First Arrow (Jacob Black) [1]

7. Maid of Geveduan

Jake, Quil, Embry, Seth, Leah, and I gather on the floor in front of Billy and the other council members, the tribe leaders. It's not a meeting, that's not for a few weeks, this is more of a story time thing. I'm tucked into Jake's right side, Seth to his left, Quil and Embry on my right, Leah on the other side of Seth, all of us waiting to hear the legends, but one in particular; The Maid of Geveduan.

Billy and the other's have books amongst books about her. I noticed a few in the garage last time I was home, but they were labeled in French. I left them alone, not wanting to go in over my head. Jake and I lace our fingers together, Embry and Quil sighing, even after all of it, they still swoon over me.

"If any hunter was ever feared more than none, it was the Maid of Geveduan. The first hunter bred from the strongest two bloodlines. An Ellwood and an Argent. She was no ordinary hunter, nothing like the rest, her eyes glow like emeralds, her skin pale like snow. Bred to do one thing; hunt and kill the supernatural. She was stronger than the rest, her senses heightened to a greater extent, her only flaw was breaking code." Billy starts the story and Quil's dad begins to speak.

"The Maid of Geveduan was feared by every living creature. Other than one single body, the wolf who had imprinted on her. The other hunters weren't pleased, they went after the young huntress and the wolf. Hunters come of age at sixteen, leaderships falls to next female of kin after the leader dies. It then falls on the huntress to enforce code. The Argents waited for the huntress to come of age so she could lead them. Little did they know that she had been breaking code all along. The Maid of Geveduan relied on her bow and arrow, she had even learned how to conceal it from others. One thing she could never conceal were her eyes. The people of Geveduan believed that she was a witch, they hunted her and tried to burn her. Little did they know that a wolf had imprinted on her." Billy slightly nods and begins talking again.

"The wolf had saved her and they ran in fear of her family finding out. The young huntress only knew one thing, that she had been saved by a wolf. Running with him would only make matters worse. Her father had hunted them down. He hadn't have found them if she hadn't fired an arrow at the horse her father had traveled on. The huntress protected the wolf from a certain death, nearly killing her father. He had aimed to kill the wolf, but she wouldn't allow it. Her father became belligerent and aimed to then kill them both. Stating code, bringing an unknown emotion to huntress; it was her bravery that had saved them both. It was her bravery that both bloodlines exist. The trigger was pulled on the gun, but an arrow had stopped it. It wasn't the arrow that saved them. An aura had came from the Maid of Geveduan, shielding her and the wolf as the gun exploded. The rest of the hunters had found out about what the young maid had done, they were furious. Not only had she broke code once, but twice. The code still stands the same today. The story of the Maid of Geveduan told on both sides, for the wolves, it's used as a good thing, for the hunters, it is to shame and help keep the code enforced."

"How does it help enforce code?" Embry asks.

"I didn't tell the ending of the story." Billy states.

"What happens?" This time Quil.

"Yeah, how does it end?" Seth looks at the two who told the story. They simply shook their heads. I sighed, I know the story, it's told slightly different to us and in French.

"The hunters went after them and killed her and the wolf. Her last arrow had left her bow as soon as they shot her, the wolf already dead, the arrow hit a tree and caused an explosion killing all of them almost instantly." I answer all of them.

"That's a little morbid to be telling children." Leah scoffs.

"That's why it's written in French, so you can't just pick it up and understand it." I shrug.

"Do you know what the arrow was made of?" Quil's father asks. I nod and pull the arrowhead out of my boot.

"Self igniting gun power and flint." I twirl it in my fingers. "As soons as it's released and hits the target it explodes." I slide it back in my boot. "They're practically forbidden, unless you use it against any supernatural. They say that she was breaking code, her family was hunting her, so technically, no rules were broke."

"What do you mean?" Jake asks softly.

"The code; We hunt those, who hunt us. Her family was hunting her, killing them didn't break code. Them killing her was breaking code."

"But she killed her own father?" Seth says confused.

"Who was hunting her. Her father had broken code."

"Too bad not all hunters think like you, Jazmine." Billy nods toward me and my eyes change and change back.

"Did your eyes just?" Quil starts. Jake smiles at me.

"Yeah, Quil, they did." Jake states. Billy pushed looks forward.

"Look at the pictures." He says. I flip open the book and there she is. The Maid of Geveduan. She looks exactly like me, other than in monotone and her skin is paler. I flip the page again and quirk my eyebrows. "Nobody has ever translated that page." Billy states. My eyes glow and the words pop off the page, turning into English.

"If you can read this, you are now the protector of the wolves. You have been imprinted on by a wolf of the same bloodline as the one who imprinted on me. You can change code for the better. You and I have more in common than you think. We are identical in all but skin. I have already foresaw this. You put great trust in your bow and carry around the last flare arrowhead. Your family looks down on you, but will look up to you when you show them what you are capable of. You are not a hunter, you are a protector."

I close the book and my eyes change back. I open the book back up and my eyes stay the same, the words translated, but only for me. I close the book and a strange marking appears on my wrist. I raise an eyebrow at the mark and stare at it.

You are not a hunter, you are a protector.

The mark darkens and turns into a tattoo. A bow and arrow; the archer.