Jackson's Vengeance

Chapter 5

Jackson’s POV

The forest is dense and it’s still dark, dawn will be upon us soon and I can tell that the pack is tired but we need to move our injured to a safer place and we also need to find out if the vampire Tori’s safehouse has any of our pack members that were captured, it would great if we find some of them. Caleb and I are carrying Angelo, surprisingly he has not said a word since the vampire Tori arrived.

I have been keeping a close eye on her, I cannot fully trust her, after all, she is a vampire, but she claims that she has felt the same loss we have, and when I look in her eyes, I see that she is sincere. What I cannot understand is why this Frans character would kill his kind off.

Gail seems to be doing better, she is still weak and can’t talk, somewhat of a blessing since whenever she does talk mostly crap comes out. Hilda seems to like the vampire Tori and they are getting along too well. Iva hates her and makes it clear, Bruce and Caleb like me are wary and watchful of her.

As the sun comes up, she doesn’t stop to hide and I wonder why she is different from her kind, I don’t bother to ask though because I do not want anything to do with her other than getting us to the safehouse.

I feel my frustrations building up, I guess I am tired and that is wearing me down, besides I am not used to walking like this anywhere. Normally we all shift and then run like the devil is on our heels but since two of our pack members can’t shift, we need to be here for them. Now we walk like it is the most normal thing to do, as we are walking, I look over to the vampire Tori walking ahead of us, the sway of Tori’s hips catches my attention, but I quickly look away.

As if she can sense that I am staring at her she turns and looks me in the eye, we lock eyes for a few minutes, and then she smirks and looks away, it irks me that she would smirk at me. Her whole presence makes me what to punch a wall. For the sake of my pack I just need to tolerate her.

I make a mental note not to look her way again. The safehouse is a two-day walk and even though it’s been a few minutes in, it feels like forever. My wolf has been restless ever since she arrived, and I try to calm myself down. I must keep my cool, for the sake of my pack. If I had it my way, I would have ripped her head off the moment she showed up. I hate the sight of her, and I am sure if my wolf comes out, he will rip her apart.

We stop to take a short break and to give the injured their medicine, Hilda goes to work with the help of the vampire, and I thank my lucky stars that I was not one of the injured parties. I would much rather die than let her touch me let alone help me recover from an injury. Gail doesn’t seem to mind or maybe it has not registered with her that she is being cared for by a vampire. Angelo seems stiff like he has no words left to say, something is up with him, I just wonder what is going on with him. He didn‘t even object to being carried by me and that alone tells me that something is wrong.

Bruce makes a fire while Caleb and I catch some rabbits. Hilda and the Vampire prepare the food while Iva collects some berries and nuts to take along for the rest of the journey. My thoughts have drowned out the sounds of the forest which normally I enjoy. I shake my head and try to get my mind back in the game, this alliance is only to find our lost pack members. Once this is over, I never want to see her again.

“What is on your mind brother?” Bruce asks me.

“I hate that we have to go along with her,” I say between clenched teeth.

“Then why are we?”

“She is sincere in the story of her loss, I can sense that and see it in her eyes but the fact that she is a vampire makes me sick.”

“You know that our land once had an agreement between all species to live in peace.” Bruce reminds me.

“I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that a bunch of vampires wiped out our homes and families.”

“Those vampires were different, nothing like we have ever seen, I meant look what happened to Gail, I can’t even remember how they got in or how they managed to take so many but in the end, all I could do was grab the closest wolf and run, to my luck it was Hilda fighting at my side. She has been torn to shreds leaving her mother behind and I can’t say that I mind Tori at all, since she arrived, I have seen Hilda smile and laugh like she never has in a whole damn year. She can’t be that bad but like you, I am still wary.”

After a good meal and a short rest, we continued the journey which felt like it was going to take forever. I felt a bit strange after my discussion with Bruce and I started to watch Hilda and the Vampire Tori’s interaction. It was strange to watch a vampire and wolf connect on such a level. I wondered if she did feel the pains we have felt, I wondered to what extent did she feel it ad mostly I wondered what made her want to help us.

As the sun set, we decided to set up camp, we would be useless if we were attacked in the dark especially with the injured, we needed to care for. Caleb and Bruce took the first watch and I decided to take a walk, mostly because I wanted to see where the Vampire had gone, she disappeared as soon as we set up camp.

As I walked, I could hear splashes of water, I followed the sound and I found her swimming in a nearby lake, she seemed to be enjoying herself and as I tried to turn and leave, my feet would not work with me. Instead, I stood there, fixated on her, watching as she danced with the water. Finally, she emerged, and her body brightened by the moonlight, she slowly dressed and then walked in my direction. I still could not move, and I felt my heart racing as she got closer.

“Enjoy the show?” She asked as she walked right past me and out of my sight.

I felt my body shake and I decide it is best to freshen up too, I make my way to the lake and as I am about to take off my shirt, I realize that I am about to step into the water that she, a vampire had just swum in. I stepped back and instead shifted into my wolf form, started running, for miles and miles I kept running. Feeling the wind hit me hard in the face. Finally, I returned to the lake, dressed, and went back to camp.

“Are you ok?” Bruce asks when I return.

“Yeah, just needed to clear my head.”

“Get some rest man, you need it.”

I take his advice and find a comfy spot, I basically throw myself to the ground and close my eye with the hopes of sleeping but the image of her kept creeping into my thoughts, the way she laughed and smiled in the water, the way she looked when she got out the water but mostly it was the look in her eyes when she came out the water and caught me watching her. I wasn’t watching her because I wanted to, I was frozen, stuck, and shocked. Maybe because I thought she was off plotting our murder when she was innocently enjoying an evening bath. I felt stupid if anything could best describe the emotions running through me.

There was no way that I was going to get any sleep and when I sat up and opened my eyes, she was staring right at me, with the same look, I felt like my wolf was growling on the inside and I tried to break my gaze but our eyes were locked to each other and I couldn’t look away.

“I am not the villain!” She whispered but I heard it loud and clear as if she had said it in my ear.

No one else seemed to have heard or noticed what was happening and I put my head down and closed my eyes, willing away the images flashing through my head like a slideshow.

At sunrise we started for our journey it was only a day left to deal with this and I tried my best to avoid her all day, the harder I tried the more I kept picturing her naked body walking towards me. I wanted to take the hands of time and fast forward it so we could get to our destination and be done.