In chapter 4, Leo must think of her decision of whether or not to go with the Volturi. She takes a run to clear her head, and falls asleep, entering the realm of her attacker. All alone with no one around, who will save her? This chapter is also pretty long (I have a lot of ideas and information to put into words) Rated T+ again for sexual content and language. Again, please be wary of Leo's dream sequence. (A/N: Remember this chapter. That's all I'm gonna say.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Breaking Dawn or any of its original characters. Except for Leo. She is mine. All mine! Muahahahahahaha! Okay, I'm just gonna start the story now.
Thoughts are italicized, POV changes appear as Name and POV,and dream sequences will appear like this.
Excerpt from Breaking Dawn appears between brackets { }
Chapter 4: Run
Jasper POV
"When, Alice? When are they coming?" I asked desperately. I had let go of Leo, who now sat beside Alice, looking into the distance in disbelief. Had her Troop taught her about the Volturi, or was it Renesmee? She clearly understood the situation.
"Three weeks, on Labor Day."
"Where?" Carlisle asked.
"In the clearing with the pine circle, a few kilometers from the Main House. There will be just enough room for the Main Guard: Aro, Caius, Marcus, Alec, Jane, Demetri and Chelsea. There is also a new one, but his face is fuzzy, I guess he hasn't decided if he will join or not. I also see the Denali's with us." She blinked her eyes in wonder at whatever she was seeing.
"Alice, love, will it be a peaceful meeting?" I asked.
"Somewhat, but there is serious tension. They…they want to take Leo away for testing. They want to see if she is a threat, mainly if she can still communicate with her Troop as a vampire."
I looked over at Leo. Would the world be that cruel? Would it finally give me somewhat a child that I could protect and keep as my own, then rip her away from me and toss her into the bloodthirsty jaws of the Volturi?
"They give us the choice, but we refuse it. It is calm but still very tense. Jane flickers her power out at us, but Bella's shield still stops it. Aro is apologizing. He's offering Leo a spot in the Volturi for three years so they may look at her abilities, and then they would give her the choice of leaving.
"If she chooses to leave, they give their word that they will not bother her anymore. They will leave her alone. Aro wants her almost as badly as he does Edward and me." Alice blinked, and then looked to me. "The rest is too fuzzy to make out, and it even goes black. Too many decisions have to be made for it to continue."
I look back at her desperately. I could sense Alice's fear, everyone else's nervousness and Leo's blame...with a tinge of shame. Why was she ashamed? Why was Alice afraid? How had the Volturi found out about Leo? Questions followed one after the other like a train passing by: seeming to never end, and seeming to have no beginning.
_ _ _ _
Leora POV
How those manipulative leeches found out about me, I had no clue. What they would do to me if I went with them, I had no idea. If they found me a threat and if they would destroy me or not was still in question.
The one thing I was positive about was that this was all my fault. I had brought those hideous fiends that called themselves the "rulers of the vampire world" upon the Cullens.
The Volturi were us hunters' arch nemesis. They were always our main goal to kill, but we settled on nomads. They were the nightmare that haunted our dreams. Their self-proclaimed leader, who we called Arrow, who was the one who could grasp your hand so hard that as he felt your pulse and every thought you ever had was shared with him along with it. There were the two other leaders, Cave-ah and Mark-ah. Mark-ah had the ability to see how much you cared about another. There were also the witch twins, one with the ability to cause deathly pain, and the other able to decapitate your every sense. No one spoke their names separately; they were always referred together as 'the Twins.' The last elderly one was Demtrey, the one whose eyes closed, but burned bright red as he looked for his subject. His Eyes defied solidity and defied space. He could find you anywhere; he was the way you could not hide from the Volturi. More and more joined them over the centuries, but the elderly ones remained. They all remained in Italy. So far, but so close to our thoughts.
I remembered the scenes Renesmee showed me about when the Volturi came, and the stories the Cullens told her about their previous encounters with them. Compared to my legends, those were all unbelievably peaceful meetings. No, their encounters were wars to the Cullens. In my mind, I saw them as arguments.
Still, if I refused to go with the Volturi, but they considered me a major threat, they would both try to force me to go with them, or they would try to kill me. I knew Jasper would try to counter their attack, Alice would follow Jasper, and I could see that Bella loved Alice to death (literally), and Edward was practically the other half of Bella's soul, and vice versa. If she was to die, so was he. Renesmee, sadly, would follow her parents, and not far behind would be Rosalie, then Emmett, then Esme, and finally Carlisle. I don't know the Denalis, but they clearly were family, and would probably follow Carlisle. I would be the death of a cove—no, family, of fourteen. Fourteen lives for one newborn.
I wasn't about to let anyone end their long existence for my short one.
Everyone was to the right of the bed, leaving the door on the left wide open. Using my speed that, for now, was much quicker than any of the Cullens', I bolted out the door.
"Leo?" I heard Alice ask.
I ignored her lovely voice and forced myself faster. I made sure to keep my mind focused on grabbing my makeshift clothing bag to keep Edward from reading my thoughts.
"Let her be, Jasper," I heard Carlisle whisper.
Finally, I found the fanny-pack look-alike and again marveled at the huge elastic band that fell around my waist. I flew out the door, loving the familiar caresses of the tree branches and the wet leaves squish beneath my bare feet.
Run. I allowed myself only that thought.
I slipped off the pajamas Esme had given me when I was about ten miles from the mansion. I crumpled and shoved them all into the pouch, then slipped the black thing around my waist that, matching my prediction, barely clung to my hips.
Running in the woods bare-naked might have been strange for anyone else, but it was perfectly natural to me. I couldn't remember ever not running in the woods au natural as a shape-shifter.
Figuring I was about twenty miles from the mansion, I decided to try phasing for the first time as a vampire.
I stopped running. As per usual, I dug deep inside myself to find my untamed side. I closed my eyes, focusing on memories of the wind through my fur, my muscles tightening and releasing as I ran, and the way my tail would swish back and forth…
I felt my tail grow, and I smiled wide.
My nails sharpened and my ears moved to the top of my head. I willed this change on, feeling my body grow furry, infusing me with sudden warmth. I forced my whiskers out and my hands to morph into giant paws. Why was it going so slowly?
I dropped down to all fours instinctively, but I could tell my human skin was still present.
Run.
My muscles obeyed, and I was thrust forward with animalistic force.
C'mon, c'mon…
A pain mushroomed inside me, but suddenly I felt my animal mindset along with my long and lean puma body. I streaked in a blur through the trees.
I preferred this form: my cougar self did not have to deal with emotional problems or human thoughts. Eat. Sleep. Run. Protect your Troop. Survive. Those were my only rules.
Remembering my Troop made me realizing the emptiness inside my mind, rather than the random thoughts of my scatterbrained male family. Now, it was only my thoughts. Finally. I wasn't sure if I would miss their thoughts more or if I would enjoy having only my thoughts more. I would figure it out later.
Run. Run. Run.
I ran for hours, until the sun was finally breaching the horizon. It was then that I smelt the buck.
I smelt him before I saw him. I recognized the hunger that growled in my stomach, but I did not recognize the other. It was a hungry…thirst. It reminded me of my vampire thirst, but this was a carnivorous hunger. I raced toward the buck, eager to make the kill.
The deer stood still for a moment, noticing the danger. He then took off, his antlers bobbing as he ran.
He was very mature, with a large set of antlers and large muscles. He was bigger than I expected, too. Suddenly, the major artery in his neck pulsed bright red, and I could see an easy kill angle.
I was on top of him in the next millisecond, sinking my fangs into his neck and feeling the warm blood fill my mouth. It didn't taste as good in my human perspective as the blood the Cullens gave me, but to my animal side, it was perfectly tasty. When the buck stopped moving, I began to tear at his ripe flesh, eating like the mountain lion I used to be. So this was how hunting worked as a mountain lion/vampire: drain the blood to satisfy my vampire hunger, and then eat the animal to satisfy my actual hunger. Strange, it was as if I was made to hunt alongside the Cullens.
When I had my fill, I left the corpse and continued running. It was not long before I heard the other voice in my head.
Puma shape-shifter, this is Jacob, Alpha to a small pack of wolf shape-shifters. I would like to know your reasons for being in our territory.
Jacob? I thought back.
Leo? Is that you?
Yeah, it's me. Am I already in Fargo?
Well, you're twenty feet away, but yes.
Whoa.
Leo, what are you doing all the way out here? I told you I was coming at ten.
I decided to take a run to…clear my thoughts.
What's on your mind?
Jacob…
Should I tell him about how I brought down the Volturi onto the Cullens, and that the fourteen vampires, plus any wolf shape-shifters that joined us, could die trying to protect me?
What is it, Leo?
No. Nothing.
I let myself phase out of mountain lion form and quickly dressed back into my pajamas. I sat against the trunk of a weeping willow, allowing the threads of dangling leaves to conceal me. I hugged my knees and rocked back and fourth, silently letting tears of loneliness slip down my nose and cheeks.
What would I do about the Volturi? Would I allow them to poke and probe me like a lab rat for three years if it meant they would leave me alone forever after that? By doing that, I would risk the chance of them finding a threat in me and destroying me on the spot, maybe never telling the Cullens of my "parting". If I refused them, I would risk the chance of retaliation and the lives of the Denalis and Cullens and the Volturi never leaving me alone. I could stay with the Cullens, but it would be nonstop torture. I could stay with Alice and Jasper…
Jasper. How could I be expected to leave him? Abandon him for the Volturi? But if I don't choose the Volturi, they could hurt him… They would kill him. They would kill Alice. They would kill anyone who followed them. It pained me to imagine those dark-cloaked figures ripping apart any of the Cullens, then burning the remains. I shuddered.
I laid my head against the tree more forcefully then I intended, and a huge divot was suddenly carved behind me. I sighed, letting my head tilt back. Maybe the answer would come with sleep. I closed my eyes and waited to be taken from consciousness.
The dream began peacefully. I was standing in a wide, yellow-grassed clearing surrounded by pine trees. I recognized this area, but as soon as I tried to identify it, it slipped away. It was rather hazy here, with fog wrapping around the circle, spiraling until it was circling around my feet.
{It was a strange, clear haze that was oozing across the field, nearly invisible. It reminded me of a mirage—a small distortion of the vision, a hint of a shimmer.}
The haze finally touched me. Calmly, it suddenly sent a small shock through my muscles. I blinked once and gasped.
I could not see. I could not move. I could not speak or smell. All I could do was hear. I could hear that terrifying voice.
"I told you, you little monster, you are mine," he said. He stroked my face. I heard him inhale as he lifted a strand of my long hair. "Mm… You smell so nice. You have no idea what stir you cause within me." He began to circle around me, for I heard his voice coming at me from all sides. "I'm not sure what it was in my human life that gave me this gift, but," he kissed the hollow of my throat, "I sure am enjoying it."
I tried to yell, scream, hit, bite, run in rage, but he kept the strange lock on my body.
"Oh, you can try to flee, but it will only increase my pleasure." He swept his hand over my collarbone. "You see, I mean to do shameful things to your body. Oh yes, very, very disgusting things. The thing is," he pushed me so I fell, frozen, onto the ground. Ow. "And this is the best thing. It will all be in your mind. Not one bruise will appear on your body unless I will it so." I could sense him straddling me.
Last time, Jasper was there to save me. Who could save me now? I sank inside.
No one could save me. I was his.
"Somehow, though," he said with a smile in his voice, "you managed to actually bite off the tops of my fingers. I didn't really like that." He poked my cheeks with the stubs of his fingers. They felt oddly smooth. "Since you left me with a mark, I think it's only fair that I return the favor."
"Leo?" I heard from somewhere up above. Jacob? Could it be Jacob? Would he be able to save me from this…thing?
"Aaaargh!" my attacker screamed. I felt my throat dry, realizing he was speaking through my body to the outside world. "Leave her alone, you putrid mutt! She's mine!"
"What the hell?! Leo, what's going on?"
"I said leave her alone! Take one more step, and I'll have her screaming so loud you'll loose that sensitive hearing of yours."
"Look, I don't know who you are, but you need to leave Leo alone."
I felt myself smile wide. "You can't make me."
"Jacob!" I managed to scream while my mouth was open.
I heard my attacker roar in frustration. "Bitch! I thought I told you to shut your little mouth!" He slapped me across the face. It felt odd. It didn't hurt, but it felt…odd. "Now I'll show you just what kind of a mark I'll give you!"
He ran his hands up my shirt slowly, bunching it against my bust.
"Now you'll always remember who you belong to."
Once again, he dug his long, rock-hard nails just below my bust. I was surprised that I couldn't feel the pain. He must have realized this, because he turned on my sense and speak.
His nails were filled with venomous fire that punctured layers deep. I screamed and screamed, but it was the broken-bell scream. He dragged his nails down to just past my navel with striking force. I screamed and screamed, but I could not move or wince. All I could do was hope that my screams made it out to my physical body.
"Leo!"
"Shut your jaws, disgusting mutt!" I felt the urge to cover my ears over his screeching voice.
"Lancaster!" I heard another man warn. He sounded fairly young, maybe a few years older than I.
"What?"
"Demetri seeks us. Let us not keep him waiting."
"Alec, let me be! I'm not leaving without a taste."
The names Alec and Demetri rang a distant bell.
"Lancaster, the guard must discuss our approach to the Olympic Coven. We must leave."
Lancaster hissed.
"Jane will not take the news well if you return home without your head, especially if she was not the one to remove it." Alec said in a rather friendly voice.
"But who else would—" I felt the haze envelop my body, and the pain subsided as Lancaster went rigid. "Alec, I thought we were friends!"
"We are, dear boy, but no one refuses the call of the Guard."
"Okay, okay! Just put the machete down."
Machete?
"Come, Lancaster, we must depart."
"Of course, sir." He leant down to kiss my neck. "Remember, my little lioness, you will always belong to me." He brushed his teeth against my neck. How I wanted to hit him!
I could tell they had left, because my senses began returning as the haze left. I first was able to feel my feet, then my legs, my abdomen, my arms, then finally, my head. My sight came first, and then my hearing, taste, smell, and then I could feel the grass beneath me.
The haze was gone, I could tell, so why was I still paralyzed? Why hadn't I woken up?
"Jacob?" I muttered hoarsely. There was no response. "Jacob?" Nothing. Would I have to speak louder? "Jacob!"
"Leo, are you awake?"
I could hear him from somewhere in the cloudless blue sky. Lancaster had left, why hadn't his world left with him?
"I-I…" I couldn't find the words. I still couldn't figure out why I was paralyzed.
"Leo, what was going on just now?"
Again, I couldn't find my lips to speak to the outside world.
"Leo, are you hurt?"
As he said it, I felt phantom lines on my stomach glow with exploding pain. I groaned.
"Take me…Cullens…Jasper!" I managed to choke out.
Jacob must have understood, because I could feel myself lifting into the air. It was very strange, in this dream realm, I felt weightless, even lying down. A strong breeze ruffled my long auburn-tinted sandy brown hair, and I understood we were running. Still, I couldn't move.
We ran for what seemed like minutes over a distance that had taken me hours.
With the wind came Jacob's smell. He smelled…strange. That was the only way to describe it. I could tell it was supposed to smell bad, but it was familiar and…nice. Like gasoline. Or like you grew up around cigarette smoke, and you entered your friend's house where a smoker lived, but they also had nasty-smelling cats. But it was closer to hugging someone with a weird perfume on, but you could also smell a certain dandruff shampoo in their hair (The title involves the skull and collarbone. Ring any bells?)
Soon, the wind smelled like the Cullen mansion. Even from this far away, I could hear six sets of lungs breathing unnaturally and one hummingbird-like heartbeat. The smell grew more potent, but the pines in my world continued to give off their smell. Jacob's smell added into the mix and began contrasting more and more sharply as we approached the house.
"Leo!" I heard several voices shout. Why didn't I hear Jasper?
"Jake, what happened to her?" Bella asked.
"I'm not sure." He placed me onto sheets-a bed, perhaps? "She was running right outside Fargo. Two hours later, I found her under a huge willow tree. She started speaking to me, but it wasn't her. It was a man's voice. Actually, there were two voices. The first one was a younger guy named Lancaster, and he kept telling me to leave. But the other guy… Edward, it was Alec."
No one said anything.
"Alright, assuming that Leo's attacker is this Lancaster, then combining his ability with Alec's…"
"Carlisle," Rosalie interrupted, "would that mean that Alec could paralyze us, then Lancaster would be able to trap us in our own minds when the Volturi meet us?"
"It's the perfect combination," Edward muttered, "mental and physical."
"Jacob," I heard Renesmee whisper, "has Lancaster left Leo's mind?"
"I think so. I heard Alec and Lancaster's conversation, and I heard them talk about leaving. Why?"
"Well, if this Lancaster left, then why hasn't she woken up?"
All I heard was silence. I wanted to hear their answer, too.
"Where is Jasper?" Jacob asked.
"Alice and he went to go look for Leo…" Emmett mumbled.
"Why, Jake?" Bella asked.
"Well, she did mutter 'take me—Cullens—Jasper'."
"Momma, is Uncle Jasper the only one able to wake her up?"
"No," Edward admitted. "I heard Lancaster's mind somehow during her first dream. When Jasper pulled her out, he said that the only way that was possible was that someone had either fallen in love with her or now cared about her clearly."
Another pause.
"So, if she hasn't woken up yet, that means—"
"Yes, Emmett," Rosalie finished, "that's exactly what it means."
Reality sunk in.
Of course, the Cullens were concerned for my safety, but it was Jasper and Alice that cared for my well-being. Basically, everyone but Jasper and Alice cared about me, but Jasper and Alice cared for me. It was confusing, but there was a difference.
Until Jasper came back, I would be stuck in this world created to torture me. It certainly did its job.
A small voice in the back of my head whispered that it didn't matter if I was in this world or the real one. Either way, both were filled with torture.
Alright, you are caught up. I'm now working feverishly on the fifth chapter, so you'll all have to wait a while. (I'm slow, so bite me.) I thought you all deserved to know why I gave Leora the boy nickname of Leo. Well, I've grown up with a guy's name, the guy spelling, and the assumption that I am a boy. I wanted to prove that girls could have guy names too! (Also, ya know, her Mountain Lion form was kinda fitting with Leo…) I hope to get reviews so I can make the fifth chapter better, according to your POVs!
~maplebird