"A screaming comes across the sky." ― Thomas Pynchon
"It's here," I hiss through our mental link.
We've been waiting for a month when the creature would finally make its entrance known. Tracking the reports of slaughtered hikers a hundred miles away told me that someone was circling our area. I begged Billy to casually suggest to Charlie that telling Bella any of this would be a bad idea for her mental health. It wasn't a hard sell on Billy's part. Still, I couldn't hold back from warning her.
None of that matters now, however. It's here and with the same sensation tingling on my neck, I know Bella is in the area too.
There's panic, regret, and absolute terror coursing through me. I yell at Jared and Paul to go faster. This is the most wild I've ever been before. I run on nothing by instinct to protect her and kill it. My life is reduced to nothing else and I don't feel a sliver of shame at that. Destiny and rage are all that's left of me.
Paul and Jared are caught in a frenzy too. Though theirs is nothing like mine. Kim's life isn't threatened, only Bella's. My Bella. The thought of every second bringing her closer to death only compels me to push my legs farther.
My muscles tear at the exertion and then stitch themselves back together. I hardly notice or care. Foam begins to pour out of my mouth and I shake my snout back and forth a few times to rid myself of it. I will not look entirely rabid when dealing with the bastard. Though whoever the fuck he is, he must know that touching a human, touching her at all, will only lead to a painful death.
"He's dead!" Paul snarls.
"I'll tear him to fucking shreds," Jared agrees, biting the air.
I echo their sentiments without forming a coherent thought. All of my emotions center on the hunt and the need to defend.
We're still miles away. Too fucking far when I can feel the fear roll-off in waves from Bella. She's drowning in it.
I will protect you. I swear it to all the gods who govern our lands. I will make it in time.
I run until Bella's whimpers transform into my own. My head is filled with nothing but the urge to stop them.
"Please," I hear her whisper as we get closer.
I growl into the void around me as everything disappears but the path to get to her. The leech is beyond dead. Deader than whenever he first time. I'll ensure he's the type of dead that doesn't get to rise from a grave again. I'll slaughter this creature for believing he can have her.
Paul and Jared yip at my heels. We've made it. I give the order to slow down. We'll try to intimidate him by coming through the trees. That way he knows very clearly that making any further move on Bella is unacceptable.
"No, please don't," she cries further.
I bear my teeth the furthest I've ever shown them.
The bullshit he speaks to her next barely deserves repeating. I won't let it register for a second. It's time to show ourselves.
The black-skinned bloodsucker whips around to see us march forward. Our battle stance perfected after months of training. He won't win this.
"I don't believe it!"
You better or else you'll be dead even faster. Not that I have a single issue with that.
I smell Bella's fear skyrocket. It's the reaction I anticipated but for a moment it still pierces my chest. I close off that side of me as we march towards the bastard.
He contorts his body in a way that shows he's ready to fight. Fine, fucker, so am I.
I run.
My anger gets the best of me. I'm hit across the field by the leech. I tumble onto the ground but get back up on my four legs as fast as possible. Paul and Jared chase the bastard deep into the woods away from Bella. I snarl at his movements, but I can't move.
Not until I look at her.
Her hair shines with red highlights and there's only a look of absolute horror on her face. I soften my expression but it's no use. She's still terrified, but still so unbelievably gorgeous. Her army-green jacket holds her tight but I feel her chill at the lack of protective clothing. She shouldn't be out here so close to winter. Well, there's a plethora of reasons she really shouldn't be out here. The leech just chased into the forest is the main one.
I realign my stance and take off after him, hurting once again to leave Bella. This is for her safety, for the defense of her life, I tell myself. And I really, really want to kill that vampire.
I catch up to Jared and Paul quickly. They're on his heels but they lack a plan on how to corner him well enough to go for the kill. If he angles it right, he'll probably hit another one of us back. Yet if I'm assessing the situation correctly, that'll be his only option unless he can traverse a piece of land we can't. I think of the cliffs and the water below. Shit. We need to get this over with soon before he heads in that direction.
"Jared, go left and position yourself from above. Paul, right and down. Don't launch until my signal," I order. I leave myself center and chest level against him. There's no way the leech can defend from six attack points simultaneously. They agree without hesitation.
When they split off, he looks widely around with his red eyes and puts in extra effort to run faster. I admit he's not slow at all. Hopefully, his panic is coming from the realization that we're about to close in. Without telling Jared or Paul, I know it's likely he'll probably hit one of us, but the other two will be waiting to use that moment to bite down. I don't tell my younglings this or else it may affect their fever going forward. Well, war never happens without injuries anyway. But we heal fast, we can handle it.
Just need to close another ten meters of distance.
"Let's go," I demand. We're almost in range.
We make it.
"NOW."
The red-eyed demon explodes in fear. He moves to do the same arm whip that he did against me minutes ago. But now I'm smart enough to predict it. Jared isn't in the vicinity to be hit by his tornado move and I doge easily. Paul is the unlucky one who gets launched fifty meters into a tree. He yelps on impact and then snarls to rejoin.
But the bastard's met his end. My teeth rip off his right arm while Jared tackles him onto the forest floor. The first obvious feeling I notice is the taste of putrid ash in my teeth. The damage on him looks like broken stone. The stump of his arm is a ragged piece of stone.
He clutches the stump in shock. The scream I hear is entirely inhumane. And I know a bit about that. Yet this is completely different. It's the screeching of a soulless devil. If I were in my human form, I'd cover my ears.
Paul reaches us and with Jared, we tackle the bastard again. He fights, but without his good hand, we're going to make quick disposal of him.
The taste of vampire still on my teeth disgusts my tongue. Yet for what he's said to Bella, I'm hungry for more.
I bite straight into his torso and rip off a chunk of crystal flesh. I toss it into the wilderness because I'm not done, not even close. Paul and Jared are just getting started.
Admittedly, we torture the bastard for many moments longer than what would be deemed appropriate. I hardly care. Bella's petrified face in being so close to death ensures this is a fitting end for him.
He screams until he chokes. By now all of his limbs have been ripped off. There's only one thing left to remove.
"Hold down what remains of his torso," I say.
Paul and Jared step on him and growl into his face. The expression in those ungodly crimson eyes allows me to realize he knows what's coming to him now. Good.
I bite his goddamn head off.
Relief courses through me immediately. I can feel the same from Paul and Jared in our mind link. Maybe it would feel just a tad better if I didn't get some strands of dreadlocks in my hair, however.
I do allow us to relish the moment. But we need to light him up or else the tales of reanimation may be another thing I learn to be true. And I'm not really keen on seeing if it is.
"Paul, go get a lighter. Jared, phase back with me and we'll gather the pieces into a pyre."
We scamper off to a stash of clothes nearby and quickly put them on. We're all beyond modesty in changing in front of each other now. I wonder if this is how cavemen felt thousands of years ago. I'm not sure I like being reduced to just that state of nature though.
I don't say anything while we work. The pieces of dead vampire feel like the cold stone they are. They might be difficult for mere humans to lift, but we handle it just fine. I kick pieces of him into the center we designated. Somehow despite the success in taking him down, my mood grows sour. Of course, Jared notices.
"She's going to be alright now, you know," he says. His voice teeters on the edge of apprehension. I haven't reacted well to his mentions of her before. It drives me a bit crazy that he still mentions her after everything. Maybe his bond with Kim is somehow making him do it.
I shake my head, "Maybe."
"What was she doing out there anyway?"
"Testing my patience," I grumble.
Paul's footsteps can be heard marching back to us. I look at him over my shoulder. Smug as usual and he didn't even perform the killing bite.
"The leech lover should really thank you, Sam," Paul laughs.
"Don't call her that," I hit back harshly.
I can see in his eyes that he doesn't care. Fuck. Maybe if I wasn't so worn out, I'd press the issue, but I'm not in the mood for dealing with Paul's antics. It'll have to rest for now. He will eventually need to show more respect to the imprints. Thinking on it, I wonder if he is jealous that he is the only one without one. Well, it's been a curse for me so far so I'll be pissed if that's the case.
We light the funeral pyre for the dark-skinned vampire. None of us have anything nice to say for him though we stand around to watch, mesmerized.
"Good riddance," Jared chuckles when we notice how easily the corpse goes up in flames.
"I'll see you in hell," Paul says.
I ignore them, "We need to report this to the elders now. They will give us guidance on how to prepare going forward."
Paul rolls his eyes, "What do a bunch of old people know? They don't have to phase and do the actual fighting."
For his part, Jared also chooses not to engage. "Do you think he was the last of them?" he asks.
I swallow, "I am not sure. For all of our sakes, I hope so."
The elders offer no advice on the matter either. They speak of holding a ceremony to ask the forest gods to give us more luck. I try to push back the inkling that we'll be needing it. At the least, Harry and Billy are proud of us. They clap us on the back and reaffirm our chosen status. The praise is easy to brush off when my mind won't stop thinking about her.
After the council is done celebrating our victory, I linger around Billy for a bit longer.
He looks up at me with wary eyes, "Embry Call's still gonna need you, Sam."
"I know. It's too late to stop his transition."
The pain of another boy sentenced to a lonely life doesn't hit me as harshly as it did with either Paul or Jared. Perhaps, I think bitterly, I'm too used to it by now.
"He will need you even more than the others because he does not have a father to turn to," Billy continues.
I nod. I'm well aware of Embry's history. His mother's choice to keep the identity of his father secret has long been a thing of speculation for the rez. In truth, my own father may very well be the culprit. This would make Embry more than just a pack brother. He could be a real one. And I don't even know how to approach him about it.
"I'll be there for him," I say anyway.
Tiffany Call has also been thought to be 'not-quite-there." After openly proclaiming her son to be named after a soap opera star, she certainly gave people more reasons to wonder. The gossip around him always struck me as unfair. Suppose that's nothing compared to involuntarily turning into a giant wolf.
"And Bella?" Billy raises an eye at me.
He ensured I knew when she and Charlie would be visiting his house for dinner. And he damn well knew I wouldn't be able to resist coming to see her. Billy made sure I knew about Bella's pull to go outside when she felt my presence. Knowing the bond might work both ways only makes me feel worse. I suffer enough going too long without seeing her. To think she feels anything similar hurts worse.
I press my eyes shut for a second, "Yes."
A few more weeks go by. The reports of dead hikers have stopped. But I hold my breath every day for the news to return and more lives to be taken, both victims and Quilette boys.
It's another night where I can't sleep. I really need to take advantage of any hour that I can. Guiding Paul and Jared while watching Embry leaves me little time for anything else. I try to focus on strategizing the ways I can put more into the construction business part-time. Of course, when my mind wanders there's only one place it really goes.
I'm about to fall asleep when I feel her. It stirs me awake enough to ask if it's real or another dream of desperation.
Each individual hair stands up on my neck. I sit up in my bed immediately as a thin veil of sweat forms.
It's real. She's on the reservation land and something feels very off.
Fortunately, not as off as what her being around a vampire did, but off enough for me to put on my jeans and jacket and get out of bed. I even wear shoes to follow her trek in the early night. I can sense this is probably about drugs. It's always going to be about drugs with her now.
The December chill would cut into my bones if it weren't for the constant heat coming from within me. But I only think of her and how she doesn't have the same protection. I walk faster.
It's a little disturbing how I involuntarily smell the air around me for her scent. It's some sort of mix of strawberries, pine needles, and fresh rain. Ultimately indescribable. But perfect, like every other facet of her already. I conjure fantasies of pressing my nose into her hair and holding her while we stand on the beach.
But an evil thought strikes down the picture-perfect ending I dream of. Edward Cullen undoubtedly loved her smell too. The only difference is that he most certainly had to hold himself back from not devouring her completely. God, I fucking wonder how she trusted him to be around her at all.
There she is. Holding herself as she shivers, the air giving away her ragged breaths. She kicks her red truck in anger, but not enough to really hurt her foot. I narrow my eyes at the scene. A flat tire? Has she been driving while high? If so, she's real goddamn lucky only a tire was hurt.
She notices me before I anticipate she would.
"You again?" She sounds exasperated, yes, but maybe there's just a hint of being impressed in her tone as well.
I clear my throat and keep walking towards her, "Do you have a spare?"
She shrugs, huffs, and refuses to meet my eyes.
When I'm in range, she finally does turn to look at me with a completely pissed-off expression on her pretty face. Yep, she's definitely high. Much more than I've seen her yet.
"What are you doing out here at night, Bella?"
"Fuck off."
Simple and straight to the point, I see.
I sigh, "What are you on?"
"Nothing."
A lie.
I look down at her tire and see she's driven over something pointy. I reach down and pull a nail out. Common enough for the rez, but I suppose no one has told her that. Maybe I ought to if she's compelled to come here so often.
When I look back up at her, she's shivering even worse. It looks like she's been crying. Her whole face is red and puffy. She can't focus her attention on a single thing for longer than two seconds. Something seems very wrong.
"Are you okay?"
She laughs bitterly, "Like it matters to you."
"I promise it does. Tell me."
Bella considers it for a moment: "Xanax."
"What?"
She looks away from me again.
"Are you serious?" I growl.
Another shrug, "I needed something stronger."
I march up to only a foot away from her and keep myself as calm as possible while being firm. She looks back at me with dilated pupils and rapid breathing. "You do not need something stronger. You don't need any chemicals at all, you hear me?"
Bella shakes her head and then sticks a finger in my chest. The first willing contact on her end. My heart wants to leap at it while my mind silently rages.
"You would," she says. "If they were after you."
Oh.
Of course.
I should have seen this coming. I curse myself in my head. She's terrified still. She believes the leech is still out there and after her. And I can do little to confirm that isn't the case. Fuck.
"No," I try slowly and put a hand on her shoulder, "nothing's after you."
Another sad laugh escapes from her lips. Almost like she's gagging on her own spit. "Yeah. Said so and all." She laughs to cover the sob escaping from her. "I'm going to be killed."
I take my jacket off and wrap it around her shoulders. She looks up at me with apprehension, but I hold the fabric onto her so she can absorb some of my lingering body warmth within it. The shivers don't stop though.
"I won't let that happen," I tell her. I look deep into her eyes begging that she forgives me. "I promise. So you don't need drugs, okay? Nothing is gonna happen to you."
Bella hiccups, "They said it would help."
"Who?"
"The guys at the house. When I wanted stronger weed," she laughs at that. "I told them I've got bad anxiety. Eric told me that too."
I raise an eyebrow, "So they gave you Xanax, seriously?"
She nods, "Yup. And they were like 'we can help you with that' and I thought that was super cool. They're like old, but still cool. Like the Cullens."
Her mention of their name makes me angry but I breathe through my nose and hold her when she sways back and forth. She's in absolutely no condition to drive even if her tire wasn't flat.
"Drug dealers are very dangerous, Bella. You should know that," I lecture.
"I do!" she cries. "But it doesn't matter. I'll just die anyway!"
I wrap an arm around her shoulder and turn her away from her car, "Alright, I'm going to take you back to my house. It's not far from here and you'll be a lot safer than out here. Is that alright?"
She nods, "But don't tell Charlie."
"I won't."
We walk slowly because I'm too afraid that if I let go, she'll fall to the ground and won't want to stand up again. The feeling of her beside me soothes the aches inside just a bit. Enough to never want to let go. Enough to be addicted for life. That's what it is, right? I'm in this for life.
When we're in the vicinity of my house, I begin to remember the first night I saw her, held her, walked her back to her house. It feels like forever ago and yesterday all the same. It's not even a memory for her.
"Stop, stop, stop!" She yells. I freeze. She looks out into the darkness with wild eyes.
"She's-" she doesn't continue because she doubles over and cups a hand to her mouth. Too late, she's puking on the ground. A considerable amount.
Something about the vows 'in sickness and in health' ring a bit hollow right now.
I realize in a matter of seconds that she's also been drinking. It's a pungent smell while she's still doubled over. I sigh and move to gather her hair away from her face as she wretches onto the dirt. Focusing on her soft locks on my fingers, I look at the half-moon in the sky instead. It would have been a rather nice night.
She tries to stand back up but wobbles considerably. I hold onto her and steady her posture.
"How much did you drink?" I ask.
"Enough."
Then I remember something I heard a while ago. The realization of it fills me with immediate rage.
"Did those guys tell you to drink too?" I seethe at her.
She looks up at me in shock.
"Because mixing two sedatives is incredibly dangerous, Bella. You can overdose and die. Do you want that?"
Bella shakes her head as if the information is new to her.
"Fuck!" I swear into the forest void. "How could you be so stupid!"
Anger flashes across her features and she pivots away from me, "It doesn't matter!"
"Yes, it fucking does!" I shout. "You'll ruin your life like this."
Something in her snaps. I see it through all the drug and alcohol-induced stupor she's gotten herself into. The anger she radiates resembles the same kind I felt when I first phased, the anger that lurks beneath Paul all the time, and the anger that takes all of the pack members further away from humanity. She loses a piece of her soul at this moment.
"My life is already ruined! I had the one thing I wanted most ripped away from me! As if you know what it's like to be told you aren't good enough!" she yells at me, nearly tripping over the rocks on the ground.
"You think I haven't been told that!" I rage back. "I feel it every day!"
She shakes her head the hardest I've seen her do yet, "No! No! I was going to be fucking perfect! Perfect like them."
I stand back in shock.
She hiccups more while the tears stream down her face, "And, and now I can't be! Ever! They left because I don't deserve it! He didn't love me. No one does."
Bella sobs uncontrollably now. I don't move. I watch her shake in anger, in sadness. I watch because the news of her revelation hasn't fully sunk in yet. How could anyone want...how could she have thought that's all her life meant? To be a monster? Like me.
I swallow the rock in my throat, "No. None of that is true. You are-you're fine the way you are."
She doesn't look up at me as she huddles herself underneath my jacket and cries into the collar. I want to hold her in my arms now. I stand rigid away from her until she composes herself.
"Let me take you into my house, okay?"
"Okay," she whispers. She rubs at her eyes.
I want to hold her hand and walk with her, but I gesture instead to indicate she can walk first. She's a bit more stable now since crying, but I follow closely to look for any signs of a sudden change. When we do reach the door, I look at her to see if she's changed her mind about coming inside. But Bella's face tells me she's too worn out to argue with a shelter presented before her. I hope she knows I wouldn't do anything to her, ever. At the same time, I worry about her lack of apprehension in going into a single male's home. Maybe she's too high to really think about it.
When we're inside she barely takes a moment to look around. To be honest, I'm grateful that she isn't scrutinizing my taste in decor. I can't measure up to the wealth of the Cullens. She finds the beat-up leather couch I own and sits down, silently crying once more.
I'm overwhelmed with the need to comfort her. I walk into the kitchen and curse that I've only got rough paper towels to offer as a tissue. Hopefully, she'll appreciate it anyway.
I sit on the couch next to her, letting our knees touch. She doesn't pull away. It soothes something repressed deep inside of me. I push down the instinct to press my entire body against her. She needs someone who will listen now, not ignore her needs with their own. But I'm just brave enough to scoot closer and instigate more compassionate contact.
"Bella," I say. I brush a piece of hair behind her ear and so very gently cup her face. It's wrong, taking advantage of the opportunity to touch her like this when she's drunk or high or whatever. But every cell in my body is screaming at me that this is right. She deserves to be comforted: "You're okay."
She shakes her head and then so softly it might not be real, leans into my hand. My body ignites.
"I'm going to die," she whispers.
"Everyone is," I counter. Even the bloodsuckers we can't kill. When the sun supernovas they won't make it either. I remember learning that in a college science class. But I refrain from telling her this. "What matters is making the best of life now."
It does feel hypocritical to suggest this to her, especially when I don't ever seem to take this advice, but at the very least I do know it to be true. Maybe with her, maybe, I could feel okay again. But not when she isn't okay. And she definitely isn't now.
"We should get you into bed," I sigh, not wishing to break contact with her. But she's in no state of mind to continue bantering with me.
"Mmm," is all she says back. She closes her eyes and rocks back and forth.
"I'll take care of your car and your dad," I add.
Bella says nothing to this, but her tears stop for the time being.
"You'll have the bed tonight, okay?"
She does nod a bit. I help her stand up and again wrap an arm around her shoulders so that she's steady enough to walk up the stairs. She feels warm and soft to me. Like a home I never thought I had before this moment. All I want to do is surround myself with it. Her needs come first, however.
It's easy to lay her down on the bed I spend every night tossing in. I hope it's comfortable enough for her, but I doubt she's cognizant enough to complain. I roll up the covers and move her into place before putting them back on top of her. She moans so slightly at my efforts. The sound goes straight through my body. I tuck it away in the back of my mind where it will undoubtedly surface again when I'm alone showering.
I know I linger too long looking at her face. It was not the face I imagined I would be so caught up about. For a long time, I dreamed about staring at Leah's face for the rest of my life. Then maybe Emily. It still hurts having those futures taken, but for the first time, I feel as if it was the right move to break it off with them anyway. None of us were ever fully happy with each other. I still feel the guilt of causing them pain, and certainly, the method by which it had to be done, but I can't regret realizing they weren't the one for me. I still don't know why she is. The Gods or the Universe haven't revealed that yet. However, as I listen to her breathing mellow out while wrapped up in my bed, I find I might be able to wait to learn why it is we are destined. If that will ever come.
"Good night, Bella," I whisper. My imprint, I finish in my mind.
A/N: I finished this sooner than I expected, so enjoy! But lol this chapter is only like two scenes XD