Chapter Six:
The three vampires neared the Cullens, advancing in a slightly menacing manner.
"Got room for three more players?" the one in front asked.
"Who are you?" Carlisle asked in a friendly tone.
"I am Laurent," the one in front said. He indicated a blonde male to his right, "This is James," then a red-haired female on the left, "This is Victoria."
Jake glanced back at Edward, who seemed to be staring at James, who was staring back at him. Jake eyed James. How dare you stare at Edward! Mind your own damn business, he's taken buddy!
If only James could read thoughts.
"Sure, I guess we could use three more..." Carlisle answered with a smile.
Laurent nodded and started heading onto the field, followed by Victoria. James' nose flared, then a strange look came across his face, "What is that?" he asked himself, looking over the Cullens. He smelled something positively vile. What the hell was it?
Then his eyes landed on Jacob, the native boy standing slightly behind Edward. Yes, that had to be the source of the smell. The smell resembled something James had smelled before, though diluted in a way.
The boy smelled of werewolf.
"Well, well, well," James said in a low voice, "What do we have here?"
Emmett shrugged, "I don't like it either," he stated. His remark was met by a stern look from Carlisle, but rather than that no one else replied. Rosalie's expression indicated that she agreed with Emmett, though.
James laughed evilly, stepping toward the Cullens, "I don't believe our kinds should mingle. Let me get rid of this hindrance."
Immediately, all of the Cullens broke into a protective stance, leaping in front of Jacob to shield him from James. Even Rosalie was in front of the werewolf, her teeth bared.
Victoria showed up too, tensed for battle behind James. Laurent walked calmly behind the other two, "James, stop. These are our friends, and we will treat them as such. Let them have who they may in their company, it makes no difference to us."
James paused a moment, then straightened up, "I guess you're right," he agreed, turning toward Laurent, "Let's go."
"That's more like it," Laurent said, heading toward the trees once again.
Victoria followed after James, glancing back one time before catching up to the others.
Once the three travelling vampires disappeared behind the tree line, the Cullens straightened up and broke into motion.
"We have to get you out of here," Edward said to Jake as he tugged him away from the field in the opposite direction the other vampires had gone.
"What? Why?" Jacob asked. I don't understand. Yeah sure that guy wanted to kill me but he left so it's all good, right? Fill me in here!
"He has no intention of giving up. He's more set than ever on killing you," Edward said, "I'm not going to let that happen. Walk faster."
Bossy are we. Jake picked up his pace.
"Jacob, be serious about this. Your life is in serious danger here. I think that... the best way to keep you safe is to take you back to the reserve. If your family can help defend you from him, we'll have the best shot. Plus if your scent is mingled in with all of the other Quileute, you'll be a bit harder to find."
"I'm not gonna lead the vampires to my house!" Jacob yelled, stopping in his tracks, "What about Sam? What about my father?! I can't put them in danger like that!"
Edward sighed. He really didn't care about the Quileute; as long as Jake was safe, the people who banished him could just...
Clearing his throat, Edward tugged on Jake's arm a bit more, "Jacob, please. I need to make sure you're safe while we hunt James. Being around other werewolves that are capable of defending you is important to me."
"I can defend myself too you know," Jacob protested, "I'm not some weak human that can't do anything. I'm an alpha wolf!"
Edward frowned. He was getting nowhere—literally, because Jacob wouldn't move.
Alice joined the two in the trees, flittering up to them like a fairy in the wind, "Guys, James and Victoria left Laurent. They're coming after us now," she stated.
Edward's face contorted in anger as he turned back to Jacob, desperation lacing his voice, "Jacob, we need to go NOW. If you're not going to let me take you back to the reserve, we're going to have to get a ticket and fly somewhere."
Alice shook her head, "James knows you won't leave Jake alone," she stated, "If you go with Jacob, it'll only lead him to us faster."
Edward frowned as the three of them started running toward the Cullen house, "So what do we do then?"
"Jasper and I can take Jacob somewhere," Alice stated, "Or Emmett and Rosalie could."
Edward frowned, "I'd rather have you with me, so that I know what James is planning."
Alice nodded as they reached the house, going straight to the garage where the rest of the Cullens were waiting, "Emmett and Rosalie it is then," She stated, walking toward Jasper.
Jacob was quite lost, as the vampires had been talking extremely fast the entire time. They'd spoken quietly, too. Like whispers that made no sense. It was weird. I wonder if werewolves can do that? Jacob decided to try it when he was alone. He wouldn't want to make a fool of himself in a garage full of vampires.
Edward pulled Jake aside to tell him what would be happening shortly. Jacob's whole body was starting to ache with the realization that he would be apart from Edward, and there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing at all.
"Alright, let's roll!" Emmett called as he hopped into Rosalie's red car. They'd chosen it over his jeep, which was open-backed. Had they taken that, they'd have left a very obvious trail of Jacob's scent behind them. That was something they had to avoid.
Jacob got into the back seat of the car robotically. He had to force every movement that took him farther from Edward, only in the hope that he'd get back to the teen shortly. Of course, it would at least take a day or two to get back to Edward's side, and that was a thought that drove Jake to near despair.
Still, he had to keep it together.
With a last farewell to Edward, Jacob pulled the car door shut and locked the door so that it would be harder for him to get out if he lost it and tried running back to Edward. By the time he would be done unlocking the door, Emmett would have been able to hold him back. It was all part of the plan.
Rosalie sat in the driver's seat, revving the engine before pulling away and speeding off down the road. Alice waved from the driveway while standing beside Jasper, Esme, Carlisle, and Edward. Jacob focused only on Edward, though, hardly noticing the others.
And Jake kept watching until he couldn't anymore, deciding to take a nap while Rosalie drove. He didn't care about where they were going and he didn't want to talk to the other two. Nothing mattered if Edward wasn't there.
Back at the house, Jasper was wearing Jake's clothes. He was supposed to leave a false trail south while Rosalie took Jacob north. Jasper was not breathing however, and looked like he was completely sick to his stomach. Edward knew that the other was not, but the facial expression on Jasper's face led him to believe otherwise.
Edward and Jasper departed then, running along in the trees at a steady pace. Carlisle and Esme hung back with Alice, waiting. Alice was watching James' movements, watching the progress he made. He was taking the bait...
And all of a sudden, he caught the scent of Jasper mixed in with Jake's. James growled in aggravation and ran in the other direction, leaving Jasper and Edward to their little game. Victoria was waiting in the trees still near the meadow for James' return.
Alice frowned, "He caught on and he's coming back to find Jake's trail," she informed.
"Call Edward and tell him," Carlisle ordered, handing Alice his phone.
Nodding, Alice dialled Edward's number and held the phone to her ear, waiting only half a second before she was answered.
"Hello?" Edward's worried voice rang out.
"James knows," Alice said, "Come back." She hung up the phone.
Within minutes, Edward was back at the house. He came into the door, followed by Jasper who was only in his underwear.
"....Jasper, what are you doing?" Esme asked.
Jasper frowned, "They stunk, okay? Badly."
"He stripped on the way home," Edward stated.
"Awe.... I missed that," Alice complained. Had she been watching Jasper's future instead of James', she'd have seen it.
"Consider yourself lucky," Edward said.
Jasper glared at his brother, heading up the stairs to get some clothes on. Edward smirked back in reply.
"We have to be serious here though," Carlisle said, turning to Alice, "Where are they headed now?"
"James and Victoria are heading toward town to search for Jacob's scent... they're going to find Jake's scent in town and follow it back to the reserve...and then I can't see anything else," Alice said, her eyes glazed over a moment as she watched the future play out in her mind.
Esme looked to Edward, "Would they fight the werewolves?" she asked.
Edward frowned, "They don't know that the werewolves exist here. If they catch their scent, they will surely attack them. I don't know the other werewolves' skill. I cannot predict who would win amongst them," he said.
"Jacob doesn't want them going to his home anyway. We'll have to distract them somehow and fight them on our territory," Alice said.
"We should also warn the werewolves, in case we should fail in stopping them before they cross the border," Carlisle said coolly.
"We'll have to cross the border to talk to them anyway," Jasper said, walking closer to Alice, "If we're crossing it, we might as well fight over it... There is no difference."
"If we fight on their territory, they might attack us and wage a war," Edward countered.
Jasper frowned at his brother, "Or they might help us. We don't know."
"That's right—we don't know. Do we want to take the chance?" Edward said, looking Jasper in the eye.
Alice frowned at the two, "Oh settle down you guys," She said, waving a hand, "The simple answer to this would be just going on their territory if we need to and fighting. They come onto ours for school, after all."
"That might be provoking them, but then again it does make sense—they didn't warn s before sending their kids onto our land. Were they not worried at all?" Carlisle asked himself.
Esme answered, "Maybe they know us better than we think they do—maybe they realize that we don't want to hurt them?"
Edward frowned at his mother's hopeful thoughts. He knew that she was wrong—the werewolves were secretly hoping that the vampires would launch an attack at school. The werewolves wanted to fight.
But he did not say that out loud. He didn't want to upset Esme.
"So our plan of action is...?" Jasper was getting impatient.
Alice put a hand on her lover's shoulder, visibly calming him a bit, "Edward will warn the vampires and explain to them what might end up happening. We don't want this to cause a rift between us and them."
"I can't go," Edward stated, "Sam doesn't like me. If I go, the worst results will be achieved."
"Carlisle then," Alice said. Her father nodded and sprinted off, leaving Esme standing alone. The mother looked around for a moment, wondering what to do. She was nervous; she wanted to clean something.
Edward mentally noted that he should have sent his mother with Jacob, though it was too late. She'd stay with them for now.
Jacob...
Edward's mind began to wander and he had to reel in his thoughts. He had to stay focused for a while.
He turned back to Alice and Jasper, new resolve evident on his face, "Let's go get them then," he said to the others, "Ready?"