33
Meadow’s a warrior, one of the best, and I am capable of so much, but neither of us want to fight our own family. Our own mates. So anything that shields us and stops us from having to physically interact is a must. We love them, all of them, and our sub pack are among those who have been enchanted. We wouldn’t want to battle any of them even if it came down to it, even if our lives depended on it. I couldn’t force myself to hurt a hair on a single wolf’s head who is lost out there.
The plan is to drive fast and have me keep them back, keep them as far as I can, in the hopes they turn back and focus on circling the homestead once again while we drive off into the dust and head for the witch known as Leyanne. We need to get some distance and avoid all known wolf territory in case they too have been turned. We don’t have any idea of how far this goes or how many are infected. This area is predominantly Santo but there are smaller packs out there especially in the wilds, and once we leave Arizona, we will have to figure it out as we go. Packs generally don’t intermingle and there’s no love between different packs in our species. We are born territorial and get aggressive in defense of our spaces. I don’t expect warm greetings and offers of hospitality if we do find they are untouched by the spell.
We had sentinels pack the jeep with food and supplies to last a few days, even sleeping bags, and we aim to head for human territory by nightfall every day we are out there. The vampires aren’t really attacking anywhere the humans are in dense population; staying hidden for their own safety, and keeping this battle in the shadows between non mortals. Vampires and wolves still fear the wrath of humans. They may be the vulnerable ones, but humans are capable of horrible things when they shine a light on the dark secrets of our kinds. They outnumber us tenfold and have their ways of taking down our kinds. Surprisingly, for a species who are physically weaker and lack gifts like ours.
We lost many of all kinds in past centuries at their capable hands. Humans killing all who were different and forcing us into hiding. They still outnumber us in population, taking over most of the globe and have an uncanny ability to unite when faced with the supernatural. Their advances with weapons most definitely slow us down. Their ability to weaponize and accumulate large numbers and crash through our species with their steel vehicles and drop bombs galore, putting aside racial differences when the will to have their species prevail runs strong.
Our kinds have hidden for millennia, more so since numbers dwindled after the great vamp wars. It just always has been known that nonhumans should conceal and stay away, for the survival of all. We will never out populate them, because we don’t reproduce in numbers the way they can, and with all our inner species wars going on, we can never focus any kind of energy at subduing the humans. We have too many enemies within ourselves to ever unite for that one cause. History has always failed to keep them down and make it acceptable for our kind to walk free.
I’m distracted by a gentle knock on my bedroom door and I tune in, coming back to reality and that familiar pang of heartache; my body slumped because my life feels like it’s ebbing away tonight. I sense Meadow outside my door and taste her own deep and uncontrollable sadness even from this distance.
I’m up, come in. I link her and she doesn’t hesitate to push the heavy oak door in quickly. She looks exhausted, dark circle sunder her dull eyes and I can tell that much like me, she has no thoughts of sleep tonight. Anxiety reigning supreme, thrashing around in her heart and brain, and pining for the mate out there in the dark who is currently wandering around angrily trying to find a way in.
“You look tired, Chica, you should sleep. First light we got to get out of here and head for New Mexico. It’s going to be chaos getting through that fog.” Her soft tone wreaks of fatigue, her loose posture shows no hint of the strong femme I am used to seeing every day of my life.
“What about you? You’re the one driving… you should be resting more than me.” I point out as she wanders beside me to my open balcony door, the gentle breeze cooling my skin, and stares down at the view that has held my attention for the last half hour. A faraway look taking over her expression and she sighs heavily.
“I can’t even feel him… it’s like he’s just gone. Like they all are. One blink and poof…. We just lost them.” She utters sadly with so much pain in her voice that it makes my throat constrict and I choke on a subtle sob. I know exactly what she means and have been fighting myself not to let the tears come at me. I know once they do, I may not be able to stop them again
“We have to just focus on a solution, and deal with the loss we feel. It will only hinder us, and we can’t just give in.” I point out and slide my arm through hers, pulling her close to my body and lay my head on her shoulder. Needing touch, even hers so that I can pull strength from somewhere, and she nestles against me mirroring my feelings.
“How did they know…. How were they so ready? It’s like they waited for an opportunity and we handed it right to them.”
“Seers probably” I sigh and am hit with a deep painful strike in my chest as the thought of Colton’s most recent dream comes at me from the recess of his mind, and I shudder. A prickle of intense unease and nerves rippling through my body and leaving me cold.
He had stood out there clawed up and devoid of any emotion staring right at me. Blank, just like he said that morning. Much like his dream he was disconnected and didn’t seem to know me and yes, I was so very afraid of him out there faced with him like that. I wonder if it really was something to come or more of a symbolization of that moment because most of it still makes no sense. I wouldn’t let him strike me down like that, I have abilities that even Colton can’t match, and I surely would change to heal myself. I push it out of my head and try not to ponder.
“Maybe they saw it coming long before Tawna even came here and got ready for the moment it did. Or maybe it was luck, and they intended to use the spell and it was just a fluke that we gave them the chance to make it count when we did.” I don’t really know, but speculating isn’t really changing anything.
“None of this is working you know. Fighting them, protecting ourselves, holding them off. They just find new ways and even when we win wars, they always come back. There’s never a resolution to any of it.” Meadows words deflate me, and I know she’s right. The vampires and the wolves and this bloody never-ending hatred of one another, it never ends and the wars, even after a decade, always rise again. It never solves anything; it just takes many of our numbers and then what. It only breeds more hatred, and the cycle keeps going. I can’t see that it will ever stop because no side will ever be satisfied until the other is destroyed. Vengeance is a toxic need.
