48: Even Playing Field

Recap:
*Nate figured out he can hear the wolves of Tanner's pack due to his ability to hear animals and because Tanner's pack had lacked their copy of the stone for a while now.

*Marge foresaw, when asked, that the relationship she and Robert had was doomed to failure.

    "You disgust me." Tanner spit out venomously after backhanding someone that was brave enough to deliver the message that they'd failed to kill a vampire. "All of you!" he growled to the gathering in his office. "A vampire on our lands, and you let him live! There were six of you!"

     "Tanner, he went into the river and didn't come out. We believe he's actually hiding in the lake somewhere." Harvey, the one who'd been slapped, tried to reason with him.
        Tanner shooed everyone out of his office except Harvey.

     "I don't want your excuses!" Tanner barked as he got right in his face. "Clearly, you feel determined to prove your own ineptness."

      Harvey bristled with the insult. He respected Tanner and felt that the man had the right idea about how they should live. He'd been with Tanner from the very start, Tanner himself having been the one to turn him. He was the only one left besides Tanner of the original five to settle in Hidden Springs. Julian joined them later, and Harvey still felt the sting from the day that Tanner named Julian his beta.

      He took a deep breath to quickly calm his anger and said, "He won't long survive his exit from the lake."

      "No, he won't, because I'm sending Julian out with you. I had thought that you could handle supervising the sentries, but clearly, I'm going to have to send out a real wolf to do a pup's job." Tanner said. 

       Harvey wished he'd slapped him across the face again instead. He was over three hundred years old, and he considered himself a senior member of the pack. He'd proven his loyalty to Tanner on a multitude of occasions, but it was always his failures that Tanner remembered.

       No one knew how old Julian was; he would never say.

      Tanner felt enraged when he considered how he would now have to divide his forces before the meeting tonight. This particular vampire had to be the one that lost Gabriella, and he knew the thing was a highly-skilled mind-reader. He hated vampires, especially those with extra abilities. He'd dealt with two superior mind-readers in the past, but those could only read humans. They were the reason he stopped having humans in his employ.

     This one must be able to read us. I don't know how. Perhaps I should instruct Julian to capture, not kill. I'd like to study him.

      "Fetch Julian for me." he said absently to Harvey, dismissing him with a distracted wave of his hand. Harvey lightly bowed his head and did his best not to storm out of the office.

      After a few minutes, Julian had still not entered his office, and Tanner felt fury rise in him again. How hard is it to tell Julian to get his ass in here? Just as he was about to stand up and find out what was taking him so long, Julian entered.

    "You wished to speak with me, Tanner?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.

     "Yes. Harvey needs babysitting. He has failed again. A vampire entered our lands, and even though we had six after him, he escaped. I believe it is the one from Appaloosa Plains: Nathaniel Hamilton. He has the most motive."
      "Indeed." Julian agreed, his eyes narrowing.
      "I need you with the sentries tonight." Tanner said, getting to the point.

      "Tonight?! But the meeting..."
      "I need you leading the group hunting the vampire." Tanner interrupted him.
      "If then, he is indeed Nathaniel Hamilton then I will gladly kill him, but-"
      "I want you to capture him, if at all possible. I'd like to study him."
       " ' If at all possible'?! How am I to capture him if he's eluded six? And if I see him, I want to kill him." Julian growled.

      "You will not kill him unless that is your only option, do I make myself clear?" Tanner spoke, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
    "Crystal." Julian snarled. Then he continued with his aggravated tone, "You want to study that thing?! Have him here ... in this house?!"
     "Afraid of a little competition for your woman, huh?" Tanner said and smiled sadistically.
    "Speaking of my woman," Julian said, ignoring Tanner's jibe, "I would rather be at the meeting even if the thought of fighting that particular vampire is sorely tempting." 
      "I want that vampire caught. You have to miss the meeting."
      "And you won't hand her over." Julian stated his question, a mild challenge hanging in the air.
      "I have no intention at all of handing her over. I'm every bit as intrigued by this idea as you are."


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      "Good, you've returned." Derek said to Marge and Robert as they entered the yard. The sun had started to set, and Derek was anxious to get started. "Where is it?" he asked, looking at Marge.
      "Here." Marge said, pulling it out of her bag. It had already started to gleam in the dying light.
      As the sun set, the moon rose, and Rocky and Jeanine joined them.
      "Four against somewhere over twenty. Nice odds." Rocky pointed out dryly.
      "I'm not afraid." Jeanine scoffed.
      "Who said anything about fear?" Rocky argued.
      Marge spoke up, "And the number is five, not four." She looked pointedly at Rocky.
     "In league with a vamp." Rocky clicked his tongue dispassionately. "Never thought I'd see the day."
      "Shut up, Rocky." Rob barked. " 'Never thought I'd see the day'. You're fifty. What do you know?"
      "Fifty-seven." Rocky corrected him.
      Rob rolled his eyes while Marge wondered how old Rob was.
    Derek calmly stopped the discussion. "Let's get this started. The moon is high enough." He pointedly looked at Marge, indicating that she should begin.

       Marge held aloft the stone in both of her hands and started chanting. As the moon rose higher, every wolf's eye was upon her. The moon came out from behind the trees, and the light from it fully hit the stone and the wolves. The stone appeared to explode with light, lighting up Marge in an incandescent glow.

      Robert watched, transfixed, as he'd never seen this happen before where the spellcaster would start glowing themselves. He became soon distracted from his thoughts as he noticed that he and his pack mates had transformed with nary a hint of pain.
       For a few seconds, they all looked around in mild amazement. They'd expected at least a mild tingle.
      Derek looked curiously at Marge and wondered if the difference had to do with the fact that she was a vampire. At any rate, none of them had time to figure it out.
      Marge stopped chanting and asked Derek, "Where shall I put it now?"
      He handed her a key and instructed her to put it in a desk drawer with a false bottom. She did so and returned him the key.
      Once the key had been given back to Derek, he fished out of his pocket a copy of the stone.
      "I thought your kind couldn't even touch its copy?" Marge asked. Rob wondered what his brother was up to.
      Derek smiled with malicious mirth as he explained, "I'm not about to give that monster back the copy. This is a fake."
       "Shit." Rocky spat. "He's going to be pissed when he finds out."
       "Which he won't until next month's full moon. By that time, we will have relocated."
       Marge questioned, "Leave Appaloosa Plains?"
       "I didn't say that." Derek answered cryptically.
      Robert's transformed eyes locked with Marge as they both wondered what his brother's plans were. They were playing a dangerous game.
       "I doubt he hands over Gabriella easily. We need to be prepared for anything." Derek instructed as they quietly ran through the woods.
       "I wish I could be able to hear their thoughts." Marge mused.
       "Vampires cannot read us."
       "Yes, I realized that." she said dryly. Idiot.
       Derek smiled at the annoyance in her tone and said, "It makes for a more even playing field, wouldn't you say?" He stifled a laugh.
       "I wouldn't really know, remember? I have nothing against you." she reminded him, irritated at the laughter in his voice.

       Their company arrived at the top of a hill overlooking Tanner's estate. Marge's eyes quickly caught movement off to the right.
        "Look there." she said quietly to Robert, slightly pointing to what she saw.
        "It's a hunting party." he said darkly. "They're going to try to attack us even before we can reach them!" Robert exclaimed quietly with a small growl.
       "Hold." Derek ordered. "Let's wait and see. At any rate, we hold the high ground here."
       "Unless they plan on circling around and attacking us from the rear." Jeanine pointed out.
     "Then we retreat to the very top of the mountain." Derek said, agreeing with Jeannie's supposition.
      After they'd backed to the top of the mountain, they had a more difficult time seeing the estate. However, they could see a small disturbance near it.
      "They're not hunting us." Robert finally figured out. "They're hunting Nate."
      "I'd given him up for dead." Derek pointed out.
      Marge snapped her head in his direction, but before she could ask her question, Derek spoke up again.
      "Then this is good. Tanner has been forced to divide his forces."
    Robert stared at the moving trees below them and said in wonder, "So many against one vampire..." He left the statement hanging.
       "Whatever the reason, we must take advantage of this and get down there before the party can rejoin their brothers." Derek said, and their small party started off again towards Tanner's.

47: Too Many Barriers

I haven't finished this, but a good enough portion is done so that I feel like I won't mess it up on my way to the ending I want. So... it's back! I'll try to update every two weeks or so.

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Recap:
*Julian rapes Gabriella to get her pregnant and make a hybrid werewolf/witch that can one day work the stone as well as benefit from it.
*Tanner's mate, Katharine, uses a spell to drastically and painfully speed along Gabriella's pregnancy.
*Nate, furious with Marge and Derek, decides to race off on his own to find a way to rescue Gabriella from Tanner's pack.
*Robert is no longer able to resist Marge and falls under her siren's spell.

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Earlier this morning....

    I can hear them! Nate thought with vicious glee as he raced around in the woods surrounding Tanner's compound. It must be an effect of the stone that I can't hear Derek's pack. Tanner's pack has been missing theirs for quite some time now

    Tanner's sentries had, of course, discovered his presence soon after his arrival in the surrounding area. 

     That's right, pups. There's a vampire in your midst. He stifled a sadistic laugh at the young ones' frustrations with not being able to catch him. They don't know I can hear their communications! It must be the animal blood in them that makes them so very very easy to read.

      Sure boys, keep trying to trap me. I know your every thought! he thought as he outmaneuvered them once again.

      Still, the sun was on the rise, and he would need to seek out shelter soon.

      Didn't some sort of lore exist that said vampires couldn't cross running water? Hah! Wrong! he thought as he raced down the river and dove below the surface of it.

      He allowed the river to guide him to the large lake nearby, and he found a dark cave in which to hide for the day. Sure, he felt a mild discomfort and annoyance because he couldn't breathe, but breathing was unnecessary. He could hear the wolves' frustration that they'd lost his scent, and he allowed himself a grin.

      The grin fell off of his face as he pondered his situation. That house was a fortress! He quickly scanned his Gabriella's memories. Thus far when he could spare a quick second to examine the place, he found no weakness in the outer fortifications. He didn't lose hope, however, of ever finding one. Every fort had its weakness.

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       Marge and Robert finally tore themselves from his bed to go to her house and retrieve the stone.
     "It's strange." Marge commented as she and Robert approached the entrance to her her hidden underground room. "I saw Gabby doing this. Not me."

      "You saw it?" Rob asked.

       Shit! Rookie mistake, she thought harshly to herself.

       "And you 'just knew' that Derek wouldn't be angry enough to stop us from being together. Tell me," he said with distrust laced in his voice, "my dear Rose, just how that is."

      "I have visions." she admitted quietly.

      "And you screwed up just now by revealing that, didn't you? You weren't going to tell me?" he asked, his arms folded.

      "There was no need for you to know."

      The two of them descended the staircase in tense silence.

     Marge approached the shelf that housed the true stone, but Rob didn't care about it for the moment.

      He stopped her hand, and as she looked at him in question, he asked, "How could I not need to know?" He paused before continuing, "And you can find out what Tanner is planning!"

      "I'm unable to see. I've tried numerous times, but for some reason, I'm not given any answers sometimes." She looked at him apologetically, hating that she wasn't more powerful.

      Suddenly, he felt this overwhelming need to comfort her, and this tender emotion brought to mind another question. "Have you seen our future? What happens with us?"

      "Wouldn't it be better not to know?" she asked him.

      His face screwed up for a second as he thought yet again how insane it was to be falling for a vampire. Still, he said, "I have to know... if you're able, please." Please tell me where this insanity will lead, he thought as he turned her completely around to face him.

      Marge let out a sigh and did as he requested. She closed her eyes and wordlessly thought her question. Then, she let out a small, distressed noise as a feeling of hopelessness washed over her. She could see Robert standing apart from her with a large grouping of wolves behind him. She was leaving him, and both of them wore a resigned expression. It wouldn't last ... They as a couple couldn't be. There would be too many barriers in their way.

      "What is it?" Robert begged, not liking the expression Marge wore.

      She didn't want to tell him. She almost knew without trying that this relationship was impossible, but to have it shown to her filled her with despair.
       "No." she whispered.
      "We're going to have to one day part ways, aren't we?" Robert guessed. When Marge didn't deny his statement, he said, "It doesn't take a psychic to figure that one out."
    "Yes." she admitted. "You were standing with many wolves behind you, and as I was walking away, I turned once to look back at you. There was no hatred, only sadness."
      "You mean 'will be' because it hasn't happened yet." he growled, gritting his teeth.
      "It's hopeless, Robert. We need to stop this." she said as she turned to pick up the stone. "I'll do my best to stop -"
       "I don't want to!" he said, sounding almost like a spoiled child.
       Her face screwed up as she prepared herself to confess, "It's my fault you feel this way."
       After a few seconds of silence, he said, "So I wasn't imagining it ... the pull."
       "Is my 'dark gift' as it's called." she finished for him before putting the stone into the bag she brought. She turned and made her way up the stairs with him following close on her heels like ... a puppy.
       "I want to say it doesn't matter." he admitted as she closed the secret panel. "That I'd have wanted you anyway with or without that 'gift'."
      She smiled a little as she said, "A nice thought."
     She walked into her dining room and suddenly felt his too-warm arms wrapping around her to stop her progress.

      "I do want you anyway, Rose." he said desperately as he used his name for her, breathing in the scent of her hair.
      "This will only bring pain." she reminded him as she turned around in his arms. Then she was silenced from saying more things he didn't want to hear as his lips hungrily claimed hers.
      "For as long as I can." he finished his earlier statement.
      The sound of the mantle clock chiming reminded the pair of their duty. They needed to return to the pack's house. No more words were spoken as they mutually agreed to leave more of this conversation to a later time and place.