[ XII ]
Her arms are twisted at an awkward angle as she struggles against the powerful grip of the vampire. Ice cold hands encase her, stopping any plausible escape she conjures up in her mind. Her surroundings swirl around her like a carnival ride and she uses what strength she has left to focus the jumbled array of thoughts in her head.
She can feel their eyes on her, their gaze prickling and heating her flesh, her bones, and no matter how deep, feeling the cold frost which their stares leave in their wake.
Her wolf cries out in frustration, begging to be released, begging to kill each and every one of her mortal enemies who stand gazing at her but the small blonde haired child prevents the phase. With her red eyes locked on Leah, she channels her gift the moment she sees the change about to begin. The vampire stops it in its tracks like a high speed collision. One hint of a ripple under the skin brings Leah abruptly to her knees.
"She's a feisty one," the brown hair boy states as he stands in front of her, a smile coming to the forefront of his cold lips. His eyes are blood red and yet Leah can see the glint of playfulness in them. A killers eyes. He seems too young to be so sadistic but she has learned over the years that looks can be deceiving; that those she could trust, she could not.
"And so pretty," another velvet voice laughs, stepping forward to brush back the hair that is falling around her face and across her sweaty forehead.
Leah pulls away from the cold hand only to be encased tighter, her arms pressed tightly against her lower back. Her teeth grit as she feels the blonde grab her chin harshly so he can look her over.
His eyes travel each feature of her face, starting with the dark arched eyebrows down to the pink stained lips and lengthy neck. He's studying her, memorising her and the subtle hints of fear in her animalistic eyes.
She can't bear to imagine what they might do with her now that they have her, so she looks down instead of into his blazing ruby orbs. Holding the males gaze feels intimate, forbidden and she doesn't want to portray anything less than how she feels. Alone. Afraid. And most of all angry.
"Yes, very very beautiful," the older blonde vampire hums as he runs his cold fingertips over her mouth.
His beauty is striking, painful even, but she knows that it's all part of the illusion. Humans had a tendency to trust pretty people and she wonders just how many had fallen to their knees and prayed to their Gods before the end.
Leah can see a glint of something sexual in his eyes and spits to the ground in disgust. All vampires were creatures of gluttony; sex, blood and power, the trinity of over indulgent pleasures. The source didn't matter to them in the long run, only the goal and the enrichment they would feel in the succession of such things.
"Does she speak?" the brown haired child asks as he peeks around the tall blonde.
Leah lets out a yelp of surprise as the male behind her breaks her little finger for failing to reply to the tiny murderer.
"Answer the question or say goodbye to another finger."
Nodding Leah looks up at the child and growls, "Of course I speak you little shit."
"She has a potty mouth Demetri," the child states as he looks up at the blonde, "I don't like her."
"I don't like you either you undead little freak," Leah spits again as her captor pushes her down on to her knees for her intolerance. The concrete slaps as her knees connect with the floor, sending rivets of pain through her cruciate ligaments.
"I wouldn't say that if I were you honey," the blonde sings as he gently cups her face, "Jane gets mighty upset when humans are nasty to her brother."
"Like I give a shit what those two incestuous fucks think about-"
Leah's eyes widen in horror as she feels the stabbing pain all over her body. Her muscles clench and unclench trying to ride out the feeling but there is just so much of it, and not enough of her. Ice cold hands still cup her cheeks, fingers rubbing the height of her cheek bones and the width of her lips.
The older blonde vampire, Demetri, coos and hums, vibrant over the pain that is being inflicted on her by the little girl. His arousal is evident each time a wave of pain ripples through her from the core. It's as though she's dying; from the inside out.
"Breathe honey; breathe," he laughs, speaking with fake concern, "just a little longer. You're doing so well."
Screams echo through the small outhouse but it isn't until she drops to the ground, her body spent, that she realises that they were from her own mouth. Her muscles twitch as if she's been electrocuted and it's a hard blight to try and stand after such an immense amount of pressure being constricted on her body. She feels like a stranger inside her body, like she's a different person. It won't move, it won't yield to her command and she can barely keep her eyes open.
"See," Demetri whispers as his tongue slithers across her cheek to taste her sweaty skin, "I told you she'd get angry, pretty girl"
Leah doesn't snap or push at the vampire this time. She's boneless, lethargic and tired. She can hardly form any distinguishable sounds from her mouth. It's like they've taken her voice away too. She closes her eyes in an attempt to free her mind, to take herself anywhere but here.
Thoughts and memories swirl until they land on a singular event. The detail is blurred but she knows enough about him to remember even the slightest of resemblances.
[He's asleep on his back, his arm drawn up in an elevation sling to aid his healing collarbone while the rest of his bandaged body sprawls out over the small bed. Beads of sweat line his top lip and his face scrunches in pain each time his body unconsciously moves.
Sitting quietly in the dark room she takes his hand, rubbing gentle circles into his russet covered knuckles. He's been suffering nightmares since Bella's visit and quick departure and the only thing that seems to calm him is the presence of another wolf, primarily her.
She doesn't know why but she takes it in stride knowing that his wolf is probably fretting over the only female in the pack and her primary safety. He'd saved her life earlier that day so it was the least she could do for now.
Glancing down at their hands she studies the differences in them. While hers are long and lean Jacob's are longer and wide. Scars which will soon fade cover the skin of both their hands. Laying her palm flat against his her spine tingles in response to the heat trapped between them.
Pulling back slightly she panics when she feels Jacob's fingers slip through her own, intertwining them tightly. Bursts of bright colours seem to ignite behind her eyes but she doesn't pull away like she normally would.
Instead, she sits there, watching over Jacob and his injuries, holding his hand until morning.]
"I say we kill the she-bitch. That way no one in her pathetic tribe will be having any more puppies," Jane states evenly as she picks at her nails.
"I don't think it works like that," Demetri replies as he gently brushes each piece of stray hair away from Leah's face. "Does it honey?" he says with a small smile, "But - I suppose it won't hurt. Just to be on the safe side."
Leah whimpers as the blonde's fingernail claws down her cheek all the way to her collar bone. She can feel the skin split and open, like an onion being cut and the layers peeled away. He smiles the entire time as their eyes lock, Leah's eyes filled with hatred while Demetri's brim with lust.
"Your blood tastes strange," he comments as he licks her cheek and slips the tip of his tongue over the incision, his venom searing the wound like a tattoo.
"I hope you choke on it motherfucker," she hisses softly.
A cold hand seizes around Leah's neck and presses firmly, making sure she understands the silent threat. With the fingers pressing indents into her larynx, she gasps for air.
"I doubt that very much, beautiful."
.
The sky is dark but the brightly lit twenty four hour diner gives off enough superficial light to almost make it seem as though it were day. Low booths line the windows, Leah and Jacob sitting opposite each other on the hard white plastic.
Dumping more sugar than water into his coffee, Jacob shifts uncomfortably, feeling the eyes of his former Beta on him. She's not glaring, but still, the gaze heats his skin, his collar becoming unconditionally tighter the longer they sit in silence.
In some regal sense he's always been partial to Leah. He had loved Seth like his own brother but Leah was different. She was like that girl that made you nervous, the one you still tried to impress, no matter how old you got or how stupid the idea. There had always been a strange aura around her and Jacob hates to admit that at one point he may have even had feelings for her that lengthened further than the strings of friendship. Even if he was twelve years old at the time it seems immoral to harbour anything for her. It's sounds cruel but he knows that whatever he thought they could have had, vanished the day he left with Bella.
He has tried to make it more comfortable with each of his pack members since his return, slowly allowing himself to slip back into the old Jake, LaPush's Jake.
Though, making up for lost time, while on his agenda, feels implausible. He can't right the wrongs of the past and he sure as hell can't take away any of their pain. He wants to believe in redemption, believe that everything will work out in the end, but he knows happy endings are far and few between.
It still kills him to think about Leah's brown eyes filling with tears of despair and how she'd begged for him to stay. She had never wanted for anything and in that moment Jacob had seen just a slither of why she'd reacted the same way he did with Bella and Edward. It was unfair, cruel even.
He was forcing her hand and she hadn't had a choice. The power to choose had been taken away from her. Again.
It's empty around them and besides the older woman alternating between two coffee pots and cleaning the meal kitchen after a busy night, they are the only two in the small building.
Leah sits huddled toward the window, one eye on the front door and the other flicking between the space behind Jacob and the woman clanking pots around in the kitchen. Jacob can see that she is unsettled here and thinks that maybe they should have ordered to go and parked out somewhere. Her eyes look a little wild, like a caged animal being backed into a corner, but she slowly pulls it together once she notices his interest.
"So," Jacob begins, stirring his coffee with one of the wooden sticks from the sugar packet, "how was patrol?"
.
'Hold up,' Paul yells as his paws dig into the soft dirt. His massive wolf body stops abruptly, his head jerking in the opposite direction of which he is running. Shivers move up and down his spine, like spider legs running across flesh, 'You hear that?'
'Hear what?' August asks as he stops suddenly behind the older wolf.
'Listen Pup; listen with more than just your ears'
August cocks his head to the side wondering what the Hell Paul is talking about until he feels it shudder in his bones. 'What is that?'
'I don't know,' Paul mentally frowns as he circles the area, a sense of urgency running through the synapses of his mind, 'But I need to find out'
'What about patrol? We can't just leave our posts' August insists, trotting after Paul who has his snout pressed to the ground, his form moving quickly; tracking. "I'm serious man. Seth will be pissed."
'What the fuck is that' Paul whispers to himself, well aware that August can hear him through the mind link. Memories filter past Paul's thoughts in an attempt to piece the feeling to something he's heard before, felt before, a long time ago.
.
The room is so dark her eyes have a hard time adjusting even with the extra shape shifter gene. Her face is swollen and it feels as though a golf ball has been lodged between her teeth and the inside of her mouth.
Blood trickles over her lips and down the corner of her left eye after the sleazy blonde bloodsucker had requested information and had once again been denied. She's not sure how long it's been, but knows that she's been in and out of consciousness several times.
The room doesn't allow for light so she's not even sure if it day or night outside. She wonders how long it's been, whether the rest of the families; her family, got away or stayed safe.
She tries to sniff out the different scents between dusk and dawn, having memorised them during her patrols, but finds nothing. The only thing she can smell is her own blood. Not even the stench of leech can cover the overpowering smell of metallic blood.
"Ms Bitch is finally awake," Jane states broadly as she sits next to a wooden box with her elbow propping her head up. Her black coat is partially open revealing layers upon layers of satin and silks, blues and deeps reds. Royal colours of an old age.
Glancing at Demetri, Jane sighs, "I don't see the point of this. Let me use my power and we can go home already. She'll be talking in several tongues by the time I'm finished with her."
"No," Demetri growls as he wonders over to Leah's body and yanks her up by the elbow. The steel shackles remain tightly around Leah's wrists and her skin burns and chaffs against the cold metal. "She'll talk," he whispers as his hands slide up her back to the collar of her ripped shirt. Tugging effortlessly, the material rips from Leah's body as if it is thin paper leaving her upper body in only a bra. "They always do."
.
Leah's gaze is settled on the top of her mug, her eyes blinking blankly into the dark liquid. She hasn't even taken a sip but she keeps her hands firmly pressed against the hot ceramic as her eyes make their journey towards Jacob's hands.
"Alright," Jacob breathes, noticing how strange this meeting seems to be with her not answering even the simplest of his questions.
"I need you to do the healing ceremony sooner than planned," she states, her eyes lingering on each movement his hands make, before discreetly dipping her chin down to glance at the door, "I need you to do it this weekend."
"We were going to make it next month but alright. There are only a few more things I have to get and then we should be-"
"Seth's going to take my place," she whispers, diverting her head down. Her cheeks flush as she brushes the hair back from her shoulders making the thin scar that runs down her face more distinguishable under the white light.
The sight of it makes Jacob's stomach roll; knowing that the once beautiful Leah Clearwater had been tainted by a vampire. But even then, the scar gives her character, it gives her strength, residency earned in the Supernatural world they both live in; though Jacob eager to escape.
Frowning hard his eyebrows push together, "I thought you wanted the scars gone?" he keeps his voice low, still very much aware of the waitresses presence.
He watches as Leah taps her fingers on the table, her knee bouncing in pent up frustration. Her lips are pressed tightly together making the edges of the scar that run through it, white.
"Seth needs it more than I do," she says when she finally speaks, "Deserves it more than I do. Plus, nothing ever disappears, Jake. Scars heal physically of course, but inside, inside is where you can't reach; can't fix."
"Everything can be fixed, Leah."
Her eyes darken as they flick back to his, darting back and forth between each iris to make sure he is being serious about what he's just said, "Maybe in your world things can be fixed Jacob, but in my world, the world you left behind, nothing is ever completely fixed. If it could be, my parents wouldn't be dead, Sarah would still be alive and Billy would be fucking walking."
Sucking in a deep breath Leah surveys her options, "Look, this was a bad idea alright; I... fuck... thanks for the coffee, Jacob. This has been fun, lets never do it again," she says sarcastically as she moves from the bench.
Shaking his head Jacob takes her hand and stops her from moving from the booth, "You don't mean that, Leah. The thing is - I wanted to do this for you, because -"
Glancing up, Jacob notices the tears in the corners of her eyes. They are trembling, threatening to fall, but they hold on.
"It will mean more, to me, if you do it for him, Jake. My pain is only a fraction compared to Seth's," she whispers as she sits back in the booth. "He's my brother and I would rather see him happy than myself. Seth's pain is debilitating him from the inside. You can't see it, but I do. I live it. I see and hear everything, Jacob. Seth is different than I am, than we both are. He deserves better. And if I have to give up some stupid scars to give him back his life; a life, then I'll do it"
Nodding his head, Jacob sighs as he rubs his palms over his face, realisation dawning, "I don't know if it will work, Leah. I mean - you, yes. But Seth... I just don't know."
"What makes us different Jacob? What could possibly set me and him apart?" Leah hisses, pointing and prodding her finger in his face. Her calm demeanour has slipped off, unmasking the beast within.
Anger shoots through Jacob's eyes as his hands tremble, "You want to know what sets you both apart? Come with me," he demands, sliding across the chair and out of the booth. He doesn't blink or bat an eyelash when he tugs her to her feet, throwing a twenty on the table, and begins dragging her to the door. If she hadn't known all this time why he picked her as Beta all those years ago, she's about to find out. He's sick of being on the back end of her anger and rage, and he is going to show her exactly what he saw.
"Jake - what are you - let go," Leah hisses as she feels Jake moving her as if she is a rag doll. It's no use; he is stronger, more agile, and more masculine than she will ever be. His wolf is snarling just under his skin, the moon light flitting across his tight russet skin as they both move through the door to the truck.
"Hurry up," he barks, securing an arm around her waist just in case she tries to bolt.
"You have five seconds to let go of me, Black," she shrieks, jabbing at his side while he merely picks her up by the scruff of her jumper and pushes her against the side of the truck. Her body jolts with the sudden impact, jarring each tendon, leaving her slightly light headed as the cold metal presses through her jumper and onto the scars riddled over her back.
His body is pushed up tightly against hers, pinning her to the side of the tray while securing his large hands around her wrists. "Come with me Leah," Jacob whispers into her ear, urging his body closer, "Come with me and let me show you what sets you apart from Seth."
"If I come with you," Leah hisses, one of her hands escaping his grasp and slinking into the tray of the truck, "I want Seth to take my spot." Her breathing is laboured as his weight presses into her harder, his dark eyes clouding over.
"Deal, but I'm not going to make this easy on you, Leah."
Laughing bitterly, Leah snaps her teeth towards his cheek, threatening to bite into him even in human form, "Don't worry, whatever you have planned, I can handle."
"I wouldn't expect anything less, Clearwater."
.
Kicking the backs of her knees down, Demetri watches as Leah stumbles to the ground, her modesty long forgotten.
Grabbing a handful of her black hair, Demetri rips back her head and presses his lips against her temple. His cold breath spirals through her hair, igniting each follicle. The pain of his grip is excruciating and her teeth grit to stop from crying out.
With her on her knees he crouches behind her, his fingers threading a tighter grip just in case the she-bitch decides to make a break for it. While he admires her willpower and the fight in her character, he detests being disobeyed. Just the thought of the creature in front of him not succumbing to his will makes the venom bubble in his throat.
Pulling a blade from his leather boot, he places it bluntly at her scalp, pulling her head back further so he can see those pretty eyes. Those big hazel eyes of cunning deceit. Of disobedience and pride. A pride which he was going to stomp out with his boot, crush under his stone palm until nothing but ash was left.
"I've read in many history books about the technique of scalping within Native tribes," he whispers into her temple, jerking her back. "They say scalping bestows the possessor with the powers of the scalped enemy. Tell me little wolf, do you think it will work? Do you think if I take it as a trophy, I will become a wolf too?"
"Wrong tribe, fuck face," Leah hisses as she feels the serrated edge of the blade begin to split her hairline. "Even if it did work, you're dead remember? You're body doesn't have the ability to change, it doesn't grow, live, breathe."
"Ah, pity then," Demetri drawls, flinging her forward to watch her collide with the hard concrete floor.
Leah lets out a grunt of pain and fists her hands against the floor. Everything hurts; everything feels broken, bruised and torn.
"Well, we will just have to figure out a way to even up the score, don't you think? I wonder if a wolf can turn into a vampire?" he contemplates as he reaches for her wrist and rubs the delicate layer of flesh covering her vein.
Leah screams hoarsely as she feels Demetri's teeth peirce through her flesh. It takes only a moment and when nothing happens Demetri tries again.
Frenzied and wild with the lack of development Demetri moves to the large expanse of bare flesh in front of his eyes. He begins at her shoulders, biting and licking, allowing his venom to infect her.
The screams deafen Demetri but all he does is smile against her flesh and bite down again. And again.
Until the screams suddenly stop.