The Luna's Gift

Breaking & Entering

    “I know how to pick a lock, stop talking and keep watch!” Mags hisses at Apollo. She is on both knees in front of Jonas’ office door, using crude tools of whatever she could find to try to pick the lock door. It’s around 2 am, and from learning Duke’s schedule, Mags knows the main guard shifts and rotations, and that this would be the best time to do something bad.  

“I’m just saying, if you need help, I have picked a lock or two!” Apollo whispers back. He stands at the end of the hallway, keeping look out. Magnolia rolls her eyes, and doesn’t respond. A few minutes later, and the door makes a satisfying click sound, the knob turning and the door opening. 

“I got it!” Mags says, slowly making her way in, Apollo quickly following and quietly shutting the door. Mags turns on a flashlight, starting to open the drawers on the desk.

“So what exactly am I looking for?” Apollo whispers, turning on his own flashlight and looking over Jonas’ bookcase.

“It’s like a badge, has his picture on it, says ‘Restricted Access’ in big letters. He wears it on a lanyard...purple I think.” Mags replies. She’s opening his drawers in his desk, the top right one has stationary mostly, some post it notes, paper clips, and other office supplies. She moves on to the middle drawer, this one mostly contains snacks and some water bottles. Mags takes one of the granola bars and puts in her jacket pocket. The bottom drawer contains employee files, Mags finds her own and pulls it out, opening it. In the file is her resume, performance reviews, and notes from her meetings with Jonas--nothing out of the ordinary. She finds Helena’s and pulls her much larger file out. In Helena’s file were extensive notes regarding her, all details regarding meetings, and even photos of her growing up at the Daae. On the very top was a small scribbled note paper clipped to a picture of her that read, “The Morrígan” with an arrow that points to “Helena” and then another scribble underneath “Shifter?” Mags takes out her phone and takes a picture of the note and some of the other pages in Helena’s file. She puts the files back, and switches to the other side of the desk.

Apollo silently looks through the drawers at the bottom of the bookcase, but finds only useless scrolls. He looks over the books, his flashlight landing on a copy of the Holy Bible, “why would Jonas have a copy of the Bible?” Apollo asks Mags quietly. 

Mags shrugs, “probably where he gets his archaic ideas from.”

Apollo turns back and reaches for the Bible, starting to pull it out, when the movement of the book causes a sliding noise, and Apollo finds a small opening behind the books, a hidden compartment the size of a shoe box. 

“I found something! Well now we know why it was a Bible, probably the least likely book someone would check out,” Apollo whispers excitedly to Mags, causing her to get up and come over to where he is standing.

“What is it?”

“Some sort of secret compartment.” Apollo takes the books off the shelf to clear the way to the compartment. He extends his arm into it, grabbing hold of the contents, and carefully pulling them out. He pulls out two books, both wrapped in cloth. One very large book, and a smaller one sitting on top. Mags grabs the smaller one and goes back to the desk with her flashlight, and starts unwrapping it. 

“Oh my god…” she whispers, “this is the book I picked up for Jonas last week...it was supposed to be in the Archives for restoration.” She looks over the familiar cover, carefully opening the book, to the first prophecy written, the one she read in the car last week. She snaps a picture of it, knowing the flash is horrible for the ancient text, but feeling like she has no choice. 

“This book is a journal…” Apollo says to Mags, “it’s all the past High Tributes...all the way back to the first. This is...centuries old.”

“Is there anything else in the compartment?” Mags asks.

Apollo double checks, “No, but if there’s one secret compartment, there’s probably another one.”

Mags nods in agreement, “of all the things to put in there, he puts this book that talks about prophecies and a female Alpha, and a journal from the High Tributes?”

“We should take these.” Apollo says point blank.

“That’s crazy! He would catch us!”

Apollo shakes his head, “how? There are no cameras around here, we’ll put everything back the way it was, mask our scents. I doubt he even opens this everyday, it could be weeks before he even knows they’re missing.”

Mags thinks for a moment and impulsively agrees. They put the office back how it was, and generously spritz over the office some fresh breath minty spray Mags has in her jacket pocket. Apollo stands look out once more while Mags locks the office door again, and they quickly make their way together back to Mags’ and Helena’s quarters. 

    ****

Half an hour later, Mags and Apollo are deep into the books they took from Jonas’ office as well as a fresh pot of coffee. Both are starting to yawn, this was way past both of their bedtimes.

“So much of this is in another language.” Apollo says, mostly to himself.

“You’ve said that 50 times already, have you been able to figure out what language it is?”

“No, maybe ancient Gaelic? At least the first couple sections are. Must have been the Head Tribute’s native language. There’s some Greek I recognize but don’t speak, some Latin which is a little decipherable. A lot of Italian. We need a translator. Even Google can’t translate into ancient Gaelic for me.”

Mags stretches her arms over her head, yawning, the coffee is losing effectiveness, “maybe we should call it a night? You can take the couch. Or Helena’s bed, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

“I was just going to head back to my quarters, although yours are much nicer.”

Mags smiles, “living piously is kind of bullshit you know? Anyways, I don’t think you should go back tonight. You being out wandering the halls at 3am is going to look weird, and you’d be the first suspect Jonas has once he discovers these are missing. We also need to think of a place to hide them.”

“Good idea, the couch will be great. And I think we should hide them in the library.”

“The library?”

“Yeah, hide them in plain sight. Put them on a shelf in a less frequented part of the library, like with the maps or something. Can I ask you a question about the library?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that it’s a huge library that’s specific to Underworld culture, and yet the books don’t really contain parts of our biggest histories, parts before the Happening? Why aren’t there any books about life before the Happening?”

“We do have pre Peace Treaty books, part of it is that they’re so old they’re in the archives for safety and preservation. But so much of our culture is passed down through oral tradition, that we know things that aren’t in books. And then through the centuries, so many of the stories got muddled. We carry so many different types of books, we even carry human books that have Underworld characters in it. To the best of our knowledge, the Happening was in the 800s, and we as a species just didn’t write a lot, it was all stories and bards and whatnot. And even though our exact pre Peace Treaty history is lost, Underworld scholars believe that a huge portion of our population died in the Great War. So when our history is dependent on people talking, and then all the people die, we lose so much. Helena told me that in Irish culture, storytelling is an art form, and that children have to learn one art form, either music, dance, an instrument, or storytelling. And storytellers are still to this day revered, they’re called seanchaí. I hate to admit it, but humans were much better at preserving their history. We don’t even know anymore what the full breadth of our abilities looked like, like who knows maybe all their vampire and werewolf movies they make are actually true, we’re just so far removed from these powerful otherworldly creatures we once were--sorry, I’m rambling,” Mags blushes and feels a little self conscious, “I’m so tired, I can just keep going forever. Sorry for info dumping on you, I hope I at least answered your question.”

“Don’t apologize, I think what you have to say is fascinating, I really had no idea about any of that. I can tell you’re a really good librarian, Magnolia.” Apollo offers sweetly. Their eyes making contact, and that warmth spreads through both of them again. Mags clears her throat, and stands up, breaking the connection.

“I’m going to go to bed, if you need anything, I’m just through there.” She gestures to her bedroom, “goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Apollo replies softly, before settling on the couch.

****

“Magnolia…” Apollo whispers, in awe of the woman straddling him, moving her hips against his erection. Mags laughs and tosses her hair back, reaching for her tank top, and slowly pulling it off her body as he watches. His hands follow her curves, sliding up her thighs and taking hold of her hips, bringing her down to grind against him harder. She hasn’t yet removed her pajama shorts, but this alone could undo him. Her hip thrusts, her breasts that bounce before his eyes with her movement. His animal side is taking over, his wolf is coming out. He sits up quickly wrapping his arm around her waist and flipping her over onto the couch, his other hand reaching for her shorts and tearing them clear off. She isn’t wearing any underwear, and somehow this fact drives him even wilder. She reaches for his boxers, pulling them down, and her legs around his backside, urging him inside of her. 

“Apollo….please….” she whispers, desperate for him. That’s all he needs to hear, he positions himself, the tip of his d**k finding her already slick with desire. With a single hard thrust, he fills her completely, a cry of pain and pleasure escaping from her lips, her legs still tight around him, begging for more. He pulls out slowly, just to slam into her once again, repeating the motion until she is howling from ecstasy. He’s so close to release...he opens his mouth and brings his teeth down to the nape of her neck, biting into her soft flesh, Marking her, and Mags doing the same to him. His thrusts pause, as they hold onto each other, their teeth sunk into the skin, the Marking completed.

Apollo jolts awake, taking a moment to get a bearing of his surroundings, remembering that he was on Mags’ couch. It was past dawn, the sunlight filtering into the living room. Apollo looks down, a noticeable erection through his boxers. He quickly covers his lap with a pillow, as Mags opens her door and walks out to the living room.

She stands there, staring at him, as if she knows, and Apollo feels embarrassed, wishing his erection would go down. 

“Have you been having...weird...dreams...about me?” She asks, already knowing the answer.

Apollo nods. Mags nods as well, “me too. They’re getting more intense.”

Apollo nods again, “the tether is strengthening. It wants us...to Mate.”

Mags sits down in the chair to the side of the couch and sighs dramatically, “want to get breakfast? I’m starving.”