Thank you Taylor9901, catgrl, MammaNita4, sarae32, brankel1 and the guest reviewer for your reviews.
Chapter 21-
"We wanted to forewarn you and also wanted to ask for your protection" said Nahuel
"Forewarn us against what?" asked Jake
"Joham and Maria are coming here with their Newborn army"
Hearing the statement come out of Nahuel's mouth pin drop silence surrounded us, the only sounds being the occasional growls that were coming from the pack. Embry, Quil, Seth and Jason were already phased and I could see Paul and Ben shake as if they were going to phase out of anger any minute and were just managing by a thread.
Panic filled my mind and worry for my boyfriend, for my brothers and for the tribe in general preceded every rational thought in my mind. Even though I had no clear knowledge of what a newborn army was the tone in which he had said and the panic in his eyes was enough for me to grasp that whoever this army consisted of was dangerous and was a threat not to be taken lightly. Someone was coming to harm us and the pack would be in the forefront fighting the enemy. This thought was enough to send a chill through my body. Even though I knew that this was what the pack did and they were trained to kill vampires, it did nothing to ease my worries. There would be a fight, people would get critically injured and there was also the risk of losing lives. I shuddered at the last thought.
I looked around me, a similar panic and tension masked every face. Kim was tightly holding onto Jared as if she had the intention of never letting him go and I would have done the same if Sam was standing anywhere near me, I would keep him with me and refuse to let him fight though the rational part of my mind knew that that would not be enough to stop Sam. He was the oldest and the one who would be in the front, leading. Jake had just become the Alpha, he would need the guidance required and Sam was also one of their best fighters. The pack would need him there, ahead. Even though it hurt a bit to admit I knew that the pack and this tribe was his first priority. He was responsible for a lot more people than only me and as his imprint and life partner I had to let him do what was correct, what was his duty. It would be selfish of me to pull him back when his brothers were out there fighting for their life. He was the chief. It was his responsibility to make sure that the tribe was safe from any sort of harm.
Emily was tightly gripping onto Leah's hand and Leah kept glancing at Paul worriedly. Being the stubborn person that she was, she would never admit it out loud but her face gave it away how worried she was for Paul. Rachel came next to where I was standing and took my hand in hers, offering me her silent support reassuring me that everything would be okay. I squeezed her hand back reassuring her too. One lesson I had learnt early on when it was only Sam, Jared and Paul in the pack was that the boys got their strength from us, their imprints. If we showed fear, they became afraid. If we were strong they had the courage to fight. We had to be strong for them if nothing more. If they thought we were in danger, their wolves would not be able to concentrate on anything else their priority would be to run to us instead of fighting the vampire and that could be very lethal in a fight for life.
My eyes met Sam's for a brief second and he gave me a reassuring small smile. His eyes conveying to me that everything will be okay, he will not get hurt and neither will anyone else. They will find a solution for this problem as they have always done for every problem before this. I nodded my head with all the trust I had in me for him.
"Who are Joham and Maria and what exactly is a newborn army?" asked Jake straightening up, his stance careful and cautious depicting that he was the one in charge here.
"Joham is our father" said Nahuel sighing. His eyes showed the pain and fear he felt when Joham's name was spoken. "He is a vampire scientist, crazy for power"
"Vampire scientist?" asked Paul as if the idea of it was par ridiculous and the other boys nodded their heads in agreement.
Nahuel nodded his head "He was born in Portugal and considered himself a scientist with an obsessive personality. He would not let his theories go until they were fully investigated, no matter what the danger was. He did not care about anything else and had left his wife, family and friends years back when they intervened and told him to stop with his madness. When he was in his late thirties he got obsessed with occult and how it related to rational thought. He started researching about it like a madman and his theories led him to a female vampire, Maria…"
"Hold on, who is Maria?" asked Jared curiously
"Maria is a well known name in the vampire world. She is the leader of the Mexican coven and created newborns to fight in the southern vampire war for territory. She is ruthless and sadistic and tortured the others in her army if they refused to follow her orders with the help of the God of war"
"What is the southern vampire war? And what are newborns and who is the God of War?" asked Sam
"Please let me finish with my story. I will answer all the questions you have later. We understand that you need to trust us in order to offer your protection and we are ready to prove it to you by telling you everything we know" said Nahuel looking at his sisters, who looked terrified and Jake motioned him to continue
"So Joham found Maria one night when he was out searching for clues and she was amused by him and his curiosity. The thing with Maria is that she is power crazy and can do anything to stay in power. She felt that Joham could be a strong ally and sired him making him a vampire. At that time she was a nomad and was looking for a coven mate. She had a falling out with her sisters and had left their coven a few years back and so she bit Joham in the hope that he would join her in her sadistic plans of gaining power but after three days when Joham woke up, he wanted nothing to do with Maria or her coven. He wanted to spend all his time researching and had no interest in creating an army. So after the first year when Maria taught him all that was needed to know, they parted ways reluctantly and Joham relocated to the wilderness in South America where he stayed for a century and focused on the study of vampires and their abilities like speed, strength, mating bonds, gifts etcetera . At the end of that century, his curiosity diverted towards the possibility of a vampire-human hybrid, with a human mother and a vampire father and treating it like any other experiment he got obsessed with the idea. He wanted to know if something like this was possible and if it was how the child would turn out. Would it be like an immortal vampire or would it take after the human side?" He took a deep breath before continuing "He never respected human life and only treated them like food or prey. His theory was that vampires were superior to humans and so had a right to do what they pleased. He often played with 'his food' before draining them as many other vampires do" he said as disgust came over every face listening to him speak. Even if I had never met this Joham, I already disliked him and his actions were deplorable.
"It took him close to a decade and several casualties to gain enough control to not kill the human woman during the act accidently" he winced a bit "Our older sister Serena was his first success though her mother could not survive the pregnancy. Serena was too strong for her and she bit her way out of her mother's womb breaking all her bones and killing her" he closed his eyes as if remembering some painful memory and his sisters quietly consoled him as the rest of us looked at him horror-stricken. It was not hard to guess what had happened to their mothers too and I could only feel sympathy for these people standing in front of me. No one deserved such a gruesome birth and no one deserved such a painful death.
"Joham monitored her growth from birth till maturity which was seven years and studied everything there was too including her accelerated growth, intelligence and the fact that she could speak when she was a little less than two days old…" he continued
"Seven years?" asked Jake "Are you immortal?"
Nahuel nodded his head "Our maturity levels are different and by the time we are seven, we have the physical, mental and emotional growth of an eighteen year old. We don't age after that and stay the same for how many ever years"
"Stuck in the body of a teenager for eternity? That doesn't sound that great. At least we age when we stop phasing and can resume normal life and normal experiences. Imagine the amount of things you cannot do because you physically will always look like a kid" said Jared making a face of disgust
Nahuel nodded his head "It is not at all great. We are like vampires in that aspect, never growing old, stuck in this cycle of living forever and seeing life around you wither while you stay as you were, unchanging"
"Eternity can be painful when you have to live alone with only your regrets and dreams that you can never fulfill, to give you company?" whispered Maysun at a volume so low as if she was talking to herself. Jennifer wrapped her arms around her sister and Maysun gave her a small smile in return.
"How can you be immortal, your heart beats and we can hear the pulse too? What do you eat?" asked Sam changing the subject
"We don't have an answer to why we are immortal when we look more human than vampire and except for the eye color and a little shine to our skin when we are under the sun, we don't have much vampire in us though we are stronger than normal humans and are faster with slightly stronger senses. We can survive on both blood and human food but Joham never let us eat human food. He insisted that we feed on humans. He said that they are prey as they are weaker than us. We were punished if we went against him" said Jennifer
Paul growled loudly and Nahuel pushed his sister slightly behind him. Jake glared at him to calm down. All of us could somewhere sympathize with the hybrids. It was not easy to be different from others. It took courage to be unique and it was not their fault that their father was an asshole.
Jake took a deep breath "Then what happened after Serena was born?"
"To see if the first time was just a fluke, a chance encounter that worked, Joham tried impregnating a human again and Maysun here was born but Joham had no interest in her as he already knew what there was to know. He left Serena to look after Maysun and went back to his lab to continue his research. Serena was raised without a mother or any parental figure as Joham just treated her like a lab rat and Serena was the only mother or Father Maysun knew even if she was the worst person to learn from being selfish and self absorbed. After that he conceived three more children but their mothers died before the children reached full term killing them too" he sighed loudly as pain crossed his face "My mother was Joham's singer. Her blood sang to him and it is impossible to resist your singer. It is like the richest wine you have ever tasted. At that time Joham thought that women with better smelling blood might conceive faster and create hybrids with more powers so he romanced her and made her fall in love with him. After learning that she was pregnant, he left her alone leaving her heartbroken as he was only interested in me and wanted nothing to do with her. At the end of her one month pregnancy, he sent Serena to collect the baby. He did not even come to see her when she was taking her last breath" he closed his eyes and sighed heavily "All because of me" he whispered under his breath
"It is not your fault brother" said Jennifer and Maysun nodded her head
"I killed her" he said shaking "I am the reason why she is dead. She must hate me. I am a monster. She must think I am an abomination"
"Nahuel, I am sorry if you feel I am intruding but you did not kill your mother. It was not your fault and no mother ever hates her child, she loved you from the minute she knew that you were in her womb. And she would not see you like a monster because you are not one. For her you were just her precious child who she loved more than her life and chose over herself" I said as Jared and Ben moved from ahead of us and we all imprints went and stood next to the wolves and Jake told all the wolves that were currently phased to phase back. These hybrids were not a threat to us or anyone. The honesty and sincerity on their face could not be faked unless they were terrific actors which they did not look to be, telling us that these people were in fact saying the truth.
Sam took my hand in his as I went and stood next to him.
Nahuel nodded his head sadly still not believing us.
"Well if you are a monster so are we" said Paul with a chuckle surprising all of us "Well transforming into a horse sized wolf does not scream normal from any angle"
"Yeah and still my mom does not treat me as anything other than a normal fourteen year old. She even grounds me if I do anything wrong. She says werewolf or not till you live under my roof you follow my rules" said Seth frowning a bit as Leah gave out a small laugh at that.
"So you see you are as normal as any of us" said Jake and the others nodded their heads in agreement
"You have a beating heart, does not scream like monster to me" said Quil shrugging
"Yeah and our parents don't treat us as anything other than a human who sometimes roams around in animal form" said Jared in a nonchalant manner
"So from that relation you are just a half human with a few heightened senses and a lifespan that never ends" said Quil chuckling
"I wish I was full human" muttered Nahuel under his breath "Then maybe…"
"Your mother would only want you to be happy in life" said Emily
"She would not like it if you thought so less of yourself. She must be looking at you from above" whispered Kim "She would not blame you for anything"
"So before you go around blaming yourself, think of her and how she would feel" said Rachel
"Yeah no parent wants their child to feel like crap""Well obviously apart from your sperm donor. Calling him a father would be an insult to the word father" said Leah rolling her eyes
"Thank you" said Jennifer, her eyes brimming with tears
"Thank you" whispered Nahuel still looking at the ground but his voice sounded lighter as if a burden had been slightly lifted off him "So where was I?"
"Let's take this inside? I think we should sit down if this is going to be any longer a conversation" said Sam
"Yeah I am also hungry" said Quil and almost all of the boys nodded their heads just like the bottomless pits they were.
"Are you sure you are okay with us being so close to your women?" said Nahuel hesitantly
"Well we are the ones inviting you inside, aren't we?" said Embry
Nahuel slowly nodded his head as we all walked inside the house.
They sat on the couch in the living room while Emily helped me whip up some sandwiches for everyone outside. We could hear the conversation outside and now they were talking about baseball and the fact that the hybrids had never seen a game. Quil was shocked the most to hear that they had no knowledge of the latest technology or what was happening in the world around as they had been living in the wilderness since more than a century with no contact of the outside world. They had never sat in a car or seen a movie. They told us that most nomadic vampires lived like that and had no knowledge of the date or year to which Ben had commented that how boring a life was that. Nahuel told us that only a few civilized vampires lived in society or at least tried to blend in society for another reason except feeding.
Conversation flowed easily between the hybrids and the pack and It felt like we knew them from months instead of just a few minutes and Rachel offered to let the girls borrow her clothes as theirs were muddy and torn from a few places while Jason offered to lend Nahuel some clothes of his.
After the boys pounced on the sandwiches and ravished almost the entire plate within seconds, the discussion steered back to important topics and Jake insisted that the hybrids eat human food till they were here to which they agreed and even ate the sandwiches without much fuss only making a distasteful face once. They said that after drinking human blood nothing else compared. It was like an addiction and it would take them some time to get off it.
"So when Serena came to take me to Joham" said Nahuel starting the story again "She found me lying next to a newborn vampire, my aunt Huilen. She assumed that Huilen was my mother and left us alone to report this to Joham as a possessive newborn would have torn her apart if she got any closer to me"
"Your aunt?" asked Jared puzzled
Nahuel nodded his head "She was the one looking after my mother in her last days and my mother had made her promise that she would take care of me. When she tried to pick me up minutes after I was born, I bit her changing her in the process. She had no idea that Joham was a vampire before she was changed and took quite a while to understand what she was after she woke up"
"You are venomous?" asked Sam looking worried
"Nahuel is but we both are not" said Jennifer "We don't know why it is so"
"I have never changed anyone apart from my aunt though. I guess the only reason why I was venomous was so that I could survive with a somewhat decent life or I would have been in the same predicament as my sisters" said Nahuel
Sam nodded his head telling him to continue
"Huilen was the one who raised me and taught me how to read and write. She was like a mother to me" he said as a sad expression took over his face again "We lived in the jungles of South America for the first six years of my life. I was almost a sixteen year old by then and everything I was was because of Huilen. One day when we were out hunting we came face to face with Joham. He had gone to meet Serena a few years back and she had told him what had happened. He was pleased beyond himself to know that he had a son who could transform humans into full vampires when his daughters could not and had been looking for me since years. He was angry at my aunt for interfering in what he believed was his business and almost ripped her apart for trying to take his test subject away"
Numerous growls surrounded me, the loudest being surprisingly Paul who did not generally take to new people this soon. I was sure that if Joham came anywhere nearby right now the entire pack would be ready to tear him apart. Heck even Leah and Rachel looked ready to murder and even the most non violent person on the planet, Kim looked ready to hit someone.
"But Huilen was stronger and could protect herself and he soon realized that my loyalty was to her and if he killed her I would never be on his side. So he left us alone telling us about Serena and Maysun and asking for me to visit them sometime. He was also shocked to see how much I loved my mother and valued human life as that was something he had never expected being the soulless monster that he was" "I lived with Huilen for another year till I reached full maturity before I went to meet my half sisters. Maysun and I instantly connected though Serena remained aloof and wanted nothing to do with me. She found it weird that I was so 'human' unlike her who was more connected to her vampire side. We both stayed with them for a few years before we left again to travel and explore new parts of the world. After nearly four decades I met Maysun again who told me that Joham had impregnated another woman and our sister Jennifer was born. Serena was raising her with involvement from Joham to avoid a situation like that had occurred with me. He did not want to take any risks this time around. Huilen and I lived separately but we often went to see Maysun and Jennifer who were very dear to me. Serena and I never got along as she worshiped every word that came out of Joham's mouth. Joham and I never spoke though after that one meeting"
"Okay so why is Joham coming here with his newborn army?" asked Jake emphasizing on the word 'here'. That was one question all of us wanted to know the answer to, Joham should not even know about us as there was no reason to know of.
Nahuel sighed "Before I tell you that I need to tell you something else. I told you about Maria, Joham's sire. After Joham left her she roamed around for a few more decades before she went back to her sisters Nettie and Lucy and rejoined the Mexican coven. I don't know much about her past but her mate and two older vampires who were like her parents were killed during the southern vampire wars by another coven who wanted their territory and she and her sisters had barely managed to escape. She wanted revenge and wanted to reclaim her land and exact vengeance. For that she started creating newborns. Newborn is the term given to vampires in their first year after the change as they are stronger than normal vampires and are good at following orders being as young as they are in vampire years. Maria took newborn armies to a new level by choosing humans with combat potential and giving them more training than anyone had bothered to do before. When she met Major Jasper Whitlock, she recognized his ability to control emotions and hoped that his physical stature and military experience would help her in her mission. After he had been changed he proved himself to be one of her finest fighters and with his power of empathy he earned the title of God of war. With him on her side, Maria won many territories and was the most successful warlord"
"I don't know much of what happened after that but almost a century later the Major left Maria and her coven saying that he wanted a new life. Maria had no choice but to let him go or he would have killed her as he was more powerful than her though she never forgot him. She still defends her territory in Mexico against interlopers though she is not as successful as she was. A few months back Joham and Maria met again in Mexico after almost two centuries. Joham was bored as he had nothing else to research on and Maria who could never find a replacement for the Major was desperately searching for one. Joham told her about us four, the hybrids that had survived and Maria said that we were useless to her as we are weaker than normal vampires. Maria in return told him about your tribe and the fact that you are shape shifters."
"How did she know of us?" asked Sam growling
"I overheard him telling Serena the entire conversation and from what I heard a few months back two vampires of her army were touring through the area in search of anyone talented enough to be changed and came across a shape shifter. They killed the shape shifter before going back to Mexico and reporting it to Maria that there are werewolves in this area. Maria has had experience with werewolves and instantly knew that that was a shape shifter instead" said Maysun
All of us looked at one another in shock. Nothing like this had happened. Sam was the first one to change and it was unlikely that something like this happened before that. It was then that it hit me.
"Sam, the night when Leah found out, the two vampires that had escaped after injuring you" I said with my eyes widened and I could see the realization in his eyes.
"Oh fuck, they must have thought that I died" he said taking his head in his hands. I went and sat next to him taking his hands in mine. I knew that he was blaming himself for letting those two go even though it was hardly his fault. He was still a new wolf. Till date that night was one of the scariest moments of my life. I almost lost Sam that day.
He gave me a soft kiss noticing my scared expression before he told everyone the events of that fateful night.
"Okay so this explains how she knows but how are we even relevant to her?" asked Jake perplexed
"Maria can do anything to find stronger warriors for her army and Joham is a maniac in search for new research. A month or two after Maria's soldiers told her of you she had come back to scout the area and see if there were any other shape shifters and one boy almost shifted due to her presence"
"I guess that would be me" said Seth raising his hand like a child, as all of us thought back to the day he had phased and the strange vampire who had made her presence known.
"Okay so she knows of us, what is the point though?" asked Jake exasperated
"Maria wants a wolf-vampire hybrid for her army" said Nahuel as all of us stared at him shocked
"A female vampire cannot procreate and you don't have a female shape shifter in your pack. The only way this would be possible would be through us" said Maysun pointing at her and Jennifer
"But why?" asked Sam
Nahuel shrugged "She feels that a vampire-werewolf hybrid would be superior as they would have qualities of both and would be well cherished and more powerful, an immortal wolf that has the senses and strength of a vampire apart from the powers that come as a shape shifter. Such a creature would be undefeatable in her army and Joham just wants something new to research on. A win-win for both"
"Imagine the catastrophe it would cause" said Maysun "And what if the child had a special ability? Maria and Joham would use it to their advantage and create havoc around the world"
"Special ability?" asked Rachel
Maysun nodded her head "Nahuel and I don't have any but Jennifer is a shield. She can shield other mental powers against her, a very strong power to have in the vampire world as many of the powers others possess are mental"
"And that is why she is the main target" said Nahuel wrapping an arm around his sister protecting her
"But you are half human too?" said Jake shouting and shaking
"And how do they expect to get us to agree?" said Paul growling "Do they think we will easily agree to create a monster for them?"
Nahuel shook his head "They know you won't and so they are coming with their army to kill all of you except one, the strongest. The one that remains will be taken back to Joham's lab and will be forced through immense torture to do as they say. Once Jennifer is impregnated the wolf will be killed and the baby will be theirs and they think that the vampire gene will be more dominant when passed down. It is just a guess that the pros weigh the cons"
"Are they insane?" shouted Leah annoyed
"They are" said Maysun "As soon as I heard Joham tell this all to Serena I contacted Nahuel. I had to save Jennifer's life. They don't care that she could die in this ridiculous experiment of theirs and they would have nothing to lose even if their experiment does not go as planned. We are the ones who lose"
Numerous growls and sounds filled the room at that moment. Everyone was talking at the same time of this monstrous plan that Joham and Maria had wielded. I could see all the boys starting to shake and even my hand on Sam's arm was not enough to calm him down. I could see that he was livid.
"No one phases" ordered Jake before anyone lost control and phased too close to us "How did you escape?"
"Huilen" said Nahuel as a tear rolled down his cheek "She fought Joham giving us three the time to escape. She surrendered her life to protect ours"
"Serena agrees to this plan?" asked Emily surprised. At this point I was not surprised of anything. I guess I was done with my quota of surprises for the day. This all was too much to comprehend.
Maysun nodded her head "Joham is God for her. She could never go against him. After we escaped from there we did not know where to go, Nahuel and I would be killed if we were found and this was the only place we could think of to ask for protection"
"Good you came here" I reassured her giving her a small smile
"We will protect you" said Sam and everyone nodded their heads in agreement
"So now what we fight?" asked Paul
Jake nodded his head "They are coming for us, for the tribe and as protectors we will fulfill our duty. We can't back down from our responsibility and run away"
"How many people are there in this army?" asked Sam
"From how much I know close to thirty" said Maysun
"Shit Jake" said Jared "We can't fight so many. We are not even half of them"
I looked at Sam in panic. Going against thirty vampires would be a suicide mission, add in the fact that they are newborns and stronger and we were doomed.
"We need numbers which we don't have" said Sam sighing as complete terrifying silence filled the room.
"We can ask the major for help" whispered Jennifer "He has fought with Maria, he knows what to do"
"We are not asking a bloodsucker for help" growled Paul
"Paul, the army is coming irrespective. Either we die directly or we at least try to save our lives" said Sam "Because a fight is happening. I will not let them come here and destroy our tribe and take one of us without fighting till my last breath. If any of you does not want to fight I will not force you, it is your choice but I am fighting"
Sam kissed me on the forehead as I closed my eyes, a few tears falling from my eyes. I knew that even trying to stop him would be futile. He was my strong protector, the one who never backed down because the road was risky.
"I am in" said Jake "I will not stay back from my duty"
"I am always ready for a fight" said Paul looking at Leah once who looked like she wanted to cry and shout at the same time.
"Me too" said Embry squeezing Rachel's hand
"Yeah me too" said Quil looking more serious than I had seen him in all these years
"Even I am in" said Jared sighing
"Jared no" cried Kim
He took her in his arms cradling her like a small child "Shh, nothing will happen to me. You are stuck with me" he started whispering in her ear before taking her hand and pulling her out with him.
"Even I am in" said Jason
Ben too nodded his head
"Me too" said Seth
"Seth no" shouted Leah panicking and I hid my face in Sam's chest. Both my boyfriend and my younger brother would be on that field fighting for their life. I had never felt more powerless before this moment. There was nothing I could do to help my family, my pack. I felt helpless. I wished there was something that I could do to help them but I was just a human stuck in the world of supernatural. My own voice rung in my ears, I needed to be strong for Sam. I may not be able to provide physical strength but I could give him that mental strength he needs, be the support system he needs, the one he can rely on and trust in these tough times.
"Are you sure?" said Sam and all of them nodded their heads
"We are a pack dude. We are in this together" said Quil
"When are they coming?" asked Jake
"We don't know the exact date but less than three weeks. The army was almost ready when Joham told Serena everything" said Maysun
Three weeks… That's all I had. That's all we had. Sam hugged me closer to him leaving soft kisses on my face. I needed to be close to him right now. I needed to feel his touch to know that we still had one another.
"You will not lose me" he whispered in my ear "I will always come back to you"
I nodded my head giving him a smile even if it was the hardest thing that I had to do.
"Guys we need to be positive. The fight is over even before it starts if we give up like this" said Jake "Jennifer what do you know of this major?"
"He lives her in Forks with his new coven from what I have heard from a few nomads we came across"
"Wait he is a part of the Cullen Coven?" asked Sam shocked
Nahuel nodded his head
"Wow the supposed God of war living with squirrel munchers" said Paul smirking
"Now what Sam?" asked Jake
"We go to Forks to meet this infamous major and see if he can provide us with any help and then we start training. That battle is not truly over till the last one falls"