by Tara Shuler
“There, darling, see?” Alexi asked. “I told you that you would be fine.”
“It was the crys… the thing,” I told him. “It protected me. It’s keeping the darkness at bay.”
Alexi looked skeptical, but I think he intended to humor me when he said, “That is wonderful, darling.”
Kai had already fed, and I waited for Alexi to choose a volunteer and feed. He chose an older man and quickly fed, and the three of us left the room.
As the young girl’s blood began to digest, I could feel a surge in my strength. The crystal hummed on a new frequency, its pitch increasing as it lured me toward it.
“Alexi, I need to see it,” I said.
“Um, I’ll just head upstairs, I guess,” Kai said. “Is my room still in the same place or have I been replaced?”
“Your room will always be open to you,” Alexi answered him.
“Thanks,” Kai said, smiling. He waved over his shoulder and said, “See you both later.”
When he was out of earshot, Alexi asked me, “Are you sure you want to do this? We do not know for sure what effects this crystal will have on you for the long term, and…”
“I need to see it,” I repeated.
Alexi sighed and said, “Then let us go.”
He kept his hand protectively on the small of my back as we approached the door. I turned the knob and it opened easily. The crystal’s resonance became nearly deafening as I stepped inside. I put my hands over my ears and winced.
“What is wrong?” Alexi asked me, and I could feel his concern rising.
“You can’t hear that?” I shouted.
“Hear what?” he asked. I could barely hear him over the roaring thrum.
“Argh!” I growled, pushing my hands to my ears more firmly. “It’s so loud!”
Alexi grabbed me around my shoulders and guided me from the room, pushing the door closed behind us. I could still hear the pulse of the crystal beyond the door, but it was significantly dulled. I leaned heavily against the door and sighed.
“I’m ok,” I told Alexi, his concern mounting. “But there’s something I should tell you.”
“What is it?” he asked.
“I can… I know this sounds weird, but I can feel your emotion,” I said.
“Another ability? How many could you possibly have?” Alexi asked.
I was wondering the same thing. Would this never-ending discovery of new abilities never end? It was especially frustrating now that I could no longer actively use them. Then something occurred to me that I thought I should mention to Alexi.
“I just thought of something,” I said. “This new ability to sense emotions… it seems to be passive. It’s kind of like my charm ability. I can use it without realizing it. How can I stop that? Doesn’t that mean I’m constantly using abilities without even knowing it?”
Alexi began to rub his chin, and his concern thickened. “This is problematic,” he said.
“What should we do?” I asked. “I thought the crystal was helping me overcome the darkness, but I can’t even go into the room with it. When I fed… something happened. The hum of the crystal is so loud now… I can’t be near it!”
“There is one option,” Alexi said, but I could feel a new emotion. Sympathy?
“What?” I asked cautiously.
“I would rather not concern you with it until it becomes clearly necessary,” he told me.
“Just tell me,” I demanded. “Don’t keep things from me.”
“We could contact Galen,” he said.
My breath hitched as the implication began to mull in my brain. Galen. His ability was to drain the abilities of others away from them. And there was no way to return them.
“Oh, no, not that,” I whispered. “There must be another way.”
“If there is, we will find it,” Alexi promised me. “But the option exists if it becomes necessary.”
“Do you think that will rid me of the darkness for good?” I asked.
“More than likely it will,” Alexi said. ”There are, of course, no guarantees.”
“So you mean I could lose all of my abilities and still have this inside me?” I gasped.
“Please do not worry about this right now,” he said, stroking my hair. “Perhaps this will all resolve itself in time.”
The problem was, time was the one thing we didn’t have.
Chapter Nine
The next morning, I told Alexi I felt that I needed to brush up on information about werewolves, and he took me to the library and collected a number of books for me to study. As he was gathering books and placing them on a table for me, I was scanning the shelves and happened to notice a book about potion making. I’m not sure why, but I pulled the book from the shelf and began to read.
Potion makers come from all walks of life. Vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, and even humans can make excellent potion makers. In order to become a master of potions, one must be proficient at detecting the subtle nuances of scent and flavor that distinguish the perfect blend of ingredients from one that might be disastrous, thus a highly-developed palate and sense of smell are crucial.
I gasped aloud and nearly dropped the book. Alexi was at my side in a flash, taking my hand as if I were about to faint. I giggled at his concern.
“Look at this,” I said, pouting to the passage I’d just read.
“Yes, and?” Alexi urged me to explain.
“Jamie has a great sense of taste and smell,” I pointed out. “Maybe she could learn to make potions!”
“That is a possibility,” Alexi said. “Some of the best potion makers were human.”
“I can’t wait to tell her about this!” I squealed. “She’s been wanting to feel more useful, and this could be the perfect thing for her!”
“The Council rarely uses potions anymore,” Alexi said.
“Then we should start,” I told him. “Some of these potions look extremely useful.”
“Potions can be useful if they are made by a potions master, but it can take decades to reach that level,” Alexi said. “That is why we rarely use them. We cannot take chances on failed potions made by amateurs.”
“If anyone can learn this stuff quickly, it’s Jamie,” I said confidently. “I want to get her started right away. If nothing else it will make her feel like she’s truly needed. And trust me, I know what it’s like to feel useless.”
“We will tell her about it at the first opportunity,” Alexi promised. “For now, I have the books you requested.”
“Great!” I chirped, sliding into a chair and setting the potion making book down to exchange it for one on werewolves.
I read for most of the morning, even forgetting to eat breakfast. My stomach was grumbling, but I hardly felt it. Reading about the wolves was much more interesting, and I became so thoroughly absorbed that I didn’t even hear Jamie enter the library.
“There you are!” she said.
Startled, I jerked and my head shot toward her. I smiled excitedly and beckoned her with a hand to come over. “Come here, I have something for you!”
As she approached the table, I thrust the potion making book into her hand. She peered down at it, her face awash with confusion.
“What’s this?” she asked, opening the cover and thumbing through the pages.
“It’s a book on making potions,” I explained. Then I turned to the passage I’d read earlier an said, “Read this.”
Her eyes scanned the page for a moment, and then they widened. Her lips parted, but she said nothing. I could see her eyes moving as she re-read the passage.
“Do you really think I could do this kind of thing?” she asked. “It sounds so complex.”
“It says right there than you need a highly-developed palate and sense of smell,” I told her. “That’s you to a T. And you’re so smart! I know you could pick this up quickly, and it would be extremely helpful to us. Will you try?”
“Of course I’ll try,” she answered. “If you think it would really help you, I’d love to
try.”
I squealed and clapped my hands together, and then I jumped out of my seat and threw my arms around her neck. She chuckled lightly as the book was squashed between us.
“I’ll try on one condition,” she said.
“What?” I asked suspiciously.
“That you let me fix you something to eat,” she said. “It’s after noon already!”
I smiled and said, “Deal!”
*****
Back in the dining hall I was craving a couple of my favorite comfort foods, and Jamie set to making them right away. I studied the werewolf book I’d brought with me while I waited.
I’d already learned a lot that morning. The books debunked a lot of the myths surrounding werewolves — mostly the stuff you read about in human stories and see in movies. For example, you don’t need a silver bullet to kill one. A regular one will do. But the do heal incredibly fast, and if your bullet doesn’t land in precisely the right place, the wolf will heal before the bullet does any real damage.
They don’t need a full moon to shift, although they are much more powerful during the full moon and they do tend to shift for the first time during a full moon. There’s something about a full moon that brings them more power — kind of like when a vampire feeds on human blood. That’s why they tend to shift for the first time during a full moon.
The first shift can happen anytime during a wolf’s first eighteen years, but it generally happens between the ages of twelve and sixteen. Rarely a wolf doesn’t shift until they are in their twenties, and a few before they are five, but the vast majority shift sometime after going into puberty.
They’re tough, they’re strong, they’re fast, and they have excellent senses of smell and hearing. This makes them a lot harder to kill than one would think, but not impossible.
Just like a lot of the lore that surrounds vampires is false and mostly made up by humans to sell books and movies, the same holds true for werewolves. In fact, they’re very similar to humans, just as vampires are. We just have some idiosyncrasies that set us apart. Like the vampire need for human blood and the werewolf’s ability to shift.
Werewolves live in packs. Loners are very rare. These packs are led by a head wolf called the Alpha. This Alpha is may be chosen through a number of different means such as defeating the current Alpha in battle, being born into the position (thus inheriting it when their parent passes away) or through a vote in some instances.
Werewolves cannot turn a human into a wolf just as vampires cannot turn a human into a vampire. They can interbreed with humans or vampires, but the result is offspring that are entirely werewolf. Because werewolf genes are dominant, they override the genes of the non-wolf parent completely.
It was all such tremendously interesting stuff that I didn’t even hear Jamie place my lunch tray on the table. Alexi nudged me and I was startled. I looked at Jamie like a deer in headlights.
“Lunch?” Jamie asked.
“Oh, gosh, I’m sorry!” I said.
I glanced down at my plate and I was immediately assaulted by the heavenly scent of pizza and french fries. My mouth began to water immediately.
“Can I have some…” I started to say.
Jamie pointed, and as I followed the direction of her finger I noted the bottle of ketchup on the corner of the tray. I blushed.
“Thanks,” I said. “You remembered.”
“You like a little french fry with your ketchup,” she giggled.
I proceeded to douse my fries in so much ketchup that you could barely see a little pale yellow sticking out at the edges. Yep, definitely a little french fry with my ketchup.
Lunch consisted of a big slice of cheese pizza with a thin, doughy crust. I know most people tend to prefer their crust a bit crispy, but I like mine soft and pale. I had my fries, of course. And some carrot sticks with ranch dressing. I rarely ever had a lunch or dinner without them anymore. And of course my traditional Dr. Pepper.
I dove into my lunch and practically inhaled it. Alexi had asked for a sandwich of some sort while I was reading, and he was not even halfway through by the time I had finished my meal.
I picked up the book and dove back in. I’d learned a lot, but in truth I was hoping I could discover something that might give us the edge in the battle against the pack that was threatening Logan’s. We couldn’t have an enemy of Alexi’s in such close proximity. He might, after all, give safe passage to our enemies and make it easier for Dmitri to attack us. Not only that, but Carson himself might lead an attack on the compound.
My eyes were starting to go a bit wonky from all the reading, and my vision began to blur. The words just melded together, and I pinched my fingers over my eyelids and rubbed them.
“You should take a break,” Alexi said, wiping his mouth. I noticed his plate was finally empty.
“I will,” I said. “I just need to find something that can help us. Logan and his pack are counting on us.”
“Admittedly, I do not know as much about the wolves as I would like,” Alexi said. “Perhaps there may be something useful in there. But you must not get your hopes up or wear yourself out looking.”
“I feel like I have to,” I said. “What if Carson were to bring his pack to attack right now? I really don’t know what we could do about it since I can’t use my abilities.”
“We outnumber them,” Alexi reminded me. “Carson’s pack may outnumber Logan’s, but it certainly does not outnumber us.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said. “But I’d still feel better if I could find the silver bul… err… I mean, if I could find something that would give us the ultimate edge.”
“I would say that you worry too much, my darling, but I know that you would quickly counter that I worry far more, and you would be right,” Alexi said, a hint of a smile tugging at one corner of his lips.
His levity surprised me, and I smiled at him. Leave it to Alexi to inject a bit of jarring humor into a situation that had be incredibly stressed out.
“Silly,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
“I have an idea,” Alexi said. “Why do we not gather our friends and family and get them to help you do your research? Many heads are better than one.”
“That’s a great idea!” I said. “Let’s see who we can find to help.
“I’ll help,” Jamie said behind me.
I turned to see her clutching the potion making book in her arms and I said, “I think you’d be better off studying that.” I nodded toward the book. “You are such a whiz in the kitchen that I think it would be right up your alley, and some of those potions are incredibly powerful.”
“Just be careful,” Alexi warned her. “Potions can be extremely dangerous if they are not mixed properly. They are quite volatile. Start with the easiest ones first and make sure you have perfected them all before you even attempt anything more advanced.”
“Oh, I know,” Jamie responded. “I took chemistry class and this seems similar. I aced the class. And they made us start out with the simple stuff.”
Max and Denise had left the compound for the afternoon for date night, but Kai and Liam were both eager to help. My brother was in the middle of practicing his ability, but he promised to join us as soon as he had tired of practicing.
We headed back to the library and everyone took a book and began to pour through the dusty old volumes. The library was silent aside from the rustle of flipping pages and an occasional sneeze from the dust that drifted lazily through the air, sparkling in shafts of light.
I was chewing my fingernail and had just about given up on finding anything useful when I spotted a passage that read:
Werewolves has few weaknesses, but they are violently allergic to the Wolf’s Bane potion, which can be created by only the most gifted potion makers. When shot with a dart or arrow laced with this potion, werewolves will immediately begin to exhibit the symptoms of a typical allergic reaction, including swelling of the face and extremities, difficulty breathing and sometimes even deat
h. When not deadly, the potion drastically weakens the wolf, making him more susceptible to other types of attack.
“This is it!” I gasped. “Listen!”
I read the passage aloud to the others, but their faces were mostly stoic. Alexi glanced at Liam, who only shook his head sadly in response.
“Guys, this could give us a huge advantage!” I nearly shouted, waving my hands dramatically.
“Darling, I do not mean to disappoint you, but we do not have a potion maker at our disposal,” Alexi said gently.
“Sure we do,” I said. “Jamie.”
“Jamie has not yet made her first potion,” Alexi argued. “It will take her years to attain the level of skill required to make Wolf’s Bane, if not decades. Most never reach such a level.”
“Jamie can do it,” I said confidently. “She can do anything.”
“If she even attempts this potion, it could kill her,” Alexi warned me. “The fumes alone could kill her if she fails to get the exact proportions.”
“Then she will wear a gas mask,” I said.
“A gas ma…” Alexi stopped his words, clearly growing frustrated. He sighed and then continued, “Darling, wearing such a device would severely impede her ability to smell the potion to sample for its viability or to see the ingredients carefully enough to measure them accurately. She could not make potions wearing it.”
“Damn!” I cursed, slamming the book shut and sending a cloud of dust rising in a poof. “We can’t endanger her life. Maybe we can find someone who can make it.”
“I will try,” Alexi promised. “But potion makers are rare these days, and most never reach such a pinnacle. It is unlikely we could find someone, especially on such short notice.”
“We are the Council. We must know someone,” I said.
“We know many people,” Alexi said. “But what you are asking is nothing short of a miracle.”
“Well, we need a miracle,” I said. “Start looking.”
“I will make some calls,” Alexi said. “Liam?”
“I’ll stay with her,” Liam said.
“Thank you, brother,” Alexi said.
He bent to kiss me comfortingly on the head as he was so apt to do, and he breezed from the room to make his phone calls. I plopped my head onto the closed book in frustration.
