Sure, Sure. But What Do You Think Of This?
Chapter 1. What It Feels Like For A Wolf
Jacob Black had quite enough to fill his plate the last two years of high school. Bella Swan had come back to Forks and promptly fallen in love with the whole bloodsucking Cullen clan, specifically, Eddie "Sparkles" Cullen, professional vampire. The appearance of three rogue bloodsuckers had caused Jacob and two of his friends to be admitted into Sam Uley's "gang". Then the sudden, devastating break-up of Bella and Edward had caused Bella to seek out a life of dangerous rebellion and had delivered her to his garage to overhaul a couple of motorcycles she had come across. From her awful downward spiral and the precarious climb out of it had spawned a relationship that was as natural as the wind blowing through the trees, as the fish that swam in the river: he and Bella had become very, very close.
They'd known each other since they were babies, but when her parents divorced Bella went away with her mother. Her father, Police Chief Charlie Swan, was a very good family friend and almost like a second father to him. When Bella came back it was more than assumed that they would resume their friendship and possibly deepen it further. It would have happened had it not been for the damn Cullens. And they would have had the blessing of both Chief Swan and Jacob's father, Billy Black.
Truth be told, Jacob didn't really hate vampires as much as he made out-he simply had to honor the sacred responsibility passed down by his ancestors and he was more than totally cool with that. Becoming a werewolf was the most bomb shit that had ever happened to him. When he thought about the completely raw deal all Native Americans had suffered at the hands of European marauders, being a werewolf was the least the descendants of the Great Guardians should be able to look forward to. Especially here in La Push. But he held a grudging respect for anyone who served a vow to protect instead of destroy. And the Cullen clan was an unusual lot of vamps-they didn't feed on people, they hunted animals instead.
Jacob's real gripe with the Cullen bloodsuckers was mainly that they were insufferably pious assholes, at least the parents were. Pa Cullen was a doctor. Great. Wonderful. But could he have any less of a God complex? And Ma Cullen-Saint Esme, mother of all mothers-Jesus help already. But Jacob got that, too. Vamps couldn't have kids. So these two "adopted"-code word really for establishing a coven. And what a bunch of boneheads the kids were. Too busy being elegant, rich, fabulous and perfect to do anything else. And half of them were making out with each other! What the hell was with that, anyway? Jacob wondered. Sure, they were teenagers, but they were hundreds of years older than they actually looked. They were actually men and women, for God's sake; centuries old and doomed to do high school forever? That had to be a worse curse than being a bloodsucker, at least in Jacob's eyes.
But Jacob and Bella really were teenagers. The two of them together made sense. Jacob had imprinted on Bella right after he came into his birthright. He never admitted it to her, but Sam and his other brothers in the pack knew. And dealing with Bella was an exercise in stealthy yet uneasy disclosure. He'd almost broken through to her, had her at the precipice of love, but he began the horrifyingly fantastic process of transformation and she went and dived off that damn cliff without waiting for him. The shit hit the fan for real, then. More shit than the law allowed.
In the end most of the crap worked out. Somewhat. James and Victoria were put down; the truce was still in uneasy effect; the immediate threat of action by the Volturri's was at bay for the moment; Jacob and Edward had come to an understanding about Bella. Edward was still an insufferable, controlling asshole-that was never going to change. Bella could drive anyone to drink, but she was a kid, a babe in the woods-she had a lot of growing up to do. Despite the fact that she saw herself as being the caretaker of her parents, Bella was emotionally three years old. Jacob loved the game they played, deducting this, adding that to determine their real years. Dog years. Ha! That was rich. But so appropriate.
What did Edward really see in her? Jacob had racked his brains on that many a night. What does any man see in a little girl? Human, vampire, werewolf, it didn't matter. The dynamic was just so fucked! Jacob was still trying to wrap his mind around his friend Quil, who had just recently imprinted on a two year-old. Damn! That shit was just fucked up! Again, he got the general premise, but that shit shouldn't even be possible. Relationships are hard enough without having to wait twenty years for your love to grow up. Then again, he was a werewolf. And Edward was a stinking vampire. And Bella was a human teenager. It was no wonder Armageddon loomed on the horizon every time the three of them converged.