Thank you very much to The Walrus and the Carpenter for helping me Beta this document.
Disclaimer:All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 22.-Abilities vs. Muscle.
Maya POV
The trail I´ve left is obvious for anyone who is actively looking for either Nessie or myself.
It's a good thing the car had all of our backpacks, allowing me to spread Nessie's scent as well as mine. Honestly, I was planning to get rid of Stink Bomb´s, but that might have been too suspicious if they were following us; they know we're moving as a group.
The time alone has provided me time to sort the images and thoughts I saw in that simple touch, and I reach the following conclusion: the Volturi know the shape shifters are working with us, and they plan on capturing the alpha and control the rest of their group, making us more vulnerable, knowing our whereabouts. For that there was a team assigned for their capture.
I send out a text message to Edward from a cell phone I borrowed, informing him of the current situation. Hopefully he or Jake knows it's me.
My current problem is distracting, and if I'm lucky, eliminating the second group that has been following us with the sole purpose of capturing Nessie and I. My first thought was the old train station where William was going to hand me over to Alton, is far enough from La Push, where we were headed.
I arrive to the station it while the night is still young. Trying to not think what happened the last time I was here, it wasn´t too long ago, little over a month, but there a lot has happened since then.
I jump the fence carrying the few elements I believe will be necessary for me to hold my ground when the others arrive. I walk inside the old train station; the gravel and crystal below my feet crumble under my weight, and echo through the old building—a good alarm system when they get here.
I decide to go to the same spot where William killed Alton, realizing there hasn´t been many changes since; the black spot where his body was burned is still present on the floor. Ahead, there is the barrel that was light on that cold evening, and the wall still has the crack from where my back hit it with the force of his blow.
Stop it, Maya. Nothing good will come from remembering all that.
I regain my courage and move forward.
I take out Nessie´s clothes and put on one of her shirts; this will drive them closer sooner.
I take out from the cooler the two remaining bags of blood; it's not much but it should be enough. I place them in two different positions, each opposite from the other and cover them with the remains of the carbon activated; I don´t want to give away the surprise I have in store.
I then proceed to locate the gasoline tanks I purchased and put them in the other two corners. I then throw lighters and matches at different positions, and decide to hide one in my jean pockets.
I remember William´s lesson for hunting; making sure I cover them all.
Know your surroundings.
Breathing in and out, I memorize every little detail I can, and identify what I can use in my advantage, while creating areas with the debris that can aid me, such as blocking some exits or leaving small gaps where I can fit through.
Use whatever you have at hand.
I´ve done the best I can with the blood, the gasoline, and the matches, but for safe measure, I take a steel bar to use as a probable weapon—In case I'm ambushed by more than two of them.
Don´t lose your element of surprise.
They will be expecting me to use my abilities, so I´ll need to be careful in displaying my small surprises.
Go for the weak one.
I really don´t expect any of them to be weaker than me; if they are soldiers, they know how to hold their ground, which I don´t.
My analysis is interrupted by approaching footsteps.
Okay Showtime! Oh God, I really don´t want to do this.
"Bonjour." I turn and see a female vampire; she is medium size, but thin, and her hair is auburn, with the tips tinted purple, that reaches her chin. I would call it a bob. She has piercings in her nose and thin eyebrows. Her eyes and eyelashes fall on the small side, and her nose is thin and delicate as is her lips. She is wearing a gray cloak; a clear sign that she is part of the Volturi guard.
Next to her is a short female, her build bigger than the other; her skin is ashen, indicating she had a darker shade of skin when she was alive. Her hair is black and wavy, and shoulder length; on her forehead she has a widow´s peak; her nose is bulbous and wide; her eyes are almond shape and medium size; and her eyebrows are thicker. She is not wearing a cloak.
Shadowing both females are two male vampires, both tall and muscular. One is Caucasian, the other has more of an oriental look.
Shit! It seems my plan worked much better than I thought. I assumed I would have to deal with two, maybe even three vampires, but four, definitely surpassed my expectation; especially, with the last two.
"Look, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way," the female with the multicolor hair is the one that speaks up, as one of her eyebrows raises. She has a French accent. I keep looking at each one, trying to predict who will make the first move. "I personally would prefer if you join us by free will." Her tone is calm, showing no indication that she doesn´t want to fight me. "Where is the other one?" she asks, looking around the room, her focus finally stops on me. "She is not here, is she?" She is smiling, but she's not happy. "You tricked us, and there is no werewolf," she continues, looking annoyed at me.
I pull one of Jacob´s stinky shirts from behind my back and flag it in front of them. All of their noses wrinkle from the stench, they even backtrack a couple of steps.
Wusses! Try being locked in a car with it.
"We can track the others, let's take care of this one first," the blond male says, and approaches me.
I put my hands up in a protective stand.
"Be careful Dominic we´ve been warned about this one," the other male speaks.
"Tuk, honestly, I don´t see how much harm she can do." He moves fast towards me.
I immediately remove his sense of sight and step to one side. He passes me and hits the wall behind me.
"Watch your step, Dominic," I say feeling shortly triumphant, but realizing a little too late that this new formation is not in my favor. I don´t have eyes on the back of my head, so I can´t predict what Dominic is going to do.
I move backwards towards one end of the room; this way I can have a better view of the four of them.
They follow me and corner me to one side of the wall; one of the blood bags is in the right corner, where Dominic is. I look at it trying to make a strategy of how to get to it, but the female with the purple hair moves quickly and swipes her feet under me making me go down hitting butt.
I pull my legs up just in time to push her, just a few steps before she is on top of me.
She laughs at my poor attempt of getting her off me.
"Is that all you can do?" She comes nearer.
"Violet!" Tuk has a warning tone.
"I can also do this," I say, removing her sense of balance, and see her join me on the floor.
I move fast to get on my feet, but not fast enough. Dominic is now behind me grabbing my neck and trying to pull one of my hands to my back, making the error of touching my hand in the process.
I turn around and see the surprise expression on his face, he wasn´t expecting to see his life flash before his eyes. How much do they know about me? His mind reveals that it's not much.
From his touch, I quickly learn the following:
Dominic is very fast, but he relies too much on his speed. Violet is an excellent fighter, and Tuk is the leader of the group, the one making the calls. Lulu, the other female is the tracker, but she is not here on her free will; Caius recruited her when he saw Demitri was not able to find us.
Before I get into a more vulnerable position, I release the pain ability and take advantage of it. I don´t want to hurt Lulu but I don´t have much choice. All of them fall down to the floor and convulse with the pain, screaming at the top of their lungs.
I run to the other side where the other bag of blood is located and stop the flow of pain.
The four of them are still on the floor, recovering from what just happened. Lulu is the first one to incorporate and runs towards the exit, but Tuk gets a hold of her leg making her fall to the floor and fight with him.
Violet and Dominic don´t pay attention them, and instead move towards me. I grab the steel bar, and run towards Dominic. I swing the bar, but miss when he jumps, but manage to hit Violet, somewhat unintentionally. I get one down, and the steel bar completely deformed.
Dominic is about to reach me; I duck and again remove his sense of sight, making him trip on me.
I grab the bag of blood from the floor, but I am not able to do much; Violet recovers faster than I expected, and is now pulling one of my arms pinning it to my back.
"Well done, Violet," I hear Dominic approaching, stopping next to me.
Violet pushes me to where Tuk is. I cover the blood bag with Nessie's shirt; i''s a good thing she's bigger than I am, and is completely concealed.
Tuk has Lulu in his hold, and he is not being gentle; she is gasping in pain.
"Tuk, you already have what you came for, how about letting Lulu go," I say putting a wide smile on my face.
"She still has some tracking to do. Right, Lulu?" He eyes me, while Lulu gives a small scream of pain.
I look at her, our eyes lock.
"Hold your breath," I mouth the words and she gives me a small nod.
I hold my breath, turn around, pull the bag of blood from under my shirt and smash it against Dominic´s chest.
Immediately the grip of my arm loosens, and the growl from Violet indicates that I need to get out of the way. I move just in time to see Tuk running to where Dominic is, with a louder growl coming from his mouth.
Lulu is astonished, her eyes are full of confusion, but she continues holding her breath. I pull her arm, bringing her back to reality, and looking at me.
Crap! This is going to hurt, like hell.
"Lulu, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" I say feeling the burn in my throat. I don´t need to tell her twice, she heads towards the exit, and for safe measure I remove her sense of smell until I can no longer see her.
I hear the screeching and tearing of somebody being dismembered together with the screaming. I don´t turn around; instead, I remove Nessie's shirt and clean my hand as best as I can, while running to where one of the gasoline bottles is. I throw it to where the two vampires are attacking the other.
The stench of gasoline surrounds the place. I grab the first match and light it, before moving closer to the vampires. I throw it, and it lights up; the fire spreads to where the gasoline spilled and burns the pieces of a broken vampire. The other two catch fire. I throw the bloodied shirt in the fire.
Violet and Tuk, their bodies on fire, move fast and put out the flames, but unfortunately for Dominic, he is not able to move so the fire quickly consumes him.
"Well played, Amalia." Tuk pounds his cloak, putting out the remains of the fire.
Violet grabs her arm; it seems she was bitten in the process. There is pain in her eyes, which translates to, "you are SOOOO going to pay for this" as soon as she sees me.
They both walk to where I am located. I don´t have any more surprises in this corner, and come to think of, I believe I no longer have any more gasoline; the corner that was burned is where the other bottle was.
Damn it!
I walk backwards and hit the wall behind me. I put my hands up preparing to release the pain ability once again.
"This does not look like a fair fight," my head snaps as soon as I hear William's voice, and my stomach drops into the dark pit of a deep hole.
I can´t do what I was about to.
Tuk smiles when he sees him.
"Took you long enough to join her. Do you happen to bring the other ones with you?" Violet asks innocently.
I keep eyeing William, Violet, and Tuk.
She doesn´t wait for an answer; she charges towards me. William moves towards Violet, but Tuk blocks him.
I remove her sense of balance, making her fall to the ground, and approach her, not liking one bit of what I am about to do.
As soon as I stop the ability that keeps her on the floor, to start pulling her apart , she gets up and hits me in the stomach. I bend down feeling the air sucked out and pain come in.
She continues not stopping, sliding her legs down mine, and making me fall. I manage to land on my knees, my hand stopping me from hitting the ground. She is about to hit me again, but I get a hold of the carbon activated that I'd put with the blood, and throw it in her eyes, briefly distracting her and giving me enough time to make a run to the other side.
I see in my peripheral vision William fighting Tuk, keeping up with him.
I turn just in time to see Violet almost on top of me. I panic and remove the first thing that I can think of; which is her vision. She raises her arm but I duck, and she misses me.
I back away, but the debris on the ground gives her a perspective of where I am. She moves to where the sound is coming from, as I reach to where the other bag of blood is located.
How is this going to help me? William is here; he will also react to the smell of it.
Damn it! I need to time this perfectly.
I grab the bag and quickly put it in my mouth. Unfortunately, I need to use my hands, so Violet is now able to see what I am about to do. When she sees the bag there's terror in her eyes.
"Tuk!" Her voice is full of alarm.
DAMN! I can´t lose my element of surprise.
I remove her sense of speech. She mouths the words, but no sound come out; she wasn´t expecting this.
I don´t wait; I run to her and get into position.
I hear William struggling with Tuk; there's banging here and there and the floor is shaking. I can only imagine one of them has been thrown to the wall, because of the cracking sounds that follow.
I don´t dare to look up. Violet is charging towards me, and my chances in speed and force are not good. I see her lifting her leg ready to kick me in the gut again, but I fall to the ground and roll, kicking the leg she's standing on, making her fall down.
This time she stays down, because I quickly lift my hands and remove her sense of balance.
I finally dare to look at what is happening with Tuck and William, and it's not good. Tuck has William in his grip, one of his arms around his neck; the other hand is twisting his neck.
"NO!" I yell, making the bag of blood fall to the floor.
The sound, makes Tuk look towards me, and when he realized what is at my feet, his eyes become full of terror.
I don´t dare to bend and pick it up, otherwise Violet will get up.
"Let him go, Tuk," I lift my feet "or you´ll find yourself licking the floor."
"You wouldn´t dare." He eyes me.
"Wrong answer." I step on the bag, spraying blood everywhere, including over my shoes, pants—and Violet.
As soon as the scent of blood hits me, I feel the fire in my throat. I hold my breath, and focus on William, removing his sense of smell, but I see him holding his breath as Tuk is.
Violet, on the other hand, is now coming toward me. I move away from the big pool of blood, leaving a clear trail of my footsteps with the blood.
I turn my hands to where Tuk is and remove his sense of balance, making him fall together with William. This is what William needed to start pounding on Tuk.
Pain shoots up my leg, and I find Violet biting my leg where the blood has sprayed on my pants. She is pulls me down, making me fall. I scream in pain and try kicking her off me, but she is stronger. The pain, that was only in one point, starts multiplying the more she bites me.
William prises her off me, as Violet tears part of my pants in the process.
The sound of debris being crushed makes me turn, and see Tuk running towards William. I don´t even think; I removed his sense of balance once again, seeing him fall to the ground.
I stand up; keeping my weight off the leg that was injured.
This is going to hurt.
"William," my throat is on fire—focus, Maya—"there is a lighter in the pocket of my pants…" I hold my breath again, my focus on Tuk and keeping him in the floor.
William removes the lighter from my pocket and I immediately feel the heat from the blaze of the fire.
I approach Tuk, limping, but stop when a figure runs towards him. William moves in a protective stand over me, but relaxes his pose as soon as he sees what is happening.
It's Lulu and she rips Tuk into little pieces as he screams in pain.
As soon as I know he is not going to be a problem, I put my hands down.
The look in Lulu´s face makes me certain that I don´t want to get on her bad side. She leaves without a word after Tuk is in a thousand pieces.
William throws the pieces into the fire, turning his body, and Violets, to ashes.
I limp to where I put the last bottle of gasoline and realize it's still there; my calculations were wrong. I then limp to where the blood is and throw it, covering the area.
I remove my shoes, socks, pants and throw them on the gasoline is. I don´t dare look where Violet has bitten me, and see the damage she created; there's going to be scars; just like the bites from Michael and the ones around each of my wrist.
William lights the fire and approaches me; he points to my shirt making me realize there's blood on it. It needs to be burned as well. I shake my head, trying to transmit to him that I'll get rid of it as soon as I have another item of clothing.
He rolls his eyes and removes his shirt, handing it to me.
My breath would have caught—if I wasn´t holding it, but I need to keep focus, so I avoid looking at him.
I can still feel small stabs of pain where Violet bit me, but it's starting to recede. I turn around, remove the shirt, and put William´s on. There's a few smudges of blood on the sleeves, so I rip them off. I make a ball with my shirt, and the sleeves, and throw it in the fire.
William is next to me; he moves his head to one side and I follow him. He bends down to pick up the cooler. I look down at the water that it once was ice. He makes a motion that he's going to pour it on top of me; it seems there's blood on my face, and probably in my hair.
This won´t do. I need wash myself, and this small pool of water won´t do.
I shake my head.
He stands up and without a word lifts me up. Then running as fast as he can, we leave Grand Central Station behind, jump the fence, and head through different streets; he doesn't slow his speed at all.
He doesn't look at me; he is looking in front, concentrated on getting where his mind tells him to go. I look over to where he is looking and realize the Detroit River is just a few feet in front of us; without even slowing down he goes into it with me on his arm.
I close my eyes and feel the freshness of the water hit my body, knowing any traces of blood are being washed away, and any scent different from my own is taken away in the current.
Opening my eyes, I see William next to me. He'd let me go at some point, and his face is still not showing any emotion. I swim my way up and enjoy the sensation of the oxygen flowing once again in my system, allowing me to have a clearer perspective of what is going on in my surroundings.
I turn around hoping to see William next to me, instead he is already swimming to the shore. He doesn't use his full speed, but he is not waiting for me.
It's not a good sign. He's mad.
Better get done with it.
I catch up with him; he has already pulled himself from the water and is standing on the shore. He stretches his hand to help me out, but I shake my head.
"I am not wearing any gloves," I say, and seeing his bare hand, he sighs.
"Just stretch your arm, I´ll pull from it. I won´t touch your hand," he instructs.
I do as I am told; he helps me out, and as soon as my feet touch the ground, he lets go and makes his way back the way we came from the station—without waiting for me to join him.
"Where are we going?" I ask, trying to catch up with him, but he accelerates his pace so that I don´t reach him. I try again and see the same effect, so I stop.
I turn around and go back to the bank of the river and sit down. I comb my hair as best as I can with my fingers, and work it into a braid. I finally look at my leg and see the bite marks that Violet left on it. I was hoping they wouldn´t be bad—maybe one or two—but I have six in total. Luckily, most of them are near my feet. I still feel some stinging, and I massage them, hoping the venom spreads faster and makes the pain go away sooner.
Hearing footsteps approach, I turn and see William holding my backpack. He is wearing a shirt, but hasn´t changed his wet pants. He stops some feet away from me and throws my backpack next to me.
I look at it, but ignore it, continuing to stare at William. I was wrong, he's not mad; he's furious.
"We had a promise, Maya. You don´t get to run away from me." His tone is controlled, but I can see he is holding back his anger. He crosses his arm and glares at me.
"I wasn´t running away from you, William." I look back at the River, avoiding his murderous stare. He might have looked in control, like the surface of the river, but deep down is a different story. "I had to make a spur of the moment decision."
"It was a stupid decision." The anger slips through to his voice.
"You don´t understand." I sigh, pulling my knees up and letting my chin rest on top of them. "What would you do if you knew you could help everybody by leaving them? Making the danger follow you so the others can escape?"
"By getting yourself captured! You would have achieved quite the opposite!"
"I didn´t have any intention on getting captured."
"Then what? Being killed would have achieved something? Please enlighten me, because all I can see is darkness down that path," he adds, annoyed.
"I didn´t have any intention of getting myself killed, either!"
"You think you're some kind of indestructible vampire with your skills—that you can defend yourself?" he continues, ignoring my comment, and getting madder by the minute.
"I did defend myself back there, and in the hotel." I turn around and look at him. "YOU are probably the only one who thinks I can´t do THAT."
"You are not a super hero, Maya."
"And neither are you, William. So before you start lecturing me, take a good look at yourself." I get up and walk to him. "This thing that is going on—it takes more than muscle to win it."
"Newsflash, Maya, it isn´t only about abilities, either. You might have been able to hold your ground, but at the end you would have gotten yourself capture, kill or badly hurt."
"And like you wouldn´t? I clearly remember you running into some trouble back there."
"You wouldn´t have even cared if they killed me."
"What the hell are you talking about? Do you think I like getting myself sprayed in human blood and having a vampire digging its fangs into my body just for fun? Believe me, I would have VERY MUCH cared if something happened to you!"
"It wasn´t the first time that happened."
"THIS was the first time I did it on purpose! Plus, who said the previous one wasn´t to protect you as well?" I grab the backpack, open it, and pull out the first T- shirt and pants I find.
When I turn around, William is next to me looking at the bite marks from Violet.
"I know I am not a hero, and I don´t have any intention on becoming one, but don´t blame me for trying to protect the ones that I care for," I say, as his hand tracing the bites, his face is pensive. "I know you do the same for me, William."
"I would do anything to protect you, Maya. You are right about that." His hand pauses over the bite marks.
"I'd rather you or I didn't have to do that, but let's face it, life has dealt us a deck of cards to play with. Either we give up or we keep on fighting, and make all this worth it."
He finally looks at my face.
"I have every intention of making it through the end and be with you." He smiles at me.
"Then we are on the same page." I return his smile.
"But, I would rather you be by my side and not freelancing." His face turns serious again.
"We make a pretty good team." I continue to smile, ignoring his comment.
"You are quite distracting actually." He chuckles. "My head was not in the fight. All I could think of was a thousand different outcomes, none of them with a happily ever after."
"Yeah, blame it on me!" I give him a small punch in the arm.
"I'm serious, Maya. I'm not joking."
I can see the concern in his eyes.
Didn´t he see me back there, and what I am capable of?
"You don´t trust me," I say, and he looks down at the bite marks on my leg. "Do you still think I'm so dependent on you?"
"Maya, I am afraid of what might happen." He points to the bites marks.
"Don´t you think I'm afraid of what might happen to you?" I ask, but he remains quiet. "You gave me quite a scare back there."
It seems I might need to show him.
"Okay, William, you think I can´t defend myself?" I stand up and step several feet away from him. "I challenge you." I bring my fists up getting in position to fight, jumping like I'm a boxer.
He looks at me as if I am a crazy vampire.
"I won´t do that." He just stays there looking at me, his eyes not leaving mine.
"You're afraid a girl will kicks your ass?" I purposely provoke him.
"No, Maya. I am afraid I´ll hurt you." He crosses his arms.
"I highly doubt that." I run toward him; he stays put, but the moment my arm is about to connect with his face, he moves one of his arms and blocks it. I quickly move my other arm to hit him, but no luck; he also blocks me. With the first arm that he blocked, I aim it towards his stomach, but my fist isn't able to connect with any part of him. Instead, he bends down and sweeps my legs from under me , making me fall. Catching me in his arms before I hit the ground, his places his lips to my neck and kisses it.
"You're not enough fast, Maya. Any member of the guard can easily take you down." He releases me.
I take advantage of him being distracted, and manage to kick him in the hip with all my force, pushing him a couple of steps, but not doing a lot of damage.
He lands crouching and easily composed.
"Fine, Maya, maybe you need a lesson on where you stand. So game on!" He gives me a challenging smile.
DAMN IT.
I had to go and kick the beehive.
"Just mind the hands," I say with a cocky tone, but honestly not feeling as secure anymore.
I get back in position, and raise my fists, not taking my eyes from him. He runs towards me, and I stay still, watching his arms to see which one I have to block. When he is about to reach me, he leaps into the air and lands behind me.
SHIT!
I don´t wait. I jump backwards, turning in the process to face him, as he comes towards me. He's using his full body force, reminding me of when Alton attacked him. I can´t go against that, but if there is one thing I learned is the Matador style. I step to one side just in time to see him pass me.
"OLE" I say, satisfied I was able to avoid him, and seeing a not very nice smile on his face.
"Second lesson: don´t get too cocky." He moves towards me again; this time faster.
Oh crap! He was playing nice the last time.
Think, Maya. He'll expect the same trick; instead, I run towards him and right before we collide, I go down to the floor and sweep his legs from beneath him.
He wasn´t expecting it, but he graciously lands after a couple of somersaults. As soon as his feet touch the ground, he runs towards me again.
SHIT!
I'm on the ground, and I don´t have enough time to get up.
I roll on my back so that I can use my legs to push him away, but he reads my move. Instead, he jumps over me, landing close to my head. He pins my arms to each side with my hands facing down.
His head comes down and kisses me on the neck.
"Two-zero, Maya. Let me know when you get tired of this game." He releases my hands and pulls away.
I get on my feet and face him again.
"I am just warming up." I give him a mischievous smile.
"Good." He moves a couple of steps away from me ."Your move."
I put my arms up, again fists closed, and run to him. He stays put, eyeing me. I open my palms and remove his sense of sight. This actually takes him by surprise.
I change trajectory hoping to confuse him, but I'm now the one caught off guard. He quickly moves to the side.
Lucky guess?
I keep with the plan, and with my palms up, I try hitting him, but he blocks my move, grabs my arm, and turns me around—which returns his sight. Getting hold of my other arm, he pulls it back, bringing me closer to him. I feel like I', hitting a concrete wall. Again, I feel his lips on my throat, kissing me.
"Three –Zero. Third lesson: remember, I was able to hear and smell you."
Damn it! I knew this; I saw Violet doing this.
He pushes me forward. "Let´s face it, Maya, your best bet is hiding, not engaging"—I turn around and give him a hateful glare—"unless you are prepared to do some actual damage."
Oh no! He didn´t!
I lift my arms up and open my hands. He runs to me; his confidence shortly vanishing. I remove his sense of balance and see him drop to my feet.
Bending down I kiss him on the neck, as he did to me three times.
"Three-one William." I step backwards before returning his sense of balance.
"That´s more like it, my Dear," he stands up and faces me, "but you just lost your element of surprise." He comes fast towards me; I am not able to put my hands up in time. He will expect me to jump to one side—what the hell!
I do the opposite, and jump in front, crashing against him. It's painful, but I make my way to his back, taking him by surprise. I put my arms around his neck and quickly kiss him again on the neck.
"Three-two." I let go of his neck and land on a crouch.
He doesn´t respond; instead, he moves toward me, and before I can react, he has his arm around me, pulling my arm backwards—not too gently.
I stomp my feet on top of his, and hit him in his ribs with my elbow. He draws in his breath; I turn around, and with the back of my hand, I hit him in the nose.
He releases his hold on me and moves a couple of steps back.
"You hit me!" His expression is full of disbelief. "Now you're in trouble!" Moving at full speed, he disappears from my sight.
Shoot!
His phrase comes to mind, "even if I can´t see you, I can still hear you and smell you".
I dare close my eyes and let my other senses control my next move.
As a fast gust of wind comes behind me, I duck as William trips over me and falls to the ground.
"You were right. Maybe I can´t see you, but you know…" I add sarcastically while he gets to his feet. "Come on, you're not even trying, William, put some muscle in it," I taunt him.
"Like you are? How about putting some abilities into it," he says, his voice not amused.
I spoke too soon; in the next moment he's beside me. Lifting me up he carries me over his shoulder. In this position, I don´t have a clear shot to his neck, but neither does he to mine.
An idea forms in my head. I quickly pull off the shirt that I am wearing, and when he tries to pull me down, I take advantage of the fact his face is close to mine, and wrap the shirt around him. Again, taking him by surprise, I use the shirt to suppress sight and partially his sense of smell.
Trying to pry it off, he releasing me. I cover his ears, and sweep my legs beneath his, and mimicking his move, I catch him in my arms before he hits the ground and kissing him on the neck .
"Three-three, my dear," I mock him in an English accent. He pulls off the shirt, and his expression is both surprised and unimpressed. I can´t resist having him so close, and give him a kiss on the lips. "Now remove that pout from your lips and get your head in the game."
He stands up a little shaken and gets in position. I mimic him, and he frowns.
"Maya put some clothes on." He points to my shirt on the ground.
"I clearly remember you telling me to put some abilities into it." I flash him a devilish smile, and he shakes his head. "Well, no that's not right. Am I using your weaknesses against you? Plus, as far as I'm concerned, I'm fighting you in a bikini." He cringes in disbelief. "It could happen," I insist. I'm wearing a very nice magenta pink bra and underwear that actually could be mistaken as a bikini.
"You're fighting dirty, my dear, but let's bring some muscle to the mix, shall we?" He pulls his shirt off
Oh, crap!
With his six-pack, torso, and not to mention, his muscly arms so close, will be distracting.
He runs to me; I jump and land on the rail, and continue running in the opposite direction while keeping my balance. He passes me by, and I am about to crash into him. Grabbing a lamppost, I change trajectory, running the other way. I can feel him on my heels; I jump backwards and flip over, while he passes me, and land back on the rail. If I was a gymnast it would have earned me an excellent score.
With no time to think, I run to the lamppost and climb it as fast as I can, but by the time I get on top, he is waiting me. He didn't need to climb it; instead, he only had to jump.
"Hello, my Darling." He smiles, purposely using his English accent.
I could jump down and try to run away, but I know he'll catch me. I could jump in the water, but hell no! I've already had my dose of swimming for the day, and he'll probably outswim me as well ... but he did mention that I needed to use my abilities.
"Hasta la vista, baby!" I wave him goodbye, put my hand up and remove his sense of balance, watching him fall down into the water.
Jumping down to the rail, I laugh my heart out, waiting for the moment he comes up cursing. But he doesn´t; if he wasn´t a vampire I would be worried bby how much time it's taking him to resurface.
Walking along the rail, I retrieve a shirt from my backpack, when the sound of water breaking alerts me. I jump to the ground, and in the next moment William lands next to me, a murderous look on his face.
"Since you're already wearing a bikini, my Darling, how about I take you for a swim." He grabs me and jumps back into the water with me in his arms.
DAMT IT!
When we hit the water he doesn´t release me; instead, he turns me to face him. His hand moves to the back of my head, and the other around my waist; he pulls me to him.
He kicks his way back to the surface, and as soon as our heads are out of the water, he kisses me, so passionately.
Honestly, why exactly I am in the water? What were we doing previously?
Who cares, as long as his lips are on mine…
I like where I am; in his arms with his face touching mine, warming it, as his stubble prickles my cheek. I wrap my arms around his neck, as he tightens his around my waist, not allowing me to go anywhere—not that I want to go anywhere else. But for safe measure, I wrap my legs around his torso, as he keeps us afloat.
His hand finds its way down to my back, where he caresses the bite marks. I move my arm to his shoulder, where he has a scar from the time he rescued me from Alton.
He stops kissing me, and moves his head to my ear. "How about calling a truce?" He kisses my neck before pulling his head back, wide smile on his lips.
I nod and bring my lips to his, where he is eagerly awaiting them. His hand moves up and down my thigh, and his head moves to my collarbone before he starts making its way down south.
Oh God!
"And to think that I was going to call dibs on that fine specimen of a male," a stranger´s voice interrupts our moment.
William pulls me closer to him—if that's even possible—and swims to the opposite bank of the river.
I glance quickly, and see that the voice belongs to Lulu.
"Stop, William. She's okay." He has a warning look on his face. I'm not happy about the interruption, but I don´t want an audience for what I had in mind either, so I regain whatever focus I have. "She was captured by the other ones."
"I call dibs on challenging him next on whatever street fighting you were doing," her voice is full of amusement. "Or should I say strip fighting?" She laughs at her own joke, and Williams smirks.
He stops swimming, and we stay put in the middle of the river.
"I am not here to attack you." Lulu sits on the rail. "Especially her. She's CRAAAZZZYYYY!"
"HEY!" I snap at her.
"And I'm loving every part of what you did back there in the building." She stands up and starts clapping.
"Don´t encourage her," William says to her, annoyed. I give him an I told you so look, which he obviously doesn't appreciate, considering the murderous look he gives me in return.
I turn and instead smile at Lulu; she returns it.
"Lulu, William. William, Lulu." I'd rather make the introductions than face William's wrath.
"Actually, I'd rather be called Cabrera, if you don´t mind, Amalia." She sits back down on the rail again.
"Amalia?" William repeats in amusement.
Damn. I would have rather William not know the name that Aro refers to me.
"Yeah … about that." I turn back to him; he flashes me a mocking smile.
"So you lied to me, Amalia,"—I return his murderous look—"I thought you didn´t lie."
"As far as I am concerned my name is Maya." I pull away from his arms and swim toward the bank. "And I would also rather be called Maya, if you don´t mind."
"If it is any comfort, where I come from Amalia´s a pet name for Maya," she explains to William. "She didn´t lie".
William swims to catch up to me, and Cabrera gets to her feet and offers him a hand. William takes it, as Cabrera eyes him up and down her smile widening, obviously enjoying the sight of a very handsome male without a shirt on. Lucky for me William ignores her, before he stretches his hand to me.
"I won´t touch your hand…Amalia," he says, and I glare at him, but let him help me out of the water. He brings me closer to him and kisses me in the forehead.
"So then you are Maya and you are William?" Cabrera says, and William nods. "I could have sworn your name was hot stuff."
I can´t help laughing; especially after feeling William tense up.
"I am taken, Cabrera," William answers back, killing whatever hopes Cabrera might have had about him.
She sighs.
"So you two are married?" she asks, and I can´t help tensing at the question.
We've been together so long, but it'd not that kind of relationship.
This time William chuckles. "No, Cabrera, we're not married." He crosses his arms around my body, and explains, "But I am off the market."
"Oh well, you lucky girl." She winks at me. "But I can still enjoy the lovely eye candy that is in front of me—which is going to make our ride together a whole lot more fun."
I am not certain I heard correctly.
"You're free to go, Cabrera. You don´t need to stick with us," I put in, and immediately she shakes her head.
"You are wrong on that account, Maya. No one with your kind of ability or strength is free to go, not that that was the case in the past, but they've become more strict." For once her voice is deadly serious. "And you both know that; otherwise, they wouldn´t be chasing you." She points her finger at me.
"What exactly do you know, Cabrera?" William is no longer joking.
"I was asked in a not very polite way to find her," she explains.
"She is a tracker, William," I inform William; who immediately understands.
"Oh no, not just any tracker, Maya,"—I turn back to her—"I might not be a tracker as powerful as Demitri, but there is a reason they were interested in me enough to invite me"—she uses quotation marks with her fingers—"to their group."
"That would be finding Maya?" William asks.
"That's just a small fraction of what they wanted me to do, handsome." It's obvious she's enjoying the attention from us. Well no, that's not true; she's actually enjoying the attention from William.
"I, my dear, can track an idea." She gets off the rail and walks towards us. "So for example, I was tracking a vampire that had the ability to read minds by touching someone, as well as putting images of pain in our brain and removing different senses. I thought they were crazy, but surprise … I found you." She looks directly at me.
I glance at William; he is looking at Cabrera, his face is full of concern.
"Do you know if there are more trackers like you?" I ask.
Cabrera shrugs her shoulders. "Who knows, but I got the feeling they were after whatever kind of tracker they could get their hands on." Her tone is serious.
"Were you the one tracking the shape shifter?" William asks.
She shakes her head. "My whole responsibility was tracking you first, and then a half-breed with an ability." Her expression turns to disbelief.
"So how did you know about La Push, Maya?" William asks, turning to me.
"Because of the others. One of them was in charge of tracking a shape shifter with a bigger group; he was detoured when he caught my scent and Nessie´s. I saw in the mind of the other one that Cabrera´s group was very close."
His expression turns reproachful.
"I already told you, William, I had to make a spur of the moment decision. Once I was in the car I started to analyze Alessandro´s mind; that is, when I knew about the third group on their way to La Push. I texted a message to Edward. I'm sorry." I bite my lower lip. "Did they manage to get everybody to safety?"
"I don't know, Maya. Alice told me to come here, but Jacob and Nessie were making the arrangements and heading over there"—his face suddenly lights up—"the cell phone, where is it?" he automatically starts padding his jeans pockets. If it was there, then it's long gone.
Cause of death: drowning.
He grabs his backpack and looks inside.
Cabrera comes near and has the cell phone in one hand. I am about to say something, but she puts one of her fingers on my mouth, indicating for me to keep quiet.
"They're okay. I just spoke to Nessie," she whispers to me, and obviously William didn't hear her because he's still pulling items from his backpack.
Her concentration remains on William, and honestly, I understand her. William does have quite a nice back.
"You are such a lucky girl." She sighs. "Silly me!" she suddenly says in a normal tone. "You forgot this in your car."
William turns and gives her a reproachful look, an extends his hand for the phone, but Cabrera shakes her head. "It is going to cost you a kiss."
I glare at her full of disbelief, with anger rising in the pit of my stomach. Jealousy is what they probably call it.
"EXCUSE ME!" I exclaim.
Cabrera and William appear amused.
"You can spare a little kiss, right, handsome?" She winks at him and he rolls his eyes.
"I DON´T THINK SO." I step between William and Cabrera and extend my hand to take the phone, but William pulls my arm backwards.
"You are not wearing any gloves Maya," he reminds me.
I turn and frown at him.
"Looks to me that she most definitely would care if something happens to you or if somebody steps on her territory." Cabrera laughs.
How long did she overhear us talking and fighting? It seems it was for quite a while.
William puts an arm around me, brings me closer to him, and kisses me on the cheek.
"There, that wasn´t so hard, was it?" She hands the phone to him.
I glare at her, and she smirks.
"I can get you more sugar, just let me know." She winks at me, and I roll my eyes.
"I can get my own, thank you very much." I turn to William and without telling him anything, he kisses me—which becomes more than just a small peck.
"Now that's just mean. Eating in front of the poor," she interrupts us when our kiss grows deeper.
William and I pull apart, both chuckling. I put my arms around his torso.
"You should get dressed. We need to get going, and we need to pick up this so-called Jacob and Nessie at Michigan airport." She glances at William. "I wouldn´t mind if you decided to remove your other items of clothing, though."
He only shakes his head.
"I´ll wait in the car, and don´t take too long." She walks off, fast, and I'm not sure if she's going to wait in the car, or actually hide and spy on William changing….
I know I would.
I unwrap my arm from around William, and reluctantly grab my backpack and pull out a change of clothes. I pull out a pink shirt, a pair of jeans, some shoes, and another set of gloves, but before I can put them on, William lifts me into his arms and runs at full speed down to the pier.
"What was that for?" I ask him.
But understand when I see my underwear dry as well as his jeans.
"I wouldn´t be able to resist the temptation." He chuckles and grabs a shirt out of his backpack, pulling it on.
Oh well! Bye bye, abs. Hope to see you soon!
I get dressed, redo the braid in my hair, and pull the gloves on my hands, as William waits for me.
"Ready?" I ask him, offering him a hand to help him up.
He takes it, but pulls me down and catches me with his arms, pulling me onto his lap.
"Please, don´t ever scare me like that," he says, taking my head between his hands, his tone completely serious. "I would not be able to live without you."
"I had…" he places a finger on my lips.
"You might be able to protect yourself a lot better than before, Maya, but even I know when there's a big group it's better to run away than fight them. And in your case, it's better to hide."
I don´t like what he's saying, but the seriousness behind his voice and his worried expression tells me it's important to him.
"Use that wit of yours—which is your best weapon—together with your abilities, but for the rest, ask for help. Don´t be a hero … be a survivor so you can return to me."
I nod. "I´ll do it, as long as you do the same."
"Of course, my Darling." He hugs me, and when I pull my head up, he kisses my forehead and then shortly on my lips, before he moves to release me.
I don´t move an inch. I only shake my head. "If the kids are coming back, I'm going to need something far better than a peck on the lips to keep me motivated."
I don´t have to tell him twice, as a big smile takes over his face. He brings his arms around me, pulling me closer to him, before he rolls me onto the grass, against me, with his lips on mine. He grabs my hand, while the other caresses my face—or was it my waist?
Who cares?
"I love you, Maya," he manages to say in between kisses.
"I lo…" I try to form a coherent thought when we're interrupted.
"Ahem."
It's Cabrera.
William looks over to her and sighs, before pulling us up.
"Let's go and get the kids," he says, bending down to grab the backpacks.
"KIDS?" Cabrera´s eyes are full of terror, and I can´t help laughing at her reaction. "Nobody told me anything about kids!"
"That's what we call Nessie and Jacob," William explains, as Cabrera eyes him dubiously. "Don´t worry, one is around twenty-something, and Nessie is … young." He turns to me with amusement in his eyes.
"Hello! That's still pretty young—for me they would classify as babies!" she says.
"You can always go on your own," I say, and she immediately shakesher head.
"Nu-huh, I apply my ability on following the idea of where I'll be safest. Surprise, surprise … that's you. That's why I stayed put and enjoyed the whole show." She smirks at William and I. "I'm sticking with you guys, no matter what."
"You're going to regret that decision as soon as you get in the car with Jacob," I say, as William laughs out loud.
She eyes us both suspiciously.
"I'm not going to spoil the surprise,"—an idea starts forming in my head—"but maybe, Cabrera, just maybe, I might be willing to help you." I have her full attention. "But just remember that the price is getting me some sugar without the kids knowing."
William just chuckles and shakes his head.
"Let me see what I'm up against, and then I´ll start the negotiations," she says, her attention now on William.
"Oh, believe me, you're going to be grateful of my offer," I say with clenched teeth.
We walk towards the car, and I explain what to expect regarding Jacob and Nessie.