Chapter 9- The Imprint Part III
"What happened?" Paul demanded, staring down at me.
"I was…attacked," I mumbled groggily.
"By what? A witch? You're human!" he exclaimed.
"You think I don't know that, dumbass?" I snapped. "There was this…thing! It…like…absorbed my powers. Then it left."
"I'll take you to Carlisle, maybe he knows what happened," he nodded, looking down at me. I silently agreed. If anyone knew what happened, it would be Carlisle. He ran faster than a human, but slower than a vampire, to the house. Carlisle, Alice, and Edward were standing in front of the house. At first I was confused, but then I realized. Alice.
"Alice saw you would be in need of assistance," Carlisle informed me in a very professional way. "Emmett and Rosalie took Jasper out to hunt."
"Alice, did you see what it was?" I murmured.
"No," she replied shamefully, "It was a big blank spot. I only saw you running, and hurting yourself. Then you disappeared when Paul found you. But I did see you bleeding. What happened?"
"There was something in the forest! It attacked me and, I don't know how it did it, but I was running, a vampire, and then I was a human."
"Paul, bring her inside," Carlisle instructed. He carried me in again and followed the Cullens upstairs to a room with hospital equipment.
"What's all this for?" I inquired curiously.
"When Bella was pregnant with Renesmee. We never felt any need to remove it," Edward explained.
Paul gently placed me on the hospital bed and stepped back, without leaving the room. I found myself struck with curiosity once again. Why was Paul always here, when the rest of his pack was not?
"Jane, you're going to have to take off your shirt," Carlisle told me. Paul growled and I looked skeptically back at Carlisle. "I'm a doctor, remember?"
"Fine," I agreed, "But they have to leave," I added, gesturing to Paul and Edward. Edward nodded, dragging along Paul.
"But, but," he stammered, but Edward slammed the door after them. My senses were significantly dulled, so I couldn't hear what he was going to say after that.
When they were gone, I took off my shirt and Carlisle took a stethoscope to my chest where my heart had begun to beat for the first time in centuries.
"Alice?" I whispered, hoping Paul and Edward could not hear.
She took the hint to whisper and leaned down closer to my face. "Ya?" she hissed.
"How good are you at hiding your thoughts from Edward?"
"Good enough. Why? What's going on?"
"What is going on with Paul? Why is he always here and following me around now?"
"I can't tell you that, Jane," she frowned, shaking her head fervently.
"Please, Alice," I begged. "I don't want to be around him. Just tell me what it is so I can set him straight."
"You're not going to be able to set him straight, Jane. What's going on with Paul is something not even he can control."
"Then tell me what it is. Is it some kind of werewolf thing?"
She pursed her lips. "I'll explain everything to you when he's gone," she promised.
"Okay," I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Alice."
"No problem. But if he finds out and tries to behead me, I'm blaming it on you," she giggled.
"I can deal with that," I laughed, trying to hide the panic that coursed through me at just that simple joke. "Ow!" I yelped when something pinched the inside of my elbow. I had been so distracted by Alice that I had not noticed Carlisle taking blood from my arm. And there was actually blood coming out! And it didn't smell good!
Something hit the door.
"Paul! Go back to Sam, she'll be fine!" Edward ordered.
"No!" he refused childishly. There was no other sound from outside the door.
"Edward kicked him out," Alice stated. "I'll tell you now."
"Okay," I replied calmly, but on the inside I was cheering.
"There's something werewolves do called Imprinting. It's basically when they find their soul mates and instantly know it. Jacob has described it to us as when you see that person and they become the center of the universe for that wolf. They would be anything for that person; a friend, a brother, a father, a lover. Nessie is Jacob's Imprint. For now they're like brother and sister, but when she gets older, eventually they're going to be married and love each other. It is completely impossible to break that bond that the wolf has for their Imprint."
"What about the Imprint? Don't they have a say in this?" I argued.
"If they wanted to I'm sure they could, but no Imprint has ever wanted to be away from their wolf. I know, I've talked to the Imprints to the La Push Pack. They're completely thrilled by it. It's not easy to resist that level of adoration they have. It's not the same as normal love, it's more."
"They're are others?"
"Ya. There's Emily, she's Sam's Imprint. She's really nice. They're going to be married this summer! There's Jacob and Nessie, but you know about them. There's Jared and Kim. He's going to propose to Kim when they graduate this June. And Quil has Claire. They're like Jacob and Nessie because Claire just recently turned four. And now there's Paul and you."
"Paul and me? But Paul attacked me! If he knew instantly that I was his soul mate, why would he try to attack me? Or is that some kind of weird werewolf thing to do with your soul mate?" I questioned sarcastically.
"He didn't like that you were a…" she trailed off.
"Oh," I gasped. "He didn't want his mortal enemy to be the one he loved."
"Exactly," she answered. "And don't get me wrong, he's very upset that you got hurt. The wolves are very protective of their Imprints. You heard him try to barge in here when you yelled. But he's also quite thrilled that you're human now."
"Well, Jane. It's seems you are indeed alive now. And you are also healthy. But you have a slight concussion, so I'm going to give you a few Ibuprofen and let you go," Carlisle said.
"Can I go for a walk?" I squeaked.
"Of course, just take Alice's cell phone, just in case, and don't fall asleep until I say you can."
I nodded. "Alright."
Alice handed me a small silver square. It was the phone. "Don't worry too much about it Jane; all the Imprints come around sooner or later."
Ya, that really made me feel better.
I got up and started for the door. Edward wasn't there anymore and Paul was long gone. I tried not to shake too much, but the thought of what Alice had said caused me to shudder. The shivering caused my head to throb. I touched the bandage at my hairline and winced. The rock had hurt me bad. It was raining heavily. I pulled up the hood of my raincoat and took pleasure in the feeling of the cold air that had been unfamiliar to me for so long.
The driveway was long, but I eventually made it to the road. I had been walking for at least an hour, without meeting the town, when a car slowed to a stop beside me. The whir of the window going down caused me to look over. Eager for a distraction from my thoughts of the wolves and Imprinting, I looked in.
The driver was a very pretty woman in her late twenties. Her face was marred by three long scars that pulled the corner of her lip down in a permanent grimace. The backseat of her old Jeep was full to the ceiling with grocery bags. Her eyes widened when she looked at my face. The only difference mortality had made to it was give it more color. Not to sound vain, but it had only made me better looking than when I had been a vampire. And my eyes were blue now instead of the unnatural-looking orange.
"Hi," she greeted me.
"Hello, can I help you?" I repeated in the bell-like soprano voice I had retained through this.
"Would you like a ride? You'll catch a cold in this weather."
"No, that's alright," I replied.
"No, no, I insist. I like to greet new people anyway. You are new in town, right?"
"Yes, but—"
"Then it's settled. If you would like, you could help me with my groceries in return."
How could I refuse an offer when I was so desperately in need of someone normal to befriend? The need to be distracted overruled my wish to walk off the confusion.
"Okay," I opened the door and pulled myself into the passenger's seat.
"I'm Emily," she introduced, offering her hand.
"I'm Alex," I lied, taking her hand. I didn't want her to know my real name, for fear that she would recognize me as being with the Cullens. Alice had warned me yesterday that their family had a lot of gossip centered around them, especially on the Indian reservation. Emily's bronzer skin assured me that she was a part of that reservation.
"Nice to meet you, Alex. If I may, what happened to your head?"
"I tripped. Hit my head on a rock. Doctor said it was only a slight concussion."
"Are you alright?"
"I'm perfectly fine, and I would love to help you with your groceries."
"Oh, wonderful! My fiancée and his friends said they would be home in a little while anyway so would you mind very much helping me make lunch?"
"Of course! But you just met me. Why are inviting me over already? Aren't you worried?"
"I have a feeling we're going to be great friends. Don't you feel the same?"
"I think I do," I smiled. I felt accepted.
"You can meet my fiancée, Sam, too. I'm sure he'll like you, too," she vowed.
I paled.
"You're fiancée is Sam Uley?" I gasped.
"Yes?" she took a look over at me quickly.
"As in the alpha of the La Push Pack?"
She stomped on the brakes.
"How did you know that?" she appeared to be hyperventilating.
"So you're Sam's Imprint?"
"Who told you all this? How do you know so much?" she demanded, taking a full turn from her earlier demeanor.
"My name isn't Alex," I confessed. "It's Jane."
Her eyes bugged even more.
"As in the new Cullen?" she finished for me.
"Ya."
"But you're not a vampire! How do you know about Imprinting?"
"Because I'm an Imprint too!"
"Impossible, they would have told me," she responded curtly.
"I'm Paul's Imprint."
She froze.
"You're the girl he attacked," she remembered in awe.
I only nodded.
"You're human," she repeated. "You have to be; otherwise you wouldn't be flushed, or bleeding."
"Has Sam said anything about why he left today?"
"He and the boys had to drag Paul away from your house," she informed me without missing a beat.
I was not expecting that.
"I found some monster in the woods that took away my immortality."
"What kind of monster?"
"It looked like the wolves, but it was bigger, and thinner. It looked like it was a corpse."
"Do they know?" she asked, suddenly worried.
"I told Paul. I'm sure he's told them by now."
She exhaled and pulled back into the road.
"Well, now I have a new excuse for bringing you home," she smiled.
"What is it?"
"We really are going to be great friends. I can't wait to introduce you to Kim and Claire!" she squealed. "Welcome to the Imprint club!"
So much for a distraction.
*I'm sorry I haven't been updating very much, but I feel so unmotivated to write these chapters. Hope you review.*
