Chapter 9

Luke

5 minutes earlier

You can't take me, Peter taunted Kevin as they danced in front of each other, each waiting for the hole to slip into and pounce on the other.

The boys around them were preoccupied with the games Peter and Kevin played in a little clearing in the forest, where it was wide enough to playfully fight. Kevin's ego had gotten him into this mess, of course, and Peter challenged him in an attempt to douse his cocky attitude with a victory over him.

Robert hopped excitedly on the edge of the duel, hoping someday that his turn to fight would present itself, since he hadn't really gotten any action with any vampires.

Everyone was totally immersed in the fight that we almost hadn't caught the scent floating in the air—a vampire scent, but there was more than one. Four scents mixed together, and it was difficult to decipher one from the other.

At that moment, everyone became alert.

Everyone, get in formation. There's a group, and they've just entered our territory, Gerard broke it down for us. We need to surround them before they can attack anyone.

Each wolf took off at a sprint, moving towards the direction that the scent blew in from. We closed the distance in a matter of thirty seconds. The scent drifted faintly in the air, since it blew in from the north, rather than being a direct scent trail.

The scent's coming from above, Robert observed, anxious to contribute to the most exciting lead he has had since Adam first appeared by the shores.

We both angled our noses to the air, hoping to catch a glimpse of something in the trees, moving on ultra light feet.

"Going to cry out to your little Luke to save you again?" a female vampire taunted from up in the trees, talking to another, and my ears pointed forward in acute alertness at the sound of my name.

As for the others, the voice alerted the position, and moved to close in on a particular cluster of trees. I quickly regained myself and assessed my surroundings, preparing for a potential fight, but questions ran through my head—questions like who was it that said my name, and who was she talking to?

Then I deciphered the scents. There were four separate and oddly familiar scents—the first two were definitely the females that took Kate away from me, and as I took in their scent in one deep intake of breath, my hackles rose hungrily and my teeth parted for an angry snarl, my lips pulling all the way back. The last two of the scents puzzled me. One was another nasty vampire smell—Adam—infiltrating my lungs, and the other reminded me of oranges—nothing more than oranges—but it was familiar, nonetheless. It didn't even smell bad, but it painfully recalled to me all the times I had taken in Kate's scent while she was with me.

Before I or anyone else could react, a scuffle occurred from above and something was whistling through the branches, and soon we realized it was a body—a vampire body. Each wolf stared, puzzled, at the semi-unconscious Adam falling to us from the tallest heights of the trees. None of us have seen an incapacitated vampire before, falling without agility to the forest floor.

Not a second later, to my horror, Kate followed after him. My stomach lurched and my breath deepened at the sight of her. She was completely conscious, leaping to the ground with grace and landing softly on her feet, standing over her brother. I recognized her immediately, her long brown hair falling like a waterfall down past her shoulders, her tiny frame, but then I also noticed her whitened skin, hard as granite. Her head snapped up, her long brown hair flying around her face are she looked up to Gerard standing in the front of the pack, staring back down at her in utter shock at actually seeing Kate alive after more than a year.

And then I noticed her comfortingly golden eyes. My heart fluttered with affection and confliction as I took in the color of her eyes, unconsciously taking a step forward. Immediately I released my hostile stance, and hoped the others would follow, but it wasn't quick enough, for Kate had already looked away in fright and bounded away through the trees without at single glance at me, Adam in her arms.

My body quivered with confliction, disgust and love merged together as a whole new emotion. I did not want to let her go once I had seen her, but I could not comprehend what I would do if I caught up with her. My heart felt as if the existing knife in it had wedged in deeper and twisted around as I realized Kate, my Kate, wasa vampire—Gerard and the others had been right. She was my enemy, and I did not know what to think, other than the unconquerable loath I felt for the two females watching from above.

Right as they jumped down to confront the wolves, my impulsive side won and I flew through the trees after Kate, following Adam's more distinct vampire scent rather than Kate's subtle and confusing, yet luring, orange flavor.

Kate

My heart raced, my eyes bulged in shock at what had just happened. I tried to replay it over and over again in my head, trying to understand what had just happened. Adam was near unconscious, and it had happened from him merely touching Carrie. How could that happen? And then as Adam tumbled to the ground, I was absolutely sure I had encountered Luke's pack, and I was absolutely sure it was Gerard's eyes I had glanced into as I stood over Adam, just before I ran off.

I tried to push that last fact out of my head in order to concentrate on Adam, who was starting to open his eyes again.

"Adam? Adam! Are you okay?" I found a nice spot on the ground and set him down, leaning over his body. It was then that I heard the faint and soft pounding of paws into the earth as a wolf, only one, chased after me. Instinctively without thinking, I faced the way I had came and crouched over Adam in less than a second, baring my teeth.

Adam stirred beneath me, and I immediately kneeled over him, shaking his limp body. His eyes fluttered and what was confusion plastered on his face for merely a second had morphed into rage.

"Ow, damnit, that hurt! Where is she? I want to tear her apart!" Adam spat, getting to his feet.

I placed my hands on Adam's shoulders. "Listen, Adam. Leave me. You have to. Go find the wolves and help them with Charlotte and Carrie," I told him carefully.

He stared at me for a moment. "What for?" Then he tuned his ears to his surroundings, his nostrils flaring as they took in the scents around them. "Is that Luke?"

My eyebrows raised. "How do you know it's him?"

"Ugh, how can I not? His scent is horrible, Kate. How can you not smell that?"

There was no time. I just shook my head and pushed him back the way I came. "He's coming after me. Just help the wolves, please?"

"But they smell!" he whined as a pushed him back towards where the pack had appeared.

"Do it anyways!" I cried, then added seriously, "for me, Adam? Just do it for me? This could be your chance to get back at Carrie. Choose the side they don't want us to be on."

"But how could I get to Carrie? She'd just touch me and burn me again," he said.

I sighed, exasperated. There was so much I needed to talk to him about, what just happened, why he needs to protect the wolves. "I don't know! Just go!" I cried, and shoved him away.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked.

"Yes! Go!"

The moment Adam turned back towards the wolves, I bounded in the opposite direction. The conversation only lasted a few seconds, but it lasted long enough for Luke to gain on me. I felt certainly that he was coming after me to kill me, to rid me of his life forever, and to be able to move on. I didn't really have any objections—I wanted him to be happy—but I wasn't very welcoming of death either.

His pace quickened, the rhythm of his paws hitting the soft dirt faster and faster, his breath deepening in the exertion to catch up to me.

I gave a little whimper as I tried to sprint faster, but inexplicably reached my limit—the fastest I've ever gone. My surroundings were a blur, nothing but streaks of browns and greens around me. It was a wonder that I had not run into anything yet, but I darted in and out of the trees, managing to get by.

Luke growled in frustration as he pushed himself faster. He was getting closer, his movements becoming louder and louder in my ears.

I decided I couldn't run any longer and stopped dead and ducked, crouching into a ball and holding my hands in fists up to my eyes clenched shut. Luke grunted as he passed over me, unable to stop as quickly, and there were the sounds of shredding and tearing as his massive claws dug into the earth to stop himself.

All while this happened, I did not release from my tight ball. I held still, waiting for whatever blow he was going to deliver. All I heard was silence at first, besides his heavy breathing. I was unable to hear anything else other than his intakes and outtakes of air, the rustling of his fur in the wind, and feel nothing else but the warmth of his body heat.

When that thought entered into my mind, I realized that I wasn't smelling anything when the wind blew towards me, filling my nostrils with fresh air. If I hadn't heard his breath and felt his warmth radiating towards me, I wouldn't have guessed he was there. Luke had no scent to me, and that puzzled me. Adam had expressed how he had smelt, as if he could smell it miles away, clear as day. Standing next to him, I smelt not the faintest hint of a scent. None at all. Now that I had thought about it, I hadn't smelt any of the other wolves. No scent came to mind when I recalled back to our encounter when Adam had fallen from the tree. Despite what I found, I stopped breathing, so that I did not have the chance to catch anything more of his scent—his pumping blood.

He took a step, his paw landing three feet closer to me, and I whimpered again in fright.

In my entire existence as a vampire, I had never felt such fear. The only frightful time was when I first opened my eyes, unable to make out what had happened to me. This kind of fear was different—with Luke standing so close to me, in wolf form, facing nothing other than a vampire to him. I knew how strong the wolves were, and now I knew how fast they were.

A second later, I heard unsure steps coming in my direction. They were not aggressive, so my alarm slowly waned, but I did not expect the sudden, wet and warm nose that pressed against my exposed arm. It was an unexpected feeling, but I nearly giggled at the feeling, flinching away from the wetness.

My heart fluttered hopefully at the thought that Luke was actually voluntarily touching me—touching a vampire.

I dared to open my eyes, my head still buried in my arm. With Luke so close, his heat radiated towards me like a space heater placed right beside me. I knew his head was probably still inches from my body, his own body less than a foot away. After a long moment, I lifted my head to look up at him.