Chapter 8

Kate

The morning sun had always been my favorite. The sky just felt fresh, and everything had a coat of dew and a generally happy coloring from the sun. Now that I was a vampire, I noticed the happiness less, and the morning had a lesser effect on me. Maybe it was because the morning had always been supplemented with Luke, and now that was not the case.

Adam was out hunting, milking out the last drop of blood from a bunny to fill his stomach to the brim. Adam wasn't taking to this life as a vegetarian very well. He didn't dare, however, to test me by defying my demands that he drink animals rather than people. I was happy to see that his eyes were nearly rid of the red tint completely. As I walked along the tall, long branches of the tallest trees in the forest, hoping lightly from tree to tree as their branches intertwined, I concluded that Adam was good at being a vampire. He had accepted it, probably from the moment he realized what was going on, and he hunted naturally, unlike me, since I always felt a tinge of regret as a stalked any animal. And unlike me, his only complaint was the less juicy taste of animal blood compared to human blood, and the fact that he had to hang around me all the time now.

"Hey sis," Adam said from thirty yards to my left, approaching at a stroll along the branches just as I did. Although he called as if I were standing next to him, and his body was concealed by the trunks of the trees, I heard him perfectly and knew his every step.

"Fed enough?" I asked.

"Yeah. Should we move on? Maybe south? I'd like to check out California, for once. We've been hanging around here for too long."

For some reason, we had never moved on from the spot in southern Canada. I never thought about it, but Forks and La Push had always been so close, but I was sure not to pass the Canadian border to get any closer.

"Sure, if we make a wide berth around Forks," I suggested.

"A wide what?"

A slight breeze crossed our paths, and although Adam disregarded it, I caught the faint scent of freesia flowers and the smell of honey, something that wasn't natural to the forest. I held out my hand to stop Adam, and lifted my chin to the sky, hoping to catch the scent again.

"It smells familiar."

Adam understood what I meant without clarification and lifted his chin after me. His eyes widened quickly and his head snapped around. "I know it too."

A scuffle of leaves in the still air sounded from behind us and Adam was quicker to snatch me from beside him and place me behind him in protection.

A low, quiet chuckle sounded, and my eyes widened. The two females approached from around the trees and smirked at us—one with shortly cut red hair, and the other with long brown hair—the two females who had changed me.

I bared my teeth and glared at them through my eyebrows.

"It's good to see you've found each other," the brunette mused, her smirk widening, and the red-headed sister fidgeted excitedly beside her.

"We were wondering how long it would take," the red head added.

Adam inched backwards as the sisters continued to advance. His arms were splayed out protectively, keeping me behind him. Even though I could easily leap over him and attack, I kept behind him and started calculating everything around me.

"What do you say, Kate?" The brunette lifted her eyes to get a glance at me from around Adam. "Do like having your brother share the same fate as you?"

I didn't dare answer her. My anger was rising with every step she took towards me, and each step we took backwards. The only thing keeping me from leaping forward and tearing her head from the rest of her body was Adam, even if that barrier was as miniscule as it was.

"We were careful to avoid you before the first year was over," the brunette said, looking over to her sister, who smiled back at her. "Adam, you just turned one year old. Congratulations."

"Thanks," Adam told her, with a bitter edge to his otherwise grateful tone.

"Oh, Adam," the red-head cooed, "I always knew you would turn out to be a beautiful creature."

Without warning, she lurched forward, looking to reach out to Adam, but he responded with a deep hiss, crouching down and baring his teeth at her. I followed after him, seizing the opportunity to maneuver around him to get a closer shot. The brunette lurched towards us as well, as all four of us engaged in a standoff, teeth barred menacingly and fierce hisses sounding all around us. We were at a stalemate when the brunette regained composure first and stood.

"I don't believe we've introduced ourselves," she declared nonchalantly, as if no standoff had occurred at all. She held out a hand to her sister and spoke. "This is Carrie, and I am Charlotte."

Neither Adam nor I responded, or let up on our hostile stance. They advanced further, and Adam and I took steps back in tandem to compensate for the space they were closing in on.

"We don't mean to harm you," Charlotte assured us, still taking steps closer as we moved farther.

"We would just like to have a friendly conversation. Vampire to vampire—we creatures of the same species need to team up, you know."

"Against who?" I asked sharply, speaking through my teeth.

Charlotte gave a little grin. "The werewolves, of course," Charlotte responded, feigning surprise.

A hiss slipped through my teeth and I crouched lower.

Charlotte, assessing my reaction, responded, "Oh, come now, dear Katie. You must have gotten over those mutts now, haven't you? You're one of us now, they are the ones trying to exterminate you."

"Especially that Luke of yours," Carrie chimed in.

I shrieked and lunged for her, but Adam was quick to hold me back, and Charlotte was quick to restrain the now hissing Carrie.

"Now, now girls. Be civil. This is serious," Charlotte reprimanded, but I ignored her. I did not answer to her.

"What do you really want?" I snarled. "You couldn't possibly be dumb enough to recruit us to kill the werewolves, could you?"

Carrie quit her hissing and raised her head to the sky, her nostrils expanding to take in air, tasting it carefully. "Here they come, my sister," she said, a devious and excited smirk forming from her lips.

I reflexively took in the smells around me, but did not smell anything out of the ordinary. Adam, however, reacted differently.

"How dare you?!" he shouted, becoming the one who was taking the steps forward, and was now inches from Charlotte's impassive face. "Lead us straight into their territory? Are you so damn stupid?"

As Charlotte remained calm, her sister buzzed with excitement behind her. "Now is the time, Adam. Fight or die."

"Fuck you."

My eyes widened at Adam, but my curiosity of what was going on took over. "What's happening?"

"They led us into the wolves' territory," Adam informed me.

My lips parted in shock. I was frozen for a moment, but then my instincts took over. "We have to go, Adam. I can't be here right now."

In the distance, I heard tentatively moving paws, bodies crouching low to the ground, muscles ready to contract—ready to attack. The sound was an entirely new one, but I knew exactly what it was, and my breath deepened as I began to panic.

"It's too late," Charlotte spoke up. "They're closing in."

"Let's see how little Kate will do now. Going to cry out to your little Luke to save you again?" Carrie taunted me, grinning evilly.

Adam reached his limits and lurched for her, passing Charlotte completely and landing on top of Carrie. However, the fight I expected did not happen, because Adam began to writhe at her touch and tumble downward, the branches bending by his weight and dumping him to the ground. I leaped down to his motionless body, leaving the females behind, and as my feet found the ground, my head snapped up, realizing what Charlotte said was true.

Six towering wolves stood before me, their hackles raised and teeth bared. I gave a little gasp as I forbade myself to look anymore along the line of wolves, and snatched Adam's half unconscious body and darted for the trees, my frozen heart pounding in my chest.