I didn't. Sleep well, that is. I was used to the quiet, but everything was so unfamiliar, and of course Edward wasn't there. I tossed and turned for most of the night, eventually succumbing to exhaustion sometime in the early hours of the morning. What little sleep I did get was fraught with nightmares of Victoria. Pieces of my vampires littered the ground along with bloodied and battered bodies that were part man, part wolf. When I saw Victoria with Emily in her clutches, her talons reaching to rip the baby from her womb, I awoke with a scream. My skin was slick with perspiration and the sheets were tangled around my limbs. The door to my room flew open and one of the guys, Paul, was there scanning my room for the threat.
"It was just a dream." I whispered. His head spun so he could look at me and a scowl appeared on his face. He left without another word, the front door slamming behind him. Emily was next, peeking her head around the door.
"Are you okay?" She asked, her eyes wide with concern.
"Just a dream." I assured her.
She nodded. "I'm just about to start breakfast, if you want to go ahead and take a shower."
"Yeah. Thanks, Emily." I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile.
The water pressure was weak and the water itself smelled funny, but my shower was still relaxing. I felt cleansed, the lingering uneasiness over my dream had disappeared with the water down the drain. When I made it out to the kitchen, Emily was mixing up a huge batch of batter.
"Blueberry muffins. Some of the children went berry picking and Jared brought me over a huge bowl of them." She gestured to the plump, purplish berries. "First of the season."
"What can I do?"
"I've got everything under control. Once the muffins go in, I'll do some bacon." Emily patted her stomach. "I need some protein in the mornings and bacon sounds really good." I couldn't help but smile with her as I realized the thought of never carrying a baby in my womb didn't cause me any pangs of sadness. I was happy for her, for Sam, but it wasn't something I wanted, even if I'd had the option.
"Well, how about I grease these muffin tins for you?"
"Sure, that would be great. Thank you."
I sat down at the table where no less than four muffin tins were laid out. Forty-eight muffins. I'd seen Sam eat, so the quantity wasn't all that surprising. Emily set down a coffee tin of grease next to me and a towel. My mouth screwed up into an involuntary grimace as I realized I'd have to stick my hand in there and rub the stuff into each individual cup. I'd always used the non-stick spray or paper cups, but I knew they did things differently here and I wasn't about to argue. I choked back any sounds of disgust as I used my fingers to scoop out some of the grease and got to work. It wasn't so bad after the first couple. By the time I was on the third pan, Emily was already pouring batter into the ones I'd finished. We filled the time with idle chatter and she told me about her childhood on the Makah reservation and several stories about learning to cook with her Grandmother. Emily lived in a different world than the one I had grown up knowing. The legends were so much a part of their lives that she hadn't been too surprised to find out they were real.
"I've started recording the tribal legends. There's no collective record of them all, and I fear that as the years pass some will slip away. Not as many people stay on the reservations any more. Most take off the first chance they get. Other than the Pack, the rest of the tribe doesn't even know the legends are real. Some even consider them silly stories and don't come to the bonfires anymore. Soon the Elders will be gone and there won't be anyone to retell the stories to our children. We're saving for get a computer so I can put them into a better format than just handwritten notebooks."
"That is really admirable. I think it's important these days to preserve as much of our history as we can. Everything is so global now that a lot of the old stories and traditions are being forgotten. I bet you could even get it published. It's good that the tribe will have documentation of their history, even if most of the people don't believe it's real." That was really a noble thing for her to do. She wasn't that much older than me, and it was surprising how mature she was. That's probably why we were getting along so well. I never had the time or patience to deal with the likes of Jessica Stanley or Lauren Mallory. Picturing Jessica's reaction to finding out werewolves and vampires existed made me laugh out loud, and Emily gave me a wary look. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking about some of the girls I went to school with and how they would react to finding out that the guy they've been crushing on was a vampire. You seem much older than your years. Maybe it's this supernatural world we've been thrust into that makes us grow up faster than our peers."
She nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe. You seem to have accepted everything easily. Most girls our age would have run away screaming. It seems you were meant for this life."
I shrugged, not wanting to really bring fate or anything spiritual into the conversation. Though, men who turned into wolves and the living dead screamed that some sort of magic was afoot. There certainly wasn't a rational scientific explanation for any of this.
"I'm not sure vampires keep any sort of recorded history. They have perfect recall and their one rule is to keep their existence a secret from humans, so I'd say not. But, even if they did write something down and it fell into the wrong hands, no one would take it seriously. All those myths about vampires – garlic, sunlight, holy water...all made up to throw humans off their trail. Can you imagine Victoria being scared off by a bulb of garlic?" I gestured to the braid of dried garlic hanging on her wall. Emily smirked and shook her head. "Of course some of the vampire legends are true, just like yours are. Carlisle has his very own."
Her jaw dropped open for a moment. "Really?"
I nodded. "There's a legend about the Stregoni benefici, a good vampire from Italy. He spent several decades in Italy with the Volturi, who tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to drink from humans. He refused of course. That is where the legend came from." I wondered briefly if I should be telling her these things, but the Quileutes had their own secrets to keep and I trusted Emily. There was the treaty after all.
"Wow. So, how old is Carlisle?"
"Twenty-three." My lips twitched, holding in a laugh. She shot me a mock glare. "Okay, okay. He's like three hundred and sixty-four."
Emily was speechless. I could see her mind trying to comprehend living through nearly four centuries.
"Emmett's the youngest, in vampire years. He was turned in 1935."
"Wow." She whispered. "Edward?"
"He was turned in 1918, when he was seventeen."
"Isn't that weird?"
I shook my head. "I don't really even think about it. He's just Edward. I mean, I know he's a vampire, but when we're together, age doesn't matter."
The timer went off on the muffins and I helped Emily pile the majority of them into a basket lined with a cloth. "Paul will take them to the guys. They usually meet here for breakfast, but Sam wanted to make sure he kept his word to Edward." She explained.
I felt awful for being such an inconvenience. "I'm sorry. He tends to be a bit overprotective."
Emily laughed. "Believe me, I know all about that. I think our men are more territorial because of their nature. And don't you dare apologize. As Sam told you, you're important to us, even if you do plan to spend eternity as one of our enemies." She nudged me playfully.
The front door slammed open then, disrupting our easy conversation. Paul stalked into the room, his dark eyes fixed on me as if he wished he could burn me to ash with just a glance.
"Paul Ward! Don't you ever slam my door like that again." He apologized curtly, but continued to glower at me from across the room. "Also, you will show our guest some respect." Emily scolded the giant man-child even though he towered over her by at least a foot and a half.
"She shouldn't be here. I don't care what Sam says, I'm not going to make nice with the leech-lover." He growled.
Emily shoved the basket into his hands and shooed him towards the door. "Then leave. Just wait until Sam sees how you've behaved, you'll be banned from the house and put on double duty for a week." I had to bite back a smile at the way she threatened him. She was going to be a great mom.
"I can't believe you'd betray us like this Emily." He murmured, shaking his head.
Fire flashed in Emily's eyes. "You have no right to speak to me like that Paul. Would you have me leave the reservation and Sam?"
"Of course not." His brow furrowed in confusion.
"Edward feels the same about her as Sam does about me."
Paul grit his teeth. "He's going to kill her."
"Need I remind you how dangerous you wolves can be?" Her voice was quieter, but more determined.
Paul grimaced as his eyes flickered over the scars marring her beautiful face before quickly moving away. He shook his head once.
"The Cullens didn't ask for this life anymore than any of you did. They've done what they could to make the best of their situation and preserve human life. They protect it, just like the Pack does. Right now they're getting ready to fight others of their kind who have been slaughtering humans all over Seattle. They came all the way back here to stop them. You may think the six of you are invincible, but up against seventeen human-drinking vampires you would not have stood a chance. Would you rather see our entire village decimated?" Paul opened his mouth to speak, but she continued. "You need to pull your head out of your rear-end and get over this ridiculous notion that the Cullens are evil. They aren't any more evil than our wolves; and if we can keep Bella safe, while her family rids this area of a newborn vampire army, then we will do so with honor and respect – or has that aspect of you tribal heritage escaped you?"
"I..."
Emily cut him off again. "Bella and Edward are mates, Paul. I don't expect you to understand, but one day when you imprint, maybe you will. Maybe when you think about how badly you could hurt someone you love if you lost control, you'll realize you're not so different than these good vampires you hate so much."
Paul narrowed his eyes at me, but I refused to let him think he intimidated me. Emily turned to me then. "Come on, vampire girl, this wolf girl needs to eat." She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and pulled me back into the kitchen, ignoring Paul.
The quiet latch of the door let us know he had left and Emily's body immediately relaxed. She let out a breath. "That turned out better than I expected. Paul has a short temper and the worst control of them all. I really shouldn't have provoked him without one of his brothers here to protect us. I'm sorry...I just get so fed up with this ridiculous feud. I mean I understand they're upset because their lives have been completely altered...and yes the Cullens' presence was the catalyst. But it's not like Dr. Cullen knew that. He didn't move back here just to force a bunch of teen boys to turn into wolves. Now that he knows, he's promised not to use Forks as a permanent residence again. But it's just not enough...it's never enough...some of them won't be happy until the entire Cullen family is destroyed." She slammed her plate down on the table in frustration. I gasped at her revelation and she gave me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Bella. They know Edward will eventually turn you and were just waiting for the chance to declare war once the treaty was broken. The fact that Sam sanctioned your turning has some of them furious."
"No, it's okay. I'd rather know the truth, no matter how ugly it is." I picked at the muffin at my plate. "This is really good." I mumbled over a mouthful. Emily blushed a bit and thanked me. "You know, I imagine that is similar to how each of the Cullens felt after they were changed. I know Rosalie resents what she is and even after all these years, she mourns the normal human life she lost. Seventy years later and she still harbors that resentment. These boys have only had months to deal with such a huge change It's understandable that they would want revenge on what caused this to happen to them. Sam has had longer to adjust...and he has you. That makes it easier for him to make the best of things. From what I understand, Edward was quite unhappy with his life before he met me. Can you imagine spending eighty years living with several other mated pairs while you were alone? Maybe they'll imprint and find happiness like we have." I hope they could learn to accept their fate. Especially Jacob. He had been a friend and the idea of him living the rest of his life angry and bitter saddened me.
"Maybe." Emily smiled before shoving another piece of bacon in her mouth. She was definitely enjoying her breakfast.
"You know, the Cullens would never seek the wolves out just to hurt or kill them. They don't live as they do because of the treaty. Even without it, they would abstain from human blood and not trespass on La Push lands because they respect others and revere human life. Edward's only concern is my safety here, knowing that young wolves have a hard time controlling themselves, just as young vampires do. Carlisle is the most compassionate man I've ever met. If he'd known their presence here would do this, he would never have come back. He would never have wanted to sentence these boys to this fate."
She nodded, then swallowed her mouthful of muffin. "I know. Sam's been trying to convince them of this, but you know how hardheaded teenage boys can be."
I agreed and then we finished eating and cleaned up the kitchen together. I settled onto the couch, ready to find some mind-numbing television show to watch in order to distract me from the fact that my family was going into battle at any moment. Emily disappeared into her room then and returned with a couple of notebooks.
"These are the legends I told you I was recording. If you'd like to read them, I could use another set of eyes. Feel free to make notes if you have any advice, especially about editing and grammar. I'd hoped to go to college and take some courses...but...well things change, you know?"
Even with her darker skin tone, I could see her face heated up with a blush. "I'd love to read them, and I'd be happy to help in any way possible. You don't need to go to school in order to be a great writer. Besides, maybe if you get that computer, you could take some courses over the internet." I made the suggestion as a plan formed in my mind. The Cullens always encouraged me to spend whatever I wanted, and there was finally a cause that inspired me to pull out my shiny black credit card as soon as this was all over. It would be my way of thanking Sam and Emily for putting aside their prejudices and reaching out to my vampires.
Time passed slowly even though I was absorbed in the legends of the tribe. Emily had a gift for capturing the essence of the stories and I could almost hear one of the elders telling the tales, his weathered face illuminated by the firelight. Emily was knitting something tiny, no doubt for her baby. The shrill ring of the telephone cut through the silence, making us both jump in surprise.
"Bella, it's for you." Emily held the receiver out for me with a knowing smile. My heartbeat immediately picked up, knowing who was on the other end of the line.
"Hello?"
"Bella." Edward's dulcet tones caused me to relax instinctively. It had been over a year since I'd heard his voice over the phone.
"Hey." I breathed. There was a moment of silence between us and I knew he was soaking in the sound of my voice just as I was his.
"Miss you."
"You too." I wondered if he had his eyes closed and a ridiculous grin on his face like I did.
"Are they being good to you?"
"Oh yeah. They're good people. Emily has done everything she can to make me comfortable and we actually have a lot in common."
"That's good to hear." There was a long pause before he spoke again. "I can't stand being away from you like this, but it will all be over soon."
"Did Alice see something? When are you going?" My pulse pounded in my ears as I waited anxiously for his reply.
"Today. In just a little while, we're heading out. I had to hear your voice before we left. I needed to tell you I love you and you are my life."
His words and the anxiety in his voice brought tears to my eyes. We both knew there was a possibility this wouldn't turn out perfectly. "I love you too, Edward. Always and forever." I whispered. "Come back to me." I begged.
"I will." He choked out. Then, after clearing his throat, he spoke again. "May I speak to Sam?"
"He's not here. Just Emily."
"That's fine. Let me talk to her."
"Okay. I love you." I needed him to know and I couldn't say it enough. I longed to be able to hold him in my arms and feel his lips against my own.
"I love you too. I will see soon."
I nodded, not even thinking that he couldn't see me, and called out for Emily. She eyed me worriedly as she took the receiver from me. Emily had done a wonderful job of distracting me, but reality came crashing back down and I was terrified for my family all over again.
"Yes?"
I moved back to the couch. Emily's side of the conversation didn't give me any clue as to what they could be speaking about, so I picked up the notebook again and resumed reading. The shifting of the couch brought me out of my fog and I realized I had been staring at the same page for ten minutes.
She rested one warm hand on my arm. "Everything is going to be okay, Bella. They'll take care of Victoria and be at the treaty line to pick you up before the day is over with."
I nodded, my teeth digging into my bottom lip in an effort to stave off the tears. Just when I'd finally gotten them all back, Victoria had to resurface. We were supposed to have forever, and the idea that we may not get that...I shook the thought right out of my head. Emily was right. The odds were on our side. My vampires were gifted and talented. Some of them had been soldiers in both human and vampire wars, and some were trained just for this purpose. Edward could read the thoughts of his opponents and would always have the upper hand. He would be fine. He had to be.
I returned to Emily's notebook and immersed myself in the legends of the tribe. A soft snore sounded and I looked up to find she had fallen asleep on the couch, her hands still holding the knitting needles. I gently removed the pile of yarn from her lap and pulled the throw off the back of the chair to cover her with. It was sunny at the moment, so I decided to head to the front porch in order to enjoy the rare weather. I wondered if the sun was a good omen or bad for my family. What a sight they would be, sparkling in the sun's rays as they fought Victoria's army. I wished I could see it. Not knowing was the most difficult part of it all. Stupidly, I thought if I was present, there would be something I could do for help, but Edward was right that I would most likely be a distraction. He'd be too worried about me getting hurt and unable to put his complete focus into the battle.
There was a swing on the front porch and it was easy to envision Sam and Emily curled up there in the evenings, his arm wrapped around her as she leaned her head against his shoulder. I could see her belly swollen with the life that had just begun to grow and their warm, wide smiles as they felt the baby kick. There was a gentle breeze and the slight swaying of the swing soothed me as I delved back into Emily's stories once more. I had only managed a handful of pages when a shadow fell over me. When I looked up at the hulking figure looming above me, I wasn't sure if I should be happy to see him or afraid. His eyes were dark and cold, but his lips were curved into a half-smile.
"Jacob?"