Blood Moon Mating Ceremony

The loud clang-clang-clang of the heavy iron bell rang through the village, and its deep sound bounced off the stone houses and echoed into the trees. In our village, that bell meant only one thing: it was evening, and it was time for every child and teenager to gather in the square for story time. We were not allowed to stay home, for the elders said we must all hear the story so we would never forget the price of our safety.   I walked slowly toward the big fire in the middle of the village, and my boots kicked up the dry dirt as I went. All around me, kids were running, but their faces were not happy, and they looked at the dark forest with wide, scared eyes. I stood near the flames and watched the small children, who looked like little birds hiding from a hawk because they knew a scary story was coming. In the middle of the group sat Elder Bram, an old man with many wrinkles on his face, and he began to speak in a low, shaky voice.   "Hear me and to me, children," Bram said as he pointed his shaky hand toward the dark woods.   "A hundred years ago, our people lived in a beautiful kingdom with a princess who was very kind and pretty. But a mean King from the woods, the first Alpha King, saw her and wanted her for himself. He moved so fast that no human could see him, and one night, he broke into her room and took her away into the trees. He said she was his mate, and he didn't care that her family was crying."   I felt angry as I listened to him, for it was the same story every time. Bram kept talking about the war that started because the princess was taken. "The war lasted a long time, and many people died. The beast were dying too because they couldn't find their mates among their own kind, and they decided to come to the human kingdom. So, a treaty was signed. The beastpromised to protect our village from other kingdoms that wanted to hurt us and steal our homes, but in return, every five years when the moon turns red, they come back to take our girls to be their mates."   I couldn't stay quiet anymore, and I stepped into the light of the fire so everyone could see me.   "Why do we just let them take us?" I asked loudly, and my heart was beating fast. "You call them the Beast, but who are they really? Are they just animals? Why are we so afraid of red eyes in the dark that we just give them whatever they want? We should fight back instead of acting like scared sheep."   Elder Bram sighed and looked at me like he was sad for me. "Kiana, they are too strong and too fast, and we cannot hit what we cannot see. We give them the girls because if we don't, the other kingdoms will come with their armies and burn our houses. The beast are the only ones who can stop them."   "So we give them our sisters just so they will fight for us?" I asked, and I balled my hands into fists. "It sounds like we are just trading one bad thing for another, and I don't think it's fair that we have to pay for a mistake made a hundred years ago."   "Be quiet, child !" Bram whispered, looking nervously at the dark trees. "You are eighteen now, and you think you are brave. But the Blood Moon will come back in two years when you are twenty. The Alpha King is very powerful, and he does not like people who talk back. We follow the rules so we can stay alive, and if you saw the red eyes watching us right now, you would be scared too."   I didn't say anything back, but I wasn't scared. I looked at the dark woods and felt a strange shiver, for I didn't like the rules and I didn't like the treaty. I had two years left before the moon turned red. Most people would spend those two years praying, but I decided I would spend them getting ready, because I wanted to see the monsters for myself before they tried to take me.