Chapter 10 BBtW

Jasper acknowledged Sam then turned to Emmett, "Have you been keeping up with your lessons?"

Emmett grinned a big dimpled smile, "I got it down to an art. I don't even have to think about doing it any more. It's automatic, even when he's not about."

Jasper's eyes smiled, "Excellent, you will need it. Don't you think, Bella?"

I looked at him. The stoic man that blended into the background had a sense of humour, who knew, "Is he out of range yet so you can stop talking in riddles?"

A grin cracked onto his face, "Yes, now he is. Edward can only read the surface thoughts. We can train ourselves to keep the surface thoughts generic so our real thought process is hidden. I cracked the technique early living in that household. I have been teaching Emmett while Edward was away on his wild goose chase after Victoria. Now first things first, I didn't get the opportunity to apologise for your birthday."

I quickly put him straight pointing to him then me as I explained my thinking, "Empath and singer, I never blamed you. It's easier now?"

Jasper looked at me, "That is one of the things I wanted to ask, also how are you covering them all? And what's going on with you two?" He looked between Paul and I.

Emmett butted in, "I thought we were stopping the riddles not making them worse? What are you two talking about?"

I laughed, "Shall I explain as I answer Jasper's questions. Firstly my scent, notice anything different?"

Emmett sniffed causing me to laugh at him.

He pouted then said, "I can smell you spend too much time with these guys, their scent is all over you."

Jasper shook his head, "Try again Emmett. The silver wolf stood next to her, his scent is all over her. The Alpha, Sam, his scent is blended with hers as is the lead brown wolf, but there is more. I don't understand."

I tried to keep it simple, "Victoria's attack, blood was spilt on all sides. I was in the middle. I suppose you could call Sam and Jared my blood brothers, along with another wolf." I didn't want to give too much information, but if we are to be allies they needed to know some details.

"That clears that up," Jasper likes solving puzzles!

"Your next question," I looked at Jasper, "still a part of Victoria's attack. They sucked most of the venom out. A human bitten twice by vampires can't be expected to come through unscathed, even if most of the venom is removed. They think the remaining venom was stopped by the wolf blood, but not before it enhanced what I already had."

"Of course, the wolf blood stops it?" Jasper asked.

"From what I can gather, too much will not change us though," I replied following his thought process.

Emmett complained, "Riddles again."

Jasper filled him in, "Bella was bitten by Victoria. Bella having been in that position before got them to suck the venom out. They didn't get it all. She was badly injured and had three injured wolves leaking blood into her wounds. The venom started to work enhancing the block that keeps Edward out of her head. The wolf blood overcame the venom, but the upgrades remained."

"Wow," Emmett looked excited, "So you're like Bella 2.0 now."

"More than you know," I whispered.

Jasper answered his last question himself, "The silver wolf is your mate."

"Imprint is what the wolves call it, but yes, Paul is my Imprint. The intensity of our connection keeps surprising me," I looked at Paul. Our eyes locked as we lost ourselves in each other.

Jasper spoke with reverence, "All the wolves' emotions are muted, as are yours. I think your block extends to partially impede my gift. Sam, he is imprinted too, but his isn't as intense as what you two share."

Paul and I share a secret smile, we have a double imprint.

Sam walked back into the clearing, still wolf, so I acted as the wolf voice, "Is a demonstration forthcoming? We can cover a few more details later."

Jasper nodded and gave Emmett a flurry of instructions. Jasper gave a running commentary as Emmett did a stream of obvious, straight forward attacks. Jasper evaded without breaking his speech.

Jared and Paul went to mock defend against Emmett and Jasper. Sam and I watched, I made suggestions for improvement and gave support.

I got Sam's attention, "Our turn?"

Sam agreed with a nod of his head.

Jared turned and trotted to the forest, waiting at the edge. I think Sam asked him to take over as the voice for us.

Emmett looked confused, but Jasper appeared more intrigued. I jogged back into the trees. I threw my dress over a tree branch ready for later before I phased.

Jared waited in wolf form to give me his impression of the training. Paul waited for Jared to finish then he ran through his version. Sam and I completed the set with our viewpoints as observers. We all learnt from the varied views of the experience.

As I stepped back into the clearing, Jasper's laugh came out more like a yelp of shock, "Well that answers many of my questions, but throws up far more in their place."

Jared entered the forest as I exited. He walked back into the clearing smirking, "You can understand why she thought your 'brother' may not be ready for all the details yet. Don't underestimate her!"

Emmett's eyes were bugging out, "It's not...it can't be. It's just a different wolf. Bella couldn't...could she?"

Jasper just shook his head at him, "I can tell from her emotional climate, but her scent gives her away too."

I kept in mind rule number one, don't let them get their arms around you. Good advice when you haven't even got arms! I mentally reviewed the others' sparring session. I have some ideas on how to use my wolf's strengths in slightly different ways to the techniques tried so far.

I tilted my head then looked at each Vampire.

Emmett was visibly flustered, "I'm not sure I can. Can I please take on Sam instead."

I barked a laugh as I walked towards Jasper.

I think Jasper was tasting my emotions, "You are sure," I nodded, "I'll start with a simple charge and work up from there."

He didn't even start at full speed, I had him knocked over and my jaws at his neck in seconds. I gave him my hardest stare, Paddington has nothing on me!

"Okay, I won't hold back. You made your point, well points. You know those teeth of yours are sharp," Jasper rubbed his neck as he stood, "Thank you for not biting down. I have more than enough scars already!"

Training went well. We kept to mock attacks, never breaking the skin or taking it too far. I think it was good to have the opportunity to test our skills in a more realistic setting. I know I learned a huge amount already.

Emmett and Sam stopped to watch Jasper and I. Jasper increased the complexities of his attacks as I became more proficient at overcoming him. Emmett stood laughing as Jasper yielded again.

Jasper grumbled at him, "She might be smaller than the others, but she is faster and more devious. The techniques to fight wolves are very different to those I am used to . You can laugh all you want, but it will be your turn soon."

I wanted to try to deal with two on one as Paul was coping well with seeing me fight. Seeing my thoughts as I fight gave him confidence that I was not only fine, but enjoying myself. Paul and Sam agreed to my idea. Sam looked directly at Jared then flicked his snout to the woods and Jared ran into the woods to quickly phase. Sam quickly used the link to let Jared know the plan. Jared came back in human form to put my suggestion to Emmett and Jasper.

Jasper advised that we started slow, increasing the speed as we got used to the logistics. Emmett was by far the easiest opponent to deal with, Jasper was a trickier prospect, by far.

Jasper and I got a bit too involved with the fighting causing Emmett to scream as Jasper tried to use him as a projectile weapon against me.

Jared yelled, "Let's call it a night?"

Jasper laughed a full belly laugh, "Good idea, before Bella kills us both."

I glared at him, then turned to the woods to phase, Sam phased back at the same time. Paul stayed wolf so we could remain in contact with the others in case of emergency.

Sam directed his first question to Jasper, "I was under the impression Carlisle is your coven leader, yet you seem to have taken the lead?"

Jasper nodded, "You are correct. By vampire standards we are an unusual coven, not only for our choice of food. Carlisle is our ambassador, he will always try to broker a peaceful solution. My background is more military related. Carlisle's opinion of myself and my past is very low and my continued presence with them is only tolerated due to Alice claiming I am her mate. I am not, but the Cullen's don't know the difference. I'm only given the 'dirty' jobs when Carlisle's approach has been exhausted or is unatainable. To be honest I'm surprised he didn't put up more of a fuss. I think your verbal support is the only reason."

The rest of the night was spent talking. I learnt more about them about vampires in general than I learnt in all my months with Edward. I came to the impression that Emmett also learned more than he had been previously aware of. It would seem that Carlisle did not tell the others about the darker, not so pleasant side of vampirism.

We explained that the initial phase was due to vampires in the immediate vicinity, not preemptive. They had no idea when they returned that they would trigger the change. Jasper was determined to make some form of restitution. We agreed to disagree on that one!

We went on to discuss our personal histories. Jasper's history was an eye opener. When the subject moved onto tactics, Paul and Jared switched. Jared went wolf and Paul came back on two legs. Sam may be the leader, but Paul has the most stratagem. Jasper and Paul went off into a world of their own as the rest of us covered more mundane topics.

The breaking dawn broke up our little group. Jasper and Emmett confirmed that the Cullen's would scout further afield to try and find where Victoria was based. We would be continuing with round the clock patrols, but staying closer to home.

Emmett laughed and said, "I suppose you are off to bed now, before Charlie catches on to your extracurricular activities."

"No Emmett. I go home, shower and change, I'll have breakfast with Charlie hoping he didn't notice my empty bed then I get to go to school. Most of us haven't graduated yet. We all have to skip some school, but only while we are on patrol. We have study groups between patrols. All the wolves help each other to get through school. I also work a few shifts every week at the hospital and diner for some money. We sneak a few hours sleep in when we can. Then we start again," I told him.

He frowned, "But that's not right."

"What choice do we have? Ironic isn't it, school children, the first and last line of defence for two communities. If we can get rid of Victoria we can tone it back, but this is our lives now. Parents thinking some of us are delinquents, others don't even notice. Sam worked hard to get out of here, to get an education and a better life. He lost those options when he phased. He had to give up his scholarship to stay here to defend us. Sam is only one of the two wolves out of high school. He gets a small stipend from the Council, but that hardly covers the food bill. The clothes and shoes that get shredded when we phase in anger is another cost we have to cope with. Wolves have a higher metabolism so we need far more food. Not all the parents are willing or able to feed the bottomless pits we have become. We are all trying to do the right thing, but it's not easy," I walked back towards the forest.

I called over my shoulder a quick farewell which was reciprocated.

Paul broached the subject as we ran back to the group, "Do you feel like you had your choices for a better life taken away when you phased?"

I could feel his worry that he was somehow holding me back, "I love being a wolf. My dearest wish has always been to have a big family and friends that would stick by me, support me, let me support them. I get that and more with the pack. We shouldn't have to give up on an education just because it is no longer straightforward. I won't let us accept a hand to mouth existence. We may have had our traditional path of improvement removed from our options, but we can and will come up with is going to come a day where we are going to have to work to support families and working a few hours here and there is not going to feed children. So I want to do what I can to help us all get a full education so that we can make something of ourselves, other than being wolves. I dont want that to be the defining thing about us all."

I felt I need to explain why I said so much to Emmett, "The Cullen's may not have known they would have such an impact on us, but they need to see what their presence caused. My one hope is that with knowing what they know now, they will never settle here again. If telling them what I did saves future generations from having to phase then it will be worth it. Maybe we should allow them to make some restitution. A college fund wouldn't go amiss. I want our children to have an education in their future. I want to lead by example, not failed dreams. I want to bring the benefits of a higher education back to our communities. A better future for all of us, our families, older and younger generations."

Paul's thoughts swirled through the future of us together. Children, grandchildren, loads of wolf gatherings that grew as our families did. Sam and the others all went to similar lines of thought.

Sam spoke with reverence, "That's a future worth fighting for. That's what I intend working towards."

Everyone had their own take on possible futures, but just the idea of a future like that had us all hoping we could make it happen.

A/N Thanks to XxJasper'sAngelxX for giving my words a polish. It's reads so much better thanks to her help.

:)-J