I'm gonna fight 'em all
A seven nation army couldn't hold me back
They're gonna rip it off
Taking their time right behind my back
And I'm talking to myself at night
Because I can't forget
Back and forth through my mind
Behind a cigarette
And the message coming from my eyes
Says leave it alone
Don't want to hear about it
Every single one's got a story to tell
Everyone knows about it
From the Queen of England to the hounds of hell
Seven Nation Army, by the White Stripes, from the album Elephant, released in 2003
The meadow was silent, excluding the hisses and snarls and other cries that were demanding war from other animals. On one side- an army of shifters, of all shapes and sizes, ages and species. The dominant species was the wolves- twenty-four strong. The leader- a russet wolf larger than them all, baring his teeth as he stepped forward, distancing himself from the Pack.
To his right, his Mate, the Alpha Female, wearing a similar look and a splodged coat, fangs hissing and spitting at the opposition. Behind them, a large black wolf, dark silver wolf, and a brown wolf stood. Behind them further still, they were flanked by a gangly sandy wolf, an ashy-brown wolf, a smaller light grey wolf, a black-spotted wolf, a chocolate wolf and a reddish-brown, young-looking wolf.
This was the main wolf pack, and they bore their names with pride, with anger, and the urge to protect the land they called home. To the right of them, there was a sort of sub-pack, making up thirteen of the total number. At the head of this pack stood a scarred wolf, with deep coloured fur and heterochromatic eyes. Behind him stood twelve of his children, sporting different coloured furs and powers, snarling, viciously, hackles raised and fury evident.
They were determined to protect their father's new Pack and to spend some time with him after everything. To the right stood the elephants, a small group of six, with mottled grey skin and long ivory tusks, long and ornate in their design. They joined the wolves' snarls with trumpeting echos of war, chant-like and encapturing in their ruckus. The Lions were next, with golden skins, the males rocking a thick and coarse mane, and a lashing tail.
Their Pride consisted of Pursia- her mother thought she was being funny that day- the Alpha Female, Ashen, the second, Maine the third, Norta, and Yson. They all roared, tall and proud, standing out amongst the others due to their golden sunset fur. Then there was the Cougars. Their accent was strongly Canadian, and they hissed and yowled in anger, accompanying the ferocious uproar.
Long claws emerged out of their tawny grey coats, and they watched with amber and grey eyes, backs arched and tails swishing in agitation. There were North and Merrick, the two Alphas who had their litter wiped out by a group of Vampires. Lynk and Remie, two siblings, and Mattias and Marlo, two older cougars, the last phasing remnants of the original Cougar pack. They knew what it was like to have Vampires hunting your family, and they were just as eager to wipe out the threat as the wolves' were.
The Scottish Wildcat Pride were next, and that sounded like the name of a conservation area. They were smaller than any of the others, still bigger than any of the species, but they made up for all their smallness with agility. There was Fergus, the representative Alpha, but not the actual Alpha, Callie his daughter, Kailin, the beta, and Ellidh, a female completely unrelated and without rank.
There was not enough time to discuss who was present within the congregated army, as Victoria began to speak, her bright red eyes pulsing with something that wasn't natural. Then again, there was nothing natural behind a vampire.
"A long time ago, your Mate, Edward, hunter and killed my James. I swore to get revenge."
Not wavering lightly from her form, Bella, as the impromptu leader of the shifter union, snarled viciously, not cowering in the face of her torturer. Jacob was much more verbal in his argument even as the acrid bleach smell increased with every bit of airflow. His hackles were raised in contention with the hissing vampires, red eyes meeting furious brown, as he bared his teeth, strangling out a heavily restrained curse.
"So why don't you get your revenge on The Cullens then?"
There was a sadistic glint in Victoria's eyes as she reached into a black bag. Her pearly white teeth shone in the twilight, the teeth of a predator and she demonstrated that as she removed her hand, revealing a head with onyx black eyes, pale granite skin, and bronze hair.
"Because I already have. It's just the Bitch left"
Where his neck should have been, there was a stump and the hollowed-out trachea could be seen, along with an abscess where the blood vessels used to be. If Bella could pale in her current form, she would have, and it wasn't because she still loved the currently decapitated Vampire. It was just because she was honest to God sick to her stomach- that was disgusting.
Despite it all, she still held a teensy tiny part of her heart for him, but even if she didn't, he was practically a captive. Ironic, considering that he'd kept her in a cage, but this.. was worse.
Somebody from one of the other packs hissed- likely of a feline form- as somebody else audibly cursed within the pack mind, presumably similarly disgusted. Her grin picked up so that it was even wider, reminiscent of a shark's grin, bloodthirsty and predatory. She snapped her fingers, and immediately another man- vampire, flitted to her side. She draped her arms around her, salivating over him and teasing them by running her tongue around his neck.
"I think now, my Love.."
She purred, in a sick, twisted way that made every member of the wolves' side grimace in expression and their stomachs squirm uncomfortably. Like a stack of falling dominoes, the Vampiric, blood-drinking, soul-destroying and long-time enemy of the shifters, army settled into a crouch.
"We fight"
The sides sprung towards one another, claws and fangs outstretched viciously, as each army sought to destroy one another for what the opposite side had done.
Bella's first instinct was to shield as many people as she could within the Unified Pack Mind. Since that was her power, she felt responsible to protect everyone she could with it. But she had just managed to snake it around the Cougars before it snapped in half, with a sound that was oddly reminiscent of a snapping elastic hand.
A drum of pain was felt, increasing like a crescendo, and she quickly put a stopper on it as to not distract Jacob, who was currently mid-fight with a tall, dimmed eyed Vampire. Tracking her eyes across the battlefield, where swirls of fire were quickly meeting plumes of water as the shifters swapped targets more often then the seasons swapped, she quickly found out who she thought was the target.
A Leech who was staring at her while simultaneously side-stepping a Cougar. Bella broke into a sprint, shouting out as loud as she could within the chaos of the pack mind:
'There's a vampire with the ability to break my shield!'
A vampire charged her from the side, arms outstretched like something which mimicked her worst nightmare, which she dodged with grace and poise that she'd only just gotten used to. Snarling, she lunged, teeth sinking into the Leech's arm as he flailed it, trying to dislodge her.
She let go, skidding to the side, before lunging again, this time head butting him away so that he staggered into the path of an incoming elephant- she didn't know who- who promptly picked him up with the curl of their trunk, and batted him against the ground, like some kind of plaything.
"We are a bit preoccupied right now- someone has the ability to force someone on our side to attack us. It seems they can only control one person at a time. I'm trying to identify who it is."
With the accent, the lingering American droll that sounded Russian in nature, Bella would guess that it was the leader- sorry, Alpha- of the Eagles talking. There was that undercurrent of power that was ever so obvious, and if she concentrated she could hear the rush of air.
"I'll try and get 'em Lass. Once he's done, you can protect us all from the mind-whatever right?"
The thick Scottish accent rang out, masculine in nature, as Bella saw a streak of ginger-fur pounce on the shield-breaker, rolling in a mixture of fur and granite. The sounds of battle cracked out like a lash of thunder, yowls of pain and anger-filled hisses being the main attraction. It wouldn't be uncommon to hear the cracks of bones or the whistle of the wind as an Eagle divebombed abruptly, their claws tangling with the stone-cold forms of the vampires.
She nodded her head in response to who she thought was Fergus- since he was the only Scot with ginger fur- certain she could stop whichever sick person was forcing people to attack ones they loved. With her shield wrapped around her as tightly as she could, making it as thick as she could in preparation for someone attacking her mind.
There was a sharp whistle of air as Bella looked up sharply in response, only to see one of the eagles attempting to claw at her, talons outstretched and eyes hardened but blank. Bella flattened, as the rough claws trailed along her back, reopening a gash she had thought had healed. Yowling in pain, the eagle- again, she had no idea who it was because she couldn't remember names- pulled up sharply, before going for another attack.
The moves were stilted, predictable, nothing like the ones they'd practised together as a group, and it was obvious that they were heavily fighting whatever was being done. Bella flopped on her side, trying to ignore the slight bit of pain, before wrapping her gums around the leg quickly, throwing them back into the air with a flick of her head.
The wings stuttered ever so slightly, but Bella didn't have time to check before she had to narrowly dodge a fireball that was thrown at her, the large diameter making it almost impossible to dodge. She was expecting, at the very least, a light singe of fur, her pelt being damaged or even a severe flash burn, but in the end, she got nothing.
Whisper, Shadow's daughter- one of many, further supporting the feeling that he was not as young as he appeared- jumped in front of her, her pale fur almost standing up on end as the fireball stopped in mid-air as if paused by her command alone.
The wind wrapped it up and dissolved it, as Whisper looked at her, nodding ever so slightly. Bella returned the gesture, just before she went to go help one of the wildcats who looked like they were having trouble.
Leaping over the back of a lion, who was crouched down, mauling a Vampire who was struggling under his large paws- at least she knew he was a male due to the mane- she grabbed the Leech's leg, yanking it sharply out from under him as the wildcat scrambled away to the side, hissing furiously.
She kept pulling and pulling as the wildcat jumped up and off Bella's back, onto the vampires, and wrapped their jowl around the neck, pulling with aggravated and adrenaline-fuelled strength as Bella heard the sheer crack of the leg coming off. Noticing Ember, one of Shadow's sons, she called his attention briefly, as she threw the leg into the air.
With a small smirk and the light of his fires joining his glinted expression, the leg was suddenly consumed with a vicious torrent of fire, hungry in its quest to consume granite-like flesh. Once she was sure the cat would be safe- as safe as they could be in a war zone-she turned to try and find Jacob, to see the wolf in question charging towards her.
As she narrowed her eyes, her wolf suddenly took control for a brief moment, throwing her form to the side and out of the reach of Jacob who stopped, staring at her with cold and listless eyes.
That isn't Jacob. He's been controlled by that bastard. Feel the bond and look at his eyes."
Bella did that as she dodged his lunge, narrowly avoiding his teeth which scrapped her ear narrowly, almost tugging it. The bond was shut off, but not like when they had willingly closed it, to allow the other space. This was.. weighted. Heavy and cumbersome. Ill and weak and twisted.
"JACOB!"
Bella howled, in a vain attempt to get his attention. But there was no twitch of his eyes, no recognition in the soulless eyes, and the bond didn't so much as quiver. His emotions weren't coming through at all, her head- which was getting a lot of hammer today- feeling like she was slamming it into a wall every time she reached for it.
She went back and merged into the same space as her wolf, as they remained on the defensive, avoiding Jacob's flurry of quick and lethal attacks. He was moving to kill, and he wasn't going to stop- no screaming or begging or the feeling of wrongness was going to stop him.
Forcing herself to concentrate on the attacking wolf that was Jacob, she bared her teeth in a demonstration of authority. Hackles raised and lip curled, she made herself look tall as he charged towards her, a manic glint in his eyes.
I don't want to hurt him, Little One, but look, it might be the only choice we have.
Scowling, jostling her flank a little, she leapt out of the way of another attack, feeling Jacob's teeth graze her flank ever so slightly. It wasn't a cheeky nip, not like the ones she'd receive when they were pouncing on one another or tussling, but more like one to kill or at the very least maim. All around them, while the two Imprints were fighting, similar battles were happening all across the area.
Shifters of different Packs teaming up with one another- North the Cougar jumping onto Kenai the bear's back, and bringing down a Vampire, or Tomas the Capuchin monkey being dropped onto a Vampire's head by Yuriko the sea eagle. Though they were still outnumbered, the Vampires were whittled down little by little, although the one with the controlling power was still alive and kicking.
They had also suffered losses.. although those would be mourned at the end, once they had achieved victory, so their sacrifice would not be in vain. Returning back to Bella, her eyes were concentrating on her partner, her wolf bleeding into her movements with every side-step or avoidance. It wasn't until Jacob managed to tear into her right flank that she realised that whether she liked it or not, she had to fight back.
At least until someone took out whoever was controlling him or that they gave up on controlling Jacob. Snarling at the flash of pain that she felt, with every second resulting in Jacob's fangs becoming more entrenched, she whipped around, knowing that she would never be able to overpower Jacob, and blasted her shield out, concentrating the shield around his teeth, which pried his jaw open.
Licking her wound quickly, still dribbling drops of blood, she rotated, focusing on Jacob who screamed. It wasn't even in pain, or some other explicable emotion- no, it was just in surprise. Like he hadn't expected her to retaliate- she didn't want to, everything in her body was screaming no. They leapt at one another, springing at one another with howls and growls and outstretched claws.
Bella dug her teeth into Jacob's shoulder, tugging and holding her own despite the vast size difference. To repay the attack tenfold, he wrapped his jaws around her ear- she had predicted the attack and ducked, narrowly avoiding being grasped around the neck- and she whimpered as the bite made home. There was no tearing noise, not even a sound of something shattering, there was just the sound of Jacob's teeth clasping together.
There wasn't even much pain past the initial bit- but there definitely was lingering damage, if the torn-off bit of flesh was anything to go by. She stepped back, a little surprised: well, more like startled, the shock hadn't crept in yet- before lunging towards Jacob again, her ear curling inwards on itself, as a defence mechanism to protect it from further harm. The tear was diagonal, not neat, rounded and uneven, and it was bleeding fairly profusely.
Her claws scraped down his side as their two forms slammed against one another viciously, with Bella losing ground every time they did, and Jacob's blood made a flimsy covering on her nails. Beads of it loosed along the ground, mixing with her own, as Jacob's teeth wrapped around her front paw, whilst her jaws wrapped around the back of his neck, the scruff.
They were at an impasse- Jacob couldn't move because of the paralysing tendencies of Bella holding the scruff of his neck and Bella couldn't move because she risked breaking her paw. And she couldn't exactly receive that injury and still help out in the fight. Tauntingly, Jacob tightened his teeth around her paw, as she bared her teeth, his eyes suddenly dilated and looked at her with shock and surprise. Somewhere in the Pack Mind, the shifter far away and tensed, someone cried out with a successful cry of elation:
"I got the mind-twister!"
Author's Note
HAPPY 2020 EVERYONE!
I hope that you've enjoyed it so far- the two days of it anyway- and spent it doing something you loved.
It's a really important time of year and I believe you should spend it with those they love.
Anyway, I've got a dog that I'm dogsitting (he's so goddamn adorable. He's a cockapoo and omg!) so I'd better get back to him.
QOTW: What is something that you are looking forward to this year?
See you next week!
~A festive Bookworm