by Eryn Ryans
Somewhere during Dakota’s droning on and on about what he wanted to have done, I started thinking that Aaric and I were really going to be the ones leading the charge, so why weren’t we the ones coming up with the plan. I also felt that if the Vampires were doing as much damage as Dakota was saying they were doing then yes, we needed to do something about them, but ruling the area, not so much.
My mother nudged my side which brought me out of my thoughts only for me to notice that everyone had stood up and was now staring down at me. I quickly stood up apologizing. My mother, Kane, Aaric and I said our goodbyes to Dakota and then went back to our Pack Cabin.
While we walked back, Kane said, “You two need to get to work figuring out our Pack’s plan of attack. The rest who have agreed to help us will fall in according to what the two of you come with.” I was surprised that he had said what I had just been thinking only minutes earlier.
“Oh, okay,” I said looking at Aaric.
“We do need to be getting back to the ‘rents’ we both maybe 18 now, but technically we still live there. I also want to talk to Allysonn about something.” he said to everyone and then smiled at me. I was surprised about this question he wanted to ask but didn’t say anything. We said our goodbyes to my mother and Kayne as we got back to the pack cabin and started walking back towards the house we share with my foster family. We were both quiet for a bit. I was not sure what he wanted to talk about and completely not sure where to start in coming up with a plan of attack against the vampires. Aaric then said, “a lot has happened in the short few months since you moved in with us.”
I smiled and chuckled. “That might be the biggest understatement of the year Aaric, but you are right it has, and I am still trying to wrap my head around it all, to be honest.”
He shook his head in understanding. “I totally understand that I just wanted to let you know that I have grown to care for you a great deal and am so glad that you came into my life when you did.” I couldn’t help but smile at what he said.
“I feel the same way about you, and can’t imagine my life without you now,” I said in response.
He stopped at my words. When I stopped as well, he pulled me to him and gently kissed me yet again. This time I had time to react, as my arms went around his neck, pulling him closer to me and I returned the kiss with a bit more fervor than his initial kiss. When we came up for a breath, we tilted our foreheads against one anothers, our breaths coming in ragged and fast.
“Aaric, I don’t know what I am feeling, as I have never felt it before, and I am so totally sure this is not the time for feelings such as this, but I do not want to lose this feeling or you.” His response was to kiss me yet again, deeper and longer than before. No more words were needed that night, as everything that needed to be said between the two of us was said in that one kiss!
The next few days Aaric and I spent as much time with each other as we could. Our secret spot was by the rushing waterfall where I had sprained my ankle a few months prior. On one of our rendezvous Aaric had been so sweet, he had made me a ring out of wild pink orchids and had gotten down on one knee and proposed to me. I was so surprised but said yes anyway. We both agreed to wait, however. I put the ring on my necklace and wear it near my heart.
We had finally gotten word that the Vampires were approaching, so we all set out to take our places. Aaric and I were in the front. He and I had decided that none of us would transform into our wolf form unless we absolutely had to.
We stationed everyone in the wooded area around another clearing just on the outskirts of town. We had determined this area was safer because of the area of sight that we had from the wooded areas around the clearing. The town of Sage Hollow was behind us approximately four miles and if any vampires did make it through our ranks, we had wolves stationed throughout the woods to stop them.
We didn’t have to wait long before the caught sight of the first of the Vampires. Aaric gave the word to attack and off we went. My training kicked in instinctively as soon as I encountered my first Vampire. She looked like a normal human being except for the red eyes and the fangs, and the abnormal speed. Once I ripped off her head, I went towards my second vampire, this one a younger male. Before long, I gave the word to transform and did so myself. All around me werewolves started bursting forth, killing any Vampire that chose to come at us.
Amongst the chaos, however, I was soon spotted a Vampire that seemed familiar to me. While I continued to attack other Vampires around me, I started inching closer to him. I chose to kill vampires that would get me closer to him. When I got close enough to look into his eyes. I just stopped dead in my tracks. We locked eyes, and I was hit with a surprise.
The eyes were redder than I remember them ever being, but there was no mistaking who those eyes belonged to. He had gotten a whole lot stronger and faster than I remember him ever being as well. He also looked as though he had been working out daily. I felt as if I was stuck where I was, thinking that there was no way that this Vampire was who I thought it was, even though everything I saw in his eyes proved otherwise.
After what seemed like forever, his name crept into my mind. The vampire stopped lurching forward towards the wolf he was going after as if he had heard his name echoed from my mind. He cocked his head at me as if he was trying to figure out how he had heard his name. I quickly transformed back into my human form. There I stood before him, hoping he would recognize me. We stood there for so long I didn’t know if I was imagining things. I then took the first tentative steps toward him, reaching out for him.
“Sam, it’s me Allysonn. Please tell me you recognize me.” Somewhere to the left of us, I heard another male Vampire growl at us. When I looked toward the vampire, I recognized Sam’s Father. I could only think to myself, “How could I have not known they were all vampires?” I looked back to Sam again and said.
“Sam, say something please.” We stood there once again for what seemed like forever before he finally spoke.
“Allysonn, is that really you?”
I had to chuckle, then responded, “Yes Sam, it’s me.” I took the chance to close the final distance between us. As soon as I was close enough, he pulled me into the fiercest hug. I could feel the tears that I had held in for so long finally fall.
Behind us, I heard a throat clearing, so I pulled away and looked behind me. Aaric was standing there in all his glory.
“Who is this Ally?” he asked.
“Aaric, do you remember my best friend that I had told you about. The one I had known since we were little?” I asked. He just shook his head, yes, but his eyes were locked with Sam’s. “Aaric this is him. This is Sam. Sam this is Aaric. He along with myself are the Alpha’s of our Pack.”
While I introduced the two of them, we were surrounded by vampires and wolves alike. I looked around at the scene around me and started laughing. Aaric just looked at me as if I had gone crazy. “I’m okay, just laughing at the sight we all bring,” I said with a smile.
Sam was quiet for the longest time after he had pulled me into the hug.
“Ally, why did you not contact me after you left? The night of the fire at your house, you just disappeared.” I looked at him surprised at what he said.
“Sam, I did try to contact you. I sent several letters that all got returned to me unopened.” He stared at me wide-eyed.
“I never received any letters…” he stated calmly, then his eyes narrowed, and he turned around to look behind him. When I followed his gaze, I saw that his mother had come up to stand behind him. “Mother do you know anything about these letters that Ally said she sent me?” He asked her so quietly that I wasn’t sure even I had heard him right. I just looked at her waiting for her to respond.
“Sam, now you have to understand that she just up and left without a goodbye, she was supposed to be your best friend, but didn’t have the decency to tell you she had to leave,” she said finally.
“Mother that is not what I asked you,” he responded, the anger in his v
oice scared me a bit.
She sighed and then said, “Yes Sam I sent them back labeled Return to Sender.”
He growled so loud, that I took several steps back from him. “Mother we will discuss this at home.” He then turned back to me and said, “Ally, I can assure that my coven will never bother you or your pack again. I believe I have been lied to and I am so sorry we attacked you.”
I looked up to Aaric, before saying, “It’s okay Sam, and thank you.” Sam gave the order for them to leave.
“Sam, you can’t possibly mean that we have to leave without finishing the mission we came here to complete” his father yelled at him.
“Yes, I do father. You put me in charge of this mission remember. It is my order that we go home. Ally, and her Pack have done nothing to us, and I will not hurt her or them and neither will any of you. If you do, I will have no choice but to kill you myself. Oath or no oath.” Sam replied.
“You wouldn’t dare,” his father said with fire in his eyes.
“I wouldn’t try my father, now please go home.” Sam said patiently, then turned his back on his father. His father would not stand down however and turned towards me.
“You turned my son against me and everything we believe in and I’m going to kill you,” his father said to me and then he lunged at me. Before his father could even get a finger towards me, Sam had his hand around his father’s throat and was squeezing.
“Father, I told you if you even attempted to hurt Ally or her Pack, I would have no choice but to kill you myself.” Sam said right before ripping his father’s head completely off. Off in the distance we could hear his mother’s cries.
“Once again I am very sorry Ally. My family is done hurting you. This I promise you.” He once again turned and started walking away. I stood where I was, watching the retreating Vampires. Nothing could have prepared me to have been confronted with my old Friend.
Sam hesitated. “Ally, I would love to be able to catch up sometime. That is if you have the time.” I once again looked up at Aaric, not sure how to respond as I was still new to being a wolf. He smiled down at me and shook his head stating that it was okay.
“I would like that too Sam.”
I watched him turn to leave at that moment and I wrapped my arm around Aaric’s back and watched along with everyone else until we could no longer see the last vampire.
When I had finally got back to the Pack House, I sat on the porch thinking about the events of the day. Yes, I was sore, and tired, but I was also amped up and totally filled awe at what we had accomplished. The rest of the Pack was inside talking amicably about the war we just fought and the fact that we had won. I heard footsteps come up behind me, and then Aaric was sitting down on the stairs next to me.
“You did good today Ally,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you, I don’t think I did all that much,” I responded back. The truth was it was a mutual decision to stop fighting. I didn’t want to take all the credit.
“No, you did well. You kept your cool, even when faced with an enemy who turned out to be an Old Friend. Not everyone could have done that.” Aaric said.
“Thank you. It was just such a shock to see him after all this time.”
“When do you think you will see him again?” he asked me.
“I’m not sure. I am still getting used to the fact that I am not only a wolf, but an Alpha, when only a few months ago I was what other people could say was a normal eighteen-year-old teenager. Now just a few hours ago I find out that my best friend is a vampire to boot is a lot to take in.”
He had the decency to laugh, “Yeah I would agree with you there.” We sat there on the steps of the porch until the light faded in the sky then went in to join the rest of the Pack.
It has been a month since we fought the vampires and I had come face to face with the one person I thought I would never see again, my best friend Sam, who is a vampire now.
Sam and I have not had a chance to get together yet, but we have begun to write letters back and forth to each other. Aaric and I have been able to work together with Sam to create a treaty where the Phoenix Warriors and the Tempest Dragons would work together to ensure the safety of both Ashborne and Sage Hollow and the territory between the two towns were safe from enemies and evils that would choose to come after any of us.
Sam and I have decided that we need to sit down and talk about what has happened since that fateful day when my house burned down. It turns out my life was not the only one that has changed. His did too. In ways that neither of us knew would when he came and sat down next to me when we were both in first grade.
Aaric and I, well we are still Alphas together and are both looking forward to what comes next. Who knows what life has in store for us!
The End