Spreading the News
Spike In Missing Persons! Seattle On Alert!
In a string of recent and sudden disappearances, this brings the total missing persons count up to two hundred and twenty-six in Seattle. Officials are speculating these disappearances may be related to the recent cases in the Southern and Western United States; San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson, Salt Lake City and Portland have also experienced this unfortunate spike in missing citizens. The numbers taken from the police departments of these cities estimate about fifty percent of their recent missing person cases are connected. Between one hundred and and one hundred and fifty people seem to have just disappeared from the streets in each city; most of the victims seem to be homeless, and due to poor records we can only speculate that the numbers are accurate.
I stop reading the paper and down my piping hot cup of coffee – the burn in my throat it causes is healed almost instantaneously. I slide the paper over the kitchen table to Jasper and tap the headline with my bum hand.
"Maria's gearing up for something; shit like this just doesn't happen. If this is right she's got numbers I wasn't expecting. Even if some of these people were just food, the count is still high. This might be…messy."
He looks grave while he speed reads the passage, "We don't have a lot of time Kitten. If she's got an army again…she knows what she's doing with it. What do you want to do?"
"It's pointless to decide without knowing whether or not the wolves will lay a stake in this," I talk as I cross the room, placing my coffee cup in the sink before returning to the table, behind Jazz's chair; I encircle my arms around his neck as I peer at the paper again over his shoulder, "but if it was just you and I you know what I'd do; hunt them down in Seattle, maybe lure them into the woods. If she's got that many newborns we need to keep them away from the human population."
With my brain a million miles away steeped in this new news come to light I nearly jump out of my skin when there's a sharp rap on my front door.
Shit, it's eight already – didn't I wake up at five?
"You did wake up at five…but we've been in bed for a while."
As Jasper speaks in that sexy slight southern drawl, I realize our state of undress – I'm 'dressed' in a short robe with a severe lack of clothing underneath and Jasper is still wonderfully, amazingly half-naked. There's another knock and it's a mad scramble at super-speed to get our clothes on and back to the front door. When I swing it open Bryn looks a little happier than yesterday; good thing too, I was seriously considering kicking his ass.
"How long does it take to open a fucking door around here?" He scowls – I said he was a little happier – begins moving through the room; no doubt checking out how I used the money he'd given me months before. He moves past us into the living room and reveals that Swan was standing behind him on the porch.
"It's my house, I'll take as long as I damn well please," I snort and stare him down. His eyes flicker to Jasper before he rolls them dramatically.
"And it looks like you've got your crazy boyfriend living here too; perfect."
Jasper looks down at me in slight alarm. All of a sudden he does that damnable thought blocking from me again. With a distinct feeling I almost got close to whatever he's keeping from me, I fold my arms over my chest and fix him with an acerbic glare.
'You know you'll have to tell me eventually right? We're kind of stuck together for eternity.'
That last statement makes him grin.
"I called the pack after we decided on the time; they refused to meet with the vampires present," Swan's already parked herself at the kitchen table, "Well…Sam refused. A few of them –Jacob, maybe even Leah and Seth – want to hear your side. But we have to go to La Push to do it."
"Oh, great, I got to witness this for nothing," Bryn snorts.
"I'm going," Jazz says at the same time, serious and absolute.
"Yeah, because if they aren't pissed off enough now that's sure to smooth things over; you can't come and I have to go." Hah, I'll teach him to keep secrets from me.
He tries his hardest to get me to change my mind through our connection, but it's not doing a damn thi-
'Let's just go back to bed; someone else can go see the mutts.' He grins cheekily, darkened golden eyes shining in assumed triumph.
"Not this time. I've got things to do, people to see, whatever. You need to go hunting – take Bryn, bond or something," I think about my life if those two ever do get along, "never mind, no bonding; go hunt." I'd never get a moments peace again.
He looks pretty stunned that I'm not putty in his hands – not surprising considering that 'let's just go have sex' trick has worked every other time he's used it. With this one-sided connection he could overpower me to make me bend to his will, and for the most fleeting moment I feel his mind as two again. I can almost see the Major smirking darkly, toying with the ever tempting idea…
But he knows how important this is; Jasper relents, though he's unhappy with the idea of being separated after all that's happened. It'll be the first time since I woke up that we'll be apart, and I'm curious as to how we're going to handle it.
"Shouldn't we make sure your marks work first? What if they don't like the news you've got for them?"
"You know damn well they work or we wouldn't be able to –"
"Alright! Too much information, you should go," Bryn stops me before I can go any further with my story and nods from Jazz to the door, "we've got to go too, you crazy bastard."
He narrows his eyes at the Viking, displeased at his inability to change the burly man's opinion of him. My brother figure has always been more impressed with actions than words; if this war progresses as it seems to be, Jazz will have plenty of time to prove himself.
For now, I swipe the newspaper off my coffee table and follow the other three out the door. Before I climb up into the cab of Swan's truck – mine is somewhere in Mexico still, probably baking under the sun outside of a burnt out villa – I'm pulled against my mate's stony chest; he's near panic at the thought of me crossing the border, and I push all the calm I can muster through our connection.
"I'll be back before you know it," I reassure as I lean up to plant a lingering kiss on his lips, "I promise not to lose any more body parts, too."
I'd laugh at the look of horror on his face if I couldn't feel how damn enraged and shamed my disfigured hand makes him – not the missing digits themselves, but the evidence of Maria's cruelty and the ability to relive the torture through my own thoughts.
"Kitten, you better, or we'll have a lot more to deal with than we already do."
Here's hoping things don't go straight to shit for once.
Let's hope I never have to be away from Jasper for a long period of time any time soon – I can't hear his thoughts, not this far out, but I can still feel his emotions; he's probably near the border hunting and I can tell he's trying to keep tabs on what's going on here at the same time. It's like being away for years though; all heartache and homesickness.
The things I'll do to him when we get back home…
Home? What about what Bryn said earlier; are we living together? What is going on with us now? Why do I pick super inappropriate times to think about this kind of crap?
Thankfully I'm startled out of my thoughts by a weird sight – when Swan drives up to Billy Black's house it looks like most of the pack is assembled outside, standing around half-clothed. I get it; I get hot too with all this venom and foreign blood running through my body, but seriously? The truck door slams shut as the young woman gets out and I reluctantly follow suit, and wish I was anywhere but about to possibly start another conflict.
"That's a crazy tattoo," I hear one of the younger ones whisper, and I land my eyes on a teen with messy brown hair looking at my new ink.
"You don't know the half of it, kid," my eyes land on the leader of the pack, who looks as displeased by me as he ever has, "and you're about to."
He leads the way into the Black house without a word, and as Swan and I enter two other members follow us in. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise in anticipation; I don't expect them to jump us, but I don't expect them to take our news well. I hope they do, but I'm not betting on it.
"Amory, you look good as new," Billy Black says as we walk into the living room. He looks like he's aged ten years since I last saw him. Knowing his son can phase must have put a lot of stress on him.
"Hello Bella," he says a bit more fondly, "how's your dad?"
"Charlie's good, Billy. Look, we –"
In my clutched hand is the newspaper from earlier; I unfold it and hold it out to the aged man. Halfway through the article his face darkens, and Uley starts to read over his shoulder.
"What's going on here, Belmont?" The pack alpha glares at me, but I don't give a damn about how intimidating he looks.
"I…" deciding that there is no better or more delicate way to break the news, I shrug, "I'm immortal."
He's in front of me in a second, his cohorts flank me, and it takes all the control I have to stop the spike in my anxiety from reaching Jazz. If he feels I'm gearing up for a fight, he'll cross the border – and I think everyone is already angry enough.
"The treaty –"
"Call off your dogs. I'm not a vampire; hunter, remember? No one turned me," I was bitten, technically, but does it count if it's just a sexual thing? Not that I care either way, I just don't think that's what they meant with the whole tre-
"How?" Uley shakes with rage and his eyes are as black as coal as they bore a hole through me – he shows no intention of stopping his friends. I know from his body language that if the next words out of my mouth aren't fucking brilliant he's going to make a move.
"It's a long story, but basically this new tattoo…bound my soul to Jasper Hale's. Considering my alternative was dying, I hope you can understand why it had to happen. And speaking of new tattoos," I cast a glance at Swan, "Bella here has decided to become a hunter." Break all the bad stuff at once, why not? Sometimes I have about as much tact as Colossus.
Billy looks at the young woman sadly, "What about Charlie? What about school and –"
"Look, I'm not giving up on anything," Swan asserts, head held up and defiance shining clearly in her eyes, "and now that I'm part of this, I should be able to defend myself, don't you think?"
"I'm not stopping her; I didn't get the chance and I don't want her dropping out and regretting it. As far as the Chief goes…I hate to say it, but we've got to tell him what's going on. Not right away, but soon. I'm more surprised he hasn't figured this all out yet. It's goddamn ridiculous, isn't he supposed to be chief of police?"
"Amory, you do realize Harry's funeral is tomorrow? You chose today to tell us all this?" At Billy's words all of my humor is forgotten. I look to the wood surface of the front door; Leah and Seth had been absent outside and of course I know why.
I throw my hands up in the air, "It's shitty I know! What else was I going to do, wait to tell you this? There is no waiting; there's a war about to start and I need to know if you're in or out. That newspaper is damn near the only proof I need to see to know there's an army on the way."
"An army? Fuck," Uley swears under his breath and looks to the two young men still towering beside me before they all step just a few paces away, "why are they after you? Are they headed here?"
"I might have gone to Mexico to blow up a bloodsucker lair only to be captured, killed, and brought back from the dead. The leader, Maria, must know I'm alive because she's gone bat-shit and started an army. Another army; it's kind of what she does. I think they'll be here in a few weeks, maybe sooner.
"Now that I'm saying it all at once, it sounds really crazy." It does. My life is fucking insane, and I –
'We've got a problem,' Jasper's voice is faint in my head, almost taking on a static quality, 'Victoria is back.'
'Who?' I'll worry about why I can suddenly hear him in my head again this far out later.
'Red.'
Shit. I take one look at Swan and she knows something is going on – thank god she's got more in her head these days than vapid fantasies, "Maria?"
"No, but possibly related; I need to stop pissing people off. We've got to go, if she's –"
"She?" Uley questions, and I'm about done with answering every inane thing.
"Some problem I should have ashed a long fucking time ago. Look, either decide to stay in La Push and let us deal with this or get over this whole 'no alliance with vampires' thing quick, because there is some shit coming to Forks that will tear you inexperienced kids limb from limb and not bat a goddamn eye about it if you decide to fight alone."
Maybe I'm past 'about done.' Every second I spend here without an answer is wasted time, another casualty because of this indecision.
'She's going to cross the border!'
"You've got a vampire – one that doesn't give a goddamn about any treaty – on your doorstep. What are you dogs going to do? You in or out?"
"…Lead the way." He grits his teeth when he says it, spitting the words out as his eyes narrow further into an acid glare.
Swan looks like she's ready for a fight, so I stop that real quick, "You're staying here until I come back to get you, alright? Until we know what's going on, you're the most…delicate."
"We've got to mark me, Rory," she looks at me seriously, "I can't be a burden anymore."
"I didn't mean it like that, but I do agree; we'll talk about it later, on the way back to Forks, alright?"
Without waiting for an answer I wave to her and Billy and stalk out of the Black house with the three men on my heels. In open air again, I let the compounds of my marks soak my blood then tear through the forest.
I bare my teeth wickedly as branches whip at my face and body as a sick sense of excitement grips me; Red's finally gonna burn.
(A/N: So I've been distracted, but here we are again. I'm struggling with whether or not I'll be including one last romantic pairing, but as soon as I decide the next chapter will be up; promise I won't take too long! Thoughts anyone? Thank you all so much for the positive encouragement and taking the time to read this story! You're lovely!)