Though...yes, the chapters are getting longer! It's the way my stories work. ;) And wow! I'm flattered by how much feedback this has picked up! Thank you all for the encouraging words. I'm so glad everyone is enjoying it still. This is a prewarning, though- my stories are never very short. There is a chance this might hit ten chapters or more before I start pondering how to bring it to a close. )
Chapter 3: Judgment
"We should go. Like, now!"
"Aww," Wesley protested, then followed me quickly back to the truck. "Go on, ruin all the fun."
"What?!" I glared at him, in the cab and slamming the door shut.
He shut his own door and grinned. "I didn't mean to scare your friend."
"Sure you didn't." I tore my glare away and started driving again, not really intent on going anywhere specific...just away.
"Really, I didn't." His voice actually sounded truthful this time.
I glanced over again and he was looking out the window with a soft expression. I was starting to get the feeling that there was something more to this than met the eye. Every few months it seemed like something new was being thrown my direction. First, I had classes with vampires. Attractive ones, at that. Second, my best friend was a werewolf. If I ever wrote an autobiography maybe I would name it that- "My Best Friend Is A Werewolf." Thirdly, I was planning on marrying one of those vampires. Fourthly...is that even a word? Fourthly, now I was driving someone around who was vampire and werewolf both. How did I manage to get myself involved with these things?
This time couldn't get too horrible though, right? Not with both Alice and Edward out there, close by. If anything happened they would be with me in an instant. At least, I hoped. Still, a direct approach could be best right now.
"Wesley?"
"Hmm?"
"Why did you really come here?"
"I told you, family reasons." He turned to me, his voice calm and almost soothing.
"Well, yes. But what was the reason for that. I mean, I know--" I stopped myself, thinking about the Vultori and how they had felt about me knowing about vampires.
"Know what?"
Did it matter anymore? They had come to a decision. I was allowed to continue like this as long as Edward or someone fulfilled their part of the deal- to change me.
"I know what you are." My voice cracked a bit.
His grinned appeared, a little contorted. "Not surprising."
"Really?" I looked at him, amazed. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, look at you boyfriend. I knew you'd catch on, if you already knew about him, that is."
I suppose that made sense. A few things didn't, though.
"I know that part of you, at least. There's something else, isn't there?"
"Your powers of observation serve you well."
"Will you tell me how that is?"
He was silent for a time, then closed his eyes and whispered, "No."
There was nothing more I could do. I was simply happy he hadn't torn me to pieces for being right. There were so many things I wanted to know the answers to. How was it possible for him to sit here like this and not be so tempted like the others could be? Did the sun have the same effect on him that it did with other vampires? Could he shift form like Jacob and the rest of the pack? Maybe if I kept this friendship up I could find all of this out.
I had no idea what the Cullen's would think of this. Wesley didn't come off as a threat to me or anyone else. Though, I hadn't seen him hungry yet. Perhaps we would see in a couple weeks, if hunger had the same effect on him, of course.
"Bella, look out!"
My brakes squealed along the road, the truck sliding to a stop as the smell of burning rubber invaded my nose.
Wondering what could be the cause of Wesley's warning, I stared out through the windshield that was no dotted with a few lone rain droplets that had so kindly held off for the first part of the day. Standing there in our path was Sam, Jacob standing right beside him. They were hardly inches from the front of my truck.
"What are you doing?!" I opened the door and climbed out. "I almost hit you two!"
"It wouldn't have hurt us," Sam assured, sternly.
"It might have hurt my truck," I mumbled.
"Or you," came Edwards voice as he almost immediately appeared at my side. "That seatbelt is in your truck for a reason."
"Edward..."
"Enough," Sam growled. "It isn't you that we want to see, Bella. Um, no offense."
I felt a tinge of amusement at the added defense that was said in a nicer tone.
"It's him." Jacob pointed up into my truck where Wesley was sitting, still, an elbow the dashboard with his chin resting on it.
Wesley raised his brows, then sat up, getting out of the truck.
Sam walked over, less than two feet away from him, observing. "Who are you and where are you from?"
"Wesley Prachett. Houston, Texas."
A nod and Sam gave him another once over, obviously a bit baffled as well.
"What business do you have here?"
A corner of Wesley's mouth quirked to a smile.
"Nothin' you need be too worried about. I don't plan on causin' trouble in your...territory."
I heard Jacob growl. His body was shaking, but he was restraining himself well.
"Your very presence," Sam said quietly, strongly, "is a trouble for us."
"Why is that?" The new vampire just looked amused and I could see it beginning to irritate Sam.
"What are you?"
"A Prachett."
I thought I heard Edward give a quiet snerk and looked at him. His head was turned away and I was willing to bet he was hiding his amusement.
"We're not here to play games." One of Sam's brows twitched with agitation.
"That's good, 'cause you'd probably lose."
Silence billowed around us, for half a moment, before Sam's face started to get red. He was not pleased in the slightest by that response.
"Are you getting coy with me, newcomer?"
"Nope, simply stating the facts. I ain't got no reason to fight with you."
Sam opened his mouth to speak, but then everyone froze before turning and looking behind where our road block had been previously standing. I sighed in relief as I saw Alice, Carlisle and Emmett walking toward the group. Alice must have alerted the Cullen's of the confrontation.
"If I may," Carlisle began, approaching us.
"You may not!" Sam growled. "Your kind are not welcomed here."
"Actually," Carlisle continued with that kind smile. "We are not near your lands. That totem is the line in which we agreed to not cross to keep the peace. We are well within our grounds."
"What do you want, then?" Jacob stepped up beside Sam, twitching and obviously uncomfortable to be surrounded by this many vampires.
"I came to introduce myself to this new person." He smiled at Wesley, who smiled back, a bit relieved. "And to explain to him what our treaty is in these parts. I'm quite sure he would not wish to violate it and cause even more uncomfort between all of us."
"No, sir," Wesley confirmed.
"So, if you don't mind, I would like to break up this unnecessary little gathering and escort him back to my home to give details."
"Fine," muttered Sam. "Under one condition."
I groaned, a bit louder than I wanted to, causing Jacob to glance over, then quickly look away again. Those 'one conditions' were the things I'd learned to fear.
"And what is that?"
"You tell him what he needs to know from your side...and then we get to talk with him."
Carlisle's smile faltered a bit. "You think this is needed?"
"Yes," Sam assured, his voice calming. "I can sense his bloodlines. In...all fairness, if he must hold your end of the treaty...then he must hold ours as well."
"What, Sam?!" Jacob put a hand on the older male's shoulder, but it was brushed off. He quickly hushed again.
Carlisle's smile was back.
"Very well. Let us go, then, so as to not put this poor boy on the spot anymore."
Wesley nodded, silently, then made his way over to Carlisle. Far too quickly, they were all gone, Carlisle, Alice, Emmett, Wesley, even Jacob and Sam. As many times as I had seen their fascinating arrivals and departures, they still left me standing there in amazement each time. Or was it envy?
Edward and I stood there, not sure what to say.
Finally, I broke the silence. "I guess I should be heading home. It's close to dark."
Edward nodded and reached a hand up, brushing the back of his fingers along my cheek.
"Good idea. You go on. I want to be there for this meeting."
"Should I expect you tonight?"
"You should, assuming all goes smoothly." He gave me a reassuring smile and lifted my hand to his lips, kissing the back of it.
The drive back home was short, but lonely. I'd had company for the first half of it, then an almost overwhelming amount of very unexpected company, and then there was no one, nothing but the roar of my trucks engine to keep me company.
"Bells, is that you?"
"Yes." Who else would it be?
I shut the door behind me, hearing the sound of a game, probably basketball, from the living room television. I was hoping to be able to sneak past with out being questioned, able to hole myself up in my bedroom to wait for Edward. Luck was seldom on my side...and now was no different. As soon as I went to put my foot on the first stair, I heard Charlie getting up.
"Did your friend like his tour?"
"Yes."
He came around the corner, nodding in satisfaction. "Good to hear. Where all did you go?"
Defeated, I headed into the kitchen to get a drink, giving Charlie a detailed description of all the places I showed Wesley, of course leaving out our company. I put extra attention into the little snippets, such as the reactions I was given with each place I explained. I hoped by doing this Charlie wouldn't feel obligated to dig deeper.
"Good, good," he said through a smile. Somewhere in the back of my mind I had a feeling that the look of approval was coming from his hopes that I would start to admire Wesley and step away from Edward.
No such luck.
"Yeah, it was a lot of fun, actually, but I'm pretty tired and I have some homework to do before bed."
He took my hint and mumbled something too quiet for me to hear, but he wore a grin on his face, then headed back in to watch the rest of his game, I guessed.
My escape method wasn't entirely phony. I did have some homework that needed done before tomorrow. When I finally made it into my room I was both relieved and disappointed to see that Edward wasn't there. I hadn't thought their meeting would be nearly over just yet, but there was still that glimmer of hope. Even still, it was for the best. I had a bad habit of neglecting schoolwork when Edward was here. He would always lecture me about it the next day in class when I handed assignments in that were incomplete, but it was something neither of us ever thought about when we were together.
Though I had personal space and quiet tonight, I still did the work only half as good as I know I could have. I couldn't help it, my mind was wondering to places much rather than the realm of mathematics.
"Jacob," my lips said in complete silence. I hadn't seen Jacob in quiet a while. He was taller and more toned than I ever remembered. Did being a werewolf have that effect on him? That had to be the case, unless he had some hidden weightlifting gym in a mystery shed behind the house or garage.
I almost laughed at the secret gym thought, but it quickly reminded me of our own secrets when we had hidden those bikes from everyone. My humor turned to nostalgic sadness. So much for math. I shut the book, papers still in between it's pages, and laid down on the bed to stare at my ceiling.
I'd grown both numb and over-sensitive, at the same time, to the past experience of losing Jacob. It had all happened so quickly that sometimes I had to convince myself I hadn't imagined it. One day he was there...and so was I, sitting in the unfinished Rabbit and talking about cars and other things, or holding hands while running through the rain...laughing. He had helped me begin to heal. That was when I thought I was never going to laugh again. Then, in a near instant, he was gone from me to a different world, one he'd tried to keep me away from. Yet, even when I forced myself into it's bordering boundaries, it still was not the same. Jacob was not the same.
"Jacob will never be the same again," I murmured, aloud. My eyes had started to well a bit and I didn't notice until I shut them, feeling the warm trail run down my cheek, only to soak into my hair, then the pillow.
And now this whole incident...this Wesley. What was going to happen because of this? Would the pack and the Cullen's form another treaty with different measures? Would there be fighting? Would there be peace? They were all talking about it right now and it drove me insane not to be able to know immediately what was happening. I hated to be stuck in the middle like this, torn between so many people I loved and cared for.
I curled up in a fetal position on my side, hugging my pillow against my chest. I learned that if I cleared my mind as much as possible and just stared straight ahead...that the walls would not change color, no matter how intent you looked at them...or how long.
"This is ridiculous!" I sat up and chucked my pillow across the room, impatient and frustrated.
"Ack!"
I jumped so much I nearly fell off the bed. Edward was suddenly there, holding the pillow in front of him where he'd caught it just before it made contact with his face.
"Edward!" I leapt up and hurriedly walked over to him.
"Shhh." He glanced at my bedroom door, wary that my voice had possibly been heard by Charlie, then seemed calm again.
"What happened? What did they say? Did all of you talk? Are things going to be alright? What's going to happen to Wesl--"
"Bella, Bella, calm down for half a second. If you give me half a second to actually speak..."
"Sorry." I blushed a bright crimson.
Edward watched me until he was content with how much I calmed, then nodded once and sat down on the edge of my bed. "We did talk, of course. Carlisle explained the rules of hunting on our territory, where our grounds were, exactly, and the details of the treaty."
"What--"
He lifted a hand and I hushed my new flow of questions.
"It took a bit of persuasion, but Wesley has agreed to try our method of living while he's here. IF he finds he cannot, then he swore not to hunt anywhere near Forks."
"Where is he now?" I asked my question, hesitantly, relieved when I wasn't silenced.
"This was all at our home. Carlisle and Sam have escorted him to LaPush so they can speak with the other half of this agreement."
"The pack?"
He nodded.
I blinked as a small confusion passed my mind.
"Carlisle went too? I thought vampires weren't allowed in LaPush."
"Generally we aren't supposed to be. But this is an unusual circumstance and it is only Carlisle."
I did my best to chase away the tremor or worry I felt at the thought of Carlisle being surrounded alone by an entire pack.
"So...now what?"
"We wait."
"For?"
"Carlisle promised he would come by and inform me."
"But..." My eyes widened. "Charlie. What will I tell him? How would I explain him being here?"
The crooked grin finally resurfaced and Edward gave a quiet chuckle. "Why would you have to explain? I've never seen you run downstairs at my arrival each night and try to explain to Charlie why I showed up."
"He's going to...?" I looked at my window, bewildered. It was one thing to see Edward climb through that window, knowing he was anxious for my company, just as I was for his, but it would be another to watch the poised and well-manner Dr. Cullen sneak into my room.
Edward looked amused. "Are you going to blush?"
"Now that you said that, probably," I hissed. Of course, my cheek started to feel warm.
Two hours ticked by, Edward and myself now curled up in one another's arms on my bed. I only knew it had been close to two hours because my room grew dark with the incoming twilight, both of us too comfortable to get up and turn on a light, neither of even seeing the need to do so.
I was in the process of whispering 'I love you's in Edward's ear, when the soft and almost inaudible sound of someone clearing their throat came from behind my. I froze in place and Edward smirked.
"Carlisle."
"Edward, Bella." His voice was calm.
Edward was already sitting up while I clumsily propped myself on my elbow, anxious to hear what had been the verdict.
"A decision has been made," Carlisle began as he gracefully sat down in the rocking chair in the corner of my room. I held my breath, waiting. "But first I should explain the situation. Both parties are now in a position we have never been in or ever thought we would see."
"You can say that again..."
Carlisle shot a look at Edward, but kept on. "Wesley as born into the life of a werewolf, just as the others here. It seems he had great-grandparents from this general area, which was the reasoning of his family's return."
"He was born a werewolf? Just a werewolf?" My mind boggled a bit.
"Correct, Bella. However, his mother, Marianne, had quite the secret affair with a vampire." He paused a moment, scanning our faces for some unknown reason. "She ended up with child, but not his, for obvious reasons."
"Obvious reasons?"
Carlisle nodded.
"Vampires cannot reproduce. Whatever state you are in upon changing is how you will be. We don't have the genetics to create children. Marianne had found another lover, became pregnant, then turned from him back to her affair. She bore the child in hopes that her and her love could raise him like their own. Wesley grew to the age of eighteen, then his 'foster father' grew possessive. In a near rogue-like madness he bit Wesley, intent on killing him."
"Why?!" I gasped.
"Because he was not a child of his own. He was an old vampire, Bella. It could be that his age and centuries upon centuries of knowledge were piling on him, creating the madness."
Edward raised a brow, frowning.
"But, he did not die?"
"No." Carlisle's shook his head, sitting back. "Marianne heard her son's cries and ran to his aid. She possessed just enough strength to shove him off of Wesley. But her lover turned on her, raising a hand to strike. It was because of this sight that Wesley experienced his first change. His anger was too much to contain."
I felt Edward wince beside me. Neither of us asked what happened to the father. I had a feeling neither of us wanted to know, either. I remembered Alice expressing the dangers of a 'young' werewolf.
"No one is sure whether the double helix in him is created from the first shift he made then and there in combination with the venom seeping in his bloodstream or if it was simply the result that would have come about in the first place. None of that matters, however. He is here, regardless, and obviously seeking open arms to turn to."
"What did the others decide?" Edward's tone was curious, almost emotional. I wondered if he was feeling the same sympathy for Wesley that I was feeling right now.
"Sam was understanding about the matter, after he calmed. Wesley will not be taken into the pack until the elders speak with his mother. Even then, he must abide by the rules of the treaty, save the guidelines or territory. He is free to go where he chooses, but he must respect all other decisions we have made over the years."
Relief waved through me and I exhaled, my muscle untensing just that little bit that told me how worried I had been before this.
"Thank you, Carlisle."
"Edward, there is no need to thank me." The doctor stood and gave us one of those warm smiles, then nodded. "I've informed you. Now I should return to tell the others."
Before I could say goodbye, he was gone.