AN: SO sorry guys, me and my dad are painting my room today so I lost track of time! My bad haha. Now; since everyone thought the rape was taken from The Last House On The Left, I decided to rewatch the movie; got an idea ;) So if any of you recognize the plot-turner, YES this time it's a borrowed idea. (The rape actually wasn't haha my betas know it, god's honest truth.) AND THANK YOU TO MY FAB BETAS :) RenesmeeCarlieBlackxo and cjfed95 :) This chapter is gonna spin all y'all's heads around ;)
The frosty morning air bit at them (despite the wolves' constant temperature of a hundred and nine degrees) and the overcast sky that countered occasional rays of sunlight replaced the feeling of eagerness within the pack with subtle hopelessness.
With granted permission from Sam and Jacob, the Cullens stood waiting at the bottom of the pass that lead by the forest. Sam nodded to them gratefully; Jacob hugged Renesmee goodbye and kissed her cheek before Charlie gave her a ride home. She was experienced, yes; but she was still technically a child. Bella stayed behind. She thought Leah was beautiful and shit but overall carried a general dislike of the her. Esme stayed home as well.
And after all, no one knew just what they would see, or find out there, that could scar a person for life. (If they found anything at all.)
Not many words were exchanged between the two cooperating legions; but then again, they weren't talkative to one another either who each side was so familiar with.
Edward didn't want to talk himself; he was too busy digging through the deepest thoughts and the innermost feelings of the pack and his brothers and sisters around them. Jasper was on edge; walking on eggshells around the pack members and trying desperately to cheer them up.
Once again, nothing was working. Their emotions were so overpowering, so devastating that it made Jasper's record list and he swore they were searing him from the inside out, creating more scars that invisibly marred his body.
"..I want to go farther today."
"Of course. We haven't looked to the extent that we should. I suggest going as near and over the Canadian border as we can without tramping on that other mutt's pack's territory." Rosalie spoke. Her harsh words, sincerely soft. Jake found himself smiling weakly at blondie's attempt at passion and sympathy.
'A for effort.'
"I'm going to be paying special attention." Edward murmured, turning his back to the pack (his friends) and family and staring into the cold browns and grees of the ruined forest. "If she's anywhere near, I'll pick up on her thoughts. Leah is too open inside of her own mind; she's interested me a great deal and I've learned to pinpoint her mentality quite well."
"Thanks Edward..." Seth's voice was still so, so sad. He was upset with himself, Edward knew as Leah's little brother replayed the scene with Sam the night before and remembered his want to forget his big sister; just wanting the worry and the heartache to go away. "You don't know how much this means-"
"It's absolutely fine, Seth. For such amazing friends this is the very least myself and my family can do for you. Leah was special to us as well." Eyes cast downward at the second mention of her name that day and the way some of them took a moment to place her face was like a smack upside the head; another nail in Leah's coffin.
It was painstakingly brutal.
But it was nothing compared to the La Push pack's thoughts.
"Then on we go." Sam snarled. He was the first to phase; his friends followed and together, wolves and vampires alike raced into the dark unknown of the trees and beyond.
-
They searched like fuck that day. Over hills and over mountains, through rivers and fog, under bridges and cliffs, in caves and tunnels.
What did they have to show for it?
Nothing. Notta. Zilch. Zip. Jack squat.
And by god was it taking a toll.
They were about at the hundred and fifteen mile mark (running for hours on end, stopping only to check various suspicious locations), when Embry collapsed.
The poor dark grey wolf attempted to scale a rather large-looking boulder to catch up with the others. He'd been the last in line that day, running and searching. His eyes were red and sore from dirt being kicked up from others' paws; ears bug-bitten and fur just completely soaked through.
But then again, that seemed to describe all the wolves at particular moments.
When Embry took his fall, his condition hadn't seemed that bad at all; not to the naked eye. But then again not to the mind either (Edward had been running regular wire taps), because not even the mind-raping Cullen was able to sense Embry's impending dehydration.
The boy fell on aching legs, bleeding paws. It was only then that the pack give way to rest, for the sake of one of their own (they would all die before they lost another). Carlisle was quick to act, having luckily decided to bring multiple jugs of water ('Load 'em up onto Emmett, mighty muscles, mighty pack mule.'), and cure Embry and the others of their thirst for the next long while. Despite having trekked through rivers, streams and creeks big and small, no one had dared stop looking to take a drink.
Sacrifices they would make for one another became increasingly apparent. Sam and Seth had seemed more eager to continue on with the journey then most, but of course, the hollow throbbing of an empty stomach and a parched throat slowly did them in as well (Sam would always deny it was Embry's tired, defeated eyes).
So that night, as Carlisle fixed up what he could on the wolves like minor scrapes and scratches the harsh journey had gifted them (Paul got smacked in the snout by a broken branch as Jake pushed through a grove), everyone sat and slept in a circle by the small fire Alice had made herself so useful to create.
And there, being altogether and staring into that flickering, dancing flame, the unit they'd become had never felt so alone.
-
The next morning as the wolves awoke and the Cullens strayed back into tandem territory (they had to eat too), their hopes had once again plummeted to an overbearing degree of misery.
Seth had been the longest to rise from his sleeping position; his hazel eyes locked on the simmering coals as the moisture in the air depleted the flame. He thought of his sister who'd seemingly disappeared.
Edward listened.
'I wonder, do you still even sleep under the same sky, Leah..?'
It was heart breaking, made him feel a depressing tingle in his spine he could've sworn he hadn't felt since the nineteen hundreds. Seth's worst fear as it seemed was slowly seeming more and more true by the hour; his sister was gone, fading from this world like a black hole had swallowed her up; like she was never to be seen again. Only forgotten.
Wincing at it, the golden copper-haired vampire let his mind wander to the other members of the awakening tribe.
'I'd give everything, Leah. I'd give you anything, I'd do anything for you to make it better. If only you'd come home.. Fuck, I miss you so much.. I'm so sorry.'
The warmest, saddest thoughts Paul had ever expressed in Edward's presence. Not even to Rachel had Edward heard such sentiments poor from Paul's mind. Quil's thoughts were a little more routine panic; a little more common disbelief and denial.
'You can't be dead. You stupid, hair-brained bitch.. You can't be gone. Please.. You running away, I can deal with; you hating me and hatin' the rest of us with all the passion you've got left somewhere deep down inside you I can take. But not you gone forever. I can't do it. I won't.'
Edward could guess the others felt the same; might've even heard similar lines breeze across their minds once or twice. But he could only imagine what the real and true final news might be.
And what it would do to the men who'd helped his family so much.
Edward found those frightening thoughts in the mind of Jacob Black this time; the same mind where he'd seen a forbidden kiss take place and a fiery temper flare right back at him. Edward's lips crooked up at the memory (tried to forget the fact that it wasn't his daughter being kissed by her imprint). But that memory that Jake had been so fond of now seemed like a distant dream as Edward saw Jacob's thoughts now like a movie on a big screen.
The first-turned Cullen saw Leah's bloody battered body in a ravine; left for someone to find.
Leah's hair, strands left strewn in fields and in the creaks and crannys of rocks with her blood. The only things left of her.
A dying girl, with no one.
A dead girl, with no one.
The last two made Edward turn his head in Jake's direction and saw the pain shape the powerful Alpha's eyes and lips as he curled them over his teeth; fought back the wean he wanted so desperately to release but knew he couldn't around his pack.
Jared's thoughts seemed too carefully blank for Edward to read but Edward could tell from the strife in the Beta wolf's charcoal eyes alone that he was fighting those dementing words and images with every fibre of his being just to keep the little hope he had left.
This was war; of the most brutal, scarring kind.
But Sam's thoughts were the worst; at the same time, the most intriguing and least upsetting (to a degree).
'I remember when you were two, and I was five. My dad was still around then, always hanging out with Harry. Harry let me hold you, and I knew you were special. Hah; ..I didn't even know what love was back then.'
Memories great and small, the littlest obsesses that Sam couldn't bear to let himself forget engulfed Edward's mind.
'When we started dating, like, we were the youngest couple they'd ever seen act so totally in love and they said it was all useless; like it was 'puppy love'.. Like our feelings weren't real and I remember gettin' so damn angry...'
'I'm going to find you. I'm going to bring you home, where you belong. You've never deserved any of this. You're so beautiful; ...How could I let this happen?..'
Edward cringed; was it possible to have a tear-choked voice inside of your own head..? He looked at Sam, the black Alpha sitting tall on the very rock Embry fell from the night before with his back turned to everyone down below.
Wolves couldn't cry. (Perhaps that was why he'd phased first.)
A moment later Sam turned back around. Everyone else finally got to their feet, had their fill of breakfast and water and flexed sore, injured muscles and limbs.
'I want to go.'
Edward nodded, looked at his fellow vampires. "He says it's time."
The wolves had already started off, and the Cullens followed.
Day number two, here they come.
-
How could this possibly be..? The second day, out in territory unknown and so far from home, with still no sign of Leah.
No thoughts; no sound; nothing.
Late night of the second day saw the Cullens returning home; the pack arriving scorned and hopeless back in La Push.
Sam walked up the steps to his own house, naked in all his glory and told his boys to wait for him at the front. He was back in minutes, with clothing. Emily stood in the door, arms crossed with a worried, yet angered expression on her ruined face.
"Sam! Please! You need to come home..!"
He never answered her; walked ahead and went back to Sue's like everyone else. Emily slammed the door.
The pain in Sam's chest made him want to scream.
-
"I have an idea." Quil picked up the phone. Sam, Seth and Jake looked over at him.
-
Early the next morning, sun rays surprisingly bright in the ominous sky was the backdrop for knocking on the Clearwater house door.
Jake pulled it open.
Janice's heart did a double-skip of a beat.
The boy's muscles were rapidly detereorating; he looked like he hadn't eaten in days. His eyes were lazy and tired-looking like someone cramming for seven final exams in one night and he just looked... So done. Worn out; like he belonged in the ground instead of above it.
"The nature of your call seemed to say come as quick as possible; so here we are." Karl said as he stepped inside the dimly lighted house. Jake nodded.
"Thanks."
The rest of his pack followed him in; Sam's head perked up as soon as they stepped into the living room.
"You haven't seen her? Not a trace, a scent, nothing?" He asked, rather rushed. Janice's fist clenched in her pocket around an item.
"No. I'm so sorry for your loss." Karl said. His eyes showed no real train of thought; no sympathy. Empty words that took a lot of effort to sound believable, Sam knew.
He looked away from them.
"How long has she been missing?" Brandon asked, eyes trailing around the room and taking in the broken appearances of the other Quileute pack members. 'This part must suck, I guess...' He thought.
"A week and a half; almost two." Seth croaked out, burying his face in his hands and trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes (He hadn't slept since they returned last night).
"Where was she last, before she went missing?" Karl asked, crossing his arms. He too was casting eyes over the men in front of him, some of them boys; how old was the girl? "How old was she? Did she have anything with her?"
Sam looked over at him. "Why would that matter..?"
Karl shrugged. "I'm just tryin' to be thorough here, we wanna help find Leah." Sam sighed deeply.
"I'm sorry for sounding so brash, it's just-"
"I know. I don't blame you. You two.. It seemed like there was something between you; yah know, when we met two weeks ago at your elder's place." The Cree pack Alpha said. Karl fought the urge to crook up his lips in a sneer. 'Let's not forget it was written on the inside of your little lady's necklace.'
Sam's dark eyes hit the floor.
"There was, a long time ago. Not anymore, though." Seth muttered, sending a regretful glance in Sam's direction. Karl nodded staley.
"I'm so sorry to hear that."
His pack members behind him looked uneasy; Jake twisted around just so, sending demure glances over their postures and their positions. Janice seemed jittery; like the chick couldn't stand still. Brandon was as composed as his Alpha, like he didn't care about their missing sister at all. But the other guys, Nathan and Keith, they were sort of just lingering; like they wished they were somewhere else.
Jake snarled inside.
'So sorry we're taking up so much of your precious time.'
Most of the other pack members stayed silent; Sam and Karl mostly conversed, one-answer sentences being the most help Karl gave; Sam's questions got more and more tedious like he needed a good answer, anything that would help... ('Where do you live? How far across the border?' 'About four hundred miles 'er so.' 'Can you look around for us? Keep an eye out for her?' 'Sure thing.')
Janice bit her lip. She couldn't stay there; couldn't listen to her Alpha spin such unruly lies. He'd done bad things, Karl... But nothing so bad as that. Fuck that goddamn book and the trouble it lead to-
"May I use your restroom please?" Her high voice came out shaky; she mentally cursed. Seth looked up at her and all but nodded, like his head was almost too heavy to bear on his thinning shoulders.
"Down the hall, up the stairs. Second door on the left."
Janice nodded and did as she was told; headed down the hallway.
When she rounded the corner to come near the stairs, the ache in her heart just ratcheted up another notch as she saw the pictures lining the walls; pictures of the family, pictures of her.
Her gait slowed down dramatically, and she found herself stopping momentarily by every frame. One was Leah and her brother; they looked pretty young. Maybe eight and nine? They were sitting side by side, small smiles on their faces on the front porch. Leah in shorts and a small cardigan, long hair grasped by the wind and Seth was in a Fox Racing tee and a pair of camo shorts. They looked adorable.
But when Janice looked all she saw was Leah now; bloody, battered and half dead, lying in that disgusting bed with no dignity left and most likely no hope she'd ever see her brother again either; her life from now on. At least until spring. Then Janice saw Seth as he was now; weary of everything and everyone, like the life had been sucked out of his healthy body and replaced with dark, gloomy smoke. Ruining him.
As she stepped over to the next picture and took it in, she realized just how much damage she and the other members of her pack were doing to this family. In that photo, was a couple older than Leah and Seth. Their parents, perhaps..? A man with kind eyes and a guitar, a woman with a pretty smile and sparkling eyes. Janice could see Seth in the man; could've maybe saw the woman in Leah, had she ever seen Leah smile perhaps. Ever seen even an inkling of the sparkle she knew could be in the girl's eyes.
Gritting her teeth she moved to the next picture on the wall and came face to face with the pack. This picture was dusty; shadowed, like the same care hadn't gone into keeping it clean as the other pictures had. It was all the boys, standing on what she assumed to be the back yard lawn with smiles on their faces. Jake and Embry had arms around eachother's shoulders and huge grins on their faces. Paul was kneeling down and wearing his best hot smirk by the duo's feet. In the middle Sam stood, tall and proud. Every bit the Alpha he was when they'd first met him and at his side was Leah. She didn't look happy; not at all, actually. She stood with her back to Sam, side on to the camera. Her arms were crossed. She didn't smile. But she was so, so pretty. Seth was kneeling just a little at her side, flashing a peace sign in a move that would seem so foreign to the Seth of today. Jared was the second last one, and he was just leaning into the picture casually, all big happy grins with Quil as the last, arms linked around shoulders again.
Janice blinked and looked down, before raising a hesitant finger and swiping it over the picture; right across the couple in the middle, leaving the clearness of dust gone behind.
Her teeth started to hurt and she shook her head; Janice needed to get out of there. So she sidestepped the rest of the pictures and went straight up the stairs and into the bathroom.
When she flushed and reemerged a minute later, Janice found herself opening the door only to stare right into an empty, dingy room.
She couldn't stop herself.
Walking into the miserable atmosphere, she stared around the room in hopes of learning more about the girl who would become such a permanent fixture in her pack soon. Purple walls made grey by a window with the blinds drawn; CDs and music posters covered most of the space.
The carpet was soft, but cold beneath her feet since the heaters weren't on (why would they be on when there was no one to warm?), and stepped further into Leah's personal space. Her eyes fell on the guitar standing in the corner and recognized it as the one from the picture of her parents. Had he passed on..?
Janice didn't know. Running a hand through her messy hair she gulped. It was like hell, being in there and feeling that guilt burn her insides on the way up, threatening to burst and reveal everything that had happened just to save her own sorry ass.
But she couldn't, could she? Keith would be ashamed by her and she'd hurt his standing in Karl's pack. It was everything to him.
Feeling her heart break a little more Janice's eyes fnally landed on the bed. Dust had gathered, ruining the look of the blue bedspread and she winced. Once again she felt her hand slip into her pocket.
"Janice! It's time to go!" She turned quickly and not-so-quietly on her heel.
-
Jake blinked as the ceiling creaked, directly over the couch where he sat.
'Why is she in Leah's room..?'
-
Janice cursed mentally and looked back to the bed; she took the ornament out of her pocket, felt her heart nearly burst as she did it and dropped the piece on Leah's cold pillow.
Then she was out of the room and down the stairs, joining her pack in the porch as they bid their goodbyes.
"If we see or hear any word of her, we'll definitely call you." Karl shook Sam's hand. Then the cruel man and his friends walked out of the Clearwater home, phased, and disappeared up the street.
Another useless attempt.
Hours passed, the Quileute boys running over information and answers the Cree pack had given them, hoping to find something, anything to go on.
They all came up empty.
It was time for bed that night when Jake crept silently into his ex-Beta's room. Looking around he felt the same emptiness everyone else had; loss, destruction, and misery.
'If Leah were here right now, she'd be kickin' my ass just for starin' at all her stuff.' Jake walked to her dresser, found his fingers listlessly running over the tops of perfume bottles and hair clips; the smudges on her dusty mirror and took note of his own pitiful reflection.
He grimaced. He hated what he'd become. They all had. But this hate had come too late; if only they'd smartened up before, before Paul had the balls to go that far and maybe she'd still be here..!
He clenched his fist and turned away from the mirror quickly to escape his own image. His eyes landed on the bed; on Leah's pillow.
Something clicked inside Jacob's head and his eyes widened. He dashed the four steps to the bed and picked the dirty blue heart necklace up in his large hand. Jake's heart skipped a beat.
Fuck.
He gripped the necklace hard, turned, and ran downstairs.
"SAM!" He called out, "SETH! GUYS GET UP!"
Doors opened fastly and many pairs of feet scrambled to join Jake in the living room. Upon arriving, their eyes widened as well. Jake was shaking, visibly fighting the urge to phase and tear the room to pieces.
"Jake what's going on!?" Sam soothed, pacing to his fellow Alpha and putting his hands on his shoulders. "What's wrong?!" He gasped out.
Jake just grit his teeth harder than ever before and held out the necklace in front of Sam's face.
"..Leah's necklace..." He looked at Jake again. "What about it?" He questioned. Jake growled.
"That girl, Sam. The Cree pack! Leah was wearing this when she left!"
The entire room was still as dots were connected.
"....We're going. Now." Sam headed for the door faster than the words left his mouth.
The hunt was on.