by J. Axbridge
Out of simple curiosity I grabbed the old book staring at the front cover in thought before turning it over noticing it had been read recently. Actually, it was the only book without a thick cover of dust or fingerprints scattered about on it. I excitedly flipped through three or four pages before closing it tightly, heading straight to the basement to ask Jax what he knew about the leather bound book.
I couldn’t help but yell as I hurried down the narrow basement steps, “Jax, do you know this book, ‘Loves We Remember – Vade Mecum’?” I stepped into the basement and handed the book to Jax excitedly.
As he took it from me our hands grazed causing Jax to jerk the book away, but not before I caught him blushing. “Oh,” he said in a nonchalant raised voice, “this is just some sappy romance novel my mom loves to read. She really likes this book, always has it with her . . . she loves it so much that I’ve caught her writing notes in the tabs on more than one occasion . . . Now that I think about it, dad would read it sometimes too.” Jax handed it back to me. This time I noticed he held it by the spine making sure not to touch my hand again. I don’t know how or why but there is definitely something going on between Jax and I, it’s undeniable. I thought. I just wish he wouldn’t keep avoiding it.
“Jax, but look here,” I began flipping through the old pages searching for the notes his parents wrote, “There aren’t any notes in this book, are you sure they wrote in this book?” I held it up for him to inspect more closely.
“That is strange; I swear I saw my mother write notes in this book on many occasions.”
“Do you at least know who this author is; it just says A.W. on the spine?” I asked, becoming more suspicious with the old book by the second.
“Just check the inside or back cover, maybe there’s a full name in there somewhere,” Jax said uninterested and turned back to checking the overflowing dusty brown boxes full of papers, books and old antiques his parents had collected over their many years of life.
“Nope, no name,” I sat down on a leaning stack of boxes Jax had already gone through. But being the studious and curious teen I was, I decided to read the book which looked to be a fantastical love story between a fairy and a werewolf.
“What are you reading Addie?” Victoria asked, descending the creaking steps into the basement followed by Caelyn, joining the group.
Tilting her head sideways Victoria tried to read the spine. But Caelyn being a “word nerd” as her friends called her at school, simply stared at the title with a little more cryptic fascination on her face.
“What is it Cae? What do you see?” I asked, my pulse quickening with excitement knowing that Caelyn could solve some of the hardest word puzzles I’d ever seen. Even when she was younger, when there was a word problem or puzzle I couldn’t solve, I’d give it to her and she’d figure it out in no time at all.
“I don’t know? That title, it seems like it may be a word jumble,” Caelyn answered, still staring curiously at the leather-bound book.
“Can I have a look?” she asked, and I quickly handed it over.
Arthur and Jax whose attention was now brought back to the book he’d dismissed minutes earlier, along with Victoria and I watched Caelyn intently study the spine, slowly turning the book over before opening the cover and again staring at the title. This time the title went from left to right, embossed neatly inside the front cover.
“IT’S A WORD JUMBLE, I’M SURE OF IT—TOLD YOU!” She yelled so excitedly that everyone jumped back in startle.
“Caelyn, you gave me a freaking heart attack! Don’t do that again,” I scolded.
“Word Nerd,” Victoria said smiling, “If anyone was to figure it out it would be you Caelyn.”
“What is it”? Jax questioned walking briskly over to where Caelyn was staring at the title, intently running her finger over the words back and forth, immersed in thought.
“I need a pencil and paper.”
“Do you really know what it means? I hope you’re not joking around.” Jax said.
“Yep . . . this should be a piece of cake.” Caelyn smiled.
Chapter 14 - Old Friends
Adelaide
Sitting at the large kitchen table made of thick oak that looked and smelled every bit of one thousand year old bark and moss, the group of us gathered closely around as Caelyn methodically rearranged the letters and words, scribbling down everything quickly on the scrap paper Jax had given her.
“Um . . . see, it says here, ‘A.W., Loves, We Remember - Vade Mecum’. Vade Mecum is Latin and roughly means ‘Guide or Manual’ but ignore that for now, can you see the rest?”
“See the ‘rest’ of what?” I squinted over Caelyn’s shoulder trying to figure out the word jumble myself. “I’ve looked through the whole book and I didn’t see anything except a cheesy supernatural YA Fiction love story.”
Caelyn began scribbling words on the paper once more; ignoring me, clearly agitated that no one could see what she saw.
“It’s the title people, it’s a word jumble, look again,” Caelyn pointed to the title. “‘A. W. Loves.’ Simply switch around a couple letters and put it back together and you have A Wolves. It’s plain as day. Can you see it now?” She wrote down the first word neatly on the bottom of the paper so we all could see.
“Then look at the two words, ‘We Remember.’ Take the ‘We’ and remove the ‘Re’ from ‘Re-member’ then combine them together and you have “Were” and that leaves us with the word ‘Member.’” Excitedly she scribbled down the all the words across her paper in big scrawling letters.
“A, Wolves, Were, Member, Vade Mecum.”
“How in the world does she come up with this stuff?” I shook my head baffled.
“Just roll with it Addie, my twin is a ‘Word Nerd’, always has been, always will be,” Victoria smiled. “But I love her.”
“A, Wolves, Were, Member, Vade Mecum?” Arthur scoffed, as he too was confused, “What’s that Caelyn?”
“No dummy, you need to reorder the words again after you figure them out. Then you’ll have “A Werewolves Member Vade Mecum”, pretty cool huh?” She said, proudly completing the title neatly on the paper then slammed the pencil down with authority grinning from ear to ear.
“Yeah that’s kind of cool Caelyn, but even though you’ve reordered the words sis, it’s still a romantic love novel. And how does that help us?” Arthur asked her as Earl and Dillon walked over to closely inspect the book themselves.
We all looked at the book and newly reordered title in silence trying to figure out how to proceed next with this new information when three loud bangs erupted from the front door and everyone jumped in surprise.
“Holy crap, shouldn’t we hide or something? It didn’t sound like a very friendly kind of knock,” whispered Victoria to Jax, slowly scrunching down behind the kitchen table, only her eyes peering over the large tabletop, while the rest of us stared at the door deciding whether to join Victoria or not.
“No need to hide, if it’s a vamp we’re going to kill it, everyone grab a weapon,” Jax whispered back and began walking to the door.
Again three loud cracks shook the door, this time more impatient and resounding with no break in-between; rattling the pictures on the wall dust slid off them and gently floated down to the aged, scuffed up wood flooring.
Inching closer Jax approached the door cautiously, turned and glanced at us from across the room; his intense cobalt blue eyes told the unspoken, “Be ready for a fight.” Reaching his fingers out grasping the cool handle, he began to turn the knob ever so slowly. . .
Just as the latch clicked open, a loud crash exploded and the door was kicked in with such force that Jax lost his footing and tripped over an animal skin rug as he tried to step backwards, landing hard on his back with a grunt. Blinking, bringing his vision back into focus, he looked up to find he was staring into the sharp end of an arrow point with the bow pulled taut ready to snap.
I took in the moment in pure shock before stuttering in the s
ilence. “MA . . . MAYUMI?” At first I didn’t fully realize it was my friend. I’d never seen her look this bad, covered in dirt and grime from head to toe. “What the Hell!” I yelled, still not quite believing she was standing in the room before us. Of course I was happy to see her but, what was unfolding in front of my eyes was confusing to say the least. Yet it was true, my best friend since the 9th grade, Mayumi Gushiken, stood over Jax bow in hand with an arrow tilted towards his neck. No one else spoke or moved, it was so quiet you could hear the dirty sweat from Mayumi’s forehead drip onto the floor like a methodic leaky faucet. She had looked better; clearly she’d been through a lot since the showers and there was much I realized, that I really didn’t know about her.
“Move an inch and I’ll take your head off!” Mayumi seethed through gritted teeth. Her once perfectly styled hair and makeup now replaced by a tight braid and smudges of mud and dirt on her face and clothes. It was easy to tell that she’d been living in the elements for quite some time.
“Mayumi, you’re alive? What’s . . . , what’s going on? How did you get here? How did you find us? How are you . . . alive?” I had a thousand questions for my best friend but Mayumi didn’t acknowledge my presence nor make a sound, like a hunter finally cornering its prey, she didn’t flinch. She simply stared menacingly at Jax while the cool breeze blowing in through the door began picking up dust and papers flinging them around the disheveled room.
Jax thankfully realized he was at a disadvantage lying on his back and stayed still. “Aren’t you the sweet and cheerful hazel eyed girl from high school?” He asked jovially, but she did not answer.
Mayumi’s dark eyes of stone were trained on Jax and I feared he would not fare well if he moved. My best friend was tense and serious, her toned muscles ready to pop at any moment and I unnervingly could tell from her aggressive posture that she had killed before and was a deadly force.
Her eyes still glued on Jax, the cool wind blowing her loose black hair over her shoulder, she spoke again. “Did you find the Book?” she asked breathing heavily.
“We found ‘a book’. Not sure if it’s important or not?” Jax replied from his back.
Mayumi stared wild eyed at Jax for what seemed an eternity surly deciding whether he was telling the truth or not. The rest of us cautiously watched not sure whether to act or wait; One thing was very apparent, Mayumi was definitely a well trained fighter, warrior or whatever, which made her very hard to read.
“You two, who are you?” Mayumi looked at Dillon and Earl, her bow and arrow still trained on Jax’s throat.
“You know who and what we are, there’s no need to play games with us girl! And we know what you are too . . . You’re a Huntra! We could smell you following us for days, wondering when you’d show your face,” said Dillon as his brother Earl grabbed the Werewolves Member Vade Mecum from the table, trying to discreetly slide it up and under his jacket.
“You’re not leaving here with that book Wolf; put it down!” Mayumi ordered through clenched teeth, clearly pissed.
In all the years I’d known her, I’d never seen her even close to having this much anger in her voice and eyes. She had definitely changed since the showers and it was starting to scare me.
Mayumi was young, seventeen, the same age as me but she didn’t miss a thing. She looked as intense and focused as a trained Navy Seal or member of a Special Ops team. With sweat pooling on her forehead it began to run down her face while she watched and waited for the brothers to move, no different from a tiger waiting for a kill. I just hoped she wasn’t going to kill one of her friends along the way.
“OK, wait, wait, wait—did I miss something here?” Arthur stepped up waving his hands in the air breaking the tension, looking from the brothers to Mayumi.
“You said you smelled Mayumi? What exactly does that mean . . . , does she have B.O.?” Arthur sarcastically asked Dillon and Earl trying to break the thick tension.
“No Arthur, those two,” Mayumi looked at the men with loathe . . . “they’re werewolves . . . , werewolves of the worst kind,” She answered him, all the while laser focused on her surroundings and the situation at hand.
“But, that can’t be,” Jax chimed in from his back turning his head to look at the brothers. “I would have sensed them—smelled them. How could they be werewolves?”
“Working with ancient dark magic, that is how they hide their scent. Not many humans, werewolves and even Huntras know how to use such magic. Of course some of the oldest vampires know. Isn’t that right guys?” Mayumi said, finally showing emotion as a wry smile spread across her sweaty and mud smudged face.
“Why would vampires teach werewolves this type of magic? They’re enemies, right?” Arthur questioned innocently enough, not grasping the seriousness in the air.
“Not all are enemies. Some have formed an alliance with the vampires since the showers, like your two new traitor friends here. But they will pay with their lives for what they have done,” Mayumi answered in such a cold and calm voice that even I shivered.
Arthur on the other hand seemed to be in awe of this “kick ass,” version of Mayumi, one none of us had ever seen before. He of course had known Mayumi for the past 3 years since she was my best friend in high school but for all that time, to him she was just my “best friend” and kind of a nerdy friend at that. He told me on more than one occasion that even though she wore leather to look cool, it was lame and he’d always make fun of her dress sense. But now, Arthur’s gaze had changed.
I know he never imagined her as the highly skilled hunter/killer type, not even in his wildest teenage hormonal dreams, how could he? How could any of us? But now in this intense moment it didn’t matter what he thought about her before, because in this moment, he had an attraction to her and it shown clearly in his eyes.
He was definitely checking out her 5’9” built frame in jeans with red leather top peeking out from her dirtied shirt, her black hair in a tight braid except for the few strands hanging in front of her eyes and her leather quiver on her back that matched her braided leather choker necklace with large azure pendant hanging loosely. Arthur wasn’t sure what was going on inside his body, I could sense that, but I knew instinctively that he liked what he felt and saw. But how did I even know that? Weird, I thought and kind of creepy. Yuk-ville, I grimaced.
“She’s a real living, breathing Manga Princess . . . I must be dreaming!” He whispered a little too loudly shaking his head. Then he grinned slightly and suddenly looked more focused then he had been since Mayumi busted in, which worried me considering the situation we were facing. I knew my brother all too well and too often he’d act first without considering the consequences.
Glancing at Mayumi he nodded ever so slightly to his left then charged at Dillon quick and hard. Dillon being older and clearly an experienced fighter and werewolf dodged Arthur’s advancement easily, smashing his fist down on the back of Arthur’s head sending him to the floor crashing in pain where he lay dazed and embarrassed.
The moment Arthur jumped; Earl sprinted across the room with the Werewolves Member Book in hand heading for the open door but was not fast enough to beat Mayumi who spun with her bow still tense and let go of the arrow. It flew true, slicing into the forearm of Earl and he dropped the book, along with part of his arm but kept on running out the door. I winced when I saw the blood and flesh drop to the ground and turned my head just in time to see Dillon swiftly leap at Mayumi after she’d released the arrow at Earl. I screamed for her to “look out” when Jax being free to move without an arrow being pointed in his face leapt up off his back and tackled Dillon in mid air before he could reach my best friend.
Crashing through the end tables Dillon kicked Jax off in one swift shove and dove through the window shattering glass flying out into the yard and in a tuck roll position turned into a werewolf mid form and sprinted off.
Mayumi took aim and shot another arrow, this time at Dillon, just missing a clean head shot as it sliced through the side of his fac
e before sticking into a large oak tree with a thud. The brothers never looked back; they disappeared into the forest running full speed.
“SHIT,” Mayumi shouted in frustration. “Their escaping was not good fortune, it is only a matter of time before they bring the vampires back to this house so we must make plans and prepare.” The drama looked to be over and I began to relax until Mayumi once again had an arrow pointed at Jax threateningly.
“Mayumi, what the hell are you doing? Jax is our friend,” I said, freighted that Mayumi might actually shoot him, “Put that stupid thing down. Have you gone crazy?”
“Addie, can you not see he is controlling you, you do not know what you are thinking! He has messed with your mind.”
“Mayumi, you know me,” Jax said, raising his hands slowly. I’m not a killer. I’m actually on your side.” He tried to smile assuringly.
“I do not know the real you,” she replied, her dark hazel eyes like stone again and glued only to him.
“Yes, you do know the real me, I’m the same guy that was in high school with you. Yeah, I’m a werewolf as you already know and probably knew all through school, but being a Huntra, you should also sense that I mean no harm to you or the Allister Family,” Jax motioned slowly towards the five of us who were staring wide eyed at the two of them like we were watching some thriller movie.
Mayumi paused, her dark almond eyes steering into Jax’s cobalt blue eyes searching his soul for his true intentions. Taking deep calming breaths she turned and looked at me and nodded. Taking a second deeper breath Mayumi lowered her weapon, stepped back from Jax and placed the deadly arrow back in her leather quiver. “I’m parched; do you have anything to drink?” She said, her demeanor changing instantly from Huntra back to giddy high school girl. Thankfully it was the girl I knew and loved. Slowly she wiped the pooling sweat dirt mixture from her face, inadvertently exposing her firm and toned stomach before I crashed into her giving her a huge hug as tears ran down my cheeks.