A/N Hey people. I've changed my mind and decided to post a chapter. It's been so long since I've updated that I recommend you go back and re-read the other chapters. As an apology for my flip-flopping, I've decided to give y'all and extra long chapter! Longest one to date, in fact. Email me if you want, contact info on my profile. I have Twitter also!
Over the next couple of days, I learned how to phase whenever I wanted, run patrols, and keep my temper in check.
My newfound speed, strength, and reflexes amazed me. I could see far better than I thought possible. I could hear a car coming up our incredibly long driveway from a mile away. Literally. I knew the identity of a person in a room simply from their scent.
Whenever I wasn't out in the forest learning the fundamentals of being a werewolf, I was with Skye. She was suddenly the most important thing in my life. The more time I spent with her, the more I loved her.
I walked in one day after running patrols and found Skye on the piano in her living room. She was playing a slow, haunting song that was one of my favorites.
I walked up silently behind her, hoping I wasn't a disturbance.
Her slender fingers danced over the keys, hitting each note with precision. The song ended slowly.
"I've always liked Beethoven." I laid my hand on her shoulder. She pressed her cheek against it.
"Your skin is always so warm," she remarked.
"If you're going to call me hot, then just say it," I said jokingly.
She giggled. "Very mature."
"Your skin feels so cold to me. I'm going to have to get used to humans being different from now on." I said.
"Well, at least you can go around without a shirt on, even in a snowstorm," Skye said, her face reddening. I couldn't figure out why she did.
"Why didn't you tell me you played piano?" I asked.
She shrugged. " I don't know. I never thought to mention it. I didn't even know you liked classical music."
"Well, I like some. It helps to listen to a song without words when you're writing a story. My dad plays it at home all the time."
Skye and I went over to the couch. She curled up into my side. Her sweet yet burning cinnamon scent filled my senses. It was my favorite smell in the world.
"What's your dad like?" she asked.
"He's an author. He writes mostly science fiction and fantasy stories. You might have heard of him. Ellis Stratton?"
"Oh yeah. He wrote a series that I liked a lot. He's your father?"
Grinning, I said, "Yep. So can you picture him in your head? A typical author guy, the nerdy type with glasses who sits around all day locked in his room, writing?"
Skye looked up at me and nodded.
"Well, guess what? He rides motorcycles. Both him and my mom."
"No way!" she exclaimed. "That is just awesome!"
I laughed. "You get used to it when you live with them. They're more like my best friends than my parents a lot of the time."
"What about your mom?"
"Oh, Mom is the most free-spirited person you'll ever meet. She can always make you laugh, or at least smile. She's always cooking something amazing in our kitchen. She's not like some typical mother. She listens to loud rock music whenever my dad lets her get away with it."
Skye laughed.
"She can also kick my butt in basketball. I never was good at sports to begin with, but somehow Mom always convinces me to play against her."
"Sounds like you have the coolest parents ever," she said.
I nodded, very pleased.
"But I can beat that," Skye said slyly. "I've got a boyfriend who is an amazing werewolf." I noticed a look in her eyes I'd never seen before as she leaned towards me. I realized with a certain gladness that her dad wasn't home.
I froze. My entire body stiffened as a blast of cold air blew in through the open window.
"Dan?" She waved a hand in front of my face. I didn't pay attention. My nostrils were burning with a sickly sweet stench. It was faint, but there. And getting stronger.
"Vampire," I managed to spit out.
My mind was spinning. I didn't know what to do. Should I contact the pack, fight it myself, or what? What was a bloodsucker doing this close to humans? Was it hunting? It wasn't one of the Cullens. I knew that much.
I took one look at Skye's frightened face and went into autopilot. My only job was to get her to safety.
I snatched her up in my arms and ran out the door as fast as I could.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Far away from the leech."
"It might be someone we know!"
"No, otherwise I'd recognize their scent."
I ran through the woods behind the Clearwaters' house a way and set Skye down.
"Stay here for a sec." I said, going behind a tree to phase. I put my shorts in a strap around my ankle.
Leah and Quil were running patrol.
There's a vampire in the area. Do you recognize the scent?
They didn't.
Stay calm, Dan. Just get away from there and make sure it doesn't see you or Skye, Quil said. Just go to the mountains and wait. We'll take care of it.
I came out from behind the tree and motioned with my head for Skye to climb up. I could run faster in my wolf form. I had to get her as far away as possible. I had to protect her.
Skye put her arms around my neck and wrapped her legs around my stomach as if she'd done this a thousand times.
I started off running slowly, but Skye whispered in my ear,
"You can go faster. I'll be able stay on."
Any fears I had about her falling off disappeared as I felt her body flex and adjust to any movement mine made. Riding seemed natural to her.
I kicked into high gear as I caught another whiff of the burning scent from the bloodsucker.
I watched Leah and Quil in my head. There was nothing better to do while running. Leah headed over to the Cullen house a let out a long howl. Jacob phased and immediately went into Alpha mode.
I don't think we need Embry or Seth. We'll surround it and I'll go for the head.
The leech was leaving the Clearwaters' house. Its eyes were solid black. It was hunting.
With Leah on his right flank and Quil on his left, Jacob was feeling confident.
This is nothing compared to when we had to fight the army of newborns, Leah said smugly. It'll be over in no time.
When the vampire saw them, it hissed and moved to a defensive crouch. It was clearly a female. She had long red hair.
Is it Victoria? I never can remember what each leech looks like, Leah asked.
No, I pointed out. It's not her. She's too short and her facial features are different. I compared this leech to a memory from Quil's head. He had gotten a good look at her a long time ago when the pack was chasing her down the territory lines.
Right, said Jacob. He growled at her and started forward.
Suddenly the female stood up straight in a more relaxed posture. This caught the others off guard. Leah got ticked off at the bloodsucker's bravado.
Then, two more vampires appeared behind Jacob, and one behind Leah. They looked completely identical to the first female. Are they related? I wondered.
Leah lunged at the leech nearest her. She jumped right through it.
It's a fake! I exclaimed.
In an instant a crowd of leech look-alikes surrounded them. The illusions started running circles around the wolves. Leah was shaking with anger and snapping her teeth at each one that got close.
That's not gonna help, I remarked. Leah swore at me.
Which one is the real one? Quil asked frantically. Apparently the bloodsucker wasn't thirsty enough to abandon strategy.
Smell her out, I suggested.
Leah was too mad to pay attention to me, but Jake focused enough to try.
It's not here! He realized. She was running through the woods. Leah took off without a moment's hesitation. She was mad and wanted to rip this parasite apart. Jake followed right after her, with Quil taking the rear.
They caught up to her quickly. Her strength must have been dwindling with her thirst.
Leah reached her first and started biting at the neck. The female's leg caught Leah under her torso and flung her off. Leah went flying.
Her claws dug into the soil as she landed. Jacob jumped at the leech and ripped its leg off. It let out an unearthly screech.
Quil got to its neck while it was distracted and finished it off. I didn't stay around to watch anymore. Skye and I reached a good place up high in the mountains and I let her off.
She didn't shiver after getting down. I found it odd that she wouldn't be freezing up here. After all, I was supposed to be the super-heated one.
Her face was tight with fear. It hurt me to see her so frightened. I wanted to tell her everything would be okay.
"Dan, what's going on?" she asked. She relaxed a bit and said, "Oh, if we stay up here alone for very long , my dad will murder you."
I made a coughing bark, which was supposed to be a laugh. I went back into the woods to phase and pulled on my shorts. I didn't need a t-shirt, even up here.
I wondered how much I should tell Skye about the fight. I didn't know how much detail Seth had exposed her to. I hoped she wouldn't ask.
I walked back over to her. She raised an eyebrow. "Where'd you get those shorts?"
Did she expect me to phase back without them?! I pointed to the strap around my ankle.
"I tied 'em to my leg."
"Oh."
"The leech isn't following us," I said, again debating how much to tell her.
"Did the others rip it apart?" she asked. I guess Seth did clue her in to these things.
"Yeah, it was alone and very thirsty. No one knew it, so Jacob, Leah, and Quil took care of it."
"Good. Was it just a random vampire? Do they know why it was in this area?"
"I don't know. It's not like they talked to the leech."
"Don't be so rude about them!" Skye burst out suddenly. "Renesmee is practically my best friend, and I like the Cullens!"
"Hey, hey." I said in a soothing tone. "I just meant the bad ones, not our friends. I have nothing against vampires in general."
She looked down at the ground, blushing.
"Okay, sorry I yelled. I just have to put up with it around the pack a lot, and it gets to me sometimes."
"It's fine. Some of the wording leaks over from the guys. I didn't mean it. Much."
"We'd better get home then, before my dad feeds you to a mountain lion."
"Yeah, yeah."
"So why aren't you going to phase?" she asked when I didn't move. I wasn't going to miss an opportunity like this, pack mind or not.
I took a step towards her. "So we can be alone for a little while."
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Later on, I took Skye back to the Cullen house to meet up with everyone. They were in the large, bright living room. Some were tensed, some relaxed.
Edward was pacing the floor anxiously, overreacting as usual. I couldn't quite talk, though. I'd gone a little overboard rushing off with Skye earlier.
Jasper was staring off into space and Alice was holding onto his hand. Carlisle and Esme were whispering to each other. I couldn't read their expressions. Emmett, Seth, Embry, and Chris (the most recent pack member before me) were cheering over some kind of lame wrestling match on the giant flat screen.
I didn't know why they were even watching it considering any vampire or werewolf fight was ten times better, at least.
Rosalie was standing off in a corner, her nose wrinkled up in disgust. According to the vampires, werewolves stunk. In my opinion, they were the ones who smelled weird. Leah was also off to the side, a bitter expression on her face. If they didn't hate each other so much, she and Blondie could be best friends.
I sat with my back against the chair that Bella was sitting in. She and I got along relatively well, even though we didn't have much in common. We had talked once or twice and she told me about her fascinating life. I thought about telling my dad some of it. It would make a great book. Maybe even a bestseller.
Skye went and sat down with Nessie and Claire, both long since used to danger. I heard Claire say something about a gift and the girls started giggling and talking animatedly.
I remembered that it was Jacob and Nessie's seventh wedding anniversary of all days. Even though she looked seventeen when she was seven years old, the Cullens restricted marriage until Nessie was technically sixteen. She was twenty-three now, and not looking any older. Luckily it wasn't a problem for Jake, since werewolves didn't age.
Quil and Claire were married shortly after them, but since Claire was human and now twenty-five, Quil would have to stop phasing soon. My mind flicked to the subject of Skye aging, but I quickly dismissed it as a topic to think about another time.
"Do you see anything, Alice?" Carlisle spoke up.
"Nothing at all. The pack is blocking my vision," said Alice in her light voice.
"Look," said Emmett. "It was probably some random nomad who heard about Nessie and Jake. She happened to be hungry and didn't get a chance to talk to us about hunting restrictions."
"Daniel and Seth were both in that house. There's no way one of us could miss the scent of a werewolf," Edward said, a look of frustration on his stone face.
"Her power was remarkable," said Carlisle. "It seemed to be similar to Zafrina's ability to project, just at a smaller scale."
"How can we be sure she wasn't with the Volturi?" said Edward. "She had a power the Aro would likely covet for his 'collection'."
"No, I think she was alone. Aro would never be so careless in sending an amateur. An agent of the Volturi would never get caught like that." said Carlisle.
"So what do we do?" asked Bella.
"The only solution, really, is to run more patrols and be on alert," said Seth.
"I think you need to inform Sam and his pack, Jacob," said Carlisle.
"We'll go tomorrow," Jacob answered.
"Well, on a different subject, would any of you like to stay for dinner?" asked Esme, always the hospitable one.
I heard at least three stomachs growl, one of them probably my own. For people who didn't eat food, vampires were amazing cooks.
"Sure," said Jacob.
"I'll help!" Claire replied, jumping up and going into the kitchen. Skye followed, which meant that both Quil and I were staying.
Okay, that's all for now. I love reviews! In fact, one review from one person changed my mind about updating, so you never know what impact yours might have!