Jumper

The household sits down for a chat—but are in for a surprise.

All We Know

"Ok, explain everything." Sally ordered. We were all sitting cross legged on the floor in a circle dead center in the living room. After Josh had immediately declared that he was trained, Aidan, Rebecca and Sally had a million questions. Even Josh still had some lingering questions about his condition. In order to answer everything at once, I called a pow-wow in the middle of the living room.

"Josh transformed," I started, looking past Josh and imagining the whole memory in my head once more, "and he wasn't at all scared or shocked that I was there. The wolf just turned around and was like 'Oh, hey there.'." I said, starting to smile as I remembered how the wolf had just looked at me as if I'd been expected.

"No negative reaction at all?" Aidan asked, looking to Josh for conformation. Aidan had seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of Josh's transformations, so this information must have been a shock. Josh just grinned and shrugged, considering he didn't remember any of it anyway.

"The wolf instantly started, I don't know, purring or something, some sound of affection; it came right over to me and sniffed me." I continued as if Aidan hadn't spoken, eager to tell them what had happened last night in exact detail. I didn't want to leave anything out because I was the only human witness of Josh's progress. "Then it licked my temple and head like it was grooming me. I called for Josh at a normal volume, maybe even quieter, and the wolf only paused before it kept right on grooming me."

"And you didn't jump with teeth, no, fangs that close to your face? He could've ripped your head off!" Sally asked breathlessly, enthusiastically.

"Nope," I said cheerfully, giving Josh's hand a squeeze just in case Sally's slightly insulting comment had bothered him. It didn't bother me—it was a perfectly reasonable concern…I just wasn't at all concerned. "Ok, I kind of spaced out then—well, no, that's not the best term," I said hastily, seeing Aidan's face at my apparent nonchalance in dangerous situations, "but I was just thinking really, really hard and then, before I knew it, Josh had kind of settled down beside me. He nosed me in the back of the shins so that I fell down next to him."

"Were you hurt?" Josh threw in instantly, rubbing my shoulder anxiously, totally over reacting. "You didn't mention anything this morning so I thought-"

"I'm perfectly fine," I said seriously so that Josh would calm down. He gulped and gave a quick nod. His reaction made my heart twang. If he had even the smallest idea in his head that I could have any sort of injury he was there. His sweet, protective demeanor was refreshing- and probably necessary. I had to admit, sometimes I felt like I was invincible. Josh's constant reminder that I had a dangerous job reminded me to be careful.

"And what happened then? Josh said something about cuddling?" Rebecca asked, her nose slightly wrinkled as she probably pictured something really creepy, something horribly wrong. Sally's imagination was having an influence on her mind.

"The wolf cuddled me on its side. I knew that getting up would be really bad, but moving even the littlest bit scared me too. So I just lay there, waiting to see what the wolf's reaction would be. To my surprise, Josh fell asleep right away, totally at ease. That's when I knew that I was perfectly safe- so I relaxed, got comfy, and let myself fall asleep." I summarized, smiling at Josh. He was beaming, even if he didn't realize it. I knew he was proud of himself, and he should be. He was trying to train his subconscious to do something that was usually completely beyond his control.

"Wow, you've got balls." Sally commented lightly, grinning. "I wouldn't sleep with a werewolf, no way."

"Thanks, Sally." I said, half sarcastic, half laughing. "That means a lot."

"I just can't believe you'd do that, Emma! It's so dangerous!" Rebecca spluttered while Aidan just looked at Josh and I, expression unreadable.

"…Yup," I said finally, flashing Rebecca a grin, unable and unwilling to try and placate her. Rebecca raised an eyebrow and then burst out laughing. As she was laughing, I noticed Aidan start to turn away from his girlfriend's face and towards the front window behind us, frowning. In the time it took me to blink, there was a huge bang as the glass shattered and the wooden sill splintered. Something tackled me hard, sending us flying across the room, flipping the couch and crashing into the wall. Gasping, I didn't even get a chance to open my eyes to see what had happened when the harsh, terrifying pain of a magnet made me freeze and instantly start to scream and writhe in sheer agony. It was as if my brain had been doused in napalm.

"Emma!" I heard Josh bellow over me, but there was no way I could ever answer him. Through the pain, I became dimly aware that I couldn't writhe around like I usually could; someone had tied up my feet and was working on my hands. Underneath my screaming and Sally and Josh yelling were the loud, feral snarls of a vampire fight. "Get—off-!" Josh was panting, and I could hear him struggling not far away from me. Chest heaving, I forced my streaming eyes open. The entire room was blurry- I could barely see. A vampire had Josh pinned to the wall and had secured his hands with a zip-tie. Sally was across the room sending exploding objects into two other vampires that were bitterly fighting Aidan and Rebecca.

The vampire next to me noticed that my eyes were open and moved their magnet closer, making me choke and nearly start to convulse. The neodymium magnet in his hand was burning into my head until I felt my eyes roll back- "Attraper le loup-garou et se!" One of the vampires cried in rapid French. Immediately after there was a gut-wrenching snarl followed by a loud, sickening crack. As I felt myself start to slip away, the peculiar feeling of being surrounded came over me- as if I was under the covers of Josh's bed.

"NO!" I heard Rebecca shriek as I was lifted off the floor, her scream louder than mine. Seconds later something tackled me again. There was a loud, eerie shriek and then silence, minus my own screams, gasps and whimpers. "Get rid of the magnet- get rid of it!" Rebecca cried, and after a second, the mind-bursting pain faded from behind my eyes, leaving me shivering and gasping, half conscious on the floor. There was a loud tearing noise, and the feeling of being encompassed ceased.

"Hold still, Josh!" I heard Aidan say hastily, and there was a quiet snip noise. Seconds later, hands were stroking my face, brushing back my stubby hair.

"Emma? Emma!" Josh was panicking, his voice cracking in his stress, his agony. With the same snip noise, someone cut the tie around my ankles and wrists.

"Give her some air—" Rebecca started, voice strained, but Josh growled at her, and his grip on me tightened. The sound of his growl grated over my ears and before I could stop myself I groaned from the residual pain. Why was my head pounding to a point where I wanted to throw up? What had just happened? Why was Josh so upset?

"Emma, can you hear me? Please, wake up," Josh begged quietly. It was his voice that somehow gave me the strength to make my eyes flicker open. Josh had me cradled in his arms, looking down on me with the most tortured expression I'd yet seen on his face. The left side of his face was bruising, but he looked unhurt otherwise. What had happened to him- who made him this way? What had happened to me? "Emma!" Josh whispered, looking down upon me half in fear and half in hope.

"Josh," My voice cracked so badly that half of the word was silent, but I forced out his name to ease the terrible pressure on his mind before it consumed him. Josh let out a little cry of relief and hugged me hard, starting to shake.

"You're ok, you're safe. You're safe," Josh repeated, as if he was trying to convince himself as he pulled back, kissing my forehead in his anxiousness.

"What—happened?" I croaked, then winced and closed my eyes at the louder noise- it was like a bomb had just gone off in my brain. I knew that there had to have been magnets around- my mind was wiped up until…last night, cuddling into Josh's flank.

"We were attacked by four vampires from France. They tried to kidnap you and Josh." Aidan said quietly, picking up on my sensitivity to sound. With a hiss of pain, I sat up, Josh doing most of the work when he realized what I was trying to do. Through blurry eyes, I took in the living room. Five minutes ago it had been pristine. Now the whole front window was gone, there was rubble all over the floor, and the bodies of four vampires were strewn around the room, blood everywhere. The couch had been flipped over and broken in half, and glass was all over the place.

"From France?" I asked stupidly, taking a minute to remember that Genevieve was in France, still hunting me. "Oh," I said when I understood, and I felt my brow furrow. How could she have possibly known that I was here? I'd given no indication that I remembered who I was before I'd escaped from her lab because I didn't remember who I was. "Are you four ok?" I asked, looking over all of them more closely. Sally, of course, was completely unaffected physically. Aidan and Rebecca had a few scrapes and cuts, but nothing too serious. Josh's face was still bruised and now that I looked at him, I saw harsh scrapes all the way around his wrists from where he'd fought against a vampire.

"Are we ok? Jesus, Emma, we thought you were dying!" Rebecca said shakily. It took me another minute to remember that only Josh had heard me under a magnet's influence before this afternoon. I must have scared everyone half to death with my involuntary reaction. "Are you alright? What's your birthday? What's my phone number?" Rebecca fired off, testing my memory.

"My birthday is October 22 and your phone number is 213-9748." I recited softly, almost a whisper, closing my eyes. "You also have a nice tattoo on your—"

"She's fine," Rebecca said quickly, cutting me off. "A little shook up, but she'll be ok."

"Then let's get rid of the bodies, Rebecca. Sally, can you tape over this window before the cops come? Josh- stay here, and keep your stake." Aidan directed firmly, his black eyes flinty in his anger as he stood up, going over to the nearest body. He never showed too much emotion except for in small almost insignificant gestures. His need to privatize what had just happened told me that he was very angry and a little scared too.

"Do you need to lie down?" Josh asked me when I let more of my weight lean against him, exhausted.

"Probably," I admitted, my voice cracking again. Trying to man up and take this like a champ, I insisted that I could walk, letting Josh only help me up and guide me instead of carry me- he'd just transformed yesterday and was probably still sore. Josh, however, wouldn't let me go upstairs, wanting to stay as close to our vampire guardians in the living room as possible. I ended up lying on the loveseat once he swept all the rubble off of it. Josh sat protectively next to me on the floor, leaning against the loveseat and twirling a stake in his palm, glaring at the mess. "Why did they hurt you?" I whispered after some of the pounding in my head vanished and I tried to remember what had just happened.

"I resisted," Josh said finally, clenching his fist around the stake.

"They went after you?" I asked in horror, turning my head to get a better look at him. Josh just grimaced, beating the stake on the inside of his palm. "She wants you. She wants both of us." I whispered, closing my eyes.

Genevieve was back and out for blood. My blood.