Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I decided I loved Leah's character sometime in the middle of Breaking Dawn (or, more specifically, when she yelled at Bella). Leah is the bomb, period.
Team Werewolf? I think so.
As a side note, I will not be putting a disclaimer before every chapter. If you're concerned I think I own the Twilight series, see chapter one. Thanks!
• • •
2. Imprinting
She had driven alone to Port Angeles, painfully aware of the awkward silence in the car that was only half-covered by the tuneless blur of the radio. She did not like to be by herself, she never had. When alone, all of Leah's darker thoughts –especially those relating to Sam- plagued her. It was much better when she was in a crowd, distracted by other people. She hated being by herself.
Leah took in a deep breath, clasping the roll of money in her fist; the boys had handed her a wad of twenties and the address of a day spa in Port Angeles, insisting that she 'take the day off and enjoy herself'. She was almost entirely sure that they were planning something awful. It was more than likely, she reasoned, that she would return to La Push to find that it had burned down, or that Seth had gone missing. Why else would they be so desperate for her to leave? Leah almost walked back to the car, ready to drive all the way back to Forks; they couldn't be trusted without her.
Then again, maybe it would be nice to have a day just to herself. She wouldn't go to the spa, of course, but there were other forms of entertainment in Port Angeles. There were malls and parks and shoe sales and cute diners- all sorts of places that the pack never let her go to. Why, she could even enjoy a meal without the danger of Quil and Jacob engaging in an arm-wrestling battle across the table; the possibilities were endless.
She began to walk, arms swaying at her sides, a soft smile on her tan face. She did not notice people staring at her, perhaps because she was used to it. Everyone stared at her and her friends when they left La Push, most likely because it was rare to find a group in which everyone was over six feet tall. They stood out. Leah, for her part, was something alone the lines of five foot eleven, and incredibly thin with elongated, graceful limbs. Her short, choppy hair (Embry had cut it, unfortunately), hung in front of her proud face. She was beautiful, in a dangerous and exotic sort of way, but it was unlikely that she knew this as she was rarely told. Sam used to call her beautiful, but that was a long time ago. The only person who ever really complimented Leah was Seth, and he was her brother, so it didn't actually count, of course.
The crowd thickened and Leah was forced to stop walking. There was a tall, metal fence some ten feet away, and several police cars. Leah immediately thought she had stumbled upon a crime scene, and turned to walk in the opposite direction when she realized that a horde of young, teenage girls, all of whom seemed incredibly excited, surrounded her. She turned to one of them, poised to ask a question, "What's going on?" Leah asked incredulously.
"They're filming!" a blonde girl responded, squealing with anticipation. She seemed about ready to thrust herself at the fence.
Leah was quiet for a minute before curiosity got the best of her. "Filming what?"
The blonde looked at Leah as if she had just spoken blasphemy. "Kill All People II: No Survivors," she spoke. The words seemed very misplaced coming from her mouth.
"But no one survived the first movie," Leah said suddenly. She would know, of course, the first Kill All People was the movie she had been forced to see with the pack- the one she'd had to leave towards the end. Her loving friends, of course, had filled her in on the rest of the deaths- adamantly insisting that no one had lived to the credits. Leah had tuned them out after that, but had she continued to listen she would have learned that a sequel was being made with an all-new cast.
"Yes, well, whatever," the blonde replied. She had not seen the first movie, and she probably would not see the second one either. She was at the set for a different reason.
Leah was quiet as her eyes scanned the surroundings. She was in the middle of a huge, mostly female, crowd. Behind the fence was a plethora of cameramen, trailers and equipment, all of whom were rushing around a small group in the middle- the actors. Leah was not very interested, and just as she was about to leave, something caught her eye: a tall, blonde man, entirely covered in fake blood, hanging off the side of Port Angeles' bank. He was scaling the side of the building, making his way dramatically to the top in clipped motions. Leah's heart stopped, skipping a beat, and the whole world went into focus, as if a camera was zooming in. She could hear her own shallow breathes fade in and out like waves against the shore. She did not know who he was, but she loved him.
Leah had never felt anything like this before. It was so different from the way she had felt with Sam; that had been a comfortable, sturdy love (or so she had thought). This was more like a burning passion, a realization that she would do anything to have him, to make him happy. The whole universe spun around this man.
"Who is that?" Leah whispered.
"Who?" the blonde asked, her voice elevated. She too was staring at the blonde on the side of the building.
"On the building."
"Vincent Benoit, of course," the girl whimpered, her knees practically quivering. Leah did not know who Vincent Benoit was; she had never heard of him, but she was probably one of the few women under the age of twenty-five who hadn't. He was everywhere: on poster's, on magazines, on talk shows, on the red carpet (two supermodels on each arm), in movies. He was Hollywood's leading man, in roughly ten movies a year (not counting animated films that he voiced). Vincent Benoit owned the industry.
Blondie's passion as she spoke his name caught Leah's attention. She looked away from Vincent, instead turning her gaze to the blonde, who was wearing a homemade shirt that clearly stated 'I LOVE VINNIE B'. It was a crime, a crime that the blonde had to pay for. Leaning back somewhat, Leah threw all her weight into a punch that knocked the other girl to the ground. The blonde screamed agonizingly, spraying blood and a single tooth onto the pavement. The rest of the crowd, noticing the fight, stepped back and all hell broke loose as a hundred teenage girls all broke out into the same, pitch-less scream.
Leah began to walk forward, as if pulled by strings. She pushed aside the other, hysterical girls, making her way towards the fence and began to climb quickly and deftly. Just as she reached the top, just as she was about to jump down to the other side, she was stopped by security. A large man grabbed her by the shirt collar and pushed her back over the fence. Leah shot one last glance at Vincent before she ran through the crowd, darting away from the set. If she stuck around, she was likely to be arrested, and that was the last thing she needed right now.
She ran through the city, dodging traffic as she looked for a safe place to phase. If she was going to sneak into the set of Hollywood's most anticipated, high-budget movie and kidnap the leading man, she would need some help.
