They came into view, five enormous wolves, Paul at the lead. Not what we needed. Paul was the most volatile of Sam's wolf pack, and by the look of it, he was at point and was heading this sub-pack today. He was much bigger than the rest. I knew none of the other four wolves; they were probably just young teenagers, turned because of the vast number of vampires that had been around Forks that winter. They must have lined up with us that day in the clearing when the Volturi came to rid the world of the Cullens, but I didn't know any of their names. I felt shame for not thanking them properly, for not taking the time to understand what our presence had done to their lives. And now instead of allies they stood against us. These new wolves, though young and less experienced, would be unpredictable and unsafe.
Jasper and Demetri immediately stepped in front of me and took up defensive positions. I knew I was the least good fighter of the three of us but even so I was rather taken aback by their action.
"What … What are they? Can they hurt us?" I heard Fred gasp.
I knew I had to shield the wolves from Fred, so I extended my cover over Paul and this was enough to feel the other four were covered. I just didn't have the confidence to do an inverse shield over Fred at such a crucial time. I was glad that their minds were so connected in wolf form that I could just cover the leader and I was sure that I had all the rest.
Paul bared his teeth at us. All the younger ones growled at us quietly.
I decided to try to talk our way out of this. I wanted to try before any of the men in the party let their macho sides get the better of them.
"Paul," I addressed him directly even though I could only see him through the space between Jasper and Demetri, "we are just going back to our lands. We came in here only to remove this vampire from your territory. We meant you no harm or disrespect."
He barked in reply. Without Edward it was impossible to understand the content, but it sounded as if he wasn't happy with my explanation. I really wanted Edward to be there with me, I missed him in that second, like I missed him when he left me for my own good when I was human. I needed him, not only for his talent, I just needed him.
But why was Paul being so unreasonable? I'd explained and he was still just standing there barking and growling. Sam's pack was never as happy with our company as Jacob's pack and evidently Paul was very much anti-vampire, even though he had imprinted on Jacob's sister and was likely to be Nessie's brother-in-law some day. Paul was sticking to the vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies line – or so it appeared. I'd not experienced this prejudice before, being hated just for what I was, and I didn't like it. Yes, I'd seen it from both Jacob and Edward, but I'd never been directly on the receiving end and it hurt me.
"We don't want any trouble Paul," I repeated, "Please let us back to our lands. We will take care of Fred and keep him off your patch."
And again I got no positive response from him, just more growling and teeth. Was he really just anti-vampire or was there more to it? Did he want to fight four vampires with only a pack of cubs at his disposal? I couldn't understand it.
Jasper sent out calming feelings and the younger ones quietened and relaxed their stance. Paul, however, didn't change his stance much, although he did stop bearing his teeth.
A gust of wind blew my hair into my eyes and ruffled the leaves in the bushes close to us. It did nothing to lessen the tension.
This was going to be difficult. We were in the wrong; we were on their side of the border however good our intentions. They were calm now but standing their ground. And we had Demetri with us. Yes, his fighting skills may be very handy, but if he should get hurt at all what would the Volturi do? In fact, what would he report back to Aro about this incident? Would it be enough to send the guard to eliminate the 'problem' from the area, as no doubt they would see it?
The voice started in my head again, not Edward but an Edward imitation, like a copy of the grand master, identical until the details revealed a mass of differences.
"Keep talking Bella," the voice urged, "Just think carefully what you want them to do and explain it to them."
I followed the suggestion. "Paul, please let me explain to you why we are here. Could you change back?"
He gave a short bark which was obviously "No".
Why was he doing this, making things so hard? We'd got up from our defensive positions. "Look, I'll come away from the other three and explain if that makes it better for you. We don't want to fight."
"No Bella, don't put yourself in such danger!" the voice almost shouted. "You just need to think about what you want them to do."
The short bark again.
"What are they … My God, they smell bad," whispered Fred in a very low voice for us and not the wolves.
So many people talking at once was very distracting. But I was sure I could hear another noise coming in from the left. Maybe some animal approaching slowly. I couldn't turn to look, I was mesmerized by the wolves. I thought I heard it fall into the undergrowth and make odd sounds – was it vomiting? So Fred couldn't even be near animals – this wasn't going to be good. What would he do to a wolf?
"Werewolves, shape shifters, whatever you like to call them. Sometimes man, sometimes wolf, and they could tear you to shreds," Demetri said. "And this is their territory."
"I didn't know. I just thought I'd surprise you with a visit. I didn't realize the danger I'd put you in. Why can't I make them sick?"
"Bella is shielding them, I think."
"Of course I am," I snapped, the tension getting to me despite Jasper's influence. "They are our neighbors and my friends, I don't want you to make them sick. They are very nice people if we stick to the rules. We are in the wrong here, not them. I don't want you making them sick unless we really have to."
I walked forward, past Jasper and Demetri. I heard Jasper's worried hiss, "No Bella, it's too dangerous."
"Jasper's right," the voice said, "don't do this, just think about it."
But I ignored both of them and walked half the distance between the two groups. I felt alone there, very vulnerable. I couldn't stand up to five wolves by myself and the wolves knew that. I had thought about it. I needed to bring this to an end, and bridging the gap between wolves and vampires was kind of my specialty. I had to do this.
"Paul, we were only trying to get to Fred to stop you finding him first and causing you problems. Fred has a talent which would be … unpleasant for you." Did he hear the hesitation in my voice? I didn't want to play it up, after all maybe Fred couldn't make the wolves sick. "He didn't know about the territories, or about you, he has just come to visit us. That is why he was traveling through here. He wasn't hunting. He was traveling from Port Angeles to our house and this is the direct route."
Paul stood his ground. He was calm, but didn't move an inch, not even a twitch of his ear. I thought that maybe he was communicating back with Sam. I waited a minute or so but still no change in his stance. If only Edward was here.
"Paul, may we could go back to our land?"
A short bark. I assumed a "No" again.
"Paul, I'm shielding you. Do you want me to stop?"
He looked at me with a definite sneer on his face, his nose raised at an angle, his eyes not moving from mine. He sniffed. It was a dare, without a doubt. I could almost hear his words, Bring it on, bloodsucker.
This wasn't going as well as I'd hoped. I was calculating what I would do it Fred made them all very sick and calculating what I would do if he had no effect on them. Better sick than a fight. Maybe if I tried to expose Paul that would be enough.
Part of me marveled how I was now coming up with a strategy. It may not be a good one but at least it was a plan. Maybe I was learning from the others more than I realized.
I carefully pushed the shield over the other four wolves, counting to make sure I could feel them all. I could feel the part of the shield I was holding over Paul, I could so easily retract it. The whole of my shield was aching to be retracted.
"Paul, don't worry, I am shielding your pack but I think that you need to experience this. Fred, could you come over and say 'Hello'".
Just at that moment, before Fred had taken his first step, we heard other footsteps, or rather pawsteps. More wolves, re-enforcements no doubt. Maybe if we were lucky it would be Sam. Maybe we would be able to talk our way out of this without making anyone sick.
I waited to extend my shield over the newcomers.
Jacob in wolf form tore through the trees and stopped just fifteen feet from where I stood. At his back he had Embry and Quill. He walked up slowly to stand beside me. My relief was complete, my vulnerability gone.
Jacob in his huge russet wolf body, suddenly put his head back and howled so loud that I jumped backwards involuntarily. Embry and Quill fell in beside me and Jacob and we began to walk towards Paul and his pack. Jacob walked slightly ahead and was soon nose-to-nose with Paul. Jacob, the bigger wolf by far, barked again. They stared into each other's eyes for a full minute. I guessed they were trying to communicate with each other. I didn't know if they could as they weren't the same pack and Paul wasn't an alpha.
The atmosphere was weird. Jasper was calming us, but we knew we might need to fight our friends for our lives at any second. I didn't understand why Paul was doing this and kept repeating to myself under my breath, "Just move aside and let us through, just move aside," to try to stay focused.
Paul moved his gaze from Jacob to me. At this point Paul walked five steps to the right and flopped to the floor. The four other young wolves whined a little and moved aside as we walked forward past them. Jasper, Demetri and Fred followed very rapidly. As we passed the wolves I turned so that I could keep my shield over them as we left.
"Fred, just keep looking forward," I ordered, "and run to the side of the others."
I heard him go with Demetri, but Jasper held back to wait for me, still pumping calm into the situation. I removed the shield and turned and ran slowly away, flanked still by Jacob, Embry and Quill.
Once we hit our border, I found Fred and Demetri standing fifty feet apart, Fred looking in the opposite direction.
I knew somehow that I could do this now, I threw my shield towards him wrapping it round him like a cone as I'd done in practice with Edward. I made sure that the seal was tight and walked towards him.
"Bella, I'm so sorry."
"Not now Fred, let's get home."
And with that we ran home, the seven of us, four vampires, three wolves, in close formation.
On the way I phone Edward and got him to meet us at the main house. I wasn't sure what the implications were of the encounter. I needed to get him away from our cottage where he was alone with Nessie if Sam's wolf pack were in a bad mood.
I was thankful for Jasper's presence on the way home. The release of tension had me shaking like a leaf and he kept pushing calm on to me to stop me panicking. And it was Jasper I looked to now for what to do when we got home.
"We'll need to secure the house and patrol until the situation is clear," he said in his Southern officer's drawl.
By the time we had reached the lawn, Edward had heard his thoughts and had brought down the first floor metal shutters and was waiting at the bottom of the porch steps.
We halted in front of the house, the wolves too big to fit through the door. Edward started translating for Jacob.
"I don't know what Paul's problem is. We will patrol the perimeter. What Paul was doing was unauthorized by Sam or me. He seems to be trying to take a harder line with your family than either of us require him to do. The power of his little babysitting duties seems to have gone to his head. I need to speak to Sam about this incident."
"I'm so sorry," Fred repeated, shaking his head. "I shouldn't have ... I didn't mean for this."
"We did warn you not to visit without arranging it first," I groaned. "Did you just think that we didn't want you here and were trying to put you off?"
"I know that I'm not good company," Fred said in a dispirited voice.
"No time for that now," Jasper said, pulling us back to the reality of the situation.
"Where are the others?" he asked Edward.
"Rose and Esme are inside with Nessie, and Alice and Emmett are just coming up to the river right now. Carlisle is still in surgery at the Hospital."
"OK then, we don't want to fight with Sam's pack but if they come to attack we need to defend ourselves. You, could you make them sick without doing permanent damage?" His last remark he directed to Fred in a rather unfriendly tone.
"Yes, I could do that if it works on the wolves but I don't know if it will."
Seth came plunging through the undergrowth at that point still as a gangly youth.
"You could try it on me," he said, "as long as Bella is going to shield me again as soon as we are done."
"Are you sure, Seth?" Edward asked, concerned for his friend, "We don't know what it will do to you, how long the effects will last."
"Someone has to find out, and best not take one of the older ones, they are better fighters than me."
"OK then," I said. "You OK with this Fred? Just as mild as you can to start with."
"But he's just a kid, a human kid," he answered, looking at him coming towards us from the other side of the lawn.
I switched my shield from just over Fred back to over everyone else. Because Jacob was pack leader, Seth would automatically be covered if I put my shield over Jacob, so I asked Jacob to move to the end of the drive, away from my shield and away from Fred's influence.
"Looks can be deceptive," I answered to Fred and then addressed all of them, "Can you all just stay still so I can make sure that I have you covered?"
Fred and Seth walked to the middle of the lawn and faced each other like some kind of old-fashioned Western gun battle in a bad movie. I had the urge to giggle, but I stifled it.
"OK Bella," Seth said, "take your shield away."
Jacob barked from a distance.
"Jacob want's him to transform, he doesn't trust Fred," Edward whispered.
Suddenly from where the youth stood an enormous tan wolf erupted towering over the vampire.
Fred was visibly shaken. He jumped back five feet and took up a defensive crouch, a snarl coming up from his chest. Seth on the other hand gave a great wolfy grin, sticking his tongue out at the side of his mouth and the sound he made was definitely a snigger.
I flitted to Fred's side and put my hand on his shoulder. "It's OK Fred, he's a friendly monster. You don't have to get worried, he isn't about to attack. It's just a better test this way, even if he has ruined another pair of pants. Don't forget, mild at first."
Fred took a few seconds before he realized that he'd overreacted and came out of his defensive stance. "I've never seen anything like that before, that was so ... cool, I guess."
Seth gave a jubilant bark and showed all his teeth, pleased at the complement.
I peeled my shield away from Seth, leaving him exposed; it took all of two seconds before he was vomiting. I threw the shield back over him and we all started to walk towards him to help him up.
"He's thinking that wasn't nice at all. Well, something unrepeatable, but that was the gist of it," Edward said. "Was that as mild as you can go, Fred?"
"Yes, that's the best I can do at the moment. I might be less powerful on a calm day but I wasn't trying to make him bad. That was a 'without trying' level for me. They don't seem as resistant as humans or vampires."
We didn't make it to Seth's prone wolf form before Leah, also as a wolf, shot out of the forest and to Seth's side. It was fortunate I had Jacob protected again or she too would be sick. She nuzzled Seth as he lay whimpering on the ground. Then she turned on us, Fred, Demetri, Edward and I as we walked closer to Seth. We all stopped, assuming a defensive crouch again. I hadn't seen Leah for months, not since that day in the clearing. I knew she was about but I'd not actually seen her. I was shocked to see how thin she looked. But for all her lack of girth she looked terrifying as she stood growling and barking what must have been hideous words. Her fur was raised around her neck. The blistering anger she felt for the plight of her brother was evident in every muscle in her body.
I thought to myself, Leah, we are your friends, don't hate us, we need your love.
As her head came up to look directly at our group, she quietened and stood completely still, just staring at us all.
I assumed Jacob had ordered her to back down.
But suddenly there was what almost sounded like a snigger from Seth, and Edward cursed under his breath.
"Well, I think we may have another difficult situation on our hands." Edward stood up.
Jacob barked as if agreement. Leah hadn't moved an inch. Jacob barked again and she shot off into the forest.
"Why this now?" Edward demanded of the sky.
I had no idea what he was talking about.
"We haven't got time for this now, we've got to patrol," Jasper insisted. "Fred, stay here and assist if we get any incoming trouble."
Fred nodded in agreement, "It's my fault we're in this mess."
"But you'll need to stay here with Bella until that point and then stay with her as you meet the wolves."
I again changed my shield to do an inverse protect of Fred. I walked up close to him to make it easier for myself.
Edward translated for Jacob. "We'll take the border down towards La Plush. Hopefully Sam will come and we can talk."
"Alice, Emmett, Rose and I will take the North side of the perimeter." Jasper ordered. "Edward, if you stay with Bella and Fred to help coordinate us all. I have my cell with me.
"Sure," Edward said, looking a little disappointed.
"You all have to defend the house as well," Jasper reminded him. You have Esme to assist too.
"I want to help in whatever way I can," Demetri said without hesitation.
It was obviously a sincere comment.
"Thank you," Edward said, "but we can't risk you being in a fight. If anything were to happen to you it would mean certain death for all the wolves and probably for our family as well."
"Yes, I see the predicament, a difficult diplomatic situation," Demetri said. "I can help with the defense of the house if they get that far, we all need to fight for our lives."
We talked as we turned into the house, leaving the others running off to their duties.
"Where's Nessie," I asked Edward, surprised that she wasn't in the lounge.
"Upstairs. Esme is trying to get her to have her nap. Esme thinks that it would be good to try to keep to routine so she's reading a book to Nessie. I think Pride and Prejudice should be enough to send anyone to sleep."
"It's beautiful, how can you say that? Sometimes I think that you have no poetry in your soul Edward." I so wanted to ask him what had just happened, what was in Leah's mind, but it would have to wait until we were out of earshot of Fred and Demetri. I didn't understand the incident, but it was clearly something. Something that Edward knew, the wolves knew and Jasper knew, but I didn't.
Once we entered the lounge we settled to wait. To wait to see if the other wolves, who I still thought of as our friends and neighbors, would turn on us again.