Chapter Four
Following the Scent
THE PHONE RANG seven times before anyone answered.
"Hello?" cam Jake's voice through the speaker. He sounded groggy and dense with sleep. I knew I was going to wake him up by calling this early, but I wasn't sorry. This had to be done.
"Jake, I need a favor." Normally, a natural response to someone who calls at 8 a.m. and wakes you up to ask for a favor isn't positive, but he had a soft spot for me. I'd be lying if I said I didn't take advantage of it from time to time.
"What do you need?" he asked almost instantly. There was almost excitement in his voice.
"I've sort of been grounded," I told him, but continued before he had a chance to ask. "Because of Alice's vision, they don't want me to leave the house."
"Well that's good. I don't want you to get hurt, either." Suddenly he sounded like my parents and the conversation took a turn for the worst. I'd have to turn it around to get this favor.
"It was Rose's idea. She doesn't want me to leave her sight," I added quickly. Jake's tone changed immediately as I heard him say something about my aunt under his breath.
"All I want to do is go out to Port Angeles and prove this weird theory wrong. We'll just sniff out the place, if a vampire was there, his scent should still be there."
"I don't know, Nessie…" he said warily.
"It's broad daylight. If a vampire was there, he can't come out. It'll be fine; I just need you there with me. If I'm safe with anyone right now, it's you," I persuaded. There was a heavy sigh on the other end.
"I've been cooped up here all day. Please?" I begged, going as far as to add the puppy-dog face. I knew he'd hear it in my voice.
"Fine, fine," he sighed reluctantly. "Is Edward there?"
"No, he went out to hunt. That's why I called, you need to hurry." He knew as well as I did that if my dad was there, he'd know Jake's thoughts instantly and it'll all be over.
"'Kay, I'm on my way."
I persuaded Aunt Alice and Rose—my designated babysitters—that Jake was just taking me to La Push to spend time with him and Seth. My caretakers were naturally wary, but when Jake told them that he'd protect me, Alice and Rose seemed to take that without question. I didn't press it; anything that would get me out was good enough.
We took the motorcycle, but mostly just for speed. Jake wove in and out of traffic like an expert and got us there in half the time. I had half-hoped it would have taken us longer. Port Angeles was sunny and busy as always, even at that hour. We parked in the middle of downtown and immediately jumped off. Being back in a city was a little exhilarating. We decided to scale the city in a pattern, starting from the south and working our way upwind. The plan was well thought-out, and it was a shame it never got put to use.
I stopped dead in my tracks so abruptly that anyone behind would have toppled over me. Fortunately Jake was paying enough attention to stop just inches behind me. We both turned to stone, going as far as holding our breath to keep from stirring the air. The scent was unmistakable and so potent that it nearly bit my nose. Only my eyes moved, darting around rapidly to find the source of the smell.
Crowds of people shuffled past us, busy going about their day and completely oblivious. If the scent wasn't so strong, I would have lost it in the midst of all the people around us. I didn't have to think twice about it, I knew exactly what it was. The scent wasn't someone I'd met before, but it was definitely growing stronger. It was far too strong to be leftover from a previous visit.
"Jake?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Yeah, I know." His voice was stern and low, almost a growl. I could feel him lean forward and tense into a ready position. His left hand wove subtly around my waist, taking a protective hold. The warmth from his palm battled the chill that ran down my spine.
"What's the bloodsucker doing out here in the middle of day?" Jake hissed through his teeth. Any vampire would be absolutely glowing at this time of day and yet we still couldn't find him. It was making me horribly uneasy. We stood there in the middle of the sidewalk for another moment, forcing the waves of people to move around us. They clattered around with loud footsteps and obnoxious cell phone conversations. Even if it were possible to hear the vampire, the sound would have been drowned out. There was nothing but the scent to clue us in on this vampire's existence.
"We need to get out of here now," Jake said, his voice even lower than before. "Damn it, this was a horrible idea."
"All these people could be in danger," I told him, the panic evident in my voice. Jake's grip grew tighter around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
"You understand just as well as I do that our lives are at risk," he said harshly. "Now let's go." This time he was much more assertive and literally forced me in his direction, pulling me back the way we came. I vigorously yanked myself from his grasp and immediately stepped back.
"Listen to me!" I hissed back at him. We were starting to attract a crowd and a few people stopped to watch the scene unfold. I dropped my voice to a decimal I knew only he could hear. "Alice said so herself; the presence was 'new'. New like newborn. It could kill everyone here without thinking about it. We have to stop it." Jake's face fell sullen and his eyes were so cold they nearly looked black. His jaw tightened and his shoulders were tense. I'd seen Jake like this once before, but never directed at me. A wave of emotion hit me and I shuddered to realize it was pure fear.
"Then get out of here and I'll fight it off," he said through clenched teeth. I held my position and returned his cold gaze. By now I could feel at least a dozen eyes on us. They had almost created a ring around us, watching carefully. There were whispers of a fight. Half of the crowd worried that my life was in danger if we broke into a fight. The other half worried the same about Jake.
"You can't take it alone. You've never dealt with a newborn before."
"And you have?" he scoffed.
"I'm not leaving." I said each word slowly and with a strong emphasis. Everything from my rigid stance to my harsh tone said that I wasn't leaving without fight. It was at that instant that his face softened.
"I can't…" he whispered to me. "I can't lose you. Get out of here before you get hurt." I could feel myself go soft after those words. When it came to putting my desire to keep Jake safe against his desiring the same for me, I couldn't decide to keep fighting or give in. No matter who won, we both did. I sighed, letting my guard down as I surrendered.
"Jake, I—"
Something with the force of a freight train rammed into my side and launched me into the street. The action was so fast that even I couldn't understand what happened as I skidded along the pavement. I was sliding so furiously that the ground nearly burned holes into my jeans. I could hear cars swerve around me and horns echo past my ears but I was still in too much shock from the impact to react. We must have been near a street light because I eventually slammed into a stopped car, denting the driver's door. Somewhere over the chaos in the street I could hear Jake's voice yell after me, but the words turned to screams.
Blinking my eyes open, I tried to refocus my vision. My head was throbbing, letting me relive the pain of the impact with every pulse. I groaned audibly, but it sounded more like a dry scream. I was starting to recover from the whiplash and regained feeling from my neck down which resulted in another loud moan. The fuzzy shapes before me congealed into a real image and I could make out a dark silhouette in front of me. My thoughts immediately flooded to Jake but as the edges defined themselves, I realized it was someone else.
Crimson eyes stared sharply into mine like fire and complimented the sparkling white fangs just a few inches below. He was pale like snow except for the black rings that hung under his eyes. The messy, thick locks of black hair that hung over his brow only made his skin whiter and the rings darker. He glowed like a giant shimmering light, pulling every eye around to us. The man was crouched, hovering over my mangled mess of a body.
In an immediate, knee-jerk response, I picked up my fist and threw it at him blindly. Like was I nothing more than a child, he caught my wrist and crushed it under his fingers. A scream welled up in my throat but I swallowed it down. Before I could even think of it, he grabbed my other hand with the same inhuman strength and pressed both arms to the car behind me. His iron fingers dug into the car's exterior, creating a solid cage for my hands.
With every ounce of strength I had, I pushed against him. It was the force that I held secretly locked away; a power I kept in reserves. With a grunt of a battle cry, I threw everything I had at him to propel the creature away.
He didn't even notice. Instead, the vampire grinned and licked his lips.
"You," he spoke with a raspy, gravelly voice "smell delicious." Without hesitating, he leaned over the last few inches and pressed his icy lips to my neck. A rain of shudders danced down my back. I should have been used to the cold touch, but his seemed frigid enough to freeze me solid. My extraordinarily fast heartbeat grew faster and echoed in my own ears. It was the last beckoning he needed.
The fangs felt like razors that shot into my neck. The sound from the piercing of my stone skin sounded almost like a deafening snap. The scream that had been welling up in my throat burst out and I didn't try to stop it. Slowly, I could feel the reverse of blood flow as he drew it out of me. The instant the taste reached his lips, his speed picked up drastically. I screamed again.
My vision blurred and my head spun in response. After merely a couple seconds, a sleepy trance took me. Even as half a vampire, rapid blood lost still lead to death. My body fell limp. I could count down the loss of feeling—first my arms, then my legs and then my entire body. My vision was slowly eaten by darkness as I fell out of consciousness. All I could feel was the sting in my neck.
It all happened so fast. I was losing my life in a matter of seconds.
Something that resembled a growling howl flashed past me, taking the oppressive force with it. The razors were yanked from my neck and if I had the ability, I would have winced from the pain. With nothing holding me up, I collapsed back onto the pavement. I couldn't understand what was happening around me. Everything was a faded blur. I focused all that was left of my energy on breathing. All I wanted to do was breathe, but I hardly could.
From someplace nearby, a loud thud echoed, followed by growls and hisses. I tried to expand my energy to breathing and hearing. There was shuffling and more threatening growls. Jake I thought over and over again. He's out there I had to stop a second to think about breathing. He needs me.
Louder than anything before, a "crack" shot through the air. I knew the devastating sound. There was no mistaking the sound of broken bone, and not vampire bone.
Like a mother with a child in danger, I surge of power rushed through me. I flexed the muscles I couldn't feel, using every bit of that newfound power. The horrible sound repeated in my feeble head, constantly motivating me. It didn't matter what I did or how I did it. It didn't matter how much pain it put me through. I had to get to Jake.
A similar sound shot through the air again, only slightly different. It was immediately followed by an ear-piercing howl.
I don't know what happened and I have no way of explaining it. Through some miracle, I found the strength to stand and run. I could see Jake ahead of me, lying motionlessly on the ground. The vampire was crouched over him, hovering like a vulture. Blood dripped from his mouth but he gave a disgusted face. I could feel my insides ignite with furor. Something came over me, replacing all my senses and thoughts with a mad frenzy of emotions all centered on the one who hurt Jake. I threw myself at him with every bit of power left in me. The newborn skidded against the tar under my weight, tearing his shirt up along the way. I forcibly dug his head into the action and refused to let up. At that moment, there was nothing I wanted more than to cause this thing pain.
When we finally dragged to a stop, I immediately pressed my fangs to his neck and tore the skin. My body desperately longed for blood to follow the action and in my state, it was nearly unbearable. Instead, I pierced holes into the cement skin over and over, biting and ripping all I could. I was horrified with my own actions but there was no rational thought to stop myself. Some unknown force took control and I willingly gave it over.
The newborn finally threw me off, shoving me into a nearby street light. I could feel the cold metal bend behind me. While I listened to him stand and shake himself off, I sat perfectly still and regained what strength I had left. Slowly, he stepped closer. The second he was in range I leapt to my feet and threw my fist into the man's jaw. Bones cracked, but it didn't stop me. When he feebly reached out to return the hit, I grabbed the newborn by his arm and pelted him back into the ground.
"Get out of here," I hissed, using what really were the last ounces of energy. He didn't respond and instead just glared up at me. This time I broke the other half of his jaw with the top of my foot. "Now." I could feel the words leak past my lips, but they didn't feel like my own. My voice was low and threatening, making sounds I didn't know I was capable of. The newborn stood and challenged me with his eyes once more as he contemplated fighting me again. I hissed in response. Reluctantly, he turned on his heel and left, dashing into the streets and vanishing.
Instantly my attention was back on Jake. In a heartbeat, I was kneeling at his side. Everyone else was backed away, ironically afraid of the wolf more than they were of the newborn vampire. I looked Jake over, filling in all the gaps of the fight that I had missed myself. His shoulder and his collar bone looked broken, with bones sticking out in awkward places. More prominent than that was the wound on his neck. I could see two holes through the fur and I didn't have to think twice about what it was. Fear rushed over me like a wave. Venom was poisonous to Jake and death was certain. I immediately listened for a heartbeat. There was nothing. In disbelieve I pressed my head to his chest, closed my eyes and listened once more. I nearly died from relief when I heard the soft, fading pound of his heart.
I had to get the venom out of him. There had to be something, anything to keep that heart beating. I placed my mouth to wound and tried to draw out the infected blood. The venom taste was thick and vile but I kept going. A part of me was disgusted that I had to do this but another part of me longed for it. I'd never been so thirsty in my life and, at this point, anything would have been enough. After what felt like an eternity, I could taste the purity of his blood. Even with the venom gone, his heart was still struggling. He was dying.
"Jake," I whispered to him. Tears flooded from my eyes. "Jake, talk to me, please. Say something." He was still perfectly motionless, taking breaths so small that there was almost no movement. I strung my fingers through his fur as though I could willingly bring him back to life. I had to get him to Carlisle. If anyone could save him, it was my grandfather. It wasn't until then that I paid attention to the watchful crowd around us.
A mass of wide eyes stared at me, gaping. I self-consciously wiped the blood from my mouth. At that instant I could hear the sounds of sirens approaching. From what I could tell, it sounded like two ambulances and at least three police cars. From the other direction of the road, there were more tires burning rubber against the pavement. I looked up to see large vans with satellites nailed to the top and gaudy, advertising letters on the side. The idea of a news crew made my heart skip a beat.
I dragged myself up and attempted to stand. The motion made my head wobble, but not nearly as bad as before. As awful as it was, I was barely surviving off of Jake's blood. With one great heave, I lifted the wolf off the ground. His weight was crushing and I nearly had to hold him above my head to keep from dragging him. My knees threatened to buckle and my arms shook from the tension. It was hard to find the energy to stand, let alone carry a massive animal. When I made to leave, people parted instantly to give me room. I think they were secretly afraid of making me angry. Without looking back, I ran. Each step was a struggle but I kept running, darting through streets to make it impossible for anyone to follow.
I didn't stop until I reached the national park near the city. When I felt we were far enough in to keep from being seen, I collapsed to the ground. Jake was still motionless and silent with nothing more than a faint heart beat.
"Jake," I gasped out to him. He still didn't reply. I felt like I was on the brink of passing out. I pushed my limits further than I ever thought possible and I was paying for it. I curled up next to him on the ground, longing for the warmth he used to have. I feebly pulled out my phone and sent eleven words. "About ten miles south of Port Angeles, Olympic Park. Help." The phone snapped shut and I leaned into Jake. I placed my hand to the side of his face, my fingers tangled in his fur. Hold on, Jake. Please. Don't leave me. I love you.
My consciousness was fading and I could feel myself drifting. Tears were still streaming from my eyes against my will. I lost the effort to try and hold them back. My eyelids turned to lead and I slowly fell asleep with my hand pressed to Jake's cheek. I lost control of my thoughts but I could only pray he was alive enough to hear them.