46
They had just taken down a couple of elk when Carlisle's phone rang out. "Charlie?" Of course they could all hear everything that was being said.
"You need to come back here. There's been an accident." Edward was running before the end of the first sentence, his brother and father following but falling further and further behind every pace.
"What happened?" Carlisle asked.
"Bella says she saw a nomad looking in through the window. Jake and Sam were here and they phased to go after the vampire." Edward shuddered as Carlisle envisioned what would happen if two massive wolves suddenly appeared in the tiny Swan house.
"How bad is she hurt?" That was the main question. Edward calculated they were almost 3 minutes until he could get into range of Charlie's mind and he could see for himself what the damage was. If the wolves had hurt Bella he would make sure they lived to regret it.
"Bella isn't bad, she was just hurt a bit, nothing I can't handle. She fainted, of course, at the sight of blood." Edward had just started slowing down as he heard she wasn't hurt, but the thought of her bleeding made him speed up again. It was getting harder and harder to hear his father-in-law on the phone as he was increasing the distance between himself and Carlisle. "It's Emily."
"Emily? Emily Young?" Edward caught a vision of a young woman from the tribe. The same one Alice had seen in a vision when looking for the future.
"She's in a bad way, I daren't send her to the hospital, it will be obvious that she was attacked but the size of the claws!"
"I thought she was Sam's imprint?" Carlisle was puzzled, as far as anyone knew the harming of an imprint was not just against the laws of the pack, but was almost impossible.
"Sam was too close when he changed, he's in a bad way Carlisle, almost mad with grief. Get here as soon as you can. She will probably need a blood transfusion and her face is a mess." They could hear the howling of wolves now in the distance. The whole pack was mourning.
Edward was now too far in front to hear what was being said on the other end of the line and soon enough he would be out of range of his father's voice too, so he focussed his attention in front of him. At last he caught Charlie's mind, the sight of Bella with her sweater ripped across the middle and blood seeping out was enough to make him see red. But just as he was about to lose control he saw the rather minor scratch across her stomach. The clothing and her distance from the changing wolf had saved her from a nasty injury that could have been fatal. As he watched through Charlie's eyes Bella woke from her faint.
"Emily?" she struggled to get to her feet. Charlie's gaze switched to the young woman who was laid on the sofa. Blood poured from deep scratches on her face and a half naked Jacob Black was trying to press onto deep wounds on her shoulder to stem the flow of blood.
"What happened?" Bella asked. "Did you get him?"
"He got away." Jacob looked rather ashamed, "As soon as we realised what had happened to Emily we let the vamp go and came back."
"Where's Sam?" she looked around. Charlie looked around too as if expecting to see the pack leader suddenly appear. He knew that he wasn't there though, the sight of his imprint covered with blood and at his hand, so to speak, had been enough to make him run away in an agony of guilt.
"He's had to go." Jacob kept it short. Bella frowned and looked over at Emily.
Charlie could understand exactly what she was thinking. He agreed, Sam should be there, with her. At least until she was taken to hospital. {Maybe it was just too much for him, poor lad, he will blame himself for this for the rest of his life, and God help the whole tribe if she dies.} A flash of something black passed the window in front of Charlie and he shuddered as a howl filled with desperation and agony rent the air. {Good God I hope he doesn't draw attention to the house, we need to get Emily to where she can be helped. Edward? Can you hear me? If so, she's in a bad way, but be careful Sam is just outside, he may be dangerous in that state.}
Edward scanned the minds around. He was swept up into the pack mind, every thought that any of the wolves had was echoed and magnified, like being in one of those carnival hall of mirrors. Mind after mind shouting the same thoughts. He could see through Sam's eyes that he was now about 200 yards into the forest behind the Swan house, trying to be close to Emily, but allowing her to get the help she needed. He could not find the calm he needed to change back into a human, and he dare not go too close to the house in wolf form in case someone saw him or he caused even more damage to Emily. Edward withdrew from Sam's mind and taking a route that would avoid meeting the frantic wolf head on, he skirted the town and came at the Swan house from an oblique angle of the forest behind, Charlie kept repeating his warning over and over, trying to protect Edward from the half crazed werewolf outside. He rushed into the room, almost tearing the kitchen door from its hinges in his haste to get to Bella. The scent of her blood filled the air, masking the rather lupine tainted smell of Emily's.
"Bella!" his arms surrounded her and he held her tightly.
"Edward." She gasped, he released his hold a tiny amount, knowing he was holding her too tight. "See to Emily!" she pushed him away. For a second he felt hurt, but then he recognised that Bella would not allow him to help her until Emily was out of danger, and so he turned to the young Native American girl. She was still laid on the sofa, Jacob doing his best to stem the flow of blood. When Edward took a step towards her Jacob jumped to his feet. He quickly read his mind.
"Don't worry," he assured the jumpy boy, "her blood has no appeal to us anyway, she has too much of the Wolf gene in her makeup to make it even smell palatable." He grabbed the towel that had been pressed to the wound and pressed down on the pressure point just above the middle of her collar bone and immediately noticed a lessening of the flow. Her face, however continued to bleed rather badly and skin hung in strips all the way from above her right eye and right down to the side of her mouth. She was in a bad way, though mainly from blood loss just then. The damage to her face was mostly superficial, there may be some nerve damage in her cheek but it wasn't life threatening, unlike her arm but it was obvious to him that she would never be the pretty girl she had been again, but she could be well and whole with only a little work.
"Put her in the truck and get her to our house." He told Jacob, keeping the pressure on the pressure point and on the shoulder wound too. "Jasper has detoured to the hospital to get some blood and Carlisle will meet us at the house, his study is set up as a small hospital." They hadn't changed it back since Bella was last in need, just in case she ever needed it again, with her track record it was almost certain she would at some time.
Jacob picked the girl up easily in his arms and with him holding her and Edward keeping pressure up, they managed to her out to Charlie's truck. She moaned in pain as they moved her, but at least she didn't cry out and draw attention from the few houses on the street that had residents at that time of day. Charlie got behind the wheel and Edward freed one of his hands and grabbed Jacob by the shoulder.
"Change, go find Sam and bring him under control. We can't have a grieving wolf running mad around here. Also get the others to go looking for the vampire that caused this." A flash of memory from Jacob appeared in his mind, at least the vampire wasn't anyone he knew.
"What about Emily?" Jacob asked, obviously reluctant to leave her.
"Has she any family about?" Edward read his mind, "Get Sue and Harry to come to my father's house, they can look after her, and send the youngest wolf to stay outside so you can all keep in touch with what's happening. If all of you stay human there's no way you will be able to get through to Sam." Jacob nodded and headed off to the trees to change, Edward realised that the trousers he was wearing were miles too short for him and too big around the waist, they must be Charlie's.
Bella, a fresh, overlarge T-shirt that smelled of Charlie, covering the scratch on her stomach, was pulling on her coat as Edward turned to look back at her when he realised she was leaving the house. One look at her face and he didn't even bother to give voice to the protest he had been about to say. However as soon as she got close to the truck she went pale again and almost passed out. Edward groaned.
"Charlie, we will meet you there." He cursed the fact that he had dropped Bella off and then taken his car back home before the hunt. He dare not leave her in the house on her own, not when there was a nomad about. She just smelled too good! He let up on the pressure on Emily but as soon as he did the blood started to flow again and Bella fell heavily to the floor in a dead faint. Edward growled in anger, torn about which one to help. The girl in danger of losing her life or his mate, the choice should have been simple but the pull to see to Bella was very strong. Just then a very young Quileute ran full tilt out of the forest, not a stitch of clothing on him.
"Show me where to press." He gasped, out of breath. Edward sighed in relief and quickly showed the young boy where to press and how hard. He took his coat off and gave the boy his shirt before putting the coat back on.
"You know what you're doing Seth?" Charlie asked, reluctant to start driving if Emily wasn't stable.
"Sure sure," the boy said, concentrating on the placement and pressure of his hands. He slipped into the truck and sat on the floor, at least that way he could hold her on the seat as well as keep pressure on. Edward checked the placement of his hands again and then nodded to his father-in-law and turned to pick his wife up from the floor as the truck spun its tyres and sped off towards the main Cullen house. In seconds he was in the forest, heading the same direction. They were almost at the house before Bella stirred in his arms and started to recover consciousness.
He hoped that he could get to the house and into his bathroom before she fully woke. His hands, and now her coat and jeans, were covered in the girl's blood. If Bella did wake she would only pass out again! He almost laughed at the thought, only almost though. There wasn't much that was funny about the situation. It could become volatile if Sam was not calmed or if anything happened to Emily when she was in their care.
He heard Charlie's truck arrive at the turn off to the house as he ran through the front door that Alice held open. He was in his old bathroom, both he and Bella stripped to their underwear, before she finally opened her eyes. She looked at him, then at herself, and then again at him, and blushed violently.
"Why…?" she started to ask.
"We both had blood on our clothes." He explained before she could voice the complete question. She paled and just nodded. Edward checked the scratch on her midsection. It had stopped bleeding and would probably not even need covering to heal, she was very lucky that it was so light a cut.
"Emily?" she asked, going to the closet and grabbing out one of his shirts and the single pair of clean jeans that were still at the house. Edward quickly dressed in clean clothes too. Bella's hands started to shake as the events of the day caught up with her. Edward took her in his arms and shushed her as tears poured down her cheeks.
"Charlie and a young boy called Seth are just pulling up with her now. Will you stay up here or do you want to go to the living room while I go help Carlisle. I know he doesn't really need help but…" He was loath to leave her in the condition she was in but he knew she would insist on him helping out. Though he still could not read her mind, he was at last starting to know his wife.
"I'll go down and sit with Seth, Emily is his cousin." Edward checked and saw that Alice had a pair of shorts ready for the boy to wear as soon as he handed Emily over to Carlisle to take to the study cum infirmary.
"Give him a minute, then go down." Edward told her. "He needs to wash the blood off before you see him." and get dressed! He silently added. Bella pushed his shoulder slightly and he nodded and ran down the two flights of stairs to Carlisle's study. Alice and Carlisle had set up the standard lamps that used to be in the living room, bending their stems and embedding them into the timber studs of the inner wall so that they illuminated the table like operating lights, not that they needed them, their enhanced vision was enough, but Carlisle wasn't taking any chances with the young woman. Seth hovered for a second in the doorway but Charlie put a hand on his shoulder and drew him down stairs to the ground floor living room.
With a part of his attention Edward saw Alice join the two men, and was happy when she showed the boy the cloakroom so he could wash up and put on the clothes she had found out for him. He saw Bella walk down as Seth was coming out. Edward then turned and concentrated on the task ahead of them, he injected Emily with 10 cc's of morphine just as Alice appeared in the room again and dropped off the 5 bags of O Negative blood that Jasper had stolen from the hospital. Carlisle briefly considered whether it was safe, as the girl wasn't actually 100% human any more.
"We don't have a choice." Edward pointed out. Alice's mind showed Emily on her feet watching fireworks in the near future. "It will be ok Alice sees it working." He assured his father. Carlisle held out his hand as soon as the blood was hooked to the IV port he had put into her left hand. Edward gave him a clamp to stop the brachial artery until the damage was repaired, and they worked at vampire speed to repair the damage her fiancée had caused.
"It stinks of dog in here!" Bella was startled from a light doze she had just fallen into by Rose's voice. Emmett, Esme and Rose stood and looked in puzzlement at Seth as he sat up from behind the sofa where he had been laid in wolf form, keeping the pack members updated. "What is THAT doing here?" Rose said, screwing her nose up at the smell.
Before the humans could say anything all three of the recently arrived vampires nodded. Alice or Jasper must have filled them in, with that annoying fast speech that she could not hear. Just at that second Carlisle and Edward walked down from the first floor and Carlisle immediately made his way over and held his mate's hand as Edward filled Seth, Charlie and Bella in on the girl's condition.
"Seth, can they all hear you?" he asked the huge wolf that was sometimes a 14 year old boy. Bella smiled as the wolf nodded his head vigorously.
"Emily is going to be fine." Carlisle said. Suddenly three even bigger wolves stepped out of the forest shade in front of the house, they walked right up to the plate glass window and looked into the room. Carlisle turned to face them rather than Seth. "She's lost a lot of blood and may need reconstructive surgery on the muscles on the right side of her face." The large black wolf threw his head back and howled, a shiver ran down Bella's spine at the sound.
"Sam!" Edward opened the front door, Bella was shocked at how much louder the howling was with the door open. "She needs to rest, be quiet." The howl shut off like a TV during a power cut. "She's going to be fine. Carlisle and I repaired the tendons and cuts on her shoulder without much trouble, but we decided it would probably be better for her if she waited a while and recovered a little before we worked on her face more. As far as we can tell there isn't any major damage, but we will have to wait until she is awake to tell for certain."
Bella watched warily as Sam-the-wolf took deep breaths and seemed to calm slightly. She wished Edward wasn't standing so close to him, but when she had moved towards him Seth had pushed her back down onto the sofa and Charlie had put a hand on her shoulder to stop her getting back up.
"Hold on a minute, I'll be right back." Edward flashed out of the room, Bella's hair blew past her face in the wind his movement produced. In a couple of seconds he was back and handed several pairs of shorts to the huge animals. The large russet wolf took the clothes in his mouth and they turned and headed back into the trees, in less than a minute they appeared again, this time in human form. Bella recognised Sam, of course, and Jacob, and the other man was the one who had accused her of necrophilia at the beach that day.
"May we come in?" Jacob asked, one of his hands firmly holding Sam's shoulder to stop him barging through the Cullen house.
"You may." Jasper stepped forward and blocked them moving towards the stairs, "but you can't see her until I'm sure that you are totally under control." Paul opened his mouth as if he was going to argue, his fists clenched at his side. It was obvious that he didn't like the situation, but Jacob put his other hand on his shoulder and he subsided.
"We understand." Jacob told the vampires. Seth came out from behind the sofa in human form, fastening a pair of shorts, he moved to be closer to his pack mates.
"You promise she is ok?" Sam asked, Bella noticed that he was crying as soon as he started talking. She couldn't imagine how guilty he must feel! Carlisle stepped forward and put a consoling hand on Sam's other shoulder.
"She should be fine. She needs rest and fluids for a while. We gave her 2 pints of blood and she's hooked up to a third at the moment, her part wolf metabolism means she is burning through the morphine quickly, but she should stay under as long as we monitor her, we may need some more blood later, but I doubt it."
"From the hospital, of course!" Edward scowled at Paul, it was obvious he had asked where they had got the blood from.
"Paul! If you can't stop yourself being rude, leave!" Jacob said. It seemed to Bella that Jacob had taken over control of the pack, at least temporarily while Sam was so distraught.
"Sorry." Paul said sullenly and almost under his breath. The Cullens all nodded, accepting his apology, even though it was grudgingly given.
"When can she be moved?" Jacob asked. "It's not that we don't appreciate all you have done, but I think she would feel better in her own home." He kept twitching his nose as if he smelled something unpleasant, in fact they all did except Seth. If the vampires thought the wolves smelled bad, it was now obvious to all like it was reciprocated.
"Maybe tomorrow night? You will have to be careful moving her, it will probably be best if you borrow one of our cars to take her back to the reservation." Carlisle said, generously.
"You definitely can't put her in Jared's boneshaker." Charlie added. "But you can use my truck. I think she will be able to lay comfortably on the back seat once she is awake." Everyone nodded.
"What happened to the vampire? Did anyone catch them?" Bella asked when it looked like no one else had anything to say.
"Jared and the others are patrolling, he went into the ocean just down the coast from our lands." Jacob told them. "I don't suppose he was a friend of yours, just up for a visit?" he asked. The Cullens all looked at Edward but he shook his head at the mental picture that both Sam and Jacob showed him.
"I have never seen him before." He told them.
"Well, the others are patrolling, and trying to see if they can locate where he came out of the water…assuming he has got to land again."
"They will be careful, won't they?" Esme asked.
"Yes ma'am, don't worry, even though three of them have only started phasing in the last couple of days, they do know what they are doing, and won't try and catch him unless they have sufficient back-up."
"You are just all so young." She looked sadly at Seth, who had not yet started the growth spurt the wolves went through and still only looked his 14 years.
"We know we are still young, but this is what we are made for." Paul told them. "I'm not saying that it isn't dangerous, we found out how hard it was when we took out that other one," he looked around and frowned when he realised that the Cullen's all knew about their fight, Bella wasn't sure if he was trying to wind the Cullens up or if he was wanting to share the story from his point of view. "But there are more of us now, more than there has ever been before." He said proudly.
"How many are there so far?" Carlisle asked.
"Nine of us." Jacob told them, "I don't think the pack will grow any bigger though, Collin phased unexpectedly on Tuesday and he is still only 12. He isn't thirteen until next month. There's just no boys of the right age left to change." He scratched his head a little, "The stories said that only boys between 16 and 24 should change, but we have already disproved that, but after Collin the oldest are the Fuller twins. Even though Brady, who also phased suddenly this week, is already one of us, his brothers are only 6, the elders don't think they will change until they get to puberty."
Carlisle nodded, Bella could tell he was fascinated by the knowledge Jacob was imparting.
A howl rent the air and all the vampires automatically moved into crouches, the four Native American boys/men turned to the front of the house. A relatively small silver grey wolf with very long shaggy fur, came out of the forest and charged at the windows of the Cullen house, falling back when the toughened material didn't shatter. Even though the wolf was small for a shape shifter, it was still almost as large as a pony. Bella reckoned that it was only a few inches smaller at the shoulder than Seth had been when he was in wolf form.
"Jacob! Sam!" Edward straightened from his crouch, signalling his family to do the same.
"Who is that?" Sam asked, it was obvious that he didn't recognise the wolf.
"I'm not really sure," Edward answered, Jacob looked at him in surprise, "you don't often think of your own name!" Edward snapped, "I don't know who she is, just that this is the first time she…"
"SHE!?" a chorus of voices spoke simultaneously.
"Yes, SHE… this is the first time she has phased and she doesn't know what is happening to her. One of you needs to go out there and change and calm her down before she injures herself.
They could all see what he meant as the wolf charged the plate glass again, and was again thrown back.
"Stand back." Jacob warned them all, he looked around and made sure Charlie and Bella were still on the sofa, a decent distance away before he stripped off his shorts and began to transform. Bella blushed and looked quickly at the carpet. She smiled to herself when she realised Edward's shoes were there, meaning he had stood in the way so she couldn't see anything. She wasn't sure if it was jealousy or what, but she was just glad she didn't see anything, Jacob was like a brother to her!
Sam opened the door as the wolf lay panting on the ground, shaking her head. She had charged the glass a third time and this time had hurt herself. Jacob moved out of the house, Bella had expected them to howl or whine or even bark, but whatever communication was going on was totally silent. The female got to her feet and shook her head, she looked at the house and whined. Then she started pacing up and down in front of the windows nervously. All the time Jacob stood on the stoop, blocking the entrance to the house.
Alice approached Sam with a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He nodded his thanks and moved out, nudging Jacob to one side.
The female bared her teeth at him and backed away, puzzled he left the clothes on the ground and returned to the Cullen house.
"I don't understand." He said as he came in, "whoever she is she doesn't like me much!"
"The trouble is that she actually loves you." Edward said sadly.
Sam looked out at the wolf then at Edward, who nodded. "Leah?" he whispered.
"Leah?" Seth repeated, "Leah as in my sister Leah?" both Sam and Edward nodded. Seth groaned. "Marvellous!" he said sarcastically, "I thought I finally could do something without her babysitting me all the time, telling me how dangerous it was, how I shouldn't do it, and she turns into the first ever female wolf!"