Chapter 4: The Whole Shebang
JACOB BLACK
I stumbled sleepily down the stairs. I wasn't ready to wake up, but when the object of one's imprinting tells you to wake up and come downstairs, you wake up and come downstairs. You know what I mean? Well, no, you don't. You're not an imprinted wolf. I assume. If you are, let me know, 'cause I don't know who the hell you are.
In the dining room, the Cullens were waiting for me. "What have you been doing?" Bella demanded. "We've been waiting for you."
I glared. "I've been sleeping," I said. "Unlike some undead monsters I could mention, I don't stay up all night every night playing pin the tail on the donkey. What's going on?"
Alice and Edward stood up and I groaned. If this was orchestrated by these two, it wasn't exactly an invitation to Chuck E. Cheese's.
"The Volturi are coming for us," Edward said. "This time, they're really coming for us."
Everyone gasped.
"Someone filmed Susan fighting Hollywood," Alice said. "Jasper is on the tape. They're coming down to exterminate us before anyone figures out what's on the tape."
"Oh, no," Rosalie said. "What will this do to the play?"
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, the big concern is the play, Rose," I said. "We're all in the play, bimbo."
"Yes, but none quite so much as me," Rosalie countered.
"Yeah, mostly you," I retorted. "That's why the play is called Romeo and His Mom."
"Jake, Rose, stop it," Carlisle said. "Alice, any more details?"
"Same as last time," Alice said. "They're coming. The whole guard, wives and all. They're taking a month to prepare. They want to teach their entire coven to fight hand-to-hand, at least until they take out Bella. They won't listen to witnesses. They're not going to hesitate for even a second. They're going to wipe us out."
"Well," Carlisle said calmly. "We need to put some friends together. The law is not on our side this time. The extended family, possibly a few of Jasper's nomadic friends."
"Don't forget our new friends," I put in. "The flock and the monsters."
"Not the flock," Nessie said hastily. "They're too delicate. They can't fight vampires. And we're not going for witnesses this time. We need an army."
Everyone looked at her. That truth had not yet sunken in for the rest of us.
"Son of a bitch," I muttered.
"Well, that's it then," Carlisle said grimly. "We need to put together everyone we know.
