For You, I Will

What. The. HELL?! I cried to myself, taking a startled step back from the mirror. The reflection of the wolf followed my movements, and I fell back onto my butt in complete shock.

“L-Lillie?” Nessie asked, her voice shaking from surprise; I slowly turned my head to stare at her, my green eyes wide.

Kale was frozen in place, trying to understand what had just happened. I opened my mouth to reply to Nessie, but nothing came out. She was pressed up against the wall, staring at me in complete bewilderment. And then there was a snarl from beside me, and I whipped around to see Kale beginning to advance towards me again.

What do I do?! I cried to myself, backing up towards Nessie as well as I racked my brain. I had no idea how to fight in this body; how did I do anything in this body? And why on earth was I even in this body?! And more importantly, how the hell did I get out?? I had no idea how to phase back, so I would be stuck like this until I could figure it out.

From the back of my mind, voices began to emerge; at first I thought I was going crazy. And then I saw a quick image of a pack of familiar wolves. And then I saw one wolf in particular come to a skidding halt, and then a voice in my head cried,

Lillie!?

Dad?! I cried back, jumping from surprise. In my head, I saw Embry and the others stop and turn to look at my dad like he’d lost his mind. And as one by one, the other wolves focused on me, I began to pick up their thoughts as well.

Lillie, what the..? How can.. what?! Embry exclaimed; I saw him racking his brain for anything that made sense.

I- I’m, I’m a wolf, I stuttered, but before I could say more, Kale snarled and interrupted my thoughts. He bared his teeth, and I had backed up as far as I could go. Nessie, despite her initial shock, didn’t seem to mind that I was suddenly a wolf. Her arms grabbed onto me as we both stared in fear at Kale.

Lillie, Embry said urgently; I could see the rest of the wolves had raced on to the Cullen house, but Embry was hanging back, showing me himself as he said, go for his front legs. You’re smaller, but if you can knock him down you can get the upper hand.

And as I watched, Embry showed me how to lunge low to the ground; I took a step forward, and Nessie let go of me, her eyes wide with fear.

Just do what I did, Embry coaxed, and I focused on Kale as I took a breath. As Kale lunged for my throat, I dropped down and flew at his legs. I locked my teeth on his front leg and yanked it back as I slid beneath him. Kale flipped onto his side and his breath left him in a rush.

Turn around and pin him down, Embry urged, showing me how to turn on the spot; I whipped around and almost lost my balance. I sprung at Kale, though, and slammed his body into the ground just as he had started to get up. Embry was right; though I was smaller, I’d gotten the upper hand.

Kale threw his head to the side and his teeth connected with my paw; I let out a startled yelp and leapt back. Kale lunged for me and slammed me into the wall. I just managed to shove Nessie out of the way with my back paw; she rolled to the side, but didn’t stay out of the fight.

Just hang in there, Embry told me; he was racing to the Cullen’s house faster than I’d ever seen him run. He’d almost caught up with the rest of the pack.

You can do this, my dad told me as Embry fell into step beside him.

We’re coming for you sis, Lucas assured me.

We’re almost there, Jacob told me, and then his mind flashed with shock when he saw Nessie lunge at Kale and throw him off me.

I’ll keep her safe, I promised Jacob as I jumped to my feet, sliding into position beside Nessie, baring my teeth.

I blocked out the rest of the packs’ thoughts and focused on the here-and-now. Nessie was only half-vampire, and I was a new wolf- we needed each other to have a fighting chance. Kale paused for a second, trying to decide which of us to go for. Nessie brushed her fingers across my cheek and in my mind I heard,

Go for his legs again and I’ll get him when he jumps over you.

I gave a quick nod, and then dove for his legs; like she guessed, Kale leapt up over me. Nessie threw herself forward and slammed Kale back into the mirror; it shattered and sent shards of glass raining down on us. I crawled to Nessie and nosed her up, telling her to get on my back; once she was on, I backed up over the shards, wincing as they sliced my paws.

Kale scrambled to his feet, but fell back down as he winced. If I had to take a guess, I’d assume that Nessie’s strength had dislocated his shoulder. Giving a ferocious snarl, Kale lunged for us, but slipped on the blood from his cuts.

“Let’s go,” Nessie said to me, nudging me towards the door. I nodded and trotted out of the room, my head swinging back and forth looking for Rosalie. And boy, did I find her.

I let out a startled yelp as I flattened myself to the ground, just barely avoiding Rosalie slamming into me. Nessie jumped over my flattened body and put her arms up at her Aunt, keeping between me.

“Aunt Rosie! Stop! That’s Lillie!”

Rosalie stopped, confused, poised to dive over Lillie and take me out. Slowly I got to my feet, and, staying low, I crept around Nessie. Rosalie caught sight of my eyes –the same green as in real life- and asked,

“Lillie?”

I nodded my head, and confusion swept over her face.

“But- but you’re not a wolf… are you?”

Well, then what would you call me? I asked her sarcastically in my head; somewhere, Embry laughed to himself. His laughter brought back the connection I had to the pack, and I saw they were just moments away. I pressed my face into Nessie’s hand, and she saw my thoughts.

“The pack is almost here,” Nessie started to say. And then a giant black and white wolf, who I recognized as Saul, rocketed up the stairs and flew at Nessie and I. Rosalie lunged over us and went to intercept him, except the two other wolves that had followed Saul up the stairs intercepted her first.

Thinking fast, I shoved Nessie into the next room over with my shoulder as Saul’s body slammed into me. We rolled down the hall and came to a bone-jarring halt when we slammed into the wall. Saul immediately went for my throat, and I did the best I could by rolling beneath his body and making a beeline for the room Nessie was in. Nessie slammed the door behind me as I skid inside, and then we both barricaded it with our bodies.

Saul nearly knocked the door off its hinges with his first hit. It was strong enough to send Nessie and I skidding forward a bit, and we didn’t have time to regain our composure before he threw himself into the door again. The door skid across the room, coming to a stop at our feet.

Saul let out a snarl as he began to cross towards us.

“Together,” Nessie breathed, and I nodded. I braced my paws on the wood, my eyes locked on Saul. Nessie balled her fists up, right beside me. We did everything together; this wouldn’t be any different.