Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns it all.
Rated M for several reasons.
Chpt 41 Recipe for Disaster
JPOV
This is fuckin' ridiculous!
Twice I have tried to come ashore an' both times they've been waitin' for me.
Common sense tells me that even if they're after Bella, an' I hope they're not and her former friendship with them counts for somethin', her shields are more than adequate protection. But despite that rationale the desire to get back to my wife an' protect her is pulsing in my chest so strongly it almost feels as if my dead heart is beatin'.
I can probably take three, maybe four, but eight is suicidal an' I can't help my mate if I'm dead. But as time ticks by its gettin' harder an' harder to resist the urge to just swim ashore an' fight my way through anythin' that's between her an' me. Vampires aren't exactly ruled by their instincts but in part that's only because most of us have learnt to fight them.
I sink to the bottom again, peripherally aware that my boots are gonna be ruined because you can't live with Alice for sixty odd years without somethin' rubbin' off. My hat floated away a long time ago.
Frustration is rollin' off me in waves, sendin' the fish life into an agitated frenzy.
An' now I can feel her movin' away from me, further in land.
I'm rapidly reachin' the limit of what I can cope with without losin' it, Jasper Whitlock has a short fuse, an' so I give in to The Major knockin' at the door of my consciousness.
I need to move further away from Port Angeles and my mate to reach land, then I can double back. If I make a failed attempt to come ashore before really movin' away they will have no choice but to split up an' cover their options. Once they do I can either avoid them or take them out, I don't have a preference.
Once I have reacquired Bella I need information. I know the shape shifters are genetically pre-programed to want to attack vampires but in the knowledge that someone, possibly Carlisle, has lured us here with Bella's human the fact that they appeared to be waitin' for us with the intention of splittin' us up is extremely troublin'.
I can just about sense their hatred an' satisfaction, about a mile to the west. It's time to head back east, a mile or so should do it, after all I want 'em to find me this time.
PPOV
Friendly guys. I shall call them Potential Pete Murderer One an' Potential Pete Murderer Two.
The urge to phase an' kill us is apparently so strong it takes 'em several minutes to gain enough control to speak. Obviously super massive Quileutes with anger management issues are a fairly common sight in Forks because no one in the bar bats an eyelid.
"Why are you here?" PPMO manages to growl eventually.
"Some friends of ours have gone missin' in your territory." I answer easily, they always say you should never show fear in front of an aggressive dog. "The Cullens, with whom you have a treaty, are here to help us negotiate the right to search."
PPMO continues with his hard stare but PPMT's eyes dart to Rosalie an' Em, obviously recognisin' them an' concerned about their presence.
"Who are you?" PPMO demands.
"The name's Whitlock, Pete Whitlock an' this is my wife Char." I stick my hand out innocently in greetin' but yank it back quickly when the guy all but explodes into a wolf in front of me an' all these nice people.
I have a bit of a reputation, I'll be honest, but this reaction is a little extreme.
"You dare come here!" PPMO snarls when we've been through the whole calmin' down process again.
"Yes." I sigh, this isn't goin' very well. "I dare to come here. I'm lookin' for my brother an' sister, my family. They came here to search for someone we care about who was kidnapped. But we haven't heard from them in over 48 hours. I, we, are worried about them."
Stony silence. PPMT gives the Cullens another contemplative glance.
"A girl." I explain. "A human girl. Doctor Cullen abducted her from her campus an' brought her here. To Forks. Or so we believe."
No reaction.
"We believe he is using her as bait in a trap." I add.
Nada.
"For my brother an' sister." I supply helpfully.
"Jasper and Bella Swan." Rosalie snaps, interruptin' my leisurely build up. Bitch.
"You are here with them?" PPMT asks her, gesturin' at my good lady an' I with obvious confusion.
"Trust me, it's not my idea of fun either." She huffs, flippin' back her long blonde hair. "But what my father has done is beyond the pale. We are here to help find and protect the human. Jasper and Bella were looking for her too, but they have disappeared."
PPMO an' PPMT share a long look, delicate little frown lines creasin' their oversized foreheads an' showin' their mutual confusion. In the presence of great intellect, we ain't.
"Would you, happen to know, anythin' about why my brother an' sister have disappeared?" I ask carefully.
"We need to talk to Sam." PPMO mutters fretfully.
Ah, the leader, or Alpha as Bella described him. Now we're cookin' with gas.
"We'd like to talk to him too." I tell 'em enthusiastically an' with my winningest smile.
They stare back at me in horror, like I've just asked to see their Ma in her nether garments.
"You will wait here." PPMO decides eventually.
"Fairy snuff." I agree, relatively happy an' sure now that none of us are goin' to start a supernatural fracas in a crowded bar. Not that it matters to me, I have an Evans, but they don't need to know that.
With matchin' frowns they back away an' head out the door.
Objective one accomplished.
Blondie an' the Bear sigh in relief while Char hits her cell an' updates Big D.
We cool our heels for two hours, a very long an' stressful two hours, before PPMO an' PPMT return with what I assume is Sam, the head Potential Pete Murderer.
He doesn't look confused. He looks like a man who knows more about what's goin' on than I do.
Which is either very good. Or very bad.
"You will come." He states simply.
"I don't fuckin' think so." I fire back. "We need to talk. An' somewhere both of us have a vested interested in listenin' an' understandin'. I ain't entirely sure I know everythin' that's goin' on here but trust me when I tell you the consequences of us fuckin' this opportunity up are worse than you can imagine."
For a moment he stares into my eyes an' my redundant sphincter tightens as I consider that he might just walk away.
The stare down drags on an' my heart crawls up into my mouth, threatenin' to choke me, Char pats my hand to steady me. I want J an' my lil' sister back. Safe. In the worst possible way. And I'll give almost anythin' to make it happen, but right now isn't the time. Now, I need to know what the fuck is goin' on.
Without speakin' he sits abruptly, foldin' his muscular arms over his chest. Very cliché.
Objective two is underway. Hold the presses for that fuckin' fairy story.
BPOV
"Jacob."
The man before me is both familiar an' totally alien. Still gigantic, muscles threatening to rip through his blue t-shirt, but grown up an' much harder in the face than he used to be. No longer a puppy, for want of a better description.
I wait patiently as his eyes rake over my numerous scars, for some reason they are making him angry, his nostrils flaring an' fists clenching.
Finally I raise my eyebrow as the silence stretches out.
"Sam let me come." He spits out. "We wanted to split the two of you up anyway, you'll be easier to kill that way, but he agreed I could come and warn you."
"And?" I ask, cursing the instinctive black that rolls down over my eyes in response to his words an' aggressive stance.
It doesn't help, his reaction is immediate an' his body language becomes even more threatening.
"You need to leave." He says in a low menacing tone. "If you do we won't come after you. But you can never come back."
"We came here lookin' for somethin'." I respond, hesitant to tell him an' therefore the rest of the wolves about what Carlisle's done. "Somethin' we were lookin' after that was taken away from us."
He trembles violently, a prelude to phasing, an' his long arm whips out suddenly fastening around my wrist. Which brings home how different we are now, a couple of years ago his grip would have snapped my radius an' ulna cleanly in half. Now he doesn't even leave an imprint on the skin.
"Your friend won't be leaving." He growls. "But you still can. You can choose to do the right thing."
"That friend is my husband an' mate Jake. I won't be goin' anywhere without him." I snap, temper flaring.
He snarls an' drops my arm abruptly, stepping back into the hall.
"Then you'll die." He says with finality turning on his heel an' storming away.
With echoes of Bella Swan I quietly close the door an' retreat back into the room.
Except I'm not that girl anymore an' mute defiance was dropped from my repertoire a long time ago. Thoughtfully I finish dressing, pulling a long sleeve t-shirt over my vest top an' yankin' on my boots.
Jake pissed about me being a vampire is hardly surprising but it seems like there's more to it than that. His obvious hatred of Jasper, which indicates an understanding of who is to me, is worrying. Especially as he seemed willing to spare me but not him. Pete said this was a trap, are the wolves part of it?
He said they wanted to split us up. Have they? Vaguely I can sense Jasper moving away from me, northwards. Not something that would happen unless he was being prevented from returning to me.
Quiet fury grips me. No, I don't know what's goin' on but I do know that my mate has been threatened an' that is entirely unacceptable. Predictably the fierce desire I had to save Lisa has been obliterated by something far more primal.
Taking a deep an' unnecessary breath I pull on my jacket an' slam my hat back onto my wet hair, tipping it well forwards.
I try the phone one last time. Nothing. Deliberate or coincidence, it no longer matters.
Opening the window I reach out an' swing myself up onto the roof, somethin' I can now do with consummate ease.
Drawing myself up to my full but inadequate height I stare out across the dark lot, it isn't hard to locate the five wolves pacing at the treeline, eyes glowing with malice. The largest one I know to be Jake.
"Jacob Black." My voice, too low for a human to hear, nevertheless carries the strength I have gained over the last couple of years. "I don't know what this mess is but I'm in it because I protect the things I care about. You already know this about me. An' the thing I care about most is Jasper.
So now it's my turn to warn you.
If anythin' happens to him I won't be held responsible for the consequences. There is more to us than you know."
A volley of snarls erupts beneath me.
Alright then.
I let my lip curl up at the edge as I flick them a cheeky salute before performing a perfect backflip off the roof.
Landing on the house across the street I immediately start roof hopping, rapidly moving away from the gangly quadrupeds, physical, sound, scent an' sight shields firmly in place.
My confidence back there was slightly false, it didn't escape my notice that Jake was able to grab me, even though I had my physical shield up. As I hop a part of me retreats inside my mind, memories of what Raisa was able to do to me at the forefront, I won't go through that again if I can find a way round it.
An' certainly not if it makes a difference to helping Jasper.