Marshall Twins [2 - Twins Series]

8 - The Brothers That Care Forgot

Book: Marshall Twins
Chapter 8
Word Count: 2446

Hayley, Avery, Jackson, and Aiden were outside of Jackson's trailer, discussing their current problems.

"The wolves are freaking out. They know it had to be an insider who took down Vincent last night, seeing as no one could have been anywhere near him." Aiden stated.

"Did anyone suspect it was you?" Jackson asked. Aiden shook his head.

"No, not yet. But, they're gonna figure it out, which pretty much means I'm screwed unless we come up with a plan."

"Call a meeting. The whole pack, tonight. If they're so scared, now's the perfect time to convince them they need to ditch Esther." Avery spoke up. Aiden held up his hand, on which he wore a familiar-looking silver ring with a black stone.

"She gave them moonlight rings."

"Those rings make you slaves." Hayley pointed out.

"No! They make us powerful!" Aiden exclaimed. "We were exiles before, but now we run the city! The vampires are scared of us, and nobody, including me, is just gonna walk away from that because--"

Jackson, looking annoyed, stood and approached Aiden before interrupting him.

"Set the damn meeting." Jackson walked away. Avery and Hayley caught up with him near the dock of the pond, where he had just opened a can of beer.

"So, are you gonna work on a rousing speech, or just get day-drunk?" Avery half-joked. Jackson shrugged.

"Little bit of both."

Hayley snatched the beer from him.

"Jackson, it's ten A.M."

Jackson turned away from her and Avery, and went to lean against the boat house. Next to him was a small table covered in books, and he grabbed a brown, leather-bound journal off of the top of a pile.

"You know, for months, I wrote down every single word Ansel said. The entire history of our people. If only I'd known he was Klaus' father, I would have asked him a hell of a lot more. You know, I was up all night looking through this, trying to find something, anything that will help me figure out how to get our people back together." Jackson tossed the book back onto the table.

"Let me guess — no such luck?" Avery said.

"Nothing viable." Jackson sighed. "And now, Ansel's dead... along with Ollie. So, forgive me if I need a beer, 'cause right now, I can use all the help I can get."

Jackson grabbed his drink and walked away. Once he was out of sight, Avery surreptitiously grabbed the brown leather journal so she and Hayley could read it.

---

Jackson was chopping firewood near his trailer when Avery found him. She was alone that time.

"You wanna stop playing mountain-man and explain why you kept this from me?" She held up the brown leather journal, and Jackson sighed before dropping his axe. "Why don't I jog your memory?" She started to read from the journal. "'The werewolves' power can be traced back to the myth of the Unification Ceremony, a ritual that bestowed certain unique abilities onto every member of the pack.' Do you believe this?"

"I didn't at first. And then Ansel swore he saw it with his own eyes." Jackson replied. "And then he dies, and I found out he was resurrected from a thousand years ago, which means he was alive to see it!"

"How did I not know about this?" Avery questioned.

"You didn't grow up out here. Yeah, every kid grows up hearing the stories. Back in the day, werewolf bloodlines were all distinct, right? Some had speed, some had strength, some could sense enemies from miles away. Now, to evolve, we would perform a ritual. A shaman would marry the alphas of each bloodline, and then the special abilities of each would be... inherited, mystically, by everyone who participated in the ritual. See, after a few centuries, everybody had the same abilities, so alpha marriages became political. They became about... power, about territory." Jackson finished. Avery took a moment to silently consider this information.