Gabriella's POV
It was early morning and I was waiting, rather impatiently, for the suckers and their Suckers. I was sickened by the thought that shifters could live in such proximity to those disgusting parasites. In my pack we had a name for vampire sympathisers, pigeons. And I had never met a worse pigeon than Jacob Black.
Jared had spent the morning trying to explain Imprinting to me in more detail and had mentioned that Jacob had imprinted of a vampire half breed. I couldn't believe someone could be so out of sync with nature, but I came to the conclusion that it was not his fault. It seemed that the Bella girl was the cause of it all, what with her initial suicidal attraction to one of the vampires. The whole thing sounded bizarre and unnerving.
I smelt them before they came into view, Brady and Philip had collected them from the border and the wind was blowing their scent up to us. Sam had made me swear that I would tolerate their presence because it was vital for the survival of their pack and more importantly the Quileute tribe. Now that I could smell them I wasn't sure if I could hold up my end of the deal.
Sam came up beside me, 'Remember Gabriella. They're here to help.'
I could feel everyone's tension and I felt bad for causing it. They were worried that I would snap and do something dangerous. I could see the images that flashed into everyone's minds of what I might do if one of the Cullens said or did something that I didn't like.
My favourite one was of my crushing the skull of the dark haired, bear-like mosquito. I had momentarily dwelled on that thought and Sam had used his Alpha Voice to stop me from thinking about any thoughts like that in detail.
It seemed that his Alpha commands did work on me if I didn't fight them and I felt a strange comfort in that. I wasn't an Alpha, and I doubted that I could ever handle being one. Caring for myself was easy, that came naturally, but caring for others, having to decide what to do for others... that I could never do. Having an Alpha around always soothed me, whether it was Wayne or Jack, from my old pack, or it seemed, Sam from this one.
'There here.' Jared thought anxiously as he stared south amongst the trees.
I couldn't see anything but it didn't take long for Brady and Philip to skid to a halt in the middle of the clearing while Jacob's pack and the vampires stopped just within the tree line.
'You can come in further. Guys, fall back.' Sam thought the final bit in the direction of his pack.
It was strange only hearing half the conversation between Sam and Jacob. I wondered if I could still hear Jacob, if I tried hard enough.
'...if she does anything... we can't be held respons...' Jacob's voice came in snippets, it seemed that Alpha commands weren't the only thing I could interrupt.
'Stop it, Gabriella.' Sam growled, 'She's safe. If she gets upset we'll be the first to know and we'll warn you.'
"Well, that's all nice but shouldn't we get started already?" the bronze haired male vampire said. I remembered him from my first meeting with the two packs and the coven, he could read minds and I found it very disconcerting.
'I'm ready when you are.' I thought steadily, trying desperately not to sound as upset as I was by the presence of the leeches.
"We're ready." the mind-reading vamp smiled.
My stomach churned.
"My name's Edward. This is Bella, Esmé, Carlisle, Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett." he said as he pointed out all the vampires, although I didn't care what their names were.
I growled at Emmett, thinking of how he grabbed my tail.
'Gabriella.' Sam said in a low warning tone.
'Fine. The first thing you need to know,' I could hear Edward repeating everything I said in a low tone, it irritated me, 'is that Stendahl won't be so careless as to use newborns. He likes to keep a low profile and newborns are too unruly. If he brings vampires they will be old vampires, ones with age and experience behind them.
'The trick with any fight is to be flexible and this is never as important as when you are fighting a Vein Junkie...'
'Gabriella.' Sam warned again.
I continued without hesitation, if he wanted me to keep my cool then he'd have to let me express my displeasure somehow, 'Be open to anything and willing to take your time. Quick kills are expected kills. Take out the arms before going for the neck. Break the legs before going for arms.
'Always, ALWAYS' Brady jumped at how loud I said the second always, 'be willing to make a trivial attack. Not every bite needs to be a winning shot.'
'Unfortunately, Stendahl won't just bring vampires. He's as cunning as a shithouse rat and will enlist whatever and whoever he thinks will throw you the most. This includes other shifters and even humans. You need to be ready to kill whatever threatens you, and I can guarantee that he will bring at least one human.'
"Humans? Humans in a fight against shifters and vampires? I thought you said he was smart." the blonde that was introduced as Rosalie snapped.
I growled at her and my hackles raised.
'Gabriella.' Sam had to physically get between me and Rosalie to stop my wild imagination from envisioning her brutal death.
"It is logical." said the one introduced as Carlisle, "If Stendahl knows of the treaty it would be a very intelligent move. We wouldn't be able to attack the humans and the wolves would be conflicted in attacking them too."
'If you think it's going to be an issue I'll take out the fucking cockroaches.' I growled and everyone looked shocked, 'I have taken no oath to protect the humans around here and I will not be shot by another one. Bullet wounds are bitches to endure.'
'I have a better idea. Any humans we round up. They're human so they can be contained.' Jared suggested.
"That can be discussed later, we want to know what's the difference between killing vampires and killing shifters." Edward said loudly to disrupt the growing conversation within Sam's pack.
'It's an entirely different method of fighting. Vampires you don't want to go straight for the kill, you want to take them apart, bit by bit before you go for the kill.
'Shifters are harder because any small injury you cause will heal in a few moments. Break the skin and you have about five seconds. Pull a muscle and you've got ten seconds. Break a bone and you've got maybe sixty seconds, two minutes if you're lucky. The deeper the wound the longer you'll get. Dislocations are hard but they're worth it because they won't heal until they are relocated.'
"And the kill?" Alice, the pixy-like vampire, asked.
'Break the neck or crush the skull. Tearing the throat open will work as well but that's why we have thick fur around our neck, so it'll be hard to do.'
"I thought shifters had extra hard bones, how easy is it to crush a shifter's skull?" Bella wondered aloud. I thought of her being human and 'falling in love' with a vampire and it made me shiver.
'It'll probably take two Glitter Monkeys to do it, I can only go off what I saw the ones that killed my pack do. I can't believe I'm telling this to Exiled Cadavers. It's like the police telling criminals how not to get caught.' I sighed, 'The tail. Grab them by the tail and have someone else snap their neck, it's the most effective way.'
"Okay, so are we going to get some practice in?" Jasper asked and as he spoke I felt myself calm down, physically at least. I may have looked calm but inside my anger was rising.
'Certainly. Oh, and never phase during a fight. If you're injured it can make the injury worse, if you haven't incapacitated the enemies around you enough then they'll kill you mid-phase.'
I watched as shifters paired up and started practicing their moves, while the vampires stood opposite me and observed as well. It was frustrating watching them because none of them actually wanted to hurt anyone, which I understood but knew it wouldn't help them in the long run. They wouldn't know if they were good enough until the real thing started, if it started, because there wasn't a real threat here.
It didn't matter, Stendahl would come with an army the size of a small European country and we'd all be wiped out regardless of how much practice they got.
After the shifters had just about worn themselves out the leeches had a go. They fought against Sam, Jared, Jacob and – surprisingly – Seth, because they were the most proficient fighters amongst the shifters. I wasn't sure whether the vampires were holding back or just generally weak because they barely trumped the wolves they fought against.
'Enough!' I yelled and barked at the vampires so they'd get the point without needing a translation, 'This is stupid, none of you are even fucking trying. Do you want to die?'
"What are we supposed to do?" Edward complained, "If we hurt any of the pack then we will break the treaty."
'Screw the fucking treaty! You're just a wuss. Everyone stand back, choose your best fighter and I'll show you how this works.' I normally wouldn't have implied that I could beat a vampire but the anger had been building and I was desperate for some sort of release.
The four wolves stepped back into line with their respective packs. All but one vampire fell out too, leaving Jasper standing alone in the ring of supernatural beasts. He smiled slyly at me and I lowered my head to growl at him and size him up.
"She's questioning your experience." Edward laughed.
"I was responsible for a newborn army. I know how to fight." he finished with a hiss and my skin rippled with frustration.
I could feel my hackles raised high. In comparison to most wolves thin strip of hackling skin between their shoulder blades, I had surprisingly large hackles that stretched my entire back from halfway down my neck to the base of my tail, and were generally wider than that of other canines.
We stared down each other for a few more moments, neither of us wanting to be the first to make a move.
"Just attack her already." Emmett roared from the sidelines.
'He's right, Gabriella. Just go for it.' one of the younger wolves urged. I ignored him.
"Are you going to make a move or just keep circling me?" Jasper asked with a smile.
I snapped my jaws at him but made no added attempt to attack him.
"Someone needs to do some-" Bella squealed mid-sentence as I lunged at Jasper.
He struck out to knock me sideways and although his blow hit I positioned my hind legs to stop myself from sliding away from him and lunged again. He tried to grab me around my neck and I snapped at his leg, catching it between my jaws.
'Right leg gone.' I thought and I fought with myself to release his leg and jump away from him.
He looked stunned for a moment but recomposed himself. He ran at me and I knew that I couldn't out run him, or even match his speed, so I stood my ground. A few seconds later he was on my back, his arms wrapped around my throat. I spun promptly and his legs slipped off my back, my jaws clasped around his ankles and I pulled him off my back. It took all my strength not to rip his feet off.
The instant he hit the ground he was on his feet and aiming at me again. He jumped forward and wrapped his legs around my muzzle, his cold body pressed against the top of my head as he reached to enfold my neck between his arms. I swung my head and pinned him between my skull and the trunk of a nearby pine tree. The force was so great that the tree creaked and broke, wolves and vampires scampered out of the way of the toppling pine.
Jasper's grip lessened momentarily and I was able to release my muzzle and catch his left leg in my jaws. I held onto him as I reared up and pushed against him with my forepaws. He may have lost his hold on my muzzle but he still had a good grip on my neck. I started to fall head first to the forest floor but I knew as long as his body was underneath me he would take a small blow.
I felt his chest compress as he hit the ground and several of Sam's pack cheered me on. I didn't like having them in my head at the moment.
Jasper wriggled out from under me and disappeared. I located him again, standing a few metres from me with a severe grimace on his face. I charged at him, aiming for his left arm. He side stepped as expected and lunged for my tail. I threw my shoulders towards my hips and landed on top of Jasper, he released my tail.
I tried to get to my feet as fast as possible but Jasper was faster and he was on my back again before I was fully upright. His hands grabbed my tail, about thirty centimetres apart, and wretched. I head the snap half a second before I felt the pain and I let out a short howl to discharge the edge of the pain.
I curled in on myself again, expecting Jasper to try and jump off the other side of me. He didn't and I knew he didn't do it because he thought I wouldn't be able to touch him. He was partly right, I couldn't reach any part of him that was positioned above my hips but his hands were still gripping my tail. I didn't think of the pain I was about to feel as I snapped at my tail, catching it and both of Jasper's hands in the process.
When I let go Jasper disappeared again.
I straightened up and barked once at Jasper. It was not often that wolves bark and it was strange doing it so much in one day, but if I didn't make noise than I wouldn't be able to hold back the pain that I knew was welling just outside of my conscious thought.
Jasper stepped forward. He was toe to toe with me, so to say, and smiling. He shouldn't be smiling, this wasn't a game. I wondered if he was still holding back, because if he was then I was screwed. It had been a while since I'd faced a vampire with this much talent.
I went for it, knowing he was most likely going to move out of the way at the last second. He didn't move. Instead he just put his hands up to catch either side of my face and hold my jaw millimetres from his shoulder. I snapped at him not actually intending to catch his flesh but hoping that using my muscles would dislodge his hands from my cheeks.
I could smell him, very clearly, the putrid, sickening smell that was walking death. The burn in my nostrils had two effects. One was to make me want to back down, to pull away from him and seek out fresh air. The other was the drive myself forward and grab a hold of his shoulder, and then shake my head with as much ferocity as possible and hope his whole arm fell off.
I drove forward. But Jasper moved with my attack, so I couldn't get my teeth any closer. Again I drove forward, again he moved back. I lashed out with my left paw as I reared slightly and bore down on him. With his legs gone from under him he fell and as my full weight pushed down on him his arms buckled, just enough.
The feel of his throat between my jaws, of his cold marble flesh against my hot tongue, was indescribably delicious. I wanted nothing more than to close my jaws with as much force as I could muster. To feel his hard flesh crumbled between my teeth would make my day; my month; my year. Oh how I wanted to feel that glorious liberation.
'STOP!' Sam roared in my head and my concentration broke.
