Northern Lights
by
kctjohnson
CHAPTER 6 – The Clearing
The roaring of the Volvo's engine faded into the distance. I knew I had to follow him somehow, but I had to leave now if I were to catch up with Edward's flashy car.
"Bella, I'm gonna go to the store and get some stuff for dinner," I said, already making my way down the small path towards the street.
"Oh, we can go in my truck. It's not walking distance." Bella looked as though she was reaching for her keys that hung just by the door.
"I can run faster than that truck of yours," I jested. "Besides, I'd like to jog and sight-see the town. I'll be back in an hour or two."
"You're going to run," she said in a tone that was both in question and bemusement.
"Oh, you know us Navajos. We like to run long distances," I chuckled as I began jogging away from Bella now. "Don't worry! I noted the location when we passed it yesterday!"
"Okay! Can you get two loaves of bread?" Bella called out as I headed down the street in the direction that Edward had driven. I waved an "OK" sign at my friend and picked up the pace as soon as I was out of sight.
Getting the timing to speed up was tricky with people on the streets. I had to make sure no one saw me "vanish." When I was certain no one was looking, I ran full-speed, the chilly wind whipping against my face. To others, it would have felt like a small gust of wind when I ran past them. Invisible.
I felt the vibrations of Edward's car and was thankful that he had such a vehicle that ran at least twice as fast as the other cars in Forks. It gave a more discernable feel against my feet as I tracked him, and I was careful to keep my distance, running in the woods that flanked the road in certain areas but ensuring that I ran on the asphalt once in a while to make sure I was still headed in the right direction.
I felt the Volvo stop and I slowed my pace until I found the silver car parked amongst the trees by the road. It was empty. I cautiously approached it when I saw flashes between the trees. The hairs at the back my neck stood on end, and I could almost hear Nash reprimanding me on what I was about to do solo. My better judgment told me to call my team immediately. What I had feared and hoped was just my imagination was actually real.
There were monsters in Forks. And my best friend could be marrying one.
There was no time to call. I had to follow right now or I risked the chance of losing Edward and his "brother", Jasper. Brother. Ha.
I dashed through the trees in the direction of where I'd seen the flash of movements. They were fast and I could barely feel their motions on the ground. Again, I saw a flicker of movement ahead of me, zigzagging. The two were definitely fast, but I was able to discern Edward's face in the distance, and that confirmation made me sick to my stomach.
That moment of distraction made me trip over and something sharp on the ground cut into my leg in a long gash. I was on the ground, pressing my hand against the cut and focused on healing it on the spot. This meant possibly losing them and my frustration began to build up. As blood trickled over my calf, I looked up and noticed that the other boy paused and turned my way for a split second – chilling ferocity in his eyes - before rushing after Edward. He was muscular, but lean. And unlike Edward's copper hair, his brother had honey-blond locks, but just as with his siblings, he was pale and eerily beautiful.
It was all beginning to click now, and I felt the blood drain from my face. The breath-taking beauty, the fear in Edward's eyes when the sun shone through the clouds in his path, the speed at which they ran…. Their physical appearance alone should have given it away if not for their topaz eyes, which I assumed were funky-colored contacts. I'd never encountered vampires whose eyes weren't a deathly crimson, but I was almost certain that they were bloodsuckers.
Edward. A vampire. I knew he was too good to be true.
Does Bella know? I had to warn her. I was torn between following Edward and Jasper, and running back home to warn Bella about her monster-fiancé.
I hissed as the sharp pain of the accelerated healing jabbed at my leg. I glared pointlessly at the cause of my fall. Damn tree root.
Tree root… tree root!
I felt as though someone had taken a paddle to my stomach and knocked the wind right out of me. Edward had known I was going to follow! How?
Curiosity got the better of me, and I slowly stood up and looked down at my now-healed leg. As much as I wanted to warn Bella that she was about to enter into unholy matrimony, I had to find out what the two vampires were up to. If it got hairy, I could easily take down two bloodsuckers at once. I hurried through the woods, praying that I was taking the right path. Soon, I heard faint voices up ahead and felt both a relief and fear – it was an odd, clashing sensation akin to tasting ice cream with ketchup.
The voices slowly became clearer as I quietly inched closer and paused behind a large tree before cautiously peering to the side at what looked to be an open meadow, shaded by the massive surrounding trees. There were two groups facing one another with at least 20 feet between them, and I immediately recognized Edward and Jasper standing on the south side, next to another boy who looked like a wrestler. He had curly, dark hair and was incredibly tall, but he had the same vampiric skin tone. Recalling what Bella had told me, I knew it had to be Emmett. Next to him was an older person, probably in his early twenties. He had blond hair and was just as pale as the others in his group, but he emitted a calm and serene aura, and seemed to be the head of the vampire party. Was it Carlisle Cullen? I couldn't tell - I'd imagined Bella's soon-to-be father-in-law to be older. Then again, these monsters didn't age.
The sick feeling attacked my insides once again as I turned my attention to the other group facing the Cullens. There were five of them.
They were definitely Native American, and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they were Quileute boys, but they were… massive. Each boy stood well over 6'3". Could Indians grow that tall? A whole group of them? The unease and ill sensation worsened at the sight of the russet-skinned boys, who all looked almost identical with their shortly cropped, black hair. They stood in V-formation with the seemingly oldest standing at the lead. He, too, had a serene quality about him, yet I could tell he was cautious in his stance.
I miraculously recognized one of the Quileute boys from earlier in the day. It was the Ember kid, and at that moment, I realized that this group of Quileutes was just as unnatural as the vampires. What were they? Were they bloodsuckers, too?
"It seems we have no choice but to form another truce," said the vampire whom I was now convinced was Carlisle.
"Temporarily," the leader of the Quileute group added in a commanding tone.
"What exactly did you… sniff out?" asked the massive vampire with curly hair, crossing his arms over his broad chest as though challenging the Quileute boys.
There were low, almost inaudible growls emitting from the Native boys standing behind the leader, who kept his calm demeanor.
"Your kind," he answered. He hesitated a little before continuing. "And what we think is our kind, but there was something… off about the scent."
The Cullens looked at one another, and even in their unchanged expression, I could tell they were curious.
The dark-skinned boy continued to speak. "We're certain of the scent of werewolves, but not from out pack."
Excuse me? Pack? Werewolves? What the…?!
My mind went into hyper-drive as I tried to comprehend what I'd just heard, but I was distracted by the rapid beating of my heart pounding in my ears. This was freak'n Forks! There weren't supposed to be any night creatures living in such a sparsely populated area – and in such large numbers!
Does this mean that Jacob, too…. No, maybe he isn't one. I prayed that he wasn't a monster, and this took me by surprise. Was I praying for Jacob's humanity for Bella's sake? It was bad enough that I had to tell her that her fiancé was a bloodsucking creature, but to have to tell her that her best friend, too…. She would be devastated, unless she went insane first. Would she even believe me?
I ducked back behind the tree and leaned against it, pressing my hand over my heart, afraid that it was going to give away my location. The image of Alice falling down the deep, black hole – thanks to her rabbit-induced curiosity – flashed in my mind, and I seriously did not feel like taking a leisurely stroll in this particular Wonderland.
"Sam, are you aware of any werewolves living in or around the northwestern States, aside from yourselves?" I heard Edward ask, an edge tainting his usually soothing voice.
There was a moment of silence and I peered out again. The Quileute boys looked at one another – except for the leader, who I now knew was Sam – before they turned to Edward in a perfect, synchronized motion.
"What are Skinwalkers?" Edward asked as though in response to something Sam had said and only Edward heard.
Carlisle's head almost unnoticeably jerked back a little, betraying his calm demeanor. Jasper didn't seem all that comfortable either.
"They're shape-shifters," Sam began to explain, his expression seemed a tad grim though it was hard to tell. "But they inhabit the southwest, around Arizona and New Mexico. Our people have never had any encounters with them before, but we can smell a werewolf over long distances – whatever is coming this way are werewolves. There is a pack heading north-"
Emmett raised both his hands to pause Sam.
"Just hang on a sec," he snarled. "So Skinwalkers are werewolves?"
"Yes and no." The response did not come from Sam as I had expected. It was Carlisle. Edward, Emmett, and the Quileute boys quickly turned their attention to him. "Skinwalkers can turn into whatever animal whose power they are tapping. They do this by wearing animal hides, and more often than not, they use wolf hides.
"They are not like the Quileute werewolves in the sense that they depend upon a wolf to turn themselves into one," Carlisle continued, now pacing slowly between his family and the Quileutes. "They cannot change on their own. For the most part, their powers lie in the psychic realm."
"What's that mean? They fight and mess with people's heads?" Emmett questioned with a scoff.
"In a sense, yes," Sam said, but showing more respect to the powers of the shapeshifters. "The physical being that you and I would be able to see is just a borrowed form. The soul would remain with the human form miles and miles away, safe from harm. If we're truly up against Skinwalkers, it's not going to be easy to defeat them-"
"- because the borrowed form may die, but the essence of the shapeshifter will simply return to its human form which we may not be able to find," said Edward, again seemingly having read what Sam was thinking.
There was a brief silence before Emmett growled. "Well, that sucks."
"Yeah," a beefy Quileute boy standing on Sam's left agreed. "And they're moving strangely… venturing too far away from their territory. Skinwalkers traditionally don't do that." I could hear the slight fear in his voice as the volume went up a notch. "They might go as far as Texas, California, or Colorado, but we've never heard of them going beyond those areas. And now they're somewhere in Oregon, still heading north – in our direction!"
"Calm down, Quil," Sam said in an even tone. While I could sense the tension emitting from the other Quileute boys, I sensed nothing from Sam. He seemed serene, free of concerns. "I have some theories," he went on as he took a cautious step towards Carlisle. "We may be lucky and they might not be true Skinwalkers. The grim side of this theory is that what we have to face could be the Nayeh wolves."
"I was afraid of that," Carlisle sighed. "But that's the most likely explanation for their coming out this far."
Jasper gave one slow nod, acknowledging what Carlisle had just said. Edward looked as though he was straining to listen to some inaudible voice and nodded as well. This seemed to have annoyed Emmett.
"I really don't like not being in-the-know," he grunted, his fists tightening along with the muscles of his crossed arms.
"Nayehs are like mutant Skinwalkers," Jasper finally spoke out. "They emerged only two centuries ago but were rare and even the Skinwalkers stayed away from the Nayehs. Back in the late 1800s, we had only heard of three in existence and they never ventured out of the Four Sacred Mountains in the southwest. They were considered rogue Skinwalkers that delved into more evil than the average shapeshifter and began feeding on human flesh, often times their bones too."
Behind the relative safety of my tree, I shuddered. I had never encountered Nayeh wolves before, but I had heard of them because they existed in my home state, always moving under the radar.
I had overheard Linc and Jessie talking about Nayeh wolves before I left Phoenix. I wondered if that was what their new mission was about. If so, then it was only a matter of time before the Slayers made their way up here as well. But we would not only be facing an unidentified number of Nayehs, we would also be facing seven vampires and at least five werewolves. This was going to be a big, bloody mess and I wasn't sure if my group of seven Slayers would be enough to defeat the creatures.
But what business did Nayeh wolves have up in Washington, I wondered.
"Why would Nayehs come to Washington?" asked Edward, echoing my thoughts. There was dead silence. No one seemed to know the answer to this one.
I tried to search for a plausible answer. I thought long and hard to the point where my head felt like it was going to explode.
Then, it hit me. The Nayeh wolves craved power – unadulterated, evil power – so much so that even the Skinwalkers avoided them. But, like the Skinwalkers, they relied on wolves in order to turn into one so that they could feed on humans. They constantly relied on another living creature to live. Nayehs had no interest in other creatures like vampires, so it couldn't be them that are luring the mutant shapeshifters up to Washington. It couldn't be me, either. Of all Slayers, they would most likely want to avoid me. They also would never hunt this far out of their territory, so it wasn't food that was motivating them.
So it came down to the Quileute pack. They must have something that the Nayehs want, I thought. But what? It was frustrating, and I knew I had to get a hold of Nash as soon as possible. Then I had to get Bella and Charlie the heck out of this Monster Wonderland.
"We'll discuss this further upon Edward and Jasper's return." Carlisle's soothing voice caught my attention again. "They'll scout the areas as far south as Portland. We'll also look into the presence of our kind."
I was getting too nauseated to peer around the tree but I sensed that the Quileute boys had no objections. I had never felt this disoriented and unprepared before, except for the time I woke up in the hospital on the day that my father was declared missing and likely dead. My head whirled in super-spin cycle as horrific mental images stabbed at my brain – of Nayeh wolves and Quileute werewolves with their razor-sharp incisors; of the Cullens and their blood-thirsty kind, of Edward sinking his teeth into Bella; of me, finally, unable to fulfill my job as Slayer; of mom, alone and defenseless.
