We'll all find our sacrifice tomorrow
Our journey on towards a brighter day
Silent tears we left behind, still so far away
Across the endless sands
Through the fields of our despair
Free for all eternity, we stand, yeah
Rise above the universe tonight
Starchaser
Heroes of Our Time, by Dragonforce, released in 2008, from the album Ultra Beatdown
We both held firm, neither breaking the stalemate of our argument. We'd been like this for ten minutes now, our minds shut off to one another, forms confident yet still angry. Once I realised nobody was going to give in, I got up roughly, throwing a glance at her as she stubbornly looked away, before I stormed out of my own house. I could hear my dad yelling out after me, and the straining of the imprint bond as I paced into the intent on doing something to work out my anger.
A part of me had expected Bella to call out after me as I had left, but no such thing happened. She really was serious about the personality change. The thing was, the minute I was out of Bella's shield range, there was a sudden influx of voices, all of which I didn't want to hear. I could have run to Canada and hoped I could get out of range, but I couldn't leave Bella unprotected.
Even if I was pissed at her lack of understanding and her whole 'cutting off my sentence thing' I still loved her. So, I roughly forced myself to phase back into human form, the voices cutting off nicely. The phase itself was more painful then usual, because of the anger I had and the fact that it was still burning hot, but I pushed myself through it, continuing to pace around the local woods.
With the sun shining down, unusually sunny when compared to Forks' normal weather, that meant that there was likely a lot of walkers out. Especially since it was a Saturday. It was kinda funny how much the days had blurred together since Bella had become a wolf, for better or for worse, and honestly while I had given up on school, being far too busy with wolf stuff- and let's face it, it wasn't my favourite thing to do- I knew Bella really wanted to go back.
She'd been so excited when she was due to go back, bouncing off the walls, looking forward to it like the weird person she was… but then the event happened and well.. she'd not be going back for a while. Especially considering she was currently stuck in wolf form. I hadn't been paying attention to where I'd been walking, and had somehow ended back at the same spot where I had found Bella all those months ago.
Even when Bella wasn't with me, or we were angry at one another, she still influenced me to some degree. Crouching down, my toes curling in the ground- since I'd only had a spare pair of shorts on me- I couldn't help but look at the scene around me. It didn't look like a brutal attack had occurred here, with any traces of blood having been long rid off, the bushes recuperating their battle wounds, and the dirt seemingly untouched.
Even the scent of Leech was long gone. Despite everything that had happened, this place was oddly mind-clearing for me and, dare I say it, reflective and humbling. It reminded me that while everything wasn't perfect, and never would be, I had a lot to be grateful. I took a minute, just standing there, resonating with my wolf spirit, and feeling more at peace then I had in a long time.
It didn't resolve my anger, no, but I was more.. calm about it, if that made any sense. I was less 'I'm going to blow a fuse and scream at you' anger, and more 'I'm going to listen to what you say, but I'm still angry' anger. With the odd sense of peace that I wasn't anticipating achieved, I turned on my heal and walked, a certain destination in mind.
Just because I was less angered, didn't mean Bella had changed her stance any. So, despite what you might believe, my destination wasn't my house. No. Instead, I went to where we kept all the old records: a large library that we held. We have a lot of different buildings on the Rez, you see, and the fact that we have ancient bloodline filled with magic wasn't exactly common knowledge.
It's not like we could store it in a normal library, otherwise our secret would have been let out a long time ago. There was a specific section that we, as wolves, and the Elders, had access to. The librarian, a nice woman by the name of Josa, was our resident bookkeeper. As a general rule, the role tended to be by blood. Josa's grandfather, you see, was also our resident book keeper, until he grew to the age of seventy and handed the role to Josa, who was eager for it.
If you had the role in your family, you didn't necessarily have to accept it, but many did. The building itself was old, a structure with wooden support beams, that curved at the top into a dome shape. The main base was old, mossy stone bricks, stacked up on one another. There were glass windows at the front, with the smooth edges meeting with the mottled grey bricks. The moss was scattered in clumps across the walls, crawling up and down like the incy wincy spider going up the water spout.
Pushing open the door, I stepped in, careful not to disturb anyone reading, as I made my way to the reception desk, a small distance away from the entrance. This was something I should have done a long time ago. As I approached, I noticed that Josa wasn't at the reception, and was instead a little distance away, talking to George, another resident of the Rez, who was our local butcher.
As I waited, I carefully tugged on the bond, testing the waters. Going back if she was still angry was pointless, and I didn't want to incite her wrath, because it would take us back to square one. Anger travelled sharply across the bond before it was cut off acutely, and I recoiled, stepping away. She hadn't calmed down yet, it seemed. Josa seemed to notice me, as she came back over, a small smile coming over her face.
"Hiya Jake. How's Bella?"
I shrugged. How was Bella? It wasn't exactly a topic we had discussed much. Still, going with a very loose definition of 'she's okay', I replied:
"She's.. ah, fine, I think. She's just recovering."
Judging by her wise looking face, she probably read between the lines. Still, her hands reached up to her neck, revealing a small, penknife sized key. The library was pretty empty, much like normal libraries were. The thing was, we were big believers in hard copies, and paper copies, not technological copies. Paper copies were a lot more difficult to get your hands on.
"You two will end up talking again.. you two are made for one another. I take it you're here for..?"
Ignoring the first part of her sentence, and how confident she sounded, I nodded, and she took her key off from around her neck, and gestured to me to follow. She walked to the back of the library, where several bookshelves were: well, it was a library after all.
Looking carefully around, she pulled out several books, revealing a tiny key hole. Placing her key in and turning there was no audible noise- it wouldn't be very secret then, would it? She placed the books back in, before going back to her desk, and I followed behind her. Behind her desk, there was now a small descending bit of stairs.
"There you go. Just knock when you want back up."
I thanked her, before carefully going down the deep concrete stairs, the familiar walls of the library disappearing behind me. As I got to the bottom, I walked out into a room filled with stacks upon stacks of old looking books. At the end, on a pedestal, there was a large book, with neat writing and pages yellowed with decay. The page was settled on my page, with my grandfather's name written, along with his wife, then my father, and my mother, and then me.
It looked like a bog standard family tree, with every name written in different handwriting. My name was written in my father's handwriting, scrawled as it may be, and read 'Jacob Ephraim Black, Alpha Line, January 14th, 1990.' Picking up the quil that was perhaps as old as time itself- how had it not disintegrated yet- and unscrewing the bottle of ink, I carefully dipped it in and added some information in to it. I added 'Imprint to, Isabella Marie Swan'.
Then, I drew two lines, before redipping it into the ink, and adding another section of information. 'Isabella Marie Swan, Alpha Female Line, September 13th, 1987, Imprint to Jacob Ephraim Black.' Then, I quickly flicked through the book, before ending up at another page, the one that consisted of the Alpha Female line, before adding Bella to that as well. It was time to go searching for family.
Before I leap into my relationship with Bella, I feel like it's necessary to talk about what I uncovered in her family tree. Her long ago ancestor, Taha Aki's daughter, someone called Adah, was the first to carry the wolf gene. Well, she was in the first generation of the wolf gene. She then proceeded to marry someone from the Makkah tribe, and had two children, two boys. They also had the ability to phase.
Like I said, none of the females of her line phased, until almost a century later, where a man of Taha Aki's son's line, Achachak, imprinted on the daughter, Abequa. Once the Imprint occurred, it was written down that Abequa became a wolf, with fur mismatched of all the colours. They went on to have children, and this is where the family tree diverges- because their only daughter distanced herself after not phasing, and went to somewhere else, where that line continued on, with none of them phasing.
Centuries upon centuries later, Abey, a descendent, went back to La Push, where the current Alpha- someone by the name of Viho, imprinted on her, but it was reported that the bond was only half strong. And thus, if you remember the information we found earlier, and I mean way back to where we younger and Bella was still a newbie wolf, this was the first instance of 'the half bond'. It seemed it was a repeating thing, then.
The thing was, after that pack, the phasing stopped, until my Grandfather, Ephraim, and his wife, Martha Young, became the first Alpha and Alpha female to phase. Then it skipped a generation, and voila, we were the next kin in line. You might think that's irrelevant or what not, but we wolves held our lineages dear, and like a monarchy, bloodline was incredibly important.
It was an instinctive thing, but the fact that Bella's bloodline, the Alpha Female line, further cemented her right to the role. I knew that some part of Bella yearned to know more about her family tree, where she got the gene from, and attempt to understand how she was destined to be a wolf. I could help her with the former, but not so much with the later.
We, funnily enough, didn't have a family tree of wolf spirits, mainly because this was the first time we actively communed with them. With that general knowledge filled in, I returned to my house, noticing a distinct lack of Charlie but the immediate presence of my father. Well nah Jacob, it wasn't his house or anything.
"Jake."
He sighed in relief. I'd really worried him.. I'd been gone for a while. Judging by the fact it was going dark now- not that it meant much mid October- I'd probably been gone for four or five hours. Still, I was feeling much calmer, and invigorated with knowledge- a phrase I'd never thought I'd say.
"Charlie's up with Bella now. He's trying to calm her down a little but-"
He smirked, making me think he was about to release a 'Dad' joke. Turns out, due to some secret sense, I was right.
"It's a little one sided."
I groaned, running my hand down my face. What was with Dad's and funny jokes? Ugh. Still, running my hands through my hair, I looked up to the stairs, where Bella was resting. Charlie came down a little while after I had gotten myself situated on the sofa, and gave me a look.
"She's ah.. more conversational now. She should listen to what you say."
I nodded my thanks, and began to ascend the stairs that might as well have been Mt Everest. Still, walk up them I did, preparing myself for 'The Edward Conversation' try 2. Let's hope it went better this time.
"Bells?"
I called out, stepping into my own room. That was a weird sentence. And a weird action, now that I think about it. I wasn't expecting an answer, not in the human sense, but I did hear a croon. I took that for permission to enter my room. Bella, since my dramatic exit, had relocated to the chair in the corner of my room, curled up with a blanket wrapped around her. Did she need it? Nope. But if I were to guess, I'd wager it was a comfort thing.
I approached her, feeling an odd sense of deja vu, and she didn't warn me off or anything, so I eventually made it in front of her, kneeling with my hand outstretched. Without any prompting from me, she leaned into it as I ran my fingers through the side of her mouth- the scruff of fur, not the literal inside of her mouth.
No bitten fingers was good. It meant she wasn't mad enough to maul me. There was the warm fuzzy feeling of Bella's shield wrapping around me, as she pulled back. This time, I stayed in human form as Bella's thoughts trickled through once more.
I realise that I was very hasty in chewing you out earlier. I apologise for that, the unwillingness to listen, but not for my anger in relation to the situation.
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much of an apology, but I was thankful for the one I got. I wasn't going to hold a grudge over her reaction, because if I held a grudge it would lead to nothing good. Still, I dipped by head, and began to speak, carefully watching my words so that it A, didn't come across as if I was babying her, and B, didn't come across as if I thought I had the moral superiority. I'd rather not upset her again, if I had any option about it.
"It's alright. You have a good reason for being angry."
There was an awkwardness around the situation, before Bella spoke again, calm and more willing to listen. I was expecting her to be mad, but at least she was going to listen to my reasoning. Even if I had the funny feeling that I'd make a mistake.. but there was another feeling that was telling me I'd made the right one. And I couldn't tell if that was my own wishful thinking or if it was that subtle power I supposedly had.
"So, the reason I let Edward get away with what he did was-"
Unknown POV
It was a small room. No larger then the small tucked away cafes that you get on the corner of alleys, it was filled with bodies, foot to foot and head to head. Layer upon layer of bodies. They were still, unmoving, unspeaking. Similarly to before, it was dark, no glow of light to be seen, making it almost impossible to see any distinguished features. The pounding of rain could be heard loudly on the roof, an echoing noise that could be heard by anybody with ears.
They seemed to be in varying degrees of changing , writhing in pain, with screams fighting against the sound of the rain. A large metal door at one end of the room was opened, allowing a small sliver of light to trickle through as someone threw a body like it was nothing more then a pile of rubbish, onto the other bodies. It landed with a harsh sounding thud, their head lolling against the ground.
Almost everything went silent, before the symphony of screams started up once again, with them picking up sound after every minute. The door creaked slowly closed at a slow pace, with the woman from earlier being the one to toss the body. In the slight hint of light, the woman's ruby red eyes became even more visible, illuminating the darkness. Another pair of red eyes appeared behind the woman, wrapping their arms around her and engaging her in what looked to be a kiss.
The woman smiled, something cold and evil, almost admiring her handiwork as the door finally closed, the bodies in the room forgotten in favour of wrapping her lips around the other person, the two of them staying engaged for a long period of time, the tortured screams becoming their backing track.
Author's Note
Hiii everyone! How are you all?
For once, I have a decent excuse for this chapter being shorter then usual- I was actually ill Tuesday-Wednesday, leaving me to try and rush to get this chapter finished.
For those of you who are curious, I had labyrinthitis. It's about as nice as it sounds.
I'm still not 100%, which is why I'm keeping this relatively short, because I want to go to bed early.
So, QOTW: What is something you dislike, but everyone else largely seems to like? For me: I dislike the Witcher series, which is well known, but I also dislike Love Island with a burning passion. Books wise... I don't like Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, something that is odd considering I normally love fantasy novels.
Anyway, I'm going to sleep off the remainder of this bug.
See ya next time!
~Cait