Chapter 4
Iggy nearly moaned with pleasure when he stepped into the hot shower. He could feel who knows how many days worth of grime and dried blood washing off of him. Thinking about blood reminded him of everything he'd learned from Edward.
Apparently he was in a house filled with vampires. Vegetarian vampires is what Carlisle had called them. They didn't drink human blood, only animal. At least that's what they claimed and so far they hadn't given him any reason to distrust them. Part of him had wanted to laugh when they'd told him that not only were vampires real but so were werewolves. It seemed impossible, but then again he was a genetically engineered bird kid who could fly so he really didn't have much room to be skeptical.
After Edward and Carlisle had answered all of Iggy's questions about their vampire family he'd done the same about his genetically mutated family. He told them about the school and the terrible childhood he and his adopted siblings had suffered.
Max would kill him when she found out that he'd revealed so many of their secrets to virtual strangers, but he needed help. He wasn't going to be able to rescue them without assistance and once he'd heard what the vampires were capable of he figured they'd be better equipped to help him than just about anyone else on the planet. Now he just had to figure out how to ask them.
Iggy felt around until he found a bottle of something on a shower wrack. He opened the bottle and sniffed. It smelled like soap, he wasn't sure if it was shampoo or body wash, but any soap was better than what he had most of the time while they ran for their lives, which was nothing. After washing his hair he opened his wings a bit and let the water run over his feathers. A few of his secondary flight feathers had been clipped my the bullet and were bent and broken. He gritted his teeth and yanked out the damaged feathers, letting out a hiss of pain as he did so. Once his wings were cleaned and groomed as best as he could Iggy shut off the hot water and reached for the towel that Edward had given him along with a clean pair of clothes.
He was surprised to find that all of the clothes fit him perfectly. It was hard for all of the flock to find clothes that fit them just right since they were all so tall and slender, especially Iggy who was the tallest. Nudge had teased Iggy more than once that his pants made him look like he was ready for a flood because they were so high up on his ankles.
Not only did these clothes fit him perfectly but the shirt and jacket both had slits cut into the back for his wings. The clothes were clearly meant just for him, but Iggy had no explanation for how the vampires could have gotten them so quickly.
After he finished dressing Iggy hurried back to the room where Carlisle was trying to figure out what was wrong with Angel. Carlisle and Edward had both been amazed when he'd assured them that he didn't need help finding his way back. Iggy might need someone to lead him around in a new place, but thanks to his bird DNA or whatever freaky powers he had he only needed that help once. After that the route would be permanently seared into his brain.
It frustrated Iggy that he had so little information to give the doctor about what had happened during that last attack. He remembered flyboys approaching, at least twenty of them based on the sounds. Angel had said something about two of them carrying something that looked like a weapon. But Iggy had no idea what kind of weapon, he didn't even know if it was what had made the rest of his flock scream in agony before they'd all gone silent. Iggy wasn't sure if the others had passed out the way Angel had, but he was fairly confident they had. He remembered the unsettling silence of not hearing the flapping of their wings.
He hesitated in the doorway to the room, unsure if anyone was in there or not. The vampires were impossibly quiet, Iggy was used to keeping tabs on people by the subtle sounds they made. Breathing, coughing, shifting clothing, even heartbeats if he was close to the person. These vampires however were pretty much invisible to his other senses, it made Iggy feel jumpy and on edge. He couldn't remember the last time someone had been able to startle him.
When no one spoke to him he figured that the room was empty and he hurried to the bed where Angel had been, but the bed was empty now. Before Iggy had left to take a shower he'd relented and given Carlisle permission to take Angel to the hospital for tests. Carlisle had assured him that he'd be able to sneak her in and out without anyone knowing they'd been there and Iggy figured it was worth the risk if it helped Angel get better.
Contrary to his previous thoughts about how quiet the vampires were Iggy suddenly heard what he thought were Edward's footsteps approaching from down the hall. A second later Edward knocked on the already open door.
"I just wanted to make sure you found everything ok after your shower." He explained.
"You mean checking to make sure the blind guy didn't get lost?" Iggy quipped.
"Maybe a little." The vampire admitted. "Are you hungry? Esme made Mexican food for you. Well for you and Jake so I'd hurry if you actually want to get any of it." Edward warned jokingly. "Werewolves eat a lot." He explained.
Iggy smirked, Yeah they've never seen a starving bird kid eat. He thought.
"I'm starving actually. Thank you." Iggy admitted. He felt Edward brush his arm against his hand and he once again held on just above the vampire's elbow. It was a strange feeling being led around by a stranger. He'd almost always had one of his family members around to help him out. They were able to subtly help him find his way with just slight taps or brushes against his hands, it was automatic for all of them at this point and none of them even thought about it anymore. He'd taken for granted how much he relied on his flock to be his eyes and without them he felt blind in a whole new way.
"You're missing a few feathers." Edward pointed out.
"Oh yeah, they got grazed by the bullet. But they'll grown back in a few days and luckily they weren't my primary feathers so I can still fly, I just won't be quiet as aerodynamic till they're back." Iggy explained enthusiastically. Talking about his wings was one of the few personal things he loved talking about. Despite the rest of the problems the school had caused Iggy would never regret his wings.
"I still can't believe you can fly. It must be wonderful." Edward mused.
"It's the best feeling in the world." Iggy revealed.
"So are you ready to meet my family? I'm sure it might be at least a little scary meeting an entire house full of horror movie monsters." Edward asked, only joking a little.
"I've had evil mad scientists and killer robots after me my entire life. This makes me feel right at home." Iggy quipped as he followed Edward down a long set of stairs to the first floor.
Over the years Iggy had often felt when people were staring at him. As soon as he followed Edward down the stairs he could feel several sets of eyes on him, although it was again disconcertingly quiet.
"Everyone this is Iggy. Iggy this is everyone." Edward said as he led Iggy into what sound like a large open room.
He spent the next few minutes meeting Edward's various adopted siblings as well as his wife Bella who seemed nice and his daughter Renesmee, which Iggy thought was a strange name, but then remembered that his name was Iggy so he probably shouldn't judge too much. Earlier Edward had told him about how his daughter was half human and half vampire, his wife Bella hadn't been turned into a vampire until after Renesmee was born. They also explained that even though Renesmee was only six years old she was nearly fully grown both physically and mentally. It reminded Iggy of Ari who had been the same way after the school had finished turning him into an eraser.
Iggy immediately liked Edward's brother Emmet who was one of the few people Iggy had met that was taller than his own six feet three inches. A few minutes later when he walked into the kitchen he met Renesmee's boyfriend Jacob who at nearly seven feet tall actually made Iggy feel short. Jacob seemed nice, but his smell made Iggy nervous, he had the same smell as the erasers, which made sense considering Jacob was a werewolf.
His nerves didn't last long once he met Edward's adopted mother Esme who instantly made him feel at home. She showed him to a table and then set a large plate of delicious smelling food in front of him. Iggy attacked the plate and practically inhaled the food. Losing so much blood, plus all the flying and running he'd done, plus the fact that he hadn't eaten in nearly two days had made Iggy feel like his insides were trying to eat themselves. He cleared the plate in just a few minutes and cleaned the second plate nearly as fast. Three plates later he was finally finished.
"Wow I've never seen anyone out eat Jacob!" Esme exclaimed.
"Thank you the food was really good. I'm sorry if I ate too much. We have really high metabolisms, it takes a lot of energy to fly." Iggy said.
"No need to apologize, most of us don't eat human food anyway so you didn't take anyone's share. I'm just glad I thought to make extra." She kindly stated. Iggy liked her already, she reminded him a little of Dr. Martinez.
"Edward told me about your family. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that someone took them. We'll help you get them back I promise." Esme assured him.
Iggy was shocked that an offer of help had come so freely, he'd been preparing various ways to ask for help and here Esme just offered it. "Are you sure? It could be dangerous." He warned, if they were going to help him they deserved to know the risks.
"Don't worry vampires are pretty much unbreakable. We're also super strong and super fast. The wolves are too. I'm sure we can deal with whatever they have at that horrible place." She assured him.
"Thanks, I wouldn't ask for help but they're... " Iggy trailed off.
Esme laid a cold hand on his forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "They're your family. I understand. There isn't anything we wouldn't do for our family either." She comforted.
Iggy felt his eyes prickle and sting with tears. He really never cried but meeting this strange vampire family just reminded him of his own strange family and how alone he was without them. Losing the flock and being on his own had always been his greatest fear. Being lost in a sea of darkness with no one to help him find his way. But he was comforted by the fact that he at least had seemed to find himself with strangers who genuinely seemed like they wanted to help him. Maybe he wouldn't be quite as lost here as he'd always feared.
He cleared his throat and changed the subject, hoping the older woman wouldn't notice that he'd almost cried. "So um I can tell we're pretty far out in the woods by the sounds from outside. Are we far enough away from any other people that I could go fly without being spotted. I need to stretch my wings."
"We're miles from town, the only people who are usually out in the woods are either us or the two wolf packs, but Jacob has already explained everything to the packs so they won't be alarmed. I think it should be fine." Esme answered.
"Great, I was also wondering where I should sleep tonight? If there aren't enough beds don't worry about it, I can sleep on the couch or even up in a tree if I need to."
Esme let out a light tinkling laugh. "Oh no need to do that. Please just sleep in the bed you were in earlier or any of the beds upstairs. Vampires don't sleep so we won't need the beds."
Iggy nodded. "Right Edward mentioned that I think."
He stood up and muttered to himself, "Never sleep? Freaky."
"Is that the backdoor?" He asked Esme and pointed over his should towards the draft he could feel coming from behind him.
"It is. Do you need any help? I mean when you, take off? I wouldn't want you to hit a tree and hurt yourself especially since Carlisle just patched you up. Or help finding your way back? One of us could follow you on the ground and guide you back." Esme offered sounding worried, ever the protective mother.
"No I'll be fine. I've been flying blind for a long time. Don't worry I won't get lost. I always know what direction I'm flying in, it makes it easy to navigate." He assured her as he opened the door and stepped outside.
The sun had gone down a few hours before and the night air was chilly and smelled like fresh rain. Iggy walked forward until he could tell he was in a fairly open area without any branches directly above him. He again felt the tingle that let him know he was being watched, but this time he'd expected it. People were always eager to see the flock fly once they discovered the truth.
Iggy stretched out his wings to their full fourteen feet and sighed. It felt so good to stretch his wings, they so often had to keep their wings tucked in tight to avoid detection and to avoid breaking things. He smiled when he heard a few of the Cullens murmuring excitedly about his wings. He took two running steps and then jumped into the air. He beat his wings hard for a few strokes as he felt himself rising above the trees. Once he had some descent altitude he performed a few impressive flying maneuvers, looping and diving, showing off a little to the vampires down below. They were all certainly stronger and faster than him on the ground and true he wasn't impenetrable as they claimed to be. But they'd never be able to fly.
He hadn't been lying to Edward before, flying truly was the best feeling in the world, but he soon found that without his family it wasn't nearly as fun. No one to make jokes with, no one to fly in formation with. The longer he stayed in the air the more he was reminded just how much he missed everyone. The sooner Carlisle returned and they could make a rescue plan the better Iggy decided as he flew back towards the house. Instead of landing on the ground he simply flew into the window he'd left open earlier and was soon back in the bedroom he'd slept in earlier.
Despite having been unconscious for nearly twenty hours Iggy was suddenly exhausted. He kicked off his shoes and jeans and then flopped onto the comfortable bed. Tomorrow he would figure out a way to save his family. They were strong, they could hold on until then Iggy thought as he fell asleep.
A/N- Yay another chapter up! I hope everyone is enjoying this story. Thanks so much reading and thanks CosmicKitten16 for the reviews!