A/N: I temporarily took this story off the site, but I've decided to re-upload it. Though it is very special to me, I don't think it is meant to be published, and I'd rather it be here. However, I am still editing it, so this second version will be a little different than the first, but there's no need to reread it if you don't want to. Thank you.

Under the Blue Moon

Written by Jessie Danielle

Part One:
Chapter One

Life is stubborn, if nothing else. It stumbles about blindly, making mistakes and turning down the wrong path…yet it somehow manages to go on. Wars take place, revolutions prevail, revenge creeps in the shadows, and despite it all, love still blossoms. But even with life's impeccable ability to continue, sometimes it needs a little nudge in the right direction…

XX

It was a dark night, one of the new moon, and all stars were hidden behind the clouds. Thunder rolled through the sky until the very ground shook with its roar. The sharp twang of lightning hung in the air, and the first icy raindrops were already falling below.

Emory was very frightened.

She had been on the run for five days, and she had been out of supplies for two. With the storm coming, she was desperately searching for some form of shelter, but it looked as if she would not be so lucky. She was in the middle of a forest, and even if a log cabin was right in front of her, the pitch black of the darkness would hide it.

Without warning, the clouds broke, and rain pelted down painfully. In a last resort, Emory started running, underbrush tugging cruelly at her legs. She threw her hands out in a blind attempt to avoid the trees, but the effort seemed pointless. Where was she to go? How could she possibly escape?

And suddenly, there was a light.

The flicker of warm orange was the only illumination in an endless void of darkness. Without hesitating, Emory stumbled toward it. As she grew closer, she recognized the vague outline of a cave and the fire within it.

Emory eagerly rushed inside, but when she noticed what else lay in the cave, she almost decided to go back out in the rain. Lying beside the fire was a teenage boy.

When Emory looked closer, she realized that the boy was very sick. He was unconscious, but violent tremors racked his entire body. His skin was pale and beaded with sweat. He looked so weak and pained… Something squeezed in Emory's heart, and she knew what she had to do.

Emory crossed the darkness to the light of the fire and kneeled beside the boy. She placed her hands on his chest and pressed firmly. Instantly, she could sense just how ill he was and pushed harder. A few tendrils of pain were seeping inside her, but it wasn't enough.

Emory adjusted the boy so that he was lying flat on his back. She carefully crawled on top of him and lay down so her head was resting on his heart. She could just barely hear the weak pulse.

This time, Emory squeezed with her entire body. Raw, hot pain immediately splashed over her in waves. Her muscles grew weak, and it became a battle just to keep her eyes open, but she was going to finish what she started. Finally, the last ribbon of pain slid into Emory's body. She then used what little strength she had left to shove herself away from the boy.

Emory drunkenly crawled to the edge of the fire's light before she collapsed to the ground. She knew heat was radiating off her, yet she shivered with cold. The world was spinning with blurred, pulsing colors. She closed her eyes and mercifully lost consciousness.

XX

When Emory returned to reality, it was with a knife to her throat.

Emory's blue eyes grew large with shock and fear. She opened her mouth to scream, but her voice seemed to have vanished.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The voice was cold, angry, and rash. Two piercing eyes glared down at her. The boy certainly looked healthier. Color had returned to his cheeks, and he seemed to be just burning with energy. He was crouched over Emory, one hand pushing on her shoulder to hold her down and the other pointing a knife viciously at her throat.

"Who are you?" he snarled more forcefully this time. He touched the cold tip of the weapon to her tender flesh.

"I-I'm Emory," she stammered weakly.

"Emory," the boy spat. "What are you doing here?"

Emory squirmed uncomfortably under the boy's fierce hold. "I just saw the fire and came inside…but I healed you. You were sick, and I healed you."

The boy's eyes grew large in surprise and then narrowed again. "Liar! I was sick beyond any doctor's help. There's no way you could have healed me!"

Emory did her best to control her breathing and meet his eyes with a level gaze. "I did," she insisted. "And you know it. You can feel it now. You feel better than you ever have before. The blood pulsing through your veins is completely healthy."

The boy closed his eyes for a moment. Once he opened them, the anger was gone, and he seemed calmer, almost thoughtful. "I was likely to die tonight, yet you saved me," he mused softly. "It was impossible, but you did. Can you…can you heal anything?" he asked.

Emory nodded tentatively.

A grin spread across the boy's face. "Anything at all? No matter how many times? Even if the person is bleeding their life out from a wound in the heart?"

Emory nodded again though the boy's excitement was beginning to scare her. "As long as I can get there in time," she whispered.

The boy laughed out loud, and Emory jumped at the brash noise. He removed the knife from her throat though, so she thought that was a good sign. Relief was just beginning to wash over Emory's frantic emotions when he rolled her onto her stomach and pulled her arms behind her back.

"Hey!" Emory protested, hysteria flooding into her words. "What do you think you're doing? Let me go! Let me go right now!"

The boy didn't even acknowledge her screams. Emory squirmed under his painful hold, but he just continued to wrap thick rope around her tiny wrists. When he was satisfied that she wouldn't get loose, he lifted himself from her and put the remaining rope back in his bag.

"My name is Daniel," he introduced brightly. "And you are now my slave. You have quite the gift, sweetheart, and it will suit me well. I have a long, perilous journey ahead of me now that I know I'm going to live. With you at my side, I'll be invincible!"

Emory's eyes widened in horror at his last words, and she began to struggle desperately. "Please, don't do this. Please, let me go," she pleaded. "I don't want this."

Emory twisted around to stare up at Daniel with big, shining eyes. Tears were trailing down her cheeks. "Please, don't," she whispered. He stared back at her with no mercy.

"You will stay by my side forever," he said. "And that's a promise."