Chapter Thirty Six: Icky Vicki
I met Claire and watched Quil like a hawk to make sure that what Embry had told me was true, that Quil's feeling were purely platonic. From what I could tell, anyone that saw them would think Quil was a doting big brother that adored and would do anything for his little sister. Honestly it was adorable how that little girl had giant 6'4", bulky, buff Quil wrapped around her finger and bending to her every whim. Poor Quil would have to wait a long time for her to grow up, but he seemed just fine with that. It never failed that the conversation would eventually turn to my cousin and her vampire beau.
"All I know is something fishy is going on. Suddenly Edward and Alice are acting weird and Edward's taking Bella and hopping a flight to Florida tomorrow to visit Renee before Bella graduates." I said, crossing my arms and leaning back into Embry as he wraps his arms around me, trying to calm me down.
"How long are they going to be in Florida?" Jake asked from his usual spot by the window.
"Three days." I replied, shrugging my shoulders. Every one suddenly looked kind of panicked.
"Three day?" Sam questioned and I nodded, confused. What was so important about three days that had them all panicked? Then it hit me. SHIT! The change from human to vampire took three days.
"You don't think they would…?" I dropped off at the end of my question. I was starting to freak out. We had just reminded them of the treaty and warned them of the consequences of breaking them! Sam just shrugged.
"I'm not sure. But you never know. The day they come back you can stay here, Anna. We'll have Jake call and make sure Bella returns human." Sam said going into alpha mode.
"What if she doesn't?" They're not going to bring her back here and have Uncle Charlie here as a freaking meal , are they?" I was panicking.
"No they'll make it seem like there was an accident and Bella dies." Jared said from his place on the couch. I nodded; I was not going down as an appetizer for my crazy ass vampire cousin.
"Well if they're not running to Florida to change her, there has to be something else that would cause Edward to get her out of the state. He is crazily over protective of Bella. Something would have to be happening in the next couple of days to cause them to run till it's over." I said thinking it over.
"What about red?" Paul asked.
"That would explain the running and why Bella hasn't been acting weird. Alice must have had a vision of Victoria getting Bella and they must not have told her. So she wouldn't worry." I said. The more I thought about it the more it started to make sense. Edward was running Bella out of the state to protect her and the Cullens were going to try and stop Victoria when she showed up. They should have thought about informing the pack. The dumbasses should have told the pack so they could be prepared to protect the res.
"If this is true, then you need to spend the next few days here on the res. It will keep you out of dodge and you'll be safer." Sam said and Embry nodded and squeezed me a little tighter to him by my waist.
"She can stay with us at the house. It's not like we haven't been having sleep overs since she was eight." Leah offered. It surprised the guys that she would offer to help. She was still a little short with the guys and she didn't let them see how nice of a person she actually was. I smiled at her and when the guys finally looked away she smirked back.
"Then she'll always be near a wolf or two. I have day patrols anyway so she can come here or the Blacks, like usual, when I'm on patrol." Leah continued to point out reasons why it would be a good idea.
"Plus Uncle Charlie would believe it easier than if I was to tell him I was staying here." I tried helping by adding my two cents. I really didn't want to lie to Uncle Charlie. I had done good so far with this secret and keeping it from Uncle Charlie while not lying to him.
"That would probably be best. Call Charlie, then Embry can take you home to collect some of your things." Sam said and I nodded, getting up and walking to the back porch to call Uncle Charlie at the station. The back porch gave a sense of privacy even though the guy would be able to hear everything I said, but they wouldn't be able to hear Uncle Charlie's side. The phone rang two times before he answered the phone.
"Forks Police Department, this is Police Chief Swan." He answered.
"Well Police Chief Swan this is you niece Anna Swan. She would like to know if she can spend the weekend at Leah's." I joked and was rewarded with a chuckle from the other end of the line.
"Well my niece Anna Swan it is fine with me that you spend the weekend with Leah. I was planning to go fishing with one Billy Black." He joked back.
"Thanks. I'll be home for dinner on Sunday." I said and we hung up and I went back into the house. When I sat back down in Embry's lap everyone looked at me like they hadn't heard what I had said back meaning they knew he said it was fine.
"You guys act like he would say no." I said and Embry wrapped his arms back around me.
"But he did inform me that Billy will be fishing tomorrow. That means Uncle Charlie will be out of dodge for tomorrow. Jake do you think you can get Billy to invite Uncle Charlie down for the game at your house? Just to get him on the res." I asked and looked up at Jake. He nodded and gave me a thumbs up. I smiled at his antics.
Before long we were in the car headed back to the house to pick up some of my things. We had stayed for lunch then took our leave. Embry was quiet on our way to the house. Something was on his mind and he didn't want to talk about it. I sat and waited for him to make his decision about his thoughts.
"I get it if you don't want to talk about it, but if you do it might make it better. If you decide to, I'll listen." I said and lapsed back into silence. It was another couple minutes before Embry opened his mouth.
"I'm scared." He said and it was no one than a whispered. I turned in my seat to get a better look at him and to show that he had my full attention.
"I'm scared that you're in the middle. That you are in as much danger as your cousin. That scares the hell out of me. I want you to be safe, but I can't be with you every minute of the day. I fear that when Red comes for Bella… you're gonna get caught in the crossfire and she's gonna get you, too." Embry was a little choked up at the end. I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.
"I'm going to spend all my free time down on the res. The only time I'll be away is to go to school and to be asleep in my bed during the week. I can start spending the weekends down here like I am this weekend. You and the guys are protecting the res and the Cullens have their future seer to protect Bella when we're in Forks. Everything will work out." I said and Embry pulled into the driveway. Embry got out and opened my door for me. He pulled me out and wrapped me in a tight hug.
"I love you Anna. There is nothing that I won't do to make sure that you are safe and happy." Embry whispered. I pressed a kiss to his lips to convey that I wasn't going anywhere.
"I love you too, Embry." I whispered when we pulled apart and gave him another quick peck on the lips.
"I'm going to patrol the woods. Make it quick, we don't want Leah to come looking for ya." Embry said with a grimace before he turned toward the trees. I giggled as I went into the house.
Paul was right. Victoria showed up Saturday morning. Jared and Jake were on patrol when the call went out and the whole pack went running, leaving Seth with Kim, Emily, Claire, and I to act as guard dog. Emily started baking to keep her mind off of what was going on and Kim started playing with Claire and I started the book my English teacher had assigned for the weekend. I was to read, annotate, and write a summary on chapters eight through twelve. The book did a good job of keeping my mind off the hunt for Victoria. The book had a slow start but was starting to speed up towards the climax.
Emily was baking what seemed to be her tenth batch of cookies when the guys came crashing in. Jared helped Paul limp into the kitchen and Sam helped set him in a chair at the table. I went running for the first aid kit while Sam checked what he would need. Paul had a deep cut that from his ankle to just above his knee and it was bleeding pretty badly. I looked around for Embry and found him by the door, watching as I wiped away the blood and bandaged Paul's leg .
"What the hell happened that caused this?" I asked as I finished wrapping the bandage.
"You were right. The Cullens knew Victoria was coming and they chased her. She headed toward the res. She ran down the boundary line, jumping from our land to theirs. The big one tried tackling her and when she dodged he almost fell onto our land. Paul jumped and Victoria got away when we had to break Paul and the vamp away from each other. Paul's leg got cut when the vamp pushed him away. He stumbled back into a rock." Jared explained, shaking his head as he wrapped his arms around Kim. Paul growled.
"He was going over the boundary! He was breaking the treaty! They acted like we were the ones breaking the treaty and attacking without cause!" Paul exclaimed and started to shake. Embry started to move towards me and I held up a finger to stop him.
"Paul." I said, catching his attention. Taking his mind off his anger softened the shaking.
"Is this gonna change anything?" I asked and he shook his head and the shaking almost stopped.
"Alright have a cookie." I said and handed him a cookie before I walked over to Embry. We walked out the front door toward the path to the beach. We passed Leah on the porch.
"Really? 'Have a cookie' is your way of calming him down?" Leah asked holding back a laugh.
"It worked didn't it?" I replied with a smile and she just shook her head.
"You know you're amazing? No one else can calm Paul down once he starts, but you step up and he calms down like he was never mad in the first place. But can you do me a favor?" Embry said as he linked our hands and watched them swing between us as we walked toward the beach.
"Depends on what it is." I said. Embry smiled.
"Of course you wouldn't agree without knowing what you're agreeing to. You're too smart for your own good." Embry chuckled as kissed my head.
"The next time Paul starts bouncing on the diving board to jump into the deep six. Will you please back away? I was having a heart attack the whole time he was shaking and you were too close. If he had phased I don't know what I'd have done." Embry said and pulled me closer to his side. I smiled and snuggled closer.
"If he's too close to phasing I will back away." I promised.
"That's not what I asked." Embry said.
"But it's what you're getting." I said and skipped ahead, baiting him to chase me.
"You should be a lawyer. You like to negotiate and debate. It can be a pain the ass." Embry chuckled. I laughed as we continued down the path.
"Love you too." I said pecking him on the cheek.