Virgin Sacrifice to the Last Lycan - Chapter 179: Chapter 179

Helen’s POV
Lisa slouched back in the chair with a sigh. “Well, I guess I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Because if you’re going to perform that sort of magic, you’re definitely going to need a witch or a wizard. And I don’t know any others are hiding right now.”
I reached for her hand and then stopped. She didn’t know me well enough for that. But I wanted her to see the sincerity in my eyes.
“I didn’t intend for you to have to fight the Huntsman with us,” I said. “When I made your acquaintance and suggested you come back to meet my friend, I was honestly only considering the comfort of you and Russo. If you don’t want to get involved in this mess, I fully understand. All you have to do is say the word, and we’ll find someone else.”
Russo nodded in agreement, and Lisa cast a look between him and me and then back again. She rubbed her face, looking tired all of a sudden. “As much as I would like to say ‘go find someone, anyone else,’ I can’t. I don’t know how long it will take you to uncover the hiding place of another witch or wizard. And the whole time that you’re looking, the Huntsman will be free to run around doing all of the horrible things that he does.”
She shook her head. “I would be a terrible person if my own selfish desire for safety led everyone else into danger. Besides, I can’t even say that he wouldn’t work his way here while you guys struggle to uncover someone else’s hiding spot. And then I wouldn’t be safe anyway.”
Russo leaned towards us, propping his elbows on his knees. “So, does that mean that you’re going to help us?”
She nodded. “Yes. I suppose it does.”
He beamed the handsome smile which seemed to attract everyone to him, and I noticed a faint blush of color run across Lisa’s cheeks. “Thank you for your help, Lisa,” he said, charm in every syllable.
I gave myself a silent congratulations. Maybe this was going to work out better than anyone had hoped.
Russo ordered us something to eat, having pasta and breadsticks delivered to our room. He made sure to order enough for Randy and Justin, who still weren’t back. Luckily for them, they arrived before we’d finished, and the food was still warm.
The two entered the room, grinning from ear to ear.
“I take it things went well?” I asked Justin.
“Yes. Randy’s friend got us into the house, and we left the doors unlocked so we could go back after dinner if we want.”
He stopped when he caught sight of Lisa. “Who’s our guest?”
Explanations of who she was and why I brought her back with us started all over again, though, this time, I felt less guilty about bringing her back. Just watching her, I could see that having Justin there in his capacity as king and his beta along with him went a long way to reassuring her that maybe we had a chance of beating the Huntsman after all.
Just that little bit of hope was enough to turn everyone in the room into a much happier person as we all looked forward to the freedom that finally defeating the Huntsman would bring us. While the guys finished their dinner, Lisa sat around asking Russo and Justin questions about the research that we’d done and what we found out about the Huntsman, and how their interactions with the Huntsman had gone during rescues and raids and whatnot.
I pulled Randy back into the bedroom that I was going to be sharing with Justin.
“What did you need to see me alone for?” he asked. “I should probably be going over that information with them.”
“I was actually wondering if you would be willing to take me up to the library before everybody else since we’re already done with our dinner.”
“They won’t be too far behind us,” he said with a frown. “Why do you need to go early?”
I thought for a moment on this because I couldn’t tell him that I wanted to go look up fae and see whether or not they had a call to a mate. If Randy caught me trying to set Russo up with a mate, then he might suspect before I got around to finding a mate for him as well.
Playing matchmaker was a lot more fun than researching the Huntsman. I would have to be careful not to get carried away and lose focus. There would be plenty of time for dating and whatnot after we disposed of the Huntsman.
“If you really need to go up early, I’ll take you,” he said. “Are you ready?”
I grabbed my jacket and stuffed my gloves and hat in my pockets, not wanting to be cold on the walk again. “I’m ready,” I said.
We were just getting ready to leave the room when the other three joined us.
“Good to see you’re ready to take off,” Justin said. “The rest of us are ready, too. Should we head up to the library?”
Less than half an hour later, the five of us split apart in the library at Juden’s mansion. Luckily, it wasn’t too huge. But given the former king’s habit of hiding things, we couldn’t just be certain that anything as valuable as the original Key of Solomon would just be sitting around on the shelves.
After an hour of searching, we had all reached the center of the library again, and not one of us had found the original Key. Everyone looked dejected. Damn Juden for being the constant bringer of misery. Even when he wasn’t around, he was still causing problems. If only he hadn’t been so sneaky, we might be able to find what we needed.
“Is there anywhere else we can look?” Russo asked. He turned to our newest companion. “Lisa, do witches and wizards kind keep some sort of library with all of your knowledge stored there?”
She shook her head. “One of the safeguards we put on our magic is to make sure that it’s not all kept in one place. We have what are called Knowledge Keepers in various locations, and they each have a small portion of the material that tells the history of our magic and other magic tomes and guides that we’ve gathered over the centuries.”
Her whole body drooped in defeat. “However, I’m sure the Knowledge Keepers took whatever information they had in their possession into hiding with them when they went. Finding them now would be impossible.”
Justin ran his hands through his hair, tugging. “I was so sure my father had this information. It’s just the sort of thing that he would keep around.”
“Would he have hidden it in the public library?” I asked, fishing for any new lead.
“I doubt it,” Justin said. “The last thing he’d want is anyone else running across any information that would give them more power than he had.”
“Yes, neither of our fathers were really the sharing sort.”
Randy pulled a chair over and sat, then started drumming his fingers on the tabletop, thinking. Russo and Lisa stood off toward one corner, talking to themselves, and Justin had a look of furious thought on his face. All this left me on my own. Surely we had missed something. After all, there were hundreds of books contained in this library. But how to find something Juden wouldn’t want anyone else to find?