Redshift by Ashlynn Chantrea (free ebook reader for ipad .txt) 📕

“Not bad,” He said, smiling, “Remarkable.”

“Hardly,” I scoffed, “You’ve read the girls’ minds. They’ve never killed a human or anything else for that matter. That’s remarkable.”

“You stopped hunting with blood in the air and a live human in the room. Trust me, that’s something even the sisters would find impossible.”

They hissed at him.

“I’m not saying you’d want to.” He said defensively, “I’m saying you wouldn’t be able to stop yourselves.”

They folded their arms and glared.

“They were strong enough not to start in the first place. They have a clean record. I have two kills on my conscience.”

There were those that laughed at my use of the word conscience. There were those that looked confounded. Those with gold hued eyes had varying expressions of sympathy.

“Credit should be given where credit is due, Adam. None of us had as much self-control as you after only a week.” Edward said.

“How old are you, child?” The ancient vampire with dark hair asked.

“Twenty seven.” I replied.

“He means how long have you been a vampire.” Edward clarified.

“Edward is right, one week.”

Everyone was silent. All eyes looked my way. I could see disbelief in many eyes, and anxiety in others. I couldn’t fathom why, though. So, I wasn’t nervous and easily distractible all the time. I don’t see the cause for alarm in that. Carlisle’s family and mine seemed at ease with a subtle undertone of awe mixed in.

“It didn’t take him a week to master his self-control.” Laney bragged, “He never seemed nervous while we were with the Volturi. Nothing they did fazed him.”

“He was born middle-aged.” Hector teased.

“Won’t be long, he’ll be shaking his cane at us.” Bianca added, laughing.

Pim joined in, saying, “And calling us,”

I cut him off, “Brats? Slackers? Degenerates?”

They laughed. Everyone else was still pretty caught up in how young I was.

I accepted that how I experienced things was fundamentally different from pretty much everyone here. Given the explanation of my unusual talent, others seemed to come to that conclusion as well. I still seemed to make the ancient vampires nervous. Couldn’t imagine why, but I didn’t let their unwarranted anxiety bother me.

To satisfy Emmett’s curiosity, I spared with him once and won. He was less eager to try again. Jasper watched me closely while I fought. He declined to spar with me. Which was just as well. I didn’t really enjoy it that much anyway.

I was introduced to those I didn’t know. I found Benjamin intensely fascinating. He was kind, indulging my curiosity and showing me the extent of his powers. The triplets gravitated our way, impressed and somehow drawn to his use of the elements. They found a profound significance in his ability. I just thought it was neat.

Zafrina showed me her talent. It showed up much the same way Bianca’s did. I could see the image she projected translucent over the reality of my surroundings. Bianca and Hector came over, comparing their talents with hers. Bianca admired Zafrina’s skill and wished she didn’t have to use words to implant illusions. Zafrina was quick to point out that her illusions didn’t have a lasting effect, while Bianca could fundamentally change someone’s personality. Hector and Bianca stayed with Zafrina and her clan, Kachiri and Senna, while Laney and I moved on to mingle with the others. They seemed to become fast friends.

Alistair came down from the attic when he heard the mention of Laney’s ability. His own gift was similar in nature but not as powerful. He disappeared when Zephyr started talking to him telepathically again. I was grateful for his absence. I didn’t like the way he looked at Laney. But I still told Zephyr to leave him alone.

The sun set behind the layer of clouds and rose again without any of us taking note, except for me in the back of my mind.

As morning waned, Pim sought me out.

“They’re on the move.” He whispered, feeling the camp of talented newborns traveling.

“All together?” I asked.

“Yeah,” He replied.

“Heading south?”

He nodded.

Alice froze, her eyes far away, watching something that would soon happen. She gasped. Edward stiffened.

“He’s lost his mind!” Edward said in disbelief.

“He can’t!” Alice groaned.

“What has happened?” Carlisle asked.

“Aro made his decision.” Edward said, “He’s going to add to his army. There are hundreds of them.”

“But without Pim they’ll be lucky to find two or three that are gifted.” I said.

“He’s not looking for talent. He’s looking for numbers.” Edward responded.

“Even with our talents, there’s no way we’ll be able to take on hundreds of newborns. They’ll slaughter us.” Jasper whispered.

“How soon?” I asked.

“No way to know for sure.” Alice answered, “Maybe a week.”

“He’s moving the gifted ones to Voltura now. He’ll probably send out his older ones to get more recruits once the gifted ones are safely in the Volturi stronghold.” I muttered, thinking out loud.

“It will be several hours before they get there.” Pim said.

“All right, we hunt now, power up and then as soon as the recruits are there, we begin our strike on Voltura.” I said.

“Are you sure that will work?” Bella asked, “Shouldn’t we go now and wait for them.”

“No, they’d smell us before they got there. They might scatter. There aren’t enough of us able to take them on individually if they disperse. We need the element of surprise.” I said.

The consensus was made. We would hunt.

The golden eyed vampires and my little family went hunting together. The triplets joined us under protest. I insisted they come to show support. But I figured I would give them donor blood when we got back since they wouldn’t kill anything while we were out. As we ran through the woods, two giant wolves showed up and ran with us. One was reddish brown, the other a light golden brown. I heard Edward call the smaller one Seth.

“We’re going to face the Volturi.” Edward said to Jacob, “We have to leave soon. If we wait until they come for us, none of us will survive.”

“Don’t tell Renesmee until we’re gone.” Bella told him, “She’ll want to come.”

Jacob whined.

“If the pack comes with us, Renesmee will be here alone. We need you here. To keep her safe and more importantly to keep her here. She might try to follow us.” Edward replied.

Jacob huffed and then nodded. He seemed to agree with him. But Jacob whined again and Bella hugged him gently around the neck.

“They’ll come back.” I said to Jacob, guessing what was bothering him. “No matter what.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” Rain added.

He seemed encouraged by our assurances.

Seth bounded up to Meadow. She giggled and then ran. He followed after her, trying to catch up to her. He didn’t seem hostile but I didn’t understand their interaction.

“They’re just racing.” Laney whispered to me.

“I just didn’t expect the wolves to get along with the girls. Especially with their wonderful first impression.” I murmured back.

“Seth is very forgiving.” Bella said, suddenly by my side.

“Seth thinks they’re great. He’s particularly taken with Meadow. Jacob is tolerant but the others still keep their distance from them.” Edward joined our conversation.

“Taken?” I said with a little alarm, “Should I be worried?”

“I don’t…think so.” He answered carefully.

“They’re friends.” Laney insisted.

“He likes the girls’ philosophy on life.” Bella said.

“They are oddly tolerant of his hunting habit.” Edward remarked.

“Circle of life.” Zephyr said in reply. “We wouldn’t ask him to go against nature.” Rain added.

“And yet you rebel against your own intrinsic nature.” I observed.

“What we are is contrary to nature.” Meadow remarked.

Seth whined and nudged her with his nose.

“She didn’t mean to include you in that.” Edward responded to him.

“Of course not!” She exclaimed in horror.

“You were born the way you are, Seth.” Rain said. “We were infected with our need for blood and violence.” Zephyr added.

Seth shook his head, followed by the rest of his body. He bounded off into the trees and the girls raced after him. I could hear the girls laughing as they played with their furry friend.

I took to hunting wild game quickly. There was something fun about it. I could let my instinct out in a small measured way. I kept my focus, but it felt nice to let the animal part of my mind out a bit.

The elk was disgusting. It didn’t smell or taste right but I drank it anyway, removing my sense of taste while I drank. I didn’t complain aloud but the others could tell I didn’t enjoy animal blood.

“Carnivores are a little better.” Edward said, trying not to laugh at my expression.

“I suppose this is our equivalent to lima beans and Brussel sprouts.” I joked.

“You get used to it.” Bella said.

I shrugged. It didn’t really matter. I could sacrifice taste for my conscience.

“I still think this might not be the healthiest alternative.” Garrett said.

“It isn’t the only alternative to killing humans, but if you enjoy the hunt, tracking and ultimately killing something, this is a good alternative.” I replied.

“I guess that part would be hard to give up.” He conceded.

“You could probably do both.” Laney said as she watched the others running through the trees.

“Think our eyes would turn orange if we drank equal amounts human and animal blood?” I asked her.

She looked at me and smirked, “You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?”

“It crossed my mind once or twice.” I admitted.

“Anything would be better than red eyes.” She sighed.

Then Rain appeared next to Laney. She had used her gift instead of running.

“That is the one drawback to donor blood.” Rain sounded disappointed. “We don’t get the cool yellow eyes.”

“Stop using your power, Rain.” I scolded her, “You need to conserve your energy. You’re going to try to move more vampires than you ever have before.”

“I’m fine.” She replied, her tone implying that I worry too much. “I’ve got this.”

“Then just use your feet for my peace of mind.”

When we finished hunting, we ran back to the Cullen’s house. The wolves went back to the reservation with strict instructions not to tell Renesmee anything for at least a day. I knew the army would reach Voltura long before then.

The others had gone hunting as well, having to run hundreds of miles away from Forks. They arrived a couple hours after us. Everyone had bright eyes and a slight flush to their cheeks.

When Pim alerted us that they were there, Bella, Fred and Rain teleported to the center of the city. I had wanted to go, to make sure things went according to plan, but Bella was the one that could shield Rain from Fred’s talent. I knew they’d be all right. Rain would bring them back at the first sign of trouble, but I still worried. The seconds seemed to move slower as we all waited for their return. Edward was even more affected than me.

After five minutes some started whispering. Questions of what to do if they didn’t return were tossed around. Edward and I didn’t reply but our eyes met. After ten minutes the anxiety really started to spike.

“Jasper.” Carlisle whispered.

The tension evaporated almost instantly. He was using his gift to keep everyone calm. Since I knew what he could do and how it felt, I was sure I could bypass it but right then I didn’t want to.

Rain, Bella and Fred finally reappeared. We collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

“What took you so long?!” Hector complained.

“People move slowly.” Bella explained, “It took almost twenty minutes for everyone to evacuate and that was with Fred using his talent at maximum capacity. And I had to shield the Volturi so they wouldn’t feel compelled to run as well.”

“We need to hurry.” Rain said, “They know something is up.”

Everyone moved close together, placing a hand on the shoulder of the vampire in front of them. And then Rain worked her magic.