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Chapter 27 - War Council

At the Cullens' residence, we walk inside with Valerian and Ayami. Esme and Carlisle join us right away and sit at the long table in the dining room. They never actually eat here, of course, but it's a good place to have a family gathering, or a war council. We track mud all over the place but Esme doesn't pay it any mind today. She's conferring with Carlisle in hushed tones. We take a seat, soon joined by Jasper and Alice. Within five minutes, everybody else gathers and we have a full house. The Cullens are still in their baseball jerseys.

"We don't have to worry about James any longer." Emmet says with an exaggerated, gloating smile. Carlisle glares at him.

"Every life is valuable, Emmet. I understand we didn't have a choice," he looks, pointedly, at Lynn, Valerian, and me, "but I don't have to like it, or to celebrate it."

"I share your sentiment, father. We all do. Unfortunately, he had a sick mind. To him it was all just a game. He was looking forward to tormenting and destroying our whole family, starting with Brandon and any relatives of his he could track down. Some of his plans involved killing random children. He lived for challenges and he had found one worth pursuing." Lynn and I let Valerian talk first. We owe it to him. Thanks to his decisiveness James is not a threat anymore. But I also have something to say.

"I'm sorry, Carlisle. If I hadn't been there they would have just played baseball and left."

"Brandon, don't apologize. We wanted you there with us. It's our fault, if anybody's." He's still frowning, but nods in my direction and tries to force a smile. Lynn will have none of that.

"We are still wasting time. Victoria is out there, and Valerian is convinced she will try to avenge him. I think Brandon and I should run." She is still restless, keyed up. "If we are not here she won't have any reason to hurt people in town."

"Yeah, but then what?" I ask her. "If we run now, we will never be able to stop. Do you really want us to spend our life on the road…?"

"Her mate was a tracker, you heard that, right?" She is getting mad, but she's also scared, really scared. For me more than anything.

"So? That's my point. She'll find us anyways. Why bother running? "

"Brandon, I can't tell you how sorry I am I brought you there. It is my fault, and I swear I will dedicate my life to keeping you safe. But I must warn you it will not be easy. She will do anything she can to get her revenge. Anything." Lynn looks anguished, but I still don't get it.

"At first James seemed to be the only real threat." She adds, scowling. "I didn't pay enough attention to Victoria…."

"None of us did." Valerian comments. "Don't beat yourself up about it."

"Yeah, but she's one against nine of you…" I squeak, confused.

"She won't attack us, of course," Alice explains patiently. "But in many futures I can see, she resorts to killing random children from the school, like James would have done. She might also stalk your father, and other citizens. We can't be everywhere, or protect them all. Like Valerian already showed you, running won't help anybody. If you leave she will just vent her anger on the town, and look for you later or wait for you to come back, maybe driven by guilt."

"Nice…" I mumble.

Lynn bites her lip. Valerian stares at me.

"Interesting. I can't read your mind, like Lynn." He tells me, "but I can sense the reason. Unconsciously, you project a kind of force field that inhibits intrusion. If you turn, it will become even stronger."

I look at him, surprised.

"Let me try something else…" He adds.

Suddenly, I see an art exhibition. Night paintings of city landscapes are lined on a wall. Gaslights flicker next to them. The image is gone as quickly as it came. It was a memory, but not one of my own.

"Interesting. My telepathy, which is harmless, works fine. But mind reading, a more invasive and potentially offensive technique, is denied…. Your talent is definitely a shield, and a selective one. Intriguing."

"Can't we worry about that later?" Lynn barks at him, visibly upset.

"Alice, Valerian, are you absolutely sure she won't just follow us if we take off now? We are the ones she wants." She adds biting her lip again. She seems uncertain now.

"In the futures I see, she won't. She will try to hurt his family and his friends instead. In one timeline, as a matter of fact, she recruits an army of newborns in Seattle and then tries to kill all of us." Alice looks stern. Valerian just nods in agreement.

"There is one other thing I don't understand…" I manage to add before anybody can speak up. "This James guy…. He didn't look fazed by the presence of so many vampires. He sounded quite cocky when he was talking to Carlisle. I don't get it. Confidence is one thing, but the odds were clearly not in his favor."

Jasper chuckles.

"That's actually my doing…." He explains in a sinister tone. "I've been experimenting with altering moods. In this case, I bolstered his confidence, which was already considerable to begin with, and subtly reduced his awareness of our actual number. It was working too… He never noticed any of us in the back row until he smelled Brandon. Making him overconfident also allowed Valerian and Lynn to read his true intentions easily."

That makes sense, but we still have a problem at hand. What do we do about this Victoria character?

"Would it help if I were to turn into a vampire? The human she hates would be no more…" Lynn just goes into a sulk, but I know part of her wants it too.

Valerian signals dissent.

"She'd still want some kind of revenge on all of us. Turning you now only ensures she will try to form her own coven before attacking us. Many innocents will suffer if that happens."

"I see. So, how about this…. You are saying she's a very good tracker, right? I assume she's also a warrior…. Lynn, Valerian, you read her mind. How confident is she?"

"Very." Valerian replies. Lynn shakes her head. She reminds me she was focusing on James.

"Valerian, she wisely ran from the whole family. Do you think she would feel confident enough to fight Lynn, if it was just her and me? Obviously I'm no match for her, but Lynn is a different story…."

"From what I've gleaned earlier on, yes, I think she would like her chances very much, partly because she doesn't know of Lynn's gift. With James, she got into a lot of fights over the years. They had always triumphed. I could sense her anger when we killed him. It was mixed with disbelief. She thought James could defeat us all. He might have, if given time to plot, to execute a well thought out strategy."

"In that case, why don't we bait her? Lure her into a trap?"

"It's not a bad idea, in theory," Carlisle muses, "but it's not that simple. We easily smell the presence of other vampires, and so does she. You and Lynn would have to fight her without our help. She won't repeat James's mistake."

"I can beat her. Like Valerian pointed out she doesn't know I can read her mind." Lynn looks fierce, but then stares at me and grimaces. "But Carlisle, this could be very dangerous for Brandon. She just has to get past me for a fraction of a second and he'd be dead. I don't think I can go along with it."

"Also," Jasper is the most experienced fighter, and strategist, in the family. "We don't know for a fact that she will be alone. Even with her mind reading, if Lynn is against two or more vampires I don't like her chances…. And Brandon would be dead meat in that case. Valerian told me she has at least one friend in the area."

"Is there any way at all your smell could be hidden? Something you can wear…"

Carlisle shakes his head.

"Not from another vampire."

Too bad. That would have been sweet….

"What if we could get somebody to help us? Somebody who's not a vampire, I mean, so she wouldn't sense any danger." I decide to ask, an idea starting to form in my mind. Alice blinks and looks dazed for a second. A smile ensues. She likes the futures my brainstorm is rippling across her mind.

"Listen to the man." Alice winks at me and she's all thumbs up.

Lynn looks at her but seems confused by what she sees in her thoughts.

"No human can fight vampires, Brandon." She says softly. "It's not just you."

"Yeah, I know…. But what about werewolves?" I ask with a grin. A gasp makes its way around the table. Emmet guffaws loudly and gives me a high-five.

Lynn frowns at me, but then she remembers I've known the Black family my whole life.

"You think the protectors would help us?" She mutters, dubious.

"They're my friends, and, more importantly, so are the elders, and they would have plenty of reasons to help regardless. Billy Black would certainly be glad to get rid of a volatile, dangerous vampire like Victoria. No matter what we do, I will have to warn them about her. She might stray into their territory again and cause even more trouble."

"If we do it quickly," Alice says excitedly, "I can see her taking the bait."

"I agree." Valerian adds. "Her mind was brimming with anger. She must be seething. In a few days she will cool down enough to work on a longer term plan, but for now she will just look for opportunities to fight Lynn one on one, or at an numerical advantage if she has help."

"Wait, wait... Jacob is hurt right now…." Lynn, still looking anxious.

"Rebecca, Sam, and Seth can also phase. I'm sure they will stand with us if we ask Billy. They owe you, but they will also want to make sure Victoria is neutralized. They trust you now, but vampires who don't share your lifestyle are a danger to all humans."

"Alice, Valerian, what do you see in terms of outcome?"

They look at each other and shrug.

"We can't see the result of the actual fight because of the presence of werewolves. They neuter our power. But we can see that Victoria will follow you and attack you when she's sure we are too far to come to your aid. It's hard to be sure, but I think she won't be alone."

"Yes, she will bring one or two allies, no more than that. Laurent could end up being one of them. Now I wish we hadn't let him go." Valerian confirms, his forehead wrinkled in concentration.

"Brandon," storm clouds have gathered above Lynn's head. Lightning sparkles in her eyes. "You keep forgetting you'd be there too, and how fragile you are. It would take them a second to end your life. Well, less than that, really. Are you insane? I won't put you into this kind of danger. If you don't want to run maybe we can keep you safe here and in the meantime Valerian and I can try to hunt her down."

Valerian shakes his head. Alice follows suit. Even the spikes in her hair look subdued, wilted.

"Innocents will suffer if we do that." There is no doubt in Valerian's voice. "That's her game, not ours. Ayami and I are wanderers; we don't stalk other humans or vampires. We are not trackers. And like we already discussed we can't protect the whole town. There's not enough of us. We could look after his father, that's just one person, but anybody else would be an easy target."

"What if I just go there alone while you watch over him here at the house. She hates me too… Would that work?" Lynn, her voice husky, trying to think of a way to protect me.

Valerian and Alice stare at nothing for a few seconds, their eyes vacant.

"I'm sorry, Lynn. She wants Brandon. If he's not there she won't bite." Valerian finally replies, his voice low and husky.

Everybody becomes quiet again. Lynn looks down at the table, her expression tense and hard to read.

"Brandon, are you sure the protectors will fight with you?" Carlisle asks me quietly.

"Pretty sure. I could just call Billy and ask him right now, if you want."

"Father, you would allow it?" Lynn gapes at him, shocked. Carlisle appears wary.

"You know how much we love you and Brandon both…. But we have to do something about this situation….. We have to consider every option carefully before we dismiss it."

"Carlisle," Esme, quiet until now, has to speak up. "Lynn is right. With the wolves' help I'm sure she will defeat Victoria, but Brandon is so weak. It's too dangerous. We can't let them do this. This isn't right."

"Lynn, Carlisle, Esme…." Valerian says softly, "I understand your arguments, but I think you should let the boy decide for himself. There are many lives at stake, including his own and how he's going to live it."

Everybody looks at me, waiting to hear what I have to say. I hate being the center of attention, but I don't begrudge his words. He has a point. I sigh and speak up.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life watching my back, or cause the death of innocent people. I think we should do it. It was my idea after all. I'm willing." I'm probably paler than usual. That's really saying something.

Lynn stands up, sending her chair crashing to the floor.

"No. I won't cooperate. I won't let you die like this." She grabs a few vases from the shelves and throws them at the wall. Each time one of them shatters, Esme winces but doesn't utter a word. When Lynn is done she just stands there, still shaking, looking at her feet.

"I waited so long for you, Brandon. I don't want to lose you now….."

I come up behind her, slowly. I wink at Alice and Valerian and then I wrap my arms around her. She still refuses to look into my eyes. I gently blow into one of her ears and then whisper a term of endearment. She shivers.

"Lynn, since we met you have saved my life and generally acted as my guardian angel, or guardian vampire. Nothing could make me happier, or prouder, but it's not really fair. All of you feel the need to take care of me since I am weaker…. I'd just be bait but this is my chance to contribute, to be part of the family and not just a pet."

Lynn looks mad.

"Nobody thinks of you as a pet… Don't pay attention to Rosalie's nonsense."

"I know, I know, but I am nothing like you or my friends at the reservation. Not now, anyways. It's just the way it is, but it makes me feel useless, a liability. Long term, you know what I think we should do…. But right now, please, Lynn, let me do this. Let's do this together. We can end her threat now, before anybody else gets hurt. What other choice do we really have?" My voice breaks as I plead with her. Her body is still tense. I stroke her shoulders, toy with her hair, press my body against hers.

"Besides, I know you and the protectors will take good care of me." I state with all the confidence I could possibly muster.

Esme sidles to me.

"You're really so brave, Brandon. We can all see why Lynn loves you so much." Her melodious voice sounds on the verge of breaking. She gently puts her arms around Lynn and me.

"Esme, you'll make the boy blush…." Carlisle scolds her, but it's too late to save my cheeks; they go down in a blaze of glory. I want to say I'm just an idiot who wants to do the right thing, but I'm too choked up to speak. When Esme steps away, her eyes are filled with affection and fear.

"Lynn…." I caress her shoulders and neck, and she finally looks at me.

"Keeping you alive is not an easy task, Brandon." She glowers at me, but can't keep it up.

"I know." We both laugh, and then kiss. Eventually Emmet harrumphs… "Guys, get a room." He rumbles before laughing some more. That must be his favorite line.

"Brandon, you have to call Billy black. Let's confirm they will help before we do anything else."

"Right away, Carlisle."

Billy's at home and I explain the situation to him. As expected, he agrees Victoria has to be stopped. He also promises that Rebecca, Sam and Seth will fight with us. I tell him I'll call him back about the details, but the trap will need to be sprung tomorrow. He assures me the protectors will be ready. Carlisle holds his wife in his arms.

"Brandon… You don't have to do this. We will do our best to keep you safe if you choose not to go through with it. I promised you we would not let any harm come to you the first time you visited and I will keep my word, no matter the cost.'

I stare back at him, clinging to my woman.

"I know, Carlisle. But I think we need to do this, as scary as it is; there is really no alternative that won't lead to more suffering."

The others remain quiet, but Emmet and Jasper give me a thumbs-up. For the first time, even Rosalie seems to notice I exist, but now she can't hide how worried she is for both of us. I hope my friends at the reservation won't let us down, otherwise Lynn and I are in trouble.