It came as a little bit of a jolt when Riley ran her hand along Mehmet's scar, and he looked up at her, eyebrows knit questioningly, for a few bare moments. He was rolling down his sleeves when Rylan's motions caught his eye. He listened patiently to her argument, sighing. "It is not my decision, regardless. It is up to the coven leader." Speaking of whom, he nodded to Riley. "I will go now. Michael, lead the ambushing party. Trail back behind us and avoid being spotted by the hunters." He glanced over to Riley, seeing her stay in the cabin, and shook his head in mild disapproval. "Very well. Vampire, you come with Rylan and I." He pointed to Nathan and pointed back at himself with a thumb. "You see better in the blackness than us." Sniffing the air deeply, he shifted right back into his wolf form, making eye contact with Rylan as he slipped out the door. "Be silent. Use your nose, as you were taught." His eyes then searched the darkness, darting from shape to shape, looking for the glint of metal, the silhouette of humans upright and leaning against trees or crouching in underbrush. He paused about twenty yards from the cabin door, ears pivoting. The moon cast an eerie glow upon the canopy above them, illuminating each leaf into a blanket of murk, shifting and rustling in the breeze. "Stay close to me, both of you." Wait a minute. He just realized Nathaniel couldn't hear him in his wolf form. He looked back at him, huffed and shifted into his human form. "Rylan, remain as you are." He whispered, creeping through the brush. "Vampire, stay near to me and do exactly as I say."
Rylan nodded, giving a shrug directed toward Dante as a way to apologize, although he most likely wasnât able to understand what she even signed. Oh well, I tried. She thought, figuring what mattered now would be their plans. She was surprised when he picked Nathan to go along with them, not knowing how it would work as she's never worked with a vampire before. Rylan gave a small wave and smile as if welcoming him to their little team before also taking shape of her wolf self. Once outside, her senses were hit by the many scents of the forest and the cool night air. She did her job and began sniffling around the ground, looking for any sign of a trail or anything that would help them. Rylan slowly followed behind Mehmet, doing circles to find a clue, her ears alert for the indication of a human hiding somewhere in the vegetation nearby. She looked when her leader become human and tilted her head in confusion. Then it hit her, figuring that Nathan couldn't hear them while they spoke I these forms. With a quick nod, she continued her sniffing about.
Seeing her tagging along, the alpha nodded briskly and trotted along the scent trail, huffing into the wind as he picked up speed. He galloped through greenery, grey and black in the darkness, keeping as close to Rylan as he kept to the scent. They smelled of death, cold and unforgiving, no warmth, no family. His mind darted back to days past, and he skid to a stop, snarling softly, hobbling up against a tree to catch his breath. "They...they smell just as before..." His head rose and he attempted to step forward, stumbling, feeling as if he wore shackles. He could feel a weight about his neck, too heavy, too tight, and wheezed, panting into the ground. "It's been too long since I've smelled...such poison..."
Rylan was grateful Mehmet kept at a pace she could keep up with. They were close; she could feel it, not to mention it reeked of human now. Humans werenât the brightest, so it surprised her they were still in hiding and now attacking all at once now. Could they have been wanting for more of them or even vampires to join their numbers before making a move? Maybe they want to take down both coven and pack in one fell swoop. Nonetheless it was their job to round them up like sheep and herd them into the glade. They werenât also to kill humans on sight, which was a relief to Rylan in a way. She wasnât sure if she could kill someone, but would if she had to.
âBefore?â Rylan repeated unsurely, looking toward her leader. She hurried towards him when she saw him stagger, thinking he had gotten hurt. She moved her ears this way and that, but so far only heard the night time sounds of the forest. Then it hit her, putting two and two together. Mehmet was having one of those flashbacks to the time when he was captured. Rylan knew it would be best to try and either get him out of it, or out of here. She nuzzled her head into his shoulder worryingly, âMetmet, itâs alright. Breathe easy, in and out. Youâre free now, and you donât have to face them if you donât want.â The other members of her pack would certainly understand if their alpha couldnât continue. If anything, Rylan could take control.
Jarleth wasnât ready to fight. He had nothing personal against the coven or the pack for that matter, but he didnât have a choice now. He was hidden away the foliage, several other of his group scattered within the same area. He wondered if his sister was amongst them. What would she think of him if she found out? He grabbed at his chest; his mark of his membership gave a dull ache. They knew his ties toward the pack, most likely why he was here, and was to prove himself and his loyalty. It was sick but he was also a coward and did as he was told, and waited for a signal to make a move.
For a few dizzying moments, Mehmet was blind, flinching away from Rylan's touch and panting raggedly. He felt her press to his neck, where no collar coiled, and his eyes slowly refocused. He growled and his shoulders slowly lowered, shivering. For a moment, he remained like that, ignoring his mission, his family. But that was unacceptable. He straightened up, expression stony. "...Thank you, KuzucuÄum. But I am the alpha. I must destroy any threat to the pack." His eyes flickered upwards and he disappeared into the bushes, trailing after the powerful scent.
Two humans stood in a little huddle by a tree. Trainees, by their inexperience with hiding in a forest. They were talking, whispering in fact, crossbows leaned into the crooks of their elbows. Mehmet gauged how much time it would take for him to tear them apart in relation to them lifting their weapons and firing. "Watch closely, Rylan." Like the rush of the wind in a sprinter's ears, he pounced into the clearing, swiping out with a great hand to slash across the first boy's chest. He sputtered, gagged and crumbled, and before the other hunter could react she was pinned to a tree and bitten viciously in the shoulder. Blood splattered across Mehmet's snarling face, tasting the neophyte's pulse jumping wildly with panic.
The smell of blood filled the air as Mehmet took down the two humans, rookies by the looks of it. However the seen brought out bad memories for Nathan, how one by one each member of his coven was slaughtered just like that. Shaking the memory away Nathan continued moving with the pack, his eyes scanning the area for anyone else as Mehmet finished off the neophyte. his vigil wasn't for nothing as another hunter came from some bushes.
From the way he carried himself and the armaments he carried it was clear that he was at least a fully fledged hunter, not the rookies that were just butchered. With the wolves preoccupied and Nathan needing a snack, he took it upon himself to take out the new arrival. With silent but hurried movements Nathan closed in on his prey and poised himself to strike before a crossbow bolt made itself known by plunging into his back. As he pulled it out, his warrior voice piped up and said "Foolish Nathaniel, falling for such an obvious trap." As Nathan quickly got himself into the cover of a tree his wound healed and the other hunter left the clearing, a woman by the looks of it. Nathan took in his surroundings, there wasn't much cover between him and either one of the hunters.
With little other options Nathan picked up a rock, tested the weight, and threw it at the man, knocking him on his ass in the process. With him out of the way Nathan sped off towards the woman, almost getting a bolt to the face in the process. It would have ended there had she not thrown her now useless crossbow at him, she knew how to fight he would give her that. Taking out her knife she tried to pierce his heart but failed, instead having it deflected and her disarmed. She may be a competent but she hasn't spent 24 years training in the arts of death. With a simple snap of the neck she was no longer a threat and Nathan pulled up his balaclava and drank deep. Feeling his characteristic strength return to him in waves Nathan dug through her pockets, hoping that she was dumb enough to not destroy her orders like he would have done. Finding nothing, Nathan discarded her now lifeless corpse and returned his focus on the man he had taken out with a rock.
In a quick sprint Nathan stood over the man and rummaged through his pockets as well, dissapointed in the lack of anything useful. With little need for anything dramatic, Nathan casually crushed the mans head underneath his boot and made his way back to the pack. Keeping an eye out for any other hunter that wanted to make themselves known.
Mehmet could hear carnage unfolding about him, and abandoned the recruit he'd killed in favor of rushing after Nathan to keep things under comtrol. "Hurry! More are coming, they must follow!" He sucked air into his lungs, ducked just as the dead hunters' backup arrived with loaded crossbows, and sprinted through the forest. He hoped to hear his pack following suit, his arms pumping like a tremendous machine as he ran and leapt over logs and boulders. He slowed if only to keep the hunters on his trail, crashing through clearing after clearing on his warpath to the glade. He prayed, now, that the chosen ambushers were in position. His mind flickered back to the image of Riley and Dante, neither very much fighters up to the standard he held for his pack, and worry overtook him. He would be more than enough for these humans, but what if one of the more inexperienced fighters were to die? Who would take responsibility?
The canopy opened up to naked moonlight, motes drifting through the beams as little speckles of substance. Bolts whizzed past his ears, screaming silver jets that embedded themselves in trees alongside him. He skid to a stop in the center of the rock formation, leapt over atop the highest stone opposite the entryway, and looked down upon a myriad of his worst enemies and tormenters. His heart hammered in his chest, partly from fear, partly from adrenaline. "RYLAN! VAMPIRE! BLOCK THEM IN!" His form shifted violently, head thrown back as both man and beast, letting out a howl that shook the forest to its roots and made the moon itself quiver in the night sky. He pounced upon his first prey, expecting to feel the brunt of the ambush swing into play now that the signal had been given.
