A Loss And A Gain

Chapter 2

I walked in the door. I looked around the room. My family must not be home yet. I was happy Ed was in Florida. He wouldn't be liking my thoughts. Alice's visions were also going to be clouded because Seth being a wolf, would not be seen in her visions.

He was for some reason written all over my my mind. I ran over to the phone as it started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Tabitha? You are already home! Come help with the hunt? Alice said she is showing up in half an hour." It was Jasper. "We are going to need you for the plan! Meet us in the forest."

"Ok! I just need to get changed, I will see you there." I hung up and ran up the stairs. I grabbed up a red and white plaid top with a pair of blue jeans, I grabbed my red high-tops and my new reds hat. I combed my hair and put it up in braids sparkles still sticking. I ran out of the house and as quickly as I could through the forest. My family waited for me and they were being patient for Alice to give them the signal. I went over to my position in our hunting strategy line up, at the back, behind Esme. I was strong, just not as strong as the rest of my family. I was actually weak in Vampire standards. I wasn't as fast as anyone in my family. I could climb trees better than anyone though and I could do the best acrobatics. That was something I could use that to help everyone catch Victoria. It was a part of the plan Jasper had devised.

"Are you sure this is where you saw her?" Carlisle asked.

"She is almost here." Alice said calmly. Suddenly her eyes popped out of her head as she yelled. "On your left!" A flash of redhair flew through the trees. We all ran. She must have known that we couldn't cross the line. She was very close to it the whole time. She kept running faster.

"She is getting away!" Esme was freaking out.

"No she won't!" Jasper yelled out in support. He looked over to me and nodded. We both nodded back. Plan unraveling. I was to play distraction. I was to jump in front of her trying to grab her, unsuccessfully as I usually was just to get her attention off the rest of the family and on her own cleverness of escaping me while Emmet would round the corner and tackle her. We knew it would be a good distraction. Ed had told us she was overly proud of herself.

I climbed up the tree waiting for the flash of red hair. My ears were peeled for the sound of running. I looked over to the stream beside me. I saw the wolves. That was the treaty line right? I knew that, my family knew that, and obviously Victoria knew that. Take us to the place we couldn't cross. I saw the red curls flying toward me. I jumped arms open, and unrepentantly, for the first time in my vampire life, I did the thing I always figured that I would never do. I caught her! We fell into a branch breaking it and falling down onto the ground. She tried pulling my head off. I grabbed her hair trying to pull it out and punch her in the gut. I struggled against her. I screamed as she overpowered me. She held me against the ground by my neck. I was struggling. My small power of streagnth not really helping. I flipped her over. She grabbed my hand and held on trying to pull me off of her. I tried to hold on to it. She flipped me over taking off my hand. She got up and started running again. I ran after her. I turned around the sound of more running was heard and someone skidding behind me. Esme stopped beside me as the rest ran on after Victoria. Emmet should be stopping her by now, I looked at Esme and her eyes widened as yelling was heard. We ran in that direction. We got there just in time to see Emmet growling at a wolf ON THE TREATY LINE! We didn't know what to do. Rosie got pissed. She yelled at them trying to get to Emmet. It took three of the wolves to hold the one back. Emmet came back up, Rosie tried calming down. We were all very frightened and worried for him. I ran over asking if Emmet was ok, everyone looked at me. I couldn't face the disappointed faces. The first time I get included in a strategy and I actually hit something I was not supposed to. I didn't realize that they weren't looking at me, but at the place on my arm where a hand was supposed to be. I looked down at myself and I froze. I had no hand. If I could have fainted, I would have. Carlisle walked over to me and looked at it while I felt sick.

"We can still put your hand back if you can find it." He told me after examining it. "There is a way to do it."

I nodded and ran back to look for my hand. The family following. I looked around on the ground. We all did find it eventually. Well, most of it. It was missing the pinkie finger. We looked forever in silence. Morning was approaching. We needed to leave. I could live without my pinkie. Right?

Carlisle told me I could reaply my hand with my own spit. It wasn't exactly pleasant. We came home and I felt terrible. No one said anything to me. I don't know what they thought happened with my hand. I still don't know whether they saw it or not. I pretty much figured Alice had seen it the moment I decided to jump. I wanted to talk to her about it.

I went upstairs to get cleaned up. I went back down the stairs hoping Alice was still around. Turns out the whole family was still around talking.

"I don't think it is good that she is doing any more of these things. Her power level for her age is not strong. She is most likely to loose more than just a finger." Esme said straight up and forward while I hid behind the doorway. "I am afraid for her safety."

"I am too, we don't want anything to happen. Everything she does turns out as the opposite of what she means to do." Alice said with tradgedy in her voice.

I couldn't believe my ears. I walked in. "It does drive a person nuts." I said to them acting pissed and not disappointed.

"We know you have good intentions Tabitha," Jasper told me. "It's just every time you attempt something it turns out the opposite of what you meant to do and you end up hurt."

Carlisle interrupted. "It is nothing against you Little Tabitha, but we think you should stay behind next time."

"Stay behind?" I asked aloud without thinking. The thought was relatively new to me.

"Yes, we believe it is what is best. We were actually thinking of asigning you something different. We wanted to talk to Edward and Bella about it, but we were thinking that whenever we are all gone to hunt Victoria, you should guard Charlie." Esme told me while I looked at the floor. Wonderful right? I get to babysit a middle aged man.

I made myself act like it was ok and told them I would be happy to do so.

Yeah right!

Carlisle told me that I should stay home from school the next day stating that I had been in an accident where I got my finger caught in a blender. I did not need to give the gory details. As Carlisle is a doctor, he could get the medical records and the amazing bandages that would not have to be worn until I went back to school.

I sat in my room just sort of staring at my hand on Monday at 3 am. The documentary behind me playing at a dull roar. Bella and Ed came to school today according to Alice. I really wasn't overly thinking about it, or anything really. I sometimes just liked to not think about anything. I went up over to the window, just to look out for a moment. I saw that the rain had finally stopped. I opened the window to hear the breeze flowing between the trees. I always loved that sound. As I opened the window the worst smell met my nose, one I knew very well. Wherwolf.

I didn't know what to do. I heard a rustle in the bushes. I grabbed my jacket without thinking, I needed to find out what they wanted. I jumped out the window landing in front of the porch. I ran after the smell. I looked everywhere. I heard laughing behind me suddenly. I acted like I wasn't scared and turned myself around to face the joker. Seth was standing there, bare backed and with a chuckle still reminiscent on his face.

"You may have decades of brains, but you were dumb enough to check by yourself." Seth laughed through his words.

I paused for a moment. I laughed through my answer. "You know, you are right that was pretty damn dumb!"

He laughed along with me, then looked down at my hand with the missing finger. His smile faded. He pointed at it. "The redhead did that to you, didn't she?"

I stopped laughing and looked at him. "Yeah, trying to get away, she kinda pulled it off." I quickly changed my tone acting like I wasn't happy that he was there. "Why are you here?"

He bit his lip in frustration. "I heard from the guys about what happened with the treaty line. They told me they saw you, and you didn't have a hand."

I looked at him with sarcassm. "You came all the way here risking the treaty just to make sure that I, a bloodsucking, damned to hell Cullen, was in one piece?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Weird!"

"I think we have known weirder!" He said with a choke in his voice. "So your whole hand is still on right, other than the pinkie finger right?"

"Yeah. I don't know what happened to it." I looked at my hand then put it back at my side.

He started to look upset. "Damn Bloodsucker!" He slammed his fist into the tree next to him. I knew what could happen if he got overly angry.

"Calm down Seth!" I told him backing up away from him. "Don't loose controll over me!"

He just looked redder. "Why can't I get upset if something hurts you?"

I yelled back at him. "Because, I am a Cullen! You mutts hate us. We are supposed to hate you!"

"I don't hate you. I feel very different about you than about the rest of your kind" He said calming himself down. "Even though if you hate me, I will leave you alone and I will never mention this to you ever again. Tell me the truth, I know about your power so I need a straight up answer without the lies."

I paused for a quick moment putting my power aside. "I don't hate you. I only act like I do. You do smell bad though."

"You are one to talk about smell." He looked up at me with a hopeful look in his eye. He walked over to me and took both my hands in his warm soft hands. "Do you know what this means?"

I shook my head a little uncomfortable with his closeness. Don't kill him Taby.

"This means, that it is possible!"

"What is possible?"

"That, I might have deeper feelings for you that are different from what everyone says I am supposed to." He said smiling ear to ear.

"I don't understand!" I said trying to back away.

"I like you Tabitha." He let go of my hands and thought to himself. "No, it is more than a crush, I don't know what it is. Ever since I changed I have felt like a complete annoyance to Sam and the others. They are always keeping me home to study or sending me off with Mary Anne." He looked straight into my eyes. "When I was with you at the dance I felt complete, like I have a reason for living on this earth. It is something I can barely describe. Something that I don't know if I even understand, or that anyone else ever could."

I stood there frozen to the spot. Was he implying what I thought he was? He was telling me that he had deep feelings for me. "Seth, it is impossible for you to even think about me in that certain way. I am a vampire, your sworn enemey. I am a cold one." I started to walk away acting like I wasn't even pleased with the thought of him having those feelings for me.

He grabbed my right hand. "Tabitha, please, listen to me. Everything that has ever happened to us is impossible.."

I looked at him as he held on to my hand. I could pull away, but not without hurting him, and eventually me. "Even if you did like me, you could imprint on someone and forget all about me."

He looked at me with deep sorrowful eyes. "I don't think I will imprint on anyone else. I think I imprinted on you!"

I stared at him. Frozen. Was he crazy? I yelled at him. "That can't be true! What are you trying to do get information or something from me?"

"No, do you really think I would do that?"

"You could."

"Well I wouldn't!" He looked disappointed. "Just because I am a wolf doesn't mean I would hurt you like that!" He bit his lip not speaking for the longest time. "Ok, I won't presure you about this, let's just be friends. I will find a way to earn your trust."

"Friends?" I said repetitively looking at him. "I think that will work for now." I couldn't stay mad at him, his puppy like loyalty brought a certain happiness to me. Still he needed to realize it was a mistake and move on. I began to walk the other way.

"So will I see you soon?"

I looked back at him. "I'll think about it!" I began my walk home.