I exchange a glance with Leila and we start moving through the trees without a word, forgetting the two men with us. They start after us with a small delay but quickly catch up.

"What" Xavier starts but I order him to be silent with a wave of my hand.

Now is not the time to chit-chat, first we need to find out what happened and then we'll have all the time in the world to discuss. The nearer we get the stronger the scent grows. And finally we hear people scurrying around and whimpering, others shouting for help, heartbeats quickening or slowing down, ragged breaths and moans, children crying and people gasping. I strain my hears for the other kind of sounds, maybe the attackers are still nearby, maybe they haven't left just yet, I concentrate on the woods around but don't find anything. We quicken our pace even more and climb the last of the rocks in front of the village.

I growl in anger at the sight on the other side. This is a massacre, there are corps laying everywhere and wounded people in every direction. There were definitely more than one or two attackers, vampires aren't weak. My eyes flash as I see small inert bodies on the ground covered in mud and blood. I try not to think too much about it, blocking my feelings from surfacing. We need to help the survivors. I concentrate on a young man with burns on half of his body gripping tightly an older woman.

"Change of plans." Leila grits her teeth. "Everyone scatters around and call for me if the patient is critical."

She looks quickly at me, her lips tightly close. I nod quickly without the others noticing.

"They need blood to heal and judging by the state of the houses their stocks are gone," Leila continues getting four small glassy vials out of her bag and handing one to each one of us. "I need you to give them yours. A few drops are enough. Any wound to deep you call me. Gather the people still standing and have them help you. Once you've given your blood to the patient bring him to the left and go to the next one. Don't waste time, act fast."

She's gone before even finishing her sentence and I don't wait another second either.

'This is bad.'

They won't say anything. I'll concentrate on the deeply wounded.

'Don't give them too much...'

I know, don't worry.

I run to the young man and he suddenly looks at me with wide eyes finally noticing our presence. His disheveled dirty blond hair his sticking over his angled face.

He stretches over the woman's body and I see him wince.

"D-Don't come any closer !" He stutters trembling.

"I'm here to help." I say reassuringly bringing my arm slowly to my mouth under his suspicious eyes. I feel my canines elongating in my mouth and don't stop before biting hard onto the skin of my wrist. I pour the few drops on the flask and hand it to him. With trembling hands he lifts it to his lips and gulps it down. As soon as my blood enters his system I can see his wounds healing slowly, his burnt skin turning a pink color. I kneel down beside him and with the same slowness as before extend my arm to examine the woman. She's not breathing but I can hear her faint heartbeat.

"She's too far gone." He whimpers in a small voice his eyes full of tears.

"What's your name ?" I inquire.

"Max." He answers in a whisper.

"Alright Max, I think that my blood can help her, just like it helped you."

The young vampire shakes his head vigorously in denial.

"I couldn't help her and now it's too late."

"We won't know if we don't try." I offer.

I bite my wrist again and let more drops fill the vial. I force her mouth open and make her swallow it quickly. I concentrate on her heartbeat once again and eventhough it's still faint I can hear it become stronger.

"Max, help me get her under those trees." I order.

He gets up with more speed than he should be able to and I see him frown.

"I feel fine." He says in wonder observing his arms.

I nod dismissively and bring the woman away from the commotion and lie her softly in the shades. I turn around to evaluate the situation, Leila is quickly going from one injured person to the next, assessing the situation in seconds, giving her blood here and there, murmuring reassuring words. A little farther away Xavier is calmly doing the same. I look for Nate, he's bent down over a man giving him a flask full of his blood.

'He's giving way too much.'

I run to him and take the flask away frowning.

"How many people did you help so far ?"

"Five ? Maybe six ?"

"Leila said a few drops, as in two or three, not a pint." I roll my eyes watching the man's cuts disappearing in a flash.

"I don't see the problem." He mumbles stubbornly.

'The problem is that your blood is too powerful, you stupid monkey'

"What good will it make if you heal five more people and end up fainting yourself from lack of blood ?"

"Fine I'll give less." He agrees still frowning.

"M'am, there are other unattended casualties at the east of the village." Max interrupts our banter joining us.

"I'm coming." I nod sending one last warning look to Nate.

I follow Max behind the houses where people are still trying to extinguish the fires.

"Where is chief Nolan ?" I question and the vampire looks back at me in surprise.

"I don't know m'am. Do you want me to look for him ?"

"Yes please."

He shows me to a group of people before leaving. I focus on the task at hand and give my blood around to the different wounded, making sure to dose the amount depending on their injuries.

I'm about to go back to the others when I hear a small heartbeat coming from the side, hidden by the trees. I walk around them and find a little girl with long stunning red hair and green eyes laying on the ground with an enormous gash on her abdomen. The cuts are irregular and deep like claw marks and some others are lighter and neat, definitely a knife of some sort. She's looking at me, not missing any of my movements as I assess her wounds. There are no sounds leaving her frail body and I'm not sure that's a good sign, if she can't feel anything then that means her spine might be touched. She blinks slowly unfazed, calm. I need to think this through, in that kind of situation my blood alone won't be enough, the cut is too wide and deep, the skin can't grow back on its own. I need to call for Leila but I don't think I have the time. I'm starting to panic. I can't do this wrong. But I never went to medical school so I don't know how to do it right either. I look around but everyone is already occupied so I concentrate back on the little body.

What now ?

"M'am I found the chief but he's badly hurt, we need your help." Max cuts in my thoughts.

"I need help here first. Bring me one of your doctors." I order not looking away, putting my hands on the bleeding wound.

Maybe I could try to cauterize it, or stitch it back together. Maybe my blood would be enough. Whatever I do I need to do it fast.

THAT'S WHY I NEED THOSE SUPID DOCTORS.

He seems to hesitate, uneasy.

"M'am they asked for your immediate help. They said as the chief he's our first priority."

"I will let him die if you don't find me a doctor to save this child." I roar angrily looking straight in his eyes, seeing red.

He takes a step back and gulps.

"Yes m'am but they said" He tries timidly.

"The children come first. You should know that." I glare at him warningly. "The future first." I quote their tribe's proverb.

I swear to the Sun that if this child dies I'm killing every last one of them.

"Max, she's right. The children first." Someone speaks calmly from behind us.

The vampire's eyes widen even more as he nods frantically.

"Yes sir, I'm sorry."

I hear the footsteps coming closer but don't waste time looking up, the girl's face is becoming whiter by the second. The body bends down beside me, his porcelain fingers roaming swiftly over her injuries.

"I can give her my blood but she needs stitches. Or maybe... maybe" I hesitate.

"Hope calm down. I'll help you."

I finally look up briefly and come face to face with Rob, the chief's first son. Last time I saw him he was a child himself. Now he's a tall young man, physically in his thirties with the dark brown hair of his mother, a sharp nose and strong jaws covered by a thick bushy beard like his father.

"You're right she needs stitches." He gets an already used sewing kit out of his bag and starts displaying it on the ground beside him. "We have to do this fast, both at the same time. You give her your blood and I'll stitch her up too, this should give her enough strength to heal."

I nod impatiently, we should be done already.

Rob looks the little girl in the eyes seriously.

"Tami, can you hear me ? This is going to hurt. You have to be strong okay ?"

When she only blinks at him he frowns.

"I think her spinal cord was touched." I say in a whisper not wanting to alarm her.

"This is bad, I don't have any tools for this and the clinic was burnt to the ground." He mumbles under his breath.

"Maybe my blood will help with that." I offer and he nods.

"Alright, here we go." He starts.

I rip a part of my skin in my hurry making a big mess of my wrist but I need for the wound to stay open as long as possible so the biggest the tear the better. I bring my arm directly to her mouth and let my blood flow down her throat.

Rob moves around with accuracy, closing the biggest gash as fast as he can as her flesh grows back haphazardly, his movements becoming a blur. I watch the scene holding my breath for any sign that her spine is healing too but so far she is not reacting to the pain. The stitches are all identical, made neatly with precision, the scar should heal nicely. Rob concentrate on the smaller cuts but these almost completely disappear on their own. We wait silently looking for any kind of tremor or twitch anywhere and everywhere at the same time. I can sense the tension, the expectation. My blood is bewitched it should work.

It has to work.

Finally, after seconds that seemed to stretch into an eternity her fingers start to move and her toes start to wriggle. I hear both our short intakes of breath, my heart speeding up again.

"Tami, I want you to stay still for now. You can't stand up or sit down." I demand softly. "I don't want you to move for a while. Max will stay with you."

She nods slightly and stay still. I don't know how fast my blood works in that kind of situation but I'd rather not risk it. I stand up and dust off my pants.

"I'm ready to see the chief now. Thank you for your help."

"No problem, I'll bring you to him." Rob answers nonchalantly.

I look at Max still standing on our side and he comes closer on Rob's side staying as far away from me as he can.

'You scared him off.' My wolf mumbles.

He should have kept quiet.

'He was only following orders.'

I roll my eyes at her.

"Please take care of her."

He nods and sits down beside Tami without a word.

Rob guides me through the shacks.

"I didn't recognize you there for a second." I joke, trying to diffuse the tension.

"Well it's been a while." He offers with a smile. "On the contrary you didn't change a bit."

"A liposuction and some Botox injections can do wonders." I laugh.

"Sir, there's a problem up north." A woman in a warrior attire walking towards us informs Rob.

After glancing my way he nods at her.

"My father should be in the hut right in front of you."

"Alright, I'll see you later." I start walking again.

I can hear a commotion as I get nearer, people scurrying around, giving incoherent orders left and right. I don't bother knocking before getting inside. There are at least twenty people in that small cabin. The air is suffocating. They keep pacing around shouting at each other.

"What took you so long !" Someone shouts finally noticing me and every eyes turn to me, glaring my way.

"We asked you to come immediately, who do you think you are making us wait ?"

Wow, if I didn't love the old man I'd just let him die to prove my point.

'Foolish old geezers.'

Now be nice with these old farts.

I lift a hand unfazed demanding silence.

"Hurry up wolf !"

"Be useful already !"

I raise a brow watching them all, they don't sport any cuts or any other kind of injuries. Their cloths are immaculate. They could have given him their blood, it could have healed him. That's the problem with vampires, especially old ones, they drink our blood but they wouldn't give a drop of theirs to save a village. They believe they are above the other creatures and as such their blood is better than gold, it's godly and won't be shared.

"There are a lot of wounded outside." I state calmly.

"Peasants."

"Servants."

"Workers."

Meaning : We don't care.

Unlike themselves the others don't matter. They could give their lives to protect them that they wouldn't budge. However these elders wouldn't sacrifice themselves for anyone. I ponder whether to bleed them to death to gather a few pints for the others. We sure need some. I listen in on the faint heartbeat behind them, it could be worse, he'll survive, I'm not sure about them though. I'm persuaded this tribe could survive without them.

"So let me get this straight," I start getting a seat comfortably, "there are dozens of your people outside, fighting, helping, dying or even dead already and you geezers won't move a finger."

They start to hiss at my words.

Oh I'm just starting.

"The children are hurt and bleeding, cut, burnt, dying," I enumerate on my fingers "and you stupid old men are standing here fidgeting about one expendable man ?"

"Perjury !"

"Blasphemy !"

"We are the Council, not some lowly people."

"Every one of you is disposable." I threaten.

"We should just kill her and take her blood !" Someone shouts.

I stretch my arm on the wood of the chair and place my head on my hand, crossing my left leg over the right one for good measure.

"You want my help ?" I inquire smiling.

One of them nods frantically while the others wait impatiently.

"Then. Kneel." I command.

"Kill her !" Someone orders and they start towards me.

"I said kneel." I repeat myself, my voice slightly stronger than a whisper.

They all fall to their knees in seconds unable to fight it. I look down at them and smirk.

"Oh my," I start nonchalantly.

My words seem to be booming around the walls in the silence of the small hut. All my anger is oozing off my body. I let my power lash out at their skin marveling at their trembling bodies.

I uncross my legs and stand up gracefully.

"If you needed my helped all you needed to do is ask." I continue lightly.

I hear a few hisses but nobody moves, they can't.

"My poor, poor, weak elders." I strode past them.

I bend down over the bed were Nolan is whimpering in his sleep. He has a cut so deep on his forehead I can see the bone and his chest is badly burnt. His entire body is shivering in agony.

"It might be time for some changes in this Council don't you think, bring in the youngsters ? Maybe they wouldn't be as impetuous and arrogant as you are."

I bite my wrist open once again and let the liquid fall on Nolan lips. One, two, three drops. I seat beside him on the bed watching as the colors come back to his face.

"My, my." He chuckles as he opens his eyes and I smile at him.

I help him sit up with difficulty and he frowns when his eyes fall on the men still kneeling.

I ain't letting them off anytime soon.

"What did they do now." He grumbles.

"I see the Council is still as full of themselves as ever." I smile.

"I keep reminding them to behave." He sighs.

"I guess they never learn."

"How are the others." Nolan dismisses the subject, ignoring their bending forms altogether.

"There are a lot of casualties." I inform him gravely.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep ragged breath.

"I tried to help. But there were too many of them. They came from nowhere, they were everywhere, attacking the kids, burning the houses. People were stuck inside, they couldn't get out. They started running after the kids showing no mercy. They wouldn't tell me why they were doing it, just standing there, laughing." His last words stay stuck in his throat, his voice breaking.

"You did everything you could." I murmur and I believe without a shred of doubt that if he hadn't been there it would have been much worse.

"Why did they do this ?" He questions looking me straight in the eyes in hope of answers. "What did we do to them ?"

"I don't know. That's why I came. I'm here with Leila and two others. They are outside helping where they can. If you're feeling better I'll leave you to rest and get back out there. We'll talk later."

Nolan only nods and I get up and leave without another glance at the elders at my feet.