7 years later
Book Three
Ian
"Love is everything it's cracked up to be…It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for." - Erica Jong
Chapter One: Well I sure didn't see that coming.
"I never took you for a nail-biter O'Shea," Jared teased.
I jerked my fingers out of my mouth and frowned sourly at him. It was a recent habit, one I'd picked up only since Wanda had started going out on these "missions" of hers the last few months. Jeb was so certain that she was perfectly safe, but I completely disagreed.
How could she be? She was so tiny and frail looking… she was such an easy target for the Souls. Logically, I knew that the Souls were all supposedly kind hearted, with no malice or violence (my Wanda being a prime example of that)… but then there were the Seekers. Or more to the point, there had been Wanda's Seeker. What a piece of work that one was.
But before I could dwell on that further, my thoughts were interrupted once more by Jared.
"Seriously Mel, look at him! I don't even think he knows he does it. He's chewing away at them again. Who knew he was such a worrier?" Jared joked again, obviously trying to lighten the dark mood in the van.
"I did," Melanie said without thinking, and when I looked up to meet her eyes, she blinked and quickly looked away, clearly furious that I'd made her blush.
I didn't like it any more than she did.
Things were still weird.
Occasionally I'd reach for Mel's hand instead of Wanda's, and sometimes I caught Wanda staring at Jared or Mel staring at me. Of course whichever of the three of us it happened to was instantly embarrassed. It seemed the only person not really affected was Jared.
He'd always loved Melanie and didn't have to worry about transferring his affection to a new body like I did. No, I didn't love Mel's body, but since her face was Wanda's first face, obviously I subconsciously associated her with my beloved.
Thankfully Melanie and Wanda both had very different facial expressions, and Wanda's had gone with her to her new body. I'd know her smile no matter who her host was. Wanda and Mel also had to contend with the residual effects of sharing a mind and loving different men, so obviously, they still experienced echoes of feelings from the other person in their minds.
Like I said, it was weird.
"Shut up you guys! Are you trying to get us caught?" Kyle hissed from his place by the van's rear door. After glaring at the three of us in turn, he promptly turned back to stare out of the small crack in the slightly open door. He was not worried for my Wanda, however. Though they'd made their peace since he'd tried to kill her and she in turn saved his life; he was, of course, worried sick about Sunny, who was on her very first Mission, shopping for essentials with Wanda.
I leaned back against the van wall and sighed. A trickle of sweat rolled down my face, and I took a deep, stuffy breath. Talk about weird situations, Jared, Melanie, Wanda, and I had nothing on Kyle and Sunny.
Kyle, who thought the only good Soul was one squished under his boot, was ironically tied to one now. His Jodi was taken by the Souls early on, and when he went to "rescue" her a few months back, Sunny was in her body.
It turned out that Sunny was apparently head over heels in love with Kyle (don't ask me why or how). So when Kyle showed up, she went with him willingly. She even let Doc take her out of Jodi's head. Poor Jodi never came back, and Kyle couldn't bear to let her body die, so they put Sunny back in. Sunny was thrilled to be back and with Kyle again, and he was… well, he just was Kyle.
It was an impossible situation, and surprisingly Kyle acted better about the whole thing than Jared did when Wanda showed up in Melanie's body. Though my Wanderer did pave the way for that, I thought with a grimace. I hated remembering the way we'd all treated Wanda when she first arrived.
It's true we were all scared, but we acted like savages. No wonder the Souls thought we were monsters.
I glanced at my watch, and forced myself not to bite my nails in worry again. Kyle shifted quietly, but kept peering resolutely outside. I was starting to suspect Kyle of having feelings for Sunny, more than just as a caretaker. Wanda was certain he did, but I wasn't quite sure he was fully there yet. Personally, I thought he was still confused and not sure of his own feelings on the matter.
Kyle had balked when Wanda suggested that Sunny go on the next supply mission. He had gone on and on saying that she couldn't be trusted, that she'd turn them over to the Seekers. Jeb had butted in at that point saying simply "Sounds to me like you just can't bear to see anything happen to Sunny. Sounds to me like maybe you care about that Soul." That had shut Kyle up, and he'd spun on his heel and marched out.
Wanda told me later that she'd overheard Kyle pleading with Sunny not to go, that he wouldn't be able to stand it if she got hurt, or that maybe once she left the caves she wouldn't want to come back. Sunny had burst into tears and swore to Kyle that she'd never leave him, but that she was needed. Wanda couldn't do all the missions after all.
Kyle was an idiot.
It was so clear that Sunny thought the world revolved around him and that she'd never willingly leave him (I still have no idea why, and I was his brother!), so I don't know what he was worried about. But, here we were, with Wanda teaching Sunny how to lie, how to pretend, how to help the savage humans survive.
Jared had come along to make sure Kyle didn't do anything stupid. Mel had naturally come along to be with Jared (they were inseparable), and there was no way I'd ever let Wanda go on one of these things alone. So here we all were, one big happy, albeit weird, family, sweating in the back of a muggy van, in the parking lot of a Seattle suburb's grocery store.
Just then I heard the most beautiful thing ever: Wanda's clear, bell-like voice. So different from Melanie's, and so very Wanda. I recognized her the very first time she spoke with her new voice. You could hear her love and affection for all things living anytime she spoke, no matter what voice she used.
She was perfect.
Wanda and Sunny were giggling over something, pushing a large cart full of groceries to the van. Kyle was visibly relaxing at the sound of Sunny's voice. Yup, definitely developing feelings for her.
The girls reached the back of the van and opened the door. Sunlight streamed in, momentarily blinding us, but when my eyes adjusted I saw Wanda and my heart leapt into my throat; I smiled like an idiot. She was so beautiful, and with the sun back lighting her and her soft golden curls making a beautiful halo around her head, she looked just like an angel. Her eyes glittered and sparkled like a thousand tiny diamonds and when she smiled back at me I nearly forgot to breath. She was the most perfect thing in this galaxy and I loved her more than anything else.
My wonderful Wanderer.
Suddenly there was a loud thud on the roof of the van. We all looked up in unison to see what looked like the shape of two feet in stilettos deforming the metal. I was instantly moving, going to protect Wanda, but whatever was up there was faster.
"NOOOOOOO!" I yelled as she and Sunny were unceremoniously yanked away by a glittering blur of motion, and the van door was slammed closed in our faces. Kyle howled and yanked on the door but to no avail.
The largest man I'd ever seen (he even made Kyle look small) climbed into the driver's seat, turned to look at us with his oddly gold colored eyes, smiled and said, "Well folks, this is your lucky day! Rose and I are here to rescue you from the scary space invaders."
Then chuckling at some joke I certainly didn't get, he promptly sprayed us with SLEEP before any of us could say anything. As I was falling asleep I couldn't help but notice how the sunlight streaming in the window made his hand sparkle just like Wanda's eyes. Then the blackness took me.
Chapter Two: If we are prisoners, then these guys are rotten jailers.
"Ian, wake up."
"Wanda?" I mumbled.
"No Ian, come on, wake UP! We don't have time for this!"
I felt Melanie's familiar hand roughly shaking me as I groggily sat up. My eyelids felt like they were made of lead, and my brain was fuzzy. I hated SLEEP. It always left me like this. Doc said it was all in my head, that there shouldn't be any side effects, but for me there always was.
SLEEP! We'd been attacked and sprayed with SLEEP! Wanda and Sunny had been taken!
I was instantly alert and looking around the room, trying to get my bearings. It appeared that we were inside of a simple doctor's examination room; the same generic, white room you'd have found in any hospital five years ago, back before we even knew we were slowly being taken over. The fact that we were in one now was terrifying. Only Souls lived out in the open like this, so this room could only mean one thing, we were being held for implantation.
Kyle and Jared were both still sleeping, propped up against each other in a couple of chairs in the corner of the room. Kyle's head firmly rested on Jared's shoulder; Jared in turn was drooling on Kyle's head. If our situation hadn't been so dire I would have burst out laughing.
Melanie followed my gaze and smiled despite everything. "Yeah, I tried to wake them up first, but they both looked so precious and sweet, I didn't want to ruin it."
At my questioning eyebrow, she continued. "Ok, so seriously, I tried to wake up Jared first, but he simply wouldn't wake up. The way I figure it, he and Kyle got a face full of SLEEP. Jared threw himself in front of me, and I vaguely remember Kyle launching himself at that huge guy who sprayed us, so I think you and I only got a partial dose. That means whoever captured us probably isn't expecting us to be awake yet."
"I think you're right. So the real question is why did they take us? We're both still human, and usually the Souls don't wait around for an implantation. Plus, do you remember what Wanda's Seeker said? Adult humans aren't being used for implantation anymore. We all look pretty alive to me."
"I have no idea," Melanie answered. "I do know that the big guy said something about rescuing us from the Space Invaders? So they obviously know about the Souls. Though who wouldn't at this point? Also, totally random, but is it just me or did that big guy's skin sparkle in the sunlight?"
"You saw that too? I thought I was imagining things."
"Yeah," she confirmed. "I saw it. I think his accomplice was the same way. I didn't see much, but there was a lot of glittering in the sun for the half a second I did see her."
"Her?" I asked in confusion. "You just said you didn't really see anything."
"Well I don't see any guy, no matter what species they are, leaving stiletto prints on the roof of a car. I'm just sayin'…"
"Good point," I said walking towards the door. "So, you think they're from around here? And by here I mean Earth, of course."
"On no, definitely not human. Or at least, not fully human," Mel answered.
I was at the door by now, and realizing how futile it was, but opting to try anyway, gripped the doorknob in my hand and turned.
It was open!
"Ok… I didn't see that coming. Are we prisoners or not?" Melanie asked.
"I don't know and I'm not going to hang around to ask. I'm going to find Wanda. If these guys thought they were rescuing us from the Souls, then that means they think Souls are dangerous, which means Wanda's in trouble."
"But wait, we can't just leave Jared and Kyle!"
"They aren't in any danger that I can see," I hissed. "Who knows what they've done to Wanda and Sunny by now! We don't have time to waste!"
Mel was clearly torn and looked between Jared and the door a few times, before resignedly walking over to the doctor's desk and jotting a quick note explaining the situation and telling him not to worry or come after her, that she was perfectly safe.
"Right," I snorted. "Like that will stop him from freaking out." Melanie pointedly ignored me.
"OK, let's go," Melanie said after placing the note in Jared's lap.
We crept out the door and down the hall, expecting at any moment to be discovered. Fortuitously the hallway remained empty and quiet. We made it down a few doors towards a sign brightly lit "EXIT" and paused outside an open doorway leading to a waiting room. Yeah, we were obviously in a medical clinic of some sort.
Inside the room we saw a couple of young looking Native American men, and dang were they tall! I was about to motion to Melanie to turn around and go back the other way when one of them spoke up.
"Hey Embry, I thought you were supposed to go on this last raid with Emmett?"
"Yeah, I was, but ol' blondie still doesn't like Weres so much. It's a shame too. I would have loved to be a part of the rescue," Embry responded.
"Sure sure, the Vamps really needed you too, because the glow worms - they soooo dangerous you know."
They both started laughing at that, and Melanie and I exchanged a confused glance. Vamps? Weres? What? And they knew about Souls?
Before we could think too much on that an enormous wolf bounded into the room, and I could see that Melanie was about to warn them. The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end, and something about what they were saying clicked into place.
"No wait," I whispered, laying my hand on her arm. She stared at me in confusion, but no explanation was necessary. Just as I suspected, and straight from an old horror film, the wolf changed into a naked man. The other two in the room both turned to greet the new arrival, the werewolf apparently named "Seth."
"Hey guys, what's the news? I heard the sparklepires found a bunch of humans."
"Yup, Emmett put them down for a nap in one of the exam rooms. Blondie took the glow worms to the OR. Snow and Nessie are about to do the extraction."
Chapter Three: Just when I thought things weren't bad enough…
"What the heck was that thing?" Melanie hissed at me, while we worked our way back up the hallway looking for the Operating Room.
"I thought that was fairly obvious Mel," I snapped, and then immediately felt guilty. My panic and fear for Wanda didn't give me permission to be mean to Melanie. "Sorry."
"Hey, I'm scared for her too," Melanie said, with an understanding look.
We reached a set of double doors, and after pausing a minute to listen for sounds pushed ourselves in. We were in a darkened room with a sink (obviously for a doctor to wash up prior to doing any sort of cutting), and a large window showing a brightly lit room on the other side of it. On two beds were Wanda and Sunny.
I was about to run into the room to grab Wanda, when this time it was Melanie who laid a restraining hand on my arm whispering, "No wait!"
Two women walked into the room from an opposite door, both of them fully grown, though one of them looked to be barely older than 18 or so. She had copper colored hair that hung in loose curls down her back and her skin was pearly white; almost unnaturally white.
I watched her reach over and place her hand on the other woman's cheek. It seemed like such an odd gesture, but the other woman, a beautiful Native American with long, straight, black hair, nodded her head in understanding and made some sort of comment to the younger woman. The older woman (she appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties) was wearing a doctor's coat and began gesturing at Wanda.
These two must be Snow and Nessie, the two people the young men and the wolf person had been talking about. As if to confirm my suspicion, the young woman rolled Wanda onto her side effortlessly as if she weighed no more than a feather, while the doctor pulled out a scalpel.
At this point I wasn't thinking too coherently. I just wanted to get to Wanda. I needed to get that scalpel out of the doctor's hand.
I'd intended to tackle her and rip the scalpel from her hand.
I'd intended to, but instead found myself flying across the room and hitting the wall with a loud crack. I was dazed and confused, but was able to see the inhumanly strong and fast girl put Mel in a head lock. The Native American woman had backed into a corner directly behind Wanda and almost appeared to be cowering in fear. Of us? Well, I didn't care what she was afraid of (maybe that freaky cheek touching girl), I was going to get Wanda and run for it.
I was back on my feet now, when another large Native American man (different from the other three; he was older, more experienced looking) walked into the room. The smile on his face that he had directed at the cowering woman froze as he took in the entire situation, and suddenly fragments of clothing were raining down to the floor and I was knocked to the floor by the largest wolf I'd ever seen.
Face to face with the growling wolf, I could feel his hot, putrid breath on my skin, and watched as a string of drool dropped slowly down towards me. I was pretty sure I was going to die, but I didn't care, so long as Wanda was ok.
I don't know how long we were like that; seconds - hours - eternity?
The standoff was broken when two more men entered the room, another doctor by the looks of his lab coat, and from the new rain shower of fabric bits and pieces, and the sudden appearance of another growling wolf by the young woman's side (who still had Melanie in a headlock), another Werewolf.
"Nessie, would you mind loosening your hold on the young lady? She is turning purple," the pale doctor calmly asked.
The girl made a face, and I heard her mumble "Yes, Grandpa," and then she reluctantly loosened her hold, but didn't let go of Mel - wait did she just call him Grandpa? She was at least sixteen years old, if not eighteen, and the other doctor could not have been a day over thirty.
Definitely not human.
"And Jacob, phasing was hardly necessary," the doctor continued. "Snow, what's going on?" he asked addressing the other woman, the one in the doctor's coat cowering in the corner. I quickly averted my eyes from her because the wolf standing on me deepened his growl and pressed down harder on my chest with his paw.
The woman named Snow stood up and addressed the pale skinned man. "Renesme was helping me prepare the patients for extraction when these two burst in yelling to stop. I honestly don't think there was any intention to hurt us. I think they just wanted us to stop the procedure," the woman named Snow finished, confusion clear in her voice. As she turned to look at me, the light hit her reflective eyes and both Melanie and I were visibly stunned.
This woman was a Soul. And she was working with the, um, well, with people who weren't Souls; I was fairly certain that there weren't any other humans in the room but Mel and I at the moment.
"Of course we aren't here to hurt you," Melanie gasped around Nessie's impossibly strong arm. "We came to stop you from murdering our friends!"
I was nearly mad with worry for Wanda by this point and enormous wolf or not I started to strain against the platter-sized paws that pinned me to the ground.
"Please! Is she alright?" I wheezed, reaching ineffectively towards Wanda's bed.
The wolf started to press harder, making it impossible for further speech, when suddenly he glanced behind him to the other wolf. They seemed to exchange some sort of silent communication (perhaps a sort of telepathy), and then he immediately leapt off of me and went to Snow's side, clearly placing himself between her and I.
I waited about a half-second before I rushed to Wanda, grasped her hand in mine and checked to see if she was ok. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Melanie doing the same with Sunny.
The blonde man who had interrupted the fight walked towards me, extended a hand and said, "Hello, I'm Dr. Carlisle Cullen. I think we're all on the same side here, so we should probably talk."
I noted his curious golden eyes; not Soul, but definitely not human. I thought about all that I had witnessed today and hesitantly took the proffered hand, trying not to wince at the shocking, icy coolness of it.
"Yeah, you aren't kidding," I said wryly.
Chapter Four: Aliens, Vampires, and Werewolves, OH MY!
It was like a really weird cocktail party in the waiting room of the LaPush Medical Clinic. All of the leadership from this isolated community were gathered here and everyone was mingling around, getting acquainted. There were the Cullens, who I was guessing where the "Vamps," all easily identified by their pale complexions, golden eyes, and icy touch.
The big guy and "Blondie" were among them, though they seemed to be keeping off to the side chatting with two others of their unusual family. One of them, a tiny dark-haired, pixie-like girl was standing as far away from the werewolves as she could manage, and kept occasionally staring off into space with her eyes glazed over. I'm not gonna lie; it was creepy. Though, go figure, meeting real life werewolves and vampires would naturally be creepy, wouldn't it?
Then there was Renesme, who was warm to the touch and snuggling on a sofa with Jacob (apparently the leader of the weres). She was an enigma, definitely not human, but also not one of the vamps. Though speaking of vamps, I noticed that one of them - who appeared to be the same age as Renesme - was glaring daggers at Jacob who had just then planted a quick kiss on her lips. This boy was obviously related, and had the same coppery colored hair Nessie did. Over-protective twin brother perhaps?
Snow and the huge werewolf who attacked me earlier approached, and I protectively slipped Wanda behind me. I wasn't taking any risks with this bunch.
Snow paused, frowned, and made as if to say something but was cut off by the man with her. "I'm sorry for attacking you like that. I'm just very protective of my wife, and I thought you were trying to hurt her." Gesturing at Wanda peeking out from behind me, he continued, "I'm sure you understand." He then flashed me a chagrined smile while he stuck out his hand. "I'm Sam, and this is my wife Snow Falling on Ice Castles, though we all call her Snow."
That broke the ice; no one could ignore our similar bizarre situations, so taking his firm grip in mine, I returned the introduction. "I'm Ian, and this Wanderer, though we call her Wanda."
Snow seemed to perk up at Wanda's introduction and looked directly at her. "Wanderer, were you a Bear?"
"Yes. I've lived many different lives and worlds. It's how I got my name. When I was a bear I was known as Lives in the Stars." Though this was all said cautiously, and with a bit of apprehension on Wanda's part.
"I knew it! You're Rides the Beast!" Snow squealed excitedly, and turned to Sam. "She is legendary among the Bears!"
Wanda's face turned beet red in embarrassment, and I could tell she wanted to hide behind me for the rest of the night. I gently pushed her towards Snow, and laughing said, "Why don't you two go find Sunny and have a little Bear reunion."
Sam stayed behind with me, and we made some awkward small talk until we were joined by Jared and Melanie.
"Weird, isn't it?" Jared asked.
"Yup, who would have thought there was such thing as vampires and werewolves?" I returned. "Though five years ago, who would have believed in Aliens?"
Sam made some sort of comment that "Bryan would" under his breath and chuckled to himself.
"Jeb's going to be pissed he missed this," Kyle remarked as he joined us.
We all laughed at that because it was so true. If Jeb had been here he would have been asking questions non-stop. Dr. Cullen had explained the entire werewolf/vampire/La Push thing and their quest to save humanity to us all earlier.
We were obviously a bit weirded out by it all, though of course we believed him immediately. Especially the vampire/werewolf thing. Next to body snatching invaders from outer space, who wouldn't?
Both of our groups also clearly realized that neither of our situations was especially ideal. We could be discovered at any moment, and while vamps and weres were apparently immune to being implanted (vamps because you couldn't cut their skin, and even if you could, well, they were dead. And weres because they healed too fast to do an implantation), human's certainly weren't immune. I just didn't know what else we could do.
Right then, a young girl around seven years old came in dragging a little toddler boy behind her. Based on their appearance, there was no question who they belonged to. When they stopped in front of Sam my suspicions were confirmed, and I watched as he excused himself, lifted the little boy onto his shoulders, and walked over to Snow who was giggling with Wanda and Sunny over some shared memory they had. Her face lit up when she saw her children, and she bent down to hear something that her daughter was trying to tell her.
Her human children.
At some point Melanie had moved up next to me without me realizing it, I was so focused on the picture before me.
"It's like what we saw in the playground on that first mission, back when Wanda and I were still joined. Children truly will be the key to humanity's salvation; no Soul mother will ever allow her Human child to implanted. That would be murder to her. And no Soul would ever force her to do it. Mothers are sacred among the Souls," she mused.
I nodded my head in agreement, my mind ablaze in half-formed thoughts and ideas, coming almost too fast for me to process. Suddenly the tiny pixie-like Cullen - Alice, I thought her name was - danced up to me.
"It will work!" she proclaimed loudly.
All conversation ceased in the room, and all eyes turned expectantly towards her. Well, all except for one pair. The sullen-looking copper-haired boy was staring intently at me. Yeah, it was just as creepy as it sounds.
"What will work?" Jacob called from the other side of the room, clearly confused and annoyed at being left in the dark. I got the feeling he had a love/hate relationship with the Cullens, and I could see why. They were definitely an odd bunch, and seemed to know what I was thinking even before I fully knew it.
"Negotiating with the Souls for an end to the invasion, of course," said the boy who was staring at me.
You could have heard a pin drop.
Chapter Five: A plan I could get behind.
The sun was filtering in through the window of the one of the Cullen's bedrooms, and I felt Wanda bury herself closer to me, still sleeping peacefully. The warmth of sunlight had become almost foreign to us since it apparently rained more in this part of the U.S than anywhere else. I watched its rays reflect off of Wanda's angelic golden, wispy hair.
She was beautiful, and I would gladly have stayed in that bed snuggling and watching her while she slept for the rest of my life. Though, come to think of it that did sound a bit creepy; I wasn't a stalker for goodness sakes!
What was decidedly not creepy was the Cullens' home. I'd expected coffins and goth décor, but instead found it to be well-lit, and tastefully decorated and open. Our group was all staying with the Cullens, in their very bedrooms as a matter of fact. We'd all protested that we couldn't impose like that – that we'd be just as happy staying in a sleeping bag on the floor (anything was better than a cave) – but Carlisle had informed us that their kind didn't sleep. Ever. So really it was no burden for them. Wanda looked like she was about to ask why they even bothered to have bedrooms, but seemed to think better of it, and after blushing furiously, mumbled a quiet "never mind."
Emmett, the big guy who had abducted us, laughed loudly at that, and even Jasper (Alice's companion), cracked a smile – which was saying something since he always seemed like he was in pain for some reason or other.
And so here I found myself getting the best night of sleep I'd had in years, smack dab in the middle of a den of "vegetarian" Vampires. A little alien invasion can really change your outlook on life.
Speaking of aliens and their invasions, the last few days had been a flurry of activity. Once the initial uproar ceased, and Kyle and Jacob were calmed down and made to see reason, and everything was explained to everyone, it was time to prepare for the trips.
As had become so painfully obvious over the last few years of the Soul's occupation on Earth (beginning first with Snow), the Souls were hesitant to allow their human children to become Hosts themselves.
In addition to that, there was apparently a smallish population of trustworthy Souls among the LaPush residents. It seemed that even though the Vamps and Weres had learned to "acquire" only somewhat older Hosts, or Hosts where Edward (the boy who had been staring at me, or the "Sullen Cullen" as I liked to call him) could hear two distinct voices in one head, sometimes the Human mind never did come back, and they put the Soul back inside the Host. Then, after talking to Snow, the Soul invariably saw the error of their ways and that what they were doing was not just murder, but genocide.
So the Souls were reasonable - they just didn't understand before that the humans were so individualized; that it really was murder to use them as Hosts. Of course, once a Soul realized the truth they were properly horrified and wanted to work towards saving humanity and ending the Soul occupation.
I don't know why the LaPush group hadn't considered talking to the other Souls yet. Perhaps they were worried that they were the only human outpost left on Earth and they didn't want to risk complete extinction.
Regardless of that, we all decided that a delegation needed to be sent to all the human outposts (that my group knew of) to tell them what was going on and invite a representative to a council back at LaPush in two month's time to determine how to proceed.
We'd been split into three teams, and each team had at least one Vamp, one Wolf, one Soul, and one Human. We were staggering our departures, so it wouldn't look too suspicious to the Souls (not that they ever suspected LaPush of anything, Souls were so trusting).
The first group, comprised of Edward and Bella, Jared and Melanie, and Sam and Snow, had left yesterday. They all seemed to get along quite well, so it was a good mix of personalities. Though I don't know how much the Sullen Cullen enjoyed letting Jared be in charge of the group. He seemed like a bit of a control freak to me, but hey, I've been accused of being the same thing at times.
The next group was leaving today, led by Kyle and Sunny, accompanied by Emmett and Rosalie, and a lone wolf named Seth (apparently the only werewolf that Rosalie could stand to be around for long periods of time.) Emmett treated Kyle like the long lost brother he never had and I'd overheard him joking about 'bringing Kyle over' so that they could really wrestle. I don't think Kyle picked up on the fact that Emmett had meant turning him into a vampire.
Rosalie seemed to like Sunny for some reason. Maybe because she was quiet and not even remotely as beautiful as Rosalie herself was? Yeah, Rose was that shallow. But I was truly glad to see that they all got along so well.
As for my group, we were going back to Jeb and the caves, and I obviously had Wanda with me. Alice had asked if she and Jasper could be the vampires to accompany us, and since Wanda seemed to like her, I didn't mind. Besides, her ability to see the future, and Jasper's ability to calm emotion might come in handy (especially with Maggie and Sharon; I already knew they weren't going to like this new development). Jacob and Nessie rounded out our group, and at first I was surprised that Jacob would leave LaPush – he was the pack's Alpha after all – but as he'd put it, Leah was more than capable of handling things in his absence. He and Nessie were obviously a couple, so of course she was going; though I did figure out why Edward had been glaring daggers at Jake during the meeting.
Apparently Edward was NOT Nessie's over-protective twin brother, but was in fact, her father, and Bella (also a vampire) was her mother. Biologically. I didn't even bother asking how the heck that happened; but I could figure out enough – clearly Bella had still been human when she'd had Nessie, and had become a Vampire at some later point. But that wasn't even the weird part. Apparently Renesme was only eight years old. And she was full grown; had been for a little over three years now. No wonder Edward was freaking out. I would be too!
Though apparently it was Nessie who had initiated a romantic relationship with Jacob a few months back. Until then, he was content to just follow her around and fulfill her every whim for the rest of his life. Some weird werewolf thing called "imprinting," and it had happened when Nessie was just a baby. There was nothing romantic to it then, just simple love and devotion on Jake's part. At least that's how it had been until Renesme had changed everything in their relationship.
I'm not gonna lie though, it was weird. I didn't understand it one bit, but everyone else seemed perfectly ok with it (well, Edward and Bella still seemed to be adjusting awkwardly to it), so I just decided to go with the flow on this one. Who was I to judge? Besides, my own perfect Wanderer was centuries older than me, and could conceivably live forever if she wanted to. It seemed like abnormal relationships were the norm these days.
"Hey," Wanda said sleepily as she slowly opened her eyes to look up at me. She flashed me her beautiful smile, momentarily dazzling me with the pure love and affection I could feel emanating from her.
How did I get so lucky?
"Hey," I said back to her softly. "Looks like Kyle was wrong; we did survive the night and the scary Vampires didn't eat us."
She giggled at that, something she never did when she was in Melanie's body, and I found it adorable. It suited her. I knew she found it embarrassing, but the truth was, Wanderer thought that anything that called attention to her was embarrassing.
"Speaking of Kyle, I've noticed a change in him," she said once she got her giggles under control.
"Oh really? Is he less thickheaded and obstinate?"
There was that adorable giggle again. "No! I mean yes – I mean, well, I think being around Snow and Sam was good for Kyle. Just look at them; they are in the exact same situation that Sunny and Kyle are in, and look at how well they've made it work. It's clear that Sam misses Snow's host dearly, but also very much loves Snow. And they have a family together. And well, they've made it work. Kyle has noticed this I think, and it's been a good thing. Jodi's not coming back, and I think he's learned that it's not a betrayal to her to move on with his life."
Now that I thought about it, she was right. Kyle's manner with Sunny had been a bit easier, and more natural. Hell, he'd even been affectionate to her. Her. Not because she was in Jodi's body, but because he actually seemed to like Sunny herself.
I pulled Wanda in close to my body, spooning around her delicate frame and hugging her tight while I buried my face into her hair. "See, there is hope for humanity. Even Kyle can learn."
Wanda let loose a girlish giggle that I quickly silenced with a kiss, and then another, and then another. Soon I was lost in a world of her kisses, and basked in the simple happiness of being with my perfect Wanderer.
Chapter Six: Look at what the cat dragged in
Well, I figured out quickly why the Cullens lived in Forks, WA. It's not because they like miserable, cold, rainy weather, it's that the sun tends to blow their cover. It doesn't kill them or make them burn away; no, nothing so dramatic. Instead, it bounces off their skin the way the light bounces off a Soul's eyes. In short, they have glittery skin; the wolves don't call them Sparklepires for nothing.
Wanda had to suppress giggle fits when this was first explained to us, and even I had to bite back a snort. The mighty Vampires have killer glittery skin? I know we live in a bizarre world, but that just seems stupid. What sort of evolutionary leap would cause that? Not that it matters; it is what it is, so we all just learned to adjust. We only traveled at night, and even we were scrambling to make it into the cave's entrance as the sun was rising.
Despite their speed, Jasper and Alice were still caught by the sun's rays, and I saw firsthand the way their skin did shimmer and sparkle like a million brilliant diamonds. It was beautiful.
They both darted inside the cave mouth with their superhuman speed, and I walked in just in time to hear a terrible screech of metal and watched as Alice bent the muzzle of Jeb's shotgun up and away, like it was made of rubber, and Jasper ripped it out of Jamie's hands.
My jaw dropped. I'd known the Cullens were strong, I'd seen Emmett in action, but somehow seeing tiny little Alice perform something so Superman-like was humbling.
Jamie's eyes and mouth were wide, and faster then I'd ever seen her move Wanda was in front of Jamie, blocking him from the Vampires who were very scary at the moment.
"Stop! It's just Jamie, he wasn't trying to hurt you," Wanda yelled with her girlish voice.
"That's not true," trilled Alice. "I saw that he was going to shoot. He thought we were Seekers. He could have hurt all of you. And I wasn't going to hurt him, neither was Jazz."
I was momentarily surprised; I thought Alice's visions were blocked when a wolf was near, though she and Jasper might have gotten far enough ahead of the rest of us to where she could see a quick flash of the future. I wanted to figure out just how far away she had to be for it to start working again; 3 feet? 5 feet? 10 Feet?
"I wasn't gonna shoot, Wanda, honest! They surprised me, and I did think they might be Seekers, but I was never gonna shoot!" Jamie said, the words falling out of his mouth in a rapid blur.
"What are you even doing here and with Jeb's gun?" Wanda asked, turning to look at him.
"I was just going to ask the same question myself," Jeb said emerging from the shadows. "Ma'am, Sir, I'm much obliged to you for stopping Jamie from hurting anyone, himself included." Jeb inclined his head towards the Cullens.
"Children shouldn't play with guns. They aren't toys," Jasper said quietly, surprising me; he rarely ever spoke.
"I'm not a kid-" Jamie began, puffing out his teenage chest as if to emphasize the fact.
"Ain't you got school boy? Sharon's gonna be mighty sore at you," Jeb asked taking in everyone in the group.
"Ahhh Jeb, Wanda just got back-"
"I said get!" Jeb said, still not looking at Jamie, but instead punctuating his words with a jerked thumb pointing behind him.
"I never get to have any fun," Jamie moaned as he headed down the tunnel to class, and most likely extra homework from Sharon for being so late.
Jeb finally turned to look at me. "Ian, you didn't tell me you were bringing guests. Looks like you traded out Kyle for this little pixie of a gal. Seems to me like we got the better end of the deal." He said this last bit with a conspiratorial wink towards Alice, and she gave him a dazzling grin in return.
"She's a lot stronger than Kyle too, Jeb. And smarter."
"Is that so?" He turned his gaze back to the Cullens and Jacob. "Welcome to my home. Only rule is I make the rules! You follow that one, and we should get along just fine. Now I 'spect we need to head down to see Doc. You folks don't strike as being from around here."
Alice flashed another dazzling grin at Jeb and gave Jasper's hand a squeeze. "No sir, we aren't. I was born in Mississippi, and Jasper here was born in Texas. Jacob and Renesme were both born in Washington State."
"Right sweetie, and I was born on Krypton. Come on, you can tell me all about it on our way down to see Doc."
* * * * *
I rarely say this, but Kyle was right; Jeb was pissed that he missed out on meeting the Vampires and Werewolves, though he was downright tickled that we'd brought a few back for him.
In fact, it took twice as long as it should have to explain to Doc and Jeb the entire situation since Jeb kept interrupting with about a million questions. Jeb actually whooped loudly with glee when Jacob phased for him. I thought Doc was going to pass out when he found out that Nessie was only 8 years old. Both Doc and Jeb were wary of Jasper, as any sane man would be, and of course Alice delighted them both with her easy manner. Wanda had a knowing smile throughout it all and I recalled how Jeb had been the same way with her when she'd first arrived in the caves.
"So, what you're saying is that not all of you are, how did you put it? 'Vegetarians'?" Doc asked.
"No," Alice replied. "Most of our kind aren't. We are not the norm. It's not an easy way of life, and it's something we all struggle with daily."
"I'm surprised that you or the others of your kind allowed the Souls to invade. With your strength and speed, why didn't you just stop them?"
Alice made a face and explained. "In hindsight it would have been easy for us to stop the invasion, if we'd been willing to reveal ourselves to the Souls and/or attack them. But we knew nothing about them at the time and were more concerned with protecting our own Humans from the invasion."
"Plus, it goes against our very nature to reveal ourselves," Jasper continued. "There would have been grave consequences if we had."
This was news to me. "What could possibly scare Vampires into silence?" I asked without thinking.
Jasper raised an eyebrow at me and stared at me with his golden eyes. "We weren't scared."
"It's the blood sucking Volturi. They are why we couldn't do anything," Jacob spat out, and I noticed that Nessie stepped in closer to him when he said the name. He put a comforting arm around her, and despite what Jasper had said, I could tell that at least she was scared.
We were all clearly confused, so Alice graciously explained. "The Volturi are a sort of Vampire governing body led by three very old, powerful, and dangerous Vampires, Aro, Marcus, and Caius. They enforce The Law."
By the way she said it, I could tell she meant there was only one Vampire Law.
"The Law is, of course, to never reveal ourselves to the humans. Werewolves don't count as they are a part of our supernatural world, but normal humans could never know about us. There would have been dire consequences," Alice finished calmly.
"And by dire we mean death and destruction and an epic Vampire war with casualties not just on both sides, but to the humans we love and care about as well," Jacob added, never taking his eyes off Renesme. She huddled in closer to him and placed one of her hands on his cheek. Clearly, the Volturi had threatened her at some point in the past for her to be this frightened of them; especially since she'd stopped talking out loud and had resorted to her strange cheek-touching form of communication.
"Well, the way I see it, haven't you done just that? Didn't you just tell all of us 'Normal Humans' about your existence? Or do you turn into a frog when I ain't lookin'?" Jeb asked with a grin, shifting his gaze from Alice to Doc.
Alice flashed another dazzling smile at Jeb. "Well that's precisely why they must never know what we have told you, and they certainly must not find out what we have planned."
"And just what is it that we have planned?" Doc asked.
So Alice told him.
Chapter Seven: It should have been so easy…
In the pre-dawn hour I was, once again, in my most favorite spot; the arms of my beloved. She snored softly in her sleep, something I found completely fascinating since she'd never done it when she was in Melanie's body. She was so different in this body, yet still the same. No matter what body she was in, she was, and always would be, my perfect Wanderer.
I felt a twinge of sadness as I realized I would only get to spend one lifetime with her, while she would be able to live on in whatever host body she was placed in. I was beyond glad that she would never die; I only wished there was some way I would get to spend eternity with her. It was a shame I'd not been born a Soul.
I realized the room was getting faintly lighter, and figured the Cullens were probably back by now. Alice, Jasper, and Renesme had taken advantage of nightfall to go hunting and maintain their 'vegetarian' diet. Poor coyotes didn't stand a chance. I wasn't quite sure why Nessie insisted on hunting – she could live on human food just fine. But, according to Wanda, she still preferred blood.
Yuck.
Thankfully that bit of info had not been revealed at last night's tribunal.
It had been decided, logically, that we needed to have a tribunal. The decision to expose the remaining Humans to the Souls wasn't something that Jeb could decide unilaterally for the rest of the cave dwellers. So, the twenty or so Humans in the caves gathered together in the game room to listen to the plan.
We'd all agreed beforehand that the true nature of Vampires and the Werewolves would not be revealed to the rest of the Humans here. The fewer Humans who knew the truth, the better. The Cullens and Jacob's pack were willing to reveal their existence to the Souls if necessary, but hoped that they would be rational enough to leave Earth after they saw how they had committed genocide, and not have to resort to scaring the Souls away with their presence.
This was all due, of course, to the fact that they did not want to do anything that might bring the Volturi's wrath down on them or the Humans hidden away in LaPush, since apparently last time that happened they'd barely avoided an epic Vampire/Werewolf war.
Turns out I was right about my suspicions regarding Nessie and the Volturi. Shortly after Jacob Black imprinted on her, a vampire from another coven saw Renesme from a distance and thought she was an "immortal child" – basically a vampire child that had been bitten by an adult Vampire. Apparently this was really bad, "Forbidden" to be exact, because, as we all know, normal toddlers aren't known for their self-control. Try to imagine a super-human vampire kid, with a HUGE thirst.
So, instead of going to the Cullens to ask them what the HECK they were thinking, this vampire, Irina, ran off and tattled to the Volturi.
You'd think the Volturi, being the vampire police force, would check out Irina's story right?
Not so much.
Instead, Aro (the leader of the bunch) decided that this would be a great time to add Alice and the Sullen Cullen to his vampire collection because of their unique abilities. So, intent on killing Renesme and all the other Cullens, the Volturi traveled to Forks. However, the Cullens had gathered witnesses from around the world to prove that Renesme was not an immortal child. Alice brought another half-breed, Nahuel, who explained that half-breeds posed no danger to the vampires.
Convinced that Renesme was not a threat (and adding to the fact that a bunch of enormous werewolves showed up to defend Nessie), the Volturi left, and there was no epic battle.
But to say that Aro, Marcus, and Caius were probably harboring a grudge and looking for any reason to come after the Cullens would be a bit of an understatement. So, while Jeb and Doc knew the truth about the Quileutes and the Cullens, no one else would be told.
Alice, being the most non-threatening member of the group laid out the plan for everyone after explaining about Snow and the other Souls who had come to live with them in LaPush,
"Essentially we're going to 'crash' the Global Environmental Summit being held in Seattle. It's the ideal setting since representatives from every major country in the world will be there, and it's the closest to a worldwide governing body that we're going to find. Snow, Wanderer, and the other Souls who have 'gone native' will lead us in there with their Human children (those that have them) and explain everything they have come to realize and their refusal to allow their children to be used as Hosts. The Souls will see reason, and the occupation will end," she finished brightly.
I could see the confusion and fear in all their eyes; they had no way of knowing that Alice could literally see the future, and that this was exactly how it would play out.
"So wait a sec, you all just want us to basically walk into the middle of a bunch of those murderers, wave a white flag, tell them they were wrong, and expect them to agree, pack up and go back to wherever it is they came from?" Maggie asked cynically, with Sharon and Lacy (Wanda's former Seeker's Host) frowning deeply behind her. Trust the three of them to balk at seeing reason.
Alice was not bothered in the least, and flashed a dazzling grin at everyone in the room, including her three hecklers. Sharon and Maggie did not look pleased, and Lacy frowned sourly.
"Yes, we do in fact believe that the Souls, once shown the error of their ways, will close Earth for settling and no longer use humans as hosts. Though, the majority of the existing Souls will remain inside their hosts because the humans they are in are most likely gone for good. But, in time, humanity will take over again through children. Perhaps having been raised by Souls, Earth is destined for a time of peace and prosperity. At least, that's how I see it," Alice finished with a wink toward Wanda, Jeb, Doc and myself.
Sharon and Maggie stormed out, with Lacy hot on their heels. No surprise there.
But what was surprising was the amount of convincing we didn't need to do! I attributed a lot of that to Jasper's gift. He managed to keep nearly everyone calm and receptive. Except for the three who just left, of course. Though the fact that all they did was storm out of the room, instead of something a bit more violent, could be attributed to Jasper.
It seemed that most of the humans here in the caves were tired of living in fear, and if the humans in other outposts were willing to try, then so were they. And so, the tribunal decided we would reveal our existence to the Souls and hope that Snow, Wanderer, and Sunny were the norm, not the exception.
I felt a yawn come on just then and realized I was still a bit sleepy. Snuggling up against Wanda, I pushed last night's tribunal from my mind and felt myself drift back to sleep.
I was jerked suddenly awake as Doc and Jeb came crashing through the door, with Alice, Jasper, Jacob, and Nessie close behind them.
"They're gone!" Jacob blurted.
"Who's gone?" Wanda asked sleepily, propping herself up on an elbow.
"Who do ya think?" Jeb responded with a sour look on his face.
"Maggie, Sharon, and Lacy," Jasper responded in his calm, reasoned voice. Of course it was them. Who else could it be?
"Why did they go?" I heard Wanda ask, but I already knew. One look at Doc's guilty demeanor and I knew he'd told Sharon all about the vamps and the wolves.
"More importantly, where did they go?" I asked looking directly at Alice.
"They planned this perfectly. Knowing what I was and what I could do, they waited until I was out hunting with Nessie. That way my ability to see what they were planning would be blocked by her presence. They left just prior to sunrise, before we returned from the hunt, when they knew we couldn't follow them for fear of discovery and revelation to the Souls of what we all are. You must understand their plan by now; they have gone to see the Volturi."