MAEVE

Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

The ride was quite long, but it was not bad at all. The seats were comfortable, and there was a lot of space, in_fact the car smelt of money and real leather. Music was throbbing gently from an unseen stereo, and the whole atmosphere was lulling me to sleep.

I kept stealing looks at my friends, but to my surprise they were all relaxed with the exception of Dante. Ashton even looked eager as he bounced his legs repeatedly, with a gleam in his eyes.

I turned to Elijah, he was looking out of the window but his eyes were closed and posture relaxed. I however, could not relax.

Staying with Vampires had been scary enough "okay not really" but I was not ready to see more of the unknown world. I mean "werewolves?" While I was a die hard werewolf fan, I was not exactly looking forward to seeing them in person.

"Would you stop already,"  A low voice drawled, startling me. I turned to the source and met Elijah's knowing gaze.

"Umm excuse me?" I asked, shocked that he could open his mouth without being forced to. He simply raised a brow.

"Are you over thinking things again?" He asked gently, and I nodded, expecting some sympathy. " Ha! I knew I smelt burnt rubber," He scoffed, and my mouth dropped open in outrage. Burnt rubber? I was so pissed I forgot all about my fear.

"Oh excuse me, I am sorry if my thinking bothers you. But you were not the one who had to move away from everything you had ever known, just to land yourself in a freaking war_zone!" I shouted, completely irrational in my anger.

"I see. But then if you are so scared, why are you still here?" He asked me, black eyes peering into mine.

"I was going to leave, you stopped me remember?" I asked again, my face scrunched up in a frown. He simply gave a low chuckle.

"I did not stop you because I wanted you to stay, I stopped you because it was midnight and you were being irrational, you could have insisted on leaving the next day," He smirked, and I grew even angrier because he made perfect sense.

"And today? Why did you all insist on bringing me along?" I asked snappishly. His lips twitched.

"We gave you our reasons, but if you wanted you had the right to say no and stay behind, but you didn't. Here you are," He told me, and I grew silent. There was nothing more i could say.

"You find our world, the unknown world, exciting. Admit it," He persuaded in a low tone, and I almost did, but caught myself in time.

"Never!"  I scoffed and folded my arms, turning my face to the window. To my surprise, we were already in a kind of town.

This place seemed so disconnected from the city that I immediately turned to Elijah.

"Is this it? The wolves, do they live here?" I asked with something akin to excitement in my voice. He simply nodded, and I turned to the rest.

"Are we really here? In a wolf pack?" I asked again, and they all nodded this time.

"Wow, I was expecting a Bayou or something," I muttered to myself, and Ashton nodded.

"I know. Like, they are animals, they should be in the woods or something," He sneered, contempt written all over his face. I cleared my throat at the double standards.

The limo we rode in stuck out like a sore thumb. It was probably the most extravagant thing in this town, and as we rode through haphazardly people leapt out of the way and stared after the car with feral expressions.

"Umm, doesn't seem like they are very fond of our presence here," I remarked, turning back to my friends. Bob laughed.

"Of course, they hate us," He said, and they all laughed.

"Seems like the feeling is mutual though," I observed again, and they grinned with nods.

"Absolutely! I mean, I hate hating people, but they are an exception, it's kinda biological," Noah explained, just as the driver pulled up in front of a building with O'Donnells  written in large letters with little glowing amber lights at the front.

We all piled down, and Elijah moved to whisper a few words to the new driver who nodded and rolled up his windows. They all formed a kind of semi wall around me, shielding me from view with the exception of Elijah, who leaned against the haphazardly packed limo with his hands in the pockets of his leather coat, looking like a million bucks.

"Come out Jaxon, we need to talk," Elijah called, his voice seeming to echo around the small town. The music in the small bar stopped, and there was some shuffling inside before a voice rang out.

"Your kind are not welcome here!" The voice shouted back, the contempt loud and clear. I scoffed silently how original.

"Fucking mutts," I heard Ashton curse. Elijah turned and nodded as if passing some secret message to Ashton who turned to me.

"Its time. We need you to go in there and invite us in," He ordered, and I stepped back slowly as realization dawned on me.

"Hell no! No way! This is the reason y'all brought me here, isn't it? Knowing what you are getting into my ass," I micmicked with a scoff Ashton gritted his teeth.

"Listen. Those assholes have done enough damage without paying for it, and for centuries they have been getting away with it," He gritted and I flinched back before he stopped and rubbed his palms over his face. Noah took over.

"They did somethings recently that hurt children, this village is their fortress. We are stronger and faster, but we have one weakness," He said before I interrupted.

"You can not get in without an invite, so they hid behind their walls,"  I muttered angrily, and he nodded, golden eyes sincere.

"And by some miracle a human enrolled in when we needed one the most," He ended, and I was almost convinced. Was I risking my neck? Well yes. Did it go against everything I believed? Still yes. Was I doing it anyways? Hell yeah.

I took the long way so they would not see me coming, and moved forward. Elijah caught my arm before I could go in.

"Invite us in as quickly as you can," He urged, and I nodded.

Slowly I moved forward, and stopped right outside the door before taking a deep breath and then pushed in. I left the doors wide open as I entered, and all eyes immediately turned to me.

"Who are you?" The guy who seemed to be at the middle of it all asked as he moved forward.

The bar had blackouts and would have been completely dark but for the muted red lights around. The whole place smelled of booze, bad intentions, and testosterone.

"Vampires are right outside, how did a human get past them?" One bald guy at the far end asked, watching me with intense eyes. I tried to open my mouth to speak but fear had sown my lips shut, the only thing I could manage was a tremble at best.

"Forget that, how did a human find his way here?" Another asked. They were all standing now and I just shook my head in denial. I kept trying to speak.

"A vampire and a human. A most unlikely pair," One with glasses and a drink in his hands mused, a knowing and cunning smile on his thin mocking lips.

The alpha looking guy's eyes widened as he looked at me, a new kind of fear and intense anger in his eyes.

"Unless they came together," He gritted through clenched teeth. The urgency I felt at that moment was indescribable, it was accompanied by a dizzying rush of adrenaline that finally pumped blood to that part of my brain paralyzed by fear, and it got me moving.

I whirled around and faced the door, Elijah was at the front with intense eyes, and clenched hands. The rest were all behind him as they shouted for me to speak, their voices melded together and faded away slowly. Noah had a baseball bat resting casually on his shoulders, and his body poised for fight.

"Come in," I managed to say before the guy reached me and flung me so hard that I crashed into the bar cabinet. It shattered on impact, and so did my spine.

Various bottles and drinks landed on me, the different colors melding into an ominous rainbow as I laid, sprawled on broken glass.