Chapter Thirteen: A Fire Kindled Within

Bella's POV:

I stared, openmouthed at Edward. Alice was already moving on, her eyes glazing over as she read the future.

"She's his what?" I exclaimed, my voice sounding loud even though I contained it to a whisper. I was sure, though, that everyone in the room had still heard me.

Edward just smiled at me. "Leah and Rye are imprints of each other."

I felt a big smile grow on my face. I didn't know that I could be so happy for Leah, but I surprised myself by feeling elated. Leah had found her soul mate! I was so happy for her, and was excited to see what would happen when she woke up again.

Then I realized… Rye didn't want to be seen. I briefly wondered how he would manage to pull off staying hidden behind the curtain. But this thought was overridden by an instinctive need to help Leah realize that she was sitting right next to him! I knew firsthand that the pain she was going through was no joke, and that the only way to heal was to be with her mate/imprint.

I originally thought about just telling her when she woke up, but then I felt like Rye would be terrified. Not to mention that he had specifically asked Edward and the rest of us to keep a dividing curtain up, for the reason that she might not know he was here. It wasn't my place to betray his trust like that, but… imprint…

I would have to think on the best way to approach that. I knew I didn't have much time, Leah was just exhausted. That gave me about ten or so hours before she would wake up. I had the strangest impression that the solution to the problem at hand was relatively simple, and straightforward, and didn't need to be a whole complicated 'thing'.

Anyways, the dividing curtain was up, and Esme came back with the glass of water and a straw. She sat down next to Rye's bedside, and placed the end of the straw in his mouth gently. Rye looked over at her as he gingerly sucked at the straw.

Edward didn't look up from what he was doing, but he translated for Rye. "He doesn't want to inconvenience you, Esme," he said, the corners of his handsome mouth quirking upwards.

"It's no trouble at all, dear, I have all the time in the world to wait," she said, waving off Rye's concerns, "You can take all the time you need."

The tips of Rye's wings bobbed again, this time more intentionally. I could see that he was coming out of whatever paralysis was holding him there. His fingers could twitch now, and move about almost normally.

I stepped out of the room, glad to see that Rye was feeling better. Much of my mind was still buzzing about, planning how to tell Leah that her imprint was only behind a sheet of fabric at her side.

But these thoughts were temporarily stored away as I saw Renee walking towards me with an excited shine in her eyes. She was holding some sort of paper, with pictures on it.

"Bella!" she said, almost like a squeal. It made me smile, as she gave me a big hug and showed me the paper. "Look! Look right here! You see what this is?"

I smiled, amused, because all I could see were vague shapes of squiggly lines. "No, not really. What is this?"

Renee pointed out the chart to me again. "These twenty-three shapes right here? Those are your human chromosomes. But then these three—"

I did a quick mental math. I remembered Carlisle saying once, through my weak human memories, that vampires had 25 chromosomes and Jacob and the pack had 24. But 23 plus 3 equaled…

"Holy crow, I have twenty-six chromosomes?!" I asked in shock. Then I wrinkled my brow in confusion. "What does that mean?"

Renee rolled her eyes. "C'mon, it's easy to see what I'm saying. You have both of the vampire genes, and the shapeshifting gene, within yourself!"

My eyes widened. I was a wolf. I was also a vampire. Both of the worlds I had gotten so used to had suddenly merged into one, at that moment.

Carlisle appeared at Renee's side, looking at the chart, his eyes twinkling. Edward appeared at mine, his arms wrapped around my waist.

"Absolutely fascinating…" Carlisle said quietly as his eyes glazed over the picture. He glanced up at me, eyes shining like a kid in a candy-store. "And now all you need is a stimulant?"

I shrugged. "I don't really know."

"Yes, a stimulant is required for her to be able to phase. But if being a vampire doesn't do it soon, I don't know what will," Renee said, nodding.

Carlisle looked thrilled. "Well, somehow or sometime it's bound to happen, though?"

Renee shrugged. "It's possible, anyway. She's got the gene to do it."

Carlisle seemed to ponder over this, and I automatically knew that this would be what his mind would be on for the rest of the day, perhaps the rest of the week as well. I sighed.

Jacob and Jasper came out next to see what was happening out here. Upon learning I had the chromosome necessary, Jacob whooped loudly and picked me up, laughing. Jasper was smiling widely and congratulated me. A thought crossed my mind, and I wrinkled my nose. Edward was the first to notice my reaction.

"What is it, love?" he asked, taking my hand again.

"Do you think I'll smell like Jacob does?" I wondered aloud. "I don't want to stink."

Everyone began laughing at that, and I hid in Edward's shirt again.

"You guys are the ones who smell funky, not me," Jacob argued.

"You are outvoted, Jacob," Edward laughed. Jacob took his defeat good-humoredly. Then he went downstairs again to see what Renesmee was up to, I supposed.

I walked off towards Edward's room, pondering over what I could do to tell Leah.

I knew I had to tell her, what kind of person would I be if I didn't? I couldn't put anyone through that pain I had gone through. I hadn't ever felt Jane's power personally, but from what I gathered it sounded similar to the emotional pain of having one's imprint or mate removed from their reach.

The door to mine and Edward's room creaked open, and I turned around. Alice bounced in, shutting the door behind her softly. She leapt over to my side and plopped down on the leather couch that was the only piece of furniture in the room.

"So? What's the plan so far?" she asked, smiling.

I rolled my eyes. "Well—"

"Won't work without Rye getting offended. Next?" she said, still smiling.

"Wh—"

"Nope, not that one either."

"How abo—"

"Bella, be reasonable," Alice laughed.

"I'm trying!" I said, only mildly exasperated. Mostly I was amused. Alice noted my humored grin.

"Don't you just love this little confirmation process we have here?" she asked, laughing a lilting laugh. I couldn't really help myself as I joined in.

"It is rather helpful," I conceded. Alice beamed. "What about you? Can you see anything?"

Alice shook her head. "I can only see the outcome when you're involved in the planning. Remember, can't see these shifters," she said, tapping her forehead.

I grimaced. In this situation, I wished I had Alice's helpful insight. I would need it for this difficult task ahead.

Leah's POV:

Wake up, wake up, wake up…

LEAH.

WAKE.

UP.

Rye's POV:

I kept my eyes on Leah as long as I could, until the doctor put up the dividing curtain. I glanced over, seeing that Bella had a large smile on her face, and couldn't seem to decide whether to stare at me or at Leah.

Suddenly, though, her smile faltered a little. Slowly, her brow knit together in a little 'V' as her face became puckered in concentration. I wondered what she was thinking about, and Edward just shrugged. Evidently he didn't want to share his wife's thoughts as of now.

Esme came back in, holding a glass of water with a straw in it. She pulled up a chair as she walked towards me. I realized what she was doing.

'You don't have to—' I tried to think towards her, hoping that this time Edward would translate. Esme sat down beside me and gently opened my mouth for me, sliding the straw in gently. 'You don't have to stay here, I don't want to bother you to just sit there and hold the cup. I can probably—'

Edward translated this to Esme, who just waved it off.

"It's no trouble at all, dear, I have all the time in the world to wait. You can take all the time you need."

It struck me again how caring she seemed to be. She seemed a hundred times more genuine than Ramona ever had, so it was hard to tell whether or not she was earnestly trying to help. I knew I would have to move soon. Leah might get curious about this strange curtain, and take a peek—I shivered. I couldn't chance it. Experimentally, I tried to jiggle the tips of my wings again, and was pleasantly surprised when they bobbed responsively. Next I tried my hands, and found that my fingers were able to move a little. His fingers could twitch now, and move about almost normally.

Bella stepped out of the room at that point, looking as if she was pondering over something rather hard. The water in the glass was finished, and Esme smiled at me.

"Is there anything else I can get you, dear?" she asked quietly, evidently trying not to wake Leah up from behind the curtain.

I could feel the burn in my cheeks get a little brighter as a light blush came over them.

'No, thank you. Thank you for the water,' I thought, looking into her golden eyes.

Edward gave me a look, his eyebrow raised as he studied me with interest. He translated to Esme, who gave my hand a comforting pat, and walked out of the room. The doctor, Esme had said his name was Carlisle, left soon after her, having evidently finished his examinations. Edward stayed behind for a moment, and for a moment I didn't realize why. Then I heard the voice of the short pixie-like vampire that had gone so still in the chair that I had forgotten she was here.

"I'm going to go help Bella with some… things," she said, jumping up lithely and gracefully walking out of the room. Only Edward remained behind. He glanced at me.

"I can tell you have some questions," he said, breaking the silence. He walked over to a chair and sat down nearby. "Do you want to ask them?"

I twitched my hands again as I thought about his offer. I decided that as long as Leah and I were in the house of vampires, it couldn't get much more dangerous. Might as well get as much information as I could.

'What's an imprint?' I asked. I had never heard the term. Leah was something called an imprint? What did it mean? Although I found the idea attractive that whatever an imprint was, she was my imprint, and I was her imprint.

Edward laughed at the foot of the bed. "That is a subject that is probably best saved for another time, Rye. And probably you should ask Jacob, when you can speak again. I'm not the best person to ask about imprinting."

I internally huffed a little in annoyance. Well, that was one more answer I didn't have. Edward looked slightly sympathetic when he heard that thought, but he was waiting for the next question.

'Do you guys maybe have any idea what I am? You don't seem frightened or shocked,' I noted. So far, they'd all been pretty natural about whatever this other form was. Had they seen it before?

Edward slowly shook his head. "Our best guess? You're a shapeshifter. But none of the shapeshifters around here have anything like your secondary form."

I sighed. Evidently I was in for a whole lot of answers that didn't really answer the answers I wanted answered.

That sentence made my head hurt, so I moved on. 'How much longer do you think it will take for me to get better from this paralysis?'

Edward glanced t my arms and legs. "You're body is trying to tell you that it's tired. Once it's rested enough, you should be able to move naturally again. I'd say maybe one to three days at least."

Rye nodded. Well, if he needed rest anyways…

He closed his eyes and slept. But just because he slept, did not mean his dreams were peaceful…

Rye stumbled into an old barn hiding behind the farmhouse. He had traveled as far as he could today, but something was telling him he was still in trouble. But he was exhausted. He needed rest.

There was a pile of hay that was so enticing, he couldn't resist. He went up to it, and tumbled into the cushion of hay that would serve as his bed for the night.

So… tired…

Rye dozed off.

It was perhaps another hour later that his instincts were screaming at him, jostling him from sleep. Something was approaching, he could sense it. It wasn't coming at him faster than a slow pace, sneaking along stealthily towards the door of the barn. He noted that his legs were already morphed into his secondary form, and he wasted no time. He jumped up into the loft of the barn and hunkered down. If it was just a curious human farmer, he'd lay low. But there were other possibilities…

The door creaked open impossibly quietly for the sheer size of the massive wooden gate. A shadowy figure crept in, low to the ground. There was no reason that a normal human would be crawling along like that, so low to the ground.

Rye kept in a hiss of air from escaping. He could feel his heartbeat pounding even louder, as though it was trying to attract the attention of whatever vampire was down there. And he was afraid of who he thought it may have been…

But it surprised him slightly as the figure, instead of creeping up towards the loft, snuck stealthily towards the cows in the barn. The cows lowed nervously as the shadow approached, skittish at the presence of the apex predator. Rye for a moment felt confused. Why wasn't the vampire trying to come towards him? Not that he was complaining.

In a single pounce, the shape fell on the cows, and began drinking. The first cow dropped, and the shape moved on to the second. Almost three whole cows did the vampire shape drink before it was finished.

Rye breathed very softly. Maybe it wouldn't hear him. Maybe it would just go away and never know he was there. Maybe it was full.

But it didn't. Now that he wasn't distracted by the prospective meal of the cows before him, the vampire hissed and straightened, sniffing the air. Rye held his breath, wishing his heart could be silent.

The figure slowly turned around, facing his direction. Slowly, it looked up. Slowly, it's eyes made contact with Rye's. The figure bared its teeth, and though it was dark, Rye could see the glimmer of light on the teeth as though there was a flashlight being shone on them.

Rye leapt backwards as the vampire jumped at him, landing on the edge of the loft nimbly. Rye scrambled backwards a little more. Now that he was closer, Rye could see that this vampire was a male. His eyes were a hazel ochre, somewhere between the colors red and gold. He snarled menacingly, before his face suddenly fell in shock as he stared at Rye.

Rye's horns were protruding from the top of his head, and his left wing was draped over a nearby pile of hay. It was painfully obvious to the vampire that this young man before him was not human, but what was he?

Rye intook his breath sharply as he heard a female's call outside the barn.

"Laurent!" the female whispered loudly, opening the half-open door to the barn. "Are you in here?"

The male's head whipped back around towards the female as she entered. Rye saw his chance. The vampire was distracted.

There was nothing sharp enough nearby to tear the vampire up with, and he doubted he was strong enough even if he were to try. So he did the only thing he could think of doing.

He spread his wings and pushed downwards.

The vampire's gaze spun back around to Rye as there was a sudden crashing sound, as Rye broke through the wooden ceiling of the barn, flying off into the night.

Laurent just stood there for a moment, wondering at the creature he had seen in the attic. What had that thing been? Obviously not human, and he had had wings for goodness' sake!

Irina perched lightly next to him, glancing into the darkness. "What are you looking at?"

Laurent shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts for the moment. He smiled at Irina, with whom he'd begun feeling more and more attached. "Nothing," he lied. "Just this hole in the roof."

Rye flapped as hard and as fast as he could as he sped away from the barn, wondering when he could stop next. He never seemed to be able to escape the world of vampires, so where could he go they wouldn't follow? He'd started in Brazil, and gone all the way up to Canada, near Denali!

Maybe somewhere in the USA? Would there be vampires there? Rye snorted. There almost surely was. But at this point, he was tired. He knew he couldn't fly over either Atlantic or Pacific ocean, and he wanted to sleep. He would have to bed down for the night, and soon.

His thoughts as he went to sleep were those of wondering where he might go. Where would there be the least possible amount of vampires in the USA?