Thanks to everyone for the reviews, I love them! As I promised here is chapter 9, enjoy!
I don't own Twilight
9 Encounter
It's been two days since I saw the werewolves and I still can't stop smiling. Which is not really a good thing, I don't want to look suspicious and if I walk through the corridors with a big smile singing, vampires are going to start asking questions.
I still don't know how to suppress these feelings, they are so strong, I wish I could talk to someone from my pack, I am sure they would understand how I feel.
I am in my room right now preparing for another mission with Felix and Afton. I am looking at the mirror trying to practice the expression of my face, but it's useless. I am wearing black jeans, ballerinas, a white t-shirt, and a golden necklace. Seriously, its 'V' form is driving me crazy and every time I put it on it feels heavier than the last time. It's the symbol that characterizes the royal guard so I must wear it all the time, but I don't like it. Well, as a spy I must do sacrifices, and if one of the kings discovers that I am not wearing it, who knows what they are going to do? Aro is probably going to give me a fourteen hour speech and then he would give me another one; Caius would kill me, lets just face it, he is just waiting for an excuse to do it; and Marcus… ok, I am not sure what he would do, he is mysterious.
Now that I think about it, I should probably stay away from him. His gift allows him to see relationships, I mean, he can see the connection between two team mates, two friends or two lovers. If he is able to see my bond with Dylan I am dead.
I wonder what Dylan is doing, probably helping his friends to design a plan to destroy the Volturi. Everything I see reminds me to him, which is kind of embarrassing, I mean, I only saw him for a few hours and now…
"Come on mutt, a turtle moves faster than you!" Felix knocked the door violently. "I know you are in there, now get out!"
"No wonder why you don't have a girlfriend", I said getting out of my room with a cape in my hands. "Do you always need to act so rough?"
"Only with dogs like you, now move", he started walking down the corridor and I followed
Afton was waiting for us in the alley. Today is the summer festival, a celebration that is done four times a year at the beginning of a new season. It's dark enough for vampires to go out, and almost everyone is wearing funny costumes, so we don't look weird with our capes on.
"There is a metal cart on the outskirts of the city for us", Afton explained to us
"Afton that is car, you have to say it without the't' "
"What is she talking about?"
"It doesn't matter", I murmured and they disappeared in the mass of people.
No matter how hard I try to teach them about the modern world, they just don't get it. I started walking between the tourists trying to reach the east door, but I've never been in a festival like this before, and the attractions are getting my attention. While I was distracted I collided with someone and I lost my balance.
"I am sorry", I apologized turning around to see the other person, but he had continued walking, he turned around once and then he slipped away.
I can't believe it, what is Dylan doing here? I am sure it was him; even with the costume and everything he looked like him, black hair, brown eyes, he had no scent… but he had a normal heartbeat. Maybe that is his gift, or maybe all the werewolves can control the speed of their heartbeats.
What do I do now? Do I follow him?
I decided to continue walking, when I reached the east door I turned around to see if he was still there, but there was no sign of him, so I kept walking to the outskirts of the city.
"Oh look Afton, Leah has honoured us with her presence", Felix commented with sarcasm
"Sorry", I don't want to apologize, but I can't make more mistakes or get involve into childish fights if I want to keep the privilege of going out of the castle. "I've never been in a festival like this before and I got distracted"
"Really? I think you would have like the middle age festivals; they were full of people, splendid music and a lot of contests", Afton said. "Now that I remember, I met the inventor of the guillotine in a festival in France"
"If you tell that story again I'll leave you here and you'll have to run all the way there", Felix threatened entering to the car
"I think someone got out from the wrong side of the coffin", I joked
"Leah you know vampires don't sleep", Afton said before getting into the car not understanding my joke
Where on earth is normal people when you need it? I sat in the back seat and Demetri started the car. Here we go Genova.
It took us two hours to reach the city, two long hours were Afton talked us about the middle age and how people used to get fun in those times. It didn't really bother me, but I don't know how Felix hasn't killed him yet.
Genova is one of the most beautiful cities I have seen since I arrive to Europe. I hope that one day I can return here and actually see the place, because knowing Demetri all we are going to do is complete our mission and leave.
"So, who is causing trouble this time?" I asked him
"Antonio, Angelo and Gregorio are three Italian brothers that disobeyed master Aro", Demetri explained. "And no Leah, I am not going to tell you what they did wrong", he said before I could ask
"Where do we find them?" Afton questioned
"Angelo agreed to hand over his brothers in exchange for his life; we are going to meet him at midnight in the cathedral of the city"
"He is going to betray his own brothers?" I can't believe it
"He has a tough skin, more than normal, that's why Aro is interested in him"
"That doesn't answer my question Demetri"
"Yes Leah, he has no moral, you can talk to him about that in the way back to Volterra if you want to. Now let's get going, it's almost midnight", Demetri started walking and we followed
"What's the plan", Afton asked
"You and I are going to enter to the cathedral to meet the three brothers; you are going to stay behind while I talk to them, at my sign you are going to attack Antonio, that is the tallest brother, while I take care of Gregorio"
"What am I supposed to do?" I asked, I don't really enjoy killing leeches, but if they got everything under control, why did I come here?
"You are going to stay outside like a good puppy and if anything goes wrong, then you act", Demetri answered
We finally arrived to the San Lorenzo cathedral and they entered following the plan. Fortunately there are no humans around and there are only six scents in the air, ours and I am sure the other three are from the brothers. Afton and Felix work as a good team, I am sure they are not going to need my help for this mission, so I just sat on a bench to wait.
Dylan came to my mind again, why was he in Volterra? I remembered he told me he was not going to take his eyes out of me, but I thought he was joking. Maybe he was looking for information or something, yeah, I am sure that was it.
I can hear a heartbeat in the next street, someone is coming, by the sound of his or her footsteps I now he or she is getting closer, he stopped. It's weird, there is no scent. Suddenly the speed of his heartbeat became faster; there is no doubt now, I am being followed by a werewolf.
The sound of a broken window called my attention and I ran to the back part of the building. Dammit, one of the brothers probably found the way to escape. When I reached the back garden I saw two shadows running down the street. Oh perfect, now I have to chase two vampires around the city.
I got on the roof of a house and I started jumping from roof to roof, that way I have a better view of where the fugitives are and I can ran full speed without worrying if someone sees me. They are fast, but not fast enough to escape from me. They kept running for a few miles till they reach an old building, from the scent that comes from it I can tell it's an old wine cellar. That's good; it's going to help me to camouflage my own scent. I waited till they were both in and then I entered using the same door.
"We have to leave Genova right now", one of them was telling the other
"But Antonio… what if…"
"Stop it Gregorio, we have to leave!"
"Sorry to interrupt", I said entering the room. "But I can't let you go"
They took their attack position and they show me their fangs. By the look on their faces I am sure they are trying to figure out what I am, this is my chance to attack.
I assaulted Antonio and Gregorio tried to attack me from the back. I kept him away with a kick on his jaw and he fell against a shelf full of bottles with wine. The sound of everything crashing against the floor distracted me and Antonio took the opportunity to push me against another shelf. He used too much strength and we both fell back with the shelf. I got up before him and I took Afton's new creation out of my belt; a dagger. I attacked Antonio with it, but he moved away and I only manage to hurt his arm. Gregorio attacked me again and we started struggling. I've never been good on this kind of fights, especially when they involve a lot of strength, I always loose.
"Leah!"
Afton's call was enough to distract Gregorio and I punched his face making him step back. With a quick move I stabbed my dagger in his chest and I pushed him against another shelf. He fell to the floor screaming, his body covered in wine and broken glass. Before I could use my lighter Antonio attacked me. Fortunately for me, Demetri and Afton were already here and they took care of him.
"What happened to you?" I asked standing up and trying to recover myself; I am not going to show my gratitude, they don't appreciate it
"They knew their brother was going to betray them, so they prepare a trap for us", Afton said embarrassed. "It's a long story"
"When I put my hands in that useless…" Demetri picked up my lighter from the floor and used it to start a little fire in the corner of the room. "I broke a gas pipe downstairs before, we better leave now"
He doesn't have to tell me that twice. We ran to the window and jumped to the first floor were the other brother was waiting for us. We ran towards the city and two minutes later we heard an explosion. I was the only one who looked back, we could have burn there bodies outdoors, but no, Demetri had to destroy all the place. The sound of a police car brought me back to earth and I followed the others back to the place were we left the car.
On the way back Angelo acted really strange. He couldn't stay still, which is really odd in a vampire; he couldn't stop looking at me and every time I looked at him, he looked somewhere else like a complete idiot; he was also murmuring something, it sounded like if he was praying or something.
"Leah you are not going back with us", Demetri said when we reached the car
"Excuse me?"
"Haven't you realized that this idiot here is afraid of you?" I am the reason for his strange reactions?
"Well is not my problem he is a coward", I replied angrily
"Is not my problem either, but our orders obliged me to take him to the castle, and he obviously can't be in the same place you are, final conclusion: you are not coming with us", he pushed Angelo in the back seat and then he opened the door of the driver seat
"I am not walking back to Volterra", I said shutting his door before he could get in
"Don't worry Leah, men invented a great machine called 'train', it can take you back to Volterra in less than two hours", oh great, now Afton is teaching me about the human world, you have to be kidding me!
"Ok I'll take the train", I sighed. "Just take my cape with you, it's all covered in whine", I threw it inside the car through the window and it landed at the back seat which make Angelo jumped to the next seat
"That was real pathetic", Demetri said to himself looking at his new team mate
"Well I don't want to be here for the 'brain wash process' so I'm leaving you guys alone", with that I started walking down the street
First I entered to the bathroom of a restaurant to clean myself and then I asked for directions to reach the train station. It wasn't hard to find it, but I took my time walking around the city before taking the train. Yes, this is definitely a place I'll visit again.
Once in the train, the few passengers that I found there looked at me as if I was some kind of freak. I can't blame them, it's almost 4 am, it's cold and all I am wearing is a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and ballerinas. It hurts me when people look at me like that, not only do I have to stand the way vampires look at me, humans too, I am not a monster!
I walked to the last wagon, which was empty and I sat next to the window. After the man in charge checked my ticket I was finally left alone, so I made myself comfortable in my seat and I closed my eyes, maybe I can sleep for a while. That's when I heard the door opening, someone had entered the wagon, and it was someone with a real fast heartbeat.
"Dylan!" I recognize him as soon as I opened my eyes. "What are you doing here?" I had to controlled myself not to jump over him
"I could asked you the same thing Leah", he said sitting in the seat in front of me
"No you can't", I replied. "You've been following me all night long; you knew I was going to be here"
"My heartbeat gave me away again?"
"Yes, and you haven't answer my question"
"You didn't really expect me to wait three weeks to see you again, did you?" Ok, I think I am blushing. "Besides I am not taking my eyes out of you while you are living with those blood suckers"
"That means you don't trust me"
"Considering that we have only talked for a few hours, yes, I don't trust you"
"Hey!"
"I'm kidding, who I don't trust is those leeches, besides, following you helps me to gather information, so it's not like if I wasn't working at all"
"You can read minds too?" I am sure there is no one hearing, so it is safe to talk about these things
"No, I have a defence gift, or at least Valadik calls it like that. I am able to conjure up a fog or a mist to hide my scent and I can hide all the scents that surround me if I want to. I always use it when we are around vampires so they don't know we are there"
"Can you shut it down?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you have a scent when you stop using your power?" he gave me questioning look. "What? I am just curious, I want to know how you smell", it suddenly hit me and I smiled to him
"So, how bad is it?"
"It's a strange combination of salt water, copper and peanuts; I like it. Now is your turn", I challenge him. He took a deep breath and then he answered
"Lavender, pine and mint", he smiled too
"What about your heartbeat? How can you control the speed?" I asked
"Oh that is just something that we can do with a few years of practice, but it only last for a few hours"
"So technically you look like a normal human to a vampire", I said
"Yes, that is why crushing with you in the festival wasn't dangerous at all"
"Oh, so you did it on purpose"
"I wanted you to know I was there, but you were very distracted"
"It's my first time in Europe so a lot of things call my attention"
"You've never been in Europe before and now you have to spend all your time with leeches in that underground castle? No way, after we finish with all this thing I am taking you around the continent, you can't leave without seeing certain places"
"That would be nice", a trip with him is something I'll really like. "Genova is a beautiful city"
"Yes it is, and your friend destroyed their last reserve of whine", he said hitting himself with his hand
"I know, Demetri can be really stupid sometimes"
"At least he came just in time to help you; it wouldn't be good if I had intervened in your fight"
"You saw my fight?"
"You shouldn't get involve in a 2vs1 fight, especially when you are the 1"
"Hey I had everything under control back there", I said crossing my arms
"I admit it, you are a skilled fighter, but that doesn't mean I liked watching that scene, you scared me"
"Relax Dylan, I have fight against vampires almost all my life"
"Which is not really a lot of time, you are 22, right?"
"Do you really have 162 years?"
"Yes, I am the oldest of the team, after Valadik of course, he stopped counting when he turned 300"
"Did you participate in the war between werewolves and vampires?"
"Well, that is the reason I was called to be part of the team actually. Valadik needed more people, so he asked a member of each family to sacrifice his life for our people. I was the older brother in my family, so I decided I wanted to go and after I was transformed I went to Italy"
"I hope you don't mind if I ask, but if you were so young, I mean, you didn't have experience or some kind of training, how did you survive?"
"Well, for the same reasons you just mentioned the older werewolves didn't let me go to fight in the front line or in the big battles. I participated in the last battle, it is not something that I like to remember, but I don't really know how I survive, I supposed I was just lucky that day"
"You sound like a very brave man", why did I say that? Ok, from now on I am going to think before speaking
"And what about you? You said you had exchange your life for a little kid of your family"
"That wasn't an act of bravery, I was the only one who could do it, the other ones were just… they have the perfect life and after everything they've been through I think they deserve it"
"So in order to keep their perfect life they sent you here?" perfect, now he is angry
"No! They would never do that, I came here without telling them"
"Do you have suicidal issues?"
"You wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you"
"Try me"
"It's a long story"
"We still have an hour before reaching Volterra", he insisted with a serious expression. "Why did you do that Leah?"
"Because I owe them", I whispered.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you remember that I mentioned the other day that I am the only female shape shifter in Quileute history?"
"Yes, although I am not sure what that means"
"It means that from the beginning, from the moment that Quileutes are able to transform into wolves, there has never been a woman capable of doing it. All the legends speak about brave and strong men and their imprints, but there has never been a single woman. We have a theory to explain it, only men are able to pass the wolf gene to the next generation. But one day I was arguing with my brother and before I new it my body had suddenly changed. We've never understand why I am the way I am, there is probably something wrong with me"
"Wait, why is it so bad that you can transform?"
"It's not logical. Shape shifters stop aging unless they keep transforming from time to time. That means that my body can't change, so I am not able to have babies, and if I can't have descendents I can't pass the genes, I am a dead end"
"Leah that is not…"
"Please don't try to make me feel better", I interrupted him. Oh no, my old self is here again. "I know that I am a freak between freaks and for once in my life I can use that to help everyone else so…"
"Is that the way they called you? A freak between freaks?"
"Occasionally, followed by a large group of offensive terms, but it doesn't matter, I deserved it"
"I don't see how"
"It was horrible, ok? Two years ago I didn't know how to control my emotions, so every time I lost control I transformed immediately into a giant wolf. When that happens we are able to hear each others thoughts, so there are no secrets between pack members"
"Ok, that kind of sucks"
"Tell me about it. Anyway my point is I used to use that to torture them with dramatic images and scary thoughts about anything that came to my mind. They were always bothering me around and let just say that they liked having colourful thoughts about me; when we transform we break our cloths so you can imagine all the troubles we had with that", he seemed to understand what I was trying to say because now he has a 'I am going to kill your pack members' look in his face
"Ok, it was really troublesome being the only female of the pack, I understand that, but that is no reason to exchange your life"
I don't think I am ready to speak about Sam to him, not today.
"You would understand if you see my family, they are all nice couples with their perfect lives, their perfect houses, their perfect everything, and the kid, god it was just a kid, and… and… maybe… maybe I did it because I didn't fit in", I started sobbing. "I knew they care about me, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't stand it anymore; watching them everyday, reminding me that I was never going to find that, happiness was unreachable for me… and, I don't know…"
"It's ok Leah", Dylan changed to the seat next to me and he hugged me tight. "It's ok, I am here now, and I am not going anywhere"
We stayed like that for a long while. I don't know how he did it, but he opened a door I was too afraid to open. He helped me realize which was the real reason I came here, I shouldn't have kept those emotions in me, they were killing me, and now I just can't stop crying, this is embarrassing.
"I am sorry", he suddenly said. "I shouldn't have push you to tell me those things"
"It's ok, it was something I needed", he stopped hugging me and he sat straight so he could look better at me. "Show me a smile". He asked me and I obeyed. "Is that the best you can do? Come on, show me a real smile"
"Stop talking to me like that, I am not a kid", I said showing him a big smile
"I am 140 years older, deal with that"
"The twins told me they were 156 years old, what about the others?"
"Well, the twins are the youngest werewolves of the team and I am the oldest, were all almost the same age"
"You were transformed with the same purpose?"
"Yes, and now we are the only survivors from a specie that is about to disappear"
"Not if we can stop it", the real me its back. "Where is the rest of the team?"
"Let's just say that you are not the only one with missions around here"
"Ok?" I am not sure what that means
"Cari passeggeri, stiamo per raggiungere la stazione di Volterra", the driver announced with the audio system (dear passangers, we are about to reach Volterra's station)
"I don't want to leave", I murmured to myself, although I am sure he heard me
"Are you hungry? We can have breakfast together", I shook my head
"It's too risky, we shouldn't see each other in this city"
"Ok", he agreed even if he didn't want to. "Leah, I know I don't know a lot about you, but if it helps you, I don't see a freak between freaks when I look at you, all I see is a survivor with a lot more fights to come, and if you ever feel alone again, just remember I got your back"
"Thanks Dylan, I'll see you later", I gave him a kiss on the cheek and as fast as I could I got out of the train.
I didn't look back, I just concentrated on my way back to the castle and I tried to ignore the people around me. But I can't stop smiling again, oh whatever, if anybody ask me I'll made something up.
Like it? Dylan and Leah are getting to know each other, but things aren't going to be easy for them. Have a nice day and don't forget to REVIEW to increase my inspiration
Ishii Sen Ling
