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Chapter Nine
Cullens
(Embry's P.O.V.)
I ran as fast as I could but I wasn't fast enough. She was across the treaty line before anyone could stop her. How was a human so fast? Leah came back before me, I ran in to see her shouting at Paul. She was in his face waving her hands around. "HOW COULD YOU BE SUCH AN IDIOT? HER MOM DIED A WEEK AGO AND YOU WANTED TO SEE HER IN A BRA? YOU'RE SUCH A SELFISH VULGAR BASTARD!" Another slap echoed through the air, reapplying the hand print as it had already faded away.
I walked between them and broke up the fight. I winced at what I was about to say. "We need to call Carlisle. She can't be alone all night and we can't cross the treaty line." I looked out the window and realized that it was getting late, the sun would set soon.
Everyone frowned, no one liked to involve the Cullens. Sam ran in, he had heard Leah howl. She turned to him, "Paul hurt Anna and now she is across the treaty line in pain. We need to call the Cullens. What if she gets hurt? You know what would happen."
Leah had noticed the exact moment when I imprinted. When we got back to La Push she had told Sam what was going on. I could feel through the imprint that she was in pain. "Sam, I will cross the treaty line if I have to." I told him. "She's in pain, you understand what I mean."
He glared at Paul. "Couldn't you shut up, just for once?"
"I didn't know she would freak out." he pleaded. "How could I have known?"
Sam ignored him and looked at Jacob, "Call Carlisle."
Jacob pulled out his phone and dialed the number. I could faintly hear what Carlisle said, even through the phone.
The vampire answered immediately. "Hello?"
Jacob began to speak, quickly. "Carlisle?"
The vampire sounded surprised to get a call from them. "Yes. What is it?"
Jacob sighed, shooting a glare at Paul, before continuing. "We have a problem."
Carlisle, the ever helpful vampire, caught on quickly. "Do you need our help?"
Jacob's mouth depressed into a thin line. "Yes, we need you to either let us cross the line or find someone for us."
I very much doubted he would let us cross the treaty line, even after we had helped them countless times. "Who is it?"
Jacob apparently realized this as well, "Her name is Anna, she's Embry's imprint."
As always, the vampire couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"
Jacob's answer was brief. "Paul."
Carlisle asked nothing more, as if that explained it all. "We'll take care of her."
Jacob hung up the phone and turned to Sam. "They say they'll take care of her." I scowled at the ground and paced. Paul always had to screw things up.
Anna's P.O.V.
Why did it all have to hurt so bad? Couldn't he leave me alone? In reality I knew that he wasn't there, but that didn't keep him out of my mind. His claws raked through my mind like knives, like he was trying to kill me from the inside out. A leaf crunched in front of me, I looked up, my watery eyes making everything blurred.
At first I was terrified, the man had the same white skin that the man in my nightmares had. A small scream escaped my throat. I jumped then backed as far into the tree as possible. "L-leave me alone." I said in a shaking voice, is this real? Where my nightmares coming alive to haunt me?
The man knelt down, he held out his hand. "It's okay," he said. "I won't hurt you." I looked at his face, then I relaxed it wasn't my father's morphed face. It was a stranger, a very beautiful (slightly old) stranger. He beckoned for me to take his hand "I'll take you home."
I stared at him. Why would someone help me, a broken, scarred nobody? "W-who are you?" I asked, shivering with the cold, how had I not noticed? "Why would you help me? Why are you here?"
"My name is Carlisle," he said, beckoning with his head. "I'm here because Embry sent me."
"Embry?" I asked, stupidly staring at him. Slowly, I reached out my hand towards the man. Why would Embry want me? I'm broken inside.
He gently pulled me to my feet, then led me away from where I had come. It was dark now, I could barely see my feet. He led me to a house, blazing with lights. I blinked my eyes at the sudden brightness. The sweet smell was especially strong here, what was it?
He walked up the steps and opened the door for me, numbly, I followed. Inside was a small group of people, all with the same white skin as the man in my nightmare. There were three women and three men.
The smallest woman was barely five feet two. Her hair was spiked in a short urban style. The second woman was painfully beautiful, she had gold hair that oddly matched her gold eyes. I blinked, they all had golden eyes. The other woman was older, with brown hair and the same golden eyes. She walked forward to me and gave me a hug, shocked, I remained perfectly still.
She released me and introduced herself, "Hi sweetie, I'm Esme."
I nodded, holding my expression still even though I felt like curling up in agony again. Esme acted just like my mother. Instead replied, "I'm Anna."
She looked me up and down, "You probably want some clothes." She said, turning to the short girl. "Alice, could you help her?" She jumped up and nodded. Grabbing my hand with her cold fingers she skipped up the stairs, dragging me along with her. She stopped at the top and looked me over. "I'd say you're about Rosalie's size."
She dragged me into an enormous closet, filled wall to wall with clothes. She picked out an expensive looking shirt and a pair of nice black slacks. She tried to hand them to me but I stepped back, shaking my head. "I can't wear these, they look brand new." I protested. "I'm fine with what I'm in."
She gave me a look and started rummaging through more clothing racks. She pulled out a pair of normal blue jeans and a normal gray tee-shirt. "Will you at least wear these?" she said with her voice that sounded like bells. "Rosalie won't even wear them because she says they're old."
I sighed; she wouldn't leave me alone until I took the clothes. "Okay," I sighed. She jumped up and skipped over. Pushing the clothes into my hands she skipped out of the room.
"I'll be outside while you change." she told me brightly. I watched her skip out and close the door. I turned around and started putting on the new clothes. I winced as I saw the price tags, I would never be able to pay this back. I heard laughing downstairs, it brought tears to my eyes. These people had a perfect family, I couldn't even keep my horrible one. I heard a click, it took me a moment to realize that it was the door.
I whirled around, my eyes overfull. Alice stood in the doorway, her eyes wide. "I'm sorry, I thought you were finished. I was just gonna bring you a dry pair of socks." She set the socks on the shelf and then backed out of the room. I stared at the door she had closed. Could she have seen my scars? It seemed like everyone here knew about it. Couldn't my past stay in my past?
Edward's P.O.V.
Her thoughts burned with unspeakable agony. Jasper couldn't even stand to be in the same room. He had fled across the river as soon as she was upstairs. She was trapped in her past, something terrible had happened. Her own father had done something terrible. He had scarred her physically and emotionally. He had broken her.
I had seen what she had looked like when Carlisle had found her. Her eyes had been bloodshot with her tears. She couldn't even see him, then something about him made her terrified. Did she know we were vampires? I listened to her thoughts, Embry, broken, irreparable,at first I could only hear her basic thoughts, then I could hear something underneath.
I'll see you later,images floated around her mind, a man's face, her father, then a woman, dead. Agony sheered through her mind, she became lost in a memory. She was running from something but it caught her, fire spread up her back as she fell forward, crying out.
I couldn't take it anymore, I focused on someone else instead. Rosalie and Emmet were oblivious, Esme was worried but didn't quite understand what Anna had problems with. Carlisle and Alice were worried. Then an explosion of anguish raked through my mind, it came from Anna. How could one person feel so much pain without crumbling to pieces?
But she was crumbling, she was terrified of her past. It would invade her mind if she didn't force it at bay, and she wasn't strong enough to keep it away all the time. She was slowly wearing down. I searched back into her head. Had she seen them? Alice's face flashed through her mind. Why can't my past stay in the past? Why does it have to follow me? Alice flashed through her mind again. Did she see?
I pulled out of her mind and focused on Alice. An image burned brightly in her mind, a flower almost, made of eight circles coming together at one point, but the lines were scars, not very recent scars. She's marked, but to be what? Even I had no answer for her.
