Red Eyed Girl
Chapter 6
The Encounter
Going by the thoughts of Riley and Bree from the battle, Edward could remember where their "lair" was. It was an old house in the outskirts of Seattle. The inside of it, particularly the basement, looked trashed.
"You sure this is a place?" Emmet asked, frowning at it.
"Yeah," Edward answered. "I saw this in the girl's mind. They were all living in this basement."
"Must've been cramped," Emmet commented.
"Riley didn't have a clue what he was doing," said Jasper, examining a desk that was reduced to firewood. "Sticking twenty newborns in a tight spot like this is madness."
"No wonder they were easy," Emmet recollected.
Edward flinched and spun around. "Someone's coming."
The other vampires turned to the door and crouched, waiting for the intruder. Two vampires, a male and female, stepped inside the basement. Their eyes were blood red. The male was wearing denim everything, his hair jet black. The girl behind him had silver blond hair and wore a black jacket over a teal shirt. She wore white zebra pants.
"You're not one of us," said the male. "Your eyes are yellow. Who are you?"
"We're a coven not far from here," said Jasper quickly. "Were you part of Riley's coven?"
The girl laughed. "Riley? I don't think we were anything to him or her."
"How do you know Riley?" the brunette asked.
"We fought him a long time ago," Edward explained. "Along with the others."
"You killed them, didn't you?" he demanded and the girl came to his side. Both of their teeth clenched.
"We had no choice," said Edward.
Fr a second it looked like the boy was going to spring and then he straightened up. Jasper's mood-modifying ability came in handy in the nick of time.
"We didn't come here to fight," said Jasper.
"Why'd you kill them?" the girl questioned.
"We knew the one who changed you," Edward explained. "Her name was Victoria. She had a grudge against us and tried to kill my mate when she was a human."
The girl snorted. "A human mate? Are you crazy?"
"That's why Victoria changed all of you. She wanted an army. She was just using you."
"WE figured something fishy was going on," said the boy. "Riley was lying to us and our coven kept getting bigger and more out of control."
"Good thing we left when we did, Steve," the girl comented. "We would've been burned at the stake too."
"If you left, why come back?" Emmet inquired.
"We heard about the mysterious red eyed girl," Steve answered. "Thought she was one of us, one that probably got away."
"We're looking for her too," said Jasper. "But we think she's still human."
"How you figure?"
"What vampire in their right mind would wear a mini skirt?" Emmet asked with a grin.
"Is that really what she wears?" the girl said and Emmet nodded.
"I guess we're the last of our coven then," the girl said somberly. "I told you we should have come back sooner, Steve."
"Riley would've killed us, Shelly," Steve told her.
"Wait," said Edward. "There's another one of you out there somewhere. Fred."
"Freaky Fred?" gasped Shelly. "You sure?"
"I saw him in Bree's mind," Edward said. "I can read minds and I think she knew it. She asked me to be good to him incase we every crossed paths."
"I remember Bree," said Steve. "She was just a kid. I couldn't believe that Riley would bring someone so young into the group."
"I know if anyone would still be alive, it'd be Freddy," said Shelly with a grin. "We'll look for him then. Thank you."
"If you find that girl and she happens to be one of us," said Steve, "tell her we're in Vancouver."
Shelly and Steve retreated. Finding no other clues in the abandoned house, Edward and the other vampires decided to search the city. With all the thoughts of other people, Edward found it difficult trying to focus one person. Though he had already trained his ability, it was a while since he had been in a group.
"Anything yet?" Emmet questioned impatiently.
"No," said Edward. "There're too many people."
A cat walked by Emmet's foot, hurrying in front of the three. To Edward's surprised, he saw the cat's thoughts.
"Is Usagi going to make me run all the way to Forks to find her? I can't believe this! Her mother wasn't nearly this bad!"
"I saw the cat's thoughts!" Edward gasped.
"Seriously?" Emmet asked. "I didn't know you could read animals' thoughts."
"I usually don't," Edward admitted. When Edward looked at animals, he could see images but could not hear words. Animals don't think in a human's tongue—but this cat did.
"What'd you see?" said Jasper.
"It knows the girl!" Edward told them.
"A cat that thinks English? No way!" Emmet said and he bolted after the cat.
"Wait, Emmet, you'll frighten it off!" declared Jasper and he followed after him.
When the three vampires caught up with the black cat with the crescent moon on its forehead, Emmet snatched her up in one swoop.
"Unhand me, you fool!" the cat hissed, taking a swipe at Emmet.
"She can talk!" Emmet exclaimed. "Wow, you think Rosalie will let me keep her?"
"We're not going to hurt you," said Jasper and the cat felt at ease. "We have some questions about the girl you were with? The one with red eyes?"
"Usagi, have you seen her?" Luna inquired.
"Just in your thoughts," said Edward told her. "It's my gift. I can read minds. This is the first time I could read what an animal was saying in their head." He added at Luna's confused expression.
"Incredible," said Luna. "I am Luna. I came here from another time with my human companion, Usagi. We had an argument and she took off."
"To Forks, correct?" said Edward.
"Yes," said Luna.
"Then we just missed her, damn!" Emmet muttered.
"Why are you interested in Usagi?" Luna questioned.
"A long story," said Jasper. "We come from Forks. We saw the girl on the news. We believed that the girl must be…special."
"Take me with you," Luna said. "It's important I find her."
Reneme was playing a racing video game with Jacob in the den. When her vehicle crossed the finish line, he was still on his second lap. Jacob sighed and lowered his controller. "Wow, Nessie, you beat me again!" he shook his head. "I just can't beat you."
Renesmee glared at him and touched his face. His eyes widened.
"I didn't lose on purpose, honest!" he told her.
"You let me win the last couple of times," she stretched out. "I can tell, even if my dad's not here to tell me so."
Jake continued to play innocent. "Oh come on. I was right behind you on that last one."
"You're not trying hard enough, Jake," she said. "Come on, you're not much of a challenge."
"You know I'm faster than you in real life though," he told her. "No one's faster than me."
"Except for Leah," Renesmee jabbed and he frowned.
"Let's play Undead World for a while," he suggested and she nodded in acceptance. They played better co-op games than competitive games. Jacob always let her win when they were playing against each other, but when we played a game that involved teamwork, they were amazing. Renesmee sometimes suggested they enter a tournament together. They had barely began planning when Alice hopped on the couch behind them.
"You guys have been playing games for hours," she said. "You should go outside. You probably didn't even notice it's snowing."
"We didn't have too," said Jacob, eyes on the screen. "You said earlier it was going to snow today."
"And I'm right," said Alice. "Go play outside, or you probably will become zombies."
Renesmee paused the game long enough to mimic a zombie and mock-attacked Jacob, who allowed her to bite him. The pair chuckled and Renesmee groaned.
"You're starting to sound like Esme," she said. "I don't need to go hunting right now. I'm fine."
"Yeah, she had her got her junk food for the day," Jacob agreed, holding up a bag of chips.
Esme entered the room, laughing. "I think Alice is right. This is a good time to practice hunting."
"I've hunted in the snow dozens of times," Renesmee rolled her eyes.
"Then you should be good by now," said Alice. "Go on. Make a snowman, or snow vampire or something. And if you meet anyone interesting, bring them home."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Renesmee inquired.
Alice shrugged. "Well it's winter break, right? You might meet someone skating at the lake, or skiing the slopes. You might meet some lost tourist."
"And bring them to a houseful of vampires?" Jacob asked. "You sure that's a good idea?"
"It was when Edward brought Bella over," Alice said in a sing-song voice as she walked away.
"You think Alice is able to 'see' around us?" Jacob inquired.
"Only one way to find out," said Renesmee. "Let's go and see if we find anyone 'interesting.'"
The falling snow was becoming a blizzard and it was getting dark. It was hard for Usagi to see. She used her kitty magic to turn her pendant into a flashlight to guide her way. It helped her see where she was going, but she was freezing.
"I got to be close," she said, turning her flashlight left and right. She checked the medical journal in her bag but it was glowing and she felt no warmth. She began to doubt she had felt anything the first time. Was it just her imagination?
She turned the flashlight to the ground; it was easier to see that way that shining it through the air. After a few steps she saw some prints in the snow. She bent down to examine them. Back in Crystal Tokyo, she was trained how to track animals by studying their paw prints.
"Looks like a wolf's," she said, "but that can't be. They're far too big."
There was no way it could be a bear's. The shape was wrong and it was common knowledge bears hibernated in the wintertime.
Usagi thought of Hestia. She knew that Hestia, being an animal expert, would want to accompany her to find this large beast. Usagi however was by herself and she didn't want to bump into a wolf that was perhaps four times the normal size. She studied the prints a little bit more and then went in the different direction.
After pressing onward for almost an hour, Usagi couldn't stand the cold anymore. She stopped by a tree and changed her flashlight into a hatchet. She cut off several branches, arranged them on the ground and then got a fire going. She began to regret losing her cool with Luna. Luna was more experienced in these sorts of things. She he had trained her mother, the Queen of Crystal Tokyo. Usagi was being foolish not to listen to her guidance. Now she was freezing to death in a blizzard and she had no idea where she was. She was her people's last hope and there was no way she'd get to them now. She couldn't even get out of this storm!
Feeling sorry for herself, Usagi began to cry. She had to stop her sobs short because she heard a wolf howl in the distance. She gasped and got to her feet. Her sorrow turned to vigilance. She had to be alert now if she were to survive. Not knowing what to expect, she decided to transform.
"Moonlight Rose Power!"
As she called upon the power of the moon, her body and the surrounding area glowed with bright pink and white light. She summoned her Moonlight Rose Scepter and covered the fireplace with snow so it wouldn't attract any predators. She walked on with her scepter out, ready for anything. As she walked on, she saw a new set of footprints. She bent down the examine them and discovered them to be human and the size of her own feet. The prints were flat, as if the person were wearing snow boots. Did this person know of the large wolf prints in the snow? Now felt it was her duty to find the person and warn them of the danger and perhaps—this person knew of a way out of the woods.
Sailor Neo Moon followed the footprints, hoping to find whoever they belonged too soon. As she got closer, she heard footprints. Heavy ones.
"Hey, you've got to get out of the forest," she called. "There's a giant—wolf?"
A giant rusty brown wolf was running straight to her. Sailor Neo Moon screamed and backed up, dropping her scepter in shock. Mounted on the great wolf was a girl about her own age. She had to be some sort of witch that controlled animals. Forgetting all about fighting, she turned around and fled from there as fast as she could. She heard the girl call after her. A taunt? A threat? She paid no mind and kept going. She kept running, having no idea where she was going. She ran until she could no longer feel the ground under her feet. For a moment she thought she was flying—how fast was she running? Then in the next moment, she was falling.