Chapter 26:
Ow
I honestly don't know how I managed to push through the pain and make it home. And I also managed to beat Jacob there. Seth followed me in the house. I snapped at him to leave me alone. I quickly locked myself in the bathroom to see how bad my injuries really were. The blood had already soaked through the shirt that I had thrown on, but I kept pressure on my wounds with my hands so Seth wouldn't pass out when he saw the blood. I could just see Seth begging to take a look.
"Leah, let me see. Oh, God, is that blood? Ugh…" He'd probably pass out and whack his head against the table, leaving me to take care of the gash in his head while I tried to keep my stomach from falling out.
"Come on, Lee..." Seth begged me to let him in.
"No. Forget it. You'll just faint."
"I'm not going to pass out!" Seth exclaimed through the door. "I didn't pass out last time you were hurt." He reminded me.
There probably wasn't this much blood last time. I shook my head. "Good for you. Now just give me a few minutes. I'll be fine."
Even though Seth and I were wolves and rarely needed first aid, mom still had a fully-stocked first aid kit. Thank God. If I had to go back to the vampire's house again and let Dr. Icicles touch me, I was going to throw a fit. I would rather doctor myself. I paused to think for a minute. Doctor myself? That just sounded really dirty. It was good to know that my brain could still find crude humor while I was effing bleeding out here in my bathroom.
Seth knocked lightly on the door. "Leah, you aren't dying in there, are you?"
"Nope. I'm just having a conversation with dad, Elvis, and Marlon Brando." I laughed. I winced as my stomach bounced and let out a sigh. "I'll be out in a second, Seth." I assured him. I sat down on the edge of the tub and looked at the blood covering my hands. Fucking Sam Uley. I should have let Jacob kill him. I was really sick of being hurt.
I leaned back, a little dazed from the day's events…and the four gallons of blood I'd lost. I closed my eyes when an odd sensation came over my body. For a moment, my face felt cool. Drained. But my skin still felt warm. Ugh, being hurt suuuucks! I could feel the warm blood oozing out of my stomach. I felt it trickling down my bellybutton. I didn't realize how hot my blood really was. It freaking scalded.
I grabbed a towel and put pressure on my stomach, trying to stop the bleeding so my body could just start to heal already. I wasn't really sure how the werewolf healing thing worked with me. Up until the last couple of days, I'd never been severely injured. Obviously, I healed. The proof of that was from my last attack. But I didn't heal as quickly as the boys.
Since I couldn't get the bleeding stopped, I quickly cleaned and wrapped the gashes on my stomach. Wrapping my stomach wasn't exactly easy. I got so tangled up in the gauze that it looked like a mummy had exploded on me. Not to mention the fact that the twisting and turning I was doing with my arms didn't help as I pulled on my abdominal muscles. By the time I was done in here, it was going to look like a murder scene.
"How are you doing in there?" Seth was still outside the door.
"Wonderful. I'm doing sit ups as we speak," I said jokingly.
I heard him nervously pace down the hallway. When I was sure he wasn't within earshot anymore, I let out a groan.
"Ow..." God damn it, Sam. This was all his fucking fault. I thought he was done hurting me. Guess I was wrong.
I pressed my hand on to my stomach to try and push back the pain. The bandage seemed to be helping. The wounds themselves were pretty deep, but I was hoping that with the pressure that my crappy bandaging was holding, and my accelerated healing, I wouldn't have to go back to Carlisle. I didn't want to go back to everyone doting over me. I had just gotten them off of my ass.
I slipped on the clean shirt that I'd grabbed from the laundry room to cover the bandages and then quickly cleaned up my mess so my mother wouldn't walk into the bathroom and scream.
"Oh my God. Leah, are you on your period again!?"
Seth would die. Girl things freaked him out. Sometimes just to see him squirm, I would walk up to him and whisper the word "tampon" in his ear.
I took my bloody shirt and bunched it up with the towel I'd used to try and stop the bleeding. Looks like I would be doing my own laundry this week. I made my way to the laundry room and threw some clothes in the washer. When I walked into the kitchen, Seth immediately bombarded me.
"Is it bad? Do we need to call Carlisle?"
"I'm conscious, aren't I?" I asked.
"What does that have to do anything?"
"You really think I'm going to let you call the vampire while I'm conscious?" I questioned.
I heard the front door slam.
"God, I hope that's Jacob and not mom," I frowned. "I don't need to freak her out again so soon."
"Leah? Seth?" Jacob called us. I followed Seth into the living room. Jacob looked at me with a mixture of irritation and concern. "I told you to wait on me," he frowned.
"And I didn't." I walked over to the couch and sat down. I tried not to let Seth and Jacob see me cringe. "Because I knew you'd force me to go to The Haunted Mansion."
"You're damn right I would!" Jacob exclaimed.
"Well, it's not like they'll even be there. We need to call them and tell them Sam's stupid plan." So they can leave and never come back.
"The pack isn't doing anything. Sam called it off for now. He's pretty upset about losing his temper."
"Boo hoo." I rolled my eyes. I really didn't give a shit what Sam was feeling. I hoped his ass was throbbing where I'd bitten him.
"The Cullens still need to know everything. About Sam. For Nessie." Seth looked at Jacob. Jacob nodded silently at Seth. "I'll call them."
"Tell them not to do anything yet," Jacob said. There were several reasons that Jacob wanted the Cullens to stay. His best friend being one of them. But when I saw him looking at me, I could see the real reason that he wanted them to stay. For me. He knew that if anything happened to me, my best chance of survival would be Carlisle…since he was the only one with any knowledge on how to treat werewolves. Jacob cared what happened to me. That was annoyingly nice of him. And...how in the hell had I concluded all of that from a look on his face?
"Okay." Seth nodded as he disappeared into the kitchen to make the phone call.
Jacob sat down next to me. When his weight shifted the couch, I had to lock my jaw so I wouldn't scream out in pain. Shit. It will pass, Leah. It will pass. I told myself. And maybe I could just ask someone to knock me unconscious until it did pass. I grumbled silently. Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts. Sam getting castrated, alcohol, Sam on fire, getting the hell out of town, Sam tripping down a flight of stairs, really trashy Hollywood magazines, not being in high school anymore, indoor plumbing, food, Jacob. Wait, Jacob? I shook my head. Maybe I was delirious.
"How bad are you hurt?" Jacob asked. "And don't lie to me, Leah." He put his palm against my face. Unlike the last time he'd brushed his fingers against my cheek, I could tell that he was checking my temperature this time.
I shoved his hand away.
"I'm fine."
I was honestly surprised at how easy it was for me to lie to him. Perhaps it was just because I knew that if I told him what I really felt at the moment, he'd hogtie me and drag me to the Cullen's land. I wiped a little bit of sweat from my forehead, hoping that maybe he hadn't seen it. He had. Of course he had.
"You're hot."
"Thanks, Jacob." I glanced at him with a smile on my face. "You aren't so bad yourself."
He shook his head seriously. "Temperature wise. You're sweating again."
"It's just the way my body heals itself." I gasped with a laugh. "I have miracle sweat! Maybe we should bottle it and go on the road and sell it."
"The only thing it doesn't cure is a broken heart." I'm sure that would sell.
I saw him concentrating on something. It was so funny to me that such a bonehead with nothing in his brain could look so intensely in thought.
"I don't like what your heart is doing."
"Beating?" I asked sarcastically. I let out a tired sigh. All of this humor was taking a lot out of me. I closed my eyes for a second and held my breath. When I let it out, I kept my eyes closed.
"Look at me." Jacob pushed his hand against my cheek again. I opened my eyes and gave him the angriest glare that I could manage.
What am I looking at, jackass?
His look of concern deepened. "Do you know how much blood you lost today?"
"Not half as much as you are going to lose if you don't stop bothering me." I wasn't in the mood to play "twenty questions" with him right now.
"There was quite a trail leading back to your house," he frowned.
"I decided to go with the untraditional trail home. Instead of breadcrumbs, I went with blood. Hansel and Gretel were stupid."
"Is the fact that you're recreating fairytales in a twisted way supposed to make me feel better about your sanity?" he asked.
"In my fairytale, the fat German kids were smart enough to use blood as a way to mark their path home so none of the animals in the forest would eat it." Unless of course there were vampire animals out there. I laughed when I pictured a vampire squirrel going crazy and lapping up the blood, pissing off Hansel and Gretel. I could see Hansel chasing the squirrel with a Bratwurst in his hands.
"Nein! Zat is OUR blood! Are you trying to sabotage us? Do you WANT us to end up in some crazy, fat bitch's oven?!"
God, Jacob was right. I was insane. I chuckled and then let out a very faint groan. Why did I have to laugh? Why couldn't I just be angry like I always was? If I was angry, I wouldn't have to worry about my stomach jiggling in amusement.
"Were you able to stop the bleeding?" Jacob's hands trailed around the edge of my shirt. He gently started to lift it up, but I smacked him away.
"Keep your hands to yourself, Jacob." I warned him. Because if you don't, I'm going to hurt myself even more when I'm unable to control my freaking animalistic urges. Oh, hello hormones. They were baaaack.
"I just wanted to see…"
"Well, this isn't a free show." I shrugged. It took everything I had not to shout at him, "No! No boob for you!"
Jacob bellowed a laugh, "Not that." He shook his head. Oh, now he didn't think that my boobs were worth looking at? "Your wounds. Someone needs to look at them."
"I looked at them." And then I almost passed out from the pain and the blood loss. But, I didn't have to tell him that. "Looks like someone tried to play tic-tac-toe on my abdomen." I paused. "X won."
"I would still feel better if you let someone else take a look."
"Oh, now I'm not good enough to look at my own injuries?" I rolled my eyes.
"Stomach wounds are extremely dangerous," Jacob said seriously.
"Since when do you know anything about medicine?"
"I know enough to know that you don't look right."
"Flattering," I said caustically.
"You're in shock," Jacob frowned.
"No, I'm fine." I really didn't feel like spending any more time with the vampires. Ever. Again.
"Leah, you look pale." Jacob's brow creased with worry. "And clammy. Be honest, how are you feeling?"
"Would you stop treating me like a patient? The last I checked, my living room was not a hospital room and you were not a doctor."
"Just stop being such a baby and let me see your injuries," Jacob said.
"It's already wrapped." I shrugged. It hurt when I shrugged, but I tried not to convey that. "I don't feel like unwrapping it." Because I don't want to bleed all over my mom's clean floor.
Jacob let out an angry grunt. "I can't believe Sam would do something like this."
"You've seen Emily's face." I reminded him.
"Yeah, I know. But he's completely lost it. I mean, leading an unprovoked attack? Clawing you to pieces?"
"Hey, I got in a couple of hits in that fight, too," I said. I probably would have won too had Sam not used his stupid command on me. That got me thinking about something. "So, are you the leader of our sad, little pack now, or what?"
Jacob looked away to avoid the question. "I don't really want to be."
I never did understand why Jacob didn't want to rule over everyone. I thought it would be awesome to be Queen of the Damned werewolves. The whole "ha, ha, ha...I rule, and you suck" thing seemed incredibly fun.
"Well that's too bad," I said. Crap. Convince him to take the job! "I'd rather follow you than Sam," I admitted. Had I really just said that? My pain must be making me crazy. Or maybe it was true. Jacob really wasn't so bad. I could tell that he actually cared about me, and that was nice. Plus, he was a hell of a lot more fun than Sam Uley. Sam was just too serious all of the time. Hence the giant hole in my gut.
"I honestly don't know what's going to happen." Jacob frowned uncomfortably. "I never did finish talking with Sam. I had to follow your stubborn ass," he grumbled. "Why do you refuse to let anyone help you?"
Because I'm an idiot. I glanced at him. "Because I'm not some weak little girl who can't take care of herself."
"It's really not so bad having people care about you." Jacob shrugged.
Yeah. Just wait until they screw you over. I sighed, "It's just the way that I am, Jacob."
"You are insane," he muttered under his breath.
"And you're the poster child for normal?" I questioned.
"You think I could be on a poster?" he smiled with sarcasm. "Aw, that's so sweet! Thank you. Coming from Miss. September, that's a heck of a compliment." Even though I knew that he was joking, there was still a smug look on his face. He was probably smiling and talking to himself about his hot little body.
"Yeah, go ahead and brag. Just wait until you stop phasing and you gain fifty pounds and lose all of your hair."
He rolled his eyes and laughed as he ran his hand through his hair. Conceited bastard.
Seth walked into the living room wearing a grin on his face. He handed me the phone.
"It's for you."
I glanced at my brother in confusion. He just continued to smile at me.
"Uh, hello?" I asked.
"Hey, Tinkerbelle, how are you feeling?" I heard Emmett's voice on the other line. Why the hell did he want to talk to me? To tease me? What a jackass.
"What do you want, Jockstrap?" I grumbled. I wasn't in any mood to play along with his fun and games.
"What happened? Did you fall off of another cliff?" Emmett questioned.
"If you must be nosy, I tried to beat the crap out of my Alpha," I said.
He let out a sarcastic gasp, "You've been fighting with other guys? Aw, I thought I was the only one you fought with…" Emmett sighed, "I thought we had something special…"
"I fight with everyone," I laughed dryly.
"Battle whore," he teased.
"Give me the phone, Emmett." I recognized Edward's voice in the background.
"Not now. I'm having a lover's spat with my favorite little dog. She's been cheating on me by fighting with other men and I…ow…" I heard a crash and then Edward had the phone.
There was a moment of silence, followed by Emmett grunting.
"Not cool, Edward!" I heard Emmett yell.
"Leah?" he asked. "I'm sorry to hear that you're hurt again. Jazz told us about your injuries…"
"Uh huh," I said, uninterested.
"They wanted to help, but they knew that we couldn't break the treaty. And Jasper said that he could feel Seth's panic and protection, so he knew that you weren't alone."
"Why are we talking about feelings again?" I asked dryly.
"Is everyone else in the pack okay?"
Unfortunately. I really regretted not letting Jacob bite the hell out of Sam.
"Carlisle needs to know if you want him to come treat your injuries. He and Esme are out, but they're on their way back to the house now."
"Did Seth even tell you about Sam's idiotic plan?" I couldn't believe that Carlisle would risk his life just to come stitch me up. Was he running for Pope or something?
"I'm completely aware of what Sam wants to do." I could hear him grinding his teeth. "But I assure you, now that we're aware, we can take precautionary measures."
I guess Jacob was going to get his wish after all. The leeches weren't going anywhere. Damn.
"Whatever. Just stay on your side for the time being," I warned him.
"May I speak with Jacob, please?"
With pleasure. I practically threw the phone at Jacob. Jacob picked it up.
"Yeah?" he asked. "What's up, shithead?" There was a pause. "Uh huh." He looked at me and then nodded. "I don't know, yet." Another pause. He huffed in irritation. "I didn't do it for you," he snorted. "Sure. I'll let you know. Bye." He hung up the phone.
"What was that about?" Seth asked eagerly.
"He was just verifying what happened today." He let out a soft sarcastic laugh. "And he thanked us for protecting his daughter."
"You don't always have to be such an ass to the guy, Jake." Seth shook his head. "I know Edward comes off as kind of a jerk, but he really is a decent guy."
"Are you in love with him, Seth?" I couldn't help but tease my brother. I grinned in amusement when I thought of what Bella's reaction to that might be. If the "dangerous, sparkly monster" that she was boning was in love with an underage werewolf, she would freak out. I almost died in laughter.
No, really...I literally almost died. The pain was horrible. I bit my lip to fight back a yell. Seth gave me a soft look and then disappeared into the kitchen for something. I heard him shuffling around. He returned a few seconds later.
"Here, take this." Seth handed me some pills and a glass of water.
"Why? Is it poison?" I questioned.
"Carlisle gave them to you for a reason." Seth shrugged. I just stared at him. "You're going to need it if you want to fool mom into thinking that you're okay," he suggested.
Seth had a point. I could sit here and lie to him and Jacob all night, but when it came time to face mom, it would be much more difficult. As I choked down the pills, I grumbled to myself. Damn it, even without being here to treat me, the doctor was still doctoring me.
It's a good thing that Seth made me take something for the pain, because mom walked through the door nearly half an hour later. She looked shocked to see us sitting here. Probably because she'd assumed that we were all going to be flipping out about Sam's news. After a minute of surveying our faces, she cocked an eyebrow at us.
"I assume you're going to stay for dinner, Jacob?" she questioned.
"Yes mam," Jacob said politely.
"Does your father ever even see you anymore?" she asked.
"On the weekends sometimes." Jacob flashed her a grin. She looked at Seth, who was nervously bouncing his knee in the chair across the room. I'd told him to act natural, and he was doing a crappy job of it.
"Did you get registered for school, Seth?"
"Yes."
She studied all of our faces again and then questioned curiously,
"How was your day?"
Too damn long. I just wanted this day to end. "I'm sure you already know the answer to that." Though she didn't know Sam's plan in great detail, she certainly knew that he was up to something.
She nodded her head and then disappeared into the kitchen.
"What do you think we should tell her?" Seth asked quietly.
"I vote nothing," I suggested. The less mom knew, the better. She was always going to worry about us. We were her kids. But the best way to keep her anxiety away was to put on our "normal" faces.
"She's going to know something is wrong," Seth frowned.
"There's always something wrong in this household."
"But this wrong?" Jacob gently put pressure on the dressing on my stomach. I forced out a smile as I tensed up. I felt like screaming horrible obscenities, but instead I bit my tongue and nodded at him to assure him that everything was fine.
"It's a little sore, but it's not a big deal." And by a "little sore," I meant "If you fucking touch it again, my guts are going to come spilling out."
I sighed. There were not enough pain killers in the world to help me get through this evening with my mother. This was going to require all of the acting skills I had ever acquired.