Descent

Chapter 1

Over 75 years ago my great grandfather had an encounter with vampires. His werewolf pack had only three at the time, but that wouldn't have stopped them from attacking the four vampires that stood before them.

However they claimed to be something different, vegetarians is what they called themselves. So our ancestors made a treaty with the so called Cullens. We would not expose them as long as they stayed off the Reservation and did not bite or kill anyone. And so the truce was made.

We have stood by our word over all these years and so had they. But now that the Cullens have returned could that change?

I am Bella Swan. I am seventeen years old and I have lived on the Quileute Reservation my entire life. My parents, Charlie and Sue Swan are two of the Elders for the descendants of the wolf pack along with Billy Black and Quil Ateara. The Elders have passed on the legends for generations and up until recently I hadn't believed in any of them.

Until now.

A few months ago I was embraced in my new life, a werewolf. I was the 2nd to change. As scary as it was because I had never dreamed it to be a possibility for me, it was nice to have the reassurances from Sam who walked me through it and showed me my new way of life.

But to everyone's surprise, especially mine, never in our history had there been a female wolf.

There were countless stories in our legends about war and hate, mistrust and betrayal, peace and unity between the two mythical bloodlines but I didn't believe much in them.

And up until a few months ago I hadn't even known that they existed.

Sam especially had a hard time swallowing them. His thoughts would creep into me when we were both out patrolling as well as his hatred for their kind.  He had never met the Cullens which surprised me at the potency of his rage for them.

"It's in our blood Bella," he would say. "We exist to destroy them. They are damned." But weren't we also. I was currently running on four legs. If that wasn't a curse of damnation I didn't know what was. How do you hate so blindly at something you've never encountered?

I certainly wasn't fond of vampires by any means. In fact I was slightly intrigued as I had never met one. The curiosity was there as was the fear. But unlike Sam I didn't hate those when it wasn't warranted. And so far, it hadn't been.

I took off in a sprint on all fours as I patrolled the outer edge. The wind brushed up my fur like a soft caress, the stream beneath my paws was like a cushion between the rock bed that I ran over.

This life was a curse, not quite the blessing that Sam treated it as. The danger, the tempered rage that simmered below the surface, the mood swings, the undeniable pain that ripped through me anytime I transformed into my wolf self felt like a punishment but the freedom of running was exhilarating and almost made up for everything else.

I had dreams all the time about running and never stopping. To be somewhere else, to be someone else. 

Sam interrupted my yearning for escape. "I still don't understand how you do that?"

I slowed down my pace as the edge of the border came into view. I gazed longingly at it. I had never been off the Reservation. I had lived my whole life here and probably would live the rest of it on my people's land without ever seeing the world.

I wondered how far I could get before someone came searching for me and how long I could make it on my own.

"You don't understand what?" I thought.

I could hear his labored breathing as he came to a stop beside me. His black fur coat was raised. I had to tilt my snout just to look up at him. He was a beast in size.