2. T H E H U N T
Daas and I stayed long enough at the Cullens' to see Bella and Edward drive away. Alice volunteered to go, also. The Cullens don't trust us yet, I was sure, because it only takes one person to drive home, not three. I shrugged it off—they had a right to be wary, right? They had only just met us, and I couldn't expect more.
When Daas and I left, the moon had already risen. Carlisle and Esme granted us a good night before we slipped away into the surrounding woods. The two of us immediately left the scene, as we didn't want them to have a chance at asking us—mainly Daas—any more questions. We ran for a few miles before we finally slowed down.
"Where would you like to spend the night?" I wondered, no longer bothering to stay quiet like I had around the other vampires. "We could go back to the clearing and hang out there." I suggested.
Daas shrugged and muttered, "Or we could check out the surrounding area."
"Good idea." I grimaced. "But nowhere near the town. I don't know how well I could handle myself."
Daas looked me over quickly with his ever-moving red eyes and asked gruffly, "Do you want to hunt?"
I shrugged. "We could check the place out, first, if you want to. Then we can travel a ways up north and hunt. Carlisle doesn't want us hunting here." I reminded him.
Daas snorted. "Humans or animals?" He never looked at me when he spoke; his eyes were most of the time of the horizon.
I frowned. "Does it matter?" He sighed dejectedly. "Fine, then. It's settled."
Daas jogged westward, keeping it close to the trees. We traveled in circles for a few hours, inspecting every mile of the forest, leaving no rock unturned. It took us a while, but we managed to cover a vast area. We traveled in silence and away from the surrounding towns. My mouth watered whenever the human scent found its way to me, but I resisted. I have to say, I was rather pleased with myself.
The whole area was not large. Daas and I covered it pretty easily, and quicker than I expected. The moon hadn't even risen at its highest point before we were finished. Of course, I didn't dare go anywhere near the town. The only reason that I could have kept myself from killing Bella is because there were so many there around us. If it had just been her and I….I shuddered involuntarily. I didn't want to kill her for one thing—she was so very likable! I had hardly said anything to her and yet I still felt a strange pull to her—besides the obvious desire to eat her—like she had been my friend in a lost life. Hey, I'm a strange person. Er, vampire. What can I say?
There was a scent I caught around midnight, not far from the town. It wasn't a human scent, although I smelled a lot of that too, but this smelled like salt…
"Water!" I exclaimed. I dashed in the direction the scent was coming from. Behind me, Daas rolled his eyes but followed anyway. I didn't stop running until my toes had sand between them and the air carried the briny air of the sea. I sighed. The shoreline was a hundred feet away. I could have gazed at that water forever…
Daas caught up with me seconds later. He didn't say anything as I moved forward, peering down at a sign stuck sideways into the sand. It was made of old wood, and the salt had drained it of color. Painted on it in faded blue chipping paint were the words: First Beach. I read it aloud so Daas could hear me. When he didn't say anything, I skipped towards the water.
Pulling off my shoes and trying to roll up my pants at the same time proved difficult, but I eventually managed it. Smiling insanely, I waded in ankle-deep. The water was chilly and sent cold shivers up my spine. I laughed, kneading my toes in the pebbles and shells underneath the brackish water.
Daas strolled away a little bit, preferring to stay dry. I watched him with mild interest, as he sauntered along the edge, his boots making a crunching sound in the sand. A slight breeze picked up and Daas's hair flew around his face, looking like some sort of black cloud around his head. One white hand flashed up and easily tamed it, twisting the whole bunch of it down by his right ear. Daas continued his stroll up the beach, the sand eventually turning to rock and the land sloping upwards into sheer cliffs.
The wind blew my hair away from my face as I walked in the water, parallel to the beach edge, never going more than halfway up my shin. Daas's absence left me thinking; how could Bella and Edward manage a relationship? Daas had told me that the Volturi called Bella his singer, and yet he still managed to love her. The thought made my mind flit to a face, a face that I tried desperately to push away, but couldn't. The more I tried to make the face disappear, to forget all about it, the worse it came back. It stuck into my mind, and no matter how I tried to distract myself, it would not leave.
His face was easy to recall, though I tried desperately to forget. The face was a young man's, around the age of seventeen. His eyes weren't red, but they reminded my of Daas's. They had so much more depth in them, so much more kindness and memories than a regular seventeen year-old should. His eyes were the same shade black as his hair, which was spiked into all directions. The boy was lanky, and his muscles were the long wiry type that weren't immediately noticeable under the baggy clothes he wore. His face was thin, and he had an eyebrow piercing. I remembered bugging him about it, pleading for him to take it out, but he ever did. He always laughed at the idea, and shrugged it off. It was hard to continue annoying him after that, so I had let it drop for a while, only to bring it back up the next day.
I hadn't realized that I was crying. I reached to my face, and brushed away the traitorous tears. Looking up, away from the mesmerizing water at my feet, I realized that I had traveled farther down the beach than I thought. I hadn't recognized how far I had walked…
I was getting ready to turn around and go find Daas, but a movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Turning my head slowly towards the trees, my eyes searched through the darkness, though it didn't take long. There, hunched over at the base of a gnarled driftwood tree, was a man or a boy—I couldn't tell which in the distance I was standing. He had long black hair and copper-colored skin that was made even darker by the shadows surrounding him. He was watching me intently, following my every movement with black eyes. He never looked away from me, and when I turned, he shifted his gaze to my face. I was startled; he looked much more intimidating than I expected him to. Automatically, I backed up a step.
Through a stuck throat, I rasped, "He—
But the wind switched directions, blowing his scent at me. I recoiled—it smelled appalling! My hand whipped up to cover my nose, blocking the repulsive scent from my nostrils. I coughed, trying to rid myself from it. It was horribly familiar. I knew that scent—the face I had imagined earlier lurked behind my eyelids. Trying to get the picture in my mind, I stopped breathing to stop the scent from affecting me. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to squash away the mental picture. "No." I muttered, panicked. "Leave me alone!"
There was a ripping noise and an ear-splitting howl that rang through the silent night. It echoed off the trees, and it rang in my ears. I clapped my hands over them, in a fruitless effort to block the racket. My eyes flew open.
Where the man had been, a large rust colored wolf had taken its place. It growled ferociously and I backed away. The wolf was huge, bigger than a bear and much more muscular. I gaped in horror, my mind flying in all directions to try and understand what was going on. My jaw closed with an audible snap as I realized what I was looking at. That man, the one who had been sitting on the fallen tree, was a werewolf.
Behind me, I heard a distant voice yell, "Isabeau!"
I couldn't move. My legs stayed frozen to the spot, even though my mind was screaming for me to run. My breath came in gasps and I couldn't see clearly. I felt the adrenaline pump through my veins, and if I had been mortal, my heartbeat would have been loud enough for the wolf to hear.
I saw the colossal wolf pace forward, close to the ground. His hackles were raised, and his gleaming white teeth were visible, his lips pulled back in a snarl. I staggered back, my legs unwilling to move.
Very suddenly, the growling intensified dramatically. I turned my head very slowly toward the trees, dreading what I would see. Stalking out of the shadows was much more than my worst nightmare.
Nine other werewolves were emerging from all directions. They were multi-colored, but there eyes all gleamed the same intelligent black. I tried to scream, but my throat was dry. The wolves converged, low to the ground, leaving no gaps for me to escape.
"Oh my god." I whispered frantically to myself. "Oh my god."
All of their lips were drawn back in to a wolfy smile, their white teeth bared. I realized that I had started to breath again. The vile smell was overwhelming. I pressed my arm to my face, finding it hard to concentrate enough to cut off my oxygen supply.
Why weren't they attacking? They could have had me dead decades ago, I thought.
A black shape hurled itself in front of me. Water sprayed into the air in the air in all directions as it landed, the speed startling the beasts slightly. The wolves stopped their advance, their intelligent eyes following Daas as he positioned himself protectively in front of me.
Daas's lips were pulled back, revealing intimidating white teeth. Daas bent down into a crouch, his long black hair hanging in curtains on the side of his face. He roared in fury, a sound that I had only heard once. It drowned out the wolves' growls by a lot.
"Run, Isabeau, into the water!" he yelled at me, swiping his hand through the air when a wolf got to close. "Get back, you mangy dog!" He bellowed.
Daas's appearance only made the wolves more restless. They began pacing back and forth, their wary black eyes never leaving us. I tried to run into the water, but the largest flung himself in front of me, blocking my escape.
I hesitated.
That was all the werewolf needed. With a huge black paw, he flung me back, sending me sprawling into the shallows. I coughed, spitting out a gallon full of water. Daas whipped around, turning his back momentarily on the others. He hissed, planting one foot over my body as I tried to plan what to do. But my brain was in turmoil—I couldn't think right. It was zipping in all directions in utter chaos.
Daas looked like he was restraining himself from attacking, but that was irrelevant. They were dogs here, and the Cullens had not said anything at all about them. Fury swept through me, but was quickly replaced by my fear again. We were heavily outnumbered.
If Daas ran, if he found a opening, he could make it. He was much more powerful than he let on, and I knew that. I knew also that I was doomed, so why should Daas waste his life on me? "Daas." I hissed at him as I shot to my feet. "Get out of here, you can make it!"
Daas shook his head and growled, his enraged red eyes flitting from dog to foul dog. "I'm not leaving."
"Don't be stupid." I ducked out of the way of a snapping jaw and Daas took the opening to take a crack at its head. The wolf backed away, growling and whimpering in pain at the same time. "This isn't the time to play hero!"
Daas grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the way from another vicious attack. "Isabella, if I was some sort of hero," he flattened another wolf who broke formation, "Then I would have died long ago!"
My answer was swiftly forgotten as I was taken unawares by a flying paw, and did a face-plant in the sand. I got to my feet quickly, spitting the gritty dirt out of my mouth while Daas covered my back. He only defended and attacked enough to get the wolves to back off. We were backed halfway into the water and the wolves had formed a tight revolving circle around us, ther eyes intent upon us. Their was not a second when a snarl hadn't filled it.
I got it then—if Daas hurt anyone of them, they would attack all that much faster and we still hadn't gotten a escape plan formed. But the wolves weren't really attacking either. I had time to note in between nearly getting beheaded and almost having both of my legs torn off. They launched a quick assailment, one at a time, most unlike their normally coordinated moves, and drew back. But the want to see our deaths was visible in their eyes and on some of them it looked like it was driving them mad.
One gray werewolf in particular, who was beginning to look deranged in his wolfish way, lunged, impatience and the want to see Daas and I dead sending him into a frenzy. His comrade attempted to stop him, snapping his jaws in a mute order for him to come back, though the mad wolf didn't listen in the slightest. He hurtled toward Daas, teeth bared. I dove away, in an effort to protect myself, expecting for Daas to do the same.
I was wrong.
There was a sound like boulders smashing together as Daas met the wolf head-on. His vice-like hands locked around the wolf's shoulders, crushing the bones to splinters. The wolf howled in pain and the rest of the huge pack closed in.
I screamed as I felt a searing pain up my left leg. From the ground, I could see one of the dog's jaws closed around it, its eyes twinkling triumphantly. It shook its head and released me, throwing me out from underneath Daas into a very hard, stationary object.
I rebounded off of it, and had time to glimpse a very sizable dent in the tree's trunk, before being picked up and thrown again. This time, my arm was jerked and I was sent flying. I heard Daas bellow, infuriated.
"No! Isabeau, NO!" He roared, one arm stretched out to reach me. The largest wolf, the black one, loomed out of nowhere from behind him. I tried to warn him, to tell him that the Alpha was right behind him, but my warning came much to late. The wolf caught him mid-spin, the gigantic jaws clamping down on his shoulder. I watched in horror as the werewolf dragged him to the ground, into the shallow water.
"Daas!" I shrieked. "No, don't hurt him! Please!" I begged. I fought to get to him, to rip the filthy thing off him, but the rest of the pack jumped in my way, preventing me from getting to him, much faster than their bulk should have allowed.
The wolf didn't pause. He jerked his head roughly, side to side. Daas roared in pain, and my screaming increased. "Leave him alone! No, please, leave him alone!"
At that moment, blaring lights appeared from between the trees, the sound of a speeding car reaching my ears late. The dogs leapt out of its way in what must have been surprise—I was certain that they could have taken it out quite easily. It came to a screeching halt in front of me, the tires squealing, coming to an abrupt halt right in front of me.
"Get in!"
Daas was faster than the wolves; He ripped himself free of the werewolf's grasp, swept me up from the ground, and hurled me into the car. He slammed the door shut behind me and yelled to the anonymous driver. "Go!"
"No!" I screamed, "Come on, Daas! Come on!"
Daas didn't look back as he turned to face the wolves by himself. The driver stomped on the gas, sending us flying forward. Daas didn't try to fight them—I still remember how he stood motionless, not trying to defend himself as they all jumped on him at once. They piled on top of him, and the last of him disappeared under their mass, hiding him from my view. I remember someone screaming and only realized later that it had been me. The only part of him that was still visible was his hair, and the filthy dogs ripping at it like he was some sort of toy. Daas collapsed under their weight and the whole mound of them fell on top of him. Their snarls and howls of triumph echoed through the night. I can still recall the horrendous sound, as I still see the image every time my eyes close. But as the car sped away, even the massive shapes of those mangy dogs were swallowed in the darkness that enveloped that night.
All was black.
Once we got well away from the beach, the car slowed to a creeping pace. I was vaguely aware of the fact, as I was sobbing in the backseat.
I was curled into a ball, rocking back and forth, trying to stifle the sobs that racked through my body. My hands were clutching myself, but the pain my long nails caused seemed dull compared to the pain I was feeling internally.
He was gone. Daas was gone just like all the others. I sobbed harder, my breath coming in gasps. No, no, he couldn't be. That wasn't right. He had always been that unmovable wall between me and everything else that sought to hurt me, my own protector. He was everything to me, my closest friend. Yet he had been brutally torn away from me. The image of him waiting like a statue, beautiful and elegant, waiting for them to finish the job—It broke my still heart.
The next thing I knew, someone had me in their arms. I would have fought them, but I couldn't. I just curled up tighter, retreating into my own little painful world. My vision was blurred, I couldn't see right. Everything around me became a shapeless cloud of color. I tried to stop crying, but the tears came faster and more than ever. There were soft sounds coming from them, and I saw the driver get out and be immediately embraced and I saw the form of the white house and felt the cold arms around me.
I didn't care or know who could read my thoughts right then. My memory flashed back to the last time I saw him smiling at me, a fleeting flash of white teeth, I heard his laugh, husky and hoarse from being unused, I saw him gruffly humming the tune to one of his favorite songs, I saw him above me, snarling and roaring in fury as the mongrels tried to get to me. I saw his back, his long black hair that fanned out behind him beautifully when he ran, the white-faced anger he used to try and conceal from me. The most clear was a picture of him with no expression on his white face—it was what he mostly wore, a expression that gave nothing away that went on behind those blood red eyes. The ones I knew I would never see again.
Someone was rubbing my back and murmuring to me, trying to reassure me that everything was okay. I shook my head vigorously. "No." I choked on the words. "It's not."
Beside me, I heard a softer voice, more calm and practiced. He was speaking quietly, and I recognized the blur in front of me as Carlisle. "Are you okay, Isabella? Are you hurt?"
I shook my head side to side, as I knew my voice was of no use right now. I heard someone beside me, Esme, sigh in relief.
"Isabella." Carlisle said, his voice firm but quiet. "Where is Daas?" My sobs redoubled as his face came back into focus.
Someone farther away, on the other side of the room, say slowly, "I found them in La Push." There was an intake of breath around the room. I didn't know what La Push was; it held no significance for me.
"Jacob found them." I heard a male growl, maybe Edward. That caught my attention.
I tried to blink away the tears and swallow the lump in my throat. Neither went away, but managed enough coherency to say, "Who is Jacob?"
There was a hushed silence around the room, like no one wanted to be the one to answer me. I sternly wiped away the tears that escaped away with the back of my hand.
We were in the Cullen's house, though a part that I had never seen before. I assumed it was the Living Room, as I was seated on a comfortable couch and others around me were sitting in recliners. There was a magnificent fireplace, almost taking up one whole wall.
"Who is he?" I asked again, looking around at the faces. They were all here—all except one. I did my best to ignore the burning behind my eyes.
I twisted around to look at Esme, who was seated on one side of me, Carlisle on the other. The look of pity in her eyes had me thinking. With a sudden rush of understanding, and a even more powerful swell of mutinous anger, my jaw closed with a audible snap. I didn't ask for an explanation again. I didn't need it. I remembered the man underneath the tree, the werewolf, the monster who had killed my Daas. I gritted my teeth together and when I exhaled, it came as a loud hiss.
"Damn them." I growled. "Damn them all."
The vampires around me all glanced at each other, and I noticed Bella sitting white-faced beside Edward, clutching his hand, and staring down at where my feet were. She looked fearful, for more reasons than one I think. Though I couldn't figure out why she would be any more scared after driving a car right into the middle of a fight.
"Why didn't you tell me there were dogs here?" I demanded, my earlier anger returning. My hands had balled into fists.
"We
didn't think the information quite", Carlisle struggled for the
right word, one, I think, he thought that wouldn't get me anymore
angry, "necessary."
"Not. Necessary." I said through
gritted teeth. "Why?"
"Because we try exult cautiousness when we tell someone we are currently at peace with the wolves." Then, after a moment of thought, he added, due to my short life as a vampire and the ignorance that came along with it, "Vampires tend to look down upon those who associate themselves with werewolves."
"I know." I said, slightly insulted by his need to explain it to me. "But I won't be at peace with them for much longer." The tense silence intensified. I could tell that they were distracted by something, but I had no idea what.
After a minute of time for me to calm down, Carlisle said softly, "I would appreciate it if you didn't go back on their land." I wheeled around to gawk at him in disbelief. If he thought that I wasn't going to avenge Daas's death, then he was mistaken. Horribly mistaken. But the man held his hands up, palms facing me. "Please let me explain." He took my furious silence as a 'go ahead'.
"Isabella, our treaty with the werewolves say that we won't go onto their land and that they wouldn't bother us if we stayed on our side of the boudry line. Other vampires who we took as friends are automatically included in it. And since you are in my house and we are taking concern in your well-being, I think that would count as a friend." He smiled a little. Even through my anger, I felt a little touched by his words. But that still wouldn't keep me from avenging Daas. Carlisle continued slowly, unabashed by my lack of a response. "If you go back and attack them"—there was a fearful squeaking from Bella, though I was too enveloped in what Carlisle was saying to do anything about it—"Then you will start a war."
He let the words sink in. I looked around at the other's faces, all of which told me that Carlisle was telling the truth. I warred with myself, glaring down at my hands, which were grasping fistfuls of the sofa. I focused on extricating one finger from the furniture at a time before hedging. "You expect me to act as if Daas wasn't just killed?"
I took Carlisle's silence as a yes. I ground my teeth together, surpresing the words that bubbled to my mouth.
When Carlisle thought my anger had calmed a little he said softly, "Really, Isabella, how were you planning to kill all ten of them when there is only one of you?"
I hated Carlisle's sense of logic, but he had a point.
"I was still working on that part." I muttered, avoiding his gaze.
"Please don't do that Isabella. Not only will you be throwing your life away, but more other's, too." I glanced around at Carlisle's family, each of their faces stony. Except Bella's whose face startled me. She was under obvious strain, like my words worried her. Like she was scared for them. My teeth ground together all that more tightly as I tried to push the thought away.
Trying to distract myself, I grumbled, "I thought you were supposed to be sleeping." Oh, how I longed to be able too sink into a dreamless sleep like she could.
She looked up at me, her eyes wide. "Yes." She said, her voice trembling. "Yes, I was." My gaze slid over to Edward, whose jaw was clenched tightly, just like mine. He was looking at me, not quite a glare but very close, and watching my face closely. His expression was like I was missing something obvious. I found that bothered me an intensely.
"What?" I demanded. He didn't look away. It took a second of thought, but I caught on quickly.
"You tried to follow us?" My voice wasn't angry, more of an incredulous feeling. I knew that they didn't trust us—me, there was no more 'us', though I immediately pushed that hurtful thought away—but I hadn't realized how wary, how very careful they were. "You must really love her." I muttered, trying very hard not to look at Edward.
"I do. I don't think she realizes how much." He said quietly. I glanced at Bella, but immediately looked away. She was blushing furiously and he was smiling crookedly down at her, though I was positive he hadn't forgotten the danger she had risked, but their faces were barely inches apart. It seemed too private for me to see.
Beside me, Carlisle nodded, like nothing had passed between Edward and I. "Yes." He confirmed. "After Alice and Edward dropped Bella off, they picked up your scent and followed you. But you went over into La Push and—
I interrupted. My manners meant very little to me right now. "La what?"
"La Push." Carlisle said, unfazed by my rudeness. "Werewolf territory."
"They have territory?" I grumbled.
"Yes, and we made a pact with them. We would not cross into their territory, if they did not bother us."
I glanced up at Edward and was surprised to see his jaw clenched. "You couldn't come any farther after we crossed. So you were forced to give up on the trail." I said quietly, dropping my eyes from Edward's.
Carlisle nodded again. "When they heard the fight, Edward came back and told me." He paused, editing the story. My eyes narrowed. "We sent Bella to get you."
Edward looked angry. He pressed Bella to him, like he was afraid to let her go. "And she went against your wishes." I said, speaking to Edward now. He remained silent, and I could almost feel the heat of his anger underneath his face. I turned away, pressing my lips together firmly in an effort to thwart the another sob from raking my body. Instead of looking at anyone, I gazed down at my hands. They were trembling. I pressed them to the sofa to try and stop the shaking. Finally, I looked back up.
Bella was watching me, pain very evident on her face. "Thank you." I said, my voice incapable of going above a hoarse whisper. "I owe you my life." My eyes flitted to Edward, also, though I wish I had been able to keep them trained on Bella. He met my gaze steadily, with a stone cold expression. He knew that not only did I owe Bella my life, but him, too. He could have stopped Bella, could have kept her from going. Tearing my eyes away, I looked back down at my trembling hands.
It was hard to say, because I knew that she was not the only one I had said it to.
And I knew, because I owed them that much, that Daas would never be avenged.