A/N: Hey, so there's that chapter I had some trouble to write because my second brain (also known as my sister, Milli-Lily here *hey, milli vanilli *grin* (hey, blame Matze for that!)...uh...sorry to the others. End of OT^^) was on a holiday camp... well, the idea to this chapter has developed in connection of both our ideas. Tribute to her, somehow^^ And... the title of course to a certain band (I won't tell you which band I mean). Uhm... yes, you may believe now that I'm a freak. That's okay ;) Have fun now!

Chapter 21 – The Fray

There was a low hiss. Luke stood motionless, probably his enhanced eyes were spotting us clearly, but obviously, he was absolutely clueless as to what he saw.

Not so Stefan. He realized what was going on, and he acted at once.

"Luke, they're werewolves. They're strong. Strong like us, or maybe stronger.", he exclaimed, grabbing Luke's arm. He didn't look at his companion, but kept his gaze on us. The last time we'd met, we had been allied. This time, we stood against him, and he knew it. We could sense that he felt fear while he looked at us.

"No.", Luke said, his mimic changing from shock and perplexity to confidence.

Stefan's eyes darted toward him, prying his gaze loose from his enemies for once. What was going on?

I let my eyes flicker over the assembly of vampires, meeting confusion and tension.

"No.", Luke repeated, relaxing visibly. "There are three of them who are dangerous to me. The others are weaker."

Stefan gasped. "How do you know?"

Luke smiled arrogantly. "I concealed my gift from you for quite a while."

"That's it, attack them!", Stefan shouted without hesitation.

We were frozen at this exclamation. Luke knew that there was no danger to him from the major part of us. And it was too late to take flight. At Stefan's command, the leech army began moving in our direction, closing the distance. We were doomed.

?, the others thought, wordlessly, toward me, waiting for my evaluation.

Too late. Fight., I thought, helplessly, and felt how my instincts made my body tense.

A second later, each of us was met by the leeches. Three against seventeen.

A fight we could not win. But we had to fight it, nonetheless. I wanted to scream at the dogs to run, but they couldn't hear me, of course. One of the newborns, a female, came forward, toward me. Her arms were stretched out, attempting to crush me if she got to me. I jumped, turning around, coming at her from behind. I sprang up onto her, my teeth closing around her shoulder, wrenching her arm from her body. She tried to shake me off by using her other arm, but I didn't let go of my stealthy grip. There was a screeching sound as her limb was disconnected. I flung it away, lunging at her again, almost deafened by her shriek of agony. The moment I closed my teeth around her neck for a more effective tear, I was attacked from behind me. Ice cold hands locked around my flanks, trying to crush me. I yelped in pain and let go of my prey, struggling for my own life now. I gasped for air, tossing to get free, but there was brute strength in my foe. Just when I ran out of air, I saw a flying shadow going across me, knocking into my murderer. He staggered and loosened his grip for an instant of confusion, enabling me to breathe a new gush of air and wrestling myself free, locking my teeth on the tormentor now. He gurgled as I sprang at his neck, I pushed him down onto the ground, tearing furiously at him until I managed to bite his head off. I'd have dismembered him completely, but I had no time, with a dozen of other dangers around. From the corner of my eye, I saw an auburn mess rising up. Mano, I realized. He had been the one to save me. I gave him a short look, then I went back to fighting for all of our lives. It seemed like the dogs wouldn't bail out, not even if they knew they didn't have a prayer of winning.

I spun around, jumping to the side as I saw one of them coming at me from behind. I jumped right into the other's arms. The bloodsucker tightened his grip on me, but I managed to twist so I could bite down on his arm as hard as I could. He screeched, and I matched his own shriek with the gut-wrenching sound of tearing his stone body.

I had no time to look around me and check the progress – or probably the defiance of my brothers and sisters. I heard Embry's instinctive thoughts, he followed his wolf mind and let it surge through his being. He was counting. Three.

Seth's mind was different. He was all alert to protect Ka Hiwa, who was at his side, trying so hard to help him, but it was useless. I didn't hear the dogs. But the disgusting creatures came at us from every side. From my peripheral vision, I watched as Stefan and Luke came for me.

Now it's over.

I wouldn't give in without a fight. There was too much to lose. I'd never considered death, even as an escape from the pain. Now, my will to survive was even stronger, now I had so much to live for.

I jumped forward, making the first move, my teeth locking around Luke's shoulder. Stefan flitted to Luke's side, there was a heavy blow to my flank. Gasping and howling, my teeth loosened and I fell down. Over.

Leah, get away, I'm at it., Embry shouted, already sprinting over. Luke was above me, his fist lifted for the final blow. Too late for Embry.

I was scared, but I kept my eyes open, trying to get back up. There was another flying shadow, springing at Luke, but being flung away immediately. The next instant, Embry was there, taking another strike at the leech. But there were two of them, too much for one of us, especially as another newborn approached.

Embry, watch out! I jumped up, ignoring the pain as my crushed ribs already started to heal.

We had no chance. We could delay it as long as possible, but we would lose.

I turned around, seeing Mano fighting against a newborn. There was a sting inside of me as my mind realized he was going to die.

No! Without thinking, I jumped forward, just as the leech was about to get her arms around the auburn dog form. With the force of the movement, I got her down, snapping her neck the same instant, tearing it away with my teeth, while Mano was panting for breath, standing next to me, ready for anything, desperate to save something.

I teared a leg of the creature off, flung it into the underbrush, turning to the rest of the corpse.

"Leah!", Mano's voice shouted. I jerked my head around, but it was too late. I was at the ground, between the leech corpse and two others. One of them was Luke.

He was smiling, though he was tensed for anything. He felt confident, being stronger than me for now. He felt my terror, too, and it made him hesitate in satisfaction.

That was his fault. His fist was lifted again, but he liked his position, so he remained still for a second too long. This time, two dogs flew at his back at once. He shook them off, but it gave me the opportunity to squirm out from under him.

Luke took another strike at me, this time not trying to trap me, but flinging me off with all his strength, making me fly through the air, crashing into a tree. I fell down to the ground. The last thing I heard was the splintering of the wood and the howls of agony, then I felt the pain of the crash, and it all went black.

I drifted. There were sounds of fighting, sounds of pain, too much noise. Everything felt unreal.

A surge, like a strong tide rolling toward the shore, swashing through the forest, making the trees shiver like an earthquake. Crackling, like a fire.

After the sounds, the other senses came back. I smelled smoke. I heard shouts, sounding triumphant, and I also heard screams of defiance. I couldn't distinguish to whom they belonged.

It was dark, but there was a reddish shimmer flickering before my closed eyelids.

It wasn't disturbing, but it was unreal, and I opened my eyes, dazed.

The scene had changed while I was out for I didn't know how long.

There was fire. There were eleven dogs, fighting, and bloodsuckers, trying to retreat.

There was a strange figure, standing next to a pyre, hands lifted in front of him, staring, mumbling something. My eyes got used to the strange reddish light and I recognized Kahuna Makaha.

Was that possible? Did my senses run riot, or had he effectively found the clue? Was he doing this?

My head snapped over to where I saw one of the dogs, all but dancing toward one frightened leech creature. He breathed out, and there was a flame coming from his muzzle.

The leech screamed, the flames catching up to all of its body, and as he tried to run away, the dog, whom I recognized as Mikala, jumped at his back, unbothered by the flames.

Impenetrable skin, too. I looked back at the Kahuna, still staring into the fire, mumbling spells.

Everywhere around us, there were burning heaps, held down by tireless dog warriors.

And then I was gripped from behind by choking hands. I yowled out, completely taken by surprise.

The iron grip was around my neck, and I was out of air. I struggled, and there was nobody around.

The Kahuna's eyes turned over. He flipped his hands up in my direction, mumbling another spell.

And suddenly, I didn't feel the grasp tightening on my throat anymore. The hands of my enemy were still around me, but they couldn't crush me anymore. I wriggled free, finding strength again. I twisted, shoving against his body, breaking free finally.

It was Luke. And I watched his face as the confidence of his victory vanished from his face, replaced by stunned fear. I was stronger than him now. My skin was impenetrable, too.

I lunged at him again, taking him down, my teeth closing around his throat this time. He tried to crawl backwards, while I pressed my jaws together, disconnecting his head from the body. Having his scream so close to me was numbing my ears, but it was over soon enough as his head bounced out of sight.

This time, I was more thorough, ripping him to pieces, flinging them into the Kahuna's pyre one after the other.

Leah! Wow, you're alive., I heard Embry think.

Yes..., I told him, and obviously I missed the best part...

Right. He laughed. Then he was serious again. It's over, Leah. Really over.

I felt the slight vibration in the air as someone phased, followed by some others. I'd had my clothes tied to my leg, but as I looked down, there were only a few scraps left. Crap.

I looked up to see Mano coming over in his human form, smiling at me. He followed my gaze and grinned, then he pulled off his shirt.

"Here."

I tried to smile at him as I took the shirt between my teeth carefully.

I phased, and examined the scraps of clothing I still had. There was still enough left of my shorts to wear it, though it wasn't that close to decent clothing. Mano's shirt was big and long enough to cover enough. I gave myself a critical look, then the truth got to me and I giggled out hysterically. The fight was over. And we had won. We had won!

Mano must have heard me, because he looked up and saw me coming out of the underbrush, and came toward me with a questioning look.

"It's over!", I giggled, and then I flung myself toward him. He caught me and swung me around in a cirle, laughing with me. I was slaphappy.

"Yes!", he shouted, sharing my excitement, and we began hopping up and down for a minute, before we were done with our fit, and sober again.

Mano pulled me close, and I breathed deeply. "We made it. Thank you for saving my life.", he told me.

I pulled back to look at him. "You saved mine. Two times more, at least!", I protested. "Thank you!"

I watched his face as he shook his head, laughing. "Stop being humble."

I wanted to protest, but I was sidetracked by the way his eyes were intent on mine.

And I didn't look away until everyone else was gathered around the one remaining pyre and I felt self-conscious.

Mano just squeezed me, then he let go and we went to stand by the fire.

All of the dog warriors, plus Seth and Embry, were human again, wearing shorts, dressed barely as neatly as I was.

Keli'i stood, his face lit up by the fire. He looked at each of us in his own authority, then he began to speak.

"Brothers and sisters, this is a day that will not be forgotten. By the help of Leah and her brothers, and by the power of Kahuna Makaha."

The assembly broke out into a cheer, hardly being able to keep up the solemnity.

"We're thankful for your help. We have made Hawai'i safe again, and we discovered more of our ability as tribe protectors. We all think of the sacrifice of Hiapo, who gave his life when we did not know enough. Because of our enhanced knowledge, we are able to prevent things like that to happen again. This is a day of celebration."

Despite the grief for the loss of one dog warrior that had been lost before, all of them could take part in the celebration now. All of them realized, once again, that we had won, without losing a brother or sister. We had won.

"Cheers!", Embry shouted, and even the elder members of the dog pack broke out into a jaunty dance. Seth threw his arms around Ka Hiwa and kissed her like he never wanted to let her go, and I looked over at Embry, who rolled his eyes and came over to stand with me.

"Hey, Leah. Real good job. Man, I was afraid for you!" He gave me a bear hug. "Thanks!", I choked and shoved him away. "Er, Embry, I think I've had enough blocking of my airways."

He grinned and let go. I got a few other embraces from my comrades and friends, then I made my way toward the Kahuna.

He looked up when I came toward him, his brows pushing together in suspicion, but then his face relaxed and he laughed a throaty laugh.

"Thank you.", I told him and bowed. "You saved me."

"Yes. I was just in time to save the day.", he answered. "I was surprised myself that it worked – especially on you."

"Yes. Wow."

After another half hour of congratulating each other, the first began to depart, changing back into their dog form for the way back.

I felt a touch on my arm and turned around, seeing Mano. I smiled at him.

"Are you coming with me?", he asked, and held out his hand. I gasped, and looked at him. He smiled warmly, still holding out his hand. I reached out and took it, gazing at our joined hands for another moment, before I lifted my eyes back up and saw his smile glowing brightly.

And I felt there was something very new and thrilling lying ahead. I laughed out loud as another piece of my puzzle fell into place.