Emmett dodged Jasper's swing and lowered into a crouch before lunging at his brother. Their bodies crashed together and Jasper expertly dodged his before retaliating. Emmett was expecting it. He sparred with Jazz more than anyone; this was practically just another sparring session. Only instead of being at home with Esme fretting about them killing each other or destroying her house, he was surrounded by a bunch of wolves to kill a ton of baby vampires. This was definitely more fun. Jasper managed to slip around him, swipe his legs out from under him and pin him down. Emmett twisted, thinking of ways out of this, but Jasper had him. He dug his nails into his throat.
"Damn it." he growled.
Jasper smirked. "Maybe next time, bro."
Emmett jumped to his feet and bumped fists with his brother before he walked back to where his family stood. Jasper was preparing to pair them off with the wolves when there was a rumbling growl from behind him. What happened next seemed to occur too quickly, even for his advanced comprehension. The low growl became louder, sounding like rolling thunder in a storm and came from the forest.
A huge black form slunk out of the trees. The creature was enormous, even bigger than the members of the shifter pack. Emmett wasn't even sure that he was really witnessing this. If he had to pick a name for it, Emmett would say it was a Hellhound, straight from the deepest and darkest pit of the underworld. Its fur was pitch black, making it look like it appeared out of the night itself and its eyes gleamed like ruby stones. The rhythmic pounding of its heart filled Emmett's ears. The creature looked like a wolf; a huge, mutant, demon wolf. Its muzzle pulled back, revealing large white teeth. The Pack suddenly seemed to go from calm to completely batshit in an instant, growling and barking violently. Sam's large black form crouched slightly, head lowering and a long growl resonated from his chest. The rest of his pack moved around him slowly, all focused on the wolf across the field. This wasn't a chance meeting, this was a confrontation.
Emmett looked on, half fascinated half shocked. Was this a wolf from the reservation or a rival tribe? What the hell was happening? His body tensed, subconsciously preparing for attack. The huge wolf roared, the omnipotent sound echoing across the field. The wolf dug its claws into the dirt and shot off across the field, moving at impossible speeds. The wolf's powerful body collided with Sam's, who had lunged forward. Their bodies rammed against each other. They snapped and growled and clawed at each other viciously. It was like a live Animal Planet special on freakishly big, aggressive wolves.
The pack moves cautiously as they take in the stranger. The Pack's alpha male recognizes that this other wolf is also an alpha and prepares to defend his pack and territory. Aware of the threat, both wolves fight viciously, knowing that much is on the line, including their lives. The two males fight aggressively trying to assert his dominance.
The larger wolf easily gained the upper hand and knocked Sam back into a tree. Emmett heard bones break on impact as body slammed into it. The huge wolf moved quickly, moving on to descend onto the russet form of Jacob Black. With all the grace of a striking snake, powerful jaws clamped down on the back of his neck, tearing into flesh and muscle. Blood stained the white teeth and rust-colored fur and began pooling on the dirt. A sharp whine tore from Jacob as the wolf dug deeper into his struggling body, giving a hard yank as he did so.
This wolf was ready to kill.
The other wolves were preparing to pounce and Emmett wondered if the beast could take on all the wolves at once when wispy blackness materialized beneath the giant wolf, pushing against him and sending the creature flying backwards towards the center of the field. There was the sound of rushing water, like a strong river current. Akin to a dam bursting, water flowed out of the trees and into the field. Only instead of spreading across the ground and sinking into the dirt like it should've, it twisted and writhed like a serpent, turning and rushing along the ground in front of the wolves and rising upwards like a thin, clear curtain nearly forty feet high. The wolf growled and rushed forward, slamming its powerful form against the flowing barrier.
It was water, Emmett already knew water didn't do this and honestly, he'd been expecting the wolf to walk right through it, but the water stayed in its place, like a wall, despite its fluidity. It had to be Nolan's doing; Emmett knew he was the only one capable of such a display. Nolan appeared just then, stepping out from behind the wolves and his liquid barrier. If he was here that meant Anala was around as well.
Smoke-like black that had become familiar to Emmett gathered in front of Nolan's barrier like some metallic powder being pulled in by a powerful magnet. He watched as it seemed to grow, shifting and moving in murky silence. Anala emerged out of the strange, unsubstantial mass. The opaque shadows curled around her almost lovingly as she glared at the beast across from her, vivid green eyes seemingly glowing against the contrast blackness surrounding her. More shadows gathered beside her, forming a large mass. It twisted and formed until it became an exact replica of the large wolf. It was just as huge, just as menacing, perhaps even more so seeing as Anala conjured it from nothing. The only difference was that it had no eyes. Instead there was just hollow, dark flesh.
It was disturbing.
It was beautiful.
He noticed the wolf no longer cast a shadow on the ground. Strange.
The wolf growled and the eye-less one mirrored it, the sound escaping it sounding wispy and ghostly. The wolf shifted and the other followed suit, moving with it as if it were reading its mind, or controlling it, Emmett didn't know. The wolf abruptly rushed forward and crashed into its twin, snapping at it. The two simultaneously rose on their hind legs and the wolf swiped out with a massive paw. The other did the same with the opposite, clawing the wolf across the cheek. The wolf backed off and began to pace agitatedly, back and forth, back and forth, licking its blood covered muzzle. The other did the same. The wolf was bleeding, the claw marks on his face leaking blood. Anala continued to glare at the wolf in silence.
The wolf growled and huffed. Its body began to tremble and shudder. It's body hunched and sick popping and cracking sounds came from inside it. The fur began to lighten and shrink into the flesh. The muzzle retracted, the bones shifted, the flesh lighted and in seconds, Javan stood, pale and naked with the flesh of his cheek knitting together again, where the wolf once stood, in all his glory.
Holy fucking shit.
Sam reacted immediately, roaring in fury. He and his wolves looked ready to murder. He was swiftly bolting forward. The barrier shifted and huge large spikes shot out, stopping him in his tracks. Nolan stepped towards Sam and tsked, pointing a finger at him.
"Heel."
Sam growled threateningly as he turned towards the young man that was seemingly both protecting and caging him in.
Jasper growled in response, making Nolan look up, and giving Sam the chance to lunge at him. The barrier seemed to react on its own; water enveloped Nolan and pushed at Sam's body, shoving him back. More water circled the wolf and more spikes emerged from the water as it began to solidify, turning into ice in moments. Sam was trapped.
"I save you and your Pack from getting your asses handed to you and this is how you treat me?" Nolan shook his head. The shadowy wolf seemed to shiver, its shape morphed and changed, contorting in a way that suggested it was stuck between one shape and another. Anala grimaced lightly, raising a hand to her head as the misshapen form looked to be struggling, before it slowly dispersed like smoke.
"Why do you ruin my fun?" Javan asked. Emmett looked at the ground beneath the other vampire. He cast a shadow again. Javan was in front of her instantly, grabbing her by the jacket. Emmett moved forward only to have a barrier of water materialize in front of him, stopping him. Emmett reached out and touched it. It was water, it felt and flowed, like water should, but it held firm in front of him. Emmett looked to Nolan but he stood casually, looking at Sam.
"That's not true. I only ruin it when that twisted mind of yours comes up with shit like this!"
Javan frowned. "I was not going to kill your little boy toy. I just wanted to play with him."
Anala just sighed. She looked away and Emmett averted his eyes when her eyes landed on his.
"Okay," Javan gave in with a smirk and released her. "I was going to kill him."
"I ask you one thing: Don't kill him. And you try and kill him anyway. What is wrong with you? You drive me crazy with this crap!"
"What can I say? I'm a complicated man."
Emmett watched as Javan's smirk widened. He was enjoying this. Why? Thinking on it now, he thought Javan turning into a wolf sort of made sense. He wasn't like other vampires. He was a caged beast. An animal. Emmett listened as the thudding in Javan's chest slowed and silenced completely. How was it that his heart could beat? Javan walked towards Anala and cupped her chin.
"You seem mad."
"I am mad."
Javan pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. Emmett felt the barbed prickle of jealousy and anger wound around him. What was it with Javan and the twins? His relationship to them didn't seem to be one thing or another. He didn't seem like a patriarch, like Carlisle was to all of them, but it also wasn't a simple friendship either.
"I'm sorry."
Anala pulled away from him. "No you aren't and I don't expect you to be."
"See, I like that. Even when you're pissed at me, you still know how I am."
Nolan stepped through the barrier as if it wasn't even there. He jogged towards where Anala and Javan stood and his sister snatched a gray t-shirt from his hands, leaving him with a pair of black jeans, which he handed to the naked vampire. Anala turned and stalked towards where the pack was, still behind the barrier. She ranted angrily under her breath in French. "Stupid, insane man! How hard is it to not kill someone?! I swear he does this just to piss me off."
Javan chuckled.
She passed through the wall of water just as easily as her brother had. She kneeled next to Jacob, who had shifted back to his human form, and pressed the shirt against his healing neck and shoulders.
"That's my shirt, you know." Javan called as he pulled on the jeans.
"Yeah well, now it's a rag." Anala replied, not bothering to turn and look at him.
"You don't need to do that." Jacob said. "I'll heal."
"I know. But at least you won't still have blood all over you. I'm really sorry about this." She looked to Javan. "He's an asshole."
"But you love me anyway."
Jacob was looking at Javan in silent anger. "He's insane, isn't he?"
Anala paused, pulling back her hand with the bloodied shirt. "Sometimes."
"We're going to kill him for this."
Anala stood. Emmett couldn't see her expression as Jacob looked up at her. His eyes widened a bit and he reached towards her. "Hey . . ."
Anala dropped the shirt. "I've had it. I'm going home now."
Javan looked at Jacob and internally sighed. He could've been dead by now. He hadn't intended to kill the boy at first, not really anyway, but his wolf had other ideas. He wanted to destroy Jacob and Javan felt his spine tingle at the thought of finishing what his wolf started before Anala and Nolan had stepped in. It was a shame really. Anala was glaring at him as if she was willing the earth to swallow him whole and Javan couldn't help but smirk. Her green eyes were always bright and clear, but when she was angry, they burned like embers. Passion blazed in her, he knew that firsthand, and Javan enjoyed bringing it out of her. He could get under her skin in a way no one else could, not even her mate. It was good though, she had a habit of retreating into herself sometimes and he made it his personal duty to pull her out, by force preferably. Plus, it was fun to watch her get all worked up like this. She was rarely angry. Anala knew that. Javan never believed they would be together; it would never last, they would've been toxic to each other, which was too bad because the sex they had was phenomenal.
His lips tasted like blood and hers tasted like she smelled, sweet and mysterious.
She cleaned the young shifter with his shirt, knowing it would annoy him. He wouldn't apologize for his actions. Anala and Nolan were part of his pack. His wolf protected and cherished them like his own pups and would eliminate anyone who harmed them. Why fight his instincts? His eyes trailed to the Cullen's. The looks on their faces was nothing new to him; Awe, horror, confusion. Carlisle though, his expression caused a mixed feeling in him. The blonde man looked mystified, and child-like wonder filled his eyes.
He looked like Aro.
His wolf stirred beneath the surface. He looked to the wolves and his lips curled into a grin. Now that Jacob had been punished, it was time to make them useful.