Apologies, I was traveling last week and couldn't make my second post of the week. As a piece offering, I give you a nice long read! I'm back on the regular posting schedule now. Don't forget to let me know what you thought!
Chapter 10: Reading the Legends
"So that's what happened," Sam finishes anticlimactically. He tells his story with such detachment that, if I didn't know better, I'd think turning into a wolf was a piece of cake. In his story to Billy, Sam doesn't include any of the heartbreaking hunger and sadness, the fights with animals over turf or the despair of thinking he'd never be human again. I think it's a disservice to his struggle and his triumph by not explaining the difficulties he faced, but Sam sees it as concealing his weaknesses.
Billy remains silent, and I grow increasingly impatient to hear his reaction. I open my mouth to prompt Billy to say something, anything, but Sam shakes his head at me. Rolling my eyes, I refrain from badgering him, and instead begin anxiously tapping on the table. Now it's Sam's turn to roll his eyes, but what do you expect? I don't have the patience of a snail.
"Bella, please," Billy says pointedly at my hands.
"Sorry," I mumble and stop tapping. "Won't you say something?"
"Yes, I will. And I'll say it now, since someone can't seem to sit still." He gives me the side eye with a heavy dose of sarcasm, but what do I care? The tapping worked. "I thank you for your assistance, Bella, and for bringing Sam back to us. Words cannot express how grateful we are for your actions."
I can't help but blush and smile at Sam, "Really, it wasn't—"
"But now is the time you need to leave," Billy continues. "We can take care of Sam from here."
"Uh—" My words get stuck in my throat. Is he really kicking me out? "Billy—"
"No," Sam states with finality. We both look over at him, and he looks down right immovable. Sam has his big arms crossed over his chest, legs spread wide, and a deep scowl on his face. In the back of my mind, I acknowledge that he would seem intimidating if he wasn't so damn fine looking. In any case, his implacable frown is directed at Billy.
"Now Sam…" Billy begins.
"I said no," Sam replies quietly but forcefully, while he stares Billy down. "There is no way Bella is leaving my side until she asks to leave. She saved me. She is the only one who knew what was happening to me. She deserves to know everything there is to know."
"Sam," Billy hesitates, measuring his words carefully. "You might not like it, but Bella is an outsider, and you don't have the authority to grant her access to our most closely guarded secrets."
"She soothes my wolf, and he will not let her go," Sam tells Billy. Now that's interesting. I wonder if he's embellishing the truth, or if that's how the wolf really sees things. "I am a spirit warrior, so in many ways I have more authority than even you do, Billy."
Oh snap! Calling out the head of the tribe? That's a throw down if I ever heard one.
"I respect your position," Sam continues. "But I won't allow you to blindly make decisions for me when you don't know what you're talking about. The wolf and I trust Bella with our lives, and that should be good enough for you."
Billy sits there with a sour expression, but he eventually grumbles, "Fine."
"I'm also telling my mother the real story," Sam rounds out his list of demands.
Billy just looks at him and nods his head. "Let's go to Old Quil's house. He keeps the original book of legends and other books that might help us."
If I was "Old Quil," I wouldn't let people call me old, but hey that's just me. Thankfully he lives a couple blocks away, so we just walk. There's that same song and dance as we did at Billy's to explain what happened to Sam, minus the show and tell. Old Quil really is as old as his moniker, and excitement does not seem like a good idea for him. He also takes Billy at his word about Sam turning into a spirit warrior, so it makes things much easier.
"In the library is where you'll find the books you're looking for," Old Quil croaks. I mean he's really, really old. He gives me this squinty eyed look like he knows what I'm thinking, and I try to blink back at him innocently. "Just whatever you do, be careful. They're originals."
Billy hands Sam the traditional book of legends, open to the section about wolves. Their storytelling is usually an oral tradition from what I understand, but someone along the way decided to write it all down so no one would forget. I'm glad they did or else how would we know how to help Sam? Anyone who knew that the legends were true died decades ago.
Sam brings me over to the sofa to sit with him so we can read it together. I bet that's not what Billy had in mind, but stuff Billy. He can be grumpy in his own little corner. We read about the first spirit warrior and the man who walked in his skin while the original shared the body of the wolf. We read about the cold ones that attacked and the sons that burst into wolves to protect their families. We read about the self-sacrificing third wife who spilled her blood to save the people she loved.
"What a crock of shit," Sam says out of nowhere.
"What?" I ask, startled out of my sympathies for the ordinary woman who made the ultimate sacrifice to save others. What a brave woman.
"She didn't have to die!" Sam replies heatedly. "I mean really, plunging a dagger into your heart? They're vampires, I'm pretty sure a good slice on the hand would have drawn their attention enough for the last wolf to kill them. She could have saved her people and lived. That would have made her a hero."
"Huh. I guess you're right," I say, trying to see it from his point of view.
Sam leans close to me and puts his mouth on my ear. "Don't you ever dare do anything like that for me. If you died, I would follow you. Don't ask me how I know, but I just know that the wolf can't live without you."
He pulls back to look me in the eyes, and he has the most serious face I've ever seen on him. His eyes pierce me with so much emotion that it gives me goose bumps.
"Best way to keep me alive is to keep yourself alive, you got me?"
"Yeah, I got you Sam," I whisper, overwhelmed with a feeling I don't quite understand. He hugs me to his side, and I happily snuggle in. We're in this weird relationship limbo where Sam says life-altering shit like that, but we don't talk about what we are to each other. It's driving my a little crazy, but until Sam gets his wolf stuff sorted out, I don't want to press him for a commitment. Sam leans closer to give my hair a kiss. Until he tells me to leave, I won't feel guilty for enjoying a snuggle, either.
As we read on, we get to more modern passages. The one from maybe seventy years ago talking about a treaty stops me cold.
"No fucking way!" I blurt out. The Cullens? The freaking Cullens? "This has to be a joke."
"What's wrong, Beautiful?" Sam asks. He puts his hand on my cheek to turn me away from the book and look at him. His oversized hand warming my face is nice, but it doesn't calm me. I'm so stunned and frankly scared out of my mind.
"The Cullens are vampires?" I whisper, as if saying it out loud makes it real.
Billy looks over at me, and Old Quil pops his head in the door, too. They all stare at me, taking in my wide, frightened eyes. Somehow, I think this is one of the things they really wanted to keep me from finding out.
"I go to school with the Cullens. They go to high school! One of them is a doctor! Tell me what a bunch of vampires are doing in high school!" I practically screech. "Are they shopping for their next victim? Do they prefer young blood, like some people eat veal?"
Billy holds up his hand to me, and he is the one that answers, "You won't find us defending them, Bella, but you read the story. The reason why our ancestors made a treaty with them is because they claimed they hunted animals and not humans."
Old Quil interjects in his leathery voice, "At the time, there were too many cold ones and not enough spirit warriors for the tribe to risk a war." He looks over at me and then at Sam, "Similar to our situation today."
I take in a shaky breath to calm down, because he's right. I can't go off half cocked and risk making trouble for Sam. But shit, how am I going to go back to school and pretend I don't know what they are?
"At least I don't have classes with any of them," I mutter. Now that I stop and think about it, I guess that's technically not true. "Well, I do have a class with Edward Cullen."
Sam growls when I admit that. Huh. I didn't know he could do that as a human. I wonder if I could growl if I tried.
"But don't worry," I say optimistically. "He's been absent pretty much since I started. Honestly, I think he might have transferred or something. He's been gone for several weeks." Instead of being reassured, the other occupants of the room look at each other in silent communication.
"What?" I ask, annoyed at being out of the loop. "What do you think is going on?"
"Not sure, Bella, but you need to be careful around them."
"It's good that Edward is gone, because he is supposed to be a mind reader."
"WOAH THERE BUDDY." I think I just got mind fucked. "Did you just say mind reader? As in, he can hear my thoughts?"
Sam chuckles at me and kisses my temple. I'm so stunned that I can only partially enjoy the moment. "You believe in shape shifters and cold ones without a problem, but mind reading sounds impossible?"
"Well I guess when you put it like that," I grumble. I still think it's weird, and damn inconvenient. "What if he comes back, and I think about vampires? I don't think they'd like their secret to get out anymore than we want yours to."
Sam's growling comes back with a vengeance. It's almost sweet how he gets all protective at the thought of me being torn apart by vampires. It's like the wolf comes through the man's personality sometimes.
"Careful, Sam. Your wolf is showing," I taunt. He calms down slightly when I run my hand through the hair at the back of his neck. Not quite as good as an ear scratch, but almost.
"I think if he comes back, the girl should go on the offensive," Old Quil says mysteriously. Call me crazy, but I kind of like the weird old bat.
"The girl," I drawl pointedly, "wants to know what you mean."
"Well, girly," he starts, and I roll my eyes. What a piece of work. "If the mind reader shows up, you should tell him immediately that you know what he is, and that you are under the protection of the Quileute pack."
Damn, that's not what I expected him to say. Sounds like the old coot wants to keep me around after all.
"Yes!" Sam says excitedly, "That's perfect. You repeat in your head that the spirit warriors are back and that you're under our protection. It will reinstate the treaty and remind the Cullens that we're watching them."
"Wow," I reply stunned. "I think that just might work."
"Of course it will work," the old fart insists. "I'm the one that came up with it." And he slips out the door. What a loon.