JPOV
I wasn't sleeping. I couldn't right now. I was laying in bed worrying about all the things I'd told Nessie. How would she take all of this. Did she still want to be with me knowing what she did now? The thought of her leaving hurt worse than any pain I'd ever felt before, if just thinking about it was this bad I knew I probably wouldn't survive if it actually happened. I laid there, watching her sleep. She was so beautiful and she looked so peaceful sleeping beside me in my bed, I never wanted to leave this bed with her, but when a sudden ferocious howl broke the silence I was up in an instant. Ness jerked awake at the sound, just as my phone began ringing on my nightstand. She was reaching for the phone as I was making my way out of the room, I knew what that howl meant. One of the wolves on patrol had come across the scent of a vampire. I was almost out the door to phase when Nessie screamed from the bedroom. "Jacob! Come back, don't go yet..it's Alice!" I stopped in my tracks and ran back to the bedroom taking the phone from Nessie.
"Jacob! Jacob are you there?" Alice asked.
"What's going on?"
"It's the Volturi I think, they're in Forks. I didn't see," she said sounding shaken "it's all fuzzy. I don't know what they're doing or who they're looking for. Keep Renesmee safe until we can get there, Edward is on the phone trying to get us a flight. I'll call you when we know more."
I started to ask questions but suddenly it was Carlisle on the phone.
"Jacob! Do not leave La Push! Keep your pack on Quiluete lands, we don't know what's happening, or how many of them there are."
"Carlisle it's our job! We can't just sit here and do nothing!" I yelled, louder than I intended to. We couldn't just sit here on our asses and let them do whatever they wanted.
"YOU HAVE TO!" Carlisle screamed at me. I'd never heard Doc raise his voice, it was so unlike him that it brought me up short. They must really be scared. "Promise me Jacob! Keep Renesmee, yourself and your pack safe." he paused for a minute while I gathered my thoughts. "PROMISE ME JACOB!" he screamed again.
I was so shaken up that I just muttered "Okay, okay...I promise." With that the line went dead and I hung the phone up. Nessie was standing in front of me, she had been able to hear the entire conversation and she looked terrified. I went to her and wrapped her in my arms "It'll be okay. Your safe here, don't worry." I kissed the top of her head as she nodded into my chest. "I have to go outside and phase and tell the pack what's going on" her grip on my waist tightened. "I'll be right outside, only a few minutes Ness I promise, I've got to make sure they stay on the reservation." She slowly let go of me and I gave her another quick kiss on the forehead and headed outside. I phased as soon as my feet hit the dirt.
What are we waiting for?
Let's go kill the leeches!
How many are there?
Where's Jake?
It seems like they're headed to the Cullen's old house.
Where the fuck is Jake?
There were so many voices in my head, I couldn't tell who all was phased.
QUIET! I shouted in my head. Alice just called me...she thinks it's the Volturi.
The cloaked bloodsuckers? Embry asked
Yes, she can't see why they're here...everyone come to my house.
We're not attacking?
Why the fuck aren't we going to shred them?
What the hell Jake?
NOW! I screamed, silencing them all. Get to my house NOW, NOONE attacks right now! I let the Alpha take over and there was no more argument as they all began to make their way to me.
I phased back and ran into the house to get dressed. Nessie was sitting on my bed now, still in nothing but my old t-shirt. She was staring down at the floor. I quickly threw on a pair of shorts and went to sit beside her.
"Are you okay?" I asked. Stupid question dick head!
She just shook her head, then slowly looked up at me. "Are they here for me again?" She was terrified. I could tell. Her hands were trembling and her eyes were rimmed with tears. I folded her into my arms. "No one knows why they're here Ness" I pulled her away to look into her eyes "But I won't let anything happen to you...I promise I won't" I was angry just at the thought of someone trying to hurt her. I hoped she could see in my eyes how true my statement had been. I pulled her back into my chest and that's how we stayed until I heard the front door open and the pack coming inside. "Will you send Leah in here please?" Nessie asked me as I headed out of the bedroom. I just nodded my head and shut the door behind me. The entire pack was crammed into my living room. We hadn't had anyone new phase since the Cullen's left. Embry, Quill, Jared, Colin, Brady, Seth, Leah, Matt, Tim, Paul, Adam and I were it. Sam and quite a few others had stopped phasing when the Cullen's had left, most of them had imprinted and wanted to go on aging with their partners.
"What's going on Jake?" Paul asked.
"I don't know." I said bluntly, then I relayed the call I had gotten from Alice and told them what Carlile had said.
"C'mon..dude, they're bloodsuckers in OUR territory, we can't just do nothing!" Jared said. I agreed with him, but I also knew that Carlisle was right. We had no idea what we would be getting into if we went to find them now. It could be suicide.
" I know that Jared! But it would be stupid to go out and get ourselves killed without knowing a little more than we do now!"
They all started talking at the same time. The dull roar in my head was hurting. Leah came up to me then."Is Nessie okay?" she asked. "I don't know, she's scared...she wants you to go in there" and I nodded my head toward my bedroom as she took off down the hall.
They all began talking about sending a few wolves to check it out, a reconnaissance party. It sounded like a good idea, we needed more information and we weren't getting any sitting here.
"Okay, Okay!" I said, and they all fell silent. "Who wants to go?" Of course every hand shot up. "We can't all go...someone's got to stay here and keep La Push safe." I said.
"Embry, Quill, Seth and I will go check it out, the rest of you spread out across the boundary line. STAY THERE! Do not cross the line! Is that understood?" They all nodded at me. "I'll get Leah to stay here with Nessie."
RPOV
I had heard what Alice told Jake. I knew the Volturi were here. Were they looking for me? I had always known they could come back one day, but it had been so many years, I was hoping they had forgotten all about me. Why hadn't Alice seen them? Why was everything fuzzy? Me and the wolves were the only things that were fuzzy to Alice, but over the years, as she'd gotten to know us we had become much easier for her to see. Did this mean the Volturi had a hybrid with them? Or something else that was blocking Alice? A shield like my mom maybe? This couldn't be good...whatever they were after.
I could hear the ruckus in Jake's living room but I was too deep in thought to really pick out individual voices. I got the gist of it, the pack wanted to attack. I was terrified that Jacob would do that. As confused as I still was over our previous conversation I still loved him and needed him, I couldn't bear to watch him leave right now. It sounded as though Jacob wasn't budging and I was glad. A few minutes later there was a small knock on the door and Leah walked in.
"How you holding up?" she asked me as she sat on the bed next to me.
I gave a sarcastic laugh "I don't really know if I am or not."
"Jake won't let anything happen to you Ness...none of us will"
I smiled at her " I know that, I can't help but be scared."
She threw her arm around my shoulder. "It'll be fine." She looked down at me in Jake's old t-shirt and she smirked. "Had a little fun huh?"
I couldn't help but blush."Maybe a little" I said. She threw her head back and laughed loudly. "Finally! That boy has been needing to get laid for a very long time!"
She made it sound so impersonal. Surely what Jake and I had done was more than just getting laid. The confusion must have been obvious on my face because she stopped laughing and said "I know it was more than that for you guys, but making love just isn't as interesting to me"
I playfully punched her in the stomach. "So was it good?" she asked me. I blushed again and just nodded my head as I bit my bottom lip. "Excellent!" she laughed. "So you're staying here I guess?" she asked. I was lost in thought then, I wasn't really sure anymore. I loved Jake of course, but with all this new information I wasn't sure if I was ready to do this. Something had changed, and I was suddenly so unsure of myself.
"Leah, were you around when Jake and my mom were together?"
She looked down at the floor. "They were never together Ness, Jake was infatuated and she was always in love with your dad. "
"But he loved her?"
"I think that he thought he was in love with her."she answered me. "But what he felt for Bella is nothing compared to what he feels for you. I've been in his mind...I can tell the difference."
"He wanted to kill me when I was born."
"Can you blame him Ness? In his mind...in our minds, well, we didn't know what you were. You were just the monster that was going to kill Bella. You killed the person he loved...that's how he saw it at the time. That all changed when he saw you of course."
"Do you still think I'm a monster? That I killed my mom?"
"Of course not Ness! Your mom loved you enough to fight for you, she made her decisions because she loved you. You were never a monster! But you have to understand that none of us had ever even heard of anything like you...none of us knew what to expect, at that time all we could picture was a little demon ripping it's way out of Bella's body, blood thirsty and murderous. We didn't know any better, you shouldn't blame Jacob for feeling the way he did."
I took a deep breath and let it all sink in. "I guess you're right, I can't really blame everyone for thinking that way." I got up and went to look out the window. "Will you go get my clothes Leah? I'm tired of running around half naked."
"Sure" she said "I'll be back in a few minutes."
JPOV
Embry, Quill, Seth and I were standing on the front porch waiting for Leah. I needed to fill her in before we left. We were going over a few details when the front door opened and Leah came out. "I'm going to get Ness's clothes, I'll be right back." she said as she went down the stairs.
"Wait Leah" I said, and I grabbed her hand and led her out into the yard, trying to keep Ness from hearing any more than she needed to.
"The rest of the pack is on the line, we're going to the Cullen's place, you're going to stay here with Nessie." I whispered to her.
"I thought Carlsile said to stay here?" She whispered back.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing Leah"
"You're not telling Ness any of this?" she looked at me like I was a complete idiot.
"She doesn't need to worry about it right now" I gave her a look I'm sure she understood. "You won't say anything!"
"It's your ass!" she hissed at me as she took off towards her house.
I looked down at the ground, I wouldn't tell Nessie anything. She would freak out and I couldn't deal with that right now. I turned back towards the house and there she was, on my porch in my old t-shirt looking like she wanted to rip my throat out.
"YOU WEREN'T GOING TO TELL ME?" she screeched at me. "YOU WERE JUST GOING TO GO AND NOT EVEN SAY GOODBYE!"
"Ness, calm down" I began to walk towards her but she raised her hand to silence me.
"After all that's gone in the last few days, after telling me you loved me, you want me to move in with you...after all of that you were just going to go off and fight and not even say anything to me?"
"Ness, we're not going to fight, we just want to see how many there are, try and figure out what they want..." I tried to continue but she interrupted me again.
"They're fucking VAMPIRES Jacob! They'll see you and they'll smell you! Are you really so stupid to think you could just go spy on them and they wouldn't know!" her voice was getting louder and louder. "You're such a dumb ass Jacob!"
"Ness," I began. "NO! You don't get to talk to me right now Jacob Black! Just fucking GO! You're obviously not even worth any of this!" She flipped around on her heels, went inside and slammed the front door.
Ouch! I could see the other guys cringing at her words just like I was. I am a fucking dumb ass. I should have just told her what was going on, trying to sneak off was obviously a bad idea. I was still just standing there, mouth hanging open, staring at the front door when Leah came back.
"Smooth Jacob" she smirked as she walked past me. "You really know how to make a girl feel loved don't ya?" She walked in and again the door was slammed.
"FUCK!" I screamed. I ran my hands over my face then shook it off and turned towards to woods to phase. Seth stepped in front of me and put both his hands on my chest.
"No Jake!" he hissed at me "You're not going! You need to stay here with Ness, what if this does turn into a fight...you gonna leave her while she's upset?"
"I'm the Alpha Seth..it's my job!" I screamed at him.
"He's right dude," Embry said from the porch, " you should stay here with her, smooth it over, if they see us or catch our scent we'll head for the boundary line, Carlisle didn't say anything about not attacking them on our own land."
"I can't just sit here on my ass and let the rest of you take all the risks Embry!"
"We'll be fine Jake, we'll hang back and watch, if it turns ugly we'll run home and you can help us tear them up."Quill said.
I stood there looking at them, trying to find some reasoning in my argument. I knew it was my job to be with them, but they were right, they could get back to La Push if something went wrong and I'd be there to help. I just nodded my head. "Go get Leah" I said to Seth. He disappeared inside and soon him and Leah were standing in front of me. Leah was looking at me like I'd just killed her best friend. I felt like a complete douche. "I'm gonna stay here with Nessie, Leah, do you want to go to the Cullen's or run patrol around here?" I figured I'd make a peace offering and let her decide for herself. "I'll go with them, 4 is stronger than 3" without another word she stalked into the woods to phase.
I turned to look at the other three, "The first hint that anything's wrong, come home!" They all nodded at me. "I'll phase so I can keep an eye on things. If they follow you, I'll have the pack waiting to ambush them." They walked into the woods then and I walked up the steps and went inside.
Nessie was sitting on the sofa. She had put on a pair of jeans and a black low cut tank top. Even though she probably hated me right now I couldn't help but think how absolutely astonishing she was, even when pissed off she was remarkably sexy. She had pulled her hair up into a pony tail and I wanted so badly to kiss her soft neck. I just stood there as she stared straight ahead, avoiding my eyes. So this is how it was going to be. Fantastic. I didn't have time for a lengthy apology, I needed to phase. "I'm sorry Renesmee" I said quietly. "I'll be out front." Then I turned and went back outside. I phased and sat down on the front porch. The little reconnaissance team was closing in on the Cullen's house.
Stay together. I told them.
Got it boss Embry replied. They slowed almost to a crawl and went around to the east, trying to stay down wind. They spread out about 10 feet apart and sat down. The Cullen house was quiet right now, but the scent of vampire was in the air, they must be inside. We all sat quiet for a few minutes, letting our senses fan out around us. I had closed my eyes and was concentrating hard when I heard the front door open and smelled Nessie's scent wash over me. I was sitting behind the top step and she sat down to my right. A moment later she turned to me and I slowly opened my eyes, "I'm sorry" she said, her eyes rimmed with tears. I just nodded my head and nuzzled my face into her neck. She began running her fingers thru my fur and laid a quick kiss on the side of my face. There was movement outside of the Cullen's house and I immediately straitened away from Ness. She kept one hand around my neck, but she had stilled her movement too.
Somethings happening Leah said.
Six vampires walked out of the Cullen's house. None of us recognized them and they didn't wear the stupid cloaks the Volturi had donned last time we'd met them.
Maybe it's not them. Seth said.
There are only six? I asked
Yes they all replied at once
They were all walking around the Cullen's back yard, sniffing the wind and looking into the dark woods.
Can you hear them talking? I asked
No
Try to figure out why they're here. I told them.
Suddenly the six vampires began talking.
"Dexter, there's no one here, they're scents are old, they haven't been here for quite some time" A tall brown haired female was saying.
"Obviously Camilla!" a short blonde male said to her.
"Well where the hell is she then?" another male asked
"Aro will be disappointed." another said
So they are with the Volturi. Leah said.
What "she" are they after though? Quill asked
I growled out loud. Nessie? They can't have her!
Abruptly the wind shifted and blew our scent straight into the vampires. The all crouched defensively and growled towards the tree line.
Uh oh!
Get out of there..NOW I screamed to them. I could see the forest floor flying beneath they're feet, I could also feel them being followed. RUN...GET TO THE LINE! I'LL MEET YOU THERE! I was on my feet growling and shaking running for the trees. Colin was the closest to my house. Colin! Get here NOW and stay with Nessie..everyone else get to the line and get ready!
On my way, be there in less than a minute. Colin said. I turned back towards the house, Nessie was standing on the front porch looking terrified. I nodded my head at her and she nodded back, I hoped she understood. I took off for the line and about 15 seconds later I saw that Colin had arrived.
Phase really quick and let her know what's happening. Then phase back and stay with her.
Okay.
I felt him disappear as I arrived at the boundary line, every one else was already there. I spread them out and we got ready for Leah, Quill, Seth and Embry to arrive. They'd be here in less than a minute.
Tear them apart I said but don't burn them. We don't know who they're after, Carlisle will know what to do when they get here.
Got it they all said in unison
I felt Colin phase back in. She's okay. She's calling her parents right now.
Good, hopefully they'll be here soon.
We could hear them coming, crashing through the forest. These vamps were fast, it was taking every bit of the wolves strength to keep away from them. Suddenly we could see them and as soon as they were across the line we all sprung at them. We took them by surprise and were able to rip them apart quickly. The sounds of tearing, ripping and screaming filled the night air. One of them had managed to kick Brady in the stomach and he had collapsed on the ground, Leah finished that one off. Soon the screaming stopped and there was no sound at all except for our heavy breathing and Brady's pain filled moans.
Get him to Sams! He'll know what to do!I told Matt and Tim. The rest of us stayed in a loosely formed circle around the six piles of quivering limbs on the forest floor.
What now Jake? Paul asked.
We stay here and make sure they don't put themselves back together until the Cullen's can get here.
Are we going to interrogate them? Paul asked again.
We have to know who they're after Paul. I want to burn them as bad as you do, but we need information first. Paul just nodded his head. We'll stay here, three at a time until they get here. I'll keep the first watch, who else wants to stay? The rest of you go home and get some rest.
I'll stay Seth said
Me too added Embry
I'll go stay with Nessie Leah said She's probably going crazy right about now
Thank you Leah I said
She trotted off towards my house without another word.
