I'M BACK AND I HAVE ANOTHER KICK ASS CHAPTER. I WANT TO REMIND MY READERS THAT THIS STORY IS RATED "M" FOR GORE, LANGUAGE, AND FUTURE SMUTTINESS. I DON'T OWN THE TWILIGHT SERIES BUT I DO OWN MY OC SO NO COMPLAINING. READ AND ENJOY THIS CHAPTER.
Chapter 10: Wolf Pack
Adam POV
Watching as the wolf that attacked me changed into a semi-muscular man, was truly amazing, but it was interrupted by the pained screams of Julie. Another of the wolves entered the house and looked pointedly at me. It growled loudly in my ear, but I punched it harshly in the snout. It seemed stunned before it hunched up to attack me.
"Stop, Sam that is enough. He was with her when she started the change and he can be trusted," Billy said as he showed us out of the room.
"I am waiting for an explanation," I said feeling my patience wearing thin.
"And you will get one when Clearwater shows up," I could only sit down and listen to the pained whimpers of my friend.
When there was a harsh crash, I couldn't take it any longer and lunged for the door and tore it open. Standing in the remains of the bed and pile of tore clothes was a massive wolf, just like the ones that were in the other room. The wolf was about 10 feet in length, had russet brown fur, dark intelligent eyes, and a slender build that was built for speed. The wolf glanced around in confusion and looked terrified.
"Is that you Julie," I whispered.
Her head slowly raised to look into my eyes and the dark eyes had the same passion that I had come to admire. Her ears twitched, as the large wolf that had be called Sam, walked in and growled a low hum at her. She snapped her teeth at him and I felt that her ire was rising, so I step towards her.
I stretched out my left hand and placed it gently on her snout and gently moving closer and then placed my hand behind her ears and scratched. Her body relaxed and her tail wagged before she snorted and glared at me.
"It's going to be fine," I said trying to get her to relax again.
"I'm sure they will explain."
She stood firmly in place but nodded her head saying (nonverbally) that she had understood me. Billy came into the room and looked around at the damages before he sighed in exasperation and moved to the side to let Mr. Cleanwater in the room.
Harry Cleanwater was a stubborn and slightly pudgy Native American man who looked like he belonged on the front of a western postcard.
"We knew that she was descended from the chief but sometimes these things don't go the way we want," he paused looking at me.
"It would seem that an outsider has learned the nature of our tribe. I suppose that it was inevitable, I will explain the questions you have the best way that I can but for now let's get young Julie here back into human form."
He then began to coach her through the process of picturing her human body and forcing the wolf to the bottom before compressing your body into a human's. I didn't notice it until later but all the people in the room had turned around and I soon found out why. As Julie's wolf body folded into itself and the fur began to recede, I noticed that her torn clothing was on the floor and not on her body.
Her body had changed slightly, when she had completely reverted back, she gained more muscle and lost some of the baby fat that had stubbornly clung to her frame. It still had a feminine softness that was drawing me in. Her slightly coppery skin was no longer covered in sweat but her chest heaved like she had run a marathon. Her tones legs were crouched as she regained her composure. She looked like a sex goddess that had descended to earth and I felt a possessive rumble deep in my throat.
I heard a cough and was made aware that there were other people in the room with me. I turned around sharply and saw that Billy, the naked girl's father, was looking over at me with a stoic look on his face. However, his eyes gave away his amusement with a small twinkle.
When Julie was made aware of her current state of dress, she quickly covered herself in embarrassment and with a tone that promised pain asked a single question.
"Did anybody see?"
The way that she phrased it could almost make one think that she was calm about the entire situation, but her trembling shoulders and clenched fists made me step forward and gently place my arms around her. She stiffened but relaxed into my warm embrace, I noticed that her temperature had risen but not quite a high fever but it was more like a warm blanket fresh out of the laundry.
"Well, it looks like you are getting comfortable," Harry grumbled.
The wolf, that hadn't changed yet, let out an impatient yip and Harry nodded his head. We piled into our trucks, those that weren't a wolf, and took off towards a lodge that held the meetings. When we got there, there were some other trucks pulled up and I heard the running of several large wolves.
"So how to explain this," one of the elders began.
"We, the Quileute tribe, have a long and complicated history. Almost all of it centering around the pale folk," his face was stoic as he looked into the fire.
"When we were still a roaming tribe, we encountered many great spirits but one always held our admiration and that was the noble wolf, and in our time of greatest need, wolves were the ones who guarded us," his eyes were downcast and Billy spoke up.
"Every Quileute child is told the story of how wolves were our ancestors and that it is against tribe law to harm one and for the most part that it true. The whole story, however, is much more difficult to explain."
"Yes, it is," the elder sighed.
"It began almost fifteen hundred years ago, when we had set up a permanent settlement in the Forks area. We were simple hunter gatherers and were completely unprepared for when the pale folk, who coveted our land and wanted us as their food, attacked. It was small disappearances at first, a boy fell into the river and never swam back up stream or a hunter never returned with his prey after a long hunt. But one day we were openly attacked and a miracle happened. A pair of siblings, a brother and sister, happened upon where one of the pale hunters was ambushing a young woman. As they raced out of the forest, they changed into massive wolves that tore the pale one to pieces. In gratitude, the young woman brought them back to the tribe and told the chieftain, who was her father, about the attack and how she had been saved by these wolf spirit warriors. The siblings had stayed in their wolf form but then shifted back into our form. They introduced themselves as mighty warriors that hailed from a distant land that was in constant strife, and that they had fled to escape the violence."
I was leaning on the edge of my seat as the smoke billowed from the fire. Next to me, I saw that Julie was just as mesmerized by story. She looked regal as she listened to the elder tell the tale of how her people, and her in particular, gained the ability to change into giant wolves.
"The spirit warriors were welcomed into the tribe with open arms and the brother of the siblings married the young woman whom he had saved. The sister married a mighty warrior and they both had many children, and the tribe settled completely in Forks and began to live peacefully. However, it would seem that fate had different plans in store for this bloodline," he said ominously.
"After years of seeking vengeance for the death of one of their own, the pale folk attack and killed the brother shifter. As the village mourned the loss of it's mighty guardian, the pale ones attacked and nearly destroyed our tribe. The children of the spirit warriors in their rage took up the role that their fellow warriors were no longer able to do and defended the tribe," when he finished, the wolves howled loudly and I was filled with a strange feeling.
"And what happened to the other people from the distant land? Did any others ever show up, or did the female shifter die without giving anything up?"
At my questions, the elder gave me a steely glare that would have made a lesser man wilt but I was not lessor. I was stubborn and not feeling very apologetic at the moment.
"Why did you say that you assumed that I would shift due to belong to the chief's blood?" Julie asked after she took in the legend.
"You are the last descendant of the male spirit warrior who has reached the point where you could shift. You could lead the pack if you so desired. You have the aura of an Alpha."
"You haven't answered my question," I growled getting some huffs in response.
"You are an arrogant brat," the elder breathed out heavily.
"When the sister passed on to lay with her ancestors, she left behind a book that she said recorded the history of her people and her weapon was to be used to defend the tribe. The book was never deciphered from its language and we would never give it up to some outside scholar to ruin or hold in a museum. The weapon has been kept in our vault and never taken out for the battle that it's owner had foretold," Harry joined into the tale.
"Over time, the need for the power of the spirit warriors began to wane and the bloodline was diluted to the point where it didn't show up until many centuries later when those cursed Cullen's intruded on our land and we drew up the nonaggression pact," several of the gathered people spat on the ground angrily.
"That story seems like there is something missing and I don't understand why," I pondering why something was nagging me.
"I think for now, you should get some sleep and be better rested in the morning. Julie here will get more used to her place in the pack and I'm sure that if you have anymore questions I'm sure that the answers will come eventually," with that he turned and I knew that it was time for me to leave.
As I walked over to the truck, Julie caught my attention with a hand wave. She was standing taller and with a steel that wasn't there before but it gave her a fire that matched up well with her witty personality. I hoped that this didn't make it so that I couldn't speak with familiarly her anymore.
"That was a wild ride huh," and I knew that she was still there somewhere.
"I don't want Bella to know about this yet. She has just made a thin road to recovery and this could drag her back into our world," when she said our, it sent a shiver down my spine.
I nodded and told her that when Isabella found out that she was going to be pissed. Her firecracker rage would be amusing to see but I could keep this secret without much weight. Still though, I thought, there is something that seemed familiar with that story. Before my thoughts could drift into forbidden territory, I cleared my head of those ideas. Before I had even gotten fully out of the truck, I was hounded by Isabella.
"Is she ok," looks like Julie had a good friend.
"Yeah, it was just a cold. She has been pushing herself in school and with us. It looks like she will be fine in day, two at the most," I lied smoothly.
That satisfied her curiosity for now but I could see some of the kid-like curious had returned to her eyes. I was exhausted and let the events drift to the back of my mind. Suddenly, the images of Julie's stunning body came to the center of my mind's eye and I felt heat rush to my face. I tried to busy myself doing some upgrades to my hand, but my concentration was not on the task.
"Damn it you fool! Remember what happened last time," I felt the emotions drain from me at the somber memories.
§Dream§
Shouts of anger and pain echoed hollowly in my ears, but I couldn't see anybody else in the field that I found myself in. The wind howled and tore ferociously at the air surrounding me and the smells of charred wood and iron filled my nose. Looking around, I saw that the earth was burning and nothing living, plant or animal, was around me.
The cries for mercy began to grow louder as I walked over to what used to be a forest. It was now only a husk of death that showed torn and bloodied standards laying abandoned on the ground. I followed my ears and came to a clearing in the blacked, scorched earth.
Standing with a face raised to the darkened sky was a bare chest man. He stood with his broad and scarred back facing me, and when he tilted his head down, I heard him him grunt with displeasure. His arms had broken manacles that still had chains swaying from them. As he turned to face me, every muscle in his body rippled and I was shocked when I saw his face.
It looked similar to my face but had some key differences: my brown eyes had been corrupted to a hollow and soulless black that covered the entire eye, his hair was shorter and crusty from some unknown liquid, and deep, hungry scars laced their way across his cheeks and dug furrows into his forehead.
He released a breath that hissed and steamed in the wet air before leaning forward to disappear until he was right in front of me. He grabbed my shoulder and applied a crunching grip that made me release a grunt of agony. He growled right in my ear and with venom said,
"Du er en fei som ikke engang kan kjempe for din valgte!"
"I am not a coward and I fight only when I need to," I snarled back at him.
He growled in anger and moved both of his hands to close around my throat. He didn't crush my airflow entirely just put a strong pressure of my neck.
"Hevder vår Ulv."
What did he mean by wolf? I didn't know any except for the Quileute and I certainly had no claim to any of them. Julie's smiling visage entered my thoughts but I dismissed the fact that her tribe would most likely isolate her to preserve the bloodline of the chief.
"Vis vår Engel som hun tilhørwr," now I felt a blood boiling rage taint my mind.
"She left us! She abandoned us when we had given her our heart, our trust!" I spat in his face with my anger.
He released my tender throat and backed away with a stoic look that I often found on my own face. He waved his hand and a throne erupted from the earth with a loud rumble. It was draped in furs of all sorts of exotic animals and stacked at the base were human skulls that were drenched in red and a large axe laid across the padded armrests.
He grabbed the axe and sat, without a single emotion appearing on his copy-cat face. He growled and drummed his fingers on the sharpened edge. His scarred face no longer acknowledging that I was in front of him, inching back slowly.
"Jeg vil ikke bli lenger lenger. Ikke hvis du nekter å kreve hva som er vår," he whispered after a minute of silence.
He repeated his statement again, this time with more anger and passion and his voice took a demonic tone before he threw the heavy axe spinning towards my frozen body. I closed my eyes and heard the familiar scream of Isabella.
§Dream End§
I awoke gasping for air and looking around wildly before the screaming stop with Charlie's calming voice filtered downstairs. I relaxed and heard the man's last words echo in my head,
"Gjør krav på hva som er vårt!"
It would seem even my dreams seemed to haunt me, leaving me confused and frustrated with their unclear messages. I got up and lumbered over to the table as Charlie entered and opened a can of cheap beer. Seeing the dark, etched lines around my eyes, he didn't protest much when I grabbed my own can of beer.
"You are underage you know," he said shortly.
"I'm Canadian," I grumbled as I took a mouthful of the beer.
"Well you are an adult, just don't make this a habit," see what I mean this was a good relationship.
"I don't plan to, this is just to relieve some stress," he nodded before silently finishing his can.
I took careful mouthfuls and felt the bitter liquid glide smoothly down and settle in my mostly empty stomach. I glanced to the window that showed that the sun's first rays were beginning to peak over the tree line. My phone began to gently buzz from its place on the counter, so I picked it up and answered without even checking the caller ID.
"Are you awake," Julie's excited voice was on the other end of the call.
"If I weren't, I wouldn't be talking with you now," I grumbled still in a bad mood from my dream.
"If you're going to be like that, I'll hang up," I heard the teasing tone that told me she wasn't serious, but under that I heard some uncertainty.
"No, I just woke up a few minutes ago and I'm still half asleep. What do you need so early in the morning."
"Well, I just got back in from being with the pack. It was incredible and I don't even feel that tired from being up all night," her voice was cheerful.
"It's amazing to run as a wolf, I feel so...free. Though it does have some downsides," she paused waiting for me to speak.
"Well, I don't fully understand how being fuzzy makes you feel free, but all the power to you," she gaffed trying to hold her laughter.
"It isn't the fur, the feeling of the wind rushing past me, as I run faster than ever before," she sighed thinking about it.
"What are those downsides you mentioned?"
"Well, it's hard to explain but everyone in the pack can heard each other's thoughts. But it's not all your thoughts, I'm still confused by it all," she sighed and I felt concerned.
"Are you alright? Nobody is looking down on you for being a girl, or an asshole think that he can mess with you by sending some of his filthy thoughts," I felt anger well up inside me.
"No, no, no. Nothing like that," she denied, "they saw some of my thoughts and are ribbing me about it but I dish it back."
"So, are you in the gang of Sam," I asked joking about when we had made fun of the boys that gathered around Sam.
"Yeah, I even got a tattoo," she said without a hint of humor.
"I take it was a tradition to let others, namely the elders, know that you are a protector," I puzzled out.
She agreed with me and we got to talking about how she felt stronger but also hungrier. She told me about how she had cleaned out the fridge just before she had called me. She also bragged about how her muscles had become so defined and that she could beat me in a rumble.
"Maybe I'll head over there when Isabella leaves for school. Show you that your new powers don't mean I'm out yet," I teased and set up the spar for later.
"See you when I see you than."
"Yeah, by the way," I started, "I'm changing your name to Fido on my phone."
I quickly hung up before I could hear her loud complaints, and sighed at the trouble my mouth had gotten me into again. I pulled out the half full carton of eggs and set to making some breakfast for the rest of the house.
Julie POV
After a week of being part of the pack, I had earned my place as the beta. Paul still hated it and I had to put him down twice, maybe I should have taken Adam up on his offer to knock some heads. It still brought a blush to my cheeks when I thought about the night that I first shifted.
I had been so scared and confused, and when Adam had burst in, I immediately tensed up. When Sam, in his wolf form, came in, he gave a low growl and a message in my head,
'Calm yourself, you are safe. Listen to your alpha.'
This was the wrong thing to say because that implied that he had some control over me, so I snapped my jaws at him. Adam gently rubbed my snout and I calmed down and felt content. With my enhance sense of smell, I engrained his manly scent into my brain. It was a mixture of earthiness and a sandalwood scent that I loved about him, but now I could smell the oil from his mechanical hand and the sweat that trickled down his slightly tanned skin.
'Thinking about your love machine,' one of the guys teased when I didn't cover up my thoughts enough.
I gave him the finger before walking out into the cool morning air and felt a sting in my ribs. I had gotten cocky and let one of the boy claw me and it did sting but wasn't really bleeding. I got him back but still it was like a paper cut.
"So how are we going to act around our beta's main squeeze," one of the guys asked our alpha.
"He threw Embry into the ground when he was attacked," Sam began getting a kiss from his imprinted, Emily.
"I think that he could teach us some maneuvers, cause if a human can over power you guys, we need some training," that means I could invite him over.
When Sam nodded to my unasked question, I went to my truck to get my phone. I saw that I had several missed calls and messages all from Bella. When I had asked Adam to keep it a secret, he had but then Sam said no contact with her because he was cared that I could hurt her accidentally when I lost control of my form. I didn't have to worry about that with Adam because something inside me calmed down when I thought of him or heard his smoothing baritone. I wonder how I would react when I saw him for the first time since the fire with the elders.
"Should I bring any party favors," he asked when I told him some of the guys were interested in wrestling with him.
"Yeah, you probably should, they have a tendency to transform halfway through because their emotions get too high," I saw several images appear in my mind of Adam with squared shoulders, looking defiant and sexy.
I glared at the laughing members who sent me the images, and watched as Emily hit them over the head before taking their food away. They complained but I sent a relieved glance to my fellow female and finished up the conversation.
"So when is he coming," Emily asked turning her attention to me.
"He didn't really say, just later. I'm a tired so I think that I will head home for some sleep," she told me that Sam would send some of the boys over when Adam got here, so I should get some rest.
My dad gave me a wave before I collapsed in a heap on my cot, since I had broken my old bed and it still hadn't been replaced. I hoped there was some way around this gag order on Bella but knew that as an alpha, Sam had control over the actions of the entire pack.
I shrugged off my loose shirt and was left to sleep in a sports bra and pair of old shorts. They were ratty and wore but did the job when I had to change quickly. I felt the familiar call of sleep over took me as I hoped for pleasant dreams.
"You can't go in there," I heard me father say after a few minutes, and I tried to shake off the shackles of sleep that had gotten ahold of me.
I heard light but ungraceful footfalls enter my room before before I heard a sharp inhale of air before my dad's voice became slightly louder. I sniffed the air, my eyes still too sleep filled to see, and smelled a feminine scent that seemed familiar. It wasn't until I remembered how Bella was when she wanted to know something that I connected the dots fully.
"She looks like she is going to confront some of the boys," my dad whispered not fully knowing that I was mostly awake.
I heard her screaming at someone and took that as my cue to intervene. I heard a sharp snapping sound and heard some laughs from my fellow wolves. The growl that I heard, I knew that it didn't belong to a human and jumped through my window to rescue my foolish friend.
"You shouldn't have done that," Embry said and then I heard and saw Quil shift to his now rage driven wolf form.
I acted quick and ran faster than I even could a week ago, jumped over Bella's head while shifting to my slightly bulky wolf form. I snarled at Quil and tried stand in front of Bella so that I could protect her. Quil's mind was a swirl of emotions that didn't fully accept my thoughts that Bella wasn't a threat.
Deciding that the only way to get him to see sense was to beat it into him, I lunged at his growling, hunched up body and forced him to defend himself from his beta. Our teeth were bare as we battled for dominance. He kicked me with his hind-legs, and I pulled his body in a way that sent the both of us tumbling into dense woods, cutting us off from the eyes of our audience.
'Take her to Sam's,' I told the remaining two pack mates.
Throwing his heavy body off of me, I stood firmly and gnashed my teeth furiously at him. I blurred forward his wary body and knocked him into the tree behind him. He grunted and lowered his head in submission as I felt him apologize through the pack bond.
'You will apologize to Bella when we get to Sam's,' he nodded his head shamefully.
To pick up his mood after losing control like that, I mentally said, 'Race you,' and took off weaving between the trees.
The wind blew gently against my fur and I heard a few crashes behind me signaling that Quil had joined me in a race. It was only when we were about a mile away from the hangout that I realized two things: one, Sam had said that he would send the boys over when Adam had arrived, and two, my clothes had been torn up when I had rushed in to protect Bella.
I continued running, however, because my competitive spirit refused to lose in anything. I wouldn't let something like being embarrass stop me from winning. So I ran into the clear and stopped feeling only slightly winded. Quil came up behind me and barked out a wolf-ish laugh that made me knock him down.
Stepping into the back room, after getting the ok from Emily, I shifted back into my human form and put on my set of spare clothes that I left here in case something like this happened. Leaning my head against the wall, I heard the back end of a conversation between Emily and Adam,
"-she has been accepted fully."
"Yes, but I can't help but notice your scars," he really has no tact at all.
"And I worry that she could be hurt in some way," his words made my chest burn slightly.
Rather than be offended, Emily laughed at his frankness, but I knew that Sam would have either attacked him for his rudeness or apologized for his wrongdoing to Emily.
"She is a bit tougher than I am, and she has already cemented her position at the top," there was a slight creak of a chair and I heard that Adam's voice from the outside door.
"Well, I have to show those kids that just because they have size doesn't mean I'm going to shy away from a beat down," he said gruffly.
"Give me a shout if she shows up and wants to tumble. And I'm sorry Isabella about keeping a friend's secret."
I opened the door a crack and saw that Bella was sitting at the table and nibbling on one of Emily's fresh muffins. She was listening to two of the pack tell her about how there was no privacy. When she saw me, she stood up and punched me in the face. This was a mistake because she cradled her wrist in pain and grunted slightly.
"You are an idiot," I chided looking at the self-inflicted damage.
"Who punches a werewolf in the face?"
She still looked angry but her face relaxed a little at my joke.
"I didn't know what had happened to you, and I couldn't bare to lose another friend," her voice quivered slightly.
I gave her a reassuring smile and she weakly returned it. I would have done more to make her understand that I wouldn't do this unless it was necessary, but a loud growl followed by pained yip was heard by everyone.
Sam, Bella, Emily, and I rushed out to see what had happened, and were surprised. Adam was standing over one of the omegas with a smoking/steaming axe in his hand. The omega was in wolf form, which should have given him an advantage, and you could see a large area of burned fur and in the middle of it was a deep cut. It smelled of burnt flesh and I connected the dots and Sam got the majority of it.
When my eyes connected with Adam's deep, brown eyes, I saw myself aging alongside him and us in a happy life. I told a few steps towards him and I absently noted that Sam grunted in acceptance. I fell to my knees in front of him and bowed my head in submission, and I felt my inner wolf bow down to him as well. I had found him, my one. My only. My Imprinted.
Adam POV
After watching Julie fall to her knees when she made eye contact with me, I felt more deeply connected to her than before and wanted to protect her. I moved to grab her shoulders in an attempt to hoist her to her feet.
I was stopped by Sam, and I heard a growl from not just from me but also Julie. He sent her a warning glance and she looked downcast. He then fixed me with an appraising look, searching for something. His eyes fell to my cooling axe and I saw his eyes go wide in shock. He stepped closer to me and didn't hide his anger or discomfort.
"Do you know how to read those characters on your axe," he shouted getting the attention of everyone in the area.
"Yeah, it is an old runic dialect that has been nearly forgotten. I was taught it when I was young," I answered not fully understanding his frantic tone.
He began to pace slightly and shake his head in an argumentative way. He seemed to be fighting a battle over something, he would often glance at the string of runes that were carved into the axe head.
"Dear," Emily asked, "what is the significance of those characters?"
"Those symbols are in the same language as the original shifters' book, those ones in particular are on the front of the book," he then looked at me.
"What do they mean?"
"They translate to 'By Fire and Steel shall evil be smote'," I explained pointing to the runes.
"And the others," he asked.
"They have been something that I have always carved on my weapons. It means 'Bear' roughly."
He took this in and then walked over to the phone that was hanging on the wall. I didn't hear the conversation all that well, it was rushed and heated, but I could tell that he was informing someone about the fact that I knew the language that they had never answered. After a few minutes of tense conversation, he turned back to me.
"The elders have given you special permission to view the book and axe," he spoke heavily.
"You can go to the same place that you heard the origins of the tribe. I want you know that this privilege has never been given to any outsider."
I nodded my understand at the gravity of the situation and gathered my scattered belongings. My shirt was scuffed but not too damaged so I was happy. I had my trusty boots that had been with me for awhile, my axe which gained me the honor, and my mechanical hand cover.
"You can take Julie with you," Sam said giving her a pointed look.
She agreed to go with me and clambered into the passenger side and nodded her head that she was ready to leave to solve this mystery. She was silent and her eyes darted over to look at me. I could tell that she was thinking deeply about something because she was biting her lower lip.
Deciding to end the awkward silence, I asked a question.
"So, do you know what you are going to do when you graduate?"
I felt like kicking myself for asking such a vague and down right stupid question. Alice was the one who always chattered and started the conversation. Huh, her name doesn't seem to hurt or cause as much anger as before. Maybe I'm recovering.
"You never were the best conversationist," she laughed and the awkwardness was gone.
We chatted and teased each other about trivial things and when we got to the topic of the language that only I could read, she got very interested in my schooling of it.
"So who taught you?"
"I have many things about my past that I would rather stay there," I said not feel comfortable anymore.
Sensing my discomfort, Julie shifted the conversation over to something that confused me. She started talking about how the Cullen's would return every sixty or seventy years to take up their old life but with newer identities. I shook off her burning anger that reflected mine, and tried to think of my old lessons in the runes. Given enough time, I could probably translate the entire book into English and hopefully the elders could grant me a favor that I could cash in later.
"I don't think that you will want to go in. It will mainly just be me reading and translating to see if this fills in any blanks," she said that she was going in anyway and would follow me.
The elders had pulled out a table and laying in the center was a heavy, leather bound book. The pages were slightly yellow from aging and I spied the runes that covered my axe on the front cover. I was glared at and I heard a few of them mutter about their ancestors pride.
Opening the book carefully, I looked at the first page and read aloud the ink,
"Ok let's see '...together with our brethren, the bears and the pigs. The blood demons shall be driven from our area' no that last word is land and pigs could mean boars. The words are too similar."
"Do you realize what this book really is," I asked them, getting shakes of the head.
"This appears to be a book about how these three clans, if you will, banded together to drive out the blood demons. This is literally the book about vampire slayers from ancient times," I said flipping through pages faster.
See their shocked expressions, I continued to translate the incredible manual about fighting vampires.
"The book has different handwriting in sections meaning that different people wrote in this over the years. It talks about victories and loses equally in here," as I got to the end, I slowed down.
"The Boar Clan, is described as being able to heal from any injury over night. The Bear Clan is said to be a walk calamity, death incarnate."
"But what happened to these clans," Billy asked leaning forward.
"It talks about how the vampires started to ambush and massacre entire families just to wipe out the bloodlines. It mainly talks about the wolf clan and how the bear clan was isolated so nothing much is said about them," I paused to look over the final page of writing.
"This is the last entry, 'We have escaped across the Great Sea to the land that was rumored to be barren. We set out fifty strong and now only my sister is beside me. I hope that the tribe of natives we saved can help us in return.'"
All was silent for a few minutes as they took in the fact that the warriors had fled a dying Europe, most likely, and tried to settle in peace. When I asked to see the axe, I wasn't even questioned or scorned. I felt the respect for me rise as I was handed the carefully cared for axe.
It's shape shook me to the core. It was nearly identical to the axe that I had made from the teachings of my family. It had a longer blade and the eye was skinnier than mine, but on closer examination, I smelled dried oil that could be used the same way as mine.
This brought up memories of when I made mine, and I felt some more pieces fall into place. I put down the axe and stood away from the table. The elders were chatting between themselves when I caught their attention.
"What's wrong?"
"I have too many questions and I know a possible place where I could find further information," I said walking over to the exit.
"Where is this place," I glared at the person who asked this question and walked out.
Julie followed after me and I fished around in my pockets for the keys to her truck. I didn't even have to ask about borrowing it, Julie just seemed to know because she said that it was fine. I pulled her into a hug and asked her something to help me out.
"Watch over Isabella for me," I said as I released her from my arms.
"Where are you going," she asked.
"A place that I swore never to return to," she hugged me tightly.
"Where's that?"
"Home," I said shortly.
"I need to tell you something when you get back," and with that I got into the borrowed truck and sped away, my destination focused.
I needed answers and there was only one place where they would be. A place that I had been running from for years. It was time to return home.
THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER THAT I HAVE WRITTEN THAT ISN'T FOR ANOTHER REASON. THE STORY ELEMENT IS BEGINNING TO SHIFT AND I HOPE THAT I DON'T TELEGRAPH THE STORY. SO PLEASE, REVIEW AND RECOMMEND THIS STORY TO OTHER PEOPLE. READ, REVIEW, AND ENJOY.
Translations
You are a coward that can't even fight for your chosen!: Du er en fei som ikke engang kan kjempe for din valgte!
Claim our wolf: Hevder vår Ulv.
Show our angel who belongs to: Vis vår Engel som hun tilhørwr
I will not be contained any longer. Not if you were fused to claim what is ours: Jeg vil ikke bli lenger lenger. Ikke hvis du nekter å kreve hva som er vår.
Claim what is ours: Gjør krav på hva som er vårt
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