Neither Dakota nor Seth had bothered to look back at the little house as they walked side-by-side up to the road. Had they, Dakota would have noticed the largest branch of the tree outside her window had broken and lay partially against her window and partially on the ground. Had they looked back, Seth would have been in quite a predicament.
Seth walked a bit off to the side and behind Dakota, uncomfortable with her intense friendliness on the day they had met, only minutes from that moment. He studied her from behind: the way her jeans soaked up the rain water as she walked, how she wore her sleeves pushed up and the hair on her arms raised even with the humidity, how her short hair swished occasionally. When she had answered the door he had noticed the despairity in her eyes, the excitement, and the disappointment at mention of her bike. She had a sweet smile, expressive dark eyes; no wonder Jacob liked her so much.
"So, how old are you, Seth?"
"I just turned fifteen."
"Really," Dakota looked over at him, "I would have thought you were older."
"Yeah, we grow 'em big on the rez." Seth laughed softly. Dakota did too.
They walked in silence for a while; Dakota with her hand in her jacket pockets, Seth with his swinging with his arms from his green short sleeved t-shirt. Eventually they hit the edge of the "inner"-town where all of the shops and grocery store resided. Dakota stopped and waited for Seth to catch up, he had been lagging behind, listening unto her knowledge.
"So, what kind of errands are you running?" Seth asked.
Dakota scrunched her mouth to one side in thought, "I don't know. What's around here to do?"
Seth gaped at her for a moment and sighed, "Well, there's not much. Not in town anyway. We usually cliff-dive when the weather's nice and we have nothing else to do."
"I don't think I'm ready to do that," Dakota proceeded down the sidewalk towards the grocery store, "My friends back in Tulsa did that when they had the chance to get out of the city. I never did. I'm chicken."
Seth followed keeping his distance and mouth shut. He followed Dakota around the corner and into the grocery store. Dakota grabbed a red, plastic handled basket and began on isle one. The pair stayed in the semi-comfortable silence as Dakota filled the small basket with odds and ends.
"Hey, Seth, find something." Dakota called from one end of the fourth isle.
"I can't let you buy me anything." He complained and came closer to her.
"Sure you can. I've seen how you rez kids eat, and Clara always tells me how much she sees her friends cooking. Like you said, they grow 'em big on the rez." Dakota smiled and threw a bag of treats to Seth. He caught them easily and turned them over, a bag of giant marshmallows. He looked back up at Dakota, and she was gone.
"Come on, Seth!"
Seth followed her voice and found her two isles over placing a box of graham crackers and two bars of chocolate in the small carry-basket. She crossed the isle and picked up a package of napkins. She finally turned to face him, "You're not lactose intolerant are you?"
Seth looked blankly at her, "Uh, not that I know of."
"Good."
With marshmallows still in hand, Seth followed Dakota yet again down and around isles. When Dakota finally came to a stop at the check out counter the basket had been filled to three times as much as when he had received the marshmallows. He placed them on the top of the basket. Before he could say anything, Dakota had pulled a black wallet from her back pocket and slapped down fifteen dollars.
Seth had no idea where this all was going, but it was going somewhere, and he wondered why he had been the one stuck with such a strange, yet interesting person, instead of who really should have. From what he had heard about her through his mother and sister, Dakota didn't go to school and worked at Robbie's. She was sixteen, going on seventeen, and was Clara Coates' niece. He didn't think she had many friends in La Push, well, not any that were girls. And she acted a lot like a boy, but he didn't think she wasn't into guys.
He was over thinking the situation.
"He followed us back here last night, Jake. Embry went by your girlfriend's house this morning, said that a big branch from that tree in the backyard fell. And we all know it wasn't raining that hard."
"She isn't my girlfriend, Quil."
"Sure, of all the things to get mad about it's that I called her your girlfriend and not the fact that your girlfriend is being tracked by a leech." Quil placed his hands behind his head and leant back in his chair, grinning.
"When's everyone supposed to be here?" Jacob opened the refrigerator door and stuck his head in, evading the 'girlfriend' conversation.
"What, you don't listen anymore?" Quil raised an eyebrow.
Jacob grunted and closed the door, "Not really. Haven't been for a while, if you do remember."
"Well, you better start. We're scouting today." Quil stood and went to the open door just in time to see Sam, Embry, and Leah walk around the corner of the little red house and up the front step.
"He's heading North." Sam called into the house, his voice reverberating off of the walls.
"Where's Seth?" Leah asked, seemingly to show general concern for her younger brother.
"He's with Dakota Coates. I told him to keep an eye on her." Jacob glanced around the small room of a kitchen, looking for somewhere to stare as not to make eye contact with the others.
"Right," Sam turned to the window where the sun could be seen lowering itself behind the trees, "Leah, you and Jake go out east; Quil, Embry go west; I'll take north."
"I thought you said the bloodsucker was going north, if that's the case, why aren't we all going the same direction?" Leah flipped her black hair over her shoulder and gazed with a touch of anger at Sam.
"He might double back. Let's go." Sam turned and left the house in a hurry, not stopping to wait for the others.
Quil and Embry bounded out of the house and into the forest behind Sam. Jacob and Leah stood in silence in the small kitchen. Neither one said anything until Leah huffed and uncrossed her arms, "Come on, Jacob!"
Leah was gone in a flash, leaving Jacob to catch up, "What a harpy."
How and what they had spent the whole afternoon on was unimaginable to Seth. He had gone with Dakota to the grocery store, after that they had walked out to the small rec. center near the school and ate what would have been smores if a fire had been going. Then they had talked; about all sorts of things: favorite television shows, movies, video games, the occasional book, cars, food, the comparisons of Tulsa and La Push. It had been endless. And now the sun was hidden behind the ever growing clouds, hovering just above the treetops.
They sat on an old, paint chipped bench with the paper bag of goods between them. Seth was unsure of what to do, with the current situation on the rez, he probably should be escorting her home, but she was such great company. He guessed that it wouldn't be weird if he popped by her house every now and again if he had nothing else going on. And Dakota had said she had a little brother, more reason to go; if he was of Quileute blood, there was a very good chance he would soon be part of the current situation.
"I should probably get going." Dakota stood and brushed the paint chips off her jeans and jacket.
"Yeah, I'll come with you." Seth stood beside her and took the paper bag from her hands.
"You don't have to, it's just a couple blocks over. I don't want to put you out."
"No problem, strange things happen after dark on the rez anyway." Seth walked ahead.
"What do you mean "strange things"?" Dakota jogged up to pace with him.
Seth smiled and began the most feared and beloved myths of the Quileute. Creatures called the "cold ones" and the battles fought between the "cold ones" and the spirit warriors of Quileute blood. How a third wife had sacrificed herself to save her loved ones, how the third wife had been brought back many years later, and how the third wife had become entangled with a "cold one", with whom she spirited away.
"So, the third wife loved two men at once, and neither were her husband? That's kind of sick." Dakota said with a disgusted look on her face. She and Seth were now walking from street light to street light, two streets away from Dakota's home.
"I guess you could say that. But, wouldn't it be better to be with your soul mate?" Seth stopped and placed the bag down so he could tie his shoe.
"Sure, but your soul mate isn't always the person you love." Dakota stopped beside him but glanced down, "There is no way you are just fifteen."
Seth laughed and began tying his shoe. Dakota pulled the bag of marshmallows out and stuffed a handful in her mouth. As she waited for Seth to finish up she walked a few feet ahead, balancing on the cracks in the road. She stopped at a strange dark puddle on the ground, it wasn't water for sure. She squatted down to get a better look, noticing that the puddle drained off into the ditch on the side of the road. She stood and followed the string of liquid and soon regretted her action. A rank smell came over the area, something had died and had been thrown into the ditch. Still curious, though slightly disgusted, Dakota pulled the collar of her shirt over her mouth and nose and craned her neck to get a better look. She didn't see anything in the dark, but there was a strange sound coming from the high grass.
It was high-pitched, as if someone was whispering at an extraordinary speed. Dakota backed away, not watching her footing and slipped in the puddle. Her shirt slipped from her face, and she screwed her face into a worried look. The liquid was thick and sticky, it smelled old. Her heartbeat climbed and her breath quickened.
A low growl came from the dark. Dakota scrambled to get up, but was brought down by gravity. A scream clawed at her throat, wanting to be let out. She stumbled up and ran to the middle of the street, she could hear something large pounce from the brush behind her. A loud cry erupted from one of the large creatures. Dakota swung around and screamed. Before her eyes a large man was pinned to the ground by the much smaller Seth.
"S-seth..." Dakota took a step forward and then two back when a growl escaped Seth's lips.
His irises grew to saucer sizes and the brown overtook the white, Seth growled again, his lips pulled back showing his bright teeth, "Go! Go, now!"
Dakota was stunned, glued to the spot. She had been holding her breath, shaking, and staring. Her face was ashen as the two struggled against each other, her eyes began to water, her palms began to sweat underneath the blood.
"Go, Dakota!"
Dakota jumped and hesitantly stepped backward, only beginning to run at the sound of the large man's growl. As she pounded her feet against the pavement, she could hear the growls and howls of the two wrestling. And then they stopped; so did she. Dakota stood in the silence of the dark street, she turned and sucked in a breath: Seth and the strange creature weren't there. Dakota began to panic even further, she glanced around her with no sign of either creature.
"No...no." She whimpered and wiped at her eyes and nose. A deep growl came from directly in front of her. Dakota backed up and darted to her left, heading for her home. The sweat was pouring from her skin now, her legs were weak and shaky, her breathing jagged and lung scorching.
And then it hit her.