I gracefully slid down a mound of dirt, sodden leaves and mud rolling and scattering out of my way as I landed at the bottom with Elijah beside me. We had received word that some of the werewolves were planning an uprising. Something that I did not need nor want. For once, I just wanted all the factions to get along. Just for one day. Was that too much to ask? Apparently so. I broke out into the clearing that led to the shack where I could hear Hayley inside. As soon as the werewolves saw Elijah, they scattered, parting a path for us as we walked up the steps to the porch.
"I'm pretty sure that I'll be doing this alone." I heard Hayley said from the inside and I peered inside the screen door to see Eve and Hayley sitting on the ground practicing her breathing exercises.
"I somehow doubt that." Eve smiled at her before looking at the door at Elijah and me. Hayley followed her gaze as I opened the door and peered inside.
"Pardon the interruption." Elijah apologized gently.
"What's up, beach ball?" I nodded my head towards Hayley as a way of a greeting. She glared at me and picked up the nearest book to her and chucked it at my head which I knocked aside with a graceful flick of my hand.
"Stop calling me that." She growled at me and I laughed.
"I wonder if I might have a quick word with the conspirators of a supposed uprising. Who are they?" Hayley didn't answer and I let out a short laugh before growing deadly serious, my face adamant. "No. Seriously, Hayley, who the hell are they?" She sighed heavily.
"Oliver and Jackson." I turned and stood on the edge of the porch as I looked around the campsite. I stalked off the porch and as I spotted the two wolves in question, I whistled to them and signaled for them to meet us in the barn. Elijah walked to the back and leaned against a post as I kept me back to the door as Oliver, Jackson and Hayley walked in and shut the door behind them.
"You're making a mistake."
"So, you're just worried about us." Oliver taunted me. "Is that it?"
"You be quiet and let the grown-ups talk."
"Look, Hayden." Jackson said. "We know all about Klaus' reputation, but if there is even a chance that these rings can help us take control of our curse…"
"Our gift." Oliver corrected his alphas under his breath.
"Then, honestly, we don't care what he's really after. Won't have to."
"I do, Jackson." I snapped at him, splaying my hand over my chest. "I care. I care a lot. You're going to start causing some waves in the quarter. Do not provoke them."
"Apparently, most of them see us breathing and we're provoking." Oliver growled and I snapped my fingers at him to silence him.
"What did I just say?" I turned to Elijah, who was still leaning against a pole, observing the conversation. "Feel free to jump in any time, O' Great One."
"You're handling it just fine." Elijah purred and I growled at him before looking at Hayley.
"You signed the treaty, Hayley. We signed a treaty together."
"We don't want a fight, Hayden." Hayley said.
"It seems that's exactly what you want."
"We just want a better life."
"I can't give that to you if you violate the treaty. Making a deal with Klaus is not the answer." Before any of the wolves could say anything, a rumbling sound echoed through the trees outside causing all of us to give each other a cautious look. I perked my ears and realized that it sounded like a motorcycle. "What the hell is that?"
"What the hell?" Jackson grumbled as he stormed out of the barn with Oliver behind him. I stuck close to Hayley's side as we walked outside with Elijah behind us. Up the hill, just on the outer edges of the campsite, a man pulled up on a motorcycle. The rest of the pack crowded around, looking suspiciously at the stranger, parting ways to allow us to walk up to the man.
"Which one of you is in charge?" The man inquired, the energy coming off him feeling very negative. I pressed myself closer to Hayley.
"Who's asking?" I called out. Instead of answering, the man just smirked, and that energy took a turn for the worse as I quickly pushed Hayley to the ground and covered her body with my own. As I was in the process of protecting Hayley, Elijah vamp sped over to the guy and pushed him away from everyone just as the motorcycle and gas tank blew up. Oxygen disappeared in the space around us as I fought against the pain from the heat, pushing myself more down onto Hayley. Heat radiated against the left side of my back and side, but I held steady until the explosion subsided. Oxygen came back to me and I panted, inhaling as much as I could as I slowly rose. My left side burned and felt numb at the same time. There was a tinnitus ringing in my ears as I slowly climbed off Hayley, stumbling as I stood and gripping Hayley's hands to help her up. I did a quick scan of her, my vision blurred but I didn't see nor smell any burns or blood coming off her. There were yells and screams coming from all over the pack that were muffled.
The pack was now scattered throughout the bayou. Either by the force of the explosion or from them simply trying to flee. Jackson and Oliver were groaning on the ground, but both were fine. I half turned away from Hayley and looked over my shoulder to see Elijah slowly climbing to his feet a little way away. He had taken the blunt of the explosion and his suit was cloaked in charcoal and soot holes scattered across his suit. Hayley ran through the campsite, her leadership instincts kicking into overdrive as she went from person to person, making sure they were alright. A couple yards to my right, a man was on the ground panting in agony, his breath coming out in short spurts. I stumbled over to him and fell next to him. I lifted his shirt to see his skin was bubbling. I recognized the reaction from the poison of wolfsbane as it ate through his skin faster than he was healing. Wolfsbane. That was the burning sensation that I was feeling on my back. But I was a hybrid. Wolfsbane wouldn't have affected me unless… it was mixed with vervain. A mixture of wolfsbane and vervain was the only thing that would have affected me. Whoever was behind this had to know Elijah and I were going to be here in order to mix vervain into the explosion.
"Hayden." Elijah's voice sounded behind me as he walked up to me. "Your back."
"Elijah." I breathed as he dropped down next to me. "I'm fine. It's healing." My breath was still coming out in pants as Elijah looked at the wound on the man in front of us. "Wolfsbane and vervain." I pointed to my back. "It must have been in the gas tank. You're the fastest. Take him, anyone else who can't walk, in the barn." Elijah grabbed the man by the arms and helped him up as I stumbled to my feet. I noticed Elijah looking at me wearily. "It's ok, Elijah. I'm fine. I'm healing. They need your help. Go."
TO
Working together, Jackson and I moved from person to person, determining which ones could be moved to the barn by Elijah and which ones needed medical attention immediately by Hayley. Oliver was buzzing through the pack, directing orders, and creating what order he could establish. My back was still tingling like pins and needles, but it was finally healed. Examining the last person, I noticed Elijah and Jackson standing on top of a mound just across from the cabin talking to each other, but I didn't see Hayley anywhere anymore. Giving one quick glance around, I made my way over to them.
"Where's Hayley?" I asked them, but before either of them could answer, my phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket to see Hayley calling me. "It's Hayley. Speak of the Devil." I answered the call. "Where are you?"
"I have to take care of something." Hayley informed me. "I'll be back soon as I can."
"Are you going to tell me what this something is? Where are you? I'll come to you."
"Hayden, I'm fine. Just take care of the pack while I'm gone, please?" Before I could argue with her some more, she hung up on and I growled in frustration.
"Is she okay?" Jackson asked me cautiously.
I'm going to say physically, yes." I said bitterly. "Mentally? Not a chance in hell."
"It's a good thing that bomb went off where it did. Could've been a lot worse. People could've got killed."
"Unless…" Elijah began to speak but paused as he looked around at the campsite. I watched his face as his eyes scanned, trying to decipher what he was thinking when it finally clicked in my head and a sense of dread filled me.
"That was just a decoy." I breathed, choking on my own oxygen. I spun around and scanned the pack with him when I noticed something flashing under one of the RVs. There was a flashing red dot belonging to a detonator. I pointed to it. "There. Oh, my God."
"Get everyone out of here… now!" Before any of us could take one step, an explosion went off just behind Jackson. People screamed and hollered as they try to flee from the terrorism. Though it wasn't without struggle, I forced myself to vamp speed through the campsite, grabbing as many people as I could and carrying them away from the explosion as one after another after another went off. There were a total of eight more explosions. Scanning the campsite, I saw a little boy crying out for his mother on the far side of the campsite, right next to RV whose detonator has not gone off yet. Shifting, my paws thudded across the ground as I bounded over to him and cover the child with my body just as the last explosion went off. I gritted my teeth so hard against the impact of the heat, I was certain I cracked all of them as I took the blunt of the explosion. As the heat dissipated, I slowly stood up, my eyes unfocused and my head disoriented. My fur was singed and melted against my skin and I could hear my own flesh sizzling with the poison and heat.
I dipped my head to check the child and he clung to me for security. Swaying and stumbling, I crouched down next to the boy and he climbed onto my back so I could carry him to the barn. My legs quivered with effort and exhaustion as I kept tripping and stumbling over my own paws, but I forced myself to stay upright. As we got closer to the barn, I lowered myself to the ground once more so that the boy could climb off and he raced to the barn. The vervain and wolfsbane mixture was making me weaker and weaker as I fight the urge to shift back into my human form. I needed to find a secluded spot. I stumbled into the woods and found a tree to hide behind so I could shift back without anyone seeing me. There were burns up and down my body and I whimpered and bit my lower lip in pain. My chest felt like I had a ton of bricks on my sternum and it felt like glass shards in my lungs with each breath I took. I needed blood. I needed blood to speed up the healing process. Without it, I would stay weak and useless and helpless.
"Hayden?" Elijah's voice sounded in the direction that I had come from. It was an effort to hold out my arm so that he could see that I was sitting behind a tree. Leaves crackled and branches snapped under his weight as he rounded the tree and glanced down at me. He shrugged off what was left of his suit jacket and carefully draped it over me. There was enough left of the jacket to cover my feminine parts. He crouched down in front of me and bit into his wrist before holding it out towards me, blood trickling from the two puncture wounds he had created. My fingers enclosed around his wrist and I pulled it towards me, my lips pressing against his cool skin. The blood ran across my tongue and it was sweet and unlike anything I had ever tasted. So different from human blood. After two mouthfuls, my chest felt a little lighter and the burn marks on my body stopped bubbling with the vervain and wolfsbane. I had to force myself to stop drinking his sweet blood and let go of his wrist.
"It's the vervain and wolfsbane." I groaned breathlessly. "It's making me weak. I won't be at my full strength until I feed."
"Come. Let's get you back with the others." Elijah gingerly put his right arm around my shoulders and moved his left arm under my knees and cautiously picked me up. He held me tight against his chest as he carried me out of the woods.
TO
I stood on the outskirts of the clearing later that night with Elijah at my side. Night had fallen over the bayou, creatures and insects of the night buzzing and making noise. The only light was illuminating from the fire in the middle of the clearing as the pack surrounded Oliver who was getting them riled up with a battle speech. Everyone was hurting. Not only physically from the explosives but mentally and emotionally due to the fact that Eve had died just a few hours ago.
"They are counting on our doubts." Oliver chanted to the pack.
"That's right!" Voices scattered throughout the pack as they cheered on Oliver. "Yeah!"
"They are counting on our fears!"
"That's right! Right!"
"You stayed." Hayley's voice sounded behind us and we turned to see her slowly walking down the mound to take a place next to us. "Here's the clothes you asked for, Hayden." I took the pile of clothes from her and vamp sped into woods to change in privacy. Once I got back to Elijah and Hayley, wearing a t-shirt and yoga pants, I slipped into my leather jacket as Oliver was still ranting to the pack. I handed Elijah back his coat.
"And that blood?" I asked, trying to hide the eagerness in my voice. Hayley reached into her inside pocket of her coat and pulled out a bag of blood. I took it from her and extended my fangs as I bit into it and drank it greedily.
"Come morning, they will know that we are not cowards!" Oliver continued.
"What's going on?" Hayley inquired softly. "What is he doing?"
"We are not afraid!"
"He's making a move for power in the wake of tragedy." Elijah purred. "He's not alone." I wiped the blood from my mouth and turned to look at Hayley with sad, sympathetic eyes.
"There was another attack after you left." I informed her and her eyes got wide.
"What?" She breathed.
"Eve didn't make it. I'm so sorry."
"Your friend Jackson will need your help." Elijah said. "They will want vengeance… blood for blood… and, unfortunately, in troubled times, people do not look for the best…" The pack cheered again at something Oliver said. "… but rather the loudest."
"Hey!" Oliver hollered as Hayley ran to the shack to check on Jackson who was sitting by Eve's deathbed. "Hey. Look. I know where I'm going. If any of you want to follow, hey, that's up to you. That's up to you!" The night air was filled with hollering and more cheering as I turned to Elijah.
"There's a war coming, Elijah." I muttered lowly. "And a lot of people are not going to make it."
