Angel

Jacob Black's Jealousy

I knew he was a jealous kind of guy. Stubborn, too, and at times he could be downright irrational. Heck, I'd even known him to be backstabbing – how could I forget the time he exposed our motorbike secret to Charlie? But these things hadn't made me hate him, because I knew they'd meant that he cared about me.

But one thing I'd never known Jacob Black to be was cruel. And the intensity of the cruelness he inflicted on me could even have brought James to his knees. I'd never, not in a million years, thought that that he had it in him to end someone's life without physically killing them. But he had. He'd ended my life, all because he was jealous. Jealous that I loved Edward, jealous that I wouldn't think more of him than my best friend. He was Paris, but he was dying to be Romeo.

It was his jealousy that led Jacob Black into turning me into a werewolf. Not literally, of course, but in all ways that I really cared about. I wasn't even clear on how he'd done it... How he'd changed me. The information I'd gotten from him, and also the Cullen's had led me to believe werewolves were hereditarily passed from generation to generation, not … created. I hadn't seen how he'd changed me. The whole experience was made bearable only by Edward face pictured vividly in my mind.

Edward Cullen. I loved Edward, irrevocably and unconditionally. I'd lived my life since last summer with total faith that I was his, and that he belonged to me. No one, or anything, could change that. So I'd thought.

But now the two of us were being pulled brutally apart by nature. Edward probably didn't even know it yet, unless Alice had seen it. In which case, I realized that he may have known about it before it even happened. I couldn't help but shiver at the thought, and immediately my body responded with a series of shakes and aching, making me groan out loud. Mad as I was at him, I had a new appreciating for what Jacob Black had gone through during his first phase.

I knew I should go see Edward; he would have a plan. By morning, I was sure I'd be back to normal or, better, a vampire. And, even if he didn't have a plan, he could make one. Edward was good at everything, so I assumed asking him to scheme my way out of being a werewolf wouldn't be too far out of the question.

There was only one thing stopping me from jumping in my old truck and racing all the way through Forks to the Cullen's house, and it was no more sneaking past Charlie than it the lateness of the hour or my physical pain. Those problems were easily solved – I could lie to Charlie, if he wasn't already in bed, the Cullen's would be awake, and, being as uncoordinated as I was, I was quite used to dealing with pain.

No, the only thing keeping me from Edward was my knowledge of vampires. Mainly, the knowledge of the enemies, or lack-there-of. With a sinking heart, I remembered that they only had two – themselves, and me.

"Come see me, Bella," Edward's velvet voice reverberated through my mind.

I shook my head in frustration. Great, the voices were back. In the absence of Edward, I knew my subconscious was likely to adapt his voice when it really wanted me to do something.

"We are in love, Bella. We can work things out. You know that this won't matter," Edward continued.

With a sigh, I gave in. I slowly pulled myself out of bed, every muscle in my body protesting vehemently the whole time. I rushed around my room, trying to find clothes. My hands were so shaky, I couldn't tell from being nervous or from the pain that I tried to put my pants on five times unsuccessfully before I finally lay down on the floor and struggled into them.

Downstairs, Charlie was watching a re-run of some slasher movie, so I quickly fed him an excuse about borrowing some medicine from Jessica. Charlie was under the impression that the flu was keeping me holed up in my room.

I quickly walked to the door and pulled on my jacket and boots. I ran outside and down the driveway without bothering to pull up my jacket's hood. Maybe the rain would wash away some of my werewolf stench, I thought idly.

By the time I reached my old truck my muscles were screaming. Ignoring them, I coaxed the truck into gear and took off. The drive to the Cullen's was unbearably slow, mostly due to the fact that the truck wouldn't go past fifty. As I drove, my mind wandered back to Edward. I saw him driving the truck single-handedly, his other hand holding mine on the seat. Edward in the clearing, laughing as he explained to his family that I was being unintentionally funny; Edward pouncing on me in his room when I told him that I didn't find him scary. Then, suddenly, I saw Edward back in my room holding me close in the rocking chair.

"You are my life now…" He told me. Was it irony that I was now equipped to end it?

My teeth sank down hard into my lip at the thought as I tried desperately to bite back tears. I looked up, expecting to see the country road, but I was met with the familiar sight of the lovely old house that I'd spent so much of my life in. Somehow, my subconscious had guided me to the Cullen's. Weird that I hadn't even noticed I'd stopped.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I opened the truck's door and let myself out into the rain. I sloshed towards the Cullen's house, but before I even neared the porch that wrapped around the Cullen's entire house, the front door opened, revealing a pixie-like Alice.

"Bella?" she called, her face twisted into a grimace. She spoke loudly only for my benefit, but the sound now reverberated loudly in my ears. "It reeks out here. You didn't bring that Jacob Black, did you?" I was almost at the porch now, feeling a brutal rush of hatred at the sound of Jake's name.

"Just let me in, Alice." I whispered, climbing the stairs. She heard me, of course, and stepped to the side politely to allow me in. As I passed her, her perfect little nose turned up. Had she not figured out my secret yet? I thought with a cold-hearted snort, had she not seen it?

Alice shut the door, silencing the room. Suddenly, I felt like I couldn't breathe. The house smelled unbearably sweet. It was nothing like I remember Edward… This smell was overbearing, almost nauseating. I quickly forced myself not to gag on it. Alice gasped and I whirled around to look at her.

I was instantly reminded of the time she had seen me dying. Her eyes were large and round, not in honesty, but in fear. I stepped forward, trying to act normal.

"…Alice?"

She squeaked and stepped back, putting her hands up in a warning to keep me away. She looked terrified.

"Alice, what's wrong?" I couldn't keep the urgency out of my voice. She just shook her head, and then looked to the top of the stairs. I followed her gaze, and my eyes were met with Edward. He looked from me, and then to Alice. His angel's face crumpled horribly. He knew.

"Go, Alice," he said in a sandpaper version of velvet.

"But, Edward, she shouldn't even be here! Have you not smelled-?" Alice's voice was thick with implications, but Edward would have none of it.

"Go, Alice," He was coming down the stairs now. Slowly, apprehensively.

He reached the bottom of the steps and took a few steps towards me, be he paused, thinking. He sighed, deciding to keep a cautious, no-contact space between us. I felt like I was three years old… Like Edward and I had just met. Maybe we had… I wasn't sure if I had changed too much for him.

"Bella," he greeted, clearly angry, with a wave of his hand. He seemed to be exaggerating his movements deliberately. He exhaled deeply at the closing of my name. His eyes never left mine.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I was abruptly hit in the face with a stench so grotesquely sweet that I was rendered motionless. A shocking rush of hatred for the man standing in font of me flooded over me. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to pounce on he bloodsucker and tear at his unbreakable-

"Careful, Bella," Edward said dully, breaking my werewolf behavior trance. He was scowling, now. "You'll phase. I apologize for pushing you,"

I knew he wasn't sorry, but I nodded anyway. I bit my lip, anticipating the wrath of his volatile temper.

"I wasn't aware people could be made into werewolves," Edward continued conversationally, pacing. His face was carefully composed into one of passiveness, but his eyes, black, gave away his disguise. "Do you have any Quileute ancestors I'm unaware of?"

"What do you think?" I said harshly, angry at him for blaming me of all people.

"Fine, Bella. How, then?" He asked in sandpaper.

I felt like sobbing as I choked out my answer bitterly. "I think that's more of a question for Jacob Black,"

A string of profanities I'd never even heard flooded from Edward's mouth as his fist promptly slammed through the nearest wall. Behold the temper.