Chapter Thirty-Six

Welcome to chapter thirty-six. We now begin the sixth generation of this legacy. Anastasia Diehl is the youngest daughter of Petra and Ziggy Diehl and the new matriach of the family descended from the lone alien Raven Moon and her vampire partner Finn Summer. Before we begin this chapter I'll quickly recap the patriachs and matriachs of this family. Raven Moon (founder), Edward Summer-Moon (first heir), Emerald Reed (second heir), Nora Diehl (third heir), Petra Diehl (fourth heir). Although each of these heirs have brought something different to the family and each weathered their own difficulties, they were all united in their love of family and the need to preserve their varied history. Anastasia's story, like her ancestors', is one as unique as she is. And here we begin it....

Ana's father Ziggy missed his wife awfully. Petra had meant the world to him, and now that she was gone he felt, for the first time ever, truly alone.

But he knew that his ghostly wife wouldn't be happy watching him living on in grief and so he made a silent promise to his departed wife that he would be there for his daughter as she took over running the household.

Only Ziggy and Ana were living in the house now, but the responsibility was immense for the young woman. And she truly appreciated his presence.

Getting on with life so soon after the loss of her mother was a little difficult for Ana. But she just remembered her mother's calm presence and began collecting various ingredients for her alchemy tests.

She loved the time she spent in her basement with her alchemy books. And with her exploration of her ancient books came a curiosity for the unsual things in life.

 And so Ana would venture out at night, looking for all the odd and interesting places to visit, where she might come across special ingredients she could use in her potions.

One night Ana had reached a dead end in her search for otherworldly ingredients and decided to call it quits for the night, and was heading home through an abandoned car park. Little did Ana know, that an interesting looking... er... man, had seen her walking all alone.

The moon was near full and so there was plenty of light for this unusual man to see by. Unfortunately he was more preoccupied by the blue haired beauty infront of him, and didn't see the taxi pulling into the car park to pick her up. He didn't even see it as it sped away from him, after knocking him to the ground, and that's because he was knocked unconscious.

Ana rushed to check on him. He was covered in dark blue hair, and his teeth were long and deadly. Despite his scary appearance, Ana worried about this stranger, until he opened his eyes. He raced off into the night as quickly as he had appeared and Ana returned home, none the wiser that she had just met the leader of the pack of werewolves recently arrived to Twinbook.

Ana carried on with her life, putting that somewhat terrifying experience behind her. She continued to collect rare gems, bugs and insects, all manner of interesting herbs and toadstools and  mixed them all together into a variety of wonderful and occasionally deadly potions.

She sold many of her potions at the alchemy store by the beach. They sold for a quite a pretty penny and Ana loved every minute of her life right then.

The night of the full moon was soon upon the quiet household and Ana took the opportunity to mix up as many potions as she could. The full moon had always terrified her and she never slept through these long nights. But at least in the basement she couldn't hear all the howling and other suspiscious noises that accompanied the full moon.

That night was a long one for Ana, but before long the moon was setting and she could at last sleep peacefully.

Ziggy had been working hard at the lab, to keep him occupied after Petra's death. And it had earned him a promotion to 'Mad Scientist'. Ana was proud of her father, and just hoped he wasn't working too hard in his advanced years.

Ana recieved an unexpected phone call a few days after the full moon. He called himself Lucas, and he wanted to thank her in person for checking on him after he was hit by her taxi.

Ana was a little nervous about meeting this mysterious Lucas Dare later that afternoon. But after hearing his gracious, gravelly voice thank her for her kindness after he was knocked out, Ana felt a little more at ease.

 In fact, Ana realised that she hadn't been able to stop thinking about his bright eyes, and now that he was infront of her, fully conscious, she realised he was actually quite charming.

Lucas was a little surprised that Ana hugged him a she said goodbye. But it felt right, for both of them.

From that afternoon on every time Ana left the house she felt a little like she was being watched. As she would race across the beach to the little alchemy store she could feel a set of reassuring eyes watching her from the tree line. It would seem that she had made an impression on Lucas, as much as he had had on her.

Life went on for Ana and she decided to start growing some of her more common ingredients in her own garden.

As the days moved on Ana kept her eye on her father. Ziggy missed Petra every day but he worked hard at the lab and enjoyed watching his daughter flourish.

 Ana's garden grew and she loved spending time just tending to it.

In all of Ana's research into the art of alchemy, she came across some potions and information to do with werewolves. As she read over the description of a werewolf, Lucas came to mind. She hadn't seen him for a while, but she knew he was watching her. She wondered about how she might ask him what he really was.

But Lucas was difficult to get a hold of usually, and so Ana had to contend with speaking to him only in dreams.

Ana loved spending time in her garden. It gave her time to think about her life. And as try as she might she couldn't stop thinking about those piercingly bright eyes.

And right when Ana thought she might not see Lucas properly again, he turned up at her house. She didn't know how long he stood by the mailbox, just watching her tend to her bees, but as soon as she saw him, she told him to come on through the house to see her.

Lucas had been debating whether or not he should actually see this blue-haired beauty again. He was what he was, and it's not like he could really could change his nature. He didn't want to put Ana in any danger, from himself or the rest of his pack. But eventually he couldn't take it any more and knew he had to see her, up close this time.

Ana came inside from her garden and her smile at seeing him standing so uncomfortably in her house lit up the house.

It's not really clear which one moved, but soon they were in eachother's arms. The passion these two shared was intense and the next few weeks became a blur.

Lucas would be off during the night with his pack, not that he ever talked to Ana about it. But he would return as the sun rose and after he watched Ziggy head off to work, he would return to his beloved Ana's side.

Ana felt complete when she was with Lucas. She never knew she could feel this strongly about another person. He was strong and quiet and when she was with him she felt like nothing would ever hurt her.

And Lucas felt the same as Ana. She was bright and happy and everything he had never thought would be in his life again. Being with this beautiful young woman made him feel like he could do anything.

These last few weeks had seen the beginning of a beautiful romance. Ana and Lucas were so happy together. They had found love in the most unsual place.

But as Lucas drifted off to sleep next to the love of his life, he could hear the howls of his pack out in the town and he knew that the happiness he had found with Ana would be short lived. How much longer could he pretend to be something he wasn't, before he brought down a whole world of danger on his beloved Ana?


Thanks for reading chapter thirty-six, the first chapter for Ana. Here's a quick look at thirty-seven...

Ana and Lucas were so in love. But something was heading towards this young couple that would tear them apart.

Lucas was a powerful werewolf, but had he been too caught up with Ana to notice something was wrong?

And the day Ana had waited for since her mother passed away was finally here. But would she be alright without her father by her side?