A/N: To make up for the shortness of some of the chapters, this one is quite lengthy and includes a little twist here, and hopefully it will keep you all intrigued.

Chapter 21
Leeches

The next day things were back to normal, and I got to hang out with Seth a little more. He was absolutely adorable. He was like the little brother I never had, and I loved it. Jacob had left that morning to go talk to Sam, and asked Seth to look after me.

I rolled my eyes at the thought, I was older than him. I didn't need to be babysat, especially by someone who was even younger than him.

Seth told me story after story of the Quileute and told me about how he changed, and so did Leah, the only female ever known to phase in to a werewolf in the Quileute tribe. I was enthralled in to his stories when Jacob came through the front door talking to his father, who had been over at the Clearwater house.

"Jacob, you should call her, maybe even go see her. She sounds really upset about how you guys left things," Billy was saying as he opened the door, he looked at me and froze in his spot; I guess he wasn't expecting me to be there.

"I don't know dad," Jacob's voice came in right behind him. "I mean…" When he saw me he stopped as well. "Hey Mols, Seth…" He smiled after a short pause.

"Jake," I responded and turned back to Seth, trying to push the thought of Jacob going to see Bella out of my head.

I didn't want to even think of that as a possibility, especially not after the dream I had last night. Would it be possessive and irrational of me to request to go with him if he did go see her? Would it be immature of me to stomp my foot and object to him going to see her?

Yes, it definitely would be. It wouldn't show my age well at all. I bit my lip and reminded Seth where he left off on his latest story.

Jacob didn't say anything else; he followed his father in to the kitchen and got something to eat. Seth left shortly after his return and I glanced up at him, the question raging a war in my head, I couldn't hold it back anymore.

"Do you really want to see her?" I questioned my voice breaking.

Jacob look flustered, "I—I, Molly… this is difficult…"

"It's a yes or no question Jacob." I replied. "Do you want to see her?"

He stared at me for a moment, letting out a slow breath of air. I watched his face distort in concentration and I knew the answer. He didn't have to say a word.

I felt the familiar sting in my nose and the tears that were threatening to fall. I needed to get away. I had to get out of here for right now, I felt like I was drowning. I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door.

"Molly, where are you going?" He stood up abruptly.

"For a walk—" He started towards me. "Alone."

"Molly, I can't let you do this," He swiftly moved himself in front of the door.

"I'll be back soon," I pushed past him, not bothering to listen to him any more.

"Molly," He grabbed my arm gently in his firm grasp. "Stay on the reservation, please."

All I could do in return was nod. I knew he said it because he wanted to protect me. He wanted to keep me safe. That didn't matter right now. I had to get away.

--

I walked around for what seemed like an eternity, but it wasn't even dark out yet, so I knew it couldn't have been too long. I stopped when I reached the edge of the woods, peering back at me eerily; an open invitation to adventure somewhere majestic.

Eager to get my mind off of Bella and any other vampires for that matter, I stepped foot in to the woods, knowing they were still part of the Reservation. Billy had told me all about the area, and that the woods were theirs for several miles.

I figured I wouldn't wander too far, so I wouldn't get lost. Though, I knew if I did get lost a certain wolf-boy would come looking for me.

After a long while I realized that I might have gone too far. I stopped walking and glanced around, I was definitely lost in unfamiliar territory. I wasn't even sure if I was still on Reservation land or not. The thought irked me a bit and I decided that it was time to turn back around and try and find my way back to the Black Residence.

I heard a rustling behind me and my eyes narrowed, I should have known that he would follow me out here. He did have that instinctive nature to protect me, as he said before. A small smile fell on my lips; I knew he couldn't help himself.

I turned quickly thinking that I could catch the large Native American teen off guard, when I turned around though, I was dumbfounded. There was no one there. Perhaps I was just hearing things, or it could have been an animal of some kind. I shuddered at the thought; I hope it wasn't a snake.

I hate snakes.

I turned back to my previous position and when my breath escaped my lips so did a cross between a scream and a yelp. A milky white hand clasped over my mouth and a startling realization struck me. A beautiful face stared back at me, too beautiful. The hand over my mouth was ice-cold and caused me to shiver.

Bright pink lips pursed and the beautiful creature gave a simple shake of his head.

"Now, now you don't want to alarm your friends do you, sweet Molly?" His voice was just as elegant as his face.

I could feel my heart pounding a steady tattoo in my chest. How did he know my name? Was my first initial thought, and the second: I thought Jacob said all of the newborn vampires were gone?

A precarious smirk formed on his porcelain colored face, "Molly, my sweet Molly you finally came back home…" He removed his hand from my mouth—slowly.

"Who the hell are you?" I forced the words out of my mouth, tears forming in my eyes.

"You don't know?" He looked bemused. "You should really pay more attention," He cooed, he wrapped one of his strong arms around my middle and pulled my tightly against his rock hard body. I felt the wind leave my lungs and I gasped desperately for air.

I could feel my body shaking, whether it was from fear or the coldness of his body, I wasn't sure.

"I know that you're the bastard that killed my brother…" I managed to cough out. The tears had freed themselves and were sliding down my face. "But who are you? Why did you kill Patrick?" I wanted to squirm, wanted to try and hurt him, but for some reason I instinctively knew that it would be no use. "How do you know who I am?"

His cold nose traveled over my cheek, his lips resting dangerously close to the major vein in my neck. I could feel the blood pumping through my veins quickly as my heart hammered in my chest. I heard him inhale deeply.

"You smell sweet," I felt his tongue flick across my neck, causing me to flinch. "Oh, you should be very, very still, my sweet Molly." He instructed. "We don't want an accident, now do we?"

He breathed in deeply again, "What do you want?" I asked not daring to move now, only finding the courage to speak out of pure curiosity. I wanted some kind of information, something to work with to find out whom the hell this person—or creature rather, was.

"You, of course…" He laughed a bit. I felt his posture change quickly, "Your friends are coming," He smelled the air again. "I'll be back for you soon, sweet Molly…"

I felt the cold, hard body disappear from behind me and I fell forward gasping desperately for air. I stared blankly at the forest floor in absolute disbelief. I could hear rustling behind me and I felt my heartbeat thud louder in my ears.

I dared to glance behind me and that's when I saw a large sandy colored wolf running towards me. I felt my breathing start to even out a little bit; I nearly jumped when a hand rested on my shoulder moments later.

I looked up and met the dark brown eyes of Seth Clearwater, I pulled myself up to my knees and my entire body was shaking. He hooked his arms under my armpits and helped me up to my feet, unsteadily.

My knees went weak and I fell in to him, his warm body soothing me.

"Molly, what's wrong? What happened?" He pulled me in to his chest. I could hear him sniffing me, kind of like a dog would, and his grip on me tightened.

"I just, I need to go home…" I mumbled in to his chest.

Seth didn't make me say anything further. He scooped me up swiftly in his arms and literally started to run faster than I had seen anyone run before. We were out of the woods and to the Black house before I could comprehend anything else.

When we got inside, I made Seth bring me to the bathroom. I wanted to take a shower; I had to get the feeling of him off of me. I couldn't stand the thought that he had touched my body and some how so intimately.

"Do you need anything?" Seth asked as he started the water, to get it to the right temperature.

I could feel the tears falling down my face, my arms wrapped tightly around my body. I was surprised to see that Jacob wasn't home, that was a little disconcerting to me. I wanted him now more than ever.

"J—Jacob," I whispered through my tears.

Seth nodded silently and left me alone.

I stripped out of my clothes and in to the shower. As soon as the hot water hit my back, I felt a little better, but my emotions were on the fritz. The tears continued and mixed with the hot water as I washed the feeling of his cold hands on me away.

I was changing in my room or Rachel's room rather, when I heard the knocking on the door. The low breathing gave it away, I knew it was Jacob. He was trying to keep his composure.

"Come in," I said softly, my voice still shaking.

I felt uneasy. I felt strange.

I didn't like feeling like that.

Jacob pushed the door open and I was pressed against his chest within seconds. I knew that he felt bad for whatever caused my turmoil, though he shouldn't. I also knew that it wouldn't be long before he started firing questions at me.

He wrapped his long fingers around my biceps and pulled me away at arms length, looking over my tear-stained face. That's when the questions started. He asked every question in the book, on top of many a "What happened?" and "Are you ok?"

I took a few steady breaths and waited for him to stop talking so that I could answer him. I was still pretty shaky about what happened. Between the intense fear that raged throughout my body and the overwhelming feelings from my realization earlier with Jacob, I could barely concentrate enough to be forthcoming with my own boyfriend.

He made me sit down on the bed and pulled my hands in to his. I pulled one hand away to wipe the back of my hand across my face; I hadn't even realized that I was crying again. I took a few breaths and my lips parted; I wasn't even sure if I could find my voice to talk or not.

"I—I was just walking and I—I thought I heard something and when I turned around there was nothing there…" I swallowed hard. "I went to go back, to head this way and he was there."

"He? He who?"

"The guy from my nightmares,"

"Seth said he smelled a leach all over you," The growl that escaped him was frightful and I pulled back from him. I looked up to see his face and his lips were curled back in to a sneer. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," I shook my head. "He just held me up against him, really tight…" I closed my eyes and shuddered at the thought. "Scared the hell out of me…"

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He—he knew my name. I asked him who he was and he told me that I should pay more attention and I'd know who he was…"

"What else did he say?" Jake pressed. He knew there was something else; I could see it all over his face.

"I asked him what he wanted, why he was doing this." Jacob's brown eyes stared into mine. "He said what he wanted was me…"

Jacob pulled me in to his chest and held me there. I could hear his heart hammering in his chest, his grip on me was so tight that I could barely breathe, but I didn't care. I felt safe here. I felt safe in his arms. He pulled away and looked at the door, I followed his gaze and Billy, Rachel and Paul were standing there looking perplexed.

"What's going on?" Billy was the first to speak.

Rachel came through the door and sat down next to me, "Molly is everything ok?"

I shook my head, "We have a leech problem…" Jacob spoke and it shook me to the core.

"Leech?" Paul questioned.

"He grabbed her in the woods," He fumed.

"What are we going to do?" Rachel questioned putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I felt Jacob flinch and look to his father. Billy came further in to the room and cleared his throat.

"I think we need to…"

"Why should we involve more leeches?" Paul sneered at the thought.

I sat up and looked at Billy and then to Jake. I knew what they meant, the Cullens. Contacting them meant contacting her. I don't know if I was too happy about this or not. They probably would know more about the situation than I would, and probably even more than Jacob and the rest of the pack, but did I really want to have to meet her?

"Molly," Jacob pulled me back to reality. "Where are the clothes you had on earlier?"

I stared at him for a second, confused, but pointed to the pile of clothes by my bag. He stood up from the bed and grabbed the clothes and took a whiff of them and made an ugly face. I felt a little offended by this and he looked up at me.

"Its scent," He retorted. "It's all over your clothes,"

I nodded slowly, he turned to Paul, "Gather everyone, tell them to meet here, I'm going to make a call…"

Paul nodded and he left, but not before giving Rachel a chaste kiss before he left. I smiled a little and looked to Jacob.

"Do you need anything?" Rachel asked. I sighed and shook my head, "How about some tea?" My attention pulled to her as she stood up. "I'll make you some tea, c'mon dad…"

She pushed Billy out of the room and left Jacob and I alone. He crossed the room to me and cupped my face in his hands.

"We'll figure this out, Molly, I swear we will…"

I shook my head, "Is this the only way?"

I'm not sure if he caught on to what I meant, when he pressed his lips against my forehead I knew that he did. He sat down on Rebecca's bed and tucked me under his arm.

"Unfortunately," He cleared his throat. "I don't know what else to do." I took a deep breath and nodded. "Carlisle has a lot of knowledge, and Edward… he has a gift that could be very useful, as does Alice."

I heard the strain in his voice when he said Edwards name, the other two names seemed to roll off of his tongue almost naturally. I nodded my head and watched as he picked up the phone next to the bed. He dialed a number quickly and waited for someone to answer.

He drummed his fingers nervously on his leg and opened his mouth to respond to the person who answered. I noticed a look snap over Jacob's features. I could feel my stomach turn and knew almost instinctively that there was only one person who could put that look on his face.

"Bells," Her voice left his mouth almost breathlessly.

I think I'm going to be sick. I wish I could hear both sides of the conversation though, being the nosey girlfriend that I was. I could only hear his side.

"Yeah, it's me…" He responded. She probably said his name just as breathlessly as he did hers. He was staring straight ahead now, no signs of emotion on his face. "I—I was just calling to speak with Carlisle or maybe Edward." I saw a little grin lift on his face at something she said, or maybe asked and he laughed a bit. "I know, but these aren't exactly normal circumstances, Bella."

I know it was juvenile to be this way, but I hated the way he said her name. The evil green monster name Jealousy was starting to take over. I did not like the fact that he was talking to her.

Wow, I never realized how insecure I was until now.

Jacob glanced over at me and smiled a bit; he grabbed my hand in his and squeezed it.

"There was a leech on the reservation,"

I smiled a little when he referred to the monstrosity of a demon as a leech. He wasn't showing her any sympathy because of who she was married to, or maybe what she was now? I shook my head and tried to listen closer.

He as quiet for a moment and I could faintly hear her voice on the other line, "I know, I know…" He mumbled. "It wasn't a scent that we recognized." My eyes cut up to meet his for a half-second and he squeezed my hand again. "Look, Bells… its complicated ok…" He sighed. "The vampire is threatening someone that I—someone that I love…"

This made my heart jump out of my chest. Ha, in your face Bella. Ok, so that was very immature, but quite frankly, I don't care.

There was another few beats between his words and what she was saying. He shook his head, "Bella, this vampire killed during the Seattle killings, and now he's back and he's tormenting my girlfriend."

He sat stoically, waiting for her to say something. It was quiet, I didn't even hear anything from her side of the conversation at all until something came and Jacob rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, girlfriend…"

My lips pursed together and I stood up, I don't think I can listen to this anymore. Jacob grabbed my arm and shook his head at me.

I was only going to go in the other room to check on Rachel and Billy. That tea was starting to sound really good.

"I just want to know what they think, maybe give them the scent, they can see if it was something that they recognized." He was quiet for a moment. "Tell Carlisle I'll meet him at the boundary line in an hour,"

He didn't say much else except for a mumbled, "Yeah, you too." And a "Goodbye." I didn't know what to think of it, but I brushed it aside.

"Jake," Seth's voice came from down the hall. "Everyone's here…"

Jacob stood up and pulled me closer to him, hugging me. We stayed like that for a few minutes before he grabbed my jacket that I had been wearing in the woods. He pulled me along with him and I noticed the large bodies that were now filling the Black's living room.

"What the problem, Jake?" Sam asked his eyes narrowed in on his friend.

"The problem is, we've got one…" Jacob mused and tucked me back under his arm.

Rachel crossed the room and handed me a cup of tea. I smiled at her, mouthing a thank you before she scurried back over to her spot next to Paul. I took a sip of the steaming hot liquid and glanced around the room at the different faces.

"And that would be?" The only other female amongst us quipped back a curt look on her face.

"Molly?" Jacob looked down at me. "Would you mind telling everyone about your nightmare?" I stared at him for a moment longer than I probably should and I nodded my head.

So, I told them about my nightmares, about my brother's murder, and that it was set around the time that the Seattle 'Gang' killings happened. Everyone seemed intrigued by the story but when I finished Sam stepped forward.

"What does this have to do with us?"

"There was a leech on the reservation." Jacob told them flat out. "It told Molly that it was coming for her and that he'd be back…" He nodded to Seth. "Seth must have scared it away when he was on patrol," He looked from Seth to Jared to Paul to Quil to Embry to Seth. "I just got off the phone with—with Bella, and Carlisle is going to meet me at the boundary line to see if he's familiar with the scent."

He held out the jacket, "I want you all to get a whiff of the scent and I want the area patrolled. I want to know which way he went and where he's hiding out…"

"Jacob," Sam stepped forward again.

"Sam," Jacob narrowed his eyes. "It is my duty, as it is yours, to protect Molly…"

Sam stood with his mouth hanging open, had what Jacob said meant something that I wasn't aware? I didn't know until I saw a look of shock come over Sam, Jared and Leah's faces. Sam stepped back and simply nodded, as if what Jacob had said scorned him.

"Jacob is right; it is our duty to protect Molly. Let's all get a good idea of what this leech smells like and patrol the area. I will go with you Jacob to meet with Carlisle."

Jacob nodded and Sam took the jacket from him and passed it around. There was a lot of grumbling and mumbling going on amongst the werewolves and I took this chance to look at Jacob and question him about what had just happened.

"It is an unspoken rule that we protect our own, Molly." He kissed my forehead. "Because you are my imprint, the entire pact has to do whatever they can to protect you, no matter what."

I glanced around at the faces that were sniffing the jacket and looking back at me. I could see it in their eyes; they were all going to hate me. I just knew it. I was more trouble than I was worth. I pulled away from Jacob and retreated to Rebecca's room to curl up on the bed and sip my tea.

"Molly," Rachel's voice came from the doorway.

I looked up and gave her a forced smile, "Hey Rachel,"

She sat down next to me, curling one long leg under her, "What's wrong?"

I sighed heavily, "I didn't want to come here and have everyone hate me,"

"No one hates you," Rachel laughed a little and glanced at the door. "There was just a lot of things that happened because of…" She trailed off.

"Bella," I answered for her. She nodded, "I don't want to be like her,"

Rachel chuckled a bit, "Don't worry, we'll get through this, the guys and Leah will take care of it, I promise…"

I smiled at her, "I hope so, Rachel… I really hope so…"

So, how do you like it? Do you like the twist? Do you not like it? I want to hear your thoughts, and I also want to hear any speculations you've got on what might happen with this new development. :) R&R! :)