Disclaimer: They're mine, all mine! Bwa-ha-ha.
11. SNAFU
Hunter's Handbook, rule number two: Never turn your back on your enemy.
Good fucking advice Dad, as long as you aren't suddenly surrounded by snarling and snapping fuglies.
The growls from behind triggered a response that years of training could just never erase. Sam turned, bringing the crossbow up, trusting Dean to keep an eye on the vampires. Only Dean turned his head to see what the new threat was.
Wolves. Big ass, snarling wolves. And a shit-load of them.
And that was all it took for the crap to really hit the fan. One second of stupid reaction, and Esme and Carlisle darted forward and grabbed Bella, nearly throwing her out of harms way. Dean whipped around to grab the girl, and caught one of the wolves near the end of the line bunching up its hind-quarters, readying to pounce at Sam. But Sam was watching the two biggest wolves in the middle of the line who were closest to him and growling the loudest.
"Sam! Look out!" And Dean crashed his shoulder into his little brother, knocking him sideways just as the wolf leapt into the air. The wolf soared at Sam, whose crossbow had fallen out of his grip when Dean slammed into him. Sam – momentum, and years of fighting experience – used the fall to his advantage. He brought up a massive foot as he fell and rolled onto his back, landing it in the wolf's stomach, and launching the beast, ass over end into the side of the outcropping where it crumpled to the ground before shakily getting back to its feet.
But Dean hadn't been able to do more to help his brother after he pushed him. Edward had found some reserve of strength from hell knows where, and leapt at Dean's middle, nearly tackling him to the ground. Dean brought an elbow up into the vamp kid's face, sending him reeling. Dean charged the mind reader, driving a shoulder into the kid's gut, but the kid had some fight in him still, as he landed some punches on Dean's face and stomach. Then, Edward had his arms around Dean's chest, and he was squeezing with all he had left. There was a rule to hunting vampires, and it was to never let them get their arms around you. A vampire could squeeze you 'til your ribs snapped like kindling, and poked your lungs full of holes. 'Course, they never did this to kill, it was a waste of a meal. But vamps liked to play with their food, and taking their victim to the brink of death before burying their teeth in their neck was a kick for them.
And as Dean struggled against Edward, he watched as Sam scooped up the crossbow and held it on the wolf at the base of the rocks. The other wolves in the line were dancing back and forth, like dogs at the end of a leash who spied a cat. He didn't understand why the rest of the pack didn't fall on Sam, or why the rest of the vampires didn't rip himself to shreds. The wolf near the rocks crouched low, teeth bared, ready to keep fighting, when a second wolf erupted from the line.
"Sam!" He yelled as loud as he could, which wasn't very much as Edward had squeezed all the air out of him and he could feel his ribs constricting. And Dean knew the only reason he wasn't dead yet was because of the Dead Man's Blood coursing through Edward's system.
Sam heard the warning, darting out of the way enough to grab the nine millimeter out of the waist of his jeans. It had been an improvisation on his part, saying he felt naked without it. Sam leveled the nickel-plated gun on the second wolf, holding the crossbow on the other, and Dean couldn't help thinking this was like some fucked up scene from Rambo. Sam was stuck in the middle of the two giant wolves, weapons out to his sides, and walking slowly backwards to bring the canines in front of him more. More wolves were starting to walk forward, teeth bared in defense of their pack mates.
"That gun won't do much to them." Edward hissed in his ear.
"You'd be surprised what a good head shot will take out." Dean grunted back before driving the back of his head into Edward's face. Once. Twice. Three times. Thump, thump, thump. The kid hung on, but he was dazed. Eddie was tall, but he wasn't taller than the hunter. Dean leant over at the waist, lifting Edward off his feet as he still tried to wring the life out of him. Dean let one of his legs fall out from under him, causing them to twist as they fell to the ground with Dean landing heavily on top of him, driving his elbows and all his one hundred and eighty plus pounds into the vamps damaged chest.
Edward managed to let out a grunt of surprise and pain before Dean was straddling him and pummeling him in the face. Edward brought a knee up into Dean's ass, which knocked him off balance mid-swing. The hunter rolled off the leech, and landed on him again as Eddie rolled onto his stomach in an effort to get up.
Dean pressed a knee into the kid's back. Grabbing him by his shaggy hair, Dean pulled his bowie knife from his belt. The silvery blade black with Herb's dried blood on it. Dean yanked on the kid's hair, exposing his throat and pressing the blade to the pale column of skin.
Bella screamed, Carlisle ran forward, Alice nearly dropped Jasper on the ground to run as well.
"Move and I'll kill him!" Dean yelled.
"Please…" Carlisle begged, "…my son."
"Call off your dogs Carlisle!"
"They aren't mine to command."
"Call off the fucking wolves or Eddie gets a Columbian necktie!" Dean bellowed.
"Sam! Jake!" Bella screamed, pulling out of Esme's grasp and running forward several steps. "Stop! Please stop!"
The wolves stopped their advance, but they didn't back up any.
"Bella!" Dean growled. She whipped her head around, tears were leaking down her cheeks as she looked at her boyfriend on the ground with a nine inch blade pressed into his Adam's apple. "Bella, go over there, and walk my brother back over here. Those overgrown huskies move and it's game over."
"Bella, don't do it!" Edward rasped out, but Bella was already running over to the younger hunter, staggering and stumbling on blades of grass as she went. Dean had to give the girl credit – she had guts, if not co-ordination. She stood directly between Sam's crossbow and the salivating wolves, arms out wide and giving them a pleading look.
The big wolf in the middle growled at her, but she didn't flinch. "Jake, please." She begged it, tears streaming. "Just don't move. Okay?"
Whatever these creatures were, the hunters had never come across the likes of them before, and Dean hated being up against something he was unfamiliar with. He liked knowing how to kill something.
The big wolf looked at the vampires, Bella, Sam, and back to Bella, before taking a step back. The rest of the pack did as well, and although the snarling didn't stop, they didn't move forward as Sam and Bella slowly side-stepped their way back to Dean and Edward. Sam never lowered his weapons once, and Dean knew that crossbow had to be getting heavy after holding it one handed for so long. But Sammy's arm never wavered once.
"Dean, you okay?" Sam asked as he stood guard over his brother and the prone vampire. Bella stood there too, her hands over her mouth as she stared fixated on Edward's wildly roving eyes and the knife at his throat.
"Peachy keen, aren't we Eddo?" Dean snarked.
"You hurt her, and I will hunt you till the ends of the earth." Edward spat.
"When are you going to wise up Dip-shit?" Dean growled back. "We were never going to hurt her."
"Hey!" Sam yelled at the line of wolves as one of them turned and trotted into the trees. Sam hefted the crossbow to his eye and looked down the sight.
"NO!" Bella screamed.
"Where the fuck's he going!" Dean yelled, adding pressure to the blade in his hand.
"He wants to talk to you for himself." Ed grunted. "He doesn't always trust my interpreting."
"He can talk?" Sam asked, incredulous.
"He has to phase back first. He doesn't want to do it in front of Bella."
"Phase into what?" Dean demanded.
"He's human..." Sam whispered, "…I think."
Dean glanced up to see a giant Indian walking towards them with all the confident swagger of Barry Bonds striding to the plate after a home-run. He was barefoot, bare-chested, clad only in a pair of shorts, and he was freaking huge. It wasn't often you saw a guy bigger than Sam, and this guy had a couple inches on the kid, and the shoulders to match. And what was with kids today and all the shaggy hair? None of them hear of scissors? He looked like he'd recently shaved his head and let it grow back in so that it was all one length and sticking up all over the place.
"How…?" Dean spluttered, at a total loss for once.
"You making an Indian joke?" The big guy raised an eyebrow and frowned.
All Dean could do was scrunch up his face and look at the giant with all the confusion he felt.
What the fuck are you?
"Look," the Indian said, "As much as I think that 'headless' would be a good look for the bloodsucker…"
"Jake…" Bella pleaded.
Jake rolled his eyes and sighed. "But that would upset Bella."
"I let him up and I lose all my leverage." Dean replied.
"Leverage?" Jake snorted. "Buddy, if you think I give a damn about any the Cullens… think again. Least of all this jerk."
"But they said you're their allies." Sam insisted.
"We have a truce with them. They keep their teeth to themselves, we keep ours out of them." The giant shrugged. Dean risked a glance at Sam. He had his determined but annoyed bitchface on. Sam hated people being taller than him – it made him nervous. "We're just teaming up to take out the vampires that are on their way here."
"If you hate them so much, why would you join forces to help them?" Sam demanded.
"As much as I hate to admit it, the Cullens haven't hurt anyone so they're off limits. And this Victoria bitch is after Bella personally – so we ain't gonna let that happen." He looked shrewdly at the brothers. "You really weren't planning on hurting her?"
"We just wanted to get her out of the line of fire." Sam answered. "We would have protected her. Trouble seems to gravitate towards her."
"You ain't kidding." Jake rolled his eyes. "Why would you risk your lives to protect her?"
"Because it's our job." Dean bit out, digging his knee into Edward's back a little. "We've been protecting people all our lives from the supernatural."
"Please let him up." Bella whispered.
"Sure, sure, Bells." Jake waved a hand impatiently at her. "Look, let the asshole up and we talk. No trouble, okay?"
"And how do we know we'll be safe?" Dean growled, pulling on Edward's hair a little, and earning a grunt from the kid.
Jake jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the rest of the pack. "We make a deal, we stick to it. They're still alive…" He nodded towards the Cullens. "…and if the vampires make a move, the pack will stand in their way."
"He means it." Edward wheezed. "He thinks nothing of my family, though we haven't breached the treaty either."
"Look," Jake ran a hand through his hair, "we're all good fighters here. You two obviously know something when it comes to leeches because you took out their fighters. And you gave Paul a good licking there too." He grinned at this. He must not like Paul much.
"You answer me one thing you sonofabitch," Dean yanked Edward's hair again and leaned in close so his face was next to the vamp's. "Were you planning on turning that girl to protect her from the other vampires?"
"No." He rasped, his eyes narrow in pure hatred of the hunter who held him hostage. "I love her and I don't want to damn her to this life."
Jake glared daggers down at Edward with pure loathing written clear across his face. "If they change her," the guy's voice was cold and hard, "the treaty is broken and we kill them all."
And Dean could see the plain truth in Jake's face. He hated the vampires. He hated Edward with Bella, and he wanted Bella for himself. What was it about this girl that drew the supernatural to her like flies to honey? What Dean didn't understand was the instinct to trust the wolves. They weren't sending up any red flares in the mistrust center of his brain, and he mistrusted everyone.
"We can't trust them, and we have no reason to trust you." Dean said, eyes narrowing.
"Guys," Jake turned his head and jerked it towards the vampires standing mute and worried nearby. Emmett was lying down on the ground now, Rosalie holding his head in her lap. The double dose of poison had him out cold. Alice was still holding Jasper upright, but Esme had come to stand in front of them protectively. The line of giant wolves trotted past the hunters, Bella, the leech, and Jake, and they formed a line between them and the Cullens. There was no growling or bared teeth from either side, but the animosity was there so thick it was impossible to ignore. "If you think any vampire is crossing that line… think again."
Dean grudgingly let go of his grip on Edward's hair, but not without a final angry shove on the back of his head. Bella immediately fell on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbing onto his shoulder. Eddie wrapped an arm around her waist, and buried his nose into her hair. Jake rolled his eyes at the spectacle and glowered at the two lovebirds.
Dean stood up, dusted himself off and stood next to Sam, facing Jake. Dean was careful to keep an eye on the vampire on the ground, though he seemed to have nothing left in him at the moment other than a need to hold Bella. Neither hunter put away their weapons. Though Sam did lower the crossbow, he still held his nine loosely by his side.
"So what the fuck are you guys?" Dean started.
Jake laughed at him. "You say you've been hunting the supernatural all your lives, and you don't know a werewolf when you see one?"
"Look buddy," Sam cut in, "we've hunted werewolves. We've killed them." Dean didn't miss the bare hint of a hitch in Sam's voice at that last part. Sammy had forgotten to mention that one of the two hunters had fallen in love with a werewolf, and then been forced to kill her.
"Yeah," Dean added. "What ever you guys are…you ain't werewolves."
"And how do you figure that?" Jake raised a skeptical eyebrow at them, clearly rethinking his appraisal of their supernatural knowledge.
"First of all, no full moon." Sam nodded over his shoulder at the sky. You couldn't see a moon through the thick cloud cover, but they were in the first quarter, a full moon was weeks away.
"Yeah, and werewolves don't hulk out into giant sled dogs, there White-Fang." Dean quipped.
"You don't have a desperate desire to rip our hearts from our chests, do you?"
"Were you bitten by an infected were?"
"Do you lose hours of your memory at a time?"
"Do you have any bad reactions to silver?" Both brothers barraged him with questions, none of which applied to the wolves in question. Jake had a confused look on his face at what the hunters were asking him, clearly not understanding that he wasn't what he thought he was.
"If we're not werewolves, what are we?" Jake frowned.
"I'd say shape-shifter." Dean answered.
"I don't know, man." Sam's brow furrowed. "Do you change into anything besides wolves?"
"No."
"And you don't react to silver?" Sam questioned.
"No."
"Then you're not a shape-shifter."
"He's Native – what about a skin-walker?" Dean offered.
Sam bit his lower lip. "Did you kill a family member to get your powers?"
"No!" Jake's face scrunched up in disgust.
"Then he's not a skin-walker." Dean groused. It really bugged him that he couldn't label the wolves. As soon as he knew what they were, he'd know how to kill them if he had to. The thing was…he didn't want to have to kill them. He liked Jake for no reason that he could come up with. He just seemed…honest. The pure loathing he had for the vampires probably didn't hurt his standing either.
"So you only turn into wolves and you can do it at will." Sam reiterated.
"Yeah."
"I guess he's more like an animagus." Sam shrugged.
"An ani-who?" Dean scowled. He's never heard of that one.
"An animagus." Edward wheezed from his spot on the ground. "It's from Harry Potter."
"Dude!" Dean scowled at his brother. "You're quoting Harry Potter? That is so gay!"
Jake burst out laughing. Actually holding his sides as he leant forward and gasped for breath. Sam shrugged. "Jess was a fan." He didn't have anything else to say to that one.
Yeah, blame the dead girlfriend.
"Okay," Dean shifted to face the giant Indian. "You and your furry buddies are hell bent on fighting the Seattle vampires – right?" Jake nodded yes. "And you're going to hook up with Vampire the Bambi-Slayer to do it – right?" Jake nodded again. Dean gestured to Sam and himself. "We want in."
Edward tried to struggle to his feet. Bella helped him stand, but stumbled herself. Dean rolled his eyes at her. This chick was a walking catastrophe. "No." Edward grunted. "We will not fight with you."
"Well you don't get to vote Princess." Dean sneered at him. "We're not going until the job is done, 'cuz that's just how we roll."
"You want to stay and fight?" Jake raised his eyebrows in astonishment.
"We don't bail on a job." Sam's head shook slightly. "Ever."
"And we're not going to just walk away from all this, not knowing if it was fully taken care of or not." Dean stepped toward Jake. "So yes – we're staying."
A/N: The entire reason I started writing this story was because I had a glimpse of Sam calling the Quileutes 'animagus' and Dean being appalled his brother was quoting Harry Potter. So once that popped into my head, I had to write a story around it. This is what I came up with. Hope everyone is enjoying the ride – reviewers rock!! ;-)