James shook off the memory. He wondered briefly what was wrong with him recently. He had been obsessed with thinking about the past. As he walked he heard distant cries. The sound was angry, and he was curious to see what all the fuss was about. He got closer to the source and found that he knew the voice. It was Orlando.

"That's not very nice," Orlando complained. As James got closer he rounded a tree and could see Orlando standing among a crowd of angry looking individuals. The smell coming off them confirmed that they were wolves.

Silently, James climbed up into a tree. Usually, his own vampire scent would give away the fact he was watching. But with Orlando this close, they would assume that the smell was coming form him.

"String him up with the rest of the vermin." This voice was like a drum. James snapped his head around to source it. There was a man there with pale brown hair and a square head. There was something in his eyes that was familiar to James. He was trying to imagine why when the answer was provided for him.

"Father, please stop." Ella grabbed at the man's arm.

He flung her off. "No daughter of mine is going to corrupt herself by being with a vampire."

James shuffled uncomfortably. So, the old man wanted him dead, and was using his friend to get to him. That made sense.

Two of the pack members were coming up on either side of Orlando. Orlando motioned to Ella. "Hurting your daughter will not sort any of this."

Ella's father snarled at Orlando. "Do not speak to me."

Hurting Ella? James didn't think that the man would take out his rage on his own daughter. He watched Orlando, willing him to rip the wolves apart and end this.

Instead, Orlando let himself be led across the clearing. James followed their path to where he spotted the Willis twins. They were on a wooden post each. They were not tied there, those kind of restraints would never hold a vampire, but there were wooden stakes driven through their hands and feet and into the posts behind them.

James felt like his skin was lava. He glared down at Ella's father and imagined pulling his head off his body and playing football with it. He was prepared to spring to the rescue when the man ordered his pack members to tie Ella to one of the posts.

James froze. Whatever they were going to do to the vampires it seemed he was willing to do to his own daughter.

Ella screamed at her father, but James didn't focus on what she was saying. He scanned the area, searching for a way out. Orlando was stood before a post of his own. There were now four wolves around him and one of them was sent to gather the stakes. James was bemused as to why Orlando wasn't fighting. He may not be able to escape the wolves all together, but he would be able to take some of them down with him.

James followed Orlando's gaze until he came to a woman who was standing beside Ella's father. Her hair was dyed blue and she wore an unreasonable number of bracelets. James could hear them clatter off one another as she moved. James inhaled deeply and focused. He had not noticed the scent before, being surrounded by wolves overwhelmed his senses, but now he could smell it. The smoky perfume of witch blood.

He looked back at Orlando. That was why the vampire wasn't moving. The witch had her narrow eyes fixed on the twins and held a small bag in her left hand that was covered in hex symbols. James couldn't tell what the hex was for, but he was certain that it wasn't good.

Once the stakes were gathered together, the wolves made Orlando put his hands above his head. Then they drove the stake through with one harsh thrust. Orlando didn't make a sound, he was well accustomed to pain throughout the years, but he bared his fangs at the wolf who had done it. The wolf in question leaned into Orlando's face and whispered. "I love the smell of charred vampire in the morning."

Orlando bent in the middle, bringing his legs up and wrapping them around the wolf's throat. the witch began to panic and started to mutter over the hex. James considered trying to sneak up on her and kill her, but the distraction of Orlando's attack didn't last long enough. No sooner had he started to squeeze the air out of the wolf than he stopped. One of the twins, who had been gasping the entire time, sucked in air gratefully.

Ella's father strode over to Orlando. "You are a formidable creature, but you surround yourself with weaklings," He gestured to the twins. "and idiots." He looked out into the forest as if expecting someone to fly out from the trees. James remained totally still.

The man made his way to his daughter, who was tied to the same post as Jean. "You had better hope that Romeo shows up before we start the fire. I don't want to see you burn." With that he nodded to one of his men who started trying to light a match. The first one he was trying to stank of damp, but it gave James some time. He needed to go down there and help them, but if he did then he would end up just like them. Tied up and roasted. Ella was crying softly.