Almost done!
BTW, I had trouble concentrating on this one. I guess I just get excited with writing the last few chapters… Also, I had a True Blood marathon with a friend who is new to this series and that may have fried my brain a just a little bit.
And as a response to Fae, if you are reading this, NO you were not being weird haha and those references will come into play if it all goes according to plan (though I write these without planning much anyway).
………
She had turned around without looking back while Bubba trailed along behind her until they were lost in the darkness. I watched them leave for as long as I could before I made my way to the location Pam had set out for us to meet. Even in the night, there is still life thriving usual sounds and smells all give proof of life. But tonight there was nothing but silence aside from the wind's slow howl. The usual choir of the night's creatures and hum of human life is gone. Tonight, the smell of thick heavy magic permeates the air in a sickeningly sweet stench and it can only be attributed as a product of the witches,
It does not take long for me to find the location Pam had designated and find the area without any trouble. It is a small clearing behind the building I can only assume we would be attacking. The source of the magic is pulsing from it, growing stronger the closer I get. Pam is speaking to the few vampires left as she divides them into small groups and sends them off to their respective positions.
"Won't we be using weapons?" one of the vampires asks her, eyes wide at the prospect of fighting unarmed. Clearly a newborn vampire.
"Those witches are crafty enough that they'll only use them against us. Besides," she adds smiling, her fangs fully showing behind her painted pink lips, "we don't them."
A twig snaps as I step on it and both vampires turn to look me.
"Master," she says as she inclines her head just slightly to greet me and bids the vampire to leave with a tiny flick of her hand.
"Where do I go?" I ask her.
"You'll go in through the back with the others like we planned but you'll be in the last group to enter." Before I can ask her why, she explains, "We can't risk exposing you to them in the first group that attacks lest they capture you and render all of this useless." The first group of vampires to attack will simply be used as pawns to receive the instant backlash of the witches.
"Where is Bill?" I ask her. I have not seen him since we left the house. Perhaps he is to be in that first group?
She shrugs, "He's off struggling with that shifter he's supposed to be watching. You're to join him along with the others and be the last group to attack."
It is not something I look forward to- fighting alongside Bill- and I find myself wishing that tonight he would meet his end. But he is, after all, a subject of mine fighting on my behalf despite whatever difference we may have. I am letting emotions get in the way of my duty, something I have left entirely to Pam while I have been cursed.
"Are you sure Sookie will be safe?" I ask Pam once she is free to speak to me again. She had been talking to another vampire whose name I could not recall and giving him her final instructions while I was lost in my thoughts. Was it really worth it that they should be fighting to restore me when the only welfare that I cared about was Sookie's?
Pam begins walking towards the back of the building, her footsteps so light that I have to make sure her feet are actually touching the ground. I trail behind her helplessly, the dead leaves crunching beneath my feet noisily.
"If she follows my instructions to the point, then yes." She says coolly.
I stop walking and Pam turns to look at me blankly.
"I need to be sure she will be safe." I press on. "She needs someone by her side to protect her." There is a strange expression on Pam's face and I am not sure if she is amused or disturbed by my concern for Sookie. She opens her mouth to reply.
"She already has enough protection as it is." Chow interrupts what Pam is about to say as he joins us. The three of us are standing there in the dark surrounded by trees. Even the wind has stopped it's howling in this dismal place. "At this point, she has more protection than you. None of us are going to stand behind and watch over a human while the rest are fighting." The disgust at the idea of having to protect a human is clearly marked on his face. Despite the cold tonight, he is not wearing a jacket and his arms are fully exposed, covered with strange designs and many in a language that I am able to recognize as Japanese. It is bizarre how, despite my lack of memory, I am still able to comprehend a language I have no recollection of learning.
"Nonetheless, if she matters to our master she matters to us. She is quite indispensable and unique. Bubba will be more than happy to oblige if I tell him to watch over her." Pam snaps icily at Chow as he shrugs nonchalantly.
"I don't think he is the best choice for that job-" I protest.
"And I think you underestimate her ability to defend herself. She always has been quite resourceful, you've told me so yourself." Pam interjects.
There is no possible way for me to argue with that when I know it to be true. Pam resumes walking towards the building alongside Chow and I can already see the small groups of vampires already hiding behind the building. And I can feel Sookie and her overwhelming fear. Bill is nowhere in sight.
"I suggest you take that coat off that you're wearing," Pam nods at me and points to the coat Sookie had given me. "It'll only be a nuisance and you need to be fully flexible tonight." I do as she says and take it off only to realize that it is too late to go back to the car. Instead, I hide it behind one of the trees, making sure to remember which one it was so that I can retrieve later on.
I can't help but continue to notice it again when I return to her side- the heavy scent of her perfume invades my senses. The mere hint of it brings me a sense of deep dislike and I can't find a link as to why, Pam is able to see me wrinkle my nose in disgust.
"Something else wrong?" she asks innocently.
"What is that scent?"
"Oh?" she quirks her eyebrow, "Do you recognize it?"
"No..."
"You hate it," she says instantly, happy with my reaction. "You'd mentioned once that Bill's sire wore it excessively when you first met her and you despised it. You didn't think much of her either if I remember correctly. Pity too, since it's actually one of my personal favorites."
"Lorena?" I remembered Sookie had told me of her before though I was not aware I was familiar enough with her in the past.
"Yes, Bill's sire…" she says. "Do you actually remember her?"
"No."
"This is good enough anyway," she says nodding. I can't help but feel confused by her odd reaction. "You link this scent to a memory, and your dislike of it now is proof that you are still there," she taps her head with her finger and smiles, "you are just locked up in there for now. Tonight we are only getting they key."
"And you wore this merely to test me?
She laughs "I always did find Chanel to be quite… delicious." I'm left feeling more confused because I do not know what a Chanel is nor that I was familiar with Lorena. Before I can ask her anything else, she is already walking to the front of the building while I remain behind with the others.
A Were joins me in the darkness as we hide behind the shadow of the old building and watches me intently with its green eyes. Alcide. I would recognize him anywhere now that I have grown familiar with his smell. There is a faint trace of Sookie's scent on his fur and I snarl at him in a warning to stay away from her though he only growls back in return.
"I suggest you save this for another time. We'll be needed soon," Bill says smoothly and nods at me in greeting, not bothering to glance at Alcide.
I do not know how long we wait there in the cold night before we run inside, pushed forth by a woman's call to join in the battle that has started without me. I closed my eyes as I recognized the voice and steeled myself for what was to come. Sookie should not have been the one to have called us and yet there she was, inside, in the middle of it all. Bill holds me back before I tried to run inside to save her and tells me to wait until the others have gone before us. By the time we finally go inside, there is nothing but the cries of pain and the rousing scent of blood saturating the entire room. It fills my nostrils and my mind with a need to destroy all that is around me with such a lethal speed that I am no longer in control of myself. Though some of the Weres are struggling with their visibility in the thick white cloud that begins fills the entire room, our kind adapts and we attack, guided by mere scents and the sounds around us. The cloud has proven to work in my favor, allowing me to join the battle without being recognized. Those that are unlucky enough to realize who I am are dead mere seconds later. Those that cannot shift into Weres have brought along weapons, many made out of silver, to attack us. One of the witches lunges at me blindly with her silver knife but only manages to graze the top part of my arm before I grab her arm and break it. The bones crack and rip through her flesh as the blood begins to soak the long sleeve shirt. She cries in agony. I do not have time to have my fill of her blood and instead settle for a quick kill by forcing her knife into her throat with her own hand. My tongue catches the spray of blood from the deadly wound and I savor the tiny scarlet beads of it before I handle the next oncoming attacker. The knife has fallen to the ground from the woman's dead fingers and though I have the urge to use it, I remember Pam's advice.
My next kills are not much different; there are cries, there is pain, and there is a large amount blood already pooling on the floor. It is always in nearly the same order and they all end with a deadly victory. In the chaos that is around us, I feel Bill slam into me by accident after being thrown across by one of the Weres on Hallow's side. Bill's entire chest is covered in blood though rapidly healing after avoiding a critical wound with a wooden knife. While he heals, I pounce on the Were that leaps towards us in an attempt to attack Bill while he is down. I bite into its fur, hard. Hard enough to cause the skin to break and blood gushes forth. A few more bites, in certain key areas, render the Were motionless and I snap its neck. Bill and I regard each other through the hazy room as it begins to rain while he stands up, fully healed, and joins the battle once again.
Though I cannot fully see her, I can feel Sookie's fear pulsing through me and I focus on finding her before she comes to any more harm. I am in luck when the clouds begin to disperse with the rain and I see her. She is fending off an attack from the bitch Debbie Pelt, knife in hand, as she tries to defend herself. Debbie charges at her and I rush to her side and grab her neck before she is able to hurt Sookie. Though the rain has helped disperse the clouds, many are still struggling with the visibility in the room. I am fully intent on killing Debbie when a Were pounces on Sookie and causes for me to lose a grasp of Debbie. The idiot Alcide had come seconds too late to defend Sookie and only helped in having Debbie get away. Before I can help Sookie escape the building, I am attacked from behind by another Were and dragged into fighting all over again. He is biting into my shoulder, trying to take as much blood from me as possible with its large teeth and mouth. I slam my back against the wall several times as I try to shake the Were from my back. The fangs drive deeper inside my skin though much of the blood is escaping its mouth and soaking my shirt instead. Without the strength that my blood provides, the Were is soon rendered weak and after several more bashings against the wall, he falls over to the floor dead.
I collapse on the blood soaked floor as well and catalog my wounds. There are not many and most of them have healed already but the loss of blood has weakened me. The fighting has slowed down and there are still plenty of us left with only a few witches weakly attempting to fight and failing miserably in the end. With a clear victory in sight I crawl to the body of the dead Were, who has now returned to its human form, and recover the blood I have lost.