Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer, not me.
Author/Note 1: This story is the sequel to Our Dawn 5. For the ones who don't know anything about Our Dawn Series, you can always read Our Dawn 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and Our Dawn Series Specials but if you don't want to bother I have a resume on my profile page. As it would be expected this is a next generation story and as such, it's focused on Jake and Leah's children.
A/Note 2: A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed Our Dawn Series so far.
A/Note 3: I'm not a native English speaker so I'm sorry for my grammar and spelling. Thank you for reading.
Alpha
Book II – The Protector
Interlude
Levi Uley
76. Wake Me Up - part 4
I have to admit that when Harry told me his plan I thought he was going mental. Besides I didn't appreciate the part of his plan where I stood hidden in the forest guarding a vampire's leg until A) he and his girlfriend came back or B) he signaled me to burn it.
Either way, my job was pretty boring and disgusting. The leg I was babysitting was moving which kind of freaked me out. But if Harry thought this was the best way to achieve our goal, I would play along. All I wanted to do was to get rid of that leg and go back home. I wasn't one to complain, and I wasn't going to start now.
Actually, that was Morris department. He was always bitching about something. His uniform was the wrong size, his lunch wasn't cooked properly, his partner was late, the weather was too cold, the vending machine didn't have his favorite chocolate, his coffee was too hot. The guy complained more than a girl with PMS.
What the hell does Sarah Black see in that moron? I wondered. Not to mention the fact that I always thought he was gay because he was always with Jerry. They were like conjoint by the hip or something like that. One did not exist without the other. It was a surprise when Morris went to the Forest Guard Department without his best friend. We had a couple of gay officers so it would be fine to take Jerry along. But I guess that Morris was straight after all he had imprinted on Ella.
There goes my gay theory.
"Young wolf... what do we owe the pleasure of your presence here?" I heard a vampire ask. I could hardly see Harry amongst all that luxurious vegetation but I knew he had arrived at the place where the vamps were.
"You know why I'm here Dracula... and trust me, it's not a pleasure," Harry replied. His voice was showing no fear. I knew that even the weakest shapeshifter could easily take down a vampire but Harry wasn't facing just a regular vampire. He was up against two elders and eight members of the Romanian coven. In his place, I would be a bit apprehensive, to say the least.
I walked forward so I could see the faces of our enemies.
Both vampire elders were grinning. They knew they had the upper hand even though Harry was holding the decapitated heads of two of their friends.
"Yordan took good care of her. She was not harmed." The blonde vampire with cunning eyes said referring to Season who was being held by one of the Romanians. "And she won't be harmed unless you do something very stupid."
"Like what? Dismembering two of your elders? Because I did that already, that's why I'm holding their heads." Harry didn't seem worried about his disadvantage. There were ten vampires right in front of him, ready to kill him, and his only ally was me. I wouldn't be so confident. "Here's the deal, I presume you care about these two, right? Their position in your coven tells me you want them back after all Amelia has been with you since the beginning. It was your wife who turned her, wasn't she?"
The blonde elder nodded. I guess Harry knew more about those leeches than I thought.
"Sirenia loved Amelia like a sister. She needed a female friend." He admitted. There was a wistful longing in his voice which suggested he had loved his wife dearly and missed her very much.
"Personally I have nothing against Amelia or her mate but I do not appreciate when three vampires enter my house and take my wife and my sister. If you wanted retaliation for what happened to Valerya and Serghei, you should've gone after me instead."
"You didn't kill only Val and Serg." The brown-haired elder said. "You killed Yuri and Victor too. We should kill you right here, right now!"
"Easy, Stefan. Let's hear the boy."
"I can give you back these two," Harry informed. Both elders exchanged a glance.
"What did you do to their bodies?"
"Nothing, yet. But if I don't get what I want, you might need to replace two other vampires in your coven because my friend is ready to set them on fire."
Growls erupted. The vampires were not fond of threats.
"We only need the girl." A female vampire who was standing next to the brown-haired elder said. "We can replace elders. We've done it before."
"No! We need Amelia." Vlad replied. "We need her." He watched the head of his friend and clenched his fists.
Stefan nodded in agreement.
"So, you want an exchange, right?" He asked Harry.
"I do. I'll let them go if you release Season and my sister."
"We do not have your sister, dog," Vlad said with a growl.
"You do have her, and if you don't give her to me, one of your friends will die. Permanently. It's your choice."
Both elders turned to the vampire who was holding Season down. Then I remembered his name. The blonde elder had called him Yordan, and Harry said earlier that the two vampires I had faced were hired to keep an eye on Sarah for a vampire named Yordan. So he was the one who had taken Sarah, although apparently, he hadn't been given that order. Only Season mattered to the Romanian clan. Sarah was there without the elders' knowledge.
"Berg and Sven messed up, sir." I heard Yordan say. "They brought the girl along with us. It was a long journey... I think they wanted to feed on her."
"We told you to bring one specific girl here! We were very clear about it, weren't we?"
"Yes, sir. You were but they didn't want to waste time hunting. That's why they brought her."
"And you authorized it?"
"I... I didn't think it would make such a difference since she probably wouldn't last."
"Where is she?" Harry and the blonde elder asked at the same time.
"I don't know, but perhaps I can find out."
The elders gave Yordan permission to leave and that was when I realized he had just lied to them and his only goal was to go after Sarah. Of course, he knew where she was. He had even hired two other leeches to stay with her. The question was why. Why was he so interested in Harry's sister?
The leech passed me by running full speed and didn't notice I was standing in the middle of the trees about forty steps away from him. I let go of the leg I was holding and ran after him. Harry had everything under control, so it would not make a difference if I abandoned my position. Or so I hoped. This could be our last hope of finding Sarah, so I took it. Harry would probably do the same.
The vamp ran straight towards an SUV parked on a secondary road. The vehicle was empty but Sarah's scent was all over the place. When I was about to reveal myself and force some answers out of Yordan, two vampires, a man and a woman, showed up bringing Sarah with them.
She didn't look good. She was sweating and breathing erratically. Her hair was all messy and she had been crying.
"Were you looking for this, Yordy?" A woman asked, pushing Sarah to the ground. Sarah managed to pull herself up but she lost her balance and had to support her weight in the car. "I couldn't believe when this bitch said she was with you. Are you betraying your own kind?"
"Of course not. I'm not like that, Kat."
"You sent Berg and Sven to mislead us." She pointed out.
"I had orders to follow. Vlad and Stefan wanted me to take guards with me instead of those two... and you wouldn't be able to get rid of two guards as easily as you got rid of Berg and Sven, would you?"
"You want us to believe you were helping us then?" The male vampire asked.
"No, Ivan. I don't want anything. I just need you both to remember that in my current position I couldn't help you... Going against an elder is treason. You made the rules."
"Stop playing the victim, you insignificant bastard!" Ivan yelled.
"Kat... you know I'd never do anything to hurt you." Yordan pleaded with the woman.
"Then explain her!" She pointed a finger at Sarah, who was again on her knees. "Because I know what she is. I can smell it on her!"
"She might be useful to us as a hostage."
"And where's the other one? The one with the powers?"
"She's with Vlad and Stefan," Ivan growled when he heard that. "It was an order, Ivan. I had to take her to them."
The vampire woman moved so fast I almost didn't see her. One moment she was standing in front of Yordan, the other she was tossing him against the SUV, definitely damaging the engine of the vehicle.
"You took her to them? You stupid asshole!" She bellowed angrily pushing him further into the car.
"You can still get your revenge!" Yordan exclaimed. "He's here."
"Who's here?"
"The dog... the one who killed Serghei. He's trying to get the girl back. He's there with Vlad and Stefan."
"If you're lying, I swear I'm going to..."
"He's here!" Yordan insisted. "I just saw him. He defeated Amelia and Andrei."
"Harry?" Sarah whimpered. "My brother's here?"
The vampire woman let Yordan go and turned to her partner.
"Ivan! This is our chance! Let's go!" She disappeared leaving everyone else behind.
"Well, I guess you're not as incompetent as I thought you were, Yordan." Ivan grinned and slowly approached the other vampire, dusting down Yordan's robe for him. He glanced over at Sarah who was still on her knees, sweating and breathing heavily. "And you're right... She's useful indeed. I can't fight with an empty stomach."
I only realized what was happening when I heard Sarah's scream. Ivan was over her, biting her in the neck. It only took a second but to me, it seemed like hours.
Ivan got up, his mouth was dripping blood, and then he smiled mischievously and left running. Yordan was insulting him and Sarah's body had been discarded on the forest floor.
My body entered in autopilot and I phased, ripping off my clothes. Leaving the protection of the trees, I ran after the vampire that had attacked Harry's sister. Even though he had a head start, I caught up to him in a matter of seconds and I lunged. I wanted to finish him off.
Unaware he was being followed, the vampire didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. I jumped to his back and ripped his right arm off. I was angry and completely out of control.
The vampire tried to fight back. His cold remaining hand grabbed my neck twice but without his right hand, he couldn't snap it. Face to face we attacked each other's throats savagely. His blows were accompanied by threats and insults; mine by an undenied will for vengeance.
He attacked Sarah. I have to destroy him. That was my mantra.
Having fought a vampire earlier, I had been able to understand a few things about the way they fought. When facing a shapeshifter, vampires try to keep their distance in order to avoid our fangs. Their eyes are usually focused on our head and neck because they know those are our most vulnerable spots.
So when I attacked him, I knew he was going to try and dodge my blow and then try to pin me down to the floor using his only arm. When I was close enough but still out of his reach, I stopped to a halt, I turned around and I hit him with my tail. Before he could stand up again, I placed both my paws in his chest and chewed his hand out of the way. Then I closed my jaws around his head and I pulled.
"Game over, filthy leech!" I said as I regained my human form to burn the vampire's body. I scavaged the forest where my torn clothes were because I had a lighter in the back pocket of my shorts. I made a small fire and then as the leech burned I heard the sound of another battle ahead.
The psycho female leech had probably found Harry. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to help my alpha because the next moment I heard a thunder-like sound and a whimper. The vampire who had stayed behind with Sarah had placed her inside the car and was trying to start the damaged vehicle. Luckily the engine wasn't working.
Phasing again I approached the car and attacked the driver. I didn't give him the time to fight back. His dismembered body was incinerated and then I went to check on Sarah who was lying down on the back seat. She was hallucinating and could hardly breathe. The open wound on her neck was not bleeding anymore so I didn't understand why there was so much blood inside the car.
I tried to move her to see if she was hurt and that's when I felt a sharp pain right under my ribcage.
The blood was mine. I had a hole the size of an orange on the left side of my abdomen. The metallic scent invaded my senses and suddenly I felt like I was going to throw up.
Shit. I hate blood. I thought as my head was starting to spin.
xxxxxxxxxx
"I hope you like tuna." Harry's girlfriend said giving me a sandwich. I put it on the table. "I couldn't buy much more with the money we have... Sorry."
"It's okay. I'm not that hungry." I was lying but I could survive without eating and even though my stomach was asking for nourishment, I was still feeling nauseous. It would be better if I didn't eat.
"Can I see your wound?" Season asked.
I didn't answer. Instead, I observed Harrison as he monitored his sister's condition.
"I know you're blaming yourself for this, Levi but you shouldn't," Harry said noticing I was staring.
"She wouldn't have been bitten if it were you in my place. You wouldn't have waited so long. I hesitated and she paid the price."
"Levi, there was nothing you could have done." Harry left his sister's side and walked around the bed to join me. "And I need you to eat." He said placing the sandwich in my hands again.
"Why?"
"You know why."
I knew. I just didn't want it to happen. Sarah could turn into a vampire within a few hours. She had been bitten and her temperature had been rising ever since.
When Harry and Season found us on the forest, both unconscious inside the wreck of an SUV, it was already too late to suck the venom out of Sarah's body. Harry was able to fix the car and drove us to the San Lorenzo Villa, a VIP resort nearby. After calling the Cullens, Harry was able to get us two rooms in the expensive hotel. He and Season had treated me. They had stopped the bleeding and now, almost an hour later, I could feel the wound was practically closed.
Sarah wasn't so lucky. Due to my lack of action, she was on the verge of turning into the same creatures we fought so hard to destroy. She was asleep for now. Twenty minutes ago, she had been tossing and turning in the bed in pain.
Her parents and Carlisle Cullen were on their way to Italy but it was going to take them at least eight hours to arrive. During that time Sarah could turn. Harry had pondered taking his sister to an airport and board a plane to the US but she was too unstable, and it would be his fault if the plane crashed or Sarah attacked the passengers.
"If she turns... even though I'm almost positive that she won't, I will need your help to..."
"I won't kill her, Harry," I stated firmly. "I'm not going to kill your sister for you."
"I'm not asking you to kill my sister. I was going to say that I'll need your help to control her until Carlisle and my parents arrive. And that means, not allowing her to leave this room."
I nodded.
"As you know, newborns are tremendously strong, so I need you to eat and recover, alright?" He added.
"I'm fine."
"It was a pretty deep wound, Levi." Season reminded. "And you were out for thirty-five minutes. You need food."
I rolled my eyes and ate the sandwich.
"Happy?" I asked them both and they nodded.
"I need you to go out again and buy some stuff for me," Harry told Season. "I need hydrogen peroxide and something like a scalpel or a sharp knife. I also need you to find out where the hotel staff keeps the ice."
Season took her jacket and left without questions.
"What are you planning to do? Are you going to perform a surgery?"
"No," Harry said placing his hand on his sister's forehead to take her temperature. "We need to cool her down and for that, we're going to need some ice. I'll also have to monitor her blood."
"Her blood?"
"Blood clots when you die. And to be able to turn into a vampire, you have to die first. Besides as your transformation occurs, your skin gets thicker. That's why I need the scalpel and the hydrogen peroxide."
Harry knew what he was doing. I had to give him some credit.
"Aren't you worried about sending your girlfriend outside on her own?" I asked diverting my eyes from Sarah's body.
"She's my wife." He reminded me. "And she'll be fine."
"But aren't those vamps after her?"
"Not anymore."
"Are you finally going to tell me what happened or what?"
When I woke up after passing out inside the SUV, I was in the bedroom across the hall with Harry. He was wearing a worried expression that abandoned his features when he realized I was waking up. He told me that I had lost a considerable amount of blood but I shouldn't worry because Season had patched me up and wolves had super healing abilities. I didn't remember having been hit but somehow one of my opponents had wounded me. It was probably Ivan because Yordan didn't have much time to attack me.
"I made a deal. That's what happened." Harry stated.
"What kind of a deal?"
"When you left after Yordan, I lost my advantage. Amelia and Andrei's bodies reassembled too quickly so I had to bargain with them or I would end up dead. Amelia and Andrei didn't enjoy behind decapitated..."
"I wouldn't either," I admitted. "How did you get away with it?"
"I told them that if they killed me they would have the whole pack after them. I told them they would have to fight two enemies at the same time: the pack and the Volturi. And I promised that if they let me and Season go, my pack would not take part in any plan against their coven and I would get them the support of someone inside the Volturi."
"You did what?" It was kind of weird for Harrison to promise them that because that was something that only Jacob Black could do. He was La Push's alpha. The big boss. The man in charge. And even though Harrison was an alpha wolf too, he was not the alpha. Neither were his brothers. It was clear that their father still called the shots.
"I know what you're thinking Levi. But I had to promise them something or they would never let us go."
"And how are you going to keep your word if your father decides to attack them?"
That was a possibility. After all the Romanians had kidnapped his daughter and one of them had bitten her. He would want revenge.
"I'll remind him that Ivan and Yordan are dead."
"Do you really trust these Romanian vamps?"
"No, and they don't trust me either. That's why they're going to send a vampire to stay with us in La Push. To make sure we don't contact the Volturi."
"I've heard dad saying that if we had to choose a side, we'd choose the Volturi."
I was absolutely sure that Harry knew about this and I had no idea how in the hell he had made that promise to the Romanians when it was almost certain that in the near future the packs would have to support one of the vampire covens.
"I promised that my pack wouldn't interfere. I never mentioned my father or my brothers' packs."
So technically, he hadn't lied. I had to admit that Harry was actually pretty smart.
"What about the inside informant? You promised them an undercover informant inside the Volturi."
"I'm pretty sure Scarlett and Marcus want Aro dead. For good."
"There's a difference between wanting their leader dead and accepting to spy on their coven for you."
"That's why I'll ask Alice to keep an eye on them."
"You have everything figured out, haven't you?"
"Yes." He nodded. "I need to end this shit as soon as possible."
"Why?"
The only answer I got was a smile.
xxxxxxxxxx
Sarah's condition didn't improve until we put her inside the bathtub filled with ice. We couldn't still say that she was undergoing a transformation because her only symptom was high fever and nightmares.
Every thirty minutes we would do a small cut on her arm to see if her blood was clotting but everything was normal. In the meantime, Harry and Season were out. We were all starving after spending three hours watching over Sarah in the bathtub, so they decided to go and buy us something to eat.
I was sitting on the bathroom's floor, resting my head against the wall when I felt a breath of wind. I opened my eyes immediately and I almost panicked when I noticed that Sarah was missing.
I ran to the window and saw her entering the woods.
"Shit!" I cursed out loud. Why did she have to wake up on my shift?
I followed Sarah to the woods. She had just jumped from the second floor, landing perfectly on the ground below which meant she had probably turned into a vampire, otherwise, she'd be dead. We were talking about a 29-feet fall.
I would rather call Harry than follow her on my own but I didn't have time to search for him right now. If Sarah was a vampire she was probably hunting her first prey. And if she killed someone, it would be my fault. I should've paid more attention.
When I realized that she wasn't slowing down I decided to strip and phase so I could reach her before she got to the tennis court ahead.
During the low season, the hotels usually didn't have many guests. The cold temperatures and the rain scared off people, who usually booked rooms in Spring or Summer. But this November was not as cold and rainy as the past ones and there were at least four families with kids in the hotel. One of those families was on the tennis court and Sarah was just a few feet away.
Though I didn't have visual confirmation that she was approaching the tennis court, I could feel her presence near the tree line. Since I didn't want to scare her off, I phased back to human and put on my clothes. I called out her name a couple of times and then she emerged from behind an oak tree.
Her eyes were different. Like her brothers, she had inherited her eye-color from her father but now her usually dark eyes were gold. Was that an indication that she was a vampire? Because she didn't look like a vamp to me. Her skin wasn't paler and she didn't look like a bloodthirsty monster.
"Levi?" She questioned when she saw me.
She'd recognized me.
That's a good sign. I thought. Maybe I wouldn't have to call Harry for help.
Then Sarah fell to her knees and started throwing up.
Not a good sign after all.
I ran in her direction to help but I never got to touch her. Suddenly her body expanded and her clothes disappeared. Sarah Black phased into a giant wolf right in front of me. I stood very still. I knew how confusing it was when someone phases for the first time.
I tried to think about what I felt when it happened to me but the only thing I remembered was the hate and the will to rip the vampire in front of me apart. Sarah was in a totally different situation. There were no vamps close by so the only thing that she could take her anger out on was me.
Would she feel less confused and anxious if I phased? Or would it be the other way around?
I really could use some help here, Harrison. I thought.
I ended up phasing again. Maybe for some reason, I'd be able to hear her thoughts and her mine. I had no such luck though. The way her golden eyes were looking at my form, told me she couldn't hear anything I was thinking.
Great! I'm in the damn woods with a new wolf who can't hear me. I took a few seconds observing her and trying to read her emotions.
Sarah was nothing like her brothers in wolf form. They were all russet, like Jacob Black, only Jacob was bigger, stronger and his coat was darker than his children's. Sarah's fur was a beautiful shade of silver, there were no signs of russet fur in her coat.
She was smaller than me, actually, she was probably smaller than Danny, who was the smallest wolf of all packs combined. Yet her petite figure seemed robust and agile.
'Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you. I know you must be pretty upset and confused about how this works but eventually, you'll be able to turn back to human. It took me about three hours, on my first time. My dad said it wasn't bad considering the facts. The next times, it becomes easier and once we return to La Push you'll have your family to help you out.'
I knew she wasn't listening but I didn't know what else to do. I was afraid to step forward. I didn't want her to run away.
'You should be happy. You finally managed to be what you wanted to be.' Sarah had told me once that she wanted to be a wolf so she could be with Morris. 'Maybe you can still have him back even though he imprinted on my sister.'
Imprinting was still just a stupid and strange concept to me.
'I'm kind of relieved that you didn't turn into a sparkling bloodsucking creature. I'd feel really guilty if you did. Guess our genes are stronger than the vamps' venom. If I phase back to human, can I trust you not to bite my head off?'
The small silver wolf growled making me wonder if she was listening to my thoughts or not.
'I'm going to phase back behind a tree and I'll bring you my t-shirt, okay?'
'Where the fuck is my sister, Uley? Where did you take her? Why are you in the middle of the forest when you were supposed to be watching over Sarah in the hotel?'
Harry had just phased and he was beyond angry.
'Hold your horses, Black. She's right here with me... there's a problem though...'
'What problem? What did you do?'
I showed him the wolf in front of me and he was in silence for a few seconds. Shock wasn't the right word to describe Harry's feelings but it was close. For some reason, he was also scared about the fact that now his sister was a wolf, like the rest of us.
'For the Spirits sake! Is that Sarah?'
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