Okay, so...not getting very many reviews, but thanks to those who have. Also, thanks to those who have done the Story Alert thing, or if they've favorited the story.
Disclaimer: As always, don't own anything you recognize. Crystal is mine, as is Michael. The plot is pretty much mine; the characters you recognize don't.
Enjoy!
Chapter Three
Quil, Embry, Jacob, and I took Jacob's Rabbit to Sam's cabin-like house. They were so big that Quil and Embry barely fit in the backseat together. When we got to Sam's I found out that it was really Emily's place, but Sam stayed there so often the guys considered it to be Sam's house just as much as it was Emily's. They'd warned me that Emily had been attacked by an animal and had the scars to prove it, but it bothered Sam when someone stared so I promised I wouldn't.
The thing I noticed at first, though, was that the house was surrounded by woods. It was beautiful. Everything I'd seen since I'd gotten to the reservation was beautiful. If I could get used to people actually wanting me around, I could learn to like it here. And Jacob had nothing to do with my decision. Not at all. Right…
The people Quil, Embry, and Jacob had described to me earlier were indeed at Sam's. They were all in the kitchen, eating. Some were sitting, the others were standing.
The first thing I noticed was that all the guys were…very well-toned. What did their parents feed these guys? They were all handsome in their own way, and they seemed friendly enough. The guys were shirtless and they all had washboard abs.
Seth was adorable. He had shaggy black hair that kind of mirrored Jacob's, had the same carefree attitude. Happy, smiling…adorable. Jacob's mini-me. He looked a little younger than Jacob, which made since because Jacob said Seth looked up to him as an older brother.
Paul, the supposed hot-head, didn't seem hot-headed to me. Mischievous, maybe…but not angry or anything like that.
Jared seemed…mischievous too, only not as much as Paul.
There were two guys - younger guys - that I didn't know. They introduced themselves as Brady and Collin. All the guys looked similar enough that they could be brothers. Short black hair, dark brown eyes, russet skin, tall and built.
The girls here were beautiful. I knew right away who Emily was and it wasn't because of the scars. If was because she was sitting on the lap of the most intimidating one. Sam. He proved to be nice and welcoming, though, despite what he looked like. A little reserved, maybe, but I didn't mind.
Claire, Emily's two year old niece, was there coloring on the floor. Quil gravitated towards her instantly and her eyes lit up when he sat beside her. Aw!
Kim, Jared's girlfriend, was on a chair at the table, and Jared was beside her. Kim seemed shy and she had a book in front of her. It was on the table so I couldn't see what it was.
The guys were all smiles, which put me at ease pretty quickly. They had me smiling in no time. Even though I was different and I usually stuck out like a sore thumb, I felt I could fit in here.
The only one who was a little less than welcoming was Leah Clearwater. She seemed a little…bitter. She wasn't hard to look at either. She was built as well as the guys, only in a feminine way. Her physique was even more well defined than mine, and I'd been fighting and training for five years. She had inky black hair that came down to frame her face. Her eyes were kind of…haunted…maybe?
We'd gotten the whole introduction thing out of the way in the beginning, so the awkward silence that had filled the room had faded away a while ago.
Then Sam had asked if I'd been sad to leave my home and all eyes had turned to me. Yikes.
"Uh…well, no. Uh…the guy I was living with…I didn't call his house home. I was planning on leaving, anyway." I glanced around. "I'm glad I ended up here, though."
"Billy told us your mom loved it here where she was growing up," Paul started. "He said you liked it here when you used to visit."
"Yeah, I did. I like it now." I saw Jacob smile at that and a half smile formed on my lips in return.
"You're planning on staying then?" Sam asked.
"Uh…well, Billy said I could stay as long as I wanted and I don't have anywhere else to go…so, yeah."
An hour later Jacob and I said our good-byes, going back out to his car. Quil and Embry had said they'd find their own way to their homes so we were leaving them at Sam's.
"So?" Jacob questioned. "Not scary, right?"
"No, not scary. They're nice. And Paul didn't seem all that hot-headed to me."
"Yeah, well, he can be."
"Hm."
It was misting, so I got a little wet on the trip to the car. Once inside the vehicle I immediately sought out the heat that was Jacob by moving closer to his side. It surprised him; hell, it surprised me. But it seemed to please him, so… And why did I care what pleased him? But, oh, his warmth was addictive. Especially in the cold weather that was the usual here. I had a feeling Jacob could keep me warm in the middle of a snow storm. I doubt the snow would even touch him; it would melt before it reached him.
"So…" I began, shaking my head to clear the thoughts away. "Uh…your friends are…huge."
Jacob laughed loudly. "Yeah, we all had serious growth spurts about a year ago."
"All of you guys?"
"Yeah. We're all around the same age. Sam's a few years older, but the rest of us are mostly the same age. Excluding Brady and Collin. They're new. Seth's, like, a year younger than me."
"Oh. Okay."
A moment of comfortable silence passed and then Jacob spoke again. His voice was softer and huskier than before. "So, did you mean what you said? You like it here?"
I felt my cheeks flush, thinking about why exactly I liked it here. I wasn't usually all that prone to blushing, but now? With Jacob? Yup. I was definitely blushing.
"Yeah, um…I could definitely get used to being here."
"Good," Jacob said quietly.
Jacob got a call from Sam that night and as soon as the call ended he seemed distracted…and tense.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"No, uh…something came up at work, but they're taking care of it."
"Oh. You don't have to go to work?"
"Not tonight."
Billy and Jacob had been watching a game. It ended and the news came on. The only thing that was really newsworthy was that people had gone missing in Port Angeles. The thing that had caught my attention, though, wasn't that people were missing - that happened all the time, everywhere. What really made me watch was that 'more people than usual' were missing. One guy had turned up dead…his throat had been torn apart. The thing that stumped the police, though, was that all the blood had been drained from the poor man.
Oh, great. Another vampire. And from the sloppiness of the kill - leaving the body somewhere for everyone to find - it was a newborn vampire. A vampire who couldn't control itself, a vampire who didn't know the rules, who didn't know about the Volturi.
I would have to take care of this. If I didn't, the Volturi would. The Volturi would because this vampire was drawing attention to the world that most people believed was just a myth. The Volturi wanted to keep it that way.
I sighed and slumped against the couch. Newborn vampires were even harder to kill than regular vampires. Newborns were even stronger and faster than regular ones. I didn't know why, nobody had ever told me. I crossed my arms over my chest. Bloodsucking vampires were not supposed to be real. They were supposed to exist only in bad date movies. They weren't supposed to become a way of life. And here where I was living my life now, vampires would be able to walk around during the day undetected. There was no sun. There hadn't been a sunny day since I'd gotten here. Vampires wouldn't sparkle here - the sunlight made them sparkle like diamonds.
This was gonna suck. No pun intended.
The next day, I didn't go to Port Angeles, but I did go into town. Forks was a fifteen minute drive from La Push. I was going to go to the grocery store. Even if I hadn't known where I was going, I wouldn't have had any trouble getting to Forks; the road signs were very helpful. There was a Thriftway, which was a grocery store, and there was a sporting goods store which I stayed away from.
I didn't get much at the grocery store aside from something for dinner - chicken, potatoes, and corn. Jacob had said he could cook - he'd had to take care of Billy, so of course he could - but I needed to do something to earn my keep. I picked up a newspaper - it had information about the missing people in Port Angeles - and paid for my things.
On the way back to the reservation it started raining and I had to slow down because I hated driving in the rain. Actually, I was dangerous while driving in the rain. I wasn't used to it, and the drops hitting the windshield was distracting. Not that I didn't have enough to be distracted by. There was vampire in Port Angeles - at least one, maybe more.
I'd come to La Push to get away from bloodsucking fiends from beyond the grave, but of course there would be vampires near here. My life was never easy; if something could go wrong, it undoubtedly would.
Pulling in front of the Blacks' house, I saw Jacob come out of the woods, shirtless again. Why? Didn't he know it was raining? Couldn't he feel it?
"Crys! Where've you been?" Billy hadn't asked where I'd been going when I'd asked if I could use the Rabbit, and Jacob had been at work.
I blushed at how excited he sounded to see me. I didn't understand the excitement, but I was flattered by it nonetheless.
"Uh, the store. I went to get something to fix for dinner." I decidedly did not stare at his body. I looked fixedly at his face. Uh-huh. "Um…why're you…ya know, shirtless? It's kinda cold, isn't it?" It wasn't to me, but still… "I mean, what? Do you have some kind of weird body temperature disease or something?"
"Or something." He grinned. "I'm not cold."
"Huh. Okay. Well, can you get the potatoes? I'll get the rest."
The potatoes were the heaviest thing, and even to a regular human they wouldn't have been that difficult to carry, but I was supposed to be a meek little girly girl, so Jacob carried the potatoes.
Dinner had gone smoothly; Jacob had even helped cook. Sort of. He'd mashed the potatoes as the chicken had baked and the corn had boiled. It was all very…domestic. I usually cringed away from stuff like that, but here with Jacob and his dad it didn't seem so bad. It was homey and warm and I loved it.
I had made enough for there to be plenty of leftovers for a normal set of three people, but Jacob ate a lot. I didn't know where he put it. I also didn't know how he wasn't as big as the side of the house.
"Jacob, what do you do?" I asked after I was done. "I mean, your job. What do you do?"
He'd been in the middle of putting a forkful of potatoes in his mouth, but when I'd asked the question he stopped and placed the utensil back down. He seemed to be thinking of how to say what he wanted to say.
"Um, well…the group of friends I hang with have this…pack-type thing. And we're kinda like the security around here. We're like the neighborhood watch. We make sure things are goin' the way they're supposed to."
I blinked in surprise. "Really?" I hadn't been expecting that. I'd been expecting anything but that.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering where you go and what you do when you're not here."
"Yeah, well, that's what I do."
To be honest, I felt a little relieved. I'd begun to suspect drug use. Although Jacob Black and crack head didn't go well together, and he'd have to have seriously changed to be doing drugs. But if he was on the neighborhood watch, then I could understand why he was gone all the time and then when he was here he wanted to sleep.
The next day I went to Port Angeles. I filled up Jacob's car - I was the one who had been using it the most so it was only fair for me to be the one to fill it up. I had a little money saved up from when I'd worked for two years before coming here.
I wasn't in Port Angeles to kill any vampires, I was here to see if I could find them. I hadn't heard about anymore people going missing, so I was hoping that whatever vampire was responsible for killing that man was long gone by now. But of course, with the way my life went…the vampire was still here. It was holed up in a warehouse in the bad and mostly deserted part of Port Angeles. I was surprised to find that there was only one vampire here. And it didn't seem like it was a newborn, either. Newborn vampires were bloodthirsty and had no control over their hunger. If I were to fight a newborn and I were to bleed it would distract them enough from fighting that I could get the upper hand, but the blood would make their thirst uncontrollable.
"I knew I'd find you here," Michael's familiar voice said from behind me. He'd been talking loud enough for only me to hear him. If I'd been a normal human, I wouldn't have heard him at all. If I were normal, I wouldn't have heard him coming up behind me; he'd have scared the living daylights out of me.
"What're you doing here?" I asked, speaking just as softly as he had been.
"I had to make sure you didn't get yourself hurt."
"I told you before, I can handle myself."
"I wanna see for myself."
That kind of grated on my nerves a little. "What? You're gonna give me an evaluation?"
"Yeah, actually." I could practically feel his smirk, I didn't even have to look.
"Michael…I wasn't planning on killing any vampires today. I…this was strictly a recon assignment. You know, find out where the vampires were and how many I'd be dealing with." When I looked at Michael I saw that his eyes were a soft golden-brown today. He'd recently fed. "You didn't have to hunt me down."
"I needed to know you were safe."
I smiled softly at the concern in his voice and face. "Safe as houses."
He grimaced. "If a vampire catches your scent, a house isn't going to be safe for long."
"True." Contrary to popular mythology, vampires did not need an invitation to get inside your house. And locking your door didn't help much, either; it was essentially useless. "So, I guess if I'm gonna kill this vampire then I need some gasoline."
Actually, all I needed was match, which I had, but the gasoline would make the vampire's death quicker.
"I don't have gasoline, but I have lighter fluid in the car."
"That'll work," I said.
Michael was gone in the blink of an eye. Literally. I didn't know why he was so worried - he had trained me once, so he knew I could handle myself.
I tried the doorknob but it was locked, so I used my strength to twist the knob hard enough to actually break the lock. I knew the vampire would be alerted to my presence, but that was okay. I could make him think that I was just curious. Or I could have, if he hadn't thrown me across the room as soon as I'd stepped inside. From the impact of my landing, I could tell I'd hit concrete or something equally as hard.
"Ow," I said, standing. "Now that hurt."
I heard the vampire hiss and I looked up. The vampire had blood-red eyes - that meant he had been sucking on humans - and, of course, a pale face. All vampires had perfect features and this one was no different.
He had spiky brown hair, his eyebrows were thin and his cheekbones were so hollow they had shadows. His chin jutted out a little. It was weird but I could imagine him with blue eyes. He was about 6'11" and he towered over my 5'8".
"What d'you want?" he asked, pushing me to the wall again.
I could tell this wasn't a newborn. He had too much control over himself for him to be a newborn. If he'd been new…he'd have bitten me by now. My scent would've drawn him in.
"I want to live a normal life, but you're kind of making that impossible."
"You want a normal life, and yet you came here?"
I shrugged. "I live nearby. You're killing people. This town…this whole state is my territory now."
"I didn't see your name written anywhere."
I smiled mischievously and pushed him away. "Would you like to? I could make an example of you."
He threw his arms out, challenging me. "You can try."
When I was fighting this time I let myself get angry. Sometimes you needed fire, the kind that anger gave you, to defeat your opponent. The only thing this vampire had going for him was speed; he didn't know how to fight very well. He was very uncoordinated for a vampire. I took him down fairly easily and tore him apart with even more ease.
When Michael came back with the lighter fluid he seemed shocked by the damage I'd done.
"How did you do that?"
"Easy as cake," I said, shrugging. "You're the only Guardian that ever hunted with me, Michael, so I'm used to hunting alone. It's what I do."
"And you're okay?"
"Uh-huh. My back hurts a little, but other than that I'm good to go."
Michael sprayed the pieces of the vampire with the flammable liquid and I lit a match. I always carried a book of matches with me where I went for times such as this. As I watched the pieces slowly turn to ash Michael began looked around and I heard him mutter a curse under his breath.
"What?"
"There's another one here."
"Where?"
"Here."
Michael was standing in the corner of the room where a little cot was. I could see from my place by the fire that there was someone sleeping…or not sleeping. Just lying there…convulsing. It was a female.
I went to stand by Michael and saw that the girl was barely breathing, and she had a bite mark on both of her wrists. She was in the process of being changed.
"How far along is she?" I asked.
"She has maybe a day and a half left. We can't save her. She's had the venom in her system for too long."
I knew the whole changing process took about three days total. If you reached the person in time you could save them by sucking the venom out…this girl, though, was a lost cause. I felt a pang for her. The vampire I'd killed had meant to make her…so he could have a mate? Vampires mated for life - for their existence - for the most part.
"She's still alive, Michael. I can't kill her. As long as her heart is beating, she's still human. I won't kill a human." Though death was a better alternative to the pain she was probably in right now.
"You don't have to. Go. I'll take care of it."
I felt another pang when I realized Michael was going to have to kill her. Poor girl. And poor Michael. As far as I knew his past haunted him, and he hadn't killed a human since he'd stopped feeding from them for me. But if we were to let her actually become a vampire…we'd never able to control her.
"Okay. Good. Thanks." I looked toward the flames. "Clean up after?"
"You bet," Michael said. "Go."
Back at the car I stretched and winced.
Note to self: Concrete is not a good thing to be thrown against. My back was going to be sore for a while. I would probably bruise by tomorrow. I'd have to be careful when I got back to Billy's. I couldn't let them know I was hurt. Especially Jacob. He'd flip out. He'd want to know why I was hurt, how I'd been hurt, and who had hurt me. All questions I wouldn't be able to answer honestly.
I'd been gone for maybe two hours now and I didn't really have an excuse for even coming to Port Angeles. I'd need to think of something.
By the time I got back to the house I was calling home now, I knew what I was going to say. I was visiting a friend. The Blacks' didn't need to know said friend was a vampire. Because despite everything - the Volturi and the vampire thing - Michael was my friend - uncle or surrogate parent, almost.
I remembered the day he'd left like it was yesterday…the day he'd had to hand me over to my next Guardian.
I was almost seventeen and I was semi-happy, which was weird for me. I had a Guardian who understood my 'respect for human life'.
I was coming back from a hunt - vampires called it a kill, I preferred the term hunt - and I was sore and tired from my fight. But I was content.
The happy feelings evaporated as I walked into the house I was sharing with Michael. He was standing in the living room with his suitcases. His face was emotionless. It was like a switch for vampires. Vampires could cut their emotions off when they wanted. I knew something was wrong…he didn't act that way with me.
"What's…going on?" I asked, stepping further into the room.
"I'm leaving. The Volturi made their review. You passed; I didn't. They said my feelings for you have made me weak. I can't make the hard decisions anymore."
"So you're just leaving?"
"I've done all I can for you, Crystal."
"Stay with me," I begged. "What did I do? I'll…I'll do everything better, just stay."
The emotionless fell from his face and if he could cry, I was sure he would. He grabbed me and pulled me to his icy chest.
"Don't. This isn't your fault. I promise. You didn't do anything wrong. I broke the rules and got too close. This is all my fault. Don't blame yourself."
I sniffled a little, my eyes filling with water. "Where're you gonna go?" My voice sounded small and vulnerable even to my ears, so I knew Michael would catch it.
He hugged me tighter. "I don't know. I'll be around." He sighed softly. "Don't ever change, Crystal. Don't play their game; do it your way."
I nodded slowly. "Who's taking your place?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. But he probably won't be like me."
I scoffed at the stupidity of that statement. "No one's like you."
Back in the real world…I stepped inside the Blacks' house and was surprised when no one asked me where I'd been. Though four pairs of eyes turned to me. Billy, Jacob, Embry, and Quil's eyes, to be exact.
"What?" I asked self-consciously. "What's wrong?"
"What happened to you?" Jacob asked, standing up from his place on the couch, coming forward.
"What?"
"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" Quil asked, sounding amused yet concerned.
"No…" I said hesitantly. "Why?"
"You should," he said.
I looked down at myself and couldn't see anything wrong…except for maybe the black marks from standing too close to the burning vampire. Crap.
"Oh, um…there was a fire and I was standing too close."
"A fire?" Jacob seemed upset. "Are you okay?"
"Uh-huh. My-my back hurts, but I'm okay."
"But you didn't get burned?" Billy asked.
"No." I shook my head. "I'll be fine in a few days." I went past Jacob and the TV and - surprise, surprise - they were watching sports. "I'm gonna take a shower. See ya in a bit."
I went in my room to get some clothes and found Jacob's jacket - the jean one I always wore - on my bed. I hadn't put it there, so Jacob must have. I smiled at the gesture. The jacket was mine now, I assumed. That was so…Jacob. He knew I liked it, so he'd given it to me…just like that.
I got some fresh clothes and went to the bathroom, turning on the water. I made it as hot as it would go. I was hoping the heat would make my back stop hurting.
The shower didn't help at all. The only thing it did was make me tired. I put my shirt over my head slowly and winced. Since it hurt so much to move, I decided to check my back in the mirror. And wow, it looked horrible. It was already black and blue. It looked like I'd been hit repeatedly over and over with a rock.
Since the first time I'd been bitten, I hadn't been hurt to the point where I'd felt it. Oh, but I was feeling it now. I'd been careless today. I shouldn't have just barged in like that. I wouldn't have been thrown across the room if I'd been more careful.
I walked stiffly back to the living room and saw that Quil and Embry had already left. I was kinda thankful for that since I was in my pajamas.
"Hey, thanks for the jacket," I said, placing myself beside Jacob. It just felt natural to be there. I leaned instinctively toward his warmth.
"No problem. I saw you liked it, now it's yours. I don't use it anymore."
"So, you said there was a fire?" Billy said. "In Port Angeles?"
"Yeah. One of the warehouses."
"What were you doing near the warehouses?" Jacob asked, almost alarmed. "That's not really a safe place to be."
"Yeah, I know. But I wasn't alone. An…old friend lives in Port Angeles. He was with me. I was completely safe." My back decided to ache more at the lie, and I groaned. "Ow."
Jacob's brow quirked up. "What?"
"My back. It hurts to move." There went the whole plan to keep them in the dark about my pain.
"What happened?"
"The fire…there was an explosion and I was thrown back. Must've landed wrong. I'm just sore."
"Hm. Thought you said you were completely safe," Billy remarked. Darn the observant man.
"With Michael. I'm safe with Michael. He can't control fire, however." I looked at Jacob. "Don't think I'm weird for asking, but can I use you as a heating pad."
Jacob grinned. "A heating pad? I don't think I've been used as a heating pad before, but sure."
I turned my back to him and slowly pressed against his side and the warmth of his skin seeped through my shirt instantly and I let out a little sigh of relief when my ache when down to a more bearable level.
The next day Jacob got a call from Sam and he had to leave immediately and I got bored really fast, so I went outside.
Today the sun was actually shining; it looked unusual here. Beautiful but unusual. The sun glistened off the wet ground, making things look shinier than I was used to.
I was outside on the porch, reading a book. It would've been cold today if the weather bothered me, but it didn't. I was in the middle of my book when I heard a rustle in the woods, only the wind wasn't blowing, so I looked up…and saw absolutely nothing.
Just as I began to look away, though, I saw a red-brown blur along the edge of the wood line. A normal human wouldn't have seen it since it moved so fast. Now I was caught between staying right where I was seated and going to see what exactly I'd seen. Though I thought I knew.
My wolf. The blur had been the same color as my canine friend. I decided I wanted to see if it had been my wolf making those rustling sounds. I was sort of nervous, though, because what if the russet blur wasn't my wolf? My hands shook. I wasn't really fond of my forest unless Jacob was with me. I rolled my eyes at my wimpiness and stood up. I could kill vampires…the woods shouldn't be a problem.
When I reached the edge of the trees, I looked back at the house. I'd already decided to go on, but the nice, safe house was beckoning me back.
"Stop being a coward," I told myself, stepping into the forest. I ignored the prickle of fear I felt and kept going.
There was another noise, a sort of muffled thump. It sounded like something had hit the forest floor. It was like thudding footfalls. Something massive was moving fast. I let out a breath and my fingers tightened into fists. I was deep in the woods now, and the sun wasn't really making it through the thickness of the trees. It didn't matter, I could see just as well in the dark as I could in the light.
I realized I was shaking from fear. Why had I let myself come out here? I'd known the woods freaked me out when I was alone so I should've stayed on the porch. I told myself to turn around; I tried to turn around. But I couldn't. I was pretty much frozen in place. I was really freaked out. For the first time since I'd gotten here…I was scared. I was having a feeling that something bad was about to happen. I could feel danger coming at me in waves. Every instinct was telling me to get the hell out of there, so I actually tried to listen to myself.
I took the first step back in the direction I'd come from, and after that my body decided to move of its own accord. It was reacting to the danger I felt, I guessed. I picked up the pace, beginning to jog. I was hoping I wouldn't trip - because, yes, I did on occasion lose my balance. As the sounds grew closer I began to run. I heard footfalls like someone was chasing and gaining on me.
I didn't look back; I couldn't. I didn't think I wanted to know what was behind me. And it was behind me. So I willed myself to go faster. I could only run at half the speed of a full-blooded vampire, but the trees whipped past my face and they were just a green blur.
The reason I was running was because I wasn't at my best. I was in no condition to fight.
Something grabbed me around the waist, yanking me off my feet and throwing me to the ground. The back of my head hit something and I groaned, my hands going to my head automatically. I wasn't bleeding, although it felt like I should've been. Grunting, I looked up, staring into the face of whatever had knocked me down. I knew right away that it was a vampire. The pale skin and red eyes gave it away.
I knew I needed to struggle, needed to get away. But knowing that and trying to do that were two very different things. It was like my brain knew I needed to do these things, but my body wasn't listening.
The vampire leaned over me and grinned threateningly. I balled my fist and tried punching it, but the vampire caught my wrist with its hand. Pain shot up my arm and down my fingers as the vampire squeezed hard.
I screamed as loud as I could, hoping someone would hear me. Then I realized I didn't want anyone to hear me. If someone else showed up, they'd get hurt too.
The fist that wasn't busy keeping my wrist still, slammed into the side of my face. It would've torn a normal person's head off, but it only made me see stars for a second.
A big blur swept past me and then the vampire was tackled to the ground, away from me. I moved as fast as my aching body would allow and sat up. I heard a metallic tearing sound and a growl, and I looked toward the noise. I knew the metallic thing was the vampire being killed - or torn apart, anyway. The russet wolf - my wolf - from before was here tearing the vampire apart. It was frightening to watch, but morbidly fascinating, too. I was glad this thing was being ripped to pieces. It had tried to kill me.
Another blur flew past me - a black blur -and it forced a gasp from my lungs. It was another wolf. The arrival of this wolf made my wolf stop tearing the vampire apart. The black wolf took over. The black wolf was about the size of the reddish brown one, maybe a little bigger.
My wolf came to me and leaned down to nuzzle his head against my cheek - the one that had been struck - whimpering softly. It seemed like he was asking if I was okay.
"I'm good," I whispered, noting that the wolf's mouth was bigger than my head. "I mean, I don't feel good, but I'm okay."
I stood up, stumbling on the way, grabbing onto my wolf to keep from falling back down. My head was spinning. What I felt beneath my hands wasn't fur, though. It was a material of some sort. Shorts? Jean shorts? It was connected to his leg with a leather band.
Why would a wolf have shorts tied to its leg?
Then everything clicked into place. I knew this wolf. He was Jacob in wolf form. Jacob was a…werewolf? Or a shapeshifter?
All the legends my mom had told me, all the legends I should've remembered popped into my head. The cold ones and the wolf-people. They'd been nagging me since I'd seen the wolf the first time.
I knew it was Jacob. I knew it. The wolf hadn't shown up until I'd come here, and the wolf's fur reminded me so much of Jacob's skin. The wolf was warm like Jacob, too. But the thing that made me realize it most was the way the wolf was looking at me with the same tender concern as Jacob always did. No one else looked at me like that.
I gasped softly. "Jacob? Are you Jacob?"
The wolf - Jacob - looked away guiltily. I reached up, running my hand along the fur on his chest, and he looked at me again.
"Take me home?"
He leaned down on his front legs and I got on his back. Then we were speeding through the woods. He could go even faster than what I'd been doing earlier. And it didn't scare me like it probably should have, but I knew Jacob wouldn't let anything happen to me.
When we reached the edge of the woods where I could see the house again, Jacob slowed to a stop and lowered himself so I could hop off. I held onto his fur, though, hoping to keep him in place.
"Jacob? Can you…change back? Now?" Could he do it whenever he wanted?
The leg with his shorts tied on it shook lightly and I got it. He was naked.
"Right." I blushed. "I'll go wait on the porch."
A few minutes later, Jacob came out of the woods and walked cautiously towards me. Maybe he was thinking I was scared of him now. Which…not even.
I stood up, meeting him halfway. "Do, uh, you wanna go first?"
Jacob seemed…self-conscious, which was a look I never wanted to see on his face again.
"How'd you know it was me?" he asked.
"Lots of reasons," I said. "Mostly your eyes, though. Wolf-you looks at me the same way human-you is looking at me right now."
Jacob smiled softly, briefly. "So…are you scared of me now that you know I can do that?"
"No," I said firmly, reaching up to grab his arm. "That's…just no. You just saved my neck, quite literally. I couldn't be scared of you if I tried."
That seemed to appease him and the uncertainty fell from his face. It was nice.
"So, how were you able to move so fast?" he asked curiously.
"Um, well…"
Jacob focused on my face, bringing his hand up to my cheek, rubbing over it gently with his fingers, amazed yet looking slightly angry.
"What?" I asked, stopping myself from leaning into his touch.
"Are you okay?"
Oh, right. The vampire had hit me.
"I'm okay. I'll probably have a bruise, but…I'm okay." I drew his hand away with my own and squeezed gently. "I'm okay, thanks to you."
I could've sworn I saw him blush and I smiled gently at him.
"Have you always been able to do that?" I asked as we began walking back to the porch. "Change, I mean?"
"No, um…it started about a year ago…around the time of the growth spurt."
"Oh. Wow."
"Yeah."
"Um…you can change whenever you want, I take it?"
"Yeah. Sometimes even when I don't want to. It's tied to my emotions. When I get angry it's easy to phase without meaning to."
"When you shake, is that what that is?"
"Uh-huh."
"Oh. And the other wolf? Who was that?"
"Sam. All the guys you've met - the one's who were at Sam's that day…they're wolves. And Leah. There's ten of us altogether."
I let out a quick laugh, letting that shock just slide off my back. "Okay. And you guys what? Hunt vampires?"
"Pretty much." Jacob laughed bitterly; it didn't sound right coming from his mouth. "Ironically enough, they're the reason I am what I am."
"What?"
"Well, if vampires didn't exist, the wolf-gene never would've taken affect."
"Oh. Sorry," I said.
"Not your fault," he said. "So you're okay with this?"
I could tell he was worried.
"Yes," I answered. "Absolutely yes to that question. As I said before…you're not trying to kill me, so…"
He was relieved. I saw the tension fade as I reassured him I was fine with everything. Then I got back to my near death experience.
"Was the vampire here just for me, or…?"
"I think so. There's vampire stink all over the woods near this house." At least he was honest and wasn't sugar coating things.
"Yeah, okay, and…are there more? Do you know?"
"Not that we can tell. Not on the reservation, anyway. There have been attacks nearby, though."
I nodded. "Port Angeles, I know."
"You know about that?" Jacob asked, surprised.
I nodded again. "I've been keeping track ever since the news that day, the one about the guy getting his throat ripped out and I just knew it was a vampire that had done it. A lot of people have gone missing, but only two have died that I know of. One girl and that old man from the news."
"Girl?"
"Um…yeah, but the vampire that did that is gone."
"Gone?" Jacob glanced away fro me for a second like he was thinking of something. "The fire yesterday…was that from…?"
"I kill vampires too," I said softly.
"How? I mean…aren't you human?"
I laughed a little. "Mostly human. Well, all human with…vampire enhancements."
Jacob tensed. "How? I mean, you don't smell like a vampire. Usually, anyway."
"Uh…well…" I huffed out a laugh. "I'm sorta like a vampire slayer."
"A…what, you mean like the show?"
"Yeah. Almost exactly like it. There are other girls…potentials…but I'm the only one at full power. As long as I'm alive…no other girl can be chosen."
"And you kill vampires."
"Uh-huh." I looked over at him. He was shirtless, as usual. "So…I don't even know what to ask."
Jacob shrugged. "I'll explain everything if you let me ask you questions first."
"Yeah, okay."
"Okay?" Jacob made it clear I didn't have to answer anything I didn't want to. "Oh, and, uh, anything you don't want anyone else to know, you should tell me because when we're in wolf form we can hear each others thoughts."
"Oh. Wow." That was kind of intrusive.
"They don't know anything you've told me so far. I've made it a point to not think about anything personal you've said while I've been a wolf." He grinned. "I've been singing every song I can think of to keep people out of my head."
"Thank you," I said sincerely. I suddenly realized our hands were still joined, but I didn't let go. "So…shoot."
"Okay…so, I'm assuming the vampire I scared off the other day was Michael, right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"You said something about a drinking problem…then I saw you hanging with a vampire. I…put two and two together."
"Oh. Okay. Michael was the first…person…I was close to after my parents…uh, died." I hated talking about it, but now that we were being honest with each other, I figured I might as well come completely clean, right? "Jacob, there's something you should know. About me."
He could tell from my tone that it was something bad. "O…kay."
"I…watched my parents die. A vampire killed them and made me watch. A-after he was done, he came after me." A low rumble erupted from Jacob's chest and I smiled. "Did you just growl?" I teased.
"Yeah. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," I said easily. "Um…anyway, the vampire bit me. I, um…am…I can't be changed that way. Venom won't change me. I felt the venom spread, but…I didn't die. Or become undead, which is good because I don't want to be a vampire."
"Well, you're safe here. I won't let anything happen to you if I can help it."
"I believe you."
I did believe him because Jacob didn't say things he didn't mean very often.
Okay, so, as usual, let me know what you think. What you like, what you don't like...all that stuff. Thanks. :)