When Vampires Collide

Chapter 2 – Imprinting Irritation

Stefan POV

We had been conversing with Jacob for over an hour now, and I still couldn`t believe my ears. Not only was he a werewolf (or a "shape-shifter" as he put it), but he had also "imprinted" on my girlfriend. He had explained imprinting in total detail, and yet I was still confused about the entire concept of it. This kind of stuff wasn't from our world. It seemed that not only were we in new territory, but we had also entered the Twilight Zone. Suddenly Mystic Falls seemed so normal . . . which was saying a lot.

"Look, I know this is all foreign to you guys," Jacob said, "but there's no way in hell that I can simply just walk away." He turned to Elena and gave her a fragile smile. ''I must seem like a damn stalker.''

To my surprise (and disgust) she smiled back. ''It's not your fault." I was repulsed by the whole situation happening before me.

"Oh, please,'' Damon complained. ''This whole imprinting thing could be totally made up.''

I smiled at my brother, surprised that I was on the verge of laughing. ''Who would make up something like that?''

He let out a chuckle. "You got a point there, bro.'' He then began to walk in circles around Jacob, who was standing three feet away from Elena, looking like he would give up his life for her at a moment's notice. ''I'll make you a deal, pup.'' Jacob growled at him, despite being in human form. We had seen him "shift" in the parking lot, which, I must admit, was incredible. I had never seen anything like it in my entire existence. ''You tell us where the vampires are, and we won't keep you away from Elena.''

''Damon . . ."

''It's cool, Stefan. Let's bargain with the kid.''

Normally, we would have just used compulsion, but it seemed that he was immune to our talent, and we suspected that the other vampires would be as well.

''No way,'' Jacob replied quickly. ''My best friend is actually, uh, well . . .engaged to one.'' He surely noticed the dumbfounded looks on our faces. ''I'm not getting her involved.''

"Wait,'' Elena cut in, ''your best friend is a wolf, too?''

He shook his head. ''She's human.'' He lovingly grinned at her. ''You'll love her, Elena.''

''Yes, she will,'' Damon agreed, ''when we meet them all tonight.''

Tonight? Perhaps Damon was pushing it a little too much. Besides, we didn't want to seem too eager. It was embarrassing enough that we couldn't handle the originals on our own, but it was even more embarrassing that it had resorted to this. Part of me was sickened by the fact that I still had not defeated Klaus, but the other part of me reminded myself that my obsession with destroying Klaus almost cost me Elena.

''Listen here, blood-sucker,'' Jacob demanded. ''I said . . .''

''We just want to ask for their help.''

Jacob squinted his eyes at my brother. ''Yeah? With what?''

''With killing the original family of vampires,'' Damon replied, acting as if it was a small favor.

''Original family?'' Jacob looked skeptical. ''Now that sounds made up.''

''It's not,'' Elaina replied, receiving Jacob's complete attention. ''Klaus is the one who we're really worried about.''

''Klaus?''

Damon grinned. ''Oh, and you'll love him, Jacob. Not only is he half werewolf, but he enjoys turning other werewolves into hybrids.'' Jacob seemed slightly confused. ''You know,'' Damon explained, ''half vampire, half werewolf.''

''He does what?''

Damon's grin became more apparent, and we both knew we had him. ''Yeah,'' Damon went on, ''oh, and he needs Elena's blood to create them.'' Damon leaned in closer to Jacob, who would phase again if Damon wasn't more careful. ''She's his own little blood bank, if you will.''

''I'll kill that fucking leech myself!''

Damon patted him on the back. "Calm down, Pluto. First things first: Introduce us to the vampires.''

Jacob sighed, frustrated with his anger and my brother. ''Fine.''

Damon winked at me. ''Time to set up the Klaus trap.''

Edward POV

"I'm coming!" Bella exclaimed, again, looking as if I had just lost my mind. She didn't understand that I couldn't possibly let her come with us. We had no idea what these vampires were even capable of yet.

Carlisle knew only a few things. For starters, it seemed that they had the power to "compel" people. Carlisle had been told that it didn't work on us, but we had Bella to worry about. Luckily, vervain counteracted it, at least it had back in the 1800s. Who knew how much more powerful they had become? Carlisle had purchased some of the herb online and had it shipped immediately, taking every precaution.

Apparently their kind couldn't go out into the sunlight without burning, but in Alice's vision the dark haired one (the one she saw drinking Bella's blood) was out in the sunlight without any problem at all. This wasn't good. Carlisle had a theory that they had probably evolved past that.

Luckily, Carlisle also knew the most important thing: How to kill them. It seemed they were much easier to kill than our kind was, which was probably going to be the biggest advantage over all. All that was required was a stake through the heart. This news had made Emmett fall onto the ground laughing. It was so . . . conventional. Perhaps vampire folklore wasn't as laughable as we had originally thought.

"You can't come, love," I told Bella, lifting her chin and gazing into her brown eyes. "It's just too dangerous."

She sighed, not ready yet to give up yet. "I thought we had agreed that it's even more dangerous when we are separated." She clung to my body as if she would never see me again, which melted my inactive heart. "I can't bare for you to go without me. The worry will be worse than anything these guys could possibly do to me."

"You're not coming, Bella." I was rarely so stern with Bella, but I worried less about hurting her feelings when her life was at stake. The very thought of losing her was more than my mind could tolerate. I knew for a fact that I could never go through that kind of torture again. Bella had a history of acting audacious in situations like this, and I wasn't going to let anything harm her.

"I can't believe you're actually serious," Bella muttered, crossing her arms like a three-year-old. I smiled at her, unable to resist admiring her stubbornness.

"Edward!" Alice yelled, coming into my bedroom. "We have a problem."

"You guys aren't going?" Bella asked, hope spilling out of her words.

But I knew what Alice was going to say, and even as she said it, I still didn't understand how they knew about us.

"They're coming here."

Within seconds I had grabbed Bella in my arms and we were in the living room, with the rest of my family. I felt my vampire senses on overdrive, trying desperately to hear any thoughts that may be lurking outside our home.

Would I even be able to read their thoughts?

Carlisle hadn't known whether my gift would work on them or not, but I was anticipating the worse. Although Alice had seen them in visions, I couldn't shake this ghastly feeling that their minds would be mute.

"I've lost them," Alice whispered.

"What?" I began to panic.

"I don't know what happened," she replied. "Everything went black."

Carlisle looked at his watch. "Do you all have your vervain?" We all had some in our pockets, just in case their compulsion abilities had evolved, too. If they had, and these vampires could in fact compel us, we were in for a catastrophe of epic proportions. The only thing my brain could process as the minutes ticked by was one thought: Protect Bella.

I felt my body release a sigh of relief, even though the vampires were now merely feet away. I could read their thoughts . . .

There has to be some way to talk them into helping us.

How in the hell do these vamps live here with all these freaking windows?

And then I heard someone's thoughts that I hadn't been expecting:

The Cullens are gonna be so pissed.

Jacob.

"Jacob's with them," I said whispered, quietly enough so that Bella couldn't hear.

"No wonder I lost them," Alice replied, no doubt relieved that her powers were still working.

"He must be compelled," I replied, not being able to think of any other logical explanation as to why he would be with them.

I felt Bella jump as the doorbell rang. I rubbed my hand soothingly up and down her back, doing what I could to prevent her anxiety. "I won't let them hurt you," I whispered into her ear, kissing the top of her head.

"It's not me I'm worried about."

Carlisle opened the door, studying the two broad figures that were standing by Jacob and a slender brunette girl, who Alice had also seen in her visions. We were hoping that the fact that they were here with a human girl meant that they weren't here to start world war three.

"Jacob," Carlisle greeted. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, doc," Jacob replied, putting his hands in the air as a white flag. "They just want to talk. They need your help."

The dark haired one looked annoyed . . . or perhaps perplexed. The younger looking one looked in at all of us, and I could tell from his thoughts that he hadn't known they would be so outnumbered. He then looked at Jacob and asked, "They know what we are?"

"We know a lot," Jasper chimed in, and I could feel the relaxed mood he was releasing.

"So you know we're only here to ask for your help," the dark haired one said. "I'm Damon. This is my brother, Stefan, and his girlfriend, Elena. And, you know the mutt, already."

"Fuck you," Jacob growled, pushing past them and walking inside.

"We mean you no harm, I promise!" Stefan said. "We've traveled a long way to ask you guys for assistance."

"What kind of assistance?" Alice asked.

"Can we come in?" Stefan asked.

"Wait," I let out. "Don't invite them in." I was surprised when their thoughts let me on the fact that they had to be invited inside in order to enter. What next? Did garlic hurt them, too?

Damon smirked. "Smart kid."

I glared at him. "We can go sit on the patio," I suggested. "It's a nice night."

Damon POV

We found ourselves sitting on expensive-looking chairs on their ridiculously decked out patio. It was a dark night, the moon and stars were hidden by clouds. Jacob had stayed inside with his friend, Bella, who I hadn't got a clear look at yet. I wondered why she was rolling with a pack of vampires. Maybe she was as harebrained as Elena.

The hot blonde vampire turned on some outdoor lights, allowing us to really see what they looked like.

"Your eyes are so damn creepy," I couldn't help but say. It was the most pronounced color of gold I had ever seen. I hadn't noticed their striking color when we first arrived.

"What my brother means," Stefan interrupted, "is that we're in shock right now, meeting all of you. We didn't even know you guys existed until a couple weeks ago."

"How did you find out about us?" the short, weird girl asked.

"Our friend, Bonnie," Stefan replied. "She has certain . . . powers."

"Your kind has special powers?" she wondered.

"Oh, she's not a vampire," Stefan admitted. "She's actually a witch."

The big one started laughing. "A witch?" He rubbed his hands together, as if he had not a care in the world, like this was all just a game to him. "This just gets better and better."

"Emmett," the older (but still hot) woman warned.

"I'm Alice," the short one said, "and that's Jasper, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rosalie, and Edward," she finished, pointing at each one of them. The one named Edward was staring icily at me, which was pestering. He was like a fly that I couldn't swat away. I watched him from the corner of my eye, wondering why he seemed so fixated on me.

"So I'm guessing that you've heard of us?" I asked, lifting my feet and lounging across the wooden bench, determined to look as relaxed as they seemed. The last thing I wanted was for these vamps to think that they had the upper hand. We didn't just need to get them to help us, but we needed them to feel obligated to help us, like it was their duty as fellow vampires or something . . .

Carlisle nodded. "I've been aware of your kind for many years, but up until now I had thought that you had all died out." He folded his hands in his lap, looking calm and collected. "What's your business with Jacob?"

"Believe me, it's not our business," I replied. "It seems the dog is obsessed with Elena over there." They all looked over into the corner where Elena was sitting next to Stefan, keeping her mouth shut for once. "Yeah, what's with this imprinting shit?" I asked.

"He imprinted?" Alice asked, appalled. The big one, Emmett, was laughing again.

"You guys heard of it?" Elena asked, breaking her short-lived silence.

"When a wolf imprints he becomes unconditionally bound to his imprint for the rest of his life," Alice told her in a serious voice.

"For life," Elena repeated, slowly taking a deep breath.

"You've got to be kidding," I said.

"Afraid not."

"How do we stop it?" Stefan asked.

"You can't stop it," Alice replied simply.

"Great," I spat. "So we're stuck with a teenage mutant ninja wolf stalking Elena for the rest of our lives." I smiled sarcastically. "That's just what we need." I couldn't stop myself from going on a full-fledged rant. "Next we'll have Tyler Lockwood imprinting on Stefan." I heard Stefan chuckle. "Why in the hell do you know this stuff anyway? Since when do vampires get along with werewolves?"

"Shape-shifters," Alice annoyingly corrected.

"But she doesn't feel the same way," Stefan said, speaking for Elena, who just looked overwhelmed.

"That . . . could be a problem," Alice replied.

"Why?" Elena asked.

"Because it will actually cause Jacob physical pain to go even one day without being near you," she told Elena, looking at the three of us like we were morons for not knowing this fucked-up knowledge. "That kind of separation would be agonizing for him."

I rolled my eyes. "And we're supposed to care, why?"

"Because it could troublesome for Elena, too."

"Why?" Elena asked again.

Alice frowned. "I'm not for certain. I've never heard of a wolf being rejected by his imprintee."

"You can't be serious," Stefan said, rubbing the sides of his head.

"What causes it?" Elena asked.

"They don't really know," Alice replied. "One theory is that a wolf will imprint on the girl with whom he has the best chance to reproduce with."

I made a gaging noise, which the weird girl ignored.

"Another theory is that imprinting is designed to make a wolf stronger . . . more protective."

Elena was trying to take it all in. "Protective?"

"He will be your protector for life," Alice said, as if Elena should think that this whole imprinting thing had a positive side to it.

"So what happens when Elena tells him to leave her alone?" Stefan asked.

"As I said before, it's never happened, but he would ultimately respect her decision, I think." She shrugged.

"Well, that's taken care of," I said. "We'll tell Pluto to get lost."

The weird girl frowned at me. "He'll never be able to find another person who can take Elena's place. He will forever be in a state of loneliness and grief if she rejects him."

"So . . . what you're saying is that Elena should feel obligated to try and fall in love with him?" I couldn't believe it. Were these vamps insane?

"That's not what she's saying," the one with the scars cut in. He looked absolutely hideous. "When a wolf imprints on someone it's because he has found his perfect match. He becomes whatever she may need or want."

Just as I was about to come back with a snide comment, something happened . . .

Before I could even comprehend what was going on. . . I smelt something. It smelled so delectable . . . so enticing. The aroma filled my nostrils, making it impossible to concentrate on anything else.

Blood.

I had to have it. Now.

"Edward?"

It was the human girl.

Bella.

Without a second of hesitation my mouth flew towards the girl, ready to drain every single ounce of blood from her body. But instead of feeling my teeth going into her soft flesh, I felt myself smash into a stone wall, or . . . what felt like a stone wall. I felt my nose break as my head got smashed into the cement ground by Edward.

I didn't know what had just happened, but I did know one thing: I wasn't going to have this snot-nosed teenage vampire beat my ass.

I jumped back to my feet, ready to let Eddie have it, when I noticed that his entire family was crouching down, ready to attack me at any moment.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot . . ."