1,577Disclaimer – This is Stephenie Meyer's universe. I'm just playing in her world for a bit. Any names and characters not found in Stephenie Meyer's books could be my creation though.
Hello my loyal readers. Let's see how many of you catch this story ;) I'm still working on the Epilogue of 'How Wonderful Life is Now You're in the World', but this Prologue was just begging to be written and I really couldn't resist. Now remember, any continuation etc etc will solely be in your hands because you all know, I need inspiration and motivation to put down into words all the ideas that are swimming in my head. And inspiration and motivation comes in the form of reviews and constructive criticism.
My sincere thanks to my lovely beta Liljenrocks for encouraging me to keep writing and for continuously boosting up my spirits. Please check out her 'Love You for Always' and 'A Love that Defies all Logic'. Both stories are written in my universe. Good News, she's not ending her 'Love You for Always' yet. So there'll be lots more yummy goodness of the delicious Dr. Seth.
HOW THE MIGHTY FALL
Chapter 1: The beginning?
She panted heavily as she hurriedly threw things into her bag, not really caring if clothes were getting wrinkled in any way. She needed to get out of there, fast. She threw her door open and almost screamed in fright when a figure loomed up. He did not say anything, just reaching out to grab the bag from her and opening it to throw in some wads of money on the top, then snapping the bag shut again, he reached out again to grab her hand and led her outside to where a car sat purring on the sidewalk. He threw the bag into the backseat before helping her into the passenger seat of the car. In the blink of an eye, he was in the seat beside her and pulling away from the curb.
She grabbed her belly suddenly as the baby inside made a sudden lurch, hurting her and causing her to cry out. He glanced at her worriedly as he pushed the car past its own speed limits, driving through the Italian countryside.
"Do you remember what I told you?" he asked.
She looked up at him, startled. "You're coming with me, aren't you?"
He shook his head. "I may have to lead them away from you. Dammit, Gianna, were you listening to me when I was talking?"
"Demitri, I can't – I can't do this alone," she started sobbing, the terror of the past month still tying her insides up in knots.
"We can't do this now. Listen to me! I'm going to lead them away from you. I need you to keep moving. Go far away, anywhere."
"Where? I have relatives in –"
"Don't tell me! If he reads my mind, he'll know immediately."
He pulled up into a small railway station in a small little town. Grabbing the bag in one hand and hers in the other, he led her to the ticketing window and bought a ticket. Then standing in front of the train, he whispered to her.
"Remember, get into the city, pick a small town and head out towards it."
"Demitri –" she started again in a teary voice.
He grabbed her face, pressing a hard kiss to her lips. "You just concentrate on staying alive," he whispered. "I will find you. Both of you." Then he kissed her again, "I love you. Remember that, wherever you are. Just remember that."
He wouldn't know, as he watched the train pull away, that he wouldn't live to find her, nor would she stay alive much longer to concentrate on anything.
Elsewhere in America, in western Washington State was a sleepy little Indian Reservation called La Push. Population 374. The tribe residing on this Reservation were the Quileutes. The Quileutes had their own government consisting of a tribal council. The current chair of the council was one Billy Black, grandson of the last Chief of the Quileute people, Ephraim Black. Ephraim Black was Chief before the first tribal council was formed. He had been a brave warrior and just Chief, and as legends said, he had been a wolf.
According to folklore, the Quileutes were descendents from wolves. In the beginning, there had been six tribal societies that represented the elk hunter, the whale hunter, the fisherman, the weather predictor, and the medicine man. As legends had it, the medicine man had the ability to leave his body and let his spirit roam the land as he scouted for animals to hunt or enemies to keep away. The medicine man would also honor the creator by performing the wolf dance. From this line of medicine men came the great Chief Taka Aki. Taka Aki and his band of warriors would use their spirit warrior abilities to keep their tribe safe, but the sacred art of Spirit Warriors was left to die out after one of Taka Aki's men, overcome by greed had stolen the Chief's body and attempted to take over the Chief's life. Having no body to return to, the Chief had shared the body of a wolf and had vanquished the usurper. Taka Aki did get his body back but after having gone wolf, his human body faced some transformation. Gone was the slim built and the short stature, and Taka Aki stood close to seven feet tall and was very much more broader with muscles. He was also able to transform at will onto a giant sized wolf, perfect for fighting a new kind of enemy to come into their land, the cold ones.
Taka Aki had lived through three generations, siring three families as he didn't seem to age over the years. His sons inherited his ability to turn into giant wolves once they reached manhood and together they kept their tribe safe and thriving. In total, Taka Aki had twenty seven children spanning the three generations and three wives, all of whom he had outlived. The last wife, the third wife had been his true soulmate. When she had died, it was during a time when a cold one had come into their land and killed at will. Many of Taka Aki's sons had been killed fighting the ferocious enemy and the aging Taka Aki who had stopped turning into wolf just so he could age with his beloved third wife, had been forced to transform once again. The enemy was finally killed but that fight had left only a very few of Taka Aki's younger sons and daughters alive, for it had been a terrible time. Taka Aki had wandered into the woods after that, never to be seen again and the younger sons and grandsons transformed into wolves and somehow the tribe survived over the years, but slowly the wolf magic had died off, leaving the old stories to be remembered simply as quaint bedtime stories, folklore shared around bonfires when young children were thought of the legends.
The current tribe, though living in the time of video games and television took the time to share the old stories with the younger generations, determined to pass their culture and tradition down to them, not wanting it to die away the way some of the other tribes had. The Quileute language or Quillayute language, which was part of the Chimakuan family of language was thought in school based on books written by some tribal members, and in some families, the grandparents made it a point to converse only in the old language with the young ones. Only the Quileute and the Makah tribes were left speaking the Chimakuan language and the elders were doing all that they could to ensure that it did not die off.
One day, almost fourteen years ago, the Quileute tribe had welcomed into their midst a young woman, barely a child herself and her newborn baby. There was no husband to speak of and she refused to name the father of her child, her own overly pious family having turned her away for having a baby out of wedlock. She came from the Makah tribe and she was well versed in the Chimakuan language. She was hired to write text books of the language to be used in the Quileute Tribal School. And with the help from the tribal elders, she received her teaching certificate and became the language teacher in the school. Everyone talked about the kindness of the Quileute tribal council, for helping the single mother. But the council had its own motive, for one of the elders, Abraham Uley, had noticed something in the young child. The high arch of his eyebrows and the unusually sharp nose was something dominant in his family. He had it, his son Joshua, who had abandoned his small family a couple of years back, had it and his young grandson Samuel had it. This child was known to be a Makah in the Quileute land, but the elders made it a point to have a hand in teaching him all things Quileute. Thus, Embry Call grew up well versed in the Quileute traditions and beliefs, more so than he was of the Makah teachings.
A/N: It's short – I know. But it's the prologue, just a taste of what's to come. Your opinions on my writing abilities and my weird ideas matter, so please leave a review!