The night air was hot and humid. I watched the werewolves gather on the opposite side of the clearing, Emily clinging to Connor's side tight. Zoey was sat by herself a few feet away. Wayne was giving orders to the pack. Connor took his positions, as did the others. The vampires around me were much more casual, Trixie and Marcus stood by the tree, hand in hand. Stefan was talking to Courtney who was stood with the other shapeshifters. Ivy was glaring at them with such force it could have burned a hole right through Stefan's head. Felicia was stood by Aiden; she was rubbing his back comfortingly and glancing over at me every now and then. Jethro and Sebastian stood in front of them all, they seemed to be discussing something very important, Jethro's brow creased with worry. Sebastian stepped towards where the werewolves were waiting.
"We are ready when you are." He announced. The werewolves sent their first wolf forward. A scrawny looking wolf, with tatty red fur. Marcus sighed and walked forward, meeting the wolf half way. Trixie watched, with not the least bit of concern on her face. Either she was very confident in him or didn't care. The wolf looked Marcus over once and took a step back and lazily crouched. Marcus looked puzzled for a moment and then took a defensive position. The wolf sprung and it was over in seconds. Marcus pinned him to the floor and the fight was over. The wolf limped away and another brawnier looking wolf replaced him. Marcus rejoined Trixie by the tree and kissed her gently on the cheek. Trixie skipped forward at a pace that seemed too slow for her. She stood with her hands behind her back, smiling up and the huge wolf that loomed over her. The wolf let out a barking laugh. He crouched and got ready to pounce. Trixie didn't move at all, she continued to smile at the wolf. The wolf sprung, it huge paws about the land on Trixie's cute little head. The wolf made contact with the ground and landed off balance. Trixie was suddenly behind it and took it down. Marcus smirked and shook his head in awe. She pranced back over to him and took his hand once more. The fights carried on like this, the vampires won every time and the werewolves were starting to get annoyed. Finally Connor stepped forward in wolf form. Jethro met him in the middle of the clearing. They looked at each other for a long moment. Jethro mumbled something to Connor, obviously reading his thoughts. Connor glanced at Emily then at me then looked back at Jethro. Jethro took a step back and crouched ready to pounce, Connor did the same. A fierce snarl escaped Jethro's lips, Connor growled loudly in response. Then Connor pounced. I turned away quickly unable to watch. I heard a bark of frustration and my hands flew to my ears, I didn't want to hear this, I didn't want to see it. Eventually I heard a huge yelp and a shout of frustration that managed to get around my hands and into my ears. I hated the noise; I turned quickly to see Jethro and Connor on the ground, Connor managed to get up and pin Jethro down with his huge paws. The fight was over; Connor had won, but only just.
"That was a refreshing exercise." Sebastian said stepping forward as Jethro and Connor returned to their corners. Sebastian was in front of Wayne as soon as I'd blinked. The rest of the werewolf pack stepped backwards, shocked at the immediate closeness of a natural enemy. Wayne didn't seem bothered by it at all.
"Thank you. We must set off now; we must find another living ancestor of Tereza before the end of this week. We shall see you soon." Wayne turned but Sebastian stopped him.
"Surely if we came with you the search would take half the time, we are willing to accompany you." Sebastian offered.
"Thank you, Sebastian. That would help us a lot. We leave at midnight." Then the wolves ran off into the forest.
"I want you to stay here for the week." Jethro said kissing my forehead gently. I clung onto him tightly, not wanting him to leave me alone here.
"But what about my dad, he'll be worried…" Jethro put his finger to my lips to silence me.
"Your father thinks you've gone on a shopping holiday with Trixie. You are safe for the week."
I sighed, not able to argue. Jethro lifted my chin up so I was looking up into his eyes. I kissed him passionately. I was going to miss him this week; the week was going to seem like hell. When he gently pushed me back, he looked into my eyes once then hugged me.
"I'll miss you," I whispered.
"I'll miss you too," he kissed me tenderly on the lips once then took my hand and we headed for the door. Downstairs everyone was ready. Connor kissed Emily tenderly on the lips. I had to look away. I looked back when I thought it was safe. They had parted and Emily was sat self-consciously on the couch.
"She's not staying with me, is she?" I whispered, trying to make it quiet enough so that only Jethro heard. It didn't work I saw Connor roll his eyes and give me and shot and angry glance in my direction.
"Unfortunately." Was all Jethro said as we reached the bottom of the stairs. Sebastian turned to us, "You girls should be safe here, nobody knows of this house." He said, directing it at Emily and me. "But just in case here's the number you can contact me on if anything happens." With one swift movement Sebastian was holding a paper in front of me. I took it and put it in my pocket. He moved over to Emily to give her the number.
"Here." Jethro said, reaching into his pocket and bring out a phone, a very new model. "Take this, call me if anything happens. My number is already in it." He handed me the phone. I slipped it into my pocket and hugged him.
"Thank you, but it's only a week." I reminded him.
"Hopefully less than a week." He replied, tightening his arms around me comfortingly.
"Right, lets go." Wayne announced, picking up his backpack and slinging it onto his back casually. Jethro grabbed me and pressed his cold lips to mine and then suddenly he was gone and the house was empty all except Emily and me. Great, just perfect, I thought bitterly, Stuck with the little freak who thinks my boyfriend wants to hurt me. I sighed and went and sat in the big armchair opposite her. I relaxed back and glanced at Emily. She was sat straight and alert, not wanting to relax.
"I'm sorry I haven't really spoke to you." Her voice startled me, it was so quiet but high-pitched. "I didn't mean to offend. It just feels weird being in the middle of all this."
I suddenly felt sympathy for her, remembering the first few weeks after Connor had showed me he was a werewolf. It was a nightmare.
"The vampires are the only things new to me." I said, trying to keep this conversation going.
I finally got her talking, apparently her and Connor never really kissed, all they did was talk and hug. Which made me happy that he hadn't touched his soulmate and yet he had me. I held back a smile as she told me.
"I'm off to bed." Emily yawned and stood up. "I'll take the spare room, I like it in there." She smiled, said goodnight then went to bed.
In Jethro's room I sat on the bed, playing with a bit of lace on my nightshirt until I felt sleepy. I placed the phone Jethro had given me on the bedside table. Wondering where Jethro was, is he ok? Is he going to call me? He probably wasn't I told myself, he's be far too busy to do that. Eventually I drifted off into a deep sleep.