Rough Tongues and Sharp Teeth Ch. 03

Rose

"Aww, shit." I punched the wall. I hated it when the supes of Boston would go after those kids. MIT had made itself a nice little security system, but Harvard was open feeding.

"Whose pack?" Jared was already starting the car.

"Garron's. I'll meet you there." Makiel disappeared into the darkness and I pulled Ivan's clueless form in to the car. Jared sped off into the night as well. We were headed for Garron's pack's headquarters. We would try to negotiate, but that's not the way it usually ended.

"Rose? What's going on?" Ivan was really confused.

"We're what you might call the supernatural police around here. We have a pact with the Weres that says that they aren't allowed to kill humans around here. That pact has been violated. We have to either find out why, and fix it, or dole out punishment." Ivan just stared at me.

"You mean, we're going to fight them?" He was dumbstruck.

"It is most likely." I nodded. "Do you know how to fight?" He nodded and looked out the window. "I won't tell you not to worry, because only a fool does not worry, or fear. I will tell you that we all have your back. As, I hope, you have ours." He looked at me, eyes suddenly filled with a harsh determination I would not suspect from him. He was so girlishly beautiful, but at that moment, I was aware of the damage he could inflict. I grinned and nodded.

The Pack's headquarters were in a run down old industrial building. The brick structure stood like an ominous shadow over the approaching undead. I could hear, with the help of my supernatural abilities, voices and more animalistic noises coming from inside. I couldn't help but tense, waiting for the impending fight. We had no weapons, for anything that could really hurt our opponent would hurt us as well. Silver for one. We collected in front of the door to the building. Jared knocked three times and a hush fell inside.

The door creaked open quietly, stirring the dust on the ground. Inside was dark, but in the centre of the great room was a circle of light. In it was at least fifty half-transformed Weres. They all turned to look at us as we walked towards them. Some came around and circled us, at a distance. Jared looked like a king, entering his enemy's stronghold. The rest of us just looked like we were full of cool power. Even Ivan looked silently threatening.

"Welcome, Jared. I suppose this is not a social visit." The largest of the Weres stepped out of the pack.

"No, Garron. You violated our treaty. Why?" Jared came to a stop three feet from the opposing pack leader.

"We hungered for meat. We were growling our displeasure at this foolsome treaty when some humans came across our path. We took advantage of the opportunity." The Packmaster padded about our little group, sniffing and analyzing.

"So you do not deny you broke our pact." Jared said coolly.

"Not at all." Garron came to a halt in front of Jared and looked into the vampire's eyes. "There are not many of you tonight, Jared. I would have expected more. I will win this fight." With the last sailable he barred his teeth at the man.

"I am sorry that you feel we must fight, and that you underestimate us." Jared stepped forward. "Goodbye, Garron." Jared's fist shot out and the pack master let out a howl of pain. Jared yanked his hand back and the Were fell to the floor. Jared had punched through his chest.

The Wares attacked then, one giant wave of fur and flesh. I threw one over my head and heard his skull crack on the floor. I killed three more before I was overwhelmed. Four came at me at once. I was buried under a pile of bodies, all trying their best to eviscerate me.

Suddenly I was pulled out of the pile. There was a whir of black cloth, skin, and blood, and the Weres that were attacking me were dead. Over their prone bodies stood Ivan, drenched in blood. He roared and dove into another pile of bodies. I assisted him. Soon every Were in the place was dead and we had drunk our fill. We stood and recuperated, looking down at our handiwork. Soon all eyes were directed at Ivan.

"You saved me." Jared said coolly.

"And I." I stated.

"Me too." Alicia threw ought.

"When did you learn to fight like that?" Jared approached the boy.

"I grew up with it. My life's not been pretty, I had to learn to defend myself, or die. And the best defense is a good offence. Years of practice." He just shook his head and went to check on a twitching corpse.

We all just watched him. This boy had many surprises, and he now had out trust. He had saved all our lives, well except Makiel, he had joined the fight, but he is the strongest and most secretive of us. I knew that I personally would take him more seriously from now on. We now shared an experience, and because of it, I saw a little further in to his soul. And he did have one, a soul. Not many of our kind retained their souls, but he had. He was quite strong under that boyish exterior. Things would be interesting from now on.

Ivan

I was dangerously close to revealing myself to them, then. I left them with a slight notion of my ability, but did not disclose my limits to them. Come to think of it, I didn't know my limits. I had never had to test them.

Anyway. I was glad when we got back to the nest. I took a good long shower to rid myself of the blood, and lay down. We would not be working tonight. Tomorrow I would see Will again.

I was reading myself for sleep when I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." I sat up in my bed. It was Makiel. I got to stand up but he put up a hand.

"Don't stand." He came over and sat on the edge of my bed. "There is something that you don't know, about the attack. One of the kids that was killed, it was Will." I just sat; I felt a piece inside me rip out. He was so young, so innocent. He had just been slaughtered. Then I thought of what I had done to those wolves. The pain eased. I just nodded. Makiel put his hand on my shoulder.

"It's good that it hurts. It let you know that even if you're immortal, there are things that can still wound you. It restores peace." I nodded again and looked at my blankets. He got up silently and I heard my door click and the lights go out. I lay back in the bed and cried out my shock.

There is a slight time gap between this chapter and the next. Just imagine that life is as usual as a Vampire bar can be. Oh, and one more thing. I would really love some feedback. I love getting little e-mails. They make me feel so loved. Even the ones that are not so kind. THANKS!