Luna laid her family to rest, and while doing so, vowed to avenge the Monroe family.  Luna’s memory of the horrid atrocity was foggy. But, since the day of the event she has never stopped questioning herself about the exact nature of what happened. After watching her mother and father be eaten by savage men with long teeth and glowing eyes; nothing stopped her from finding the truth. She raised herself on what little of inheritance that the robbers left her, and what she managed to scrounge from the ashes of her home. She asked around about the men, and collected stories from an array of people who have also seen the yellow eyes and fangs.
It was only until she had just turned eighteen when her sources led her to the desert, where a wise old Indian woman resided in a small camp far from any town. It was there that the old woman told Luna her the tales of her ancestors who fought the beast-men, like the ones she encountered. She lived off the land and trained with the old woman for two years; she mastered shooting, knife throwing, and the art of hunting. Also, it was there that she was taught how to procure a toxin known as Wolf’s bane, using the herb Aconite, to subdue her enemy. Not only that, but as memory served her, she vaguely remembered she had overheard the one beast, Carter, talk about silver being harmful. The old woman confirmed it, and told her that it is said in tales that only silver to the heart will kill her foe.
In Luna’s twentieth year she left the old woman with many thanks, and returned to her family’s plantation, to which she still rightfully owned, in old Comfort, Texas. The once staggering white manor was reduced to nothing more than rubble and charcoal. However, the servant’s quarters never burned down with the house, but stood there awkward and abandoned. It was there that she knew she could find some silver because her mother always had the servants polish all the silverware and dishware out there. Luna suspected that at the time of the event, most of the servants ran off with most of it, and she was right. There wasn’t even a full set of silverware left, only a few small plates and a large cake knife. Fortunately, this was enough to satisfy her ambitions.
Luna returned to the main town, and sought out a blacksmith. With no questions asked, she tasked the local blacksmith with sharpening the cake knife into a blade, melt down the silver plates into bullets, and to keep any of the leftover metal as payment. He succeeded in welding two silver bullets out of the plates for her M1873 Colt 45, otherwise known as “The Peacemaker”, and her cake knife evolved into a beautifully crafted threatening dagger. It was then that she rented a loft, above the loudest and most popular saloon in town, under the false identity of Madam Moon.
Luna knew that she could hunt the beasts down, but it was going to take quite some time and Luna simply did not have the income for the chase. Back in the desert, she learned that it was better to set up some bait, and wait for her prey to fall right into her lap – and she did just that. She made sure to boast to as many people in town of a “large fortune” she inherited from a “distant relative”. And since wolves typically walk along the same path, she knew the beasts were to catch wind of it sooner rather than later. And she was right.

Some weeks later, on the eve of her twenty-first birthday, Luna mingled with the rowdy folks of the saloon below her. It was then that she saw him through the crowd, the beast man with the long curly hair, walked in through the entrance. Her face had turned red and her back solidified.
This prompted the gaudy woman she had made false company with to ask her, “Doll, you okay? You don’t look so good.”
Luna snapped out of the body lock and returned to character, “Why yes, of course darlin’! This spiced corned beef has a tad bit more kick than I recall. Excuse me, while I fetch myself a drink.”
Luna walked up to the bar where Carter and his three lackeys sat themselves. She noticed he was the only who didn’t have a drink. She ordered herself a whiskey, and turned to him with a wide smile, “What’s the matter sugar? No drinks tonight?”
Carter turned his head, and gawked at Luna’s gorgeous facial features, followed by eying her up and down. He responded, “Why no ma’am. I keepin’ my head clear tonight, got some important business tonight.”
Luna smirked, “Important business huh? Well, well… your men don’t seem to be holdin’ back,” she nodded her head towards the rambunctious lackeys who chugged beer and jumped around.
Carter chuckled, “They just kids, no stoppin’ them. That’s for damn sure.”
Luna retorted, “So what’s stoppin’ you from havin’ a drink with the fine lady in front of ya?”
Carter paused, “What’s your name sweet cheeks?”
Luna chastised, “Mighty rude to ask for a name before givin’ your own,” Carter opened his mouth to say something but Luna interjected, “No matter, you’re a handsome fella,” she winked and downed her whiskey, “The names Madam Moon, but the gals call me by my first name, Cecile.”
Carter’s eyes lit up and screamed jackpot, “Mighty fine name for a fine thing like yourself.”
Luna said coyly, “Oh please, you’re makin’ me all flushed.” 
Carter leaned in closer to her, “Now I’m thinkin’ I can’t be rude not sharin’ a drink with a beautiful broad like yourself, can I? The names John”
Luna leaned in closer, pushed her breasts against his shoulder, and whispered in his ear, “Well…John… How’s about we have drinks upstairs, I got a bottle in my room.”
“Mighty fine idea,” Carter outstretched his arm, “After you ma’am.”
Luna took his hand and led him upstairs, the very touch of his skin made her skin crawl.
Two glasses of whiskey on the rocks soothed the broiled atmosphere. Luna freed her feet from her maroon cowboy boots, and lifted the edge of her dress up towards her upper thigh that exposed her white tights. Carter ogled the length of her legs as she stretched them out on his leather sofa.
Luna dramatically used the back of her hands to lift her large black curls up off her naked shoulders. This allowed the breeze to constrain the sweltering heat. She sipped her clinking drink, her red lipstick deeply rooted in the translucent glass.
Luna’s breath escaped her mouth with a sigh, “Oh my,” Her teeth peeked through her smirked lips, “My head’s a swimmin’.”
Carter’s hair was slicked back, but a few strands had fallen down his scarlet face. His cigarette embers had spread orange fire up the paper towards his fingers, and expired into the ash tray. He turned his back to gather up ice into a damp towel. Luna took this chance to pour the wolf’s bane from the little vial she had been hiding between her breasts. She swiftly looked away and went back into character as he went to kneel beside her. She handed him his glass, they said cheers, and they gulped down the rest of their drinks.
Gingerly, he stroked her hair back, and placed the chilled cloth against her neck. Her skin seared from its touch. His chapped hands and shaking fingers lifted her face towards his. Sweat dripped down his unshaved chin. His foul staggered breath fell on her face, and she watched as he closed his eyes, and his dry tongue licked his cracked lips that reached out to meet her red supple mouth.
Luna then quickly reached for her pistol she had strapped to her inner thigh, put the barrel to his temple, and pulled the hammer back.
“No hard feelin’s, John. Or shall I call you by your real name, Carter…”
He croaked out, “Wha --- !” Luna covered his mouth with her hand and he growled under her palm.
She chastised, “Ah, ah, ah. Let’s not make things difficult Carter. Otherwise, my finger just might slip,” She dug the barrel harder into his temple, “and this silver bullet here will blow a hole through that brain of yours.”
Carter became silent, and stopped jerking. He stood still and fought the shudders in his spine. Keeping the gun pressed to his head, Luna uncovered his mouth and put her index finger on his lips that motioned for him to shh, she said, “Hush little piggy.”
She stood him up and pulled at his belt buckle, gave him a provocative look, and pulled out the whole belt in one quick motion. She then spun him around and tied his hands up with it, and forced him to sit down.
She pinched his cheek, “That’s a good boy. We don’t want your friends downstairs to come in and ruin all the fun, do we? Not that they’d hear you anyway. Did ya know that is the rowdiest saloon in all of Comfort, Texas? Now, listen here closely Carter. I’m not gonna blow your head to bits, cause’ if you don’t have it, I can’t get what I want. You see?” Carter jerked and Luna shoved her handkerchief down his throat. She stared right through him with murder in her eyes and threatened, “But, that don’t mean I won’t find a way to hurt you. And if you do as I say, and tell me what I want to know, then maybe you get to live. Do we have a deal?”
Carter hesitated, growled, and then nodded his head. Luna fingered her rabbit foot necklace in her pocket and paced back in forth in front of him.
“Okay, Carter, be honest ya hear? Guessin’ you don’t have much choice, seein’ as the moon isn’t quite full yet. That and I fed ya some Wolf’s Bane in that whiskey… Just be safe.” Carter’s bloodshot eyes sprung open and Luna’s smile widened, “That’s right. You should be feelin’ it by now. Seein’ as I already know who you are… and what you are…”
Luna could read the fire in Carter’s eyes. He tried to tug on the restraint, but the drugs had taken full effect and he lost all motor functions.
“Don’t be stupid Carter, that Wolf’s Bane will last a while, and there’s more where that came from. Better get comfy… sweet cheeks” She lightly tapped him in the nose with the barrel of her gun. She threw her hands up and twirled around in her dress. The trim was a tethered white lace that matched the large offset silk bow tied around her waist, and the body of dress was a deep red.
“What ya think? Refresh any memories? It’s a bit different than last you saw it. It’s the dress you tore off my mother before you raped her, and ate her. Had to do a lot of sewing of seein’ as you practically ripped it apart. And of course, it used to be all white, but I couldn’t get the damn blood to lift… no matter how hard I scrubbed. So I jus dyed the whole damn thing blood red. It serves as a nice reminder of what you took from me.”
Luna ripped the gag from his mouth and said, “Why did you burn down my house, and slaughter my family?!”
Carter gasped and drool was dripping down his face and he laughed, “ Ha ha ha! I ain’t tellin’ you s***, b****”
Luna whipped him across the face with the handle of her pistol, and shoved the gag back into his mouth. Grabbed a fistful of his hair, forced the barrel up under his chin, and whispered in his ear, “Five years I’ve been waitin’ for you to show that ugly face of yours round here again. You murdered my parents…You burned down my home,” she tightened her grip and pushed up harder with the pistol, “And you murdered my sister, n’ if you don’t fork over the truth, I’ll jus have to beat it outta you.”
Carter’s flesh was overwhelmed with the stinging of Luna’s angry punches and kicks, while her mouth moved in slow motion as she spit out mute words of anguish that hung in the silence of their chaotic clashes.
Luna panted, her hands at her side were gloved in Carter’s blood. He was curled up on the floor bleeding everywhere, and his ugly face now unrecognizable. His nose was beaten and jagged. His eyes were bloodied and swollen shut. What was left of his teeth were either broken or kicked out. Luna smashed his fingers and fractured a rib or two. He whined pathetically on the floor.
Luna brushed her bangs back with her bloody fingers. She went over to the tea table and poured herself a whiskey.
She asked, “Need a drink?”
Carter rolled around and spat, “F*** you!”
“No? Suit yourself, more for me.”
Luna downed her first glass, and her second glass.
“You jus had to make it difficult didn’t you? Now look at ya.” She spat at him and laughed, “You look like horse s***.”
Carter had begun to pass out, and Luna poured her drink again and went over to him and poured it on his face. She knelt down and slapped him on the cheeks.
Luna mocked, “Wake up Carter! You wanna sleep away the final act? But you’re the star of the show!”
Carter coughed up blood and started to move around a little bit.
“Now are you gonna tell me why you burned down my home and ate my family?” She picked up her gun, walked over to Carter, and pressed it hard into chest right above his heart. “Or are you just gonna keep squeelin’ like the pig you are? Maybe you need a little more Wolf’s Bane to job your memory?”
Carter spat, “No! Stop. Okay, okay I’ll tell you everything,” Luna retracted the gun from his chest, “it was my boss’s order. He never said why we was goin’ to your house. But Earl, the boys and I do what we gotta do. I don’t think it was supposed to go down like it did. He went into the house for a while, we heard some touslin’ and yells. Next thing I know the boss was draggin’ your parents outside and tellin’ us to rough up the place n’ to take whatever we want, n’ blindfolded em. He was mad n’ was spoutin’ all kinds s*** to your parents; askin’ for you n’ your sister. Threaten’ them if they didn’t tell him. I don’t f*n’ know, but they never f*in’ gave in.”
Luna interjected, “Whose your boss n’ how does he know who me and my family are?!”
Carter pleaded, “I swear, I don’t know. Boss keeps things to himself. But, jus before he took off lookin’ for ya. He told your momma ‘this is your doing Leanne. You can’t keep me from her.’”
Luna’s brain swam in a funk, her thoughts bumped into each other and rattled her train of thought. She continued to prod, “You’re boss, what’s his name?”
Carter said, “His name is William Woosley, but we all know him as jus Bill.”
“Where can I find him?”
“F*** if I know.”
Luna kicked him in the stomach and Carter yelped, “Alright, alright! We’re supposed to meet up at Canyon Lake in two days’ time for the Blood Moon Solstice!”
Luna pondered, and then asked, “So he’s the one who told you and your pals to kill my parents?”
Carter chuckled, “He didn’t say nothin’ about what we could and couldn’t do. We get a little carried away, it was a full moon and we’re f*in’ animals,” Carter smiled exposing his blood filled broken smile, “And honey, your momma was jus lookin’ damn good, and tasted like cherries.”
Luna snapped, “Shut up you bastard! You vile mangy mut! It’s high time I put you down.”
Carter begged, “Whoa! Wait a second doll I told you everything you wanted to know! Please, don’t kill me. You said you’d let me go if I told you what I knew! Jus, please let me go.”
Luna mocked, “Yeah right, you bastard! ‘Please’ isn’t gonna save ya… Nothing like a good old fashion groveling to end the night, right Carter?” both hands wrapped around her pistol. Her blue dead eyes looked Carter square in his shadowed eyes. “And nobody likes a dog who begs.”
The atmosphere paused as the energy between them grounded time to a standstill. Tears flooded down Luna’s rosy cheeks and she let out a scream as she pulled the trigger; the gun cracked like lightening. The bullet busted through his chest and pierced his heart. 
A small ray of the moons light escaped through the ominous clouds, and shone down onto Luna, who stood still in the minute of death. Her hot silver bullet lodged into Carter’s chest. She look up through the blood in her hair to see his mangled face once more. Tears dripped down to the corner of Luna’s smile, rushed down her chin, and fell onto the steaming pistol she held in her hand. Her other hand fingering her rabbits foot once more.
Luna sighed, “Rest in peace mother.”
Luna heard the multiple footsteps of men below. The clouds cut off the ray of light that shadowed her in a bitter darkness. Luna had only a few minutes before someone was bound to bust the door down, be it some drunk again, or Carter’s men. She didn’t have much, but she rushed to pack up a few pairs of pants, shirts, socks, boots, and a water canteen into a leather duffel, followed by the silver blade and money. She had to take the dress off and put on more mobile clothes on before she could make her break for it. She slipped out of the dress and tossed it in the duffel with everything else. She slipped on her pants and boots, and grabbed Carters leather gun holster, buckled it around her waist, and threw his gun in the bag with everything else. She was about to reach for her shirt when the door busted open, and there stood an extremely intoxicated Earl. His eyes were droopy, and the bags below them hung like arm fat of an old woman. It was obvious to Luna that he hadn’t even looked at the ground to see his comrade dead and bloody on the floor. 
Earl shouted and slurred, “Hey! Carver! D’ya f*** that b**** n’ get’er money yet?”
Luna reached for her gun with the last silver bullet in it. Earl was just as guilty as Carver for eating her father, but she had been hoping to save it for precautionary use against Bill who was most likely the alpha wolf of the pack. She needed a quick getaway, she had no choice but to use it. Earl was able to focus just enough to notice that Luna was completely topless.
“Oh s***, it’s the b****, n’ you’re naked! Ha! Where’s Carver?” asked Earl.
Luna aimed, cocked it, “He’s in hell, and you’ll be joining him,” and fired the bullet that shot him dead between the eyes.
Earl’s limp body collapsed to the floor, and his blood gushed out mixing with Carver’s blood. Luna knew someone was going to investigate the gunshot, especially the lackey boys, so sheathed her gun and threw a shirt on; hopping out the window with her duffel in hand. She landed on the first floor roof, and jumped down onto her horse below. Feet in the stirrups, reins in one hand, her duffel in the other, dug her heels into her horse’s ribs and high tailed it out of town. Luna headed east towards Canyon Lake at full speed to meet with a William Woosley, for her path of retribution for the slaughter of her family only left more questions; and she was going to get answers.

To Be Continued…