Twilight

Chapter Seven

We were up at five and down into the woods at about seven, an hour before the hiking parties would leave for the woods. The whole time, Rigan and I jumped swiftly from tree to tree, scanning the ground below for any signs of foreign looking people, especially one with shockingly red hair.

We were still waiting for an hour before something occured. Right beneath Rigan's tree ran the redheaded female, Victoria, soon followed by James and Laurent. They had not noticed us but we stayed still until they were a little further away from us, which is when we followed in hot pursuit; amazingly enough, we were able to keep up with them.

Bella, on the ground. We can't do anything from up in trees.

I nodded to Rigan and we jumped from our branches like leopards and then went down the short cut to the clearing where the hiking parties were going to meet before setting off into the wilderness completely. That was where the coven of three was going to strike; the woods were like a maze if you didn't know them pretty well.

Rigan and I hid behind a huge boulder; James, Laurent and Victoria were hidding up in trees right above the groups. When they split up to head down the tracks, the three Cold Ones jumped from their hiding spots and, I guessed by their body language, they were getting ready to hunt. 

Not yet, Rigan said, using the telepathy thing again. We need to be sure of what they are going to do. It's always a risk to attack a large group.

The Cold Ones ran down the middle track; the one that had been taken by the group of four, which had been the smallest group. They took off; Rigan and I waited for a minute before following in hot pursuit. 

James sprung into the air like a deadly arrow and landed on the ground in front of the guide and three hikers. All of them looked rather surprised.

"Excuse me please," the guide said.

"Sorry. Don't want to," James answered as Victoria and Laurent blocked the exit backwards. 

"What do you want?" the guide asked.

Victoria sighed. "Here we go again," she sneered, rolling her eyes. "Always the same questions."

Rigan and I halted a few metres away from the backs of Victoria and Laurent. When we stopped, Rigan had closed her eyes and sighed.

Almost instantaneously, the air had become more frigid than it had been. The breeze that had been present turned into billowing, merciless gales that picked up leaves and forest debris and started to throw it anywhere it could. The massive whirlwinds soon surrounded the hikers and the vampires. Rigan's eyes had opened at this point and they were the eeriest of reds that I had seen in my life. The sky darkened at an unusual pace and silver lightning flashed, illuminating the sky.

I watched as three fire-edged lightning bolts zoomed through the air and crashed upon the three Cold Ones with a vengeance, allowing the hikers to run away. As soon as she knew the hikers were gone, Rigan loosened her control on her storm, causing it to slowly fade away again. Her socket color returned to normal and so did her irises.

"Nice," I managed to say.

"I've been practising while you've been sleeping a lot," Rigan admitted. "See, the power plant not only increased our strength, speed and agility but our power as well."

The three Cold Ones turned on us, their ruby eyes burning with hate.

"You stupid Mordains!" James snarled, curling back his lips to reveal pur white teeth. "We're hungry!"

"I told you before, James, you are causing trouble here," Rigan said. "Now leave, before we turn you into ash."

"Not if you're too dead to do so," Victoria sneered and she leapt high into the air.