Posting early because I shall not be around tomorrow. Happy Independence Day to my US readers. Happy belated Canada Day to any of my friends north of the border. Keep calm and carry on.

Chapter 21: Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Paul and Jasper's trip to Mexico had been diverted, as they began to cross the Rio Grande they'd run across Jasper's old friends – Peter and Charlotte.

Maria had gone absolutely berserk, they'd insisted. Peter and Charlotte had come across her only days prior. She had tried to conscript them back into her tactics. However, both had adamantly refused when they realized that her motivations for conquering the entire Western hemisphere could hardly be of her own making. Maria had confessed to attacks on shifters in the US, and to having cells all over the US, Mexico, and Canada. Who else could have been responsible for the string of attacks and suspicious behavior they'd all dealt with recently?

Jasper was surprised. Maria was bloodthirsty, but exceptionally calculating and rarely did anything without due cause. The Volturi were involved, Peter insisted. There was no other way. The pair were headed to Romania, where one of the oldest covens in the vampire world lived.

"The Romanians?" Jasper balked. He'd actually looked surprised, Paul noted, refusing to phase human. "You know what that means, right? That's war."

"Jasper," Charlotte shook her head. "If Maria is allied with the Volturi, what makes you think war is not already unavoidable?"

"The path to war can always be diverted," Jasper intoned emphatically.

"Will you join us?" Peter asked hopefully. Paul only chuffed in response. He didn't care what Jasper did, but like hell was he going to fucking Romania to hide behind a pair of arcane Draculas.

Jasper shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't. I… I don't see what you hope to gain from this though. Vladimir and Stefan… they've been running from the Volturi for centuries – ever since Italy became the nexus of power."

"Don't you believe after the costly mistake that lost them their power – their showiness – that the Romanians have learned?" Peter insisted. "They would not have survived this millennium without great skill. The Volturi are highly gifted in their ranks."

"We think their alliance with the Egyptians has played to their benefit – especially after the way they lost such critical members in the fight with your coven."

"But we did not attack them," Jasper insisted. "They came after us. They came after Renesmee. And the neighboring Pack had their own investment in the fight. It was a defensive act. But going to the Romanians – and the Egyptians? – that is asking for trouble."

"So you are content to allow Maria's mania for power to grow unchecked, then?" Charlotte's tone grew cold. "Because she is a Volterra proxy now. And she is making her way across the entire continent – your family will be on her list eventually."

"Better to face her wrath alone, then be forced to deal with her and the Volturi after needlessly throwing ourselves before their enemies!"

"Jasper Whitlock," Peter stepped forward innocently. "I have always considered you a great friend. And I do not wish that our ties be twisted by politics. I do believe it best that we simply part ways for the time being. Should we hear anything regarding the wellbeing of your coven, we will be sure to inform you."

"We will return the same courtesy," Jasper conceded. Paul felt the unchecked defeat radiating out of Jasper. He knew he was disappointed at not being able to convince Peter and Charlotte to exercise more caution in their tactics against an unstable ruling power.

"This is splintering into a three-way conflict," Paul noted when he phased back human after the two vampires left.

Jasper only nodded vaguely. "The more ways we split, the more bodies we mourn."

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Jezzie found it hard to believe that only a year ago she'd gone to her second La Push gathering –a Halloween party – where Leah had sprinkled glitter on everyone dressed as a vampire, Old Quil had made her want to cry, she'd taken Nessie and Claire trick-or-treating and everyone was human. Well, at least to her knowledge. Sometimes, she felt like ten years had gone by, not one.

She was reminded of how little time had passed as her and Collin attempted to form a kind of living pattern. The two fell awkwardly into their own form of symbiosis. Trying to define themselves in terms of each other – friends, guardians, responsible adults, kids – was difficult. After a while, Jezzie gave up trying to find proper mental labels and just decided that they were roommates and she felt a particular responsibility for the well-being of her roommate. She still made him call his Mom a few times a week.

Long stretches of time without phasing was starting to make Collin uncomfortable, and Jezzie permitted him to phase in their studio so long as he promised not to scratch the floors. He'd been worried about phasing in a confined space – even if it was a whole apartment. He was especially concerned about doing it with Jezzie – a human – around. She'd agreed to go downstairs to get the mail, and give him a few minutes to phase. When she returned she promised to open the door carefully and make sure all was safe before entering.

Collin didn't get much in the way of movement, but allowing the wolf to breathe in its proper skin for even an hour was a relief. Collin's phasing as such a few times a week quickly turned into a bizarre communication relay. Jacob insisted that Collin phase to check in. He didn't really care where or when or how he did it. And neither Jezzie nor Collin thought it made much sense to let him phase anywhere else. A wolf the size of a bison running around the streets of Boston would've attracted attention.

So periodically, Jezzie would go get the mail two floors down, and Collin would strip and phase, and Jezzie would go about her business as he talked to the Pack until he'd make some kind of noise or movement designed to get her attention. Jezzie considered learning morse code and making Collin tap out a signal on the floor boards, since she always felt ridiculous standing before him asking, "Okay, who am I talking to? Jacob? Leah? Seth?"

Sometimes it would take a while for her to figure out who was seeing her through Collin's eyes, and even longer to figure out what they were trying to convey. Jezzie felt all kinds of strange standing before Collin, waving, saying hello, and telling him – and by extension the people in his head – that she was fine and well.

Wellness checks tended to be brief and standard issue. Mostly Jacob wanted to know if Collin had whiffed anything new in the building or area. Damian and Lydia were stretched thin running back and forth between Boston and Minneapolis. Paul and Jasper realized Maria had lost her mind, and so had elected to help the werewolves. The three – the Pack, the Plains wolves, and the Cullens – were all so intertwined now, it was difficult to extricate loyalties. Jasper insisted that there was power in numbers. However Paul insisted that the more time passed, the more it looked like their strange alliance was about to play host to a global power struggle, and continental turf war.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

"So are you going home for Thanksgiving?" Liz asked.

"No," Jezzie shook her head as she watched her friend – through her Skype session – yawn for the umpteenth time. "I mean, it's not really worth the cost of airfare to fly home for two days when we'll just be doing it again in a month. Plus, it would be pointless for Collin. He doesn't exactly celebrate the day…"

"Point made," Liz smiled. "I guess I probably shouldn't either. I'm a little more out of touch with my Kenyan roots, though."

"Liz, your family's been in this country longer than mine has," Jezzie noted.

"All the more reason for me to say to hell with this holiday. But I won't get to see the parentals for Christmas this year – so I guess I'll keep tradition one more November. They've got a series of conferences to go to through December, so I'm going to maybe see if the school will let me stay for the holidays. It would be cheaper than driving or flying home. Even getting from Detroit to Chicago is multi-hundred dollar venture."

"Come home with us," Jezzie replied without even thinking.

"To Washington?" Liz questioned dubiously.

"Yeah," Jezzie nodded. "I mean either way you're going to be paying U Chicago to live there for an extra month between semesters, or you're going to have to drive or fly home. Both result in your being alone for Christmas. And New Years. Why not spend the cash and come hang with me and my Dad - and some crazy locals. You know you miss him."

"This is true," Liz considered. "But for Christmas? I'd feel like a squatter. And isn't your Dad gone before Christmas?"

"Really Liz, it's fine," Jezzie insisted. "My Dad doesn't leave until the twenty-eighth this year and he will love having some people in the house again. And Collin and I are inevitably going to have a layover in Midway anyways considering it seems to be the center of the domestic air passenger world. Might as well pick you up on the way."

"All right," Liz finally agreed. "Sounds like a plan."

Monday, November 12, 2007

"Hello, is Jezzie at home?"

"Damian?" Jezzie questioned. "Is that you? No one else I know talks or sounds like that."

"Hello. Yes, it is me."

"What can I do for you?" Jezzie propped the phone on one shoulder as she continued sorting out a load of laundry to take downstairs.

"Jezzie, I am afraid I have some unfortunate news."

"Well, given the crowd I run with this is not surprising," Jezzie noted. "We're really familiar with unfortunate news in the supernatural part of the Pacific Northwest."

"I am afraid that I cannot identify the additional individual following you and your ward. Your initial encounters were with Azrael, that I can confirm. He appears to have left you alone for the time being; I warn you to stay on your guard. Azrael's attention is… scattered… and he has a tendency to leave points of interest for stretches of time, only to reappear with no notice. But the new scent your charge had picked up is the reason for my call… it is unfamiliar to us. It is not of our kind."

"Is it a vampire?" Jezzie asked.

"We are assuming so, yes," Damian confirmed. "Jasper Hale believes that your follower is an underling of someone he once consorted with. And if this is true, there is reason for concern. We do not wish to make a shut-in of you, however we would request you exercise extreme caution when outside of your house. Particularly when you are alone. Particularly in the evenings."

"Anything else?" Jezzie sighed.

"That is all we have to report right now. If either you or Collin need anything, do not hesitate to call."

"Bye." Jezzie hung up before waiting for Damian's closing. It was a bit rude, especially considering politeness seemed to ooze out of Damian's creepy, diplomatic pores. Jezzie leaned forward and pressed her forehead to her knees - to hell with the laundry. She felt kind of nauseous now. Collin slumped into the couch beside her. He'd been there the whole time, he'd hardly needed the speaker to his ear to hear the entire conversation.

"That guy never calls with any good news. Can we set his ringtone to the death march, please?"

"Have at it," Jezzie replied but Collin only watched her hunched form.

"We'll be fine, Jezzie. Clearly I am repulsive enough to scare werewolves away, and you're pretty much a modern Van Helsing. Between the two of us, we have this covered."

"Excuse me?" she glanced up at him slightly.

"That vamp you torched last spring, the one that took a bite out of Seth?" Collin reminded her. "You blew the thing up with one of Rachel's homemade self-igniting Molotov cocktails, remember? We all saw it in Seth's head. It was pretty cool. We could call you Blade if you don't like Van Helsing."

"I doubt I'm lucky enough to be immune to vampirism like Blade." Jezzie reached back tentatively to feel the scarring across her back where she'd been slashed last winter. Her skin had cut open and healed very quickly, but it had hurt and it had scarred. She had four thin, raised, even lines across one of her shoulders - like she'd been sliced with a razor. They were paler than the rest of her skin, and slightly cool to the touch. Jasper had showed her some of his scarring afterwards, and she learned that vampire venom scarred even the supernatural.

"Still, I think we'll be fine," Collin replied. "It's not going to jump out at us in the middle of a crowded street, and I can meet you at school when it starts getting dark after your afternoon classes."

Jezzie was mostly a nervous wreck after that point. Having Azrael find her had been one thing, but something about Damian's call had just snapped her reserve. She stopped going for runs. Partly because she was terrified to be out of the house when she didn't need to be. However, it soon became near impossible for her to run given how few calories she could keep in her system. The anxiety was doing a number on her digestive system.

She tried not to let it show, and Collin didn't have the heart to tell her that emotions had their own distinct smell and he could smell her a mile off. She got really jumpy. She wouldn't fess up to anyone. Not Leah, not Anna, not Seth, not even Embry. Embry had called her one night after Leah had talked to her the day before and knew something was off. The Pack had seen through Collin's phased mind and sight that Jezzie was on edge, but she refused to admit it.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jezzie replied petulantly.

"You're a champion liar, Jez, but I know something's up."

"I'm fine," she snapped.

"You know it's okay to be nervous or worried. It's okay to talk about it."

"Look, Embry, I gotta go. I have an exam tomorrow and two weeks worth of material I need to review. But I'll call you later."

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Jacob, Embry, Quil, and Sam were all busy either bent under the hood or laid out on their backs beneath the chassis of a '92 Jetta. Embry – with the help of a hoist older than himself – was attempting to lower the Jetta's engine block back into place without crushing Sam who was beneath the car. Sam would've probably been just fine given such an accident, but it would've required lifting a car and unattached engine back off him, reconstructing whatever broke off the engine and the inside of the car. Plus, the old Alpha was just starting to enjoy life without being reminded of that time he sustained a compound fracture to the femur.

"Embry, so help me god, you drop that on me and I'll sell you to a circus."

"Shut up," Embry muttered through his concentration.

"So, how not okay do you think rust is?" Quil asked. "Because my perspective is a little warped given how rusted my tank is, but I'm pretty sure it's not legal anymore anyways."

"Visible rust won't pass state inspection," Sam replied in a muffled grunt from beneath the car as the engine lowered into place. "We should at least be try to construct a vehicle that'll pass inspection."

"What the hell," Quil muttered glancing at the offending piece of car in front of him. "How are we supposed to deal with a rusted-through fender when the metalworker is halfway across the country? And do have any idea how few cars on this rez would pass a state inspection? Maybe four."

"Clearly we did not see this one coming," Jacob added. "We went through hell and back make sure the thing had an exhaust system that didn't pump out sludge, and now this."

"Someone just show Paul the next time he's phased," Embry suggested. "I'm sure we can figure it out if he just tells us what to do."

"Pack of wolves wielding a blow torch sounds like a good idea," Leah interrupted as she rounded the corner.

"Food!" Quil wailed when he saw the fast food bag in her hand.

"Eat up, mongrels," she grinned tossing him the bag. "I promised the Stewart's they'd get this thing by the weekend. So hurry your tight asses up."

"Goody," Jake mumbled as he fished a burger out the bag. "You're more than welcome to help, Leah. You know your way around a car just fine."

"Oh hell no," she raised her hands. "You told me all I had to do was PR. Besides, this was my genius idea. I am spending all my valuable spare time trying to get people to stop hating you people. Y'all can have the dirty work. Besides, it looks mostly done."

"Except for the rust hole the size of my head in the front fender."

Leah stepped around the parts scattered in organizational piles on the garage floor to get a glimpse at the fender at Jake and Quil's feet.

"You're going to need to cut it out," she told him. "Cut out a rectangular shape right there from the wheel well and around all the rust. Then you'll have to cut a new piece of sheet metal the same size and weld it on. Use some brute strength and bend the edge to match, and pound the lower portion so it fit's the rise before the well."

"How do you know these things?" Quil asked in mild wonder.

"Logic, dear," she ruffled Jake's hair absently on her way by. "I'll see you idiots later. Ness has got her playdate with Rosalie and Emmett this afternoon."

"You are not allowed back on property before a shower," Quil intoned. "Rule number of seventeen of consorting with the undead."

Leah flipped Quil off.

"Rosalie and Emmett are all right," Sam ventured. "They don't take any shit from anybody and I respect that."

"Wise words from a man lying beneath imminent death, controlled by another man who's girlfriend is being stalked by a vampire."

Rosalie and Leah watched as Emmett and Nessie chased each other around the Cullen's old back yard.

"I figure now is good a time as any to tell you, but Alice has been seeing a lot more of the Volturi in her visions."

"The Italian egomaniacs from last winter?" Leah asked.

Rosalie nodded. "Yes. The same."

"I thought we wiped out their leadership? They can't be starting a ruckus already."

"Time moves in interesting ways when you're immortal," Rosalie noted. "A year can seem like a day, but when you're busy or determined the opposite is quite true."

"What does she see them doing?" Leah asked.

"We think they are the ones responsible for the trouble we've been having. The attack on the Plains wolves… Jasper believes it was at Maria's command. But she may only be the middle man considering she hasn't been active in any kind of territory acquisition – due to Volturi injunction – in almost a century. Plus, whoever is stalking your Pack out East. There have also been troubles across the Atlantic, too. The Volturi made it a habit to issue small, yet non-fatal attacks on the Romanians to remind them who was in charge. However, some of their scare tactics have moved to the Egyptian coven. It all seems just a little too coincidental."

"There's a coven in Egypt?" Leah's jaw dropped.

"Yes," Rosalie nodded. "They're large and possess substantial power. They have gifted members. Demetri – the tracker for the Volturi is originally of the Egyptians. He returned to them after last winter's battle and the Italian hierarchy began to disintegrate."

"Flaky much," Leah muttered.

"The Volturi have a member with a gift for manipulating emotional ties. Similar to Jasper's talent, she would break and form emotional bonds. She could make a person want to join the Volturi."

"So they abducted the tracker?"

"Along with some others… but she's gone now. Which probably contributes more to the dissolution of their ranks than the loss of leadership. But at any rate, we have seen Volturi activity against the Egyptian coven – who number only one less than our own coven. That, in conjunction with what has been happening here, starts to look very suspicious."

"Looks like a desperate power grab," Leah noted. "They're gathering allies and taking out weak links. But… to what end?"

Rosalie shrugged. "I certainly don't know. They've always feared us – Carlisle's coven, anyways. We are large, gifted, and have a lifestyle very incompatible with their own. I believe they always felt threatened, even though Carlisle never entertained any delusions of grandeur. Our entire continent has been a bother to them. Filled with rogue gold-eyed vampires and all kinds of werewolves and shapeshifters." Rosalie smiled. "They perceive as an uncivilized bunch."

"Don't tell me we're lumped into this, again?" Leah sighed in disgust.

"Given your ties to our family, the Plains wolves? I'd say so. And I hardly imagine Azrael's activity on the East Coast is an isolated incident - separate from the problems being had by the Egyptians. Like your Pack, Alice loses sight of Azrael and his kind. She can only tell where he is by the blank spots in her vision where she should be able to see. She lost sight of the Volturi for quite a few days this summer, and I think we can assume no one from La Push or Minneapolis visited Italy - who else is left but Azrael? There have also been a few unidentified nomads crossing the spare bit of sea between Chukotskiy Peninsula in Russia and Seward Peninsula in Alaska. The Denali coven has had to run off a few intruders already."

"They're scouting us out," Leah realized.

"Jaaake," Leah whined from the living room.

"Leah," Jake entered the living room, an expression of mock disapproval on his face. "Use your words." That was what both he and Leah had taken to telling Nessie - both when she insisted on fussing when she wanted something, as well as when she began to rely on showing them things with her gift instead of talking. Use your words. It was a phrase on constant replay in the house.

"I am using my words, you jerk," she moaned as she covered her face and curled up at the end of the couch.

It was then that Jacob realized that Leah was not whining for the sake of whining. Even if he missed the small scent of pain that she let slip through, he couldn't miss the small bit of her expression visible through her hands or her body language. "Lees, what's wrong?"

He sat down on the couch, while Nessie finished brushing her teeth for the night, and gently tried to pry Leah's hands from her face. "Don't," she wailed.

"Leah... hon... what is wrong?" he insisted. "You are wailing in pain on the couch. You never wail in pain. I have to know whether or not I need to panic or make fun of you."

"My head is killing me," she groaned, pitching her body forward so her forehead rested against her knees.

"Like a headache?" Jake asked, moving closer and placing a protective hand on the she-wolf's back with another at her shoulder. It was then that Nessie came out of the bathroom with her toothbrush still in her mouth.

"Auntie Rosie gets headaches," she spoke matter of factly. "She says the wolves smell yucky."

Then it dawned on Jacob. "Oh! Lees, do you have vamp headache? You just spent the whole afternoon with a pair. Do you not remember the horrible headaches we all used to get around them? I guess it's been a while with zero exposure."

"Dammit," she muttered, finally beginning to sit up but not opening her eyes. Jacob encouraged her to sit up fully and she slumped into his side, trying to hide her face from the light.

Nessie crawled up and sat in Jacob's lap, her feet extending to Leah's causing the older woman to grin slightly and blindly tickle at Nessie's toes. "Auntie Rosie says that she only feels better when she's around Uncle Emmett, Auntie Alice, Uncle Jasper, and Grandma and Grandpa. Because they smells nice. She says it's because they all smell the same - like vampires. Do other wolves smell nice, Leah?"

"Yeah," she confessed, eyes still sealed. "You two smell all right." She buried her face near Jake's shoulder, as she left a warm hand on Nessie's shins on her lap. Jacob noted that Leah did reek of leech, but the tension he could feel in her back ebbed as the minutes passed, Nessie hummed absently to herself, and Jake raked careful fingers up and down her spine.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

"All set?" Kim crooned and glanced over at the bassinet where Noah lay, happy and babbling. He'd recently learned his gift for noise that wasn't crying and was a constant stream of baby babble. She glanced around the room, as she zipped her last bag and tossed it onto a sealed box.

Kim felt strange leaving Paul's – even if he wasn't there and hadn't been there for weeks. She'd moved in months ago, mostly because she'd sat on his couch and cried and never left. He was really very good about it. This should could appreciate more fully now, in retrospect. But the tiny cabin had become something akin to a security blanket.

During her months of pregnancy she'd spent a lot of time with the likes of Joy Ateara and Tiffany Call. Both of them knew what it was like to raise a baby on their own. Both women were fully aware of what it was like to lose a partner just as the family was beginning to expand. It didn't quite click in Kim's head until the two women invited her out to lunch, but she realized that their mutual troubles all sort of tumbled over each other in the same five year span. Marriage, moving to a new town, a death, a baby, another baby, and then another death knitted the two women together.

The two had helped her go job scouting, since working in a grocery store on her feet all day was not only the most unfulfilling career prospect in the world, it quickly became painful and not lucrative enough. Kim had a gift for piano, and Tiffany recalled the music shop in town gave lessons, but had discontinued their piano lessons after their last instructor had moved away. And that was how Kim wound up with a job she enjoyed, and could work until almost delivery.

She'd given up the lease on the place she and Jared had lived in and really had no regrets. Not that she wanted to forget, but she simply wasn't in a good enough place to be wandering around their house after he died. She needed to be able to move on. She saved all their stuff – much of which was in storage – and had just existed in limbo here until she realized she had started mentally referencing it as home.

That's when she knew she needed to leave. She didn't have that desperate feeling of needing to get out like she had with her and Jared's place, but she felt if she was comfortable enough to no longer think of Paul's house as her panic room, that meant she was ready to stop extorting his small reserves of kindness.

She'd found a place on the edge of the reservation. The owner had a dear attachment to the house even though she no longer lived on the reservation. She wanted to keep it in the family, and Kim agreed to maintain it if she let her live there. Regular maintenance in exchange for exponentially lower rent was fine by Kim.

Paul had been gone for two months now. She'd called him to mention that she was leaving but she'd still take his mail in and whatnot and he'd actually sounded… confused. Like having her and Noah move out was something he couldn't comprehend. She told him that she'd still be extorting him as a babysitter. When he'd tried and failed to sound massively put out, Kim realized he might actually miss her and her son.

She had no idea why.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Jezzie had the suspicious feeling she was being watched. Granted, that feeling had become an almost permanent state of being as of late, but now she thought it felt more evident than ever. Maybe she wasn't just paranoid this time. Maybe she was being watched.

The windows of her classroom looked out on the busy Boston street. Her eyes flicked casually out, trying not to appear distracted. The passage of people, cars, buses, cabs, bicycles, and catered dinner carts moved with so much haste it was hard to make out anything unusual.

When the lecture ended, Jezzie took her time packing up. She was the last one out of the room before the professor. It was her last class of the day and she'd planned on spending some day light hours in the library. Spending time in the library often put her on edge. It was so quiet, but there was also so much she couldn't see. She couldn't hear others and therefore always got the sense that she was alone and easy to sneak up on. She didn't get much done in the library, but today she needed some reference material.

She padded down the empty hallway – full classrooms on either side of her – taking a deep breath and trying to reason with herself. She was fine. As she rounded the corner she noticed two people – out the corner of her eye – walking silently behind her, maybe twenty feet back. Her heart hitched in what had to be an unhealthy way and she picked up her pace. She kept her ears peeled and noticed the pair matched her pace.

They didn't look like college kids – even if they might've been her age. They were pale and very blonde, a boy and a girl. They looked like they'd tried to blend in and failed. Jezzie – like most of her peers – came to classes in jeans, sneakers and a sweatshirt. However this pair looked like they'd taken dressing pointers from unrealistic teen TV dramas. They had tight jeans, black leather jackets, and the girl's eyes were rimmed in black makeup. They looked pretty and handsome, but they did not blend in. Jezzie began at a run once she came in sight of the building's door, which would thankfully spill her onto a crowded street. She heard their pace quicken as well, and as she bolted towards the door she yanked down on the fire alarm, instantly heard the creak of hundreds – maybe thousands – of chairs against linoleum as students made for the hallway.

Jezzie caught a last glimpse of the pair before she stumbled out the door. The woman was snarling at her while the boy just grinned wickedly. She turned and made for the nearest subway stop at a jog. She managed to get down the stairs, through the station, and onto an outgoing train just before the automated doors cut her in half. She slumped into a chair and glanced around quickly. No blond boy or girl in sight. She sighed and closed her eyes.

She didn't know who they were. But they they clearly knew who she was. They were unhealthy pale, strangely beautiful, and fast. Jezzie had no idea how they managed to find her in the daylight without being found out.

She drove her mind in circles until she heard the subway doors open on the noisy platform for that connected passengers to the local professional basketball and hockey arena, as well as the train station that branched out of the city.

She clambered out of the subway car and to the surface road, making for the train station and series of food outlets under the arena. She paused long enough to buy herself a Sprite, feeling ridiculously thirsty and nauseous. She sat in the train station's busy waiting area beneath the large schedule of incoming and outgoing trains.

She took a moment to regain a normal breathing pattern and glanced at her watch. Four thirty. She wracked her brain and remembered it was a Monday. Collin didn't have work. She flipped her phone open and dialed their apartment.

"Hello," Collin answered lazily.

"Collin, it's me."

"Jezzie, are you all right? You sound out of breath."

"Do me a favor and meet me at North Station. Bring one of your sweatshirts."

Collin came jogging into the train station about ten minutes after Jezzie had hung up her phone. He must've run the whole way there.

"Are you all right?" She could tell he wanted to shout, but was trying to act natural surrounded by throngs of people.

"Fine," she muttered pulling the sweatshirt from his hands and pulling it over her head. It didn't swamp her quite the way clothing from some of the other boys might've but it was still huge on her. "Can you smell me?"

"Not over the smell of me, no."

"Good, let's walk and talk."

Jezzie explained what had happened on their way home. She explained the feeling of being watched, how she was tagged in the hall after class, how she'd run to the subway – assuming the scent and the chaos would throw off the vampires.

"How the hell were they out in the daylight? And Jake is gonna be ripshit," Collin nodded as they finally reached their block. "We gotta tell him. He's gonna be pissed."

Jacob was indeed angry as hell. He didn't like having his Pack spread where he couldn't defend them at the drop of a hat. That included the likes of Embry, Leah, Rachel, and Addie in Seattle; Paul in god-knows-where Midwestern USA; and especially the pup and the human clear across the country. He wouldn't be a dick and demand they come home. It'd be all but useless on Jezzie anyways. And Jake wasn't nearly enough of a jerk; he'd done Collin enough damage by not reporting his brother. But could he continue to let them live at risk in an attempt to play nice? Embry was the one to remind Jake that if he did order them home, Jezzie would probably tell him to go to hell, and Collin would probably finally tear himself from the Pack and lose his mind like his wolf appeared to be doing every time the boy had been threatened or cornered.

He'd just have to sit back and wait until the danger passed or he finally had a chance to tear that danger in half.

Jezzie spent the rest of the semester alternately wearing Collin's clothes and dumping hers in his bed to disguise her smell. She also started using his soap and decided that Old Spice really wasn't that bad for your hair.

"You know this is really weird," Collin told her one day as she threw her next day's pair of jeans at his bed.

"I realized that," Jezzie replied. "I don't think having your roommate sleep on your clothes before you wear them is a normal thing. But 'weird' is a fat lot of crap coming from the boy who spends his evenings as a wolf in the living room. Shouldn't you be studying for your algebra midterm?"

"Shouldn't you be studying for your pharmacology exam?"

Saturday, December 22, 2007

"Your friend is really hot," Collin muttered as he stepped into Chicago Midway with Jezzie. Collin was a lot taller than Jezzie, and given the madness that was Chicago Midway, Jezzie had shown Collin a picture of Liz and charged him with finding her. Because, you know, he could see over everyone. And besides, the girl was over six feet and her hair gave her at least another three inches. She shouldn't be too hard to miss.

Collin got a pretty good impression from Jezzie's phone photo that Liz was a looker, but all put together – not just a pixilated shot from the waist up – she was damn hot. She was about six-foot-three, which put her on par with Collin's height. Something he sure as hell was not used to. She was tall and wiry and all limbs. Her smile broke wide when she saw Collin. She raised her hand and waved tentatively. Jezzie had made sure to tell her to look for the six and half foot tall Indian kid before they took off from Logan. Liz had assumed a six and a half foot Indian kid would be just as small a probability as a six-foot-three black woman. Apparently she'd been right – Collin waved back.

"Found her?" Jezzie grinned. Collin nodded, grabbed her hand and lead the way through the crowd with all his imposing glory. Jezzie loved the perks of Pack sometimes. Even if Collin was only fourteen, it worked. Jezzie used her size to squirm ahead and she broke through the crowd first, jumping on Liz for all she was worth. The two girls hopped around the middle of the terminal screaming in a high pitched way that made Collin and his wolf twitch a little bit, but both he and the wolf were glad to see Jezzie happy.

After releasing each other, Jezzie turned. "Liz, this is Collin. He's a friend of mine from Washington. He's been going to school out in Boston. We're roomies. Collin, Liz. Liz, Collin."

"Hi," Liz extended her hand and shook Collin's with a sincere smile. "Good to meet you. Where are you at school? I have family at BC."

"Uh… Boston Latin School?" Collin offered, feeling a little awkward. Sure, he had to explain his real age to people all the time. It took a month before the staff at BLS had stopped pulling him aside thinking he was some kind of child predator or intruder – even though he wore his ID like everybody else. But it was worse when he had to knock himself down a few pegs in front of a hot chick – even if he didn't have a shot in hell with her.

"No way," she replied in astonishment. "You do not look like a high school boy."

"Down, killer," Jezzie smirked. "Save that for Carla."

Liz rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. He's lucky Carla isn't here. Poor kid would've already been thoroughly molested."

Collin swallowed. What kind of people had Jezzie been befriending before he met her and why didn't he know more of them? Jezzie only laughed but proceeded to pick up her backpack from where she dropped it on the ground. "Let's say we get some food and a bathroom break? We should have time before our flight leaves if we're quick about it."

The three made their way towards the sights and smells of airport food and Liz spoke again. "Are you sure you don't mind having me, Jezzie? I mean I love and miss your Dad and all, but for a whole holiday? I don't want to impose."

"Liz," Jezzie sighed. "We're not leaving you alone in Detroit at home – or Chicago at school for that matter – for Christmas. It's absolutely fine. We have more than enough room. Besides, I think my friends are going to get a kick out of you."

"Why's that?" Liz quirked a hesitant brow.

"We rarely meet anyone as tall as us," Collin offered, leaning in between the two girls.

"Are you serious?" she replied turning to the ridiculously overgrown boy standing between her and Jezzie.

Collin nodded. "I only seem like a freak of nature. Put me back in my element and I'm the pipsqueak."

Jezzie corroborated this with a nod. "I had neck spasms from looking up so much."

"Good Lord…" Liz offered with a sigh.

The three barely made it to their flight – because Jezzie was going to die if she didn't get a pretzel – and both girls got a kick out of Collin's reaction to flying. Jezzie thought it would be mean to point out that at least on this leg of the journey he wasn't holding her hand for dear life. He was just praying in two languages.

Jezzie took the Jake calling duties when they landed as Collin just reveled in laying on a solid surface – or the airport's nicely landscaped grassy entrance area. Liz sat down next to the boy and smiled. "You don't fly much, huh?"

Jezzie watched the luggage carousel for their bags and then Jake finally picked up the phone. "Jezzie!"

"Hello dear high Alpha!" Jezzie chirped as she recognized Liz's red canvas suitcase and pulled it off the belt. "I have arrived safe and sound with your son and the ignorant human."

"And how did it all go?"

"Good," Jezzie nodded snagging Collin's duffel bag. "Collin didn't freak out and tear a hole into the plane's structure and get us all torn out by the suction of it. But I'm pretty sure he's on a suspicious person's list given the amount of strange languages he was praying in. He's outside laying on the grass with Liz. You still coming to get us?"

"I'm sending Paul; Council's having a Pack-related conniption fit and he's talked enough sense into them over the course of the year. They can't afford any more broken furniture. He and Ness should be there in about ten minutes. You guys out front?"

"Yes, sir," Jezzie affirmed. "And remember: ignorant human. Keep the inside jokes on the DL. Pass on the message?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'll give them a call to let them know where you are."

Jezzie grinned as she hung up her phone and only barely snagged her suitcase before it rounded the bend and she was forced to wait another cycle for it. Jezzie dragged the luggage outside and Liz was watching a closed eyed, sprawled out Collin with an amused expression. "Boy's a goner."

"Collin, snap out of it," Jezzie traipsed across the grass to sit right next to him. "We still have a four hour ride back to La Push and if you puke in the car I'll never forgive you."

"Just leave me here to die," he moaned dramatically. But it was hard to take him even slightly seriously when he grinned so much.

"Collin," Jezzie replied petulantly. "You're upsetting my luggage!"

He quirked an eye open and observed the small, hard-cased, lime green suitcase. "It is some pretty cute luggage. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

"Paul will be here in a few minutes," Jezzie told him. "I just got off the phone with Jake."

"The Jake?" Liz asked. "I mean, if I didn't know you and Embry were a thing and that Seth was sixteen, I'd have my suspicions about Jacob Black. You talk about him an awful lot. Don't think I've heard much about a Paul, though."

Collin snorted, mostly from the prospect of Jake and Jezzie ever being involved. He thought that might have some latent, yet lethal, outcomes. "Jake's a good friend," Jezzie nodded. "You'll like him. Paul is an acquired taste."

"Yeah, like haggis. Or battery acid. Is he bringin' Ness?" Collin asked excitedly. Jezzie nodded. "Yes! I love that kid!"

No one had time to respond because it was then that Paul pulled up. Nessie hopped out of the car almost instantly and Jezzie was amazed that she already looked like a grade schooler. Collin finally stood up and he greeted Paul as Nessie launched herself at Jezzie. "Jezzie! You're back!"

She scooped the young girl up and smiled. "Of course!"

"And this is your friend, right? Jacob said you were bringing a friend for Christmas?"

"Yep. Nessie, this is Liz – she's one of my good friends from back in Michigan. Liz – this is Nessie, Jake's daughter."

"It's very nice to meet you," Nessie leaned forward in Jezzie's arms and extended her hand to Liz.

"You too," Liz took the small girl's hand. "You're very polite. Daddy raises you well."

"Yes, he does," Nessie nodded decidedly. "Leah says I should remember my manners as long as everyone else does." Jezzie let the introductions flow as she watched Paul give Collin a hug and then proceed to look him over. He nodded in approval and patted the kid on the back. Jezzie suspected he liked having the Pack fully assembled just as much as Jake did.

Collin then busied himself with putting baggage into the car (thankfully, Paul had borrowed the Ateara's old crossover; Jezzie didn't want to imagine two wolves, Liz, Ness, and herself jammed inside anything smaller) when Jezzie approached Paul. He smiled down at her in that way that always indicated he was up to something.

"'Sup Little Red?" he asked. "It's a helluva lot better for my brain having you two dorks on this seaboard, I will have you know."

"Find any permanent damage?" she nodded towards Collin.

"Naw," Paul shook his head. "He seems to be in good hands."

Jezzie nodded firmly and introduced Paul to Liz as she deposited Ness on the ground so she could thoroughly attack Collin. Paul reacted to Liz much the same way Collin had. He was kind of amazed. Jezzie went to go put her backpack in the trunk and watched as Paul and Liz continued talking. It was interesting considering Paul was about as shameless a flirt as Quil.

"Did you bring Liz here for the sole purpose of dangling her in front of the single Beta?" Collin asked in a whisper as Ness clambered back into the car. Paul could probably still hear him from this distance if he wasn't beyond distracted. "You know how he feels about tall chicks."

"No," Jezzie rolled her eyes. "Liz is my friend and needed a place for the holidays."

"Clean up, in Terminal A."

"Is that my Jeep?" Jezzie asked curiously as they finally made their way into town after a three and a half hour trek. It hadn't been bad. They'd talked the whole time. It was remarkable how much non-Pack stuff they could talk about for three hours without even trying. Liz fell into the dynamic naturally. Normally reserved but not unfriendly, she seemed to take to both Paul and Collin. She handled Paul's moderately abrasive and occasionally off-color personality with aplomb. She even laughed a few times when Jezzie just sat in horror in the back seat, thinking that he'd finally managed to offend her. Liz sat up front – Jezzie insisted knowing she got motion sick – and Jezzie and Collin sat in the back with Nessie.

"Yeah," Paul confirmed. "The thing gets shuffled between Embry and Kim. On the weekends, Embry works for that insurance agency in there. Crunching numbers, data entry. All that soul-crushing kinda shit." Paul glanced up in the rear-view mirror to watch Jezzie. "Should I pull over?"

"And leave Liz to fend for herself with you heathens? I think not!"

Jezzie saw Liz roll her eyes through the same mirror. "Hon, I think I got these two handled. Ness and I can tag team. I'll have them drop me off at your place, okay? Go see your damn boyfriend."

"Are you sure?"

"If you don't get out of the car, I'mma push you out."

"Point taken," Jezzie acceded. Paul pulled onto the side of the road and Jezzie pulled her backpack out of the trunk. "When's he get off work?" she asked.

"Fifteen minutes," Paul smirked looking towards her across the passenger seat. "I promise not to eat your friend."

Jezzie leveled him a glare but didn't have time to respond as he pulled away. She dragged her bag into the parking lot and dug out her long unused key to open the trunk and slide it inside. Now what to do with the remaining fifteen minutes?

It had been a long-ass day. Embry had come into this job at the start of the semester. The guy that ran the insurance agency was nice enough, but he had no idea how to run a business. So Embry spent the better part of a month's worth of weekend time sorting through boxes and boxes of receipts. Had this man never heard of the spreadsheet? How the hell did he get his taxes done each year?

After patching up the carnage, things had gotten easier. But since Embry was only around on weekends, that left a whole week's worth of receipts to get piled up, lost, or simply never even being put into existence. God forbid a person print the confirmation page of an online order.

This weekend had been particularly stressful. Mostly because the office was being renovated and all the boxes that Embry had finally filed neatly had been moved and no one had seen fit to tell him. It didn't help that they stacked them up willy nilly in the storage closet and he hadn't even labeled them all properly yet. Part of him just wanted to close the door and let the cleaning fumes asphyxiate him. But it had only been 9AM.

The afternoon had then included Embry having to explain that even if the owner wanted to use illegal labor to put up new paint and moldings, paying in cash still meant receipts. The year was coming to an end and for the love of God, he was going to have to make sure all the loose ends were tied off during his Christmas break otherwise this strip mall insurance agency was definitely going to get an IRS audit visit in the spring. No pressure.

But the day was over and since he was around all week during break, he didn't need to come in on Sundays. He took a deep breath relishing the evening air as he stepped outside letting the glass door swing closed behind him. He fished around for his keys as he walked and looked up in time to notice that the car was gone.

Shit.

He blinked a couple of times. He had definitely parked a '93 Wagoneer three spots from the edge of the lot this morning. This whole half of the lot was empty. Who the hell would steal Jezzie's Jeep? It was a solid vehicle, but not worth the price in parts to jack it. Embry swore under his breath and turned back around. Apparently he was going to have to call for a ride and a police report. He didn't even make it a step towards the door when he froze.

The Jeep was on the other side of the small lot. What the… And on the hood, smiling like a Cheshire cat, was a very, very tricky redhead. Embry felt his shoulders slump in relief knowing Jezzie's Jeep wasn't stolen and he crossed the lot quickly. Relief being replaced by happiness and excitement seeing Jezzie in Washington state. It had been two long months.

Jezzie slid off the hood of the beast as Embry came close and she opened her mouth to say something but Embry dipped down and kissed her, preempting her mouth's action with plans of his own. She squeaked in surprise but Embry could tell she was pleased nonetheless. He tossed his jacket onto the hood of the Jeep and continued to kiss Jezzie as she backed up until the heels of her shoes hit the tires. He held her carefully by the waist and lifted her back up so she could sit at a more reasonable height. Their tongues met as Jezzie parted her lips.

His hands ran over her shoulders, her back and through her hair. She was here. She was actually here. He hadn't fallen into a psychotic, delusional, day dream. This was actually happening. He could feel her – soft and warm and safe – against him and it was fan-freaking-tastic.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Jacob heard the man before he saw him. He plopped down on the stony beach next to him. He noticed that Sam joined him on the ground with a bit of a grimace. Not an old age grimace – not quite yet – but a grimace that suggested getting all the way down to the ground, and then all the way back up was going to be mildly inconvenient.

They were all too young, how were they getting so old?

"So, you and Leah, huh?" he asked pulling a pebble up from beneath him.

"Yeah, I guess so," Jacob confirmed, still gazing out at the ebbing tide.

"I have absolutely no ground to stand on when I tell you this," Sam replied. "But I'm going to tell you anyways: if you hurt her – I swear to all that is good and holy in this world – I will come after you, and I will kill you. Slowly."

Jacob smiled. He knew Sam meant it too. Sam had so clearly fucked up his own personal life years ago, that he had never thought there was any way to take it back or make it better – so for pure desire to see things just not get any worse, he never did anything. Maybe not the best course of action, but given the givens Jacob was not going to hold it against him anymore.

Jacob had spent enough time in his head to know how Sam felt about Leah. Still felt. The way it flowed in his consciousness like water around the small gaps the imprint left, let Jacob know that Leah was still something very all-encompassing in Sam's life. Anyone else might've gotten mad at Sam for what he'd said. Jacob just felt a little depressed.

Because as much hurt as Leah dealt with, she was doing good at the moving on thing. But a glimpse into Sam's mind and seeing that Leah still peeked around any empty corner the imprint left, forced Jacob to realize that Sam would never get over Leah. It was something his Pack brother would have to carry with him the rest of his life, and Jacob didn't envy him.

"Understood," Jacob smirked knowingly. "I have to say though Sam, if you'd never given her up – I never would have had a shot in hell with her. I'm kinda amazed that I actually have one even now. But I don't plan on messing it up anytime soon."

"For some reason, kid, you make her happy," Sam observed. "Leah deserves to be fucking happy. And don't tell her I talked to you, or she'll come after me."

"I actually think Seth would beat her to the punch."

This time Sam smiled. "That actually wouldn't be so bad. Seth was too young to beat the shit out of me like a normal brother for what I did to his sister. Don't think I don't know I've got that coming to me someday. I kinda look forward to it."

"You're looking forward to Seth beating you to a pulp?" Jacob asked dubiously. "Are you a masochist, or are you just excited to kick his butt?"

"No," Sam shook his head. "I'll let him have that one. He deserves it. I miss the shit out of that kid…"

Jacob didn't comment on how Seth was around – pretty much – all the damn time. Jacob was convinced he knew how to teleport given that Seth was everywhere all. The. Time. Jacob largely suspected that Sam missed Seth in a way he'd never see him again – in a way he'd never get back.

"You know Sam, maybe I'm just being a selfish bastard here, but don't you think that after all this BS you deserve an iota of happiness?"

A part of Sam – and pretty decently sized part – was a bit masochistic, and was fairly convinced that he didn't have the right to be happy. But it was hard to suppress the natural human instinct to do so.

"Don't get me wrong, man," Jacob continued, "You done fucked up good and proper with the women in your life, but… how far does a person have to go before they don't ever deserve to be happy? People screw each other over every day and keep on livin', keep on… doing whatever it is they do."

"It's easier when you're screwing over people you don't actually like," Sam pointed out. "Chalk it up to business. This was not business. Though, I think it'll be easier now. I don't have to feel guilty about giving into Emily's imprint, if I know Leah's happy with someone else that she won't give a flying fuck whether I join the circus."

"How very selfish of you," Jacob chided. Sam looked a bit guilty as he glanced down to the pebbly beach. "Dude, I'm just messing with you, okay? You're right – hopefully Leah is happy enough and doesn't give two shits what you do with your personal life. I would think it'd happen eventually. It's kinda normal. So you're free. Go and live your life in a way that gives you some friggin' peace of mind, man."

All Sam wanted was a quiet life and a quiet mind.