anita and Carl to see Richard, forcing Jason to stay behind, but Anita must disarm. Richard is bitter towards Anita and mentions other women he's been seeing, including Lucy, Carrie, and Mira. Anita ends up leaving.
7 When Anita rejoins Jason, Maiden returns Anita's gun and loads a bullet into the chamber as a warning. When they exit, five men in a truck drive up with baseball bats and mean attitudes. They attack and Anita takes a bad hit for Shang-Da. Only after the attack is over do the police arrive. Sheriff Wilkes shows up with two deputies and Maiden. Ambulances are summoned because the five men are more hurt than Anita and crew. Millie thinks that Judge Henry will favor Anita, especially since she appears to be very hurt.
8 After the hospital, they return to the police station where Wilkes speaks privately to Anita. They establish their backgrounds and part ways, but not before Wilkes warns Anita to get out of town.
9 Anita returns to the cabins and wants to see Richard. Shang-Da and Jamil try to prevent her because Lucy steps out of the cabin. After a brief encounter, Anita brushes past Lucy, who then leaves, and enters Richard's cabin. They compare notes about potential reasons why someone wants Richard out of the way. Anita still loves/lusts after Richard though, and after a few close calls, Anita leaves the cabin again.
10 Anita goes to her cabin where Asher and Damian have awakened. Damian asks to feed and Anita allows it, though the request is strange to her. Daniel calls because Charlotte is at the Happy Cowboy confronting Betty.
11 Anita allows Richard to come as long as he stays in the car. Shang-Da and Jamil are supposed to keep him there. She enters the bar with Jason and finds Charlotte arguing with Betty. After a near fight, Anita drags her out of the bar to Richard with Daniel right behind. Richard has to go back with his family, but he makes plans for Anita to attend a formal greeting from one pack to the other.
12 Jamil is teaching Anita, Jason, Cherry and Zane proper lukoi etiquette. when Asher comes in, carrying Nathaniel. Damian is with him. Colin had poisoned Nathaniel's blood so that the wereleopard was dying. Nathaniel had been tricked by Mira. Anita begs Asher to save him and gets both him and Damian to do so.
13 Asher and Damian draw out the corruption from Nathaniel's blood. While Asher is able to get rid of it, Damian is not. He begins to rot.
14 To save Damian, Anita allows him to drink his blood. Her powers of necromancy heals him. Asher reminds Anita that they have to see Colin that night and she takes a shower to clean off.
15 Anita gets cleaned and picks her outfit from Jean-Claude's offerings he'd sent in a trunk. Jamil, Shang-Da and Richard will be coming as well.
16 After everyone showers, Anita comforts Asher because of his unease with the scarring. Asher is grateful and Jason is even jealous. Verne arrives and Anita demands reparations. The greeting ceremony is postponed and she wants Mira's head in a basket.
17 Anita and Richard talk while walking through the woods. Richard tears his silk shirt and ends up ripping it off. Anita has mixed reaction and he runs off. Jason joins her, doubly jealous by the look she now gave Richard.
18 They arrive at a very large oak tree which has old hanging dead bodies on it. Colin is there with his vampires and human servant Nikki. Colin has Barnaby remove Anita's cross, since he is a rotting vampire, and then orders him to "play" with Jason. Anita refuses him. There is a stalemate until Colin orders Verne to intercede and the Ulfric gives Anita a basket instead.
19 Mira's head is in the basket. Anita vomits from the shock.
20 Colin and Anita share words until he demands that he be given Asher and Jason. Anita refuses. Fighting breaks out, but they are 16 to nearly 100 vampires. Anita discovers the dead hanging bodies are part of Oak Tree Clan's munin and she can call the circle of power, making the oak tree like a holy place. Although Nikki tries to stop her, Anita warns Damian and Asher to leave and then activates the circle. All the vampires caught in the circle are burned.

[Yoko]

21 Anita calls Jean-Claude to fill him in. She then goes into the bathroom to help Jason who's weeping. He still has rotted vampire goo on his back and can't get it off. Anita helps, but once he's clean, he goes back to teasing. Pinning Anita to the floor, he tries to steal a kiss and Richard walks in.
22 After Jason leaves, Richard accuses Anita first of sleeping with Jason, but after exchanging snide remarks, he knows she isn't. She leaves the bathroom.
23 Cherry, Zane and Nathaniel sleep in Anita's bed while she talks with Jason. She is disturbed by what she did to the vampires. The wereleopards awaken and come to Anita, wanting to know why she saved them. Because they are hers and no one hurts what belongs to her, she finally admits.
24 Heading for the lupanar, Anita can feel the call. Jamil is skeptical, but Jason confirms it. Anita can feel Richard, but when Jason touches her, and then later Cherry, Anita ends up channeling Raina and her memories. Marianne and Roland arrive at this point and offer to lead them to the lupanar.
25 Because they chased out the munin, Anita, Jason and Cherry can barely walk and stumble around. Marianne suggests Anita call up metaphysical power. But Anita makes her go away first, since she really doesn't know how. Once gone, they continue walking and sense people following them. Anita and Jason pretend to make out to be bait. Chuck and Terry (an unnamed rifleman at first) come upon them. Terry beats up Jason badly and Chuck gets distracted. Anita draws her back knife and he shoots her, but Jamil jumps in front and takes the hit. Anita kills Chuck and Terry loses his forearm.
26 Terry is brought to Anita for questioning. While Zane and Jason lick blood off her body, Terry tells her Frank Niley hired them. After he is removed, Anita loses ground to the munin and Raina tries to take over. Anita controls her long enough to heal Zane, Jason and Jamil, then she declares herself Freyja and runs.
27 Anita runs and is nearly caught by Roland, but escapes. Zane and Nathaniel catch up and help her run. Jason meets up as well. Zane will fight off the pursuers They reach the cabin and Damian and Asher help keep the werewolves outside. Anita loses more control. Jason tells her he will do her if it comes to that because Richard ordered him to. Anita almost makes Damian take her, but stops. Richard finally shows up. After folks clear out, Anita and Richard make love and drive Raina out.
28 Anita wakes up in Richard's arms. Honeymoon is over. If Anita wants JC then Richard is allowed to date others as well.
29 While Richard takes a shower, Wilkes and crew show up to "question" Anita. She calls Dolph to have a witness on the phone and Wilkes forcibly hangs the phone up. Richard enters. Both are roughed up and questioned. They want to know where Terry and Chuck are but without answers, Wilkes then demands Anita and crew leave town. Once the cops leave, Anita figures that Verne can hide them.
30 Verne shows up and Anita discovers he had Terry killed. So he offers his neck and Anita bites it, due to the marks being strengthened by being intimate with Richard. The effect is euphoric and Anita shows she doesn't trust Verne.
31 Anita, Shang-Da and Richard go off into the woods. When the men hear a woman crying, Richard takes off. Anita is able to follow like a lycanthrope and it frightens her. Later, they find Dr. Carrie Onslow who discovered the body of a woman. Cops said it was a troll kill, but Carrie is positive it wasn't. Anita goes alone to investigate, forcing Richard to stay behind with Carrie and Shang-da.
32 Anita arrives and meets up with Sergeant Michaels who points her in. Maiden arrives and Anita regards him coldly until Henderson shows up. Henderson leads her to the body.
33 While examining the body, Anita discovers the circle of power - pentagrams on tree trunks - and determines a demon did the killing, not trolls. Wilkes tries to dissuade them with little success. The victim was Betty Schaefer. Later, Wilkes gives his cell phone to Anita. Frank Niley is on the line "requesting" to meet with her at a diner because he could allow information out that says Richard killed Betty as a werewolf. She agrees.
34 Anita, Shang-Da and Richard meet up with Niley, Howard and Milo at the diner. Aggie the waitress notes that Richard cannot stay away from Albert's hash browns and then brings them to Niley. Niley and Milo take Richard and Shang-Da into the bathroom to search for listening devices. When Linus shows up, he searches Anita, also in the men's bathroom with Richard watching.
35 They talk. Niley admits wanting to buy land because he is searching for the spear that pierced Christ's side. The land must be bought because if John Greene dies, it reverts to a wildlife preserve. Niley further threatened to rape and kill Richard and give Anita to Linus if they didn't leave.
36 Anita and crew make a show of leaving town. One hour later at a rendezvous point, they go back with Verne's people. Anita and her pard are brought to Marianne's house, where Marianne offers to show Anita how to control the Munin and have more control over Jean-Claude and Richard and the marks. Zane and Cherry take a shower first.
37 Marianne gets Anita to interact with Nathaniel on a platonic basis, since she still sees the relationship of touchy-feely as sexual. She brushes his hair and talks a little with him before Dolph calls her. with information about Niley. Anita is now scared about demonic influences.

38
Cherry and Zane come out and join Anita and Nathaniel. Anita manages not to bolt until Zane and Nathaniel lick her arms. She goes to take a bath while Nathaniel despairs because Anita won't be his top.
39 While in the bathtub, Anita gets a visit from Roxanne. She nearly kills the other lupa with her fun before Roland and Ben pull her away with Marianne's help.
40 Anita almost comes out in red and black, but Cherry gets her to soften the colors because Roxanne is psychotically dominant. Roxanne wants payback and ends up trading blows with Anita, who holds her own. Richard, Carrie and Shang-Da show up and Richard tries to interferes while Shang-Da carries Carrie outside. Verne shows up and stops Roxanne. Lucy enters and trades insults with Anita before punching her unconscious.

[Yoko]

41 Anita awakes in the basement on a bed with Damian standing watch. He gives her the keys to his soul because he wants to be her servant. So he tells her about the marks, her powers and the council. Anita then senses something is wrong with Asher and goes to save him. Nikki and Barnaby are killing Asher. While Damian attacks Barnaby, Anita kills Nikki and saves Asher by allowing him to drink her blood. He rolls her mind inadvertently.
42 Thompson and Donald come to visit with a "gift to make Anita and crew leave: a lock of Daniel's hair and the tip of Charlotte's pinky. Anita kills Donald and cuts off Thompson's fingers to find out where they are. Thompson confesses and then keens because of his chopped fingers. Anita eventually shoots him as well.
43 Anita drives the van with Jason, Dr. Patrick, Nathaniel, Jamil, Roxanne, and Ben inside. Patrick is shocked at what Anita did, but Jason defends her. When they arrive at Green Valley House, everyone exits the van and Jason gives Anita a pep talk before going in.
44 Anita bumps into Howard and he tells her Daniel is in the house and Charlotte is about to be sacrificed. Roxanne scares Howard into fainting and Anita leaves him with her and Ben to rescue Daniel, taking the rest to rescue Charlotte.
45 Anita comes upon the sacrifice site. She shoots and kills Wilkes. She shoots Niley, but doesn't kill him because he make she4r disarm when he does. Linus finishes summoning the demon, but it won't kill Charlotte because she is pure. Anita detects a circle around the demon to hold back evil. But Niley doesn't realize Anita isn't evil. So she enters and helps to save Charlotte. When done, Anita breaks the circle and the demon escapes and kills Linus. The FBI show up with Maiden. When they shoot, the demon turns on them. They manage to make it go away with prayer. Niley dies because of the demon cuts. Nathaniel was dying as well but Anita called the munin to heal him with Richard's help. In the end, when Nathaniel is healed, the backwash heals the others in the vicinity, also giving pleasure in the rush. Richard confirms that Anita is his lupa. Charlotte accepts that Richard is a werewolf.
46 Charlotte and Daniel cope, Howard goes to jail, Anita avoids sex in order to try to gain control of the marks with Marianne's help.