Chapter Ten
Jacob POV
Sam was exceptionally proud of the fact that we had successfully destroyed one of the vampires. He was very confident that we would get the other in no time. Apparantly the male had gone to the cabin but escaped through the cracks of our plan as the pack took down his mate. Seth and Leah took off after him, chasing him through the woods into Forks. They phased and quickly pulled on something to cover themselves as they entered the town. But in human form, they were not quick enough. They could only follow the male up near Charlie's house where he sped up, dissappearing into the darkness.
For the next couple of days, I kept a watchful eye on Cady. I stood guard outside her home at night while she slept. The sounds of classical music could be heard coming from her bedroom. When she needed to leave, I was her escort. Mostly, she stayed with me at Billy's or Sam's place. She didn't seem to mind. Though, her friends began calling, looking for her. They were all too curious about her new friends, especially me. Sam thought it was better for her to be near the pack, safer. I couldn't agree more.
It was wednesday night and the entire pack was crammed into Sam and Emily's kitchen enjoying one of Emily's homecooked meals. Cady sat squished between Embry and me, her cheeks flushed. I couldn't understand why. She had been loosening up around us, laughing with us. I gazed at her questioningly.
"Are you alright?" She seemed surprised.
"Yes," she said with a small laugh. "It's just so warm between the two of you. How do you stand it?" I chuckled, watching her raise a hand to brush her moist forehead. Embry and I both scooted as far as we could away from her and it was not very far. She had an inch, maybe two, on either side of her. Emily sat across from us, smiling warmly, the good side of her face radiant. Nothing pleased her more than having a big happy family.
Everyone was extremely calm. It was almost shocking.
Leah sat with Quil, taking bets on who could beat the other at arm wrestling. Apparantly, she'd taken my compliment to heart. I laughed at that. Jared, Paul and Sam were discussing cars. Jared was thinking of buying himself a new car. Paul thought the idea was idiotic. He tried to pursuade his friend to get a used vehicle, rather than spending all the extra money on a new one. Sam agreed with Paul. I looked over at Seth who was telling Emily a story I'd already heard. Emily listened politely, obviously having not heard this tale before. Cady laughed as Embry told her joke after joke.
"...and so the girl says, 'I was at a roller disco!'" Cady laughed so hard at this joke that she nearly fell out of her chair. I quickly wrapped my arm around her to steady her. She was still shaking in laughter, wiping tears from her eyes when Embry started with another. It put me more at ease, I suppose, to see her so happy. At least she wasn't as worried as I was, though I tried to hide it. I couldn't get past the idea of knowing that that leech was on the lookout for her. It scared me. I ate my spagetti in silence, occasionally smiling at Cady's angelic laughter.
Paul's conversation was getting louder. Pushing my half empty plate away from me, I focused my attention on their side of the table.
"Don't you want something that's good on gas?" Sam asked, leaning on his elbow. Jared shrugged.
"I just want something I can ride through the mountains with. You know, an off-road vehicle," he said. Paul glared at him.
"You don't need a vehicle to go through the mountains, idiot."
"I do if I want to bring Kim with me," Jared remarked, eyeing Paul closely.
"So, get a Jeep or something," Seth suddenly said. Apparantly his story was over and he was out of things to say. He too had been listening in to this conversation.
"That would be cool," Jared thought to himself. "Or a motorcycle."
"Sam, don't you get an auto magazine in the mail every week?" Seth asked from across the table. Sam turned, thoughtful, and nodded. Seth stood abruptly, trotting to the door. "I'll go get it from the mailbox. Jared you should see this one bike. It would be perfect and it is used." He threw open the door and ducked out it, closing it with a snap behind him.
"What if you just got an old Ranger or something? That way you can take us along, too," Paul said with a laugh, elbowing Jared in the ribs.
"A friend of mine used to have a Ranger and it was pretty reliable," Sam said with a sigh, stretching his arms back behind his head. I distinctly heard the joints crack from the movement.
"I could build you a car, Jared. What do you think about that?" I asked with a grin. "Except I'd need parts."
"Are you kidding? That would call for big bucks. He ain't got that kind of dough," Paul remarked. Cady snorted beside me, still in conversation with Embry. It caught my attention so I looked over to see her laughing openly.
"Have you head his joke about the nun and the vampire, Jacob?" she asked me, smiling widely. I shrugged my broad shoulders, absentmindedly wrapping an arm around her waist. She snuggled closer.
"I think I've heard them all, yeah," I said with a smile. "I got one. What do you call a vampire's pet dog?" Cady stared at me questionly, thinking for a moment.
"Um...Fang?" she guessed. Her answer only widened my smile.
"No, Cady. A blood-hound." She giggled, realization taking place in her eyes. Embry grunted.
"That was lame," he voiced with a slight laugh. I shrugged my shoulders.
"It's all I've got."
Suddenly, the front door was thrown open and Seth appeared in the doorway. His face was contorted in surprise. His expression nearly stopped my heart when I saw it.
"We've got visitors," he exclaimed.
"Visitors? As in more than one?" I asked, pulling Cady even closer to me. Her grin had dissappeared.
"Yes and it was familiar. I recognized the scent right away," Seth said, his forehead creased.
"Who is it and how close are they?" Sam asked.
"They're in the forest, just outside of La Push but the scent was strong enough for me to catch it out by the road."
"Who is it?" I repeated Sam's question. Seth gazed at me, his expression contorted in confusion, digust, and worry. I didn't know what to expect.
"I...I think it's the Cullens," he said. Well, I wasn't expecting that! My heart shot up into my throat momentarily before dropping down into my stomache. The Cullens. Why had they returned? I thought I was done with them forever. Cady looked around the table in confusion before turning to stare up at me.
"Cullens?" she asked, eyeing me closely.
"They're a family of vampires that used to live around here," Embry answered for me. Her entire body stiffened.
"More vampires?"
"Why are they back here?" I asked, turning to Sam as if he knew the answer. He shrugged, rising to his feet.
"Let's go find out," he ordered. Quil and Leah were the first to their feet, followed my Paul and Jared, then Embry and me. Cady still sat, her eyes dark. I took her hand gently, pulling her up into a standing position.
"I won't let anything hurt you," I promised, holding her tight as we followed the pack out of the small house. Emily decided to stay behind. She wasn't as comfortable around the bloodsuckers as the rest of us. Part of me knew that I should have let Cady stay with her but thoughts of the male vampire came to mind. Better she stayed with me.
We walked across the front lawn and made our way down the street, a group of what looked to be rebellious teenagers or possibly a gang. If only they knew the truth of what we really were. What then? It took us less than five minutes to make it to the La Push boundaries. Sam led the way, walking along the territory line. The scent was definately familiar and it was coming from the forest. Of course they would be hiding in the woods. The day had been sunny and still was. They couldn't risk exposure. We trecked into the protection of the trees, keeping our eyes peeled. Cady pressed herself up against me in fear. Her head was constantly turning, wondering from which direction the danger would be coming from.
And then I saw them, two white marble creatures standing in the gloom. Sam took another step closer before pausing. The pack spread out around him, making a half-circle around the two vampires. Of course, I recognized them both. One was Edward, standing perfectly still. His face was twisted into a slight grimace. He stood, flawlessly, beside none other than Bella. She stared at me before smiling, her eyes shifting to Cady in interest. In response, Cady sank closer to me, her luminous orbs staring unblinkingly at the pair. Bella didn't hesitate to take another step towards us. Edward reached out to hold her back but she was out of his reach in one fluid movement. He sighed before mirroring her action, moving to her side. Sam moved forward as well, one stride ahead of the pack who didn't flinch. I couldn't help but to place myself and Cady beside our leader. We now stood less than two feet before the two vampires.
"Hello," Edward said with a polite smile, his golden eyes raking over Sam and me before resting on Cady. I noticed my angel was staring open mouthed at the pair. Her brows slightly furrowed in confusion.
"Hi," Bella breathed, leaning forward slightly as she said it. Cady inhaled deeply, taking in their smell. I'd forgotten how they smelled differently to humans. It put a grimace on my face for they stunk horribly to me. My nose burned.
"It's a surprise to see you around here again, Edward...Bella," Sam said, unsmiling.
"We have much to talk about," Edward replied, his eyes flicking to meet Sam's. "I understand there have been some other vampires coming around here lately."
"Yes, two of them," I told them, squeezing Cady closer to me despite the fact that she was already pressed tightly against my side.
"Well, we heard you'd killed one of them, a female," Edward said, looking only at me. Bella's eyes never left Cady. She never said a word, only stared.
"The female was in Cady's house ready to attack. We cornered her and killed her but not before her mate could escape," Sam said.
"Good move," Edward grunted with a grimace.
"What's it to you?" I spat.
"Thanks to that little stunt, the male went back to their little coven which is, in all actuality, not so little and told the others. She was kind of their leader and a pretty good one, too."
"So?"
"So, they're wanting revenge, obviously," he stated every word loud and clear, his eyebrows pulled together.
"We were protecting our pack, our land!" I exclaimed. "She had it coming"
"I'm not saying she didn't. We were passing through their village just to check things out and we heard the news. Of course, Bella's been frantic," he said, glancing at his wife. She shook her head, finally swiveling her gaze over to meet mine.
"Charlie isn't safe, now, Jake," she said, her golden eyes burning.
"There was nothing we could do. We had to act," Sam told the two of them, his voice dripping with authority. The pair of vampires stood before us, locking eyes with the two of us.
"Well, they're coming. In days," Edward replied, stressing the last part.
"So, why are you here? Don't you want to evade this sort of thing?" I asked him. He shook his head as Bella spoke up.
"I couldn' t live with myself if I knew Charlie was unknowingly so close to danger." She glared down at the dirt at her feet, thoughtful.
"We brought help," Edward added, jabbing a thumb behind him just as four more ghostly white creatures stepped out of nowhere. The pack was restless for a second, none had been paying close enough attention to notice them approaching. Out of the gloom came first the big guy. He was so easy to see that you'd have to be blind not to notice him. He strode forward, planting himself to Edward's right. Next came his stunningly beautiful mate. She floated across the ground gracefully. Her topaz eyes were filled with malice as she stared us down. She was there only for her brother and her mate. My eyes shifted to the next approaching creature. I felt his presence before I saw him. That all-too-familiar calmness that was also slightly annoying. Cady must have felt it to for I felt her muscles relax. She craned her neck to look through the dimness at the approaching creature. The blond Cullen stood behind Edward, his eyes rolling over all our faces. He paused momentarily on Cady, a look of mild surprise on his face, before continuing on to look at Quil, Embry, Paul...The litte pixie-like vampire danced forward with no hesitation. She had a knowing smile playing on her lips as she maneuvered her way to the front to stand before me. She looked up at me with those sparkling onyx eyes.
"Hello again," she said. "Long time, no see." She shifted her gaze to Cady, taking a step in her direction. I felt myself stiffen slightly.
"Hello there. I'm alice," she chirped in that light voice, sticking out her tiny hand for Cady to shake. When she did, I heard the sudden intake of breathe, not only from Cady but from myself as well. She now understood what I meant when I'd said icy cold and like marble. Alice took a step back, her smile still in place.
"You all are here to help us?" Sam asked, his brow raised. Rosalie grimaced, Emmett chuckled, Jasper sighed, Alice grinned, and Edward shrugged. Bella only stared at me.
"Well, we're kind of helping ourselves as well," Edward said. I didn't understand what he meant but I wasn't going to ask. If an army of bloodsuckers was coming to town, I wasn't going to pass up free help. The blond vampire cleared his throat loudly, taking a step forward.
"So, let's get down to business. We need to be ready," he said smoothly, gazing at Sam in determination. This was good. Now we had a chance. And we knew what was coming. What would have happened had those leeches caught us off guard? For once, I was thankful that the Cullens had shown up when they did. With Edward and Bella's mind reading, Jasper's ability to change emotions, and Alice's precognition, we were sure to have an upper hand. We even had that big guy for strength. Rosalie, the breathtaking beauty, stood back with her arms crossed. I wondered why she had even bothered to come. When I looked at Bella, I noticed she was smiling at her, a knowing expression on her face. It made me think of something..."Among other things," she had said in the meadow weeks before when I'd asked her about her ability. What else could she do? Did she have more powers that I was unaware of? She still smiled at the blond before turning back to gaze at Edward with more love than I thought humanly possible...Oh, wait...She wasn't human...and that didn't bother me anymore. I didn't care. I smiled down at Cady, confident that we would win this.
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