Without Destiny
Chapter 24
Mack's POV
A month passes and, with such intensive training, it leaves a lot of open time for recovery. Instead of training only three times a week, the wolves start going every other day. After each session, I'm always sore and bruised, so the day off each following day is much needed but leaves me with few things to do during the 48 hours before the next session.
It's for this reason that I start hanging out more with the pack, getting closer to the members, and Leah. I even meet another imprint- Kim. It's spending more time with the wolves as a group that I discover that they really are quite similar to the sibling bond I've witnessed in my old cabin and others.
They fight and get on each other's nerves, and some don't seem to even like others too much, but I see it in their training that any one of them would die for any other of them. There was a point I was willing to die for anyone at camp. Honestly, I probably still would even if that doesn't make sense after everything I did.
I learned a long time ago that attachments can get you killed, but here I am again, willing to die now for any of these wolves.
As the days pass, as it gets closer to the time of battle, I become more relaxed- not less. There's just something about training and improvement that makes a person confident. We've done full scale battle scenarios by now, and I'm only comforted as the wolves become downright lethal.
Alice, the vampire I trained with a lot at first, can apparently see the future. It's on her word that we are relying on for the knowledge of when we are supposed to show up to battle. Apparently, we also have to be careful about other newborns who might have extra powers as well.
The day of battle comes with little fanfare. It doesn't even feel like it's going to be a battle; it feels like a game we might play at camp: the anticipation of the date approaching, the energetic expectancy of preparation, and the camaraderie and confidence of a plan. Even a child of Athena is in the leader position, finalizing strategy that we've gone over a hundred times already.
It's been almost three months since we started training. They took Bella up the mountain the other day and, as I watch the sun raise over the treetops, bathing the field in a warm glow, I feel the strangest sensation of peace. Or resignation- I've always been rotten at distinguishing the two.
"Just like capture the flag, right?" Mason says brightly at my side. He bounces slightly on the balls of his feet in anticipation, swinging his arms to keep warm, his sword strapped to his side. A puff of fog dispenses into the air with every breath.
"If the flag were the vampires' heads," I say casually, slightly distracted as I see our pale companions sparkle slightly when the sun makes it through a break in the clouds.
"Just imagine you're on flag defense, then," my oldest friend chatters. "But instead of taking prisoners, you're taking their heads. The flag you are defending is your head."
"Charming," I comment dryly as I examine the future battle grounds. It's the training grounds we've been vigorously preparing on, but it looks vaguely different during the day.
My eyes pass over the opposite tree line that Alice has said that the army will be coming from. Whenever I picture it, I always imagine between fifty and a hundred, but Alice says that it's been fluctuating around twenty for the last week. Evidently, it's very hard to prevent the newborn vampires from killing each other.
A rumbling grunt draws my attention to the silver wolf stepping up to my side. Instantly, as if a reflex, I reach out to tangle my fingers in her neck fur. Once I realize what I did, I jerkily retract my hand as if it's an unnatural move.
I grimace slightly, ignoring the multiple eyes on me. At least two sets are from the two people I'm closest to.
I ignore all of them except the large brown ones from the silver beast. "Alright, Leah?" I ask the wolf. "Ready?"
She blinks calmly at me, slowly. Her nose dips and pushes me gently in the chest with a snort.
"I'll be careful," I assure her. "I promise."
She grumbles a bit but seems to accept it as she flops down into the thin blanket of snow. Almost unconsciously I drift closer to her, telling myself that it's so I can steal some of her natural heat.
It's only a few minutes later when Jasper projects his voice enough for everyone in the field to hear.
"It won't be long now. It's best if everyone got into position, if one of you will call Jacob down."
Leah lurches to her feet with a reluctant huff and, with a final glance at me, joins her pack to disappear into the tree line. As I watch her go, something in my stomach writhes uncomfortably- the first note of unease I've felt all day.
Once every wolf has disappeared into the foliage, Mason and I follow the vampires as they step out into the field. They will be the targets in this. Hopefully our godly blood will send the newborns just a little bit more into a mindless frenzy. Fighting someone mindless is always easier than going up against someone who strategizes.
Even straining my eyes, I can't see any sign of the wolves- no trace of movement or flick of an ear. It's as if us eight are the only ones in the world, but I know better. This is the plan.
"Get ready," Jasper says suddenly, probably for mine and Mason's benefit. I take a deep breath, hold it, then let it out.
The tree line explodes.
Or, at least, it seems like it does. The first blur is on us in an instant, immediately met with crack like thunder as another blur crashes into it. It's only months of practice that my eyes focus in and my instincts leap to my fingertips.
Mason takes a moment longer to adjust, but I swing, hard, at the pale hands reaching for him. There are no pulling punches now; my celestial blade slices through the black haired vampire's neck like butter. I'm reacting again before I can watch her head hit the ground.
The woods on either side explode again as the wolves join the fight.
Like the son of Athena said, the newborns are fast: remarkably faster than what we trained with.
There is no time for me to look around to gage how the battle is going; it takes all of my concentration to just face the vampire in front of me and not get caught in the arms by the one behind me.
I only know that the others are still alive by the flashes I see from the corner of my eye or tackling a vampire that tries to gang up on me. Adrenaline sings through my veins, through my extremities so strongly that it almost feels like I'm moving faster than I ever have, swinging harder than I ever have.
In seconds, in hours, the vampires slow. Heaving breaths, I whip arounds, muscles tense, looking for anymore. The field is strewn in body parts. It would be a gruesome sight if vampires bled, but since they don't, the horror it could be doesn't quite reach me. After all, I've seen one of my own sisters, dead on the pavement and my best friend bleeding out against a car. How can this touch me?
I watch apathetically as one wolf tackles and rips apart a straggling one that suddenly tries to flee. There is one, a girl who looks even younger than me, standing frozen, eyes wide in the middle of the field. Carlisle and Esme surround the girl, talking quietly to her.
I keep one ear on her but continue my tense appraisal of the field. Someone had started a fire during my brief distraction, and now the Cullens leisurely collect body pieces and toss them into the growing flames.
Not seeing any more threat, other than the well-guarded young girl, I immediately start searching for casualties on our side. Mason is not far from me, clutching his arm but largely unharmed otherwise. He surveys the field, likely doing his own headcount.
All the Cullens made it, I count each one, and I struggle through the wolves. For the most part I can tell who is who, in their shifted forms, but I focus on numbers. Three, four, all the while looking for the one wolf I can instantly tell on sight. Five… My eyes scan quickly over the field again, a familiar and unfamiliar panic forming a golfball knot in my throat and making it hard to breathe.
There. Six. My breath gusts out in one harsh exhale as I catch a silver hide sniffing around a tree near the medic rock. My relief only lasts a moment as a figure jumps out from behind the boulder.
My cry of warning isn't near quick enough, and distantly sounds more like a wounded animal. Red tackles the blonde newborn, and I blink, and the resulting animal scream from the wolf drops something heavier than lead in my stomach. The vampire's arms are wrapped around Jacob, the final number, seven, and even at this distance I can see the cruel sneer twisting her lips as she squeezes.
Leah tackles the vampire, ripping her head off with sharp teeth. Wolf and humanoid figure drop like a puppet with its strings cut.
I sprint across the field moving faster than I ever have, even during this fight, but I'm still not the first there.
All the wolves are there, surrounding Jacob. Jasper is there too, and Carlisle, though Esme and the rest of the Cullens stay with the other newborn.
I should be focused on Jacob (heart breaking whimpers come from the wolf-boy). Fast words are exchanged, I think Sam is there, naked, but I can't focus on the injured- possibly dying- boy. Actually, there are several naked people, shucking on castoffs and trying to get Jacob to shift as well.
My heart pounds through my veins, in my ears, drowning out everything except a ringing as if I'm submerged underwater again. I feel that same panic as when that nymph had my ancle, dragging me out to sea. I feel like I'm being dragged out to sea again.
There is an urgency here, a member of their pack is badly hurt, and I feel an urgency, but I can't drag my eyes away from Leah. As they drag Jacob away, I catch her arm in a hard grip before she can follow.
Her eyes instantly snap to mine- a fierce deep brown- gold flecks blazing and adding to her fire. It takes several moments for me to realize that the trembling under my hand isn't coming from her, but rather me.
It was just a second. Just a second, I thought she was going to die. That panic was real. It was instant and overwhelming and felt like my world was ending. It felt like it did when I was a child and fists were raining down on me, when I was locked in a closet for days and couldn't breathe past my terror. It felt like it did when I realized what a mistake I made, surrounded by my dying camp, monsters surrounding me. It felt like it did the moment I decided to run. It felt like it did the moment I realized that I'll never be able to go back.
My world has ended over and over, yet here I am, stuck again, held by another pull that makes me care. It's real. My world almost ended again.
I step onto the vampire corpse's chest (maybe that's a morbid thing but she's there and she almost ended my world), I grip the back of Leah's head, and I slam her lips against mine.
It's the worst kiss I've ever had. My lips instantly bruise with the force I exerted pulling her to me, it's sloppy, the smell of sweat and smoke burn my nose and the back of my throat, and our teeth clash awkwardly and painfully.
It's the best kiss I've ever had. It's painful, it's real- flawed and imperfect. Her arms wrap around my waist, pulling me snug against her, and I can feel her moving muscles beneath my hands, the beating of her heart through her veins- alive. Her lips slide over mine, adjusting- selfishly taking and painful at first, but trying her damn best to fix it.
"Um, truly sorry to interrupt, guys," a voice clears their throat from the end of a long tunnel, "but we really need to go."
I rip myself away from Leah with a gasp, but she doesn't let me move away from her any. "What?" I say dumbly, still trying to process all that happened. It's only been minutes since I was standing in the middle of the field, psyching myself up for another battle.
"Those Volturi vampire royalty guys the Cullens were talking about? Yeah, they're on their way. We really need to scram before they get here," Mason says, staring at me from a few feet away with an exasperated expression, but the corner twitch gives him away. It always does.
I turn back to Leah, only to be caught in her eyes again. She's still staring intently at me, gaze boring into my soul.
"Let's…" I clear my throat, bruised lips throbbing, and take step back, off of the marble chest I was using as a foot stool. My hand finds hers without having to look for it. I reach and it's just there. "Let's go home," I say, tugging her in the direction we need to go.
I vaguely register Bella and Edward now in the field, but I have other things on my mind. Like what to say to Leah when we get back. It might have to wait, though, when my brows furrow and I finally remember the boy who was hurt in her place.
A/N: Surprise! This is actually the last chapter. Don't worry, an epilogue will be up next week so don't completely disappear just yet. What do you guys think? Worth the agonizing time it took to write?
~Silver~