The Ancient Books

  A Young Adult Werewolf Romance Story

  by Gabby Stone

  all rights reserved copyright 2012 by Northern Starlight Young Adult Press

  Emily and Jared had become quite close, in just a few dates. Emily got butterflies in her stomach whenever she saw him and felt a little embarrassed if he gave her a compliment. Her pale complexion often turned pink, as she blushed. She knew that she definitely wanted to be with him, but she did have a few concerns. His behaviour at times had been a little odd and he seemed to be a little distant at times.

  Emily made her way into town to Megan, for their shopping date. Megan was eager to hear more about Jared. “So? Spill. Tell me everything,” said Megan.

  “He’s amazing. Kind, funny, awesome, handsome, huge and I think I’m falling for him,” said Emily.

  Megan giggled.

  “So, have you?”

  “No,” gasped Emily. She looked sad. “He hasn’t even kissed me yet and he sometimes seems really distant.”

  “Oh,” said Megan. “Maybe he has another girlfriend,” She joked.

  The look on Emily’s face, told Megan to shut up.

  “Does he have a car? Do you have a photo?” said Megan.

  “Yes and no,” said Emily. “He messages me a lot and takes me out, but he doesn’t kiss me. He doesn’t touch me.”

  “Maybe he’s being a gentleman. Maybe you should approach him,” said Megan. “Does he have a friend for me? He sounds cute,” Megan giggled.

  Emily’s face was still very serious. Megan decided she had probably been a little harsh. She put her arm around Emily. “Talk to him. Tell him your concerns. He sounds nice. There’s probably a good reason for his behaviour,” she said.

  “You’re right,” said Emily.

  That night Emily sent Jared a message.

  Jared, I need to talk. Can I see you?

  He replied;

  I was thinking the same thing. Let’s meet tomorrow.

  They arranged to meet in the local park, the next afternoon. “I need to talk to you Jared. I feel like something is wrong and …”

  “You’re right Emily,” Jared interrupted. “This is about me and I need to tell you something and I need you to sit down.”

  “Why? What’s wrong Jared?” she whispered.

  She was nervous. She had discussed her fears with Megan and sensed that something wasn’t completely right, but was now really anxious that her fears were being confirmed. Something was very wrong.

  “Sit down Em,” he said and then added, “Please.”

  He held out his hand and led her to the large fallen tree trunk that would act as her seat. She sat down.

  “Emily, the reason I may have seemed distant, is because I’ve tried not to get too close to you. You see, I’m not the same as you,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “There’s no way to be subtle about this Em,” he sighed. “I have really strong feelings for you and I have no other choice than to be honest.”

  He knelt down next to her and took her hand. “You think I am a gentle, human being, but I’m not. I’m part wolf.”

  Emily began to say something, but Jared placed his finger over her lips.“Shush,” He whispered.

  “Any time the moon is full, I turn into a monster. I have to be chained down, so that I don’t hunt for flesh and blood. I am a werewolf, Emily and I’m afraid of what I might do to you, if I suddenly change.”

  He removed his finger from her lips. She wanted to scream at him that he was crazy, but somehow she knew with absolute certainly that he spoke the truth. It was the same strange compulsion that had indicated to her right from the start that she was not only drawn to him but completely and helplessly attached to him. She didn’t believe him, she just knew.

  “OK,” She said calmly. “So how do we cure you?”

  “Cure? There is no cure. I was born werewolf and that’s how I’m going to remain forever.”

  “But does that mean that we can’t be together?” She lifted up her arms. “What does it mean for us?” Her pale skin now, was even more so, and her rose tinted cheeks had faded.

  “Emily I’m a monster. When I change, I kill. I desire flesh and blood and can only think of that. I don’t want you to see me in wolf form, ever. I don’t know what I would do to you and for that I’m afraid,” he said. His eyes were filled with wild pain.

  Emily slid herself from the tree trunk and sat down next to him. She moved her hand towards his face and began to trace her fingers over his skin. It was really warm. She moved her fingers through his beautiful dark curls. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered. “I can’t see my life without you, Jared. There must be something we can do.”

  “Emily this is serious. Both my parents were killed in a wolf war. The world I come from is violent and ugly.”

  “There must be a way you can become human, or a way you can control it,” she said. “Have you spoken to your grandfather about it?”

  “He barely talks about it. Since we lost my mother, Joe detached himself completely. He moved as far away from the life as he possibly could. He removed us from the pack and joined us to a remote pack here. The remote pack support us, they do not want to be part of the violence and murder either. We don’t have much power between us. We follow some simple rules together and try to keep the remote pack as strong as possible.” She started to interrupt, but he held up his hand. “The reality, Emily is that we are beasts. We just have to chain ourselves up at the right times and try to be insignificant. We don’t really think about anything other than staying out of sight, at least that part of it. We still have some of the ancient literature in the house, but Joe has it hidden away. He is afraid of losing me. Apart from the remote pack, he’s washed his hands of anything to do with the life.”

  “Were you meeting the pack, the first time I saw you?”

  “Yes. I was getting permission to go to university in September,” he said. “Even in a remote pack, we have to run everything by each other.”

  Emily hugged in her knees and let out a sigh.

  “So what do we do then?” she questioned.

  “We remain friends. I cannot have you in my life romantically; I need to keep my distance. I cannot risk you getting hurt Emily,” he said.

  Her heart stabbed at the thought of no romance, but Emily already had a plan in her mind.

  “When is the next full moon?”

  “In two days,” he said. “You won’t see me on the day leading up to it, or that night.

  Emily was not prepared to remain friends; she wanted Jared and was determined to have him. For this, there was no negotiation. She had made up her mind.

  ***

  Two days later, Emily waited for dusk and dressed herself in black, like a burglar. She collected her father’s torch from the garage and made her way to Jared’s house. She knew it wouldn’t be long before they were chaining themselves up in the basement. She climbed the tree opposite the cottage and sat waiting. She pulled on her black beanie hat and tucked in her red curls. She watched the house for a while. The dim light inside had not changed and there was no activity. She was sure that this would be her moment. They would definitely be in the basement by now.

  She climbed down carefully from the trusty old oak tree and moved to the front of the cottage, trying her best to think like a ninja. She began to search. Under the door mat and behind the wooden carving to the right of the main door. Nothing. She looked to the left, there was an arrangement of large, decorative rocks. She lifted the largest one.

  “Bingo,” she whispered.

  She carefully removed the rock to reveal a key. It’s 2012 and people still hide spare keys. Awesome. She put the key in the door and let herself into the cottage. The narrow hallway had two doors that she opened. One was the kitchen and the other the toilet. She could see the lounge at the end of the hallway. She decided that if Joe had locked away the family werewolf secrets, everything she needed would surely be in his bedroom. She tucked the torch in her pocket, the light from the lounge was all she needed. She gently crept up the stairs, there was a small lamp on, in the landing. All three doors were ajar on this floor, she could see that behind one was the bathroom and the other two, bedrooms.

  She identified Jared’s room immediately because his jacket was on the bed. She entered Joe’s room on tip toes, one of the floor boards let out a small creak. She took in a deep breath and waited. She could hear something from downstairs. She moved behind the bedroom door and the something she could hear was now making its way up the stairs. Her heart began to beat fast and she could barely breathe she was so scared. She scanned the room desperately looking for somewhere to hide. No wardrobe, nothing. She would have to stay right where she was. Someone was entering the room, it must be Joe. He moved to the chest of drawers and removed a box from one of the drawers. He stopped and momentarily glanced around the room. It was as if he could sense something. He eventually continued out of the room and closed the door. She heard the door lock and then Joe moved down the stairs.

  Emily stood frozen. Her internal dialogue was whirring around in her mind. She was safe for now. He had not caught her, but she was now locked in the bedroom. She didn’t want to think about how she was going to get out just yet, she needed to focus and find the information she came for. She switched on her torch and looked under the bed and through the dark wood drawers. Nothing. There was nothing else in the bedroom. She made her way back to the door and heard the same creak from befor

e.

  “I wonder?” She whispered.

  She crouched down, frog-like to the ground. She moved her hands around the wooden floor, one of the boards was a little uneven. She placed her torch on the floor and could see that this board was different. She placed her fingers around it, it came away easily. She shone in her torch and took out a metal box. She opened the box and inside was probably everything she needed. Debating about what to do, she decided that she would read through everything there and then. If she stole it, Joe would find out and then she would be in a whole heap of trouble. She took out the papers and an old looking book. The TITLE read, DEATH STALKERS PACK LAWS.

  Emily opened the narrow book. She knew that Jared had said he was a monster, but knowing they were called Death Stalkers gave her chills. Staring at this book, confirmed everything Jared had said. His lust for flesh and blood was real, he was a stalker of death. She read through the book carefully, the illustrations were ugly. Werewolves eating their prey, blood and human body parts scattered throughout the pages. Emily continued to read. It explained about the effects on the body and how their strength could not be matched. How the continuous regeneration of the body changing from human to werewolf kept them almost immortal. Emily eventually found the section that dealt with the destruction of the Wolf.

  A solitary tear fell from her eye, she still wanted Jared. He hadn’t chosen to be a monster, he was born into it. He was gentle and kind, his eyes dark and sad. Her heart skipped as she thought of him, her gentle monster. She continued to read. She realised that his only hope would be to retrieve the Ancient Serum, a substance stored away in the pack headquarters in Paris. The book said that the journey to collect the serum was very challenging for even the strongest of wolves. The wolf that successfully retrieved the serum, would be able to make the choice to become human. The book also said that up until now, no wolf had succeeded and many had died during their hunt to collect this gift of becoming human.

  Emily closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She concluded that the wolves that had already failed to retrieve the serum, were most probably trying to complete the journey alone.

  “Jared, you will not be alone,” she whispered. “I will help you and you will succeed,”

  She tore out the relevant pages and slipped them in her pocket. Hopefully if Joe had hidden the book, he did not regularly read it. The missions that Jared would have to complete were detailed with specific instructions. She needed to be able to study them in order to explain it all to him. She replaced the metal box into the floor and popped the wooden panel back in place. She looked towards the window, that’s how she would get out of the house.

  She studied the window, she was lucky it was the sash style. She would be able to raise it and close it behind her and it would automatically lock. This would remove any trace of her being there. She slid the white frame upwards and carefully stepped out onto the thin, white wooden sill. She slid the window back into its frame, it locked itself with a click. It wasn’t until now that she realised there was nothing else to step onto. She would have to jump to the ground. The cottage wasn’t very tall, but it was still a bit of a drop. She decided to just hope for the best. She began to sway forward and jumped.

  THE ANCIENT BOOKS continues the story of Emily and Jarod that started with MEETING THE WEREWOLF and is the second chapter of the exciting new series EMILY AND THE WOLF from Northern Starlight Young Adult Press. It’s volume two of book one, JAROD’S QUEST. Can an average teen girl help a young werewolf gain control of the demon within him? And if he can’t keep his animal under control, how can either of them be safe? And why are there so many strange things happening that make Emily think plenty of people would rather he never got a handle on his condition? Northern Starlight Young Adult Press presents the finest in young adult fiction.

 

 

  Gabby Stone, The Ancient Books

  Thanks for reading the books on GrayCity.Net