La Morte Nera By AydenMorgen.pdf

La Morte Nera By AydenMorgen

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7128579/1/

La Morte Nera: Part One

Memphis, 2010 -

The half moon shone through the shattered window, glinting off of the few glass

shards that still littered the floor and casting odd beams of light upward. They

danced in shadowed prisms along the baseboards; little distortions of light in

pitch black. It wasn't enough to make anything visible, but then again, Edward

had no need of the light anyway. He could see his prey slinking across the

decaying, musty room as well as if it had been midday.

The wolf's yellow eyes were closed to mere slits, his upper lip curled in a

soundless snarl as saliva dripped from yellowed fangs. Grey fur nearly stood on

end along his back and the white, matted fur of his chest seemed to shine in the

darkness. His claws clicked quietly on the rotted wood of the floor as he backed

away. His head swung from side to side as if looking for an escape route, any

escape route.

There wasn't one, of course.

Edward had made damn sure of that, backing the animal toward the corner with

the skill of one born and bred to hunt. Jasper and Emmett flanked him, spread

out into a spear point to ensure that the wolf went nowhere.

Fury rolled from it in waves; stinging at Edward until his eyes and nose burned

with the sharp, acrid scent of the diseased blood running through its veins. He

wanted to gag at the rancid smell, but refused to let himself even consider it. If

he lost his focus now, even for a minute, all hell would break loose. And he'd

tracked the bastard too far to let him go now.

The wolf glanced briefly between him and Jasper to his left. Edward could feel the

thing hesitate over the foot of empty space between them and then on the gaping

window beyond. It lifted one massive paw and leaned forward.

Edward reacted instantly, stepping toward the animal and sending the object in

his hands whirling. Blue sparks shot from both ends like a firecracker, piercing

the darkness. The wolf howled in fury and raced forward, leaning low to the

ground and zagging across the rotting floor.

"Dammit!" Edward dove to his left to cut him off. He kept the rigged flare twirling

expertly in his hands, hoping it would slow the thing down.

It didn't.

The wolf screamed as those blue sparks arced toward him again. The sound sent

chills racing up Edward's spine. He gritted his teeth, sparks from the flare stinging

like embers at his hands.

The wolf changed his flight path as those sparks swirled in loose circles and

rained down. The sharp scent of singed fur wafted toward Edward, joining the

disgusting cacophony already clogging his nose. His stomach threatened to roil

rebelliously.

The crazed animal twisted its massive frame in mid-air, more frantic than before.

Edward spun in mid-dive, equally as desperate. The wolf could not be allowed to

escape out the window and into the unsuspecting neighborhood beyond. It would

be a disaster. Even with his supernatural speed though, Edward knew that he

would never get close in time to stop it.

The damned thing was too quick; far quicker than he'd anticipated it would be

now. Already it was racing past him, its tail swinging wildly back and forth. It

curled in upon itself for an instant, getting ready to spring. Edward tossed the

flare aside and leaped forward, jerking a pair of throwing knives from their

sheaths.

The wolf bounded upward, nearly to the window now. There was no way Edward

was going to get the knives out before the wolf completed that desperate dive,

but he ripped them from their sheaths and threw anyway.

With a roar, Emmett loomed up in front of the window, his sword still strapped to

his back and his thick arms outstretched. The wolf caught sight of him and

howled again, trying to turn himself in midair. Edward shouted a wordless

warning, watching in silent frustration as the wolf managed to crouch in upon

itself in midair and twist to the side.

The knives whistled harmlessly past.

Emmett didn't even flinch as first one and then the other diamond studded blade

sank into his flesh, cutting deep from the force of the throw. He paid them no

attention at all, in fact, instead grabbing the rabid animal by the scruff of the

neck and slamming it to the floor as if the knives were not even there.

The momentum of that body slam drove him to the floor right alongside the wolf.

He cursed savagely as the impact rocked the decayed building.

Edward staggered and fell hard.

The second flare slipped from his belt and bounced once before clattering

harmlessly to the floor beside him.

The wolf roared from halfway across the room.

Edward ignored the animalistic screams and dragged himself to his knees just in

time to see the animal buck against the floor, his fangs snapping at the air.

Emmett cursed and fell backward, his hand still holding tightly to the scruff of the

creature's neck. That grip dragged the snarling animal half on top of him.

"Hell." Edward bounded to his feet to help before the situation got out of hand.

Wolf blood would burn his brother like acid and hurt like a motherfucker. And that

was before it infected him as surely as the wolf was now infected. There'd be no

saving his brother when that happened.

Edward might as well have stayed where he was though.

The creature kicked its back feet wildly as it fought to tear itself from Emmett's

grip. One giant paw smacked into Edward's knee; the other crunched beneath his

boot. With a curse, he went sprawling across the floor; his own legs tangling in

the mess of flailing vampire and animal limbs.

"Son of a bitch!" he roared, suddenly furious that nothing seemed to be going

exactly right. He and his brothers had done this too many times to count… and

not even their first hunts as vampires had been such a pathetic display as this

was shaping up to be!

He kicked himself free of the mess and leaped to his feet to drag the thing off of

Emmett. The animal thrashed its head back and forth like the possessed thing it

was, fangs bared and snapping. Drops of foam flew, wetting Edward, Emmett and

the surrounding floor.

Edward growled a litany of curses and jerked the animal's head back further,

pinning it in place. Jasper, seeming not at all concerned, strode forward from his

place a few feet beyond the window and kicked savagely. His booted foot

connected with the animal's side. Bone crunched.

The thing stopped thrashing and started howling, one pained cry after another.

Emmett rolled to his feet instantly, tearing the sword out of the scabbard across

his back. Edward stepped back, cringing at what was coming. No matter how

many times they did it, or what species their blades fell upon, it never got any

easier to watch.

In one blindingly fast move, Emmett hefted the sword high over his head and

with more force than was absolutely necessary, drove it into the wolf's neck. It

thrummed as it bit through the floorboard beneath, sending chunks of rotted

wood bouncing into the room below. The animal's head separated almost

completely from its body as Em jerked the sword out, the knives still embedded

deeply in his left arm.

Black blood spurted from the gaping hole in the animal's neck. Emmett leaped

backwards, narrowly missing being splattered. The diseased blood hit the floor

instead.

Wisps of smoke began to curl up immediately in those spots.

Edward gagged as the smell of smoking wood added to the stench already

permeating the room.

Christ, what he wouldn't give for a human sense of smell! He held his breath and

eyed the wolf, knowing that was a useless desire. He was no more human than

the wolf, and that was to say not at all anymore.

Its legs jerked a final time, almost as if it did not quite realize it was dead, and

then lay still. And who knew? Maybe it didn't realize it was dead.

This certainly wouldn't be the first time Edward helped kill something that didn't

die easy. He rather doubted it would be the last either. The virus infecting the

wolf had spread far already; savagely decimating the vampire and wolf

populations. Nothing short of a miracle would stop it now.

And miracles were in short supply.

Everyone from the werewolves hiding in Belize to the Volturi in Italy were

working to find a cure… and none were anywhere close to it. La Morte Nera was

unopposed in its deadly march forward, and damn near invincible too. It killed

every supernatural creature it touched… werewolf, shifter and vampire alike.

Silence hummed through the old building for a long moment as the wolf gurgled a

final time.

The knots in Edward's shoulders relaxed.

Emmett breathed a deep sigh of relief, drawing Edward's attention to him. He

winced as he caught sight of his knives again, still buried hilt deep in his brother's

flesh. His earlier fury simmered again.

How the hell did one infected shifter manage to cause such a fuss?

"Fucking wolves," Emmett spat, flopping down beneath the glassless window. He

grabbed the knives by the hilts and jerked them free before tossing them to the

floor in disgust.

Edward hauled himself to his feet again, ripping clean strips from his shirt to help

bandage the wounds. He sent up a silent prayer of thanks that none of the wolf's

saliva had gotten into the diamond-caused wounds yet. Better safe than sorry

though. "Did his saliva hit you?"

Emmett shook his head. "Just my legs. Wounds are clean."

Edward dropped to his knees beside his brother, makeshift bandage in had. "How

the hell did that happen?"

"Damned if I know." Jasper glanced back down at the wolf. "I've never seen one

of the infected fight like that to get free." Curiosity sparked in his amber eyes.

"Wonder what that was all about."

"Damned if I know," Emmett tossed Jasper's own phrasing back at him. He

sighed heavily; the noise almost aggrieved. "Half a million people in this city and

we're the only ones fool enough to wrestle wolves. Do neither of you find that

just the least bit insane?"

"I'm sure if you kindly inform the other half a million inhabitants that shifters are

real, they'd be happy to take over for you. Oh yeah," Jasper said, as unperturbed

as ever. He held up one finger. "You might first explain about werewolves and

vampires and the Volturi, too. I don't particularly want to be spitted by your

ignorant human replacement."

"Spitted?" Emmett snorted in disgust. "I've never spitted anyone!"

"I think that's his point, Em," Edward pointed out quietly, wrapping his makeshift

bandages around his brother's wounds.

"More or less," Jasper confirmed.

"Yeah, well- ah dammit!" Em held his grime covered shirt away from his body,

looking more pained than he had even when Edward's knives had found his flesh.

"I liked this shirt."

"I'll buy you a new one," Edward muttered. Leave it to Emmett to worry more

about his shirt than the jagged holes in his arm. Not that the jagged holes in his

arm really required worrying, anyway. Diamond might have cut through his stony

flesh like butter, but it'd take far more than two little holes to kill him. With the

wounds clean, he was in no danger of dying. Not tonight anyway.

"Damned right you will." Emmett's teeth gleamed in the dark. "You're the fucker

who stabbed me."

Jasper prodded the wolf carcass with a booted heel. "It's been a few weeks since

we've had to kill one of the shifters. This makes three in twenty-four hours."

"Mm," Em grunted. "Almost makes you wonder what's up, doesn't it?"

Edward could feel Jasper's eyes on him. "I don't know," he answered without

looking up. "The virus affects the shifters differently. They're -"

"Humans unaffected by the lycanthropy virus," Emmett cut in airily. "Big

difference. Not the same. Yadda, yadda, yadda."

Tell us something we don't know, he finished silently.

Edward pulled the bandage tighter than necessary.

"Ouch." Emmett glared at him. "I'm just saying; we get it. No lecture necessary.

But still… it would be nice to know what the hell it was doing." He pointed to the

window with his good arm, oddly serious. "He was damned intent on getting out

of here. And the other two weren't much more willing to stick around and fight.

That's not exactly normal infected behavior."

"No kidding." Jasper slung his pack to the floor and jerked a black tarp from it. He

tossed it down beside the dead wolf and reached into the pack again. "What the

hell are they after out there?" A length of thick rope joined the tarp.

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