The Hunters Saga #2: The Wolfsbane Rubies

Chapter 14: Code Red

A/N: Heeey, everybody! :D Chapter 14 is here! ^_^ Eventful chapter ahead, I hope you enjoy ;) Took me a long time to write today so time to relax (and bite my nails in anticipation at your reactions) :P Enjoy, and thanks for reading! <3

Chapter 14: Code Red

   It took me up until noon to convince Ethan to call Hannah Bellz. The secretary was also a record keeper, which meant she practically ran the Manhattan Archives.

   Now, the Archives, like the Agency, were stationed underground, under New York. Specifically the New York Public Library. You know... Big white-marbled building held by pillars? Large steps with gigantic lions flanking them? Anyway, since the NY Public Library was a place of research, it should've been a no-brainer that all of the records of the supernatural community were stored down below.

   At least it made sense to me.

   The Archives were vast, but surprisingly organized by year.

   Origin story, anyone?

   Okay, here's the gist: once upon a time, there was a man – his name was Oliver Blackwell – who fell in love with two women – a witch and a human named Charlotte. I'm sure you can guess where this is going...

   Long story short: the witch cursed Oliver to be forever alive and indestructible, but also to have an insatiable taste for blood. The witch made him the first vampire, the first immortal predator, all because the guy had chosen Charlotte over her. What, you ask, happened to the human? She was eventually turned by her lover into the second vampire ever created.

   What an honor.

   To make matters even worse, for revenge purposes, Oliver murdered one of the witch's sons and turned him into a vampire. That greatly angered the Father, a warlock of unbelievable powers, almost as much as the witch herself. The warlock cursed Oliver's followers – the loyal group of people who aspired to be immortal as well – to become wolves; wolves that had great strength, agility, and, above all, intelligence. The warlock made the wolves enemies of Oliver, Charlotte, and every other vampire in existence. The lycanthropes had limitations in the curse that had been bound with the power of the moon; they could only become their beastly self every full moon. This was a great burden on many of them.

   Of course, the whole full moon myth has somehow faded into nothing but lies. Weres can actually turn at will, contrary to the legend. Hmm...

   No one really knows when this all took place, which was a real problem in our search for the original witch's spell book. We didn't even have a name... or did we?

   Hannah was already in the Archives when I arrived at the underground library of sorts. The pixy-bodied college student with chocolate brown eyes looked happy to see me. She already had a load of books in front of her, a few brand new and shiny, while the rest looked older than the NY Public Library itself. One book in particular was open to a random page, the one Hannah had been looking at before I came, obviously.

   I gave her a small wave. "Anything on the witch?"

   She shook her head slightly. "Nothing yet. It's taking me a while to find the origin story account."

   I took in the dimly-lit room, which vaguely reflected the library periodical room above us. The shelves were lined with book after book, some falling apart at the seams, while others looked newly bought and polished. I grabbed a random book from the shelf, a leather bound that held the... strengths and weaknesses of vampires, written decades – maybe centuries – ago. I glanced Hannah's way and held up the book. "They're sorted by date, right? So, it should be-"