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Part IV- Imprint
Chapter 12- One bite is all it takes
Once again we started running in the direction from where the mild scent arose and after a few minutes of blind chasing stopped, when we were directly standing in front of three vampires, a dirty blonde haired male, a red haired female and another male with dreadlocks.
Levi and I stood in front, with Sam and Jared a step behind us ready to fight and kill these vampires.
"You see that, James" the vampire with dreadlocks sneered, looking at the dirty blonde haired male who had his arm wrapped around the female "Mutts, but why do they smell so filthy" he made a repulsive face as he looked back at us.
"And more importantly" said the red- haired female with dark red eyes that hinted that she had just fed, and an evil smirk plastered on her face "Shouldn't these mongrels be afraid of us and running for their kennels right now?"
The one named James laughed loudly, showing his sparkly white teeth in a manner that clearly screamed 'predator' "Stupid dogs. Can't even smell their own death"
Jared growled loudly, taking a step ahead but I stopped him before he could attack "Patience Jared. I want to kill them too, but you need to wait till you get the command to attack. We need to work together if we want to end them. They are powerful and experienced and so it is important that we too think wisely and not jump the gun in our haste to kill them"
He scowled at me but stood at his place, waiting for Levi's command to attack. Even though I was the alpha, since Levi was the oldest and most experienced out of us all, he generally gave the commands of when to pounce on the vampires, in a fight. At first I had found it very difficult to accept this authority he had over me and my pack, my alpha ego would always come in the middle but soon I had realized that killing the vampires and surviving uninjured was much more important than satisfying my ego, and so if Levi knew the way to do so he was free to lead.
"Oh come on, James" said the red haired female looking bored "Not one of your stupid games again. I am bored of them. We have been playing the same games for what, two centuries now? Let the foolish mutts just go, I would rather not drink or even get close to their rancid blood. And anyways my instincts are telling me to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, and you know that my power has never steered us wrong. I just don't like it here. Let's get out of here"
"What power?" asked Sam through the mind link
"Stronger instincts than normal, probably" I guessed, assuming from the conversation that we had just heard.
He nodded his head, as we continued to listen to the vampires talk in rapt concentration.
"You and your ridiculous power" scoffed James with a glare to his companion "It is more trouble than beneficial at times. You always play spoilsport in my games"
The red haired female gave him an angry annoyed look "Yeah? And can you count the number of times when this same 'ridiculous power' of mine has saved your neck? You are your stupid games always end with us running for our lives. Have you forgotten that time in Texas when that Whitlock vampire kicked your ass when you tried to play one of your games on his wife? It was my power that got you out of there or you would be ash at the moment. Till date we cannot go back to Texas or nearby, because of his threat that he will kill you if you even come close to the state in which he lives. Now, who is the one with the ridiculous power?" she questioned him with her hands on her hips and a scowl etched on her face.
The one named James gave her an exasperated look, as to our shock the both of them started bickering to and fro, blaming the other for something or the other that had happened decades back and had absolutely no relevance to today's world.
"Bella" said Sam, through the mind Link "Can we just kill them and get this done with? I am really not in the mood to see a vampire squabble, and instead would rather go home and catch up on some sleep or better, make one more attempt to convince Leah into talking to me. Though she is back home she refuses to even look at me"
"Yeah, now that I think about it I also am hungry and would not mind getting some sleep, after we get done with this. My bones hurt and I have never felt hungrier before" said Jared
I nodded my head, completely agreeing with them both. Seeing vampires quarrel was pretty boring and here I had thought that only human couples fought. But then again maybe even supernatural couples fight.
"Wait" said Levi, getting my attention "Bella, the most important rule to keep in mind when attacking mates is, if you kill one you kill both. If you let one escape you are just inviting more trouble as the mate who is left alive generally comes back to take revenge, and these both are clearly mates from the way they are arguing with one another" he chuckled to himself, as he reminisced about how he and Ellen still bickered on things that had happened when they were both actually in their twenties, decades back.
I rolled my eyes at the fact that Levi, a shape shifter was comparing himself to a vampire when any other shape shifter in the same case would have growled at being compared to their mortal enemy. But then again like forefather like descendant I guess, I too was friendly towards Jasper who was said to be my mortal enemy.
"Can you both just shut up?" shouted the vampire with the dreadlocks, looking as annoyed as we felt at the moment "What is wrong with you both? Either you are fighting or you are fucking like rabbits. Why the fuck do I still roam around with you both asses?" he sighed in frustration, almost looking like he was going to bang his head in the nearest tree "Anyways James, now that Victoria has mentioned it, even I don't feel that good here. These dogs don't smell like the normal ones. They smell like… predators… Do you… do you think they are werewolves?" he questioned with his eyes wide in shock.
"Werewolves?" shouted Jared, in shock and confusion, a sentiment mirrored by both me and Sam.
"Don't be an idiot, Laurent" James chided "Werewolves are extinct. Caius has killed all of them centuries back and even if he hadn't, the moon is not even out yet. They wouldn't be able to take this form. These are just normal smelling dogs. You and Victoria are just being irrational over imaginative fools"
"Werewolves" I questioned, facing Levi "Did they really exist?"
Levi nodded his head "Never seen one, but heard of them. They needed the full moon to change and often turned feral when changed. They were uncontrollable and were even compared to savages who kill without thinking. I had heard that the vampire royalty that resides in Italy had once had an altercation with a werewolf, somewhere in Germany, wherein the werewolf had almost managed to dismember the vampire king, but another vampire passing by had saved him. From that day that King, Caius probably, had sworn revenge against their kind and had killed each werewolf that existed. They had even come after our tribe mistaking us to be werewolves, but we had assured them that we are shape shifters instead and are very much in control of when we phase"
I nodded my head, surprised, though there was no reason for me to be this surprised, If shape shifters and vampires can exist why not werewolves… or witches…. or mermaids or….
"I am assuming they don't know of our existence?" asked Sam, interrupting my musings
I quickly repeated the same question to Levi who answered "No, our kind has been kept a secret from the vampire race. When the kings had come to meet our ancestors, our ancestors had made a deal with them. In return of us giving them all the information on our kind that they asked for, they would keep our identity a secret from the other vampires. Of course the Cullens were an exception to this because of the treaty we later on formed with them. So in short, they can smell the predator in us but can't exactly figure out how dangerous we are or what exactly we are" "And that is also why we refer to ourselves as shape shifters and not werewolves, so as to avoid any confusion if the news of a pack of wolves living in the Olympic Peninsula gets out. We don't need the vampire royalty to come searching for us once again"
"Oh" I said in understanding "Makes sense"
"And anyways, like I was saying James" said the one named Laurent, getting my attention back on them "It is not like we have a reason to be here. We were just passing by, and doesn't another coven already reside on these lands? We should not mess with them. We are not looking for a fight"
James frowned "You both are such cowards. You need to be more fun in life"
"Thank you, but I like my head where it is" said Laurent as he glared at James
"I agree" said Victoria "We are not looking for a fight. We were just passing by on our way to Canada and so, we have no reason to be here"
James scowled at her as she glared back at him, daring him to say something to oppose her.
"Bella" said Levi through the mind link "There is no purpose in keeping them alive any longer. It doesn't seem like they are going to be giving us any beneficial information so as to keep them alive. Let's just get this done with. The one named Laurent is the one with the scent masking power. Let's kill him first so that this power of his disappears, and we can fight better"
"I think James is the coven leader" commented Sam "Even though Laurent is behaving like one at the moment"
I thought about it for a minute before nodding my head in agreement. From the way they were standing and their body language, it did seem so "I agree. We should not take him lightly"
"Even the red haired… Victoria, she also looks strong" added Sam
I nodded my head "Add into that her power and we have trouble on our hands"
"Bella you take the female. Sam and Jared take James and I will end Laurent" strategized Levi as the rest of us mumbled our 'yeses' in agreement.
"Levi, I don't think Laurent is very loyal to his coven" I stated curiously "What if he wishes to surrender?"
He shook his head instantly with a deep sigh "Coven loyalties are not broken in minutes or days or even a year, Bella. He can backstab us at any time in the future if we kill his coven but let him escape unscathed, and he has already fed in Forks, you can see it in his eyes, that is enough reason for us to kill him"
I nodded my head in acceptance, getting down on my crouch like the rest of them.
"On the count of three all of us pounce together" said Levi as he started the countdown and the rest of us waited in anticipation. Killing vampires was a completely different high, the craving of which was inborn in our blood "Three…. Two…. One…. attack"
It was as if an imaginary rocket was launched in the air, the sound of it deafening everyone around, as I could not hear a word of what was happening around me. At that moment I did not know or care of what Jared thought, or what Sam or Levi did. They were as good as not there in my head for me, as my sole attention was only on Victoria, who was completely taken aback by my pouncing on her when Levi had shouted 'attack'.
A fight of teeth and claws was what followed as I tried biting her limbs away from her body and she used her fingernails filled with Venom in her attempt to scratch me, and got her venom laced teeth close to my jugular in an attempt to bite me, a move I had to be very careful of. Our blood could not stand the effects of Venom and so, instead of changing when bitten like normal humans do, one bite meant death for us, or that was what we had always been told. No shape shifter before had ever been bitten and so no one really knew what exactly happened if we were bitten. Our tribal elders had just assumed that because we were their mortal enemies it would probably mean death for us.
The sounds of growling, snarling, grunting and screeching were all around me as with one loud growl I used all the strength that lay within my body and pulled her right hand apart from her body, throwing it away so that it could be burned later on. Burning every part of the vampire, no matter how small it was, was very important as without that there was always a risk that the vampire would reattach themselves, and honestly their fingers and toes moving by themselves, was pretty freaky.
She shrieked out in pain as she, in one swift unexpected move, kicked me away from her. I howled loudly as I got back on my feet, ignoring the slight injury that I could feel on my legs from the kick, but by then she had started running in the opposite direction. It was as if some innate power within her had got activated as she kept escaping my clutches, no matter how hard I tried, and her speed increased with every step that she took ahead.
I chased her through the woods, keeping an eye on the others through the pack mind. Sam and Jared had managed to dismember James with their double attack and Sam was currently burning his pieces while Jared was guarding to see if any other threat came by. Levi and Laurent were still involved in their intense fight with Laurent giving Levi a good competition with his decent fighting skills.
"You dirty mongrel will never catch me" growled Victoria turning back to look at me mid run "And I will take revenge for my mate's death. How dare you filthy dogs kill him?"
It was in moments like this when I wished that we could talk human language in our wolf form because I surely had an answer ready for her. It was 'you will very soon be meeting your mate so don't even bother yourself with the futile thoughts of revenge'.
She kept making a path for herself in the woods, passing the thick canopy of trees and jumping from tree to tree like a damn monkey, while I was forced to follow her on the ground.
"Bella" Levi caught my attention, and I noticed that even his fight was over with Laurent's parts being burned "Catch her before she reaches the ocean. That is the direction in which she is heading. We will lose her if she gets in the water"
"I will help you" said Jared as he too took into a run, leading in the direction I already was in.
"No" I stopped him with a growl that depicted the rage I was feeling at the moment "She is my target. I will kill her. No one interferes"
It was the alpha she-wolf in me, and she was livid.
I saw how he reluctantly backed down as I increased my speed and started to chase after her, ignoring every other noise that distracted me from my target. I had to kill Victoria before she escaped and came back for revenge, and with this determination in mind I took a big leap and caught Victoria's leg in my sharp teeth, making her fall.
"Ah…Ow" she hissed in pain as her nails scratched into my fur, leaving multiple scratches with blood oozing out of them. I quickly bit into her leg from knee down and threw the disgusting thing out of my mouth to where I knew Sam would be waiting, with a lit fire to burn her pieces.
"How dare you?" she shrieked as she tried punching and kicking me but with one functional hand and one functional leg she could hardly do so, and a few kicks in the ribs was all she could manage.
It hurt definitely but not enough to stop me and my determination to kill her, at the moment.
'Head next' I told myself firmly, as I tried biting onto her neck in an attempt to separate it from her body, when her head turned at the last second and her sharp teeth came too close for comfort. I jerked back in fear. That was a close call.
I would have to be faster if I wanted to rip apart her neck from her body. I quickly removed her other hand that was still trying to leave scratches on my body and her other leg, as she lay defenseless in front of me. Her coven members were dead and even if her instincts told her to run, an only torso could hardly do so. She growled and screamed but I ignored her pain. I knew it was brutal and a part of me felt terrible for being so animalistic, but then again this was the way of life and I had to do what nature had thought necessary for me.
"Bella, end it" said Levi's deep understanding voice "She does not deserve to be tortured, even if she is our mortal enemy"
I nodded my head as I went to tear away her neck and head from the rest of the body and bit into her neck when suddenly….
"Ahhhhh" I screamed internally, which came out as a loud howl, as my eyes widened in shock. I could feel teeth, sharp venomous teeth, bite into my fur and push the venom that they held inside me.
In an instant I was burning from the inside out, with fire coursing through my veins.
"I am sorry sweetheart" said Victoria with an evil wink "But if I die so do you"
With eyes wide I noticed how she had bitten my body part closest to her, and how her teeth were now coated with my blood as she grinned at me.
I was losing consciousness. I could feel myself drift away.
"No" I heard Sam shout as the rest of them ran towards me. With half opened eyes I saw myself roughly fall to the ground, and stay there motionless, as Levi ripped Victoria's head away from her body and threw it into the open fire, ending her story forever. She was dead and I had completed my last duty as a shape shifter successfully. A coven of vampires were dead and a lot of innocent human lives were saved. My she-wolf could finally rest knowing that she had given her life doing what she was supposed to do, her duty…..
"No" shrieked Sam, having phased back to human "Don't you dare give up. I am going to take you back home and Dr. Cameron will get this venom out of you. You are going to be fine and running again very soon"
"Sam" I whispered, feeling the hot tears that were falling from his eyes, on my forehead "It is pointless. Too late" I murmured under my breath "Too late"
I was dying, I could feel it.
Sam picked me, cradling me like a baby, as he started to run in a particular direction, in the direction of home probably, but I was too far gone to take notice of the surroundings. He kept whispering to me that everything was going to be okay and that I just had to keep myself breathing but I knew that it was over and his efforts of trying to save me were futile. My body was shivering despite of the heat Sam's body generally radiated and I groaned out in discomfort and disgust. I hated the cold. I liked being warm. I craved warmth. I wanted to be cocooned once again by the warmth that my shape shifter body radiated. But there was also hope in my mind that this was all going to end very soon, though possibly not in the way that Sam wanted it to end in.
It is said that your life flashes in front of your eyes minutes before they close forever, never to open again and with half open eyes, almost on the verge of closing, every memory of mine small or big settled in front of my eyes, in a mirage of colorful images, like a film made especially for me, on me. I saw my mother as she cuddled and kissed me, promising me that till she was there no monsters under the bed or in the closet would be able to touch me. I saw myself forcing or rather blackmailing Sam to play dolls with me, the blackmail being a huge toothless grin from my side. I saw myself making sandpits with Kim and mud pies with Jake, and saw the overprotective sister in me appear whenever Embry would fall and get hurt or cry and ask why his mother, Tiffany was always busy at work. I saw myself age and learn about the basic and some not so basic rules and norms of society, Birth and death, the two permanents of life. I saw myself skate, cycle, dance and sing, tease Kim about Jared and get teased myself, only to blush and turn completely red. I saw my laughs and I saw my cries. I saw all my favorites from books, to food, to movies and to people….
And finally, I saw Paul, my best friend, my imprint, my… so, so much more. Every moment that I had spent with him, from our day at the zoo to when we had played Steal the bacon, the first time we had met. From the day we had gone fishing, only to escape and see the tide pools, to when he had told me about his mother and how much he loved and missed her.
From our childhood to our preteen years every time I had laughed or smiled when he was around, or cried when he had left for Pittsburgh flashed in front of my eyes, his leaving La Push and coming back, only for me to imprint on him. Our fights and our deep soulful conversations left me craving for more.
If only I would have got more time to tell him what he meant to me. If only I could tell him what I felt for him. He was so very important to me. I liked….. No I loved him. I had loved him since so long that I couldn't even remember when I had started loving him. He had always been there in my thoughts, in my mind and in my heart. How had I not realized this till now?
If only I had got one more chance, I would tell him everything. I would not even fear or worry about being rejected. Just telling him that I loved him was enough for me.
But isn't that the thing, we all crave for second chances, saying that 'if only' I got another chance I would make every wrong right, but not everyone is as lucky as to get that second chance in life.
My last thought before my eyes closed was of Paul smirking his cocky smirk as he ran a hand through his short black hair and looked into my eyes with so much love and adoration that it immediately brought a big peaceful smile on my face too…. And with that everything faded to black….