All the boys joined me to hunt.
"Alright, what's your preference?" Emmett asked me with a wide grin, and I shrugged.
"Whatever's around."
"What did you eat out there in Egypt?" Edward asked, and I grinned.
"Benjamin used to try and get me to try crocodiles," I admitted, trying not to let my emotions for the boy show through, afraid Edward would get wind of them. But I couldn't stop the image of his face, ever so close to my own, a twinkle in his eye and that expression on his face as he tried to convince me they'd taste just fine. I shook the image from my mind as quickly as it came, and continued. "But they smelled disgusting. He thought it'd be funny. I mostly stuck to larger mammals like leopards if I could, but... most of the wildlife there is smaller in size."
"Ever try bear?" Jasper asked me, grinning equally as wide. "It's Emmett's favorite." I laughed.
"Of course it is."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's means you're the brawn," I joked.
"Oh, and you're supposed to be the brains?"
"I'd say just about anyone could be the brains in comparison." Emmett lunged, and I laughed as we began to wrestle one another until I froze, catching a whiff of something, and Emmett pinned me down while I was distracted.
"Does this mean I win?"
"Not fair," I laughed, pushing him off, and he cackled.
"I don't know, Elle, if you ask me, I think you just don't wanna admit defeat."
"Well thank God nobody asked you then," I laughed, standing, and I looked to see both Edward and Jasper watching us, amused. "What?" I asked.
That was when Emmett tackled me from behind.
"Get off you big lug!" I laughed, pushing him off, and that was when I smelled it again.
"I smell it too," Edward agreed, and we were off. We stopped fifty feet from our prey.
I shocked them when, instead of lunging after the three deer, I drained their energy, and they suddenly collapsed into a deep sleep.
"Well where's the fun in that?" Emmett asked, confused.
"Killing isn't fun," I raised a brow, looking at him. "No matter the species. This way, it's like..." I looked back at the sleeping deer, and I made my way down to them, breathing in deep as I crouched and cradled the youngest's head sadly, stroking its ears. Knowing the poor animal's fate, guilt began creeping in yet again. "Drifting off to sleep..." What a miserable existence. To have to kill millions of beings in order to just stay sane. "Sometimes, ignorance is bliss."
And then we smelled them, and we all turned toward the shape shifters as they ran toward us. Eight of them - one was the gray one with the black spots from earlier.
"I am Eleanor Cullen," I greeted quietly. "Carlisle Cullen's daughter from his life as a human." There was a short silence.
"They came to tell you that if you are now a part of our coven, that you live under the same rules as we do," Edward translated as the big black wolf that led the others glared menacingly at me.
"I intend to do so," I admitted, and the black wolf looked down at the three sleeping deer and gave a huff. "I can manipulate energy," I answered the unspoken question. "I prefer to drain the energy of my prey, to let them fall asleep, to allow them ignorance if I am to kill them. So they don't feel fear or discomfort before they pass."
He let out a low growl, and I glanced at Edward for translation, but he just lowered his gaze. I nodded. An insult.
"I heard you could use my help. That something was going on here," I admitted, my voice quieter in volume. I turned my gaze back to the black wolf. "I would like to help in any way I can. But before I can learn of the situation at hand, I have to hunt. It's been a few days, and I don't want to risk Bella's safety." The wolves shifted slightly.
"They want to get your scent," Edward told me, and fearlessly, I walked forward, stopping a few feet away when the black wolf let out a warning growl, and then it was their turn to walk to me. The black wolf came forward last, and then got close to my face, a growl rippling through his chest. Edward was reluctant as he spoke up. "He wants to warn you... if you harm any humans here... they'll be forced to hunt you down and..."
"Kill me," I finished for him. "Sounds fair enough." I kept my eyes locked with the wolf's. He let out another low growl before he huffed, and they were off. The leader sending one last angered glance behind him as he went.
Time to finish hunting.
~:~:~:~:~
"So this... Nomad. Riley. He's creating an entire newborn army because he wants Bella?" I clarified, and father nodded. "Why?"
"We don't know," Edward continued. "We don't even know who's leading them, we can't see them."
"We think whoever it is is playing with Alice's blind spots," Patrick admitted.
"So... they know her limitations?"
"Exactly."
"Do you know when they'll be here?"
"Two days," father told me, leaning forward. "Elle, I know you want to fight alongside us... But do you have any previous training?"
My mind flashed back to the memories of my training, the way Aro had me train toward the end, using rogue newborns as my opponents, to teach them a lesson, and I nodded.
"I do," I muttered. "But I'm no expert."
Carlisle looked to Edward, who was staring at me intently, his gaze burning into me. I narrowed my eyes at him in slight warning, and he nodded. Not a word on what you saw, and get out of my head.
"She should join us for training," Edward said, ignoring my statement. "She'll be ready when the time comes."
"We'd better get going," Alice spoke up. "If we keep waiting around, we'll be late."
~:~:~:~:~
Seeing the wolves again wasn't what I'd call pleasant. I could feel their hostility toward me, but there wasn't technically anything I could do about it. They hated me as they hated the others. We were their natural enemy, and therefore, they didn't trust us.
"Jasper's the one who's been teaching us," Alice told me with her signature grin.
"He has experience against newborns," Patrick came up beside her, placing his arm around her shoulder.
"Experience fighting them," I noted, glancing at the half-moon scars that made the beautiful man look so terribly dangerous, and Alice nodded.
"He's been the one to teach us how to fight them," she agreed.
"They don't think the way we do," I turned to look to Jasper as he spoke, looking rather like a leader. "They're faster. Stronger. Their fighting techniques are primal. You have to be careful when you fight them, and you have to be quick. Strength means nothing if you're not faster than they are." Jasper's face was dead set as he spoke, and I nodded in understanding. "Would you mind to show us what you're made of?"
"Hand-to-hand?" I asked. "Or can I cheat and use my gift?" He gave a small smirk.
"Let's try hand-to-hand first. You never know when your talents might be useless against your opponent."
I nodded, my heart sinking. Now that was a form of fighting I wasn't terribly well-rounded in. The wolves entered the clearing then, but I didn't let it distract me.
We faced one another, and after a moment, I lunged, but he flipped over me easily. We kept going, but he had me down in less than a minute, and I huffed. Damn.
I rolled over and he helped me up, a small smirk on his face.
"You're not fast enough," he noted kindly. "Your reflexes aren't automatic. You're not anticipating. You've gotta anticipate the possible moves I'm going to make and try to narrow down which are the most likely to choose. The newborns run purely on instinct. They're trained to anticipate the most likely move that you will make to counteract their attack. What would your instincts be in my situation?" I nodded, not completely understanding, but willing to try. "Again."
So again, we tried. And again, I was pinned in just under a minute. I muttered a curse and stood. I noticed the others around us, training against each other.
"Keep your eyes sharp," he demanded, and I looked back to him. "The moment you see me move should be the moment you move to block it." That one made more sense to me. The observation part of it.
I nodded again, and again, we went at it. It took almost two minutes this time before I was pinned. I had only been on the defense this entire time, and my defense wasn't even good enough.
"Try to look for holes in my defenses," he offered. "Get a swipe at me, get me off-guard, off my game. Turn the tides in your favor."
Two and a half minutes. Pinned.
God was it sexy to be pinned under him.
Did I really just think that?
Jasper got off of me and once again, he held his hand out to help me up. I ignored the electricity between us. It was an odd type of electricity, one I'd never felt before. The moment I had first brushed against him, it felt different. I had tried to ignore it, but it was both distracting and entrancing.
"Dammit," I growled, huffing.
"Let's try it your way," he offered. "Use your gifts." Even I, distracted by Jasper's beauty and kindness, noticed the way a few of the surrounding groups stopped their training to look over to us in curiosity.
"Are you sure?" Jasper nodded, giving another small smirk.
"Well, I've gotta give you some sort of fighting chance, don't I?" I narrowed my eyes at him playfully, hiding a small grin.
"Confident, aren't we?" I joked back, and he grinned.
"Well, I can see here that you're not well-versed in hand-to-hand," he shrugged, crossing his arms. "But I am. So let's go a round, see if you can take me."
I took a deep breath and I blinked, and suddenly everything was energy around me. The air, the trees, even Jasper. I grinned, and static electricity began to pop in the air around us, the charge obvious to everyone.
"You're on," I nodded, and we got into our stances.
This time, it was Jasper who lunged, and in one swift movement, a wall of Earth rose between us. He broke through, and I let the wall fall back into its place as I whirled around, dodging his advance, fire surrounding me, and I pushed it toward Jasper. He dodged the majority of it, and I continued against him, using the elements and the charged electricity surrounding us until I finally had him pinned.
Less than a minute.
It was my turn to hold my hand out for him.
"That was..." Jasper began as he stood, and I smiled at him. "Amazing. I've never seen anything like that before."
"It's taken a long time to perfect it," I admitted. "As if four hundred years isn't enough, there's still a lot for me to learn. Even after all this time."
"From what I can see," father stepped up. "You'll be just fine out there on the field." I smiled.
"Not if I can't use my gift," I told him.
"We'll have plenty of time to prepare for that," Jasper reassured with a nod. "We just have to keep on training."
I nodded, and that was when I realized the others had stopped to watch my fight with Jasper, as they began to go back to their own fights once more, realizing the show was over. It was time for the real training.