"Tonight we gather here, for this night is to be the most important night of our time!"
The high priest announced with his low yet vigorous voice on the high stage, and the whole square fell into silence even though it was filled with people.
"Where are you going?! Jacob!" Ann yelled but Jacob already sprang out of the car even before she could fully stop it.
"But first, we have a little sweet announcement," The high priest curved his lips and his long, white beard jumped a little with his smile, "From the boy of the Family Algood, Jacob Alg--"
"High Priest!" Jacob stopped his dashing just by the edge of the stage, staring at the high priest with begging eyes as he shook his head like crazy.
"Ohh..." The high priest got his hint and murmured, "Well, pity... guess we have to move on then."
Confused whispers spread the crowd, and Jacob could swear he heard one or two laughter as well. Damn them!
"What's wrong?"
An old, slow voice rose behind Jacob suddenly and he jumped at it, only to realize that he had been standing in front of the archbishop this whole time...
It looked as if the old man was soundly sleeping because his eyes were closed, and one could barely see his chest moving. But there WAS a voice coming out of him.
"Well, looks like we are missing one scheduled guest." The high priest tries his best to explain without exposing Jacob's embarrassing secret too explicitly.
"Who?"
"The girl we were to turn tonight." As the high priest said those words, Jacob could hear murmurs rose among the crowd.
Great.
By tomorrow morning everyone would know that he messed up! As if their long suspect of his relationship with a human wasn't bad enough!
Goddamn, Lilith! Jacob cursed to himself. Why couldn't you just listen to me?!
The archbishop simply nodded at the high priest's explanation, and Jacob took it as his own pardon and slip back into the crowd.
The high priest rose his voice again, "No time to waste, I present to you, The Shadow!"
It was as if the whole crowd hold their breath altogether, and the square was in perfect silence, under the moon's shadow.
A wand floated up in front of the high priest.
It was a wand that took the form of wood, but with metal grain in dark indigo carved all over its body. The bottom of it shone a bit watery blue light, like the deep dark ocean, while the tip a shred of ice, showing its sharp edge.
"You all know the history, but I have to bore you again." The high priest said with his arms open as if hugging the wand floating in front of him, and one or two light chuckles emerged from the crowd.
"The alpha of the alphas and the most powerful witch of all time created this wand together, with liquid silver, star ore, perpetual ice, eternal fire, and the flower of life."
The crowd stared at the wand, and the eyes are filled with frantic sparkles.
"Their names are forever to be remembered," Said the high priest in a chanting voice, "Erebus, alpha of the alphas, The Silver Lightning, the Lord! And his mate, Kitty the witch of shadow."
"Wait! HE was a werewolf?! How does that--" Jacob gasped under his voice and Ann hissed at him--
"SHHHHH!!"
"They brought us equality, peace, freedom..." The high priest finally opened his eyes, "And this most wonderful and powerful gift, The Shadow."
The magic bubble surrounding the wand was now gone, and The Shadow just lied there on the table, no longer moving.
It was never awake. It was still in its deep, sound sleep, after the parish of its first master Kitty, waiting for the next owner to appear.
"And tonight, the new owner would appear!" The high priest took a step back from the table to clear the way, " She would bring us light and avoid our doom!!!"
The crowd burst into chanting and started moving frantically like bees with the order of the queen. They quickly lined up by the stage and took their turn to go on there to get their ONE touch at the legendary wand.
One by one they went on, some with cautious humble, and others with plain greed in their eyes, and yet one by one, they left with the same disappointment on their face.
Not everyone can be that lucky.
"The good thing is," Ann sneered at Jacob with her arms held up in front of her chest, "No one will remember your little incident tomorrow."
"Sure, whatever." Jacob grunted sullenly, "So why are you still here?"
"And spare them the disappointment? I'll have my time." Ann giggled so hard as if Jacob just told the greatest joke ever, "Look at their faces!"
She was pointing at the people who just got off the stage, and it was NOT a pretty look.
"So how does it work?" Jacob remembered his question as he and Ann moved at the end of the line, "I thought werewolves couldn't use magic. I mean, that's what differential us from them, no?"
"Right. No werewolf has ever possessed both powers, not since Lord Erebus." Ann rolled her eyes impatiently, "And that's why he was a legend, alright?"
"So how could he--"
"Go pick up a history book and stop bothering me!" Ann hissed at Jacob, "I need to prepare myself."
Flinched at her yelling, Jacob sneered in a small voice: "I thought the wand would recognize the worthy one no matter how you trick it."
Ann shot him a cold glance and Jacob shut up.
They were the last two. The whole crowd was now staring at them.
"What if it was me?" Jacob whispered before he walked towards the wand.
A cold sneer rose at the corner of Ann's lips --
She was there when the high priest first saw the vision in his crystal ball, so she knew a secret that no other knows.
Well, no other except the high priest of course.
But she knew, the most powerful that was supposed to waken The Shadow,
was a witch.
No one before she and Jacob made the wand glow, and that was all the Mages in the town. No one else would and could appear now, it was HERS! Ann stepped up there like a glowing queen, and of course she was in her finest suit -- she even wore a pair of white leather gloves, as a little touch of her elegancy. She put her hand over the wand, and a shadow was cast over The Shadow, making the light reflected on the wand even dimmer. She grabbed the wand and rose her arm over her head! She heard the crowd gasped in sync, and she looked up-- The wand was not glowing. No one spoke. No one even moved. All eyes were on her, and unlike Jacob's little incident, this one they WILL remember. The smile was off Ann's face now. "Wait!" She glanced at the crowd in panic as she tried ripping the gloves off her hand, "It's my gloves... give me a second." The second glove just won't come off. Ann threw the glove she managed
"Oh my God, what happened to you?!" With no answer, Lilith buried her face into Emma's shoulder, knowing her tear-makeup-mixed face would totally ruin Emma's favorite sweater. "Come and sit, you poor thing!" The sweater was no longer Emma's priority now, "Tell me what happened?" "I don't want to..." Lilith mumbled and tears burst out of her at the first sound she made. The water tap won't even spill water like her eyes spilling tears. "What did he do now!" Asked Emma with her teeth clenched, "HE did this to you, didn't he?!" "It was me..." Lilith shook her head, couldn't complete too long sentences, "It was my doing..." "How on earth was that YOUR doing?!" Emma couldn't keep her voice down, "All this because you missed his call?! Are you fucking kidding me--" "No..." Lilith shook her head, sobbing, "It w*-w*sn't like that..." "Then what happened!" Emma let out a frustrated plaint, "Please, Lilith, you are scarin
"Get back here and take care of her!" Hank shouted at Jacob. His rare temper shut Jacob up effectively. "Ann would face a much more severe punishment if this one dies." Hank added in a lower voice. "What do I do!" Jacob turned back to Emma quickly hearing that. "Tell me where Lilith went, please." Hank turned to Emma, who was in a lot of pain and was at the edge of losing her consciousness. "I know you care about Lilith, and I'm the only one who can save her now." Hank fixed his eyes on Emma, "You don't want Ann to hurt her, right?" "Sh-she is leaving town," Emma said with great hardship, "Hig-highway 18, she's bound to take that one..." "She owns you her life." Hank nodded before he put her finger on Emma's forehead and she fell into a deep sleep. "I have stopped the bleeding for now," Hank told Jacob briefly, "Take her back to your house and your mom will know what to do. Do NOT take her to a hospital, do you understa
"What--?!" Ann took a step back in shock, "What are you talking about?!" "Well," The man shrugged, "I just thought it's a wand you have there in your hand, is it not?" "Ohh..." Ann looked down at her own hand with a relieved exhale, "Sorry...It's just...from a gift shop..." "I see." The man nodded with a polite smile, "A very exquisite souvenir, it seems." "It IS beautiful, isn't it?" Ann mumbled. All she could think of was how she told Jacob not too long ago about how love doesn't matter, yet she felt so powerless in front of this mysterious man smiling in front of her. "Please, we need your help." Said the man with not even a shred of hasty in his voice, "Could you call an ambulance? The girl is badly hurt." "Hmm, yes of course!" Ann pulled out her phone from her jacket and started dialing, only to see the man curve his lips at her. Damn it! Now he knew she was lying about the light from her palm because she J
"High priest!" Ann gasped as she looked down to her own hand, which was what took away Hank's breath. Because in Ann's hand, The Shadow was now glowing. Dimly, but the glow was still there. "How?! I mean... how did it happen?" Hank stammered as he started walking towards Ann. His attention was no longer on the crashing scene. "By the time I got here, she already crashed the car..." Ann started with an improvised lie. There was no one to expose her anyways. "What?! You mean Lilith?" Hank took a gasp as he blinked in confusion, "Where is she?" "She was taken to the hospital." Ann said, "I called the ambulance right away as I got here." "That's good." Hank nodded, still in shock, "So what happened to The Shadow? How was it wakened?!" "I don't know..." Ann handed The Shadow back to Hank, "I was so worried about Lilith when I saw all these, and before I knew, The Shadow was already in my hand with its whole b
"Feeling better?" A deep, rough voice rose beside Lilith, but she couldn't seem to understand it. She felt as if the whole world was twirling around her when she finally managed to move a little, and she could barely feel her own eyelids. "Don't move, you hit your head pretty hard." The man covered his palm softly on Lilith's forehead so she won't rip her wound open. "Who are you..." Lilith opened her mouth but her throat was so dry that even she could barely hear herself. "No rush on talking." The man moistened his finger with water and stroked her lips as soft as possible, "You will feel better after you drink some water." There was little struggle Lilith could put up before her world went dark again. The man pushed the button by the side of the bed: "Nurse, get Dr. Sarla, please." "Yes, Mr. Gaumond." Edmund gazed at Lilith for long before he finally closed his bloodshot eyes. He barely slept in the pa
"What's going on?!" "Shhhhhhh!" "It's boss's first mate! I want to--" "A werewolf only gets ONE mate, stupid! What do you mean by 'first'?!" "Well, I MEAN, he can reject it!" "That would hurt her!" "So?!" "Just shut up! Boss will hear you!" Edmund DID hear them. He wasn't sure whether Lilith could hear them though, or if she cared to-- Cause she was crying, quietly but with tears falling down her cheeks nonstop as if there was a snow mountain inside her head melting. How could one cry so much without drinking water...? Edmund sighed in his mind as he handed over another tissue, seeing the last one was soon soaked wet. Whispers rose like bee buzz right outside of the ward door as if someone stole their queen bee. Edmund frowned at himself when he landed on that metaphor. "So..." Lilith finally managed to slow down her tears a bit, "Are you a doctor?" "Hmm?" Edmund blinked as he tri
"What are you talking about?" Edmund dragged Buster a bit further from the ward door as he hissed under his breath. The last thing he needed right now was for Lilith to think that she was abducted! "Sir, before we stop the investigation on her," Buster started with the safest sentence he could find, "We found out that she's currently living with her friend, Emma." "I know, it was in the report." With a shred of frustration in his voice, Edmund hissed under his breath with his eyes fixed on the ward door. He gave her a command to stay put, yet he was still guarding the room like a little boy hovering over his new toy. "Yes, and by the way, it was also this woman, Emma Brown's car that Miss Hayes was driving when she crashed it." Buster continued hastily, seeing Edmund's impatience growing. "And?" Edmund closed his eyes with a deep frowning, trying to keep his temper in control. "And..." Buster hesitated and that