Chapter Twenty

Conflict

Serena tried to look around to see what Molly saw, but the shadows were too dense. Then she felt the strange energy she connected to the werewolves, which was so similar, yet opposite of the energy that vampires gave off. Serena barely had time to call a warning when several wolves, werewolves, and humans pounced on them.

One leapt at Serena, who had barely had time to duck and roll as is flew over her head. She wasn't conscious of pulling the gun from its holster, but it was in her hands and pointed at the wolf, which was in a blurring battle with Damin.

Something touched Serena's shoulder, and she turned, leveling the gun at Molly's chest. Molly froze, staring down at the gun with a look of disbelief. Serena sighed, pointing the barrel of the gun toward the ground.

"This was not a good idea." Molly stated, looking around. "We need to pull back."

"Renee is here, we have to get her out." Serena growled, moving quickly to one side as Damin and the wolf fell to the ground beside her.

"Serena, we need to-." Molly started, grabbing Serena's free hand and starting to pull her away from the group.

"Ah, so glad you could make it." A voice thundered over the sounds of fighting. Serena jerked her hand out of Molly's and turned to stare at Chad. Chad stood on a balcony, attached to the second floor, overlooking them. He looked immensely cheerful as he surveyed the three scuffles going on below him. His eyes scanned over everything before settling on Serena. "Order your friends to back down."

"No." Andrew growled, appearing beside Serena.

"We can stop for right now, find out what he wants." Serena stated softly.

"That isn't what he means, Serena. He means for my pack to back down and let him have his run of New Tokyo." Andrew responded quietly.

"Talk so I can hear you." Chad snapped, his face turning slightly red. Serena glanced around.

"Tell your wolves to stop." Serena demanded.

"Why should I?"

"Because I am telling you to." Serena growled, her fingers twitched on the butt of her gun, which was becoming uncomfortable in her hands.

"And I should answer to you, when I have this little one?" Chad asked, jerking Renee into view above them all. Serena gasped as she saw the cuts and bruises marring Renee's small face.

She felt her temper rise as Renee's glazed eyes scanned the fighting below her with a look of weary calm. Renee's gaze met Serena's and for a moment Serena thought she saw something flicker through them, but it was gone before Serena could identify the emotion.

"She's afraid, you know." Chad grinned. "Some of my people got a little carried away with her." He ran a hand down Renee's pale and bruised cheek.

"You SON OF A BITCH!" Serena shrieked, raising the gun till it was aimed at Chad's head. He laughed, lifting Renee up in front of him, cowering behind her so that Serena couldn't get a good shot.

Suddenly, a wave of crushingly ancient energy slammed over them all. The wolves attacking their group suddenly stopped fighting, dropping to the ground with whimpers of pain. Chad seemed to clutch at Renee, cringing slightly, before straightening up and moving a hand from one of her arms to her throat. Serena's heart leapt to her throat as she watched Renee's eyes widen as she began to struggle.

"Stop!" Serena cried. "Let her go!" She felt the world shift as the amazing energy she felt seemed to intensify. Her gun was starting to shake and she realized that she couldn't hold it in that position for much longer.

"Tell your friends to back down!" Chad shouted, his voice quavering in the energized air. Serena glanced at Andrew. A thin line of sweat had appeared on his upper lip. Behind him, Rita was squirming on the ground, her face a mask of pain. A howl split the air, causing Serena to jump. The sound was filled with terror and agony, and Serena couldn't tell if it was a human or wolf throat that it had come from.

The power in the air was indeed becoming painful, as Serena fought to catch her breath. She felt her legs give way, and dropped to her knees, her gun clattering to the ground in front of her, completely forgotten. Yet, the energy continued to grow more powerful.

Andrew glanced down at Serena, then leapt up to the balcony, attacking Chad. Chad released Renee in his surprise. She fell through the air, plummeting toward the ground at a ridiculously fast speed. Suddenly, Serena realized that she could ignore the pain that flowed with the energy on the air. She moved faster than she thought was possible, leaping over Rita and halfway up the stairs. She managed to catch Renee before she hit the ground.

Crumpling under the sudden weight, she couldn't move out of the way when both Andrew and Chad fell over the railing. Serena felt as if time had slowed down, she watched as Chad and Andrew, still brawling, fell slowly toward her, and realized that there was not enough time to move out of the way before they landed.

Something moved above her, shoving both battling werewolves away before they landed on Serena. She stared up into the shocked face of Molly, who grabbed her and Renee and pulled them down the steps, away from the cringing werewolves and battling Chad and Andrew.

When they were almost to the car, Serena heard a howl and turned back to watch as Andrew pinned Chad with abnormally long arms and fingers ending in claws. Andrew's hand clenched around Chad's throat and he howled, raising his face to the sky. His teeth had grown longer, until they were pointed. They didn't belong in a human mouth. His eyes had changed to an extremely pale green.

He stared down at Chad, a guttural word coming from the inhuman mouth. "Submit."

Chad laughed. "No."

As Serena watched, Andrew jerked his hand, ripping Chad's head completely off his body. Bile rose in Serena's throat as a new energy flooded the air, overpowering the ancient painful energy. The new energy was coming from her, Serena realized. She felt it arch and writhe almost painfully inside her and on the air around her. She moaned, feeling it clutch at several of the werewolves, before settling on a dying body. Serena screamed as it tried to flow into the body. Darien, she thought somehow knowing who the body belonged to, her heart stopped as she realized she could feel his slowing heartbeat. She jerked the energy back into herself. It roared angrily, struggling to get back to Darien as she threaded it back into herself.

She wasn't aware of dropping Renee, or of Molly catching her before she hit the ground. She wasn't aware of the werewolves standing to start fighting again. Nor was she aware that she was falling. The energy writhed through her, ripping at her like some kind of monster trying to break through her skin.

Her screams shredded the night air.

Serena awoke in a darkened room. Something or someone was whispering in the too dark shadows. Two people were talking, one she recognized as Amy, the other was Amy's mother.

"I don't know how its happening, but her body is rebuilding itself." Amy's Mother stated, sounding slightly surprised. "You said that there was a fight, was she attacked or anything?"

"No. They fought around us. No one touched her."

"She had some severe internal injuries, at least the X-rays pointed to a ripped lung, a torn artery, a failing kidney, and several broken ribs. Honestly, if I didn't know her body was rebuilding, I would have said we was going to die. This is absolutely amazing."

"Don't talk about me when I'm sitting right here." Serena surprised herself by stating with a croaky voice. Talking hurt, it ripped at her throat, but at the moment, it felt good to be alive at all.

"Serena?" Amy asked, coming into view. "Are you alright?"

"Course not, why would I be here if I was alright?" Serena asked, pushing herself onto her elbows so she could see where she was.

She was in her room at the palace. Cammie stood, stretched, yawned and gave Serena an insolent look before leaping off the bed and trotting from the room.

"Where is Darien?" Serena asked, remembering the arching energy that had swept over her before she lost consciousness.

"Mom can you leave for a moment?" Amy asked. Amy's mom frowned but obligingly left the room. Amy turned back to Serena. "He almost died-."

"What!" Serena threw the blankets off of her and stood up. The room swirled around her dizzyingly. Amy grabbed her and forced her back onto the bed.

"He's FINE!" She stated. "I promise."

Serena frowned, staring at her. "Ok, so why did you ask your mom to leave?"

"Well, he's at the Lycan hospital. They have an underground hospital, so that people who are werewolves aren't found to be werewolves. Too many people have really good positions to be found out by humans, so they built a hospital specifically for Lycans." Amy explained patiently.

"Lycans?" Serena asked feeling confused.

"Werewolves, tigers and stuff."

"Wait. Do you mean-?"

"Darien, like you, is healing impossibly fast. A fully formed werewolf gutted him. It's pretty much assured that he will be one on the next full moon."

Serena felt her heart drop into her stomach. She stared at Amy wondering what would happen if he did transform into a werewolf.

"He hasn't woken up yet, though his body is fully healed. They think his mind was overworked and is inducing the coma." Amy added, looking tired.

"I have to see him." Serena stated, getting to her feet again. This time Amy didn't fight her.

AN: Feel free to read and review. Leave comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, etc if you wish. Also leave your emails so that if you do have a question, I can respond to it. I will not respond to flamers. All I ask is that if you do have something to say against my writing, you word it politely.