Dusk

Dusk-Chapter Nine

CHAPTER NINE-NEWS

Carlos runs after us and before I know it, he's beside me and snarling at Alex.

"There's going to be a war," Alex said, ignoring Carlos.

"What?" I ask as if I didn't quite catch his words.

"Ellice, remember earlier today? I told you about them, the Necrophyles. The group of revolting vampires and werewolves. Giselle saw them coming to Oregon," he explained.

"Oh. Don't tell me your going to fight..." I say quietly.

"We have to. I promise you, Ellice, I won't let them put a finger on you," he said, taking my hand and placing it on his heart.

Carlos growled and yanked me back. "Don't touch her without permission!" he yelled furiously.

Alex bared his razor-sharp fangs and growled. "We both know who she wants."

Carlos stepped forward, "Yeah. You might guess it's you, but wait until she says the real answer, which is me. I can give her so much more."

Alex laughed. "As a dog? You might as well be her pet."

Carlos' eyes widened and he glared at Alex. He was breathing heavily, when suddenly he lunged froward, hair sprouting from his body, and transformed into a werewolf. He growled and raised his paw at him as if it was a warning. Then he threw himself at Alex and started to scratch and bite his face dangerously. I stood there helplessly, as the two of them rolled around on the ground fighting, grunting, and snarling. I watched as Alex had Carlos pinned to the ground, and was bending down to bite him when I was brought back to my senses.

"Alex! No!" I shout, rushing forward and stretching my body across Carlos.

Alex snarled and looked at me. He blinked, then he stood up and brushed dirt off of him. "Sorry," he murmured quietly.

Carlos whimpered and he got up uneasily, then he ran as fast as he could away from us. I started calling out to him, when Alex cut me off.

"No, let him go. He deserves it," he said angrily.

I shake my head. "No."

"Ellice, we have so much things to do. I have to prepare for the war, and you have to go find somewhere to stay, now that you don't have any legal guardian," he said bitterly.

"I'm staying with Carlos," I say firmly.

"No, I won't let you stay with that brute," he grumbled.

"Well, I'm sorry to say this, but, I can't think of anywhere else to stay," I say sadly.

"Stay with me."

The moment he said that, I remember when I had said, 'stay with me forever,' to Carlos. Did that mean that I loved him? Or did I say that only for his expense? I couldn't think because my mind was whirling with thoughts of everything. I remembered when he told me that he had loved me, I could feel myself attracted to him. Then that's when I had to admit to myself that I loved him. But I wasn't sure now, because Carlos changed everything from the moment when he said he loved me as well, when we kissed, when we lay down together in that meadow...

"I can't stay with you," I answer.

"Why? I'm sure Kyla and Christopher will allow it," he says confused.

"It's not that, Alex," I say quietly.

"It's that wolf, isn't it? You love him," he says sadly.

"I'm not making any choices. Right now I want to focus on this battle of yours," I say determinedly.

He nods, then his eyes widened. "You have to go, Ellice! Now!"

"What? Why?" I ask, startled.

"Giselle! She's here! She can smell you, Ellice! Go!" he says, shoving me away from him.

I catch a glimpse of a blur speeding down the hills in front of us. I realize that it was Giselle running for me. She was going to kill me if I didn't make a move to run.

I was just shuffling my feet away from Alex and Giselle, when I see Carlos, back to his human form, appear in front of me.

"Another vampire," he snarled. "Ellice, let's go!"

He lifts me up into his arms, and we speed through the forest. I hold onto him as he dodges trees and plants, afraid that we would be caught.

We get to a clearing in the forest, when Carlos puts me back on my feet and says, "We lost her. You're good."

I nod and collapse on the ground. I put my head in between my knees and I hear Carlos kneel down beside me. He puts his arm around me and asks, "You okay?"

I shrug and my lips start to quiver. I lift my head up, and brush off a few tears that streamed down my cheeks. Carlos frowned and helped wipe some of my tears off as well.

"You want to talk about it?" he asks me again.

I shake my head and rest my head on his shoulder. I feel my eyes starting to droop, and I start to drift off. As I'm fading away, I hear Carlos whisper, "I'll stay with you forever."

When I'm starting to wake up, I feel a hand stroking my cheek gently, a voice softly whispering for me to wake up. I figured it was Elle, saying that it was time for breakfast. I could almost see Aaron frying up some eggs and bacon.

Elle's soft hand keeps stroking my cheek, and I don't push it away. I wanted to tell her how much I crave her gentle touch. It made me feel happy and bubbly inside.

When I'm opening my eyes, I realize that it was a male's voice speaking, and I get scared. I wonder who it is when Carlos slips into view.

"Hey, Ellice," he says sweetly.

I blink and remember that my mother was dead. I ignore the tears starting to fall when Carlos wraps me up in a hug.

"What's wrong?" he asks concerned.

I sniffle and mumble, "I just had a bad dream." Which is half true.

He nods and lets me go. I hear my cellphone ring and reach over to see it was Alex.

Carlos groaned and left the room to give me some privacy. I answered the phone to hear Alex's worried voice saying, "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Perfectly fine," I answer plainly.

There was a silence when he finally said, "The Necrophyles are almost here. We're judging for them to be here tomorrow. We need to hunt, Ellice, and prepare for the war. It can get quite ugly," he said sadly.

"Alex?" I ask him slowly.

"Yes?" he answered

"If I asked you to stay and maybe flee from the fight, would you say yes?" I ask.

There was a pause before he said, "Maybe. We might not even stand a chance against them."

"Yeah, you might not."

Then I hang up and drop my phone to the floor. I just couldn't let him get into this fight. It wasn't worth the risk of losing him.