Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.
Rated M for several reasons.
Chpt 8 Preparation
RPOV
Pete takes their bags upstairs and hops in the shower while Char and I stretch out on the couches to wait for Em to come back.
"She's a cute little thing." Char observes. "Are you going to change her?"
"Not if I can help it."
"Pete said you were trying to give her a normal human life." She says quietly. "Do you think that's still likely to happen?"
"No."
"Then what are you waiting' for?"
"A miracle."
She laughs gently. "Good luck with that one Rose."
I snort.
As Em strolls through the door my cell vibrates. I snatch it up and read Bella's text.
"The wolves will be out tonight."
"Excellent." Pete drawls, coming down the stairs and shaking the water out of his hair.
I growl at him and curl my lip as he splatters water all over Esme's silk wall hangings. Peasant.
"When do you want Em and I to leave for Seattle?" Char asks.
"A couple of hours after our meetin' with the wolves, just in case it's a trick." He answers, plopping down on the end of her couch and lifting her feet into his lap.
"They wouldn't do that would they?" Em asks.
Smelly and mangy they may be but to date in all our dealings with the wolves they've been honourable.
"I dunno Em." Pete shrugs. "They're your neighbours but I didn't get to be this age by makin' assumptions about my safety."
I nod. Makes sense
"We've got a couple of hours before we need to leave." Em comments as he peels himself out his leathers, accidently lifting his t-shirt nearly all the way up to his ears.
Suddenly I have a very vivid idea what I could occupy myself with for a couple of hours.
"Down Blondie!" Pete chortles.
I snarl at him, showing my perfect and wickedly sharp teeth.
"Come on." He says getting to his feet and pulling Char to hers. "Now would be a good time to practise some of the moves I showed ya last time we came for a visit."
A smile spreads over my face. Pete's the only one who's ever bothered to teach me how to fight, Jazz always declines on the basis he likes his boys where they are and Em is far too gentlemanly to spar with me.
"Oh here we go." Char mutters. "I never thought teaching an aggressive woman how to fight was a good idea."
"Shush wife." Pete scolds. "Anyone with an attitude like Rose's needs to know how to defend herself. Ain't that right Blondie?"
Growling I leap for him sending the pair of us tumbling down the steps and into the drive.
"I hate it when they do this." Em mutters.
"He won't hurt her." Char assures him. "Much."
And he doesn't. I'm no match for him but I have to say the scrap does wonders for my current stress levels and he teaches me a couple of new things that might be useful against four leggers or newborns.
Eventually Em separates us and I straighten my clothing, taking deep breaths to calm down.
Grinning fiercely I give him a massive hug. God how I wish they had taught me this stuff at school! I'm so grateful he lets me do it on the rare occasions Pete visits, even though I know he hates it.
Laughing he hugs me back.
"Feeling better babe?"
"Much."
The last time we lived on our own he did build us a gym but no matter how we tried to fix up the punch bag it always ended up in the neighbour's yard. Trust me, hitting something that floats away like a cotton ball is no form of stress relief even if it does take half the ceiling with it.
I flit upstairs to get changed. There is no excuse for going out looking like you've been dragged through a Pete backwards.
An hour later we're roaming backwards and forwards on our side of the creek at the edge of our property, waiting for the wolves to appear on theirs.
We can smell them a long time before the three horse sized dogs hove into view and we can smell the others, hiding in the trees.
"Good evenin'." Pete greets them easily, settling down on his haunches and regarding them steadily. "I guess the little Swan asked you to come here an' I'm grateful for your consideration.
I know you guys are all about protectin' human life an' I don't want to get into the semantics of who eats what. We're all god's creatures and we all need to eat summat to live. I'm quite partial to a bit of drug dealer myself and the wife's preference is rapist.
We're here to help Blondie an' her husband protect the human Bella Swan from the redheaded vampire, Victoria. I know you guys have been chasin' her, same as they have.
I know she ain't been around for a while but I'm fairly sure she'll be back an' when she does we can carry on huntin' and losin' her on our own or we can work together. She ain't gonna give up and the more she keeps comin' back around here the more innocent people are gonna die. I don't think she has a feedin' preference.
There's one other thing ya'll ought to know. I'm guessin' you've seen the news about the killings in Seattle, well we think they're vampire related an' some of us are gonna go up there for a little look see. You guys know as well as I do that it ain't far from here for a vampire an' so with the danger to Bella we just wanna be careful. There's another reason an' that's that badly behaved vampires like this attract the attention of other vampires an' if those ones come here they'll do a very thorough investigation which ya have to trust me will involve checkin' out the surroundin' area. That means us, which would be inconvenient, an' you, which would be fatal.
I realise ya all can't answer me in ya current configuration so I'm suggestin' you go back home an' talk it all over with the rest of ya pack. We'll be here again same time tomorrow night to hear what ya have to say.
Agreed?"
The three wolves dip their huge heads in acknowledgement and then they turn and speed off into the night, their hidden brethren hot on their heels. The quality of the air improves dramatically and the unattractive wrinkle drops out of my patrician nose.
"Well then." Pete announces getting to his feet and re-arranging his pants. "That went well."
I snort, we don't know anything and now they know everything, how can that be good.
"We ain't dead Blondie." Pete explains. ""That's always a good start in Peter Perfect's book. An' now, to celebrate, I suggest we go back to your place so I can pretend to let Em thrash me on his X-Box."
Video games bore me into a coma, they require so much attention from the players that no one has any to spare for me. Not even Char, who seems to find it all quite entertaining.
Eventually I feel compelled to act out, Em's leaving for Seattle soon and I don't like to be apart from him and certainly not ignored beforehand.
We've been together so long he senses I'm about to blow before it happens so he tosses the controller suddenly to Char and beckons me upstairs to our room crushing my rigid body in a tight embrace.
I know how it works, to anyone else it would look like shallow Rose having another strop but he and I both know there's more to it than that. He's everything to me and the idea of being parted from him is physically painful. We never talk about it, there's no need.
"You will be careful won't you?" I murmur into his solid chest.
"Of course I will babe, I want to get back to you as soon as possible."
I sigh heavily.
"Come on Rose." He chides me gently. "Out of the two of us the best one to stay here and look out for Bella is you and the best one to go vampire hunting with Char is me."
I nod miserably.
"If you take her out on that bike you'd better take proper care of her babe. I'll be cross if I come back and find her in the hospital."
I snort.
"You know I love you, right?"
I nod briefly.
"Good." He says squeezing me even tighter.
"You're creasing my blouse." I object after a few minutes.
"Sorry babe." He chuckles releasing me and holding me at arm's length.
"You'd better bring me back a present." I warn him.
"Always babe, always."
"Humph."
"Lovebirds!" Pete calls up. "Char's ready to go and ya shouldn't keep a lady waiting.
I snort again.
"I heard that!" Char shouts. "When you can spell Lady Rose, we'll talk about which one of us it applies to."
I laugh. She's got a point. I was taught to walk with a book on my head, she was born with it.
'Be careful' I mouth at Em as head downstairs.
As soon we come into view Pete grabs Char and dips her down for a passionate kiss. I'm not one for PDAs but a laughing Em follows suit as I pummel him uselessly with my fists.
Pete stands beside me as we watch Em and Char melt away into the night.
"So Blondie." He says when they're gone. "J's told me all about Edward's nightly visits to Bella's bedroom, care to show me?"
"No perving." I warn him.
He salutes me theatrically.
I roll my eyes.
And so the weekend begins with us hanging out in the tree opposite Bella's window.
"She's cryin'." He observes.
"Duh."
"Over the Boy Wonder?" He asks incredulously.
"She's very young." I admonish him.
"Ah now." He sighs. "We can't have that. He ain't worth it."
"Humph."
As soon as she shows signs of waking the next morning we make ourselves scarce and I head back to the house to shower and change while Pete keeps an eye on her from afar.
As agreed she arrives late after putting her truck back together.
"Sounds good." I observe as she climbs out.
"I did what you told me." She says quietly, pausing to pat the hood affectionately.
"Also good." I observe dryly, hiding my smile as she rolls her eyes when she thinks I'm not looking.
"What's the plan for today?" She asks.
"We can take the bikes out. Or we can shop. Or we can hang out with Pete."
"I hate shopping." She reminds me, wrinkling her little nose.
"So do I little one." Pete agrees as he emerges from the house. "Borin' in the extreme. However, there's some fun to be had playin' with the humans if you're broad minded."
I hide another smile.
"Um." She says carefully. "If it's all the same to you I don't think I'm as broad minded as you are."
"I should hope not." He gasps in mock surprise. "A girl of your age. The very idea!"
She looks at me questioningly.
"He's corruptus in extremis." I laugh. "But he'll behave if we tell him to."
"Behave." She orders him firmly before breaking out into a huge smile.
"Okay little one. But only cos you asked me to."
"So." I ask. "What do you want to do?"
"Um." She looks down at her feet. God I wish she'd stop doing that.
"What?" I snap. For god's sake child spit it out, the worse that can happen is someone says no. It's not hard.
"Um, if it's alright with you guys I'd like to learn more about vampires?"
I like the question. Information is king. But I'm not so happy about the probable reason for it.
"Okay darlin'." Pete drawls while I fulminate. "Come inside an' I'll tell ya anythin' you wanna know."
With a sigh I follow them. This will either be very good or very bad.
