The Stella Argent - Stiles Stilinski {Book 2}

Chapter 31

Gerard began recounting the tale of a girl pivotal to the beast, "That letter would eventually find its way into the hands of a young woman, a skilled hunter armed only with a steel-tipped pike. History would know her as the Maid of Gevaudan, but her true name was Marie-Jeanne." Even from Gerard's initial description, it was evident she was formidable.

"Maybe someone should resurrect her," Parrish suggested, rising from his seat.

"Stay," Lydia insisted, deterring Parrish from leaving.

"My dreams differ from yours, Lydia. I'm not merely a harbinger of death. I am its cause," Parrish confessed, sighing as he walked away. Lydia pursued him, attempting to change his mind.

"Lydia," I interjected, reaching for her hand. Perhaps Parrish was right; he might indeed be the catalyst for the deaths.

"Let him go," Chris urged gently.

"Why?" I queried, halting in my tracks, reconsidering my suspicions about Parrish.

"Because, as much as we believe Parrish could face the Beast, neither of us thinks he's our sole hope at stopping it," Chris explained, glancing at me before turning to Gerard. "There's another."

"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled by the direction the conversation was taking.

"We think there's another," Chris said, smirking. He approached a bookshelf, retrieving a volume titled "The Beast" and placing it in front of me.

"What do you want me to do with this?" I inquired, looking at him.

"Read," Chris instructed, as he and Gerard left for another room.

Lydia and I pored over the book, trying to find connections, but the heroine within seemed more heroic than I had ever been. Frustrated, I closed the book.

"Marie-Jeanne was a lot like you, Stella," Gerard said, catching me off guard. "Skeptical of her own abilities. And once, just as skeptical of the supernatural."

"How can I be skeptical of the supernatural when I was born into the supernatural world?" I challenged him, skeptical of his words.

"When your mother told you stories, you thought it was to scare you. But then, when you saw Scott and the pack, that's when it changed for you," Gerard explained. While some of his words rang true, I couldn't fully trust his narrative.

Gerard and Chris continued narrating more about the Maid of Gevaudan. Some details resonated with past dreams I had, memories of a figure resembling Allison. However, in those dreams, I never interacted with her.

"Why didn't he warn her?" Lydia asked Gerard.

"He informed her about everything they'd seen during the war. But, as I mentioned, Marie-Jeanne was a skeptic," Gerard replied. The stories bored me, and I started to look around the room. Lydia's expression turned horrified.

"Lydia?" I inquired, my confusion deepening as Gerard continued his tale.

"Something's happening," Lydia said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Now?" Chris asked.

"I don't know... But something's wrong. I can't-" Lydia stuttered, grabbing my wrist tightly and pulling me towards the door. A sharp pain shot up my arm.

"You should hear the rest of the story," Gerard called after us.

"If we're being honest, why should we listen to you?" I retorted, turning to Chris. "And how can you trust him after what he did to us?" I scrutinized him with a stern gaze.

"He knows it better than any of us. Trust me on this, Stell," he says softly.

"Everything I've read says that the Beast was killed by Jean Chastel," Lydia slowly releases my wrist a little bit but doesn't move it completely.