Page 29 of Savage Desire

“I know, but unfortunately, I don't get to make the rules. I may only aid you the best I can.”

“What's different about the books in here?” I ask and she beams as she takes a moment to bask in the knowledge lining the walls.

“The difference with these books is they will help you to understand the abilities and lineage of not just yourself, but other supernatural beings. It will also show you historical examples and times where the human world has been threatened by our presence, and how the right thing has been done to keep us a secret.”

“I don't understand how or why we're a secret,” I admit, the realization finally dawning on me. I feel like I've been walking around in a haze since I arrived here, clinging to the Florentine drapes that hang from my shoulders. It feels like I'm finally having the cover ripped off my head, and it's as if I've accepted a world I know nothing about.

Although, I don’t feel like there is an alternative outcome to choose. The only option I have is survival.

“It's a lot to wrap your head around, Polaris. Which is why I recommend you start in the left section. Over there, you'll find information that will break down each quad so you can begin to learn and better understand this world we have to navigate.” I nod like it makes sense, but it doesn't, and she takes it as my gospel truth and leaves, clicking the bookcase closed behind her.

The other students pay me no mind, continuing to read through the books before them as I turn in the direction she recommended. Taking a few steps, I run my finger over the closest leather-bound book, gold etched into the spine.

Wolves.

I almost scoff at the irony that this is the first book I find, but despite the chuckle it gives me, I pull it from the bookshelf, eagerto learn more. Scanning the section, I find another book that is paramount to our history.

The Source of the Blood Curse

Happy with my first two choices, I'm ready to find myself a spot to delve into them, but another book catches my eye. Before I can change my mind, I grab that one too.

Vampires.

If they're going to keep coming at me, I'm going to need to understand everything there is to know about them.

Making my way to the far right side of the space, where nobody else is seated, I find a purple bean bag tucked in the corner and take a seat, crossing my legs and getting comfortable.

I stare at the three books before me, unsure where to begin.

There are a lot of facts to learn, but really, I need to start where it all began: the blood curse.

The tattered black leather is worn, the pages feeling flicked through one thousand times before as I gently open the book and stare at the first page. The table of contents runs on the right hand side, listing off the random sections to better understand the blood curse, but starting at the top seems prudent.

There's no use skipping forward when it’s the beginning I’m trying to understand.

Turning the page, I clear my throat, taking a deep breath as I relax into the words. Line after line, pain after pain. Someone's perspective is written about the casting witch who cursed us all as blood kins.

I can't really connect with the words, understand them, or wrap my head around most of them, and it's only when I turn thepage to find a passage of text in a cursive font standing out from the rest of the book that everything begins to make sense.

It takes me a moment, but when realization dawns on me, I gape in surprise. Written, right there among the secondhand knowledge, are words straight from the witch herself. I draw the pages closer, finally letting the words sink in.

Once I loved, once I felt, once I grew, once I drowned in sorrow, once I felt the pain of their bow and arrow.

I was theirs, and they were mine. Love had conjured and intertwined.

Six as one, one from all. Blessed by destiny, we shall never fall.

You take from me, I take from you. You never shall start anew.

Take my love, steal my breath. You shall receive my kiss of death.

My love was stolen at just twenty-two, and now that same burning demise shall come for you.

You shall not walk this path alone, but never shall you feel at home.

Fight for your worth, fight for your spirit, fight for the hand to receive your ticket.

Shattered into pieces, wholly mistreated, I will continue to ensure history is repeated.

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