First Encounter of the--Third?—Fourth and Fifth Kind
"I'll just have them change demonology text books from 'almost extinct' to 'not extinct enough for Alec. He prefers his monsters really, really extinct."
A star dusted, velvet night dominated the sky, a few wispy clouds formed a corona around the horizon. Continuous showers had washed away the recent snowfall but the last shower had frozen over during the night before. Moonlight shone off the icy green-black landscape, icicles swayed in the faint breeze and clattered together in a chime-like melody. The artificial glare of headlights refracted harshly off the ice and cut through the darkness.
The Volvo cruised effortlessly down the highway, it's engine purring like a cat. Inside, Sophie balanced the steering wheel beneath her flailing fingers, which mimicked the drum of her music. Edward reclined in the passenger's seat, his eyes never leaving the roadway. He half trusted his car in the hands of a California driver whether or not the road conditions were perfect or otherwise. Despite the rain and subsequent ice, the road way was free of black ice and all obstructions.
Sophie had enjoyed the day out of the Cullen's house. Though she had traded one prison for another--during their short trip to Port Angeles, she had to remain in the car, windows and vents closed. It was a welcomed reprieve that she greatly appreciated. The errand had allowed her to drive for the first time since she wrecked her car and see the wintry landscape of Washington. Sophie pressed the pedal further and cackled in glee as the engine's whine rose in pitch and the car's speedometer crawled past 70 and 80 before settling between 95 and a 100 mph.
"Careful," Edward hazard as he felt the vehicle pick up even more speed. He would not openly admit the speeds he had coaxed out of the car lest he put more temptation within her reach.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sophie muttered, waving her hand dismissively. She used the same motion to change and raise the music selection and volume respectively. One her personal mix CDs replaced the classical so naturally her voice wove in with the artists'. Or, when it came to female singers, dominated.
"You wanna know more, more, more about me? I'm the girl who's kicking the coke machine. I'm the one that's honking at you cuz I left late again. Hey! Hey! Hey! Can't you see I want you by the way I push you away, Ya! Don't judge me tomorrow by the way I'm acting today. Mix the words up with the actions do it all for your reaction Ya! Hey! Hey! Get tangled up in me--"
They were a little more than halfway home when something rustled in the distance. It was not a breeze or a wild animal which created the massive wall of foliage to shudder. Something else brooded in the depths of the forest. Edward saw the first emerge, a sandy colored beast almost as big as the car. A second followed--a grayish that camouflaged the creature almost perfectly against the black backdrop of night. Both paused in the middle of the road, looking over their shoulders and down the asphalt river. The car continued to barrel down the narrow stretch and was going to collide head on with what ever stood in its way. Sophie was still unaware.
"Sophie, brake!" He demanded sharply.
Instantly Sophie focused on the roadway-- she had been looking just not comprehending, lost in the words of music -- and her perfect eyesight picked up the two large obstacles in the middle of the trajectory. She slammed on the brake pedal, the tires arresting and the car slowing so abruptly that it threatened to careen on the slick surface and jump the curb. The car skidded to a stop far enough away that the beasts, which had sprung into the forest opposite them, would have been just inside the orb of light.
Startled, Sophie clutched at the steering wheel, knuckles prominent beneath her white skin. She inhaled deeply and reprocessed exactly what she had seen. They had been large and coated in thick fur with the outline of a wolf. Wolves were not a common sight this close to the coast but they were not unheard of. But timber wolves clearly did not grow to the size of a small horse.
"What…was that?" She questioned in a haggard breath. At first Edward ignored the query. His eyes penetrated the thick forest on either side. There were five wolves out tonight; he could hear their scolding and warnings as clearly as if they spoke with lips.
"Nothing," he dismissed with a shake. "Let's go so we do not get home late and worry Esme."
Sophie nodded and tentatively touched the gas pedal with her foot. The car lurched forward minus the zeal of excessive speed. Then the car jerked to another abrupt stop, jolting Edward's concentration from the wolves back to the roadway. Frozen in the headlights was a third wolf, flanked by two more. So the rest had decided to cross here too, despite their brethren's close call.
A white wolf with a coat purer than fresh snow stood entranced in the glare of the headlights, icy blue eyes staring raptly at the driver. Sophie balked from at the piercing look and resisted the urge to squirm. Something in her gut told her to run, floor the car in hopes that the creature would not escape a metallic death. Another roused the same instincts along the lines of hunting, the same urge to kill. Edward's eyes, after briefly settling on the flanks of a russet brown and shoulders of a coal black, honed in on the slighter female wolf in the center and bore into her soul. His mind churned over the information spilling from her and the raw surprise that kept her paws glued to the blacktop.
It was as if the black wolf, who he knew had to be the alpha, Sam, and he shared the same impulse to remove themselves from a potentially dangerous situation and acted in harmony. The black wolf nudged the white into the security of the forest just as Edward instructed Sophie to resume driving. Once a few miles had been put behind them, Sophie found her voice. During the whole ordeal, the music seemed to dim into nothing more than background noise.
"What kind of wolves were those?" Sophie's voice held the conviction that there was something more to those creatures than just your average wolf. "Because I don't know of any wolf that gets that size. Those things were huge, easily the size of a horse!" She pinned Edward with a gaze that demanded that information and answers be delivered promptly.
"Werewolves," he replied at length. He picked up on the momentary skepticism darting through her mind.
"Werewolves…" She considered it for a moment. "Well, I guess that isn't a far cry from vampires, as they are natural enemies… But werewolves in Washington? I can see why we would live here, but why werewolves?"
The questioning fell upon deaf ears. Edward was too preoccupied the newest wolf's identity. Though it came as little surprise that Serena had changed. He had just not expected it to be so soon. This could be potentially disastrous. Edward put aside the sudden threat this little run in had aroused to explain.
"The wolves live on the reservation of La Push. It is in their lore that when a vampire comes too close to their territory, those who have inherited the trait undergo a physical reaction that allows them to change into wolves." His voice was hard, eyes steely. An edge of resentment entered is tone. "You are not to go anywhere near La Push. Those beasts are dangerous and will kill you if you get near any of them. It's best for us all if you don't stray beyond our land."
Sophie nodded, Edward's voice stirring unease in her. The turn off to the driveway broke the wall of trees and she took it in earnest, eager to keep forest, walls, and family between her and those legendary creatures.
----- -----
Serena could not take her eyes off the silver Volvo, not even when Sam tackled her off the road, sending both of them rolling along the dirt and ice. She could not recall scrambling to her feet and bolting after the retreating vehicle, hardly noticing when Paul and Collin tried to cut her off. She could feel their fear and surprise at her reaction, then the sudden desperation at trying to catch her and bring her back under control.
Running alongside the shoulder of the road, all she could think of was the alabaster face driving the car, made divinely beautiful by the change to vampire, but still perfectly and completely Sophie. It was a face that she could never mistake, a face she still looked at everyday in a picture by her bed.
Jacob was terrified; they all were, even those in the second hunting party in the process of cutting off a leech in the forest. He sprinted after her through the woods, taking short cuts to get ahead of the road. Collin was on his heels, opting to go with Jacob instead of continuing the hunt. The others reluctantly left them behind in order to deal with the rouge bloodsucker. Sam was still trying to get a more coherent thought out of Serena besides Sophie's name and images of the boy Jazz trying to convince her that his girlfriend was still alive.
Seeing the road through her eyes, Jacob finally realized he had cut ahead of her. He heard the Volvo go past, saw Serena pursuing near the tree line, a silver ghost in the dark and icy night. Sending Collin ahead just in case she got past him, Jacob became painfully aware of just how close they were to the Cullen's borders. With a final lunge, he rammed his enormous bulk into her side, sending her tumbling into the asphalt. In a flash, she somehow managed her feet again, but Jacob was right there to trip her up and pin her to the ground.
She growled and struggled for a moment in her desperation, still calling out Sophie's name. Slowly, she began to quiet, her growls morphing into pathetic whimpers, curled into a tight ball. At a loss, Jacob stayed with her until he heard the telltale signs of an approaching car and tried to nudge her off the road. When she failed to respond, he closed his teeth carefully around the thick fur at the scruff of her neck and pulled her along. After a few feet, she rose to her own feet a bit to avoid being dragged and they made their way into the shelter of the trees by the time the next car rolled slowly by.
Serena once more retreated behind her mental wall, laying down on the snowy forest floor. Collin arrived a few moments later to discover Jacob nuzzled up beside her, licking her ears as he tried to get a reaction for her inert form. The younger wolf whimpered, trotting up to the pair. He nudged her head with his muzzle, feeling her mind furiously working and she blinked, looking up at him as if noticing both him and Jacob for the first time.
'Sorry,' she muttered to them both, still holding back her deeper thoughts.
'It's fine,' Sam assured her with the relief of the pack behind him, even as they brought down the leech successfully. 'We're just happy that you're alright.'
Of all the emotions she could feel from her brothers and sister, nervousness was slowly beginning to emerge as the main culprit. They understood what had set her off, but the fact that her friend was not dead and now drank blood was enough to cast many things into serious question. But from no one were the fears stronger than Jacob, who still had not left his position beside her. With a bracing mental sigh, she stood and licked Jacob's muzzle.
'Thank you,' she told him, but indicating Collin in the statement as well. 'My head hadn't quite caught up with my feet.'
'Why don't you three head back home? My group ran patrols tonight anyway,' Sam added. 'We'll take care of the clean-up here.'
Collin split off from them, running home and soon his presence disappeared from their minds. Jacob followed Serena back towards Sam's place, both pausing to phase back and change into the clothes they'd left in the woods. The impenetrable mask that Jacob hated so much had fallen back onto her face and Serena was silent.
The porch light was one at Sam's house, something that Emily always did when Sam was running patrol. Not that he needed it, but the gesture was always one much appreciated.
Jacob walked close to her, mind spinning at the implications of this. Serena had not shut down this far for a long time, not since Sam had taken her out to phase. Beneath the worry for her well-being, frustration and anger bubbled up out of his chest. Who did those damn bloodsuckers think they were, doing this now, after all his hard and careful work with her? After all his patience and the slow work of the pack, Serena was almost normal, actually laughing and talking, willingly doing things with them without reservations.
They entered the house, silent as cats, and Serena flipped on the living room light, looking around as if seeing it properly for the first time. After a few moments, she sat down, lowering her head into her hands. Jacob sat on the couch opposite her, watching her closely. A long time passed, before Serena sat up, gazing at the blank, black screen of the television.
"I'm going to go to bed," she said softly. There was a long pause.
"Do you want me to leave?" he asked, as he had when she had first arrived, when she would not talk and no one could see past her face.
"I'm fine. You can go home."
He stood, then walked over to where she was and brushed a gentle kiss on her hair.
As he closed the door behind him and began to slow walk home, Jacob couldn't help but realize, and resent, that this was the first time she had turned that question away.
"If there are vampires and werewolves, does that mean the Loch Monster and Bigfoot exist, too?"
A chorus of howls echoed through the forest. So loud were the calls it sounded as if the wolves were lurking in the thick shadows gluing the tree-line together rather than miles away in the woodland's heart. Edward recognized the howls. It was a rallying call to hunt; query on two legs, not four. Edward eavesdropped on the decisive conversation until the pack galloped out of range. A cold chill seeped into his mind. Just because a vampire was the embodiment of death meant did not diminish the fear of it.
Despite shutting the door softly, he noticed Sophie flinch at the sudden noise. For the past twenty minutes she had stood absolutely still on the porch, listening to the baying beasts. Approaching slowly, Edward was momentarily stunned by her beauty. Moonlight glistened on her pale skin (as the sun had done when she was mortal), giving it an ethereal glow. An angel of the night. Her dull red eyes reflected the faint sparkle of her flesh, eliminating the perpetual demonic undertone. Locks of silver-streaked brown hair framed her face.
Aware of another, Sophie took a step back into shadow, breaking the thrall. As Edward went to stand next to her, or at least loiter a few feet away, he noted how wary Sophie was; arms wrapped around torso.
"Do the wolves always hunt on a full moon?" She inquired in a hush.
It had only been a few days since their chance encounter. Now Sophie was both intrigued and cautious of her new neighbors. Edward did not know whether or not Sophie should know all the intricate details of the wolves. That would make her curious, and curiosity would lead to certain death. Though instinct should naturally repel her from the wolves. So far, all she knew was the fact that they were dangerous—which was true, so he felt no remorse—but that was all she knew. And ever would. Straying beyond their property would only heighten the chance of another encounter.
Treaty or not, it was not a risk Edward was willing to take. It was a tenuous deal, anyways.
Author's Note: The first quote: Jace to Alec on killing a dragon demon. It's from a book about demon hunters, Mortal Instruments series. If you loved Twilight (which is obvious because you're reading this) I suggest you read it. Now. By far one of the best series ever!
Featured Song: "Tangled Up In Me" by Skye Sweetnum. If I had to pick a single song to describe Sophie, this would be it.