Chapter 4. The reunion
POV:Ivan the werewolf.
I see both of them fighting; William is fast and strong, but the other one is stronger. William is putting up a good fight, though, anticipating the other's moves.
"Ivan, get the hell out of here!" he screams to me, taking advantage that the other one is recovering from his latest crash to a pine. "I´ll cover you."
It would be the smartest thing to do, but to what point? It would just get us both killed. As soon as he finishes or incapacitates William, he will go after me. Moreover, if I manage to survive, the options are limited; if the leech survives he will get Alec and Jane and then we will be in trouble. If William survives and decides to return where his boss is, he won´t be able to hide what just happened with that fucking ability to read minds, finalizing with the same previous outcome. There is only one choice.
"Why do you get to have all the fun, my dear brother?" I see the exasperated look that he has always given me when I decide to not follow his plan.
"We were taught to share," he sighs.
I hear a snarl coming from the leech and his heavy steps coming towards me. I keep my eyes on William, challenging him to come and rescue his older brother. There is indecision in his face, but he overcomes whatever doubt he has and heads towards the leech.
"William, tackle him!" I might not be in my most powerful form, but I have far more than a human's speed and strength. William follows my order and tackles him. The leech falls face first, not putting his hands in front to break his fall. William grabs his legs, not allowing him to stand up. I reach them and place a knee on his back, trying to keep his torso down, but it feels as if I am on top of an angry bull, trying to push himself up, so I put my full force on him and work as fast as I can.
I grab one of his arms and bite his hand; I hear him scream in pain, not that I care. I linger there, making sure that my venom spreads to his system; I am certain that is working because his screaming gets worse. I am lucky that his hands are covered in scars; he won´t be able to tell apart which one is mine once this ordeal is over. Immediately I taste the bitter flavor of biting a vampire, but I am not done yet.
I drop that hand and swiftly move to the other and do the same; I can see that is working, he is no longer fighting to stand up. When I am done, I run to the river and rinse my mouth, hoping that the water can remove the disgusting taste out of it. I spit the water and repeat the process several times until finally it's not as bad.
I turn and see the leech in a fetal position, his hands close to his chest in a protective way.
"What did you do?" William is no longer holding him down, but he is staying close by, not taking his eyes from him.
"I gave him a little taste of hell." I could almost swear that he suppressed a chuckle, but he quickly composes himself.
"I should kill you." William looks defeated; it seems that I wasn´t the only one thinking on the probable outcomes. "Or you should kill me." He finally looks at me, those red eyes a clear indication of his now true nature, as did I; we both had to say goodbye to our mother's beautiful blue eyes.
I decide to ignore his question.
"What the hell happened to you?" Being one hundred percent conscious that he is actually a vampire is still hard to process.
"I should be asking you the same, a Child of the Moon?" Ugh! I don´t like that term, it makes us sound so innocent, when in reality we are as wild as they come.
"We prefer the term werewolf, but it is a long story," I cut him off; he looks at me with disbelief.
"You know what, don´t tell me; it's better that way." He puts his hands up, indicating for me to stay quiet.
"Afraid that your boss will pull the truth from your thoughts?" He looks in surprise at me.
Fucking vampires, so ignorant and they think they can kill us all. Mother Nature was pretty darn unfair when she allowed some vampires to have a special ability. If we had that and weren't as feral as we are during the full moon, we would be winning the war; lucky for us Althea joined our side.
Madame was right, the more we know of our enemy the better chances we will have of surviving. Over the centuries, the werewolves have been able to get their hands on a few vampires, probably in the same way that I just did, and make them spill the beans on any information related to them. After they finalize the questioning, Madame verifies if the leech would be missed in the world or by the Volturi; if not, they would kill it, otherwise Althea would work her magic with the leech. I was never able to see any of it considering that it was centuries ago, but just as any werewolf I´ve been taught about it.
"Then you should leave me and start looking for a good hiding place." His face falls.
"I don´t think so, little brother." Again, he gives me that look, which I decide to ignore. "If anything, you are coming with me; your friend should tag along."
"For what? Are you planning on having us over for dinner?" I look at him and chuckle.
"If by having you over for dinner you mean as the main course, it's an option I am willing to consider," he glares at me, "but I am certain your friend has a terrible aftertaste, probably not good for my digestion." I make the motion of rubbing my stomach.
"Really, Ivan? You are planning on joking considering the seriousness of the situation?" He has always been too preoccupied with rules and shit; we have never seen eye to eye in almost anything.
"If life gives you lemons you should make lemonade," I walk over to where he is, "but seriously, you are coming with me."
"I don´t think so." He stays put in place.
"It's not like we have all day to discuss this, William, either you come with me now, while the sun is still up or let's schedule a rematch for later in the afternoon, it's your call." It's not the option that I am looking form but I need to say something that will make him want to follow me.
"I´m sorry, Ivan, we can´t, it's against the law," he answers me, his face hard. He has always been too fucking attached to the law; when he was younger, he was so afraid of disappointing Father—what an irony…if Father could see him now—seems that I finally became Daddy´s favorite son. Who knew that day would finally come? Not that I was ever looking for the title.
"Suit yourself, little brother, but I am sure Madame is going to give me hell for not bringing you in to say hello to her." His eyes widen after hearing me.
"Ivan, what the hell? Stop joking!" I can see that he is not happy about it; he is probably thinking that I can´t be serious about anything.
"Brother, right now I couldn´t be more serious; so start moving that cold stone ass of yours and help me drag this low life jerk. Time is precious."
I am not planning to carry the leech, so I grab one of his legs and start dragging him instead, not giving a damn if he's comfortable or if some rocks might hit him every now and then. He is whimpering with pain, holding both his hands.
I walk all the way south, not caring to look back. William will come, it's just a matter of him getting it through his thick skull that I don´t mean any harm, at least for the moment.
During my walk over to the mountain, I check on the soldier every now and then and give him a quick dose of my venom just to make sure that he is in pain enough to not attack me. I don´t plan on making it this far, just to have this son of a bitch kill me.
I am able to see the mountain standing not too far from where I am; I look up to the sky and see that the sun is not all the way up, probably near noon. Seems that I made good time, considering that I am dragging some dead weight.
I know it's hard to see the castle that keeps some of us safe during most of the month, however when it's that time of the month we spread out, though not too far, in order to hunt and avoid killing any humans that live nearby. Most of us like to go to desolates areas, where we know it's hard to come across a town or people, so that we are forced to hunt animals, but it's no guarantee.
I hear some steps behind me, the wind carrying the scent to me.
"What have you done, Ivan?!" His tone of voice is furious.
"I´ve not done nothing willingly, plus if I do recall correctly, Roland, you were also tracking them up to a certain point." I turn and see a surprised expression on his face. He is completely clothed; seems he has been for a while.
"So it did happen?" He runs his hand through his hair, looking confused. "Damn it! Good thing you got a hold of him." He looks again down; I see recognition in his eyes when he sees the leech. His jaw tightens and he clenches his hands into fists. He closes his eyes and starts breathing in and out, trying to calm himself with not much success.
"The other one should be arriving shortly," I actually say to try to distract him. I´ve never seen him like this before; he usually is the calm one besides Madame, both of them being the voice of reason among our kind. Madame might be our leader, but Roland is her advisor and her eyes in some matters.
This actually makes him open his eyes and look at me, his mood improving fractionally.
"There is another one?" His voice is a growl. "What makes you think that he will come here willingly? He is probably running back to Volterra to inform the Volturi." He comes next to me, grabs the vampire's other leg and starts helping me to drag him inside the castle.
"I have a feeling that William won´t be able to resist coming for his friend." Roland stops walking as soon as I utter the words and looks straight to me.
"Ivan, stop it. Madame will be furious if she hears you!" His tone is full of warning.
"I couldn´t be any more serious." I start pulling the idiot through the staircase, not caring at all how many times his head bangs against the hard stone steps. From my point of view, the stairwell is not long enough for what this idiot deserves.