You could never know what it's like
Your blood like winter freezes just like ice
And there's a cold lonely light that shines from you
You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use
And did you think this fool could never win
Well look at me, I'm coming back again
I got a taste of love in a simple way
And if you need to know while I'm still standing you just fade away
Don't you know I'm still standing better than I ever did
Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid
I'm still standing after all this time
Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind
I'm Still Standing, by Elton John, from the album Too Low for Zero, released in 1983
Jacob's POV
The sounds of the battlefield were still noticeable despite my distance from it. Wolf-like howls of remembrance were just as loud as the loud roars of achievement, only tainted by the pool of darkened blood swirling around the grass like a vortex. My gift, subtle as it may be, seemed to be counteracting the Bitch's uncanny ability to escape, and by extension, impairing her ability to fight.
I had long since gotten used to the taste of blood, having given up on spitting it out whenever it reappeared. There was a deep, primal urge within me, fuelled by the fusion of wolf and human, to become the beast I am now, snarling and hissing, protecting my fallen mate who was barely standing.
I had increased in size so that I towered over Sam, the nearest in size in comparison to me. My class and teeth sharpened as my head grew to match my enhanced body, muscles rippling in my now red coat as they tensed, ready to hunt. The anger at being used to hurt my mate was fuelling the change I didn't even know I could do, and the urge, no, demand to do better was changing me into this being of nature.
Though rational-minded, knowing that I was known for my lax behaviour, everybody had a breaking point, and I had just reached mine. We had become the united merging of wolf and human, I was he, and he was I. Memories of being a cub and memories of being a child intertwined into one state of being. Paws were hands and hands were paws, our teeth a commonality as they threatened to tear through whoever opposed us in posing a danger to our Mate.
This was why we fought, why we longed to fight, to keep what was hours in our paws, and to cherish it until we were no longer able. We roared at the red-headed Leech, slamming our paws into the ground, creating deep grooves as we showed our dominance. She looked a little taken aback by our action, but still set back into her crouch. Through our bond, our Mate- so strong, so strong, but injured, our mind echoed- positively radiated trust, and we fed her some of our energy.
There was the sound of hissing, and a weak snarl as Bella- that name winning out over the mash of Strawberry and Bella- as she stood wobbly on all fours, a defiant look on her face, only dampened by the sheer amount of pain she was keeping back from us. We covered Bella as the vampire sprang, hoping to dislodge us or startle us into abandoning our Mate.
She was in the ill-conceived idea that we never truly loved her- never, never, she is ours, we are hers- and that we were merely cannon fodder for that Vampire she once loved. But that was not true, our love was strong, was right, was ours. She was fast, but we were quicker, countering every move before she could make it. There was smoke in the air, the thick and grey smoke covering the sky.
The smell of flesh, actual flesh, echoed through the air- the memories of a burning forest, of men with sticks, fallen wolves, family, Pack- turning our nose, but we pushed it aside with dread. We clashed, Vampire vs Wolf, snarling, our teeth digging into her leg after she moved it a fraction too slowly. Cracks spiralled as the bite went deeper, and with a screech of pain, she picked us up, hands wrapped around our waist.
Like a lemon in a juice squeezer, she began to squeeze our ribs. They resisted, enough for us to twist out. We pushed up, gripping our back legs on her now-ragged skirt, dislodging her arms for a fraction of a second as we opened our maw wide, snapping it around her chin, teeth digging into where her cheekbones would be.
We pulled down, letting gravity do most of the work, and with a tear, her jaw came loose, completely tearing away as we bounded away, freed by her moment of surprise. Our fur raised, spiking harshly, our hackles raising and our fangs bared, spitting out the flesh, throwing it to the side like the piece of shit it was.
Red eyes hardened, but the look held much less menace once her lower jaw was removed. We could see into the back of her mouth, where it would normally be a pinky red a hollow, porcelain white. There was the sound of a vacuum as she took in unnecessary air, attempting to speak, which she simply couldn't do in her current condition. A grin adorned our face- images of Bella, of Strawberry, injured, dead, we must protect- as we took a moment to relish in the Leech's condition.
We were not uninjured ourselves, no, we suffered from cuts and bumps, a gash on our back, and our fur clotted with assorted blood. Small patches of our russet fur had torn away, where it had been eaten by the acrid venom, spat on us by Vampires who were pinned, hoping to try and push us away. It didn't work. Bella, still wounded but armed with the anger of a pissed off Alpha, moved to stand next to us, as we tried to curve around her front, acting as a human shield.
She carried herself with a proud air, reluctant to concede, and with some effort on her part, arched her back, the fur spiking up in a similar style to my own. The limp she possessed, the trembling of her entire body and the stress of merely standing up was not missed, evident to us as clear as black on white.
We braced her, careful not to glance her wounds, as Victoria, who seemed to have a resolve to fight. She could not escape as long we were present with our gift, as she seemed to have realised. So, she lunged forwards, as we did again, pushing off the ground and propelling ourselves towards her. She darted to the side mid pounce, allowing her to avoid our teeth for another minute. Bella slowly leapt forwards, pain evident in every movement, as she moved with none of the grace she usually possessed.
Victoria merely disappeared again, appearing behind Bella, hands outstretched as if to grab Bella's back legs. Which she did, pulling, but as we turned to pounce, driven by the feral need to protect our mate, a huge fireball was appeared out of nowhere, skimming extremely close to Bella, but forcing Victoria to disappear, releasing Bella in the process.
Looking to where the fireball emerged from, there was Ember, his black and russet fur covering with an orange glow, eyes peering eerily through the ashen surroundings. He moved to come join us, flanking by our side as Victoria continued to run from position to position, appearing in front of Bella one minute, and behind us the next. Bella trembled with a stronger frequency now, the strain she was under only intensifying as time passed.
Ember curved around her back, leaving us to guard her front, as Victoria shifted, trying to find a weaker angle to attack us from. Kailin, the wildcat was still tussling with one of Victoria's leeches but seemed to be finishing up, judging by the fractals of ice appearing in small patches of water that had been caused by… whatever it had been caused by.
A flame circle like something out of a fantasy novel circled us, lurching up suddenly and resulting in a protective firewall. While it kept her from moving out- since she couldn't teleport- it also meant that we were stuck in here with her, in a small circle. Fortunately, our job was made somewhat easier by the wisps of flame eating away at Victoria's flesh, yet avoiding the three of them easily.
"So you've got me trapped it seems. Well, if I am going down, I'm going to take Bella with me."
Her speaking without a jaw was terrifying, to say the least, considering there was no movement of her jaw- cause it was broken off- and the words came out airy, the speech with a distinct whistling sound. With claw-like-fingers outstretched, she moved forward at a blurring speed, our eyes keeping up with her as if she was just moving normally. Moving forwards, we ducked, grabbing her right leg with my fangs as flames sprouted. We double-taked, knowing that we didn't possess that power, but Ember's voice, deep and slightly pain-filled, was clear.
"I made the flames eat away at what you penetrated."
We nodded, before tugging away at her legs. As Ember lunged forwards to grab her other leg, she moved backwards, just enough to graze the fire, we were forced to follow, dragged along the ground, leaving deep gouges in the dirt. An angry clicking sound emerged as she flew forwards, causing us to be pulled back by Bella's jaws, her teeth digging into our hind leg.
We could see why a few seconds later, when a large spike of earth erupted where I had once stood. It sunk back into the ground almost as quickly, and the firewall flickered down a little, replaced by a forming of earth.
"Someone.. Someone has come near. I can feel them outside my shield."
As the firewall began to flicker, the flames beating the rock down viciously, Bella ducked out from behind us, limping, and still looking weak. We turned, to tell her to stay behind us, but she seemed covered by some sort of air distortion, and she turned to walk out, unaided, limbs trembling as the flames fruitlessly licked at her, the rock parting like the sea for Mose.
We wanted to call out for her to stay, so we could protect her, but she disappeared before we could get a word out, and we once again became distracted by the clicking Victoria, engaged in a vicious fight with Ember, who was giving her a run for her money by burning her whenever she came to close to him.
Growling, we joined in, diving up for one of her hands, our mind dwelling on Bella: why would she just walk out like that? To protect someone else, our mind replied- a pup hiding under her stomach, poking his head out, covered by his mother's blood. Kinship, a bond long-forgotten strengthened, a power we didn't know we had strengthening with our resolve. The bond between wolf and human, human and mate thickened, and with it, our collective strength. We would not fail now.
Bella's POV
Jacob was different. Not bad different, or mind-twisted different, but different. My wolf described it as 'the unification between spirits' and there was a dual presence in his eyes. My body had taken a battering, between the previous battles, the fight between myself and Jacob, and Victoria attempting to ambush me. My body threatened to shut down with every step, my ear was stinging with a fresh vengeance, and there were definitely a few bones out of alignment.
Still, I soldiered on, my wolf helping me, taking as much of the pain as she could away from me. Flickers of memories, memories that were not mine, lingered in my mind, flickering through the bond, like a slideshow. And when Jacob did whatever he did to create that new bond, one almost as strong as our own, I felt it too, pulling me towards both Ember and in several other directions.
My shield was wrapped around my skin tightly, like a coat, and I knew Jacob was most likely going to kill me. I shut myself off from the hustle and bustle of the Pack Mind, in a selfish attempt to hide whoever had been lost, as I looked at the new group of Vampires. One with the rock ability, and three unknowns. It was not one wolf versus four.
Kailin, her Scottish accent audible after I wrapped my shield around her, flanked me, covering my right side, and it did not take long for another to join me: Shadow's daughter Honour came, following closely by the form of Seth, who looked more serious than I had ever seen him. Ah.. shit.
Looks like he'd met his Imprint. Honestly, it was inevitable, but the fact that they hadn't met previously was just a miracle in itself. Honour quickly shifted forms from her wolf form to something larger- a perfect mimic of the elephant pack. Seth narrowed his eyes, looking more suited to his gangly body as the moments ticked by, and we looked at one another before nodding.
We all charged forwards, ice spiraling around Kailin as the cold blue fractals grew up their legs. All of those who charged with me, Kailin, Seth, Honour, were young. The only one's I knew the true ages of was Seth, but while I knew Honour was young, she could be any age. Same applied to Kailin. Nevertheless, I felt as if it was my duty to protect them the best I could.
Even in my injured state, the most important thing to me was to protect my Pack, and as I had vowed to do so, I would.
Third Person
The flames dissipated without much fanfare, doused out and replaced with rock hard rubble. There was a fallen form of a wildcat on the grass, limp. There was a steady rise and fall of her chest, so it appeared she was merely unconscious. Next to her was the fallen form of Ember, his chest lightly stuttering. Around him was a puddle of blood, flowing steadily from a hole in his torso, about the size of a fist.
The flesh around it was puckered red, angry and burnt, as his healing factor worked to heal it. In the little group that was left, there were two fighting. Jacob and Bella, each on their last legs. But so was Victoria. Her right arm, cremated by Ember, a useless thing cradled by her side limply, unable to move or be moved.
Her jaw had followed the same path, nothing more than a scattering of ash, destined to be scattered by the wind and forgotten about. It would be nothing more than a bad memory to some. The sides of her shin had been torn away, catapulted far away to the side where she couldn't get them, risking getting intercepted by the two wolves who would not give up until the bane of their existence was dead.
The two Imprints looked at one another, before lurching as one united team, one going high and the other low. As she tried to move, they circled from the side taking both her knees out and forcing her to the floor. Neither of them had any words as Bella wrapped weakened jaws around the bitch's neck, with Jacob taking position at her back, as they tore, the cracking sound resulting in the end of all their worries.
And with that, the two Imprints finally allowed themselves to rest, dropping to the floor in a dead faint, curled around one another, just as the other's came running, those that could be spared. And so, that was the end of Victoria and her army- but at what cost?
Author's Note
Sorry guys, this chapter is a couple of hundred words shorter than usual. I've been exhausted trying to study for my prelims (also called mocks) and I've had very little time.
I'm afraid that soon this will be the end of Bloodmoon. With Victoria dead and a few loose ends to wrap up, we'll have finished, in a few chapters no less. I'm fairly upset about that.. this was my most loved story, and I loved getting your reviews every week! So yeah, I will be sad.
Maybe we'll get some one-shots in this universe that I've created, we'll have to see what I'll come up with.
But for now, this is the end of the chapter!
Here's QOTW: What is one thing you want to know in the story?
See you next week!
~Cait