THIS IS A NEW STORY THAT I HAVE BEEN THINKING OF FOR AWHILE NOW. I DON'T OWN THE TWILIGHT BOOKS OR MOVIES. THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE AUTHORS AND MOVIE MAKERS. I WILL JUST JUMP INTO THE ACTION.
Chapter 1: Meeting a Stranger
"We led all the humans East so you don't have to worry," Victoria said smugly.
"Yes you should be safe," Laurent said still holding his arms out.
"We thank you for that," Carlisle said looking around.
"Do you think you have room for three more players," he asked.
"Oh come on. Just for one game."
"Yeah no problem some of us were just leaving," Carlisle stated looking pointedly at Bella.
"Here," and Emmett threw the ball at Laurent. It was quickly caught by Victoria.
"I'll be the one pitching, I'm the one with the wicked curve balls."
"We can take it," Jasper said smugly.
A few of the vampires laughed in small voices. Suddenly the clearing was filled with the smell of iron and smoke, looking over where the smell was coming from The human eaters and the Cullen's saw a figure that was standing right next to the Jeep.
"Well look what I found here, I was only looking for a bitch and her two buddies but now I get a whole Coven," the deep voiced figure laughed silently.
"How did you find us," Victoria snarled.
"I was raised to hunt your kind, of course I would know the typical responses," he then pulled back his hood.
Standing next to the Jeep was a young man who could have been 17 or 18. He was bald and had small scars on his face. He dropped his coarse fur cloak and showed what was underneath. He was wearing slightly loose pants and had a tight sleeveless leather top that looked to be woven together. The vampires saw that he had a chain connected to a handle bent over his shoulder and a handle sticking out from behind his back at his belt line.
"I just what to go home and get myself a lovely bonfire going, you wouldn't happen to know where I can get some good kindling," he stared directly at Victoria who was apparently the leader of the ragged group.
"Well, if you are looking for kindling," Carlisle started, "there are a few trees that fell down over there."
"Funny leech, I was thinking of a roast," he then took a step towards the group.
"You die now," James screamed and lunged at the boy.
"Not today," was whispered and suddenly Alice shook her head to gain her concentration back.
Alice POV
There is no way that would happen. The human was strange yes but what was startling was that I didn't sense him until it was too late. He dropped his hand to the handle at his waist and I saw a bloody future.
"Well, at least we get some food," Victoria said seemingly knowing the result already.
"No, he will be destroyed," I whispered.
The rest of my family looked at me in confusion. But I just looked at the blur that was heading towards the human. He grabbed the handle just like I saw in my vision. A boom of sound and then my vision came true.
"I will not be dying to you that easily," the human said as his large hatchet steamed in the open air.
"You are too stubborn just die."
And with another lunge James tried to kill him, at a blinding speed the human swung the axe upward. James leaped back but not in time as at the hot metal sliced his arm.
"Look at that, I must be tired cause I missed," his smile was splitting his visage.
"Why don't we talk this out," Esme tried to reason with the fighting pair.
"I am only here to kill leeches," was the humans response before he swung his axe again at James.
"We have to help him," Bella said pulling at Edwards arm.
"We can't help he provoked an attack," was his response. Suddenly the wind blew Bella's scent towards the two remaining man eaters.
"Thanks for the snack," and with that Victoria lunged at her.
I pushed everyone to the ground and watched the steaming axe fly over our heads and hit our attacker in the arm. Looking over at the previously ignored fight, I saw that James was on the ground bleeding and the human was missing a few fingers. The human's hand was outstretched still in the motion of throwing the axe at us.
"Now Queen Bitch, you are not going to 'feast' while I am still breathing," and with that he grabbed the second handle and pulled downwards.
The massive axe that was revealed seemed to be against nature itself. It was a protected handle connected to a chain that connected to another handle that had a trigger and a small propane tank attached to the back of the large axe head.
"Do you want to fight straight up or do you want to get some cardio in first," the human joked with a clearly angry Victoria.
"We will be leaving now," and Laurel flashed over to the down form of James and was gone before the axe hit the ground where they had been standing. Looking over at where Victoria had been standing I only saw our empty baseball field.
"Damn it,"the human yelled and turned his gaze towards us.
We all got into defensive stances and waited. Suddenly the human fell to his knees with a cry of pain. Bella ignoring the rest of our warnings ran up to him and saw what had happened. His left hand was now missing half of the two middle fingers.
"What happened," Carlisle asked walking up with caution.
"Bastard bite off my fingers," he gritted out.
"He must have put extra venom into his bite to kill you," Carlisle said examining the human.
"Spiteful bastard," he muttered.
"I know what I have to do," he said.
"Hey, Short butch," he said looking up to me, "get my hatchet for me."
I growled slightly at the name and with a look from Carlisle and Esme I walked over to place where I saw the axe laying. It was wrapped with leather chord and had a trigger similar to the one on the large axe.
"Here, take it you ass," as it slipped out of my mouth I was shocked because I never lost my cool like that.
"Good to see the kitten has some-," what he was going to say was cut off by him cough loudly.
"Great there goes Plan A," he said after clicking the trigger with no reaction.
"I'm going to need help leech," he said still slightly defensive.
"My name is Carlisle Cullen and this is my family."
"Yeah yeah, I don't care just give me the silver canister in my cloak poach," his eyes were now shut with pain and he was sweating heavily.
Edward walked over to coat and gingerly picked the coat up and pulled the metal cylinder out. Tossing it to Emmett, Edward pushed Bella into the car and then drove off in a hurry.
"He seems cheerful," Rosalie growled at him and stalked away.
"What is this," I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.
"Read the label kitten," he spoke softer than before.
Looking at the polished surface, I saw the words Acetylene printed clearly across the gleaming surface.
"Why do you have this in your coat pocket," Carlisle asked getting more worried.
"Explain. Later," and he pushed the container into the now empty slot in the top of the hatchet.
"Don't do it," I said to the confusion of Esme.
Ignoring me, he turn the container and I heard a hiss as he pulled the trigger three times and the axe steadily glowed bright orange. Again ignoring the shocked faces of my family, he swung the axe down at the bleeding injury.
With one swing his disfigured fingers limply stayed on the ground as he pulled his bloody hand up. The blood flowed from the fingers onto the ground staining it dark red. The smell then invaded my senses, I could feel my body involuntarily tensing the muscles that I rarely used and a deep purr erupted from my throat.
"Why," was the only thing I could hear from Carlisle before I took a step towards the down human.
"Well it seems that I'm dead now," the humans words stopped me cold.
"Don't say that we can help you," the ever kind Esme tried to reason with him.
"No, I have lost fingers. That means I can't fight the way I need to," he looked down, "Plus the butch kitten has been looking at me like I look at my medium rare steak."
The rest of the family look closer at my blackened eyes and they knew I was after his blood. Jasper grabbed my upper arm and escorted me away to the other car far from the scent of the humans blood. I could stop the hunger that filled me. Looking back at the gathering, I saw the human was slumped over and Carlisle lifted him over his shoulder.
"I'm going to save him, it is the least I can do for him protecting Bella."
Carlisle POV
Looking down at the sleeping form of the boy I noticed the small details. He had a scar the ran down his eyebrow over his eye and that his stubble was black and unmanaged. When we took his woven leather shirt off we saw scars scattered around his torso. The fight had strained several muscles in his arms and back.
"What have you gone through child," I said not knowing that I had an audience behind me.
"He is a bit rough on the eyes," a slightly hard voice said.
"What have I told you about being nice to my patients, Rosalie."
"We should have let him die. He didn't want to be saved," her eyes flicked with slight disgust.
"Neither did you at first," I replied tiredly.
"That is different from this," she tried to reason.
"No it isn't and you know that I try everything to save every patient, even from themselves if necessary."
Feeling the injured human shift on the table, I glanced down. His eyes were fluttering open and he saw who we were.
"Great. You either saved me or I am in hell with two blondes," his scratchy voice said.
"Just die and let me be in peace."
"Trust me Sour Blondie, I don't want to be alive right now either," he growled out.
"Let's just calm down and not get angry," I said shooing Rosalie out of the room.
"Let's start with your name how does that sound," I said kindly.
"Well leech, just call me Duel," his voice was steely and so were his eyes that were glancing around the room.
"Well, where are my things," he growled out lowly.
"They are safe," I assured him.
"I need to leave just tell me," he demanded.
"No need for the raised voice man," Emmett joked walking in.
"Don't talk to me as though we are friends."
"You need to heal and recover," I reasoned with him.
"Screw you, I'm leaving one way or another."
"Why can't I see you anymore," Alice suddenly asked.
"What, you can't see him anymore," I said shocked because that had never happened before, Alice saw everyone coming one way or another.
"Yeah, I only see a blank space around him now when I try to see," she explained.
"Ok, a massively disturbed human here," he interrupted my musings.
His face showed that he still felt the pain of his self inflicted injury. He jumped slightly when I put a needle filled with morphine into his arm. He looked at me in anger but quickly closed his eyes.
"It seems that we are gong to be having another human staying," Esme said happily.
I knew that my wife was happy to cook and care for, in her eyes, a child. She cared for all the children we had taken in yes but she never did get to have her own children.
Duel POV
I had let my guard down twice, once during the fight and I lost nearly half my fingers on one hand due to that. And the second is when I foolishly thought I was safe if they were curious about me. I was ashamed about my performance during the fight. I should have taunted him less and just killed him.
"-should be waking up soon," the doctor leech's voice whispered to another.
The whispered response was too quiet to hear. It wasn't that I hated the vampires it was just that when I was in battle I let my emotions dictate how I acted. And when I woke up missing parts of my hand and in pain, I just snapped at them.
"He is young from what I can tell," I heard a woman's voice this time.
"I think that if we feed him and try to get him to try living he will open up."
"I think we should just let him die," the sharp tongued blonde coldly stated.
Good, it seems that I had at least one person that I could be bitter too and not offend any of them. Thinking back to when I had first woken up I remembered the weird butch vampire girl. It was the short one, she had the delicate porcelain skin of every vampire. The strange thing was the way she looked at me. It looked like she wanted to see into my soul.
"Alice is still trying to look into his possible futures," so her name is Alice that is good for later.
Those words snapped me back to reality, I knew that I would not survive on my own. But could I really live with the creatures that I openly admitted to hunting. They would surely be suspicious of my motives I mean I would be.
"You can open your eyes now they have left," Dr. Carlisle spoke softly.
"Why did you not tell them," I asked trying to be a little nicer.
"Cause she would not have left you alone until she figured out why you are different."
Fully opening my eyes, I saw that my chest was bare and the stumps that were on my hand were heavily bandaged. Thinking of what had happened after the battle, I continued my train of thought about not being able to fight or even do everyday tasks. Suddenly the door was flung open and a guy looking around my age ran in.
"Is everything all right, I sensed something wrong." He had honey blond hair and golden eyes that matched his pale complexion.
"Don't worry Jasper, Duel here was just thinking about his circumstances."
"Duel?"
"Yes that is the name that this human gave us to call him," I could see Jaspers look of peculiarity.
"Strange name. I'm Jasper and I can sense all strong emotions so try to keep it calm otherwise I will act on them," he offered his hand politely and I only glared at it.
"I'd rather not," I stated shortly.
"My body will be recovered in about a week," I continued.
"No, it won't fully heal for another month." Dr. Carlisle tried to reason with me.
Shaking my head, I could only silently tell him that he was wrong. I planned to fix my hand one way or another. Jasper left the room after he looked me in the eyes and seemed to know what I was thinking. He also seemed to have a pained look on face as he left.
"So you said that Alice could see the future," I asked trying to break the tension.
"Not the whole thing just what will happen based on your decisions," his explanation only confused me further.
If that were the case, then wouldn't she be seeing a different future every few seconds because people's choices change so rapidly. And if a person was following orders not knowing anything would she still see them.
"I can see that you are still confused, don't worry I believe that you will learn in time," he assured me.
"I will be leaving soon don't worry," I said before sniffing the air.
"Is that smell me," I asked him.
"Yes, we didn't want to do something that could harm you further," he explained.
"Damn, do you have a shower?"
"Yes but with your injury you can't bath or shower," he said lifting my hand up slightly.
Wincing at the small movement, I resigned myself to not have a hot relaxing shower for awhile. I then heard a flatter of movement from the other room and the woman who I think was named Esme walked in with a plate of food in hand.
"I hope you don't mind I made some steamed vegetables to get you some nutrients," she smiled as she handed me the steaming plate.
"Thanks ma'am," I said thinking how she reminded me of a motherly saint.
The way she had said that though made me think that she was giving me good food so that I would taste better in the future. Knowing the way the butch looked at me, I didn't doubt that I possibly was dinner.
"Tell if I can cook anything that you would want," her smile relaxed my body slightly.
"I'm fine I will be leaving in a week," her smile turned into a frown.
I ignored her rant about the fact that I should just take my time recovering and thought of what I could do to improve and adjust my axes. They were my pride and joy, I referred to them as the Burning Axes. As if she could read my mind, which she could have, she stopped talking and starred disapprovingly.
"Thanks for the food," I said between mouthfuls.
"If you want to bath, we could give you a sponge bath," as the doctor said this I choked.
"No fucking way. I'm not gay and I don't trust Blondie or butch not to kill me," I stared directly into his golden eyes and showed my refusal.
"Don't be rude. And what about me," the food lady asked.
"It is fine none of us are gay either," Carlisle said laughing softly.
"Still no. I can't trust any of your kind so quickly. Can you get me my axes I need to do a check up on them," I decided that I had talked enough with the doctor or the other leeches.
"Fine, but I will be leaving someone to watch over you." Just great now I have a guardian leech.
"Fine just get me my weapons," I said not even having the energy to argue.
The doctor walked out of the room and I noticed that the clouds that blocked the sun in this town were slightly parted and that I was surrounded by nature.
"Here you go mister human," a tall bulky boy handed me the scratched metal axes.
"My name is Emmett Cullen, and as of right now I am your babysitter," he tried to joke with me.
"I don't care. Just let me work in peace." I was already tuning his voice out.
Looking down at the hatchet I noticed that the blade had chips and cracks in it. The hatchet was modeled after a Viking axe with a hollow inside the axe head that could be filled with Acetylene. The fight had not been kind to it, I would have to melt down the metal and start it from scratch. The handle, trigger, and in-take valve were all in near perfect condition but the axe head was too damaged to get more than a few strikes out of it.
My broad axe was not damaged because it had only been used for one single strike. The only problem that I saw now was that my left hand was only half the grip strength so the way that I usually swung my large axe would now be useless because I only used my left hand for swinging on the second handle.
"So man how did you come to be at our game," Emmett leech interrupted my thoughts.
"I was tracking the leeches and I came to your leech game," I growled out in irritation.
"No need to be so hostile I was just asking a question," he held up his hands in exasperation.
"I am trying to concentrate on something that could possible kill me if it goes wrong," I hissed at him and continued making the mental corrections to the axe.
He stopped talking and I took a piece of paper from my pants pocket that was only slightly stained with mud and started to do some calculations. Unfortunately I started to speak my thoughts out loud.
"If I keep the axe one centimeter thick I could increase the hollow to 2.75 mm and increase the amount of gas by 62.7 kPa. And if I add an edge of wrought iron on the very point then the blade with increase its lifespan by about tenfold instead of about n-," What I was going to say was cut off by the leech still in the room.
"Could you not be such a smarty person out loud I'm trying to enjoy my nap time," he said so suddenly that I dropped the pen that I had borrowed from the table next to me on the ground.
"Damn it, why did you do that? And I thought that you people didn't have to sleep."
"We don't I'm just relaxing from Rosalie riding my ass about baseball," he sighed heavily.
"The blonde bitch," I said raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," then he sighed, "she does have a good reason for being that way. But I still love her."
"Why? If it is ok to ask," I said putting my calculations on the table next to me.
"What's with the sudden curiosity, and what was with the whole be silent thing," he asked.
"I have finished what I can do but you have gotten my attention. So speak."
"Fine but don't tell her I said anything." At my nodding head he started his story.
"In 1933, Rosalie was turned into a vampire by Carlisle after he found her. She had been raped and beaten to the brink of death by a group of drunken men, including her fiancé. Two years later, Rosalie rescued me from being mauled by a bear, and after she turned me into a vampire, we fell very deeply in love. We married each other in 1948."
"Wow that is a very interesting story. So what happened to her fiancé?" I was now fully engulfed in this story.
"She tracked each one of the men and killed them saving her ex for last," his somber mood seemed to continue the more he thought about it.
"Don't expect me to be nice to her now. I have to keep some dignity," at this he laughed and I could tell that he was returning back to normal.
"Now let me sleep you muscle leech," and with that I rolled over and promptly fell into a deep slumber.
A SHORT AUTHOR'S NOTE TO SAY READ AND REVIEW THIS STORY. FLAMES WILL BE HUMILIATED AND REPORTED.
Ghost Operation Systems signing out