Vulnerable

Bella:

The scene in front of me was so full of horror. It was so unexpected. It was terrifying. I had never been so scared in my vampire life, I couldn't help by scream. I needed Edward to put his arms round me, and tell me we were safe. Even though what was in front of me proved we weren't.

"I'm so much sorrier that you can even imagine my Bella. I love you so much, I'm going to protect us all. You don't have to be scared." Edward vowed to me. When he started speaking it reminded me of when I first met him human, full of so much self-hate and loathing. But during his promise his voice took on a new tone, and became fierce with determination.

He lifted my chin up and waited for me to meet his burning eyes. Staring into that liquid gold, everything seemed to be clearer, I wasn't so scared. I was filled with purpose, to protect Nessie and Edward, and as much of my extended family as I could.

I nodded with this new resolution. Edward put his finger under my chin and pulled my face gently toward his.

"I love you Bella, I can't live without you, and I'd never let anything hurt you." Edward closed the gap between our lips on the last word, and kissed me, crushing my lips with his. Whenever we kissed, it felt like he had injected some kind of adrenaline into my system. This time I didn't let the kiss overwhelm me. There was too much awfulness in the forest behind me.

"I love you too Edward," I mumbled into his chest. I hated feeling so vulnerable, but to be honest, I was terrified.

He took my hand in his and with the other waved Jasper, Emmett, Carlisle and Sam forward. I gripped it with fear as we ghosted into the carnage.

The smell of werewolf was stronger and stronger with each step. I gripped Edward's hand harder, I didn't want to look down at the bodies of the werewolves I had been talking with just a few days earlier.

I braced myself, then looked down.

"Oh my goodness..." I choked out.

Becky and Colin's lifeless bodies were strewn over the forest. Blood was spattered everywhere, their bodies were dismembered.

Each of the bodies has deeply lacerated skin, it was so bad you could hardly tell who was who. I knew though. I cringed into Edward.

Colin's body was missing its head. My eyes scanned round the forest quickly, and found it in Becky's arms. Her body was also headless.

I looked again, but found no head. I searched and searched, but I couldn't see even a single strand of her long blonde hair. These things had... taken it? I shuddered at the thought of a trophy. These creatures were mocking us.

Both Colin's left arm and his right leg weren't attached to his body. His leg was ripped to shreds, but still recognisable, in a nearby bush. His arm was thrown a few yards away out in the forest.

The bodies of these people, were slashed, and drained dry. I felt like I would throw up, if I could.

"It's disgusting... horrible... so wrong..." Emmett was muttering to himself in disgust, as he paced round the area.

Jasper just stood there, a look of pure shock on his face. He was looking nervously through the trees, every so often murmuring something unintelligible to himself.

Sam whined quietly to himself, his head low down with grief.

I looked up to Edward, who was looking at me concernedly. I knew he was wracked with guilt for bringing me along. He obviously didn't want to leave me while these things were out there. Even if he had wanted to protect my eyes, and trusted Alice, Esme and Rose, I would have insisted on coming with him. There was no way I was going to leave him while these things were out there.

"I wouldn't have let you go without me Edward," I told him comfortingly, "I need to be with you as much as you need to be with me. I can't leave you."

His face relaxed a little as he understood that our feelings were shared, and he nodded once quickly. I missed his smile so much.

"We need to pick up the scents, and follow them. Maybe we can find at least one of these things." Edward rumbled in a perfect copy of Sam's deep voice.

"Okay... let's go." I whispered.

Jacob:

A shrill, almost impatient tone had woken me from my slumber. I blearily opened my eyes, and saw Carlisle holding a small silver cell phone.

"Sorry, excuse me Jacob," Carlisle told me softly, touching my arm briefly as he flew out of the room. The ringing stopped.

I shivered at his cold touch, and looked down at the top of my casted arm, where I could see goose bumps already appearing. Wait! All of a sudden, I realized that I wasn't freezing cold anymore. I felt toasty warm. When Carlisle had been treating me this morning, I'd barely noticed his freezing hands, now, they were like ice blocks against my burning skin.

I flexed my arms and legs, and I recognized the feeling of strength and indestructibility. My leg didn't feel broken anymore, neither did my arm. All but one or two of the bruises has disappeared, and the huge gashes covering me, seemed to be a distant memory.

I twist my arms and legs once more to check. Yup. Definitely not broken. I felt perfectly fine, I realized with joy. My head was clearer, I could finally think straight.

Looking around my room, I can see it's dark. It must be almost midnight, maybe later. It's only source of light, is a small desk lamp in the corner of the room. Some faint rays of moonlight are sneaking through the heavy curtain, it must have been moved.

Reaching up and pulling it back, the bright light of the moon spills across my bedroom. The moon is high in the sky. I dimly remember a new moon a week, maybe less, ago. It was just coming into a perfect crescent. Like a luminescent slice of watermelon. I chuckle softly at my bad metaphor.

Carlisle walked in silently, and started to remove the casts from my arms and legs. He didn't say a word, and looked very shocked, he didn't hide it well. He kept on opening and closing his mouth as if to say something, but thought better of it and carried on removing the casts. Eventually they were off and I was free.

"Jacob... I've got some bad news..." Carlisle finally spoke delicately, as he walked into my room. He looked... paler than usual, and worried about something. I winced as his sickly sweet smell reached my all too sensitive nose.

"What is it doc?" I asked him apprehensively. I had no idea what was going on.

"Colin and Becky... the creature that attacked you... it's killed them."

"What?" I half snarled, half shouted. Becky and Colin were... dead?

"I'm so sorry Jacob." Carlisle stepped forward, as if he would comfort me, but thought better of it and put his arms down. I was so full of rage I could hardly care. My whole body was trembling. Carlisle took an apprehensive step back.

"Jacob you should calm down," he cautioned, "You've only just started healing, you don't want to cause anymore damage."

I tried to reign myself in. I took a few deep breaths, and stopped the trembling.

"Yeah, you're right, sorry doc," I sighed. "Is that what the call was about?"

"Yes. I need to go a get the creature's scents. There is more than one."

"Okay, I'll come-"

"I'm afraid you can't Jacob, your bones only just healed and are very weak. If you phased now they could all break again." Carlisle silenced me with a look a father might give a misbehaving son.

These creatures killed members of Sam's pack... and I wasn't allowed to go hunt it down? This was crazy! I'm an Alpha for crying out loud. I shouldn't be sitting here like an invalid whilst Seth, who's practically still a baby, can run around looking for this thing! I should be out helping.

"I'm sorry Jacob. You could become very vulnerable if you got hurt out there. We don't want anything to happen to you." Carlisle told me quietly, he put his hand on my arm, and I reflexively recoiled from the icy touch. Carlisle just looked at me very seriously, then with a blink of your eyes he was gone.

No way. No friggin' way! That leech wasn't going to make me stay here! I growled under my breath.

Very slowly I eased myself out of the bed. I was no longer attached to any machines, since I didn't need them. I felt a little dizzy, but I guessed that was just from lying down for too long.

Grabbing a pair of sweats from my chest of drawers, I slowly but surely made my way to the kitchen, tying them to my ankle as I stumbled through the dark house. Passing my dad's room I could hear him lightly snoring as he slept. He slept like the dead, so there was no way he'd wake up if I accidentally made any noise.

I walked out into the cold dark night. It wasn't cold or dark for me though. Being a werewolf did have its advantages. I smirked to myself in the darkness.

Okay... werewolf... right. I let the heat spread through my body, from my very core to the tips of my fingers. In an instant I was a wolf, huge as a horse. Doc was wrong, I felt fine - strong, even. I started to pad my way into the forest.

Obviously Seth and Leah weren't wolf right now, otherwise I'd hear their thoughts. Leah was older than me, technically, and Seth was her brother. He was a little younger than me. I was glad we didn't age as werewolves, I could live forever if I wanted to, and with Nessie I probably would.

Sam probably warned them to stay in public, human, for their own safety. This assumption made me think about my own safety. Was I safe?

Probably was, I'd smelled this creature before, so I was on red alert. I could smell a faint trace of it coming faintly from the west. I decided to go after it.

I ran along for a while, gingerly, but I felt no pain, so I broke into a full out sprint. My muscles welcomed the familiar strain, and I soon eased into the run.

Ouch. The smell of vampires was so strong all of a sudden, it hit me flat in the face. I winced and wrinkled my nose. I could smell Bella and a few of the other Cullens. What were the vampires doing here?

"Sam?" I called out in my mind. "What are the Cullens doing there?"

"Jake! You're okay! I've been so worried. The Cullens are helping us track down these creatures." I heard him 'think' back. "Uh oh... I don't think Edward wants you here."

"Tough. I'm coming. You hear that Edward?"

"Oh yeah... he hears you."

Stopping where I was, I pulled the heat back, and took a few deep breaths. I felt the air around me changing as I phased back into human form. I pulled on the old sweats tied to my ankle, and strode ahead.

I reached the sparse area of forest where they were, tracking it looked like. Edward was glaring at me. Carlisle looked a little... pissed off to be blunt. I felt a little guilty, but nonetheless, I had to be here.

"I'm sorry Doc. I just needed to come."

"I don't care that you came Jacob." Edward spat at me. "I couldn't care less if you were killed right this very second. If I'd had it my way, it would have been a few hours ago actually."

Uh-oh. I'd kinda forgotten I'd kissed Ness. Looks like Edward was a tad... infuriated with me. That seemed to be the right word.

"Infuriated?" He snarled at me, whilst Bella tried to calm him, "you kissed my daughter without her permission, mutt. I am beyond infuriated."

"Edward. Chill okay? We talked about this earlier." Bella soothed him. Edward just turned away from me, his hands gripped into fists against his sides. Probably imagining choking me I guessed. I decided that laughing wouldn't be best for this moment. Edward just hissed through his teeth. "Jasper if you don't mind." Bella motioned with her hand towards Edward.

"Sure Bells," he nodded. Edward's hands unfurled slowly, and he turned to face me. Wasn't so much furious as... slightly annoyed now.

"Jacob, dude, I think it would be best if you followed a different track. One of the scents leads a different way a mile or two back. Either that or you can leave." Emmett boomed in his deep bass tone. He didn't seem angry with me, a little amused maybe. No idea why though. I just nodded.

"Jake?" Bella called seriously as I started to walk away, "Come back to the house in the morning though. We need to talk."

"Sure whatever." I shouted back, already pulling off my sweats as I vanished into the forest.

My day was going so well. Not.

Edward:

Morning light was just appearing over the treetops, and we still hadn't found anything.

We followed trail after endless trail, but they all seemed to vanish. Carlisle had been debating what these things could be all night too. We had no idea.

"Okay everyone, I think we're getting nowhere fast here. It would be best to return home, for Nessie's sake. We'll look again tonight, once Ness is asleep." Carlisle called out to us all. He was right. Ness would be up soon, and worried where everyone was. I wondered how we should tell her about Colin and Becky. She didn't know them that well. How would she react?

Everyone murmured their agreements. Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle wanted to be back with their wives, and I knew Bella wanted to be back without Nessie, as did I.

"Dad! Mom!" Nessie cried out, as soon as we reached the doorway of the house. She sounded relieved. "Where have you been?"

"Ness, love, you should be in bed, you must be exhausted. It's only 6am!" Bella hugged her, her voice mingled with concern. I could tell Bella wasn't quite ready to tell Ness what had happened to the other wolves. Ness was too good though, and saw Bella's attempt to change the subject.

"Stop it mom! What has happened? Is Jacob okay?" Her angry voice faded into a quiet, nervous squeak.

"Jacob is fine, he's made a full recovery." I told her comfortingly. For now at least. I thought silently. No-one had expected my reaction to seeing Jacob whilst tracking the creatures, not even me! It just brought back the memory of Nessie's memory, bringing back my anger.

"Oh... good... then what is it?" I could hear the joy both in her voice and her head. I smiled uncomfortably. It bothered me that she cared so much. Her internal gushing was a little annoying.

'Oh thank goodness! They looked so worried and I know my mom is hiding something. I'm so glad Jake is better! I mean, I'm kind of pissed that he kissed me, I should have hit him like my mom did, but he's my best friend! Phew! Oh sorry dad….' Nessie blushed when I chuckled at her thoughts about punching Jacob.

"So what's wrong?" She asked again.

"Well Ness... the creature that attacked Jacob..." I began, but was interrupting before I could continue.

"Who did it get?" Ness visibly paled, although she was trying to keep a brave face.

"Colin... and Becky." I stuttered out. Would she be terrified?

"Oh..." She looked down, I could see tears starting to fall off the end of her nose, and drip to the floor.

"Ness love, you don't have to be afraid." Bella reassured her, "We'll protect you."

"No... I'm f-fine," she told us, her voice trembling. "I'm going to my room." She quickly fled upstairs, wiping her eyes as she ran. Although I heard no more crying, her thoughts were dazed.

'Okay... Colin and Becky... I didn't know them that well, but Becky was always nice to me, and they both helped when my family were fighting the Volturi. This means this thing is out there still... and it's killing now. I'm so scared. We need help to stop it... what if there's more than one? Oh no...' She started crying again.

"What are we going to do Edward?" Bella asked me, putting her hand in mine.

"Ness had an interesting thought... we need some help defeating and tracking down these things... maybe we should call our old friends." I frowned, "Maybe even Nessie's new English friends."

"Okay. But they need to come soon, these things could attack again and- oh no..." Bella stopped midsentence and glanced warily at the door. I could smell it too. Werewolf. Jacob was here.

"Come in." I called, before he had time to knock.