Beta/ Advisor/Proof reader: Maria Vilson
I do not own Twilight, that honor belongs to Stephanie Meyers I just like playing around in her Universe.
Chapter 11
Fight or Flight
After dinner, Jake and I sat watching a movie as we cuddled on the sofa. We were into the movie 'Taken' with Liam Neeson for about an hour when we heard the howls of one of the wolves, as he called for help. Jake jumped up and looked at me.
"I've got to go honey, I'll be back soon," he said, as he kissed my forehead and ran out the back door. I stood there wondering what the hell, I was a Slayer. I'm not sitting here while they go have all the fun. I ran from the house and caught up to Jake. He moved his large head as he noticed I was running alongside of him.
"Bells, what are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm coming with you Jake, Slayer, remember?" I replied, as Jake snorted, clearly not happy I was joining the fight. I rolled my eyes and sped away from him to join the rest of the pack.
When I arrived they were in an all-out fight with five bloodsuckers. They were holding their own when one pounced on me, clearly thinking he had the upper hand. He was surprised to see how quickly I moved as he tried to pin me down, until I got distracted when Jake called my name.
"Bells get out of there!" he yelled. I turned my head knowing it was the wrong thing to do, and the next thing I knew the vampire was at my neck. I knew if he got to my neck that he could rip my head off, so I managed to maneuver him away from that area; but, he still connected with my shoulder, biting down with his sharp teeth. I let out a scream of pain; it stung to high heaven and I was totally pissed off.
"Damn it Jake!" I chided, as I grabbed the leech and tore him from my shoulder, throwing him to the ground as his chuckles turned into whimpers and smoke started flowing from his ears, mouth, and nose. I grabbed my sword knowing the vamp would die without me doing anything.
He had taken in some of my blood and would die eventually, but I was pissed off. I drew my knife as it transformed into a sword with its flames dancing around its edges. With a smile I turned, completing a full circle. The powerful swing of the sword across the leech's chest sliced him open, as the flames ignited his venom and he burned to ash quickly. "Who's laughing now fucker," I smirked. I fell to the ground sheathing my sword, gritting my teeth as the skin on my shoulders started to knit back together slowly.
The pack took care of the other bloodsuckers as Jake phased back to human. He pulled me to him and began licking at my wound helping it to heal faster. I looked over at Jake and talked to him with my mind, cutting out the others so they wouldn't see me going off on their Alpha as they burned the pieces left of the other bloodsuckers.
"What was that shit Jake, why did you yell at me?" I asked angrily.
"I was worried Bells, all I saw was that leech coming for you and I was afraid of losing you. I didn't think honey, I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
"Jake this is what you do, you fight vampires and I've accepted that. Now you have to accept that this is also what I do; you've seen me in action while training. You'll get me killed if you don't stop and realize that I can handle myself in a fight. I need you to fight at my side as a warrior, not as my protector. I just need you to watch my back as you would one of the pack."
"I know Bells and I'm sorry, it's just hard for me. I've always protected you, even before I was a wolf; it's hard to realize that you're able to take care of yourself. I love you and would die if anything happened to you."
"Jake, you have more of a chance of getting killed than I do. I love you too baby, and I will fight at your side as a warrior and watch your back; but, I have to know that you can do the same. Can you do that Jake?" I asked seriously. Jake looked at me, thinking for a second before nodding.
"I can do that Bells and of course you're right. I'll stand by your side and fight with you instead of for you," he replied as he helped me to my feet. We made our way back to the house. My shoulder was completely healed but sore to the touch. I grabbed my sleep-ware and jumped into the shower, washing off the stench of leech. When I finished I walked into our bedroom to see Jake sitting on the side of the bed with his head in his hands. I sat down next to him and put my hand on his back.
"What's wrong Jake?"
"I almost got you killed out there tonight honey. I'm supposed to be the Alpha of the pack and I was nothing out there tonight but a sniveling love sick fool."
"Jake," I said trying to comfort him, but he cut me off.
"No Bells, you were right. I have to separate work from our personal lives. When we're out there fighting I have to make myself realize that you are a warrior, capable of handling yourself. I know it will come with practice and that's exactly what we have to do honey is practice. I meant what I said the other day; we have to train and train hard. Me more than anyone with you standing by my side, I have to realize that you are fighting with us as one of us. When we're fighting you are not my girl, but one of the pack. I have to make my mind understand that and that will come with training," he deduced. I smiled at him as he pulled me on his lap and kissed me senseless.
The next morning I was up before Jake; I had showered and dressed and had started on the promised brunch for the pack when Leah strolled in.
"Hey Leah, what are you doing here so early?" I asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee before speaking.
"I figured you could use some help. It kind of a chore to cook for this bunch," she said with a chuckle.
"That would be great Leah thanks," I replied.
"No problem, Sis," she said sipping on her coffee. I was shocked she called me her Sis. Leah wasn't the type to give out those types of endearments even if we were step-sister and sister through the pack. I never heard her call Emily or Kim sister, the best I heard her call them was whiny little bitches. I chuckled to myself shaking my head as we began cooking.
Emily and Kim were also imprints. Emily was Sam's and Kim was Jared's. We became friends right away, leaving Leah in discomfort with her being around me and me being around them. Leah was Sam's girlfriend throughout High School and they were planning to marry until Sam laid eyes on Emily and imprinted, leaving Leah heartbroken, with a miserably hateful attitude towards everyone except me…now.
The thing of it is that these women and I had something in common. Emily loved to cook and loved taking care of the pack, which I did as well. Kim was a teacher and taught Native American History as I did. And with Leah, well, I may not have handled my heartbreak in quite the same way as she did, but we did share the pain of being cast aside, me more than once. Leah never said anything about my friendship with the other ladies, but it was definitely obvious that she didn't like it much.
After we ate and cleaned up, the pack was situated in the living room. We didn't involve the imprints much in our meetings any longer, which was my idea. At one of the meetings a few days before, I noticed when the imprints were at the meetings Leah didn't pay much attention to what was going on. In fact someone said something that she didn't like, and she stormed from the meeting without a second thought. I wanted her to be a part of the pack, not separated from them.
The pack was furious, saying Leah needed to get over herself and start acting like warrior instead of a spoiled brat who constantly wanted her way.
I roared back in Leah's defense. I told them that yes something had to be done with Leah's attitude, but we didn't have time at the moment to work on her attitude towards the imprints, namely Emily.
We had too many other things that were much too important to put aside, and we needed Leah's full attention at the moment; which we didn't have while the imprints were here. I told them it wasn't imperative for the imprints to be here at every meeting, and the pack needed to put their priorities in place.
I knew their first instincts were to protect their imprints, but this was a whole different scenario. They could fill their imprints in on what was going on, they didn't need to be here, but Leah did.
After my rage ended, Jake chuckled and then told the pack I was right, that Leah would be handled at a later date, but for now we needed her to be involved in every meeting concerning what was coming. The pack hesitantly agreed and that was the end of that for now.
I worried that I may have hurt the two girl's feelings with my outburst, but later found out they understood and were glad that something would be done to help Leah at a later time.
Jake started the meeting by explaining what he had learned in the last couple of days.
Okay guys, first I want to tell you that we have visitors coming to the tribe. He and his party are shifters from another tribe, they are coming to help," Jake explained.
"Okay, so who are these shifter's you speak of?" Jared asked.
Jake sat quietly for a few minutes, before saying anything. "That's not important at the moment, but we'll discuss it before they get here, just know that he is a warrior and is coming to help us out in our time of trouble," Jake reiterated.
I couldn't believe Jake wasn't telling them anything about Tashunca, I wondered why, I knew I could talk to him in his mind, but I didn't want to side-track his way of thinking at the moment, but decided I would ask him about it later.
"Will they know what's coming, and how to fix it?" Sam asked.
"I'm not sure, but we'll find out once they get here. Like I said, their leader is a warrior, so I'm sure he knows something of what's going on. He agreed to come after Bella called her contact on the Lakota Reservation, so we'll just have to wait and see. Listen guys, there's something else I want to discuss with you. You have to be on your best behavior while they're here, so let's be professional with this okay. Don't embarrass me in front of these guys alright?" Jake pleaded mostly to Paul and Leah, but finished with giving Quil a look as well.
They all looked at Jake confused, but didn't ask any more questions.
"Alright guys, let get out there and train for a while," Jake said as the pack started for the door. "Are you coming Bells?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, I need to call Charlie first. I want to set up a luncheon with him for this afternoon, maybe make a picnic lunch. I really need to have that talk with him before it's too late and he finds out that I know about him not being my dad Jake," I explained.
"Of course honey, make your call, we'll be in the clearing when you're ready," he said, as he gave me a soft peck on the lips before heading out the door. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and dialed Charlie's number. He answered on the second ring.
"Hey Bells, what's up?"
"Hey Dad, I was wondering if we could have that talk I was telling you about the other day?" I asked. The line got quiet and at first I thought we got disconnected.
"Dad, are you still there?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm here Bells, when would you want to have this talk?" he asked and it sounded like he was nervous.
"Well, I was thinking maybe I could fix us a picnic lunch this afternoon, I could meet you at your house and we could go over to the cliffs and eat and talk," I told him.
"Uh huh, Uh huh. That sounds like a good idea honey, how's two o'clock sound to you? I can get away then and give you all the time you need to discuss whatever it is you need to get off your chest," he suggested.
"That would be great Dad, I'll see you then."
"Okay honey, I'll see you at the house, bye sweetheart."
"Bye Dad," I said hanging up the phone with a deep sigh, hating what I was about to do. But I knew Charlie loved me and it wouldn't matter to him whether I was his or not, he would still love me as his daughter.
I shoved my phone back into my pocket and went into the kitchen. I made two hoagies and some potato salad and left them in the refrigerator for later when I met up with Charlie. I also threw together two large double cheese Lasagna's storing them in the refrigerator to cook for dinner later. After cleaning up my mess, I took off to join Jake and the pack for some much needed training.
The training went well. The pack was starting to look professional; they moved together simultaneously, like a well-oiled machine. They deciphered each of their next moves and moved almost gracefully, if fighting could be graceful. Like how birds fly in formation and when the leader moves in another direction, so do the rest of the flock, keeping up gracefully. It really was a sight to see.
After a few hours of training I told Jake I had to go. It was time to meet up with Charlie, and although my stomach was flip-flopping with butterflies afraid of how I was going to approach the subject, I knew I had to do it.
Jake kissed me good-bye and wished me luck, as I headed to the house to collect the lunch I prepared, throwing it all into the picnic basket I found under the sink I added a couple of Rainer's for Charlie and a couple of bottles of water for me. I also threw in a couple of paper plates and silverware to eat the potato salad with along with a few paper napkins. I then headed to the Clearwater's house to collect Charlie for our picnic and our conversation.
