chapter 17: wounds

He sat up. The sun had just gone down. He rolled off the broken bed and opened the door across the room. He came back in a flash with one of his shirts and a pair of his boxers.

"We need to go get your clothes." He handed me the clothes.

I put them on. I wasn't sure how long I could keep them on or how long it would be before he ripped them off of me. I got to my feet.

"Let's go then." I was excited to run again. He laughed at my excitement. I was ready to get out and take off.

"Let's see if Jacob and Shane want to come." He suggested.

We both snickered. He took my hand, after getting dressed himself and led me downstairs. When I walked I felt light. Sneaking up on someone would be easy. He led me down the dark hallway. I had only ever been upstairs. Even though the hallway was dark, I could still see clearly. We passed each closed door where I could hear multiple conversations all too well at the same time. I cringed.

"You'll learn to ignore it." He promised gazing down at me.

We finally got to one of the last doors. Finally. Actually it only took half a second. He opened the door. They both let out a groan.

"You don't have to come." Kale shrugged, rolling his eyes at them.

"Where are we going?" Jacob stood now.

I pointed at the clothes I wore that were obviously not mine. They both understood. Shane seemed very distant. I instantly felt bad, even though he walked right into seeing. I wondered what it must feel like to be in love with someone who would never love you back. To have to think about them constantly with someone else.

Now I was wishing, for his sake, that I never met him. To save him the pain. It was too late for Jacob. He was already in Zero's clan. I just wanted to know what I did to them so I wouldn't do it anymore.

When I came out of my thoughts, they were both glaring at Kale's arm around my waist. Probably wondering if he would ever let me go. I sighed. I hoped that if we ever did get married, they wouldn't be completely heart broken.

We took off as soon as we hit the front door. Jacob and Shane easily kept up. Shane evern managed to get between me and Kale. I knew all too well what we both felt as soon as we were that far apart. I looked at him the same way he looked at me, longing to be beside eachother. We both looked away at the same time, trying our best just to consentrate on running and not tearing either of them apart. Jacob ran on my other side. It felt strange. We were soon at my aparment. We all stopped abruptly.

"Who's scent is that?" I asked, my nose wrinkling. I didn't like it.

"Dante." Kale murmured. He pushed his way back beside me.

"He's been gone for a couple hours." Jake assured us.

We hesitantly followed him in. My apartment was awful! It was torn apart. Things were broken, but nothing missing.

"Be quick." Kale ordered quietly.

I shoved as much as I could into the duffle bag I found. Kale watched me half amused as I ran around my room like a tornado. I obviously wasn't quick enough. First we heard the shattering from the front room, followed by my bedroom window being shattered. I found myself in Kale's arms. Dante stood in front of us. Anabelle was at his side.

"You were right!" Dante let out excitedly. "Thank you for doing my job for me, Zero."

"I didn't do it for you!" He hissed.

Dante shrugged. There was a very distant howling sound that no one but me paid attention to.

"It'll be much easier to get her to join me now."

"Easier?!" Zero laughed bitterly.

"I will never give up. Sooner or later, she will join me."

I looked up at Zero. I knew that look. He had enough. I let his arm go. We tried it my way and he still wasn't backing down. So now we would do it his way.

"I'm sorry." He muttered at me.

"There's nothing else we can do." I said quietly, taking a step back. He lunged forward just as Dante did.

I looked down the hall, no one was out there. I grabbed Anabelle's arm as she tried to attack me. She gasped. I looked at her. She gasped again, meeting my eyes. Everything I hated about her filled me up. There was noway I would be able to stop myself. I didn't know how to control this part of me yet.

I threw her down the hall with one arm. She put a hole in my wall. I glowered at her. I was suddenly in front of her. I grabbed her hair, flinging her out the already broken window. I was outside in a second. I really wished I was paying attention.

Dante's entire clan stood in front of me. Could I possibly be stronger then all of them? Anabelle was nowhere in sight. One of them grabbed me by the throat. All I had to do was squeeze his hand and he dropped me. Then one of them yanked my hair while another one bit me, tearing into my new marble skin.

The pain that I never thought I would feel again was there instantly. I heard howling but I couldn't think as to why that was so important to me. Both vampires let me go and I was the wolves. No, not the wolves, my wolves! And I saw shane too.

We were still out numbered. The clans that Dante had gathered appeared in seconds. The wolves snarled at the vampires. In one big wave the pack and clans attacked eachother. I took a step to get into the fight but surprisingly someone was much quicker then me. I didn't even sense them coming. Maybe I was too distracted. I spun, growling at whoever held me tightly by the arm.

"William!" I gasped.

"So much for my little human." He was teasing me at a time like this?! "Love the new look by the way." He chuckled.

Very funny. Then the pain shot through me again. I winced and understood Kale's pain awhile ago. It came in sudden bursts. It wasn't on going. But just like being turned, each time it came back it just got worse.

"Jeez Jamie!" He gasped now.

"Well I didn't do it on purpose!" I snapped.

"I thought I told you to get her out of here." Jacob's stern voice came from right beside me.

I looked at him, then at the fighting. Zero's entire clan was here and I noticed Maverick. His pack showed up too!

"I'm not going anywhere, Jacob Nesskey!" I hissed.

"Of course not." Then his jaw tensed. "Who did it?!" He growled, pointing at the wound on my neck.

"I'm pretty sure it was him." I pointed at one of the many hooded vampires. He let out a deep growl.

"Jacob--" I regretted telling him instantly.

I watched in horror as he tore him apart right in front of me. I wasn't made for this part of being a vampire. I turned away, looking up at William with wide eyes.

"Don't give me that look. You're the one that told him."

And then I heard his scream. I threw back through the window in a flash. William was right behind me. They were still in my room. I gasped. Zero was so much stronger then Dante, I couldn't understand how this always happened.

Then I remembered feeling paralyzed for the longest second when it had happened to me. Once they bit into you, you couldn't fight it. The pain shot through me again. But I was angry now. The sight of Dante's teeth in Zero made me sick. I wasn't even thinking anymore. I just lunged forward. Dante flew into the wall with such force he went right through it.

"Zero!" I gasped, getting down beside him.

He winced. Then his arm whipped fast past my head. I was terrible at paying attention! William had started forward.

"Don't you dare." Zero hissed, not sounding like Kale.

To my new ears it made him sound even less like Kale. Dante still didn't know who Zero was. Hearing his "Zero voice" now made sense as to why Dante never figured it out. His voice almost even scared me.

"Move." He ordered me in that dangerously low voice.

I ducked under his arm. William grabbed me, pulling me back. Zero had Dante tightly by the throat. He held on much tighter then I could have imagined possible. Dante was growling, his eyes black. Zero's eyes turned black as he stood. William spun me around, shoving my face into his chest.

"Vampire or not, I don't think you should see this, Jamie." He murmured down at me.

I heard a gasp come from Dante followed by the sickest ripping sound that would have turned my human stomache. There was no point, but I covered my ears with my hands.

"I'll finish. You get her out of here." Zero demanded between his teeth.

I was being carried again. I wasn't too happy about it. It's true, I would always be human to all of them no matter what. He took off past the fighting.

"What? But William, I'm strong enough now to--"

He didn't have to interrupt me, the pain did that much. I winced. My whole body tensed. My eyes shut. Kale's pain made sense again.

~~~~~~~~~

We waited. For a long time we waited. I paced back and fourth the whole time, listening to the distant fighting. I was worried about all of them, feeling the emptiness. I had to stop ever so often until the pain passed. Even so, when the pain wasn't hitting me, the wound still would throb and pulsed on my neck.

William watched me but didn't say anything. I needed William right now. If it were Shane or Jake, I wouldn't be this relaxed. Not that I was all that relaxed anyways. And then to make things worse, Anabelle showed up. She glared into me.

"Why do they protect you?" She hissed, reffering to William.

"Because, unlike you,--" Will began.

"William." I sighed. He looked at me and rolled his eyes. He began to pace behind me now.

"Back for more?" I asked her, crossing my arms.

"More." She snarled. "That was nothing."

"Then why did you run?" My voice still surprised me. It was musical, like Kale's, but right now it was emotionless.

"I didn't run." She muttered, defensively. I sighed again.

"Anabelle, I don't know what I'm going to do with you. I'm not going to kill you because you're absolutely not worth it."

"You stole Zero from me." She glowered.

"All of this is about that? You brought an entire army just to destroy me so you could try to be with him?!" I shouted, way beyond frustrated.

"With you out of the picture he--"

"Why can't you understand, you had your chance to make him fall for you but you waisted it on torturing humans!"

Her eyes met mine. She gasped once again. I glanced at William, confused. He took a good look at me then continued to pace.

"You're eyes keep turning black." He muttered.

I couldn't even imagine what I must have looked like. I thought about Kale's black eyes when he was hungry or became angry and how terrified I always felt seeing it.

"You need to get away, Anabelle. Zero's not here to hold me back."

"Ha!" She laughed but took a few steps back.

"He's dead?!" Someone gasped in the distance.

There was murmuring. I didn't even look at William. I started running. I saw the smoke. I saw the fire. And then I saw Zero.

"Enough!" He shouted.

Then I heard sirens. We were still in front of my apartment. I wasn't the only one that just realized this. The large crowd took one last look at the fire then dispursed in different directions. What terrible timing! The pain shot through me once again.

Kale grabbed my hand, my bag of clothes was around his shoulder. We didn't have time for the pain to fade but just as he reached to pull me into his arms, the pain hit him. Jacob grabbed me, taking off. Shane had waited with Kale. They were beside us in seconds. I forced myself out of Jake's arms. It didn't slow us down at all. I was glad to be running now.

"You killed him?" I asked, my throat feeling suddenly dry.

He only nodded. The whole point was nobody had to be killed. I didn't want that. But it ended up happening anyways. None of us said anything after that, not until we got back to the clan. The pain hit me again when we got in front of the house. Kale turned to me, dropping my bag.

"Who did this?" He asked between clenched teeth, reaching his hand out. I shut my eyes and he dropped his hand.

"I took care of him." Jake seemed to gloat. My eyes opened. All of them stared at me.

"Perfect." Kale muttered.

"What?" I frowned.

"You're thirsty." He told me.

My dry throat made much more sense now. My eyes must have still been black then. He looked past me, his face hardened.

"What are you still doing here?" He growled. I looked back at William.

"He had nothing to do with Dante--" I began.

"No. Anabelle." He interrupted me.

I looked past William as Anabelle appeared. I really had to start paying attention. Maybe my thirst was getting in the way. Nothing seeemed as clear to me as it had been just a couple hours ago.

"I have nowhere else to go. The clans once loyal to me and Dante have gone."

"Well you don't belong here." Zero hissed.

"I know what I did was wrong but--"

"You've never belonged here." Jake glared at her. She glared back.

"If you must, you can come with me." William said a little reluctantly. I turned to him, surprised. She looked at him the same way I did.

"What?" She breathed.

"I never stay in one place though." He shrugged. "Who knows, you might like it."

"Anabelle isn't the easiest vampire to get along with." Zero warned.

"I'm sure we can work something out." He looked at me. "Besides, it'll be easier to make sure she stays away from you, my little human." He grinned.

"But you're leaving so soon?" I frowned.

"I'll always come back, Jamie." Then he spun on his heels. "It doesn't matter to me what you choose to do, but I don't have time to wait for your answer." He spoke to Anabelle as he began to disappear into the trees.

We looked at her. They mostly glowered at her, telling her silently to leave. She let out an annoyed sound and followed behind William.

"Good luck." I breathed, slightly sarcastic. Kale sighed.

"Let's get your green eyes back."

He handed my bag to Jacob and took my hand.

~~~~~~~~~

It was interesting hunting for the first time with Kale. The smell of blood from the animals was driving me crazy. I strangely liked bitting into the skin and feeling the warm blood go down my throat. I wildly attacked everything that crossed my path. For a long time I forgot about Kale.

Finally my thirst was quenched. I pushed the lifeless deer away from me. I stood, staring down at it. It was dry, completely cleaned of it's blood. I couldn't believe I did that. Then I noticed the senses that I had when I was first turned came back.

I saw, felt, heard and smelt things so clearly once again. I looked up. Kale looked worse then he did when he was bit by Dante the first time. That's the only thing I hated about my heightened senses. The black circles under his eyes were dark, his eyes smoldering with the pain, his wound was purple. What exactly did I look like then?

"Are you in pain?" He asked anxiously.

"No." I denied in my soprano voice.

"Then why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're in pain." I stated. He smiled.

"Only because I thought you were."

I bit my lip. "You look terrible."

"Likewise." He laughed and kissed my forehead.