Chapter 19
Me: Hey guys :)
Fang: Ooooo an emoticon
Me: I know, you're probably all thinking 'isn't it a little early for an update?' and the answer is, yes it is
Fang: did you just ignore me!
Me: But anyway, I was just updating for a few reasons, one being that it turns out that this fic will end up as just 20 chapters after all, two being that once this fic is done i will be taking a pretty long fanfiction hiatus
Fang: you did it again! you've been doing this for two days, come on, talk to me
Me: SHUSH FANG
Fang: nailed it
Me: *facepalm* later Fang, later. Back on topic, i want to focus on finishing my own novel by the end of the year, which would be easy as pie, if it weren't for school. I decided i cant juggle all three so i would have to drop FF for a little while
Fang: Can i just say somethi-
Me: NOPE :D so thats the main reasons for the update, that and I was a little bored...
Fang: OMG I'm out!
Me: Fine, im sorry Fang! You weren't exactly being helpful when i was in a very important phone call yesterday
Fang: THATs why you're ignoring me!?
Me: No, i just thought it would annoy you, but your excuse makes me sound like a better friend so... let's go with that
Fang: ... you're a cruel person...
Me: Thanks, enjoy guys
So yes, I did lose to Anek but I at least found out that my skin can heal itself within seconds of being sliced.
"You asked for it half breed, so no squealing to your mother on me." Anek sounded innocent in his demand but I could hear the underlying joke related to why the half breed race hates him so much. I knew I barely had any chance of winning that fight but I was a sore loser, something I must have picked up from father. I let myself brood over my losses for a while, taking up some time that I would otherwise be sitting bored for before I thought I had better go follow up my conversation with Eleazar. I had a quick look for Christopher on my way through the house and didn't spot him so I just went straight to Eleazar, who I found in the kitchen.
"Chris, how nice to see you" Eleazar smiled when he caught sight of me. I leant on the door frame and crossed my arms.
"Care to elaborate on our earlier conversation?" I shoved underlying demand in with my words, wanting an answer as to what possible other abilities my brother and I could possibly possess.
"Oh fine, I'll put you out of your misery. You don't have 'other' abilities as such, just extensions you haven't learnt to use yet" Eleazar began, an amused smile on his face, "you, as you know, can enhance the senses, opposite to your father, but you can also enhance other things within the body; namely speed, strength and intelligence. As for your brother, so far all he can do is project an anti-shield, almost opposite to your mother, but he can also project a physical shield, few people have it and it is fairly coveted." I stood in the door way, mouth agape, not really believing anything that came from his mouth.
"You're messing with me." I tried to deny what I heard, not sure if it was beneficial or harmful for my brother and I.
"Nope, you're a bodily enhancer and your brother is an anti-shield and physical shield. I'm sure you can imagine what you can do when you combine those abilities." Eleazar walked out of the kitchen and left me gaping in the doorway. I regained control of my jaw and snapped it shut before continuing my search for my brother. I ran into something solid in the hallway and stepped back to see it was Mavric.
"Hey there, just one of the men I wanted to see" Mav went into the living room and took a spot on the couch, it took me a second to realise Chris was sitting on one of the other couches.
"I have been looking for you everywhere, have you been here the whole time?" I sat next to Chris, ignoring Mavric for the moment.
"I was in the attic with Finley; he's one of the Chicago vampires, he's interesting, if a little shy." We turned back to Mavric, a silent question in the air.
"I worked out how your father wanted me to drag him back from the edge he's leaning on." Chris and I didn't say anything, we just silently urged him to continue, "He wants me to use you two, the only thing that has kept him from going to that edge before was you two and your mother, he has your mother now and probably has no idea who she is and he probably won't know who you are on sight, but," Mavric grabbed my right wrist and Chris' left wrist and flipped them over. "I doubt he won't recognise these." I didn't fully understand what Mavric was talking about, clearly he had train of thought behind his words somewhere but I just couldn't see it.
"Can you repeat that, slowly?" Chris smiled a little and Mavric laughed under his breath.
"Your father is as mentally solid as he is physically, there is only one way to force him into the state that Edward and the girls need him in; to make him forget his emotional connections. The strongest emotion there is, and this will sound so very cheesy, is love. Who does your father love the most? You two and your mother. It makes sense that Edward would brainwash him to forget you, which leaves him with no purpose, so they gave him one. Anyway, Edward would have removed your names, your appearances and your connection to him from his memory, but, he can only remove what he knows exists; and he doesn't know about your birthmarks. The only way to trigger the dormant memories is to show him the marks; they aren't exactly easy to forget about and they're very unique. Does that make more sense now?" Chris and I nodded in comprehension, it was still confusing but he at least sounded like he was speaking English this time.
"So, your plan, is our wrists?" Mavric nodded. "Okay then, you realise we're going to have to wander with you into the thick of the fight? I also hope you realise that, though we apparently heal cuts fast, we can still be killed easier than you can. Mother would murder you in cold blood if she knew what you were doing." Chris pointed out. Mavric cringed silently and nodded,
"She'll get over it when she finds you both alive and well with your father at her side as his old self." Mavric said his goodbyes and went off to hunt, I hadn't realised how harsh the burning in my throat was until he mentioned hunting. I mentioned it to Chris when Mav left and we made plans to hunt later, normally we wouldn't hunt together but no matter how few bodies there are to feed from we never compete for them, we usually share them anyway; it's probably our human half showing through. I went back into the living room and found the chessboard set up on the coffee table with Jasper playing himself.
"I don't think the world is ready for the day Jasper plays chess with himself" Jasper's head snapped up at the sound of my voice and he smiled, well, kind of; the corner of his mouth turned up a little.
"Hey Chris, did you want to watch?" I nodded and took a seat on the other side of the board. It was hard to follow at the speed Jasper was playing and it made me wish Chris was here so I could enhance my eyes and see the game properly. I managed to follow some of his moves and picked up some knowledge about how Jasper played; he tricked his opponent, though I'm not sure how he is tricking himself, into thinking he's after one piece, then sets up a trap for another and takes out the big pieces then taking the king is a breeze. After about 10 minutes Jasper played four games and was almost finished with his fifth.
"How do you do that?" Jasper was a little caught off guard and nearly surrendered his white king.
"Do what exactly?" He resumed to swivelling the board and making moves without bothering to look up at me.
"Defeat yourself with so many different strategies. You're playing yourself and you're not ruining either strategy running through your head. It just sounds impossible." I could see that little smile return to Jasper's face and he wrapped up his fifth game.
"It's difficult, especially since vampires rarely forget anything, but you have to try and ignore what the other side of the board is doing, and just think about one side at a time. It takes a little practice but eventually you can play a non-bias game with yourself. It's a great time waster." I nodded slowly, barely understanding. Jasper finished resetting the board and stood up. "I have to go find Carlisle so you can give it a go if you want." Jasper left the room in a flash and I looked at the chess board.
"I'd probably drive myself mad" I spoke to myself and left the room to find Chris so we could hunt. I found Chris in the kitchen with Esme.
"We hunting or what brother?" Chris asked when I sat next to him at the kitchen bench.
"That's what I came to get you for." I looked up to Esme, asking permission to go and hunt.
"You can't hunt together; you'll tear one another apart." I rolled my eyes at her lack of knowledge about our race.
"We're half human Esme, that means we can cooperate on things such as hunts, we've done it before; we'll be fine" Esme looked unsure but she trusted our judgement and eventually let us go. We made it as far as the back door when Carlisle suddenly appeared in front of us.
"You had better get your hunt done quickly" I raised an eyebrow at Carlisle, wondering why we couldn't just take our sweet time. "We leave at nightfall" I turned to Chris and he turned to face me; we were attacking tonight.
Me: well im off now
Fang: im going to cry now
Me: go cry in the corner then, there might not be an update for a while, mean, i know, but I'll try my best
Fang: *sobs in corner*
Me: You guys enjoy your holidays and I'll go console the emotional bird boy, Bye guys!
~Vamp