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Music:

The Battle without honour or humanity – Tomoyasu Hotei (from Kill Bill #1., instrumental)

Stand my ground – Within Temptation (Dutch)

Bounce – Bon Jovi

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Chapter 15: Will & Adam – Attack

Both/ together

We were on our last part of our patrol. The whole pack has been on edge these last few weeks. It was hard to believe we were back where we started. Those royal vampire bastards threatening us again. A little longer, we could go on. How fitting to pass by the big field, again covered in snow. 'Hey!, Paul ordered, you're supposed to go home, not to the field!' We both sighed.

'It's just a little of track, we thought, we're not that tired.' And May said she'd come to do a bit of training.' A collective 'oh, right' passed through the minds of the other five 'youngest' members. Yeah, we were still considered rookies. And May had become our teacher and was also kind of a big sister. Our leaders wouldn't go that far, to them she was a friend and they respected her.

Our minds started to wander to the past year. So much had happened. We had to learn so much. Becoming a werewolf was exiting and scary at the same time. Oh, yeah, we were shapeshifters, not werewolves. May pointed that out once, she shocked us by describing a real werewolf to us. About two years after she became a vampire, she had spotted one at a distance.

Both had stared at each other, unmoving and then, after a second or two, they went their separate ways. The grin on her face after she pointed out another difference, their scent. She said it was real heavy, musk combined with the smell of burnt wood. Shapeshifters smelled much better she chided. And then she moved like lightning, ruffling our fur while initiating a chase.

Another thing we learned quick; not all vampires were bad. The others that phased before the seven of us, needed more time to come to terms with that. They had seen battle already. Our first memories of danger were of the field, the confrontation. Standing side by side with vampires and Bella protected us, though we didn't realise that until later.

And of course there was May, she's so different from 'the cold ones' in our legends. We were overwhelmed at first, by the things that didn't fit. Her behaviour and her scent. What to make of her. But then, she healed Emily. A miracle. We couldn't do anything else but accept her, welcome her. And we were eager to get to know her.

At the party she proved easy to talk to. The weeks after that we liked having her around more and more. She was all about fun and action. We didn't think about her being dangerous. Until we saw her hunt and take down a moose, ten times heavier than her. She snapped his neck like a twig. Still, we set that aside smoothly, it was to be expected. And we were capable of it too. She was a constant now, we couldn't really imagine her not being here.

A good thing she didn't need to sleep. She tried to spend time with everybody, that's around thirty people. She helped out with cooking and taking care of Billy. His health had improved with her weekly massages. Sometimes she did exercises with him, for his joints. Zack had witnessed her work, she was so gentle and caring. Still she was never satisfied with what she'd done. You could see it in her face. She wanted to get him out of that chair.

Always giving, never taking. She refused to accept gifts, even at her birthday. We had a karaoke party instead. Laughing a lot, because most of us were bad. But, everyone had to take the stage at least once.

The other big thing on our minds had been the baby. The newest pack member growing in Emily's belly. Sam thought about it every day, so it was on our minds too. The moment she started showing and he heard it's heartbeat the first time, he was smiling all day. After that we all visited her to listen for ourselves. She did so well, hardly suffered from morning sickness or anything. She tired easily, especially the last two months. We felt more protective over her and tried to help out whenever we were at their place. May came around too, to help with back pains. She knew if it was a boy or a girl, but wouldn't tell. Sam and Emily didn't want to know, so we couldn't know either. That started a betting poll, Jared and Paul put money on 'boy'.

This threat couldn't have come at a worse time. The baby was due any day now and Sam growled when he got the phone call. He hardly slept and started to carry his cell phone on a string around his neck. He even ran into the house naked when Emily had false labour pains. He didn't care how he looked, he just wanted to be there for her. Luckily the wait was over, three days ago Sophie Tala Uley was born.

Our new father had been surprised by the strength of a woman giving birth. His wife squeezed his hand so hard, she almost broke one of the little bones. Sue had laughed at the look on his face. They were delighted, though a girl was some cause for concern. Imprinting. That's why we weren't allowed to see her. The only ones without an imprint that did get to see her were Leah and Embry. Seth was family too, but Sam wouldn't take any chances.

He wasn't ready to share her with anybody else yet. Of course we understood and we didn't want to be bound to a baby either. So we had to make due with Sam's memories. He couldn't stop us seeing them. Though he tried to block the ones where she had her eyes open. That didn't take away the fact that she was beautiful and sweet. She hardly ever cried. We relaxed more now that worry was over, but not Sam. He had us on high alert, increasing patrols and stuff. 'Oh come on, Matt thought, they aren't coming to La Push, not with all of us here.' We'd grown stronger and taller, we were better trained. 'Shut up! Sam ordered, you don't know that, the seer can't tell for sure.' They're playing around with their knowledge of her blind spots.' We were silent after that and tried to focus better.

The wind picked up a little and swirled around while we walked along the edge of the field. It made it harder to smell things. We started to get a bad feeling, growing in the pit of our stomachs the farther we went. Our hackles were raised. Paul and Collin were watching with us. 'Be careful,' our big brother thought.

Suddenly, after walking another hundred yards, it was like someone pulled the plug. We couldn't hear the pack anymore, only each other. This wasn't good! Looking around, we listened hard for any sign of trouble. This was so strange, to be without that connection. We felt lost. What happened?

Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Four figures flashed by us, hitting us from different angles. Their vampire stink surrounded us. Now we could smell them, we were better prepared. We snapped at the males that tried to hit us again.

A female started laughing, we couldn't really tell where she was. "Ahw, she cooed, look at the little puppies, it's almost to easy." We growled in unison. "Sorry Santi, she continued, I wish I could make them fight each other, but their bond is to strong." I think they're twins." A giant vampire, the biggest one, scowled at her. "Chels, you know I don't like that nickname," he said. And then he gave some sort of signal. They all started attacking again. We tried to fend them off, spinning around with our backs together. But they were to fast and they knocked us in different directions, separating us.

Adam

The giant grabbed Will from the back and hoisted him up in the air. He had an evil grin on his face. "Do you think they'll feel each others pain?" he asked the others. They were keeping me from getting to my brother. 'Adam…, Will wheezed, brother, I'm scared.' The air was getting squeezed from his lungs as the giant tightened his hold. I felt every bit of it, but tried to block it. No! I had to stay strong. I did my best to get around them. 'Will, I thought, hang on, I'm coming!' An iron arm wrapped around Will's neck. His eyes showed terror. 'Farewel' was all I heard before everything changed.

A loud, mind-numbing roar erupted. Like we were surrounded by an army of tigers. My chest and then my body trembled, vibrated because of the sound. Infra-sound. A stupid fact flashed through my head, about tigers terrifying prey with it. I slumped down on the ground and tried to cover my ears with my paws. The roar was effecting the vampires too. The giant dropped Will to the ground. He gasped for air, feeling dizzy. His ribs were cracked, but the pain started to fade as they were healing. They were speaking, the vampires, but I couldn't hear them over the noise. Trying to determine the source of the roar we were looking around.

Than, everything changed again, violently. There was a loud, metallic tearing sound. We could hear it because the roaring had stopped all of a sudden. And then the voices in our head returned, we were reconnected with the pack. Like someone flipped a switch. They were all shouting at the same time, worried about us. 'Quiet!' Sam ordered. 'What happened? Are you two alright?' We showed him everything, from the moment we got disconnected. The moment that vampire used her gift. 'Wait, Will thought, we have to find out what just happened, because she isn't using her gift right now.' I got to my feet and noticed that all the vampires had gathered at one spot. Someone was there, and he or she wasn't one of them.

I moved around to get a better view. And before I saw her, the wind threw her sent in my face; May. That was good, because she was unrecognisable. Her eyes were wide open and pitch black. Her lips were pulled far back as she bared her teeth at them, the Volturi. Her muscles were tense, she was posed ready to strike. Behind her lay the headless corpse of the female vampire. She growled low as one the vampires started to scream at her. "You bitch! He screeched, you killed my mate." Chelsea…," he whined. He charged at her, but her foot shot out and kicked him twenty yards back into a tree. It cracked and fell to the ground, spraying wood and dirt around. The guy jumped to his feet to try again, but the giant stopped him.

Will

I couldn't believe what I was seeing through Adam's eyes. Was that May, our fun-loving, caring big sister? Right now, all I could see was an outraged vampire. I got up slowly, my body sore. Taking some slow, deep breaths, I heard my older brother in my head. 'Look at her canines, Collin exclaimed, have they grown?' She looks like a vampire from the movies.'

Checking with him, I admitted they looked a bit bigger than normal. She had fangs now. How? Vampire bodies couldn't change, right? But I couldn't linger on that long. Sam was telling us they were coming. He also ordered us to rip up that headless corpse some more, it wasn't allowed to get back up! I circled around the group of vampires, that seemed to forgotten about us for the moment. Adam did the same. While that happened, the giant had been talking. He was the one in charge.

"Afton, stop, he ordered, I want to know who we're dealing with." His crimson red eyes passed over May's body. He fancied her? Afton wanted to object, but shut his mouth when the giant put up his hand. "Who are you?" he asked in a soothing voice. May said nothing, she only growled, warning them not to get any closer. "Oh, come on, he added, such a fierce beauty must have a name." You are skilled, maybe you'd like to join us, I think I'd like to introduce you to Aro." He took a step forward in her direction. The others did the same, she was surrounded.

That's when we sank our teeth into the reeking corpse. We each took an arm. Her mate, Afton, saw us and moved towards us in a blur. He was essentially invisible. But we could smell him, so sickly sweet, like those awful scented candles, fake berries and figs. Ugh! We evaded him easily, while pulling.

May took advantage of the distraction. She jumped straight up, to go over their heads. But the giant's hand shot out and grabbed her upper right arm. He pulled her to him and grabbed her other arm too. She struggled, he held on tighter. A crunching sound revealed how tight. She hissed in pain. His hands were clamped over the half-sleeves of her cashmere sweater. 'This doesn't look good, I thought, we have to help her.

'We have to look out for ourselves first,' Adam replied as the others turned towards us. "That's right! Afton shouted, keep her contained." We'll deal with these mutts first." May turned her head towards us, her eyes a little lighter. "Please, she pleaded, leave them alone, I'll do whatever you want." The giant lowered his head to her neck. He stopped just before he touched her skin with his lips.

"Hmm, he said, interesting offer, you care for them." The others stopped moving, expecting new orders. Their eyes flashed between him and us. "Are you serious Santiago?!" Afton shouted. "She has no choice and she deserves to die for what she did to Chelsea." Santiago scowled at him and they started a little discussion about their mission and Caius.

Both/ together

Sam was in our heads instantly, ordering us to take our chance. They were distracted. With one last move, the arms came off. We threw them away as far as we could. The legs were next. Will held on to one as Adam pulled. Muscles and skin moving over those damaged ribs was painful.

Of course Afton noticed us, came charging and managed to hit us once. Meanwhile May started squirming again. Santiago had loosened his grip and as soon as his fingers slipped past the sleeve and touched her skin, things moved fast. May was like a lightning bolt. She kicked his shin hard, it broke in half. He screamed and let one of her arms go. Then she sunk her teeth in the hand still holding her.

She was free as he now hissed in pain. Now the attention of the remaining vampires split between us and May. We started fighting with Afton and a redheaded male. The other two went after May, who managed to climb up a tree. How she did that with her crushed arms. She seemed to be using her legs more, to support herself. It was chaos.

Santiago was almost done, repairing his leg, as reinforcement arrived. Jared and Paul helped us with our opponents. Sam went to help May. But they weren't the only ones. Emmet and Jasper busted in too. Our tall ally took down Santiago eagerly. A smug grin on his face as he ripped his head off. Jasper helped Sam dispose of the two gunning for May. Then we searched for all the pieces to burn them on a pile. Our vampire friends lit them up quickly.

Our hearts were pounding and we were panting heavily. It took us a while to realize it was over. The voices of our pack-mates praising us with excitement through the link helped. May walked over to us, her face a mix of worry and relief. "How are you two feeling? She asked. "Let me check those ribs, Will." Gently she probed both his sides. She sighed as she finished. "Good, she said, none of them are sticking out, or healing wrong."

Her attention was fully focused on us, but what about her own injuries? And her fangs, what about them? We acted as one, touching her cheek and right arm with our noses, while whining softly. She gave us a small smile without showing her teeth. Her eyes were golden again and full of emotion. If she could cry, tears would be forming now.

"You were hurt, Jasper stated, let me check." Slowly he moved up her right sleeve to take a look. Small lines were visible, wrapped around her bicep. They were disappearing while we watched. We pointed out the other arm too, it was in a similar shape. Then he wanted to check her mouth, but she stopped him. "No, she said firmly, I'm not hurt there, it's something else." Nothing to worry about," she added before facing us. "They'll be back to normal this afternoon."

The look on her face, she didn't want them to know. Understandable, they'd raise so many questions and start an examination. She didn't want that. But there was more, her last sentence, this happened before. How else would she know they would return to normal? And what caused them to grow in the first place? Could she control it?

Jasper and Emmet gave her a look full of questions. "Please don't ask," she pleaded with them. They stared at her a little longer before giving in with a sigh and a grunt. She wasn't budging. Sam moved in between us and May, capturing her eyes in trying to talk to her. 'Thank you', were the first words in his mind. And we copied him quick, while sitting down. 'Without you, we would've been dead,' we thought. 'You risked everything for us.' Words aren't enough.' It hit us then, we could've lost her. Santiago was in a position to rip her head off. That's probably why her Cullen-brothers were here. Alice must have had a bad vision.

We reacted immediately, getting up, walking over to her and giving her a wolf-hug. Our heads on her shoulders, gently leaning our cheeks against hers. She giggled a little as our fur tickled. "It's alright boys, she whispered, we're okay, that's all that matters."

Looking at Sam, she gave a small nod. He understood it as a sign, they'd talk some more later. It was time to go home, the others were waiting for us. The same was true for May and her brothers. Everybody wanted to see for themselves we were safe. 'Let's go, Sam said firmly, and stay sharp.' We have to be sure there aren't any more out there.' The rest of the pack reacted to that too, they continued patrolling.

Besides that slight worry, Sam really wanted to be with Emily and Sophie. May joined Emmet and Jasper and waved to us. "I'll see you all before the sun sets," she said. "Take it easy, rest and celebrate." Her eyes added a silent message, one that could only be interpreted as 'I love you all'. We gave her the same look back. Then we moved in silence. No one commented on that, not even Paul. This whole event wasn't something to joke about.

It made you think about life. What's important. Family, the pack. Jared's mind went back to the newborn fight. The first time they fought along side the Cullens. Paul followed, he thought about Jake getting hurt and Carlisle's help. Sam then remembered the imprint situation with Nessie. Those memories, though they felt real to us, they weren't ours. When we phased, the Cullens were strangers to us really. We still didn't interact much with them.

Except with Bella, Nessie and most of all May. Those three connected both groups, vampires and werewolves. Oh, pardon, shapeshifters, not werewolves. We couldn't help but laugh a little at that constant slip up. Yeah, that felt good, something light, to break this whirlwind of emotions. Because we felt so many things right now. Relief, happiness, love, soreness, tired and shocked. But also we felt stronger and proud. We survived battle, barely and with help, but still, we won. The Volturi lost six members, and one of them had a powerful gift. When would they notice this? And could this come back to bite us? Only time would tell.

Back home we all came together. There was no sign of more enemies. We phased back and got pulled into a group hug immediately. Sam had to worn them to go easy on us, those ribs were still healing. Then, we were all sent home to sleep. And ordered to be back at 3 p.m. for a meeting. We felt okay, but as soon as we snuck into our house and entered the kitchen, we were ready to crash. Quickly we stuffed our faces with some leftover food we found. We didn't bother with our clothes or a shower. As soon as our heads hit the pillow, we were out like a light. A good thing it was Saturday, mom and dad pretty much let us do what we wanted. Sleeping late was nothing new.

When we arrived at Sam's place, we saw May there too. Sitting down on some logs outside, all eyes turned to her. She looked around and acknowledged all of us. Joining a pack-meeting was new to her. Sam spoke first, he asked May how she was doing and thanked her for helping us this morning. She told us she was fine and needed no thanks, she only did what anyone would do for friends, for family. Then she smiled and showed us her teeth were back to normal. Of course that was the next subject. "Tell us, Sam said, why that happened, and how?" How come your canines grew?" Vampire bodies can't change, right?"

May sighed and started her story. "You remember my Russian family?" We all nodded. "And you remember one of them died?" "Boots, Matt confirmed, he was killed." May closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. This was a painful memory. "When I discovered him, she said softly, that's the only other time it happened." The first time." She paused to calm herself. "I'm not sure why, but I was overcome with emotions."

"I didn't know they had changed, until Alexander, the alpha, reacted defensively to me smiling." That's when I checked my reflection." She sighed deeply, before finishing. "I knew they couldn't stay this way, she said with a small, insincere grin, for the wolves and because I'd stand out to much among humans." I secluded myself for twelve hours. Focussing completely on my canines, feeling every cell, I meditated hard…, and got them back to normal." This time though, it didn't take that long, obviously."

Minutes after that it was quiet. Nobody said anything as they were processing this. We had known from the start she was different, but this… Sam frowned, he was concerned. "What does this mean?" he asked. "You can't change them at will?" May nodded; "that's right, and I wouldn't want to." That relaxed him. But there were more questions to be asked. Paul was up next. "So, what happened this time, do you think?" He cocked an eyebrow as he looked at her. May stopped breathing and looked at us and then at the others, youngest to oldest. Her eyes said it all, we as twins, read her face well. It brought a lump to our throat. We spoke as one, finishing each others sentences. "You thought you were losing us, we stated, you care about us as much as you cared about Boots." She just blinked slow to confirm that.

And quickly she then asked us never to think about those teeth again. We agreed.

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Extra note:

The baby's name: Sophie (just thought it was nice) Tala (means 'wolf' in some native American language) (potential nickname: Sola)

She was born the 23rd of January 2008.

Another song: Take your time girl – Niels Geuzebroek (Dutch)

This song was made while listening to the heartbeat of a baby girl on a sonogram. (Check YouTube, it's really lovely and fits here perfectly) (you can hear it in the background)

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