A/N: It's Cullen time baby! Just a taste. Enjoy!
Indiana.
I bounce my knee and twiddle my thumbs the entire drive – a mixture of nerves and being anxious. Anxious about what Dr. Cullen knows. Anxious about what kind of secrets Malcolm has.
Of course, it doesn't all belong to me. Paul is rigid in the seat next to me – face forward and posture high. Guarded. He doesn't like this, and I don't blame him. Josie is uneasy in the seat on the other side of me. Not uneasy because she's afraid of the Cullen's, but uneasy because she too is anxious about what secrets Malcolm has.
I think we're both wondering if our time in the shadows is up.
Is Dr. Cullen going to point the spotlight on us?
We come around the corner of the road and Sam slows down. Their house is big. Huge. All windows and angular design with a groomed driveway and front landscape.
It's funny that part of me still wants to believe vampires sleep in coffins. There's nothing coffin-like about this house. It's the exact opposite, actually.
We pull into the gravel driveway next to a shiny Mercedes.
Embry whistles lowly from the passenger seat. "I'd love to take that bad boy for a drive."
Sam kills the engine of Paul's 4Runner and no one moves to get out. He had to drive because Paul can barely relax enough to even hold my hand. I think he's more anxious than Josie and I together.
"Rest of the pack is circling the house. Jacob agreed to keep his guys in line. No fights," Sam says, finally reaching for the door handle.
Jared was angry he got sidelined. Paul was, too. But Sam said as second in command, Jared needed to keep the rest of the pack in check. Keep them alert and on their toes in case anything were to happen.
It still rings in my ears.
If anything were to happen.
What do they think is going to happen?
The way Josie explained it was that the Cullen's don't drink human blood. They feed off animals. Vegetarians, she joked, and that's why they have golden, honey-eyes.
Paul shifts in the seat next to me, his fingers entwined with mine. The tenseness in his body doesn't match the tenderness of his hand. I squeeze my fingers around his a little tighter. A silent question.
It's going to be okay, right?
I promised to stop being afraid. I don't break promises. It has to be okay. It will be okay.
"Let's go," Sam mumbles as someone appears at the front door.
First, a woman with caramel-brown hair and a smooth, pale complexion. Then Dr. Cullen a moment later.
We exit the car and maneuver into an odd, triangular formation. Sam at the front, Paul to the left, Josie and I in the middle, Embry to the right. They're protecting us. They think we need protection and my gut sinks.
Sam stops walking at the base of the steps that lead to the entryway. He's contemplating something, torn in two directions.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Indiana," Dr. Cullen says, voice calm and collected.
Sam already knows Paul wants to say something, so he lifts a hand and stops him before he can. "Jared," he calls out, and a brown wolf comes trotting from the trees.
I hardly see them in wolf form. Just that one evening, on the beach, and Paul again later that night. I almost forgot how monstrously big they are.
Jared's fur is short and thick, and the brown blends into a dark grey mask around his eyes. He has the same, playful eyes as always when he looks at me. I smile and he looks at Sam, waiting for direction.
Sam looks at Dr. Cullen again. "I'm sure you don't mind?"
Dr. Cullen smiles and shakes his head. "Not at all. Please, come in."
Jared waits as we walk by, then moves behind us, his paws crunching in the gravel.
The inside of the house is just as beautiful and extravagant as the outside. It's all polished furniture and shiny surfaces. Jared's nails click against the hardwood floors as we walk to the living room where everyone else is waiting.
I expected there to be more of them. Josie said there are nine members in the Cullen family, but I only count five. Five and Jacob.
Paul scoffs at him. "You wanted me to bring my imprint here but don't trust us enough to have yours around?" he asks bitterly.
"Renesmee is with Alice. Shopping," Jacob replies.
Paul doesn't buy it, but doesn't push. Partly because Sam shot him that glare – that glare that always makes them stop what they're doing.
"Please, have a seat," the woman with the caramel-brown hair says. "Can I get you anything to drink?"
I realize she's talking to Josie and me directly. I shake my head and so does Josie.
"My name is Carlisle. This is my wife, Esme," Dr. Cullen introduces, placing his hands on her shoulders. "This is my son Edward, his wife Bella, and one of my other sons Jasper."
They each nod their heads and smile respectively. Edward has a square jaw and wild, unruly bronze hair. His wife, Bella, is dark features and pretty pale skin. Jasper's hair is shoulder-length, honey blonde waves, and he is the only one out of them all that I can feel.
And he just feels pained.
Pained and defensive, kind of like Paul in these situations. Always waiting for an attack. His arms and neck are littered with bite mark scars. I wonder if they still cause him pain, too.
"They don't," Edward says from his spot on the far side of the room.
I inhale sharply. I forgot, Josie said he can read minds.
He smiles slightly and pulls Bella into his side. She curls against him like a second nature, and it makes me wonder if vampires imprint the way the wolves do. "Something like that," he adds.
"Get out of her fuckin' head," Paul snaps, shielding me from him completely.
"Come on, Paul," Jacob says weakly. "Just hear them out."
Jacob is not Paul's alpha, but his words work.
I feel Paul's hand relax in my grip. He's not trembling anymore. Still guarded, but not trembling, and not nearly as anxious. But then I realize no one is anymore, and it doesn't feel right. There's something artificial about it. My pulse has slowed even though my thoughts are running rampant.
The room seems to suddenly be at ease. Even Jared, who was ready to spring into action, is waiting patiently behind us.
"Well, I suppose we shouldn't waste any time," Dr. Cullen, Carlisle, says, moving across the room to the far couch.
Josie pushes me out of the triangle and we both take a seat on the couch closest to us, the boys swarming around us. Sam and Paul stand to our left again, Embry to our right again, and Jared takes a seat behind us, hooking his chin over the back of the couch.
His breath tickles my ear and I instinctively reach up to pet his snout.
"I suppose my note was rather ominous." Carlisle takes a seat and Esme gracefully sits down next to him. The other three are posted along the wall behind them – Edward and Bella molded together and Jasper with his arms firmly crossed.
There's something about him. I find him the most interesting out of them all – maybe because I can feel him. Everyone else feels like nothing.
My eyes flick to Edward who is watching me, trying to keep a smile at bay.
Josie nudges me. I forgot I was being talked to. I clear my throat. "Note?" I ask.
Paul reluctantly reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper, holding it back for me to take.
It's part of my discharge papers. I never even looked at them.
I unfold it and read the scrawl at the bottom. "Oh," I reply. "That note."
It's a lie, and Edward immediately knows it's a lie. I don't know why I bothered. He's a lie detector, too.
"And I apologize, Sam. Paul," Carlisle nods. "I feel that it is imperative I pass along what I know, and that Indiana hears it directly from me."
I know that sentence should've made Paul raging angry, but he is still calm and collected. It's wrong. It's fake. My brows pull together and I glance around the room. Something is off.
"It's for everyone's safety," Edward says, and I can't help but feel like that has a double meaning.
I look back at Carlisle and wait for him to continue. The jittery, anxious feeling in my body is gone, but I know it's still underlying. I can feel it far away.
"I knew Malcolm a long time ago," he begins, folding over, his elbows resting on his knees. "We spent time together, briefly. As I'm sure you know, our lifestyles don't exactly match."
"I do know," I reply quietly.
"He was, and still is, on a very particular kind of mission."
"What kind of mission?" Paul asks, arms crossing over his chest.
"I'm sure you all remember the Volturi?" Carlisle asks.
Sam, Paul, and Embry all nod in unison. Josie told me a little bit about the Volturi as well. The Vampire Kings. Vampire royalty, tucked away somewhere in Italy. The wolves were preparing for battle with them, sometime before we met in New York, but it never happened.
"They have a profound interest in the arts. All forms. As does Malcolm."
Somewhere beneath the soothing blanket of calm feelings, my stomach rolls because somehow I already know where this is going.
Paul pieces it together quickly. "Human artwork."
Carlisle nods. "Malcolm has his own coven of nearly fifty women."
This catches my interest. Nearly fifty. In the time I spent in the basement in New York, I knew of only a handful of other girls he captured. I rarely ever saw them after they left, but in the off chance that I did, they were always hard marble like him. I used to call it freezing. I guess I really was as naïve as he wanted me to be.
"Fifty others?" My voice barely holds its form.
"It might be redundant of me to say, as I'm sure you already know this, but the women he collects all possess some form of talent or are artistically inclined. And he never lets them remain human for long. How he manages to convince them to stay after, I have no idea. He is one of the most manipulative of our kind that I've ever met."
I can attest to that.
I'm so absorbed in everything he's saying. Some of it I knew, some of it I don't, and some of it I want to hear more about. "What does he do with them after?" I find myself asking, unable to contain my curiosity about the only other person I've known longer than my father or mother.
By the look on his face, my question has unlocked a memory he'd prefer to forget. If he were human, maybe he'd take a deep, wounded breath before his next words.
"It is his mission to be accepted into the Volturi. His coven travels to Volterra periodically throughout the year. They provide…" he trails off, looking cautiously to Paul and Embry, as if he knows whatever he is about to say will affect them the most.
Edward speaks up from behind him. "They provide a… special type of service to the members of the Volturi."
The room falls silent.
Now I know something isn't right, because none of the wolves so much as growl. I want to panic. I want my blood to run cold so that I know I'm not paralyzed. My feelings aren't my own, and everyone else's feelings aren't theirs, either.
Is Carlisle friends with Malcolm? Has he done something to make us all lose our humanity?
"Jasper, stop," Edward instructs, shaking his head slightly.
All at once, everything washes over me.
The anxiousness. The nervousness. The dread. The rage. The fury. The sickness in my stomach.
"You're telling me this sick fuck plays pimp to the vampire lords?" Paul suddenly shouts, shaking. Sam puts his hand on the back of his neck, keeping him grounded, keeping him human. "Puts on a talent show and lets them all fuck them?"
"Paul," Sam warns, and I see his hand tighten on the back of his neck.
Embry is angered, too, to the point of silence. Empty, cold silence. He's better at holding back his emotions than Paul, but only just barely this time.
Desperate to pull them back to us, I reach for Paul's hand and Josie grabs Embry's. Jared is growling behind us, unable to express his emotions in any other way, so I twist and put my free hand on his head, rubbing my fingers into his fur.
"None of us like it any more than you do," Jacob says, which only seems to anger Paul more.
"What happens if they escape?" Paul asks, directing his question at Carlisle. "If they escape, is he ever going to let them go?"
Carlisle ponders for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't believe so. The Volturi don't allow humans to know about our kind. If they found out, Malcolm would lose his rank with them."
Paul turns to Sam. "That's it. I'm getting on a plane tonight." He reaches down for my hand and pulls me to my feet. "Let's go."
"Paul, wait," I urge, tugging back on him as he starts to walk away.
"Draw him here," Bella, who has been silent this entire meeting, suddenly suggests. Her voice is soft and inquisitive.
Everyone's heads turn to her. "Draw him here," she repeats. "We'll help you kill him."
Carlisle stands up and extends his hand to Sam. "You were prepared to fight for our family once. We're prepared to fight for yours."
There's a moment of silence where everyone considers the idea. Sam exchanges looks with Paul, who exchanges them with Jared, who exchanges them with Embry. I glance at Josie because it's what everyone else is doing, and there's a mischievous, triumphant look her in eyes.
Then, almost in slow-motion, Sam turns and clasps his hand with Carlisle's.
The Cullen's have nothing but time to discuss, but Sam wants to speak in private with the pack before making any concrete decisions. He wants to be in charge with the Cullen's as backup – that's the alpha in him. It was hard enough for him to follow their rules for the almost-fight with the Vulturi.
We pile back into the 4Runner with promises to coordinate with them when the wolves have developed a plan.
I want no part in it, but I know I have to have one. I'm going to have to lure Malcolm here like bait and put the entire reservation – and now the town of Forks – at risk.
It makes my stomach hurt.
My free arm is wrapped around it the entire drive home – my other arm entwined with Paul's. There's a flicker of excitement in his eyes now. The thrill of the fight, I think. Embry's got it, too, a little.
Sam doesn't, but I think that's the alpha in him, always controlled and in a position of power.
He calls for a meeting immediately, but I'm tired. So tired. Tired and anxious and still reeling over the fact that I only just narrowly escaped becoming a vampire prostitute. Had it not been for Josie, I probably never would've escaped. Malcolm was all I had, and I've always been afraid to be alone-alone. I know how he makes women feel desperate enough to do anything for him.
Emily's notices my exhaustion the second I walk through the door. She ushers me to the couch, spreading a lounge blanket over my lap. "How did it go?" she asks, taking a seat next to me.
The guys shuffle into the kitchen and I hear the back door open and close a few times.
"They want to draw him here…" My voice sounds empty, tired.
Her feather-light hand rests on my shoulder. "They'll draw him somewhere away from the reservation. Don't worry," she reassures me.
It does make me feel a little better. "Can I hold a baby?" I ask.
She smiles warmly and nods her head. "Of course. I'll get Laci. Liam is nothing but trouble, lately."
I watch her disappear into the nursey – Paul's old room – and when she returns she has little Laci snuggled up in her arms, wearing a cute animal-print onesie. I hold my arms out and Emily hands her to me.
"I'm going to go check on the boys," she lets me know.
Laci watches me with big eyes and I love to get lost in that inquisitive little look of hers. She seems too old for her age with those eyes.
She is a little tired though, and so am I. I move my legs up onto the couch and slide until my head hits the couch pillow, adjusting Laci so she is curled up in the protection of my arm.
If Sam wasn't confident about this plan, he would never allow it, because he would never allow harm to Emily or their babies. It calms my stomach, even if only a little.
Before I know it, I've fallen asleep and am waking up again to Paul maneuvering himself under me. I turn onto my stomach and rest my face against his chest, then jerk up when I realize I completely forgot about Laci.
"She's fine," he murmurs, knowing. "In the crib."
I relax against his body and press my cheek to his chest again. He has no shirt on, as always. His skin feels nice. Warm. I take a deep breath and let my eyes slowly close again. "Do you guys have a plan?" I ask cautiously.
His rough hands slip under my shirt and rub my back in soothing patterns. I shudder under his touch. "We do," he replies vaguely. "Don't worry for tonight. Just sleep."
"We're sleeping here?"
Humming, he continues to rub his hands up and down my skin, fingertips dancing just below the waistband of my pants. "Everyone's sleeping here."
I lift my head again and scan the room, eyes attempting to adjust to the darkness. The living room floor is just a giant pile of blankets and pillows and pack members. I can barely tell who's who, but there's not an inch of available floor space.
Everyone is so calm and serene as they sleep.
I lay my head back down and nuzzle into Paul's chest, smiling. "I love you," I whisper.
His hands slide up my back and then around my waist in a warm hug. "I love you more."
I fall asleep again, peacefully. Even if things are only peaceful for this moment.
A/N: let me know what you think if you have a moment to review! I was chatting with the lovely burnthebook about how we thought Indie and Jasper interacting would be so fun. I didn't put too much of it in this chapter, since this chapter had a very specific purpose, but I might dive into that a little more in another chapter. We'll see!
Anyways, thank you so much for reading! xx!