Chapter Eleven: Cold Ones

I leapt up from the couch, shaking the nightmare from my mind. I turned around to see Emily's dead-pale face; she had obviously come to wake me up; I could hear little Claire crying from upstairs

"Don't go outside Emily, stay in the house, I'll go see what's going on." I said quickly; she nodded weakly, and went upstairs to calm Claire down.

I ran outside, not bothering to undress, forgetting about the clothes completely as I burst out of my skin; I was now four legged and flying towards the source of the howls.

FALL BACK Paul, NOW! Came Sam's double-timbre alpha voice; and I gasped at the situation, through Paul and Sam's minds I could see three inhumanly beautiful silhouettes against the black forest.

Ignoring the stabbing pain in my wolf heart, I growled, vampires. I could see the fight going on as if I was there, and I didn't like what I was seeing.

Sam, with what looked like a broken leg, had huge open gashes running across his back, Paul, was missing part of one ear and had a agonizing rib sticking out of his side, his body also covered in gashes; they were fighting the vampires, and losing. I felt sick at the sight of their condition, especially considering the almost perfect health of their enemies.

Don't fight them, fall back guys, wait for me! I told them hurriedly, anxiously.

NO! Go get Jared, we need backup, get him to get hold of the Elders, then come back, we can hold the leeches off for that long! Sam ordered me. I doubted the could; they both looked spent, but an order was an order, and I turned tail and raced to Jared's house as fast as my feet could carry me.

Right. I determinedly.

You ok Paul? I asked I asked in concern as I ran

Never been better he gasped painfully.

I ran faster; I doubted even Edward could keep up with me now. Everything should have been blurred, but I could see everything crystal clear.

I had to risk running on the highway; but no humans were around, and in no time I stopped outside Jared's house. I could hear him snoring, and if the situation wasn't so desperate, I would have laughed.

I went up to his window and let out three sharp barks. He would know what that meant; Sam had practiced it with us, two barks mean patrol, three meant we were under attack. I heard him gasp and run to his window.

He gave me a nod of understanding and grabbed his phone. He had Billy on, and in a flash, explained what was going on, then he leapt from the window, his clothes floating to the ground behind him and he had four paws when he hit the ground running.

Seeing what was going on through my mind as well as Sam's and Paul's, he quickly became panicked.

Guys come quickly! I heard Paul shout. I was glad to see he had healed, but now Sam was fighting alone, and he looked in bad shape; Jared and I picked up the pace even more, our muscles reaching their limit as we reached our maximum speed. I was fifty yards ahead of Jared, and now I could smell the leeches for myself. I wrinkled my nose in disgust, feeling my nose burn with the stench.

I saw the vampire Sam was battling raise his hand for a fatal blow. With one final bound, I threw myself in front of the injured Sam, and went for the vampire's unprotected throat.

I ripped and tore at the leech; it's hand clawed at my side as I struggled, and I yelped as pain sliced through my flesh, sending a screaming warning to my brain as blood flowed from the gash. The vampire snarled savagely, and sent it's foot crashing into my leg, and I felt as much as heard the loud SNAP as the bone broke. Fury and adrenaline filled me, momentarily distracting me from the pain, and I ripped his arms from his shoulders.

Sam got his head, and Paul helped us pin it down; Jared and the one of other vampire still circled each other, while the third watched from the tree line in horror.

As soon as I could see Sam and Paul could finish this one off, I turned on the one Jared was stalking; Jared and I leapt at the same time, dismembering it quickly. When that one was finished too, I saw Sam phase back and make a fire to burn the pieces using a lighter he had produced from somewhere. As I turned on the third vampire, I saw her red eyes widen; it almost looked scared, then it turned and took off like a bat from hell, was gone.

Nice job guys. I laughed shakily, but for some reason they were all looking at me in awe.

What? I asked, confused.

Bella, you were amazing, how did you know what to do?

I cringed. Well, I did know some vampires once, and I heard them talking about it…and instincts. I winced again and the others quickly changed the subject.

We should head back; they must be wondering if we survived. Listening to Sam's wistful voice, I knew he would want to see Emily.

Mind if I come? I'm starving. Asked Jared, licking his lips.

Sure, Sam agreed, knowing that we all deserved it.

We all trotted back at a slow pace, exhausted. I could feel all my wounds slowly healing, and pretty soon I could walk without limping; Paul on the other hand, couldn't.

You ok Paul? Jared asked before I could

I'm fine

Why isn't your leg healing I wondered

An injury like that may take a little longer, Bella, don't worry, he'll be fine in an hour or two Sam said, and I wondered how my own leg had healed so quickly, if we had both broken a leg. Part of the legend?

Or maybe it was a clean break… a treacherous voice whispered at the back of my mind, and I shuddered.

The rest of the journey was silent.

We reached the house soon, and then it dawned on me.

Maybe I should stay wolf, in case the leech comes back, I'm not tired I said, though the last part was a lie, I mainly wanted to do it because I had the least injuries, and I wanted to come to turns with the fact that I just killed— something I never though I would do, and I wasn't sure what I thought about that.

Well if you're sure, we'll bring you some food out. Sam said, and I nodded.

I sighed and sat down, and after awhile, a relieved looking Emily ran outside holding a handful of jeans for the boys. She placed one in front of each of them, kissed Sam on his great furry head, and turned back for the house.

The boys raced into the woods to phase, and I settled into wait. All the boys' minds' faded away and I was left in a peaceful silence. About twenty minuets after they had all entered the house, Emily cam outside with an enormous bowl, filled with loads of quick-to-make food inside it, along with one of her famous blueberry muffins. I wolfed it down, and gave her a grateful look. She nodded.

"See you later Bella." she sighed tiredly, and headed inside, probably to bed. I wished I could sleep too, but I was already out here, so I took the chance at solitude and went to practice my running. I was even faster than I was when I first phased, but exhaustion quickly overwhelmed me, and I slowed to a trot.

Three hours later, my patrol brought me back to Emily's place, and Jared and Paul rushed outside to meet me.

"Go phase back Bella, it's our patrol now, in about an hours time kick Sam outta bed and tell him to get his lazy ass patrolling kay?" Paul said.

I nodded and dragged my feet toward the clothes Emily had left me again. I willed myself to return to human form. Once I had two feet, I pulled on the clothes and tripped into the house, I grabbed a glass of water from the counter, gulped it down in one go, then collapsed onto the couch; I fell asleep almost immediately.

That was the first night I had the nightmare.