Milan, Italy – 1956
"Too late," I sighed. "Yet a-fucking-gain."
Leah said nothing, she just stared out at the scene of destruction in front of us. It looked just like all the other villages this had happened to. The bloody bodies were strewn all over the street and from behind one of the houses sickly sweet smoke fumes were polluting the air.
"We should… tidy this up." She said quietly. "See if there's any survivors."
I nodded and without another word we split up. I went into one wreckage, trying not to look at the bodies around me, and looked around for any survivors. As I walked across the wrecked landing I stepped on some glass. I bent down to find it was a photo frame. I picked it up and looked at the picture inside. It was a group of about six or seven very well built young men. Their familiar build was unmistakable – they'd all been wolves. I went into my bag and pulled out my own picture. I held it next to the one in the broken frame. They could've been a part of the same family they looked so alike. A tear dripped down my face as I traced my finger along the faces of my pack, my family…
"Come on lads," Michael frowned at the two wrestling on the floor. "The photographer won't be here for very much longer." They ignored him and he sighed. "MatthewHallaway and Jack Pascal, get up."
"Yes sir." Matthew, his younger brother, jumped up and clicked his heels together in a mocking fashion.
"Matt, you shouldn't disrespect the Queen's army." Jack frowned as he got off the grass and dusted himself off. "They do a great service for us, keeping our women and children safe."
"What makes you think we need help?" I snorted as I handed Matthew his jacket.
"Well you're part man anyway..." Jack winked at me. I lunged at him with a growl and he dodged me, making a crowing noise.
"Don't antagonise her Jack." Michael shook his head. "And Matt, don't disrespect our soldiers. Especially as I'm joining up this summer." He straightened his back up proudly.
"Oo-oo!" The two boys chorused. I laughed.
"You sure that's not less to do with defending our country and more to do with picking up ladies?" Jack winked.
"Hey none of that sort of content in front of girls."
I rolled my eyes. I didn't know why he bothered. I had to share a mind with these monkeys anyway. My mind was tainted enough already. It could hardly get worse.
"The photographer's getting grouchy." My brother Daniel stuck his head out the door.
"Okay," Michael pushed Jack and his brother towards the door. "Get a move on."
"You know," Matthew crossed his arms and rooted himself to the spot. "Just because you're my older brother and alpha," He grinned. "It doesn't mean you have the right to tell me what to do."
"I think you'll find it does."
"Hurry up!" My father shouted from inside the house.
Jack began to rush to the door, for some reason he found my father scary. I had no idea why, he was only human after all.
"Woops-a-daisy," Matthew laughed as he tripped Jack up. "Ladies first." He smiled and gestured for me to walk in.
"Why thank you Matthew." I laughed and went in through the door. How could Bella choose Alexander over someone has funny as Matt? If he wasn't like a brother to me, I'd be fighting to be his wife.
"Excellently done," Michael congratulated him as they followed. "Just how I taught you little brother."
"You wait Hallaway," Jack growled jokingly at Matt. "You're mine."
I smiled and shook my head. Boys…
I wiped my wet face with my sleeve and put the photograph back in my bag with a sniff. Carefully I placed the broken frame on a table that seemed to have survived and went back to my original job.
Finally we'd checked all the houses and found no survivors. We collected up anything that could be useful to us and burnt the village, destroying all evidence of what had happened here.
"She went this way."
"You sure?"
"I can smell it."
We followed her scent into a hotel, L'hotel de Grange. It was fairly busy so we weren't noticed. We continued to follow the smell up the stairs to the top floor.
"This one." Leah pointed to the room marked 307.
"Let's see if anyone's in." I smiled and knocked. The door opened and a horrible sickly sweet smell hit my nose. I almost choked. It smelt even worse than Leah.
"Posso aiutarla?" The bloodsucker at the door asked.
"What do you think?" Leah asked me. "Witness?"
"Definatly." I nodded.
"What do you want?" The leech said in perfect English with only a touch of an Italian accent. Leah rolled her eyes and made to walk inside. "Excuse me, you can't just walk in here." He frowned. "I'll get the hotel management on you."
"Move." Leah shoved him out her way and I shut the door behind us.
"She was here." I confirmed. "I can smell her."
"Who are you-…" The leech began.
"Be quiet." Leah snapped and he fell silent. "Split up." She nodded to me.
I nodded in agreement. We split and checked through the hotel room. I checked out the bedroom.
"In here." I called and Leah was there in a second. "Smells the worst in here." I picked up a woman's skirt that absolutely reeked of her, wrinkling my nose in disgust. "She's definatly been here.
"Hey you," Leah rounded on the bloodsucker who had followed us into the room. "Whose stuff is this?"
"My-my girlfriend's." He stuttered, clearly petrified. I didn't blame him, Leah could get pretty scary.
"When did you last see her?" He didn't answer and she pushed him against the wall, cracking the plaster in the process. "I said when did you last see her?"
"T-Tuesday."
Tuesday? Leah and I exchanged a glance. That was only five days ago! We were catching her up!
"Where did she say she was going?"
"V-Volterra."
Leah dropped him in shock.
"Where's that?" I asked, confused at her reaction.
"South a little." Leah muttered. What was up with her? She composed herself and grabbed the leech again. "Why didn't you go with her?"
"She t-told me to stay."
"She told you to stay?" I repeated. I didn't like the sound of that. There was something not quite right about it.
"That's what I said, dog." The leech spat.
"Watch your mouth, bloodsucker." I glared at him. "Remember who's in charge here."
"Did she say why?" Leah asked him.
"N-no."
"I don't like this." I frowned. "There's something not quite right here."
"I know, she doesn't love them and leave them. She loves them and kills them…"
"I think we should get out of here."
"I agree." She pushed the leech into the main part of the hotel suite. "You, out now with us."
"Wait!"
"What?" She sighed and turned to me. "I thought you wanted to leave."
"Think about it, she told him to stay. What if she made it so something happens to kill him if he leaves?"
"Damn." She swore, knowing I was right.
"I'll bet you anything it's something that'll kill the humans here too. She always did like her spectacular deaths."
"Well if we leave him he'll leave himself at some point." Leah sighed. "We may as well get it over and done with now. We might be able to give the humans some chance of living."
I nodded. "You keep him there, I'll set the fire alarm off and get the humans out."
"Okay." She kept hold of the leech and I ran out into the corridor. I spotted the fire bell at the end and ran down to ring it.
"Done it." I said as I shut to room door behind me.
"What are y-…?" The bloodsucker began.
"I thought I told you to shut up." Leah growled and he fell silent again.
I don't know how long we stood there for as we waited for the humans to evacuate. At one point I wondered what they would think when they discovered there wasn't a fire. Then I realised that whatever spell Bella had left would most likely be the only thing that killed vampires – fire.
While I fidgeted and swapped legs, Leah and the other leech were eerily still. I looked away. I'd always found it creepy when bloodsuckers did that.
Finally the noise stopped.
"I think it's clear."
"Here we go…" I took a deep breath and lead the way out of the room. The second the bloodsucker stepped over the doorway there was a loud crack and a burst of flame. He was burning alive and didn't seem to be able to move. It was like his feet where glued to the floor. He shrieked with pain and waved his arms around trying desperately to get free.
I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away from the fire, burning my hands in the process. It didn't seem to work.
"The fire's spreading!"
I was so glad we'd evacuated the humans.
"He won't move," I said. "What're we going to do? We can't leave him."
"Wait," She suddenly grinned. Wait? The bloody leech was burning alive! She ran back into the hotel suite and opened the window. What was she-…?
Her eyes went totally white and the cloudy weather outside began to change. The light grey clouds became black and there was a crack of thunder. Suddenly it began to pour with rain. I smiled, realising her plan. There was a huge gust of wind that almost blew the window from the wall. It carried a huge mass of the rain through so fast that it hit the back wall of the corridor, soaking me in the process.
It seemed to have put the leech out and he slumped to the ground, now able to move again. Leah rushed over and picked him up.
"We need to leave."
"I'll say," I said as I wrung the water out of my hair. Leah watched me with an amused expression. "I see you managed to keep yourself bone dry." I commented sourly.
"Of course." She grinned and dragged the burnt leech to the exit.
Yeah, Beccer and Leah frequently find themselves in destruction scenes like that... Bella kinda leaves a trail of destruction where ever she goes...
Lmao
Loves ~
PepperX
