AN: Sorry for the late upload! things were hectic yesterday! hope you enjoy!
Chapter 13
Training the Dogs
Bella's POV
February, 15th, 2003
"How can you not remember the Blacks, girls?" Charlie asked cheerfully, turning back to us. "We used to have dinners together all the time!"
And we were all smiles again, not a challenging glare in sight.
"Sorry, Dad." Alice shrugged innocently. "Our memories aren't that good."
He leaned down and stage whispered to Billy, "Tell that to someone who crossed her."
Billy and Jacob laughed as we glared at them playfully.
"Are you the ones who make that amazing fish fry?" Rose asked easily. She was staring Jacob down, willing him into submission with just her stare.
Billy laughed just as easily. "No, that'd be the Clearwaters. Though I do make some mean steak."
"C'mon Bella," Charlie grinned. "You gotta at least remember Jake. Remember, he threw a mud pie at Alice and made her cry, so you kneed him in the groin, saying 'you make my sister cry, i'll make you cry'," Charlie quoted, grinning wildly,
Jacob blushed furiously, glaring at the two adults who somehow seem to turn into highschoolers whenever they're around each other. Rose smirked, clearly having won their stare down.
"Oh yeah!" I snapped my fingers as she 'remembered'. "Sue Clearwater came running because she thought one of us girls were wailing, but it was just Jacob." Everyone bar Jacob laughed at that.
"Dad, will you stop telling that story everywhere we go?" Jacob practically whined.
"No."
I had to remind myself it was not appropriate to cackle at another's misfortune, at least within Charlie's hearing.
Charlie snickered at the long suffering look on Jacob's face. "Right, well, I smell pizza. Did you girls order in?"
We smiled again. "Nope, we have a surprise for you, Dad!"
Billy smiled. "Well we bought a surprise of our own," he said, gesturing to the plastic bag I hadn't noticed Jacob was carrying. "Harry Clearwater's homemade fish fry! Brought enough over so you could have it for dinner tonight, Charlie," he said proudly.
I felt like glaring at him.
"But we already made dinner!" Alice nearly wailed, then slapped her hand over her mouth as if she hadn't meant to say that, but I knew better.
She was prepared to guilt Charlie into going along with our original plans if she had to. We all were. Because as much as we'd added the theatrics to this whole thing, we really did want to spend more time with him.
"It was supposed to be a surprise." I sighed, walking towards the living room. "Follow me." Alice and Rose immediately did so, closely followed by the boys.
As soon as the boys walked into the living room with their eyes widened at the spread. "We spent the last two hours making all this for you, Dad. We know how much you miss your dinner and game nights. We bought a new coffee table too so we can all enjoy it as a family. Even though we really don't like sports—we'll just have fun spending time with you," Rose said quietly.
I smiled softly. She was laying it on a bit thick, but I knew, underneath all that she really did want to spend time with him. She barely had any memories of our mother and certainly none of our father, and since then Charlie was the only decent parent she'd really had. So I didn't fault her for laying it on thick.
But it obviously seemed to work as there was a suspicious shine in Charlie's eyes. He blinked it away quickly and looked down for a moment before he raised his head, smiling. "Thanks, girls. This– this really means a lot to me, that you did all this," he said with a small smile.
"Do you mind if Billy and Jacob join us?" he asked, and there was so much hope in his eyes that I sighed internally.
"Of course." I smiled at him. I couldn't say no to those puppy dog eyes.
He beamed brightly. "How'd you have time to cook all this? And is that a new coffee table?"
"We ordered it online. I hope you don't mind," Alice asked almost shyly. "We still have the old one in the shed if you want it back."
"You want to know if I'm okay with swapping a beat up old coffee table for a nice new shiny one?" Charlie threw his arm around Alice's shoulders and pressed a kiss to her head. "I don't mind at all, sweetheart. It's your house too."
"It looks heavy," Jacob remarked with faux innocence, stepping closer. "How'd you girls get it in?"
I narrowed my eyes at him behind Charlie's back and smiled as I said, "Jasper and Emmett Cullen helped."
He scowled, turning away when Charlie turned to me. "That was nice of them." Charlie sent me a look that made me roll my eyes. "You three are becoming pretty friendly with those Cullen boys."
I raised an eyebrow at him and he held up his hands cheerfully in surrender. I couldn't help but smile, even as I shook my head at him.
"The Cullens?" Billy questioned, a suspicious note in his voice.
Charlie sighed, his amusement gone suddenly as he scrubbed his hand over his face. "Don't start," he muttered before turning to us. "Girls, why don't you go upstairs and get cleaned up for dinner. I'm sure we can add the fish fry to the delicious meal you—" he stopped, suddenly distracted. "Are those your famous loaded nachos?"
I grinned. "Yep. Fresh out of the pot too. We'll be back in a minute!"
We raced up the stairs and I heard a light smacking sound, followed by Charlie's voice: "Don't touch those nachos, boy. I get the first chip. Besides, Bella will cut off your hands if you start eating without them."
Jacob grumbled something too quiet for me to hear.
"It's a sad day when people are more scared of your daughters than they are of you, isn't it, Chief?" Billy taunted easily.
Charlie snorted. "Of course not. Crime's gone way down since they arrived. Now all I have to worry about is them destroying the town."
"I'll tell Bella you said that," Billy joked.
"Hey now, there's no reason to be cruel."
~Scene~
I placed the headache medication on Alice's desk, knowing she'd run out yesterday, and quickly left her room. Heading for the stairs, I stopped when I heard Charlie and Billy quite obviously having an argument.
"Look, I know how you feel about them but the Cullens are good people! Sure, Bella doesn't get along with them all too well but she's never really been one for socialising. And the girls are finally making friends outside of each other. This is good for them," Charlie insisted.
"Maybe that's how you see it, but to me it looks like the girls are abandoning Bella," Billy said harshly.
A pang shot through my chest and a small part of me agreed with Billy. I squashed it down ruthlessly. My ridiculous insecurities didn't matter. I was determined that my sisters would be happy in this life, and if the Cullen boys made them happy, then dammit they would have the Cullen boys.
"That's ridiculous!" Charlie hissed.
"Is it? Have you asked Bella how she feels about it? Because from where I'm sitting it looks like Bella's been left all alone while her sister's spend more and more time with those boys. And who does Bella spend time with if not her sisters?" Billy pressed. "If they start spending more time with the boys, who's she gonna spend her time with?"
I narrowed my eyes at the implication. Who did he want me to hang with? Mortals? I screwed up my nose. Even the thought disgusted me.
Before Charlie could reply the door slammed open and Jacob came in. "There's no picture of Rebecca in that truck anywhere," Jacob said, sounding like he knew exactly why Billy had sent him on the fruitless search.
"Must've left it at home then," Billy said smoothly.
I quickly made some noise and walked down the rest of the steps.
"Billy, since you invaded my lovely game night dinner you can come and help me grab an extra set of things for you and Jacob," I said sweetly.
"Of course, Bella."
He followed me into the kitchen and as soon as we were alone, I threw up a privacy ward. I handed him the extra cups and plates and leaned against the counter with my arms crossed. "Butt out of my family's personal business, Billy."
"Excuse me?" He glanced up at me and then out to where everyone was waiting.
"No one can hear us past my wards." I tilted my head. "Now, since you're making the same insinuations as the mutts did early, I can only assume they're yours?"
His jaw tightened but he didn't argue. I nodded. "I thought so. Now, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, since Charlie treats you like family, and assume the dogs just didn't get to tell you before you left." I leaned closer, eyes serious. "Back off. My sisters and I can handle ourselves."
He sat back, watching me with steady eyes. "They're more dangerous than you think," he said after a minute.
"Because they're vampires?" I asked and he nodded stiffly. I smiled slightly, violet bleeding into my eyes. "And what makes you think we're any nicer?"
"What are you?" he asked, wariness settling into his eyes and I pushed myself off the counter.
"You're about to find out," I said calmly as I patted his shoulder. I placed the things I had gathered onto Billy's lap before walking out of the kitchen, taking down the wards as I did so.
I smiled at Charlie and Jacob sitting on the couch flipping through channels looking for a game to put on, and arguing over it.
"I'll go see what's keeping Ali and Rose, Dad," I said as I headed up the stairs.
It looked like the wolves didn't believe we could handle ourselves, so it was high time we gave them a little demonstration.
Alice and Rose were sitting on my bed doing each other's hair. "Should I get out my diamonds and silk gloves," I joked. "Are we going extra fancy for dinner tonight?"
Alice laughed and Rose cracked a smile. Alice finished off Rose's braid before turning to me.
"No," I said immediately.
"You're no fun." she pouted, knowing exactly how quickly I always caved, and I sighed heavily, plopping down beside them.
"Fine, but only because we have to scheme and I need a good excuse," I said. "Keep it simple though. I don't want it to feel uncomfortable when I fall on the floor."
It was a testament to how often I came up with schemes that they only shot me a curious look. Alice simply began brushing my hair, contemplating how she would style it.
"So what's this scheme of yours?" Rose asked as she lay down on my bed.
"Jacob is definitely one of the mutts, but I think they're all Billy's," I started. "I overheard Billy trying to warn Dad off from letting you two hang out with the boys."
I closed my eyes at the feeling of Alice combing my hair. It wasn't something I usually got to experience, and it was lovely.
My sisters hissed in displeasure at the idea of not seeing the Cullen boys again. The small part of me that had agree with Billy twinged again. Sometimes it really did feel like my sisters were drifting away. I took a deep calming breath; thoughts like that were of no use to me. "So I thought we could show Billy a taste of what we can do if he crosses us."
Rose sat up, eyes lighting up in delight like she could tell where I was going with this.
"Wouldn't it be a shame if Harry's homemade fish fry just happened to be cod?" I asked casually. "The one thing I'm terribly allergic to?"
My sisters grinned manically.
"I love it!" Rosale dropped back on the bed with a smirk. "Oh, it would be such a shame if one meal was all it took to sever Billy's friendship with Charlie."
"All because of a simple allergy." Alice giggled. "He won't know what hit him."
A few minutes later—after we had finalised our plan and Alice finished setting my hair in a simple plait—we ventured downstairs.
"Can we eat now?" Jacob complained the moment he saw us.
I laughed lightly, "Of course! Dig in!" I locked eyes with Billy, my eyes flashing violet slightly. "We want this to be an extra special meal."
Jacob caught it and started, though Charlie had missed it as he went straight for the nachos, putting a heaping portion on his plate.
~Scene~
A half an hour in, I tilted my head to the side slightly as if I were quickly stretching my neck. Alice took the cue and reached for the fish fry. "Let's have this now, Dad—we don't want it to cool down too much."
Alice had put the fish fry on a warming plate and had shut it off half an hour ago. "Right you are, Ali," Charlie said happily.
As Alice served each piece of fish she cast a spell on them that would make it taste exactly like cod. Rose kept Charlie busy with conversation about things that had been happening at school so he wouldn't see Alice's eyes flashing with each spell.
It was a spell often used by mothers in our day to make beets and other vegetables more palatable to fussy children, changing the flavour to the child's preferred food. It was quite simple, and frankly perfect for our needs at the moment.
Rose passed Charlie the tarter sauce just as Alice placed a piece of fish on my plate. I calmly cut off a piece and speared it with my fork. This part of the plan wasn't going to be as fun, but I could handle it for a little while. Alice cut a piece of her fish off as well, ready to sound the alarm. I popped the piece of fish into my mouth. Except, before Alice could eat her piece, Charlie took a bite himself.
It was too perfect—we couldn't have planned it better. As soon as Charlie tasted the fish his face went blank and then panic set in. He lunged across the table, hitting my plate away. "Bella—spit that out! It's cod!" Rose quickly cast the spell to make the rash appear in a few moments with a subtle wave of her hand.
I made a show of spitting the fish out in alarm.
Right on cue, a rash appeared around my lips. I started coughing harshly, clutching my throat as I could feel it closing up. As expected, everyone was running about like I was dying. Which I would have been if this reaction hadn't been entirely faked and planned.
And while it did feel real, I wasn't about to die. The spell was a type of tangible illusion that looked and felt real, but was designed to wear off in a few minutes—which was enough time for Alice to grab a fake EpiPen and 'jab it' into my leg, thus 'saving me'. At most I was going to have a sore throat. And while it hurt like a bitch, it would be ample warning for the mutts to back off.
As planned, Rose jumped up yelling, "Alice! Get her EpiPen! She can't breathe!" I wasn't even faking when I leaned against the table, heaving for breath. Alice raced upstairs for the fake EpiPen we put on her bed and raced back down. She dropped beside me and pretended to inject me in the thigh.
After a few moments I began coughing roughly and gasping a bit. Charlie was beside me in an instant with a glass of water. I swallowed it down gratefully; the coughing had irritated my throat. As soon as he saw that I wasn't about to die, he whirled on Billy.
"What the hell, Billy! You know—everybody in Forks knows Bella's allergic to cod!" he yelled, his face reddening.
I managed to send Billy a little smirk over Charlie's shoulder, before coughing again. Now he knew what we were capable of and what we were prepared to do. Billy didn't look at me as he tried to tell Charlie it had been an accident, but Jacob stood behind him, watching me with tight eyes.
"Come on, Bella, come sit on the couch. We'll clean all this up," Rose said softly as she and Alice helped me up to sit on the couch.
Before Charlie could explode at Billy, I laid a hand on his arm. "Dad, it's okay. I'm fine," I said softly.
"No! It sure as hell is not okay! Bella could have died, Billy! Do you get that? She could have died!" Charlie said angrily.
Billy held up his hands and looked at me, an apology—though strained—was clear on his face. "I'm sorry, Bella." He looked me in the eyes and I could see he wasn't apologising for the fish incident, but for crossing the line with his multiple warnings about the Cullens. "I'm sorry."
Though I doubted he would have been at all sorry had we not put on our little performance tonight.
He turned back to Charlie. "I thought it was trout, Charlie, I swear. You know I wouldn't do anything to your girls—you're family to me."
Charlie was still fuming, but didn't seem so inclined to yell anymore. "Dad, it's okay," I said from the couch. "Maybe the fish got mixed up in the cooking and Harry just thought he'd added trout."
Charlie took a deep breath, "Alice, Rosalie: take Bella up to bed. Billy, I think it's time for you and Jake to leave," he said coldly, but his voice did return to a normal decibel.
As we were walking up the stairs I decided to pay the mutts a little visit tonight.
~Scene~
February, 16th, 2003
Later that night, at half past two in the morning, I quietly slipped out of my bed and silently walked over to my window. Listening for a moment to make sure no one had heard me I slowly opened it.
After listening for another moment I climbed out of my window and lept silently, catching a tree branch with my arms. Breathing quietly, I placed my foot on a lower, thicker branch before fully jumping down onto it. I continued on, leaping to another lower branch before jumping to the ground and landing with a soft thud.
Without wasting any more time I swiftly made my way over to the tree line. I wasn't sure how long the trip would take, but I was hoping to be back by five. Even though tomorrow was a weekend I didn't like to sleep in. I had been waking up at seven in the morning since I was twelve in our first life, and had continued the habit in this life, even before we had gotten our memories back.
As soon as I was within the tree line I reached out towards the earth with my magic—something that always reminded me of Mother Aquila. I could still hear her voice in my head when she taught me to feel the earth's magic:
"Remember Bella, the earth is alive, the earth is our home. Mother Earth surrounds us in her warm embrace every single day. You already know what her magic feels like, you just need to recognise it within yourself."
The familiar sensation of earth magic connecting with mine always made me feel whole. I breathed deeply and focused on my intent. After a minute vines wound off the trees and lifted me into the air. I laid down across them, as if relaxing on my bed, and closed my eyes. The vines shifted, carrying me swiftly through the forest as I directed them towards the reservation of La Push.
"The earth is always more than happy to provide for you, so long as you respect it. Ask, never demand. After all, earth magic was the first form of magic the gods created when they formed this world."
I smiled faintly and simply enjoyed the experience, appreciating the cool breeze that blew across my face and the chance to unwind.
Before I knew it the vines had placed me back down. I opened my eyes and looked around to see that I was just inside of the treeline of the reservation. I saw the Black's house a little ways away and smiled. Time to have a bit of a chat with Billy Black.
I walked up to the house and knocked on the door loudly. A few minutes later Jacob opened the door. As soon as he saw me, he scowled. "What do you want?" he asked, clearly irritated.
"Ah, temper, temper—you want to be careful with that. You wouldn't want your asshole to suddenly develop a suspicious rash, now would you?" I held my hands behind my back, rocking on my feet with a sweet smile on my face. "I'd like a word with your father, if you don't mind. Just wanted to make sure he understood my little message earlier."
"Why should I let you speak to him after that shit you pulled? He and Charlie have been friends for thirty years! And you almost ruined it for what? A warning?" he snapped.
I smirked lazily. "First, no one 'lets' me do anything. Second, if you recall, my sisters and I were perfectly hospitable until your father decided to ignore the warning we gave his mutts today. Had he stayed in his place and not stuck his nose in our business, we would have all had a perfectly lovely dinner. And yes, I did enjoy almost ruining our fathers' friendship; it's a clear marker that Charlie's loyalty will always lay with my sisters and I," I lied smoothly.
It really had made me uncomfortable to see the fury Charlie had had on his face at his best friend. I hadn't expected him to be so furious—mad yes, but not spitting. But I also knew that if they knew how much I cared, then it would be just another thing they could use against me.
"Jacob? Who's at the door?" Billy called out from inside the house.
"Satan." Jacob narrowed his eyes at me.
"Unlike your devil, I am very much in front of you." My eyes flashed violet as I grinned and leaned forward. "I won't warn you again to curb your tongue, dog."
Billy wheeled himself to the door and frowned. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Haven't you done enough damage for one night?"
I clutched my heart in mock pain. "Ouch! You wound me, Billy. I thought for sure by now we'd be fast friends." that I occasionally stab, I thought viciously.
They both scowled at me and I smirked. "I'm here to ensure my message was received. After all, your mutts didn't seem to understand us earlier, so I thought you might be hard of hearing too." I shrugged. "Plus, it would be awfully inconvenient to have to kill you and your mutts."
I was bluffing. As irritating as they were, they were still Hekate's creatures, and no witch would kill one of her creatures without good reason. And I very much doubted 'because they annoyed me' was a good enough reason. But these dogs didn't seem to know a thing about witches, so I was going to use their ignorance against them.
"You're an evil devil's child—message received," Billy grunted and I sighed in exasperation.
"Enough with the devil talk! I don't believe your bullshit, and I'm not actually evil—I just take offence when people cross me." I heard a snort from inside the house and peered around Jacob's bulky figure.
There in the living room sat five topless men, one of them being the alpha from earlier. Ah good, these must be the mutts. I can deal with them all at once. "Oh, sorry—didn't realise I was interrupting something." I raised an eyebrow at Jacob. "I didn't realise you swung that way, Jacob—top or bottom?"
Jacob reddened and spluttered while three of the guys inside spit out the drinks they had.
"I'm not— this isn't—"
"I don't actually care." I held up my hand to halt any ramblings of denial.
Billy cleared his throat. "Bella, would you like to come in? Maybe clear the air."
"Sure, but I'll say this now, any mentions of me being a devil's child or going to hell, and you'll find vines and roots overrunning the rez," I warned.
Billy nodded sharply, and both he and Jacob moved to the side to let me in.
Crossing the threshold, I threw up a protection ward around me. I still had my charms against attacks, but I'd never fought a shapeshifter before so I didn't know how effective they'd be. Plus, it was better to be safe than sorry when wandering into the literal den of angry wolves.
I casually walked towards the couch and plopped myself next to one of the younger looking wolves. I pulled the ward closer to my body and grinned lazily. "Now, I hope you didn't invite me in here to join whatever shirtless fun you're all enjoying, because none of you are my type."
I didn't care for these mutts, but I had learned a long time ago that pretending to be at least semi-friendly often disarmed your enemies—or, in this case, a pack of annoying puppies.
The pup next to me grinned wildly while the others around him scowled. So maybe I have one fan here already. Interesting… Their ancestors were definitely rolling in their graves right now.
I had learned the Quileute legends one summer when we'd come to visit Charlie. Pretending to be a simple child had its uses when gaining information. Adults would tell you whatever you wanted to know, just to show off their intelligence, all for a few simple compliments to their idiotic egos.
"Alrighty, so to make this brief I'm going to answer the questions I know you have bouncing around in your empty heads. First and foremost, I don't give a flying fuck about the Cullens." I titled my head. "No. That's a lie. If Carlilse was on fire I'd roast marshmallows and press play on his worst memories—just for shits and giggles. Edward too, for that matter."
I settled back into the couch. "That being said, I will not stop my sisters from seeing the other two. Frankly, they are more than old enough to make decisions for themselves and to bury anyone who thinks about hurting them.
"Secondly, It's none of your damned business." I held up a finger when one of the mutts started to argue. "And before you start pedalling that bullshit about being created to protect the people of Forks from vampires, just know that I'm not going to fall for it. And if you actually believe that load of shit, then you are either stupid, or you don't know your own legends."
"Hey now!" One of the puppies rose from his seat, anger coming off him in waves. "What do you know!"
"Oh shush!" I waved him back to his seat, putting only a tiny bit of magic to push him back into it. "Your legends clearly say the first wolf shifter, Chief Taha Aki, changed to protect his tribe from one of its own banished members, Utlapa, who stole Chief Taha Aki's body. Your shifters then went on to protect your tribe for three generations before you even encountered your first vampire."
Billy narrowed his eyes at me. "You were too young to remember those campfire stories when you were a kid—so how do you know this?"
"Kids remember more than you expect." I narrowed my eyes at him. He was right though. An ordinary seven year old wouldn't have remembered a simple campfire story in so much detail, but by that point my nineteen year old brain had been put into my seven year old body. So remembering it had been child's play. Pun intended.
"Now, don't even get me started on how ill-equipped you wolves are to actually deal with vampire's—particularly ones with extra abilities," I continued, getting deeper into my rant. "If you fought them one on one you would lose—your own legends confirm this. To even stand a chance at winning, you need to vastly outnumber them.
"And before you say Taha Aki killed the cold woman by himself, he only bested her due to the third wife's sacrifice." I scowled at all of them. "And can I just say that it's fucking shameful that your people allowed her name to be forgotten. She literally saved your whole damn tribe by sacrificing herself and you honour her by forgetting her name?" I may not have been tolerant of humans, but the treatment of women through human history made me want to rip off heads.
"And—" I was getting worked up now. "—you are at a disadvantage in your own land. Any vampire could easily go and sit up in a tree that's too high for you. Then just watch you tire yourselves out, or worse—grab you mid-jump and snap your necks."
I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "You are right about being protectors of some sort, though," I admitted. "I can feel it in your magic." The last part was a complete lie. I could tell they were natural beings, but anything else was utter bullshit. I was making an educated guess that they really were shapeshifters based on those in Britain. Grandmother Elizabeth had an entire chapter in the grimoire about them.
The wolves still looked gobsmacked. Finally the alpha from earlier—Sam—seemed to gain his bearings. "Let's say you're telling the truth—" I rolled my eyes "—it still doesn't change the fact that the Cullens are dangerous," he said firmly.
"So is a fucking toaster if you jab a fork in it, you numpty."
"Wait!" Jacob interjected. "If we're not meant to kill vampires then why do they cause us to shift, huh?" he said smugly like he'd just cracked the mystery wide open. I gave an aggravated sigh.
"You're intellectually challenged, aren't you? You don't change because of vampires, you change because of danger. And I can offer irrefutable proof," I said, bluffing.
Really I was just guessing here, based on their history and their obvious disadvantages.
'What proof?" Sam once again took charge, eyeing me like I'd just said I had a bomb in my pocket.
"Tell me this: how long ago did the last of you change?" I asked, praying I was right and it had been enough time.
"A year ago—Jacob was the last to shift," he answered slowly. "Why?"
"And no one showed any signs of shifting between Jacob's first shift and about a month ago, correct?"
"Yes…"
"But some are now," I said with a growing confidence. "I don't know who or how many, but I can guarantee you that since my sisters and I have arrived—one month ago—you've noticed some who are going to shift, or already started their changes." I grinned at their silence. "I'm right aren't I?"
"What's your point?" Jacob asked, his jaw clenched. The rest of the wolves were tense as they glowered for me—except for the pup beside me. He just looked lost.
"Seriously?" My grin dropped. "Is your stupidity natural, or do you lot practice? My sister's and I are causing the new future wolves to shift because your inherent magic recognizes that we are a threat. Frankly, the reason more of you haven't changed is just because, by some coincidence, you haven't run into any other supernatural beings until now," I explained, utterly frustrated with the lot of them.
Seriously! It was like they shared a braincell and had fucking left it at home.
They all glanced at each other; their minds furiously trying to process the information I'd just shared. As I waited, I contemplated telling them what I had found out about the Cullens' pasts. I wasn't here to advocate on behalf of the Cullens, but if it stopped the wolves from getting in our way, then so be it.
It had taken quite a bit of non-magical work, but with the girls spending so much time with their boy toys, I had plenty of time to snoop. And they seemed the type to be bowled over by a sob story, so perhaps Esme's would work.
The mutts were still processing what I had to say. I didn't really hold that against them. If someone had come and challenged everything I thought I knew about my existence, I'd be at a loss for words as well. Plus, they were a few braincells short of a third-grader.
Finally, after waiting three lifetimes, I couldn't take it anymore. "All that aside, you are aware that very few vampires actually choose to be changed right?" I leaned back on the couch, one leg crossed over the other. That was a fact that I had recently learned from the previously unexplored parts of our grimoire.
"What do you mean?" the pup next to me asked, even as the rest of the wolves just scowled.
"Just what I said; most of them don't get a choice. But the majority of them use the second chance to live a better life. In their eyes at least." I glanced around at the wolves. "Take Esme Cullen for example. You probably don't know this because you were too busy being prejudiced, but before she was turned, she was married to an abusive husband.
"She fled after finding out she was pregnant—she didn't want a child to grow up around that abuse, but her husband followed her anyway." This was part that I didn't need research for. Escaping that kind of abuse was a torture of its own making. I knew it firsthand.
"As far as I could find he'd never succeeded, and she ended up giving birth to a baby boy. But ended up dying three days later due to complications. Esme then threw herself off a cliff, and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital." I glanced around at the wolves to see them all staring at me with wide eyes. Even the angriest of them seemed to be caught up in the story. The pup beside me was practically on the edge of his seat.
"Except her heart was still beating," I continued. "Carlisle found her in the morgue, barely a heartbeat left in her and he changed her to save her life." I really didn't know if that last part had happened, but it made for a good story ending.
"But of course you didn't know that. You were perfectly happy to continue the simple minded belief of 'Vampire bad, Shapeshifter good', when that is most certainly not the case," I explained calmly, but still exasperated.
"How do you know that?" Sam asked suspiciously, and just like that the wolves were back to their suspicions.
I rolled my eyes. "It's not hard to find the information. There were old articles about Esme Platt—her maiden name, in case you were wondering—her marriage, her skipping out on her husband after a doctor confirmed she was with child. As well as recently discovered documents by a group who used to help women escape abusive situations in the 1920's—confirming her stay in one of their safe havens. Then the paper announced the death of a newborn boy William Platt months later. Last but not least was the death announcement of Esme Platt who was pronounced D.O.A. after being recovered from the base of a cliff."
The wolves stood there stunned for a second.
"You keep saying shapeshifter—" the wolf next to Sam asked, clearly changing the subject, "—what makes you think that we're not werewolves?" The other wolves started nodding along. "And I'm still not convinced that the Cullens aren't our natural enemies—I mean if they aren't then why is their venom so poisonous to us?" The others perked up as if this justified all of their beliefs.
I pinched the bride of my nose and took a deep breath before pinning them all with my best mom glare; they all instantly looked a bit sheepish. "You lot made your teachers pull out their hair, didn't you? First and foremost I know you aren't werewolves because I have actually encountered a werewolf before."
That was a bald-faced lie. I had never been within ten feet of a true child of the moon, but Mother Aquila had, and I still remembered her stories about the encounter.
"It was back in Phoenix, and I had been out at midnight collecting full moon water. Luckily, I had been wearing my protection pendant because it shocked the wolf viciously when he attacked me; he didn't stop spasming for over a minute, which gave me time to contain him within a ward. After all, we were close to the city and it would've been terribly inconvenient if a wolf outbreak were to happen. Because then the Lycan—that's the werewolf ruling body—would have had to intervene, unnecessarily disrupting our lives.
"Up until that point I had never seen a real werewolf. The next morning I went back to release him—along with a silver dagger, just in case he'd gone completely feral. Because feral werewolves are a threat to our existence." I looked pointedly at them all. "When a werewolf goes feral, they lose every shred of humanity and conscious thought.
"Anyway, this wolf was a young man—thankfully not feral—and it was his third moon. He had been bitten by a female wolf when he had accidentally gotten too close to her den where her cubs were. Honestly he was lucky to be alive." I rolled my eyes at his stupidity.
"And of course with no alpha, he'd taken the chance and run. And that's how he came to the pond. He had smelled the water and his inner wolf had wanted to play in it of all things." I rolled my eyes and the mutts snickered. "I released him from the ward and by that point the female wolf and her mate had found us and took him into their pack."
"As for vampire's venom—it's fucking venom. If you were bit by a saw scaled viper or stung by an Australian Box Jellyfish, you'd probably fucking die as well. So would I for that matter, but you don't see me declaring them my natural born enemies." Honestly, critical thinking wasn't a hard concept but these wolves made it look like a herculean effort.
The mutts looked disgruntled at that—too bad for them if they didn't like the truth.
"Will you stop calling us idiots?" Jacob snapped.
"No."
"Why the hell not?" he growled.
"I don't want to." I shrugged.
"Enough, Jacob," Sam commanded before turning towards me. "I would like to suggest we make a treaty similar to the one we have with the Cullens. We won't intervene in your lives, as long as you don't use your…abilities to harm the citizens—"
I cut him off. "Yeah, that's not going to work. My sisters and I answer to no one except the Covenant, and that's the way it's going to stay. It's impossible anyway. My kind never makes deals without enforcing it through our magic. And my sisters and I can't sign a treaty as a group unless we form a coven—which is only permitted when each member reaches their maturity," I informed.
That wasn't technically true, but I was tired of dealing with these dogs. I wanted to go home.
"Coven? Are you planning to become a vampire?" I could practically see all their hackles raising as the wolf next to Jacob leaned forward, "Because the treaty says—"
"Hekate almighty! Do you all give up your fucking brains when you shift? Vampires are not the only supernatural beings who use the term coven!" I exploded in exasperation.
"Witches…" the pup next to me breathed.
I smiled in relief. "Thank Circe! At least one of you has a brain!" I stood up, dusting off my pants. "Now, if we're done here…"
"I say we keep her here until she signs a treaty like the one we have with the leeches," the angry wolf growled as he stood to block my path.
I snorted, smirking slightly. "Oh lassie, did you forget what happened earlier? You practically live within a forest. You'll lose before you can say 'woof'." I tilted my head, smirk dropping away, eyes bleeding a dark violet. "You have no idea the power I am capable of. Now get out of my way, dog."
Sam firmly pushed the growling hothead back into his seat. "Paul, enough!"
Billy took that moment to step in. "Now, now, there will be no fighting in here. Paul, I only just fixed the last hole you put in my wall." He turned to me. "You have yourself a good night, Bella," he said, clearly wanting to separate me from the furious mutt.
"And you, Billy," I said sweetly. "And don't concern yourself with what happened earlier tonight. Charlie may obsessively check every piece of fish he brings home for the next few months, but by morning he'll have calmed down significantly, and then I'll remind him you picked up the fish fry after it had been battered and cooked," I offered.
Billy nodded once. I turned to leave when I felt a hot hand clamp down on my wrist for a second before my ward flared in protection. In less than a second the hand released me as its owner released a painful howl. I glanced back at the idiot on the floor—of course it was Paul—who was cradling his arm now covered in burns.
"That stunt just won you first prize in the world's biggest idiot contest. I don't suggest a repeat performance," I drawled rolling my eyes before walking out of the house. "Sleep well, puppies."