Chapter 21:
"You didn't have to hit Jessica in the back of the head with a volleyball,Edward chided her as they walked in the front door of Charlie's house.
"It was an accident. I swear." Bella's eyes widened in a feigned attempt at shock.
"Yeah, an accident." I don't believe you. I know what you're thinking, and just because you were aiming for her back instead of her head doesn't make any difference.
"Well, she didn't get hurt," much…
Edward sighed and sat carefully down on the couch, while Bella plopped down next to him, grabbing the remote control. She lay back lazily, draping her legs carefully across Edward's lap, while the television hummed on in the background. Neither of them was really paying any attention to the story that was playing itself out on the screen; they were too wrapped up in each other to even notice anyone approaching the front door until the loud knocking disturbed the stillness of the room.
"Wonder who it is," Bella stood, reaching out and trying to recognize the presence behind the wooden planks of the front door. She recognized the friendly intellect at once. "It's Jake," and before Edward could even inquire who "Jake" was she darted to the door and flung it open.
"Bella," he beamed and stepped into the room. He made it a few feet from the door before he froze in his tracks. Jacob inhaled slowly, turning on his heels to face Edward petrified in his place on the sofa. His brows knitted themselves together, and Jacob took a few steps back. "What's he doing here?"
"Edward and I go to school together. We're, um, friends, I guess." Bella didn't know how describe she and Edward's relationship to herself, much less to Jacob. She could feel the jealousy coming off him in waves, but she realized it was more from a sense of worry about her safety than any kind of possessiveness he might feel over her. Jacob had intended to surprise her again this evening with the picnic lunch he had packed on the basket lashed to the passenger seat of his motorcycle. He figured she'd had a rough first day back, and wanted to come over to offer her a little company after school was over.
"Friends? Sure looks cozy for a couple of friends. Let me guess, you're studying?" His voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Actually, yes. Is everything alright?" Bella was trying to steer Jacob back to his senses. She'd never seen him so hostile towards anyone in her entire experience with him. He had always seemed friendly towards any and everyone, so this response was something she didn't know how to deal with.
"I need to see you outside, NOW." Jacob placed a lot of emphasis on the last word of his sentence, and to Bella it sounded more like an order than a request. She followed him outside reluctantly.
I'm right here if you need me, Bella. She felt the pull of Edward's mind on her own. His concern for her, overcoming any irritation he felt with Jacob's rude behavior.
"Jake, what's going on? You were really rude to him back there. I mean …"
"Bella," he interrupted her, "you really have no idea what's going on do you?" His mind became a blank. There was something he knew that she couldn't be privy to, and whenever he broached the topic his brain went off her radar, like a ship disappearing into the night.
"What are you talking about?" She looked up at him confused before something clicked for her. Suddenly, she knew that somehow he knew exactly what Edward and the rest of the Cullens were, that he assumed she knew nothing.
"Look at me, Bella. You need to stay away from the Cullens. They're dangerous." His eyes were wide. Jacob was skirting the edge of something he couldn't just come out and say. He was trying as hard as he could to keep her from them without actually telling whatever it was that he knew.
"Wow, I had no idea I had two fathers. You're kind of young to have a kid in high school aren't you? Where do you get off telling me who I can't hang out with?" Bella thought that perhaps sarcasm would get him off the topic, but there seemed to be little that could deter him from the path he had chosen to take.
"Jeez, would you just listen to me instead of being stubborn. They're not safe…"
Bella thought for a moment, struggling on how to end the conversation without exposing herself to Jacob, but was unable to come up with anything that would steer him off his current path. She could sense Edward's agitation with the situation but signaled for him to stay where he was. The sudden appearance of a vampire would do little to dissuade Jacob from his current course.
"Jacob, it's okay. I know…"
He froze in his tracks for the moment. She could sense the confusion coming off him, and his thoughts were a muddle of contradictions. The main thought in his brain was the inability to comprehend how Bella would want to be near anything so dead and cold as Edward Cullen. He was disgusted with both of them at the moment, and he hated Edward with a burning passion. He could see himself tearing the hard, marble body limb from limb and then blackness, nothing.
"But I don't know what you are." She could see the shock building in his expression as he processed the implications of her statement.
"How do you know?" Bella wasn't sure whether he meant Edward or himself.
"Jake, do you know what happened to me back in Phoenix?" Bella pulled up her sleeve, revealing the patchwork of scars that crisscrossed her skin from the wrist to the elbow. "I know you know I was gone, kidnapped, for a month, but do you know what really happened?"
She could see the recognition in his eyes. He could see the individual teeth marks, and the way the sun glinted off them causing the light to scatter slightly. He sniffed the air, like an animal sensing danger, and backed away slowly.
"Your smell, it's wrong." He looked at her warily. "I smelled them on you before, but I thought it was just from being around them at school, but this is your scent, isn't it?"
Bella's mind swam, her thoughts going in circles. How does he know? Smell? Something's not right. I can't hear what he's thinking. Edward, what's going on?
Bella be careful. He's not sure what do make of you. If he thinks you're one of us, he's going to kill you. She could hear Edward's warning loud and clear in the silence of the moment.
You can hear him?
You can't? She could hear the disbelief in his thoughts.
NO..
He's a werewolf, a shape shifter. Bella immediately went into high alert. Her senses seemed to slow the world around her to a crawl. She noticed every movement around her, tracking it all with some part of her brain she hadn't even realized she had.
During this quick exchange, Jacob studied her carefully from a distance. "You're not one of them." She couldn't tell if it were a statement or a question.
"Not exactly," she replied cautiously.
"But you're not human either, are you?" He eyed her menacingly.
"Not exactly," she could feel Edward on the other side of the door, poised to come to her side on a moment's notice.
Bella's muscles tensed to mirror Jacob's. He was conflicted about what to do next. Part of him wanted to attack and kill her on the spot, another part was curious and wanted to know more, and still a third felt compelled to seek advice from some higher authority.
"Jake, don't do anything stupid," she warned. "I'm not certain what you think you can do, but there's a full-fledged vampire here in addition to me. Do you really think you can take both of us on?" Her question brought Edward's presence rushing back to his awareness.
"What are you?" he asked her again, hoping she would give him a reason to back down.
"Are you sure you want to know?" She knew that he wasn't. Part of him believed her to be some new kind of vampire that he hadn't run across yet.
And only the Cullens are part of the treaty…
"Treaty? What treaty?" Bella hadn't meant to ask the question aloud, but the tension of the moment had her distracted.
"How did you know that?" The tautness that was beginning to fade from his muscles as his thought processes took over now came rushing back. Bella's vision swam red, an automatic response to the imminent threat the situation now posed.
"I didn't say anything about a treaty." The sentence became a growl.
"Edward, get out here." She called for him out loud to avoid startling Jacob again. She wasn't sure what effect the unbidden appearance of a vampire would have on him in this state. He was fighting off changing with everything he had and losing, and there was no way she was going to face him alone if push came to shove.
Edward appeared beside her in a flash. Jacob caught scent of him on the breeze, and his entire body shook with the force of the internal war that was going on inside of him. The air filled with a ripping sound, and before Bella realized what was happening, a huge red wolf filled most of the empty space in front of them. He stood there snarling for a moment, and suddenly he calmed.
A voice that Bella didn't recognize filled his thoughts.
Stand down, Jake. That's an order. There's no way you're violating the treaty like this. Let the council decide.
He shook his head as if attempting to disagree with the overriding authority, but he began backing slowly toward the tree line as if some outside force had him by the tail, pulling him away from the pair of them. He gave one last growl before turning and bounding away into the woods.
Bella waited until she couldn't sense him before relaxing her body and turning to face Edward.
"What in the hell just happened?" She demanded of him.
"Come inside and sit down. We need to talk in there." Edward scanned the street in front of the house for the presence of others besides themselves. "Come on." He tugged gently at the sleeve of her shirt, guiding her towards the front door.
Bella followed him reluctantly, the peace of the day and evening shattered. She allowed him to return to his spot on the couch before sitting in the chair. "Now, explain." It was a command rather than a request. She felt him considering his choice of words carefully before speaking. She knew what he was going to say before the words came to his mouth, but for some reason she needed to hear this out loud.
"Bella, this isn't the first time I and my family have lived in Forks. More like the third. When we originally came here, the only inhabitants were the Quileutes. What do you know about their legends?"
"Honestly, nothing," she replied.
"The Quileutes believe they are descended from an ancient race of warriors who mingled their spirits with those of the wolves native to this area. As long as they have kept record, there have been those among their population with the ability to become wolves, especially when the need to protect the tribe arose. They saw us as a threat, so the wolf pack was sent out to tear us to pieces. When they came upon us hunting in the woods, it perplexed their leader to see us consuming the blood of animals instead of humans."
Bella nodded and motioned for him to continue.
"Carlisle worked out an agreement, a treaty, between them and ourselves. If we would agree not to bite a human being and remain within the designated territory here in Forks, there would be no action on the part of the Quileutes. If either side broke the treaty, there would have been an all out war between vampires and werewolves here. We've co-existed peacefully until now, but I'm not sure what your presence means for all of this." He pulled out a cell phone and quickly dialed a number. Bella knew that he was seeking Carlisle's opinion on the matter.
After a quick explanation of the situation, Carlisle asked the two of them to come over to the Cullens' house. The two of them climbed into the truck and wordlessly drove out to the edges of town. Bella's emotions were a jumble. She was excited, intrigued, angry, frightened, and in love all at once, and it was more than she could do to sort the feelings out right now. Instead she focused on the drive, putting herself on auto-pilot for the remainder of the journey.
Her nerves eased up a little when Edward placed his hand on her arm, caressing it gently, but she still felt the adrenaline and something else a little foreign coursing through her body. Her vision was tinged with red around the edges, and a quick glance in the mirror told her that her eyes glowed a pale crimson color.
When they arrived at the house, the two of them hurried into the house to find Carlisle standing in wait for them in the foyer.
"Nothing's happened here yet. I suppose we're just going to have to wait and see what their response it, but I thought it would better for all of us to be together just in case. We'd be much easier to pick off one by one than as a group."
Bella's heart sank at his words. She felt horrible for putting the family in such a situation, but it had been done with unintentionally on her part. Something in her gut had told her that Jacob wasn't entirely what he seemed to be, but she had no idea it was anything like this. She was still trying to wrap her head around the idea that werewolves even existed when Alice spoke up.
"Something's coming. I can't see what, but whatever it is will be here in five minutes." Her eyes stared blankly into space. "Bella, I can't see what's going to happen." She blinked and looked apologetically at Bella.
"It's fine Alice. I brought this one on myself, and I have to deal with the consequences of it." She folded her arms across her chest. The air suddenly felt cold.
"That's nonsense," Esme spoke. "Bella, you've done nothing to deserve any of what's happened to you, but you insist on blaming yourself. It's destroying you. Please let us help you." There was a hint of pleading in her voice. "Let us be your family."
Bella could sense the motherly concern Esme felt pervading every word, and through Edward she realized that Esme already considered her one of her children despite the short amount of time she had been in their lives. It broke Bella's heart to feel love like that coming from someone she thought she barely knew. Her eyes stung with tears that she quickly blinked away.
Emse drew Bella into her arms, wrapping them tightly around her, and was quickly joined by Alice who embraced both of them. Not to be outdone, Emmett pulled all three of them into a giant bear hug, and Bella felt the air being squeezed out of her lungs from the pressure. Just when she was sure she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen, Edward interrupted.
"Someone's here," he spoke mechanically. "They want to see Bella and Carlisle."
Emmett backed away, allowing Bella to move to Carlisle's side.
"Let me go with you guys," Emmett begged.
"No, please stay here. I would rather not have them more agitated than they already are, and you will be within reach if we should need you. Edward will let you know if anything goes wrong." Carlisle wrapped one arm around Bella's shoulder. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," she sighed. She could feel the presence of two individuals waiting in the yard, but their brains weren't entirely human. Their thoughts were mingled with the thoughts of half a dozen others, but one thing was certain. They all found Bella to be a threat.
Bella and Carlisle emerged out onto the lawn at the back of the house to be greeted by two enormous wolves. Bella recognized the larger, reddish wolf as Jacob, but the other was black as night, with eyes that reflected the world around him, allowing nothing from inside to shine through. The air around the black wolf began to quiver like the heat waves radiating off the desert sand in summer, and suddenly the wolf was transformed into a young Quileute man with black hair cropped close to his head. He walked forward confidently despite his lack of clothing and stopped a few feet from Bella and Carlisle.
"I've come to deliver a message. The tribal elders have decided to hold a meeting to decide how to handle this new creature." He pointed directly at Bella. "She has been summoned, and her fate will be decided there. Meet us here tonight at eight o'clock, and we will take you to the designated place. Fail to appear, and you will face the consequences."
"And the consequences are?" Bella replied.
"Death," he stated simply. "You may bring the leader with you but no others."
"She will appear, but I warn you wolf, no harm shall come to her under my protection, whatever your elders decide." Carlisle spoke with an air of authority.
"That remains to be seen," he spoke, and immediately the air was filled with a ripping sound. Sam's wolf form reappeared, and he turned plodding slowly back toward the forest. Jacob stood there for a moment, his eyes locked on Bella. She could still feel his internal conflict, but she couldn't find it within herself to feel sorry for him. It was Jacob that had brought all of this raining down on both herself and the Cullens. Breaking eye contact, she turned back to the house and left Jacob and Carlisle standing there alone.