"The cold ones?" I asked, not faking my intrigue now.
"Yes. There are stories of the cold ones as old as the wolf legends, and some much more recent. According to legend, my own great-grandfather knew some of them. He was the one who made the
treaty that kept them off our land." He rolled his eyes."Your great-grandfather?" I encouraged.
"He was a tribal elder, like my father. You see, the cold ones are the natural enemies of the wolf—well, not the wolf, really, but the wolves that turn into men, like our ancestors. You would call them werewolves."
"Werewolves have enemies?"
"Only one."I stared at him earnestly, hoping to disguise my impatience as admiration.
"So you see," Jacob continued, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory during my great-grandfather's time was different. They didn't hunt the way others of their kind did — they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe.
So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn't expose them to the pale-faces." He winked at me.
"If they weren't dangerous, then why… ?" I tried to understand, struggling not to let him see how seriously I was considering his ghost story.
"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if they're civilized like this clan was. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist." He deliberately worked a thick edge of menace into his tone.
"What do you mean, 'civilized'?"
"They claimed that they didn't hunt humans. They supposedly were somehow able to prey on animals instead.
"I tried to keep my voice casual. "So how does it fit in with the Cullens?
Are they like the cold ones your great grandfather met?"
"No." He paused dramatically. "They are the same ones." He must have thought the expression on my face was fear inspired by his story. He smiled, pleased, and continued.
Treaty 條約
Truce 停戰
“吸血鬼？”我問道，不再掩飾自己的陰謀了。
“是的。關於吸血鬼的故事和狼的傳說一樣古老，有些則更近些。根據傳說的內容，我的曾祖父曾經認識他們中的一些人。他和他們訂下了條約，讓他們遠離我們的土地。”他轉了轉眼睛。
“你的曾祖父？”我鼓勵著他說下去。“他是部落的長老，和我爸爸一樣。你知道，吸血鬼和狼是天生的死敵——嗯，好吧，不是普通的狼，而是那些可以化成人形的狼，比方說我們的祖先。你可以稱他們為狼人。”
“狼人會有敵人嗎？”
“只有一個。”
我誠懇地看著他，希望能掩飾住自己不安，讓他理解為欽佩。
“所以，你看，”雅克布繼續說道。“吸血鬼向來是我們的敵人。但在我曾祖父的時候，我們的領地裡來了一群不太一樣的吸血鬼。他們不像別的吸血鬼一樣狩獵——他們也不會威脅到我們的部族。所以我的曾祖父和他們簽下了休戰協定。只要他們保證離我們的領土遠遠的，我們就不拆穿他們蒼白的真面目。”他向我眨著眼睛。
“如果他們並不危險，那為什麼……？”我試圖理解他的話，但努力不讓他發現我在認真地思考著他的幽靈故事。
“人類和吸血鬼靠得太近總是有風險的，即使他們像這個小團體一樣已經文明開化了。你永遠不能知道他們什麼時候會忍耐不住飢餓。”他故意讓自己的口吻裡帶上了濃濃的恐嚇的味道。
“你說的‘文明開化’是什麼意思？”
“他們聲稱他們不會狩獵人類。以此類推，他們大概能在某種程度上用捕食動物來替代。”
我試圖讓自己的聲音顯得漫不經心些：“那這跟卡倫一家有什麼關係呢？他們很像你的曾祖父所遇到的那群吸血鬼嗎？”
“不是的。”他故意頓了頓。“他們是同一群人。”
他一定認為，我臉上恐懼的表情純粹是被他的故事嚇出來的。他開心地笑了，然後繼續說道。
關鍵字: they grandfather great
