The walk deeper into the La Push forest was suffocatingly quiet, save for the endless drizzle pattering against the thick canopy of cedar and pine. The gray light of the afternoon barely penetrated the dense branches, leaving the woods suspended in a permanent, gloomy twilight.
Mame followed Sam closely. The heavy smell of damp earth and moss was almost entirely overpowered by the radiating heat coming off the older man.
They reached a wide, muddy clearing near the base of a jagged rock face. Sam stopped and turned around. Without a word, he pulled his jacket and t-shirt over his head, tossing them onto a relatively dry branch.
"You want a baseline, Swan?" Sam asked, his voice low. The rain hissed slightly as it hit his bare, unnaturally hot skin. "You want to know what it takes to fight the things that live in the dark? Watch."
Sam closed his eyes. He didn't scream, but the air around him seemed to violently compress.
There was a sickening, heavy sound of bones snapping, elongating, and shifting in rapid succession. Mame instinctively took a step back as Sam's human form exploded outward into a mass of coarse, pitch-black fur.
In less than two seconds, the man was gone. Standing in his place was a monstrous wolf, easily the size of a draft horse. Its massive paws sank into the mud, and its dark, intelligent eyes locked onto Mame. It let out a low growl that vibrated right through the soles of Mame's boots.
Soft Chime.
The Transparent Window flared red in Mame's vision.
[Target Analysis]
Entity: Quileute Shape-shifter (Alpha Lineage)
Estimated Rank: B+
Notice: Target possesses hyper-regenerative tissue, enhanced bone density, and kinetic output capable of shattering steel. Lethal threat level.
Mame dismissed the window with a blink. He didn't draw back. Instead, he dropped into a low, balanced stance, his boots finding traction in the wet soil.
"Come on, then," Mame breathed.
The wolf didn't hesitate. It lunged.
The speed was incomprehensible. Mame's Agility at Rank D+ was the absolute peak of human reflexes, but to the wolf, he was moving in slow motion. A massive black paw, claws carefully retracted, slammed into Mame's chest.
The impact was like getting hit by a speeding truck. Mame was launched backward, flying ten feet through the air before crashing violently into the mud. The breath was completely driven from his lungs. Pain flared across his ribs, his Endurance at Rank C instantly kicking in to prevent his bones from splintering.
Mame gasped, rolling onto his side. He spat a mouthful of mud and blood onto the grass.
The black wolf paced forward slowly, stopping a few feet away. It huffed, the hot breath pluming in the cold air. Stay down, the eyes seemed to say. This is the reality.
But Mame remembered the stone towers. He remembered the red eyes and his sister's hollow, drained face. He remembered the vow he made.
"Not... enough," Mame grunted.
He planted his hands in the mud and forced himself to his feet. The Transparent Window in his mind began to glitch, flickering between blue and red as his Willpower (Rank A) surged, forcing his bruised muscles to obey.
The wolf's ears pinned back in surprise. It growled louder and charged again, intending to pin the human to the ground.
As the beast closed the distance, Mame didn't try to dodge. He stepped into the charge.
He felt the heavy, ancient weight of the Successor of Helsing title ignite in his blood. His mind sharpened to a razor's edge. He saw the shift in the wolf's shoulder muscles a fraction of a second before the strike.
[ Skill Activated]
Skill: Vindictive Strike
Synergy: Helsing Passive (Willpower override engaged).
Bypassing the mental limiters that stop humans from tearing their own muscles, Mame pivoted, dropped his center of gravity, and threw a devastating right hook directly into the thick, corded muscle of the wolf's front shoulder.
The sound of the impact echoed sharply through the clearing—a heavy, meaty thud.
Mame's arm went entirely numb, the bones in his hand groaning under the immense pressure of striking a target with the density of concrete. But the kinetic force transferred flawlessly.
The massive black wolf was knocked off balance. Its front leg buckled momentarily in the mud, its momentum broken. Sam slid a few feet, completely shocked, before catching himself.
Mame stood there, his right arm trembling violently, his chest heaving. He didn't back down.
The forest went dead silent.
A perfectly clear, resonant Soft Chime echoed in Mame's head, cutting through the haze of adrenaline and pain. The Transparent Window appeared, shining a brilliant, solid gold.
[ Status Update]
Barrier Broken: Human Biological Limiter Bypassed.
Rank Upgraded: from D to C
Strength: C (Superhuman Baseline achieved).
Agility: C-
Notice: The host's physical vessel can now safely store and utilize kinetic output beyond mortal constraints.
The black wolf stared at Mame. Then, slowly, it sat back on its haunches. The aggressive posture vanished. It dipped its massive head in a single, distinct nod of respect.
Sam shifted back. The sickening crunch of bones echoed again, and the massive man knelt in the mud, panting heavily as he grabbed his clothes from the branch.
"You hit like a freight train, Swan," Sam grunted, rubbing his shoulder with a wince as he pulled his shirt on. "I've never seen a human hold their ground against a phase."
Mame slowly flexed his right hand, feeling the accelerated healing of his new Rank working through the bruised knuckles. He looked at the system window, then at Sam.
"It's a start," Mame said, his voice flat. "Now... teach me how you kill them."
The muddy clearing was silent except for the endless drizzle pattering against the canopy and the heavy breathing of the two men. The gray light seemed to press down on them, mixing with the ever-present smell of damp earth and moss.
Sam Uley finished pulling his shirt over his head, the cold rain immediately steaming off his unnaturally hot skin. He looked at Mame, his dark eyes assessing the human who had just done the impossible.
"I can show you how they move," Sam said, his voice a low rumble. "But I can't teach you how to fight them like we do."
Mame rolled his right shoulder, feeling the dull ache completely fade as his newly acquired $Rank$ C physiology settled into its baseline. "Why not?"
"Because you're not a wolf," Sam stated bluntly. He held up his large, calloused hands. "When we phase, we use our claws to tear through their skin. We use our teeth to snap their marble bones. We hunt in a pack, using a telepathic link to coordinate strikes faster than a human can blink. You don't have the claws, the teeth, or the pack."
Sam stepped closer, towering over Mame. "You're a human. Even if you hit like a truck now, your bones will shatter if you try to brawl with a cold demon for too long. You need to figure out how to use your own strengths. You need to kill them like a human."
Mame's eyes were dark and analytical. He didn't look discouraged; he looked like he was solving a math problem. "So, what's the actual mechanism of death? How do you permanently put one in the ground?"
"You don't put them in the ground," Sam corrected grimly. "They don't rot. To kill one, you have to tear it to pieces. You rip their head off, or you rip each of their limbs off. Then, you pile the pieces together and burn them to ash. If you don't burn them, the pieces will try to pull themselves back together."
Sam opened his mouth to continue explaining the density of vampire joints, but Mame held up a hand, cutting him off completely.
"Hold on," Mame interrupted, his tone chillingly pragmatic. "So, rip them apart, then burn them."
"Yes," Sam said, frowning at the interruption.
Mame tilted his head slightly. "Is the ripping part strictly required? Or is that just how the wolves do it because you don't carry lighters?"
Sam blinked, momentarily thrown off by the sheer, calculated coldness of the question.
Mame didn't wait for an answer. "If fire is the ultimate destructive agent that stops them from regenerating... does it have to be in that order? Or can I just burn them to ash while they're still in one piece?"
"Their skin is hard, but their venom is highly flammable," Sam answered slowly, a grudging smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. "If you can generate a fire hot enough and fast enough to catch them before they run... yes. They will burn."
Mame gave a single, satisfied nod. He looked down at his hands, then out into the dark, wet forest. He didn't need to learn how to bite through marble. He just needed to learn how to trap them, and how to ignite them.
Sam's expression sobered, and he looked out into the trees. "You're going to need to be smart about this, Swan. Because right now, I'm the only one."
Mame looked up. "The only wolf?"
"For now," Sam nodded heavily. "The gene wakes up when the cold ones are near. The Cullens triggered it in me. But with more of them coming—these nomads you saw—the elders say others in the tribe will start shifting soon. I can feel it. But until they do, I don't have a pack. We don't have the numbers for a coordinated hunt."
Sam turned back to Mame, his dark eyes fierce. "That's why Quil sent you to me. The tactics I'm going to teach you—how to track their scent, how to break their balance, how to anticipate their speed—I didn't invent them. They were left behind by previous generations. Our ancestors fought them centuries ago and passed down the knowledge of their weaknesses. You don't have our teeth, but you can learn our history."
Soft Chime.
A Transparent Window flickered into the rainy air between them.
[Knowledge Acquired]
Target Weakness Identified: Extreme flammability (Vampire Venom acts as an accelerant).
New Tactical Concept: Preemptive Incineration.
Skill Unlocked: Ancestral Tracking (Fragmented). Learn to identify the localized disruption in the environment caused by supernatural speed.
Mame stared at the blue text, his mind already calculating the materials he would need to generate that kind of heat. He dismissed the window with a thought.
"Good," Mame said quietly, the heavy rain slicking his dark hair to his forehead. "Let's get to work."
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Weight of the Pack
Over the next three days, the La Push clearing was transformed into a churned, destroyed pit of mud and splintered wood. The constant drizzle of the peninsula never let up, washing away the sweat and blood as Mame and Sam systematically pushed each other to the breaking point.
Under the endless gray light and the thick smell of damp earth and moss, Mame learned.
He learned that vampires relied heavily on their supernatural speed to overwhelm their prey, often moving in linear, predictable strikes because nothing had ever been fast enough to dodge them. He learned how to read the subtle shifts in the air pressure that signaled a high-speed movement. He learned how to prepare crude but highly effective incendiary traps using his Inventory, testing how quickly he could manifest a flare or a chemical accelerant into his hand during a live spar.
But most importantly, he learned how to take a hit from a monster.
In the center of the muddy clearing, Sam Uley threw a devastating, wide hook. He was in his human form, but the kinetic force behind the strike was easily enough to dent a steel door.
Mame didn't try to block it directly. Utilizing his Rank C Agility, he slipped inside Sam's guard, letting the massive fist graze his shoulder. Mame pivoted, using Sam's own momentum to throw the larger man off balance, and drove his knee hard into Sam's ribs.
Sam grunted, stumbling back a few feet into the mud. He wiped a streak of rainwater from his eyes, his chest heaving, and then let out a rare, booming laugh.
"You're getting faster, Swan," Sam called out, shaking out his heavy arms. "If you had tried that on Monday, I would have snapped you in half."
"If I had tried that on Monday, I'd still have human bones," Mame shot back, his breathing heavy but controlled. He stayed in his stance, his dark eyes locked on Sam.
"That is enough for today."
The old, raspy voice cut through the sound of the rain.
Both men lowered their hands and turned toward the edge of the tree line. Quil Ateara III stood beneath the shelter of a massive cedar, leaning heavily on his carved wooden cane. He had been watching them for the last hour.
Sam immediately straightened up, his posture shifting into one of deep respect as he walked over to grab his jacket. Mame stood down, his muscles burning with the kind of deep, satisfying ache that meant his physical vessel was adapting.
Soft Chime.
A Transparent Window flickered into the cold air.
[Skill Updated]
Skill: Ancestral Tracking (Fragmented) ---> Ancestral Tracking (Basic)
Rank: E --> D
Description: The host can now instinctively read environmental disruptions and pressure shifts caused by entities operating at superhuman velocities.
Mame dismissed the window with a thought, grabbing his own dark jacket from a nearby branch. He walked over to join the elder.
Quil looked at the ruined clearing, then at the two bruised, mud-soaked men. The deep lines on his face softened into an expression of genuine approval.
"You have done well, Mame," Quil said softly. "You have absorbed the history of our ancestors faster than I thought possible for a mortal mind."
"He doesn't fight like a mortal anymore," Sam grunted, throwing his jacket over his broad shoulders. "He fights like a cornered animal. It's exactly what he's going to need."
Quil turned his gaze to Sam, his eyes warm with a silent understanding. The elder knew the terrible, isolating burden Sam had been carrying. To be the first to phase—to wake up as a monster of legend with no pack to guide him, forced to hide his true nature from the woman he loved and the tribe he protected—was a crushing weight. Sam was a lone wolf in the truest sense.
But for the past three days, Sam hadn't been alone.
Fighting Mame had given Sam an outlet. It gave him a sparring partner who wouldn't break under his unnatural strength, someone who knew his secret and didn't look at him with fear. Training the human boy had allowed Sam to burn off the volatile, restless energy that came with the Alpha bloodline. Mame had helped him kill time, hone his own control, and grow stronger in his human form.
"The spirits provide what we need, when we need it," Quil murmured, tapping his cane against the wet earth. He looked back at Mame. "You have your baseline. You know their weaknesses. But you cannot stay in the woods forever, Successor."
Quil Ateara III leaned heavily on his carved cane, his ancient eyes filled with a sudden, grave shadow. He hadn't just come to the clearing to watch them spar.
"Mame," the elder said, his raspy voice cutting through the constant drizzle. "Billy just sent word. Charlie called him from the station."
Mame wiped the mud and sweat from his face, his Rank C physiology instantly cooling down. "What is it?"
"It's Bella," Quil said quietly. "There was an accident in the school parking lot. A van lost control on the wet asphalt and nearly crushed her. Charlie is with her at Forks Community Hospital now."
Mame froze.
The world seemed to drop away. The gray light of the forest, the heavy smell of damp earth and moss, even the cold rain hitting his skin—it all vanished into a sudden, suffocating vacuum.
Soft Chime.
A Transparent Window flashed a violent, pulsing red in the center of his vision.
[WARNING: Narrative Anchor (Bella Swan) involved in critical collision event. Timeline continuity unstable.]
Mame didn't ask questions. He didn't ask how bad it was or who was at fault. He swiped his hand through the warning screen, shattering it, and broke into a dead sprint.
He tore through the La Push forest, his boots kicking up heavy clumps of mud. At his new physical baseline, he was incredibly fast, weaving through the dense pine trees with desperate precision. But Forks was miles away. Even at top speed, it would take him too long.
A massive, dark blur shot past him in the trees.
Sam had phased. The giant black wolf cut Mame off, sliding in the wet earth to a sudden stop. The beast crouched low, turning its massive head to look at Mame, its dark eyes urgent. It let out a low, rumbling huff and nudged its massive shoulder toward him.
Get on.
Mame didn't hesitate. He vaulted onto the wolf's back, his hands burying deep into the thick, coarse fur to find a grip.
"Go!" Mame shouted.
Sam exploded forward.
The speed was terrifying. The forest blurred into a tunnel of dark green and gray. Mame had to flatten himself completely against the wolf's back, his Willpower and endurance the only things keeping him from being violently thrown by the sheer kinetic force of Sam's strides. They moved like a shadow over the damp earth, clearing massive fallen logs and jagged ravines without breaking pace.
In a matter of minutes, the trees began to thin. The sterile, white brick of Forks Community Hospital appeared through the mist.
Sam skidded to a halt just inside the tree line, remaining cloaked by the shadows of the woods. Mame slid off the wolf's back, his legs shaking slightly from the intense vibration of the ride.
Mame met the wolf's eyes and gave a single, tight nod of gratitude. Sam chuffed quietly, melting back into the trees.
Mame turned and sprinted across the wet asphalt, bursting through the hospital's sliding glass doors. The fluorescent lights inside were blinding after days spent in the dreary Forks weather.
He moved down the corridor with a singular, terrifying focus.
As he rounded the corner toward the emergency room, he saw them. Edward Cullen stood perfectly still near the reception desk, his pristine clothes unwrinkled, his expression a tight mask of anxiety. Carlisle Cullen was beside him, speaking in low tones, holding a medical chart. Rosalie and Alice were further down the hall, their eyes snapping toward Mame the second he entered.
Edward took a half-step forward, his mouth opening as if to explain or apologize.
Mame didn't even look at him.
He didn't slow down, he didn't blink, and he didn't acknowledge their existence. He blew past the Cullens like they were statues made of air, his presence a cold, heavy void that left Jasper—who had just stepped out of an elevator—staggering slightly from the sheer, suffocating wave of Mame's protective anxiety.
Mame slammed his hand against the swinging door of the examination room and pushed it open.
Bella was sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, a small bandage on her forehead, looking pale and thoroughly overwhelmed. Charlie stood next to her, his posture rigid, his hands resting on his duty belt as he listened to a nurse. He looked up as the door hit the wall.
"Mame?" Bella said, her brown eyes widening in surprise at the sight of him. He was covered in mud, his jacket soaked through, his chest heaving as he stood in the doorway.
Mame walked straight to her, his dark eyes scanning her from head to toe, checking for fractures, for blood, for anything the system would register as critical damage.
"Are you okay?" Mame asked, his voice rough and completely breathless.
Bella, observant as always despite her clumsy nature, saw the absolute terror hiding just behind his hardened expression. She offered a small, reassuring smile.
"I'm fine," she promised softly. "I'm okay, Mame. Really."
Mame exhaled, a long, shaky breath, and leaned his forehead against the cold wall of the hospital room, closing his eyes as the red warning in his mind finally faded away.