"It's a breach of the treaty," Jacob spat.
"It's a fight we can't win," Sam retorted.
"Oh so we're supposed to give them a pass? Because you're afraid? We're supposed to protect people!"
"Some people don't want our protection," Sam snapped. Then his expression softened as he looked over at me and Kim. "And we've lost enough trying to protect Bella." I met his gaze. Kim, of course, did not. Her eyes were glued to the lollipop Emily had given her. It was a huge twisted rainbow, like the kind you see in cartoons. For some reason, Kim never bit them, only licking them with intense focus and care. They distracted her for hours. Emily bought dozens.
Sam's words aggravated me, even though I knew they weren't intended to. We didn't lose Kim. Kim wasn't gone, she just wasn't herself. She's going to wake up any day. Then it would be like it was before. She'd be healthy and whole, talking again… Kim delicately licked her candy, staring blankly at it. I had to look away.
"Where do we draw the line then?" Jacob asked.
"What?"
"If you let this slide, where does it stop?"
Sam shook his head. "Nothing has changed. If they break the treaty we respond, but we're not starting a war over Bella."
"She was on our land," Jacob said. "She crossed the border. Is that enough of a breach of treaty for you?"
"It is for me," Paul grumbled. Quil nodded.
"That is a concern. We've increased patrols," Sam said. "If they cross the border again, we will be forced to investigate."
"Investigate?!" Jacob snorted. His eyes raced around the room, looking for support, and when no one spoke, he stormed out of the house, flinging the door shut behind him. Embry stood up to go after him.
"Leave him be," Sam said. The others continued to debate. I tuned them out. Kim licked her candy. She'd been wandering off more and more. The rest of the pack was used to me phasing in at odd times, frantically searching for the freshest scent trail. They always offered to help. Twice we found her on the beach, staring out over the waves. Once we found her over thirty miles away in the Olympic National Forest. Sometimes when she started to walk away when we were together I would just follow her. I still hadn't figured out how she was moving so fast. She never ran when I followed her, but she was elusive. If left alone, she could vanish in seconds and cover insane distances. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even notice when the debate fell silent, until the sound that caused the interruption became louder and more recognizable. Frantic barking. All heads turned to the window.
"I'll check," Embry offered. "Same signal as usual." We'd been using one bark for all is well and three barks for go time since Kim first suggested it. I wondered how she would have felt about her many little, lasting marks on the pack. When she was better, I would ask her. Embry walked out.
Jacob's barking fell silent, then Embry barked three times. The others exchanged glances and hustled out of the house one by one, shedding clothing as they went. Soon it was just me, Kim, and Emily. I looked back and forth between the open door and Kim.
"I can watch her, Jared," Emily said, her smile soft and sympathetic. "You can go. Really."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
Emily nodded, pointing to the lollipop in Kim's hands. "I've got a whole box of those."
"Thanks, Emily." I followed the others out the door, but by the time I was outside, I could tell the others were already gone. Annoyed, I ran for the woods anyways, stripping off my clothes as I went.
I said, I think I'm sure, Jacob thought.
What do you mean you think, you're sure? Leah demanded.
I meant, I think it's the same scent! Jacob thought. And there's blood. Definitely human.
My stomach lurched as I realized that he wasn't talking about the bloodsucker scent. There was no debate that it was the same bloodsucker that we followed from the library to the courthouse. The debate was about the scent of the human victim, who Jacob thought might be Lydia Wayne, the environmentalist. She came to the La Push school twice a year, giving talks at the school and leading nature walks. She was a friend of my mom's. They went to school together. Jacob thought it was her, but he couldn't tell for sure, because all he had to base his assessment on was a splash of blood so polluted by bloodsucker stench it was barely recognizable as human. There was nothing obscure about the bloodsucker scent. Uneasy thoughts thrummed through our minds.
Bella, Jacob growled.
When I met up with the others they were already at the crime scene. I sniffed the small pool of blood, and like Jacob, I faintly remembered Lydia over the overwhelming leech stench. I backed up, holding my breath as the confusion and pain of the pack crescendoed into anger. We all knew, without even putting our thoughts into words that this was a crime that could not go unanswered.
We took off along the bloodsuckers trail. Leah pulled out ahead, and Sam did not bother to caution her. She skidded to a stop only a few miles later. The trail disappeared when it met the road. This wasn't surprising. We already knew she had a car. Paul swore anyways.
It doesn't matter, Jacob growled. We know where she's going. He pictured the Cullen's massive white house, as we'd all seen it in Kim's mind.
We don't know for sure if it's Bella, Embry hedged, even though he didn't really believe it. Even Sam seethed as he pictured the Cullen's making her like them, and then not even bothering to leave town as she'd promised Jacob. Not even watching her to make sure she upheld their supposedly nonviolent lifestyle. It was more than that. We'd trusted them, taken their words as truth, and because of their reckless greed, we failed on our promise as Protectors.
What should we do? Sam asked. He had his opinion, but he tried to keep it neutral. He wanted us all to agree. I thought of Kim and the interactions between her and the Cullen's as I'd seen them through her mind. She never felt the same way as we did. She never hated them. She wavered a few times, resenting Edward for hurting Bella, but never viewing him, or any of his coven, with as much disdain as we did. She gave them far more chances than they deserved.
I remembered the moment before the ambush on the mountain, as I raced up the snowy slopes, knowing I wouldn't make it in time, trying not to picture her dying, knowing she would see it too. Edward had looked her in the eyes and said the word, please. He begged her to help even though he thought it would cost her her life. I remembered Bella, guilting her on the beach about sitting out, convincing her that love meant you had to be willing to sacrifice yourself. Bella had poisoned my sweet, sensible Kim with guilt and doubt. Kim saved Bella's life at tremendous cost, and Bella thanked her by becoming a monster and slaughtering an innocent woman on our land.
We make them pay, I growled, and I felt the rousing agreement from each of my brothers.
We ran towards the Cullen's crypt, each of us willing to fight, willing to put our lives on the line for justice, to use our power to right an egregious wrong. This was what was asked of us.
We called dibs as we ran. Paul wanted to take on Jasper, the best fighter. That was fine by me. I wanted Edward.
No, he's mine, Jacob growled. He was planning on going after Edward first, and then taking down as many of the rest as he could. He was trying hard not to picture Bella, bloodless and inhumanly beautiful, with chalky skin and vivid, blood-colored eyes. He knew he wouldn't have the strength to kill her. That was fine by me. I did.
I would help Jacob with Edward, then I would handle Bella myself. He'd be guarding her, and Jacob wouldn't be able to kill him alone. Jacob growled with resentment but didn't reject my plan. We both knew the mind reader was tricky.
We strategized. Which of the Cullens posed the greatest threat? Who would attack who? How to separate them? How to get them out in the yard?
Set the house on fire and kill them as they file out, Leah suggested.
Not bad, Sam thought.
We'll have to keep a perimeter.
We can't let anyone slip by.
How do we start the fire?
I have matches.
Oh matches great. That'll only take years.
You got a better idea?
Maybe there's a gas can in the garage?
Seth pictured the shed in the side yard. He'd noticed it on a patrol with Leah and Kim, long ago. I bet there are gas cans in there. We can carry them over.
Good. That's good.
The plan materialized in our minds, clearer and clearer. The house loomed in the distance, tall and stately. Silent. Seth was about to phase back. He'd been volunteered for the task of starting the fire. We would all be covering him. Then the door opened and all our plans scattered like leaves in the wind.
We watched in shock as the door swung open, and Doctor Fang's wife leaned out through the doorway.
Mrs. Fangs? Thought Embry.
"It's alright!" She called out to us. I tried to make sense of her expression. It took me a moment to place it, but her expression reminded me of Emily's earlier, when she offered to watch Kim. Her eyes were pulled down at the corners with something that looked almost like… sympathy. "She's alright! She's inside." Then she leaned back inside. "The boys are here!" She spoke at a normal volume, but we had no trouble making out her words.
"That was fast," someone mumbled from inside the house, Jasper or Emmett maybe.
"Will she be ok, do you think?" Esme asked, leaning inside. "Ok." She leaned back outside to speak to us. "You guys can come in! She's right inside!"
None of us moved, frozen by shock, expecting a trap.
Does she mean Bella? Jacob asked, more to himself than anyone else. His heart swelled with cautious hope. Does that mean...
How did they know we were coming?
Edward appeared at the door, shouldering past Mrs. Fangs. He leaned against the post beside the door. "There's been a misunderstanding," he said, his expression harsh. "Bella has not killed anyone. She hasn't been out of our sight since she turned, and she hasn't been anywhere near your land. Do you really think I would allow that to happen?"
We all braced against the wave of Jacob's pain. In spite of the certainty he exuded in getting us here, he still clung to a shred of hope that somehow she was still human, and losing that hope crushed him. The rest of us were frozen.
What do we do?
We need to get inside, Sam insisted. We have to know for sure whether Bella killed the naturalist.
What if it's a trap?
Maybe we should all go? We can phase quick if things get dicey.
"It's not a trap," Edward said, eyes rolling. He turned and stepped back inside. Mrs. Fangs followed, eyes wide, leaving the door ajar behind her.
I didn't bring any clothes.
Me neither.
What if it is a trap though? I mean he said it wasn't, but wouldn't he also say that if it was a trap?
Good point.
Emmett appeared at the doorway with a stuffed duffle bag slung over his shoulder. He hurled it at the tree-line where we stood. Embry pulled the zipper open with his teeth. It was filled with clothing.
Ugh seriously?
Freaky, dealing with a mind reader.
We're all mind readers.
Not leeches though.
This stuff reeks!
The clothes had clearly been worn before. We phased back and got dressed, breathing through our teeth to minimize the smell. Most of us opted for shorts only, not wanting more of the reeking clothing touching our skin than strictly necessary. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. It was hard to come to terms with how much the plan had changed in such a short span of time. Now, we were walking straight into danger, half naked and fully vulnerable.
"You don't have to come," Sam said, his hand on Jacob's shoulder.
"Yes I do."
We crossed the yard and filed into the house. No one was waiting by the door. The Cullens were all in the living room. Jacob stiffened when he met Bella's eyes. She stood at the opposite side of the room, perfectly still behind Jasper and Alice. Her skin was the same, faintly gleaming white as any leech's, her features subtly shifted to new, model-like proportions, her posture statuesque. The most eerie difference was her eyes, bright red and slightly narrowed. She glared at Jacob, all vulnerability and humanity forever gone from her gaze.
Jacob made a soft sound, probably involuntarily, and in response Bella's lip curled up on one side in a frightening grimace. I was so disturbed by the sight of her, I didn't even notice that it was strange that Edward was not beside her, standing by Jasper and Alice. That Bella's eyes were pulled away from us, as if something else in the room was causing her much more stress than an entire pack of her mortal enemies. I followed the line of her sight and almost collapsed.
"Jared," Edward said, nodding to me in a cold greeting. He was sitting on the sofa next to Kim, one arm resting on the back of the couch behind her, one deadly hand lying inches from her neck. I started to shake. How-why was she here? What had they done? How had they slipped by us, gotten to Emily's, and gotten her back here?
"She walked right into the house a few minutes before you got here," Edward said, coolly. I couldn't breathe. He was close enough to snap her neck with one flick of his wrist. I was only steps away, but I wasn't close enough. He'd read our minds. He knew we were here to kill his soulmate, and now he was going to kill mine. I don't know how I stayed on my feet.
Please. I didn't want to beg out loud but I would if I had to. The rest of the pack stared in stunned silence.
Edward softened. "I'm not going to hurt her."
Kim did not seem concerned about any of this, immune to the growing tension in the room. She licked away at a popsicle and didn't seem to notice that it was melting, purple syrup running down her bare arm and dripping from her elbow onto the white sofa. The Cullens didn't seem to care. Where had she gotten it? Why did the leeches have popsicles?
"Please step away from her," I asked, voice shaking. Edward obliged, standing up slowly. Doctor Fang stepped back too. I let out a shuddering breath of relief and closed the distance between us, stepping between her and the leeches. I felt the pack relax around me.
"Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?" Doctor Fangs asked.
"Can you fix her?" I asked, voice too dull to sound like a question.
"I-I don't know," he said. "Is she always like this or-"
"It's always like this."
Carlisle knelt in front of her trying to get her to follow his finger with her eyes. She glanced at him for a moment but was mostly absorbed in a popsicle she was eating. He sighed.
"Satisfied?" An unfamiliar voice asked from the other side of the room. I reluctantly turned to see who was speaking and realized that the cold, musical voice was Bella's. Everything about her was different. It shouldn't have surprised us that her voice would be different too.
"Yes," Sam said. Her scent must not have matched. "I'm… so sorry."
Jacob turned and stormed out of the room, looking nauseous. Bella's eyes followed him, remorseless. No one else moved, except for Kim, who kept licking her popsicle. Maybe that's what broke the spell, because after a moment, Sam began explaining the misunderstanding. Yes, someone was killed on our land. No, the Cullens had not seen anything new. No, they didn't have visitors. I tuned him out.
The Cullens let us go. "We understand," Doctor Fangs said, eyes tight with sympathy which I couldn't tell if it was genuine or forced. Mrs. Fangs held the door for us. I grabbed Kim's free hand and towed her from the room. When we were halfway across the lawn Kim bit the stained popsicle stick in half, frowned at the pieces, and dropped them in the yard one at a time. I wondered why she did that. I froze. I had desperately wanted to see into her mind, but I'd given up on that idea when I wasn't able to get her to phase. I looked back at the looming white house, realizing I didn't really need to see into her mind, I just needed to know that she had one.
I felt the eyes of my brothers on my back as I turned back to the looming house, towing Kim along beside me, but no one stopped me. I stepped up on the porch, trying to plan what to say when the door swung open.
"Jared," Edward said, looking up at me. I couldn't make sense of his expression, of the gentleness I saw there. "Why don't you come inside?"
"I'm fine here." I cleared my throat. "So you-you can read minds, right?" Edward nodded, eyes guarded. "Can you tell me what she's thinking?"
Edward frowned and shook his head. "I'm sorry."
"Please." I started to shake. "I just-" I was not accustomed to begging bloodsuckers for favors. It turned my stomach. "I don't really care what she's thinking about I just-" I swallowed, trying to force the emotion out of my voice. "Does she know I'm here? Does she-"
"I don't know," Edward said, softly. "I can't hear her. But just because I can't hear her thoughts doesn't mean she isn't thinking. I've never been able to hear Bella's thoughts, even now."
"You-you can't hear her at all? But, you heard Kim's thoughts… before right?" I looked at her glassy eyes. "The whole time she was here, you-you didn't hear anything?" Edward shook his head. "Can you try to hear her now? I-I can wait, please if-if you can just try-"
Edward was still shaking his head, his pained expression blurring as tears welled in my eyes. "It doesn't work like that. It's not a question of effort. I'm so sorry." It almost made it worse that he seemed genuinely sorry.
I knew I should say something but words wouldn't come. I had to get out of here. It was bad enough feeling the pity of my brothers. It was worse getting it from leeches, especially the one who did this to her. I turned away, probably too fast because Kim tripped. I tugged her arm up before she could hit the ground, but her eyes still widened. I wanted to think that meant something that she was still scared of falling, but I had no way of knowing. Apparently, no one did. I picked her up, carrying her the rest of the way across the lawn, and the usual, glassy-eyed indifference settled back over her face like a mask. She didn't put her arms around me; they hung limp at her sides. When I reached the border, Sam and Emily were waiting for me in their car. I helped Kim into the backseat and climbed in after her. Sam started the car.
"Jared, I'm so sorry!" Emily sounded close to tears.
"It's ok."
"I just went to the bathroom for a minute," Emily said, wringing her hands. "I thought she'd be fine, but when I came out she was gone. The door was open and she left the candy on the table. I looked for her but I didn't see her anywhere. I'm so sorry!"
"It's ok."
"No harm done really," Sam said, sighing, putting a free hand on Emily's shoulder. "If Kim wasn't there, they wouldn't have seen us coming, and things...things could've gotten ugly. We were wrong about Bella."
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. It felt ridiculous to search for a silver lining on such a shit day. Emily tried to invite me in when we got back to their house. I told her I was tired. I tried to ignore Sam and Emily as they watched me, faces pinched with concern as I loaded Kim into my dad's truck and drove away. I started shaking as soon as I pulled out of the drive. The tears came halfway through the trip. Luckily, Kim's mom was sound asleep when we got back. The TV was off this time. Perhaps she had stopped caring enough to pretend she was watching it. I carried Kim up to her bedroom and sat her down on the bed. She stared in the general direction of her closet, dark eyes vacant.
"Kim? Kim?" I sat next to her on the bed and put my hands on either side of her face and turned her to face me. "Kim?" She wouldn't look at me. Her eyes were trained downward now. "Please." I swallowed. "Please just give me a sign, ok? Anything. Just-please, I just need to know if you can hear me. If you're in there." She didn't move. Not even her eyes. "Please? Please."
I searched her face for any signs of awareness. The longer I waited the more I heard the echoes of others' words in my head. The words were so vivid in my mind that it almost felt like I was hearing them in real time, the way I heard words from my pack members when we ran together, instead of just recalling words from memory.
It sounded like she just wanted a way out, you know? Maybe she found a way out and took it?
I can't hear her. It's not a question of effort. I'm so sorry.
Just a husk of a girl now, really. I don't know why you kids all insist on playing dress-up with that body as if my daughter is still inside. That's not my daughter. She's gone. There's no one inside that dead-eyed, walking shell.
I laid her down on the bed and wrapped my arms around her, sobbing into her back. This time I didn't bother to stay quiet. There was no one around to hear.
A/N: Six chapters left. Thank you for reading and reviewing! I appreciate all of you!
