Chapter Twenty - World
"She
didn't have any nightmares, at least," Jacob's husky voice said.
He was right - I hadn't dreamt at all last night. "You guys can
go home for now. I doubt he'd come here in the daytime."
"Renesmee's
awake," Dad told him. "We'll be back tonight to check on
things. You should get some rest."
"I can't right
now......" Jacob said sadly.
"Some faith, Jacob,
please," Dad murmered to whatever thoughts Jacob was having
right now. "No one will let anything happen to her."
I
wished he would listen. Jacob was worrying himself to death for no
reason. I got out of the bed and walked towards their voices.
"Good
morning, sweetheart," Mom smiled. "We're going to be going
to the house for a little while, but we'll be back later tonight; do
you need anything from home?"
"Will you bring me some
clothes? And my mp3 player?" I asked sleepily. Jacob had no good
music here, and it was making me crazy.
Dad laughed at my
thought. "We'll bring them."
"We love you,"
Mom said as she pulled me into a hug.
"Love you, too,"
I kissed her on the cheek. "I'll see you guys later."
Dad
swooped forward and grabbed me up into a bone crushing hug. He must
be more worried than he was letting on......
"No, it's not
that," he reassured me. "Love you, darling."
"I
love you too, Dad. Don't worry, I'm safe here," I told him
anyways. He may be the one who can read thoughts, but I knew him too
well for him to always hide his from me. My parents went outside and
I heard their car start as Jacob swept me up into his arms.
"Love
you, Nessie," He said as he nuzzled his face into my hair and
deeply inhaled. He sounded a lot happier than I'd expected.
"Love
you, Jacob. Soooooooo much," I crooned, making him chuckle. "So
what's the plan for today?" I asked him.
He opened up his
mouth to answer, but stopped as the little phone in the kitchen began
to ring. He walked to it still carrying me, and picked up the little
receiver. "Hello?" he answered.
"Someone's been
here," Dad said hurriedly on the other line. Jacob's face went
pale green underneath the beautiful russet tone. "It was him, he
was in her room. He took some things........"
Jacob looked
like he wanted to answer and just could not. I held my hand out for
the phone and he handed it to me.
"What did he take?" I
asked my father.
"Your photo album, the letter you wrote to
Nahuel...." he went silent for a moment. "Your mother says
one of your pajama sets are gone, too. We can't be sure of what
else."
I thought for a moment. "Do you think he came
here last night to get you guys out of the house?"
"I
hadn't considered that......" he trailed off. "It's
definitely a possibility," he finally answered.
"What
should we do? I think you guys should stay there for awhile so he
won't come back......" I answered part of my own
question.
"Yes, but we'll be back tonight. I'll call Alice
and see if she would mind to house sit while we're gone."
"Why
would he take my pajamas??" I thought hard on this one..... he
could have taken any peice of my clothing, or all of them if that's
what he'd come for.
"Your mother has a theory. She said she
saw you in the missing ones the night that you were mad at Jacob.....
he may have taken them because Jacob's scent wasn't on them."
Jacob
smashed his fist into the kitchen counter, leaving a large hole going
through to the bottom of it. He set me slowly to my feet and walked
out the front door.
"I have to go, Dad. Tell me if you
figure out anything."
"Goodbye, darling. We love
you."
"Bye. Love you guys too." I hung up the
phone and went to find Jacob. I heard a loud crash that sounded like
a tree being hit with something huge. I found Jake out back, holding
an entire tree trunk. He hurled it at another one and it cracked like
lightning. His expression almost scared me, and I was never scared of
Jacob. His heavy brows were so close together, there seemed to be no
skin seperating them, and his jaw was twisted angrily.
"Jake.....?"
I spoke quietly. He spun around to see me, and his expression
softened immediately.
"Sorry, Ness......" His brows
drew themselves back together. "I need to find that guy.... I
have to kill him."
"No, you don't," I told him,
although I wasn't sure that I was right. "You need
to come inside and calm down. Billy's not going to be too happy when
he sees that giant hole in his table....."
"Who cares?
I have bigger problems than broken furniture." He slowly
followed me back into the house. "Why the hell would he take
that stuff?" he asked me very seriously.
"I don't
know..... he probably took my photo album because it's filled with
pictures of me......." I trailed off because I could feel the
anger emanating off of Jacob.
"He's probably looking at you
right now!" he yelled. He curled up into a ball on the floor
like he'd just been punched in the stomach.
"Jake?? Are you
okay?" I dropped to my knees and tried to uncurl his body, but
he wouldn't unlock his arms from around his legs.
"No. I'm
not," he said in a deadened voice. He was really starting to
scare me now. I had never seen Jacob get even close to this upset
about anything in my life. How would he react if something actually
did happen to me?
I pushed that thought aside - I did not want to
know the answer to it. I did not intend on finding out either.
"Come
on, Jacob. It's going to be okay," I dropped to my knees above
him and rubbed his back.
"No. It's not," he said in
that same voice.
"Jacob Black, I am here right now. You are
here right now. Nothing has happened yet, and it's not going to help
if you just lay here in the floor all day."
He raised
himself up slowly, and I got to my feet as well. I wrapped my arms
around him and he hugged me back, but only half-heartedly. I pulled
back and looked up at his face. His features drooped in
sadness.
"Will you tell me what exactly is bothering you so
bad at this moment? Please?" There was obviously more on his
mind than what he was letting me know. When he didn't answer me
immediately, I put my hand under his chin to make him look at me and
sent him another Please?
"I'm
so unlucky in love....." he said slowly and quietly. I let his
face drop, and then I slapped him in it.
"Ow!" he
yelled as he jumped backwards and rubbed his cheek.
"Don't
you ever compare me to my mother Jacob!!!!!" I screamed in his
face. "You and I and her and you are two completely different
things!!!!"
"Sorry, Ness!!!! You didn't have to hit me
though!"
"You deserved it for even thinking that!"
I glared at him. He really did look sorry though, so I eventually
softened my expression.
"You're right about our relationship
being completely different, but you are alot like your mom. She's the
only other girl whose ever hit me in the face," he
joked.
"Yeah, but I bet hers didn't hurt as much," I
gloated. Jacob had a slightly pink handprint on his left cheek that
was quickly fading away. "Sorry for slapping you," I tried
to say seriously, but I couldn't stop giggling. He couldn't help but
beam his sunshine smile.
Jacob started tickling me and I ran from
him. He chased me through the kitchen and out of the back door to the
garage before he could catch me. He pinned me against his car as I
squealed and giggled at his tickling me.
"You better stop!"
I said playfully.
"What are you going to do??" he joked
back as his fingers slightly dug into my ribs and waist. "You
really think you could take me? That slap didn't hurt that bad,"
he teased.
I pushed him back quickly and he fell to the floor on
his back with me on top of him. I tickled his sides and blew a
raspberry on his stomach. We rolled around playfighting for a few
minutes before we started kissing eachother.
His lips met mine
roughly as he rolled over top of me. I pulled his shirt quickly over
his head and wrapped my arms around his body, easing myself off the
ground. He sat up on his knees, pulling me with him as he slid my
sweatshirt off. His lips moved swiftly down my neck as he wrapped his
hands around my bare back, pushing his body tightly against mine.
Every time his lips touched my skin, the blood boiled beneath them,
leaving my entire insides on fire.
My fingers wove into the roots
of his hair as I brought his face back to mine eagerly. His warm lips
molded to mine again as his hands formed an iron cage all the way
around my waist. His hands left blazing hot trails down my hips as
they slid beneath my gigantic sweatpants, allowing them to fall
around my knees. He dragged me towards him even more by my bottom
until my body was molded completely to his form.
He ripped the
sweatpants off of my feet, then moved his arms up quickly and wrapped
his fingers around the backs of both of my knees, pulling my legs up
to wrap around his waist. I sub-consciously dug my nails into the
skin of his back, making him throw back his head in agony and
pleasure.
He gently bit my lip as he laid me down on my back, and
I tugged at the bottoms of the legs of his shorts.
"Jacob!!"
a voice called loudly from a good distance. We both stopped and
stayed still as statues. "We need you!! Bring Nessie so she's
not alone!!!" It sounded like Quil.
"Dammit!!" I
yelled loudly. I had to leave this perfect moment now to go hear
about this horrible guy that was obsessing over me. My day was
quickly turning to crap. Jacob laughed at my attitude as he slid back
into his shorts, leaving his shirt lying on the ground. I pulled his
sweats back on and we made our way to the nearby woods.
"What's
going on?" Jacob asked Quil in a serious, business-like
tone.
He handed Jacob an envelope with my name written in large
black letters on the outside of it. "Seth was running home from
Liz's house when he caught the guy's scent really strong, and he
followed it to this. He had left more endless trails going in
circles, so Seth couldn't find him."
"How did he know
it would be found.....?" Jacob said more to himself than anyone
as he rolled the envelope over in his big hands. I was too stunned to
say anything - what was it? A letter for me? What could he possibly
have to say to me??
Jacob looked at me questioningly for a long
moment. "Do you want to open it?" he asked eventually.
I
held out my hands for the envelope. He dropped it into them and I
ripped the top of it open to withdraw the contents. I unfolded the
peice of paper and read it twice slowly:
"Renesmee,
So
beautiful...... I do hope to meet you soon. You are my world
now."
The
paper slipped from my fingers and fell to the forest floor with a
light rustling sound. I stood frozen, staring at where the paper had
been. A chill of ice rolled along my spine as I remembered Jacob's
words to me in the woods many months ago, "I am in love with you. You are my
world...."
Jacob
leaned down and picked up the note. His brows furrowed together in
frustration as he read it over and over. He crumpled it up and threw
it as hard as he could. I could hear the dull thud of it's landing
far in the distance.
"COME OUT, COWARD!!!" he screamed
into the wind. "YOU WANNA MEET HER, YOU'VE GOT TO GET THROUGH
ALL OF US FIRST!!! COME OUT AND LET ME KILL YOU NOW!!!!!"
"What
did it say?" Quil asked Jacob. Jake looked like he was ready to
attack something and could not speak at the moment, so Quil turned
his gaze to me.
"It said he hoped to meet me soon. And that
I'm his world now," I said quickly. The three of us looked over
to the right as we heard someone coming upon us - alot of someone's,
actually. Jacob clenched his fists up tightly but then relaxed
slightly as the scent of some of his and Sam's pack members came to
us in the breeze.
Jake ripped his shorts down and threw them to
me while Quil hid behind a tree. They both phased in less than a
second, and then eight wolves loped out of the cover of the
wilderness to stop in front of us. I recognized each of them: Seth,
Leah, Sam, Paul, Jarrod, Embry, Colin, and Brady.
I sat down
where I was and let them have their silent discussion. Jacob kept
pacing and growling, and the others looked angry as well. Leah kept
nodding her head back and forth, but at what I would never know. Sam
was the only one that stayed still and looked completely calm.
I
laid my head down in the dirt as I waited for them to finish. I felt
sick to my stomach, something that usually only happened when I
forced down disgusting human food. The note had said he hoped to meet
me soon..... How would he manage that? He'd already been here, and to
my house, so he knew how many protectors I had surrounding me at all
times. He must be planning something.... But what? How did he expect
to get close to me?
I searched my brain for a reasonable
explanation, for any hole in my defenses. I found none; maybe he was
crazy. Or really stupid, although his ability to keep thwarting
everyone after him made that proposition seem illogical. He was
obviously extremely sneaky. Could he be any different from the
werewolves I'd always known about? Of course it was possible -
anything is possible when you live in a world like mine.
What
could be different about him that would allow him to get around
everyone standing between him and me? How did he always seem to
disappear right before he was caught? Even by my dad, who could see
right into his mind...... he'd said his mind was filled with me that
first day, but that should not have mattered. Dad and Mom should have
been able to find him just by following his scent; he hadn't led them
in circles that time, but they still somehow lost him......
"Where's the rest of his pack?" The last question came
out of my mouth as it entered my brain. Everyone stopped moving and
looked at me as I looked at all of them. My eyes stopped on Jacob.
"He has to have a pack, doesn't he?"
Jacob blinked and
cocked his head to the side. His eyes shifted to Sam for a long time
before he looked back at me. I held his gaze longingly for the next
twenty minutes. I laid back down in the dirt and bracken to let them
finish.
My life was becoming so tumultuous lately. There were so
many parts that were wonderful and new, but there were terrible
things to be dealt with at the same time. Every day was a mixup of
passion and fury, of love and hate......I didn't know how much longer
I could take it.
I heard the wolves leaving in all different
directions but didn't feel like moving yet. Jacob picked his shorts
up off of me with his human arms and put them back on, then picked me
up gently. He picked the leaves and debris from my hair before
setting off with me in his arms. Neither one of us said a word.
