Purple Sky by A. Teller (unputdownable books .TXT) 📕

“Alice, who was there? Was it just Jasper?” I asked slowly. She shook were head swiftly.

“What did they look like?” I asked.

“She…had…red hair and eyes. And…and she was…smiling right…at me,” Alice choked out. Her voice was cracking. It was as though someone was invisibly strangling her.

“Kila,” I whispered.

Alice lurched up. “You know her?” she asked. Her voice was stronger now. Her eyes went from dull and lifeless, to bright and almost smoldering at me. Like I’d betrayed her…

“She attacked me... I know who she is,” I informed Alice. I restrained my voice when I noted the small amount of hostility. I suddenly felt like I really had venom-coated teeth, and my words were meaner then I intended them to be. Alice was in too much pain for me to be cruel to her.

Alice‘s eyes dulled down, and I moved closer to her. Comforting was a strong suit, I‘ll admit that. Her eyes were empty. My best friend was gone, replaced by a hollow look-alike. “Ness, don’t get hurt,” she whispered. Her songbird voice was gone.

I nodded, silently hugged her, and walked out to Jacob. She was so petrified for Jasper; she couldn’t even hug me back. I ran to Jake, who was waiting. I couldn’t tell who he was waiting for, me or someone else. He was staring into the forest, trying to hear beyond the trees. Nothing. I walked up, feeling defeated even though nothing had challenged me. Jake was concerned, but he kept quiet. I hoped on his back, and we were off. Sure, I could be running. But me and Jake had special bonding times. Even if they were short. I remember being a kid and riding on his back almost everywhere, just because I wanted to. Being so close to Jake in his wolf form made me feel like I was part of both his worlds.

I felt his russet fur under my fingers. I could feel his tense muscles underneath the fur, which stretched back and forth, as he ran. He followed Bella and Edward’s scents carefully, making sure we stayed on course. We were behind by about two minutes, and we needed to hurry. Two minutes in normal time goes by much faster in vampire time.

We found an empty clearing. There was quite a scene waiting for us. Jasper was lying on the ground, his head resting in Bella’s lap. There was a giant pile of boulders behind them, and we could hear rustled and stumbling behind the pile. Jake let me down as I raced to Jasper. Vampires were never still, unless they were…well, I don’t want to think about it.

Bella held Jasper’s head steady. His eyes were staring, straight into the air. She looked up at me in a frown, and her eyes were silently sobbing, thought her face remained tearless. Vampires couldn’t cry. Jasper’s head was cracked from the top to the side of his forehead. It was healing slowly. The only way to injure a vampire is by hitting them so hard their skin cracks like stone. When it happens, the vampire is paralyzed, unable to move until the crack healed. This process could take minutes, or hours. As we stared down at Jasper, paralyzed, Bella took my shoulder.

“Help Edward,” she whispered. I couldn’t tell if it was an order, or a cry for Edward.

Suddenly, a boulder tipped over. Something from the other side of it had knocked it down from the pile. I stood up, punching the boulder into pieces seconds before it hit us. Jacob had run around the pile of rocks that was still hiding the violent scene. I heard an “Uff!” from Edward, and I feared he was hurt. I ran over the boulders faster than I’ve ever tried. Jake was suddenly smacked in the muzzle as I came, flying passed the rocks to the ground. I landed with a loud thud, but unharmed, fuming.

And there she was. Kila, just as I’d suspected. She stood with her arm in the air. She had pushed Jacob too easily to care about his existence. But he just snarled, and his padded paws thudded on the ground as he rose. He bolted, running for her throat. Edward was trying to grab her face, but she kept shoving him yards away. Like he was a simple human. That’s when I saw her eyes. Bright red. Too red to be an older vampire. Even those who drink human blood have more dark red eyes then bright red. She had to be a newborn. Especially with the way she fought so easily. Her newborn strength surpassed all of us.

I was done. I was done with this vampire who continued to haunt me like a ghost. She had gone too far, attacking my family. My Jacob. And why? To know what I was? To try and destroy a whole coven, eight (and a half) strong? She was overestimating herself. Even one vampire couldn’t destroy all of us. We’d proved that so many times. And you wouldn’t need to prove that to someone who had common sense. But to a girl with no hope, with no mate or family or home, I suppose being killed by a coven is better than going all the way to Voltara, just to be denied the death you begged for.

I ran up a spruce tree, climbing and clawing up the trunk. The bark seemed to strip away willingly as I climbed. It motivated me to think that Kila was standing at the top of the tree, waiting. I reached one of the top branches. I felt the tree sway a little as I crouched. I looked down to Kila. She was holding Jake’s ears back as he snapped at her face. Her expression was intense and animal-like. More than Jake, who technically was one right now. Just as she threw Jake away a sudden rumble of vibrations shook my throat. An angry growl erupted, and it felt like my eyes were suddenly snake-like, even though I didn’t have a mirror to see them. I jumped, positioning my feet to my target. Her face.

Kila looked up at the exact second I landed. My shoes hit her face. Hard. My legs and feet shook, then they ached. But I ignored the pain and landed, one leg extended, the other crouched, ready to spring in case she attacked me. But as I crouched there, I recapped. When I hit her face, I felt a pop beneath my feet. Like I caused a sidewalk crack. I looked up, still breathing heavily. Jake was lying on the ground, whining. I wanted to run to him. But I stood my ground, making sure Kila wouldn’t take another step. Edward stood defensively to Jake’s left side. I pretended it was to defend Jacob, but I knew it was just the spot he ended up in, and nothing more. Edward wouldn’t defend Jake. Jacob had to take care of himself, in Edward’s presence at least.

Kila stood where she was, but she was wide eyed and frozen. I realized what I’d left. A huge crack that trailed from her head to the bottom of her nose. She fell back, landing like a fallen marble pillar. Jake moved to his feet, ears flattened, still whining. He limped over to me as Edward cautiously moved toward the Kila’s frozen figure. Her face was trapped in the same expression as when I hit her. I fell to my knees, holding up Jacob’s paw. His paw was rough and padded, but swollen. I felt the bone delicately, moving over his wrist and toes. He winced every now and then, which gave me a better indicator of how he was hurt.

“She’s stunned. Nessie…” Edward warned. Jake shoved my face into his chest, and I held on to a tuft of his fur. The grinding, breaking sound of Kila’s joints made me grip Jake tighter. His muzzle came down over my back, trying his best to comfort me. After it was done, Edward threw a lighter onto Kila’s remains, and it ignited against her clothes. I sighed, and continued seeing about Jake’s paw. I thought his wrist was broken, but no permanent damage had taken place. Carlisle was a good teacher.

“Come on, let’s get Jasper home.”

Edward ran to Bella, but I helped Jake around the boulders. It would be painful, the ankle healing, only to have it re-broken later. His limp was heavy, but I kept him steady all the way home. We got home, the sky indicating that even though we’d only been gone a few minutes, it had to have been at least seven in the evening.. Jake phased back, but his hand was still killing him. We got Jasper, who was still frozen, inside and placed him on the couch. Alice almost burst into tearless sobbing if Esme hadn’t been there to comfort her. Carlisle assessed Jake’s hand.

I walked outside, placing my hands on the railing of the porch. I stared down the hill, across the river into the darkness. Snow covered the ground in a thin layer, and the trees were decorated with ice sickles. No matter how beautiful this scene was, I saw fire. Fire destroying the delicate ice. Fire destroying the snow lined river. But I realized that this fire only raged in my eyes. It was my eyes that were burning everything to the ground. The only thing I could think of to put out the fire was cry. I felt the freezing, almost comforting tears fall from my face. They landed in the snow, freezing instantly. My hair was twirled by the wind as I breathed heavily. Soaking in the smells of my family. Sandalwood, rosebuds, seawater, cotton. And cinnamon. How could this one girl, that was destroyed, make me reflect this way? Why had the feeling of loss suddenly flare up in me? I hadn’t lost anyone. And yet, a sudden pain overwhelmed my senses. I shivered, not knowing if it meant I was cold or if I was scared. The shake brought Bella to my side.

“Jasper’s going to be fine. He’ll be up in an hour or two.”

I nodded, trying to give my mom a glimmer of approval in her words. I couldn’t.

“But that’s not why your upset, is it?” Bella asked rhetorically.

I held my breath, contemplating my story. I didn’t even know what or why I was upset. The words what and why flashed through my head in all forms, in all sizes of font and color.

“It’s just Christmas. You know, the thankful, fuzzy feeling you get,” I implied. She looked at me, skeptical.

“I know the thankful fuzzy feeling. I felt it this morning, and this afternoon. But you don’t feel it now. Neither do I,” she assured.

“Mom,” I began, “Jasper’s going to be okay, Jake’s fine. But…why did she…” I choked, but reassembled myself. “What was her goal and why was she…” I stopped. I couldn’t even formulate words. Wherever the now dead Kila was now, it was too good for her.

“Carlisle and Jake were talking. Jake’s going to be round the clock, working with Sam. And we’re going to be watching. Alice is going to look.”

I froze.

“Mom,” I whispered. “Is there more?”

“Jacob didn’t tell you. He didn’t want to scare you.” She looked out into the frozen, quiet night, trying not to mean my gaze of anger. She was smart. My eyes burned. Jacob didn’t tell me?

“What?” I hissed, trying not to set my tough on fire.

“Jacob’s pack caught at least three different scents on their patrol. They chased at least three vampires off their land.”

I suddenly found myself thinking of Seth. Of how he had been hurt. My eyes practically bulged out of my head when the thought came to me. Was Kila involved in Seth’s attack? I sucked my eyes back in, looking to Bella to see if she had seen. She was looking into the darkness.

“Three,” I choked.

“Two males, one female. Red hair…” Bella shuddered at those last words. “They keep coming back. We don’t know