Jacob's Point of View
I had this grandmaster plan. I was going to get Emma into the house, safe and sound. And then I was going to run and find Sam and get him to call a pack meeting. Bella is pregnant and this bad, very bad. Whatever that thing is, it's not human. And that makes it a threat. I especially don't like how whatever it is is willing to eat it's mother just to survive. That's not human and that's not at all natural. That's something very leech-like.
The pack is called and Sam watches me carefully while we wait. Emily as well keeps her gaze flickering from Emma and me. I try and ignore them and pull Emma into my chest. "You ok?" I ask.
She sighs and rests her head against me. I run my hand through her hair and breathe in her scent. She smells like vanilla and soap and I squeeze her a little as I pull her closer. "I'm really confused right now. And frustrated. And stressed."
It's true. I can feel how tense her shoulders are against my chest. My eyebrows crease with worry. "Hey" I say and turn her head so she's facing me. "Are you going to be alright?"
She smiles sadly at me. "I'll be better when this is all over" she says.
The pack arrives one by one and I have to leave it at that. She worries me but I can't ask any more about it because I know she will lie when everyone else is around. She trusts me and only me with things like this. It makes me smile a little but I'm too worried to be happy that she puts all her trust in me.
I explain the situation as best as I can. I'm met with a lot of blank stares and unbelieving. They ask me how it's possible for Bella to be pregnant. I don't know so I can't explain. Everyone sits in silence and tries to think this one through. How is it possible? Is it going to kill her before she has the thing? Is it a threat? What the hell is it? Or what is it going to be? All I have to say is that I don't know. And for once I'm very glad that I'm not the Alpha because I know that answer would never be enough. But now it's not my problem. I'm just a messenger. Sam has to make sense of all this and make a decision. I just have to follow it.
We all turn to Sam but he seems unaware of our attention. He's deep in thought. The only sign that he's still conscious is that he is running his thumb over Emily's knuckles as they're holding hands. I'm glad for the silence for a little while. I can just focus on Emma in my arms. She rests her head on my shoulder and her eyes flicker between consciousness. I run my hand through her hair and rest my chin atop her head. "Go to sleep" I whisper low enough so only the two of us hear.
She shakes her head. "I need to hear this."
I can't argue with her because I wouldn't be able to sleep right now either. This is all too much. My mind seems to be running so fast that it's moving in slow motion. I can barely compute how to breath, let alone take in all this information and try and make sense of it all.
Usually the pack would be all up in arms about something so serious. Everyone would have a suggestion and be blurting it out. The room would get so loud that Sam would need his Alpha command to get us to shut up so he could talk. But not today. Everyone is dead silent. No one has any idea what to do. This isn't an ordinary leech. It's not even alive yet. Or will it ever be alive? God there's so much that's wrong about this!
"I think" Sam says and if it's possible, the room gets even more silent. "I think that we need to talk to Bella. You said she looked sick?"
I nod. "She looks awful. The thing is killing her."
Sam nods as well and tries to make sense of this thoughts. "Then I think we need to try and talk her out of letting this thing live."
"It won't do any good" I say immediately. "I tried talking her out of it. She wouldn't listen. She wants this thing so bad that's she's willing to die for it. It doesn't make any sense."
Sam takes this into consideration as does everyone else. He waits another moment after I've already seen in his face that he's made a decision. "Then we need to kill it."
"How?" Jared asks from his place on the floor. "Not only would we break the treaty, we'd be crossing into the Cullen fortress and we'd have to.. get it out.. of Bella. We'd be asking for a war. There's no way they'd let us just go in and slice her open."
Emma turns a little green and I rub her back while sending a look to Jared. He doesn't catch it though because he has his gaze locked on Sam. Paul jumps in as well. "I wouldn't mind getting rid of the Cullens once and for all" he says gruffly and smirks.
Sam's gaze jumps to Emily. And instantly, all of us with imprints bow our heads a little and feel our hearts drop. There's just too much risk. If we go after Bella, they'll go after the girls. It's revenge. A lover for a lover. We can't put them in that kind of danger. And it's not just the girls. We'll put all of La Push in danger. It won't be a quick battle like the newborns. It could go on for days. We'd need to create a whole mess of battle strategies.
And then there's Emma.
Something is definitely wrong and the longer this goes on, the more sure I am that this is something leech related. And if it's one of the Cullens, they'd kill her as soon as we attack. All these dreams would only get worse if we cross that boundary.
Sam knows this too. He shares a look with each member of the pack silently and they all understand. I can tell from the way they glance at Emma from the corners of their eyes. Until we find a cure or a treatment for whatever is plaguing her dreams, we can't make a move to kill it.
Sam ends the meeting with everyone on edge. They head back with Sam and Emily for dinner. I offered to have dinner hear but Emily wouldn't hear of it. Our kitchen isn't the same as hers. She can move much faster knowing where all her pots and pans are. Besides, and I didn't point this out, I don't even know if we have something to cook here.
Billy returns just as the last of them is leaving. I'm kind of irritated because I thought Emma and I would have a little while to talk before he got home. But when he waves goodbye to Sue and I see the bag of takeout on his lap, I can't stay angry. "Hey Dad" I greet and hold the door open for him.
"Hey Jake. Hey Emma" he says when he sees her nearly sleeping on the couch. "How is she" he mouths to me.
I shrug and take the food from him. "Come on and eat Em" I call and lay out the Chinese on the table. She takes a seat and I place a plate in front of her. She smiles up at me in thanks and I kiss her temple. Once everyone is situated, I take a seat next to Emma.
"How was your day?" Dad asks as he spoons a hunk of rice onto his plate.
I should tell him. And I know I'll have to eventually, but now doesn't seem like the right time considering everything. Besides, I've seen how green Emma gets when we talk about the thing so I'd rather not say and have her not eat.
"Fine… took Emma to the doctor."
"The hospital actually" she jibes.
Billy laughs and smiles at me. "Doctor's not good enough for you?"
I shrug and nudge Emma lightly. "Not when it comes to her."
Emma's sock-clad foot brushes up against mine and I easily slip my arm around her waist. I squeeze her side and rest my hand on her hip. I watch her eat, without her knowledge of course. But I make sure that she's actually eating and I try and gauge how she is feeling. She seems relatively normal compared to how I've seen her these last couple of days.
"Going back to school tomorrow?"
"I hope so" Emma says but glances my way guiltily once she's said it. I don't think I'll be leaving the reservation for some time. It's kind of an unspoken rule that I can't just disappear all day when we're at such a high level of danger. "I was going to tell you this later" she says and turns so she can look right at me. "I think I'm going to switch over to online classes."
"You sure" I ask after a moment's hesitation.
She nods. "I think it'll be best with everything that's going on."
Billy gives me a look that says we need to talk. I nod because I planned to talk to him anyway. We finish dinner in silence. Emma heads upstairs to call the school and transfer everything. She asked me what I wanted to do but I didn't give her an answer. Honestly, I don't think I can keep this up. Not this year at least. I'm needed here. I can find a job in a garage somewhere. I don't really need to go to school. It'd just be nice to say I did it. But my pack and my imprint need me at home. For now I'll stay enrolled. I'll probably call and drop out one day when Emma's out. She doesn't need to know and worry. She just needs to worry about herself right now. Honestly, I'd like her to take a semester off to relax and take care of this dream thing, but I know that will just tick her off. Plus, it'll make this thing seem so much worse than she thinks it is already.
"What do you need to tell me?" Billy demands as he grabs a towel to wash the dishes. I grab another one to dry them.
"Bella's pregnant" I say, not sugarcoating it at all. "It's the leech's. And it's killing her from the inside out. It's a monster."
Dad breathes out a nervous breath. "What is the pack doing?"
"Waiting" I say and hate the word as soon as it leaves my mouth. "We can't do anything yet. If we attack, we start a war. And with Emma… I don't know if they're doing this but if they are, they can kill her with these dreams. We can't instigate them."
Dad nods and stays solemnly quiet. We wash and dry in awkward, unnerving silence.
It's broken by Emma.
She smiles at me. "I got it all cleared up" she says.
I nod and put on the best smile I can. "Good."
Then she disappears for a second and returns with that orange bottle. "It says I'm supposed to take one of these every twenty-four hours. Think I'll remember that?" she asks as she reads the bottle.
"One of the three of us will" I reassure her.
"What is that?" Dad asks.
"Medicine that's supposedly going to help me. It's for night terrors though so we'll see." She grabs a glass of water, the one I just finished drying, and takes one. I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe for the bags under her eyes to disappear and her skin to get brighter. I don't know. But I'm a little disappointed when I don't see a change.
We both sit down on the couch to watch a movie. Although I doubt either of us has any intentions to actually watch it. Dad leaves the room to do something somewhere else and give us our space.
I turn on the TV and Emma lays back against my arm. But suddenly, she sits up and coughs. "You ok?" I ask.
She doesn't answer but continues to cough. I sit up, now a little panicked. "Em?"
Her coughing turns gruffer and raspy. I turn her face and it's turning bright red. "Emma!" I say and start to panic. She is still coughing and the first thing I think of is choking. But how can she be choking. My hands start to shake and a bead of sweat rolls down my neck. "Emma what's wrong?" I shout.
Dad rolls in as fast as he can. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know!" I shout in panic. Emma starts wheezing. She can't breathe. Her lips are swollen. I notice that right off.
The medicine.
"I think she's allergic to that stuff!" I shout and scoop her up in my arms. I grab my keys and jump off the porch steps. I feel my heart beating a mile per minute as her breathes sound thicker and heavier. It sounds like she's breathing through a straw.
The tires squeal as I pull out of the driveway and run over the grass. I go through the streets going ninety miles per hour and swerve in and out of traffic. I take a glance at Emma. Her eyes are still open and that fills me with some relief. However, those eyes are filled with intense fear and she claws at her neck, trying to get air through. Her head is pointed skyward to allow air better access but I know she's not getting much. She sounds awful. "Hold on" I plead with her.
We come to a screeching halt in the hospital parking lot. I throw the car in park before it has stopped and pull Emma across the driver's seat before I start to run with her to the doors. I can't hear her rasping anymore. My legs move as quick as they can and part of me screams to phase because I'll get there faster.
"I need help!" I scream at the top of my lungs, setting the nurses into a panic when we come bolting in. "She's having an allergic reaction. She can't breathe!"
They take one look at Emma's red face and desperate look in her eyes and leap around the counter. She's taken from my arms and placed on a gurney. Her chest shakes as she tries to draw in air from anywhere at all. A needle is stabbed into her leg and I wince. Her eyes start rolling into the back of her head and I run to keep up with them as they move through the halls.
It happens so quick I think that it's my imagination. But she takes a gasping breathe and her face starts to return some color. Her breathes are labored, but she's breathing again. Her chest moves up and down. But as her breathing gets better, her body starts to tremble. I try to reach for her but I'm blocked by doctors and nurses. Her body move in almost epileptic seizures. I feel the panic build up again.
"Help her!" I shout and shove one of the doctors closer.
"It's a normal reaction to epinephrine" he assures me. "She's fine."
