Second Hope (Jacob Black) [2]

10. Megan

~Jazmine~

"Dead?" I breathe looking up at my Aunt, her eyes bloodshot and puffy. She nods, I run a hand through my hair. I hold myesl up with my hands and close my eyes. "It was Christopher or Gerard." I state.

"It was both." Kolon whispers. My eyes snap toward my cousin.

"You were there?" I walk and stand in front of him placing a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be okay. I'm ending this as soon as I can." I glance at the other hunters. More had came at the news of Megan's death, many more. I glance at the wolf standing with his arms crossed. I gently pat Kolon's shoulder and walk back to where I was before walking to comfort the boy. "And a warning for any of you who decide to go against my orders; I will not hesitate to end you. Even though I need the numbers right now, it won't change my mind any." I pause. "Now we need to focus on the task at hand, there's an army of newborn vampires coming here, and we need to be prepared. Normally it wouldn't affect us, but apparently I'm still a priority target, along with a teenage girl, who has no respect for mortality, but none the less is still human and is still protected by code."

"I still don't see why the wolf is here." A man with a thick French accent speaks.

"That wolf just so happens to be the only thing that's managed to keep me from dying." I lightly growl. The man nods. "Anyways, training is going to be more often and harder. A lot harder. Newborns aren't like normal vampires, they're younger and they still have human blood in their tissue. They're also stronger and faster, more unpredictable than one of at least a year. If you do end up in hand to hand with one, never let them get their arms around you, because they won't hesitate to crush you. So if you like your entrails being inside of your body, avoid contact with the newborns."

"How do you kill them if you have to try to avoid hand to hand?" A girl about my age asks. Strawberry blonde hair falling to her waist, green blue eyes. Pale skin, not a lot of makeup but bold lips.

"The same way you'd kill a deer. Shoot it." I reply. "Bullets or arrows will work as long as they're infused with vervein."

"And if they're not?" A woman asks from the corner.

"They won't die, but you will." I state.

• • •

I close my eyes and roll over against Jacob, his warmth surrounding my body. I lightly hum before drifting off. His warmth continues to surround me, keeping me from slipping to far into oblivion. A slight smile forms on my face.

I roll over and slowly open my eyes expecting to see the bed, but forest floor meets my eyes. My daggers strapped to my thigh and a bow with a full quiver laying beside me. I get onto my knees and grab the bow and quiver throwing them over my shoulder. I start walking, trying to find my way back to Billy's.

"Brooke." A very familiar voice says. I whip around. "Brooke?"

"Mom?" I ask looking around more. I shake my head and keep walking, she's dead, I'm not really hearing her.

"Brooke?" Mom calls again. I look around. "Brooke!" I stop walking and listen carefully. I hear twigs snap and I nock an arrow. I spin around and draw it back. She appears in the air clawing at the air, coming toward me screaming. I step back, my eyes filling with tears. It doesn't stop. I fire the arrow and step back again. It misses her and I step back again. She continues to claw her way toward me. I whimper and take another step back. Her voice gets shriller every inch she gets closer. A single tears slips over and I draw back another arrow. I fire and it misses again. I continue moving backward and nock another. She continues clawing and I fire again. It nicks her arm and her screams become brutal. I trip and fall onto my back and try to scramble to my feet before she grabs my leg.

I shoot up from the bed eyes wet with tears and gasping for a breath. Jake sits up and places a hand on my back. I catch my breath and silent tears slide down my face.

"What did you see?" Jake asks softly. I shake my head and bury my face into my knees. "It's okay, it's okay." He rubs my back gently and I force the tears from falling.

"It was Mom, I was in the woods, she was calling my name. When I looked to see who it was, she wasn't even on the ground, but she was clawing through the air toward me, her head was whipping around and she was screaming. No words, just screaming. I kept firing arrows and all of them missed, one nicked her, but it didn't do anything but make the noise worse. I tripped and I couldn't get back up. She grabbed my ankle and started to drag me off." I explain.

"Is that when you woke up?" He asks. I nod.

"Yeah." I whisper.

"Come here." I gently slide back and he wraps his arms around me and presses his lips against my forehead. I close my eyes and take in his scent. I try to stay awake but his warmth slowly lulls me to sleep.