KittyPimms :) I can count on you to make my day. Thank you so much! No food in this chapter, but I don't promise anything for the next ;)
Fight
I rushed out the back door, undressed without even stopping and phased.
'Help, help, help! Hurry up, guys, please!' Sky whined in his thoughts. I could see him running at the edge of the cliffs and turned in his direction, picking up speed.
'What happened, Sky? What's wrong?'
'They're chasing me! They're fast. They're close!' he said in panic.
'Who, Sky? Who is after you?'
'Vampires! At least four! Maybe six. Maybe more!'
I could see two bloodsuckers appear right in front of him. He turned skidding and dashed into the woods. Two others cut him off and he turned back to the cliffs.
'Keep running, Sky. We're on our way.'
Aaron and Leah had been on patrol with him and were closest, though they'd still need several minutes to reach him. I could tell that all the others had phased as well, except Zack. I growled. This damn sluggard! I howled, putting as much Alpha force into it as I could summon up.
Meanwhile, Sky found himself in front of two leeches again, turned to the woods, stopped because there were two others and wanted to run back the way he'd come from, but there were another two bloodsuckers.
'Crap! I'm trapped!' he freaked out.
'Stay calm, Sky!'
Sky was the weakest wolf in the pack and not able to take down a single vampire on his own, let alone six. He was the swiftest though, which might be the reason why it had taken the vampires so long to trap him. They didn't attack right away. They crouched slightly. Sky growled and bared his teeth. He took a step back, towards the sheer.
'Be careful, Sky. Don't jump off the cliff. You know the vampires have the edge over us in the water.'
'They have the edge over me already now!'
'Yes. Keep calm! Now, listen, you can't wait until they attack because then you're doomed. You've got to break through and run for it again. You won't outrun them, but you'll gain time. You can do that, Sky. You'll survive this day. Now find a hole in their line and breach it!'
His eyes went anxiously over the six bloodsuckers. A blond one chuckled.
"He's afraid", he detected.
"Do you really think he could kill one of us?" the smallest of them asked.
"Well, two of them have killed Walter. So, yes, he can!" the only woman declared.
'Sky! Break through before they attack!' I ordered.
'But where?' he asked. He seemed to have some kind of blackout. He couldn't concentrate.
"But they were allies of the Cullens in their nearly-battle with the Volturi. They can't be completely hostile against our kind", the leech next to the woman said.
"Doesn't change that they killed our friend!" she complained.
"Bertha, you know what we're here for!"
'To the right, Sky. Hustle the rightmost leech over the edge. Now!'
Sky turned quicker to the right than anyone else of us could have turned. He ran head-on into the red-haired bloodsucker that hadn't said a word yet and pushed him over the edge of the cliff before sprinting off.
'Well done, Sky. Now, everyone, we've got to be together when we meet them. They can't get the chance to take us down one by one. Leah, Aaron, slow down. The rest, pick up speed.'
I felt Zack phasing.
'Took you quite a while, Zack. Sky's in deep trouble and you think you don't give a shit, cause it's not your problem. But I tell you something: It is your problem, because if Sky died, you'd take over his patrol shifts in addition to yours. Now move your lazy butt over here! Why are you not running already?'
In his mind, I could see him pick up speed. Sky panted.
'I'm exhausted! I cannot run another mile!' he whined.
'You can, Sky. Don't worry, I think we'll meet you in about a minute', I assured him.
'What can be so trouble-causing that eight wolfs aren't enough to handle it?' Zack complained.
'Well, how about six vampires?'
'Oh.'
I was a good guesser. A minute later I could see Sky approaching me. To my sides the other pack members – excluding Zack – showed up.
'Perfect timing, guys. Seth, Leah, off to the sides, you'll be attacking the vampires from behind.'
They both left out of my sight. The vampires were right on Sky's heels. They slowed down when they saw us.
"What are we gonna do now?" the blond said.
"There are six. Let's back out and wait for Arthur to catch up", the one who I assumed to be the leader and the mate of the woman suggested. They turned and went the other way, but not very fast. They wanted us to follow.
'Leah, Seth, show yourselves.'
The two of them cut the five leeches off. The vampires stopped, unsure whether to attack them or not. Then we had already encircled them.
'Don't attack yet. Let me think. Seth, Leah, the brown-haired leader with the leather jacket is yours. Aaron, the smallest for you. Collin, Sky, you take the blond. Chad and
Simon, the woman. That leaves the last one for me. Attack at three. One –', the leader interrupted my thought.
"Okay, wolves, I think you can understand me. We're friends of the Cullens. We don't mean you any harm. So, maybe we could just separate in peace."
'Friends of the Cullens?' Seth asked, 'What shall we do now? If they are close to the Cullens they might hate us for killing them.'
'I don't trust him', I thought growling, 'But I'm curious why their coven is so large. I thought only vegetarians and disciplined Volturi guards are able to live together in groups larger than four.'
"Okay, that growl didn't sound as if you accepted my peace offer. What about a truce? Can we… talk… somehow? I mean, the Cullens must have communicated with you somehow to get you on their side, too."
'They weren't among the witnesses the Cullens gathered against the Volturi. They can't be very close friends', Collin thought.
'Seth, watch your back! The missing leech is joining us!' I warned. Seth and Chad, who stood next to him, stepped aside to let the red-haired bloodsucker enter the circle. The leech stopped though and hesitated to do so.
"Wow, those are many. It was nice to be with you for a while, guys, but I think I prefer the life of a loner. See you!"
He turned away. The other vampires hissed angrily at him.
"Coward!" the woman yelled. Zack approached from the direction the red-haired was headed to.
'Zack, Seth, take him down. Everyone else stay put, but don't let the others out of the circle.'
Seth rushed after the redhead. Zack and Seth lunged themselves at him at the same time, buried their teeth in his arms and pulled into opposite directions, ripping the arms out. The blond made a step towards them. Chad growled and bared his teeth at him. The leader said:
"Don't help him. He left us!"
The vampires watched how Seth and Zack killed their former friend. The one that I had assigned to me swallowed.
"Oh my God, Oscar, you have to make them let us leave", he pleaded in a voice so low he must have thought we couldn't hear. Zack and Seth left the remaining parts of the redhead alone and joined us. We had to put them on fire in less than half an hour.
"Impressive", the leader admitted, "But I can only repeat that we don't mean you any harm. We are not like other vampires."
'They are. They have red eyes', Leah stated.
"You are some kind of werewolves, aren't you? You can turn into humans."
'Damn it, I hoped he thought we were some kind of large wolf species.'
"Why don't you attack? What are you waiting for? You want peace yourselves, you just don't know it yet, right?"
'Yes, Embry, why aren't we attacking already?' Zack questioned.
'I'm letting everyone of us recover from the run. I'll go ask him some questions. If anyone of them makes a move to attack, you attack as well. Zack, if I can't phase back in time, you take on my target, the one with long brown hair. If I'm already phased back, you support Aaron with the smallest', I ordered.
'Embry, don't! What questions could be worth this risk?' Seth begged.
'I'm curious what he meant by saying they aren't like other vampires', I said backing away and behind a tree.
'Curious? Embry! That's', I cut him off by phasing back. Only then I noticed I had no cut-offs with me to pull on. Sky seemed to have noticed my trouble, left the circle and let me pull his shorts from the bond at his hind leg. He quickly returned and I pulled the shorts on and stepped out behind the trees. The leader smiled self-confidently.
"I knew you were half human. I could smell it."
"If you'd know the Cullens better you'd have known exactly what we are", I replied, "When have you last met them? We haven't heard of them in a while and would like to hear some news."
"Oh, it's been a while for us, too."
"Have you already met Jasper's and Rosalie's child?" I asked, trying to figure out how well they really knew the Cullens.
"No, unfortunately not. Nessie is her name, isn't it?" he asked. So Nessie's name had spread among the vampire population. I fake smiled at him.
"Yes, it is, but Jasper and Rosalie aren't her parents. They aren't even a couple. I don't think you even have met the Cullens before, even less I believe that you're friends with them."
He cleared his throat.
"Touché. But you are friends with them, right? So, since that proves that you aren't completely hostile against our kind, we could become friends as well."
"Maybe. But, to be honest, we don't trust vampires easily. Tell us about yourselves."
"Okay. I'm Oscar, this is my mate Bertha and these are Andrew", he pointed to the blond, "Lewis", the small one, "and Fred", my target. "We all are about one to two centuries old, every one of us is a born American", but not Native American.
"Why do you think you're different from other vampires?"
"Because we rarely kill."
I frowned skeptically.
"Really? How come your eyes are red then? You must have fed recently and apparently not on animals."
"We don't kill the humans we get our blood from."
"What else could you do? Turn everyone?"
"No. We let them live. We just take a blood donation from them and release them afterwards. Or we simply steal the blood packs from hospitals."
Did that make them good? I wasn't sure.
"Why is your coven this large? Seven vampires together, doesn't that cause a lot of stress and trouble? I thought vampires are always jealous about food and don't like to have too many rivals."
"Yes, but we can manage it somehow. Every one of us has his own special task at which he's an expert. We need each other. That's why, I think."
"How do you get these blood donations?"
"We hide behind the façade of a charity. We make humans donate their blood voluntarily by telling them that we will pass it down to hospitals. Now that I've told you every secret about us", the leader continued, "would you tell us about yourselves as well? Or, I should ask first, could you imagine to be friends with us or at least make a truce with us?"
I wasn't sure. About the truce, at least. Being friends and telling them about us was out of the question. I looked at my pack mates. Seth shook his head no, as if he knew I needed an advice.
"You only ask for peace and friendship because you're afraid of us. You know we can take you down."
"Well, I know that two of you can take down one of us. The question is: Can you only take one of us down in a team of at least two? Because although you outnumber us, you're not enough that two of you could attack one of us. One of us might get out of here. And since we are friends, he will revenge us. Our coven is larger than you think. You haven't even met half of us. The survivor would return with the rest to hunt you down. But that's not necessary. You can let us go and we'll leave in peace."
I had slowly backed away. Although still in their sight, I quickly pulled off Sky's shorts and the second they landed on the ground I phased, instantly thinking 'Attack!'
I lunged myself at the leech called Fred, grabbed a thick strand of his hair in my mouth and pulled away, getting myself out of the reach of his hands and forcing him down. Vampires couldn't grow any new hair, that's why it was much more attached to their head than human hair. Fred landed on his stomach and immediately I was on his back, biting into his neck and ripping his head out. After that, the rest was easy.
'What's happening? What was I gonna do right now?' Collin seemed totally confused.
'What's wrong with you, Collin? Attack the blond, for heaven's sake!' I ordered while I went to help Aaron who lay on his back, pinned to the ground by the small leech. I could remember that sometime during my fight with Fred Aaron had told Zack to help Seth and Leah who had trouble with the leader.
"I wonder how wolf tastes" the tiny leech chuckled and bared his teeth just an inch above Aaron's neck. I lunged myself at him, pushing him off Aaron. Together, we were able to take him down, although I was being distracted every few seconds because either Collin or Sky got confused and wondered what they were about to do. In one of these moments the blond vampire jumped in the air and landed in the branches of a fir. He then jumped from tree to tree, never coming close enough to the ground that Sky or Collin could snap him. He fled. Finally, the four other vampires lay in pieces in front of us. Seth phased back, put them on fire, gathered the pieces of the redhead and threw them into the fire as well. Collin and Sky were still following the blond.
'Well done, everybody. Collin, Sky, are you alright?'
'Um, I don't know' Sky said.
'Yeah, I can't quite remember how we got into this fight', Collin admitted, 'I can't even remember that I phased.'
'I'm feeling a bit dizzy', Sky admitted, 'can someone else chase this leech so that I can go home? Do I have patrol? I don't know anymore.'
'Yes, you have, but you may go home. Zack will take over for you.'
'What? Why me?' Zack complained instantly.
'Because you ignored Sky's howl for help. Go after them, now! Is everybody else alright? Any bones broken?'
Broken bones were the only kind of injuries that needed a few hours to heal. Any other wounds would heal within minutes. Nobody spoke up.
'Well then. Except for Aaron, Leah, Collin and Zack, you're all dismissed. Collin and Zack, you'll follow that leech and try to kill it. If he meets up with other vampires, you back away immediately. If he goes to Port Angeles, come back. Aaron and Leah, you have to remind them of their task if they get confused again. I think that leech has some confusing gift. Meanwhile you'll patrol the borders as always. Seth and I will take over patrol at midnight. Zack, you'll stay with us then, it's a double shift for you.'
'Not fair!' he complained.
'Maybe this teaches you to be comradelier the next time one of us is in trouble.'
I rushed back home. Autumn had already gone to bed and Emily and her kids had gone, but Sam waited for me.
"What happened?"
"Six vampires chased Sky. They were friends of the one Leah and I killed last Wednesday. One escaped, but we killed the others."
Sam nodded.
"The leader said they belong to a much larger coven. If that's true, we might have started a war. I want to doubt that, though, cause the Cullens would have mentioned it eventually if there was another large coven besides them, the Denalis and the Volturi."
"Yeah. Maybe the leader only wanted to scare you. Let's hope for it."
"Yeah", I sighed.
"Emily loves Autumn. She would very much like to adopt her."
"Great. The CPS is coming tomorrow after school. Maybe you could come over so that they can talk to you as well."
Which reminded me that I still hadn't told Autumn.
"I've got to work. But I'm sure Emily will come."
"Okay. Um, sorry, I don't want to kick you out, but I've got one and a half hours left before I have to patrol and I really need to sleep."
"Alright. See you, Embry."
"See you."
Please review!
So horrible what happened in Newtown. Such young and totally innocent victims :( News like this always get me close to tears. I'm feeling with the relatives.
