This one turned out to be really long for some reason so I cut it in half. Part a and part b!
Cara:
… I was running, running, running away from his bloodthirsty eyes. I glanced back once, just once and when I turned back around- SMACK!
I shot upright in bed, hand on my racing heart. Looking around, I located the source of the loud bang. Stupid picture frame. But when I picked it up off the cluttered floor it took me a moment to realize why the picture was of a woman I didn't know. And why the room was such a mess. Boys.
Along with a sinking heart, all the events from the day before came flooding back and the weight of how I was going to be spending my day settled on my shoulders. I was getting used to that, the heavy weight of so many feelings and responsibilities. Somehow, I don't think I'll ever get used to vampires though. At least, not the kind I'd be hunting down that day.
Right. Bring it on I thought and threw back the quilt Jake had gently tucked around me while I no doubt smacked and kicked him in my sleep. I shuddered at the dream- or nightmare- that had sent my mind reeling. In seconds, I was dressed- not caring about my hair or anything like that- and making my way down stairs where the smell of coffee and the sound of deep, low voices floated up to me.
"- shouldn't be too hard" Sam trailed his finger along the map from the night before, now permanently useless to anyone who might actually want to see where they're going. Pen marks and pencil trails covered every square inch.
"Morning" I mumbled and Jake jumped up from his seat, offering it to me along with a cup of orange juice. I took the juice but shook my head at the chair. I was too riled up to sit down, no matter how weak in the knees Jacob Black in the morning may make me.
"Hey, we were just discussing the best route to track down your father. We were thinking of breaking up into pairs to locate his scent fast… er… Cara?" Sam, Billy and Jake looked up at me from the small kitchen table as I walked to the back door and swung it open.
"Give me five minutes"
--
And five minutes was all it took to pinpoint the way Dad had been taken. It seemed a bit sloppy of the bloodsucker. Didn't he realize we could follow my father easily? Didn't he know it wouldn't take long for us to find them? Was he prepared for what I would do to him if there was even a small scratch on the only family I had?
The morning light filtered through the leaves that had managed to stay clinging to their branches after the storm the night before. Everything felt so new, like the world today was different from the world yesterday. It was unusually warm for the time of year but I wasn't complaining. Anything was better the rain and snow of Washington.
Oh, would you shut up, Embry?! I hate you!- Not what you said last night, babe- asshole. For the past hour Leah and Embry hadn't stopped fighting. Back and forth, they were worse than a married couple… a married couple in the middle of a divorce. I rolled my eyes at them and brushed past, taking the lead again.
My feet kept sinking in the mud and I was too tired to block out the Pack's thoughts and memories so I suffered the verging migraine. I tried to focus on the trail which weakened in some patches and veered suddenly. Often, we had to back track and search for a minute or two. We were getting further and further from La Push, having left Forks behind a few miles ago.
How far could they have taken him? I thought. They wouldn't kill him, right? That's all I could think as I trudged through the forests and backwoods. I couldn't help but try to think about what my life would be like if they actually did do it. The more I thought about it, the harder it was to imagine. No more pancakes on Sunday morning, no more late night movies or random home makeovers. What about his stupid experimental dinners? Sure, I may have complained about them, but if he was gone? I'd give anything to be served pineapple bacon meatloaf, as disgusting as that sounds.
Jacob was suddenly at my side, his shoulder brushing mine with each instep. Why does he always manage to make me forget about the world and become hyper aware of it at the same time? Or the better question is how. How does he calm me down and send my pulse racing? I'll never know and don't care if it never stops.
You okay?- Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't know if he is- I'm sure he's better than okay. Worrying about you and thinking about what he's going to wear to work tomorrow.
God, his optimism was so not helping. Not only was it obviously unrealistic but it made my heart ache that much more. What if he never got to go work again?! Still, Jake tried and just for that, I nudged my shoulder closer to his so our bodies were barely a breath apart.
Over the next hours, as morning turned to afternoon then to dusk, my hope started to fade. It was dumb to begin with. Dad was gone, carried away by some vindictive thing that drinks other thing's blood. What would keep him from drinking his?
Nobody really needed to pay attention to the trail anymore, it was practically a visible line we could see. Leah and Embry were still bickering but it wasn't worth even an eye roll at that point, Paul was singing his own rendition of "Call Me" and Jared and Sam were wrapped in their own little world of sports. Quil was nowhere to be seen, probably off scaring unsuspecting hikers.
And just when I was about to scream and cry and laugh in hopeless defeat I heard the one thing that had scared away the monsters in my closet when I was five years old and sang along to opera on Saturday mornings. Dad's voice, muffled and hoarse but still there. My heart skipped a beat.
The Pack were thinking back and forth, trying to figure out if they had heard right and where it was coming from but I could feel it like a leash on my brain. Without a word, I ran off in the direction I knew it had to be coming from. My nerves were completely fried and I doubt if I could even make it to my full speed but I tried to, running through brambles and under tilted logs.
Slow down, Cara! Don't give yourself away. Jake kept up with me easily, loping along beside me. The Pack closed in behind us, trying to keep as quiet as possible. It wouldn't make a difference either way I knew. Stefan and whoever he was with would have heard us a mile back but still, instinct made us keep quiet.
The trees got steadily thicker, vines and branches tangling together until it was like a wall we had to struggle through. Thorns and twigs whipped across my shoulders but I barely noticed. All I was focused on was Dad and getting him as far from Stefan as humanly and unhumanly possible. And suddenly, as if it had never been there, the shield of trees dropped off onto a clearing, in the middle of which sat my father- bound and gagged.
Go Cara, we've got your back. At Sam's okay, I slowly crept forward, afraid my dad wouldn't recognize me and scream. There was a bruise swelling his left cheek and a cut along his arm. He could barely keep his blue eyes open but he was trying to say something.
Dad's eyes suddenly opened and locked on mine. Did he remember what I looked like as a wolf? My heart sank at the panic and fear I saw on his face but I shook it away. He could be as scared of me as he wanted right now, he'd thank me later. I took a step closer and he thrashed as twig snapped.
I whipped around just in time to see someone with pale skin and coal dark hair tackled to the ground by Jacob. They were a blur of white and brown, claws and fangs. My heart started pounding against my rib cage but I helped my father up, letting him lean into my fur for support. The Pack circled around and Sam joined Jake against the vampire.
Could it be that easy? Of course not. Nothing is ever easy anymore for me. Getting up in the morning isn't even easy. So why would saving my father from an evil vampire be even remotely not difficult?
I felt them before I saw them and the Pack did too. While Sam and Jacob doubled up on the dark haired leach it felt like the sky suddenly got three shades darker. Was the wind picking up? Way too many scary sci-fi movies were blurring into my real sci-fi life. I made a mental note to throw out all my old videos of the Twilight Zone.
I have a bad feeling that there're more than two of them Embry thought and I was suddenly seeing through my eyes and their eyes at once. A wisp of something red flashed before Leah while something silver streaked in front of Paul's eyes. It was dizzying and nauseating and I almost couldn't block them out.
If they wanted to attack, they would have. Let's just go I said, eager to get away from the darkening clearing and keep my father out of their bloodthirsty hands. Speaking of my father, he didn't seem to notice the rapid movements around us, he was just staring wide eyed at Jacob and Sam, his hand holding tight on my neck.
All together we moved forward, careful not to be too quick or too slow. Maybe they'd just let us go if we showed we weren't going to harm them. Yeah, and maybe the sky isn't blue. Also, the fact that two of us had just completely annihilated one of them didn't help our cause.
Barely two steps and we were surrounded. They stepped out of the shadows with perfect timing, showing themselves at the same time. Things were way worse than I thought… way, way worse. It wasn't just Stefan and his little sidekick we were facing- they would have been no problem. It was Stefan and his entire coven of followers.
"Not my followers, dear" He said, reading my mind. Can all vampires do that? He was suddenly standing in front of me, all startling blonde hair and blue eyes. "My colleagues"
Jacob came up beside me, growling so loudly my dad started to shake. Stefan chuckled and the others followed suit. They may not be his followers but they sure did exactly what he did.
"Down, pup. We don't bite" There were twelve in total. All flashing fangs and gleaming eyes. I didn't even know there could be that many in one place. Wouldn't they turn on each other or something? Weren't they all power hungry and selfish?
Was that the wrong thing to think? As if a gun had gone off, everything jumped into action. They surged forward in streaks of white, coming at us from all angles. I pushed my dad behind me as a female with brown hair and black eyes crouched in front of me, hissing.
She lunged for my face while I leapt for her shoulder. We went down with me on top and her clawing at my arms. Dad was yelling at us like he would at a hockey game and I'll spare the gruesome details but the home team won. She laid there, limp and motionless and all she'd managed to do was scratch up my arm.
I whipped around just in time to get between Dad and Stefan. I bit down on his ankle and tugged, yanking him away right as his hand would have locked around my father's throat. No you don't, I thought and raked my claws down his leather jacket. He was fast though, and strong, and threw me off, disappearing into the fight.
Cara, go! Get him out of here! Sam called before pouncing- literally- onto a vamp whose grin probably wouldn't last too long. Jake was battling two at one time, Quil had appeared from somewhere and struggled with two of his own. Sam went from leach to leach, tearing through the ranks.
I bit my dad's sleeve, careful of his arm and tugged him along. My heart was going a million miles per second and I'm sure, had I looked like human me, my hands would have been shaking. My arm had started to sting really bad but I ignored it, focusing on getting my father as far away as possible.
The sound of the fighting got dimmer and dimmer the further away we got and I wanted to get back to it so badly. It was hard for him to see in the dark and I wound up carrying him through the wilderness. When I found a place where he would be safe until it was over I ran around the tree, shifting as I moved and came back around in my sweats, pulling my tank down across my stomach.
"Okay, you'll be safe here, Dad. Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I asked in a rush. I don't think he heard all or any of it but he nodded. I threw my arms around him, holding him tight for a long second and pulled away. "Stay hidden and quiet, okay?"
"What's going on?" Dad's voice was shaky and sort of lost but his blue eyes sparked in that way that had passed down to me.
Before I could answer- if I could answer that question since I barely knew myself- rough, cold hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back. My dad shouted, his eyes widening and my heart skipped a beat. Something cold and slick ran along my neck and with a sickening feeling I realized what they were. Fangs? Oh, god…
"This belongs to me" Stefan's cold voice whispered in my ears as his hand came around my neck and pulled off his necklace. I couldn't swallow the lump rising in my throat- that would bring the bite sooner right?
The only thing I could think of was Jake as the teeth just started to prick the surface of my skin.