Vampire Knights

Chapter 20: Decisions and Penguins!?

Jitterbug's PoV

The worry was killing me.

The attacks were still happening all over the world; although humans and their cities appeared to be the only targets, I couldn't help but worry for Lily and the rest of us. Whatever was behind this was obviously powerful, to wreak such devastation in such a short time span. It was obviously something supernatural, as no human was strong enough to commit such monstrosities—wouldn't it be logical to believe it was strong enough to harm vampires as well?

But what could I do? Despite Carlisle's friends flocking from the corners of the globe—the Amazon, Egypt, Ireland, Denali, and England, among others—we had no new leads concerning this disconcerting matter. I was surprised the Volturi hadn't become involved already. But whoever it was had been careful to stay well away from Italy, and it's not like the humans were going to suspect it was all one person. The theories were currently centered on some sort of gang-mafia-ninja-spy-whatever-the-hell-they-came-up-with organization. Violence devastating, motives unclear… Come to think of it, we didn't know much more than the humans.

I shook my head in frustration. I'm going for a run. Anyone coming?

I'm in, Miracle answered, eager to escape the headache called Godric. The thing would be fine by itself for a couple hours… Right? I decided we'd close the barn door. It was too small to escape and accidentally kill itself.

Me too. Where are we going?

Doesn't matter.

'Kay.

The three of us stepped out into the rain; Miracle carefully closed and latched the barn door, his thoughts obviously in tandem with mine. Esmerelda would have our hides if it escaped, and though I knew I could outrun her if it was really necessary, I rather liked being on speaking terms with the girls. It wouldn't do to have one of Lily's best friends mad at me.

Moonie snorted up at the sky, prancing a few steps before shifting into an enthusiastic canter. The moisture in the air swirled around the three of us as we set off into the woods.

I'll race you guys to the clearing, challenged Miracle; his dark amber eyes twinkled in amusement and exhilaration at being free—however temporarily—from the barn.

You're on. The answer was instant and perfectly synchronized. The three of us took off, galloping through the underbrush at breakneck speed. I pushed my legs faster, reveling in the air whipping past and the satisfactory blur of green that rushed by. This was what I needed—an escape.

I didn't mind when Miracle won; he always did, unless Moon and I teamed up and fought dirty with him. And the light, teasing banter that inevitably followed his victory provided a suitable distraction from the worry gnawing in my belly.

I won!

No duh.

Where does he even get the energy?

He's psycho. Only explanation.

Jealous?

Only of people who don't have to deal with you.

I was right. You are jealous. Why else would you try so hard to blow it off?

You know, Miracle, not everyone has to work so hard at coming up with suitable comebacks.

Touché.

But perfection—shallow, superficial, easy perfection—never lasts. The conversation would invariably find a way back to more serious topics. But maybe…

Maybe I couldn't do anything about the attacks; we had no ideas concerning the who, when, where, or why of the situation. But there were things we did know, things that were inside of our control. Maybe now was the time to inform the girls of our theory concerning Scorpius and Morrigan, if only to alleviate the frantic swirl of thoughts that were always present in my mind. If I felt like I was doing something, maybe the tension would ease.

I think we should tell the girls we think Morrigan is controlling Scorpius.

They both exhaled sharply; I could feel the relief in the tenor of their thoughts. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was anxious. We weren't used to feeling like we weren't useful. At Ride On, no matter how miserable the conditions may have been, we always knew what we were doing. We were helping people. We let them ride us, giving them the mobility they lacked and challenging them to stretch the boundaries nature had placed on them. Healers, helpers, friends, wings… And now we were nothing. Now we fed and talked and rolled in the dirt all day. Pathetic.

Good idea—I'm dead bored.

Not that it will help anything, but still…

I struck out for the Cullens', not waiting for more response than that. Moonie and Miracle pulled up in my peripheral vision, our hooves beating out an even pace, a team rather than competitors.

We had a purpose. We knew what we were doing. Maybe we could help people.

What else could we ask for?

****

Lily's PoV

"Do you hear that?"

I glanced up at Esmerelda, annoyed that she had interrupted me; something that wouldn't usually bother me, unless the conversation was of the utmost importance, which this one was. It was with Daniel. Need I say more?

"No. I was talking."

"The trees are excited. It's not often that they see… this thing. I'm not sure what it is. But it's headed this way."

"Fine, I'll go check," I sighed. A quick jump and a shift into hawk form later, I was being carried by the breeze in the direction Esmerelda indicated. As I dove for the flash of hair racing through the trees, I shifted again to the less-conspicuous form of a swallow. And then I just about fell out of the sky as I recognized what was attached to the long, blonde hair I'd seen from above.

But I was saved by my vampire brain, which was able to get over the shock almost instantly. My hawk form carried me back to Esmerelda more rapidly than I'd flown out as I pushed my wings as fast as they'd go.

"It's Brie." The words exploded from my mouth the second it was able to form words; I tumbled out of the sky and into myself, barely taking time to notice that Esmerelda had also gathered the disgruntled-looking Jill and Jesse.

"It's Brie?" Jill shrieked. "Oh my god, this is bad. We're in so much trouble! We stole the horses and she found out even though you said she wouldn't and scaring her off didn't work and now she's found us and she'll try to make us give them back but we can't because they're vampires and we're vampires and oh my god this is bad bad bad bad—"

"Jill!" Esmerelda cut into Jill's word vomit, sparing us all from the next fifty-or-so repetitions of 'bad'. "It can't be Brie. The forest wouldn't be excited about her; she's only human."

I scowled at her. "I know what I saw, Es. It was definitely Brie, and she was riding Fizz. Her eyes were still blue, so they're not vampires, but Fizz shouldn't have been able to move that fast. She'll be here any second."

"Any second!"

I blinked, startled, as the scene in front of me shifted instantly. Jill moved on to unfreeze Esmerelda, and then Jesse and Dan, who had been silently watching as the drama unfurled. I knew what had happened, of course; Jill had stopped time and then moved to unfreeze me. Although I understood that she hadn't really moved too fast for me to see, merely when time was stopped, it didn't stop the unease I felt with the sudden halt of activity. The perfect silence was unnerving.

"Jill," I groaned. "Could you at least warn us? You're giving me a headache."

She stuck her tongue out at me. "You can't get headaches. Stop whining. Besides, am I the only one who's not ready to see Brie again? I say we run for it, and I'll unfreeze things when we're in the next state."

"No, we can't do that," Esmerelda interjected. "If it really is Brie, something weird is going on. I've never felt the forest so…surprised, with mild excitement and interest. It's a very odd sensation and I want to meet what's causing it."

"And really," I added, "If she found us here, who's to say she won't find us again?"

"Who's Brie?" asked Jesse, as he moved to take Jill's hand. The tension visibly drained from her as he rubbed soothing circles with his thumb.

Hmmm, this was a new development. Note to self: get details later.

"The instructor at Ride On, where we used to work."

"It's also where we stole the ponies from, which is why she's going to KILL US! Are you sure we can't just run away?"

"I told you, I want to see her. And since I won't go with you and you won't leave me behind, there's really no point in arguing. Now are you going to unfreeze things or not?"

Jill measured our expressions for a few seconds, sighed at the realization that Es was serious, and then allowed time to restart. The forest sounds resumed, the breeze fluttered through my hair, and the steady rhythm of cantering hooves became audible.

Moments later, Brie and Fizz burst through the fringe of trees on the right.

"Told you it was Brie," I muttered, unable to resist rubbing it in.

She stared at the three of us for a long moment, assessing the changes in our appearance and demeanor. "Well Freaks, I'm glad we found you. The scent was a little stale, but we managed. You've got some explaining to do." The last sentence was odd, because it was a statement of fact, rather than a threat. Not what I would have expected, given the situation.

"We? Who else did you bring?" Jill's voice rose in pitch as a slight edge of panic entered her tone, although it was unlikely Brie noticed.

"Just us, me and Fessina." I started a little at the use of 'Fessina', Fizz's proper show name. Since when did Brie call her that?

"Fessina?" Esmerelda asked, her thoughts in tandem with mine.

Brie pressed her lips together, obviously considering something, before replying. "I guess we have some explaining to do, too."

I blinked purposefully to cover my shock, noting similar reactions from Jill and Esmerelda.

"Explaining… Meaning you're going to explain how you could smell us, which would clearly make you more than human?"

She smirked. "Yep. You first though, Freaks, because mine's crazier."

"I find that hard to believe," Jill mumbled, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. And really, who could blame her? I was a little freaked out, myself.

Esmerelda shrugged, ignoring Jill. "What do you want to know? Lily already told you that we're vampires."

Brie rolled her eyes. "Well that obviously hasn't been the case forever. I think you'd better tell me how it happened, why you stole my horses, and why you wrecked my car."

If I could've blushed, I would have. "Um, yeah, sorry about that. I just wanted to scare you off, so you wouldn't call the cops on us."

She shook her head. "You know, if you had just left, everyone would have assumed you stole the horses. They would've put out calls to the police, and you would've had to lay low for a while, but you'd be unrecognizable after a few years, with the whole 'not aging' thing and all. You didn't have to destroy my car."

Jill jumped to my defense. "Yeah, well, you try thinking when you're panicking. It's not easy."

"And anyway," Esmerelda cut in, avoiding the fight, "it doesn't really matter anymore. It doesn't matter that we stole the horses, especially since Jitterbug and Moonie were vampires before the three of us were. Bug changed Moon, who changed Lily and Jill, who changed me. And then I turned Miracle, so if you want to fault us for something, I think that's the only one you've got."

"Who changed Bug?"

"We didn't know, at first," I answered her, saving Es from Brie's scrutiny. "But when we got her, we learned that it was Bella. She tried to eat him, thought it was gross, and ran away."

"And that," Jill pointed out, "is all you get. We answered your questions. Now you'd better explain how and why you found us, and what you are."

"And why you call Fizz Fessina," I added, out of curiosity.

"I call Fizz Fessina because that's her name. Fizz was just a cover. We found you by tracking your scent. We tracked you because I wanted to talk to you."

We waited, looking at her expectantly.

She sighed in response. "Don't laugh, okay? I'll tell you what we are, but you can't laugh because I swear it's true."

"Deal," we answered in unison.

"Fessina and I are half-sisters." My mouth fell open in shock. Judging from how the expression looked on Jill and Es, I probably looked like a dying fish.

"I'm half human, she's half horse, and we're both half penguin. And remember, you promised not to laugh."

We stared. There was nothing else to do. What else could you do, when your riding instructor tells you she's half penguin?

"Half… penguin?" The voice sounded strangled. I belatedly realized that it was mine.

"Yeah. On my mother's side. Wanna see?"

"Sure," Esmerelda answered, her voice nearly inaudible, eyes still wide as dinner plates.

And then, right before my perfectly accurate vampire eyes, Brie and Fizz both morphed into penguins.

They were black with a white belly and a little bit of yellow around where ears should have been. Did penguins have ears? I didn't see any. If not, how do they hear? Do they need to hear? I was pretty sure that they make noise. What would it be like, living without sound? Pretty weird, I guessed. But wouldn't that make staying away from predators hard? Maybe they're like those blind worms that lived in the dark for so long that they stopped having eyes; would their ears fall off from lack of use?

Focus, Lily.

"So what does that make you?" Dan whispered to me.

My brow furrowed in confusion. "I'm still a vampire…"

He shrugged. "Yeah, but you turn into stuff too. Are you half human, half hawk, half sparrow, and half mountain lion?"

"That's four halves."

"You know what I mean. My point is, why are you so freaked out? You could turn into a penguin if you wanted to."

Oh my god, I could.

Brie (or the one I thought was her) let out a high pitched chirrrrrrup noise, calling our attention back to her.

Jill laughed. "I didn't know penguins made noises. Do it again!"

She glared. (Could penguins glare? It certainly looked like one. At any rate, it let off a distinct air of annoyance. But what use would penguins ever have for glaring?)

When we obviously didn't get the message, both… sisters, I guess, morphed back into a person and a horse, respectively. "You're not part penguin, Lily. I would have sensed it."

"No, but we have super cool vampy powerz. I can shapeshift, Jill can freeze time, and Esmerelda can… talk to trees, I guess. I'm not sure how to explain that one."

"But this is really cool!" Jill interrupted excitedly. "You're like a… were-penguin. So you can't get mad at us for anything, because who'd take a were-penguin seriously? This is great!" She grinned happily, twirling in circles and singing: "We're off the hook, we're off the hook!"

"I am not a were-penguin," Brie protested. "We're Official Members of the Society for Partial-Penguin-Sisters United in the Mystical Arts."

"You look like a were-penguin to me," I shot back, grinning at the improbability of it all.

"No! We're Official Members of—"

"Were-penguin!" Esmerelda made a face and dashed off, sprinting to keep ahead of an outraged Fizz.