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"We need to feed," Carlisle admitted to Esme once Bella was asleep. "We all need to. It isn't healthy for us to just sit here like this and not be getting any sustenance."
"We can't leave her!" Rosalie snarled, Edward growling in agreement.
"One, I never said that we had to leave her. Two, she wouldn't be alone if we did because she'd have the wolves-" Rosalie scoffed. "-and Hermione."
"It isn't safe for us to leave," Esme piped up, her black eyes showing her worry for her family. "We're protected in Hermione's wards but once we step out of them, we're going against a Pack on our own."
"I know," Carlie agreed, hugging her comfortingly. "But we'll work around that. We can have a distraction close to the wards and then have a couple leave from another direction."
"We'd be tipping our hand too early," Jasper drawled. "The wards are a secret and should stay a secret until as close to the final confrontation as possible. It would help to get people out, yes, but what about getting back in? They'd be able to find our area limit and run patrols around that."
"I can help," Hermione offered. All of the vampires swung startled gazes to her, unaware that she'd been there the whole time.
"Hermione," Carlisle greeted. "I didn't hear you come down."
She wiggled her wand, grinning. "Silencing spell. Handy for sneaking," she confessed with a shrug. "Jasper's right about the wards; we don't want them to know because they can work it to their advantage. We can head out, like normal, running and then when we get a safe distance away, I can apparate us to where you want to go. I can also apparate us back through the wards."
"Then why don't you apparate us straight out and back in?" Alice asked, tilting her head and grimacing when a vampire's equivalent to a headache appeared. Wolves, witches and hybrid babies weren't helping her visions at all.
"She wants to know what they've got," Jasper commented. "That's handy information to have." When none of his family showed any understanding besides Edward, he rolled his eyes. "She wants to know how many they've got on patrol, where they're running and who they've got."
"Smart," Emmett whistled. "That's why you won the war." Hermione rolled her eyes at the mountain of a vampire and turned her attention back to Carlisle.
"I'd need you to run anyway because I can only apparate to places I've been to before. If you run and I'm with you, then when you hunt, I can apparate back so I'm not risking any temptation and then you can call us and I can come pick you up. It's very simple."
Carlisle nodded. "That sounds great," he admitted. "But what about getting you out. You're a little wolf, you won't be able to keep up and the other Pack aren't afraid of hurting you."
"Which is why I'll disillusion myself and hold on tightly whilst you run. My presence won't be noticed at all."
"Alice?" Esme called. "How does this work out? Can you see?"
"It works out fine if we go through water." Eyes swung back to Hermione and she wiggled her wand again. Did they not realise she had spells for almost everything? Everything except keeping clothes on when shifting, she grumbled internally.
"So we need to decide who goes first," Carlisle said, looking at his family.
"Preferably someone fast," Hermione added. She shrugged when Carlisle looked at her. "I'd rather not risk any bitten limbs.
"Okay. Edward, you need to-"
"No," he cut Carlisle off. "I'm not leaving Bella." Rosalie's face showed her agreement.
"Okay then," he sighed. "Alice, you and me?" She tilted her head before nodding her agreement. "When can we leave, Hermione?"
"Let me just say goodbye to Paul," she said before pausing and chewing her lip. "On second thought, we should go now."
"You not going to tell lover dog?" Emmett asked, smirking.
"What? And tell him, hey baby, yeah I'm going out running with vampires whilst wolves chase us down and then I'm going underwater and all of this will be done whilst I'm human and you're sat back here?" She snorted. "No, thank you. That conversation can wait till you're all fed."
"Where's Hermione?" Leah asked Jacob whilst the pair of them patrolled. Seth and Paul were curled up in a rather adorable doggy pile that the two would tease them for later.
"She's working on some magic," Jacob replied, stopping to peer deeper into the forest as he thought he'd seen another wolf. "She's done enough for us already but..."
"...But she's Hermione and strives for perfection. And her type of perfection is protecting her family to the best of her ability," Leah finished, her wolf sighing.
"Yep," Jacob agreed, popping the 'p'.
"Ready?" Hermione asked, bouncing on her feet slightly. Carlisle smiled, smelling the adrenaline racing through her veins. She may have gone through a war and hated it, as her right, but she was enjoying this feeling. She'd probably feel sick afterwards but he was going to let her have this moment.
"Yeah, we are," Alice answered, speaking for the both of them. "Who's going to hold you and how are we going to do that without alerting them to the face that you're there?"
"A mild sticking charm," she replied, pinning her braid even closer to her head so that it wasn't going to fly around and hit them in the face. "So you need to decide where I'll be easier for you to run and move and then we'll go from there."
"Piggyback?" Carlisle checked. Hermione rolled her eyes, chuckling.
"Don't ask me, ask yourself." He rolled his eyes before turning slightly and motioning to his back. She walked over and hopped onto his back. He used his arms to secure her legs around him in a comfortable position where he knew she wouldn't hinder his movement and she stuck herself, her wand clenched between her fingers so tightly that he was sure it was going to crack.
"Your wand," Alice pointed out. "What if you let go?"
Carlisle sensed her eye roll.
"I'm not going to let go," she argued. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll use a mild sticking charm for that too." Alice giggled in response. "Okay, I'm stuck and invisible. You guys ready to run for your lives?"
Carlisle glanced down at his waist where he felt Hermione's legs and sure enough, they weren't there anymore. He didn't doubt her but even being a vampire and living for as long as he had, magic was still a wonder to him.
"Sure," he sighed, tilting his head to the left and right to loosen up muscles that he didn't need to loosen. "We better get this over and done with."
"Yeah," Alice agreed. "I'm hungry."
"I don't like this," Brady complained, running through the trees at a speed that still amazed him. "It's so quiet."
"Yeah," Collin agreed. "Paul would be giving us shit if he was here. Miss that guy."
"Me too," Brady replied. "But he chose his side and it was against us. He joined the dark side."
"But do you believe that?" Collin asked. "He's just doing what he thinks is right for Hermione. I'd do anything to not face her wrath. She's a scary witch when she wants to be."
"And Sam is a scary Alpha which is why we're with him and not Jacob."
"Do you want to be with Jacob?" Collin questioned tentatively. "We've got more friends over there than here."
"But we don't have a home," he replied. "We should drop this conversation; Sam would kill us if he heard it."
"He's losing it," Collin whispered as if Sam was going to pop up out of nowhere and give them shit for talking about him. "He suggested, and even agreed, about attacking our brothers. That isn't right."
"No," Brady admitted. "It isn't, but we don't have any other choice."
"Of course we do," Collin argued. "Paul, one of Sam's closest buddies turned on him, and he has family here and no home there. Jacob's also rightful Alpha."
"Which means he has more right to being on Quiluete land and running the Pack than Sam does," Brady finished. Brady shook his head. These thoughts were causing too many conflicting emotions; he'd made his decision when the Pack first split and now he's going to have to live with that.
"I'm sure we could leave if we wanted to," Collin commented, seeing his thoughts and where they'd headed. "It doesn't make sense for there to be only one opportunity to leave."
"Hold that thought," Brady interrupted. "I'm smelling... Leech!" Brady growled, his location flashing to Collin who met up with him immediately. "Trail is heading this way."
It didn't take long for them to catch up to the two vampires who held a scent similar to that of a wolf, which they put down to being in close contact with the other Pack.
"There they are," the female said, her voice holding a hint of amusement.
"Fucker," Collin growled, urging himself forward.
"We're not going to get them," Brady pointed out as they drew neared to what they knew to be a huge cliff with water at the bottom. "There is no way we'll be able to catch up and fight without that cliff being a problem."
Collin wasn't listening and pushed himself further. "Shit," he hissed as he skidded to a stop so that he didn't follow the two over the side. "Fucking hell!" he cursed.
"Why would they do that?"
"They're hungry," Brady mentally shrugged. "They've got to eat at some time."
"They've got to come back, too," Collin added. "And the others must be just as hungry, meaning there will be more hunting trips. We'll get someone."
"Woah," Leah gasped, hearing the commotion coming from further in the woods. There was a hell of a lot of snarling and it sounded extremely frustrated. They couldn't be trying to get in the wards because Jacob and Leah were running on the edge of it. Maybe Sam had finally lost the plot?
"Sounds bad," Jacob commented. "Somebody is definitely angry. Be careful."
"Two someones actually," she pointed out. "But will do. Hermione would be pissed if I managed to get myself hurt just because I stepped out for one second to watch Sam get his arse handed to him."
"You don't know it is Sam," Jacob told her.
The growls carried on and Leah slowed down to a stop, pacing on the spot so that she could try and get some idea of what was going on.
"It's like they're fighting something," she said. "Like when we were chasing down that ginger bitch."
"You think a vampire is out there?"
"I love how you didn't say leech," Leah chuckled. "But yeah, the frustrated growls seem to be more frustrated at something else than each other. They're getting quieter so they're definitely being led away."
"They're chasing something," Jacob concluded. "Stay running a patrol, I'll go check with the Cullens and see what's going on and if they've let anyone slip out without telling us."
"Sure," Leah agreed, as she reluctantly dragged herself away from the sounds. It amused her that the other Pack was extremely frustrated; if Sam was there then he was one of those sounds, if he wasn't, and when he found out later, he was going to be even more pissed. Leah chuckled.
"Everything okay?" Jasper asked Jacob, leaning against the side of the house so he didn't have to deal with the overwhelming scent of vampires. He also didn't want Rosalie to complain about the smell never getting out of the furniture.
"We just heard a lot of noises in the forest," Jacob told him. "Wanted to check that everything was okay."
"Jake?" a voice interrupted, and Jake turned to the door, smiling at Hermione. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, 'Mione," he reassured. "We just a lot of growls outside of the wards and it sounded like they were chasing something or someone."
"We're all accounted for," Jasper promised. "Wouldn't risk stepping outside of the wards, not when we don't know what's waiting for us out there."
"Good." Jacob nodded, satisfied. "We don't know what's out there either. It sucks not having them in our head because we can't get a feel of their plans and who's where."
"Everything will be okay," Hermione vowed. "I know it."