NOVEL NEXT Chapter 49: ch 47
Anna's POV:
Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...….Clack….
The sound of shoes hitting the runway outside was getting louder and hammered itself through my ears into my brain. Every time I heard the clacking sound I couldn't help but wince slightly.
"Dear, are you alright?" Esme's concerned whisper rang in my ears as if she was standing somewhere in the distance. I did not answer.
I also felt someone's eyes burning a hole in the side of my head but I didn't pay this any attention either. The truth that Eleazar's ability to read the gifts of others had revealed made my blood freeze in my veins.
Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...….Clack….
The first emotion that hit me after this horrifying revelation sunk in was regret quickly followed by panic. In this moment I regretted to have given Alice any clues as to where to find us. When our family arrived to try to save us they would be at the kidnapper's mercy and it would be my fault.
I couldn't shake the panic off that was eating itself through every cell of my body as I started sweating bullets and goose bumps out of fright and concern for Edward and the others were rising all over my frame while my heartbeat went wild.
"Anna!" I heard Esme's urgent plea and was snapped me out of my stupor.
Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...….Clack….
The footsteps were getting louder with each new step as the person, Lear I assumed, was getting closer to the entrance of the hangar.
I was aware of the fact that their were also others out there three to five persons if I gathered it correctly but the sound of those clacking shoe soles was ringing loudly in my ears tuning everything else out.
Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...….Clack….
Randomly I noticed that I had been sucking the air greedily into my lungs through my mouth. I could feel my chest raising and falling heavily with each intake of air as worry clouded my mind.
Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...….Clack….
My eyes had been fixed on the closed metal gates of the hangar but slowly and ungracefully, like my head had rusted on my neck, I turned around to look into Esme's concerned face though she gave me a tight smile when her worried and afraid golden pools met my brown ones.
Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...….Clack….
I smiled weakly back at her and my left hand sought hers out. My fingers curled around her cool flesh and I squeezed her hand for support and comfort.
Once she took in my somewhat calm behaviour during this dangerous and life threatening situation she knew that it was bad. I wasn't about to lie to her. She had a right to know how our chances were and what we were dealing with.
Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...….Clack….
"Is that him? Lear?" I asked Apollo when I cranked my neck to look at him. I wanted to make sure if that person approaching the hangar was really the head of this crime. Lear.
His expression was grave as he nodded his affirmation.
Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...…. Clack...….Clack...….Clack
The heavy foot steps came to a halt. The bulky Vampire was standing in front of the metal gates all of the sudden and as if they would weight nothing he pushed them open.
Rays of sunlight sneaked their way inside the hanger and hit Nestor's skin letting millions of little sparkling rainbows dance through the air and hit the walls.
"Welcome back," he greeted the person who was still standing outside and didn't say a word as he started to move inside of the hanger, the rainbows that danced off his skin and his shadow entering before him.
The clacking sound rang through the air as a tall board build man with light brown hair and classic, handsome features walked in as if he had all time in the world. His body language betrayed his cool, relaxed and calm manner.
In the moment when he entered the hangar a quiet humming went through the rows of newborn Vampires. My head whipped around but the Vampires were sill standing in their previous positions.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Apollo look at Lear with a mix out of regret, crushed hope, defeat but also understanding. I briefly wondered about the last one.
Lear went over to Helen, gently took her hand in his, lifted it to his mouth and placed a single kiss on the back of it. Helen nodded as a tight, honest smile played on her lips before she stepped away from him and Lear greeted the lean man with a simple nod of his head.
The man named Lear was sending out an aura of authority similar to the one Carlisle had around him but at the same time also completely different. Carlisle's was gentle and understanding while Lear's was dangerous and dark.
He seemed to be the type of person to be the perfect politician. He emitted sovereignty and authority. His gift fitted his appearance, the first impression of him. His mind control fit him perfectly like an expensive and exclusive accessory.
Suddenly I noticed that all eyes of the stock still Vampires were on him, following his every move which kind of reminded me of moving eyes in a painting that are often seen in ghost movies that took place in old castles.
Creepy much!
Seeing his ability in action was as impressive as it was terrifying. I couldn't help but to remember the conversation I had with Edward not long ago.
...…"We can make people do things." Edward started to explain.
"Like mind control?" I threw in. It was the first thing that came to my mind.
"No," he shook his head, "that would be a special ability like my mind reading. We can't make people do something that goes against their morals or believes or that they are strongly against for one reason or another. Neither can we influence people with a strong mind if one could then it would be mind control. What I mean is that we have the ability to seduce humans with a weak mind into doing things. It's like hypnotising someone but different at the same time."....
But Lear could. He could make people do things that went against their morals, believes and everything they stood for. He was able to force his will on anybody if he wanted to. It didn't matter if he had to compel a weak or a strong mind, he was capable of breaking them all.
Lear had this special ability. He could do mind control. That is why all of those newborn Vampires were so calm. He was responsible for their behaviour. He was able to suppress their nature, their temper, their free will, their urges, their thirst.....
He had absolute control over every one of them. Eleazar told me that the better a Vampire was able to control their ability the easier it was for him to read them and I could read Lear like an open book.
There was no puzzle to solve like with David or any of the starved Vampires who belonged to Apollo's coven. It was also different like it had been with Kate and Eleazar.
Lear was in perfect control of his ability. I was so bold to assume that he knew every single aspect of it, every twist and every turn, the limits, the possibilities.
How someone so strong and powerful was able to live in the shadows was a riddle to me. But then it hit me, even when someone figured it out Lear was able to order this person to forget him and everything this person found out.
Oh, this was so bad!
"Lear finally you are here." Sebastian greeted him enthusiastically and overly confident but Lear didn't seem to share his enthusiasm.
Lear's blood red, ice cold and oddly empty eyes were somehow intimidating the living daylight out of me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but there was something off about him.
"Sebastian, do you have my delivery?" He asked curtly in a cold voice.
"Yes, as you wished." Sebastian nodded and acted as if everything was alright between them as he pointed to were Esme and I where.
"I've got Carlisle's mate, Esme, and also the Slayer." Sebastian stated proudly.
Lear directed his cold, hard and hate filled gaze at us. He took my form in with little to no interest and quickly dismissed me. Esme wasn't as lucky. His hard gaze held her in place for several moments while hate, disgust and rage was burning behind each of his red coloured iris. It made my blood freeze in my veins and the shudder that ran through Esme's body didn't escape my notice.
Neither was it unnoticed by Lear. Esme's fear seemed to please him as the right corner of his mouth turned up at the sight of a scared Esme in front of him.
Sebastian then turned to look at Esme as well and a faked friendly smile appeared on his mouth.
"It was a pleasure to see you again Esme but unfortunately the time has come and our ways part here," he drawled as Lear opened his suit jacket and took it off handing it to Helen.
Lear was opening the sleeves of his white bottom down shirt and rolled them up his arms, exposing his well developed muscles, in his underarms, which he flexed for effect, admiring how his milk white skin stretched over his stone hard muscles before Sebastian turned to face him again.
I wasn't sure what had happened all of the sudden but even I could feel the change in the atmosphere that made the hair on the back of my neck stand to no end.
"Well, I guess we are done here then." Sebastian began but his voice trembled a little as he caught the dark glint in Lear's eyes.
"Yes, we are," Lear confirmed with a nod and a dangerous and lethal expression on his handsome face.
"Good!" Sebastian chuckled nervously, it sounded off and he didn't seem to be as confident as he was anymore. He really didn't have any reason to be confident because the way Lear was looking at him would have made even the devil run for the hills.
Sebastian took a step back from Lear but tried not to show that he wasn't sure of himself anymore and a little afraid of the Vampire standing in font of him. He failed miserably.
"You can have your revenge on Carlisle now while I...."
"No," Lear said the world loudly enough for it to echo through the hangar as a sudden rush of rage overtook his body before he continued in a normal volume, "he is not the one I want to see suffer like I suffered."
Sebastian gave him a confused look.
"I want everyone dead." Lear classified as an unnerving smile appeared on his face.
"Everyone?" Sebastian questioned while his eyebrows pulled together. "Who is everyone?"
Lear just looked at him with a lazy smile tugging on his lips while Sebastian looked confused at him.
"You mean everyone! Like all the Cullen's?!" Sebastian tried a shot. Lear's unnerving smile stayed in place.
"Everyone," Sebastian repeated and after a while I could see the light go on in his head as he starred at Lear who seemed to enjoy this.
"As in everyone on the planet?" Sebastian stammered out stunned as disbelieve was plastered plainly on his shocked face.
Apollo closed his eyes and let his head fall down in defeat. Esme gasped in and looked shocked. The others were just looking discouraged and utterly exhausted.
Lear's smile only widened.
"You…..that….You are you insane?" Sebastian stammered out completely startled and dumbfounded as suddenly foot steps of what sounded like an army of people were hitting the ground outside as they were rapidly coming closer to us. It were only a few moments before the metal gates opened again and more compelled newborn Vampires stepped inside the hanger, joining the other newborns neatly in the rows.
For the briefest moment I felt Lear using his ability.
I watched as Sebastian's eyes grew wide while they followed the movements of the new Vampires that stepped inside. His dark red pools nearly popped out of their sockets as he saw the about three hundred Vampires standing in the hangar. His jaw went slack and his frame was slightly trembling as he stared in horror at the statue still Vampires that were neatly lined up in rows.
"W-What...is this?" He chocked out and utter disbelieve was lacing his voice.
It was as if he only now noticed all the Vampires standing around. Maybe he had. Lear must have commanded him to ignore the huge pink elephant in the room until now that was.
Sebastian turned his head to look at Lear again. Fear, terror and betrayal were swimming in his frightened eyes while Lear looked mildly amused.
"B-But…..you said that you," Sebastian stammered again. "This was not the deal." He shook his head. He stared still at Lear but it appeared as if he couldn't see anything anymore.
"I would help you to get Esme and my reward would be the hunter. I was supposed to be the connection between you and the Volturi. You wanted to build up a Kingdom here in the south." Sebastian mumbled mainly to himself.
"We had a deal." It was a desperate plea directed towards Lear.
"I think you have extensive experience in breaking deals, letting people down and betraying others." Lear stated and then cranked his neck to throw a glance at Esme.
"That...I…" Sebastian stammered once more while he was slowly backing off, away from Lear and in the direction of the nearest wall.
"I'm not interested in a Kingdom or power." Lear murmured while he crossed his hands behind his own back. "And I don't have any use for you any longer." He said in a dismissive, businesslike and emotionless voice.
"No," Sebastian whispered in horror as the meaning of Lear's words let all alarm bells ring in his head. He turned around and tried to make a run for it.
"Kill him!" Lear's order fell softly from his lips a split of a second before a bunch of newborns jumped from their positions and went over to attack Sebastian.
He was struggling against the five Vampires that grabbed him and were tearing at him in different directions. Sebastian was begging for mercy, tried to make some kind of deal that would spare him, was offering Lear to do everything he wanted him to but all of this fell on deaf ears.
Esme drew me into her arms while I had my hands over my ears and tried desperately to ignore how much my teeth hurt from the horrible metallic screeching that echoed through the hangar as the newborns were tearing Sebastian apart. After he was in pieces they brought him outside.
"Burn the necklaces with him." Lear commanded the ones that had been with Sebastian in New York.
"The future teller shall see what is going on." He laughed.
Lear walked towards us and was eyeing Esme. With every step that monster took my heart was beating louder in fear for Esme and for myself. At some point I though my heart would jump out of my chest. Blood was rushing through my ears and I was scared witless of him.
He stopped a few feet anyway from us and seemed to feast on our fear and the freaked looks on our faces. Then he smiled nearly warmly but it had a threatening quality to it nonetheless.
"Soon my dear."
A shiver, not of the good kind, was running through Esme's body as she was under the intense gaze of his and his dangerous vow.
Satisfied with the result of his threat he turned around and nodded at the two males and Helen. Without a word they moved to the metal gates, exited the hangar and quickly put a lot of distance between the runway and their location.
I took a deep breath and looked up at Esme who looked deeply worried and grave, not really a surprise given the situation. I offered her a tiny smile that I knew didn't reach my eyes as Apollo's deep voice straddled both Esme and me.
"Lear once I had a wife as well."
"Huh?!" We looked at him with wide open eyes.
"When he was," Apollo paused and drew a deep breath closing his eyes tightly before he shook his head as if to shake a bad image off.
"When he was inside my head trying to break down my shield…I….. sometimes saw broken images. I didn't understand them at first but eventually…." He trailed off while the Vampire from his coven listened attentively to him, waiting for him to continue.
"The persons he compels can read his mind?" I wondered.
"No," Apollo shook his head, "but since he needed so much time to break my restrain down it was unavoidable that some of our thoughts and memories got mixed up. Guess that wouldn't have happened if he was stabile but since.....," he shook his head again, "He went in and out of my head for over eight months after all." Apollo laughed bitterly.
"I'm sorry," I heard Esme breath softly next to me. He smiled kindly at her.
"I saw a memory of her. She was beautiful. Her long blond hair used to tickle her face when the wind blew through it. From what I gathered she was such an intelligent and kind woman." He was staring into space, concentrating hard as he told us this.
"They were really happy together," Apollo nodded his head a few times, pulling his eyebrows together, "but their happiness had been destroyed, stolen from them, stolen from him!"
Was Lear angry at the world because he had lost his wife? Seemed like it. But where did Esme and Carlisle fit into all of this was still a riddle to me. As if he heard my confusion Apollo continued.
"Lear grew up in London. He is about four hundred years old."
Esme gasped and her hand flew up to cover her mouth.
"Lear knew a Carlisle Cullen when the both of them were still human back then. I'm guessing he is your husband?" Apollo asked Esme.
"Yes, Carlisle was born in London to both of his lives." Esme confirmed. "But if they had been friends why….." She shook her head while her face was twisted in confusion and honestly so was mine.
"Pastor Cullen!" He sighed and shook his head.
"Carlisle's father?" The words escaped my mouth before I could stop myself.
"It seemed so to me."
"I don't understand," Esme was upset and confused.
"Does this have anything to do with what he did? The hunting Vampires, Werewolves and witches thing?" I looked puzzled at him. This seemed natural.
The others of Apollo's coven gave me a funny look others just looked puzzled at what I had just said.
"One of his victims was Lear's wife." Apollo finally brought some light into the darkness.
Esme gasped again and the pieces started to fall into place for the both of us.
"He was a fisher back then. His memory of that day was not really clear but I could gather that he went out with some men on the ocean that day," He narrowed his eyes before he winced.
"When they arrived back in the port they heard screams. Agonised. Pain filled. Screams." He shivered at the memory.
Goose bumps spread all over my body hearing this. I knew whatever was to come next would be really bad.
"Her name was Juliet. Lear's wife" He classified.
Things were getting into perspective with every new piece of information. Somehow Lear didn't seem like the crazy person from a second ago or the ice old killer from a few moments ago. No, right then I saw the broken and damaged man who lost his sanity because the loss of his wife.
Apollo had his eyes closed and his face twisted into a mask of concentration and pain. It looked like he would live through what he told us about. I wondered how much having Lear in his head messed him up.
His mind had been a terribly dark place to be in. I can't even being to imagine what it would have done to me to have to live like this for months like he had and that he came so close to someone who was about to destroy this planet was unnerving.
I didn't want to accuse Apollo of anything but doubts invaded my mind. What if he would turn on us? But did it really matter with all the others around us that were under Lear's control?
I shook my head at those pointless thoughts and listened.
"He ran to the market place and….." I felt Esme tense and clutch my hand as Apollo paused again.
"Lear's wife, she was burning." The words left his mouth as a horrified whisper as if he was seeing it happen right in front of his eyes.
"She was screaming as the flames were slowly eating her alive. She was screaming for help but none did anything to help her." Esme pulled me closer to her and snuggled herself to me. The others looked from indifferent to sad to disgusted to sympathetic.
"Can you imagine? There were people standing around watching her burn, cheering even as she painfully found her end and none helped her. When Lear tried to get to his wife to help her some men caught him and made him watch. He had to witness how his wife slowly burned to death. He had to endure her screams of agony and the smell of her burned flesh."
I felt sick as the picture he painted played out in myhead. I knew, of course, of the cruelties of the past. I heard them in history classes even saw some post positioned scenes in movies. But hearing Apollo talk about it made it so much more real somehow.
Esme's whole body shook as she was sobbing dryly. She felt for the man who lost his wife in this inhuman manner. I did feel sympathy for him if only a little because of what he had been through but considering that he had kidnapped us and wanted to do something to Esme that sympathy had it's limits.
"Pastor Cullen, your husband's father," Apollo looked up and gazed into Esme's eyes, "killed Lear's wife because she was collecting herbs in the forest. They accused her of being a witch."
I could only shake my head at the stupidity and ignorance that the people back then had. Not that it had changed that much during the nearly four hundred years.
Apollo closed his eyes again and sighed.
"And after his wife was dead and Lear kneeled before her burned corps, grieving for his wife, Pastor Cullen dared to approach him, place his hand on his shoulder and tell him that he had done humanity and Lear a service by killing his wife because she had been a demon." Apollo's form was hunched. He looked like a defeated man.
"Pastor Cullen called his wife an evil that needed to be terminated, right in his face." He paused before he spoke again.
"I can't even imagine the pain and betrayal he must have gone through. A few weeks later he ran into a Vampire. He didn't know what creature he had in front of him but he begged the man to kill him so he could be with his beloved Juliet though for some reason the Vampire had other things in mind. He bit Lear and left him burning."
We all sat there in silence letting the things we learned wash over us. None said a word and none even dared to breath who didn't have to.
"But….but that wasn't Carlisle who…." Esme softly began after a while.
"They had been friends, brothers even," Apollo murmured.
"What?" Esme's voice was a quiet whisper.
"From what I gathered out of Lear's mind their fathers had already been friends and after Lear's father died in the sea Pastor Cullen took him in. Lear's mother passed away because of a cold during a hard winter and his sisters had been married off. He was twelve and alone. He and your husband had been close. He resents your husband for not saving his wife."
"I know my husband. He would have tried everything to help his friend." Esme stated firmly in her mate's defence.
"I do think that Carlisle had tried everything to stop it but against an entire village he stood no chance at all." I argued as well.
"That may be true but Lear has the conviction that the son has to pay for the sins of his father." Apollo mumbled and shrugged with his shoulders.
There was nothing to say to this.
Esme nearly collapsed into mine. I cradled her in my arms while heavy sobs shook her body. I brushed my hand through her hair in an attempt to comfort her.
I had the feeling that she wasn't crying for herself. The sobs that shook her delicate frame weren't the result of her fear of this man that had to go through hell and now wanted to make us pay for it but her silent tears were also for Carlisle. If he got to know why Esme was here he would blame himself.
"You know you will have to knock some sense into Carlisle once this is over." I whispered into her ear, trying to distract her a little.
She pulled away from me a tiny bit and looked puzzled at me.
"They say like father like son but it also goes the other way around." I smiled at her. I hoped she understood the meaning luckily she did. A few seconds later a strangled laugh pushed itself out her of throat and she slowly composed herself as good as she could before she nodded.
"He wasn't always like this." I heard Apollo say after a while.
"Hmm?" I looked quizzically at him.
"He turned me about two hundred years ago. Back then he didn't remember anything about his human life. We were all reasonably happy," Apollo looked sad remembering the past.
"Then about thirty years ago," he spoke again after a while, "he started to remember. I don't know what happened." Apollo shook his head.
"He was gone for a few days and when he came back he," he looked into my eyes and I saw the pain and misery swimming in them. Despite what Lear had done to him and his coven, Lear's former coven, at one point in time he was his friend. Maybe even his brother? I could see it in his black depths, somewhere deep down Apollo still felt a spark of loyalty for Lear, his sire, his teacher, his companion, his friend...…
He knew the ugly truth and Lear's intension and I think that he also knew that there was nothing that could stop Lear but he still had a hard time giving up on him. Despite all Lear had done to him and the others he couldn't hate him and it hurt Apollo to see his friend in such a miserable and hopeless condition.
"He wasn't the same anymore. Lear always pushed his ability, the mind control further, always further. It was never good enough for him," Apollo shook his head sadly and disapprovingly before he sighed and continued, "...and then he eventually found a way to remember his past, to get those buried memories back."
"The human memories don't disappear into nothing but are getting buried deep down in our Vampire minds. He was able to burry our memories out no matter how much time had passed and how much we forgot of our human life's." He sighed.
"If only he hadn't succeeded."
"But if he can control all your minds w…" I was about to say except of yours but stopped myself. I wasn't quite sure …..Lear's ability was rather complex. To even attempt to want to understand it with a half human mind was ridiculous.
I wasn't quite sure but it could have been that he was able to see and hear everything that was going on here through the minds of the newborns that he was controlling. I knew that he was powerful but even Eleazar's ability didn't give me all the answers.
The power Lear possessed sent and ice cold chill down my spine.
"W-why ahhhmm....isn't he using it on you?" It was better not to give away that I also had a few abilities on my own, though I only had real control over the fire. The other abilities were too difficult to control. My mind didn't have the capability to use them fully yet.
"He did try but I'm a shield I can block him."
"And we didn't want to be his spine-less slaves." Eros spoke up with fire in his voice.
His eyes were blazing with wildness, yep a true Latino freedom loving and determinate. There also were traces of a fierce temper. Not matter how destroyed and starved his body was his will was strong I could see it in his eyes.
"So you can extend your shield to them?" I pointed at the Vampires behind him.
"It is more like I can build a link to their minds and shield everyone separately." Apollo shrugged.
"Oh," I wondered if I would also be able to do that once I was a Vampire. That was if I had the chance to become one because right then it didn't look like it.
"Once we told Lear that we wouldn't follow him. He didn't even try anymore but said that we would regret our choice." Eros filled the blanks.
"And the other three? If I understood that correctly they were also part of your coven just like Lear had been."
The ones that had been looking at me and Esme let their heads fall at my question and Apollo shook his head while a sad sigh left his mouth.
When he looked up at me again and opened his mouth to speak we heard a car drive up the runway outside.
"More hostages?" Apollo shrugged.
I couldn't help but wonder where he got the energy from to even talk. His body looked so destroyed, starved and worn down it made my heart ache that a being could be brought into such a inhuman condition.
The metal gates were opened and Helen Mischa's twin sister stepped into the hangar behind her a huge dark metal box was being rolled inside.
"Oh god!" Apollo suddenly moaned.
"No!" Eros and Blake exclaimed horrified.
"Nestor. Laysander. Please." Penelope whispered.
"No, not this," she was shaking her head begging with her eyes.
"What?!" I asked confused, looking at all of them.
I had no idea what was going on. Esme was just as confused as I was but one thing was for sure. Whatever was in that metal box was scaring the living daylight out of the Vampires in front of us.
Could there be something worse then a huge army of newborn Vampires?
"This is insane. Helen, why are you doing this?" Mischa cried, looking with pleading eyes at her twin sister.
Helen only threw a disgusted look at her sister.
"Helen please! Lear wants to destroy the whole word. Why? Helen!" Mischa choked out sobbing.
"Why?!" Helen shouted with fury in her eyes.
"You actually ask me why?" She was becoming out raged.
"Did you forget what they done to us?" Helen growled murderously.
"They came into our home and slaughtered our family. Our parents and our sisters and brothers. How can you forget what those humans," she spat that word with disgust, "done?"
Helen looked like a demon out of hell. Her whole body was shaking with rage, her fists were tightly clenched at her sides and her face was twisted in anger and betrayal. It seemed like she would close the distance between her and her sister any second and strangle Mischa.
"It was Lear who found us and gave us this second chance. A chance for revenge. That's all I want." She stated with a dead serious expression on her face.
"I won't let anyone get in the way of that. Not even you." Her blazing red eyes looked into space for a few moments before they refocused on Mischa again.
"Man kind will pay for what it had taken from me." Helen declared and turned around, returning to the side of the males who where next to the black box.
"He found it." Chronos said in a defeated sounding voice.
The three of them were gazing cockily and smug at Apollo and his coven. Looking at the three of them I asked myself what happened that took them this far.
Were they under Lear's influence or was it their own motivation to destroy everything?
"Let's go we've got a job to do." The lean male, Lysander, who had captured me in the shop, said to what the others nodded and followed him outside.
Esme and I looked worried at each other. I glanced back at the metal container wondering what was inside.
"She wasn't always like this."
"What?!" Esme and I asked at the same time.
"My sister." Mischa said.
"She was a happy person. She always had a smile on her face." She murmured remembering the past.
"Before.... Before it happened she was nice and kind and lovely and she had such a big heart. She was in love with a body who worked on our father's property." The blond vampire shook her head sadly.
"A friend of our father, he was also a landlord, our family was rich by the standards back then, he fell in love with Helen. He wanted to marry Helen after his wife had died giving birth to his 5th child. He was already over forty and Helen just turned seventeen of course she didn't want to marry him." She choked down a sob.
"He was angry and threatened us. Our father was a good man, unlike many other men in that time. He loved us he didn't want Helen to be unhappy. One night then….." Her voice died down and she closed her eyes.
"He and his men came into our house at night and they killed them all We heard the screams of our parents and siblings before they," she nearly chocked on her words. I wanted to tell her that she didn't need to continue but she was already talking again.
"And then he…..and he. He took her..... and then left her, like a piece of trash….. he let her lying there after it was done."
The others looked at the ground. Esme pulled me closer into her embrace and sobbed quietly while Mischa told us her and Helen's story.
"I was barely alive but I saw and heard it all....after that they lit our house on fire and just left." She looked at us with a sad smile on her face and her eyes were shining with tears that could never fall.
I felt unbelievably sorry for her and Helen, especially for Helen. I couldn't imagine how it must have been for her, having to go through all of that.
"I though that we would get burned alive. Helen just lye there on her bed not moving, not uttering a sound as the flames ate their way into our room." She was rocking herself back and forth.
"I was screaming I didn't even realize it that I did. The screams were escaping my mouth and I didn't realize it. Lear heard me and he ran into our burning house getting Helen and me out of there." She paused again.
"Lear turned us but Helen didn't forget. She didn't let the fire of the chance erase her memories of what happened that night. She was never the same again." Mischa looked at Esme and me with pleading eyes.
"Please she isn't a bad person. She just went through so much. After that night something broke inside her and I wasn't able to fix it. She was damaged from then on and it never got better. With the years it only got worse." Mischa was heavily sobbing now.
Despite whatever her sister had put her through Mischa still loved her but a look in her eyes told me that she had lost all hope that there was any help for Helen.
I glanced at Esme and she nodded at me. We both gave her a small smile. I could see that Esme felt great sympathy for Mischa and even for Helen, so did I.
Her fate was similar to the one Rose had suffered. It made me think how Rose would have fared if Emmett didn't step into her life. Rose can never forget what had been done to her but with Emmett by her side who loves her above all and everything it makes life a little bit brighter for her.
After Mischa told us her story we all sat there in silence and random thoughts were shooting through my mind. No matter how I thought about it I couldn't imagine a situation were I would want to destroy the whole planet because of what happened to me.
How would I react if I lost my Edward?
I asked myself that question even though only thinking it made me cringe and my heart was painfully clenched together in my chest.
I would sure as hell make the ones responsible pay. I may be all nice and peace seeking but god help the poor soul that dares to wrong me that much that it actually hurts me. I am aware of the fact that I do have the capability of turning into a revenge angle out of hell.
But destroying everything because of that?
I shook my head not wanting to be in that dark area anymore. My eyes sought out the heavy, black metal container out again.
"What is in that container?" I asked curiously.
As I looked at Apollo he looked wary and scared. The other had the same fear and defeat in their eyes as their leader.
"Why are you all freaking out about it?"
Esme's interest was also sparkled at my questions.
Apollo sighed heavily and his shoulders slumped together.
"In there is, most likely, Lyzard."
"Never heard of that name," I shook my head, "Esme?" I looked at her.
"Me neither," she shrugged.
"It is a very old Russian legend...….it is all my fault if only I had never found that book." Apollo shook his head angry at himself.
"It is not your fault Apollo none could have known." Tristan stated firmly as he put his hand on Apollo's shoulder.
Esme and I waited patiently for him to continue.
"The book had been put together out of old tales that were given from one generation to the other. There was one legend of wild dogs, wolfs, had been going crazy near a village, it was located somewhere in England long before that country had that name."
Another legend about Werewolves. Maybe he surprises me with something new because I had heard every legend there was by now either from Jasper, Carlisle or Emmett, though I think that some of Emmett's weren't real but he only wanted to scare me.
The girl that lives with Vampires and kicks Werewolf butts in her free time shall be scared of some legends. Fat chance.
"The legend says that the dogs suddenly all had red eyes and were behaving very aggressive attacking everything that moved. Many people died during such attacks. The men of the village gathered together and went out to kill the dogs. Everyone who got attack by such a wolf died ever fast none every survived the attack." Apollo paused.
"Until one day they had killed nearly all of them but one huge dog that looked more like a wolf. He was the biggest and the strongest of them all and his eyes weren't red like the ones of the other wolfs but violet."
I had never heard that tale before.
"The men hunted for that one several days until finally the strongest hunter found the wolf's trace and followed it. Other men were with him and together they attacked the last dog." He paused again.
"All the other men but the one hunter died. Everything had seemed to be alright again but some time later the hunter behaved weirdly. The tale tells that he was growing and he was becoming stronger and there were incidences were animal carcases were found torn to pieces." Apollo looked directly into my eyes.
"The hunter had the name Lyzard and it was said that in one night the entire village had been erased by some kind of animal that killed every living being there. But as the ones that saw what happened came back with help there was not a single corps to be found. Blood and destruction was everywhere but no corpses."
"Does that mean you are trying to tell that in that box is...something like... the first Werewolf?"
"Yes," Apollo agreed grimly.
"And what is so dangerous about him that you are so scared?"
I assumed that there had to be more to it then the story led on or why would they reacted as if the world ended the second they saw the container?
"There is a second part to the legend." Eros continued.
"Go on." I urged.
"He had built his own powerful clan and for some years he ruled over his own kingdom but at some point the killings had become all he ever cared about." Eros sighed heavily.
"The more the bloodlust hazed his mind the more dangerous his beasts became. While the first ones that he created still were able to think probably and were capable of making rational decisions, the others were wild, aggressive and uncontrollable, driven by a bloodlust that rivalled his own."
"At some point the kill became everything to Lyzard and his creatures that went by the description Werewolf. They only killed and created more of those creatures not because they were hungry but because that had become their only purpose in life, the kill, the bloodlust, the destruction." Dominic took over.
"The beasts were nearly unstoppable. They didn't feel any pain. Even when someone tore out a limb of their body they went on as if nothing happened. They were going solidly on instinct."
"The two-legged one's, the Lycan's, decided that this couldn't continue. They sought help from a coven of Vampires the government that existed before the Volturi and together they fought against Lyzard and his army. After a long time of fighting where every party involved lost many people they managed to kill the beasts in the end but the Lycan's didn't dare to kill Lyzard. They were afraid that if they killed him they would also die, since he was the first, the beginning." Isaac told us.
The next one to speak was Penelope.
"They starved him and put him into an iron coffin hiding somewhere were none was to find him, lying to the Vampires that been left that they had killed him. He is starved and weak for now that's why he can't get out of that iron coffin but if he gets blood…."
"So there are not only three hundred newborns but also a crazy Werewolf to deal with and I didn't even bring my gun. Oh my!" I sighed in black humour that was looking peachy, not much.