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by
Jessica L
The Quileutes are truly an amazing people. A Native American tribe which has been in Washington for many, many years, they have overcome plenty of obstacles before us. At least, that is how they see us. As an obstacle, but not a major one.
Carlisle came back from his first day of working in the small doctor's office in town upset and disgruntled, which is very rare for Carlisle. He had been confronted by an important member of the Quileute tribe- Levi Ulley- and asked to meet with some of its other members. This made him very nervous, as we had just gotten here, and already we were attracting the wrong kinds of attention. He had been here before and had no trouble, he explained, so he didn't see any reason to meet with anyone. Levi didn't take no for an answer, however, and a meeting was set up.
I was able to follow Levi around town and through the La Push Indian Reservation for a while over the next few days and read his thoughts. What I learned was both disturbing and calming at the same time. First and foremost, the Quileutes (or at least their important members, such as their Chief and council) are very aware of who and what we are. There were very old legends from ancestors of theirs, explaining in detail what we do and how to handle our weaknesses and take us down. They didn't know everything about us, but they knew enough to cause some damage.
Second, they have a weapon to use against us. They are able to shape shift. Not exactly what you would consider to be a werewolf, but they definitely take the shape of a wolf. They have been doing this shapeshifting for generations, when they feel their tribe is in danger, and it is a great weapon they can use against us. They have great strength, regeneration, and the ability to read each other's minds, similar to myself. I am not sure how all of that works, but it seems as though Levi is annoyed by some of his abilities, and pleased with others. He cannot read anyone's mind who is not on the council, which is of interest to me. I would love to learn more about this, but Carlisle thinks we have more important things to focus on than their mind reading abilities.
At any rate, the council feels threatened by our numbers and do not wish to cause a war with us. Even four vampires can outrun and outfight whatever number of wolves they seem to have. I am not sure how many they have, as I have not been able to follow them long enough to pinpoint a number or seen them shift. I know that Carlisle has to meet with their leader, Ephriam Black, and their other members tomorrow and we are all very nervous about it- despite the tribe's own worries.
The Quileutes are very strong as a tribe, and in the past, before the Quinault Treaty in 1855, they often took prisoners of any white settlers who happened accross their land. They are skilled warriors, smart, and brave. They are excellent whale hunters, and craftsmen as well, which lends an upper hand when it comes to weaponry and boats. Of course, most of these things do nothing in a fight against us, but they might not know that. We might have to use any strengths we have and rely on any humanity we can play up. Although it seems to me that with these men, our cover is already blown.
We shall find out tomorrow. Our plan is to go to La Push and speak to the council, with Carlisle as our leader, of course. We will offer them peace, and tell them we want nothing but to live here in Hoquiam for a few years, keeping mostly to ourselves, and bothering no-one. We obviously mean no harm, and we will make that apparent when Carlisle speaks to Ephriam Black. We are all hoping it goes well- at least better than the conversation with Levi Ulley did. Otherwise, a battle might ensue, and depending on the number of wolves in their tribe- or pack as they call it- we might not win.
by
Jessica L
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.
by
Jessica L
Things were fairly peaceful in Washington, and we have spent some time here on our own, without being bothered by anyone before we got an unexpected visit from the Volturi. I had heard of the Volturi from Carlisle, but had never met them before. Esme, Rosalie and Emmett were getting their first meetings as well.
Of course, practically every vampire learns about the Volturi as quickly after being created as possible. There are rules to living life as a vampire, and the Volturi enforces those rules. The Volturi are like the royalty of Vampire kind. They live in Volterra, Italy, and have existed for some three thousand years. Their wealth and power is astounding. Their leaders are Aro, Marcus, and Caius, but they also have a legion of powerful vampires who work at their command as well. They are not to be trifled with nor ignored.
The most important of vampire rules is keeping the existence of vampires secret from human kind. Therefore when we learned of their presence in Hoquiam, Washington, my first thought was that they knew about the Quileutes. This scared me because it put us all in danger of being destroyed. I wasn't sure if the Volturi would care whether or not the Quileutes knew about us before we got there, they knew about vampires, and we were the ones that were there. End of story.
The Volturi have often extinguished many leagues of vampires- from old to newborn- in attempt to keep our secret. They have powerful guards and skilled fighters, and often have no trouble invoking their wrath. Many of them posses great powers and talents unlike any other vampires- they go far and wide to search out special vampires to make sure of that. Of course, these are not particularly kind vampires, they hunt humans. That is not to say they are particularly cruel, either, this is just their way of life. Imagine a world power, with unlimited time and money- then picture that power with the ability to feed on people with precision and speed. This is the true definition of a human's predator.
Jeopardizing the vampire secret wasn't why they chose to visit however. Only the three leaders, Aro, Marcus and Caius chose to come, and they left their wives and other followers at home. This was a good sign, it meant they weren't here for a battle, a trial, or any other sort of confrontation. They met up with Carlisle first, as I was out hunting with Emmett at the time. They sent Rosalie out to find us, and she was nervous and scared when she tracked us down in the woods. At the very least, however, we knew it was only the three of them against the five of us should things go bad.
This is where things get tricky. Aro has a power similar to mine, only where I can read minds close by and can read a person's present thoughts, he has to touch a person in order to read every thought they have ever had. Both powerful but also limited in different ways. Marcus can sense a form of relationship between people, and as far as I have heard, Caius has no powers. Aside from Carlisle's ability to be around massive amounts of blood and Emmett's massive size and strength, I am the only one with an abnormal power.
Once we got back to the house, however, my fears were both calmed and started up again. I could tell by their thoughts that they did not come here for a fight, they came here for another reason altogether...
TO BE CONTINUED...
