Chapter twenty eight- THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE VAMPIRE'S BACK

Everyone has a moment in life where enough is enough. You can no longer fake a smile or force your self to move forward. A moment when all you want to do is scream and fight. This was Emma's.

Emma's lips pulled up, she crouched into attack position, the same moment she moved Millie into her back. Millie wrapped her arms around her mother and pressed her face into the thin summer dress Emma had put on that morning. Nathan watched his mother and a smile flew to his lips. He leaned into attack position; a shiver ran down my spine as a growl ripped up the child's throat. My mind was blank as Emma moved slowly circling her mother, Emma's eyes never moved from her target. I had taught her that.

"You'd never hurt me. Isn't it a better idea to cut your losses and just give me the child? You can keep the boy, I have no use for him." Emma snarled and Millie's hands turned red with the fierceness of her grip on Emma's neck.

"You can only be angry with yourself child. I can't have vampire trash taking over as the new queen. You must understand that." Her words came out calm and tired, like this was common knowledge.

"All I know, mother, is you will never get my daughter. You'll have to kill me first." The words were like daggers in my chest. I knew I would say the same thing if it was me in her place.

Raina watched her daughter, only moving her head as Emma continued her walk around her. Her expressions turned solemn, she nodded and replied. "So be it."

My foot seemed to move on it's own, jetting forward slightly. Alice placed her hand on my chest and pushed back. She gave me a warning glare before turning back to the scene at hand. Before anyone could do anything noises not that of normal animals came pouring from the woods. Deep throaty growls, breathe taking howls and the whimpering of dogs. I gasped for the air in the woods. Wolves, I'd bet my life, or so to speak, on it. Everyone seemed to know what was coming at the same time, except for Raina or maybe she didn't care. There's very little to fear when nothing can hurt you.

The eight imprinted men ran full speed through the yard kicking up grass and a few of Alice's decorations. Alice whimpered under her breath, but other wise kept calm. The wolves didn't stop until they circled Emma cutting her off from Raina. Emma looked more annoyed then worried; I could see the fight she had been building up wavering.

"She is Raina, Emma's mother." Edward answered the mental questions. Raina looked over the giant dogs more carefully and a sly smile crept to her lips.

"Not dogs, Shifters." She sounded pleased. She looked over each member of the pack. She didn't move too closely, as each one was eyeing her.

"What did I tell you?" Sam shouted. His arms were clenched at his sides.

The wolves whimpered under the weight of the alpha's anger. Jacob sighed, he did not treat his pack this way, but it was not his place to say anything. I had a feeling his pack would get bigger if Sam could not learn to be more careful with his powers.

"I told you to go home!" One of the wolves nodded to another standing close by. The others formed a tighter circle around Emma and her children while he ran to the woods. Only moment's later returning in human form. He must have lost rock paper scissors to have to speak to Sam.

"Well, we did, but ummm..now we're back?" Tyler, was only twenty, but by Jacob's account one of the strongest member's of the pack, cowered under the alpha. Sam raised his hand to his head. I looked to Jacob; we stared at each other in disbelief. I had never heard of anyone other then Jacob who had been able to defy a direct order from Sam, and he had only been able to do it because of who his grandfather was. Here were not one or two but eight who had been able to cut the ties of the alphas word.

"What about….i wasn't thinking of you when I sent you back!" Sam was right to keep his family a secret; we didn't know how fair Raina was willing to go to get what she wanted.

"Seth stayed behind to watch the, um, house. And your dad's there too and the rest of the reservation. Everyone's been told about the Cullen's visitor." Sam didn't relax, but this news did seem to make his less afraid.

"Have you they tied them to you Emma?" Raina asked, she seemed very uninterested in what ever the dog's were speaking about.

"Tied?" Sam asked. He was hoping there was a reason for this sudden defiance in so many of his pack, we all were. There were so many unanswered questions it'd be nice to at least break even. Raina sighed; she kept her eyes on Emma.

"Tied is the succubus form of imprinting as some call it. It is know differently to different groups of the mythical kind. Tied, imprinting, linked, it merely means what poets and simple minded humans call true love." She cringed.

"Yes I suppose." Emma answered. "But their not my true love. Nathaniel…. I mean I can't be truly loved by nine people. Each person has their own love. Right?"

"Of course, each HUMAN is born with something missing, it's not physical or mental you can't see it or touch it, but when you met them you know in some way your life would never be right without them. It's not the same for our kind Emma. We are born with out that emptiness. For the blood su…. Vampires they were once human so they have that empty space in their hearts and as vampires everything they experience is heightened their sight, hearing and especially love. They love more deeply then any human could, once they find that one person they are entirety changed. Even the dog's over there love more deeply then humans could. They have it a bit easier then others, they can feel it when they find that one person, like something clicking into place. Not us Emma, we can not feel love, that spark or pang in our hearts. That's why this," she waved her hand to the ring of wolves. "Happened. You can attract the heart of anyone who is not tied to another."

Emma dropped her head; she looked so hurt you would have thought Raina had struck her. Alice shifted her shoulders and Edward leaned back into me. It seemed everyone had been hurt by this news.

"It's not true." The whisper broke through the silence. "It's not. You're wrong." Nathaniel shook from head to foot. He had gone to stand with Esme who had tried to comfort him after Raina reviled his secret. He shot forward straight for Raina.

"Come now Nathaniel, I told you this might happen when you agreed to watch over her. I thought you were too hurt by your mother's death to care about anyone again. You even lived with the clan for a year and never came to 'love' anyone. I thought perhaps you were immune. You don't really love her; if you want I could break it for you. You only have to ask." She rested her hand under his chin. Nathaniel jumped back rubbing violently at his chin and throat with the back of his hand.

"Break it?" Emma asked. "You could do that?"

"Well of course." Raina rolled her eyes. "How else would we leave our husbands? Our powers are so strong that any men we use it on will follow us to the ends of the earth unless we release them." I shuddered at the tone in her voice; it was high and mighty with just a hint of mischievousness.

"Would you like me to help you Emma?" Her voice mimicked the sickingly sweet tone she had used before; it was too forced to be taken seriously now.

"Yes." Emma hide her face behind one of the many wolves protecting her.

"Are you sure? Look at them, look how they would easily give up their lives for you." Her complete lack of concern made Emma shutter.

"Do it." Emma's voice broke; the thought of protection from any and all enemies for her and her children was something anyone would think about even momentarily. But I knew she could never take another person's will away, especially if it's under a false imprinting, false true love.

"Where's my please?" She heaved a sigh, smiling.

"Please gram ma?" Millie had one hand in the air pleading with Raina the other was covering Emma's mouth, which had curled into an unsettling image of Emma's rage, exposed teeth and all.

"Anything for you princess." Esme ducked her head into Carlisle's chest. The thought of losing a part of her family hurt Esme deeply.

Raina walked swiftly to Tyler. She looked deeply into his eyes; he couldn't seem to look away. "You want to help Emma don't you dear?"

Tyler nodded, "Good bye." Raina said after a few seconds. Tyler swayed back as if he was going to fall, but then he snapped straight up. His hands flew to his head.

"Ow! Ow, what happened? My head's killing me." Tyler looked around until he caught the sight of his brothers circled around Emma. "Um, guys? What are you doing?"

"You see," Raina reached into a pocket I could not have thought possible on the skin tight dress, she pulled out a small pocket mirror and examined herself.

"If the love is true the tie will not break. It happens to the men of our kind, a curse you could call it. Over the years the bond between the men of our kind and the women of human kind has gotten stronger and most of the incubi, the men of our kind find, their true love and can not break the spell. It's sad really. It's said that succubae were created when a woman was scorned by her love; she was with child of course, she prayed to the gods to protect her daughter and all the females of future generations from the pain and humiliation of love, so the gods granted her the power to use the human's weakness towards love against them." She blew a kiss to the mirror before shutting it and placing it silently into her invisible pocket.

"Unfortunately, back then you couldn't find out the child's gender and the baby was born a boy. The gift could not reach him, instead it had the same effect those dogs have, they can feel the love surround them and change them. Sad really." She looked at Nathaniel and smiled coldly.

"What about the rest?" Emma asked gently. The wolves had moved tighter around her when Tyler had been freed.

Raina walked around the circle of wolves slowly. "Are you sure Emma dear? Wolves can be quite useful. You might want to keep one or two just incase."

"No please, it's not right." Emma placed her hand on one of the wolves' shoulders. He leaned into her hand and sighed. Emma stepped back and tucked her hands into her pockets. Nathaniel moved forward, slowly trying to regain her attention.

"Fine then." Raina walked to each man, doing the same thing each time, staring intensely in their eyes, she touched their shoulders briefly, each time though the phrase was different. It had varied from good byes to insults, but each time the bewildered wolf would shake their head and wander away from the circle back to Sam or to the woods for a quick change to human form. She continued this way until all the wolves had left Emma's side.

"It's really quite easy; all you need to do is look deeply into their eyes until you can feel their love for you. Then you simply touch them and say what you see would hurt them the most. That simple really." She seemed pleased with her self. "It's just as easy to make them imprint." She flew with unseen speeds to Tyler's side. He had not moved very far after he had been released. She looked into his eyes and once again the false sun came out for Tyler.

"You others must go!" Edward shouted as Raina turned towards the other freed wolves.

"Go now!" Sam's clothes and voice faded away as he changed to his other form. The men as usual listened without question to their alpha and turned tail towards the wood.

"I told you they really can be quite useful." She played absent mindedly with a strand of Tyler's cropped black hair. "We don't want anyone getting hurt now do we? So sweet heart, hand over my grandchild."

hey guys, sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Will try to post again soon! Please comment or ask any questions you may have.