DAYBREAK
Summary: This story takes off right from where the Twilight novels finished. Only this is from Leah's POV, and her chance to find love, only she stubbles on the forbidden kind. This is in the midst of the action when it's just kicking off. The pack is being called together since a massacred body has been discovered on Quileute land. This is only three chapters of the original story. Enjoy!
Rated: Fiction T
Characters:
Leah
Shifters (From the original series)
Additionally characters:
Reed (Youngest recruit)
Dorian and Adam (Werewolves and brothers)
CHAPTER ONE
Phasing, Leah was suddenly bombarded with the images running throughout the minds of every pack member, the massacred remains of a body.
For once the pack was silent, Leah couldn't even see straight instead like the rest of the pack she stood still unable to push away the image coming from Sam's eyes. Leah could feel the anger and repulse coursing through the pack and from inside her, she wanted to tear the murderer apart, alive and screaming. A sudden familiar connection broke everyone's thoughts as one of the younger wolf recruits phased. Sam's command was too late before the image found him. Leah could swear she had heard a little whimper escape the young wolves mind, Reed was the youngest of the pack at only eleven, wha', what's going on?He sounded panicked and frightened, Leah could imagine the smaller wolf frozen with fright, and even she felt like bolting, she quivered slightly feeling sick. Decisively changing her course of direction, Leah headed straight for Reed.
Sam's fierce command shook the pack into action, Embry take the younger wolves to mine anyone under fifteen un-phase now! No that doesn't count you Quil, the rest of you get here now! Gradually, Leah recognized the other younger wolves that had been there before her. Every mind began buzzing with questions, cussing and retching, above the thoughts Sam shut everyone back up, remembering that Reed was still with them and sensing Leah's course of direction, Leah tried to control her emotions as Sam's voice brushed through her mind, the whisper felt like a familiar caress, as though he was whispering in her ear beside her now. Be quick, keep to the path and watch your back.
The bitchy retort nearly choked her, she couldn't help but appreciate Sam's concern, she was shaken by the sudden image of the dead body that his concern was comforting. And just at the thought she was glad Sam couldn't hear it, instead she did what she usually did, got angry. Got it, try not to die; I think I can manage that alone, been doing it for some time now without you. Sam just huffed in response, but she could tell she had hit a nerve. Disturbingly, that gave her satisfaction.
A few meters away, running bedside her Leah could sense her brother, Seth go with Embry.
Hphm, no.
Fine, hurl your guts out for all I care.
You can talk, and stop acting like you my damn chaperone, its embarrassing Lee.
I may not be in charge right now, but I'm still your older sister, now go with Embry or you can limp your way there!
Leah just let the guy come, why do you have to be such a kill joy.
Paul came up beside Seth, bumping his shoulder.
Butt of this Paul, only in your twisted mind you can find this exciting, so either you shut it and let me deal with my baby brother or I'll rip out your damn tongue! Seth Go!
Both the guys just laughed at Leah's threat, not their brightest idea.
For god's sake Leah I'm not a baby, It's not like I'm going to get hurt I've been doing this the same amount of time as you, so stop being afucking pain.
And bitch.
That's it! Leah launched herself onto Paul's back, clamping her teeth onto his ear, digging her claws into his back and scrapping down. Paul cried out in agony but before he could retaliate, Seth was pulling her off him and Sam's voice interrupted, along with Jake they were both shouting orders.
Fuck, she clawed me! Damn that hurts!
Stop whining, I barely touched you, Leah smirked, her claws had dug right to the bone. Ha, shows him.
Seth, your sister's right, so go.
Leah could just imagine what their mother would have said if she had found out that Leah had allowed their brother anywhere close to something out of a chainsaw massacre movie. She had almost thrown Leah out of the house when she had heard about the fight between those foreign vamps, and she wasn't going to give her an excuse to pack her bags for her this time. She had to protect her brother from some things in this pack, even if he was a stubborn idiot sometimes.
Hey, I heard that! And I don't need babysitting!
This time, jakes voice broke out, Seth, that's enough. You and Embry meet us at Emily's later and be careful, the kills still too fresh from last night. Put the elders on high alert and make sure everyone stays indoors, get the Cullen's to meet us if you can. And Leah, help Paul then both of you get here now!
No way, I don't need her help, I would rather bleed to death.
That's fine with me,she sidestepped him a carried on jogging. Il be there soon, I'm with Reed now.
Before emerging out of the forest, she had un-phased and thrown on the mini black dress and panties she carried in her satchel. It was too small to carry around shoes, but she could pull of bare feet for a while, plus she needed the extra space for her mobile and a bottle of volvic. The forest opened up to one of the small play parks in La Push, and sitting on a far off picnic bench was Reed. Sensing her approach, he lifted his head from his hands. His eyes were red, and it looked like he had been crying.
She slipped on the other side of the bench opposite him, he gave a half attempt at a smile. "You okay?", however patronizing and stupid that sounded Leah had no idea what else to do. The boy had seen a massacred body! That must have been hard, she wasn't even sure if he had ever even watched a horror movie in his life so far. Too bad for him, his life was about to take on becoming a gore movie, it was 'the way of the wolf'.
Reed didn't reply, he put his head down to rest on his arms again, sniffing and breathing calmly. The wind whipped his long brown hair over his eyes, to Leah he looked a lot like Seth, and the whole ignoring her thing, was defiantly a Seth thing to do.
"Come on, I'll get you back home." He didn't move.
Feeling protective, Leah tried to think of a way to help him instead dragging him off by the arm, it was more convenient but would probably notify someone to call the police but she couldn't exactly leave him here alone. Even more unfortunate for Reed, she wasn't the most reassuring and comforting person in the universe. Instead, she lay her head down on her arms, mimicking Reeds posture and watching the other people in the park. The old couple sitting on the bench together, the mothers watching their children play on the climbing frames, the small girl and her dad throwing a ball back and forth between them as the dog watched, trying to catch it through the air. It overwhelmed her slightly; she was so different to them. She wouldn't grow old or fall in love like the couple on the bench and heart wrenchingly the dad and small girl brought up memories of her and her dad.
It was like experiencing two worlds at once, like she was intruding on their world, amongst those that didn't know what she was, instead she blended right in and became no one, little known to them that she was sitting in her own personal hell. Somehow she had overcome seeing the state of the body, of seeing death caused at her hands, or the deformity of the body as it transformed into a wolf even replaying what she had done to Paul. Sickly, she had fit perfectly into her role as a wolf as an animal, that made her less human than she even purposed. She shouldn't be here, she dealt with death and vampires, which were the biggest threats she could imagine but to all those around her they were mythical beings that didn't exist, she was one of them and now Reed was too.
"I guess I should say that you'll get used to it, but you don't. It doesn't get easier, it doesn't always make sense and sometimes you can't do anything until you're too late." She sounded morbid, but she knew no one had probably explained it to Reed like this, even if he's young he has the right to know how things are going to be, not that being a wolf was amazing and that it gave you superpowers. How did anyone expect an eleven year old to be superman? She was twenty-one and couldn't stand the sight of blood. "Sam and Jake won't get you to do anything that's unsafe, even though it may seem different; they know what they're doing, that's why they're our leaders. And you have the whole pack for protection, their like a security team of fur, teeth and claws".
She turned her head to face Reed who was smiling; at least someone understood her sense of humor. "And you can have tones of fun at school with your super strength by taking bets on arm wrestling." Reed laughed wiping the tears and snot with his sleeve, gross but again completely like Seth. She smiled, "You're not alone Reed."
He turned looking out at the people, and then surprising her he said, "I'm sorry about your dad." Reed was Sam's only cousin; the wolf gene had bypassed Sam's dad's sister but infected Reed as a result. From the town gossip Reeds mum had gotten pregnant and settled back in La Push alone. Like Sam he never had a strong male role model in the house, it had always been him and his mum. Leah smiled appreciative of his comment; he said it matter-of-factly without drawing the conversation out into an emotional fest. "Thanks Reed."
Leah looped her legs out from under the bench, "Come on, let's get back before they send out a search party for us." Again, he laughed at her little quip, untangling his legs from the bench and jogging into the forest behind her. Leah changed quickly and phased, "I'll race you to Sam's?" he bolted ahead before she could finish.
After making sure Reed was safely at the house, and dealing with a huffy Seth Leah jogged into the clearing the guys were in Leah and went to take her place beside Jake, as she walked past Paul he whispered a hate filled bitch from where he stood beside Sam. Leah just tried to choke down the laugh when she saw that his back still traces of her claw marks.
Walking up to them, she could see or more smell what they were all surrounded by. What was left of the mutilated body was mostly muscle and bone, which looked as though it had been minced in a blender; the skin had been ripped clean off from her thighs and abdomen. Leah moved that word around in her mind, her, the girl was pretty, her face was a little smudged with dirt and bruising but was fairly peaceful, as though Leah could nudge her wake. From the amount of blood seeping from her head, and the silence of her heart no amount of nudging was going to kick start this girl's heart.
While the boys began chatting mentally and grunting between themselves, huddling themselves closer in deliberation that excluded Leah's thoughts.
Instead, she leant forward, breath held tight to restrict her yachting her guts out, she held her nerve as she gripped the tip of the dead girl's dress with her teeth, the dress had huddled just below her breast bone, as a result the girls' underwear and bare legs were left for all to see. Figuring that she could give the girl a bit of modesty she yanked the blood soaked dress to the girl's knees.
Leah Stop!
Don't start Jake! The girl, dead or not doesn't need you clowns staring at-… what?
She followed his graze, not on her instead on the huge protruding gash that was still pouring fresh blood over the body. The huge protruding gash, were her heart should have been.
Uncontrollably and utterly embarrassingly Leah shrieked jumping back from the body then recited a creative collection of profanity.
There's a fucking hole in her chest!
Leah calm down! Quil, who surprised himself and everyone else with his outburst to Leah, then bent down closer to the wound. Since his imprint with Claire the young wolf has matured greatly, but his tone sounded like he was treating her like a child. She growled slightly but the chocolate coloured wolf ignored her and instead bent his head examining the body, clearly while holding his nerve. He stepped back, but before he replied he took a minute to gain control. The wound was made by a clear hit, which rules out human involvement. It was ripped straight from the artery, from the look of the tearing of the tube.Quil may look like the tall and broad football playing type, but there was no contradicting the boy's school results.
So what? A vampire?
Yeah, maybe that European coven!
They were Italian dude!
Do you think there may be another fight? Or what if there gathering an army of vamps again!
No your thinking about the red head who hated Bella.
This could be the same, like ayou've been warned, now stay out of our way mother-
Guys! Erh, and Leah. Listen for now… Blah blah blah…
Leah couldn't be bothered to listen to Sam; even though he was still talking instead she used the one technique that she had come to love. The ability to zone out the pack or half of them anyway, mainly Sam.
Ever since Jake's little decision to run off and go all solo wolf leader, and then have Leah and Seth join, the packs been experiencing a newly formed bond. The pack was still intact and followed the same rules, to an extent.
For example, Jake could always tell Leah and her brother what to do, but if Sam gave the order Leah could just ignore it but mostly just did it because instinct closed her mouth for her to restrain Leah from doing anything stupid to get on the wrong side of any pack leader or any larger wolf. Unless, you had full faith in your ability to outrun them, which for Leah was always an option when Jake got a little too big for his boots.
But whenever any of the other pack members got near Jake's pack, they had the ability to turn of the telepathy connection between each other. Neither person heard what the other one was saying. But that only worked with the members from the old pack. So all new recruits had all their thoughts broadcast loud and clear to the two packs, they couldn't hear our thoughts but we always knew they were thinking, which Leah detested more. If on guard duty with them they were either complete scared out of their minds thinking anything shiny in the bushes was a vamp, or had too much energy for their own good. Supernatural rules were a headache.
Jake had noticed Leah's tune out but didn't say anything. Sam carried on his little speech, soon both him and Jake had built up a temper arguing on whether or not the recruits should be involved or not. Leah knew that if they were left unsupervised they would probably get ambushed, or run screaming from anything shiny.
The ground beneath Leah's paws was wet and sloppy, mostly from the blood that was moistening the dry cracked earth. Then suddenly, things seemed to click into place. From the thick tinge of the blood in the air she had missed the slight familiar hint that came of the earth, the girls savaged skin and more. Frantically, Leah looked at the ground around the small clearing. Searching through the foliage and leaves like a mad she-wolf, the ground was disturbed.
Like a log had been moved around in snaky shapes along the forest floor. And that smell. It hung all over the clearing. It was difficult distinguish the scent, it was too familiar and hung secretly in the air over the forestry dampness.
Her mind couldn't think straight. Frustrated she escaped into the deep forest growth, rematerializing in her human form. Her mind couldn't think straight with the thoughts of Jake and Quil in her head. She ignored the guys stares, even when they caught sight of her in the dark red silk mini dress. Normally she would have knocked them with a fierce quip that had their ears flushing red but was too focused on what she had worked out. Without stopping their conversation and acknowledging Leah for the briefest second they turned away from her. Leah had always thought the guys were stupid, now her point was proven beyond anything else.
"Leah?..." she turned, instantly poised to attack.
Edward Cullen stood by an oak, eyes fixed on her.
"What leech? And stop starring at me like-"
Before she could even scar Cullen with a few choice words, she was interrupted, again, by Sam. He had shifted into his human form along with Jake. Even while Sam spoke to Cullen that didn't stop her from continuing what she wanted to say to the vampire over Sam. Even a few thoughts of Leah smacking is smug face against the oak, Edwards conversation with Sam broke slightly as he tried to hide his smile at Leah's too vivid thoughts.
"-now that your hear we can discuss this, we need to know for sure that your family aren't involved in this-"
"Stop being ridicules it couldn't have been the Cullen's, half were away and I was with renesm-"
"That rules out nothing Jake. If there's a body on La Push land then we have the right to accuse-"
"Guys, your both being stupid, it wasn't the-"
"-give it a rest Leah! We have this situation to handle, the one happening right now, not the little fantasies going through your mind! Do everyone a favor and shut up!"
"Wait Sam-"
SMACK!
The pack leader went down hard, his whole body contorting with the blow. Everyone held their breath, all eyes were on Sam. The silence was broken, once Leah spoke.
"You dick! I was trying to say it wasn't the vampires, otherwise the body would have been sucked dry!" Everyone looked at her, mostly still shocked at what had just happened. Leah was scared herself, she had just hit the pack leader, and she was pretty sure that now that he was shacking of the blow, it was only a moment before he tore her head off. But that still gave her time to finally get what she wanted to say out. "It wasn't one of the vamps, it was us. Can't you smell it, why the body smells so familiar?"
Carlisle and Edward position themselves slightly in front of Leah as Sam rose. Jake stood in front of him, holding a stern hand on this chest to keep him from doing anything as stupid as to what Leah had done. His eyes were all black, and his breathing was rugged, he looked furious and pissed off, the punch hadn't done a lot of damage apart from the faint purple ring that was already becoming faint. So far Sam had enough restraint to not retaliate, yet.
Before the atmosphere could get anymore claustrophobic with tension, jasper came forward. The tension evaporated, calming everyone down immensely.
Carlisle turned to Leah his hand still on her shoulder. Normally if it were any other vamp she would have smacked them silly, but unexplainably she allowed it. Leah had gained a new respect for Carlisle, he had been there for her father, shown respect to her when Seth, Jacob and her had stayed at the vamps house. He had even recently bandaged her up in private when she had smacked her fist into a mirror and gotten glass stuck between her fast healing skin.
"Explain it." The two words gave slight encouragement to Leah, releasing her shoulder he allowed her to take centre stage as all the eyes of the pack and vamps were on her. Embarrassingly the only thought that came to her mind was that she wished she had worn a dress that didn't show so much skin. At Edwards uncomfortable look, he thought the same.
"If a vamp had attacked the body there wouldn't have been this much blood. Even if it was for just for the kill, why would they ravage the body? That when I noticed the smell."
Sam huffed, "What smell? Its just blood, forest and us." His voice was gruff, but reasonably relaxed.
"I was getting to that point." When Sam didn't interrupt her, she carried on.
Feeling a little uncomfortable at how to phrase the sentence, she decided to go with a full on explanation. She was already half naked, and she didn't want to seem spineless. "The body was tasted. Licked. From the wounds it's more concentrated. At first I thought it may just have been us, considering some of you are a little twisted. But hopefully not as far to like a human wound. It smells like us, like shifter. Don't you get it, can't you smell it?" The guys faces concentrated, those in wolf form sniffing the air, the body.
Leah looked at the vamps, closer this time. "You're on edge?"
Edward shook his head, like brushing away a thought. "The wolves agree, the scents familiar."
"That's ridiculous; none of the wolves would have attacked a human! Not even the recruits! Nothing could have happened, their monitored by an older pack member, everyone takes rounds in twos or threes. It doesn't make sense."
"What's wrong with you?" Edward tried a strained laugh at Leah's comment.
"Nothing, its…I don't…can't explain it." The vamp was on edge, rubbing his hands over his arms as though he were cold, clench his fists, even his eyes had taken on a darker tone. All the vamps had.
This time Carlisle spoke, seeming less agitated then Edward and Jasper.
"I think it's the scent. Normally around the shifters, the agitation is bearable. But this is stronger. Even I'm finding it hard to stay under control."
The Doc looked like he was in pain, or about to explode into a ball of rogue vamp. If he were human, he may have begun sweating.
Jacob looked worried; the shifters had poised themselves instinctively in case of a fight. Even Leah was backing away slightly feeling stupid for having phased into her human form.
"Maybe we should move?" through the thick forest foliage, and leaving the body behind with the Quil to watch over, the group moved into another part of the forest, away from the agitating smell.
Taking an unnecessary breath, Carlisle spoke to Leah again, "What else did you notice?"
Intriguingly, everyone waited once again for Leah to speak. She could get used to this. "I don't know…O'h the tracks! The leaves that covered the ground had been disturbed. Then I noticed that it linked to the how the girls dress had been scrunched up to her chest. She'd been dragged, across the floor. Maybe trying to get away." The morbid thought haunted everyone as they envisioned the girl's struggles to get away
