You're My Rose (Rosalie x Edward)

Chapter 12 - Call of the Wild

Arleos' army had eventually come to America not long after the Lion Coven joined their forces. The army had arrived at a French airport separately so as to not garner suspicion if a group of ninety or so people showed up for the same flight together. Sure, Arleos had flown before, and he usually flew first class, but he couldn't this time as he now had a whole group of vampires sitting amongst humans on a plane that was going to be cruising at thirty thousand feet. The last thing he needed was to be in first class while his army munched on unsuspecting passengers and flight attendants.

When the army had landed in Washington after a surprisingly calm ten-and-a-half-hour flight, Arleos took in the marvelous feeling the American west gave him. Something about the woods the army traveled in were calm. Arleos didn't see or feel the need to look over his shoulder every now and again.

The whole time he stared at Madelyn subtly. He had learned most of his soldiers' backstories except for Madelyn's; Vito was a mobster working under Bugsy Siegal, Antanasia was a distant relative of Vlad the Impaler ironically enough and Blaise was almost a victim of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. 

It didn't even take long to learn Eryk, Evan and Autumn's backstories, either. Arleos' suspicions about Eryk being a Viking were correct. He didn't take part in any particular raids or fought in significant battles, but he is a tough man, and the other suspicion Arleos had about Eryk's strength carrying over into his vampire life. That was proven when he pushed a massive boulder out of the way when the army was finishing up their rounds in Europe. Arleos found himself pleased with his decision to let him join.

Evan's name wasn't his real name. He had changed it soon after turning. He was a Roman solider under the command of famous general Scipio Africanus. That's all he really told Arleos too. Evan was a quiet person. He barely interacted with his own Coven. He did what he was told to do though, and that's all that really mattered to Arleos. He wasn't looking for friends, he was looking for people who were willing to fight and die so they could achieve some brownie points with the Volturi.

Autumn was an interesting character. Her story originates from the Great Depression. She was a peasant farmer working in Georgia. Apparently, she had died from her family's barn collapsing in on her during a powerful storm. Arleos had even more doubts about her by then. Then a rogue had decided to "feed" on her but stopped because her father was rushing outside to check on his daughter. Usually when your heart stops, it's nearly impossible to change into a vampire after that. A rogue's venom is strong, but it's not that strong. 

But Madelyn was a complete mystery. She never even gave him a hint as to where she came from. And she stared at Arleos as much as he stared at her. He would catch her looking at him when they stopped for a rest, if they were hunting, etc. The way she looked at him though, he couldn't tell if she was admiring him, studying him or both. Her eyes told him she was studying him, watching his every move, but her mouth told him she was his admirer. Her lips curled upwards in a subtle smile that whispered to Arleos to reach out for her. It was a weird feeling Arleos got apart from the undeniable sense of recognition. His memory did take him somewhere though. He remembered seeing her not long after he was initially changed. He remembered seeing her in an early nineteenth century dress standing beside a fireplace. That's all his mind showed to him. And whenever there wasn't something in the real world to deal with, he'd spend his time picking apart the image to pick up on any sort of recognizable object or area that could contribute to his memory. 

The first snowfall of the year had come to Washington. Arleos was reminded of the cold winters he watched rebels suffer through during his human days. He had a nasty hatred for them, but he was still a human, he had emotion. While he was warm inside a tent, other human beings were freezing to the touch, eating scraps and abandoning the cause they were so adamant on fighting for just so they could be warm. Arleos couldn't let that bother him too much, though, he was here for a reason. To kill the Cullen family.

He sent a few of his soldiers deeper into the woods to find some prey that could feed the rest of the army. As the army sat in the increasing snow, Nikita suddenly picked his head up to look straight ahead. He was having a vision. Arleos put his hand on Nikita's shoulder to guide him through it. Nikita was turning red. It was an intense vision. Seconds before Nikita came out of his vision, the sounds of Arleos' hunters could be heard, followed by the sound of barking, growling and howling. A glance from Arleos assured Nikita that he understood what he saw. 

Arleos, Nikita, Vito and Chelsea rushed towards the direction of the noises. A large rock pile stood in their way. Scaling it with great ease, Arleos and the others peaked it just in time to see the silhouettes of four large wolves running away into the snowy forest. And just beneath them, leaning beside or against the large boulder that was platform for the other rocks on top of it, lay the bodies of Arleos' five hunters.

"Werewolves!" Nikita cried. Arleos couldn't believe it. The calm feeling he had was shattered in an instant. Werewolves, outnumbered by one, killed five Muscled rogues in the matter of a minute. "Chels," Arleos snapped, his eyes still fixated on the mangled remains. "Move the troops out of this area. Us three are going to follow those things, make sure that they don't know about the rest of us."

"Okay." Chelsea panted before sprinting back in the direction of the army. Arleos, Vito and Nikita followed the snarling of the werewolves through the woods. Eventually, their shapes could be seen ahead. There was a black wolf, a brown wolf a light grey wolf and a dark grey wolf. The trio stopped abruptly when the wolves did. The grey wolves and the brown wolf stared at the black one. "That must be their alpha." Arleos suggested in his mind. When the wolves ran off again, Arleos and his posse ran back to the army. Now there were werewolves to look out for. But Arleos tried to calm his mind by telling himself, "At least vampires and werewolves are sworn enemies."