Chapter 20: Impression
It was silent nearly all the way back. We were about thirty miles from home when I asked Danielle something that had been playing on my mind since the fight.
"You made it look so easy. How did you do it? It was much different from your fights with Emmett."
Danielle laughed mildly. "I wasn't exaggerating when I said a vampire's hesitation and bewilderment makes for the perfect counter attack. It's much more difficult with Emmet. He knows what I can do and he expects it so he also knows how to prevent it. They however were not expecting it. They were confused by my lack of smell. They didn't know if I was human or not, similarly to the other vampires I have fought. That's my first advantage. My second is the shock factor, they don't understand how something that bleeds and has a heartbeat can do what they do. However, they tend to get over that shock pretty quickly. I had killed one of them and was about to kill another when I was bitten." She looked at Edward. "The one that bit me could have done a lot worse if Edward wasn't there. My abilities were designed to take on one vampire at a time – we do not fare well in group attacks."
"I'm surprised news about you doesn't travel." I said.
"Ha. There are not a lot of vampires left to carry it. And the ones that do get away are too ashamed to say they were fought off by a human." She replied. "The Volturi only found out about us when Aro read the minds of the vampires who had seen us in action. Before then, they did not believe the tales."
"So ego-centric vampires are the reason you are not known of." I joked.
We all laughed lightly, but did not speak until we got home. We were all shaken up.
We told our family – with the exception of Renesmee - about what had happened. Jacob had nearly had a heart attack when he found out. It took some effort on Jasper's part to calm him down. We were all thankful that nothing had happened. We were especially thankful to Danielle. Even Rosalie couldn't help hugging her.
***
The next day Dani went to the bonfire at La Push and her and the wolves swapped stories. They had all made good friends and promised each other to keep in touch. The week went quickly and it was soon time for Danielle to go home.
We saw her many times after that. She visited us whenever she was in the country. Ten years later, her powers were passed to another, who came to introduce herself to us and the wolves – as was now tradition also. We only saw her a few more times, but Danielle continued to visit.
It was the year 2075 when Danielle passed away, she was eighty-six years old. Her funeral was in England and we all made our way over there, as did Jacob, Sam and some other of the wolves. She did become a successful teacher and lived her life with that career. She had a son and two daughters, and five grandchildren. We were all ever so sad to see her go, but she would never be forgotten.
The years passed and more and more hunters came to see us, but none of them ever took the place of Danielle.
She truly left a lasting impression on us all.