so i honestly don't know if there is only one more chapter or two after this one... i think i may just make a really long last chapter after this :( even though i don't know how to end this... partly because i don't want to. hehe

but this WILL end soon and i will start my new story which has been changing drastically in my mind.. but i think it's basically the same. please read it when it's ready "dog eat dog" will be the title...i think.. keep an eye out

REVIEW PLEASE (i didn't get many last time :( oh and thanks for getting me to 200 reviews! yay!)

Chapter 22:

I heard the growling all around us before my mind registered what was going on. I instinctively bared my fangs in defense and grabbed Cashile's hand in shock.

A few of the wolves stalked forward, lips pulled back and snarling. They were much bigger than the ones that stayed behind. A grey wolf ultimately came forward and transformed into an older man. He was stark naked, but no one seemed to take notice. I kept my eyes trained on his face and nowhere else.

Next to me Shane transformed to talk too. "William," Shane started, his voice deep and cautious. William focused his gaze on Shane, but only slightly; he did not want to completely divert his attention from the two vampires in front of him. "Please," Shane reasoned. "They mean no harm."

"They can speak, so let them." William irritably added. William was tall and, for an older gentleman, was still built like a tree. His hair was silver, just like his fur when he was a wolf and he had three parallel scars that began at his cheek and ended at his shoulder. Terrifying power and authority radiated from him. As he spoke everything seemed to fall quiet; no crickets or late night bugs buzzing. Shane even seemed tense around him and Shane was always relaxed.

Cashile began slowly and respectfully. "My name is Cashile, I believe you know my sire, Viktor,"

"Viktor," William pondered. "Did he send you here?"

"Not exactly, but we wouldn't trespass on your land without an important cause."

"Then speak, vampire. Tell me why you have trespassed onto our land. Tell me why I shouldn't execute the both of you now?" William seemed to growl. A few wolves snarled their teeth as if it was their way of voting for us to be killed immediately.

Execute? He can't be serious. I knew relationships between vampires and werewolves weren't exactly the greatest, but death seemed a little harsh. At least throw us in prison. I squeezed Cashile's hand a little tighter.

"We want peace." Cashile said.

William let out a booming laugh. "Peace? You think I'm stupid, vampire?" The wolves behind him crouched in a defensive position. They seemed to be connected with William. It seemed like they were acting as one, all under William. When he was mad, everyone was mad.

"No, no, of course not," Cashile said hastily. He glanced nervously at the wolves that surrounded us. "Maybe it's best we take this conversation into a more private area."

William smiled, but it was somewhat cruel. "Very well," he nodded and most of the surrounding wolves, reluctantly, ran off. About five remained and walked with us. I still nervously held on to Cashile's hand.

We followed William, who walked ahead of us, into the heart of the werewolf compound. Just like the human compound, the werewolf one had its houses built closest to the center; it was safer than living near the fence.

The houses here were much bigger than anything I've seen. They weren't necessarily tall (about two or three stories) but they were wide, spanning over several hundred feet. I don't think one family lives in them, I think a whole pack lives in one house. It would be much too big otherwise.

As I was observing the architecture, I accidently ventured off course slightly and a small, all black wolf jumped in front of me, growling. "Sorry," I gasped. I don't know if it understood me in its wolf form, but speaking to it was an involuntary action. I know the wolves responded to William's voice before but that may be some wolf connection thing I don't know about.

We stopped at a large, red building that had white stripping and an oversized mahogany door with round, black knockers. This was by far the biggest of the houses I've seen.

William didn't need to ask permission to come in, the door opened for him. "Thank you, Vivian." He said to the older woman that opened the door. She looked about the same age that William did and had the same silver hair, pulled back into a low ponytail. "Will you show these guests to the meeting hall?" he asked as he disappeared up a curving staircase. The railing on the stairs was the same black metal as the knockers. Its individual, miniature pillars spiraled down to each step, which made them look like vines, with metal leaves 'growing' down them. The walls of the entire room were paneled with wood. The counter tops that I could see were sparkly, grey and black granite. The legs of the chairs were carved with filigree decorations. There were floor length windows across the way that gave a full view of the green forest. This place was beyond beautiful. I can't imagine what it would be like living here.

Vivian nodded her head and walked us into another room. The wolves that escorted us here stayed at the entryway outside and stood guard.

The meeting room was yet another large room that consisted of a long, wooden table with about twenty black, rolling chairs around it. At the end of the room sat a fireplace that was already lit and sending the smoky scent around the room. Nicole, Shane, Cashile, and I grouped together at one end of the table as we waited for William; Vivian sat at the other.

No one spoke a word for a long time and the only sound that came from the room was the crackle of the burning logs. The heat that radiated from it was making me uncomfortable. I like the cold. I like the dark.

Eventually, William came back, fully clothed in light, battered jeans and a sweater. He carried two red things of fabric in his hands. He walked to Shane and Nicole to have them put the fabric on. They were red robes, embroidered with a gold crest on the left breast. The crest had a wolf in the center, surrounded by fleur de lis, and spiraling vines. Without refusing, Nicole and Shane both put the robes on to cover themselves.

William sat next to Vivian, intertwined his fingers and set them on the table. "What is this talk of peace you promise?" He sounded doubtful.

"There are vampires, including us, Viktor, and some of the others that are tired of the killing, that want peace."

"I do not believe you."

"Please, you have to. For years we have created a secret compound, one where all three of the sectors have lived in peace. We want to make this true for everyone, not just a select few." Cashile explained.

"Then explain to me this, vampire, who were the select few? And how were they chosen?" William interrogated.

"Well they are the wolves and the vampires we knew wouldn't cause trouble—"

"Exactly, the ones you knew wouldn't cause trouble. I sure you already know this, but there are people out there that would be more than willing to start another war."

"But—" Cashile started.

"But nothing." William quickly shut him up. "You may be an immortal vampire, but I can tell you still are young. You have seen nothing. You don't know how people behave." William sound stern, but he also sounded tired. He rubbed his temples. "If you think peace is an easy thing for us to achieve, then you are crazier than I thought."

"Have you ever tried?" I asked, finally speaking up. William looked at me as if he didn't know I was in the room.

"That doesn't matter, what does is that I am not willing to risk my pack for silly peace negotiations that will lead to evident death of the pack."

"Sir, the humans are terrified. At the beginning of these sectors it was our duty to protect them; we've failed. You know vampires still capture them. If we live amongst them again we can protect them better." Shane added.

"The vampires will retaliate," William sounded tired again like he has had this conversation too many times. "They will become more hostile than ever."

"The battle between vampires and wolves is ancient." Cashile stood up in anger now, but his hands stayed on the table. "We lived in peace, and secret, before the war and then only thing that's changed is our secrecy. Humans know about us now, so why can't we live in peace again?"

"It's how they were brought up, wolves and vampires alike are taught to hate each other—" William dictated.

"Then stop teaching them that. Times have changed, there is no need for us to live by the ancient laws." As Cashile spoke I thought of how much older he sounded. I thought of Viktor and Jaymes and all of the other pre-war vampires. Cashile truly was a leader and he wasn't going to leave this house until he had compromise. This is what he has been fighting for, for years. His family was killed because of vampires and if we lived in peace, none of it would have ever happened. He wants… needs to stop it from happening.

"Stop teaching them what exactly? Stop teaching them that vampires are murderous creatures that only bring death and destruction? Lie to them?" William asked rhetorically.

That shut Cashile up quickly and he clenched his jaw. "No," he said softly. "Don't lie," Cashile seemed to be out of comebacks and he slumped back into his chair. He what William was saying was true. Vampires are murderers.

"What if we have the vampires continue living in the compound? I know it's more comfortable for us to live there. They'll be out of the way. That way you can live with the humans and still keep them safe." I suggested.

"What will keep them from sneaking out for a midnight snack?" William asked. This time I stayed quiet. I guess we hadn't thought this through as much as we should have. "Exactly my point," William said as he began to leave the room.

"The truth is," I started again, staring at my hands. "There are good people, and there are bad; vampire, werewolf or otherwise. There will always be disputes between us, but Cashile's right, our kinds have lived in peace before. Why can't we do it again? We need to create laws. Things specific to vamps and wolves and if anyone breaks them the leaders will choose the appropriate punishment. The vampire leaders all agree that we need peace. They want it, the humans want it, and I can tell you are exhausted of fighting; you want it too. The least we can do is try."

William looked at me for a long time, taking in all of what I had just said. From the look on his face I thought he would turn away, but he didn't. "Fine. You bring your leaders, I'll gather the Alpha's and human leaders, and we can talk, but I promise nothing."

Before William even left the room, Cashile was already talking to Viktor on his black device, telling him everything that just happened and who to bring. He slid the device back into his pocket with a smile on his face. "It sounds like they agreed to come here and talk,"

"You make it sound like you thought they would say no." I laughed slightly.

Cashile smiled. "I did."

"It's a start," Shane added, mimicking my hopeful tone.

"It is," I responded.

Since all we had left to do was wait, I had to ask. "All right, I need to know one thing though, and don't laugh," I bit my lip. "Who's William?"

Shane made a noise that sounded like choking, but he had a smile on his face. I shot him a glare, reminding him I said 'no laughing'.

"William's our Alpha," Nicole told me.

"I thought you were an Alpha, Shane?" I asked.

"I am, but there is William, who is the Alpha over everyone. We don't just have a handful of small packs; we have to be connected somehow or we wouldn't be able to work together, it would be too much of a power struggle." Shane said.

"So he's your Alpha, and all of the other Alpha's are like betas?" I asked again.

"I guess you could say that. We're under his rule." Shane shrugged, spinning in his chair.

"What about Michael?" I asked, remembering the werewolf that judged me on Choosing Day. "I thought he was the head Alpha, since he was at he Choosing Ceremony."

Nicole and Shane shared a look. "He was an Alpha," she said, avoiding my eyes.

"Was?" I questioned.

"I was part of his pack back then, but we got into an… argument. After a somewhat tedious series of events… I became Alpha." Shane explained vaguely.

"How do you become an Alpha?"

Shane said nothing for a moment. "You kill the previous Alpha." He looked down at his fingers. "I didn't want this, but Michael couldn't stand me. He started to fight me and I had no choice but to fight back; he would've killed me. I was stronger than him though; he was old and weak."

I thought about how old William was and the scar that ran down his face. "So does that mean anyone can challenge William?"

"Well they can try…" Nicole laughed. "Because he's head Alpha he is much, much stronger than any other Alpha's. Someone would have to be suicidal to challenge him, but no one ever does because we respect him so much."

That made sense now; the way the wolves all revolved around William and seemed to bide by his every command. The perfect machine that does exactly what you say.

I thought of the number of werewolves that he could potentially command and all of the destruction that could occur. I just hope all of this ends well.

. . .

In the midst of our waiting, there was a knock on the door. Vivian immediately opened the door. As the newest guest walked through the archway, I recognized who it was: the human leader that we tried to reason with earlier. Now he was wearing long, black coat with black slacks rather than pajamas, making the small amount of grey in his hair stand out even more. He seemed nervous from the way he carried himself. I would be too if I was the only human in the room. He was one of the only human representatives the humans had. They only chose one person to physically leave the sector to communicate with the other sectors because it was such a dangerous job. I guess he's the lucky guy that was chosen.

He took a seat in the middle of William and us. He kept his eyes on the wooden table. He only acknowledged our presence by sitting far away from us. To him we were still murderous vampires. He knew nothing about us.

"Luke!" Viktor's loud voice boomed throughout the room. The human, Luke, snapped his head up in surprise; mine did too. "So good to see you. Sorry it had to be such awful timing for you. You look absolutely exhausted." Viktor said with a sympathetic smile.

Viktor wore his usual dark grey suit and a blue tie. His dark hair was casually slicked back and not a hair was out of place. He looked so much like he did on Choosing Day, but I knew him in a completely different way now.

Luke mumbled, "I'm good," as Viktor patted him on the back and sat next to Cashile and me. He has a way of making people feel comfortable, but Luke was still intimidated by everyone.

Jaymes and a few other vampires I was familiar with joined us then. They started filling up the chairs as the selected Alphas came in.

"Nicole, Cashile, Allison, will you please wait outside?" William asked. I don't remember ever giving him my name, but somehow he knew it.

"We're part of this conversation just as much as you are," Cashile argued.

"But you are not leaders," William responded.

"But—"

"Cashile," Viktor said in a strict voice. He knew when he could be playful and when he should be serious; he was being serious now. "Wait outside."

"Fine," Cashile said as he, Nicole and I walked out of the meeting room. Large metal doors shut behind us with a loud thud. All we were allowed to do now, was wait.

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