THE TWINKLING

THE BEGINNING The battle between good and evil is as old as time; it involves all of mankind. The battle takes place on this world and all other worlds God in His wisdom has created. This war rages on different planes and in many realities. For who, but mankind, would be so arrogant as to think intelligent life exists only at this time on this planet we call Earth. God created man and in His infinite wisdom and agape love, knowing evil would choose many forms in which to come to claim and destroy them. God also, in His greatness, created the angels to do battle with the principalities of evil on planes most do not even know exist. Evil is wise, cunning and deceitful. It waits and watches for every opportunity to snatch a soul . . . To snatch the soul of an evil person? No! Why take what is freely given? Oh, to snatch the soul of the pure and good, to rip it screaming from the hand of God: that is evil’s purpose! Here on Earth at this time, God has creatures of His own to do battle with the elements of evil mankind faces, but chooses to ignore as myth. I know this because I fight evil whenever and wherever I find it. I fight for God because in all that I am, He still loves me and guards my soul. I fight because of who and what I am. I am Jade Marie Stillwater, I am African American . . . I am Lycanthrope! For thirty years of my life I knew nothing but my humanity. Then, I reached my Lycanthrope pubescent years and experienced THE TWINKLING of the change for the very first time. Oh, how my life changed, and will never be the same again. I feel my life began at thirty, when I released my WOLF! You see, I am not Lycanthrope by way of bite…that is a myth. Lycanthropes are born: from birth your wolf forms within you and with the twinkling it becomes! My wolf is as much a part of me as my hands, my eyes and, most of all, my heart. This story I share is not for the glory of my battles, for all glory belongs to God. This tale is to share knowledge and enlightenment with all who want to believe. Truer words were never spoken than when it was said, “There are more things between Heaven and Earth than we could ever imagine.” I was once human and walked about in total ignorance. Sometimes I wish I were still in that place; but, believe you me, dear friend, most of the time I am well satisfied with my lot in life. So, if you are ready, I shall begin. This tale begins shortly after my thirtieth birthday . . . CHAPTER 1 I was driving along Route One going toward West Chester, Pennsylvania in my niece, Tanya’s car—a cute little Nissan Rogue. Tanya is twenty-two and beautiful, and although I am her aunt and have nearly thirteen years on her, she still thinks of me as one of the girls. Earlier, Tanya had said to me, “Aunt Jade, take my car for the day, but only if you promise not to try and run people off the road. And absolutely no chasing cars down the highway yelling, who’s your momma?” I had only done that once. Still, those were terms I could live with. I was on my way to have lunch with my best friend Anna Ewing. Anna’s the Senior Vice President of a major corporation, and we have been friends for as long as I can remember. Anna and I are truly opposites who somehow make a great team! For instance, she’s married with two children; Michael is eight and Storm is four, and her husband, Marcus, is a magnificent specimen of a black man. I am not married, and I do not have a prospect in sight. Also, I don’t have any children of my own, just loads of nephews and nieces who all love me as much as I love them. Anna is also a combination workaholic/super mom! Everyone who meets her loves her, and she has a smile that would light up the devil’s day. She’s the most levelheaded person I’ve ever met. Anna hates confrontation and is always the first to try to make and keep the peace. Again, I’m the total opposite. If there’s going to be a fight, please let me be in it; especially lately, something’s been wrong with me. I had turned thirty in August and I feel . . . I don’t know . . . different . . . I feel as if, I’m waiting for something or someone . . . out there. Ridiculous, right? There are also uncontrollable feelings of rage that just come over me at times. I didn’t know what was happening to me. That was one of the reasons for the lunch with Anna. I thought maybe she could help me sort things out, or have me quietly committed, whichever came first. So again, there I was rolling along in my borrowed vehicle when all of a sudden I heard the whoop-da-whoop of a police car behind me. I immediately slowed down, pulled over to the shoulder, stopped, took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself for whatever came next. I sat there trying to remember how fast I had been going as the officer walked toward the car. It was a woman; she was five-feet-ten, and probably weighed in at one-hundred-and-ninety. Oh, and of course she was filled with attitude—bad attitude! I have a theory; all police personnel of that type were beat up a lot as children. Now they’re trying to get back at any and everyone unfortunate enough to cross their demented paths. I rolled down the window and demurely chanted the universal, “Is there a problem, officer?” It didn’t work; small town police are the worst. She said, “Uh, your tags are bad. License, registration and insurance card, please.” Wanting to look demure, I had to act. I nicely handed my license and the registration over to her. I had trouble finding the freaking insurance card. Tanya had given it to me, but I had put it in that black hole I call a purse. I finally dragged it out, and handed it over too. Officer A. O’Brien looked at me like she had forgotten who I was or what we were doing there. Of course, that would have been fine with me. Then, she blurted out, “Stay here! I’ll be right back!” I thought to myself, ‘No lady, I’ll just drive off while you’re holding all of my information. What the heck, it’s a nice day for a high-speed chase.’ I was chewing gum and waiting when I noticed more police cars arriving on the scene. Four more police cars! I wondered, what the heck is going on? I figured this was a small town and I was probably the most excitement they’d had all month. A male officer walked up to my car, looking like he had been in a fight and lost . . . terribly! He stared at me and I returned the favor. He kind of smiled at me . . . I think. It was hard to tell with all of those bruises. Finally, he asks, “You ever been in any trouble in North Carolina?” I stared at him for a moment really wanting to ask him, “What the hell happened to your face, man?” But, I remembered I was still in demure mode, so I replied, “No sir, I’ve never been to North Carolina.” He gave me a look I know he considered shrewd, and asked, “You sure?” I had been sitting and waiting for about twenty-five minutes, and the demure mode was wearing thin; so I replied, “Duh, yes, I’m sure.”