"One wrong step, Jacob, and whichever paw made it I will personally rip out of you." Dan hissed at me. His voice was bursting with undiluted, undisguised anger. His eyes burned in their sockets, containing enough anger to fill the whole clearing. The weak sunlight shimmered dully off his bright white coat. Jeez. No one told me albinos were so touchy, I thought, as I measured his protective stance, and mirrored it with my own. Typical. I'd have to be careful with this one. Should I knock him out before-
I suddenly remembered Dan could hear me with us both in the form of wolves, but I was opposed to the idea of phasing in company. Female company. Bursting out of your shorts 50 miles from home was not great at the best of times, but did I have any choice but to phase? I needed some private mind space. Embarrassment could come later, when this business was over. I felt the heat course through me, and I was no longer a wolf, but a never aging teenager once more, standing in a forest with nothing to wear.
The creature behind Dan wolf whistled. Ironic, as it was definitely not a werewolf. Nope, this was a full grown leech, and Dan had managed to imprint on it, regardless of the fact it was stalking Seattle, regardless of the fact it had bright red eyes and would probably like very much to suck his blood right now. I had to admit, the thing was beautiful, but not in a gentle way, like Bella. This beauty was far more feline, and horrifyingly dangerous. Just the thought of the creature being near the so painfully angelic Bella I loved made a growl form in my throat. This creature had to be dealt with, what ever Sam thought about it. I hadn't even asked him. What could he do? It was against the pack rules even to consider destroying the object of another wolf's imprinting, but how could we let such a murderer loose in town? The whole reason for my existence was to protect humans form leeches, and that was what my instincts told me to do now. Destroy the thing, before things got worse. A less important member of the pack, like me, had no reasons for second thoughts, whereas Sam had the duty of carrying out all the rules properly, and in this case, that would be impossible. No. I was going to do this alone, rules or no rules.
I looked back to the creature, and realised that it was staring at me.
'Hello handsome.' She leered, gazing at my hip area. I expected this to really annoy me, but, surprisingly, I liked it. She dragged her eyes up to my face, and I suddenly understood the reason for my unexpected feelings towards the leech that I was to destroy. She was one of the 'talented' ones. Great. Her talent was an odd one, she seemed to be able to lasso my brain and pull my love from Bella toward her, turning me away from those I loved and placing in me a love for her instead. I could tell, though, that it was a thin covering over my real emotions, like a membrane. I can't be sure why I was able to see this, vampire talents were meant to be pretty faultless, maybe it was because of my being a werewolf, or just because my love for Bella was so absolute that it was impossible to tarnish. I hoped it was the latter. I didn't know whether this thin layer would thicken the longer she was able to hold it in place for, but I decided pretty fast that it wasn't healthy. I concentrated my entire mind on Bella, and the membrane burned away from my brain, like paper in a furnace.
Little bitch. I thought. How dare she lasso my brain? Her face was rewarding, though, riddled with what could have been either confusion or fury. She was obviously used to getting what she wanted. Not any more, I thought dryly. The leech regained her composure pretty quickly, and I noticed Dan again. He snarled at me, before whimpering pleadingly at her, rubbing his body gently against her, willing her to love him. Why wasn't she returning his affections? The thought was plastered across his canine face; you didn't need to be a leech to read it. It was pretty obvious to me. I turned to Dan, in one last attempt to convince him to turn against her.
"She's using you mate. Can't you see? She has obviously realised that pretending she loves you will ensure the protection of the pack, and no threats to her hunting." I was pretty sure that the attempt to make him understand would be futile. Dan bared his teeth at me. Yep. A fruitless attempt. What a prat that boy is.
"I love you, Dan," laughed the bloodsucker "what would he know? You have to admit, though, he is very cute…" She layered membrane over membrane onto Dan, calming him, and returning his eyes to a state of pure adoration for her. He looked…well…doped. You could see how much he longed for her, I think, had he not been so subdued, he would have sprang into his human form and started kissing her, no hesitations. This thought suddenly gave me an idea. A disgusting, horrifying idea that might mean that I ended up dead with no chance to fight at all, but an idea all the same. A plan to destroy the thing, form an angle it wouldn't be expecting. Of course, It would mean a fight to the death with Dan if I survived stage one, but I had known that form the start, and I was hoping to knock my brother unconscious while he was still in shock, and let Sam take it from there. Forcing myself to walk forwards, I strolled toward my enemy.
"Babe…" I whispered "kiss me…"