Chapter 6

Supper was entertaining, to say the least. Jake was more at ease than he had been since the night in the forest, even with Shane sitting at the same table. An extreme irritation with the boy settled deeply in his bones, but he was able to mask it with a cheery good will—if Nessie was going to chose him, and he couldn't live without Nessie, then he had better get comfortable with having the boy around. The entertainment came from watching the vampires put on smiling faces and choke down the food. Emmett and Edward's smiles turned sour fairly quickly as they tried to shovel disgusting substance into their mouths as fast as they could, Carlisle and Esme seemed to be enjoying their meal in tiny bites, and Rosalie didn't even try. Her nose was upturned, her arms crossed, she would not be eating the disgusting human food. At least she could get away with it. She was so skinny she practically looked like she had an eating disorder anyway. Jake gladly took her plate off her hands and then took two more helpings before noticing that Shane was staring at him so he decided to stop. Shane was staring at him, not at the five vampires who looked sick at the sight of their dinners, but Jake who was apparently eating too much.

"Well, I'd better get going," Shane mumbled when it was apparent no one was going to make conversation. No one stopped him, and Nessie walked him out.

It wasn't long before he was being towed back by Nessie though. No one in the dining room had moved, someone was in trouble and everyone was waiting to chew her out.

"Shane's car won't start," she sighed.

None of the vampires moved, though at least two of them could have helped easily; they also happened to be the two moodiest. Jake sighed and stood up, "Does it make a sound when you turn the key?"

"No, not even a click," Shane answered.

"That's probably not good. I'll take a look at it."

Nessie grabbed Jake's arm as he tried to get through them to the door. The image he showed her was a question mark. He smiled at her, the best goofy, Jacoby smile he could muster and carried on.

"Hold on, Renesme," Edward commanded his daughter back when she tried to follow. "You have homework to do, let the boys go talk cars."

Jake was thankful that he wouldn't have Nessie outside with him; it would have been too distracting. He was also glad that he didn't have to pitch in on the scolding they were going to give her, it felt like it should be a family thing.

Shane's car was a rusted, blue Impala that looked like it had been badly abused, either by Shane or its previous owner. Just to be sure, Jake tried the key again. Shane was right, not a sound. He lifted the lid to get a look at its inner workings, but from a first glance he couldn't tell what was wrong.

"Time to get my hands dirty," he mumbled, feeling his way through the car. The sun had gone down and he was working purely from the lights coming from the house. After a while he gave up.

"There's nothing I can do until tomorrow. Judging by what I can tell in this light, I'll probably need to go into town and buy parts for it."

"How much is that going to cost?" Shane asked, with a new girlfriend, his funds were getting thin.

Jake didn't hear him though. The purr of a very familiar car was making its way up the long drive.

"How much?" Shane repeated, but Jake was watching the driveway.

The Ferrari pulled to the side of the driveway, seeing the dead car that blocked her path, and Bella walked out. Jake's muscles tensed, the last time he had seen Bella she was about to rip a kid's throat out. Bella's muscles were stiff as well as she watched Jake carefully. Her eyes were dark.

"Bells," Jake greeted with a slight nod, never taking his eyes off her.

"Jake. Who's your friend?"

He growled quietly at the term, "Ness's new boyfriend."

Her cautious eyes snapped open in surprise and stared past him to the house, undoubtedly looking right where Nessie was behind the walls. "Boyfriend? When did that happen?"

"Just met him today. Everyone's inside, I'm just trying to fix his car."

Bella nodded, understanding that she was to go inside and away from the human. Jake stayed between her and the boy as she walked by. Carefully, she touched his arm. He flinched away from the ice cold touch.

"Sorry Jake," she mumbled, too low for Shane to hear, and then entered the house.

"Was that Ness's sister? She told me she was visiting relatives."

"Yeah." For some reason having Bella back home just made Jake feel worse.

"So, how much is this hunk of scrap metal going to cost me?"

"I won't know 'till I get a better look, but I'll have Ness pass the message along when I find out. I'll drive you home in my car."

As Jake was trying to pull his keys out of the pocket of his too small jeans, a howl pierced the air. Seth.

Shane shivered, "Creepy."

"On second thought, why don't you just use my car until I can fix yours?" He yanked the keys for his Nissan GTR out of his pocket and shoved them into Shane's hands. The car had been a Christmas gift from Bella, Edward, and Renesme. Ness had picked the color, blue. Jake's skin was already tingling, wanting to shift to greet his pack member. "It's in the garage. I have to go now, don't chip the paint!"

Jake was off, running towards the trees where Seth was hiding. He was miles away, making sure to keep of the vampires' land until he was invited. It was Jake's land too, everyone had agreed to that, but Seth still wouldn't step foot into the hunting grounds without someone greeting him. Accidents can happen when a hunting vampire and a werewolf crossed paths.

Jake knew he couldn't afford to wreck another set of clothes until he had the chance to go shopping, but he couldn't get out of the stupidly tight pair that he wore now.

"Seth!" he yelled as loudly as he could, not caring if Shane heard him. Then he let out the loudest howl his human lungs could allow. Seth answered back, another human yip and a yowl piercing the eerie silence of the night.

"Seth!" Jake laughed, tackling his pack brother in an enormous hug. Seth was two inches taller than Jake now, but he still hadn't acquired his bulk. Thankfully he had pulled on a pair of jeans before Jake had gotten there, they came up to midway between his knees and the ground, but at least it took away the awkwardness of nudity.

"Gerroff me Jake," Seth laughed back.

"Or you'll do what?" he asked, pulling Seth into a headlock.

"C'mon," Seth flailed uselessly trying to shake Jake, "you want to hear the news or not?"

"All right, all right, I'm game. What's going on?"

"Well, for one, Leah told me to deliver this." Seth pulled an envelope from the pocket of his jeans. Jake opened it immediately, with a quizzical look to Seth. It was a wedding invitation. Leah stared back at him, happier than Jake had ever seen, next to her fiancé, David. David was a good guy, a really good guy it turned out after numerous background checks and questions bordering on interrogations from Jake and Seth. Leah hadn't imprinted, but David as good had. He was perfect for her, he even put up with her picking fights. The invitation was indented on the front, Jake turned it over. On the back were two words, handwritten. Jake imagined the smile on her face as Leah wrote them. I'm out!

"The original three are down to two," Jake muttered despite himself, he was going to miss having his second around. Leah and Seth had followed him from the beginning and, no matter her excuses, Jake knew she was loyal to him. "What do you say, Seth, are you up to being third in command?"

"Oh geez, I thought you'd never ask. That doesn't mean that I have to live with Embry, right? His place smells funny."

Jake rolled his eyes, "C'mon you; Esme cooked extras."

"Before we eat, as your new number three, we need to talk shop."

"Oh? What's up? You aren't getting a raise."

"It's nothing like that. On the way over here I caught the scent of a large coven, at least twenty vamps. It was hard to tell, they sometimes pick up new ones, other times some of them leave, but the number stays between fifteen and thirty."

"Could you tell where they were headed?"

"It wasn't that hard, they left a trail of bodies. They're camped fifty miles north of here."

"Camped?"

"Yeah, no movement. I didn't get too close though."

"Probably best." Jake thought about this for a few minutes. At least twenty vamps, human blood-thirsty from the sounds of it, three werewolves, eight vampires who tried not to get involved in fights—especially someone else's, and one half-vamp that no one would let near a battle. That meant at least two vamps to watch Ness, and then no one else would want to go. Worst case scenario, Jake, Seth, and Embry left to fight two dozen vamps – he doubted Quil would be able to pull himself away from Clair, she was in her whiny pre-teen stage. It would have been do-able if they hadn't let themselves fall out of shape, and if they were completely reckless and stupid. Jake, who may have once considered the odds in his favor, had the lives of his brothers to think about, "We're going to need back up."

Seth nodded; he had come to the same conclusion.

"Let's go tell the leaches we've got company."

The vampires took it fairly well, there was a bit of an uproar when Edward and Bella started packing their bags, but that calmed down eventually.

"We just moved," Rosalie complained, "I'm not leaving. Especially not over something that won't ever reach us."

"Alice?" Carlisle asked calmly.

"Not a thing, my guess is that Jake's going to call in the cavalry." The tiny vampire rubbed her temples on the verge of a massive headache and glared at Jake and Seth.

Jake shrugged, "That's the plan. You won't be inconvenienced in the slightest, and the boys will be happy. It's kind of their job after all."

"I don't like calling in favors to them," Jasper pointed out gravely. Owing the species that wanted to destroy you didn't usually turn out well.

"It won't be a favor, this is what they do."

"They protect their own people, not other vampires."

"Well, we wouldn't spin it that way. Trust me, the packs grown so large they've started branching out. Remember when we crossed Jared's path last year? He was on his way to Quebec to hunt vampires."

"I still don't like it."

"I think it's a good idea," Carlisle put in, ending the conversation. "You can never have too many allies."

Jake smiled, "Great! I'll start trying to get in touch with Sam, but it could take a while. In the mean time I'll get Embry over here."

"Great, another dog," Rose groaned, making Jake smile wider—anything to annoy Rosalie.

"Don't worry, soon there'll be some more to drown out his scent."

Carlisle cleared his throat, "Rosalie has a point, Jacob. We do need to keep up appearances. Having that many people suddenly appear at our house is sure to raise suspicion; especially with Renesme's friend coming around. Perhaps the pack would be happier somewhere that didn't smell like vampires?"

"What are you suggesting Doc?"

"There's an old house just a little south of town, Esme was planning on purchasing it to renovate. I know it isn't next door, but it is well within frequent traveling distance."

"Right," Jake grumbled, his glee spoiled, "probably best for everyone."

"Until this is sorted out, Renesme, you aren't to be anywhere without one of us. Someone will pick you up and drop you at your classes, and no more going off with friends by yourself," Edward told his daughter. His voice was stern and completely serious, but he had to work hard to conceal his smile.

I could kiss you right now, Jake thought and then winced at the image. Edward's face also contorted in disgust, but he was happy too—Nessie was no longer allowed to see Shane alone.