Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer!
"Jake, we're good here. Get home to Bella." Sam thought to me.
"You sure?" I asked not really wanting his reassurance, but also needing it anyway.
"Yeah, I'm gonna call it a night soon too. Go ahead."
And with that I was off, I couldn't wait to get home to my wife and child. Well, unborn but still technically a child. I wonder how early it was, I knew it was bad. I absolutely hated leaving her like that but I had no choice. Lately we'd been having some vamp scents around the area. I was taking no chances.
Weird thing was though, there were no deaths in the area, and no one reported missing. All we have to work with is the disgusting sickly sweet stench of leech.
When I got close enough to the house I phased and threw my sweats on in one fluid motion. I'd been doing this action so long I didn't even think about it anymore. As quietly as I could I opened the door and slowly made my way to our room. I peeked inside and saw her figure under the sheets, silently sleeping, and I wished that I had been there with her for hours already.
I slipped in bed as quietly as possible, but apparently not quietly enough.
"Hey" she breathed, turning over. She rested her head on my chest and laid her arm over my stomach. I wrapped both of my arms around her, and kissed the top of her head. This is something we've perfected. Moments like this are way too wonderful to mess with.
"What were you guys doing?" she whispered against my chest.
"Just patrolling. Nothing to worry about." I kissed her again, but this time I lingered hoping she wouldn't ask further on the subject."
"Mmm" was all I got, thank goodness.
I tightened my arms around her and drifted to the feel of the rise and fall of her chest. I listened as her breathing got slower and deeper. Before I completely fell asleep I glanced at the clock, 3:13.
It was only a couple of hours later I was jolted awake by the phone.
I tried to answer it quicker than it could wake Bella, it doesn't take much to wake her.
"Dude." It was Seth. He sounded alert, but apprehensive, like he didn't want to tell me something. I knew this kid so well all I needed was a word to tell me what was going on.
"Dude, we got a problem"
For a second my heart stopped, I almost didn't want to know what happened.
"What Seth, what's goin on?" I tried my best to keep my panic in a hushed tone. I wasn't even completely sure why I was panicking; I just had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"You need to get down here right now. Just, prepare yourself bro. Follow Sam's scent."
I had a tingling sort of numbness up and down my arms as I lifted the sheets carefully and lifted myself up out of the bed. I felt her cool, well cool to me at least, hand touch my back as I sat on the bed.
"Who was that? What's wrong?" her mind jumping immediately to the worst possible situation. So Bella.
So right.
Well, maybe at least- I had to get down there.
"I don't know yet. I'll be right back I promise. Go to sleep" I bent down to kiss her and she put her hand on my cheek to keep me there.
"Come back to me, you got that?"
I put both hands on either side of her face, "always," I promised her.
I turned around and once I cleared the bedroom door I rushed out of the house. I stepped off the porch one second and the next I was a wolf. I hated to think that one day I needed to give that ability up. Not just yet, but someday. But who I was giving it up for, was completely beyond worth it. I'd do anything for her. If she needed something, I'd be there, no question. She had her heart broken once, there was no way I was ever letting her down, for anything.
That thought pushed me faster into the woods, I caught Sam's scent and followed it in. then I caught something else. A sweet, sick scent that only belongs to one type of, creature. There's a vampire scent crossed with Sam's…I sprinted. Then I got Embry's, Quil's and Paul's when all of the sudden they just stopped.
I looked up and couldn't believe my eyes.
There was no way what I was seeing was correct, I must be dreaming. Yep, I'm at home with Bella, in a dream. Because if I wasn't, and this was real, the leech standing in front of me was not only about to die, but suffer more than any other creature had ever suffered in the history of the planet.
What was that bloodsucker doing on our land! This means war, I looked at Sam why haven't we killed him yet? He's on our land! He's broken the treaty!
Killing him does nothing. I'm the last one to spare a bloodsucker but I thought I'd give him a chance to explain why the hell he's here. A chance to talk to you…
I was speechless, utterly speechless.
Then I remembered something.
This one had a power, one of those extra powers we feared that their kind had. I tried to think back to that day in the garage and the ensuing conversations and warning I'd passed to my brothers. One of them could see the future, I remembered. Another can read minds and there was one more I couldn't recall. The next voice I heard was Quils, one of them can control emotions, right?
"That's my brother," the parasite dared to speak.
Shit. I guess he's the mind reader then.
What are you doing here?I thought with as much venom, no pun intended, as I could muster.
I didn't let him answer.
You take one step toward me, or my house where my sleeping, pregnant wife is and I'll rip you to shreds before you even know what hit you.
When I thought of Bella I saw him conspicuously wince. Good, I hope he was in the worst pain of his life. It was about to get a lot worse.
"It's been a long time. I…just came to check"
Check? Check? It's been almost a decade! Shouldn't you have shown up a hell of a long time ago? You make me sick. You leaving was the best thing that ever happened to her. Do you know what went down in the aftermath of your actions? She stopped everything. Life stopped dead in its tracks. She was zombie girl from land unknown. She stopped hanging with her friends, talking to people, being Bella. You didn't just break her heart you ran away with it, and it took her a really long time to find it again. Now I swear to god if you don't get out of my face…
Whoops, too late. I didn't care. I was going to inflict as much pain as possible. I thought of the things that would upset him the most. The images of Bella in the woods the night he left that I'd seen in Sam's mind, Bella getting visibly skinnier literally by the day when she didn't have that much weight to lose to begin with, that dark, hollow, dead look in her eye, even on the rare occasions I got her to smile. Thinking about it all again made me even madder. I was going to kill him, I was going to do it right now.
I went to lunge forward but suddenly Seth was blocking my path.
I think we should let him go.
What! My eyes went white, how could he even think that?
He looked at Sam like he was pleading for his own life. I didn't get it, what was his attachment?
He looked at me, can you blame him? He just wanted to see her. its been so long, and he didn't really do anything wrong. We caught him outside the boundary line an-
You mean you brought him here? And what were we thinking when we did that, huh?
I looked at the leach, who was being seriously quiet, probably just hoping Sam would concede to Seth's words, which would never happen.
I think we should let him go too.
I focused on breathing; I thought about Bella, I focused on breathing again, because I needed a distraction from the fact that that was Sam's voice. With this voice, I cannot argue as much as I'd like to. I can tell from his mind that it is made up, there's no changing this conviction.
Go leech Sam thought. Go, and don't come back. And be sure that if you do, you will not make it out alive next time.
He turned, defeated. Something I didn't think a Cullen was capable of doing. In a quick motion he looked at me and said, "Just take care of her. Please. Like you have been. Like I failed to. "
And like a ghost, he was gone.
I turned on my heels and sprinted to the house, making sure he didn't circle back and decide to check on her some more. She would not be leaving my sight the next few days. I phased and went to go into the house.
What a night I thought to myself, collapsing on my front porch. I couldn't go in just yet, I just couldn't.
I needed a second.
This vampire who had caused her so much pain and suffering was standing before me tonight, and he was not dead now. I don't know why Seth sided with him, let alone why Sam agreed. He shouldn't be allowed to get away with his little visit.
If she ever saw him…
I couldn't even imagine what that would mean. I'm more scared of that than Bella is that I'll imprint on someone.
My hands got suddenly sweaty and my heart raced as I came up with an idea that momentarily allayed my worries.
I will go after him, and I will kill him.
And end this once and for all.
Maybe not tonight, and maybe not tomorrow, but someday. Someday soon, that parasite will no longer disgrace this earth by walking on it.
I will protect my Bella.
I will protect my family.
End of story.