A/N:
Date 1-1-18

Happy new year everyone! It's 2018 and I can hardly believe it XD

I'm on Christmas break right now and I honestly should be writing more, but I find myself busy all the time or not feeling like writing. I'm working harder to write though.

This is a longer chapter for all of you! I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to comment and vote!

Word Count: 3360

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Chapter 11: Reinforcement and Memory Reading

"Zane, come on! Wake up already." I pleaded to no avail as I continued carrying him through the woods, away from the werewolf who attacked us and his vampire companions.

I stopped after a few more miles to make sure I was far enough away, then gently set Zane down against a tree. If the werewolf decided to chase us down and finish us off, he would be able to. But I didn't know what to do or where to go.

My first action had to be to reset Zane's arm. It had been broken for at least ten minutes, which even I knew could be dangerous for a vampire. We heal much faster than humans, so if the bones were not aligned correctly, it could heal the wrong way.

I grabbed Zane's arm and quickly snapped the bone back in place before I could think too much about it and possibly chicken out or mess it up. I could hardly believe that Zane slept through that, but he was probably used to broken bones.

Once that was done, I wiped the blood from his face, glad to see those scratches had healed. I stepped away again and reached for my phone where it should've been in my jeans pocket, only to remember that I had put it in my backpack. I groaned in frustration when I realized I dropped my bag when we were attacked by the werewolf. I had to go back.

I began to pace anxiously as I considered my options. "Alicia?" Zane suddenly whispered, causing me to turn in surprise.

I dropped to my knees beside him before answering. "Zane, are you okay? How do you feel?" I asked a bit frantically, glad that he was finally awake to help me figure out where to go from there.

Zane made a noise that didn't sound too reassuring. I moved his tattered sleeve to check out the wolf bite, finding it looked slightly better than before.

"Did I heal yet?" Zane asked tiredly with his eyes closed and a small smile on his lips.

I let out a small relieved laugh before answering softly. "Yeah, Zane. But not completely. I got you help so you should heal all the way, but it's taking a bit longer than usual."

Zane opened his dark blue eyes to squint at me as he tried to sit up a bit more. I grabbed his arm carefully to steady him, but he winced so I let go. "Sorry." I mumbled quickly in apology.

"It's fine. Like you said, I'll heal." Zane replied dismissively. "How did you do that? I should've died from the wolf bites..." Zane mused, sounding tired still from the healing process. "Or I will turn into a hybrid. Is that what's happening?" He asked, unable to hide the panic shining in his eyes.

"No, no you're not. I'll explain it to you later. First, I need to know where to take you so you can rest and heal before we move on." I told Zane, hoping against all odds that he knew a safe place to go.

"Alicia, I'm sorry but I have no clue where we can go for safety." Zane admitted as he shifted, trying to get comfortable, which resulted in him flinching in pain.

"The only other person I know that can help is Ash. But I still don't know if he's safe! And my phone is in my bag... where I dropped it when you were attacked." I told Zane reluctantly, hating that I messed something up and had to go fix it, leaving him defenseless.

"Then go get it. I'll be fine here." Zane promised, even though I could tell that he was only saying that to reassure me.

"Yell if you need me, alright?" I ordered, hoping Zane wouldn't let pride get in the way so he would ask for help if needed.

Instead of him arguing about how he could take care of himself like I thought he would, Zane only nodded and sent me a small smile.

Then I was running as fast and quietly as I could to get to the spot where I left my backpack.

When I was close enough, I ducked behind a tree and took a deep breath to pick up any scents that could be near. The only thing I smelled was the old scents from the fight and small animals that had come across that area since we left.

I let out a sigh of relief as I used trees as my cover, just in case, while I crept along to where I thought my backpack might be. But it was hard to tell in the woods because everything looked similar and I couldn't be sure of where I dropped my bag.

I followed what I hoped was my scent from my bag until I found, half covered in leaves as the wind blew and made it harder to pick out certain smells.

I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulder, grabbing onto the straps and preparing to return to Zane. The wind in the trees was messing with the scents in the air, but I was able to focus on the smell of Zane and his recently spilled blood.

I heard coughing before I saw Zane and knew that couldn't be good. I rushed through the trees desperately to reach the noise and what I hoped was my boyfriend who was safe.

I found Zane where I left him, sitting leaned against a tree, but he was slouched over so I couldn't see his face as his coughs became more violent.

"Zane?" I called out worriedly as I dropped to the ground beside him and patted his back in an attempt at helping.

When he finally lifted his head and lowered his hand from his face, there were traces of blood on his lips and fingertips. "I'm calling Ash to get you help." I told Zane hurriedly as I began to search for my phone in my bag and he wiped his hand clean on the grass.

But before I could find it, Zane grabbed my arm with his other hand to stop me. "Tell me what you did to heal me. I know a little about werewolves. I might be able to help myself." He basically pleaded with me, his tone weak but his grip on my forearm tight to get my attention.

With a frustrated sigh, I quickly told Zane about the two vampires who showed up while he was unconscious and how the one named Adrian gave him some of his blood to heal him.

"He said he had some werewolf blood in him, but he wasn't a hybrid?" Zane asked for confirmation so I nodded in answer.

"That's a one in a million chance. He must've been extremely lucky." Zane mused before he added a staggering thought. "I hope I'm that lucky."

"Adrian said his blood would heal you, but he also said he's only tried it a few times. Plus he said there may be side effects." I reminded him as I tried to look on the bright side of things.

But it was difficult when I could still smell the blood that Zane had coughed up a few minutes ago. It was also making me a bit thirsty.

"I'm really calling Ash this time. We need to go somewhere so you can heal and we can both rest." I announced, no longer listening to Zane's protests. He still didn't like Ash, either from jealousy or hatred. It was probably both, since I knew he was jealous before. And I was almost certain that he was still angry with Ash for snapping my neck when he wasn't himself.

I dialed Ash's number, listening until the ringing stopped and Ash's voicemail came on, telling me to leave a message. "Ash, it's me. I need your help. We need your help." I glanced at my unhappy boyfriend before continuing.

"I don't know if you're safe, or if you even have your phone. And I know you said we should leave you alone, but now is not the time to ignore me. I'll explain the emergency if you answer this or call back. Just please, call back if you can." I begged, my voice steady but conveying urgency.

I hung up the phone and shifted to sit more comfortably on the ground next to Zane. He was staring at me with an expression I couldn't interpret. "They could've got to him. If he calls back, they could be right next to him, telling him what to say to get information out of us. We can't trust him." He points out strategically.

I put my head in my hands, wanting to scream or hit something, but I pushed that away and remained calm. "I know you're right, Zane. But if he can help, I have no choice. You need to heal, and you're not exactly doing that right now." I tried to reason with him.

"Let's just forget it for now. We can keep heading towards Storm's science facility and stop somewhe-" Zane was cut off abruptly by the sound of my phone ringing.

I scrambled to hold up my cell to check the caller ID. Sure enough, it was Ash calling back. "It's him! I have to answer." I exclaimed excitedly.

Zane began to argue, but I ignored him and answered the phone immediately. "Hello?"

"Alicia, what's wrong?" I heard Ash's voice ask me in concern. I gazed at Zane for a moment, who was giving me a look that read caution!

"First, tell me if you're okay. You didn't call to tell us what happened with those vampires who were after you." I pointed out the obvious.

"I've told you before, I don't want you involved in my life. I'm too dangerous to be around." Ash answered softly.

"Then why did you call back, if you don't want us to talk to you anymore?" I countered angrily.

I heard Ash sigh through the phone. "Just because I don't want you involved, that doesn't mean I don't still care. Now what's the emergency?"

I rolled my eyes at his topic change but turned to Zane to make a decision. "Long story short, we were attacked by a werewolf, Zane was bitten twice, a vampire who has some werewolf blood in him but isn't a hybrid gave Zane his blood to heal him, and Zane isn't healed so we need somewhere to go."

The other end of the line was quiet for a minute while Ash processed what I said. "Why would a werewolf attack you?" He finally asked, shocking me a bit because that was his first question.

"It shouldn't surprise me that you know of the existence of werewolves, unlike me before this incident happened." I replied in an overly exasperated tone.

"All vampires are supposed to be warned by their sire about the dangers of encountering a werewolf. I never got around to that because we were being hunted by our own kind." Ash admitted.

It was my fault we were being hunted. Storm was after me, and only me. He only took Ash to ensure that I would cooperate. The guilty thought snuck into my head, making my stomach sink.

Ash's next sentence snapped me out of it. "Besides that, I need to know where you're at so I can direct you to the nearest safe house. I thought you were at your house, Alicia?"

I contemplated the chance of Ash being captive at the moment and being used by Storm to get information from me. But I knew that Ash would never mention me being at my house if he wasn't completely alone, because that could certainly get me into trouble. Plus, if Ash was held captive, he would be dropping as many hints as possible.

"We left to find my missing brother. That's the reason I came home in the first place." I replied, leaving out the part about me helping Zane get his telepathy back. "We have a lead. But right now, we're in the woods in Kansas somewhere."

"Well, that narrows it down." Ash answered sarcastically.

"We're near the capital of the state in the woods surrounding it." Zane spoke up from his spot next to me.

Ash heard and responded in a bitter tone. "Topeka, Kansas. I'm extremely familiar with those woods. I can give you directions to a safe place."

"Why do you sound like you hate that city? Have you been there before?" I inferred hesitantly.

"I used to live there. You can stay at my old house. It's at the edge of the woods in an unpopulated area. A part of the house is still standing." Ash explained in a monotone to keep control of his emotions.

"How can you give us directions if we have no clue where we are?" I questioned in confusion.

Ash was silent while he thought about what I said. Then he unexpectedly asked my boyfriend, who he doesn't like, for help. "Zane, do you know if telepaths can see someone's memories along with reading their thoughts?"

"Um... I believe I read about it once. I think it's called Memory Reading, but I never got to try it. I had a long list of telepathic abilities to try, but that was before I was turned into a vampire and taken by Storm." Zane explained a bit sadly.

"I guess I'll have to try. What do I do?" I asked, even though Zane said he had never done it before. But he was more experienced in telepathy than I was, so he might be able to help direct me on this one.

Zane sat up and winced from the pain that was clearly running through him. He gently put a hand over the bite mark on his arm to relieve the pressure. "I think Ash will need to remember the memories of these woods as much as he can and try to send it to you, Alicia, just like you've done in mental conversations before."

I nodded my head at him, feeling confident because it sounded easy enough, as long as Zane was right. "Whenever you're ready Ash." I told him before closing my eyes in concentration, focusing on reaching my telepathy through the phone and into Ash's mind.

I had never tried anything like that before, using my telepathy over the phone as long distance, besides the times I'd done it with Lucy. That was different though, as we shared a connection through blood and telepathy. But it seemed to work just as if Ash was sitting with us.

Since Ash knew what I was about to do and was prepared to be open minded, I didn't have to break through any mental walls he'd unconsciously put up. Stronger people, like vampires, tended to unintentionally put up mental walls in their mind to protect themselves from unknown dangers.

At first, I only found Ash's thoughts like usual. He was thinking to himself about what he was attempting to do. "Alright. Focus. The woods. The woods in Kansas. Back in Topeka, back when I was younger. The woods where I always played. Then where I hunted."

I suddenly got a few flashes of a memory, but it was gone before I saw anything besides a blur of trees. I listened to Ash's unorganized thoughts as he focused on the mission. "The paths. I had paths for hunts. I had a method."

I watched his memory flicker back into focus as Ash tried to send it to me. I watched from his point of view as he left his large house. As soon as he entered the woods unseen fifty feet away from his nice house, he took off at vampire speed, instantly honing in on a deer a few miles away.

The memory faded away again as Ash concentrated harder on the task at hand. "Come one, focus! After the deer. The path home. Find the path home." The memory fast forwarded to where he wanted it to, on his way back to his house. I felt a sense of deja vú as he passed by a familiar looking tree.

After that, I tried my best to memorize the path to his house. It was only a few miles away, which was good for Zane, who didn't seem to be doing well.

"Did you get all of that?" Ash asked me in his head, probably by accident.

"Alicia?" Zane called out a bit weakly as I took in a deep breath. I hadn't realized I wasn't breathing, not that I needed to, but I liked to breathe. It made me feel human.

"I saw it all. And I know the way now." I said with a smile, directing the answer to both of them. "Let's get you somewhere to rest, Zane." I added with a happy grin as I grabbed my backpack and stood up.

"How much blood do you have with you?" Ash asked me abruptly.

"Uh... let me check." I replied, swinging my bag in front of me so I could search it.

I easily found the bag containing blood from Dr. Taylor that I had shoved into my backpack. I checked inside and saw there wasn't much blood in there. If he had put too much blood in the bag, my parents might've noticed something was up.

"There's four bags in here. Why did you want to know?" I asked Ash, knowing he couldn't really help with that because he wasn't with us. Even if he told me where to get more blood in town, me and Zane were too weak and tired to go out and get some more.

"That's not enough to last." I heard Ash mumble, almost to himself. When he spoke again it was directed to me. "You and Zane both need to drink two a piece. I'll meet you guys at my house in about three hours. Go down in the basement when you get there." Ash ordered, stunning me into silence for a minute.

"Wait... You're going to meet up with us? But you said you didn't want us anywhere near you." I commented in bewilderment.

"I know what I said, but circumstances have changed. And be careful. I heard that Topeka is housing vampire hunters nowadays. But they shouldn't be near my old house. So go there and stay until I arrive." Ash commanded.

"Yes sir." I teased him before ending the call. I sat back down beside Zane with the blood bags in hand, setting my backpack down on the other side of me. "Well, you heard what he said. Drink up." I smiled as I handed over two blood bags to Zane.

We downed the bags quickly and without a thought so I wouldn't feel guilty or grossed out. I still wasn't used to that part of being a vampire, even if the blood tasted deliciously fruity.

Zane looked slightly better as I held out a hand to help him stand, but he still winced as he did so. "You're going to be okay." I reassured him as he glanced to the ground as if in shame for feeling pain.

Zane lifted his head to look at me, his blonde hair hanging just above his worried eyes. "Are you sure? I don't feel so good." He admitted, holding onto my hands tightly to keep from falling.

I had never seen Zane this hurt before. And if he was confessing that he was in pain, that couldn't be good.

"I promise, you're going to be okay." I repeated my earlier reassurance. Then I wrapped an arm around Zane's waist to make sure he remained upright as I gently kissed him.

Zane leaned in further and deepened the kiss slightly, grabbing a hold of my waist to pull me a step closer to him. When I obliged, Zane's hands tightened into fists so that he was gripping my shirt, obviously in pain as he broke the kiss and took in a sharp breath with his eyes shut tight.

I gasped and took a step away, being careful to grab onto his arms to keep him steady. "Sorry. I'm sorry." I apologized quickly.

"No, it was my fault." Zane argued, glancing up at me with amusement in his eyes.

I smiled back before answering with a small laugh. "Come on. We'd better get going."