Hey guys! Sorry for the late update! I was hoping to get this out for you guys a couple days ago, but my Mac crashed again, ugh. So I ended up just buying a new one to get me by since college started back up, and had to redo this whole chapter over. So as thanks for patiently waiting my lovelies, the end of the chapter is gift! Hope you guys like it! Thank you all who reviewed! Your feedback is what keeps me going. :)
*thank you Child of Moon and Dreams for catching that one misspelling. :)
"Usually the most unexpected things happen at the worst
times, but I daresay, those are usually the best things to happen in life."
- Unknown
It was nearing the end of September and the air was starting to become a little colder. Though it wouldn't have mattered to the Embry thanks to the ability of his body acting like a portable heater. Not only that, but the days were slowly starting to grow shorter, and night was becoming longer; meaning more time for the dead to play. Things may have been quiet lately, but as they saying goes, it's always quiet before the storm.
"You're so depressing sometimes." Seth whined quietly, his words forming in Embry's mind. Embry straightened up from his post, an apology already given out.
"Lighten up sometime dude, you can be way to serious. It's way too early for this." Coryn, one of the newer and younger pack members added.
"It's one a.m."
"Exactly! It's too early man. I should be either be passed out or playing Call of Duty."
"Here, here!"
"Sorry, next time I'll just repeat the history of La Push like you do whenever you try to cover up when you think of how 'hot' Leah is and memories of you staring at her ass."Embry shot at Coryn teasingly. He let out a wolfish laugh at the protests coming from Coryn and Seth.
"It was one time!"
"Ugh gross! Dude, my sister?! What's wrong with you?!"
The wind brushed over Embry's fur and he got up on all four paws stretching. He turned his nose up into the air for any suspicious smells. He only caught the faded scent of the smaller pixie like Cullen and her mate. Time had passed enough for him since he last saw them feeding to do another run around the outskirts of Forks and the Cullen's residence.
"Seth, Coryn, you guys take the east and west side. I'll cover the north side."He ordered, hearing their agreements a moment later.
With a burst of energy, he took off loving the way the wind pushed against his face and the sound of his paws hitting the earth. There was something relaxing about running in his wolf form. It felt freeing.
He ran through the forest going past the outskirts of Forks and closer to the Cullen home. With a small gust of wind, he could catch the scents of the vampire family mingling with Jake's. He rushed past their home, going another ten miles. He stopped, panting for breath, and turned back to patrol from the north east.
"This is Ranger One, over. Everything looks clear, over."
"This is Archer, over. Not in the danger zone yet, over."
If there had been a moment where he could roll his eyes out of his eye sockets, it would be this exact moment.
"Commander, what's your status report; over." He could hear the seriousness in Coryn's voice over Seth's laughter in his head.
"Everything looks good."
"Didn't catch that, over. Commander what is your status report; over."Seth added on, making Embry picture how he was going to hit the two idiots when he sees them.
"This is Commander," Embry growled out knowing if he didn't cave in the two would keep it up until he did, "everything is cl-"
He stopped abruptly, the stench of fresh blood and smoke immediately hit his nostrils. He took in a deeper whiff and mixed in with the blood was a rotting sweet smell. Bloodsucker. Just as abrupt he stopped, he took off in a sprint. He followed the scent until he came up on a clearing that had obviously been used as a campsite.
"I think I'm going to throw up guys!"Coryn cried out seeing the scene from Embry's eyes.
The campsite was in shambles and scattered all over the clearing. Smoke rose in the air from the fire pit. Blood coated the ground, the broken tent, trees, everything. It was like something from a B-rated gore movie.
"Signal the pack."Embry barked out, cautiously walking closer to the scene. He could smell the bloodsucker everywhere and the poor unfortunate campers, he just couldn't see them. Distantly he could hear both Coryn's and Seth's howl.
He walked over the broken tent that was smeared with blood. He furrowed his brows seeing that it was covering something. Cautiously he nudged the sheet back with his nose and barked out in surprise immediately backing up. More voices filled his head suddenly, causing a quick spell of dizziness.
"Oh my god!"
"Holy shit!"
"What fuck Embry?!"
"Where the hell are you?!"
"Jake what's going on!?"
"Emmett and Edward are heading your way. Embry be alert."
The human head stared up at him, or it seemed like it. It was kind of hard to tell since its fucking eye sockets weregone.What the hell happened here?
Snap.
Embry turned around immediately a loud growl rumbling from his chest as he stared down at the bloodsucker staring at him. The vamp was tall, with pale tan skin and messy brown hair. Vibrant red eyes gleamed pierced through the night shining with amusement and awe. His body and clothes were bloodstained, fresh blood dripping from his chin. In his hand was the bottom torso of what might of have been another camper.
"So it is true." The monster said excitedly staring at Embry with a sickening fascination. "I'd love to dissect you."
Without missing a beat and a ferocious snarl, Embry took a running leap at the damn disgusting night walker. The man laughed loudly dodging, and Embry attacked again. But it was like a dance, for every attack Embry took the vampire dodged not even trying to attack. Instead he was staring at Embry's every movement in his body, as if studying him. Embry growled at him getting a little frustrated at the bloodsucker for evading and not even trying to attack. There was no opening for him to get a good bite.
"Embry we are coming!"
There was collective group of howls piercing through the night causing the bloodsucker to look away from Embry and towards the sound with a look of astounded wonder. Embry took this chance to lunge and managed to get a large chunk of his leg, making him grunt with pain.
"Another time then mongrel." He hissed, backhanding Embry on the side of his head to get him to let go. This however, only made Embry bite harder to get a better grip. Just as he was going to tear the bloodsucker's leg off, the vampire slammed his leg and Embry into a nearby tree with every ounce of his strength. Embry could feel the tree begin to crack and break against him, and he let out a cry of pain effectively letting the vampire go. Taking the chance, he took off and with a loud growl Embry took after him a second later, his anger powering him into the chase.
"He's heading towards the highway!" He yelled in his mind, pushing himself to go faster despite the pain in his ribs. Judging from the pain vibrating from each breath and step, Embry figured at least one or two ribs were broken. It wouldn't stop him. There was no way he could let that damn monster get away, especially after what he did to those poor campers.
"Embry, watch out!"
"Get out of the way!"
He was so focused on getting the damned thing that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. It wasn't until the cries of his brothers that he became aware. By then though, it was too late. He could hear the screeching of tires, the bright headlights flooding his vision, and then the impact of his body against metal and glass. His body tumbled over the car and landed with a hard impact against the asphalt, the force causing him to roll a couple of times. Distantly he could hear the tires still squealing and the metal crash against something else.
"Seth get Carlisle now!"
"Dude say something!"
"Em!"
Embry struggled to open his eyes, succeeding on the last attempt only to have blurry vision. The smell of burnt rubber, blood and death assaulted his nose. In his mind, he could hear the collective relief from his pack members at his consciousness. He narrowed his eyes seeing a blurred figure rush past him. It was the fucking bloodsucker. However, he wasn't interested in Embry. Instead he seemed more occupied with whoever was in the car that rammed into the tree not too far away from where his body stopped.
"G-Guys." Embry hissed out watching as he ripped open the car door to get to whoever was in the driver's side.
"Calvary is here!"
"Coryn wait!"
Black spots danced around his vision as he saw a small black and white wolf jump from the trees and at the vampire. He forced his body to get up a little despite the sharp aching pain his body expelled in protest. He had to make sure that the kid would be okay.
There was a loud yelp as the vampire threw Coryn across the road and into a tree effectively knocking out the younger wolf. The leech turned back to the car, but before he could make any advancement a huge figure tackled him to the ground.
A stronger sickeningly sweet smell filled Embry's nose and there was a sudden pressure against his ribs. Embry snarled and turned his head to snap at whoever was touch.
"It's me." Edward stated and Embry stopped growling. "Carlisle is on his way."
There was a loud clash of bodies hitting each other and multiple sets of growls as the pack finally made it. Edward's head snapped up to stare at the vampire that managed to throw Emmett off him in their direction. It was staring at him and Embry in a curious way and looking back at the wrecked vehicle with an unreadable expression.
"Curious." He cocked his head looking back to stare at the two vampires siding with the wolves, a small smirk formed on his face the moment the pack moved out of the forest. "Until another time then."
The bloodsucker sprinted off and everyone immediately took off after him, the exception being Edward, Emmett, and Jake. A moment later Carlisle appeared, immediately checking on the two victims in the car. They were alive and would live, though with some painful injuries. He took out his cell to call Charlie Swan and call it in.
"Quickly, before the ambulance comes." Carlisle stated prompting Emmett to grab Embry who cried out in protest and turned to Jacob. Edward lifted Coryn up. "It'd be faster for us to do this at our home."
With a nod, the three vampires took off leaving Jake to follow after them.
"Seth, fall back I need you to go in detail on what happened, meet me at the Cullens."
"Roger."
Jake stopped just outside the Cullen home, a pile of clothes waiting for him at the base of a tree. He shifted back into his human form and quickly changed. He hurried into the house to check on his best friend.
Renesmee immediately stood up from her mother's side to greet him, and his heart warmed at the sight of his imprint. Her golden-brown curls bounced with her every movement as she joined his side. Her small hand took his larger one and Jake sent her a strained smile, thankful for her gesture of comfort.
There was a howl of pain, ripping Jake out from his small moment of peace and immediately he rushed towards the cause of it. Jasper appeared in front of him and with a shake of his head, "It's better if you stay out here."
"He's my brother." He growled out, about to push the blonde bloodsucker out of his way. Before he could, suddenly he felt at ease and his worry and anger slowly edging away. Before he could say anything else, Seth ran in a look of worry on his face.
"Is he going to be okay?"
"Carlisle is tending to him now. The younger boy seems to be fine." Esme came in a small smile on her face. Seth's body relaxed visibly, the worry on his face disappearing. It was just for a moment because there was another howl of pain that echoed throughout the Cullen home.
Jake's hand tightened against Reneesme's though the girl showed no discomfort.
"What the hell happened out there?" Rosalie asked a frown etched on her face as she walked down the stairs with Alice trailing after.
"That's something I'd like to know. Seth," Everyone turned to the younger wolf who happened to be stuffing his face with a plate of chocolate muffins. He swallowed taking in everyone's judging stare save for Alice and Renesmee who were hiding their laughs behind their hands and Esme.
"What? I'm a nervous eater." He cried out in defense after he swallowed his mouthful of food. Jake sighed and hoped for a patience he never truly had.
"Seth, what exactly happened?"
The usually happy go lucky teen turned serious, his face paling slightly.
"You've should've seen it Jake. There was blood everywhere! Em h-he smelt the vampire and went to check it out…but he was too late. It was complete chaos – oh my god the campers Jake! He ripped them apart, and there was this head without a body! That's not the worst part, the guy was missing his eyeballs – his freaking eyeballs! What kind of twisted shit is that?"
"What the hell are we dealing with?" Everyone looked at each other, all their faces showing a troubled expression.
The moment Embry regained consciousness, he felt like shit. He felt like he just got hit by a truck – which you know was pretty much what had happened. His head throbbed painfully as his eyes adjusted to the lighting in the room.
"You're awake!" Someone cried out happily in his head causing him to whine at the sharp pain the voice gave him. Why the hell was someone in his head? Wait, where is he? Why is he still in his wolf form?
A second later everything that had transpired came back at the same time making his headache hurt even more.
"Glad to know you're okay." Jared stated over the happy chatter going on through the pack link. "Some crazy shit went down while you were recovering."
"Yeah, the pack is merged again like last time!"
"Wonderful." Embry thought sarcastically, the throbbing in his head becoming more painful with every thought that was going through his mind.
"Good to see you're doing well." Carlisle walked into the room with Edward by his side. Embry looked at him, his pack mates going silent to hear what the vampire doctor would say. "You've been in and out for the past couple days and you've recovered quite nicely considering the damage you had taken from the vampire and the run in with the car."
"They're doing okay by the way, as is the younger wolf." Edward added when he read the thought of how the victims in the car were doing when it passed through Embry's mind. Embry's shoulders sagged in relief knowing that it was his fault they got into a terrible accident.
Jake walked into the room a duffel bag hanging off his shoulders, looking like the weight was lifted off his shoulders the moment he saw his friend was awake and doing a lot better. He sighed heavily, running his fingers through his hair. It's been a stressful couple of days. The damn bloodsucker keeps coming back, but manages to get away every fricking time.
"I recommend he wait a day or two before shifting back into a wolf. His bones may have healed back nicely, but just as a precaution."
"Let's discuss this outside to give Embry some privacy to change." Edward suggested. Carlisle nodded walking out of the room, Edward not far behind him. Jake dropped the duffel bag in front of Embry.
"I covered with your mom Em, but we have a lot to discuss once you shift back."
Embry gave a small nod of agreement waiting for his friend to leave the room to shift back into his natural form. His body and bones ached at the shift, his head thankfully quiet from all the voices that were in his head moments ago. With a low groan, he attempted to quickly put on his clothes, his body protesting the whole time. His body was just so sore.
Throwing the empty duffle bag over his shoulder, Embry walked out of the room and followed the sounds of voices into the living room crowded by the whole Cullen family and Jake. Jake stood up from the couch giving Carlisle a word of thanks, Embry voicing his own gratitude afterwards. The two wolves said their goodbyes to the Cullens, Renesmee swearing to Bella that she'd stay with Emily and co. the whole time while she was in the Rez.
"What happened?" Embry asked the moment they stepped out of the home and into the back of Jake's Volkswagen. He could see the shared glances between Renesmee and Jake as they settled in the front from the mirror. Jake turned on the car and reversed out. He waited till he was a bit of a ways form the Cullen home, to finally tell Embry the situation.
"That bloodsucker you chased, he keeps coming back, and he keeps getting away. It's like when we had to deal with Victoria, but it's worse. While Victoria made a newborn army, this fucker leaves bodies every where - or what's left of them anyways."
Embry's mind flashed back to the human head without his eyes and the torso the bloodsucker was holding when he saw him. A cold chill ran down his spine.
"There's something here that he keeps coming back for, we have some theories but we can't be too sure."
"What are they?" Their eyes connected through the rear-view mirror for a split second making Embry even wonder if he truly wanted to know.
"When you first ran into him, the bloodsucker said he would love to dissect you. There's a very high probability that could be why he keeps coming back. We had to double the patrols, but everyone must have someone with them. We can't take the chance of him getting one of us alone, especially the younger pack members."
Other than the radio, the car was filled with a tense silence for a few minutes. Embry took in the information, anger beginning to fill him. How dare that bloodsucker try to attack one of their own and dissect them? That's only one theory, what could be the rest?
"How far did he get?"
"At first he was just trying to get into forks, but since last night he managed to get near the treaty line. He isn't like Victoria who had enhanced self-preservation. There's something different about him. Something dangerous."
"What are the other theories?"
"He might have once been a part of the Volturi. Carlisle remembers there had a been a time when he had heard rumors of a vampire that had been casted out from the Volturi because of his desire to experiment."
Embry rolled his head back to lean against the seat and closed his eyes feeling another headache form. He was usually laid back and let everything go with the flow, but this is exactly why he had been serious the other night. He knew it would only be time before another enemy came before them. It was a nice break while it lasted.
"There's also another thing you should know Embry." Jake paused and wondered how he should word what he was going to say next. "The people that ran you over," Embry winced, "it was Jen and Nina."
Thankfully Jake had pulled into his home the moment he told Embry. The air in the car seemed to drop a couple of degrees.
"Wait, what?"
"They're okay! They were coming back from Seattle is what Brady said. He's the one who realized it was them when we circled back and he recognized it as his step-mom's car. They were released from the hospital late yesterday."
"Why do I feel like I'm not going to like what you're going to say what's next?"
All three of them got out of the car and Embry took in a deep breath, feeling like he could finally breathe better now that he was away from the Cullen home. Nothing against them, but the smell could sometimes be too much to handle. Sometimes he wondered how exactly it was that Jake and Seth managed to stand it for long periods of time.
"The vampire might be after Nina or Jen. Edward believes one of them might be a siren and that's why he keeps coming back."
Embry looked at Jake sharply not believing what he just said. There was a reason why he pushed the former away! To keep her away from this! She shouldn't be involved in something that was their burden to hold. She was the only one out of all them who would be able to actually have a normal life. He did everything he could to ensure that; even though it meant hurting her to the point where they – mostly her – avoided the other at all costs.
"Siren?"
"It's a term penned for when a vampire comes across a human whose blood smells so delicious and attractive they can't help but be drawn to that person. Like a siren's voice lured sailors to their deaths, the blood of the human lures the vampire to them. It turns out two ways, they either turn them into a vampire and become mates like how my parents did, or the vampire kills the human." Renesmee supplied softly watching multiple expressions flit across his face.
Jake pushed her behind him once his friend began to shake, and went to grab his shoulders.
"Calm down Em. It's only a possibility."
"It makes sense. You should've seen the look on his face when he went to car and the way he ripped the car door off. He looked like a desperate man who had been starved for days only to have a buffet placed in front him! That would be why it was only until last night that he attempted to get into La Push because they had been at the Forks Hospital."
"Embry," Jake used his Alpha voice, making his friend straighten up immediately. It was the only thing he could do to make sure Embry didn't shift right there and then. "We know that, we took precautions. Both of them will always have someone looking after them on the off chance that is why the leech keeps coming back."
"Jake, this is exactly why we did what we did to make sure she wouldn't be a part of this."
"I know Em, I know. And we will make sure that it stays like that for them both."
A couple days had passed since Embry's accident. He was finally able to shift back into his wolf form the day after he had come back home with a warning from Carlisle to take it a bit easy. Because of this he spent the last two nights taking a shift guarding that Salamander home. He wished he could be out there to catch the damn leech that kept testing them, but Jake nor Sam wanted him to just yet. He was starting to get anxious.
At least tonight it was a change of pace, he thought with a small yawn as he laid on the side of the Redtree house near Nina's bedroom window. He could hear a dog barking inside and Nina discussing something that accelerated her heart rate.
"Man, I wish I could be guarding Nina instead of my sister." Brady whined quietly in his head. Seth made an agreement wanting a chance to take a break from patrol.
"I think anyone would want that. Your sister and brother are way to creepy and weird." Collin added on, a memory of the twins managing to sneak up and scare both Brady and Collin invaded the pack member's minds. Which it was an impressive feat on how they did so considering the two teens were supernatural beings.
"Anyways, did you guys see the game Sunday night? Maaaan, that was a good game."
"Yesss! Did you see th-"
Embry blocked out the mindless chatter in his head, watching how the light in the kitchen went on and Nina briefly appeared through the kitchen window. He watched as she rummaged through the fridge for a moment. He squinted trying to get a good look at her face. It was like she was making a face, but he couldn't tell. She disappeared and the kitchen went dark. Music soon drifted out from her room.
Embry stood up and paced around the house feeling restless. He hated guarding someone. It was just so boring! Patrol could be too, but at least he got to get a good run out of it and be able to move around some.
By the time he got back to where he originally was, he heard the front door open then close and the dog inside whine. Cautiously he moved to get a good clear look of what was going on and saw Nina fully dressed for running. She stretched for a moment or two before taking off in a jog which then turned into a full out run.
Embry ran after her, making sure to stay as close as possible without being seen. He frowned wondering why the hell was she running so late especially since she had gotten out of the hospital after the wreck just a couple days ago.
The smell of saltwater hit his nose, but he brushed it off as the ocean since they were getting closer to First Beach. However, that changed the moment he heard a muffled sob.
I-Is she crying?
He kept up with her, hearing a couple more muffled sobs mixed with heavy breathing. He wasn't surprised to hear her heavy breathing considering she lived about a mile or two from First Beach. But for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why she was crying, especially since she was running. They ran for a little bit longer until she reached First Beach.
He stayed in the tree line and watched as she slowed to a stop and took a couple steps towards the water before bending over. He listened as she tried catch her breath from the running and crying. She sat down, her head tucked into her knees and the sobs weren't so muffled anymore.
"Dude, stop watching and do something!" Seth chastised angrily. If he had been the one watching Nina, he'd already been by her side comforting her.
"W-What do I do? I'm a fucking wolf." Embry snapped back, anxiously pacing back and forth listening to her cries. He had no idea on how to handle this situation. He'd take a leech over this any day!
"I don't know man, maybe shift back and go up to her to see what's wrong." Brady added sarcastically. He didn't like knowing his step twins only friend was crying, especially when she was always nice to him and would usually get the twins off his back.
"What about the leech?" Embry whined, not liking the feeling of not knowing what to do. He heard her breath catch for a moment and he stopped pacing until he heard her sob again.
"We'll signal you. Dude, just go do something! Even though you guys avoid each other, you used to be best friends. She's my friend, so just check on her Em!" Seth pleaded and that was all it took for Embry to shift back into his human form and quickly put on the shorts he had tied around his leg.
Quickly he jogged over to her, going over what he could say to her to give any sign of comfort. Ugh, she had to pick tonight (the one night where it was his shift to watch her!) to have a mental break down. Girls and their damn emotions.
"Hey, you okay?" He could feel the heat rise his neck at how stupid he sounded. Of course she wasn't okay! She was in the middle of the beach crying at one in the morning for goodness sake!
"Go away!" Was her muffled reply. Embry sighed knowing if he did just that he'd feel guilty and Seth and Brady would jump over him the minute he shifted back.
"Yeah, well I can't do that. It's late and you're crying."
"Leave me alone."
Embry sighed and sat a few feet to her left, the moonlight letting him see her clearer. An awkward silence drifted between them as he thought of something else to say. How long had it been since the two of them were this close without them actually being in a class setting? Better yet, even having a conversation. Sure, this encounter couldn't really be considered a conversation, but it was the first time, in a long time, where they said more than one or two sentences to each other.
"You..uh..you want to talk about it?" He winced and berated himself mentally. He heard her suck in a breath and could smell her sad scent mix with annoyance.
"I said, leave me alone!" She snapped bringing her head to look up at Embry, her hazel eyes clashing against his dark brown. His breath caught in his chest as he stared at her, his mind completely going blank and it felt like the world stopped spinning.
Tears were streaming down her face, snot running from her nose and down close to her lips. Her eyes were beginning to swell up and were red from the crying. Her messy brown hair stuck to her sweaty face and neck.
At that exact moment, only one word crossed through Embry's mind; beautiful.
"Excuse me?"
Oh shit, did he say that aloud?
Well guys, I hoped like it! Leave a review or pm a message on what you guys thought about this chapter or the story as whole! I struggled with knowing if I should go in this direction or not, but as I kept writing, and rewriting, these characters and my own led me to this. Trust me, there were so many alternate endings to how the imprint occurred, but it never felt right haha. Thank you for reading and until next time!
