26. Raul

26

RAUL

" I work the nightshift tonight."

Monica's announcement was music to my ears. She had to leave for work earlier than my meeting with Helena. This meant that I didn't have to tell her where we were going and why. Even thinking about that conversation had twisted my stomach into knots.

My girl wouldn't have appreciated the notion of me setting off into the unknown. And there was no denying that's what it was, unknown. I had only been to our destination once before when I was twelve. My dad had taken the whole family there for the annual funfair. Louisville had to have changed a lot in almost twenty years. Yes, it was a fishing town where nothing much happened, but it was still a human settlement, and those were prone to severe alterations over time.

Although the town did concern me, it was nothing compared to the foes I would be searching for. I had never crossed paths with a vampire in all my thirty-one years. Edward and Robert's tales about them were my one and only source of knowledge.

Yet, it was a well-known secret amongst shifters that stories from the glorious past of the Dawson pack had been somewhat stretched. They had been passed on from generation to generation, enriched with elements which didn't sound so believable.

For instance, David Crawford, my great grandfather, had supposedly been ambushed by three bloodsuckers on the outskirts of Shandaken. Legend had it that he tore them to pieces, all by himself. I didn't doubt his strength or his cunning, but for a shifter to be able to kill three of those bastards without any help sounded too good to be true. And I could never trust anything that sounded too good to be true.

Helena was punctual as usual. She was dressed in her black cloak and wore the same tense expression which had puzzled me the night before. I didn't comment on it because I was sure that I looked just as worried as she did.

During the seventy-mile drive to Louisville, we had an opportunity to recap the things we knew about these vampires and their kind in general. To my relief, the witch had previously encountered vampires in her long life.

She reiterated facts I knew: their color, their speed, and their strength. They were pale; a couple of shades fairer than the average human. Vampires could move fast, but this speed came at a price. Two to three bursts later, and they would begin to tire. As for their strength? It rivaled my kind's, but it was mostly in their arms. So, Helena insisted that I try to avoid getting caught by one of them. Her exact words were:

"Should you find yourself in their cold embrace, do everything you can to get out of their grip. Ten seconds are more than enough for a vampire to shatter your ribs."

I'd be a fool to believe this was a solution to my inexperience. It might have been helpful, but this wasn't a fight against them. In a fight, you can tell a lot about your enemy's skills. How he moves, where he focuses his attacks, if he's willing to play dirty in order to throw you off your feet and to be sure that the last part wasn't off the table. Bloodsuckers are creatures of the underworld. It would be stupid to believe that they would fight fairly.

A worn-out, wooden sign with the name of the town written on it welcomed us to Louisville. At half an hour to midnight it was pretty much a ghost town. As we drove along the main road I gazed at the darkened, empty shells of taverns, diners and fishing gear shops.

Two diners were still open but judging by what I saw they weren't far from calling it a day too. I counted three customers in one and four in the other. Further down the road, the cove of Bartram housed dozens and dozens of fishing boats. Their masts were bare, waiting for the moment when their owners would abandon the warmth of their homes to bring them back to purpose and life. In three to four hours, they would sail out into the ocean once more, going about their daily routines.

"Alright, Helena," I said, staring out at the rough surface of the sea that filled my gaze. "How do you find a vampire clan in a town full of fishermen?"

"You don't," she said sharply. "They'd stand out too much amongst a bunch of sunburnt humans. They're bound to be on the outskirts. Take the next left."

I satisfied her request, Sam's Hilux rolling onto an uphill road, its high beams illuminating the asphalt up ahead. What lay beyond that road made me realize that she could have a point. There was a hill on the horizon.

"It's not so steep," I commented. "Even a human can walk up and down that hill without breaking a sweat."

"Yep. It's perfect."

I let her comment go unanswered, putting my foot down harder on the accelerator, as my gaze scanned the dirt. The Hilux left the asphalt behind and entered a bumpy track. In a matter of seconds, the suspension was squeaking in protest. Helena and I were bouncing up and down while I struggled to focus on the left side of the hill.

"There!" she said, intensely as her gaze locked on something to the right. "Do you see them?"

"Three houses," I said, casting my eyes in that direction. "All at the same level. How far are they from one another? Thirty? Forty yards?"

"More like huts," she corrected. "But you're right about the distance between them. Firstborn…" She turned to face me. "It seems we're in luck. There can't be more than ten vampires around here. I was expecting more. Way more."

"Yeah, because ten of those pricks will be easy to take care of," I said, suppressing a groan. "It's still five to one, Helena."

"Oh, my little pup," she laughed, her eyes glinting with amusement. "You still think this is going to be a full-scale battle between us and them? I can't blame you. That's what you know. Charging in head-on, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes. Well, guess again because we're not fighting anybody."

"If we're not fighting anybody, then, what in the hell are we doing here?" I wondered, my voice getting gravelly as my frustration with her riddles increased.

Helena dismissed me with a smile and reached into the inner pocket of her cloak. She held up a small vial and pulled out the cork. She held out her hand and poured a white dust from the vial into her palm, then blew some of it onto me.

"There. You smell like a human now," she said. "That'll draw them out. Trust me, you'll understand when you need to step in. Now get to walking up that path."

"Okay," I muttered under my breath, a voice in my head begging me to ask for details about what she had in mind.

I could suspect, but suspicion is one thing and knowledge is another. It was obvious that she was going to use us as bait. Smelling like their food was nowhere near what we had agreed upon. She had mentioned smelling like them, but I thought that was only to get us close for the fight. Clearly the witch had something else entirely in mind. I didn't voice my concern because she was there with me. If anything, she was endangering her own life, too.

Once we had reached a proper spot down the path, I turned the truck around, so the front was aimed back down the road. There was a good chance that we'd have to leave in a hurry. As I stepped out of the vehicle, the sea breeze blew some pebbles from one side of the path to the other.

"Do not tread lightly," Helena advised, her hood up over her head, her staff hidden in her cloak. "Remember: We want them to smell us."

"Yeah, right," I grumbled in a whisper, holding in a full grunt.

Rocks slipped and gave way beneath my feet as I locked my eyes onto the side of the nearest hut. Beams of moonlight were landing close to its entrance, letting me make out more details. The door was nothing more than an old, rusty piece of metal, with a black handle on its side. I saw the handle turn and the sound of squealing hinges caused me to stop.

My pulse racing, I watched as four of the foes emerged from the hut. All of them were well over six feet tall. I craned my neck to see over them in an attempt to gauge how many would follow. Three more walked out of the second hut and another four from the third.

"Yum…" One of them said, sniffing the air as he stepped ahead of the others with his eyes on Helena.

He hissed and bared his fangs, but Helena did not move an inch. My inner beast's call was a scream ringing in my head. It couldn't wait to dispose of my human skin and pounce on them.

"Contain him," Helena ordered as a growl rose up in my throat. The other seven vampires caught up to the first four. Easing her staff out of her cloak, she pointed its top end at them. "I'll ask nicely. Once. Which one of you is the Alpha?"

"Look at that," the one who had spoken, a gray-haired vampire smirked. "The food wants to know who'll eat it first."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Helena said as a red glow encircled her staff. With a quick jab towards the advancing creatures, a powerful beam shot out from the end in their direction. Striking the speaker in the chest, it shot around him and the rest of his kind. Completing a circle, it formed a wall of energy around our rivals. "Go ahead. Take another step," she dared. "I'd love to see you burn. Now, which one of you is the Alpha?"

"I am," the gray-haired one barked out. "Who the fuck are you?"

"I don't have time for this," Helena declared as the glow faded from her stick.

She pointed it at the alpha and swung it upward. I was amazed to see him lifted off the ground, rising high up in the air. Helena jerked her staff towards her chest and sent him flying in our direction. Fierce glares and hisses from the other vampires shattered the silence, his body hitting the ground before us with a resounding thud. As he rolled over at my feet, my blood boiled in my veins.

"Let me introduce myself, fucker," I growled, crouching to be level with his face. "Raul Crawford, Alpha of the Dawson pack." I grabbed him by his throat and yanked him up. His skin was icy cold under my fingertips. Whispers of my breath landing on his forehead, I let him catch a glimpse of who he was dealing with. Fangs lengthening, the beast peering out of my eyes, its yellow light reflecting off his pupils. "I'm not as nice as the witch. You tell me what I want to know, or I'll rip you apart, limb by limb."

"Fuck you!" he yelped, saliva dripping off his upper fangs.

A deep snarl escaped me, but I didn't break my silence. Instead, I grabbed him by the shoulder and splayed my fingers over it. Fingers digging into his hard skin, I gripped harder, and my face started to shake as I gazed into his brown eyes. A minor crack made him grit his teeth. I let go for a fleeting moment and then held on again, this time producing a louder crack. He threw his head back, and an animalistic cry shot from his mouth.

"Okay! Okay!" He shouted, his squinting eyes focusing on mine. "What do you want to know?"

"Nora Crawford," I told him my sister's name, my voice more animal than man. "Why are you after her?"

"To get to your heart, asshole," he sputtered. "We want Dawson. It'll be easier for us to take it with you broken."

There it was. The answer to the most vital question that had been plaguing my mind since Helena had come to me with her vision. It was amazing how two simple sentences could explain so much. Our lands were indeed in danger. My kind was facing a threat, unlike anything else they had handled in over forty years. This abomination had been going to lead his hordes into our territory and defile them. He would have tried to succeed where his ancestors had failed. I growled.

The wolf didn't find any more resistance. I didn't fight him because we both wanted the same thing, but it was easier for him. Tearing through my human flesh, his massive figure brought ample waves of awe and frustration to the Alpha and his minions.

I heard their growls and hisses in the dark, while Helena's energy field singed the skin of the one closest to the front end of her trap. Without hesitation I locked my jaws around the vampire's neck and felt his frigid flesh against my lips.

I struggled to drive my teeth deeper into him. It was like attempting to bite through a solid block of ice. In the end though, his flesh surrendered to the power of my jaws. My canines almost all the way in, I jerked my snout to the side.

A loud noise crackled through the atmosphere, signaling the end of my adversary as I ripped his head off his spine. I let his body fall to the ground and held his head up high. I cast my gaze over his minions. What I received in return were nasty glares, bare teeth and more snarls expressing their rage.

I loosened my jaws and allowed the head to fall and roll across the dirt, coming to a stop inches from the ruined creature's hip. I growled a threat at them. Now, no one would come near my hometown. Nobody would lay a hand on my family unless they wanted the same fate to befall them. They cowed before me and the wolf elated in its supremacy.