Disclaimer- If you think I own anything besides the computer I am using you are crazy.
The Rise of Vampires Ch. 4
(The next morning at the Halliwell residence)
Wyatt was not a morning person. In fact, one could say that Wyatt Halliwell hated mornings. This morning was no different seeing how his alarm clock was now in a thousand little pieces scattered all over his bedroom after Wyatt had blasted it for waking him. Chris on the other hand did not have any problems with mornings, except having to deal with Wyatt's grouchiness. He was already dressed and ready for school and knew that his older brother was most likely sleeping still. He headed to Wyatt's room to get him for breakfast. Chris was not surprised to see the vanquished alarm clock upon entering his brother's bedroom.
"What did that alarm clock ever do to you?" Chris asked teasingly.
"It woke me up." was Wyatt's sarcastic reply. He was only half awake and just getting out of his unkempt bed.
"What was that? The third one this month?"
"No, fourth, but who's counting?"
"Come on Wy, you know mom will go ballistic if you don't get your butt downstairs now to eat some breakfast." Chris stated simply before leaving his brother to finish getting ready. Piper was very strict about eating properly. "Don't forget we have a big game tonight." Chris added. Both of the brothers were on the varsity baseball team, Chris as the pitcher and Wyatt as the catcher.
"So Mom is it okay if Wy and I have Matt, Mel (Melinda, Phoebe's oldest), and the Cullens over for a study session after school tomorrow?" asked Chris. As usual Piper was in the kitchen cleaning after making breakfast for her children. Asyra and Leo were already eating when Chris came down.
"Wait, who?" said Piper.
"The Cullens. Before you say anything let me explain. They're really smart and with the ACT and exams coming up I thought it might be a good idea to study with the smartest kids in school." Chris explained.
"But weren't we just talking last night about them not being mortals? And besides that I thought you didn't trust them?" Piper questioned. She was a little confused about why Chris was inviting trouble over to the house. Trouble seemed to come around on its own without an invitation.
"Because we think that if they come over to our house they will be less likely to attack and we will have the advantage, especially with Mel and Matt here too, then maybe we can get some well needed answers." Wyatt added after finally entering the kitchen for some breakfast. He then took a seat at the large island and started loading a plate with some pancakes and bacon.
"Can I come too?" Asyra eagerly asked. She loved helping her brothers whenever they actually let her tag along.
"Sure why not? It will only help to even the numbers a little." Chris answered. He knew how much she wanted to help.
Jump to Volterra, Italy
The three Ancients, Aro, Caius, and Marcus, are in the thrown room when all of a sudden a darklighter orbs into the middle of the arguing brothers. All heads turned as the darklighter reformed, though none were surprised since this darklighter has been working as an informant for the Volturi for a while now. The already cold room seemed to get colder with the new arrival, if that were possible. The look on the darklighter's face told that the news he brought was not good.
"My lords, I am sorry to inform you that the situation in the Underworld has just gotten worse. The twice blessed and his brother are about to interfere." the darklighter said.
"What? What do you mean the twice blessed? Explain now Damien." Caius practically shouted at Damien.
"The prophecy of the Twice Blessed witch, half-witch, half-whitelighter, born on the day that magic itself took a Sabbath acknowledging the birth of the most powerful magical being ever. The prophecy also says he will be responsible for the destruction of the Underworld and there is only one person that is capable of stopping him, his younger brother. The Twice Blessed witch is Wyatt Halliwell and his younger brother is Christopher Halliwell. They also have a little sister, but she is not as powerful as her brothers. They know that vampires are responsible for the latest killing spree, or at least that is their theory. Which of course we know is correct." Damien explained.
"So you are saying that the most powerful being in the world is good, has a powerful younger brother, and he knows that vampires are up to something. Correct?" Aro questioned. He did not like the idea of there being someone more powerful than he and his brothers. Especially since that someone had a partner who is almost just as powerful teaming up against them.
"Exactly. Their family also consists of some powerful cousins too, six of them. They are a close family so chances are they will come together to fight. To make matters worse, there is an uprising in the Underworld. The other vampires, who have been exiled for centuries, are trying to take over the Underworld and the human world to get their revenge." Damien further explained the situation.
"Great, just great. Now what are we going to do? I knew we should have taken care of those poor excuses for a vampire long ago." Marcus yelled bitterly.
"What if we meet with these other vampires and see if we can't reach some sort of agreement with them that everyone can benefit from." Caius suggested.
"Well that's an idea, but what if they won't agree to a deal?" questioned Aro. He knew that it most likely would not be that easy.
"Then we can do nothing but declare war." stated Marcus casually. He has been itching for a fight ever since the ordeal with the Cullens in Breaking Dawn.
"If I may, I would like to make a suggestion." Damien said. The three ancients nodded their heads signaling for him to continue. "Okay, what if you wait until they make a move against the Halliwells and see how the brothers react and how they fight. Then you can be more prepared when it comes time for you to make a move."
Boys' School (lunchtime)
"So have you called Mel yet to ask her over tomorrow?" Wyatt asked Chris.
"No not yet, I will as soon as we get home. You should ask Matt if he has heard anything." Chris replied. "Maybe there is an uprising in the Underworld that we haven't heard about yet." Chris added telepathically. Matt was at a meeting for the photography club.
"Wait, are you talking about your cousin Melinda in San Francisco?" asked their friend Jake. "What for?" Whether he admitted it or not, Jake has had a crush on Melinda ever since he met her back in elementary school.
"Um…" said Wyatt dumbly.
"Penny, her youngest sister, has a birthday coming up so we were going to plan a surprise for her." Chris answered coming to Wyatt's rescue.
"Thanks bro." Wyatt was not a good liar so that part of their job was left to Chris.
"Your welcome. After all, what are little brothers for?"
"Besides being annoying?" Wyatt let out a little chuckle and everyone at the table looked at him funny. "What? I just thought about something funny." Wyatt covered. "Okay, back to your uprising theory…"
"Well I was just thinking that these murders could all be a result of a power struggle. Drinking more blood to get stronger than the enemy, like vampires, that sort of thing."
"Whoa, wait, you think there could be an uprising? That's not good." Asyra said as she joined the conversation.
"It's not. Now get back to your schooling." Chris said, slightly annoyed by his little sister. She cut out and went back to her science assignment.
"Well it makes sense, but how can we know for sure?" Wyatt asked.
"That is why we have Matt spying for us. He has more connections down there."
"So Wy, do you have any plans for after the game tonight?" asked Abby.
"Umm…I don't think so. What do you have in mind?" Wyatt answered somewhat hesitantly. He really did want to spend some time with his girlfriend, but he did not know if the current issue at hand would allow him the chance to be normal.
"Don't worry Wy. I'll be more than fine without you around for a couple hours if you want to spend some time with your girlfriend." said Chris hoping that if his brother was distracted that he could do some spying by himself. Asyra would be at the gym getting ready for the big gymnastics meet she had coming up. Wyatt nodded glad that Chris was confident that there would be some peace time with everything else happening.
"Well, I was thinking that we could go see a movie and maybe have dinner at your mom's restaurant." Abby explained.
"Sure, sounds good. I'll pick you up at seven-thirty." Wyatt agreed. "Chris, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."
"Me? Do something stupid? What are you talking about?"
"Great. I'll be ready." Abby responded.
"You know what I am talking about. I don't want to find that my little brother was killed by some demon because he decided to go spying alone in the Underworld."
"I'm going to go ask the Cullens something, I'll be right back." Chris said as he left the table. He went over to the Cullens who were talking quietly amongst themselves.
"Hi Chris!" Alice greeted cheerfully when she saw Chris approach their table.
"Hi Alice, Wyatt and I were wondering if you guys would like to come over after school tomorrow for a study session. Matt and my cousin Melinda will be there and my little sister will probably hang around too." Chris said.
"Of course, we would be delighted to come and study with you all." Alice answered for her family.
After School (Cullen Residence)
"Hey Jake" Renesme said into her cell phone.
"Hey Nessie. What's up?" Jacob replied.
"Well I was wondering if you're coming over today to go hunting."
"Yeah of course, I just have a little pest to deal with first."
"A pest? What kind of pest are we talking about?" Renesme asked, her voice filled with concern for her future husband.
"Nothing serious, just my nephew Fred, who is now a new wolf with a bad temper. I am trying to teach him how to control that anger and put it to good use before someone is really hurt." Jacob said trying to calm her fears.
"Fred's a wolf now?" questioned Renesme. She was very worried about why a new wolf would be needed when there were already twenty wolves between the two packs. Jacob's pack had decided to stay separate from Sam's after the incident with the Volturi. Since then Jacob's pack has been running the land between La Push and Salem since the Cullen family moved. "Why would there be a new wolf?"
"Look, I don't know what is going on, but there is another boom in the wolf population. Don't worry too much though; just have Alice keep a close eye on things until we figure this thing out. Okay?"
"Don't worry? What do you expect me to do? The last time there was a boom in the wolf population it was caused by the Volturi's attempt to kill my family! And you're just now saying something about it?" Renesme's voice was rising, both from anger and fear for the safety of her family.
"I know how you feel. I am worried too, but I can't let that cloud my thinking, I have to keep my pack and my people safe, not to mention you too." Jacob said trying to calm Renesme, but it was not working to well. "Okay, look, how many of you can hear me right now?"
"Well, everyone except Dad, Emmet, and Jasper. Why?"
"I want to talk with all of you and see if we can't figure this out quickly."
"Okay. I'll put it on speaker so you can hear them as well." Renesme then pushed the speaker phone button while the rest of the family gathered in closer. "Okay it's on speaker."
"I need to know if you guys know anything about the countrywide killing spree. I think it could have something to do with vampires, but I want to have all the facts before we do anything." Jacob said.
"Well, we know that most of the victims who were found are each missing a cup of blood, with only a few being drained, and that there are no marks on any of the bodies and the coroner is completely stumped about how they lost that much blood without any visible injuries." stated Carlisle
"Okay, that's weird. Any theories as to how that is even possible?" asked Jacob who was confused.
"Well yes we have a theory." began Alice, bubbly as usual despite the topic of the conversation. "First, we have to tell you about these two boys at school."
"Okay, let's hear it." said Jacob.
"Their names are Wyatt and Chris Halliwell. Sometimes at school Edward can't hear their thoughts and Jasper can't get a read on their feelings, also their future is fuzzy, like Nessie's. It's like they have some sort of shield or block like Bella does, but they seem to be able to control it, and they aren't vampires or werewolves." Alice explained.
"The weirdest part though is what Edward saw when he went over to their house to spy. He said a man just appeared out of no where in the blink of an eye when they were talking to their parents. The man then stabbed Chris with an athame when he jumped in the way to protect Wyatt. Wyatt somehow healed Chris completely with his hands. The best part is that Piper, their mom, used her hands to blow the guy to pieces." Bella added to the explanation.
"Edward said that this seemed to be a regularly occurring thing. Not to mention, according to Edward the Halliwell brothers can talk to each other telepathically and at school today Chris mentioned a theory about an Underworld uprising, possibly brought on by power seeking vampires." Carlisle finished.
"Underworld? What's the Underworld?" asked Jacob, who by this point was very, very confused. He did not even know where to begin with the questions that threatened to overload his brain.
"I have absolutely no clue I'm sorry to say." Carlisle answered.
"So what do they have to do with vanishing blood?" Jacob asked still shocked about the whole thing.
"Well maybe someone like them could have healed the wounds, but not counteract the venom." Bella explained.
"Okay, I'm coming over now with the pack and Sam. Get the others home now. We need to have a meeting and figure this thing out while we still have a chance." Jacob stated.
A Little Later at the Baseball Game
The stands were packed with excited and energetic spectators. This was the last game before the play offs and so far Salem High was undefeated. This was already a big game seeing how it was versus their biggest rival, Albany High, who was also undefeated. It is the eight inning and the score is five all. Chris is at the pitcher's mound and Wyatt's in the catcher's position.
"Well the Twice Blessed and his brother certainly play a good game of baseball, though I wonder how well they fight." said the vampire queen who was standing outside of the fence directly across from home plate. It was a cloudy day so there was very little sunlight to deter the curious vampires, though they all still wore sunglasses. It was at that moment that Demetri, the Volturi tracker, spotted the queen from where he was sitting in the visitor stands.
"It seems that the queen has decided to grace us with her presence." Demetri said to Felix.
"Yes it does appear that way. So what should we do now?" Felix responded.
"We do what we were told. We ask if she is willing to meet in Volterra to draw up some sort of deal." Demetri stated as he stood from his seat. "Come on, let's go." The two guards proceeded to walk over to where the queen was standing with her minions.
Albany High had two outs in the eighth inning so far and the current batter had two strikes, the score was still five all. Chris was just about to pitch for the third strike when Wyatt recognized the vampire queen. Wyatt made a hand gesture sort of like 'what are you waiting for' for Chris to see, this was the 'I see a demon' signal the boys had chosen years ago so that they could alert each other without thinking the words, or a mortal getting suspicious. Chris saw the gesture and nodded his head.
"Let's finish this first, and then we'll worry about that." Chris said to Wyatt.
"Okay, sounds good. Make it quick." Wyatt replied.
"You know I will." Chris threw the ball and the batter missed, earning his third strike and the final out of the inning. The teams switched positions and now Jake was up to bat. He hit the ball after two strikes and ran to second base. Wyatt was up next and he hit the ball first try and made it to first base. Now it was Chris's turn to bat. After one strike he nailed the ball for a homerun bringing their score up from five to eight, meaning they would win the game.