Chapter 6

Sophie and I finished the letter for my parents.

"How are we going to post it?" I asked

"With a pigeon!" she said. I didn't know there were still people who did that. Sophie showed me the posting tower, and she knotted the letter to the claw of one of the birds. She gave me the bird, and I threw it out of the window.

"How does she know where my parents are? I don't even know it!" I asked

"These are very special animals," was all she said.

When we went back to my room, one of the guards was waiting outside. He asked us to come with him to the theatre hall, for our fighting practice. I liked it to have the lessons with Sophie, because I still didn't like Demetri. When we arrived at the hall, Demetri and Alec were waiting for us.

"Welcome Dawn, Sophie," he said. "Today we are going to practice how to catch someone, and how to run away if you've been catched." Sounds exciting… "Alec is here to volunteer. Dawn, show me what you can and try to catch Alec." How was I ever going to do that in my human form? I couldn't change in front of them. I watched Alec, and he winked. Well, that was actually kind of cute…

I waited a few seconds, and then made a big jump to him. But, of course, at the time I was at the place Alec had been standing, he was already gone. Standing two steps away, he winked again.

"Try another technique; this will never work with a vampire," Demetri said.

"I just can't fight in my human form! I need to change, or I can never be as fast as you." I said.

"What if it's a surprise attack? Then you won't have the time to change," Demetri said, his voice all logic.

"I can change so fast you can hardly see it. I'll show you, wait a second," I said. I ran to the nearest toilet (what do vampires need a toilet for?) and pulled off my clothes. Then I changed into a dog. While running back to the theatre hall, I got many stares.

I came into the hall. "Dawn? Is that you?" Sophie asked. I nodded with my dog head. Then I waited untill I got Demetri's full attention, and changed into an owl. Dad had always been jealous on me for changing from animal to animal, and now I saw Demetri was too.

"Well, I need to say, you were right. The changing is faster than I thought. But how can an owl attack a vampire?" Demetri said. I hadn't thought about that yet, but I figured that if a werewolf could kill a vampire, why couln't a Wereowl? Werecreatures were much stronger and bigger than normal animals. To find out I flew to Alec, and knocked him on the ground. By the time he realized I attacked him, I had already shifted into a bear, and I holded him down with my paws. I couldn't reach his neck in this form, so, while still holding him down, I changed into a fox. I bit him very softly so I wouldn't hurt him, to let Demetri see I had won the fight.

Sophie clapped in her hands and Demetri smiled a little. "Very good, Dawn! Your fighting is absolutely fantastic. Now I want to see how you run away." I looked at Alec. He smiled at me, and prepared to catch me. He probably felt embarassed to be catched by a shapeshifter, but he didn't show it. I shifted into an owl again, and I flew to the top of the hall. Alec jumped up, but couldn't catch me. He ran to the wall, jumped against it, landed on the other wall, and jumped over again. He jumped from one side to the other until he was at almost my height. I flew down again, and he let himself fall on the ground. I knew I couldn't win with flying, because Alec was much faster with his jumping. Flying is very hard, I liked to be with four paws on the ground. I changed into a tiger, one of my favorite forms.

Alec standed still, waiting for the right moment to attack. He looked me in my eyes, and I knew he was trying to tell me something. But I didn't get the time to figure out what it was, because Alec started his attack. He ran and jumped on me and I knew I could't escape. His arms, who normally would break my bones in this grip, now hugged me. I grinned at him, but I wasn't sure if he could see it in this tiger form.

"Well done, Alec. Dawn, you have to practice your escaping skills. But you did very well for today. Maybe I can have a little talk with Aro, to give you a reward for this," Demetri said.

I beamed.

I had changed back and I was waitng for Alec to come to my room. When he came in, I smiled immediately.

"You did so well during the training!" Alec said.

"Yeah, but I know you've let me win the first game," I said

"No, that's not true! Well, maybe a little, but you still did so well. Demetri said the reward was arranged. You may take a shifting trip outside Volterra, with me as your bodyguard," Alec said.

"Really? That's awesome!" I had no words for it, I was so happy. Finally, after three days of not shifting, I could be myself.

"Yes. We could hunt animals if you like. I haven't fed on animals before, so I'm very curious," he said. That surprised me a little. Most vampires didn't like my family because they fed on animals.

"I can't wait. When can we leave?" I said.

"Uh, now, if you want to?" he said.

Alec had taken me to a beautiful piece of forest. We had driven for over two hours, but it was absolutely worth it.

"Wait a second, so I can change." I pointed to some bushes further away. Alec nodded, and I ran away to pull off my clothes. I changed into a cheeta, so I could keep up with running with Alec. Then I walked back at him.

"Shall we go?" he asked. "It's weird not to get any answers back. But don't worry, I will do the talking for us both." I grinned at him. He grinned back.

We both smelled some deer in the north, but Alec immediately made a bad face. So we ran to the east, where two bears were fightinng. We waited behind a tree. Alec looked at me, and pointed at the left bear. Then he pointed at himself. I nodded. Then we attacked. I drunk the blood, and ate the flesh of the whole bear. Alec was ready before I was.

"Are you finished or do you want to hunt some more?" he asked. I shook my head. Usually I don't eat a whole animal, but today I was enjoying it a lot. "I'm satisfied too. Well, maybe not fully, but I think that's because it's no human. Do you want to go back home, or run some more?

I turned my head to the bushes far away where my clothes were. Alec nodded. "I'll wait here."

I came back in my human form. Alec smiled when he saw me. We walked back to the car in a human pace, and talked about the hunt.

"It's such a strange feeling. I feel like I can't handle any more fluid, but I still feel the burning in my throat," Alec said.

"I know. My family sometimes complains about that too. But they think that what they do is good."

"And how do you think about it?" he asked.

"I haven't been around humans a lot in my life. I don't know how they do things. But when I see humans, I see clumsy weak creatures. Before I get to know them better, I don't mind sometimes feeding on one," I said. I knew that if I would have said that to Carlisle, he would be disappointed.

"And do you want to get to know them better?" he asked.

"I think so. I mean, every vampire has been a human," I said.

"Then would you like to accompany me this evening to the cinema? It seems to be a very human activity to watch other humans." Surprise! Did he just ask me out? I really didn't see that one coming, but I liked Alec. So, why not?

"Sure, I thought there was a new movie with Robert Pattinson." We talked a little about the many similarities of Robert Pattinson and my Grandfather Edward. But then suddenly Alec stopped walking.

"Do you smell that?" he asked. I inhaled. Oops… The pack. My father.

"We need to leave, now!" I said, and I started running. But it was already too late. A huge wolf stepped in front of me. Embry.

"Oh, hi Embry!" My voice wasn't steady at all. Then my father came to stand next to him, in his human form.

"Dawn," he said. "You are not going out with a Volturi."