A/N: Read and Review. Tell me what you think and give me suggestions. Flames welcome. Just leave your name so I can ask you for advice.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, really.
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"Go on ahead." Still running, Jane ordered, "Alec. Run with me." The three other dark robed figures ran off towards their destination. Jane led the way towards an area in the woods and stopped gracefully beneath a tall bunch of western red cedars.
Alec stopped right behind her and pulled off his hood. "What is wrong, Jane?"
"Do you find it suspicious that seven vampires and one human disposed of twenty vampires? Eighteen of which were newborns." The wind suddenly blew into Jane's face. It made her hair lash out behind her. Jane turned to her twin brother with narrowed eyes and sniffed the air. "We will inform Aro, Caius, and Marcus about this smell. The Cullen coven did have help. I bet that smell is the scent of their helpers."
"Shouldn't we follow the scent and exterminate this 'help'?" Alec questioned.
Jane smiled and it lit up face. It almost made her look like a carefree child. "No. We will return every week to gather information on these things. Then we exterminate."
The pair turned and ran back towards the Volturi at top speed.
-- . -- . --
Emily.
Thinking the word made her mind cringe in pain, even to this day. Yep, Leah pretty much got broken when she saw Sam's reaction to Emily. It started with a look that was reserved for Leah; one that was filled with promise and love. Of course Emily was beautiful in that maternally warm way, but it wasn't as if it was that love at first sight bullshit. But when he had dropped his keys, marched toward Emily, and then proceeded to profess his love to her, Leah realized that something was seriously fucked up with the situation. And it had happened right after he left her for a while. He said he was 'turning into a monster.'
We are monsters. She chuckled, leaning back on the door of her pickup that was parked outside Sam and Emily's house. It could have been Sam and Leah's at one point in time.
Shaking her head violently as if to discard the thoughts from her brain, Leah turned to the house. That isn't going to help me with what I'm going to do. She contemplated leaving, but knew that this was the only way that things would get better for the pack, Emily, and, most importantly, herself. Leah knew she needed this closure. That, and Sue Clearwater could be a bit insistent at times in her life. Apparently the Council knew of the 'misplaced bitchiness' I radiated in the pack and my mother offered to help me cope. Ugh.
Leah walked slowly across the street to the door, hoping that a car would run her over or a bloodsucker would jump out to stop her. Unfortunately, she arrived at the door with all her limbs intact and her blood still there, not that a leech could possibly take her down. So she knocked on the door and took a deep breathe. The smell of rain and pine overrode her human senses and calmed Leah's nerves.
To say Emily was mad and screaming bloody murder would be a lie. Instead she stood there in her motherly glory smiling, as if she knew. Leah resisted the urge to sigh and run, and instead smile shakily.
"Come in Leah!" she stepped aside and I walked in. Although it was quiet, the room was filled with the pack eating. Staring warily at her.
"Hey, sis," Seth said breaking the awkward silence. Leah nodded in his direction.
"What have you come here for?" Jacob snarled. "Why don't you go back home and be a mopey bitch somewhere else. Sam doesn't need you drooling over him here, too."
"Leave my sister alone," Seth snapped at Jacob, who glared at Seth.
Emily sternly opened her mouth to scold Jacob, but Leah beat her. "I saw a bloodsucker outside, Jake! Maybe you should go fall in love with its mate and we could get into a war again!" As Leah expected, Jacob started shaking as if to phase, only to be calmed down by his friends, but a growl escaped his mouth every now and then. His friends shot death glares at Leah.
"Both of you apologize. Now." Many pairs of eyes snapped to the quiet Emily. "I will not tolerate hostility in this house. Apologize."
Jacob glared at Leah. Leah simply sighed. This was not going well. "I am sorry, Jacob," she said formally. "It was a low blow to bring up something so... sensitive."
Jacob looked at her with narrowed eyes. Evaluating. She had never said sorry in her life. "Likewise. I'm sorry." He inclined his head slightly and stiffly towards her.
"Let's get some food, Em!" Quil yelled and the pack started laughing.
"You guys eat like hungry dogs!" Emily teased.
"And they smell like wet dogs," came Sam's voice from the doorway.
"Awww... that was cold, man!"
"Welcome home." Emily walked up to Sam and kissed him on the cheek, which earned them wolf-whistles and a 'get a room!'. "Leah came over. To talk to you, I believe."
Leah looked away from Sam and towards Emily. "Actually, I would like to speak to you, Emily." Her tone once again formal. "Alone in the kitchen, please." Sam looked at Leah with intensity. The pack looked at what was happening intently. "Never mind, then," she murmured, taking the silence as rejection and walked towards the door.
On the way, however, Sam's hand darted out and grabbed Leah's arm. "It's fine. Right Emily?" Emily nodded curious. "I'll be here if you need me." The look that they shared showed love, devotion, and hope. Maybe they knew what was coming.
Leah nodded towards the encouraging smile Sam gave her and followed Emily into the kitchen where the smell of muffins instantly hit her. Such the housewife. She watched as Emily walked straight to the oven, poked the muffins inside with a skewer, and closed the oven. "Just a little bit more!" She turned towards Leah, who leaned against the counter and tapped her foot both impatiently and nervously. "What's up Leah? What did you want to talk about?" Emily smiled.
Leah sighed for the millionth time that day. She decided to follow her mother's advice. There was only one way; start from the beginning. "Ever since we were little, nothing could separate us. I used to feel like we were sisters instead of cousins. When Sam saw you... the way he looked at you, the way he pursued you, as if you were his love, I felt lost.
But you were there for me. You defended me and threatened Sam. I can still remember how you were suddenly fluent in the language of a drunken sailor," Leah teased as Emily's tears fell as she laughed sadly. "After I found you guys together, I was lost, but Dad helped me through. He used to say that Sam didn't deserve me and I didn't deserve him. We weren't soul mates.
When Dad died," Leah's throat closed, but she continued hoarsely after a minute, "no one was there. Seth knew I was hurting. He helped me through it. Until I phased. I can't tell you, Emily, how it was--is. Everything is put up for everyone else to judge. I have no false ideas of what they think of me. I hated you." Leah looked into Emily's eyes. "And I felt guilty because I knew it wasn't your fault. But I can't help it. I still love you like a sister, which just screws with my mind. The bitterness takes away the pain from Sam. The reason I am here is to make sure that you treat Sam right. And if he treats you wrong, call me. You hear?" Sobs escaped Emily's mouth only to be muffled into Leah's shoulder in a warm embrace.
Emily gripped Leah clothes. "Leah, thank you. Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to Sam and I. I was wondering if...if you can meet me next weekend to shop for the wedding." She looked into Leah's face as she stepped back. There was determination, but also pain.
'How about never?' Leah wanted to say. 'Is never good for you?' I was never going to go. This was God's way of saying to move on. This is the only way. "Yes, Emily." The bride-to-be smiled and cheered.
Sam stepped into the kitchen. "I take it everything is settled." Emily and Leah nodded. He pulled Leah into his embrace. It felt as if the last real connection Leah had with Sam had left. "Thank you. So much," he whispered in her ear. Holding on to Leah's shoulders at arms length, Sam smiled painfully down at her before putting his arms down. Emily was still sniffling while taking out the muffins.
Wow. This is awkward. Leah decided to talk about something a bit more important. "Sam." That was the first time she said his name without cringing. Huh. Maybe Mom was right. Apologizing takes off the stress.
He must have noticed Leah's dumb look because he asked, "Yes, Leah?"
"I have some werewolf business to talk to you about." Leah looked down. Maybe Mom slipped something in her milk this morning. That would explain everything. Or maybe she was drunk again. The latter sounded probable.
"Well let's go out and tell the pack. I have the muffins ready." Emily smiled as Leah nodded. I'm drunk. Walking out to an undersized room filled with prepubescents that looked 25 years old was not phasing Leah one bit. Since she was about to dig up some bitter memories and say a secret that she had just found out was fucking cruel. Not only for her, but for Seth and Jacob.
Thinking of the asshole, Jacob peeled his face away from the television (a footbal game was on) and faced Leah. "I'm sorry to be an ass--"
"Then don't," was Leah's simple reply.
Jacob glared and continued addressing the entire pack this time. "But what are we going to do about those bloodsuckers that roam our territory?" Straight to the point there. He would make a good Alpha someday. But then he'll be giving me orders. Ugh. Not pleasant.
"We keep patrolling, capturing, and killing those that are in our territory. We cannot let them escape and get others, but we have to get information from them." Ever the Alpha, Sam deals with the problem in less than a minute. Emily laid the two muffin trays on the coffee table. "Dig in pups. We have some news from Leah about the imprinting deal I assigned her." Sam turned to her and nodded encouragingly. "I'm going to talk to Emily outside." As an afterthought, he added, "Behave. All of you."
Like that would stop all the claws from coming out. Leah took a seat next to Seth and took a deep breath. "Our father was working on the imprinting details when I became a werewolf. As we all know I'm a female werewolf."
"Gee, thanks for the shocker. I would have never known!" Paul cracked as some of the others laughed.
"Would you shut the fuck up?" Leah retorted.
"Would you be nicer?" Paul shot back getting miffed.
"I'll try be nicer if you try being smarter," Leah bargained smugly. Brady and Collin laughed at Paul.
"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted," Leah shot a look at Paul, who gestured impatiently to continue. "Our father traced the wolf lineage. The records that the Council were only names, but based on some documents, we pieced together the physical aspects of some of the wolves. When Dad... passed on," Leah cringed and put her elbows on her lap to steady her head in her hands. Seth rubbed her back comfortingly. "Dad left me the records and I finished them a few days ago. It's back in the Council's possession. I was to analyze the information and the imprinting theory was developed." Leah paused, proud. She had figured this all by herself. "The old foggies in the Council suggested it was magic," here she snorted, "but when I told them about the 'natural selection' theory."
"Wait," Sam said from the doorway. Sneaky person. Everyone turned to him. "You mean that the people that we imprint on are just people for good traits?!" By now Sam was angry. "That was the theory?! All that time? If you used so much time in this, I question your loyalty in this pack."
Leah stared at Sam incredulously and stood up. "Excuse me? You question my loyalty?" By now Leah was breathing heavily. Emily looked on in concern. The older members of the pack looked uneasy. "You heard from the Council yourself that I cannot quit this pack. Don't you dare question my loyalty to you or this pack!" She spat viciously. "I gave you a theory and it fits. I did my job. Do yours and give orders. Leave the Council to fuck up my life. You filled your quota." With one glare at Sam, Leah turned to Seth. "Tell Mom I'm going to work. I'll be there for midnight patrol, leader." Picking up her jacket, Leah left.