Thanks for all of the reviews! (And the prompts ;))

Disclaimer: I do not own twilight, but the mermaids and other original points are mine. Please don't take them.

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Chapter 34: The Fallout of War – JPOV

The carcasses lay in rotting piles upon the sand of First Beach. It had taken over a week but now the bodies were starting to drift back to shore; the sea was delivering up the dead.

They released me from solitary confinement, for this?

As Jake trudged down the bay, skirting one body after another, he understood that he had only been released from the cell he had been placed in after Bella's escape in order to help 'clean-up' before the more human residents of La Push stumbled upon this grisly scene.

"Hey Jake," Embry called grimly from where he knelt beside a still, pale mermaid with dark hair. "Good to see you again. I heard they let you out."

"There wasn't much point in keeping me caged," Jake sighed. "They know that I could get out any time I wanted to. Those cells are hardly equipped to house a werewolf long term."

Still, if it made the council feel more 'easy' that they were dispensing justice…

"And besides, I'm of more use out here. You never know when another vampire is going to pop up."

"Or a mermaid," Embry quietly quipped.

"Or a goblin or a unicorn or a feisty little leprechaun," Jake huffed. "Jeez, what else does the world have hidden?"

"Better not to ask," Embry mumbled. "You think a leprechaun would be much of a challenge?"

Jake shrugged. "They do have a pot of gold to protect."

Embry's weak smile fell as he looked to the girl at his feet. There was a faint greenish sheen to her skin that made it look washed out; eerily translucent. And the smell…

Storm clouds rumbled ominously overhead, and as the pair looked up, Jake felt the first specks of rain. That was all they needed, but at least it would keep the residents inside.

Jake's mood darkened along with the clouds. "Any word on Bella?"

"No." Embry said. "The Cullens have kept quiet since they got her back. But I guess no news is good news in this case, huh?"

His eyes fell to the body once more. The girl was young, no more than a teenager, Jacob would guess. There was a wound, low on her scaly thigh, gaping but now absent of blood. It was made by a bullet no doubt, and likely it was the wound that had killed her.

"I don't like this," Embry said suddenly. "She's so young…"

With a surprising amount of care, he leant forward and lifted a piece of weed from her hair. The gesture made Jake's stomach knot uncomfortably.

"When we battled the newborns we killed some just as young," Jake reasoned.

"This is different." Embry shook his head. "They don't seem like monsters, not like the Cold Ones we've fought, she's flesh and blood and… far too real, I guess." He shrugged.

"And yet they killed ours too."

"Everyone can kill." Embry's voice was suddenly thick. "You don't need to be a supernatural monster to do that. And they only retaliated; you know that as well as I do."

"That's not the line the Council are going with," Jake said, frowning now. "Paul told me when he let me out that they are saying the mermaids attacked unprovoked."

"Unprovoked," Embry chuckled darkly. "Wonder what they mean by that?"

Jake frowned. "They mean that they attacked first. They mean that we acted defensively, in protection of the tribe, which is what we do…" Jake was surprised by the way Embry was speaking; the vehemence in his voice. He wasn't usually so… intense. "Anyway," Jake continued, feeling uncomfortable, "as far as I know no one actually saw what started it all. Everything just erupted."

"So that gives us just cause for what we did?"

"We?" Jake queried. "We weren't the ones to bring weapons to what was just supposed to be a peaceful talk, a possible treaty."

To that Embry said nothing. He only, very gently, touched the girl's wound. Damn Balthazar and damn his gunmen. But the mermaids had been just as bad – savages – and they attacked for no reason.

Unless… unless Embry knew something that Jake did not. With him being incarcerated for the last week-plus he'd likely been left out of the loop on a lot of things. What was Embry implying? Had something come up? He clearly wasn't happy about something.

But before he could ask, Embry took a deep breath and said, "Any word from Seth and Leah?"

Jake's head snapped to him. "What, aren't they being let out as well?"

After their return to La Push sans Bella, all three had all been imprisoned separately – once Paul had finished with his angry snapping and Balthazar had raged to Sam about 'keeping his Pack in line' that was. He'd never forget the look on Paul's face as he'd skidded to a halt at the boundary line as Jake, Seth and Leah had phased. Knowledge had passed in an instant, and then Paul was barking profanities in the next. It took a gag-order from Sam to shut him up and restore order. Then he had reprimanded the three – though his thoughts were clear and they showed that his heart wasn't in it. He, like most of the others, just wanted it all to be over. Since then Jake had been bouncing a tennis ball he'd found against a lone wall of his draughty stone cell while awaiting the council's attention. He had been stuck in there for days without word. Only Colin brought him meals, and whenever Jake had questioned him about what was going on, he had said nothing. Tight-lipped little mongrel was snared by Paul's muzzle.

"Don't know," Embry shrugged now. "I get told nothing these days. Sam is too preoccupied with the council and Paul seems to be calling the shots out here without you and Leah to knock him down. Speaking of, His Majesty's running the operation along with that Balthazar guy further up the bay. You are – and I quote – to 'report in' when you show up."

Up the bay, Jake could see Paul trailing after a man in a trench-coat as he gestured here and there sprouting instructions that at this distance Jake could not quite make out. Balthazar.

"Thanks for the heads-up," he mumbled, already feeling his anger stir.

And leaving Embry to wrap the girl in a layer of cloth, he trudged his way up the beach.

As he walked, he strained to keep his temper in check. This guy, this…maniac, had led them all into a massacre. Not only that, but when they had finally gotten Bella back, when she was suddenly, shockingly, within their reach again, he had tried to have Paul knife her before anyone knew what was what! – while Jake had stood, oblivious, only feet away. If Billy hadn't interfered at that exact moment… Jake shuddered, not letting his mind go there. Bella may not have chosen him, she may have ripped out his heart, chosen a stinking leech and been changed beyond recognition – what with the tail and scales and glowing green eyes she looked nothing like the girl who had once handed him tools as he worked on their bikes – but damn it if he didn't still love her. She would always be his best friend, whatever else happened. And he would give his all to protect her. Always. At least the vampire had his back in that – when had the world turned in such a way, so that now a vampire was his only ally in keeping Bella safe from other humans? When Balthazar had turned up, that was when.

Balthazar was stood with Paul now, looking down at another beached body. He said something and Paul nodded. In Paul's hand was that thin slip of a knife; it glinted silver.

The bastard didn't even have the guts to do it himself, Jake thought grimly. When Bella was caught he'd have easily let Paul do his dirty work for him.

"Sea-born," Balthazar muttered as Jake reached their backs. He toed the scaly corpse.

As it rolled onto its back, sightless eyes starred up at the cloudy sky, the irises already paling to milky white. Paul wrinkled his nose with distaste.

"The ones that have legs, like that one over there," –Balthazar pointed a way down the beach- "were born on land. They were 'turned' from human and they revert to their previous forms when their skin detects soil. The ones that still have tails were born at sea. Sea-born."

"Monsters," Paul spat, "all of them."

"I want another stretcher," Balthazar called over his shoulder. "Gather them all and place them in the morgue for further examination. Let's see what we can salvage from this."

He stood, waiting, while others complied with his orders: shifting, lifting and towing the girl away. Damn man is still getting others to do his dirty work. And this was all his fault!

Instead of speaking, Jake purposely stepped on a twig. The snap echoed loudly.

As soon as Balthazar saw Jake, the man's eyes widened and sparked. Fury ignited in their black depths as he stormed forward, only to stop way within Jake's personal space.

Jake barely leant away, his nose crumpling in a warning snarl.

"What the blazes were you thinking, boy?" the man snapped, an impressive growl teetering on his lips for a non-wolf. "That thing you helped to escape could have led us to the rest of her Colony! She was the key to the attacks in the North!"

Anger was turning his ruddy cheeks a darker shade of puce and causing the veins in his nose to bulge. It made him look ugly, his temper made him look ugly.

And that's all the man really is, Jake thought, ugliness, inside and out.

Right now he was wishing, with every fibre of his being, that he had never met the guy.

"Bella is not an enemy to be interrogated," he snapped right back. "She is a victim."

"What?" The man looked genuinely confused. "Who is Bella?"

"That's the name of the girl that was turned into that… thing," Paul said as he strode to his uncle's side. "Jake here has been besotted with her ever since she moved to Forks."

"Before that from what his thoughts say," Jared added as he appeared behind them. His nostrils flared at a corpse to their left. "He's been crushing on her since they were kids."

Balthazar huffed, flapping his arms in exasperation. "She's not the same person, boy. You have to get that into your head, or you're going to continue doing things you'll regret."

"I'll never regret sending Bella out of your reach," he hissed.

"He doesn't think so well whenever that girl is involved," Paul sighed to his uncle, as if it were such a sad thing. "Otherwise he wouldn't have taken up with that leech in an effort to find her. Allying with a Cold one, Jake, really? That goes against everything we stand for."

What the Hell? "It wouldn't be the first time we've allied with the Cullens," Jake said carefully. "Or have you forgotten about the fight with the newborns?" Very convenient if he has. "Besides, it wouldn't matter if we still had Bella here anyway. She couldn't answer your questions even if she wanted to."

They had to remember the way her voice had contorted. That grating screech had been painful; it had made his ears ring long into the night. Paul still had tinnitus the day after. Vaguely, he wondered how Edward was getting on with that.

Had anyone spoken to Charlie for that matter? If Jake had vanished off the radar too, that would spike his attention. What was their cover story?

Balthazar huffed, drawing his attention. "I have ways that would make her speak…"

The implication made Jake's stomach twist in nauseating coils.

He spoke, carefully. "You may do, but that's beside the point. It will not matter if what she says cannot be understood. Did none of you hear what her voice sounded like?"

"My ears are still buzzing," Embry complained, coming to stand behind Jake.

He couldn't help but notice how the battle-lines appeared to be drawing, and how the numbers were weighted against him. Where were Leah and Seth? Where was Sam?

"See," Jake said, "how would any of what she says be useful if we can't understand it?"

"It can be translated," Balthazar stressed, as if it were the most obvious thing. "What she says can be catalogued and translated and put to use. Didn't think of that now, did you, boy?"

"Call me boy one more time and I swear-"

"-Calm down, Jake," Paul said, stepping between them, "My uncle is not the enemy."

"I'm not so sure that he isn't."

"It's alright, Paul." Balthazar's hand rested on his shoulder. "Remember what I told you about the sjósöngvarar. They have ways and means to manipulate a man's mind. They can make them believe they are innocent and defenceless creatures. They can make the man believe that he is loved, that he is wanted. And if a boy is weak enough, he is susceptible to their wiles."

Jared snickered. "Jake has always been susceptible to 'Bella's wiles'. Sjósöngvarar or not."

"Screw you!"

Vibrations rippled along Jake's arms.

"Jake, calm down," Paul stressed, annoyingly condescending. Since when had he been the werewolf model for self-control?

"You are not my Alpha, Paul," Jake growled, trembling on the brink despite his efforts. "Sam is. And where is he? What does he have to say about this? What about the council?"

Surely, even after everything that had happened, they would never condone torture?

"They want what is best for the tribe, for the people," Balthazar said.

"Whose people?" Jake snorted. "I see enough dead on both sides here, and that is only a result of your plotting. You're men hid guns, knives, bombs! You were itching for a fight. If we had gone with the original plan and just spoken to them instead of fighting, none of this would have happened! We would not be clearing up the dead!"

The trembling was worsening. Vibrations covered his entire frame; likely it was from being deprived the change for so many days. His body was not used to it and needed relief.

Not now, he silently commended himself.

"The dead, yes," Balthazar lamented, as if truly saddened. It was a false face. "We need your strength here to help lift and carry the corpses. Paul will put you to work, show you what to do. That is why you are here, to do my bidding."

What the Hell? Who was he to tell him what to do?

"You are not my leader," Jake growled, striving for calm. "I answer to Sam alone."

Balthazar turned to face Paul.

"That creature, Bella is it? She has answers." He spoke as if Jake had not. "If we are ever going to get anywhere with this, one thing is clear – we have to get her back."

"Over my dead body," Jake snarled.

No one listened; Balthazar least of all, the jerk. And at that moment only Embry's steadying hand stopped Jake phasing and ripping out the blasted man's throat!

"Gather the others once you're done here, Paul," he commanded calmly. "We have the numbers, and the support. We need to talk to the council and Sam about retrieving the beast."

…

Strange Scales got Featured Story of the Week on TWCS Library this week. Yay!