Chapter 11 Embry and the girls

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer- this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe for betaing.

Embry's new grandmother proudly displayed him for the entire reservation. He would swear that he had actually shaken hands or been kissed on the cheek by every single girl on the reservation; and by single he meant every girl, married, single, available or not. Plenty offered him way more than a kiss on the cheek. Whispered assignations in his ear, a lingering touch on his arm, a head tilt and a measured eye-fuck; he knew all the signs after his nightclubbing experience. Those he got plenty of. Some were even from the older women.

He could also tell from the whispered mutterings from the men folk, that his welcome mat would be whisked away very quickly indeed, should he show even the slightest interest in any of 'their' women.

He was distinctly hoping that he would not need his strength or quick healing. He didn't feel like fighting this week.

And not a single earth shattering 'oh my god' I have found the centre of my world type look. No, not for him.

No imprinting.

Bugger.

He did rather have a now distinctly disappointed air; he must have thought that he would find 'her' here. He had not even realised that he had thought that, until it had not happened.

And because he was so intent on finding 'her', he wasn't looking at women in the way you normally would if you were looking for love or woe betide it, some quick human interaction like a bit of flirting or maybe even sex. He was staring intently into the eyes of every woman he met with no reaction. It was becoming obvious that he was not reacting in a 'normal' fashion, whatever the hell normal was.

He thought about the pack; Sam, Jared, Paul, Quil all imprinted. Jake and Leah were together in every way. It would be just him and Seth still looking.

Fishing

His new uncle Roman took him deep sea fishing one day. They mostly used it as an opportunity to talk. Roman worked at the dive shop but it was truly seasonal work.

"Marlena and I are twelve years apart. I don't even know her. She's just been the absent sister for so long, there isn't really anything I can tell you about her."

"What about your father?"

"Like Raven told you, he was a lot less strict on me. Lucky for me, damn, I did all the usual boy stuff you know?"

"Under age drinking… ," from Embry.

"Trying to smoke dope…"

"Messing around with dangerous things like motor bikes…" Embry added.

"And women," Roman finished for him with a laugh.

There was silence for a while.

"With the age difference I was all of six maybe seven when she got the 'never darken my door again' speech."

Embry just waited for him to get out what he needed to say.

"I felt guilty when I got a bit older… all I was thinking when my sister got kicked out of home, was 'all right, I get my own room'… I never thought about her or what was going to happen to her," he gave Embry a look, "Or the baby. I am not even sure I understood there was going to be a baby."

"You were a kid Roman; that's how little kids think."

After another long pause Roman spoke again, "you know… we all kind of got the speech."

Embry looked quizzical.

"The 'never darken my door again' speech. My father was very strong in his views and once you got to an age where you opened your mouth and expressed an opinion; he could not cope. And especially if that opinion was diametrically opposed to whatever he thought."

[AN: if Embry is 19, that makes Roman about 26]

"He was strong, but oh so inflexible. I always thought of him as one of those big trees. You know the ones like the massive cedars around here. They look solid until their foundations loosen a little and the right storm hits them and then they just fall. I think he never forgave himself for driving her away and she, being just as stubborn and inflexible as he is, wouldn't swallow her pride and ask for help."

Embry thought about that. "She's stubborn all right. She will not even tell me who my father is, and she must know. Especially if she spent the whole weekend with him. La Push is such a tiny community, how could she have kept it a secret for so long? It is as if she is terrified of me finding out, and that, I just do not understand. She has always had the idea that if we do not talk about something it somehow just goes away. Which, of course, it doesn't."

Roman snorted. "She sounds exactly like her father." He reeled in his line for a couple of minutes. "Not dealing with stuff is not a solution; it just festers. You are a good kid Embry and because she is not talking to you,… you have almost run away from home… and you are not talking to her. You are just trying to find out the truth but if she had just told you…" Roman gave him a balancing look. "I'll bet you have stuff that is really important to you, that you haven't told her about, because she doesn't encourage communication."

Embry thought about his werewolf secret; the secret he kept from his mother, and how accurate Roman's assessment of the situation was.

"What did you do that earnt you the speech?"

Roman laughed. "I could see it coming a mile away so I moved out of home when I was seventeen. Mum was not happy, but I made sure I stayed on the rez. Got into a share house with some other guys. Left my father with some 'face' and stayed close enough to keep Mum happy."

He looked sad for a second. "The others all ran as fast and as far away as they could."

Death by cop

Meanwhile back at the rez…

Paul and Jared were on patrol when they picked up a vamp scent.

Jared: can we handle it Paul? Should we get help?

Paul: let's see if we can investigate a little more, first.

They scented and followed the trail. It seemed to be leading to a clearing they knew lay up ahead.

J: what the fuck?

P: Jared how sneaky can you be?

Just then, they heard a female voice cry out. It was very loud; louder than a human could shout. "Kill me!" it commanded.

J: what do we do, Paul?

P: (snorts) guess we could kill it.

J: don't you want to know why?

P: nope.

Jared gave off waves of confusion.

P: just stay here, Jared. I'll investigate.

He loped to the edge of the forest. Standing in the centre of the small clearing with her arms outstretched was a female vamp. She was just standing there. Tears of shiny venom dripped down her cheeks.

Paul stuck his head out of the forest. The movement made the vamp turn freakily fast towards him. He gambled on still having time to escape her or call Jared before she attacked him. But she didn't seem like she was going to be attacking anything today.

"Kill me," she begged him.

He shifted on his paws and moved a little further into the clearing.

"I know what you are," she hissed at him.

He couldn't answer her in his wolf form. Should he take the risk? Jared gave off more waves of worry. He thought it was a trap.

Paul made a decision. He phased and stood naked on the edge of the clearing.

"Why?" he asked her. She would have been a relatively pretty brown-haired woman, except for the sunlight glinting off her skin. She looked like all hard diamonds to him. Not attractive at all. But now she was a 'her' not an 'it.'

"You killed my soul mate," she said with a sob.

He heard shuffling in the forest behind him; Jared had followed him. So much for obeying the beta's orders. Paul raised an eyebrow at him.

Paul thought about it, they hadn't had many vamp kills lately. Then he remembered the night Jake had been injured by a newborn vampire whilst he was saving Leah.

"The hiker," he guessed.

"Yes," she hissed it at him.

He remembered Quil's discussion about whether vamps mated for life, like they did. She must have imprinted on the hiker or whatever the vamp equivalent was; and then she had changed him so that they could be together forever. Maybe they had arranged to meet in the woods or something, so that his family didn't know.

"I've tried to live without him," she sniffed, "but an eternity without him is too much."

"You loved him."

"Yes and there will be no other," her language sounded a little old fashioned, or stilted as if she was much older than she looked.

"You've tried?" he asked. What the fuck did he care?

"Yes and …I cannot."

Paul stood there and looked at her. He thought about how he would feel if Bella died. She was his whole life. He started to walk towards the vamp. Jared whimpered at him.

He walked across the clearing towards the stricken woman. Funny, how he thought of her as a woman now. He had no idea how old she was and she had given up her will to live, after mere months of being without him.

He stopped half a dozen paces from her. She knelt on the ground like a victim in front of the guillotine.

"You promise not to attack me?" he asked. Stupid question, as if he could trust her.

"I promise. Please kill me quickly," she begged.

"Okay," he agreed.

He stopped in front of her and he spoke very, very quietly so that Jared could not hear him. "I would want the same… if it was my mate… I hope you find his spirit…" and he reached out with his bare hands and twisted her head off.

The body collapsed in front of him. He held the head firmly so that she didn't bite him. He thought he heard her emit a breathless sigh. He stood there, looking at her still tear stained, but now peaceful face, until Jared approached and started collecting wood for the fire to burn her.

They didn't speak as Jared found the lighter in his pocket and lit the kindling. Paul placed the head gently on the fire, while Jared tore her body into little pieces and they watched as she burned.

When they got home and reported to Jake, he went off his nut. He was furious, shouting at Paul that she could have bitten him, or even scratched him with a tooth and he would be dead. He just said 'she promised' and then he walked away.

Bella understood and held him hard.

FF_2154210_ - 13/01/2011 02:13:00 AM