covenmama gave me this one.


Prompt #52: Helter Skelter

"Get ready."

Giving my sister a slight nod, I looked down the line of my family and then across the field to signal the wolves. "How long?"

"Soon," Alice said after a second of pause, and with that single word came a blurred, fuzzy image of at least three-dozen bloodless, red-eyed creatures rampaging through the forest. At the head of their misshapen formation was a tall, brown-haired male, turned recently judging by the way he moved, but he was definitely old enough for purpose and thought. Tattered, feral looking ones – clearly picked up along the way – raced behind him, flashing blood-stained teeth and mowing down everything in their path.

Including each other.

Which, had they not been heading this way to where my beautiful mate stood fragile and helpless (don't tell her I said that), could have been fairly amusing to watch.

Seriously, as dangerous as they are, newborns can be pretty hilarious.

Think Night of the Living Dead – the '68 version, of course.

As it were, there was nothing funny at all about this Army of Darkness.

There was also no sign of that red-headed bitch.

Once that little tidbit registered, alarm skittered through my veins, and when I asked, half-frantic, Alice just shook her head. "The wolves – or maybe it's Bella – are making it hard to pin her down. Or maybe she's got some kind of gift herself, but I think she's floating somewhere at the rear."

"Damn it," I muttered, even as I extended both of my senses of hearing as far as they'd go. There was nothing for a long, still moment, not even the usual sounds of the forest and its creatures. No, as those bloodthirsty predators streaked between the trees, everything went absolutely silent, with the only sound being that of my Bella's heart.

Okay, and those stupid dogs' hearts, too, but come on, where's the romance in that?

Exactly two minutes after Alice's prediction, however, came the distinct crunch of a branch. And then another, and another, until I could make out the pounding of their feet against the forest floor. Menacing growls and snarls bounced off the trees, creating a rising wave of anger and sound.

"Two more minutes," Jacob thought over to me. "Jesus, I can smell them already."

One of the dogs sneezed. "God, they reek!"

Another pawed at his muzzle and spat. "Fucking vampires. We do get to kill these ones, right?"

"Right. Just not those yellow-eyed freaks over there."

Ignoring the wolves, I sank into a low, aggresive crouch and motioned to Emmett and Rosalie, then to Alice and Jasper, and finally to my surrogate mother and father. Silently (as we vampires are wont to be), my family fanned out to the left and the right, creating an arc of steel-like protection around my fragile (yet vicious) love. And before she could stop me, I slipped in front of her, reaching behind me to grab her wrist when she would have moved around me.

"Edward!"

"Shh!" Glancing over my shoulder, I cut her a look for once and snapped, "Don't argue with me right now. We have bigger fish to fry."

My love's perfectly sculpted brows climbed to her hairline. "Seriously? That's your saying?!" And because my Bella had no sense of self-preservation or situational appropriateness, instead of hiding behind me and being quiet like a good human, she mocked me. "How old are you? My Grandma Swan used to say that."

I cut her another look.

Because… um, ouch?

Turning back to the forest, which grew increasingly loud with each passing second, I frowned and did the math. "Older than her, okay."

And of course, the love of my existence just found that… amusing.

Damnable woman.

"Shh!" I told her again when she would have kept giggling at my expense. "We'll discuss your old man fetish later. I need to focus on keeping you alive, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind," Bella said to me, soft and suddenly sweet enough that I was instantly suspicious. Her palm slid beneath my shirt and pressed against my lower back like a kiss.

But then it was gone.

And I didn't have time to lament the loss, because right about that time, a newborn crashed through the treeline in a rush of bone white skin, filthy fabric, and matted hair. Leaves blew out around it in an explosion of fluttering green.

It (and I use 'it' because it was tough to tell through all the mud and grossness) paused ten feet inside the meadow, lifted its undead face to the sky, and sniffed the air like one of those godforsaken mutts, which, by the way, Jasper had smartly positioned down-wind as to not betray their position and thus their advantage of surprise.

As I watched, still gripping my love's delicate wrist, the vampire turned left, then right, and then spun on its heel until it was staring directly at me and our line.

Our eyes – crimson to gold – met for a fraction of a second, before the thing raised its face to the sky again and bayed to the rest of the horde in a blood-curdling scream of unbridled rage and hunger.

"Hold," Jasper coolly commanded from the left flank when he caught me starting to rock forward. "Wait for them, Edward. They'll all charge at once. They're like a swarm of bees. They sting like a bitch but they're stupid."

I suppose at this point, I guess I should admit that my brother-in-law wasn't a vampire general for nothing. Seriously, the man earned his stars.

Because sure enough, no more than a second later, the rest of the army burst through the trees, and like the first, these creatures were the embodiment of thirst and chaotic fury. They stopped in unison in the very center of the meadow, sniffed around, and when they saw us – cool, calm, and far better dressed – waiting for them, a brief moment of confusion flashed across their contorted, snarling faces.

When they would have attacked, the ring-leader – that tall, brown-haired boy only slightly older than the rest – stepped out of the trees. He looked at us, and then to my lovely Bella, who, of course, peeked out from behind me exactly like she wasn't supposed to do, and that same expression of momentary confusion lit his red eyes.

Holding up his hand to quell his raging army, he yelled across the meadow, "Who the hell are you guys?"


PROMPT #53?