"The Lake" - Denai Moore
They Were Holding Hands...
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Edward wasn't used to this.
Long after Leah returned home to her family that night, he laid on the couch, and his mind played tricks on him.
Dreaming wasn't in his nature, but if daydreaming was possible, it seemed to follow suit that he'd be given to waking nightmares. Besides, venom maximized intelligence, not mental stability. He was entirely capable of losing his mind for any reason (not that he would anytime soon, thank you very much).
These past few hours, Naomi, Soraya, and Randall, and Troy and Echo and the queen, that their very forms seemed to manifest and slink along the walls of his room in shadow, taunting him and condemning him in turn. Even his own family made appearances, their recognizable faces twisted into caricature.
The hideous display only dissipated as he let his fingers dance through a Prokofiev sonata, just as precise as if on the real keys, which he didn't dare seek, for fear of annoying certain people with his "tortured melody".
When he did finally rise, he had to blink away the fog that swirled across his vision. It was as if he were seeing through the lens of those many drunks he hunted throughout the years. If not for his perfect memory, he'd have misstepped.
'Edward?' Alice called out to him.
"It's fine," he dismissed her, shooing her away for a few moments of privacy.
When he finished dressing and gathering his school supplies, his siblings were already lazing about the living room.
Sitting in an armchair facing the south view, Emmett spotted their parents first. "Enjoy your vacation?" he teased.
"The Denalis won't help us," Esme sighed as she and Carlisle solemnly entered through the backdoor.
Edward felt everyone's eyes on him, and, in turn, a swell of indignation. In response to the rising appearance of nomads and Queen Ella's cruelty and negligence, Carlisle had suggested inviting their Alaskan cousins to stay with them, lest a brawl break out.
"They won't risk their lives for this. I can't blame them," Jasper noted. He had advocated for handling the matter themselves, so as not to alarm the Volturi, which had eyes and ears everywhere.
"You shouldn't have asked them at all," Edward grumbled, nose-deep in a book he didn't even like. "It was selfish."
"Had we not, you would have done as much yourself," Carlisle told him.
"Perhaps," he spat, which really meant 'yes, but shouldn't we pretend otherwise?'.
The doctor sat down by the door and switched out his shoes for work. "Shouldn't you all be on your way to school?"
"We couldn't take any risks while you were gone," Edward said, shaking his head wearily. He struggled against the stars dancing behind his eyes. What an imagination he had. Or, really, what a hypochondriac he was becoming! Since when did he get so distracted by a bit of stress? Was hanging around Leah making him too human?
Alice placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"It's not debilitating. I can manage."
Rosalie tapped her foot. "I don't like being late. It draws too much attention."
Edward waved them off. "You guys go ahead, I'm going to say goodbye to Leah."
By the time he made it outside, he was too late. He approached the small, tan wolf just entering his view.
"Seth?"
'Yeah?' The young boy wagged his tail. He was an endless ball of energy, almost like Emmett, but gentler and more thoughtful. Despite the grief his family was going through, he treated everyone with unabashed kindness. It was a rare trait Edward didn't know how to approach, but appreciated all the same.
"I thought Leah would still be on guard now…"
'Oh, she had to run errands for our mom.' His tail stilled. 'It wasn't important was it?'
"No, no." I'll be back soon anyway," Edward shrugged, trying not to be disproportionately sad. He'd seen her every night for the last week. It was good for her to be with family. "You should head to school."
He became sheepish. 'I told Sam and Leah it was just a half-day.'
'Ooooh…' Far off, Quil was listening in. 'You're in for it now!'
'Shut up! You should be there, too, Quil!'
'Not according to my forged doctor's note, I shouldn't.'
Edward chuckled to himself, leaving the boys to their goofing off.
Leah was used to this.
A headache was always exacerbated by the heat, and until it was cold enough for flurries to stick to the ground, she wouldn't consider the meager breezes of Forks to her liking ever again.
She'd slept in her own bed last night, as opposed to sprawling out on Edward's sofa (while he evaded her tossing and turning limbs), but even the peace and solitude didn't distract her from nonsensical dreams. When she awoke, she drank a gallon of water, but illness was on the back burner until she solved more important problems.
"I'm back!" Leah called as she entered the kitchen. She dutifully put away the orange juice and paper towels, then leaned against the counter. She paused. Usually, her mother would be ready with a list of different chores for her, especially after her continuous absences from the Clearwater household. "Hey, Mom!"
Her father's voice called from the bedroom. "They called her in!"
"Oh."
Leah leaned back and drummed her fingers against the countertop. Squinting at the orange-y glow the light bathed the room in, she deemed herself not really hungry, but too bored and shiftless to do much else.
She pushed off and made her way down the hall, where she knocked on the door to her father's bedroom.
"Come in."
Her father was reading one of those advertisements they place in your mailbox, this one from a camping gear store. His reading glasses sat on the edge of his nose and his long gray hair, once thick and healthy, was now tied in a scraggly braid. He looked much older than he was, and a serenity had replaced the jovial mood she strongly associated with him.
"Planning a trip?" she asked, sitting by his feet.
"Wouldn't that be nice?" he laughed. "Me, you, your mom and your brother."
"We were supposed to go last year, remember?"
"Oh yeah!" He frowned. "I wonder what got in the way."
"I was probably mad at you. Or mom was mad at you."
"Probably." He gave her a sidelong glance. "Any chance you can be bribed with pie?"
She laughed, leaning back on her hands. "You know it."
He smiled, quiet for a moment. Then - "What's on the agenda today?"
"Sleep, for a very long time. I was patrolling til late."
"Right." He glanced out the window to his right. "Seth's out there now."
"Yeah."
He sighed. "You kids have got to get out of here."
Leah laughed. "Get real."
"No, I mean it. Your mom and I have been talking about it. Moving. Maybe when Seth is done with this school year."
She pursed her lips. She wished her father had said all this a long time ago. She wished as soon as he knew about this supernatural threat, he had whisked them across the country. But what would have Leah done? Would she have wanted to leave her friends and family? Later, would she have wanted to leave the Cullens? He was telling her possibilities that were no longer possibilities.
"C'mon, Dad. It's horrible, but it's not so bad. I mean with the vampires helping out the pack, we've all got free time. And the fairy clan may be closed off, but the major is doing everything he can to keep the nomads out and the queen in line."
He cackled again, eyes crinkling. "You should hear yourself."
"Dad, it's true. I'm not exactly happy. I could write a book on everything that's wrong with this life. But I'll be damned if I leave before the work is done."
Harry nodded and returned his eyes to his shopping choices. He looked up again, though, and asked, "I hope this isn't because of that boy of yours."
Leah pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are we really gonna talk about Edward? Did Mom put you up to this?"
"I know you guys have a -" He rolled his eyes. "Romance. Or a special friendship, I don't know."
Leah waved a hand rapidly, trying to shoo away this conversation. "That sounds awful."
"Charlie is always saying what good 'kids' they are, the poor guy. But I can't ignore the facts: You can do better, kiddo."
Leah didn't respond.
"I know now that you can protect yourself. But love won't make can't change a man."
At first, she was ready to blow up at her father, hurl accusations and threats, and pick at long-healed scabs. But the last thing she wanted was to further harm him, not when she was lucky to have him in her life at all.
"There's a lot to him." She carefully worded her answer. "Some of his past is awful. I find it hard to ignore, and believe me, I did for sometime. I tried to convince myself I was not falling for a monster, or that he wasn't really a monster at all. But I see him clearly now. What Edward is is wrong. But who he's chosen to be? He's a good man. A flawed, imperfect, infuriating, selfish, arrogant one, at times. But a good one, in all the ways that matter to him and to me."
Harry harrumphed, trying to hide a soft smile. "Are there no good men on the rez?"
"There's no him." She winced suddenly, hissing slightly. Her head was no better than it'd been a few hours ago.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Let me go relieve Seth."
'Leah!' Seth's voice boomed in her ear as soon as she shifted. 'You'll never guess what happened!'
She didn't have to wait long because as soon as she met Seth in a clearing, he wasn't alone. Not with Quil, as she expected, but Sam and… someone else. She squinted, trying to parse the new voice in her head.
'Jacob?'
The reddish-brown wolf straightened. 'Yeah?' The normally confident teenager was hesitant and scared. His thoughts were still a jumble, even as he stood tall. 'Oh my God. Leah too?' he thought to himself. 'Gah! This is all just so freaky. I never thought this would happen. Thought maybe Dad was just crazy after all-'
'Hey, hey,' Sam assured him. 'You're gonna have to calm down so we all can help you.'
'Maybe he should go home, Sam,' Leah said. 'Sounds like he's ready to shift back -'
'Wait. Don't you see, Leah?' They had no privacy in this form, but still Sam gestured for her to follow him a little ways away from the younger guys. He was a goon.
'What?'
'Jacob Black is going to be chief one day.'
Yeah, she knew that. Billy Black was chief, and his son would likely inherit the title. 'So?'
'And pack leader, just like his grandfather was.' He paused, as if gauging her understanding. 'Which is why I think you should step back from all this and let him fill in for you.'
'No,' she answered, as soon as the words left his mouth.
'Look, I know it's your goal to refute everything I say but -'
'This is not about you. Why do you want me out? I've sacrificed as much as you have, if not more.'
'Leah, you're so unpredictable. And kind of -'
'Excuse me?
'Weak right now, but I know that's not your fault, it was the spell you did. Still, it'd be better if you didn't put so much energy into the pack right now. Not until you're healed.'
Leah stormed back over to the boys, Sam tailing behind her.
Jacob shifted nervously. 'Uh, guys? Do we really have to fight about this?'
He was itching to leave already. The boy was miserable, apparently. He was in love with some girl and resented that he couldn't share this secret with her. Annoying. This melodramatic moping only spurred Leah's disgust and fury.
Sam offered, 'Well now Leah can help train you.'
'Bullshit.' She growled. 'I don't want to be on call for another war. I could barely handle being the fairies' Guardian.' She turned to him. 'But if this is the fate I'm resigned to, I'd rather not be kicked around like a beer can on the road. Fight me.'
Jacob recoiled but Sam nudged his nose into his shoulder. 'Go easy.' He was looking at Leah, but his thought was directed to their future chieftain.
"I'm back! Leah get down here and do these dishes!" Sue called up the stairs.
"Coming," shouted back Leah, though she had no intention of doing so. She rolled onto her back, growling to hide a groan. Yelling made her head hurt worse.
Her brother entered the room.
"What is wrong with you, Leah?" Seth handed her a glass of water.
"Don't be an asshole right now."
"No, I meant that genuinely," he said, plopping down so hard on the bed her stomach somersaulted.
"I need to go to bed early."
"It's not even two."
She wasn't injured, not truly, not internally or otherwise. Jacob had got his teeth to her throat pretty clumsily, but much too quickly for her to risk showing her face within the next week.
It was the fever that broke out afterwards. She was sweating bullets and no end was in sight. This didn't feel possible. Wasn't her body supposed to burn away any virus that entered it? And worse, her mother would be very concerned when she saw her, looking up all kinds of diseases in her textbooks. Sue had enough to fret over.
But duty called or whatever. She pushed herself onto an elbow.
Seth leaned away. "You look like shit."
"I just feel weird," she mumbled, before rushing to the bathroom. Again.
English class dragged on for so long Edward could practically feel his brain melting with each dithering word his mouse of a teacher murmured at them. The fool had cheated and drank his way through college and now hundreds of students were forced to listen to lesson plans straight from an online study guide.
Wasn't it time to go home already? What were they doing here? One blink of his eyes, and he felt himself drift into nothingness. Normally he could zone out, all while doing homework and focusing on the lecture - but instead he could barely hold onto one thought at a time.
The bell finally rang, a tinny muted sound.
He staggered down the hall, feet once weightless, but today heavy and painful… His flesh was truly stone now, and a burden. Around him, the normally sharp and overlapping crowd of voices faded away. The colors of the world - the lockers, the students - all blended.
There was no point in even being here. The days were too long, the risk was too dangerous, and he felt so terrible…
So awful, and empty…
Like the world was nothing to him…
Wow. One blink of his eyes, and he saw darkness. Another blink, and he was in the hallway. Another blink - darkness. He held his eyes open as long as possible, suddenly horrified, as if he were being chased and the demon would only reach him if he shut his eyes.
Edward turned to the hallway were his next class was -
And fell to his knees, slumping onto the ground.
It had been so long since he stumbled, since he fell, since he was as weak as he was in this instant. This clumsiness and fatigue were all new.
He had one last desperate, panicked thought as he realized what formerly-impossible fate was overcoming him.
But well, who could say what that was? He was the only telepath, after all.
As soon as Edward Cullen - the mysterious, unearthly-handsome boy from three of her classes - collapsed in the hallway, Bella Swan flew to his side. Goodwill loosed any restraint as she shook his shoulder. "Edward? Would someone help? He - he just passed out!"
Dozens of students gathered around him, shocked to see the aloof boy at the center of such a drama. The nurse and the paramedics would arrive soon, but it was Alice, his anxious and scared sister, who started to lift him up with her tiny arms. She hesitated, caught between the reality of an unseen future and the role she had to play for the public. Thinking the better of it, she called out for someone to get their father.
"This happens all the time. He has a condition," she lied smoothly, despite the tremor in her high voice.
She called for help again, but Edward was as limp and lifeless as any human.
Emmett had just barely opened the front door before the she-wolf barreled past him. "Hell -"
Leah ran up the stairs, taking them in twos or threes.
Words were wasted on a shattered heart.
As soon as she got the call, her body had been set into overdrive, convinced that if she didn't move thisveryinstant she would fall to the same fate and be rendered immobile, unable to rescue him.
In this museum of a house, the once-classy honey-colored panels were garish and closing in on her. She skidded to a stop in time to not run straight into the cross hung on the wall.
The door of Carlisle's study was nearly torn off the hinges.
Only Carlisle watched over him, Leah thought, until she noticed Esme had her face buried in her husband's chest, as close to crying as she could be.
Edward was by the desk on a medical bed. Everything about the sight was so wrong.
"Oh God…" Leah breathed into her fist. She didn't want to be so far away, but each step she took towards him further confirmed this dreadful truth.
He looked exactly the same - superficially. Messy auburn hair, navy sweater. Beautiful.
But it is one thing to see someone still and pale and yet alive and breathing as you are, and another to see them lying down, eyes closed. Gone to the world. A corpse.
He wasn't dead, they had said. (But there was the unspoken 'We don't think so' she could barely hear in the moments of silence.)
"He's not breathing."
"But he doesn't need to," the doctor reminded her.
Carlisle laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. She felt the heat prickling inside her, the tickle in her throat.
"How long has he been like this?" she muttered, eager for any kind of reassurance or stability.
"Less than an hour. It was like pulling teeth to convince them to let me take him home…"
She grabbed the limp arm nearest her and shook it. "Stupid dumbass. He's just being dramatic." She laughed a little, too harshly. "Get up, Ed. You're not dying. You can't die. We don't have all day."
Edward didn't respond. If he could even hear her, there was no way to tell. No heartbeat, no blood, no breath. A realization overcame her: He'd always been like this. He'd always been not dead and not alive and she was too caught up in his charm to see how dangerous it was to care for someone who hung in the balance.
But she wasn't done trying.
She twisted the fabric of his sleeve, nails digging into his skin. "Edward, please. You gotta wake up. We said we would fight for you. You promised. Just wake up."
"Leah, he's not -"
Esme shook her head at Carlisle, silencing him.
Leah ignored their pity and their concern. She had to do this. It was what he would do for her. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Ed, I need you. Okay? And your family needs you. We can't -we can't go on without you. Remember, you said Paris or Mykonos? You said I had to pick. It's not enough. I need to go everywhere with you. I want you to come to the rez with me. I want you. We can fix this, okay? I promise to bring you home -"
She dropped his hand, noticing the few drops of tears sitting on his palm. The dam broke and she descended into sobs. The kind of cries that swirled around tragedy and calamity, that carried for miles and burned into your memory.
"Leah, I'm so sorry," Esme said, the grief and sorrow strong in her voice, too.
Leah could only nod, unable to answer, as if she were the one disappearing from the world and not her best friend.
She'd promised her mother she'd return home. And then she'd promised the Cullens she'd stay.
By the time she found the strength to pry herself away from Edward, it was nearly midnight.
Somehow, some way, a bottle of wine found her hands, and she drank it. And she stepped out into the cool night air, for a moonlit walk. Threadbare dress, ratty hair, she was a ghost among men, wandering in the deepest parts of the woods. She wondered which of her pack brothers were out tonight. She wondered what her mom made for dinner. She wondered what she was to do.
She had done all of this - the magic, the mission, the treaty, the nomads - all of it with him. They were partners, equals, friends. More. But she couldn't do the bare minimum of keeping him alive. All this time they had been worrying about her safety, her mortality.
It turned out, life beat and bruised you all the same, no matter what you were. Just in different ways.
At the edge of her lake she sunk into the dewy grass, pressing the cool glass to her calf.
Alone, she could squeeze the last few tears from her eyes. But the lake had enough water for itself. It didn't need her pain polluting it.
"Somebody," she mumbled. Without consideration, without panic, she pulled from her treasured oasis, begging for just a bit of power, just a bit of help. If she could just talk to someone…
"Ah!" Her bottle rolled away into the water as she screamed, clutching the sides of her head to shut out the sudden pin-needle-rupture of her brain.
The connection was static for a moment, and then -
Immediately, a voice spoke between her ears, into her very spirit. 'LEAH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?'
At the scolding, she became alert and relaxed her body enough to accept the answer. She focused on the image developing like a Polaroid, Troy's square face sharpening rapidly in her mind.
"Troy?" she squeaked, too numb to take his anger seriously.
His lips quivered, brown eyes wide in astonishment. "Leah, mind-links are terribly dangerous. You shouldn't do this without sufficient practice. Anyone could have invaded your mind in that moment if I didn't answer quick -"
"I know."
"And please. Do you realize how dangerous it is to test magic like this by yourself? I thought I taught you better -"
"I know!" she screamed out loud into the darkness. "I know, I know, I know. Do you think I would do this if it wasn't my literal last resort?"
Taking in her red, puffy face, he quietly asked, "Where's Edward?"
"I just need to know," she rasped, picking at her cuticles with unusual cruelty. "If it's too late. Is it?"
"Leah, what? What are you talking about?"
"I need someone to explain to me how he went from immortal to in a coma in one day!"
He sighed. "Shit, I'm sorry. I know Echo was trying to fix it. And she got close, but…"
She squeezed her eyes shut. "So what's wrong with him? He's dying of a broken heart? He needs one? What am I supposed to do, give him mine? Give him my eyes, my lungs? Just tell me and I'll do it!"
The man shook her head. "No, the spell would weaken the vampirism in him, so you and him could - " He pawed at his stubbly face. "Well, I guess it would seem that every part of him is now weakening, as he falls more in love with you. I don't know if that can be helped."
She felt her chest tightening and her body hyperventilate. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I know. But that can't be it. It's gotta be something I can fix. I need to undo it, I need to reverse it, because he can't - he can't be dead."
"He won't be dead, not really. More like, just stone."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she snapped.
He leaned back. "It's the truth." He sighed. "Look, why don't you sleep and tomorrow, I promise I'll arrange for help. Alright?"
"Okay." She took a long shaky breath. "Okay." But her voice wasn't anymore confident. Words were losing their meaning.
"Just keep your head low and I or Echo will be the - "
The connection started to waver.
"Leah, just - Don't forget -"
She grabbed her skull, tugging her hair. "Troy!"
Emptiness. She wrapped her arms tighter against herself, rocking back and forth slightly. At first she wondered who that muffled cry was coming from, until she tasted the salt on her own lips. And the seconds ticked by.
One, two, three, four…
Her father was half-dead.
Five, six, seven, eight -
Ella was surely going to kill her in place of Naomi's child.
Nine, ten, eleven…
And now her best friend was dying, if not dead already.
Twelve… twelve… twelve…
She forgot what came next.
These were the facts of her life that circled in her mind, haunting her, cursing her. If she had just made a different choice…
There was nothing she could change tonight. Feeling the static of the mind-link still swimming in her ear, Leah crawled toward the bank to retrieve her booze.
As she raised the bottle over her head to shake its contents, her stabilizing hand slipped in wet dirt.
Leah tumbled into the lake and -
And…
And she stayed there for just a second too long.
Who knows what would've happened, had she not reached for the bottle? Better yet, if she hadn't sipped so much wine? If she had gone home?
But the girl had stayed out, and she had drank, and she had fallen…
…
So she stayed in the frigid water, rich sherry dancing on her tongue, the cord cut short on her spiritual connection to a friend. Vulnerable, in body, mind, and spirit.
She knew death was closing in. But before it paid a visit, the girl had just enough time for a choice. What magic would save her? What would be her strength?
So many options, and the girl chose wrong.
She chose to hide.
…
How can we blame her, this troubled, confused soul? Nothing good happens at this hour, not to girls who look death in the face and stare back, and certainly not when vengeance and wrath are afoot.
Vengeance and wrath did not lay with this young vampire. Only survival and hunger.
Changed much too early, (still a teenager, by her own guess), the vampiress was confined to the very outskirts of society, even her own. All vampires had their bad days, and being small and young, everyone underestimated her.
She didn't want to push her luck. She'd been lucky to live this long.
This region offered her a rare privacy her former suburban lifestyle did not, along with foolish humans who thought they dominated the world and would often spend nights camping alone or hike into closed-off areas, never mind the risk of wildlife.
Including her, the most dangerous predator.
She breathed in deeply, soaking in the night air, still holding a remnant of sweet summer. But there was a tinge of something foul in there. Perhaps, a dead animal?
The vampire walked on, the opposite direction. How unpleasant.
Ah, but not quite. There were footsteps… a heartbeat…
She stopped in her tracks. Definitely not a lion, or a bear. Or perhaps it was a rare breed of something she couldn't recall. Very well. She detested dealing with these beasts, but if it was too stupid to smell the threat in her scent, she'd kill it quickly and neatly.
The air was still. She turned around, and was met with a sight like no other.
The wraith towered over her, reeking of bitterness and grime. Black hair clung to her face and a tattered dress billowed around her frame. She breathed long, measured breaths, as if in a trance.
But what frightened the vampire most, were the palms and eyes glowing a threatening cobalt.
The vampire crouched low, digging her bare toes into the ground. Then, she pounced teeth aimed to sink into the long neck barely holding up its head.
But -
The wraith grabbed the vampire by the throat and with a squeeze of her palms and a flash of light -
The sound of exploding glass. So many pieces on the ground.
(Quickly, but far from neatly.)
The wraith paused for a moment, holding the severed head by its hair. It burst into violent flames. She tossed it on the ground with the rest of the body, and continued on past the fire, as if it were any ordinary day.
"Do you want to come over?" Jared asked Paul after they changed back into their clothes. "My mom made ribs."
"Nah. I'm beat, man."
"In other words, you're going to try to smooch Rachel."
Paul groaned, palms over his eyes. "For the last time, I left my game there."
"Uh-huh. Jake will kill you if you keep putting the moves on his sister."
"Yeah, but -" He shoved his fists into his pockets. "Stupid imprint magic. He knows now! I just wish I could tell her already."
"Well, maybe if you just wait until you're not a literal minor, she'll find an ounce of pity for you. Feel better?"
Paul stopped and bent his head low. "Shhh…"
Jared turned back to him, apologetic. "Oh, wow. I'm sorry, man, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings - OW!"
Paul had yanked his ear, gesturing for him to listen.
They heard the strangest footsteps - human, but too forceful and steady, nothing that belonged in this part of the forest at this hour.
Then, to their shock, their pack sister appeared, her spine ramrod straight, her chin jutted out. She didn't normally put much effort in these days, not any more than they did, but 'bedraggled' was too kind a term for her appearance tonight.
Paul whistled. "Whoo, heard Jakey-boy did a number on you, girlie-wolf."
Jared waved his hands. "We don't need another fight today."
"Oh, chill, beta." Paul rolled his eyes. "Enjoy your last few weeks as second-in-command. Heard Sam's replacing you, dude."
Abruptly, Leah broke from her stupor and strode towards them. She placed her hand on the middle of Paul's bare chest and gave him a shove.
The younger wolf staggered back. His expression danced between amusement and displeasure. Likely, he was remembering how the last time they tussled ended. "Hey, calm down. Are you even on shift right now?"
Leah stared back at them blankly. Her only response was the blue flash of her dark eyes, so quickly they might have imagined it.
Jared backed up a bit, sensing the tension between the two of them. "Hey, we're sorry. Now are you coming back to home base or not? Leah?" He waved a hand. "Anybody home?"
Her fingers slackened to reveal the raw power spilling from her palms. With an outraged cry, she struck Jared across the face, propelling the teen into the earth.
"Jared!" Paul shouted.
He raised his arm. "Don't shift, you'll hurt her!"
"Do you really think that?!"
Leah continued her slow, creepy walk toward them, her gaze locked on them. She had one mission, and there was no hint of a possibility of a reconciliation.
They turned and ran.
Their pack sister followed and swung her arms out, precise and ruthless as a blade. No pause for breath or mercy, only flashes of energy lighting up the forest, slicing through trees and underbrush.
"Please stop!"
Their terror was so distant to her they might as well have been muted.
Out of nowhere, Sam appeared, in human form. His hair was a mess and wet from a recent shower. Latching onto her wrists, he struggled to keep her hands off of him. "Leah! You need to calm down! Shift and show us what happened!"
She punched him in the face with unnatural ease. Sam cried out, clutching his broken jaw. He tried to crawl away in time, but this woman, this entity, simply backed him into a tree with a few swift steps. Terrified and confused, he stared up at her cold, electric eyes, ones he'd never seen before.
Finally, she spoke, robotically. It was herself and not herself all at once. "The woman. Edward. My father. I've killed them all. But this? This I won't ever regret."
Nestled in a corner, if she could call it that, Leah heard it all and felt it all.
But Sam's frightened whimpering was on the outside of her white nothingness, the seemingly endless and yet confined blank space she was trapped in. She couldn't save him from herself. Instead, her soul was relegated to watch as her body destroyed and killed her own home, her own life.
Leah tried to catch her breath while not breathing too hard. You couldn't stay too long in the In-Between, they'd said. It was too hard to breathe.
What horror was this? Shouldn't her body have been rendered immobile until she returned? Why was she acting like this? A killer instinct had been inside of her all along.
She had wished to send herself to nirvana, to peace. Not this emptiness and chaos.
"Hello, Leah."
She looked up.
And there was Ella, looking as beautiful as ever, her silver hair in a long braid and her eyes glowing with mirth. It hurt to look at her, like staring into the sun.
"Why are you hurting us?" Leah hissed, raising a hand to shield her face.
Ella laughed, a full and earthy sound, too rich for this unreality. "You're not the one who's getting hurt."
Leah growled and launched herself at the woman, but Ella grabbed her wrist and tossed her roughly back onto the floor.
"I decided to have some mercy on you. You see, I've learned from my mistakes. I tried to take Sapphira's powers, when I should've used them for good. And seeing in this case, my soul is united with yours, this will be relatively easy for the both of us."
"Easy? What have you done to me? Why is my mind trapped here, while my body has gone full Terminator?"
"Love, you're the solution. Enough with the nomads terrorizing our people. Enough with those other creatures dividing your loyalty. Once you have destroyed them all, you can come home to the castle. And our utopia will welcome you with open arms. We're the only ones who'll see you as the hero you are."
"I'll be a monster! Like you! I won't forgive you, you crazy bitch!"
The queen bent low. "Shhh… This is what you asked me to give you. Strength, power, and bravery. And there was so much trapped inside you. A female shapeshifter, one-of-a-kind. I'm helping you become your true self. A queen in your own right."
Leah crumbled, squeezing her knees to her chest. "Please. Don't make me hurt them."
"Those wolves? That coven? What are they to you when you have me? Ungrateful child. They've all brought you pain. They never appreciated you." Ella stroked Leah's cheek with such convincing tenderness Leah almost leaned into it. "Dearie, I was honest when I swore you were meant for great things. This will just be a hiccup on the road there." She produced a wand from the folds of her skirt. "Now. Stay still. This will only hurt a bit. Then we can go home."
Leah screamed so loudly her throat felt like it was tearing open.
'Edward', she called to nothing. 'Where are you?'
Replies:
I can't believe I missed these replies before last updating! What is going on with my email?
Trawlhisface: Warlock Leah? Somebody draw this, please
LoveLife24: No significance was intended, but rereading these last few chapters, that was certainly a fitting choice for her to strike him there, huh?
Sentinel10: If I could just make the story sappy kiss scenes and no plot, I totally would