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Chapter 77

Natural Enemies

Jake

"It's beautiful! ... Thank you for the song ..." I looked past my star and added a 'Dad' in thoughts. Even if I felt that way, I never said it. Only so that it did not slip out at the wrong moment. In front of any people who should not find out about my parents.

Dad had brought Becky with him after driving David to the airport. He sat in an armchair with Mom, and they had listened intently to Becky's piano playing.

"And you play it fantastic," I added, breathing a kiss on Becky's shoulder.

I sat sideways next to her at the grand piano and had followed her hands as if spellbound.

How they literally flew over the keys. Accompanied by the cheerful sound of a lovingly playful melody that Edward had composed for us. (Yiruma - If I Could See You Again - Piano)

"It wasn't just me, after all. You guys inspired me, and Becky was a big part of it, too!" noted Edward, downplaying.

"Do you still play our song?" mom asked him with a gaze he just couldn't refuse anything.

Could he even do that?

"Rarely!" he replied to my thoughts.

"Which one?" he asked Mom.

"Both of them!" she demanded.

They kissed and Becky and I made room in front of the grand piano.

Mom and Dad sat down together on the little bench and Mom just couldn't take her eyes off him.

It was nice to see my parents like that. Simply to say they were in love and happy was not wrong, but somehow also not quite right. Loving, harmonious, intimate. Those were more appropriate terms. Most of all, I was happy to see my mom like this. She had been alone for so long. Even if she had never let on that there was something missing in her life, and besides, she was not unhappy, she now had a new life. This life began when Edward came through our front door one Wednesday. Nothing in this world seemed to be able to cloud their happiness. At the same time, the two of them did not hold back a bit with their feelings for each other. Just as little as Becky and me. For Leah I felt sorry sometimes for it. Sometimes, when I noticed that Leah was missing. Like now.

It was Saturday evening and none of us had anything planned.

Admittedly, after yesterday's victory celebration, we didn't feel like going out today. We just wanted to spend a cozy and, above all, quiet evening together. When things got a bit dreamier here after the - hopefully only first - dinner, Leah fled to Em again. They would have a diabolical fight on the Xbox. But later we would all inaugurate the movie room at the main house together. It had never been used before.

Dad had just finished the first song and Mom, of course, had a tear in her eye when the front door opened.

Leah.

She asked me if we were going to run before the movie. I said yes. For Leah's sake.

On evenings like this, when she felt superfluous, I felt guilty and wanted to devote time to her as a brother.

We went into the back room and undressed. Our clothes we took between our teeth.

The others would all go over in a moment, popcorn, chips, drinks and prepare the movie equipment. There we wanted to leave our clothes already over there.

Rose and Em ran with us.

We didn't run around the city; we ran across the wilderness.

It felt really good. It was no comparison to this morning's run. That had been more like torture. Both because we still clearly felt the alcohol in our blood, and also because we had run on two legs.

Emmett just couldn't let it go. A little wrestling match was the least he had to do with us as wolves.

Even if Jazz accompanied us. They wanted to train with us a little. So far, we had not encountered any vampires - except for our family - but we should be prepared for them. There was a reason, according to Jasper, why we had never come across any here. Most vampires were nomads and roamed the land. They chose areas with relatively high population densities because disappearances of people there were less noticeable and tracked. Portland was the last major city on this side of the U.S., with considerably smaller towns and a lot of territory behind it. So, most vampires from Boston would probably head to Montreal and the Great Lakes.

Our first practice had taken place on Sunday, right after Seth, Billy, and Emily left.

Seth had talked about the newborn-army against which our father had lost his life. He said that they were actually still inexperienced as a pack and had only met Laurent before, whom Seth himself had also missed. They had all gained actual fighting know-how the hard way. At least those who had survived.

Immediately, a discussion broke out about whether Jazz should train with us. Mom and Dad versus everyone else. Our opinion was not asked for.

"I have already lost my son on the battlefield! Therefore, I will agree to any measures that can save my grandchildren from this fate!" Billy finally ended the vocal debate.

With that, our parents conceded defeat.

Billy still refused to call Edward's family a family, but training among us was better, in his opinion, than meeting vampires somewhere inexperienced while one was still inexperienced oneself.

So, everyone trained with us because everyone had their own style.

With Emmett, I thought of a bear. Big and strong. His attempts to catch one of us were very direct. But we were too light on our feet for him and pranced around him. Hard to believe with our massive bodies.

With Rosalie we already had to make a little more effort. She was as nimble as a snake and attacked us as fast as an arrow and unpredictably. Her attacks always came as if out of nowhere.

With Alice, Leah and I had difficulty. She was so small and petite. We were afraid we would break her. She proved us wrong. So small and petite, yet so fast and agile. We only managed her in pairs, but then without any problems.

Jazz. He was a real challenge. He fought very deliberately and with foresight. It was as if he anticipated our attacks and then specifically countered them. Against him, we really only were able to fight in a double pack and it required the merging of our thoughts. We had also learned to control that thanks to him. That our spirit allied - as in the fight against Seth - was not a normal state. We had to unite consciously. In a real fight, we didn't have time to listen to the other's strategic concerns first and then consider something appropriate. With us, there was no Alpha wolf whose orders we simply had to follow. Only with this additional gift did we stand a chance against Jazz.

Esmé surprised us. She was cautious and prudent. One could also call it hesitant. But that was deceptive. It was as if she briefly turned off her meekness in fight mode. She held her own against us excellently, but had to admit defeat in the end, however.

Carlisle was also persistent. His blows were precise and powerful. He rarely missed.

Last but not least ... Dad. Like a cat of prey. In graceful movements he hid well-aimed blows. And every single one of them hit. But there were not many. Fighting against our father did not please any of us. So, he stayed out of our general training and stayed in the house with Mom. I chuckled at the thought that they would probably be pacing nervously together until we got back.

So far, we had trained three times.

Directly on Sunday, Monday evening, and Thursday was the last time so far. Always on the vampires' property. We were undoubtedly getting better, even if the vampires were constantly changing their own tactics. So, one could definitely call the training a success. Except for one small thing.

Leah had missed her target when jumping on Jazz - distracted by Em -, and got a blow to the back from both of them. Not particularly hard. One did not want to hurt us seriously, but only to make clear that we would have been hit. But she landed clumsily on a stone, which immediately slipped away, tripping over her own legs. She broke her paw ... err ... hand ... I meant, of course. With that, Thursday night's training was over.

Jazz quickly took Leah to Carlisle to have him look at the hand. A compound fracture of the joint that he had to fix.

Ouch! That hurt me just listening to it.

Carlisle was sitting right behind Leah, who was wrapped in a towel like me, and she held her hand in front of her chest while he looked over her shoulder. We were both bruised all over our bodies. Harmless abrasions, scratches and bruises, which we did not mind. Didn't even make us bat an eye. Shit happens. The wolfish burning didn't take long for it to heal, and we hardly noticed it. Still, the cold of a vampire was very pleasant with this internal burning.

Jasper held out the syringe to me for Leah that would take away her pain.

Startled, I looked at him.

Since when was I a doctor?

"You both should be able to do it yourselves in case there's no paramedic around!" he said seriously.

Carlisle nodded.

I swallowed and pulled the cap off the needle with trembling fingers.

"You have to gently push the air out first," Carlisle explained.

I did it. It was not difficult. I had already seen it done on television. Then I carefully considered where to place the syringe, where it would hurt Leah the least, where it would have the greatest possible effect.

"Come on!" Leah nagged at me, who had tears in her eyes from the pain.

I did it without giving it any further thought. I threw the syringe into a trash can, symbolically burying even the mere consideration of studying medicine.

Being a doctor was definitely not going to be my job!

Carlisle said he couldn't wait for the serum to take effect, but needed to set the bones immediately.

Leah and I gazed at him together, aghast.

With me it had been only two small bones and I had already hardly endured that.

While Carlisle set the bones, Leah held onto Jazz with her non injured hand. Finally, when the painkiller finally took effect, Jazz knelt on the floor next to the stretcher, cursing, and held his hand, which was barely recognizable as such.

And then Dad came.

We hadn't see him yet, but we heard Em. He was babbling something about how we were fine, it wasn't intentional, it was an accident ... and then through the open door we saw Emmett flying elegantly down the hall.

"Uh oh ..." Jasper quietly stated next to us, forgetting about his deformed hand.

"Scared?" I asked with a smile.

Jazz nodded wordlessly.

"Can't you take it yourself?" I continued to chuckle.

He shook his head. Again wordlessly.

"Leah!"

Edward showed up at once with us. He sat down with Leah, put an arm around her, and looked himself at the wrist that Carlisle had been carefully holding.

"I'm fine!" said Leah immediately. "Just acted a little stupid."

Carlisle and Dad exchanged a silent look.

Presumably, he showed him his diagnosis and how Leah had been treated.

Meanwhile, Jazz wanted to inconspicuously disappear. Silently and slowly, making no frantic movements, he edged his way to the door. When he tried to scurry past Edward in lightning speed, Dad's fingers were already around his wrist.

Dad gave Leah another gentle kiss on the temple and rose in Jazz's direction.

Since Jazz had no chance to escape, Dad let him go. His eyes sparkled with anger.

If he looked at me like that, I think I'd want to run away, too.

"My daughter is hurt because you trained with her!" said Edward loud and clear.

We'll skip the angry quiver in his voice.

"Where's Mom?" I asked.

I wanted to give Jazz a chance. After all, Leah had tripped over her own feet.

"At home and already asleep!" he replied equanimously, but continued to look at Jazz mischievously.

The latter - arms raised defensively - tried to back away and explain, but Edward kept at him.

Well. Jazz flew through the hallway just the same.

But today, Saturday evening, our scuffles turned out to be quite manageable.

Since running was really good for us, we were relatively far away.

I pushed Rose to the ground and Leah lay across Emmett. I licked Rosie once across the face.

She hated that, which is only why I did it in the first place.

She squirmed under me.

But since she didn't want to hurt me, her resistance was limited.

All of a sudden something grabbed me and threw me brutally against a tree. Leah flew after and additionally landed on me.

Emmett's laughter died and a soft crack echoed inside me.

Shit!

Quickly, Leah and I jumped back to our feet and looked around.

Four vampires stood with Em and Rose. Two men, two women. The women held out a hand each to Rose and Em to help them up from the ground. The men stood between us and them.

"Spirit warriors!" one of them muttered, tensing his muscles.

While Leah and I exchanged a brief confused gaze with Em and Rose, the fellows were already charging toward us.

He knew our kind? From where?

I didn't get to think about it.

Leah and I each jumped off to different sides. In the middle of the jump, I froze and hit the ground hard.

I felt my body - down to every damn hair on my fur I felt the impact, but I had absolutely no control. I just lay there. Now what was that for a fucking crap? The mental connection between Leah and me was still working, insofar I realized that only I was affected, while Leah noticed my inability to move.

Leah looked around and seemed to have found the reason for it.

The blonde woman fixed me with her eyes.

Emmett immediately stood in front of me as one of the strangers approached me.

Rose was already at Leah's side.

But they could all fucking move.

"Hey, we don't want any trouble," Em raised his hands defensively.

The stranger paused. He looked briefly at the woman and my body was mine again.

I stood up, shook myself for a moment.

Everything was working again.

"What do you have to do with these beasts?" the other lady asked irritably.

"What's it to you!" returned Rosie venomously.

The guy facing away from me walked toward Rose, as I saw through Leah's eyes, with a sly gaze.

Leah demonstratively scurried in front of Rose, built herself up to her full height protectively, and growled warningly.

"They're bigger!" the blonde said grumpily, and already Leah was lying like a well-behaved mutt at Rosie's feet, who looked down at her, startled.

We understood it. A gift! The blonde could take control away from us, freeze our movements! But only one of us at a time? And was it only immobilization or could she control us with it also according to her wishes?

"What you have to do with these monsters?" one shouted again. This time the one that stood in front of Emmett and me.

Em seemed to exchange a gaze with Rose and was very tense.

What was he supposed to say? That we were his siblings? Niece and nephew? Part of his family? Would a bloodsucker even approximately believe that?

I walked the short distance to Emmett and sat at his side.

A bit crouched down so as not to appear aggressive.

Emmett put a hand on my head scratching, as did Rosie with Leah, which the strangers around us took note of with a disbelieving gaze.

"How do you know of such creatures?" asked Emmett calmly. "They are not a danger!"

"How naive are you?" one of the women sneered. "They're monsters! Kill any of us who come across them. Hunt us down."

"Where have you encountered such wolves?" asked Rosalie.

"Doesn't matter!" the guy in front of her pointed out condescendingly.

It does matter, I thought angrily. For us. They had been talking in the plural, which suggested that this group had not come across Seth. Or had they run into the pack before, when it was still a pack?

"They're dead!" the fellow in front of Em interjected.

I had the inner urge to howl out, but Emmett's hand clawed warningly at my fur.

"These are different!" continued Em calmly. "They will let you go unharmed if you retreat from this area."

"As if those two beasts could stop us," the blonde sneered, earning approving laughter from her companions.

They were making fun of us?

"We're not going to let two random mutts stop us from hunting!" the other woman taunted us.

My teeth bared a little.

Hunting human beings! That's what we were here for! To prevent exactly that. Let them make fun of us if they wanted. Leah and I could not ignore the fact that they fed on human blood. We wanted to kill them. That was our task!

"Hunt somewhere else!" rose Rose, glaring very angry at the guy in front of her.

She looked like an avenging angel. Beautiful, but determined to do anything.

"What was that?" the type asked spitefully, grabbing Rosie by the neck.

No one laid a hand on our family!

Emmett opened the fight by dashing toward him with lightning speed to rush to his wife's aid, but immediately crumpled in front of him.

At the same time, Leah was free again. She shook herself briefly - as I did earlier - and bit his arm so that Rose was released.

Emmett flew through the forest with a whopping slap across the face, while Rose was already wrestling with her counterpart.

The dark-haired woman came toward me, confident of victory - the guy who had slapped Em was striding toward Leah.

So, the time had come. Our first fight against bloodthirsty vampires. I was already a little nervous, as was my sister. But that was the only reason we existed. And we were full of energy. The urge to prove ourselves once and for all. To prove that we were not young pups to be watched over. We were born to stand against the 'Cold Ones' and wipe them out.

Leah and I looked at each other across the distance, closed our eyes for a split second, and heard an inner bright chime.

We opened our eyes as one wolf, in two bodies. Our thoughts were united!

We reacted simultaneously to the bloodsuckers that were coming towards us. Our muscles tensed, I bared my teeth, we growled menacingly and strode towards our opponents. Another two meters separated us from them. We stood still. The vampires rushed at us, and we casually jumped over them both.

We wanted the blonde!

Still in the air, I noticed how I lost control of my body again.

The dark-haired woman caught me and threw me toward the man who was trying to take care of Leah. The same happened to Leah, only about a second later and about a second before she would have reached the talented woman. I grazed something with my paws before I got a punch in the side. While the other guy had been paying attention to Leah, he kept Rose out of sight and didn't see the blow to his neck coming. But he turned away too quickly so that Rose could inflict serious damage on him. Just a few scratches.

Em finally reappeared with us and stormed into the action.

I had no time to bother about something as trivial as fear. Everything went much too fast for that and with such a deafening crash that crushed any unimportant thoughts. Again and again we attacked, dodged, took blows, but also distributed some.

The blonde surveyed the entire situation. It was maddening and dragged on for a seemingly endless amount of time! Basically, we fought four against only three. Because the blonde was solely busy freezing the most dangerous attack from us and herself just dodging. We just couldn't get hold of her, but were already banged up hard ourselves. Rosie's pretty face was covered with scratches, as was probably also the rest of her graceful body, and a few fingers had to be lying around here somewhere. Leah's hind leg on the right side was shattered and blood was running in streams down her side. Em's legs were broken, and one arm unhealthily twisted. And I myself was also hobbling and had deep cracks in my chest, where the black-haired woman had wanted to slit me open with her long fingernails to rip out my heart.

However, our opponents did not look any better.

With the exception of Blondie!

I had been able to bite off at least part of a hand from the second woman, moreover Rose had one vigorously over her head. One of the men had a hole from Emmett in his chest and Leah spat another foot on the ground, the bones nicely pulverized into dust. The other just straightened his head, which Rose unfortunately had not been able to tear completely from his body. He looked funny, lying on the ground with a broken hip and therefore twisted. And Blondie was missing a damn fingernail! Nothing more. I had only caught it because her companion had accidentally thrown me in the direction she was fleeing just now.

While the vampires, however, visibly grew together again and again, at least what they were not missing for body parts, Leah and my strength was slowly waning.

Our healing did not work in wolf form. To be more precise, it was already working. The burning was there and tormented us, but it did not heal anything. We moved too fast and too much as wolves most of the time for anything to have a chance to really regenerate or mend back together.

So, we stood there for a moment. They on one side, we on the other.

It looked bad for us. Leah and I would get weaker with every attack and Rose and Em could not stand alone against this well-rehearsed group. We needed help! Urgently!

"We can't do this alone!" whispered Emmett so softly that I barely understood.

I stood behind Emmett as I ventured a new jump. At the same time as Leah and Rose. Each of us on a different one. We bought Em some time. He wanted to call home because the skirmish was standing less and less in our favor the weaker Leah and I got. We persevered because we damn well had to. We ignored the excruciating pain of the wounds and the burning, even though every movement, no matter how small, tortured us.

Again a few minutes passed, and we wolves could hardly keep on our feet.

In my chest it was glowing. In an inattentive moment, I sank my fangs into a guy's elbow, immediately froze, and was flung far away from the action. Cold arms caught me. Involuntarily, I snapped with my muzzle in all directions, but far too many hands tried to restrain me.

"Jake!" someone said urgently, and I finally realized whose arms had stopped my flight.

Carlisle.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

Carlisle raised a hand, and it was dripping with blood. My blood. But I was already standing on my feet again. I shook myself once, yelped from the fire in my chest, and dashed off again, where it was possible to do so limping. My pelvis had taken a rough hit, whereby my hip joint was no longer in the right place.

"You stay here!" Edward put himself in my way.

His face a mask of horror. His body in the posture of determination. Fear stood in his eyes.

Not for his life. About mine. The fear that he might not bring me and Leah home.

'Forget it!' Leah and I thought in one thought, and I continued on my way.

'I can't abandon my sister!'

Mentally, we enlightened Dad about Blondie. If Blondie was out of the way, everything else would be a breeze.

But the war hardly got easier.

Jazz, Carlisle, and Dad's plan to sneak up from behind Blondie had failed.

Almost every, the congealment changed between us, and Blondie now switched from one to the other far more briskly, which nevertheless gave the opponents enough time to react to us.

Leah and I planned to separate the group from each other. Such a tactic had not been feasible before, but now - with three more vampires on our side - it shouldn't be a problem.

Dad nodded at us.

After all, the others didn't get our plan.

We picked out the taller man who had just slapped me.

To more he had not come, before I still caught his fingers with the muzzle.

Leah rushed at him, hooked right in front of him before he could grab her, so Edward then gave him a strong kick. He slid across the forest ground, but had still managed to pull Edward along with him.

The mutual blows were so fast that I could hardly see them. That could well be due to my current physical condition. It really wasn't the best. Stone on stone. It was a resounding crash.

Leah and I stood there helplessly.

She, too, could no longer tell the brawlers apart.

However, Dad's gift generally gave him an advantage. He could dodge pretty much any attack, but that didn't break the other's concentration and didn't make his blows stop or weaken. If Edward was hit, then it was an intense massacring blow, which he could oppose nothing. But there came no solidification! It was the only thing we could do to help our father, if we were already unable to intervene ourselves. We built ourselves up between Dad and Blondie so that it would stay that way. We weren't too far away from her.

Then I saw Edward stagger back after I heard - once again - the splintering of stony bones. Quick as an arrow, the guy stood by Dad, grabbed him, and was about to deliver a killing blow to the neck.

His triumphant hesitation was my opportunity.

I jumped in between in a panic, pulled the guy with me and we rolled wrestling over the ground. I didn't do enough damage with my muzzle, mostly missed him by a hair's breadth, my paws were no longer powerful enough, but his hands clawed into the deep scratches on my torso.

Leah joined us, the three of us rolled a bit more, and she sank her canines into the vampire's shoulder. My muzzle targeted parallel at the other side, and he was destroyed.

We picked ourselves up and quickly ran back to the others.

Blondie saw us, how we rushed towards her.

One by one we froze, but there was no one free to do anything about us. Their remaining two companions were hogged by Carlisle and Emmett and by Jazz and Rose. So, she could only try to avoid us and kept freezing someone. It became haphazard. Someone whom she caught with a gaze. But Dad was just too fast for her. It didn't take long for him to reach her - despite the constant interruption of Blondie's gift - and he threw her backwards to the ground. Leah and I each tore an arm off her body, Dad the legs. She screamed deafeningly. Still she kept trying to use her ability. But it was no use anymore. With a bite directly into her throat, she burst between my muzzle. The other couple was not nearly as dangerous without Blondie and was now also destroyed.

My family came together.

All of them were banged up hard and kind of holding on to themselves.

Dad fell to his knees and screwed up his face in pain. Blondie had taught him some more wounds when he threw her on her back. Deep gashes stretched from his back neck to his chest.

Leah and I could take no more. Even as wolves, we were already panting from exertion.

We phased back.

Another personal peculiarity, I thought proudly. Except for us, there was no other wolf who could change back in such a way that he immediately stood on two legs. Not even Jacob Black had been able to do that. But we could. Almost from the beginning.

However, I did not stand for very long. My whole body seemed to stand completely on fire all at once and in my head it was thundering. I was dizzy and everything was spinning.

Can someone please hold the forest! Optionally, perhaps also me?

No idea whose arms caught me.

They were cold and it calmed me down.

The next thing I heard was a dull throbbing, to which I listened with concentration. The more time passed, the clearer it became that there were four different thumps. Two quite strong, two weaker, but more frantic.

Heartbeats. One of them my own.

"He's awake," I heard Edward say.

I felt warmth on my right hand. On my left it was not quite as warm and at the same time however hotter. My fingers were intertwined with someone's.

Becky?

I tried to squeeze the hand, but didn't know if I was really doing it or just thinking about it.

I blinked from the light in my eyes.

There she was. My star.

Her clear blue eyes sparkled with relief and glistened filled with tears. A slight redeemed smile spread across her mouth, and she lifted our hands to her cheek.

I moved my fingers, gently stroking over my star's cheek.

I turned my head to the right.

I was in a double bed, a thin quilt over me and Leah was next to me.

We held each other by one hand. She was breathing calmly, with her eyes closed.

At the end of the bed, Mom and Dad sat between our legs.

Mom's eyes were reddened. She had been crying. Even Dad looked like shit by his standards. Dark shadows lay under his eyes and seemed to be set in stone. And he appeared age-old. They held on to each other and now looked somewhat nervously in my direction.

I breathed deeply once.

No pain. If it stayed that way when I sat up?

"Slow down, Jake! Don't rush it!" said Edward.

Mom crawled a bit toward me and held her hand out to me while Dad sat behind me and supported me in the back.

Inch by inch I straightened up. I pulled my legs together into a cross-legged position. A loud crack echoed inside me, making me wince, but it was more liberating than painful.

I sat.

Still no pain.

I hid my face in my hands and continued to drive them through my hair before I took Becky's hand again.

And Moms.

"What happened?" I asked. I could remember the fight out there. In great detail. Or so I thought.

Before Dad could even start to answer, the door was pushed open, and all the other vampires came rushing in. Carlisle in the lead.

The incoming flurry of activity apparently caused Leah to wake up. She also blinked a few times before her eyes stayed open.

Jazz hurriedly sat down behind her, helping her sit up, while Mom also her extended a hand helpfully.

Leah pressed a hand against her chest and screwed up the face.

Carlisle responded immediately and was instantly seated at her side.

"It's okay. Just feels weird. Like everything in there is just sorting itself out quickly," Leah explained. "What happened?" she also asked, and I smirked as Mom rolled her eyes.

It was sometimes uncanny to her how often Leah and I sometimes asked the same thing.

"You guys were hurt pretty bad," Dad began, still sitting behind me and at the same time putting a hand in Leah's back.

"I couldn't tell if you guys would survive. We even talked to Seth and Emily on the phone, but they couldn't tell us anything exactly either. Jake, there were bone fragments in your heart. And Leah - your lungs were bruised in places. On top of that, the immense loss of blood. That's why you were dizzy when you stood on two legs again. The available blood was not enough to supply your entire body. Your own healing seemed to burn you from the inside. Your normal temperature is about one hundred and eight degrees. Now you had a fever. One hundred twenty degrees. Constant, but nothing happened. Not for a long time. As was the case with Seth last week, I can't say what decisively started or delayed the healing process," Carlisle explained.

"Intermediately, your heartbeat was so weak that we feared we had lost you!" said Dad in a quivering voice.

That explained why Mom's eyes were so red and swollen and even Dad and the other vampires looked so bad. They had really been afraid for us. For a whole night, because dawn was already breaking.

A quiet sob distracted me from Mom, who began to cry, but it came from Becky.

With one arm, I lifted her off the floor and onto my lap while Leah took care of Mom.

My strength was thus officially fully back.

I kissed and stroked over Becky's tear-soaked cheeks.

"You won't get rid of me that quickly!" I muttered a promise.

"If you scare me like that again, you are in trouble!" she threatened me.

I pulled her tightly into my arms and closed my eyes.

The fact that she was just there awakened the last still sleepy vital spirits in me.

They told us what Dad had learned about the thoughts of our opponents.

He had not heard how they knew about spirit warriors. Seth - and before that the entire pack - had not run across a vampire that he or they would have left alive.

"So, there must be others of us somewhere!" noted Leah.

"While you were recovering, I already started researching on the Internet. Except for the Quileute, I haven't found any other tribes that even rudimentarily contain these legends," Jazz explained.

Furthermore, Dad had learned from their thoughts that they originally came from the South. The men had been brothers who had taught their mates to fight. They were all exceptionally experienced in combat and also battle-hardened. Jasper himself had only experienced such first-class trained fighters in the newborn-armies. Therefore, he had already suspected during the skirmish that they came from just such an order. And that's exactly how it was. One of the men, whom we had removed somewhat from the actual action, had had the same task as Jasper once had. The combat training and subsequent destruction of the newborns as soon as their strength waned. He gave himself to this task with arrogance and enthusiasm until there was a new vampiress with whom he fell in love. Blondie. He trained her like all the others. Then when it came time for him to destroy her, he had taken off with her and the other two. All in all, we could be proud to have held out against this group for so long.

Dad had learned all this because our opponents could not believe that the four of us were such a big problem.

One also explained to us why Alice and Esmé had stayed here.

In case we would lose, or one would sneak away unnoticed and follow our trail to here.

Em's call had been brief, with no details on the number or strength of our opponents.

"How do you feel now?" asked Esmé afterwards.

I looked at Leah and we grinned together.

"Hungry?" we replied at the same time.

What else could it be?

Thank you for reading!