The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Vera-

*Are you ready? It's almost time,* Sofia mind links me when it's close to midnight.

I'm stretching on the floor, relaxing my muscles and clearing my mind.

*Yes,* I answer.

*Be very careful, I ruffled some feathers at the dinner, especially the Goldmoons, they won't take kindly to any of our party being found outside without an explanation.* *Understood.*

I step inside the bathroom, splashing some water on my face and putting on a tight, long sleeve black shirt.

Then, slowly opening the bedroom door, I step out, nodding at the warrior whose turn it is to keep watch.

He nods back at me.

I check both ends of the hallway to make sure there's no one coming this way; I also listen attentively, making sure everybody is in their rooms and not shuffling about. Exiting the room, I close the door behind me quietly.

Ok then, Dr. Owens said the door was hidden behind a red curtain. It doesn't narrow my search down, almost all of the curtains in this place are red.

I quietly make my way down the main corridor that leads to the kitchen as my eyes adjust to the darkness. Checking behind every red curtain, I have to suppress my need to sneeze; all these curtains are heavy with dust.

It takes me a good twenty to thirty minutes to find the door, but just as Dr. Owens said, there is a tear drop shape marking the ancient wooden door. I place my hands on it, turning the door knob, trying to be as quiet as possible. With a gentle push, the door opens, revealing a set of winding stairs leading to the bottom of the room. There is nowhere else to go, no corridor or aisle; the only way is down.

I close the door behind me, making sure to leave the tiniest gap below it in case it gets stuck and I can't get out. The curtain will cover the door anyway, so not even someone passing by will notice the door has been opened. Slowly, I descend the stairs. The air keeps getting stuffy, moldy. If this is their archive room, I'm truly concerned that if I do find Noah's birth certificate, it won't be in good condition. Once I reach the bottom of the stairs, I allow my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

There are rows and rows of boxes, papers, books, all smelling like rot.

Where do I even begin?

I turn on the flashlight that I brought with me, getting close to one of the first rows of archives. Hopefully the Goldmoons at least have some sort of system in place for safekeeping their documents.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

It takes me several minutes to find any logic to how the boxes are arranged; and even then, most of them are out of place; like someone has been coming in, looking for stuff, and not putting the boxes back in their original location. It's a disaster.

After a few hours of digging through mountains of papers and boxes, Sofia mind links me.

*Anything?" she asks.

*Not yet, this place is a mess,* I reply.

*There's been no movement here so far, just try to make it quick.*

*Copy that."

I know how time sensitive this mission is, but reminding me won't help me find the document faster.

start.

I keep searching, unboxing all sorts of documents: treaty arrangements, deals, history books, censuses, accounting documents, any number of archives, except what I'm looking for. If only I could find a single box with birth certificates or a family tree, it would be a "This is impossible." I whisper to myself, frustrated. I place my fingers on my temples.

Massaging them. I have gone through about half the documents at this point, flipping through every single one of them with no luck.

At this rate, I'll be here until sunrise.

Just then, the hairs on the back of my neck prickle as a small gush of wind comes towards me.

There is no form of ventilation here, meaning someone must have come through the door.

In a few seconds, I hear someone angrily stomping down the stairs.

Quickly, I turn off the flashlight and look for a mountain of boxes to hide behind.

Just as I dive behind the boxes, the main lights of the archive room turn on.

"Who's there?!" Someone yells.

I don't recognize the voice, but whomever it is, he's an Alpha because I can feel his aura. It's rather weak, but an Alpha aura nonetheless. "Nobody is supposed to be here! Show yourself!"

I stay quiet, even holding my breath so that I don't disturb any of the dust around me and give away my location.

The archive room is actually rather large, but there are no other exits as far as I can tell; if this person were to really look for me, they could actually find me.

I hear the person come further into the room, shuffling papers and lifting boxes. Fortunately, or unfortunately, this place is a complete mess; if this person were to look for me it could take him a while, giving me a chance to possible escape unnoticed. "Come on," I think to myself, "you have get out of here."

"I'll find you, you rat!" The voice screams, angrily tossing more boxes up-side down, looking for me.

I quietly crawl to my right, inching closer to the stairs in case I have to make a run for it; I take advantage of the noise he's making and every time he tosses a box in the air, I move closer to the exit.

As I move from pile of boxes to pile of boxes, I also get closer to the person here with me, so I can now smell it; the undeniable stench of alcohol. This person is very drunk.

I peak through a box, trying to figure out who it is.

I nearly gasp.

It's Elliot's grandfather, Alpha Silas; that aloof presence that didn't seem to care about anything during dinner, is angrily, and drunkenly, looking for me now.

This is also Ellie Goldmoon's father and Noah's grandfather.

Think, Vera. Think.

I have to get out of here before he finds me, but I only have two options. Either I wait it out, hoping he gets tired of looking for me and leaves, or I make a run for it. The chances of him seeing me however, are very big. Moreover, one whiff of my scent and he will be able to identify me as Dark Moon.

I sit patiently behind a couple of boxes, close to the stairs, trying to figure out what to do, when the boxes in front of me crumble.

Shit.

"Found you," he says, menacingly, his eyes dilating as he zones into me.

Something I did must have given me away because now I can see he tossed his shoe at the pile of boxes in front of me.

I stare at him wide eyed, my brain in overdrive as I try to think a way out of this. The adrenaline rushing through my body urges me to run, but I know better. He already saw me; he already knows who I am. Even if I were to act dumb when he accuses me of snooping, they'd still believe him over me, even in his drunken state.

Before I can think things through, however, I am forced to act as I see his eyes glaze over. He's mind linking someone, perhaps guards, so they can come escort me out... or worse.

"Wait!" I scream, momentarily distracting him as I jump from behind the boxes and reach out to him.

I'm acting on pure instinct, not even knowing what to expect from my actions. But then I grab his arm, making our skins touch directly.

My only intention was to stop him from mind linking someone, but I'm afraid our touch did much more.

His pupils are now fully dilated, his mouth hanging open. Underneath my hand, his skin is starting to feel clammy and cold.

Shit, shit, shit, I repeat to myself, realizing what I've done.

I close my eyes, taking in a shaky breath.

Inadvertently, I have just plunged us both into my vision of Ellie and Alpha Samael.