Narcia and Liam followed the woman down the library, mountains of books were scattered all around them. Liam could easily count over 30 shelves of books stationned here.
"I've yet to see such a big library... And the place is very pretty. It reminds me of a cathedral." Liam said as Narcia chuckled, shaking her head in amusement.
"It used to be one a hundred years ago, but it was also overrun with witches amongst the people. They all got burned at the stake, and my family took over this place about 50 years ago while they were being led by my grandfather who was in searchfor a new territory." Narcia said as Liam nodded, finally reaching the end of the corridor.
"Here you go, miss. Behind this door is all of the documents you need. Please make sure to be out before 5 o'clock as the door locks automatically and can not be reopened until tomorrow." The lady said before she walked away, leaving Liam and Narcia alone.
"I used to hate this room as a kid. It was like a homemade nightmare." She said as she opened the door. The entire room was filled with a few hundred shelves, all full of files and containers that had more files. Liam blinked a few times in astonishment. He had never seen anything like this. It reminded him a lot of those rooms in investigation television shows.
"We need to look for things alphabetically. Everything is kept neatly, so it shouldn't be a problem. I just don't know where the letter R is, so we will have to look around. I need the documentation for the recovery and damage report." Narcia said as Liam groaned, looking up to the high ceiling of the room.
"I sure hope we dont have to reach on those 10 feet tall shelves."
"I don't think so. My dad is 6 ft 4 inches. It can't be higher than him, or else he wouldn't be able to reach for it every weekend." She said as Liam walked forward, skimming the books softly. He could read a few that were there, like the economy of the pack, future plans, forest patrols, grand openings, or even general requests.
"Well, this area starts with the letter E, this one with the letter F, and this one starts with the letter G. Assuming this whole set of shelves is that one letter, we can assume that the letter R should be all the way in the back there." Liam said as he pointed to some shelves in the far end of the room.
"I think you could be right, I know that each letter has 2 to 3 rows of itself. Let's get searching so we can leave before the door bolts itself." Narcia said as they both looked at eachother and split up, Liam making his way to the front rows while Narcia went to look to the back ones, it would be more effective once they found the right rows to just convene in the middle.
They had a long way to go.
-
"Are you sure she lives here?" Devan asked Matheo, who groaned and knocked on the door again.
"Yes, I was instructed by Narcia to watch her carefully. I know she lives here." Matheo said before banging on the door. Both of them suddenly started being strangled by an invisible source, both gasping for air.
"What the hell do you want with me, wolf? I have warned your alpha to stay out of... my way... Is that a cannibal!?" She screamed as she blasted Devan away. The poor guy crashed into the ground with a grunt before being pinned down by magic.
"Whoa! Giuliana, he isn't any trouble!" Matheo managed to yell out of his squeezed throat. She slowly released him, glaring at the creature she had pinned down.
"Those monsters are agressive, if they can't eat you, they'll at least tear you to shred and leave you for dead." Giuliana said before Matheo groaned and rubbed his throat.
"He's different. Let him go." Matheo growled, making Giuliana lift an eyebrow. She had made her research on Matheo and had concluded that he was non confrontational, so this was quite a surprise to her. She let Devan go, glaring as the man slowly sat up, glaring back with a frightening intensity. He easily saw the shiver that ran through her, and it pleased him.
"Why are you even here? Surely it's not for fun." Giuliana sarcastically said, making Matheo roll his eyes as Devan slowly stood up and walked over to them, covering his left hand behind his back as skin had gotten ripped off during the fall
"Devan is not a real cannibal. He was born like this."
"And that involves me because?"
"Because I want to be normal. And we need the help of a witch for that." Devan spoke up, determination burning bright in his eyes. Devan wanted to be alive and not fear his skin peeling in public every day. He wanted to grow old and have his mate build a family with him, a happy one. Giuliana clearly seemed surprised by his answer, probably having not expected a cannibal to want to do that.
"Your kind usually thrive in their raw strength and near eternal beauty when well fed. Why would you give that up?" Giuliana asked as she crossed her arms, watching them both carefully.
"I want to live... I want to find my mate and be normal. I'm sick of eating raw animal flesh, or to fear my skin falling off while I am talking to humans. I want to be free of that. Please, you are my only hope." Devan said, making Giuliana blush a bit at the pleading. She didn't expect to meet such a charming man as a cannibal.
"Alright, alright. I will help you two, I have a few books my coven left behind regarding shifters. I will look into them, come in." She said as she released her barrier just big enough for them to pass before closing it again. They could freely leave if they wanted but wouldn't be able to come back in without her intervention.
"What do you need us to do?" Matheo asked as she scanned her fingers off her books, pulling out a few in the process.
"Well, for now, I will need a blood sample from the cannibal."
"Devan. My name is Devan."
"Right... I need a blood sample to identify Devan's animal. Since his father is also a cannibal, there is no telling what kind of shifter Devan is. It is important for the finding of his mate because certain shifters can only have certain mates. We couldn't have a small fox be mated by a huge dragon now, right?" She chuckled a bit, making the both snort before clearing their throats. Devan, however, refused to budge.
"Devan, you need to give her your arm so she can take some of your blood."
"I-I know... I just..."
"Look, I can't help you if you won't trust me." She said in annoyance before his expression saddened, making her frown.
"It's not that... I'm just uncomfortable." He said as he slowly pulled his hand forward, both gasped at the sight, Giuliana quickly covering her mouth as she watched the flesh slowly drip off his hand.
"When did you last eat!?" She quickly said, using healing magic on him as he shrugged.
"Like maybe a few hours ago...?" He said as he thought a bit, Giuliana frowning even deeper.
"That's impossible. You're literally decomposing. That only happens after a few days without any flesh consumption." She said as his eyes widened.
"I eat fresh flesh every few hours to avoid falling apart. It's been like this for a few years now." Devan said before concern showed on her face.
"Why are you worried? Is it bad?" Matheo asked before she slowly nodded.
"You don't have much longer, Devan. Your body is literally dead because of the lack of shifter flesh. Usually, a cannibal can only last 10 years with outside consumption before they perish. How old are you?" She asked, making him rub the back of his neck.
"I'm 26 years old..." He said before Matheo blushed, knowing he was only 19 years old. Giuliana quickly finished healing what she could, bandaging his hand to both male's confusion.
"Won't meat fix him?"
"No, he has run out of time. His body is falling apart." She said as she pointed to the crack that started to form on Devan's neck.
"How long do I have...?" Devan asked as Matheo gulped, making her sigh.
"Let's not focus on that. Matheo? How much latin do you know?"
"I only know its alphabet."
"That is good enough. Read through these two books, and I will deal with the four here. Devan, I am going to take your blood now and examine it." She said as she moved her hands in a snake like motion, puling blood slowly out of his wound, a bit of a grim expression showed on her face as black liquid slowly pulled out, a rotten smell now very potent. Matheo glanced nervously towards Devan before returning to his book, scanning through to try and find anything relevant.
"I will lay down for now, I do not feel good." Devan said as he stood up and slowly made his way to where Giuliana pointed him to go. He slowly lay down on the soft couch, falling asleep almost instantly.
"We need to hurry. This fatigue is not a good sign." Giuliana said before Matheo looked up in worry at Devan, who, even in his sleep, seemed to be suffering.
Matheo wasted no time and quickly returned to reading through the book.
-
"Narcia, I don't think we're anywhere near the letter R." He said as he met up with her at yet another row of shelves.
"This is letter M, were getting closer." She said before Liam groaned and passed her, making her sigh in the process before she continued forward. They skimmed yet another few shelves before Liam stopped, gently grabbing a book off the shelf. It was labbled Nameless shifters and had a beautiful golden cover. Liam gently opened it, looking at the potraits that had been hand painted based on the person's description.
"Did you find it?" Narcia asked before Liam shook his head, skimming through the book. There were thousands of peoples names in there. All were labeled with their shifter parents and potential animal.
"What is this book?" Liam asked as Narcia arrived to his side.
"Oh, I remember this. My dad used to read me pages of this book when I was little. It's basically a book of shifter's children that went missing. See here? This eagle and phoenix had a child, but it went missing. Here, it says that the child was named Corley and should be a flaming eagle. A combination of both parents can happen depending on which breeds you mix and as long as both parents are essentially the same species. Wolf and Feline mixing wouldn't result in a hybrid but rather in one of the other parents." She said as Liam nodded, Narcia quickly flipped through a few pages before she stopped and smiled.
"This used to be my favorite one as a kid. My father used to tell me that his best friends had given birth to a kid. They named him Uliriam, and since they were both kitsunes, he would have been one too. They were unfortunately found dead years ago. They committed suicide to escape the wrath of a cannibal clan. Or at least that's what their letter said. The boy was never found. As uou can see here, the boy would have had fox like eyes and asuming he took after his parents, he would have curly blond hair." She said as Liam frowned a bit.
"And why exactly was this your favorite story? It's quite grim." Liam said as she smiled softly.
"He would tell me that there was hope that one day, the prince would be found and that he would bring peace between species." She said as Liam smiled a bit. It was indeed cute if her father put it that way.
"It's getting late. You'll have to look for it tomorrow." Liam said as she groaned and nodded, making their way out of the row before reaching the door, gently pushing it. Her eyes grew wide before she dashed into the door, groaning as her shoulder hit the metal.
"It won't budge... Did the hinges get stuck..?" She said as she looked around the door, Liam sighing as he pulled out his phone in front of her, the time endicating 5h27 pm.
"Oh no..."
"There has to be a safety precaution in case something like this happens... Right? Like an exit door or something?" Liam asked as Narcia groaned, kicking the door in frustration.
"I mean... In theory, yes, there should be a safe exit. I just don't know where it would be..." She said before they started to walk towards the back of the shelves.
"If we can find it before 5h30, we should be able to exit on time to avoid-" She said before a loud clicking noise started, one by one, a row of light would turn off.
Eventually, their light turned off, leaving them both in complete darkness.