Disclaimer: Still playing with Stephanie's twilight toys. No copyright infringement intended.

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The Blood Wars

Chapter 12

"Stay the hell out of my damn head!"

"Your call, Jake."

"I get enough of this with the pack."

"Yeah, but they can't read her mind...I know she can't talk. Don't you want to know why?"

"Leave it alone."

"Alright, I'm just saying."

"And I'm just saying, I don't need your help. She'll start talking when she settles down."

"Fine with me, dog. If that's what you want..."

Edward turned to leave. He tried to put his arm around Bella's waist, but she pushed it away. She wasn't speaking to him at the moment because when they went back to bed after the big screaming incident, he had stubbornly sat at his desk for the rest of the night reading a book. In fact, she was not too happy with either Jake or Edward right at the moment.

Jake was standing out in the hall waiting for Rachel when Edward and Bella showed up on the way down to breakfast. Alice had knocked on the door earlier with clothes to help Rachel dress for the day. She didn't look too surprised when Jake came to the door wearing a blanket, but she threw a pair of shorts at him and ordered him out while she worked her magic. He hadn't argued, but he waited until she went in and shut the door before he pulled on his pants. She caught the blanket in the door and it was still there... half in … half out of the room. He was still a bit stupefied from waking up to find the girl under the blanket with him... snuggled up to his back

Sometime during the night he had phased back to human form. He had never done that in his sleep before. The very thought of it made his legs weak with fear. He thought about Sam's Emily for a horrified moment. God knows how he managed to phase without hurting Rachel, but he didn't have a lot of time to think about it with Alice pounding on the door persistently. Rachel opened her wide blue startled eyes and sat up, but said nothing...obviously. He was starkers so there was an awkward moment...or two... while he managed to cover himself and lurch to the door half tripping on the trailing edge of the blanket both he and Rachel had evidently been sharing. He guessed that meant they were married now ...in some Indian traditions...sharing a blanket meant just that. Yesterday that would have been something to joke about.. it would have seemed funny to him. Today...well today, it didn't seem so funny.

Now here he stood trying to decide if he should let the resident telepath read her mind. Of course, he knew Edward already had, so wasn't it a moot point?

"Speak!" Edward impatiently interrupted Jake's meditations.

"Tell me one thing... is she still afraid of me?"

Edward shot Bella a significant look. She rolled her eyes at him and went on down the stairs. It was obviously time for a little man to man, so she left them to it.

"No."

"Is that all?"

"I answered your question... what else do you want to know?"

Edward smirked at Jacob's thoughts.

"Alright, I won't make you ask, but that doesn't excuse you from violating her privacy anymore than it does me. Just before you got to her last night, she watched some vampires through the window as they ripped each other apart down in the street below the building where she was hiding. Despite all she's been through, that's the moment when she stopped talking. She was thinking about that last night when we came to see about the screams. They must have been members of the Seattle coven and a couple of Nomads fighting over territory. I figure they ran into each other trying to follow her scent through the neighborhood. She could tell they weren't human just by the speed, and well, you know how we move... how we kill. Then when she saw you come in the door, she wanted to scream, but couldn't. She thought we were there to kill her."

"She screamed last night... you heard her... so why can't she talk today?"

"It's called psychosomatic laryngeal paralysis."

"What?"

"She was still half asleep when that happened. I'd bet if she's sufficiently frightened, she can still scream. We could..."

"I'd better not see anyone test that theory, you feel me?"

"No, I agree that would just worsen whatever psychological block she is experiencing. Anyway, when you and the wolves phased and killed those vampires, it didn't exactly help help her state of mind."

"So it's caused by fear, right?"

"Not just fear, Jake. Extreme trauma, and I get the feeling that girl in there has had a lifetime of trauma. But yes, it's psychological. She isn't injured in the physical sense. It's an extreme form of PTSD. She may never talk again, or she might start talking in the next few minutes. She's just reached her limit, and this is her way of dealing with it. There are case studies about this sort of thing... hysterical blindness, psychosomatic paralysis."

"You sound like a doctor."

"I have several medical degrees, actually. But, I suggest you talk to Carlisle about it more later. He's had much more clinical experience. I just have the advantage of reading the patient's mind."

"Why her voice?"

"That I don't know because she doesn't know, or maybe she knows but doesn't understand. I can only tell you what she is thinking at a particular time, but I will keep my ears open, so to speak."

"What should I do? I mean, what's the best way to ..."

"Don't try to push her... and don't try not to push her... do you understand? Don't coddle her, but don't try to force her to talk... basically, just wait. She's young and healthy. Odds are she'll snap out of it when she's ready."

Jake inspected the grain in the hardwood flooring as he pondered how he had moved so quickly from wanting to tear Edward apart with his bare hands, to feeling obligated to him in less than twenty-four hours...

Heading down the stairs, his former enemy looked back for a moment. "Oh by the way, are congratulations or condolences appropriate for the imprinting thing?"

Jake snarled at the vampire's smirk. "You keep that to yourself. I'm going to take enough crap from the pack as it is."

Edward made no promises as he went to find Bella.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"Uh, thanks."

Edward continued down the stairs, throwing a handful of words over his shoulder as he left.

"Ouch, I bet that hurt...Dog."

Esme had cooked breakfast for all those inclined, but everyone was gathered around the table. Rose was feeding the baby a bottle while Emmett made plans for a huge garden, now that the pack seemed to be moving in. Point of fact, they hadn't agreed to moving in... it had been assumed they would move in and nobody disputed the assumption. The Cullens were more than a little reved about the whole thing. They had existed in a kind of social isolation for so many years... hiding themselves and their true nature from others. It felt liberating to be able to talk freely without worrying every minute they would make a slip and betray their true natures. Besides, Emmett had missed farming, but it had always seemed kind of silly to plant a huge garden for a family of vampires. He knew the baby would soon need more than just meat or formula, and now with Bella and the new girl and the wolves, there would be plenty of hungry mouths to enjoy what he grew. He even had plans to confiscate a small tractor. Seth was talking to Carlisle about bringing venison home to smoke or freeze instead of leaving the meat in the forest when they hunted. The wolves in from patrol had nothing to report. If there were survivors or bloodthirsty vampires out there, they were not within a ten mile radius of the Cullen lands.

"They're here," Edward warned everyone quietly, just as Alice and Jake appeared at the door with the girl. She was dressed in a leaf green silk shirt and black slacks. The deep green contrasted the long curly red hair that shimmered down her back. Who would have thought that dirty, bedraggled girl Jake had carried in last night would turn out to be such a beauty. Alice had outdone herself.

Carlisle stood and all the other males followed his example, but their courtesy only made the girl shrink and duck behind Jacob. He was the devil she knew, evidently. Slowly, she peeped around his shoulder, her wide eyes roaming from face to face around the table. She could sense their strangeness. Over the course of her life, her survival had always depended on her ability to sense when people weren't "right."

Edward spoke first, "Everyone, this is Rachel McGuire. She's having a little problem with her voice this morning, so hold the questions until she has time to get used to us."

Carlisle added, "Won't you come and sit with us, Rachel and I'll introduce everyone? My wife Esme here on my left, is a little rusty with her cooking skills, but I haven't heard any complaints so far this morning." He completed his introductions and then invited, "Come ...eat some breakfast." He gestured to some quickly vacated chairs at the end of the very large table.

Everyone waited expectantly.

Understanding the girl's reluctance, Bella got up and went to her. She took the hand Jacob wasn't holding and pressed it warmly between her own.

"It's okay," Bella said. "They found me too...just day before yesterday. They won't hurt you. I promise."

She led Rachel forward and sat her down in the chair next to hers. Jake sat on her other side so that she was sandwiched between him and Bella. With a subtle look from Edward, everyone started talking again as Jacob served the girl's plate and then his own. She watch everyone with big eyes, but only picked at her food until, Jake noticed.

"You need to eat Rachel."

She looked down at her plate, her head bowed as if she expected punishment for not eating. Picking up her fork with a trembling hand, she lifted some eggs to her mouth.

"She's a little nauseated right now, Jake." Edward intervened. "But for some reason she's afraid to disobey you."

Alarmed, Jake put his hand on her fork and pushed it down onto her plate again.

"You don't have to eat, I just figured it's been a while since you had food." His angry glance met Edward's troubled eyes across the table.

"Jake, could I speak to you privately for a moment." Edward rose from the table, but as Jake stood up to comply, Rachel grabbed for his hand and held it with both of hers, her eyes told him she was afraid to be left with these strangers.

"Bella will stay with you for a minute, right Bells?"

"Sure," Bella put her hand on Rachel's shoulder gently. "Jake will be right back, don't worry," she told the girl softly.

In the hall outside the dining room, the two stood awkwardly for a moment or two while Edward decided what to say.

"Someone has beaten that girl, Jake. She's been mistreated for a long time. When you ordered her to eat, she remembered what I think were foster parents threatening her... one image of a man beating her with a belt for not cleaning her plate." He kept his voice low, but anger made his voice rough.

Jake didn't say anything. A single muscle in his cheek flexed several times as he clenched his teeth in anger.

"Maybe, that's connected to the voice thing."

" She was beaten harder if she cried, or begged or screamed and sometimes gagged if she couldn't stop screaming."

"So not speaking is something she learned in order to survive."

"Yes, I wish you could get her to let Carlisle check her over. He might be able to shed some light."

"I'll work on it, believe me." He felt a kind of rage that could be satisfied by nothing less than killing the bastard who hurt her. Too bad the plague had probably already killed him, otherwise...

Rachel looked up questioningly at Jacob when he and Edward rejoined the group, but he just shook his head as if to say it wasn't anything to worry about. Bella was talking to her about how she and Jake used to play together as kids telling Rachel an embarrassing story about the time she convinced Jake that it was okay to eat the mud pies they made if they baked them first in Charlie's oven. They had both been punished for that.

As Edward took his chair, he noticed that Bella had been so busy talking, she hadn't eaten her breakfast either. He picked up a biscuit from her plate and slathered it with strawberry jam.

"Eat," he ordered holding the food close to her mouth.

"I'm full," Bella told him, her lips compressed in irritation. She was still mad at him.

"Eat!" he commanded again sternly.

Rachel gasped with shock when Bella smacked the hand holding the biscuit away.

"No!"

"Please," the vampire begged her. "I'll tell you a bedtime story tonight if you're a good girl."

The devil was in his smile.

"It better be a really good story," she told him crossly.

Bella took one big bite and finding it was pretty good, she finished it off in a few bites. She held his hand when she had finished the biscuit to lick an errant drop of red strawberry jam from his thumb despite the thunder and lightning that flashed from his eyes.

Rachel stared incredulously at Bella, amazed that she would dare disobey the stern looking man beside her. Distracted, she picked up her fork and ate a few bites. Her stomach had settled now that she was pretty sure nobody was going to rip her apart... not in the next few minutes at least.

Her instincts told her that the creatures around the table looking for all the world like human beings were, in fact, not entirely human at all. Jake wasn't. She knew that for sure. The ones who looked like Native Americans were some kind of shape shifters who could turn into giant wolves. The others looked human, but they moved like the creatures she saw in the street last night... as if they had super powers. They all seemed human enough, but just a moment ago, the sun fell on the beautiful blonde as she walked by the window, and brilliant lights reflected from the surface of her skin making her look like an angel without wings... no, not an angel...something else... something terrifying.

Her speculations made her shiver. She wished she could talk. Her hand went to her throat in frustration. Edward noticed, but he didn't say anything. She wasn't ready to know about his gift just yet.

Rachel insisted on helping Esme and Bella do the dishes after everyone left the table. Jake went outside to meet with the pack. Emmett and Jasper went tractor hunting. It was spring and time for planting. Alice took care of the baby while Rose went hunting... Carlisle went with her.

At ten o'clock, the sound of an approaching vehicle brought Edward and the women to the porch, except for Alice who didn't seem to be the least bit concerned about who was coming down the road.

"Get back in the house," Jake ordered as he and his pack phased almost simultaneously and headed down the drive to meet the intruder. It turned out to be Emmett and Jasper. They had found their tractor, a brand new John Deer and they were hauling it in on a flat-bed truck. They pulled into the yard with the wolves running along beside the truck. Once they had pulled up to the door with the purloined tractor, the wolves ran into the forest to phase. All the men immediately converged on the tractor to inspect it, as well as the packets of seeds and the bags of fertilizer but only Emmett was brave enough to crank it up.

He was in his element. It the rural area where he had lived, farming was a necessity of life. As the rest watched, he picked out a level spot near the river and began to break ground, plowing up a garden plot big enough to grow enough food for ten families. When the soil was ready, everyone came out to help with the planting... everyone except for Rose who refused to get her hands dirty just to feed humans. Alice pointed out that her new son was human, but that didn't even come close to changing her mind.

Carlisle and the wolves raked the area smooth and cleared it of stones. Alice directed the aesthetic lay out of the rows and helped Esme dig them. Jake spread fertilizer. Rachel and Bella helped a little, but mostly watched Emmett and Edward zip up and down the rows in a game of speed planting. Jasper pulled a hoe down each row to cover the seeds. By dusk, the planting was done: corn, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, carrots, and various greens.

"A fine vegetable garden for vegetarian vampires," he quipped surveying their handiwork.

Alice smacked him on the back of the head. "Just you wait until you see how many deer this garden attracts. We'll be able to hunt without leaving the yard."

"Not me, Baby," he drawled. "There's no thrill in that. I like to stalk my prey, take them down as nature intended and.." He crouched low as he moved towards Alice with outstretched arms and a licentious look in his eyes. Giggling, Alice took off around the garden.

"And?" she challenged him grinning.

"And devour them," he growled and went after her. They eventually disappeared into the forest to the laughter of everyone watching except for Rachel. She shook with fear, worrying that Jasper might hurt her new friend. Little whimpers escaped her throat as she clung to Jacob's arm and hid her head against his shoulder.

All laughter died. Jacob pulled her into his arms. "Shhh! He won't hurt her. She's his mate. They're just playing. He looked at Emmett who took off after Alice and Jasper. Within a couple of seconds, they were back.

"See, I'm fine." Alice chirped as she looked at Edward for help. He just shook his head. The whimpers wouldn't stop and the girl refused to look up.

Jacob look around helplessly at the people who seemed more and more like family every hour they were together. No one seemed to know what to do.

"Rachel," he said her name with a voice that seemed deliberately stern. "Rachel, look at Alice." He peeled her out of his arms and held her by her shoulders facing Alice and Jasper. She closed her eyes and shook her head, those pitiful whimpers coming from a mouth held tightly closed.

"Open your mouth, Rachel... scream if you want to... it's okay."

"Jake," Edward warned, "she's having a flashback. Maybe you shouldn't..."

"Open your eyes, Rachel."

She shook her head.

"Scream, Rachel." he commanded her. "It's okay... no one cares if you scream. No one will punish you if you scream... scream dammit!"

Everyone jumped when agonized, blood-curdling screams burst from her like the cries of someone demented by fear...long, deafening, heart-wrenching screams tore from her throat over and over and over. Finally, she was spent as if the terror had all spewed forth and left her empty. She was still sobbing and trying to catch her breath too weak to fight when Jacob handed her to Edward, who hugged her gently and passed her to Carlisle who did likewise. She was passed and embraced by everyone there before being returned to Jacob.

"See, you are among friends," Jake told her. "No one is going to hurt you here." He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his dirty thumbs. She looked around at the others hesitantly until finally a glimmer of a smile showed through her tears.

Jacob led her back into the house. It was time for dinner. The men headed for the river and a quick swim. The women wanted showers and so followed Jake and Rachel. They all felt a milestone had been passed. Rachel still wasn't talking, but at least she didn't look at them as if they were going to eat her at any moment.

As Edward emerged from the river, he heard the sound of distant thunder. He stopped by the garden to step into his dirt encrusted jeans. Good, the rain would be make their seeds sprout quickly.

Vampire farmers...go figure.

He guessed every new beginning needed its Eden. A shadow cloud fell over the freshly plowed earth , harbinger of the coming storm. It made him think of the only thing missing from this picture which was, of course, a serpent. He frowned and went to find Bella.