22

” Ji nodded with a shy smile, snuggling in Seunghyun’s big coat. “What is it that I won?” he muttered from inside the coat.

Seunghyun would’ve had his own questions but for now he decided to simply listen and keep an eye on her. As he thought this morning, she might not have all the answers he needs.  Piecing together the ruby necklace and the distorted heads from the room, she might only be one lucky victim that he never got to slaughter.   

“You did not won, but you defeated” she answered grabbing him away from his dark thoughts.

“Who I defeated?”   JI renew his question.

“The vampires…” she answered as serious as she could be, slamming the thick old book on the table.

“Vampires?...”  Seunghyun’s soft voice cut off Ji’s ironic laugh.

“Yeah!” she answered looking for a certain page.

Ji stared for a few moments at the back and white picture she turned over for him to see – same thread-shaped figures, with long big fangs made him cuddle even more inside his big coat, getting ready to speak when he got, once again, cut off by Seunghyun’s voice.

“What about me?” Seunghyun asked in low voice.

“What about you?” Ji asked but no one would take notice of him, so he silently watched her as she leafed through the big book until she found something.  He would’ve said anything but his eyes were too drawn to the image of that big wolf from the picture to let his mind conceive a phrase.   In the end he gathered the courage to speak up, but, again, his friend wouldn’t let him.

“You…” Ji started saying.

“But I…” Seunghyun interfered “… the girls inside that room…”

“…are not your work” she answered warmly.

“But I know all their names! Their voices… I even know what they were  wearing before they…” he stopped; he thought that simply saying ‘died’ would’ve been too much of an offensive statement for everything they must’ve had suffered.

“ ‘Deep in the woods, under the starry sky, in the warm breeze of freedom, they with a pure heart can hear the Almighty White Wolf’s war cry. Earth, sky and wind, they all know it…” Rin-Nah started reading out loud. “A long time ago a priest of Dacia realms, roamed tirelessly to help those in need, to convey the Dacians that the Great God was watching over them. Unlike everyone else, without being old, he had white hair and long beard, and his courage, faith and boldness was known not only by humans and beasts but by Zamolxes himself. The Great God, realizing the value of his servant, retained him in the mountains to serve him close. Far from people, the priest continued to serve with the same determination as before. Soon Dacia beasts came to hear about him and see him as their leader. He was most cherished by the wolves, because they were the only ones without a king, stuck in pack only by hunger. After a while Zalmoxis talks with his priest  and decide that it's time for him to serve in some other way, so He shift his shape into an animal. But not any animal, but in the most feared and respected beast of Dacia, the white wolf, big and strong as a bear, giving him the purpose to gather all the wolves in the woods in defense of the realm. Thus, whenever Dacians were in distress,  wolves came to help; it was enough just to hear the roar of the Great White Wolf and wherever they were, they came to rescue those who had become their brothers. The White Wolf, however, was also the judge of cowards and traitors… ‘ ”

It turned quiet.

“You’re not a werewolf” Rin said after a short while. “You’re a lycanthrope. Even more, you are The White Wolf…”

Ji’s lower lip almost became one with the edge of the table but he only realized it when a little thread of saliva dripped on it; he quickly wiped it off with the back of his hand and stared at his senior as if he was begging for him to say something.

“Then I’m…” Seunghyun begun after a couple of minutes when he tried to understand Ji’s gaze. “The blood…” he mostly whispered bringing his palms in front of his eyes.

“It  was yours” Rin’s answered froze the boys.

“Mine...” he  whispered again.

The boys followed her as she slowly walked half the room, picked something from the floor then she came back to them. She opened up her hand and the red ruby shined exultantly.

“What…” Seunghyun tried to ask something but lost his words.

“You were only trying to save them. That’s why you know everything about them. They were all wearing this. Some how… can’t yet understand how, this little thing calls you to it. Now that I think about it I received it at the library…” she muttered mostly for helself, but then she recovered the strength in her voice “…Someone’s using this, and not for the best…”

“Heads…” Ji whispered.

“What?” Seunghyun and Rin asked in the same time.

“Human heads! Girls! All fair-haired! ” Ji hurried to say.

“Yes, that’s right!” Seunghyun said.

“What about them?”  Rin asked trying her best not to let show the flames in her eyes that she managed to  change into two tear drops.

“That’s what burs in there…” Ji said without looking at her.

“Yes! They were all gathered up on some sort of a stone shrine” Seunghyun added.        

“Really now…” she muttered, but quickly turned it into a flat joke: “So… someone needs blond girls? But I’m a red-head…” she even tried to smile.

“Maybe you’re standing in someone’s way” Ji said again without looking at her.

Rin searched an answer for this. When she found it only her eyes flashed fire but she kept quiet, quickly lowering her sight.

“But…” Seunghyun cut the silence, “…why do I remember only slice of it?”

“You’re not yet capable of controlling both of your shapes” she nimbly answered. “In time you’ll learn…”

“In time?”

“Yes. In time. You have three days to decide if you want  this gift or not.”

“I can do that?” Seunghyun asked a little excited.

“Notionally, yes” Ji answered. “But actually you’re gonna die” he said following with one finger the letters on the yellow page.

“What?!” Seunghyun swallowed up his joy.

“ ‘One day the Great God called his servant again, this time to enable him to choose, for the last time if he wants to remain a wolf or to become again the man he once was. With all the grief in mind, knowing what times will come, he decides to stay with his God, hoping this way  he would serve better  his land and its people" read Jiyong, lifting back his legs to his chest. He took a deep breath then asked a little insecure: “What about me?” and he pushed the book back to her. “You said the motorcycle guy brought me here”.

Rin-Nah nodded silently.

“Who was it?”

 “I do not know. His face was covered”, she replied honestly while looking through the pages without a noise.

“How do you know all of this?” Seunghyun interrupted making her to face him for a second. She then casually turned back to what she was doing and answered:

“I'm a librarian. This is what I do ...”, she flashed a brief grin. “Here. I think this is you,” she said in a couple of minutes ing the book back under Ji’s nose.