Seth –Promise–

The wound hurt like hell and I was damn sure that I would die.

But I mustn't die now. I needed to know whether she was fine or not. When she was in a safe place, then I could die. But I didn't even know where she was at the moment.

I tried to get up but a cold hand pushed me down.

"Relax, Seth," Carlisle told me gently. He and Esme had come with Quil and Jake after Chloe and Leah had gone to chase the foreign wolf.

Yeah, that was the second big problem. Leah –my sister Leah– had gone along with my angel in the fight. This thought was… terrifying.

"Calm down, Seth. Alice and Jasper went to help them," Carlisle assured as if he could read my mind like his "son".

Leah'll behave. Jake guaranteed me.

I gulped loudly. How're Edward and Embry? I asked to distract myself from my worries and the pain in my left foreleg.

Fine, I guess. Jake answered. He sounded very anxious. He must be very worried about me. How's your leg?

Arm. Quil corrected, but the usual humour was missing in his voice. Jake didn't go into it, either.

Perfectly fine. I lied and suppressed a moan.

They didn't react.

"Is the wound very bad?" Esme asked her husband quietly. She was kneeing beside me and pressed a piece of fabric on the wound to stop the bleeding.

He sighed. "I don't know. I have never seen something like this before," he admitted. "But I can smell venom in his blood. I think we must get it out. But how?"

"Suck it out?" Esme suggested, her voice shaking a little.

He shook his head. "Too dangerous. Our venom might get in."

"But, it saved Bella at that time, remember? Maybe…" Her voice broke at the end.

A long moment of silence passed while Carlisle watched me with his golden eyes; worry and fear was lying in his gaze. The pain in my foreleg was still hard to take, but it was a little bit better than before now. Maybe this was because the entire leg (or arm) was beginning to go numb. If it wasn't the aching pain I would've thought that my body ended at my shoulder.

"Maybe…" Carlisle finally whispered. He still didn't move an inch. "I don't know… I guess we have no other choice but to try it… Seth?"

Huh? Was he asking me for permission? He was the doctor after all. E should know what was best for his patient, didn't he?

"It's risky," he informed me as if he had read my mind again. "I cannot force you."

Oh… well. Go ahead. It can't get worse, can it?

I whimpered quietly when I tried to move my wounded foreleg. Esme stroke my other leg softy. Carlisle still didn't move and I remembered that he wasn't that good like Edward at reading minds.

I tried to not but I couldn't lift my head. It was unbelievably heavy and I felt a little dizzy.

Er… Jake? Some help perhaps?

Are you sure 'bout that? He asked worried.

I'll die anyway. –Though I sounded impressively cool, he winced slightly at the sound of those words– So, why don't have a try?

He kept still for a few seconds, and then he walked to Carlisle's side and nodded.

"Okay, Seth," Carlisle replied, understanding Jake's gesture at once. He bended towards me a bit and opened his mouth slightly. I hold my breath. "Are you sure?" he suddenly stopped and asked like my Alpha did.

I took a deep breath. Yes.

Jake nodded.

He inhaled deeply. "Fine. It will hurt a bit at the beginning but I think –I hope– that it will stop after a minute or two."

I gulped. Okay.

"Jacob, Quil. I need your help. You gave to keep him on the ground while I get the venom out."

The two of them disappeared out of my sight immediately and the next wink I felt two pairs of paws on my back and my hind legs.

I gulped again.

"Ready?" Carlisle asked and looked deep into my eyes.

I had to concentrate very hard to see his face sharply. The dizziness was becoming stronger and stronger. I took another lungful of air.

Yes.

I couldn't see whether Jake had translated for me or not. Everything was getting more and more fuzzy; as if I became very myopic from one moment to the other. But I noticed how Esme removed the fabric on the wound and then something cold and smooth touched the exposed flesh slightly. I hold my breath again.

"Carlisle! Stop!" someone suddenly shouted.

I heard steps coming closer and leaves rustling like when wind combed through a tree, but I didn't even felt the tiniest breeze.

"Seth!" a bell-like voice called. It sounded so beautiful and pure that it could only belong to an angel.

So I was still dying in the end.

But I wasn't afraid. Because I knew that the beautiful angel was at my side…

I felt some kind of soft and warm subsurface on my skin. A nice scent laid in the air. It was the sweet aroma of leaves and flowers.

My body felt very still, as if I hadn't used it for a very long time. I stretched myself. My arms hit some soft pillows behind my head but my feet didn't find any resistance that would have usually been there on my bed.

Plus, there was a slight pull in my left arm, that wasn't usually there. I groaned.

Something cool and smooth touched my hurting arm, stroking it softly from shoulder to wrist and back. It felt like a light feather but it didn't trickle me. This touch was so calming… so comfortable… so… right.

I sighed in pleasure and blinked my eyes open to search for the source of this heavenly touch.

First, I could only make out a blur of green with a white or pink dot here and there. Then, slowly, everything got clearer and I could make out the outlines from dozens of leaves and flowers hovering above me. My eyes grew wider.

Where the heck was I?

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

I turned my head and saw the most angelic creature sitting at my left side, knees pulled to her chest and her beautiful amber-colored eyes on my face.

She's save! A part in me cheered and lit up an entire firework display.

Wait! I stopped. (The firework display fell to dust). The last thing I remembered was me lying in the forest and dying because of a werewolf's poisonous bite. And I had been pretty sure that I'd die. It felt like I'd die. And, if I was dead now, I shouldn't be able to see Chloe sitting next to me and especially not feeling her fingertips on my arm. Right?

But I didsee her, and I did feel her.

So… the only possibility –the only logical possibility– was that… she was… d-e-a-d, too…

I gulped. I hadn't been able to protect her.

I pressed my free hand on my face and groaned. "Damn."

"What's wrong, Seth? Did I hurt your arm? I'm sorry." I felt her fingers vanish from my arm.

"No, I'm sorry," I protested. "I couldn't rescue you. I'm so sorry, Chloe."

"Huh?" she wondered. I imagined how she cocked her head to aside and blinked in astonishment. "What are you talking about?"

"I couldn't protect you from the giant silver wolf," I explained, my head still on my closed eyes.

"But, you did protect me, Seth," she objected gently.

I sat up with one abrupt movement. She winced a little at my sudden motion.

"Then, tell me where the heck we are now," I demanded, waving about wildly with both arms in the air. "This abnormal place can only be somewhere in heaven."

"This is my room," she corrected.

My arms fell. "Your- what?"

"My room," she repeated, smiling amused. "We are in the Cullens' house."

I turned my head slowly and looked around. I found a big mahogany cupboard with glass cabinets on the other side. A row of dark-red silk curtains, between which a few rays of sun light found a way in the "room", hung to my right. And then, the ultimate proof: a door.

"Since when d' you have a room here?" I asked irritated, turning back to her. And now I recognized the giant dark-red davenport, we were both sitting on.

"Since yesterday when I came back from school," she explained, stroking a little palm tree's long green leaves on her left.

I continued looking around and espied black ornaments on white wallpaper beneath the thick layer of plants.

"So… I'm still alive?" I said slowly. The words sounded so surreal.

"I guess, yes," she answered with an irritated smile.

I looked down at my once wounded arm. Now, there wasn't any proof that a real werewolf had bitten me. The only hint was a slight long strap where the color was a little more greyish than the rest of my skin. "But, how? I thought a werewolf's bite's killing."

"Well, it is usually," she approved. "But it seems that you shape-shifters are immune against it."

I felt my mouth drop open. "Immune?"

"Edward noticed that Embry's attacks where useless against the werewolf they were fighting off. So he concluded that you are somehow… equal against each other because you are both wolves."

I looked back at my arm. "Equal? But it hurt like hell."

"Carlisle said that your body probably needed some time to remove the venom," she told me.

I nodded. "Makes sense." I looked up and saw sadness and agony in her face.

"Hey, what's wrong, angel?" I asked worried and put a hand on her cheek.

"I'm no angel," she whispered. She sounded as if she wanted to cry.

"Of course you're," I disagreed softly.

She shook her head. "No. A real angel would never put the ones she loves in danger."

"Well, but… you didn't mean to, did you?" I tried to calm her. "And everything's fine now. I mean, he's gone now, isn't he?"

"I killed him."

That news took me off guard, so the only comment I could do was an "Oh". As soon as the word left my mouth I wanted to punch myself for it. The girl I loved was feeling hugely miserable at the moment and the only thing I could say was "Oh"?! I was so clumsy with words that you could believe that I'd some kind of hole in my brain.

I looked down guilty, pressing my lips together in concentration to think about another subject to distract her. My eyes fell to my bare chest – my bare human chest.

"When did I phase back?"

"Umm… in the forest… when you lost consciousness," she replied. She was eyeing the palm tree as if it was the most fascinating thing ever, her fingers playing nervously with the leaves.

"Oh," I commented, again not able to say anything else. Blood shot up in my head when I understood what this meant. I blushed for both of us.

Embarrassing silence filled the room.

That was definitely the wrong subject to light up the atmosphere.

"Ah," she suddenly said as if she remembered something, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I wanted to ask you something, Seth."

"Shoot," I said quickly, relieved to be able to go into her change of the subject.

"'Last night in the meadow, when you attacked the big silver wolf, he shook you off and you… crushed against a tree." –she shuddered at the memory– "I thought you were wounded. I was scared…"

I started to draw tiny random circles with my thumb on her cheek to comfort her. She smiled.

"How did you do this?"

"What'd you mean, angel?" I demanded softly.

"You were wounded. How could you get up and go back to fight so effortlessly? Do shape-shifters always heal so fast?" she asked curiously.

"When'd I get wounded?" I wondered.

"You crushed against a tree," she stated, her expression worried again.

"But… you didn't move afterwards anymore," she considered, a panicked gleam appeared in her eyes.

"That was a trick," I explained before she could become hysterical. "I just pretended that I'd be beaten. So he would come nearer and I could get him better."

She blinked and stared at me for a minute before she spoke again, her voice sounded unusually monotonously. "It was… a… trick?"

"Er… yeah, you know… 'strategic military move'. Make him believe that he's save and then take him down at once."

"You pretended that you were punched to unconsciousness?" she almost screamed, her voice climbed up a third with each word. "I was scared like hell and you can concentrate on strategic military move? I thought you were dead! I thought… I… I-"

I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards me, pressing her face to my chest to choke the hysterical attack.

"Shh… Chloe… relax," I said quietly, rubbing her back with one and stroking her head with the other hand. "I'm sorry that I scared you. I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't mean to," she said against my chest. Her breath trickled my skin. "I guess I've overreacted. It's just that" –she sobbed– "I thought I had lost you…"

"Shh… it's okay. I'd never leave you alone." –I pulled back and lifted her chin to make her look into my eyes– "I promised."

Her beautiful amber eyes melted as if she was crying. She sank back to my chest with one graceful movement. (Don't ask me how to look graceful at such a moment. She could.) "Thank you."

I laid my head on hers and took a deep breath, inhaling her beautiful clover-aroma. I smiled. "I'm just glad that you're safe."

"Thanks to you," she replied. The words sounded somehow proud.

"Yeah. But I've to admit, I almost failed."

"Huh?"

"When I was… er… acting, he said those cruel words to you." –I clenched my hands to fists and pressed her closer to me at the memory– "I was so close to drop the façade and just jump at him." I sighed. "Good that Alice, Jasper and Leah came in time."

She nodded. "Yes. They have helped a lot. Especially Leah. She even chased him down and bit one of his legs to revenge you."

I chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah… lucky I've such a brutal sister."

She turned her head and looked up at me. "She blinked irritated. "Sister?"

"Er… yes. Leah's my older sister," I approved.

Her mouth dropped open a bit. Now it was her turn to say "Oh".

I smiled. "Are you surprised?"

That was one of the most stupid questions I've ever heard. It was as if you asked "Are mice afraid of cats?". The answer was so obvious. Of course she was surprised. I mean, Leah had tried to kill her after all.

She thought about my stupid question for a second though. "Well, no, actually not very much," she answered to my surprise. "I've already guessed that you two share a special relationship. But I didn't expect that you were siblings." –a bitter smile appeared on her face– "I guess that I missed seeing the bond between you. A lot had happened…"

I stared to rub her back again and placed a kiss in her silk-like hair. "It's fine now, angel," I told her softly. "All will be fine from today on. I promise."


I've to admit... I actually considered to end this Chap. at "But I wasn't afraid. Because I knew that the beautiful angel was at my side…" ^^ but my friend said that'd be to evil.... XDDD so I changed my mind *good girl* XDDDD

the next Chap. is gonna be the last Chap. of Aurora ^^ don't miss it and review it!! ^o^

but you can review NOW of course, too XDD

-Mulan-