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 I – The Third
Isaac Black
97. Insanely Brilliant Plan
I watched as the sun was going down on that cold evening in December. Somehow I felt that something was wrong. It was a feeling of anxiety and distress. Maybe I should've believed in Odessa when she told me I was going to regret my latest actions. At the time I thought she was trying to intimidate me because I had blackmailed her. But maybe the old lady knew something that I didn't.
Outside, my pack was gathered in the backyard of the Vacant House. I was going to inform them what was going to happen next. They were not going to like it but there was nothing I could do.
Even though I was an alpha, my father was still our true leader. Most of the time I agreed with him. Today was not one of those days though I had agreed to follow his plan. Like me, dad was a strategist, and whenever he planned things he always had in mind the wellbeing of everyone. So even if his plan had flaws, I knew he was doing his very best to protect his people and his family.
"How is it going to be, alpha boy?" EJ asked as I left the house. He was anxious to know what the Council had decided.
"My father didn't budge. He's not going to change his plan so we're staying."
"Come on! That's bullshit, Isaac! We're ready to fight!" EJ exploded. "You know we are! I'm stronger than I was a week ago! I can take down a vampire on my own!"
"You're a great fighter, everyone knows that but you're not invincible."
EJ huffed, disappointed.
"An army of vampires is coming and they want us to stay here?" Jay asked surprised. Just like me, Jay thought that they would change their minds. But they didn't. They considered us too young and inexperienced.
"If we had more time, maybe they would consider taking us with them, but... my father is not comfortable with the idea. I tried my best."
Maria's army was coming north. After reaching Texas they were slowly entering New Mexico. She was trying to keep a low profile, but sometimes she failed at keeping her soldiers in order, and mysterious deaths and missing people reports would pop up in the news: a woman was found dead on the outskirts of Austin, her body was found without a single drop of blood; three members of a rock band had disappeared without a trace in Temple; two female students in Abilene had been found dead and partially buried in the local park, their bodies naked and bloodless. The authorities would never be able to solve those murders or find the missing people, but we knew what was going on. Vampires needed blood to feed, so they were hunting and killing.
"We'll stay here to protect the Reservation. To protect our families." I replied although I felt the same as my pack brothers. "They'll be here in less than three days. The Council wants us to stay so I gave them my word that we would keep La Push safe."
"They can go to hell!" Said EJ. He was the one who was upset the most. "I've been training hard! I did everything that Uncle Jake asked me to do! It's not fair!"
EJ wanted to fight and maybe he was right and dad was making a mistake by not taking us with them but there was too much at stake and I couldn't put my father's authority on the line right now. He had too much in his hands.
"What about the twins? Are they going?" EJ asked but he probably knew the answer. The twins were a lot more experienced in battle than we were.
"William is... I don't know about Harry."
"He has recovered, hasn't he?" Danny asked. His concern about my brother's wellbeing was evident and I wondered how did that miss me. Danny really wasn't like the rest of us.
"Physically yes, mentally... I have my doubts."
"I'm sorry about what happened," Quinn said. "I still think we should do something about it. I could talk to a few friends who live at the Makah Res. A man can't simply disappear into thin air."
What happened on William's wedding day was still present in our minds. The fateful events that unfolded had imaginable consequences that were still hard to understand and accept.
Harrison didn't get to his twin brother's wedding on time because he was shot and left on the pavement to die just outside his house in Campbell Island. He was still alive thanks to the wolf gene and the attacker's sloppy shot. No vital organ was hit although it still took him seven hours to regain consciousness and 14 more to be able to stand. In total, he had received four blood transfusions from William, dad, and Collin.
I had been the first person to arrive on the scene. When I saw my brother's body in a pool of blood I knew that nothing was going to remain the same anymore.
We had tried to locate the person who attacked Harry. William wanted blood. Despite the lack of evidence, we all knew that Tom Harding had something to do with it the problem was that he seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth.
"The fucking Council won't let us do anything," EJ said, his rage rising again. Like William, he wanted blood. Even though he wasn't on the best terms with the twins when he saw Harry shot and bleeding, he ran to his aid and he promised to get revenge.
"The Council is trying to protect us," I informed him.
"How? By letting a murderer go?"
"Technically we don't know if it was him..." I recalled. "And no one died."
"Yet..." My cousin said. "You heard the leech doctor... Harry's girl is hanging by a thread."
Harry hadn't been the sole victim of that vicious attack. Actually, we concluded that he had been only the collateral damage because Tom's main target was Season. We didn't know much about the subject but we knew that Tom Harding was obsessed with Harry's wife and his jealousy must have caused him to snap.
Season was practically dead when I found her on the cold floor in the kitchen. Her attack was a lot more personal than Harry's. She had been beaten, stabbed, and shot in the head. The memory of how I found her still haunted me. Nobody deserved to go through what she did. She'd been left to die on that cold floor, alone, and in pain.
I was able to revive her after performing CPR but her heart stopped three times before Carlisle arrived to take over. She was subjected to two major surgeries in the past few days. The first one to repair the damages in her abdomen where she had been stabbed three times and save the baby she was expecting, and the second one to try to remove the bullet in her brain.
Only the first surgery had been successful. The baby was alright and Carlisle had successfully stopped her bleeding. The bullet was still in her head though. After a meeting with Uncle Seth, they had both decided to leave the bullet there until Season was strong enough to go through another big surgery.
The problem was that no one believed she would get better. She was having trouble breathing on her own and her heart was under stress, so Carlisle had to induce a coma to buy her more time to heal.
Harry had been by her side ever since then. He was refusing to eat and he hardly slept. Everyone was worried about him.
"If we're staying here, might as well do something useful," Quinn said. "We can locate that scumbag and find out if he was the attacker..."
"And then we can kill him." EJ completed Quinn's sentence. "I'm sure no one will miss him."
I agreed that the world didn't need people like Tom Harding. He had an extensive criminal record that included extortion, robbery, illegal trafficking, attempting murder, and rape. His place was in jail, but his activities were profitable not just for him and his crime partners but also for a few corrupt police officers who kept protecting him from going to jail.
So it wouldn't be a total shock if Tom got away with this, especially because once again there was no solid evidence against him.
"I understand why we didn't call the police but we should be doing something more," Quinn insisted.
"We'll do that after we get rid of the vampires," I informed. Right now we had bigger problems on our hands. Tom Harding would have to wait. But I also had made a promise to Season, Harry, and their unborn child, my nephew or niece, that I would do everything in my power to find and punish the person responsible for the attack.
"If we get rid of the vampires." EJ corrected me. "It's not going to be that easy, alpha boy. I might be high most of the times, but I'm not stupid."
The odds were not in our favor. EJ was right about that.
Vlad, one of the Romanian Elders was coming to La Push with three of his guards. A couple of hours earlier Alice had called mom telling her that the Romanians were on their way. Their mission was to take Season with them, as we expected.
"Did someone tell you what's going to happen when the Romanians get here?" EJ insisted.
"You know what will happen." I tried to avoid answering his question because I knew my cousin was going to flip.
"She's in a coma." He said. "You did notice that, right?"
I knew he was being sarcastic.
"Of course I noticed."
"Good because the vamps will notice too and they won't like it. She's no use to them in a coma. What will they do then?"
They were going to try and turn Season into one of them. Alice had seen that too. After that things would turn violent and obscure. Alice had tried to see beyond that but our involvement in the matter was blocking her power.
"They'll want to make her a vampire, won't they?" Danny asked timidly.
I nodded.
"A war will start," EJ said matter-of-factly. "And in the meantime, we'll be here just like scared little puppies."
"The Council is counting on..."
"The Council can kiss my furry ass!" EJ cut me off. "I'm fighting and that's final!"
xxxxxxxxxx
I met with Scarlett that night. She had shown up during the first half of my patrol and told me to meet her at midnight at the border. The small stream of water was illuminated by a weak moon. Scarlett was expecting me already.
"You haven't told anyone, have you? About our meeting?"
"No, of course not." That would only make EJ's comments intensify and I was tired of him sabotaging my leadership and calling me vampire-lover. No one needed to know about this meeting.
"Good, because if you agree with me, we might save the situation and prevent a war."
I looked at her dumbfounded. I had no idea how she planned on doing that. If the vampires came to take Season away, we'd have no choice but to fight.
"You have a magic wand that I don't know about?" I asked playfully.
"No, I don't, but you might have exactly what we need."
"I'm not following, sorry."
"We all know what the Romanians are coming here for, right?"
"My brother's wife. They want to use her to confront the Volturi. But her condition is serious. Carlisle said she might never wake up."
The doctor had been careful choosing his words but this was the reality. He had told us that he had placed Season in an induced coma to give time to her body to recover but the truth was he was trying to give her baby time to develop until he could perform a c-section. After that Season would probably die or remain in a vegetal condition.
"What if I told you there's a way to wake her up?"
I had never thought about such a possibility because I had seen Season's injuries and they were too severe. Medically she couldn't recover in such a short period.
"I would say you're crazy."
"I spoke to Marcus. He's ready to speak to his wife. In the state she's in right now, Season Marsh has just become the perfect vessel. We only need the Conductor and the Sealer."
"That's... insane." I hesitated because I wasn't being honest. The moment she had spoken those words I had the feeling that it was possible. We just had to change a few details.
"Maybe it is insane, but it's not impossible. You know that, right?"
"What if it doesn't work?"
"No harm will come if that happens. Season will remain in a coma, and Marcus will remain in the dark about the way his wife died. No harm is done."
I started to pace back and forth in front of the vampire child.
"I have a question for you." She said. "The Sealer, she's your friend, isn't she?"
"Yes, she is. Why?"
"Is she ready? I mean, does she know what to do?"
"I doubt it. She never wanted this gift and I don't believe she's been training."
"In that case, you need to bring her to me. I can teach her."
"What exactly do you know about her and her gift?"
"More than she does, that's for sure. I've been researching. I've found a few things."
"So, if I bring her here, what will you teach her exactly?"
"How to throw laser beams through her nose," Scarlett said rolling her eyes.
I frowned, recognizing the irony in her voice.
"I'll teach her to seal a soul inside a body. That's what sealers do, Einstein."
"There's no way Harry will allow this. We're talking about sealing a vampire's soul inside his pregnant wife's body."
"I never said we're going to seal Dydime's soul inside Season's body."
"Than how will Marcus speak to his wife?"
"Bring me the girl and the Conductor, and then I'll tell you everything you want to know."
And with that she was gone, leaving me in the woods, utterly confused. Her plan was insane but it could work. If the Romanians came and saw Season alive and well, they would not need to transform her and we could try a diplomatic approach to solve the problem.
The only issue was that I didn't know if my family would accept this plan because this meant that Season would no longer exist. Only her body would remain. Her soul, her existence, would probably vanish the moment another soul was sealed inside her body.
The sacrifice of one for the good of many. It didn't seem right, but it was the only way.
xxxxxxxxxx
I joined uncle Embry when EJ and Quinn were finishing their first exercise in the morning: a ten-mile race, half in human form, the other half as a wolf. Quinn was faster as a human, but not as a wolf.
"It's the gene that counts, I believe." Uncle Embry said when I expressed that Quinn should be the fastest wolf of the two. "When he's a wolf, Paul is stronger and faster than Josh. And he phased before Josh too, which means he's more experienced. Plus, EJ also carries the blood of your family on his mother's side."
I shrugged, not totally convinced. One day I would have to spend some time studying the bloodlines and families of La Push that carried the wolf gene.
"You came to watch your pack training?" Uncle Embry asked me.
"No, actually I'm here to take Danny with me."
"He hasn't started the race yet."
"It's important. I'll bring him back later."
Uncle Embry nodded and I called Danny to follow me.
When Harry was shot, William passed out suddenly on the altar before the priest, his bride, and almost three hundred guests. That was the moment I realized what was going on, and I left immediately. I met EJ and Danny as I was leaving the wedding and they decided to follow me.
Later that day, as we were waiting for news about Season's condition at Alice's house in Grimes Creek, Marcus came to us and said that he had identified the Conductor. He said that he had been suspicious at the time, but that at that moment he was one hundred percent sure of who the Conductor was.
"So what are we going to do? Where are we going?" My cousin asked.
"We're meeting Scarlett."
"The red-haired vampire?"
"Yes."
"I thought you hated her."
"Hate is a very negative word, Danny. I don't hate her, I just don't like her much."
"Because she's smarter than you?"
I stopped abruptly and looked at my cousin disapprovingly.
"She's not smarter than me," I said. "She's a vampire. Wolves don't like vampires."
"You're friends with the Cullens. We all are." He pointed out.
"Yes, but she's not like the Cullens, is she?"
"If you dislike her so much why are you taking me to her?"
"You'll understand when we get there."
As we kept walking I wondered if Danny would really understand what was going on. Nobody had told him that he was a conductor of souls yet.
Danny was the easy part of our plan. He showed a bit of skepticism at first, but he never doubted us. Sophia would be a whole different thing.
"It will be easier if she knows what she's dealing with," Scarlett said before I drove to the Makah Reservation to get Sophia. "You need to tell her because if you don't, I will."
Sarah shared the same opinion.
"It was kind of a shock, of course. I mean I wasn't expecting to see William turning into a huge wolf but it was better that way. I was getting so angry at you guys for keeping secrets from me. It's always better to know."
"But do you think she's ready?"
"No one is ever ready for something like this, Isaac."
My sister was right. Maybe she was turning more wise and mature, so I considered her advice and I prepared myself to tell Sophia the truth. I left an old book with the origins, history, and legends of the Quileute people in Sophia's room and a note telling her to keep an open mind and that I would meet her on the following day.
I knew Scarlett would not approve of my decision because she wanted to start working with Danny and Sophia right away, but a night wouldn't make any difference.
Only, it did.
I was not expecting Sophia's late-night appearance at the Vacant House. She had understood everything by reading the book but she wanted confirmation, so when we went to the woods and I showed her my wolf form, she didn't scream or fainted. She just stared at me for a very long time.
I think Sarah might have played an important part in Sophia's acceptance of the supernatural, but I didn't ask Sophia if my sister had spoken to her because I thought that silence was now better than any conversation we could have.
I phased back and after getting dressed I took her to the Vacant House because it was a cold night and Sophia was shivering. Though if it was from the cold or from the fear of just having seen a giant wolf, I couldn't tell.
I thought she'd want to go back to the Makah Reservation immediately but she followed me to my room.
I heard EJ snoring loudly. Mom and dad were out. Jay was on patrol. Quinn and Danny were also sleeping.
She took off her jacket and her tennis shoes and laid on the bed. I stood there without knowing what to do.
"Let's sleep, Isaac." She finally spoke in a calm voice. Totally different from what I'd been expecting. "You'll tell me everything in the morning, won't you?" She added when she realized I wasn't moving.
"I will," I replied solemnly.
"Do you promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
Then we slept.
Despite this pandemic, I wish everyone a Happy 2021. I hope you're all safe.
Thanks for the reviews: Guest(s), CentaurPrincess, brankel1, Mel9kiSihou, Island Mama, Weave the Magic, Kary G, almondbutter, rocklesson86, TheSlytherinQueenbee, nikkieowens, nene82743, Deadman'sGun, bonzgirl, Jazzmatazz30, sia-gomo01, FangsandDaggers, Sagal Farah, chemistrykim, Daughter of the earth, Gizmo60, EvangellaAkriti, Sarah Blackwater, lory77, Beauty Eclipsed, tcpg02, Aiyanna Clearwater, Ebble, riskingit, Ella Tremaine, shadoxwolfpaw, Jaybeecee, MammaNita4, Daniela, Candie Marie, etforreal, Joy Lande, Addison Faye, Finley Jean, BeeGommes, candycane56, danidaninunesfranco, Cheetah Grrl, Thumbellina, Lysette 90.
I'd also like to thank all the followers of this story and all the readers who added it to their favorites list. Thank you.
Take care,
Karisan.