The Lycanwolf

Financial Monster

Jane pried open the bookcase door, and knew instantly it had been a long time since anyone had entered this chamber. The layer of dust was thick, and the air smelt stale.

Jane walked in, careful not to let her lantern get to close to anything. Some things looked like nothing more than scrolls, and some of the books looked as if they had been written on Vellum. She could tell some of the books were extremely old.

She looked at the bookcase in the center of the room, and was curious as to why it looked gold. She walked over to it, and was surprised that it actually was made of gold. She looked at the books carefully, and was shocked to see the most complete collection of books on the ancient times. She carefully cleaned the spines, and selected a few books that piqued her interest as she summoned the librarian.

It didn't take her long to come, and she hesitantly entered the restricted section. "Luna Jane?" she called from the door.

"You may enter, nothing shall occur." Jane assured her as she set the books down and walked to the door.

Wendy slowly entered and looked around as she had never seen this section before. "How may I assist you milady?" Wendy asked her.

"I need you to find a antique book preserver and carefully clean this room right here. DO NOT attempt to clean it before the experts have a chance to examine everything. Let me know as soon as it is done, and make sure it is quickly. This is going to be the entire Packs top priority for now." Jane said as she showed the librarian.

"Yes milady." she said as Jane handed her the key.

Jane picked up the books she had selected, and decided that she would read them in her office, and she hoped that they would be able to pursue the other books quickly. She had chosen these because they were the sturdiest of them, and the titles all had to do with magic.

She finally walked into her office and closed the door behind her as she set the books on her desk. She looked at the titles and selected the one that was titled Beginners Guide to Casting.

She opened it and was glad that she could read the archaic Wolf, and it had diagrams and drawings for some of the things it was showing. She got to the beginning, and began to read as if it was a book to learn how to be a magician.

She was very curious to learn that Todd had not been joking, there were 7 branches of Magical Power. Each had decided it's own spell work method, and trained their students in them accordingly. But she learned for a master caster these forms were not necessary. The moves and incantations were a form of allowing amateur casters the concentration they needed to cast the spell. But if a caster could lay out their intent with the raw magic, that was all that was needed.

The book also advised that spell work was directly related to emotional state. An angry person would not be able to heal someone easily. And the most powerful spells of the 7 Spell Classes required near total peace of mind to cast correctly. The martial forms were just a way to teach the practitioners control of not only their power, but intent and emotions as well.

She thought over the different forms she knew, and was surprised at how accurate this statement was. She read this book for the rest of the day, as it began walking her through the beginning stages of learning and teaching magic. She was surprised at how thorough the book was, and was more shocked that she most likely had mastered all of the forms as she looked through the spells of each of the classes. She thought she could identify 6 of them, but was having trouble with the seventh until she flipped to the back of the book.

The final section was for Lightning spells, and these forms were some of the most aggressive and complex there were in the book. She looked through the different spells and looked through the different maneuvers when she realized this was Krav Maga.

This was the form she specialized in most, and had her 5th degree Black belt.

Just as she realized this she heard the chirping of her computer, and was surprised to realize it was the Skype app again. She accepted the call, and noticed that the person on the line was human. "Luna Esvolt?" the human asked.

"Yes, who are you?" she asked wondering how a human would have got this number.

"Please hold for President Hayes." he said just before the screen flickered. Within seconds another face filled the screen and she knew this face.

President Andrew Hayes, Human Clan President and Military Commander sat at his desk and his gray hair belied his age. He was only 55 years old, having been one of the youngest President ever. "Luna Jane, it is a pleasure to meet you. I understand there is a Conclave invitation, what is the subject matter of this?" he asked politely. it was however also very clear he had almost no intentions of agreeing to a Conclave between the species. The last having been the negotiations of The Treatise.

"Under Section 1 it was agreed that the races would inform the other of any major developments. I assure you that what we have discovered in the last few days falls into this category. As such I request a meeting between the Packs and the Clans to determine what our response to the threat will be." Jane replied choosing her words carefully.

"I assume this has something to do with the Blood Moon, and the fact that magic is once again flowing across this realm?" President Hayes asked pointedly.

"The answer to both is actually yes." Jane said seriously. "But there is more to it than just that, and I have information that we all need that will violate the history laid out in the Treatise." Jane said.

"4 days than, I'm afraid my security will demand on a 15 man team." he told her.

"I cannot allow more than 6, however I assure you will be treated as an Honored guest. I shall ensure your safety and no harm befalls you." Jane told him. "You may arm the 6 in any way you deem necessary."

President Hayes nodded, knowing what she had just promised. "Very well Luna Jane, I shall be attending the Conclave in four days time." he said before terminating the video conference.

Jane looked at the clock, and ran for the stairs just in time for dinner to be served. Todd looked at her as she slid into her chair, and smiled as she looked at him.

"Loose track of time?" he asked as the kitchen Omega delivered both of their plates.

"Actually, I got lost in a book." she told him as her mouth began watering at the prime rib that had been served.

"Who's the author?" he asked curious as he had been busy himself all day as Jon helped him through what his duties were.

"Merlind." she said as she stuffed a piece in her mouth and began chewing as his eyes widened in shock.

"Do you know who that is?" he asked wondering how she could read that language.

"Not a clue, it's a language I don't recognize, but somehow I can read." she told him raising her eyebrows as he knew what had happened.

"Well, let's just say it's probably a good thing I am your mate. That would definitely be considered a dead language. What's it about?" he asked as he began eating his own plate.

"Magic casting." she said as if it were normal. "Seems we Werewolves have forgotten a few things." Jane said as her dad sat down. He raised his eyebrows at this, as the Elders Council had been tasked with preserving the Wolf histories.

"Really, what is it that we are supposed to have forgotten?" Jon asked as he was served.

"Magic." Jane said seriously. She had said it that way to gauge his response.

"That is one thing that is believed to be myth rather than fact. We need to preserve the history that is real." Jon said knowing that this is exactly what the elders would say.

"How bout you tell me that again after you go water my floor?" Jane asked him as her mom sat down and heard the question. Todd laughed loudly and clearly at this as the memory returned to him.

"What does that mean?" Daisy asked Jane.

"It means that the wild flowers and tree that now grow from my floor need watered." Jane told her as her dad sat there incredilous.

"I will be right back." Jon said as he got up and walked upstairs. He had to see this for himself. For Jon knew one thing the elders never believed.

He believed that Magic had once flowed freely into the Mortal Realm as it was called, and that the wolves had long ago forgotten how to use it. But he hardly believed what his daughter had said.

But it only took opening the door to the alpha quarters for him to be in complete shock. There was in fact a tree growing from the stone floor, and the flowers surrounded it except for the slot that Jane had burnt.

He slowly made his way downstairs and sat back at his place at the table, and didn't know what to say.

"Well?" Daisy asked him as she took another bite of her Prime Rib.

"There's a tree..." he trailed off and was all he could manage for a few moments. Daisy couldn't believe it, and went so far as to look at the ceiling in the room below. She knew the floor had been solid, and was dismayed when there were no roots exposed in this room.

"Jon... There's a tree..." Daisy trailed off as she sat back down.

"Growing out of the floor." Jane said after finishing her last bite of dinner. She was chuckling at their reaction as they processed what they had seen.

The next morning Jane woke up to the sun coming on through the curtains, and was annoyed she couldn't sleep longer. She knew trying to go back to sleep would be futile, so she got up and took a shower. She let the hot water cascade down her, and smiled as she dried herself and Todd still slept. She quietly got dressed, and walked into her office.

Brian had slipped a stack of reports on her desk from the different departments from around the pack. Most of them were accurate up to the last week, and she was surprised that each of them had been expanding regularly. Most of them were only requesting nominal increases of investment, and all were offering them as percentage offers. Even with the limited business courses she took, she understood what all of it said. She quickly scanned through everything, and was shocked that it would only take $35 million of her budget to increase all of the packs interests so far.

She looked through the military supplies line, and was surprised to learn that the Pack manufactured all of its own arms. But there were no profit or expanditure reports for it. She was about to ask Brian when she found it tucked away in the military assets. She spent over an hour reviewing it, before she realized that this area was going to be a potential gold mine.

According to what she was reading, everything they made here was better than the top of the line for the market, and that her operations could be expanded significantly. She also knew they could open a factory in town, and would be able to use humans in the process to increase production.

She began looking at a few things, and noticed that the local town was mostly human population, but that a majority of the business was wolf. Using this she started drawing up her proposal, treating it as she would one of her assignments.

She was caught up in her work, and was surprised when Todd knocked carrying a tray of food.

"The kitchen said you didn't come for breakfast, and than I missed you at lunch." he said as he walked in and she stopped working. It was now 1430, and she knew she had a lot more work to do. She had only managed to work through a portion of her planning, and had miraculously only assigned a little over $160 million to pay for all of it.

"Guess I can take a short break." she said pushing back from the desk as Todd looked at everything.

"Looks complicated." he commented.

"Not as bad as you'd think, but it will take a little time to implement." she said as she grabbed one of the sandwiches that he had brought.

"Bringing humans is as well?" he asked as he sat by her.

"Actually they are already involved. I just hope we can expand their cooperation a bit, and that what I want will be successful.

"Well, I have some more I need to work through for that meeting as well, see ya at dinner?" he asked her.

"Yup, wouldn't miss it." she said as she set an alarm. She quickly ate her sandwich and dove back into her work.

It was 2 in the morning when she lifted her head from the keyboard, and she felt the blanket draped over her shoulders. She sat up and realized what happened, as her computer showed the missed alarm.

She had been working on her proposal, and was surprised when she looked at it. It had more added to it than what she had remembered doing, and she was a little surprised at how good it was.

She only looked at it for awhile longer, before she shut all the lights off and walked to her room. She slid in the bed next to Todd and was glad when he enveloped her in his big arms and pulled her close.

It didn't take her long to fall back asleep, even though she didn't know how long she had slept to begin with.