A/N: Time for Dewayne White to explain himself. For all of you who've been wondering about Deandra since you first heard her name, here she is...
Chapter 25
From the safe, comforting circle of Edward's arms, I watched helplessly as Callie sobbed into Jacob's chest, saw the powerless grief of the pack at their inability to do anything. Jasper, too, looked utterly miserable, and Carlisle and Esme were holding a conversation in lightning-fast murmurs. Some more of the La Push pack had materialized from the depths of the surrounding forests and hung about looking uncomfortable.
Dewayne White's dark eyes were still agonized, fixed on the figures of Callie and Jacob even as his green-eyes daughter Tegan spoke quietly to him, one hand resting calmingly on his arm. I don't know what she was saying, but whatever it was had her father's eyes flickering reluctantly onto her, before he squeezed them closed for a second. Nearby, Ze'eva and Cayne stood with their children, and Gwion had his arms around Zayba. There was such a free, unconscious air of all-enveloping love around them, a sense of belonging.
I could sometimes swear that Edward does know what I'm thinking, even if he can't read my mind. Now was such an example, as he bent his mouth close to my ear and murmured, "I never thought I'd say this about werewolves, Bella, but they're wonderful people. Callie's really lucky to have them as her family."
"They really love her," I replied softly.
Edward nodded, cold skin brushing across mine as his breath cooled my neck. "Struggling to accept it – they thought she was dead for thirteen years, after all – but they want her. She's been a missing shadow hanging over them; but now they've found her."
His words struck some note in me, and I gasped in realization. "They...will they want to take her back with them?"
He lowered his face to bury it in my hair. "We'll deal with that when it comes up," he told me soothingly.
"Which means they do," I breathed. I wondered briefly how it would feel to lose her, so shortly after meeting her. Such a short time; and yet she already felt like a vital part of the family, of our little group. And Jacob – God, if Callie went Jake would go too. So soon after returning, he'd be gone once more.
I turned in Edward's arms so that I could bury my face against his marble chest, wanting to feel his arms around me, breathe in the scent of him. His cool fingers stroked through my hair, that simple touch soothing me more effectively than a thousand words from anyone else.
Because he always did, Edward understood.
Whatever Callie or Jacob chose to do, Edward wouldn't be going anywhere, and that thought made my heart soar despite its former heaviness. My fiancé's arms tightened around me once more, and he pressed a kiss to my hair.
"Bella...?" I lifted my head to see Callie, eyes reddened from crying, and instantly let go of Edward to put my arms around her.
"Are you all right?" I asked. "Well, stupid question, but..."
"I'm fine." Her smile lit up her face, but I still glanced up at Jacob – hovering just behind and over her like a guardian spirit – to see how he felt about the situation. Although there was a guardedness about his eyes, he managed a smile for me, and my heart lifted again. "I'm sorry about –"
"Don't, Callie." Edward took one of her small hands in his own. "You had every right to be upset. Everybody understands." Only then did I look up and see that everyone was watching us; puzzlement and shock on some of the visitors' faces, which I guessed probably came from my humanity in such close proximity to Edward.
"Don't be sorry," Dewayne added his voice to Edward's insistence. "We should have explained. God, we should have been there –"
"You thought I was dead." Callie cut him off with a small smile. "I understand that. I'm sorry for shouting at you; I was just a bit..." She shrugged helplessly.
"I'm sorry," Tegan apologized contritely. "I didn't think...we've known about you all along, so for us it's finding you. But you never knew, so you're having something you never knew you had dumped on you all at once."
Callie laughed softly. "It's...amazing. You have no idea...up until about a week ago, I had nothing. Now, suddenly, I've got friends –" she smiled at the Cullens and me "– and Jake, and a family. I've got a father and a sister, and three cousins and –"
"There are...um...a few more of us than that," Ze'eva interjected with a laugh. "Callie, you've got a whole family." Her smile was brilliant, even as tears pricked her eyes. "We love you, Callie. We'd never have left you here if we knew..." Her voice broke, and she cuddled her daughter close to her.
"Will you...will you explain to me what happened?" Callie asked tentatively. "I know...I know my mother's dead, but..."
It was as though a cloud passed over the sun. All light went out of the visitors' faces; a mask of pain flashed across Dewayne's face before his eyes blanked.
"Deandra," he murmured. "God, Deandra." Dewayne drew in a long, shuddering breath.
"Is there somewhere else we can do this?" Carlisle asked tactfully. As if this reminded Billy of his responsibilities as a host, Jacob's dad suddenly started wheeling himself towards the house.
"Would you like to leave your things inside for now?" he offered. "And if you'd like a drink, or something to eat..." I noticed Gwion's face in particular light up, at exactly the same time and in the same manner as Jared and some of his packmates. Billy caught this too, and sighed.
"There's food in the kitchen, boys."
"Wouldn't it be a better idea for them to head over to mine?" Sam interrupted. "Emily's been stocking food in anticipation of a visit, and the rest of us can discuss this inside."
"Sounds good, if you're sure." With sudden grins they barely waited for Sam's confirmation before turning back to head into the forest – Jared, Quil, Seth and the one I think was Brady – where they were quickly followed, after a nod from Dewayne, by Gwion and Zayba.
"It won't take all of us to explain what happened," Ze'eva added softly as she took her two children to join the boys. "I'd love to meet Emily, if that's all right, Sam." Cayne, too, laid a supportive hand on Dewayne's arm, before following his wife, so only Tegan remained standing beside her father.
"Billy, if you'd stay...?" Sam's tone was polite, but it wasn't really a question as Jacob's father had already turned back.
"You won't need all of us here either," Esme added quietly. "Would you like Bella and Edward to stay, Callie?" Her tone made it clear that the others would be leaving, which elicited a pout from Alice and a few quiet grumbles from Emmett, both of which were stopped by Carlisle's glare.
"Thank you," Callie murmured as Esme led her children firmly away.
I glanced around to note who was left as we all made our way into Billy's suddenly tiny living room; Sam stood in the corner beside Billy, while Tegan sat next to Dewayne on the couch. Carlisle also opted to remain standing, so Callie and Jacob took the remaining couch, leaving me perching on the chair arm beside Callie with Edward at my side to keep me from falling.
"Where do you want me to begin from?" Dewayne asked quietly.
"The beginning," Callie replied promptly. Her father gave a small, sad smile.
"I guessed you would," he murmured. "All right. The very beginning, then." Tegan took his hand in her own, and he smiled down at her affectionately. "Deandra and Cayne Anderson were born to a pack which made hunting werewolves their life. They sent them over to their grandparents in Canada in the hope that removing them from the instant proximity of vampires would mean they wouldn't change. It didn't work that way, and Deandra first phased the same summer my parents died and my brother and I went to live with my uncle next door to where they were living." Dewayne's eyes grew dreamy as he stared off into a memory of a summer only he could see. "Moment we set our eyes on each other, we imprinted. Fell in love."
I saw how Jacob's arm tightened about Callie, the way their faces turned together just an instant as their eyes met in recognition. Edward's fingers tightened on mine, and I glanced up to see the yearning sadness in his eyes that must have come from Dewayne's memories.
My eyes drifted about the room, and I saw the same ache in Tegan's eyes. She must have heard this same story a dozen times before, but still sat through it knowing that the ending must remain the same no matter how many times it was told. Carlisle was standing still as stone; Sam and Billy's faces were impassively blank.
Dewayne drew in a deep breath. "We married four years later; shortly afterwards my brother, Cole phased. We came across vampires every now and again, but there was nothing serious. Thirteen years ago –" His voice caught. "Thirteen years ago, we caught the scent of some vampires. Deandra was...Deandra was pregnant, so she stayed with our children while the rest of us went hunting." Sitting next to Callie, I could see the plea in Dewayne's eyes for understanding that he turned on her. "You have to understand; there were only a few of us in the pack. Deandra and myself, my brother and the girl he'd imprinted on, and Cayne. We weren't entirely sure how many vampires there were, so we couldn't risk taking too few. We took Cayne, who was only fifteen, and even Cole's mate. Dieter refused to stay behind," he added with a humourless chuckle, "even though she was pregnant too. Not as far on as Deandra, but..."
He closed his eyes in remembered pain, and Tegan squeezed her father's hand briefly before taking over.
"They went out to check the borders of our territory, while Mum – Deandra – stayed at home with the three of us. We have two older brothers," Tegan explained to Callie, "and our grandfather took us to the park because Mum wanted a rest. I was two, so I don't remember, but when we came back..."
"Deandra was gone." Dewayne's voice was suddenly harsh, at odds with the gentleness with which he stroked his daughter's hair as she leant her face into his shoulder. "We came back late, and she was already too far away for us to really hear her. I was the only one...because we were bonded. The bloodsuckers –" I felt Edward's arms pull me closer to him, became suddenly aware that my eyes were welling with tears, "– they'd made her run. She'd wanted to lead them away from the children..." Dewayne pressed a kiss to Tegan's hair as she began to shake with silent sobs. "...but then she couldn't get away. She went so far I couldn't hear her any more."
I saw the way Dewayne's eyes met Sam's briefly, saw the horror flare in the face of the La Push leader and I knew he was contemplating the idea of losing Emily. Jacob, too, was holding Callie as close as he possibly could, as though he never wanted to let go.
"Then we lost her all together." Dewayne closed his eyes once more, took a deep breath against the pain that was written clearly in every plane of his face. "They ran her into exhaustion, and then..."
A resounding silence, in which the tears trickled silently down my cheeks. It wasn't so much the words he spoke, but the sheer agony in Dewayne White's face as he related how Deandra – his life-mate and soul-mate, to quote Jake from earlier – died.
"When we caught up we found her as they'd left her," Dewayne continued at last. "They'd...they'd...it doesn't matter what they'd done. I don't know what they did to you," Dewayne continued. "But God – I'm so, so sorry. We hunted down the bloodsuckers and then left for England. There was no way we could have stayed – never knew there was a reason we should. But there was no way a baby could have survived what they did to Deandra. No way you could have lived through it."
"But I did," Callie whispered. There were tears painting silvery lines down her cheeks. "I survived as a sort of half-wolf half-vampire thing."
"You survived as yourself," Jacob corrected her firmly. "You survived, and that's what matters. You're not a monster, Callie. Don't you dare call yourself a monster."
My heart bled as the girl rose slowly to her feet. "I...I can see it wasn't...wasn't your fault." She spoke so quietly I could barely hear her words. "I didn't know what I was talking about when I shouted at you before. I'm sorry." She took a deep breath. "If...if you'll excuse me, I need to get out of here for a while. I need to –"
"It's all right," Sam told her gently. "Go on."
Callie held out a hand to Jacob. "Run with me," she pleaded him.
I think I was the only one watching to see the flicker of pain in Dewayne's eyes, such pain that it prompted a prayer that Callie and Jake would never know such loss. I half turned to Edward and added a plea to whichever god was listening that I would never lose him, never have to bear the loneliness that Dewayne had known for thirteen years.
A/N: What do you think of Deandra's story? For those of you who might be interested in reading more, I'm working (in what little free time I have besides this and school and life) on another story about the pack…let me know if you'd be interested in reading it and I'll try and write it faster!
Hope you liked this chapter…please review xxx