Chapter Eight

When we got to Emily and Sam's house, I could instantly tell everyone was starving. Quil and Embry looked like they were drooling.

"About time! What the hell were you guys doing? Running to Mexico and back?" Embry shouted.

Jake laughed. "Something like that."

I took a seat beside Emily and Jake sat across the table from me beside the loud mouth.

After the dinner, I volunteered myself to do dishes with Emily so I could have a little girl time with her. It was nice to have someone to share all of this with.

"So how was your talk with Jake?" She asked.

I knew what she was hinting at. "It was great. Surprisingly, there's no pressure at all put on me knowing that I know who I'm going to spend the rest of my life with and I'm only eighteen."

Emily smiled at me. "It's nice that you think that way, Kaylin." She said. "Most girls in your situation would probably be freaking out right now and running in the other direction."

I chuckled. "Well Emily, I'm not most girls in case you haven't noticed."

"That I have." She paused. "So Jacob tells me that you're good friends with Bella Swan."

"Yeah, we go way back. I really need to get together with her sometime soon."

"You don't mind her situation?"

I knew what she was talking about. The whole pack knew that the Cullen's were vampires.

"As long as Bella is happy and Cullen doesn't make a meal out of her, I support her one hundred and ten percent."

Emily and I finished up the dishes and Jake and I decided it was time to leave.

"We'll see you later." Emily said as she hugged me good bye.

"For sure. I'm definitely going to be around a lot more often." I replied.

We finished our goodbyes and walked out to my van.

"Well, where to tonight?" Jake asked.

"I think I need to stay at my Aunt Connie's tonight."

"How come?" Jake asked. He looked so sad.

"So she knows haven't run away with the spoon." I laughed while pulling out of the driveway. "I haven't been home in a few days, Jake. I'm pretty sure she's curious as to where I am."

"I guess… Do you mind if I come over and see her, too? My dad told me to tell her 'hello' when I saw her again."

I couldn't say no to his decision, so I drove into Fork's with Jake riding shot-gun.

When we pulled up to the house, Aunt Connie's car wasn't in the driveway.

"I bet she's at bingo again." I said to Jake.

We walked up the path-way and I unlocked the door. Not to my surprise, there was a note on the kitchen table letting me know that she had gone to bingo with the girls.

"Told you." I pointed at the note.

I took my sweater off and put it on the back of the chair. I felt Jake's warm arms wrap around my waist and pull me tight against his body. He was so ridged, so built.

"Mmm…" I said quietly. "I love it when you do that."

I smiled when I felt his hands turn me around so I was facing him. He leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips, sending tingles all through my body. I laced my fingers through his hair and deepened the kiss, pushing my body against his. I could feel his tongue sliding across my bottom lip, so I allowed it entrance. Our tongues danced and the kiss we were sharing became more passionate and heated.

I pulled away slowly and put my head on his chest.

"I love you." He whispered, wrapping his arms around me and embracing me.

"I love you too, Jacob." I whispered back. "I hate to cut it short like this…"

"What do you mean?"

"I need to call Bella. I haven't seen her in like, forever, so it's probably a good idea that we hung out again."

"No problem. I'll be in the living room."

Jake left the kitchen and I grabbed the cordless phone. I dialled the number I knew all too well and smiled when she answered.

"Hey, Bella! It's Kaylin." I said.

"Hey!" She replied. "How've you been? I haven't seen you in a few days!"

I sat down at the table. "I know. I was thinking that, too."

"I know this is kind of short-notice, but I was wondering if you wanted to come and play baseball with us tomorrow." She asked.

"I'd love to!" I accepted.

"Great! Edward and I should be there to pick you up around noon."

"That sounds awesome. I'll see you tomorrow then. We have a lot to talk about!"

Our conversation ended and I was excited that I would get to spend time with Bella and the Cullen family. I wasn't fond of them, but if they loved Bella like I thought they did, then I knew that they were good for her and we would all be just fine playing baseball together.

I walked into the living room and sat on the couch, propping my feet up onto Jacob's lap.

"Have a good talk with Bella, babe?" He asked.

"Yep. I'm playing baseball with her and the Cullen's tomorrow."

Jake got a weird look on his face. He didn't look too happy at all.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked.

"I don't really feel comfortable with you being alone with them." He said.

"I won't be alone. Bella will be there, too."

"Well that makes me feel a whole lot better. Two humans in the forest with seven vampires."

"Jake, come on. Don't be like that. You know that I wouldn't do anything that I wasn't comfortable with." I reassured him.

He sighed. "Fine. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"Come back to me in one piece." He kissed my forehead.

"Always." I promised him.

I could hear the TV fading as I was slowly going into slumber.

The meadow was humungous. Alice was pitcher for the first inning. I was up to bat first and I was kind of scared. These vampires could kill me with a baseball if it hit me.

"Bella… Why did I agree to this again?" I asked her.

"Because you love me?" She questioned herself. She was hiding behind Esme.

"I promise I won't throw it vampire speed, Kaylin. I'll go human-speed." Alice shouted.

"How about tee-ball speed?" I requested.

"Come on, Kaylin! You can do it." Emmett shouted.

"Yeah, yeah…" I murmured.

"Stop!" Alice shouted.

Everybody froze where they were and looked at Bella and I. Bella and I looked at each other and we saw the terror in each other's eyes.

"We have to get them out of here." Edward said as he ran over to Bella and grabbed me by the arm.

"It's too late." Carlisle said.

Just then I saw them. I nudged Bella's arm so she would see them, too. There were three of them – vampires.

"They heard us playing, but something's not right…" Alice said. "They know about Bella and Kaylin."

"Get them out of here, now!" Emmett shouted.

The three vampires were standing in front of Carlisle now.

"I see that you've brought a snack to your little game." The blonde male spoke. His eyes were blacker than sin.

I'm going to die, I thought.

I jolted up out of my sleep and hit Jake right in the face with my hand.

"Oh my, God! Jake, are you okay?!" I exclaimed.

"Peachy, thanks." He replied, rubbing his cheek. "What's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

If he finds out what my nightmare was about, he won't let me do anything with Bella and the Cullen's.

"No…" I lied. "No. I just had the 'free-falling' feeling… Weird."

Jake was eyeing me. He knew I was lying. "Right…"

"What time is it?" I asked. For some reason, the sun was up and beaming.

"It's around ten. You need to start getting ready for your ball game."

"Jeez… What time did Aunt Connie get home last night?"

"Shortly after you went unconscious." He smirked.

"Why'd you let me sleep on the couch all night?"

He smiled. "You just looked really peaceful. I didn't want to move you and wake you up."

I could feel myself blushing a beat red. "You're so cute."

I gave him a quick kiss and ran up to my room to shower and get dressed while Jake helped himself to some breakfast.

When I came back downstairs, Jake was gone and there was a note on the table.

Sam called and has me running patrol around the perimeter.
There are new bloodsuckers in town. If you're still going with Bella and the leeches today, BE CAREFUL. I won't be too far from where you are.
I love you,
Jake

"Great. Now my freakin' nightmare is a damned reality." I mumbled to myself.

I looked at my watch and it was almost noon. Bella and Edward would be here any minute to take us to our impending doom.

We were at the clearing and my stomach was in knots. I had to tell someone about this. Finally, I spoke up.

"Carlisle, can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked him.

"Absolutely." He guided me to his car. "What did you need to speak with me about?"

"Bella and I are in danger."

Carlisle let out a small laugh. "You're surrounded by a family of vampires, Kaylin."

"That's not it, Carlisle… Well… It's part of it…" I sighed. "I had a dream last night that three vampires are going to interrupt our game of thunder-ball."

"By interrupt, you mean…?"

"I mean sniff us out. I bet that if it were just Bella here, they would probably just by-pass the whole thing. But of course, double the human equals double the stench."

"Why do you think that your dream is going to come true?" He asked me.

"Because every dream that I've had since I moved to Fork's has become a reality. This is the one nightmare I don't want to see come to life."

Carlisle's face turned sour and I looked over my shoulder to see Edward pulling Bella toward the Jeep that we came in.

"Kaylin, we have to go now." Edward demanded.

I looked back at Carlisle and ran over to Bella.

"I told you." I said to him. I looked back at Edward. "We aren't going to get out of here. They know that there are humans here."

"Edward, get them out of here now!" Emmett shouted.

I turned around and looked toward the tree line. They were here - the three vampires from my dream.

"It's too late." Carlisle said. "Everybody just stand tall. Don't provoke them."

"I see you've brought a snack to your little game." The blonde one said.

"Now, now, James. I think we can let them explain." The one with the dreadlocks spoke.

"I'm Carlisle, and this is my family." Carlisle introduced himself.

"Humans are part of your family?" The red-head asked. "Did you get a coupon for a two-for-one deal? How can you control your thirst around them? They are so… Mouth-watering."

The three vampires that stood before us were now in a kneeling position, teeth bared. I took Bella's hand. The least we would do was try and make a run for it if everyone here started getting into a vampire battle.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I heard rustling in trees behind me. I could have sworn I heard what sounded like a growl, but I could have been imagining things – until it happened again.

I turned my head and a wave of relief and another wave of fear crashed through me. There were five wolves, all with their teeth bared and their ears back.

"Jake." I whispered to myself.

The Cullen's knew that the werewolves would take care of business, but they entered the battle too, so they would be damned if they didn't help finish it.

Bella and I took a few steps back, but not far enough. The wolves raced by us and just barely missed us, but when they reached the bloodsuckers who were ten feet in front of us, I ended up getting a slash on my arm.

Great, I thought. I'm in a battle between vampires and werewolves, and now I'm bleeding.

Bella and I managed to run into the woods and sat near the tree line. I took my sweater off and tied it tight around my arm to stop the bleeding. Lucky for me it was working.

"Are you going to be okay?" Bella asked me.

"I'll be fine." I said.

We were both worried. Our eyes were as big as moons and we breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the Cullen's walking to their vehicles, then walking back to the big pile of what looked like body parts on the ground.

"I think it's over." Bella said.

We ran over to where everybody was and looked down at the remains. Someone was missing.

"Where's the red-head?" I asked.

"She's got away." Sam answered me.

The wolves had all phased back into humans, but Jake was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Jacob?" I asked.

"He started running when this ended." Embry answered. He looked guilty. "We don't know where he went. It's like he shut all of us out of his mind."

I panicked and did the first thing I could think of – I ran. I had to find him. I was the reason he was running, and I wanted to be the reason he came back. I knew that he would feel guilty if I ever got hurt when anyone was in their wolf-state, but I didn't know that he would run off and leave me high and dry.

"Where are you going?" Embry shouted. He was running beside me now.

"I'm bringing Jake home. He needs to know that I'm okay and that he didn't hurt me." I replied.

"About that… Jake wasn't the one who clawed you…" Embry mumbled.

I stopped. "What did you just say to me?"

"Jake wasn't the one who clawed you… I did." He looked so guilty, so hurt.

"Embry…"

"I should have been paying more attention! I'm sorry, Kaylin. It's my fault that Victoria chick got away."

"Embry, don't think like that. It's not your fault! She could have weaseled off at any time. We need to find Jacob before Victoria does though, okay?"

"She won't find me." A voice came from behind me.

My heart just about stopped. I turned around and ran to the man I was so worried about.

"Don't you ever run off again." I said.

I had my head buried in Jake's shoulder. Tears were running down my face.

"I'll leave you two alone…" Embry said. He started running in the direction of the clearing.

"I know it wasn't you who slashed me."

"It could have been me. Next time you might not be so lucky." He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "It would kill me inside if I ever hurt you." He whispered.

"Jake, I'm fine. All I need is a few stitches." I told him. "I wasn't very careful. I was too close to the fight. Ten feet away from angry wolves and violent vampires isn't exactly a safe zone."

"I don't know what I would ever do without you." He kissed my forehead. "Come on, let's get you back to the doctor before he leaves to see if he can stitch you up."

I pulled his head toward mine and kissed him gently on the lips.

"I love you." I whispered.