Crescent Moon - By Lori Handeland Page 0,84

one does."

"So what, exactly, is the curse?"

"He is an evil, soulless thing. A selfish prick who cares only for himself."

"Wasn't he that already?"

'I didn't know him before," Adam shrugged, "but most likely."

"I'm right here," Henri muttered.

"Under de crescent moon he runs as a wolf," Adam continued as if Henri hadn't spoken. "He murders de innocent and creates more werewolves."

"Like Charlie."

"Yes."

"He told me he has to change under the crescent moon."

"He does. Many more nights of being a beast that way."

"A blessing, not a curse, if you ask me," Henri said. "I like to kill."

"We didn't ask you," I snapped. God, he was annoying.

Something occurred to me. "I saw Charlie under a half-moon."

"Charlie was a werewolf; Grandpere is a loup-garou."

"My head hurts."

Adam's mourn tightened. "Grandpere wasn't bitten; he was cursed. Those he bites rise and run as wolves within twenty-four hours - day, night, doesn't matter. After that, only de full moon compels them to shift. Under any other, it is their choice."

Which made as much sense as anything else around here.

"What about him?" I jerked my thumb toward the cage. "When the moon isn't a crescent?"

"He's a man - or as much of a man as he can claim to be."

"Sounds like less of a curse."

"The longer he's in human form, de more violent he becomes when de wolf is upon him."

I scowled at Henri, who shrugged and examined his fingernails. I considered all that I knew and all I did not

"When did you find out about the curse?' I asked.

"Luc's first birthday." His face softened. "Family tradition. By then you're in love with de boy. You'd do anything to protect him."

"I couldn't find a record of Luc's birth," I said.

Adam cast Henri a suspicious glance, and Henri shrugged. "Less people know of us, de better."

"Once your father told you the truth," I continued, "he killed himself?"

Sadness flickered over Adam's face as he nodded. "I was old enough to watch over Grandpere, and by then I'd had Special Forces training. Didn't know I'd need it for this."

"Your father left you alone to raise your son, protect that thing, and find a cure? He couldn't stick around to help?"

"Knowing what was to come preyed on his mind, drove him over de edge."

I got the feeling Adam was talking as much about himself as his dad.

"When I was a boy he would be gone certain nights and come home beat to hell. He was a gentle man, a scholar. He didn't know how to fight; he had no idea how to counteract evil and violence."

Henri snorted but refrained from comment for a change.

"Your mother?"

"She left the instant she knew the truth."

I tilted my head, and Adam looked away, refusing to meet my eyes. No wonder he'd been so worried I'd leave him and Luc behind. Every other woman in his life had.

"My father asked me to enlist," he continued. "I'd always been fascinated with weapons, interested in military history; I believed he wanted me to be happy. Later I understood he wanted me trained to do de family dirty work better than he had been."

"You plan on taking the easy way out when Luc's old enough to protect that monster?"

"I'd let de curse fall to me before I'd leave him to suffer."

"You'll like it," Henri whispered. "You'll see. The power is exhilarating. With one stroke you can kill or impart life everlasting."

'Unless someone has a silver bullet," Adam snapped.

"So few do."

"Wait a minute," I said. "Doesn't everyone he kills rise again?"

"No, thank God, or we'd be overrun. If he kills but doesn't drink their blood or eat their flesh, they become a werewolf. If he partakes of de kill, they're just dead."

"I do so love when they beg for their life," Henri murmured. "I usually give it to them."

"Shut up, old man," Adam said.

The incongruity of calling someone who didn't appear a day over thirty "old man" made me giggle. Hysteria was obviously not far behind.

I swallowed the inappropriate laughter and tried to focus. "Why are there no Ruelle girls?"

"What?" Adam blinked at the sudden change in subject.

"No girls born for over a century. I checked."

"De curse. Grandpere's voodoo queen wanted only men to suffer. I don't think she cared too much for them."

"I can't imagine why."

Henri grabbed the bars and rattled his cage. "Let me out!"

"Not so fast," Adam said. "You will leave her alone."

Henri's gaze flicked to me. "What if she tries to kill me? Will you protect me then, Petit-fils? Will you trust her with your soul? What about