Chapter 10 - Center
Things went sort of back to normal after that fateful morning. I wondered how Rebecca and Mikala managed to keep the secret from the curious boy who would hardly give in when he wanted an answer. Well, luckily, he was full of trust in whatever you said, that made it easy to make him believe what you told him. But lying to him was nothing I'd voluntarily do.
We had been to the forest again and he was all caught up in tracing a fox, leaving me time to think things through again.
Even by the time we were back home, I was still wondering about these new insights.
I let my thoughts wander to everything I'd learned today. How everyone wanted to be a tribe protector... but how did they know of it? It was a secret, wasn't it? In our tribe, only the exclusive secret society knew about it. I wondered sometimes how it was possible that the rest of the tribe was so oblivious to what was going on. Was it different here? I would have to ask Mikala about the gaps in my picture of the Hawaiian shape-shifters. And... there was another kind of meeting needed.
The packs – both Quileute packs and this dog pack – would have to discuss strategy. At first, I needed more information about the situation. We had only talked about the traits of our own species, but we hadn't discussed the current issue at all.
How many of those bloodsuckers were on the Island? Were they newborns or mature leeches?
How many of us would be needed to take them down? Would the dogs be of any use?
I fell into bed very tired this evening right after dinner.
There was something exciting about dealing with the mythical stuff all day. My dreams were dealing with bloodsuckers and evil spirits and whatever I'd heard today, but that was nothing. These dreams looked tame next to the nightmares providing Sam's denial as my personal hell.
Even the battle ahead was something I looked forward to, if it would only make me forget about Sam.
When I got up in the morning, I felt more rested than the nights before. Surprisingly, Mikala was at home for once. He was in the kitchen with Rebecca and the children, sipping coffee from a large blue mug.
Pili looked up at me. "Hey Leah! I'm going to bring-..", he started talking, the rest becoming unintelligible due to his mouth full of cornflakes. "Pili, you better swallow your cornflakes. They're doing better in your stomach than on the wall paper.", I advised him.
Mikala was feeding Kaili, but he seemed tensed. I figured he wanted to discuss it further and all but waited for his son to be at school.
My assumption proved true soon. The moment Rebecca went to take the boy out of the house, Mikala turned over to me to shoot another question into my face.
"How does it work, destroying those... vampires?"
I concentrated on Kaili to keep calm.
"Easy." I gritted my teeth. "We rip them apart. Later, they need to be burned."
"Okay. That sounds...easy. But they are so strong." He shook his head in denial and despair.
I wondered if the dog's numbers were a secret, too, but he spoke without me having to ask.
"There were two of them at once. We were twelve. She...or it, what do I call them?... just ripped Hiapo apart..." He shuddered in deep horror. I felt like I might explode every moment, but I fought it back to the recesses. There was strategy to discuss instead of simple rage. That never helped...
"Only two? Hum... that would be easy to take for my pack...", I mumbled. I wouldn't mind to have my pack here, but I wasn't too fond of getting Sam and his pack here, too.
My gaze fell upon the newspaper that lay on the table, and the headlines, again. I grabbed the paper and scanned the article concerning the increase of murder on the Big Island.
Mikala watched me curiously. I looked up. "It sounds like it will be more than two."
His eyes widened. "How do you know?" "The statistics and the numbers. I'm not exactly sure how much these... leeches are sucking a night, but I think this can't be only two."
"What does that mean?", he asked, alarmed. "It means that we might need the whole packs. But it would be... better to know. To be sure and braced for it."
"What does that mean?", he asked. Obviously, I was in command now.
"We need to check. Run patrols."
He nodded. "We've not been running patrol since... Hiapo died. We didn't know how to proceed."
"Okay. I'm not sure... whether they would attack you themselves if you didn't strike first... maybe we ought to take that risk."
"Sure. There's a tribe to protect.", he said, his pride and fierce commitment back in place.
"I will call up a meeting."
Immediately, he was out of the room and in the garden, where he pulled a native looking instrument out of his pocket. It was a kind of flute. When he played it, there was a high-pitched sound coming from it. I suddenly started giggling as it reminded me of a dog whistle, too low for human ears to hear, but perfectly clear for dogs. Um... maybe that was the point. It sounded odd. But it probably was a good way to get the pack over here in no time.
I was right. It didn't take long until the door bell rang. Mikala went to answer it and came back with three people. He led them into the living room and introduced them to me. "Leah, these are Ikaika and Luana", he gestured to a dark haired couple that eyed me curiously. "And this is Kapa'a."
I nodded. "Nice to meet you." I let my gaze linger on the woman. Her skin was a warm brown, dark eyes and delicate features. She seemed to be at ease and very content with this task, like she'd volunteer for it. Probably she would, all of them would.
"People, this is Leah, a friend of my wife, and, as you know by now, a heiress of the Quileute's mythical secret."
The stares got even more curious as he mentioned it so clearly. I settled for another hour of awed looks and explaining the wolf thing.
"Very nice to get to know you.", the smaller of the two men, probably Kapa'a, said and stepped closer to me to take my hand. He seemed to be the oldest of them, in his sixties maybe as I assumed from his gray hair, while Luana and Ikaika seemed to be in their late thirties. Ikaika looked exactly like the Quileute wolf men – very tall and muscular. There was something intimidating in his stance. If I were a normal human girl, I would have been afraid of him if I'd encounter him alone in a dark alley...
While I considered that, Kapa'a still held my hand in both of his and searched for my eyes. His were deep and sincere, and they seemed very vital, not at all affected by age. There was a wise look in them and I got a feeling like I could see right through them to his soul. I was certain it was full of kindness through and through. "We are pleased that you have been sent here to help us protect the tribe.", he said in a deep, warm voice.
I frowned. That was so not why I'd been coming here. But it seemed like I'd better get used to that.
"Yes. I am glad to be able to help you.", I replied politely. He let go of my hand, gave me a friendly smile and went to sit on the couch.
There was a rap at the back door and I wondered why whoever it was didn't come from the front side. When he let himself in, I saw a man wearing only shorts, and I could guess at the reason. Some were too impatient to use a car. I was familiar with that.
Mikala stood and greeted him. "Nui. This is Leah, a friend of my wife."
"Welcome, Leah.", he said in a quiet voice, before he went to sit on the couch next to his fellow tribe members. I eyed him, too, trying not to stare. Like Ikaika, he was muscular, even more perceptible in lack of a shirt. It was obvious their own double life had the same bodybuilding effect on them like it had on us. Well, first and foremost on the boys. It seemed like at least my lack of testosterone had thwarted that my body would look like I was an oversized, brawny male. Thank whoever it was for that, even though that was one of the few things I was grateful for.
They trailed in very close after another now. Mikala introduced us and I tried to keep all the names straight. Three women were the next to arrive – Pua, Makani, and Ka Hiwa, he called them.
I greeted them, once again captured by the thought that these women were here by choice. And that they didn't have to sacrifice so much of their femininity for this as I did.
Besides that, I noticed they were beautiful, graceful even. Pua was dressed in a short white-and-pink skirt and a matching pink top. It was supplemented by a pink flower in her hair, very clichée-like. The other two were less dressy, more ordinarily, but still, they looked pretty.
I'd almost forgotten how to notice these girly-things, forgotten how to be a beautiful woman myself, surrounded by guys and sharing their thoughts. That, for sure, wasn't a pleasant thing. It'd given me identity disorder, I suspected.
Now, there were four men – including Mikala – and four women in the living room, which seemed quite crowded. Another time, the door bell rang. When Mikala returned with a man, I could feel the reverence echoeing from every corner of the room. This must have been their Alpha. I stood to greet him. Even though physically he was smaller than Ikaika and Nui, it still seemed like he towered over them. Like Billy Black – the majestic radiance almost overpowered everything else. I doubted very much that any human authority could have the same impact as this mythical Alpha thing had.
Sensing my gaze which I could hardly tear away from him, he adressed me. His voice was deep and reminded me of the double timbre of an Alpha's command – which was not a pleasant memory, but still filled me with reverence.
"I am Keli'i, chief of the dog men. It is very amenable to meet you in your human form eventually."
So he must have been with the dogs that had encountered me in the forest.
"I'm glad to get to know the Alpha of the Big Island.", I said and automatically took a position that showed his superiority. It was a wolf instinct to accept authority without any second thought to it.
He laughed a deep, throaty laugh which I couldn't construe, then he took his seat across from the others. It seemed there was a more distinct hierarchy here than in our pack. Our pack was more based on friendship. Well, Jacob's pack, at least. Maybe the other pack would have worked in the same way, if not for the bitter harpy I had become. I knew they wouldn't have told me that to my face, but it'd slipped out anyway. From more than one pack member. I snarled under my breath at that thought. I was absolutely relieved to be free of the reason why I'd turned bitter at first.
A few raps on the back door and door bell rings on the front door later, the living room was so crowded I supposed if another person came in, the house would burst. The last ones to arrive were two men, similiar in appearance to the others, but even more distinct in their behaviour. The leaner, smaller man, Ku'uaki, looked around like he was braced for anything, which made me feel edgy myself. I wondered if this was in proof to the appropriety of his name, which meant "guardian", as Mikala had explained to me, or if there really was danger anywhere close. The other seemed to share his lot of the Alpha's predominance.
"Mano is Second-in-Command.", Mikala told me. Ah. So he was, sort of, my level. Gaining confidence, I watched him. My eyes traced his features. Like Ikaika and Nui, he was quite tall and muscular. I supposed the three of them made for the strongest of this pack, considered physical force.
I let my gaze wander across the assembly, counted twice and was stunned. There were eleven of them. Well, less than the Quileute pack had been before the splitting, but still it was amazing.
Rebecca had returned in the middle of this arriving scene and fit easily into the living room, leaving me wondering how she managed without seeming bothered by the crowdy circumstances.
Keli'i stood and looked at each member of his pack, then at me.
"We have a very intriguing guest here. She's not a guest only, but a help, maybe our solution. We are here today to save our tribe, and she is here to be a great help."
I sighed. I didn't want to be looked up to like I was any vital character. Well, being that wasn't that bad, but it still made me feel uncomfortable. Especially when each pair of eyes in the room was turned in my direction, looking at me like there was really some central role I'd play, something only I could achieve.
Keli'i gestured me to speak. I cleared my throat as I awkwardly stood up. It was a stretch to have moved from the unwanted odd one out to the center point.
"Um... as you might know, I am from the Quileute tribe. There is a tribe secret close to yours. We are shape-shifters as you are, only there are different abilities. Though we descend from Spirit Warriors, we are not limited to defy spirits. There are... creatures in this world you now know about, but couldn't classify before. They are not the man-eating spirits. They are... vampires."
I wasn't the only one who shuddered at the use of that term. Even though most of them had never heard of that to be true before, they all knew I was right.
"We, in our wolf form, are able to destroy them, while it seems like your kind can't."
There was a low hiss from one of them, so I hurried to go on. "I don't mean any disrespect. I'm only stating what you already had to learn." I dropped my gaze. How could I gain their trust and understanding?
Mikala rose and saved me. "Leah's pack from the Quileute tribe is willing to help us protecting our tribe and the whole island. What she needs is to get an overview on how many of those... bloodsuckers are here.", he stated. I threw him a grateful look.
"She needs us to patrol the island to find out."
The room erupted in approving sounds very rapidly, they were on their feet at once, standing ready for protecting their tribe. I wished, at once, that I could share that undivided pride.
I rose to speak again. "If you find them... don't attack them. You are not suited for their brute strength. To be sure, it takes at least two of my kind to take one of them down. In addition, we need to know if they are experienced older ones or if they are young to that parasite's life. If they are young, they will be even stronger, but if they're old, they might be trained as fighters. That might be even more dangerous."
They nodded, but it was clearly awkward and uncomfortable to them that they felt weak, easily opposable, in need of other mythical creatures to help them out.
But as it looked, there was no way around it. And there was, at least, enough pride in my being that I was not going to bail out and leave them to their inevitable fate.
Once again, I would stand with my pack and fight. Against the leeches instead of with them.
A/N: Um... the "dog whistle" seems a bit ridiculous to me by now... don't mind me ;) I still think it's funny, though^^