Chapter 9: Embry

(A/N) Did all of you get my author's note from before? DON'T SKIP ANYTHING WITH THE PUPPIES IN IT! IT'S TRÉS IMPORTANTE! Got that? Good. Now read on. Uh… for anyone who missed it, the word that has a random accent is a French word meaning very. And uh… it initially had a random lowercase letter é in it because the computer I was using at the time wouldn't give me a capital letter with the right accent, so yeah… it's lowercase. Anyone here speak French besides RoryAceHayden147, who I'm gonna thank for chatting with me and inspiring me to continue this… and of course I hafta thank Cae again. Thx to both of ya! Now read on. Do not skip. Fair warning. 3

Sunday afternoon took forever to come around and I was even more curious than before to find out what Embry meant when he said he could help me. I try to take my time as I get in my truck so I won't fall and hurt myself. The suspense is killing me as I start the engine, pull out of the driveway, and rush in the direction of the reservation. Embry had told me he needed to work things out with people. Who did he need to talk to? Why is it relevant to my problem? Will they be there or will we be alone? The questions keep building up, so I'm excited when I finally get to the reservation and walk down to the beach where Embry said he'd meet me.

I follow his instructions and walk along the shoreline until I'm far enough to see the edge of the woods. Stopping for a second, I look around for the path I was supposed to be looking for. I take a few steps closer to the woods hoping that maybe I'd find the path somewhere near it. It's not until I'm close enough to touch the first tree lining the edge of the beach and look around that I realize I'm probably lost. I turn around, hoping to see Embry or Jacob or someone I know coming up to me to help me, but no one's there.

Just as I'm about to walk back down the beach again, I feel a hand on my shoulder and scream as I turn around in shock. Embry is standing there grinning at me as I clutch my heart to prevent it from leaping out of my chest.

"Embry," I say as soon as I catch my breath, "How –?"

"Jake warned me about your tendency to get lost," he cuts me off with a slight laugh, "So, I calculated that you'd end up just short of a mile from where I told you to meet me. Come on."

He extends his hand to me and I just stare at him for a moment before realizing there are a lot of things I might trip on and reluctantly grab his warm hand. It's too warm, almost burning, but it feels nice against my chilled hand in comparison. We start walking and I can't help but feel sort of curious and impatient to know what he was talking about helping me with getting rid of vampires and working things out with some people first. I'm trying to hold back all my questions, but I can't help myself when I ask the first question that pops into my head.

"How do you know about vampires?" I question, looking curiously at him.

He looks at me as if considering his answer. "Not here, okay?" he tells me quietly, "If you'll give me a minute, I'll show you."

I look around in confusion as I try to avoid tripping over the rocks and pieces of driftwood. "There's no one else here… no one is going to hear us talking about it," I try to protest, but he just shakes his head at me, "Why can't you tell me now?"

Embry sighs deeply, looking straight ahead into the distance. "We're not there yet," he explains seriously, so I give up my argument and continue walking. Thinking it over to myself, I realize I have another important question. "Who did you need to talk with before you came to meet me?" I ask him, hoping he'll answer me.

Embry waits a while as we walk before finding it safe to answer. "I needed to talk with my… well, we're sort of like a pack really. I kind of told them about what you said, but they know everything I know and I knew they wanted to help you get rid of those vampires," he assures me just as I was about to yell at him for telling anyone else, "I know you probably didn't want me to, but you need to understand that this is what we do. We get rid of those… bloodsuckers."

I'm more interested in this conversation now. So, there is a group of people who get rid of vampires and I didn't know about it? "I'd like to meet these people," I tell him confidently. Anyone who has a reason to hate the vampires is a potential ally well worth getting to know.

"Well, you're close to it," Embry mutters as we get seemingly closer to wherever we are heading.

Before I can even begin to ask him any of my remaining but quickly multiplying questions, I realize I would probably find out more just by waiting rather than prodding for more of his ever-so-evasive answers. Some things are better left unsaid, I figured to myself, knowing full well that a picture was definitely worth a thousand words.

After a while of watching my feet, I can tell we had just arrived because Embry stiffens only slightly and I bravely let go of his hand. Taking a few steps closer to the trees, I take a moment to look at my surroundings. I start to wander along the path leading into the woods, Embry following at a close distance, curious as to what secrets might be hiding here and just as I reach a particularly thick patch of trees, I notice something I almost wish I hadn't. In front of me is a large pair of eyes attached to an even larger furry black body… and I scream.

"There's a m-monster in the woods!" I yell, hiding behind Embry for protection, "A large furry black monster. Don't let it eat me."

The muscled boy did the last thing I expected him to do – he laughs. I'm quivering in fear and he just laughs? What help is that supposed to offer? Silently, I wonder if he really did believe me after all or if he'd brought me here as a prank.

"That's no monster, Bella." He does his best not to laugh too hard. "That's Sam."

"You named it?" I quiz, finding it hard to believe that thing was his pet, "So, I suppose Jake and Quil are in on this, too, then… or are you going to take all the credit?"

I can not believe him. Okay, so I can partially believe he'd be so cruel as to mock me like this, though I suppose it's my fault for falling for it.

"Well, giving credit where credit is due, that was quite an amusing show you just put on," Embry admits before getting serious again, "This is my pack and Sam is our leader."

Part of me has a feeling he isn't kidding as I look around at the other pairs of eyes belonging to large furry masses of all colors hiding in the shadows around me.

"Pack?" was the only word that escaped my lips, which I'm pretty sure were quivering by now because for a moment I start to think he's teamed up with those filthy leaches to get rid of me.

And just as I was expecting a large group of teeth-bearing canines ready to rip apart my flesh, the last thing I expected emerges from the thick black of the woods in front of me – a group of shirtless guys. Now, I'm really starting to worry.

The tallest man of their group approaches me and I try hard not to be intimidated by him. "I have heard much about you and your predicament, Bella Swan," he says, "I am Sam Uley and these are the others of our pack."

A quick exchange of names passes around and I try to commit them to memory in case the need should arise that I have to recall any of them off the top of my head.

"We are what you call werewolves; the protectors of humankind; the natural enemies of vampires," Sam went on to say and the others stay quiet out of respect, "We are the only ones able to destroy them… and we hear you need our help."

"Uh, yeah…" I tell them as casually as I can, while subtly guarding myself in case they attack, "My mom and step-dad were killed by a pair of vampires. They would have gotten me, too, but… my dad came in and scared them off." That still doesn't make sense to me, but luckily they don't ask.

"Do you remember what they look like?" he questions hopefully, "If they are in the area, we might be able to spot hem."

"Of course. How could I forget?" I reply before telling them what I remember.

Sam nods and lets out a decisive sigh. "Then, we'll keep an eye out for them. If they cross over onto our territory, we'll deal with them."

The others nod in agreement, reminding me of those gangs in old movies. My thoughts trail back to the events after school and I notice Sam giving me this strange look.

"Is there anything else on your mind?"

It's like he's reading my thoughts… or my facial expression – I'm probably thatobvious. "Yeah, do you know anything about the Cullens?"

(A/N 2) BOO YA! I finally flipping finished this chappie! *does a happy dance* Stupid writer's block! Curses! But to the readers – if any still remain – thanks for putting up with me for a year. It really means a lot and I'm so so so so so so so so so so (you get the idea) so so so so SORRY for not updating in forever! This chappie was prob really lame, but hey… that's the best I can do for a year of incredibly irksome writer's block. But I must thank Cae – Clumsybird92 (previously known as TrippingAngel390623) – and my new buddy on here lorey888(?). Thanks loads you two for poking me to get this done! *uber huggles*

And I owe the rest of you who stuck this through an uber fruit basket! *hands one out to each person who is still reading this* Hopefully I'll have more for you within a week. But if not, please bare with me - *hides for shame* - I will try to update much more frequently to make up for all that stupid lost time. If anyone has any suggestions, they'd be greatly appreciated. And I'm actually expecting a couple ppl to yell at me for being so slow with this. Again I'm REALLY sorry! Please forgive me. I'm a terrible person. I'm so bad. *slaps own wrists* Alrighty… so I'll try to have more for you soon.

I may be losing my gusto for this story actually – I'll probably drop it soon if I can't force myself to keep going – so any inspiration you can give me will be greatly appreciated and I'll of course give you credit for saving my arse on this one. XD

'Til next time then. *waves*

EDIT:

So, you know the drill by now. My edits are the same: I fixed formatting and grammatical errors, also added a tweaked some words in the narration where it fit.

Now, I'm really sorry to say this, but I think I have lost my gusto for this story. I know a lot of you want me to continue with it and I really HATE to drop a story, but… I can't think of anything. I really just don't know if I can do this anymore. I'm bored of it… and I really want to finish it. Believe me, I do because I have so many great ideas for how it ends and the parts leading up to it… but it's all the transitioning in between that I just don't think I can manage to brainstorm for. And I don't want to do a half-arsed job of it… because I want to be able to do my best work, but…

I don't know. If anyone still cares about this story, please do let me know and offer me a few suggestions on how to continue this. Please?

I have two options right now for the next chapter:

1) I can actually go through a detailed telling of the story of the Cullens in a conversation with Bella and the 'puppies'

or

2) I can just skip to when Bella's driving home and have her reflecting on what she's learned.

Which would be more fun for you to read? That'd be a start to help me get back into the swing of things… alright? Please give me a hand here? Otherwise, I'm sorry… but I don't know if I can do it any longer. =( It's been so long and I hate to drop this. I still kinda like this story. Thanks so much for the reviews, the alerts, and the faves… It really means a lot that I have your support. I'm eternally grateful. But I'm not sure how many people are still interested in this. Remember I accept PMs and anonymous reviews, too, if you feel like leaving me a message on the chapter that way. I'd love to hear from you.

Don't worry. I don't bite. I'm a good puppy. ;)

Original Post: 5/25/10

Revised: 10/28/11

Reposted: 10/30/11