Title: Morals
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jacob's gotten himself into trouble. Bella to the rescue?
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyers owns all mentioned characters
"Bella, relax." Edwards smooth voice attempted to calm me as we sped down the interstate towards the state line.
I was pouting rather severely. My attempts to talk any sense into this action-addicted family were futile. They had all insisted on coming back to La Push with me.
"Why do you guys keep letting me put you in danger?" I scowled.
"Oh Bella, Please." Alice groaned
"No way are you going to save that filthy dogs ass and then have him turn around and kill you because of some stupid treaty." Jasper argued.
Edwards arm merely tightened around my waist in response.
The rest of the ride went by relatively quickly. I fumed in the backseat as Alice and Edward made fun of my temper and Jasper tried his hardest to calm me down. I found myself to be much more resistant to Jasper's emotion control when I had so many mixed emotions for him to focus on.
As the surrounding territory grew more and more familiar, I pulled out my phone and dialed Sam's number.
"Hello?" Sam said flatly.
"Sam, have you found him?"
"No, Bella. Things don't look good. Its pointless for you to even bother coming here. We can't find him and you wont be much help, I'm sure."
"Shut up Sam. We'll be there in ten minutes."
"WE!?" He moaned. "Bella, you're not bringing all of them here are you!?"
"We're helping!" I shouted and snapped the phone shut.
"Jasper," I addressed him as calmly as I could. "The pack is somewhat less than amused that we are all coming there, you might need to stop focusing on me so much and start focusing on the large pack of werewolves that blame us for Jacob's disappearance."
He nodded.
We pulled into Billy's driveway to find a large, unhappy group of absurdly large native teenagers. The pack, I noted, had grown. The Volvo containing Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie, and Emmet pulled in behind us.
"Keep Billy in the house." Edward ordered Sam, "Bella has poor resistance to human blood yet."
We had stopped to hunt a short distance out of Denali, but even with a full stomach, I could still smell the temptation of human blood everywhere. My adrenaline was keeping me focused on our purpose of being here, though. I maintained a decent and surprising resistance.
The pack remained frozen in place, staring at me in disgust. They surveyed my different features, lingering for an extended period of time on my blood red eyes. I ignored the heavy scrutiny and sniffed the air casually. Ew, they really did stink. I wrinkled my nose in distaste and noticed Edward and Alice exchange an amused glance. I picked apart the different unappealing scents in my head until I found the least distinct and faintest one. Jacob.
I sniffed harder. My mind raced forward into the woods. As I focused in on the scent, it grew stronger to me and mingled with others. Vampires.
"He's alive." I concluded.
"You can't know that." Embry growled defensively.
"Yes I can." I countered, "I have a freakishly sensitive nose. He is alive, but unconscious. They haven't killed him yet, but I don't know why."
"How many?" Alice suggested.
"8."
"We can take them." Leah sneered. "Thanks for the help, Bella. You might want to get out of here now before Sam comes to his senses and lets us tear you apart." Sarcasm was heavy in her voice.,
I felt Edward tense beside me.
"No, Leah. I am here to help save Jacob. You wont find him on your own anyways, he's 40 miles away, easily."
"Jacob doesn't want to see you, Bella!" She spat. "And I don't blame him. This is your fault."
"No!" Edward roared. "This is no ones fault but Jacob's. He opened his mouth and got himself in trouble. There are rules about keeping vampires a secret from the rest of the world. If you mess with those rules, you pay the price. Jacob was the one who told Bella and Charlie. The law caught up to him. The Volturi-"
"What the hell is a Volturi?" Quil demanded in frustration.
I jumped in before Edward let himself get any more worked up. "The Volturi, Quil, are the vampire family who makes the rules and enforce them. They are the most deadly and powerful vampire coven in the world and they are the ones who are after your loud mouth friend. They are who we are fighting against for Jacob's sake right now, no matter how much trouble it gets us into. So if we are done chatting about who to blame now, I would like to go save Jacob's ass now, thank you very much!" I was as shocked at my own temper as they were. Werewolf and vampire alike stood gaping at my outburst from all around me. I ignored their reactions and stomped off into the direction of the forest.
Still fuming, I gave myself over to the speed that I had been reborn for. I burst through the tangled branches and began calculating my route. I heard the wolves, no longer in their human forms, crashing along behind me and sensed the vampires noiselessly traveling beside me. We ran for close to 30 minutes. Tensing more with each step. I kept Jacob's scent in my nose constantly, not willing to let it disappear. As we grew closer, I sensed the enemies alertness to us and Jacobs scent grew farther away. Newborns, I concluded silently. They could run faster than everyone here… Everyone, but me.
I ran through the options quickly in my head. I had never fought before, I had no clue how to go about it.. But they were newborns also, how much more experienced could they be? I would run ahead and slow them down until the rest could catch up and help. It was our only chance.
I decidedly picked up my pace and left everyone behind me.
"Bella, wait!" Edward called out.
"No, they are too fast. This is the only way." I spoke calmly, not wanting to give away the nerves I was battling.
"Bella, no! Its too dangerous!" Alice's far off voice called out.
As I sped forward, their protesting shouts grew more distant until they were nothing but a echo in my memory. I exercised my speed fully and pushed my limits. Finally, I could see them, 8 of them struggling to surpass me. They may have been a match for me if their precious cargo hadn't been slowing them down. The largest of the newborns had a tied-up and unconscious Jacob slung carelessly over his shoulder. The 7 foot Jacob was a very heavy load and the vampire was struggling to keep up his speed. The other 7 vampires circled around him, urging him on, not willing to leave behind their target.
I had a brief memory of an old Nintendo game as one by one the newborns veered off of their path and came at me. I had an easy job of weaving and dodging until they began attacking two at a time. I could smell their positions, speeds, and directions, and calculate their attacks long before they were played out. I jumped out of the way as a large female vampire that was coming directly at me collided with the vampire that had been "sneaking up" from behind. They tangled in a mass of marble skin behind me as I landed my jump stealthily and continued to pursue Jacob's captors. My backup was only 2 minutes away, less- even, if I could slow down their progress a little more. I gained on them even more and 3 of them came at me this time. I leapt off of the ground and planted my feet momentarily on a tree trunk before springing easily to the ground in front of my attackers. They braked and wheeled around, now behind me - chasing me. Now there were only two vampires between myself and Jacob. The one large male whose vivid, intensely red eyes were horribly intimidating was straining with the effort of keeping a decent distance between myself and the unresponsive figure over his shoulder. His only remaining companion was a small female with wild, frightened eyes and long black hair. I understood immediately what Jacob had meant by "Zombies". They seemed controlled by something outside of themselves. The fear in their eyes was not their own.
I was only feet away from Jacob when the female unexpectedly spun and collided with me. We both fell to the ground, but I was quicker to get up. I attempted to shoot past her, but her teeth grazed my arm and I felt a large gash burning angrily where her teeth had contacted.
"Damnit." I cussed as I kicked out a leg to meet her jaw with an unhealthy crunch. She squealed in anger and lunged at me again. Before she was able to greet me with her fury a second time, though, Edward appeared out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground. Her wild spasmodic attacks were no match for Edwards premeditated and well practiced methods. In no time she lay in pieces on the forest floor. Beyond her, I could see the rest of the Cullens and all of the werewolves enjoying themselves with the other 6 vampires that I had left behind me.
Jacob. Where was Jacob? I began running again. The large male was still pressing forward, enraged now that his defense team had been picked off.
I gained on him faster this time. His endurance was wearing thin and his speed was decreasing. With a roar of fury he tossed Jacob off to the side where he collided with a tree with a heavy thud and fell, lifeless, to the ground. I skidded to a halt as the large vampire faced me viciously. The frantic fire in his eye was unnatural and frightening. A low snarl ripped from his lips as he charged at me. I judged his speed and his timing perfectly. Just as his fist shot towards my neck, I ducked slightly to the side and grabbed his arm in my vice like grip and wrenched him off of his feet. He flipped through the air and landed on his back in front of me, his arm still in my hand. I instinctively pressed my foot to his shoulder and forcefully twisted his arm around until the sickening ripping sound notified me that his arm had come successfully unattached.
I got too cocky and proud and took a moment to revel in my achievement. He took the opportunity to jump back to his feet with a growl of rage and tackle me effortlessly to the ground. I felt two or three of my ribs buckle beneath the pressure and I realized that I would not have any time to let them heal. I winced through the pain and kicked the frenzied vampire forcibly off of me and into a tree a few feet away. I was on my feet at the same time as he was and we faced each other again. He made the move and another snarl escaped his lips as he came at me. I ducked away and swung my leg around in a wide circle, knocking his legs from beneath him. As the ground rushed up to meet him, I shot out my hand and latched onto his remaining arm. I screamed in pain at my protesting ribs as I flung him across the clearing against another tree. A howl of pain escaped him before he had even collided with the tree. I looked down to find his other arm dangling from my tight grip. Alice and Edward appeared out of the trees looking no worse for the wear. Alice gaped widely at the large gash in my forearm as Edward looked astonishingly at the arm-less vampire struggling to stand against the tree. Snapping to, both Alice and Edward stepped forward to finish dismembering the newborn that I had been fighting as I slid to the ground clutching my ribs.
I felt no need to participate in the proper disposal of the limbs and body parts. Carlisle ordered me to rest while they gathered the dead vampires and threw them in the fire. He assured me that my ribs and arm should heal in about 20 minutes. He was right, as always.
"How do you feel?" Edward approached me cautiously.
"I'm fine." I promised him. "Where's Jacob." I followed his eyes across the clearing where Sam and Embry were untying him roughly. I met Edward's eyes questioningly.
"He's alive." He promised.