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Ch. 62 A Familiar Look
"Chief Swan?" Sam answered the door rubbing his eyes and squinting at the sunlight as if he had just woken up despite it being nearly eleven in the morning. He glanced at me, obviously confused by my presence with the Forks Chief of Police on his porch. He looked down and frowned at my dirty socks.
"Sam." Charlie nodded. "Iris here says she and her husband...Edwin...?...know you...says they got lost last night and wound up at the old Masen estate." Masen? I guess they used Edward's name last time...
Sam's head tilted ever so slightly to the right in deeper confusion as he inspected me closer. "I don't thi—"
"Edward...and No, Sam and I only met in passing at a gathering once...it was a hell of a party. All those guys had me HOWLING." I looked at Sam meaningfully as I continued. "You've got one hell of a WOLFFiSH grin too, Sam Uley..." I mock punched him, and he glared at me. Come on. Just tell the chief he can leave...Edward? Are you here?
I scanned the little bit of the area I could without being too obvious, but there was no sign of Edward.
Sam seemed to silently decide on something before he looked back to Charlie who seemed oblivious as he scratched his head looking down. He was so torn up about Bella. It was obvious in his slumped posture, and lack of ability to maintain eye contact for any amount of time...Poor Charlie...I sighed quietly to myself at the thought of the sweet man losing his only daughter. He must feel so terrible.
"Masen, you say? ...Yeah actually I do remember her. Iris and I go way back. Thanks for bringing her, Chief." He smiled tightly, but his eyes were off.
"No problem, Sam. I really gotta be getting back to the station. Stay outta trouble, Iris, and come find me if that husband of yours doesn't show up soon." Charlie shot a stern look at me and waved a brief goodbye.
I nodded my head at him politely but didn't speak. I'm afraid that your police force wouldn't be able to handle this kind of missing persons case, Charlie...where are you Edward? Shit.
I followed Sam into the living room, observing the small, unfamiliar space. He shut the door with a "click" and abruptly turned on me. "How do you know about me?"
"Where's Edward?" I countered. I didn't have time for his arch enemies crap.
"I don't know any...Edward." He spoke in a hiss. Whoa he seemed different.
"Oh? So your pack didn't attack a copper-haired, golden-eyed vampire this morning?" I accused. Tell me where he is or I'll find a way to punish you, Sam Uley!
"You know about vampires too?" He looked at me in shocked incredulity.
"I know about all of you. Now where the hell is my husband?!" My thoughts were in turmoil once again, and this time Edward was not around to help me focus.
Sam's eyes widened. "Husband..? You're human!" He growled in horror.
"I'm aware. Where is he?" I turned away from Sam who obviously wasn't going to tell me anything. "Edward?!"
"He's not here, and I haven't seen any 'golden-eyed' vampire. I'm not exactly in the habit of learning the bloodsuckers' names anyway. Why the hell are you so worried about him? You're probably in line to be his next meal! A human with a leech...He did you a favor if he left you." He spat.
"Damnit! He doesn't consume human blood because he and his family live off the blood of animals! Remember the treaty your ancestors made with the Masen's?" I saw a flash of recognition in his dark eyes. Something was very off with him..."Yeah, it's the same ones except now they go by Cullen...look, I need to find him NOW. It's possibly a matter of life or death for me. Please, could you just go round up your pack and track him? You can probably smell his scent on me..." I said, but then my cheeks flushed when I thought about why they would smell him on me...
"I don't take orders from random HUMANS who run with LEECHES." He nearly yelled back at me. This was definitely not the same cool, collected Sam who I had left behind in Forks before.
Shit. I was doing this all wrong. I was freaking out about Edward and trying to call the shots, but these wolves didn't know me. "I'm sorry. Let me backup, please. I'm really sorry for coming to you this way, truly. I'm just dealing with a lot right now...I'm supposed to be on my honeymoon in Bali. I woke up here last night and thought Edward was looking for food this morning, but he never came back. Something's wrong...he would never leave me...especially not now. I have nothing. No family. No friends. No basic resources...Sam, I just need to find him, and I'll be gone. I promise, but I can't do it alone."
"Did the leeches tell you about us?" He was still glaring at me, but his voice softened just the tiniest bit after my pleas.
"No! No, they would never break the treaty. I figured it out about you guys and them before I even got wrapped up in this supernatural stuff...don't ask me how...but I know that you're a good person, a protector. Edward is not a threat to you or any of the other Quileutes. We really did just get...lost...kind of and were going to leave."
"So I'm supposed to believe that this bloodsucker didn't have anything to do with the humans who have been going missing lately? Yeah right." He scoffed with a bitter laugh. Missing humans?
"What do you mean?"
"Your parasite didn't tell you? There have been other vampires here...at least three of them. I bet your 'husband' is out there running with them now, and I'll kill him when I find him!" His tone was sharp once more, his breathing picking up.
Three. Three vampires. James. Victoria...Laurent. No. Not again. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! "No! You can't! I know this is crazy...I...I know you don't know me, but we're on the same side! I want those three dead too, but leave my husband out of it if you find him! Please. He's all I have. He's a good man..." my voice was breaking. No. Be strong. We have to find Edward.
"I don't care what he has told you. You're obviously misinformed about the nature of these monsters. They can't control themselves. They're killers, all of them! Even your precious 'husband' has probably killed at some point. They can't resist. It's disgusting!" He was shaking violently.
With the look of hostility and contempt in his eyes I realized that it didn't matter what I said. He would never believe me. I wouldn't find help here. These werewolves were no longer my allies. There was a darkness to his eyes which wasn't there before yet it was oddly familiar to me...Sure he had hated vampires like all werewolves, but this was something else entirely. He seemed...motivated to hate them, like there was a real, tangible reason now, and I wasn't about to probe him further about it in his current state of unrest.
I began to back away from him, but he followed me as I reached for the door. "I'm sorry to bother you, Sam, really. Please give my regards to Emily." I meant the words to calm him, but instead they seemed to do quite the opposite.
"How dare you speak her name, Leech lover! Their kind stole her from me. How dare you?!" He was shaking so violently now that his person appeared to blur, and we were still inside the tiny house. Shit. Holy shit. "How could you turn on your own humanity and be with that...thing, that monster?! How could you know what it was and still convince yourself that you loved it?! You disgust me just as much as the leeches do!" He wasn't moving fast—yet—but he continued to move closer and closer to me, and I wasn't about to wait around to see when he would stop. I had made a grave mistake by coming here.
I fully turned to the door, yanking at the handle desperately until it broke free, swinging open with a gust of wind. I forced myself outside and down the few steps off the porch, and I didn't stop running once I was outside.
Nothing good ever comes from running into the woods. Fucking shit! I thought we were past all of this, Iris. I was done with the running and the death threats and the drama! When would I just get some fucking peace? Could I not have just a few weeks to enjoy our marital bliss? Was that too much to ask of this fucking Twilight La La land?!
I heard the ripping sound of Sam phasing behind me in the distance and then a snarl. I picked up my pace, unsure of where I was running, but knowing that I couldn't stop and even if I did, I was probably going to be ambushed either way. Where were the rest of the wolves? Was it only Sam now since the Cullens never came? Where the hell was James's Coven? Was I about to be slaughtered? Shit.
I pushed myself forward as quickly as I could, thankful that this was my nineteen—almost twenty—year old body rather than my twenty-nine year old one with less stamina and endurance. I had my best shot as I was...which still wasn't good enough it would seem.
Sam's black wolf form cut me off, jumping out of the trees and causing me to halt in my tracks. I began to back away, my heart pounding into my ears, but he growled at me so fiercely that I got the distinct idea that if I moved any further, he might give me a vampire's funeral. It was trial by association it seemed. This was a man of desperation. This was what it looked like for a wolf to lose his imprint. I realized why I the look had seemed so familiar...I had seen this look before...in John right before I was shot. Fuck.
I pushed away the memories of my past self. Now was no time to get lost in my head or have a panic attack. All of Jasper's words of advice flitted through my mind as I simultaneously tried to focus on the large wolf ahead of me who was stalking forward, his black eyes never leaving mine.
Suddenly without warning he sprung, but I was forced backward from an unexpected direction.
"No!" I heard a ferocious growl from behind me, and Edward appeared before me. He swiftly caught my arm before I hit the ground and positioned himself in a defensive crouch in front of me. Edward?! I was overwhelmingly relieved and, yet, still terrified all at once.
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