The Council sat before us, solemn and brave, and I could read their thoughts the moment we stepped into the room. We had no idea what to expect from this meeting, but they were even more nervous than we were. All four of us were in attendance, and Rosalie and Emmett were under strict rules to stand in the back and keep their mouths shut. The last thing we needed was for either of them to let their tempers sway this conversation, although from what I could tell, they were both too scared to say anything anyways.
The council had far more than four members, although it was hard to tell exactly how many of them there were- ten or twelve perhaps? All of them were men, most of them were older adults, a few seemed around my age, or at least my "human" age. The focus seemed to be around three of them in the middle however. These were obviously the important ones. Quil Ateara, Levi Ulley, and of course, Ephriam Black. Ephriam Black is the tribe's leader, or Chief. He is the one we were here to speak to today.
The other two flanked his sides as though ready for a fight at any moment. Reading their minds I could tell they were both wolves. They were thinking about how long it would take them to "phase" into wolf form and attack should things go badly during our conversation. At least they were still thinking of it as a conversation. What I found most interesting was that they could not read each other's thoughts, as I previously thought. Perhaps only in wolf form, then? Odd.
Ephriam Black led the conversation by demanding that we leave the area immediately. Carlisle insisted that we meant no harm and we wished to stay. Ephriam seemed thrown off by the color of our eyes- looking from one of us to the other constantly- and I stepped forward and took advantage of that immediately.
"As you can tell, our eyes are not blood red like others of our kind," I said,"That is because we do not hunt humans like others do." I told him, motioning for Carlisle to continue, hoping he had picked up on what I was trying to tell him with my words. Carlilse was smart, and he didn't miss a beat.
Carlisle instantly stepped forward to match me, shoulder to shoulder. "We survive only on the blood of animals, which is why our eyes are golden. We refuse to hunt humans, because we refuse to be like the others. We will never harm a human being, nor would we want to. We are this way only because death was not ready to take us. It is what we our, but it is also our choice not to cause harm with it as well. We wish to stay here, and promise you no harm will come in staying. No one will ever find out we are different from any other human, as that is a condition of our staying in existence."
Ephriam looked at each of us slowly, contemplating Carlisle's words, then spoke. "What guarantee do I have that if we allow you to stay, no one will be harmed?"
Carlisle's answer was simple. "If we harm a human, you may destroy us. As you know what we are, so we know of you as well."
Murmurs and whispers flew through the room, but Ephriam said nothing for quite some time. I read his thoughts, but mostly he was contemplating what we were compared to what he was. When his pack phases, they hunt on animals. They do not age. They are not all that dissimilar from us. But if Carlisle is lying, and we do harm humans, then we are the horrible creatures they have learned about and are very different from their pack indeed. He was debating starting a war with us or letting us stay. He was already certain we would not leave freely, although Carlisle probably would have rather left than caused a war with a pack of wolves that could have destroyed his family. It took him a few minutes, but he made up his mind.
"I offer your family a truce, a treaty if you will." He said.
"I'm listening." Carlisle responded.
"On the condition that you or any member of your family should never bite any human, you may stay." Ephriam told us, eyeing each of us one by one.
"Of course." Carlisle agreed.
"There is more," Ephriam added, "None of you are ever to cross the boundary line of the La Push Reservation again. That is our land, and we wish to be left alone. Is that clear?" He shot a pointed look especially to me. If I had blood in my system I was sure my cheeks would have turned bright red by now.
"Absolutely. And we have one condition as well." Carlisle said in his professional doctor's voice, admitting nothing.
"I am listening."
"You and your council are not to speak one word of what we are to anyone. Even having knowledge of our kind is supposed to mean death to us all by leaders of our kind- it jeopardizes us and you alike."
Ephriam looked at the men standing around him and then slowly nodded.
"In that case, I believe we are done here." Carlisle finished.
Carlisle turned around and ushered the rest of us through the door and out into the hazy day. We were eager to get back to the campground. Carlisle had already starting remodeling the old house and some of the inside rooms were almost done, so he was going to have us move camp to inside. It was better than camping outside where the wolves might decide to watch us. We have camped many times before, and by now we enjoyed it, but under the cicrumstances we decided now wasn't the best time for sleeping under the stars.
The nice thing about being in Ephriam Black's presence for the afternoon, however, was that I was able to get a feel for his thoughts. I might be able to get close enough to the La Push boundary line to get a read on what he was thinking. I am hoping that as long as we keep to our word, things will be okay. I was sensing a great feeling of relief from all of their members as we were leaving, so I think things will be fine. Only time will really tell, however. Part of me wonders if there will ever really be peace between the vampires and the wolves.
Labels:
Before Twilight
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Edward Cullen
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Emmett Cullen
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Quileutes
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Rosalie Hale
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Treaty
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