Chapter Three: Bad Moods and Strange Calls
The next day, Jazmine had suggested her and her friends go play in the river. Edward was out with Bella. Alice, Jasper and the others were hunting. So Jazmine and her friends were being trusted to be alone.
Jazmine splashed around in the cold refreshing water and watched Clyde and Vivien chase each other. Clyde spotted a fish and pounced playfully. Vivien teased him when he came up empty handed. Jazmine smiled and sat in the cold water. A fish swam towards her and she watched it, not noticing Clyde splashing towards her until the fish zoomed by. Clyde unintentionally slammed into her and the boom echoed through the forest. They both flew back into the water and splashed water every where.
Jazmine stood, now soaking wet, and glared at Clyde. "What was that?" she snapped. He just laughed. He was drenched too, and his long wet fur made him look hilarious. Jazmine and Vivien roared with laughter and Clyde shook himself. His long fur stood up on his sides and the fur on his head was standing up lopsided. They all three laughed and played around for a few more hours.
They got out of the river when they heard the sound of Edward's Volvo pulling up in the long drive way. "Last one there is a three legged werewolf!" Jazmine called pouncing forward. They all raced through the sun, stopping several times to shudder but continuing soon after. Clyde skidded to a stop in front of Edward and Bella. His long fur was now totally dry and it looked a lot cleaner than it had last night. Jazmine wasn't far behind him and Vivien was last, she skidded up stumbling over her tail. She fell and hit the ground face first. Jazmine and Clyde laughed. "You're a three legged werewolf!" Clyde said.
"What?" Edward asked. Jazmine smiled at him. "Inside joke." She said with a chuckle. "Yes, of course." Edward grumbled leading Bella inside. Jazmine and her friends trotted after him. "What did you guys do today?" Bella asked.
"We played in the river." Vivien answered. "Oh, how fun." Edward muttered sitting down on the couch. "It was! It was!" Vivien said trying to convince him. "You should have seen how funny Clyde looked! He looked like a drowned rat!"
"I bet." Edward mused as Bella plopped down beside him. Jazmine wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, but he was still cute." She said touching her nose to his side. If Bella hadn't known better she would have thought Clyde was having a heart attack.
He turned toward Jazmine quickly. "You scared the crap out of me!" he wheezed. Jazmine laughed. Vivien rolled on the ground laughing. Edward was trying to hold it back but a few chuckles were escaping his mouth. Bella watched the three with interest as she snuggled up against Edward.
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Clyde swiped at Vivien and Vivien jumped out of the way of his deadly, clawed paw. She flicked her long tail and threatened to pounce on him. "Hey," Edward snapped. "No fighting in the house. You'll break something." He barked.
Jazmine slipped her tail around Clyde's leg and yanked quickly. He went crashing to the floor and his chin hit the floor with a hard bang. Vivien laughed like a hyena and fell over. Edward scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Apparently it's Ignore Edward Day." He muttered.
"Aw, did we hurt your wittle feewings?" Jazmine mocked walking over to the couch and putting her head near him. "I'll hurt your wittle face, if you don't get away from me." Edward hissed.
"Dude, Edward," Jazmine said walking away from him and back over to Clyde who was rubbing his soar jaw. "Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the – oh!" she gasped dramatically. "I'm sorry!" she snorted. The three laughed and Jazmine sat down beside Clyde.
Edward didn't answer; he just gazed off into the backyard. Jazmine flicked her ear, annoyed by Edward's bad mood. She laid her ears back and exhausted a slow sigh. Clyde looked up at her with bright orange eyes.
He made a growling sound that turned into a low roar as he opened his mouth, he finished if off with a loud yip and a flick of his ear. Jazmine's ears pricked up and she looked at him. Vivien rolled onto her stomach and she made a soft yipping noise.
Bella watched as the three cats seemed to communicate with each other, yipping, growling, and roaring at each other. Bella noted that the cats communicated with body language and they responded to the occasional flick of the ear or tail and the lowering of the head.
Jazmine seemed to be getting annoyed quickly. She snapped at Vivien and hissed at Clyde. Her necklace gave off a quick flash and she was her normal vampire self. She stormed out of the house, shaking her head.
Clyde recoiled himself and huddled up. "What was that about?" Bella asked.
"She . . . I dunno!" Vivien whined. She gave Clyde a quick glance. "Well, Clyde?" she asked. "You started it! Go say something to her!" Vivien said quickly. Clyde's ears went back and he shook his head. Vivien narrowed her eyes. "Go talk to her." She snarled baring her teeth at him. Clyde snarled at her threat but uncoiled himself and slinked out of the house. A flash came in briefly and everything was quiet again.
"What?" Edward piped after a few seconds.
Vivien seemed almost frantic to tell him. "Well, well, you see. Clyde was all like 'Take it easy, Jaz.' And I was all like 'What? Huh?' and Jazmine was all like 'What do you mean 'take it easy?" Vivien explained. "And Clyde said 'Just take a chill pill and calm down!' and Jazmine got all frustrated and she went all 'Grr' on us and stormed out!" Vivien paused from her frantic explanation. "Clyde is really being a butt lately. He's usually calm and collected, but ever since we got here he's been all . . . a butt!" she snapped to herself. She looked up at Edward's face. He seemed a little confused by her little rant. "Huh?" he asked.
"Huh what?" she asked.
"What do you mean by 'calm and collected?'" he asked. Vivien narrowed her eyes as if she was thinking pretty hard. "Uh, well, you see, he's very quiet at home. He never really talks. He usually just sits there and watches . . . and by watches I mean stares at Jazmine like she's a freakin' God or something." She rolled her eyes. "And all he's done here is make fun of me and torment Jazmine." She put a paw to her chin. "Very strange."
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"I'll say." Bella said but Edward seemed to be in deep thought.
Things were quiet again. Vivien began to tire of the seemingly never-ending silence and she snorted to break it. As Edward looked up at her, the front door cracked.
Jazmine's head appeared and she smiled at Edward. "Yo, Edward, can I have a favor?" she asked. Edward looked her expression over. "Maybe." He responded slowly. She nodded. "Yeah, I was wondering if another one of my friends could come over here." She said quickly. A hiss came from outside as Clyde protested but Jazmine ignored him.
Edward narrowed his eyes. "Just one?" he asked. "Just one." Jazmine reassured. Edward shrugged and then nodded. "Fine, go ahead," He muttered. "But only one." He added sternly. "Yeah, one." Jazmine said already closing the door. Vivien sat on the floor puzzled. "Which one?" she finally asked pouncing up and going to the door.
Her necklace flashed and her vampire form opened the door. "Jazmine!" she called. "Which friend?" when no one answered she bounced outside and sniffed the air to locate Jazmine. Though Vivien already had a feeling about who Jazmine would pick, she was still a little curious. She found Jazmine behind the large garage talking on her cell phone. Clyde was sitting in one of the big trees lining the drive way not to far away.
Vivien squeaked and scurried over to Jazmine's side.
"Okay, Dag, then you'll send him?" Jazmine asked, wrapping up the conversation already. "Yeah, hopefully he doesn't get lost on the way." She said rolling her eyes. Another hiss came from Clyde but he was ignored. "Bad idea!" Clyde snapped jumping down. "Terrible, terrible idea!" he huffed storming over to the two girls. "It will go bad. Terribly bad!" he added as he stood before Jazmine.
Jazmine looked at him and smiled. "Clyde, calm down. I can control Naruto." She said.
Vivien squeaked. "So, he really is coming? Naruto? He's coming?" she asked. Jazmine nodded and Vivien squeaked again. "Yay!"
Jazmine rolled her eyes and then paused to listen to something Daggorith said. "Oh, yeah, he really does, but like I said Daggy, I can handle Naruto." She assured. "So send him up and I'll take it from there." She piped with a smile. "Great! Bye, Dag." She snapped the phone shut and gave Clyde a smug smile. "He's on his way." She said.
Clyde tensed and narrowed his eyes. "Clyde, Clyde, Clyde," Jazmine cooed. "It'll be fine." She said with quick nod. He shrugged. "I'm just thinking of Bella and what Edward would do to poor Naruto if she was killed." He said and with each word his voice grew harsher.
Jazmine snorted. "Apparently, no one listens to me when I say it's going to be fine and not to worry." She huffed crossing her arms and for the first time since the trio arrived at Forks Clyde's expression grew gentle. He smiled warmly. "I guess I'm overreacting then?" he asked. Jazmine paused and looked him in the eyes, she couldn't help but smile. "Yes," she said turning away from him. "Yes you are." She was still smiling as she went back towards the house.
Vivien looked at Clyde suspiciously. "You are a bad player at this game." She growled at him. He shrugged and smiled. "I just need practice." He said as he walked past her. Vivien watched his back as he caught up to Jazmine. "Oh, and four hundred years wasn't enough for you?" she snapped back at him. She heard his laugh and saw Jazmine shake her head.
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That night Jazmine left for a few hours to meet Naruto half way. Vivien and Clyde were left behind to discuss how very good or how terribly bad this was going to turn out. After a while of arguing they both agreed to disagree. Alice and the others were still away, hunting. Edward and Bella were there again, though. Awaiting the arrival of Jazmine's seemly mysterious friend and listening to Vivien and Clyde argue.
"I'm still going to say it's bad that Naruto is going to be here." Clyde sighed laying on the floor. "Oh, but come on!" Vivien complained. "You don't even know Naruto like Jazmine does! If she says she can control him than she can!" she pointed out.
"Psh, whatever." Clyde argued. "After seeing his fight with Sasuke that first night, I can't trust that little weasel at all."
Vivien snorted. "You can't hold that against him! It was the first seventy two hours, you know that." She paused. "And he's a fox, not a weasel." She pointed out.
"Whatever." Clyde growled. He was about to add something but an ear splitting screech was heard from a few miles away. Vivien sat up quickly. Her blonde hair was messed up in the back from lying on the floor and Bella noted that she looked nothing like a vampire. Another screech was heard and Clyde rolled his eyes. "And it begins." He grumbled. Edward couldn't help but chuckle. "She likes to make an entrance, doesn't she?" he asked.
"She does, and so does Naruto." Clyde mumbled sitting up.
The front door opened suddenly. Jazmine appeared inside, a big smile on her face. Clyde glared past her at the blonde haired boy that looked around fifteen. Naruto's red eyes pierced the air as he looked around. They glowed lightly and lit his face. Jazmine had his hand in hers and was tugging him along behind her.
Bella and Edward quickly took in everything that was Naruto; of course they still hadn't seen his strange fox-self with his strangely outnumbered tails.
"Okay, Naruto!" Jazmine said positioning him before Edward and Bella. "This is Edward and Bella. Edward. Bella. This is Naruto." She said.
Edward raised a hand and nodded. Bella smiled at Naruto. He seemed okay.
Naruto smiled at them both. "Nice to meet you." He said closing his eyes. "I've heard a lot about you in so little time." His eyes opened and he examined Bella. Vivien sprang from the floor. She jumped on Naruto's back and looped her legs around his waist. He almost lost his balance but Vivien equaled her weight. "Naruto! I missed you!" she squeaked throwing her arms around his neck. Naruto grunted and then laughed. "That's cool, Vivien." Naruto chuckled. "Now, can you get off of me?" Jazmine chuckled as Vivien slid down off of Naruto and turned him around to face her. "How's Sasuke?" she asked. Good ole, predictable Vivien.
Naruto rolled his eyes and sighed. "And you had me thinking you really missed me." He said. Vivien squeaked nervously. "Um, I did!" she said quickly. "I was just wondering . . ." her voice trailed off as Naruto smiled at her. "Shut up." She barked folding her arms.
Naruto laughed again. "Just joking, Sasuke's fine. Draxie promoted him." He said, shaking his head with disgust. Jazmine's eyes widened and Clyde blinked. "Oh?" he said, this was news to him.
"Yeah," Naruto piped. "He's now a . . . a . . . oh what's the word?" he grumbled. Clyde thought hard. What had Draxie been meaning to do with the newest fledglings? His eyes widened with horror. "An assassin?" he asked. "Draxie's making Sasuke an Assassin in Training?"
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Naruto nodded. "Uh, yeah. That." He said.
Jazmine hissed a line of profanity under her breath. Naruto took a step away from her. "What? Is that bad?" he asked. "On more than one condition." She snapped. "I can't believe Draxie!"
Edward raised his hands. "Now wait a moment, Jazmine." He said calmly. "Calm down and think about this rationally."
Jazmine closed her eyes and mellowed out. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. "Now what's all this about?" Edward asked. "An assassin? It can't be what it sounds like." He said thoughtfully.
Clyde snorted. "You're right." He commented. "It's much much worse!" he said.
Jazmine nodded. "Unfortunately, they are skilled in killing and show no mercy. They are the exact opposite of the villains on Saturday morning cartoons." She stared at Edward with a hollow expression and he drank in the thoughts she was feeding him.
"Another time, though. Talking about Sasuke's career plan was not on my agenda." Jazmine said raising her hand. Clyde climbed to his feet and walked over to Jazmine. He wedged himself in between Jazmine and Naruto with an innocent expression on his face. Naruto's red eyes brightened as he glared at the back of Clyde's head. Clyde had a smug smile on his face as he towered over Jazmine.
Naruto folded his arms. "Nice to see you too, Clyde."
"Yeah, same to you, you little brat." Clyde sneered, turning around to face him for a moment. As Clyde turned back to Jazmine Naruto growled. "Over-sized idiot."
Clyde's eyes sought a challenge. "Ugly little bastard." He snarled. Naruto grinned; hopefully Clyde didn't expect him to play fair. "Love struck pretty boy." Naruto hissed. Clyde sucked in a breath but didn't skip a beat. "Blood thirsty, undersized demon." He barked. Vivien and Edward laughed but that was the last straw for Jazmine. She knotted her fingers in the boys' hair and cracked their foreheads. "Kiss and make up now." She growled under her breath. Her eyes flickered red. "I can't believe you two! What do I have to do? Sit you down in the corner and give you a time out? You are both acting like four year olds." She snapped.
Clyde tried to pull away from her grasp and only succeeded in hurting himself. "Compared to me, he might as well be." Clyde huffed curling his fingers around Jazmine's wrist. "He started it." Naruto whined trying to escape the painful hold Jazmine had on him.
Jazmine let go of them at the sound of her phone buzzing in her pocket. She pulled it out and checked the number quickly. She flipped the phone open. "Daggorith." She said quickly. "Calling to check up on me I suppose?"
She paused and rolled her eyes. "Dag, I'm fine, we're all fine. Leave me alone." She hissed with a playful hint in her voice. Clyde smiled up at Jazmine. "Let me talk to him." He snickered. Jazmine just smile and listened to Daggorith's words. She frowned then. He had said something she didn't like. "Ah, no, Daggorith, listen . . ." but apparently he had interrupted her. "Yeah, okay, that's right, but since when do you care what Henry said? Henry and Vicky don't know what they're talking about so keep your grubby little paws away from the human office." She hissed into the phone.
Then her eyes widened with shock. "Daggorith," she said with a small laugh. "You can't be serious." She got up and walked to the door. She opened it and went outside. Edward looked at Clyde. He had heard most of the conversation and he looked more shocked than Jazmine had.
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"Vivien," Clyde murmured. "You'll never believe what Daggorith just said."
She looked up curiously. "What?" she squeaked. "What?"
"He just offered to give Vicky a Tedan necklace so she's not a human anymore." Clyde said quickly. Vivien and Naruto both sucked in a sharp breath. "No!" Vivien hissed. "Henry would so kill him!"
Clyde suddenly seemed outraged. "Jazmine would kill him! Draxie would kill him! I would kill him!" he hissed. "I hate –no! Loathe Vicky! I wouldn't want that little she-witch prowling around my territory." He snapped. Vivien nodded with a cross expression. Naruto snorted. "Henry would be mad. If Henry wanted Vicky to be a vampire he would have turned her along time ago." He blinked. "You know how many times he's taken sips of Vicky's blood and the worst part is she lets him do it!" Naruto pointed out.
Bella shuddered. Who could let a vampire drink your blood? This Vicky girl sounded like a lunatic.
Clyde looked up as Jazmine walked back inside. Her phone was in her hand between clutched fingers. "That's it." She said looking at Clyde. "My brother has lost his mind. That's the only explanation for it." She grumbled rolling her eyes. "I sent him to Italy."
Bella looked at her with a strange expression. "Italy?" she echoed. Jazmine looked at her and snickered. "Yeah, but not to do what you're thinking of." She laughed. She sat down between Clyde and Naruto. "There is a big werewolf pack in Italy, the biggest in the world, and me and my brother are very good friends with the pack leader." She explained. "He's going up there to get away from our city and get some fresh air and all that." She said waving her hand. She laughed again. "As if he would waste his time with the Volturi." She chuckled. Clyde frowned. "I don't understand those guys, they are so . . ." his voice trailed off as he searched for the right word.
Jazmine snorted. "Annoying?" she asked.
Clyde shucked in a sharp breath. "Well, I guess that puts a nice G rating on it." He murmured, almost to himself. Jazmine smirked at him and playfully slapped his shoulder. "You're so mean."
Vivien and Naruto blinked at each other. Vivien didn't know much about the Volturi since she had never had the chance to meet them and Naruto didn't know what Jazmine was talking about.
Vivien seemed to get bored quickly with the subject of the Volturi and she looked around the house with curious eyes, taking in everything she saw, first the large yet beautiful grand piano on the raised platform, then the elegant spiral staircase and the south wall that was made entirely out of glass. Naruto followed her gaze around the large house in awe. He had never been in a house that big before. Then suddenly, his delicate nose picked up something familiar yet unknown. He sniffed the air lightly and turned to see if Jazmine had picked up this scent. She hadn't and Naruto sniffed the air again. The smell was getting closer. He racked his brain to find out where he had smelled this musky odor before. His eyes lit up as he found the answer.
"Jazmine," he said tugging her sleeve. "I smell werewolves."
Jazmine turned to look at him with wide eyes and then turned her nose up to smell the air. "Yes, those are werewolves," she paused. "They are coming this way but I don't recognize their scent. They must be part of the Washington pack." She looked at Edward who looked troubled. "I thought they were allowed over here." She said with a curious prick in her gleaming eyes. Edward looked a little irritated then. "They're not." He growled.
"Let's go check it out." Naruto suggested lightly and Jazmine turned to smile at him. "Shall we?" she asked glancing over at Clyde and then at Edward. "I don't want a fight." Edward hissed. "Fight?" Jazmine said getting up innocently. "There will be no fight." She laughed as she gathered her group and quickly left the house.
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After the house was quiet, Bella looked up at Edward with troubled eyes. "I can't help feeling it's Jacob." She murmured. "You don't think Jazmine would really hold back and not fight them?"
As those words left Bella's mind an ear-shattering wail over took the house. "Let's go." Bella got up and went to the door. Edward rolled his eyes but followed. He was quickly at her side and they went around the side of the house to the back. Edward paused as he studied the scene before him.
Three large werewolves stood in the shadows of the trees close by the river. It didn't take Edward long to know it was Jacob, Quil, and Embrey. Their teeth were bared as they glared at the four Necklace vampires in front of them. Jazmine was standing perfectly still, shock was on her face. Naruto was on his stomach in front of Jazmine. Clyde was hunched over him. Vivien had her teeth clenched as she glared at the werewolves with hate in her eyes.
Edward and Bella quickly ran to join them. Edward got to them first, of course, and glared at Jacob and then looked down with pity at Naruto.
"What . . .happened?" Bella panted as she lugged herself up to Edward's side. "Jacob lunged at Naruto and nipped his arm a little, but Naruto's fine." Edward murmured. Bella glared at the biggest wolf in front. Jazmine snapped out of her shock and grabbed the back of Naruto's orange jacket. She stood him up and raised up Naruto's shirt. There was a small trickle of blood falling down his stomach. "It stings." Naruto hissed.
The big wolf in the front of the pack made a laughing-like bark and Naruto shot a glare at him. "I'll say you deserved it." Jazmine said letting Naruto pull his shirt back down. "Because I told you not to sneak up on them and you did anyway." She looked Naruto over. "But it was funny as hell, so you're forgiven." She smiled patting his head.
Naruto shied away from her touch and glanced at her with an annoyed face. "Which part was funny? The sneaking part or when he swung his big, fat head around to bite me?" Naruto barked.
"Both." Jazmine laughed. Clyde snickered and stretched to his full height, towering over Jazmine and Naruto. Jazmine looked up at Clyde and looked pleased for a second. She, then, turned to the three wolves.
"Let me tell you three something you don't know about us." She said with a calm voice. "I can't read your minds like Edward, but I can understand the wolf language." Her eyes flickered over Edward and then back at the woods. "Now what do you want?" she asked, knowing Edward already knew but hadn't wasted time telling her.
Jacob swung his large head back to the chocolate brown Quil on his left side. Quil had something in his mouth that he handed over to Jacob quickly. When Jacob turned back around a letter was in his mouth and he stepped forward once. Jazmine cocked an eyebrow. "Is that for me?" she asked. When Jacob was silent, Jazmine hissed with frustration. "Is it or isn't it?" she barked.
Embrey stepped forward. "It's for one of you named . . . Jazmine." He said in the wolf language. Jazmine held out her hand. "Okay, then, let me have it." She said. Jacob hesitated and Jazmine grinned. "You don't want to make yourselves look like cowards, do you?" she asked with a sharp hint lying low in her words. Jacob cleared his throat and an annoyed growl rose as he eased cautiously over to Jazmine to give her the letter.
Jacob hovered over Jazmine. His eyes would flick every now and then to Bella. Jazmine grew irritated. He snatched the letter out of Jacob's mouth. She startled him and he snapped out at her arm. He had missed, thankfully, but Jazmine had felt threatened. "Do you have a death wish?" she hissed. Jacob snorted and Jazmine just rolled her eyes. "I'll let it slip – this time!" she said with a slight smile as she tore open the letter.
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