Ophelia

Chapter 22

Benjamin's POV

She was cunning. She was beautiful. And required so much more than I had to give. Ophelia deserved... so much more.

I left her standing there last night, but I so badly wished to pick her up and take her with me. The little thing was standing there shivering like a scared kitten, despite her being anything but scared. The minute I stepped within a foot of her, I could feel the excitement pouring off of her. But I couldn't act on my feelings. I made a promise that I would stay away... though, that wasn't exactly falling through. And she advanced our little game. That wasn't gonna slide with me. Not unless I got the last word.

"Casper," I shouted from my office. He was there within seconds.

"Yeah, bud, what's up?"

"I need you to get something from Ophelia for me. Some kind of information that she's not sharing about this whole," I sighed, "mess."

Casper raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? Like some of her research?"

I waved a hand at him, "What ever you can get. I have a feeling we're out of the loop on things and seeing as it is our family members being victimized and killed, I think we should know what's going on. How ever you have to get it, get it done."

He smiled, "I was actually about to head over  anyways!"

I froze but kept my eyes on the papers before me. "And why is that?" I asked, my voice sounding flat and uninterested.

"I was going to ask Ophelia out again, take her to a movie or something." He was so nonchalant. He had absolutely no clue. My golden retriever of an adoptive brother was in my way to Ophelia. My mate. My other half.

"Fine." I grunted. "I'll do it myself then."

Casper pouted like a child, "Dude, I can still do it–"

"No. While you take her out and are having a great damn time, I will be getting the important information from her apartment. Go." I stood up and left him behind in my office. He lost my patience. Not necessarily his fault, he doesn't know who she is to me. He's probably better for her than me as well. Doesn't stop it from hurting any less though.

I waited for him to leave to quietly follow behind. I kept a distance, lurking to not be seen. I stood around the corner until I could see him leave with her before I made my move. Making my way to the door, I ran up to her apartment and noticed the door was open a bit. Casper must've left that for me.

I entered the apartment, her scent lingering on everything. There were papers on every table. I scanned over them; a mixture of schoolwork and  random letters everywhere. She was smart. She didn't leave anything out and open. There were two bedrooms and a small office type space. The office perhaps?

There were plants and books everywhere. A bookcase containing a range between fiction and history took up an entire wall. A few of the books seemed to be records. Records of humans living in the town, other supernatural beings in town, every death, unnatural death, supernatural death... she was keeping track of everything. On the desk, laid a few sheets of paper. It wasn't anything really important, a few messy sketches of rabids, a study of their features and the marks. I took a few pictures with my phone to examine later.

I moved out of that room and towards the room that smelled most like Ophelia. Her room was clean, her bed made and everything placed a specific way. She'll probably notice if something goes missing from here then, damn.

I scanned the room. Nothing was out of place... except the vanity drawer. It was slightly ajar. I pulled it open and found a mess of things. An edgy looking diary, a file with "rabid tests" across the folder, a scattered lot of photos. I shuffled through it all. The pictures were of her and what I assumed was her family. Her uncle Frankie was in some, so it was safe to assume. Some were of her and a younger male, presumably a brother? Then with the young male with parental types– a mother and father. Ophelia stood out like a sore thumb. Her mother had black hair, her father had dark brown, her brother had brown as well. Ophelia has natural white hair.

Next, I opened the file. There were clipped photos and hand written notes of observations. I flipped through the pages of blood tests and science shit. Dark Magic?- read a page that was charred at the bottom right as if it had caught fire - For Ophelia to test later.

What was Ophelia going to test exactly? What does a werewolf know about dark magic?

I took photos with my phone of the pages and notes in the file before I put it back in the drawer and reached for the weird diary. Upon opening it, I realized it wasn't a diary. It was a grimoire.

What was she doing with a grimoire?

I skimmed through the whole book first, it seemed to be years and years worth of... spells? History? Journal entries even? What intrigued me most though, was history and journal entries. Bits stuck out like "moon goddess"... "first born daughter"... "demigoddess"... "lycanthrope"..."hybrid"... The more I skimmed, the more I began to piece things together.

According to the writings, Ophelia wasn't just a werewolf. Her mother was basically a surrogate for a goddess, birthing my mate. Ophelia was not just a werewolf, she was an extremely powerful being! She is inhabited by the very first lycanthrope, a being only recorded once or twice throughout supernatural history. She has rumored to rip her human forms from the inside out if she deemed them unworthy! On top of that, she inherited godly powers. Not the simple witchy type either. Pure magic. Pure light.

My mate had been lying about who and what she was. Probably for good reason, I imagine that if word got out she'd be hunted down. I wouldn't allow that.

Suddenly, I heard the front door open and someone shuffle in. It wasn't Ophelia, probably her idiot friend. I didn't have a chance to put the book back, I just took it and jumped from the window. I got a lot more information than I was hoping for.