A/N: Yes, that's right, another chapter. Everybody panic. *Laughs*.
Umm, I mentioned Doctor Who in the previous chapter. A few people got the references. Oh well, better than none at all. And that's right, I am a Doctor Who fan. :-)
Disclaimer: Twilight is under the ownership of Stephenie Meyers. All I own is this lousy laptop that's too small for its own good.
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Chapter Eight.
"Listen to me," he finally snapped and yelled at me. My accusation made his hackles rise and I watched as Edward inflated with fury and indignation. "I only hunted the scum of humanity: the rapists, the murderers, the crooks! Their deaths were nothing on the face of the earth. You should be happy that they are gone. Stop judging me, you know nothing!"
"Are you done yet?" I asked calmly. He nodded stiffly in response and I stared him dead in the eyes.
"You did not need to do any of that –" I started to say, but then Edward interrupted.
"If you crossed a murderer or a rapist and you had the ability to stop it, wouldn't you?" he snarled angrily. I rolled my eyes at his interruption. Only seconds before, I had asked if he was done. What an impatient being.
"Of course I would. But not through drinking their blood. You think that in my century of life that I have not had to face this conundrum before?" My voice was a deadly calm. His face froze as he realized that he had unknowingly insulted me.
With a harsh stare, I continued relentlessly, "I knocked them out and gave them to the police anonymously, with plenty of evidence to lock them up for a long time. Why I do this? It's because that gives them a chance to repent – I've come back years later to see some of them helping the community and giving back as much as they could. Sometimes they don't, but their victims and their families get a better sense of closure at the very least. Two wrongs make no right."
"Then why do what you do?" snapped Edward, seemingly shaken at my comment. "Surely hunting vampires does not as much good as you think."
"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird," I replied cryptically. Harper Lee was a bit of a dull read, but that line really stuck with me from one of her books.
"Are you saying that because we are vampires that we are automatically evil?" For some reason, his tone was no longer challenging, but more intrigued.
"No, it's more the fact that humans are helpless and don't bother us. In fact, they provide intrigue and entertainment through books and the arts. Vampires ... well, they aren't known for giving and they are certainly not helpless," I explained, using my hands to sometimes emphasize points, making sure I didn't move too quickly and hurt myself.
Taking a deep breath, I continued, "Also, they annoy me by being sometimes unjustifiably cruel in their murders, occasional torturers – so they are my blue jays, in a sense. I am not one of you, even though I have your strength, and I can take you down with no regret, but I have enough humanity to make choices that aren't cold or heartless, which is why I stayed calm and listened to you speak."
Edward nodded and the others looked as us intensely as we argued – or was it considered to be more of a philosophical debate?
"But humans kill one another," he noted calmly. Now that he was over his childish rant, the conversation was going somewhere.
"Such is life. Homicide, suicide, all of it is terrible. But humans are aware of these dangers and can take precautions. Yet they cannot run from the world of myths. They do not believe, so I protect them," I answered back easily. "Humanity is a beautiful, terrifying and wonderful thing, and I will not stand by and watch the beauty get snuffed into the dark."
"If you think about it, we are their natural predators. Who gave you the power of God; to choose who lives or dies?" Edward's eyes were becoming more animated, and I found that I was somehow enjoying a conversation with a vampire. How strange the way life works.
"Humans are meant to be reasonably carnivorous – but many choose to become vegetarians, to lessen the pain of noble beasts. If we are presented with the same opportunity to better ourselves, and save countless human lives, why shouldn't we?" I replied. "To answer your other question; nobody gave me my job, but I guess you could say I felt a duty to do it. Yes, I acknowledge I have a little bit of a God complex, but did you acknowledge yours? You also decided you could choose you lived or died."
Frowning a little, Edward answered back, "I never said I didn't have one. I was fully aware of what I was doing. But going back to your first point – humans as our natural prey. Why are you so utterly against that?"
My face furrowed up in thought as I tried to put the right words in my mouth to describe what I wanted to say. "If it was a case of them being our only source of energy and life, I would probably be less upset. But it is not. You claim that a coven can survive with only animals – a feat I am still yet unsure on – but if what you say is true, then all vampires should convert."
"Why do you think this?" Jasper piped into the conversation quietly.
Tilting my head to the side, I pondered some more before saying, "We live off death. Already our lives expand over what is natural and fair. Compare that to the fragile life of a human. They are fascinating and intriguing things that deserve to live their short life to the fullest. If you read a book, a poem, a limerick, sung a song, watched a film; you can see just how amazing they are. Totally unlike any other creature."
Edward took my pause as a sign to continue. "You act like they don't do anything to us. Every step we take near them sets our throats aflame. Can you judge some for wanting to quench the burning?"
"Yes I can, and I will," I said instantly. They looked mildly taken aback at my words, but I didn't wait for their responses. "I experience the burn as much as you do, and I take it without complaining. This is the price for living forever. Drinking up the live sources of so many other creatures. Their blood is how we stay alive for that much longer."
Silence followed as they mused over my words. Over my life, I had thought this through countless times, but this was the first time I had spoken my mental ramblings aloud.
Pausing, I muttered quietly, "But I guess I should not have judged you so quickly, Edward."
The corner of his mouth rose as he appraised what I had just said. "Was that an apology?"
"Nope, but that's as close as you're going to get," I quipped. The tension in the room was still thick, but somehow it had dissipated somewhat.
"Now, it is time for more important matters rather than the trivial talk of life and meaning," I yawned dismissively, but I quickly shook my head awake. "I need to talk to whatever the hell attacked me."
"Are you sure that's safe?" asked Rosalie in what seemed like an almost taunting voice. I like the spark in this one, I though with a grin.
"The dog is not going to catch me unawares again. I'll be sure of that," I declared confidently.
"Why do you want to talk to him?" asked Carlisle politely.
If I could, I would have shrugged, but I was learning fast that making my legs or back move would cause a spasm of pain. All I could do for defense was my shield pushing everyone back. In response to Carlisle's question, I said in a light tone, "I'm not too myself. Closure, maybe?"
"I'll go make that call then," he told me as he made his way to the door. But his face turned into one of confusion when he realized that he didn't seem to be able to move. He seemed nice enough, but as leader, I thought it best if he stayed with me. Leaders were thinkers, and I didn't want him going out and plotting when he was out of my watchful gaze. He didn't seem to realize what I was doing, but he was starting to notice that there was a barrier.
Twisting my invisible barrier, I pushed Esme towards the door, and she was halfway there before she seemed to notice her feet moving.
Casually, I called out quietly, "Esme, while you're out there calling my attacker, can you bring me some salt water? I need to clean my wounds." Esme seemed the nicest and the most ... motherly, so I hoped that I could trust her with this. She nodded with mild confusion as she went through the door. Half of her knew she was moving for a reason, but she wasn't sure of what the reason was. So her mind latched onto my suggestion with ease.
Carlisle didn't seem to notice what I was doing, but Edward's eyes narrowed infinitesimally towards me. I pretended not to notice, which was made easier when Carlisle questioned why I needed salt water instead of medicine.
"Medicine doesn't mix well with me," I revealed reluctantly. "From experience, salt water works best at removing venoms."
"Interesting," mused Carlisle, but my attention was diverted when Esme re-entered the room after a quiet knock, carrying with her a bucket of salt water, a towel and a large burly man following behind her. Esme carefully set the bucket close to me, but stayed a respectful distance away, realizing I didn't like close contact much.
But my attention was soon diverted to the new addition to the group of the supernatural.
The man was odd in demeanor and shape, his body muscled and tall, unnatural for a human, unless they were on steroids. As if he was not used to the body, his actions were less graceful, clumsier than one would think. His skin was tan, a beautiful brown, golden and vibrant. The man – or was it creature? – had an incredibly short buzz cut, but I could see from the dim light that the small amount of hair he had was shiny and black.
He looked nervous, and was tense – rightly so, considering the amount of vampires in the room. His large hands were clenched tightly into fists, and his shoulders were hunched over, and I assumed that he was feeling threatened, especially judging by the way he was shaking.
What intrigued me most was his face. It was not overly beautiful, but more natural. His basic structure was of that of a man, but it didn't seem like he had grown into it fully. A boy in an adult's body. The growth spurt must have been disorientating.
A child. I couldn't be forever mad at a child's mistake. The wet thumping of his heart made me want to sink my teeth into something warm and alive, but the smell that permeated into the room made me forget all that. The smell was exactly like the one that I smelt before my back ripped to shreds, albeit a bit more human, but it made me instinctively flinch away.
Like a war torn soldier coming home from the battlefields, some tiny things set me off. I suffered mild PTD – posttraumatic disorder. For example, the sound of a high heels clacking on wet pavement made me flinch because a decade or so ago, I was stalked by a vampire in heels. It was terrifying because she followed me at night. She made my hairs stand on end, and for a while the only thing I could hear were the clackity-clack of her heels. The attack was sudden and painful, and it was in my early vigilante days, when I wasn't too experienced.
So, I belatedly realized that this shape shifter's scent would set me off. What I didn't know was whether it was this specific dog, or the entire species in general. My shield grew stronger with the mild panic setting in and it started pushing outwards, trying to give me space.
But when I looked into his eyes, his dark, brown eyes, I saw concern shining through and it broke through my curtain of fear. Relaxing a bit, I withdrew partially, but still kept a barrier in place.
He was not a threat, I reminded myself.
Realizing that he was waiting for me to speak, I cleared my throat and said kindly, in a gentle voice, not wanting to push him too much in this environment (he was shaking so much), "How did you get here so fast?"
His eyes widened fractionally, as though he was surprised that I wasn't screaming. Scratching the back of his neck, he told me in a rushed voice, "I had been running outside for a while; I needed to know you were okay."
"That was sweet of you," I said with a little sarcasm. Even though he kind of amused me, reminding me of a boy scared of getting in trouble with his mom, the sting in my back refused to let everything blow over with sweet smiles and fluttering eyelashes.
"You will never know how sorry I am for attacking you," he blurted out suddenly. "I have shamed myself, my tribe and I beg forgiveness. How I could ever rest with ease when I've attacked a human –"
"Whoa, whoa," I interrupted quickly. "Who the hell said I was human?"
"Well, I just assumed with all that blood," he admitted.
Laughing, I said a little manically, "I am no human. Hell, I'm as human you are."
A shocked look replaced his expression and he said, "Still, I'm sorry for attacking you. You don't seem like a threat."
Scoffing, I snorted and said, "Jesus, don't give me that I'm-a-damsel-in-distress crap. I've probably killed more people than you ever will in a hundred years."
"What?" roared the man in front of me, his mood shifting suddenly. "You kill humans like the bloodsuckers?" His frame was clearly shaking and I knew he was at snapping point.
Raising my hands defensively, I cried out, "I kill vampires, big boy. Calm the fuck down. I'm on your side." Again, the shocked expression on his face was a little insulting. Come on, was it that unbelievable?
"Can I ask one thing?" He nodded and I continued. "Why exactly did you attack me? Apart from the whole treaty line thing. I mean, couldn't you hear my heartbeat?"
Frowning a little, he said, "It was your smell. You were drenched in the scent of a vampire. That one," he inclined his head to Edward.
"Why the fuck was I drenched in your scent?" I spat at Edward angrily.
"You don't know?" asked the shape shifter.
"No," I answered him. "I kind of only woke up a bit before. The details of everything are still a little blurry."
"Well, I found you asleep in the forest, so I brought you back here," explained Edward quickly and succinctly.
"Wow, that just explains everything!" I exclaimed, my voice absolutely dripping with sarcasm.
The brown eyed man, scowled and snarled, "So you see a seemingly human girl in the woods, fast asleep, and you decide to bring her to your house? As what; an afternoon snack?"
"No!" cried out Edward, his voice brimming with frustration. "It's just that ... you were special."
"No shit, Sherlock," I snap. "I'm not human, of course I'm an oddity."
"Seriously, the treaty says you aren't meant to harm humans," growled the yet-unnamed individual.
"Cool it," I tried to placate him with my voice. "They didn't actually hurt me. I was the one who jumped out of the window and then you hurt me." He blushed as he remembered and looked chagrined as I called him out.
"I am so sorry about that, you know I am, don't you? I just got overexcited when I thought I would finally kill a vampire, and I didn't think –" he started to babble nervously, but I waved his apologies off. Words were nothing without re-enforcement. I knew I would have usually yelled my lungs out at the fact that this guy ripped my back open, but for starters, my lung was still damaged and secondly, there was something about this kid that made me go soft.
"You can shut up with the apologies. Actions speak louder than words, and I have something planned for you so you can help me there," I explained.
When he had calmed, I smiled a little and said, "Hi. Nice to meet you. I'm Bella Swan, vampire slayer extraordinaire."
Grinning at me, realizing I was giving him the chance to fully repent, he waved and replied, "I'm Jacob Black, second-in-command of the La Push pack. Nice to meet a brother-in-arms in the war against vampires. But I guess I should call you a sister-in-arms, huh?"
"You guess right," I chuckle, shaking my head in amusement.
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A/N: I swear, Bella will be leaving the basement soon. She has a few issues to flesh out with Jacob, and then she's good to start with the recovery effort.
Note of warning: I have no idea at all whether I'm making this an Edward/Bella story or a Jacob/Bella story. Just so you know. Look back, I haven't misled you anywhere – I have never stated the pairings of this story. So make no assumptions...
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