Chapter 11
Legends
"What up Beau?" Julie asked as she ran towards me, stopping just inches from me. Man she was fast, even as a human.
I sniffed in her scent but it caused me to gag. The scent of her was just god awful; completely wet dog and instinctively I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Eww," I protested as I processed the scent even deeper. "Jules, you really stink."
"Speak for yourself leach," she countered with her usual goofy smile still on her face, even if she tried to act like my scent made her sick. "Damn you smell really sweet; like antifreeze."
I laughed back and she did the same. Apparently we were as good as we had been before. In fact, Julie looked really jazzed for the fight with all of the newborns.
I looked on the hill where I counted the wolves again. I had expected something like six or seven but I counted their eyes for the fourth time. "Eight, nine, ten," and I still wasn't done. There was another one at the left flank I hadn't yet counted; eleven of them plus Jules. "What have they been feeding the kids on the Rez?" I joked.
"Don't got nothin' to do with diet, Beau. One of your kind's been trespassing lately."
"I wasn't any of us," I defended my family. If anything they were overly careful with the boundary, not getting within fifty yards of it, even if we had relaxed our side to let Julie and her friends come visit when they wanted to we didn't want to pressure them any more than needed.
"Naw," she said as I looked up at Jessamine and Carine addressing the other wolves with Edythe next to Carine, translating for the wolves I assumed. "We know it wasn't you guys. Some damned red-headed male sporting a pretty stout mullet if I do say so myself."
Edythe cut herself off from whatever she had been translating for Jessamine and sprinted towards us. "Victor," Edythe hissed as she rushed next to me. The sudden closeness to her made Jules's arms start trembling.
"Calm," a voice came from behind her and I noticed that it was Saul as a massive grey wolf start coming towards us. "If you really want this alliance to work, then you must be the example. You know Sam isn't fond of this, but all of us on the council trust you Julie."
No sooner had Saul's words left his mouth that Julie did calm herself. I still couldn't believe how in control of herself that Julie was here. I mean, Jessamine and the rest of them had all tried to tell me just how unstable that the werewolves were. Two deep breaths from Julie and she almost instantly stopped shaking.
"Lee, relax," Saul said looking back towards the wolf who was less than fifty feet away now.
The grey wolf was whimpering and still looked really pissed, but slowly retreated back into position with the rest of the wolves. She wasn't quite all the way to the left side of the line, just inside of a large, but gangly looking sandy colored wolf who was on the far left flank.
Looking at the line of wolves again, at the center of the line was the large black wolf- more than a head taller than any of the others. Sam, I remembered from our first meeting. Immediately to her left was a huge brown wolf, while to Sam's right was a very dark silver furred wolf. This one I also remembered as Paula; the girl who carried Bonnie when I met first met her when I knew all this craziness was actually true.
"So, what's been going on with you Beau?" Saul asked, his concern genuine.
I shrugged. "Not much really." I looked right at Julie as I added, "Just another bunch of vampires out to kill me." I smiled at the joke and even Julie laughed a little.
"Yeah, that's what Julie's said about it," Saul joked back. "Seems like a daily occurrence for you."
"Kinda." Saul and I just kept making small talk for a few minutes before the moonlight started break through the clouds. His look was absolutely awed at the prism like effect that even the moon could make on my new granite skin. His hand started towards me and at first I locked down, retreating slightly with a little hiss coming from my barred teeth.
Instantly Saul recognized his mistake. "Do you mind?" He asked softly as he held his hand up.
I looked at Edythe, who was standing with Jessamine and Carine, translating for the wolves I assumed. She had stopped mid sentence and looked right at me, a sense of awe in her eyes and then she nodded.
"'Kay," I said as I stepped slowly back to him. I waited for the touch of his skin to mine and was surprised when I felt it. It was undeniably pleasant, the warmth of Saul's body feeling like it was warming every inch of me. That lasted for about ten seconds before his scent started to hit me. I felt venom begin to pool in my mouth and the fiery thirst that I hadn't really felt since that first meeting with Bonnie after my "funeral"; my first temptation with human blood.
The thirst was bad now, there was no denying that, but I knew I didn't need to quench it. In fact, I had realized in the three months since I was reborn as a vampire that the thirst would never go away. Even Edythe admitted that when she tasted my blood as she tried to suck Joss's venom back out and the insane taint that had on my flavor, it was from my blood that was the closest she had ever felt to sated. Luckily, Archie was there to stop her from continuing to feed before it was too late. In this case, no matter how badly I wanted to drink any human's blood, I knew that it would only temporarily mute my thirst and the regret and shame would be so much more later.
In addition, Edythe's heroin analogy made more sense the more and more I caught human scents. The first "hit" would assuredly make me want a second. The safest way to make sure I wouldn't get addicted to human blood was to never taste it.
"Amazing," Jessamine gasped as it seemed like everyone was looking at Saul and me. Carine and Edythe looked beyond awed at us while Archie just rolled his eyes. Surely he had known that this would happen, even if the wolves were here. Earnest looked incredibly proud of me, while El looked ticked.
The wolves looked somewhere between confused and amazed as well. All but the sandy furred one on the extreme left flank, who looked almost like he was upset with her sisters for assuming that anything but this would have happened. She even snickered a little bit, which reminded me of old cartoon character, Muttley.
I looked closer at that sandy wolf, and recognized a couple of Sarah Clearwater's features, and for the first time understood why Saul was so amazed by his daughter. She was young, in fact younger than Bonnie had said any of the girls had been when they first changed at only 13.
"So Sarah and Lee too huh?" I asked not completely sure.
Saul sighed. "Yeah… unfortunately."
"Wait, you didn't want them to be werewolves?"
Saul shook his head. "That's not it. It's just that both of us- Holly and myself were ready for Sarah but Lee took us completely by surprise. All of our legends say that it's only the females that change."
"It's been super annoying," Julie muttered at which the grey wolf snarled at us which was met by a commanding growl by Sam. Instantly, the grey wolf collapsed to its knees and even Julie's legs trembled slightly. "Sorry," Julie mumbled back at the wolf at the point.
"So what was that about?" I asked to them.
Julie just stood there almost mute, but Saul would answer. "They have to obey their alpha absolutely. Any command must be followed to the letter. I'm guessing that Sam ordered Lee to pay attention to the sparring going on, and probably even told Julie to be quiet. They have a little more leeway when they're human, but they still can't disobey a direct order, even when human."
"Thanks for telling him all of our secrets," Julie all but cursed at Saul.
"With the mind reader," Saul said as he pointed towards Edythe. Even though his voice held no animosity towards her but his voice was biting, "they'll know all of our secrets anyway. It doesn't do us any good to hide things if we're going to be working together."
"Yeah, I guess," Julie accepted even if she did protest a little.
"But what are you doing here," I asked to Saul. "I mean if it's the girls that turn into wolves, what's your role in this?"
Saul's expression fell a little bit. "Holly," he said proudly. "Unfortunately Sam's mother never believed the legends, so when her and Sam's mother split, she left Sam with her father. And Sam's dad is very… difficult. So that left three others who knew the legends held more truth to them than other know. Bonnie, Quinn's grandma, and Holly. I believed them, but still thought they might have been a little exaggerated. When Lee had her first phase at the kitchen table- completely destroyed almost everything in there too. But when Holly had her heart attack, they- Old Quinn and Bonnie knew they needed a third person with more perspective on the council, and since I knew the truth from seeing Lee phase they thought I was the logical choice."
I looked at Lee with a lot more sympathy now. It sounded like his phase caused Holly's heart attack. So now not only was the guilt there with losing Sam as a boyfriend, but now also being somewhat responsible for his mother's death. Seemed like a lot more than most 16 year olds should have to deal with.
"So who is everyone?" I asked hoping that they'd fill me in.
"So we'll start from the far left," Saul said because Jules still looked like the cat- or should I say wolf- had her tongue. Maybe I should tease her with that later, I thought with a smile and small chuckle.
"What?" Julie snapped, looking irritated at my teasing.
"Wolf got your tongue?" I joked.
She smiled back understanding but started stuttering out incomplete words and then playfully punched my shoulder.
Saul joined in my laughing at Julie. "Not her fault Beau. When Sam gives an order it's gotta be obeyed explicitly." He glared at Julie for a second as he added, "Some people though find ways around them."
"Who me?" Julie teased back. It was just so her.
"Julie was supposed to hide the fact that she had phased until she could control herself adequately. But she didn't exactly spill the beans; you just saw her in both forms that first night you were by your dad's house. But after that, Bonnie was able to convince Sam to back off a little. Back to who is everyone? Starting on the far left, Sarah," I saw the sandy colored, but kind of clumsy and awkward girl I had seen a few times on the reservation. "Then Lee," he was massive, the third largest one there, only slightly smaller than Sam was. "Joanne and Michelle," they were both kind of salt and pepper, and looked a lot alike.
"The damned twins," Julie complained. "When were all human, they always do the switch-a-roo game. Kinda tough when they're wolves though." I could see that Julie wanted to say more but was being cut off again.
"Then Jaime." I remembered this brown wolf with almost like a grey mask around his eyes. "Sam's next then on her right is Paula."
"Who's in my spot," Julie spat towards the wolf which seemed to be answered with a challenging snarl. Julie just rolled her eyes in response.
The three in the middle I remembered from that first night I learned about the wolves' existence. "Emma and Quinn." I had seen them only in their human forms before tonight. Emma was dark grey with black spots while Quinn was a deep chocolate brown. "And then the newest two, Brianna and Colleen." Brianna fur was the color of ash while Colleen's was kind of reddish-brown. The further away from Sam, the wolves seemed to be kind of smaller in size.
"So twelve of you guys then?" I asked somewhat curious.
"And probably more to come," Saul answered. "It seems like the werewolf gene is only triggered when vampires are in the area. So most likely more will begin to phase in the future, depending on how long you all decide to stay."
"We gave our word that we'd leave after the next school year; when Archie and Edythe should of graduated," I answered affirmatively. I didn't want any trouble with the Quileutes, not just because that they became werewolves, but because many of them were my friends.
That answered seemed to sadden Julie just a little. Ultimately though, I knew this wasn't up to just me anymore. The final decision was up to our matriarch.
"I don't get it," I said after a couple of minutes, "I mean, everyone else who knows, they all act like the Cullens are pariahs, but you seem different."
Saul smiled nervously. "That's because I've seen a different side of Dr. Cullen than the others, Beau. And so had Sarah."
I looked again at the sandy colored, but kind of clumsy wolf and could help but smile a little at her, wondering exactly why she was different than the others. Luckily Saul was about to explain it.
"About three years ago, Sarah was visiting some of her friends that lived in Forks. She always had more of an outgoing personality than most of the tribe's girls and made a bunch of friends in town. The story I got was that they were jumping on a trampoline and Sarah came down awkwardly, ending up breaking her leg. I was in town doing some shopping, so they called me to the hospital where Sarah was being treated by Dr. Cullen. I saw how gentle she was, how compassionate and I understood. Even now, seeing the way Carine looks at her family- which is what she sees all of them as. Sarah also took a liking to the nice doctor who set and cast her broken leg, and even whined when Holly demanded that she see a different doctor for her follow up care." Saul looked up to the sky. "If only Holly could of seen that side of Carine, then maybe the animosity wouldn't be so deep."
So that explained why Saul was comfortable in coming here tonight.
"Don't get me wrong though; we all know that their kind is dangerous." I didn't know whether I was relieved or disappointed that he didn't consider me one of them. "No matter how controlled Carine is, some of them are extremely dangerous and temperamental."
"So that brings me to the real reason that Bonnie wanted me to come here tonight, and that was to tell you some of the old Quileute legends. Unfortunately I don't know all of them as good at this as Bonnie does, and there's no one better than Old Quinn at spinning stories but I'll do the best that I can."
"First beau, you need to understand that our tribe is more unique than almost any other in the country. We are one of the most driven by equality, mostly because of our legends. For much of our history, our chief was the oldest child of the former one, regardless of if they were man or woman.
"Magic has been in the blood of the Quileute people since our origins, and not only the shape shifting we are famous for now. Originally we were spirit warriors. Many warriors, both man and woman, of the tribe possessed the power of the spirit which our ancestors used with great success to drive out those who would try to seize our lands. The surrounding area was rich for both crops and fish and game, so many surrounding tribes would try to drive us from here. While they would temporarily, we would not be gone from our lands for long.
"In their spirit forms the warriors, though lacking a physical form and unable to inflict actual injury to our enemies, they were effective enough. Our warriors could drive fierce winds that would howl with the ferocity of the wolf, and also convince the animals to attack our enemies, while not harming those who were our allies.
"Kaheleha was not our first spirit chief, but she was the first whom stories about survived. She ruled the people, together with her trusted husband Yakwa. They were both extremely peaceful people, who preferred diplomacy to actual violence whenever feasible. This is where our alliances with the Hohs and Makahs originated, not only from our magic, but seeing the merciful nature of our great cheiftess.
"For the next several generations, it was considered the most gravest form of blasphemy to use one's spirit self for personal gain, which included using the warriors to drive other tribes from their lands without provocation. We lived at relative peace for several decades, even with the beginning of the arrival of the white man from the east. That was until our last great spirit chief."
I looked over to the training and saw a couple of the wolves almost antsy to try their skill against Jessamine, and wondered just how the wolves would have faired against someone as good of a fighter as she was. But I was quickly distracted by the sound of Julie's throat clearing.
"Sorry," I apologized.
"The last of our spirit chiefs was Taha Aki, who was a fine continuation of the prior ones. She was wise beyond her mere thirty years when one of her warriors, Utlapa who was furious with the ways of our people. Utlapa wanted our people to enslave all those we could conquer and expand our empires, even going so far as to drive the white man from the areas they had settled.
"Ultimately, Utlapa took a wife from one of the neighboring tribes that had sparred with us in the past. And everyday, this wife kept encouraging him to act on his desires for power. But no matter how many times Utlapa brought his desires to his chieftess, she always turned him down.
"Several years past, while Utlapa continued to fester in his desires, when finally Taha Aki could no longer ignore that actions of Utlapa's wife. Taha Aki hoped that by removing the cancer that was Utlapa's wife, he would return to the peaceful ways of our people. Simply put, the chieftess gave him an ultimatum; the tribe or his wife. This was not an easy decision, as Utlapa loved his wife with a love that was extremely powerful, but to leave the tribe would mean he would never be able to use his spirit self again."
"Why?" I asked. "I mean, if he could do… well whatever it was, then why wouldn't he be able to still shift?"
"That might of worked except for the fact that all the spirit warriors can hear the thoughts of all others when in the spirit realm. Since almost all time, at least one is in the realm, Utlapa would be found out immediately and violating a direct edict from a chief is punishable by death.
"Utlapa chose his wife and left the tribe, but he did not wander far. He was careful, looking for an opportunity to get revenge on Taha Aki. The legend says that it was the wife's plan; wait for a time where only Taha Aki was in the spirit realm and then join her, take control of the chieftess's body and then kill his own."
"That's… kinda…" I wrinkled my nose in disgust.
"I know," Saul said and I hoped he knew why I thought it was so messed up. "It wasn't that uncommon of occurrence though when two spirit warriors wed. Numerous times the two would switch bodies, even being intimate at times. They said that it united their spirits even closer together."
"Sounds kinda gay," Eleanor joked as she turned from Jessamine who with El's distraction had her flat on her back.
"Kind of," Saul answered sounding like he held no animosity for Eleanor's quip. "Utlapa's plan worked as he intended and quickly posed at the chief. Naturally the first act that Utlapa did, after killing his own body was forever bar any more trips to the spirit realm. Had any of the warriors phased, they would know instantly that Utlapa was not whom he said he was.
"So Taha Aki was trapped in the spirit realm. It wasn't long before he started enacting several new laws for the tribe, even taking a second husband and even a third."
"Definitely gay," Eleanor joked again. She wasn't fighting any more, but still one of the wolves charged her; the large grey one, Lee, even biting his left arm. "Damn it!"
A snicker erupted from not only the wolves' line, but also from some of ours. "Don't mock their legends," Edythe snapped back.
Eleanor started snarling at the wolf who had attacked him, but within a few milliseconds Carine was next to her. "You had that coming," she said smacking the back of her head somewhat kiddingly. "We must respect them if we want this to work." The Carine looked right at Sam, her eyes as sincere as I had ever seen them before adding, "Sorry."
Almost instantly, the tension eased and I wondered if it was Carine's doing or Jessamine's. Anyway, I focused back on Saul. "So what happened next?"
"When Utlapa's wife saw who she thought was Taha Aki, she panicked, at first saying that she had no idea what her husband was up to and begged the forgiveness of the chieftess. Utlapa knew that Taha Aki was right; his wife was a snake who could not be trusted. This woman's body he had taken control of was strong, almost as strong as a male warrior's and it was only too easy to strike down his former wife.
"As Utlapa returned to our village, he took over as the chieftess, ruling with an iron hand. The edict not to travel to the spirit realm was not difficult for the other warriors to obey as the experience was always a disorienting and uncomfortable one. His rule was brutal, as he used the warriors to conquer the Hohs and then the Makahs before enslaving several of them, even taking one of the best male specimens as his second husband, an act that was all but unprecedented- engaging in polyandry.
"It was extremely painful for the real Taha Aki to be stuck in the spirit world for the decade that he was even with eventually finding a companion in a massive grey wolf that he had sent down from the mountains after the first week. It was a good plan; if she couldn't dislodge Utlapa from her body, she would kill her own body through whatever means were still available to her. One of the advantages to our spirit selves was that we could communicate with the animals, and even convince them to do our bidding. The great wolf attacked the village, only intending to harm the body of Taha Aki, but Utlapa was a smart man. He hid behind some of his best young warriors recognizing this as the former chieftess's work. He also knew how much our chieftess abhorred unnecessary death, which was why when the wolf accidentally killed one of the young braves, the eldest son of one of her best spirit warriors, Taha Aki instantly ordered the wolf back to the mountains."
"You say young," I asked kind of curious. Was he talking about children, or ones similar in age to Julie? "How young?"
"Generally, one became a brave about the time of adolescence- which is when they gained the use of their spirit self- so most likely about the same age as them," he added pointing to the line of wolves.
"At this time, several of the older spirit warriors began to grow suspicious of the one posing as our chieftess. The real Taha Aki would have never hidden behind the young and no matter the sacrifice, would have entered the spirit world to convince the wolf to leave us in peace. There was even some bickering about whether or not to violate the order forbidding travel in the spirit world.
"It was at this time that Taha Aki came up with the plan that created their kind. She had grown too uncomfortable in the spirit world in the years that had passed since she last held a physical form. The two, by now had formed a deep friendship, since it was only the wolf who realized that Taha Aki even existed. It was incredibly selfish of her, and required a great sacrifice of her companion, but Taha Aki would have soon begun to waste away in the spirit realm; she needed a physical form.
"She asked her friend if she would share in her great body, and without any reservations, the wolf complied and made room for the spirit of our chieftess. The gratitude felt by her could not be put into words, and the wolf complied with her every request and they both were rewarded as the wolf grew into an even larger beast. The two re-entered the village.
"At first, the warriors gathered to protect the young ones; everyone except for Utlapa who hid in fear from this threat. The great wolf did not attack the warriors, but retreated slowly and in a pained wolf voice, imitated the songs of their people.
"It was an older female who was one of Taha Aki's best spirit warriors that was first to recognize that this wolf was possessed by a spirit and, despite the consequences, entered the spirit world. That warrior, who was named Yut was met the instant she crossed into the spirit world by the rightful chieftess, instantly understanding everything that had transpired but before Yut could return to her body, Utlapa came out to inspect the work of the warriors.
"When Utlapa saw the body of Yut lying motionless, at first he thought that the wolf had slaughtered the warrior, but then he saw no signs of any wound. That's when he realized what had happened.
"Recognizing the sign that Yut was about to return to her body, Utlapa stabbed her through the throat, in order to keep her from speaking the truth, even falsely apologizing for the execution.
"It was then, recognizing the lengths that Utlapa was willing to go to maintain power that a rage began to overtake Taha Aki, who by now had returned to her companion the wolf. The anger was too much for the wolf to understand, and the most wonderous magic took place. A shutter ripped through the spine of the animal and in its place stood a woman.
"This woman did not look like Taha Aki the woman, as by now she had aged considerably being under the control of Utlapa, but rather Taha Aki the spirit. She was tall, beautiful as the sun, and graceful beyond comparison. None of those who had not traveled with her in the spirit realm recognized her, but those who had instantly knew who was in their midst.
"Utlapa stood, frozen in fear knowing there was no escape for him. Even if the first instinct of the new Taha Aki had been to grant mercy to the traitor, she saw in his eyes that his soul was too far gone. In the end, it hadn't been Utlapa's wife who corrupted him, but rather he was deeply flawed himself.
"Utlapa attempted to flee into the spirit world, but his spirit was too corrupted for even that journey. Seeing his attempted escape, Taha Aki realized that there was only one fitting punishment for such treachery; execution. But even in this, Taha Aki showed mercy but quickly crushing Utlapa.
"Taha Aki was welcomed back with open arms as the rightful chief of the tribe. Though she removed most of the edicts from the fraudulent chief, the restriction travel to the spirit world was maintained, since Utlapa had demonstrated the danger in this. There was great fear in the stealing of bodies.
"Taha Aki was able to shift into the wolf at will, using such form to scare away any enemies who attempted to conquer us. Even the peace with the Hohs and Makahs was restored.
"Taha Aki did not age, defending the tribe for many generations and bearing many children. When her daughters reached adulthood, it was then that many of them discovered they could also change into wolves and they joined their mother in defending the tribe. And as the sons and daughters also had children, many of their daughters also had the ability.
"But eventually Taha Aki's mind aged to the point that she was ready to begin aging again. After the death from old age of her first two husbands, Taha Aki finally found the one she was always destined to be, connecting to him in the deepest possible level. Today the girls refer to it as 'imprinting'. It was then that Taha Aki's oldest daughter asked her mother after seeing how happy she was with this husband, that she be allowed to take over leadership of the pack, so Taha Aki could give up her wolf self and begin aging again. Originally, Taha Aki was against forcing the burden onto anyone else, even her oldest daughter who was willing, but her husband was able to convince her to release her burden to the younger generation, and the two lived for several decades until one fateful day later."
AN: I'm going to end the chapter here. Next time is the story of the 'cold ones' and the forming of the truce with the Cullens and more about the sparring. Reviews always appreciated, so please take the time to drop me a few words. Not sure when the next chapter will be up, as I'm fixing to go on vacation in a few weeks. Thanks for all of the support.