FAGE… The 13th.
Title: Picking Up the Pieces
Written for: Jadiona
Written By: NCChris
Rating: M
Summary/Prompt used: Post-Twilight/New Moon AU - Jake/Bella/Paul MMF tragic romance; I do my own beta'g and banner making, so any errors or lame banners are all mine. I do not own Twilight or any of the characters, nor do I make any money from writing this story. Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer; I'm just playing in her sandbox. This is not an overly lemony fic, but there are a few scenes. Please do not read if you are under 16. Thanks!
If you would like to see all the stories that are a part of this exchange visit the Facebook group: Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never Sleeps, or add the C2 to get all the stories direct to your inbox. You will find all FAGE entries for this year and the previous ones at FAGE… The 13th community page.
Ch. 9 - Hunting Accident
Disclaimer: Twilight and all its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. This is a work of fiction based on her world and characters. I don't own any of it, except my plot bunny. This isn't an overly lemony fanfic, but there are some adult scenes. Please don't read this story unless you are old enough; 18+ would be best. I hope you enjoy this short story!
Harry and Seth always went hunting as soon as deer season started. It was one of those things that the Clearwater men had done for generations and Harry had been thrilled when Seth had gotten old enough to continue the tradition with him. At 14, Seth had been tromping through the woods covered in synthetic deer piss with his dad for 3 years now. He loved having his pops to himself. Leah and Harry were so close that Seth felt like an interloper sometimes. He knew Harry loved him, never doubted it, but Seth liked knowing that he and Harry could share this one thing, only them.
It was still dark and cold enough that their breath fogged as they walked quietly through the woods behind their house. Harry pointed out a few tracks and some tree trunks that were scarred from where the deer had rubbed their antlers against the bark.
High in the treetops, Victoria watched the man and boy trudge through the woods. She smiled to herself; it was always fun to hunt men who thought they were the hunters. She was good at reconnaissance and she'd learned the man was important to the tribe. He was an elder. She hoped it would upset the wolves that called La Push home. They would recognize the "animal attack" for what it was. It would be a bonus that the pale bitch that had gotten her James killed would be scared, too.
She had worked hard to lay down a false trail for the two "hunters" to follow. It was a game she and James had sometimes played with other prey. It never occurred to her that the boy might carry inside him the ability to become a wolf like the others. He seemed younger than the others, so she assumed puberty was what triggered the change. She was wrong.
As Harry and Seth moved deeper into the woods, following what they thought was a game trail, she leapt agilely from the trees to the forest floor. She posed on a fallen log, hiding her face in her hands and pretending to weep like she was hurt or perhaps had gotten lost, waiting as she heard her prey approaching.
Seth wrinkled his nose. He kept getting these weird whiffs of something gross. It smelled like something rancid, but also like a chemical of some kind. It was giving him a headache. His dad never seemed to smell it, so he'd stopped mentioning it when he caught it on the light breeze. He and Harry rounded an outcropping of rock and saw her at the same time, both rushing, concerned, toward the young woman in torn clothing, weeping on a fallen tree trunk. There'd been reports of missing hikers and it looked like she'd been out in the woods for a while, judging from her snarled hair and ragged clothing.
She was on them before they could process that she wasn't in danger; she was the danger. Harry let out a harsh scream as she bit into his throat, gulping at the blood as it flowed fast from the frantic beat of his heart.
Seth was frozen for a couple heartbeats before that disgusting scent hit him full in the face again. It was her; she was the rancid thing he'd been smelling. Some primal part of his brain made the connection even as he fell to the forest floor writhing in agony as his wolf surged forward.
Victoria couldn't believe her eyes as she tossed the man to the ground after snapping his neck. The boy had just exploded into a wolf the size of a pony and howled in fear and agony as he saw his brutalized father's body.
She considered her options. She could probably kill this baby wolf, and wouldn't that be fun, but, just as she danced toward him, a chorus of answering howls rose from the general vicinity of the reservation center. The young wolf swung his head around and snarled as he surged toward her, his movements amateurish enough that she decided to stay and play a little longer.
She laughed, a deceptive tinkling sound, as she danced toward the livid wolf, flicking his nose and sending him flying into a massive tree with a crack that reverberated for miles. The wolf shook his wooly head, as if to dispel the buzzing from the impact, and doggedly surged forward again, snapping his jaws only an inch from her shoulder as she spun away.
Sam ran, pushing his body faster and harder than ever before. All he could think about was changing Seth's diapers when he was a baby and babysitting with Leah when they were teenagers. Jake was running at his side, trying to coach Seth on fighting 101 while they hurried to get to him. Both wolves were already mourning Harry's loss.
Victoria could hear the other wolves approaching now, so she knew she'd have to run. Too bad; sparring with this little wolf was the most fun she'd had in months. Sighing, she kicked his side as he skidded past her, overcorrecting as he charged. The sound of ribs breaking and his yelp of pain were music to her ears as she wiggled her fingers at him and took off as two other even more massive wolves bounded out of the underbrush.
Jake glanced toward Harry's broken form and Seth laying on his side panting in agony and he saw red. Rage sent him careening after the red-haired leech. He howled as he chased her and felt Paul, Embry, & Quil as they phased and raced to join the chase.
Victoria glanced back over her shoulder as the furious red wolf nipped at her heels; others were coming. She could hear them now, moving to join their packmate. She ran faster, shouting taunts at the frustrated wolf as he tried vainly to catch her, the gift for evasion serving her well.
She changed direction abruptly as three new wolves joined the chase. As soon as she was downwind, she took to the trees, taking a moment to study the wolves as they tried to find her, splitting off with their noses to the ground, hoping to catch her scent.
The red wolf snuffled along beneath her tree and Victoria took a furtive glance around to see if the others were nearby. Seeing nothing, she pounced, landing on the red wolf's back and grabbing a double fistful of fur as he bucked and snarled beneath her. She laughed that tinkling laugh again as he tried in vain to dislodge her, but her laughter soon changed to a cry of pain as he slammed his back into a large boulder rising up from the forest floor. Dazed, she slid down the rock surface. The wolf yipped in triumph as she lay there, feigning unconsciousness.
Jake shared the image of the leech laying stunned on the ground with the others. Sam was still with Seth, trying to coax the injured boy back to human form. Paul, Embry, & Quil began to make their way toward Jake's location, Paul from the west and Embry and Quil from opposite directions.
Victoria forced herself to be still as the red wolf padded toward her. She would only have one chance to escape. He had to be close enough for it to count.
Paul stumbled as Jake's agony hit him, stronger because of their mating bond. Frantic, he kept his feet just barely as he continued barreling toward the leech and Jacob. He skidded into a small clearing around a large boulder and saw the leech crouched defensively in front of Jake's writhing body. There was blood, so much blood. She'd ripped his throat out as he'd nosed at her, checking to see if she was knocked out or not. Paul launched himself at her, knocking her away from Jake just as Embry and Quil arrived. She had no chance against all three of them.
Paul left Quil and Embry to finish her off as he knelt beside Jake's body, both back in their human forms. He pressed his hands to the wound on Jake's throat, but it was already healing. Jake writhed and moaned in agony even as Paul searched him for other injuries. Quil and Embry hung back as they all realized that the neck wound was healing, but the damage had been done. Her venom was coursing through his veins.
Paul held Jake as the venom did its job. He talked soothingly to his mate, brushing sweat from Jake's brow as the shakes hit him. When the seizures started, he held him tighter, his tears dripping onto Jake's face. Victoria's last thought as Embry ripped her head from her shoulders was that she was only sorry that the little Swan bitch hadn't been there to see her mate die.
Bella was standing at the sink filling a glass with water when she felt it. The glass slipped from her fingers and shattered on the floor. She was sitting on the front porch, numbly waiting, when Paul stepped out of the woods, Jake's lifeless body cradled against his chest and tears streaking his cheeks. Bella wailed as Paul croaked her name. She knew; she'd known the moment she felt their imprint snap at the kitchen sink.
