TANYA POV
Thomas carried me the rest of the way to the Cullen's house. I didn't mind so much but he was limping a little and I didn't want him to put weight on his leg.
"You can put me down." I murmured to him and he shook his head.
"I'm not letting you out of my sight," He told me while tightening his grip. "I almost lost you baby so please humor me."
I sighed and cuddled into him.
"How is your leg cousin?" I heard the girl from before ask. I looked over at her and her mate. She was really pretty and her mate seemed nervous around us. She caught me staring at him and looked up. She smiled then patted his hand. "It's ok Fred, you can trust them."
"If you say so." He murmured while glancing around.
"To answer your question," Thomas began before looking at her. "What is your name?"
"Amanda," She said with a grin. "That's my sister Brooke," She gestured to a girl that was right behind her. She was taller than Amanda and her eyes and hair were lighter. "Our little brother Casey." She pointed to a boy who was anything but little. He could rival the wolves in size. He had an impish grin plastered on his face. "Our cousins, Marko and Oz." She pointed to two boys in the back who waved. They were tall but they weren't as muscular as Casey. "And our newest members, Cassidy and her sister, Marlene." She pointed to two tall girls with blond hair even further back with two vampires by their sides. They nodded to us and we nodded back. "These are their mates, Agenor, and Regulus." She pointed to the two vampires that were standing next to the girls. Agenor had brown dreads that went past his shoulders and a goatee. Regulus had hair that was the color of blood. He had high cheeks bones and a mischievous glint in his crimson eyes. They inclined their heads slightly.
"Well Amanda," Thomas said. "My leg is a bit tender but fine none the less. What was it you gave me?"
"A healing potion," She explained. "It helps with most infections but not all ailments, for instance, it could not act as a cure for cancer although this is one of our goals."
"Why wouldn't it work?" I asked.
"Too many factors." She said. "Each case is different and almost unique to the individual. You would have to work each case seperately and admistor the appropriate amounts of herbs and materials. It's the same for HIV and Alzheimers."
"Then how did it work on me?" I said somewhat confused. Last time I checked these sorts of things couldn't work for vampires.
"One of my ancestors did alot of research on vampires and was able to make the potion work on them as well." She explained. "I have their jounals if your interested in reading it."
I nodded. I'm sure it would be an interesting read.
"So you're healers." Thomas murmured. "It fits perfectly with your other form."
"Indeed." Amanda murmured back while a few people looked confused so she elaborated. "Snakes are, as of late, used as symbols of deception or evil. You know this yes?" They nodded. "Before that, back in the days where people worshipped multiple deities as a opposed to one single entity, they were symbols of healing."
"If you don't believe her," Thomas added. "Look at the symbol on the sides of and Ambulance or in the hallways of hospitals all around the globe. There's a winged staff with snakes wrapped around it called the Caduceus. This was known as the symbol of power for the Greek god Hermes, and his Roman counterpart, Mercury."
"You know your stuff." Amanda commented and Thomas shrugged.
"I like to read sometimes," He said. "Mythologies being the subjects that catch my eye." He paused as the house came into view. "And we're here."
"Can you put me down now?" I asked and he looked at me. "I have been more than capable of walking. After all, it was my arm that was injured, not my legs."
He growled a little before he sighed. He put me down but grabbed my hand. I squeezed his hand in reassurance. He squeezed back and we shuffled forward. We were greeted by Esme at the front door.
"Oh my," She said as she looked at us.
"Esme," Thomas said incling his head before leaning forward to kiss her cheek. I hugged her and we walked to the living room. I could hear the others follow. We saw Nessie sitting next to Rosalie and Alice. And I saw Nahuel cradling his sister who was dry sobbing. Thomas sat down next to Rosalie and pulled me into his lap. We smiled at Nessie who smiled a little but looked concerned for Jennifer. I noticed that she grew even more this time around. The last time I saw her she could have passed for a small 3 year old. Now she was at least 5 years old physically.
"It was horrible," Jennifer wailed and we looked at her. "They kept following me and would try to bite me whenever they had the chance." Nahuel's growl cut into her explanation. The others had joined us. They looked at her sadly. "There were times I thought I was safe. They would fall back and I would rest and hunt but then they would find me again."
"Why were you running in the first place?" Nahuel asked. "I thought you were going to stay with Joham?" He spat Joham's name with so much hatred that nearly everyone here recoiled from it.
"I was but he..." She hesitated and Thomas growled. I looked at him questioningly and his eyes were Amber now.
"What is it?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Not my story to tell." He glanced at Jennifer. "It's ok Jennifer, you can tell us. We won't judge you."
She hesitated again but she nodded.
"He tried to marry me off to one of his friends," She said sadly and Nahuel growled again. "His friend is gifted and he was hoping that I would produce a gifted heir, or keep trying until I did."
"So he was going to use you as a breeding mare." Thomas said in a calm voice but his eyes were blazing with pure rage. "His own daughter..." He trailed off and shook his head. "He better not come anywhere near here or I will make him wish that he were never born, let alone immortal."
"You'll have to go through me first." Nahuel hissed. He glanced at everyone. "What happened?"
"We got beat, that's what." Emmett huffed while glancing around. "How the hell were they that strong?" He demanded.
"Language!" Esme chided with a reproachful look. Emmett looked sheepish and mumbled an apology.
"I don't know," Thomas mumured. "They're even more different than I originally thought. But today was not a complete loss, we got Jennifer to safety." He glanced at Amanda. "And made new friends." Amanda smiled at him and he smiled back.
"Yeah." Emmett nodded before looking at Edward. "Do you have any idea what was going on in their heads? Or what those vampires were thinking?""
"No." He shook his head. "The wolves were being compelled to fight but I don't which vampire was doing it."
"How could you not tell?" Jacob asked as he and Sam entered the room. They both looked at Fred and the new vampires for a moment before standing near the window. "Doesn't ones thoughts match their voice?"
"Usually," Edward conceded. "But when I heard the command in their minds, the voice was distorted. It was like there was interference or something."
"I think that's because the person that was compelling them could only be heard from the object of their control." Thomas said. "You heard it because you could read their minds but since you weren't apart of the group, it sonded like a distorted voice."
"That is possible." Edward nodded and I smiled at Thomas. Some people would say intelligence is not an attractive trait. Well my man just proved them wrong. "I couldn't tell what the vampires were thinking because one of them was blocking both of their thoughts."
"One of them was a shield." Eleazar added. "A low level one at that, very limited, only capable of blocking their thoughts as well as the thoughts of others, though, that is limited as well."
"Limited to what exactly?" Carlisle asked and Eleazar shrugged.
"However many people they could touch," He explained. "Or whoever they were standing next to. The possibilties go on and on."
"You couldn't get a lock on them?" Nahuel asked him and he shook his head.
"Kinda hard to do that when we could barely hold off the new wolves." Emmett said dryly before looking at Embry, Leah, and Thomas. "Speaking of which, how did the three of you fight them off?"
"Just lucky I guess." Embry said with a shrug. Everyone that was in the clearing exchanged glances which didn't go unnoticed by Thomas.
"What?" He asked.
"Thomas, you didn't notice the power you demonstarted?" Eleazar asked.
"If you're talking about when I almost got mauled then-"
"No we meant when you blasted the wolf of your back and knocked the others to the ground." Emmett interrupted and Thomas blinked at him.
"You didn't know what you were doing?" Jasper asked in surprise. Thomas shook his head.
"I thought somebody yanked the wolf off of me like earlier."
"No private, that was all you." Jasper told him. "You, I don't know how to explain it, but you used some sort of energy pulse it knocked wolf back and caused the others to fall."
Thomas frowned and looked at everyone who was in the clearing. "Did I really do that?"
We all nodded our heads.
"Huh." Was all he said before looking at Leah and Embry who were sitting close to their mates. "What about you two?"
"What about us?" Leah demanded.
"You two did stuff as well." Thomas told her. "I wasn't the only one they were looking at, so what did you do?"
"Nothing." They said at the same time.
"Embry, you levitated several wolves in the air by waving your hand." Eleazar said and Embry frowned. "Leah, you were able to move to different parts of the clearing without actually running there." Leah frowned as well. "If I had to sum everything up, Leah is capable of Teleportation, Embry has Telekinesis, and Thomas is a physical Shield."
Leah and Embry exchanged disbelieving looks but Thomas frowned.
"A physical Shield?" He asked. "Couldn't we call it a force field? I keep picturing picturing a suit of armor when I think of a shield."
For some strange reason, Bella started laughing. Thomas frowned before he and Edward joined in. The rest of us looked at them like they were crazy.
"What did we miss?" Emmett asked. They didn't answer, they just kept on laughing. "C'mon what so funny?"
He gave them a puppy dog look which caused them to laugh harder. A few of us joined in.
"No seriously, what's so funny?" Embry asked and they calmed down a little.
"When Eleazar told me I was a shield," Bella began. "I had the exact same thought."
"We were laughing for thinking a like." Thomas grinned. Several of us smiled and I giggled a little. "But seriously, are you trying to tell me that we did things that we didn't even know we were doing?"
"It seems to be the case." Eleazar said. "All three of you are very raw. With some discipline, what you could accomplish would be amazing."
Leah and Embry didn't look convinced.
"We'll test each other later." Thomas said before looking at Amanda. "Now, I imagine you have a story to tell us."
She nodded and motioned for her sister to hand her the bag she was carrying. She pulled out a really old looking journal and handed it to Thomas. He raised an eyebrow at her and she pointed at the journal. He opened it and read the first page.
"This is an older dialect of Quiluete." He frowned and flipped through the pages. He frowned even more before looking at Amanda. "You're a descendant of our tribe but how-"
"Read the last few entries," She interrupted gently. "It will explain it better than I can."
Thomas nodded and flipped through the book. His eyes widened as he read the entries faster. He snapped the book closed and stared at Amanda.
"You're ancestor was a member of our tribe." He said and the other wolves in the room narrowed their eyes. "He broke away from us in the pursuit of knowledge."
"Yes." Amanda nodded. "The reason I call you cousin is because even though we aren't technically related, we do come from the same tribe."
"That's a lie." Leah scowled and the Snakes glared at her. "We would have known about something like this."
"No we wouldn't." Sam said slowly and she turned to scowl at him. "Back in those days, if you did or said something that went against the head of the family or the head of the tribe, you were banished and your name was forbidden from being spoken again." He looked at Amanda. "I'm guessing he never used his birth name after that?"
She shook her head.
"He went by Hezekiah." She told him. "After his father renounced him as his his son, he gave up his name. He traveled the world and met many people who influenced him greatly. After he met some Egyptian sorcerers, he was able to unlock the shape shifting gene. He married a young woman with magic powers and it got passed down the line, so we all can do some magic."
To prover her point, she mumured an incantation and a glass of water appeared in her hand. She took a sip.
"Ah." She sighed. "See?" She asked everyone.
"This is ridiculous." Leah muttered. "Now she's a freaking witch as well."
"It fits Leah." Thomas told her sounding very irritated. "Everything in here," He held up the journal. "Is very sound and unless you have something to counter everything then please, don't say anything else."
"Is that an order?" She snarled.
"Do you want it to be?" He shot back. His eyes were flickering from amber to this bluish white color. I frowned and I noticed some people tense up. Leah said nothing but she glared at him. "Now, is there anything else you need to tell us?"
He directed that last part to Amanda but he kept his gaze on Leah. She seemed uncomfortable and so did Nahuel and Jennifer. I grabbed his chin so I could force him to look at me. He raised an eyebrow at me.
"You're scaring them." I said softly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He open them again and the color started fading to green.
"Better?" He asked and I nodded before giving him a kiss on the cheek. He glanced at Amanda. "Anything else?"
"We have cousins in Egypt who are also shape shifters." She said.
"Snakes?" Thomas asked and she shook her head.
"Crocodiles." She was her answer. We blinked at her.
"How big?" Sam asked and she shrugged before looking thoughtful.
"Have any of you seen the movie 'Lake Placcid'?" She asked and a few people nodded. "They're roughly the same size, maybe a few feet shorter."
The people who nodded gaped at her.
"No way." Embry breathed.
"Yes way." Amanda corrected. "If you want to, I could arrange for you to meet them."
I felt Thomas tense up and I looked at him. His eyes had glazed over. I glanced at Edward who was frowning.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Amanda won't have to call her cousins because they're going to be heading this way." He said and most of us frowned and others looked confused. "Benjamin and Tia are bringing them."
We all frowned.
"Why are they bringing them?" Carlisle asked.
"Because Benjamin had a falling out with Amun." Thomas said. "I know part of the story but out of respect for him, I'll let him tell you what's going on. In fact he'll be calling in 3...2...1."
After he said one the phone rang. The people who didn't know what he could do stared at him.
"How did you know that?" Casey asked, speaking for the first time.
"I have my ways." Thomas said as he eyed Carlisle who picked up the phone.
"Hello?" He said as he placed the phone to his ear.
Carlisle? It's me Benjamin.
"Hello Benjamin, how are you doing?"
Not good. I was wondering if Tia and I could come for a visit? Amun and I got into a very heated argument, and needless to say, my mate and I are no longer staying with him.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Carlisle said in geniune concern.
Don't be, as far as I am concerned, this has been a long time coming.
"Well you are welcomed to join us." Carlisle told him before glancing at Sam and Jacob. "The same rules from last time apply."
Sam and Jacob nodded their thanks.
That will be no problem but...
"Yes?" Carlisle pressed.
I've encountered a few people who are like our friends only they're not furry. Scaly would be the more appropriate description. They wish to come with us and I was wondering if that would be a problem.
"They are welcomed here as well." Carlisle said after he glanced at the two Alpha's who nodded. "When will you arrive?"
What time is it there?
"A little after four."
We're exactly 9 hours a head of you and it's an 11 hour flight, so we should be at Sea-Tac-Airport about 3 AM your time. I must go, they are having everyone board now.
"We'll see you then." Carlisle said.
Good bye.
"Bye." He put the phone down and looked around. "We need to make some preperations. Is there anything else?"
"Yes." Sam said as he stepped forward and glanced at Amanda. "How did you know to be here?"
Amanda was going to respond but Thomas beat her too it.
"She was told to head this way," He said and everyone looked at him. He looked at Amanda. "Have you been marked by a power greater than you?" I frowned in confusion trying to figure out where he was going with this. I then realized he was speaking about his own experience and figured she must have gone through the same thing.
She nodded slowly while the others narrowed their eyes at Thomas.
"How did you know?" She asked and he looked me. I silently got off his lap and he stood up. He pulled his shirt off and pointed to his left pectoral.
"Because I was marked as well." He said and she looked at his symbol (Just like everyone else, though Alice gave a low whistle and Kate winked at him much to their mates chagrin) before lifting up her left sleeve. She had a tattoo that looked similar to his wolf tattoo, It was circular but instead of a wolf it was a snake with it's mouth open.
"This is the tattoo that we all got to show solidaritry." She explained and the wolves nodded. They did the same thing. She lifted up the bottom of her shirt. She had a tribal rattle snake with a black outline and greeish brown shading on her right hip. Well it was the head of the snake with part of the body, the rest of it I have no idea where it went.
"It goes down my leg," She murmured. "It wraps around my inner thigh and stops at my knee."
Her brother Casey started snickering until he got smacked by Brooke.
"When did you get that?" Sam asked Thomas.
"I'll show you later." He said. "If I just told you how I got it, you would probably think I was crazy."
He put his shirt back on and Garrett and Jasper grumbled under their breath.
"Bout time." They said and their mates raised an eyebrow at them.
"Problem?" They asked and the boys shook their heads. "Good."
"Hey where's Matilda?" Ethan asked looking out the window.
"And Collin." Elektra continued.
"And Brady." Elena finished.
"That's weird," Jacob frowned. "They should have been here by now."
"Yeah." Sam agreed. "We told Paul and Jared to relay the message. I wonder what's keeping them?"
I noticed Thomas tense up and Edwards eyes snapped to his face.
"Sam, Jacob," He said and they looked at him. "You need to head to La Push right now, Larry is going to fight a member of Jacob's pack." He looked at Sam. "Their close to your house."
Edward didn't need to say more, the both of them bolted out of the house and phased. Thomas shook his head and glanced at Leah and Embry.
"We have to go." He told them. "This could get ugly."
They nodded and kissed their mates on the cheek. Thomas looked at me and smiled sadly.
"Come back to me." I told him and he kissed me.
"I will." He said pulling away before addressing the room at large. "Don't follow us and don't try to help. It will only get worse if you do and I'm sure none of you want to go to war." Everyone shook their heads though, three members of the McIntyre family looked mutinous. "Please stay here, we'll be back as soon as we can."
They all flashed out of the room and headed West.
~AITOR~
T.J. POV
When Sam's house came into view, we heard alot of snarling. Larry was trying hard to fight against Sam's commaned and Matilda was calmly sitting on her haunches which seemed to make Larry madder. He snapped his teeth and Sam barked . Larry's shoulder's slumped and he put his head down. Matilda trotted into the forest and I felt that shimmer. I glanced at several of my old pack mates and my new ones. I padded my way over to them with Leah and Embry at my flank.
"Hey guys." I said to Paul, Jared, and the others.
"Hey Teej." Jared grinned while Paul gave me a curt nod. The others murmured their hello's and I could hear Seth in the house with Claire and Quil. Emily was in the kitchen with Rachel. I noticed that Collin, Brady, and Jack weren't here.
"Where are the others?"
"Sam and Jake sent them away." Matilda said quietly as she shuffled over to us. "Collin and Brady were going to kill Larry so Sam sent them to cool off. Jake did the same with Jack and Tabitha."
I nodded and looked at Jake and Sam who were staring at each other.
"At least it didn't get worse." I murmured. " I had a vision of that little shit trying to get into Sam's house while in his wolf form."
Everyone around me inhaled sharply before they started cursing under their breath. Sam and Jake heard me and glared at Larry who flinched.
"What are they going to do with him?" Derek asked and I shrugged.
"Don't know," I said honestly. "But if he keeps this up, he'll have to go before the Elders and they will punish him accordingly."
He gulped and the rest of them winced. I saw Larry's eyes widen a little and I glared at him.
"Yeah you didn't think about that did you?" I asked him coldly and he hung his head. I shook my head at him. I heard some one trudging towards and out of the cornor of my eye I saw Rachel.
"Hey cuz!" She exclaimed as she pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back. "Wow, you got taller!" She said as I pulled back.
I shugged.
"I guess so," I grinned at her. "How have you been?" I asked before I saw something on her left hand. I narrowed my eyes before she tried to hide her hand. "What was that?"
"Nothing." She said quickly.
"That better not be what I think it is." I said accusingly to Paul who tried to glare at me but he looked a little scared. I heard Jacob whine behind me.
"It's nothing really." Rachel said. "Nothing yet." She muttered under her breath. I narrowed my eyes at her before I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"We'll talk about it later." I hissed through my teeth. "We have other things to attend to with the Cullens and our new friends."
I glared at Paul and he was looking anywhere but me. I leaned forward and kissed Rachel on the cheek.
"Later cuz." I said and she waved a little.
"Bye." She murmured. I walked off the porch. I turned to Leah.
"You waiting for Seth?" I asked and she shook her head.
"He'll come by later." She said softly. I nodded, being around Sam must still be hard for her. I glanced at Matilda.
"You running or do you wanna jump on my back?" I asked and she raised an eyebrow.
"Why would I do that?" She asked and I shrugged.
"Because I'm faster than you on two feet and the faster we leave, the faster you can see your lover boy?" I asked and she blushed a little.
"He is not my lover boy!" She huffed.
"So you don't like him then?" I asked sounding confused but on the inside I was laughing.
"I do!" She cried before she started to sputter indignantly and I laughed.
"Ignore him Tilda," Leah said rolling her eyes. "He's just being stupid."
"You wound me Leah." I said placing my hands over my heart and looking sad. She rolled her eyes again but her lips twitched.
"Let's go then." She said and bolted away. Embry followed and I looked at Matilda. She shrugged and walked to me. I bent my knees and she jumped on my back. I put my hands under her knees and she wrapped her arms around my neck.
"Hold on tight and close your eyes." I told her and her grip tightened. I looked at Jake. "I'll see you at the house." He nodded. I looked at the others on the porch. "I'll try to come around more often." They nodded. "Ready cousin?" I asked Matilda and she nodded.
I flashed away from the house in the direction of the Cullens.
~AITOR~
3rd PESRON POV
Ludwig and Diana walked into their masters lair to give him their report. It was a mostly dark place with the only source of light being sunlight that shone in from the sun roof. Their master seemed to be in a mood as he looked over some of his designs that he had drawn up.
"The news that you bring me had better be good or I might rethink your usefulness to me." He said in a cold voice while not looking up from his desk. He had flowing black hair that went down to the middle of his back. His crimson eyes were blazing as he tried to find a way to piece these two factors he had together.
"Milord." Ludwig and Diana murmured before they bowed.
"Enough of the formalities," He told them. "Tell me what you need to and leave."
"We report success." Ludwig told him. "The dogs from the reservation-"
"Do not call them that!" His master snapped while glaring at him with cold, black eyes. "They have more pride, honor, and power in their left pinky fingers than you have in your entire body! Show some respect!"
Ludwig and Diana involuntarily took a step back. They couldn't understand how their master could say something about these filthy creatures. They're surprise and confusion only made their master angrier.
"Wipe those stupid looks off your faces!" He hissed. "The wolves of La push and any other supernatural being deserves respect, if you underestimate them, you will not live to see another day! Those bastards in Italy learned that the hard way. Sure, they still get on their precious thrones but more and more vampires are questioning their rule! We owe the wolves and their friends for that. It would make our plan go so much more smoothly."
Ludwig and Diana just nodded even though they still didn't see how they could be useful.
"Continue." Their master said curtly.
"Three of them show promise." Diana said. "Two males and a female displayed some raw power."
Their master nodded to himself. He was waiting for them to show some potential ever since he heard what that shaman told the Alpha of that pack three generations ago.
"And how are our wolves doing?" He asked. "Any injuries?"
"Only one." Ludwig said. "He's mostly healed but we got them too."
Ludwig didn't realize his mistake until his master was out of his seat and standing in front of him.
"What do you mean, you got them too?" He asked Ludwig in an even colder voice.
"Well we got one of the wolves and his mate." Ludwig said nervously and his master hissed.
"Did we injure them first or the other way around?" He asked through his teeth. He already knew the answer, there was no way they could have hurt his wolves, he made sure of that when he had the change forced on them.
"No, we did." Ludwig said and his master clenched and unclenched his fists. "I told the wolves to attack and the wolves from the reservation along with their friends fought back. They weren't very successful and one of our wolves almost ripped this other wolves leg off."
His master growled but waved for him to continue.
"Another one of their wolves pulled our wolf off of him and he almost got mauled by another one of our wolves had he not blasted him away."
His master frowned a little.
"What form was he in?" He asked.
"Human." Ludwig answered
Human? The master thought bewildered. Why would he be in human form?
"And his mate was in human form as well?" He asked and Ludwig shook his head.
"His mate is a vampire." He replied and his master felt a pang of sadness as he thought about...No he wouldn't think about her. Not now, not when he needed to get things done.
"Continue." He told Ludwig.
"She tried to assist him, and one of our wolves dragged her away." Ludwig flinched when his master growled but he continued. "Her mate was furious and he blasted everyone away with some sort of shielding power."
The master nodded to himself.
"How many were in their number?" He asked.
"Five wolves, 19 vampires though two of them left to help two hybrids leave." Ludwig said and his master narrowed his eyes.
"What hybrids?" He asked.
"Well, one of them had crossed paths with our wolves and had to run for her life." He flinched when his master raised his hand. The master just ran his hand through his hair and motioned for Ludwig to continue. "They chased her through several states." His master growled again. "She ran into the arms of another hybrid and they ran off."
"Did they know each other?"
"The girl knew him by name."
"And what was it?"
"Nahuel."
The master froze. He knew that this hybrid was the one that helped the Cullens and the wolves but if this girl knew him that only meant one of two things. One, she was just another hybrid child that befriended him, or she was his sibling.
"Describe her." He commanded.
"She had sort of honey brown hair, she had brown eyes that were almond shaped." Ludwig said. "They actually looked alike except he had dark brown skin and she was bronze."
The master took in a several deep breaths to calm himself down, despite the fact that his lungs no longer worked. So she is his sister. He thought. That means their father might be involved, which may or may not be a good thing. Maybe they will get rid of that idiot before he could do any damage to his plan.
"Anything else?" He asked.
"Well," Diana began, speaking for the first time in a while. "There is another group of shifters."
"What form?" The master asked.
"Rattle snakes the size of a fully grown anaconda." She replied and the master's eyebrows shot up.
"How many?"
"Seven." She replied. "They had vampires with them as well. One of the snakes managed to shatter the ribcage on one of the wolves."
"She also removed the invisibilty charm that we had." Ludwig added.
The masters eyebrows almost went up into his hair at this.
"Truly?" He asked and they nodded. "Is there anything else?" They shook their heads. "Then leave and send Raymond in for me."
"Master." They bowed and flashed out of the room.
"I know you've been listening Esmeralda, you can come out now." The master said into the darkness with a sigh. The air shimmered slightly and a women with long, wavy, black hair and grey eyes stepped forward.
"You know Makhai, I don't know why you put up with them." She commented as she conjured a chair with a wave of her hand. "They seem even more useless now than they did before you gave their powers a boost."
"They have their uses." Makhai said with a sigh. "How do you feel about this recent piece of information?"
"More magic users is all." Esmeralda shrugged. "Level 5's at best if they could disable an invisiblity charm of that level."
"But only one of them did it." Makhai said confused and Esmeralda shrugged again.
"They all know how to do that, and before you ask, no I don't know that for sure." She explained. "It is, however, something I feel."
"The Webber girl?" He asked her.
"She's strong." Esmeralda said. "Not alot of control but with time she could learn." She looked at her old friends work on the table. "You still haven't found another solution?"
Makhai shook his head and she sighed.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" She asked him. "You know it causes you pain to be with these women even though they fawn over you. And what of your children? What are you going to do if they hate you?"
"They already do." He said quietly. "And I don't blame them. I have to bring them together so I can hopefully get their help with getting rid of those false kings."
"You do realize that if this fails, then you have sentenced them to death?"
"I know that!" He snapped at her but she was unfazed by his behavior. "But what should I do, sit on my ass for the rest of eternity and let them get away with what they did to my family? And what of you?"
"What about me?" She asked tensely.
"Will you let them get away scott free for what they did to your sisters in Salem?" He asked and her features became demonic. "Or all the witch hunts they ordered and orchestrated?"
She hissed slightly. She would never forgive the Volturi for ordering the slaughter of her fellow witches. Sure they had two witches themselves but they know nothing of their heritage and they were loyal to Aro.
"Of course not." She said slowly, trying to reign in her temper. "But at least I am not making enemies of my own children, nor am I laying everything on the line for a plan that call fall apart any second."
Makhai drew in a breath to hold back the angry retort he had for one of his oldest friends. Silence descended on them.
"I will go check on the wolves." Esmeralda said while standing up. "I'm going to make sure they don't lose what ever humanity they have left. Remind me again as to why you had me make them."
"I needed to test the wolves." Was his reply.
"What about the fact that they pretty much killed every vampire they came across?" She asked. "Shouldn't descretion be a factor?"
"That's why I have Ludwig." He said. "His power comes in handy for this sort of thing. He may not have brains, but like I said before, he has uses."
Esmeralda just shook her head in both exasperation and fondness. She took a few steps and faded out of view. The door opened and a short, stocky, vampire with orange hair stepped into view.
"Raymond, what happened to your hair?" Makhai frowned.
"Nothing milord, just a deal made between me and Toshiro." Raymond replied in a thick Welsh accent while bowing. "What can I do for you master?"
"I need you to find Maria for me." Makhai told him. He was hoping that he wouldn't need to use her but she has a knack for choosing decent people for her newborn army. "I need her here as soon as possible."
"May I take Aldo and Toshiro with me?" Raymond asked hesitantly. "They are better trackers than I am."
Makhai thought about that for a moment before nodding. Raymond bowed again and left the room.
Makhai sighed and sat in his seat. He had to find another way to bring his children and everyone in Washington without resorting to taking another life. After awhile he sighed in resignation as he chose to go with his original plan. He hoped his children would forgive him and he cursed the Volturi even more making him resort to this.