A big thanks to my reviewers, KittyPimms, I am Switzerland101 and Loula Lahote. You're awesome!


Captured

Dave was grappling with Emmett who had volunteered to be his training partner. Jake, Zack, Nessie and I watched them, gave hints and instructions. Emmett's phone rang and he threw it over to Nessie without letting Dave get the upper hand. Renesmee caught it and answered the call.

"Hello Rosalie!"

Jake and I immediately turned our attention to her. Emmett pinned Dave to the ground effortlessly and listened as well.

"Nessie, I've got news about Paul. Bad news. I mean, he's not dead. Yet. But I'll better start at the beginning. All around his car were tracks of vampires."

Everyone gasped. Only a vampire who had already met us could notice what Paul was. He couldn't be a random victim.

"But there was no wolf scent at all. The flames must have erased it. I concluded that the vampires had dropped Paul somewhere else and then went to dispose of the car. I followed their tracks. They led through half the city and ended at the closed gate of a huge mansion. And there I finally caught Paul's scent as well. I put these red contacts in which Emmett bought for the fun of it last Halloween and rang the bell. And they let me in. There were only three, a woman and two men. We chatted and they told me that they're actually eleven and will soon be twelve, because there's a human woman who they want to turn. They think she'll be gifted. After the casual chat, when I had the feeling that they started to trust me, I asked them about the strange dog scent. And then the woman led me to Paul."

Jake, Nessie and I held our breaths.

"They were so proud that they had captured a werewolf. They kept him in the basement, chained and behind thick bars made of steel. They had questioned him and wanted to force him into serve them as some kind of guard dog. He hadn't answered a single question and of course didn't phase either. They… they've tortured him. He looked awful! After I had seen him I stayed some more time and they told me some incredible stuff that we can talk about later. Eventually I could manage to sneak off to the basement and talk to Paul in private. He says he doesn't want to be rescued."

"No!" Jacob gasped.

"Yes, Jake. Honestly. He doesn't want to be rescued, because he doesn't want his brothers to risk their life for a life that isn't worth a cent anymore."

"What? His life is as valuable as any other life! Of course we'll rescue him!" Jake exclaimed.

"Seriously, Jake. He has a reason to say that. He hasn't even told Rachel yet, but he's going to die."

"Yes, if we don't rescue him, he certainly will!"

"No. Could you just listen for a minute, Jacob Black? He is going to die anyway. He's been diagnosed with a brain tumor past remedy. He's got a few weeks."

That knocked Jacob for a loop. Now I was the one to gainsay.

"No, no, no! That cannot be true! He's never been sick since he first phased! He's a shape-shifter, after all! We don't get sick!"

"I'm sorry, Embry. I can only repeat what he told me. The doctor made an MRI. It's definite. And it cannot be cured. I'd rather have had good news for you, but I can't change the lowdown."

"What's the name of the leader of that coven? Henry?"

"Yes. How do you know?"

"Seems like it's the same coven that causes us trouble at the moment."

"But then it will be easy to rescue Paul!" Nessie said. "They will all be here tonight, right? So nobody will watch over Paul. The mansion will be abandoned!"

"Okay", Rosalie said, "I guess that's my job then."

"Thank you, Rosalie", Jacob said sadly.

"You're welcome. You know my heart doesn't pump blood anymore, but I still have it."

"Yes. I knew that."


Unfortunately it didn't go the way we planned it. A quarter to midnight, when we were all already phased and waited for our fate to come, Rosalie called and said that there were still five vampires in the mansion. If they had wanted to come to get our decision, they were extremely late. Even a leech couldn't run all the way from Seattle in fifteen minutes. It was clear that Rosalie had to cancel the rescue mission. The questions were now: Wouldn't the vampires come to La Push at all? Would only a few come? Were they really that sure of themselves? We got the answers fifteen minutes later.

Four bloodsuckers arrived at the place of our last encounter with them. Among them was the woman with the short black hair. There was another woman with long, flat silvery hair and two men, one brown-haired and the other dark blond. Of course they lingered in the trees again. Emmett and Renesmee sprung up into the trees as well to be on the same level.

"Well, look what we've got here!" the silvery-haired said. "You've gathered some friends. One more wolf", she mustered Jacob for a split second, "and you must be a Cullen", she said to Emmett, "and unless I am very much mistaken you must be the famous Nessie", she finished looking at Renesmee.

"Yes", Emmett replied, "I'm Emmett Cullen, Nessie's uncle. We wanted to meet the vampires who are brave enough to challenge the Volturi."

The woman smiled.

"Well then, nice to meet you. I'm Blanche and these are Cora, Algernon and Eustace. Are you sure you didn't come to fight along with the wolves? Or are you going to tell me that they accept the treaty? I don't think so."

"No, I don't think so either. And yes, we came to fight. But we're a bit confused. You're only four. I don't believe you're so talented that four could possibly defeat fourteen."

"But I am. Can the fact that we keep a friend of yours hostage change your decision? Of course we would release him if the treaty was signed."

"We already knew that you had him. May I give you advice? Whatever you do, you can't force him to phase and he wouldn't be that good of a guard dog either. He stopped phasing ten years ago. He isn't a werewolf anymore, he couldn't phase even if he wanted to."

"Fine. Then we'll make one last experiment with him. We wondered what vampire venom would do to a werewolf. We'll see soon. Unless the wolves sign the treaty."

"Although he doesn't belong to the pack anymore, he's still a protector of his tribe. And therefore he will die willingly and wouldn't want his brothers to sign your stupid treaty just to save him. So, are we going to fight or what?"

She simply smiled. I suddenly felt dizzy and not a second later my legs gave away. Before I bumped onto the ground everything went black. The last thing I heard was a scream that sounded a lot like Nessie.

I don't know how long I had stayed unconscious. Someone nudged me constantly and then someone said in my head:

'Wake up! Embry! Come on!'

I groaned.

'Okay, I'm awake, Aaron. No need to hit me anymore. Gosh, if I weren't a shape-shifter I would get a bruise there.'

'Sorry. Emmett, Nessie and Jake are still knocked out and we're not able to wake them. But we've got to do something! Seth and Dave are gone!'

I slowly got to my feet and looked around. We were still in the woods, at the same place where we had met the squirrel leeches. Emmett and Renesmee both lied on the ground. Jacob was the only wolf that was still unconscious. Chad, Leah and Zack struggled to wake them up. Seth and Dave were indeed nowhere to be found

'What happened?' I asked confused.

'We're not sure. We think the gift which they said had the power to knock us all out was, well, a gift that makes people unconscious. Since Seth's and Dave's scent went with them, we think they kidnapped them.'

'But why can't we hear them then? They wouldn't have phased back.'

'They must be unconscious as well.'

Finally Emmett moved and groaned.

"Ouch. It's been 85 years since I last fell out of a tree. That was a mean trick!"

Jacob woke up as well. He immediately went over to Nessie, phased back and shook her lightly.

"Come on, Nessie, wake up! Please! Please, don't have broken your neck. Wake up!"

"Give her some blood of yours", Emmett suggested. Everyone turned to glare at him.

"What? She'll heal faster!"

Luckily Nessie moaned right then and her eyes fluttered open. Emmett looked at his watch. A Rolex, of course.

"It's one o'clock. These bastards are already miles away."

"What happened?" Nessie asked confused.

"They somehow made all of us unconscious", Jake explained, "and they kidnapped Seth and Dave."

"Oh my God."

"One thing is for sure: We need your Mom here", Emmett declared.

"Yes. Call her, Nessie. Now. Embry, are Seth and Dave still out cold?" Jacob asked. I was so glad that he was here and that he took the lead. I nodded in response. Renesmee pulled her cell phone out.

"Hi Mom. You have to take the next flight to Seattle."

"What happened?" Bella asked and Renesmee told her the story while we all slowly headed back to La Push. Leah and Zack were both worried sick, of course. I tried to encourage them.

'Obviously they really want their guard dogs badly. That means Seth and Dave will live. They could cave in and play guard dogs until the rest of the Cullens are here. And then we'll free them. No matter what.'

Leah sobbed.

'Seth won't cave in. Never. They'll torture him like Paul.'

'Jake can order him to cave in.'

"Hey, Nessie", Jacob said at that moment, "Tell your Mom about the coven's intentions as well. Perhaps some Volturi guards want to come along."

I looked at him in disbelief. He wanted to ask the Volturi for help? He wanted to allow them to be here? We had to protect La Push and he called for more bloodsuckers?

'Oh my God. What happened? Where am I?' Seth's thoughts distracted me from my own.

'Seth!' I exclaimed relieved.

'Thank God, you are alive!' Leah breathed.

'Yes, but where am I? Sounds like a car. But I can't see anything and – Ow! I think I'm in a cage. A small cage, I can't even stand in here. And – what's that? There's a cold steel chain around my neck and I'm muzzled! Oh my God!'

He yelled the last words in shock.

'They've captured me! They kidnap me! Are you all in cages as well or is it just me?'

'We think they took Dave as well, but he seems to be still unconscious. The rest of us is still here and is alright. Though Nessie might get some bruises. She and Emmett fell out of the trees when the leeches knocked us out.'

In Seth's mind I could hear the voice of a woman.

'I think one of our doggies woke up.'

'If he makes too much noise you may castigate him', the voice of the silvery haired woman replied.

'Castigate? How?' Seth asked terrified.

'Stay calm and quiet. Don't give her a reason to castigate you – whatever that means.'

I nudged Jacob.

"Are they awake?"

I nodded although actually only one of them was. Jake phased.

'Seth! Dave! How are you?'

'Dave's still out cold', I explained.

'I'm fine', Seth thought, but it didn't sound very convincing. 'I'm caged, chained, muzzled and threatened with some mysterious castigation if I'm not behaving, but other than that I'm totally fine.'

'Phase back, get rid of that degrading chain and the muzzle and phase again' Jacob advised.

'Okay. I'm back in a minute.'

He phased back and we waited anxiously for his return.

'Ow! Damn cage!' Seth whined when he phased again.

'Quiet, doggie! Cora is eager to try her gift on you and, trust me, you don't want her to', the silvery haired woman said. Her name was Blanche, wasn't it? Seth lied down.

'Much better now without the dog restraining devices. But I fear they'll just knock me out again when they see it and put them back in place', Seth mused.

'Okay, Seth, whatever they try to force you into, just do it. Don't let yourself be tortured. Unless, of course, they want you to fight Dave or Paul.'

'I won't tell them any secrets about us! And I definitely don't want to play the guard dog for them!' Seth clarified.

'You will play the guard dog if the alternative is being tortured!' Jacob ordered, without Alpha force though. 'You'll consider the value of the secrets and decide whether they're really worth being tortured for or not. We'll gather help and get you out of there. Bella and the other Cullens will take the next available flight to Seattle. And Carlisle wants to ask the Denalis for their support. We sure as hell will get you out of there, both you and Dave.'

'Get us out of where?' Dave asked dizzily. Nobody had noticed his awakening.

'Out of the vampires' clutches', Seth replied.

Dave got up quickly and hit the top of his cage like Seth had. He whined.

'The vampires' clutches?' he repeated panic-stricken and whimpered miserably.

'Second doggy awake. Quiet in the back seats, please. We don't want to have to punish you', Blanche purred.

Dave let out another scared whine. Then there was pain. Unbearable burning pain, clearly having its source in Dave's mind, raiding everyone else's mind like it was our very own pain. It felt like my body was on fire. Then, as sudden as it had begun, it stopped. I got up, realizing that I had stirred up the soil in a seven feet circle around me.

'Ouch, I must have hundreds of bruises', Seth said, 'Bloody cage.'

Dave whined again.

'Shut up, Dave!' everyone shouted at once.

'Cora! You've castigated the other wolf as well, even though he had been such a good boy!' Blanche complained.

'I didn't mean to. Must be the mind connection', Cora apologized half-heartedly.

'You have no idea how to train animals, right? How shall he learn that obeying is the correct thing to do if he gets punished anyway?' Blanche challenged.

Seth suppressed a growl.

'That's humiliating!' he complained, 'I'm not a simple-minded animal!'

'He's more than an animal', Cora hissed, 'He's got to learn to fear us or we can never be sure if he won't turn on us one day.'

'We'll discuss that with Henry', Blanche decided.

'Yeah, he'll be on your side for sure. We'll ask Jack as well', Cora replied.

'Alright.'

'What are they going to do to us?' Dave asked anxiously.

'They'll force us into serving them as guard dogs. And they'll castigate us if we don't obey', Seth said.

'Do what they want you to do, Dave', Jacob ordered.


I'm cruel, I know. And it won't get any better any time soon. Just worse.

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