Enjoy! :)
Leah's POV
We were at Renee's funeral. Only the elders, the pack and the imprints attended. Most of the pack including me didn't know her. Jacob knew her briefly.
It was kind of sad. I'd grown closer to Swan after our little fights. Yeah we had our arguments and are bitches towards each other, but it's kind of how we get along.
The funeral was going to be near the beach, I guess it was peaceful for Renee. Hearing the tides wash against the shore was a nice feeling. I hope she would be at peace here.
We waited outside the house for Swan and Paul to appear, we were all going to walk down. I knew it was going to be hard for her, yet I don't know how she was feeling. She would be happy that he is going to rot in jail.
Swan came out wearing a black skirt with a black tank top. She did seem to like her tank tops didn't she? Paul was wearing a black button up shirt with black cut-offs. It was definitely weird seeing him with a shirt.
I was wearing a black short sleeve shell top with black skinny jeans. I watched as they came out hand in hand. He was going to be her strength today. We were going to help her through this.
The weather was nice, sun was shining. It kind of felt right when the weather was nice for a funeral. It's just a feeling.
We started making our way towards the spot of the funeral, until we saw Bella pause in her steps. We all knew that she needed to her space, so we headed down ahead of her. Paul stayed with her; we knew that he had to stay with her.
We all reached Minister Weber and stood near the coffin waiting for Bella and Paul to arrive. Everyone who was standing was shifting uncomfortably, especially the pack with wearing a shirt for the funeral.
Minister Weber was waiting at the top of the coffin with the prayer notes in his hand. We saw Bella and Paul come into view. Jacob walked over to her to give her a tight hug, but pulled away quickly. I guess he thought Paul would hit him again; any other day I think he would but not today. Today he would probably allow it.
"We are gathered here today to remember the life of Renee Higginbotham. A loving mother and dear friend to those who knew her" Minister Weber spoke softly.
Paul wrapped his arm around Swan and gave her a slight squeeze as Minister Weber started the ceremony. Charlie walked over towards Bella and gripped one of her hands with a pained expression on his face. It was definitely going to be hard for them both.
We all have a white rose in our hands. One by one we walked towards the coffin and said goodbye to Renee before laying the white rose on her coffin. A lot of us didn't know her but we still wished that she would rest in peace.
"I promise I'll take care of her for you Renee. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you officially. I love Bella and she is my life. I'll do whatever it takes to protect her" Paul said softly as he laid a white rose on her coffin. The speech he said was sweet, I wanted to cry but I didn't. You could see how happy Bella was that Paul cared for her mother, although he didn't know here at all and that he had made a promise to Renee had made her heart swell.
"May you rest in peace my friend. We will always miss you. We will live on with the happy memories the four of us had in the past" Billy said as he laid a white rose before wheeling himself away. Charlie was next. His body was shaking with tears.
"Renee, it's going to be hard without you. I'm glad that the man that did this to you will rot in jail, but it upsets me deeply that it cost you your life. That's not how it should have ended. It's not fair. You did nothing wrong in your life. Why did you have to die? Why?" he said sobbing. "I'll always love you Renee. I'll miss you so much" it broke all our hearts to see how broken he and Bella looked.
He laid the white rose down and kissed her coffin before he walked away sadly with his head down. Now it was Swan's turn. We watched as she gulped and walked towards the coffin. She collapsed to the floor clutching the coffin with broken sobs.
"Hey mum. I'll take care of dad. Or try to. It'll be hard without you. I'm going to miss you so much. The way you fuss over me and over little things. It amuses me. I know you said that we couldn't have protected you. But if you were still over here, you might not be dead. You would still be here, alive and having a laugh with me. Fussing about Paul and how handsome he is. You would have loved him mum. I wish you were here. I wish you could see us get married, I wish you could meet your future grandchildren. Don't worry; I'll make sure that they know who you are. We won't forget you, ever mum. I love you" she whispered before she kissed the coffin. She hugged the coffin once more before she laid the last white rose. She rose to her feet slowly; Paul instantly wrapped his arms around her. She turned and sobbed into his chest, wetting his shirt not that he cared.
"We commit this body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life" Minister Weber muttered as Jacob, Embry, Brian and Jared lowered Renee to the ground before covering it up. Her tombstone read:
Renee Higginbotham
1958 – 2012
Loving mother and dear friend
Will be forever missed
We all walked over towards Bella and Charlie, giving them our condolences. Those who knew her shared tears with them both. Those of us, who didn't know her, were still saddened by what happened.
We had a mini podium where we would have our little speeches about Renee. Billy was first, Swan didn't really pay any attention at all. Jacob had his speech. They both knew her. Then it was Charlie's turn.
"Well as you all know, Renee was my ex-wife but I still love her deeply. It saddens me that she was taken away from us so soon and in such a painful way. She will never be forgotten. It'll be hard to move on, but with Bella in this with me together will give me the strength. I will always love you Renee" he sobbed. Now it was Swan's turn. We watched as she breathed in deeply before she started.
"For those who didn't know Renee. She was a fun person. She was an erratic and loving mother. She would be childish at times, but that wasn't bad. When something wasn't going right, she would moan but she would make jokes about it. She was crazy at times; it drove me mad so many times. But it was another thing I loved about her. There are more pros than cons about Renee's personality. She was always fun to be around; you would have loved her if you knew her. But now I guess you won't get the chance to. I love you mum" she spoke staring at the sky as she spoke, she choked on her tears. Her speech brought tears to my eyes.
We all decided to go back to Swan's house after the funeral and order takeaways. Some people politely declined. One of the girls decided to stay behind, probably to spend some time with Swan.
"Angela how would you like to meet the guys? So that you don't feel awkward with them when we're back at the house" Swan smiled weakly.
"Sure that sounds nice Bella" she smiled hugging her.
"Well this is the guys. This is my man, Paul. My best friend Jacob. My half-brother Embry. These are Emily, Leah, and Kim whom are my girlfriends as well as you. These are Jared, Sam and Quil whom are already taken. Last but not least, Brian our new member of the gang" she said smiling indicating to each of us as she named us.
She smiled at us all in turn, until she laid her eyes on Brian. I saw a dazzled look on their faces, had they imprinted? He grinned at her widely and she ducked her head down and blushed madly. Hmm so she was a shy one.
Bella knew straight away that they had imprinted. She knew the feeling. I felt a shift in the air but I didn't know what it was. Swan cleared her throat, they were oblivious of it. She cleared her throat again and Brian broke away his stare from Angela, Angela just looked down and blushed.
"Let's go guys. I'm not sure about you lot, but I'm starving" Swan complained. We all just chuckled at her, but we all felt the same really. We slowly started to make our way to her house.
Swan pulled out her phone and called one of the leeches, I think it was Jasper that she called. She was telling him to buy a lot of takeaways and bring them over to her house. She told him that we were going to watch some movies at her house.
He had agreed that he would buy the takeaways and some booze. Man he would get on well with the pack if he knew that food and booze was a way to get in the pack's good books.
She had asked how long he would be, I guess she was more eager than me when it came to food. He didn't answer the question, he just told her that he would see her soon and hung up on her. She raised an eyebrow and looked at her phone. She just shrugged like she wasn't really bothered.
I glanced to the side to see Angela was in a nice conversation with Brian, they kind of did look really happy. Although Angela didn't know the secret, she will soon I suppose. They seemed quite cosy with each other already. I wonder how she would take the news.
We had reached the house; the pack had already rushed into the living room and starting looking through Swan's collection of DVDs. I just shrugged and walked into the living room. I saw Swan, Angela, Paul and Brian walk into the kitchen. Knowing Swan, she would be making dessert.
After a while I could smell the chocolate melting. Was she making chocolate chip cookies? Oh man I love chocolate chip cookies. Or maybe she was making chocolate brownies? Man I loved those too. I heard them laughing and chatting in the kitchen, they must be getting on really well then.
I turned back to the pack and settled on the floor near the door. I looked to see what movie they were watching. It was Lord of the Rings: The return of the king. Man did I love Aragorn. I mean Legolas was cute too, but he was no Aragorn. He was smokin' hot.
I got up and went upstairs to the bathroom. I opened up each door; I didn't really know where the bathroom was. Finally found it and it was quite a nice size, was very light compared to other bathrooms I had seen. It was better than ours too.
I washed my hands and made my way down the stairs. Just as I had reached the bottom of the stairs, Swan was coming out of the kitchen as the doorbell rang. We looked at each other and just shrugged walking towards the door to open it together.
Bella opened the door and froze. I looked at her curiously; she had an expression that read holy shit. I looked up and my eyes widened. It was him. He was here. He was actually here. He was the guy from my dreams. My happiness.
My eyes connected with a pair of honey eyes. He had messy bronze hair, but he still looked sexy. He had kissable lips and a sexy smile that made me weak at the knees. He was tall, he had a nice body. He wasn't too slim, but he had really nice muscles too.
"Food at your service Miss Swan" he said handing her the bags of food without looking at her.
"Thanks Jazz" she sang before she headed off to the kitchen. Two other people barged passed us, knocking away our eye contact. I blinked furiously before I looked back at him. He looked at me with a crooked grin and I felt myself shiver in delight.
"Hello Ma'am, I don't think we've met before. But you look familiar. The name is Jasper Whitlock Ma'am" he said bowing.
"Erm hi" I whisper shyly. "My name is Leah Clearwater" why was I being shy? This isn't me. Where's that courage I usually have?
"Leah" he breathed. "Such a pretty name for someone as beautiful as you" he spoke with a strong southern accent. His southern accent made my legs wobble slightly; I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe for support.
"Um… thanks" I blushed looking down. He smiled and lifted my chin with his index finger gently, raising my eyes to face him.
"Don't be shy Miss Clearwater. How about we go for a walk? Or do you want to eat some food first?" he asked politely.
I opened my mouth to answer but my stomach growled loudly and I looked away embarrassed. He just chuckled and took my hand, leading me towards the kitchen. I just looked down at our joined hands and looked up at him. He just smiled and continued towards the kitchen.
The pack was inhaling their food as we walked into the kitchen. Everyone stopped eating and turned to face us. I looked around and blushed. Quil's eyes darted between Jasper and I, and then towards our joined hands.
I just raised an eyebrow at him and he averted his eyes somewhere else, he didn't look dare to look in our direction again. What is it with him? Did he have feelings for me or something? He's been weird with me lately and I don't have a clue why.
I shrugged my shoulders and pulled Jasper towards the table. He chuckled as I shooed the pack to the side so that we could sit down.
I piled on the food onto a plate and started eating. Usually I wolf it down, but with Jasper there I had to act like a lady with manners. So I ate it with good table manners, I ate it slower than usual but it was still fast.
I looked beside me and my eyes widened at the sight. Jasper was eating human food. He sensed me looking at him; he looked at me and then grinned at me. I shyly smiled at him.
"What's wrong Miss Clearwater?"
"Um… Jasper? You're a vampire. You eat human food?" I questioned with a confused expression.
"Well yes. I'm not a normal vampire I suppose. I mean I am a vampire and I drink blood. Animal blood only by the way. I'm a weird vampire you could say. I love human food. I loved food when I was human, I still love food although I'm a vampire" he shrugged like it didn't bother him.
"Oh" I answered. Oh? Is that all I can say? Come on Leah. He chuckled at my reaction.
I looked at him again; he had something on the corner of his mouth. I used a finger to wipe it away. I dared myself and brought to finger towards my mouth. I looked up at him before I licked it off my finger, watching his reaction.
His eyes locked with mine, his eyes darkened with lust. I eye-fucked him and I could feel a slight bump in his pants. Oops. I looked back up to his eyes; his eyes were still dark with lust. I couldn't look away.
We were in our own little world until we heard someone clear their throat loudly. I blinked furiously and looked to see who it was. It was Swan. She had a twinkle in her eyes and gave me a knowing look. Did she know that he was my imprint?
I turned back to my food and ate more. There was Chinese food, pizza, burgers and chips. It all tasted so nice. But the food wasn't as good as Swan's cooking. Nothing could beat that. Once the food was all gone, Swan grabbed the dessert and set them on the table.
Oh my god. She made strawberry cheesecake. I knew I smelt chocolate brownies. I smelt the melting chocolate. I guessed earlier that it was either chocolate chip cookies or chocolate brownies. But she made both!
Man I love her cookies and chocolate brownies. I would ask her for the recipe, but I'm no good at baking or cooking in that matter. I shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen. I'm useless at it; I guess that's something Jasper wouldn't like I sighed sadly.
I piled my plate with strawberry cheesecake with a few cookies and brownies. But I wasn't in the mood after that little thought. I just pushed the cheesecake around the plate with my fork and poking holes in the filling.
"Clearwater, if you don't want it then don't put it on your plate. Don't play with your food. Might as well give it to Brian if you aint gonna eat it" Swan huffed. I glared at her and shoved it in my mouth, chewing furiously before I swallowed it.
I didn't really taste it either. But it went down the wrong way, I started choking. I wrapped my hands around my neck, trying to stop choking but it was no use. I started making choking noises.
The pack just looked at me. Very helpful you guys, I'm choking here I thought. Then I felt a pair of cold hands help me. I looked to see that it was Jasper helping me. He had his hand on my upper back and was thumping it gently for a human, hard for a werewolf and vampire.
It came back up and I spat it into a tissue and wrapped it up and aimed it at the bin. I smiled sheepishly at everyone blushing while I grabbed a cookie and nibbled on it.
"Are you ok Miss Clearwater?" Jasper asked with concern. I nodded my head without looking at him; I didn't trust my voice at the moment.
"God Clearwater. I didn't poison it, no need to choke on it" she glared.
"Now now Miss Swan, she can't help it if she happens to choke on your dessert. Did you not see that she was chewing too fast and swallowed it without chewing it all? Too dangerous, even if it's a wolf eating" Jasper tsked at Swan.
I stayed silent looking down at my plate while I nibbled on the cookies. I ate the chocolate brownies and I could actually taste it this time. It tasted great. I pushed away my plate and walked out the back door for some air.
I stood on the patio staring up at the sky. The cool wind sweeping through my hair. The stars twinkling in the night sky. I didn't realise that it was already night time. I heard the back door close gently. I side glanced and saw that it was Jasper. I sighed heavily.
"Shall we go for our walk now Miss Clearwater?" he asked politely while holding out his hand for me to take. I looked down at his hand and then back up to his face.
I took his hand hesitatingly, he led me towards the back fence and we started walking. I didn't know where we were going, but I didn't care. I just wanted to be alone with him. His presence calmed me. We kept on walking until we reached the cliffs.
"Is there something on your mind Miss Clearwater?"
"Please call me Leah, Miss Clearwater sounds a bit weird to me" I replied.
"Of course Miss… I mean Leah. Is something wrong?" he asked again.
"Well I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I've waited for this day for so long. I just don't want my heart broken again. I can't take that risk again" I sighed looking at the waves crashing against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.
"And what would that be Leah?"
"Do you know what imprinting is?" I asked, not answering his question.
"No I don't think I do" he said shaking his head.
"Well imprinting is where a wolf finds their soul mate, their other half. You would do anything for them, even die for them. You would protect them from danger. You would be what they need you to be. A sibling, a friend or a lover. It depends on what the imprint wants or needs. They are the gravity. They are the one thing that is holding you, not the earth" I sighed.
"Wow I don't know what to say. From the sound of it, it sounds interesting to me. Is it a bad thing in your opinion Leah?"
"I suppose it can be a good thing and a bad thing. I don't want my imprint to be with me because of some wacky magic that ties you with another being. That's not how I want it to be. It's like forcing someone to be with you. But on the other hand, you don't see anyone else. All you see is just them, you don't have eyes for anyone else" I replied.
"Have you imprinted Leah?" he asked softly. I turned to face him. I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted by a childish giggle. Our heads whipped round to see who it was. I crouched down in a protective stance.
"Who's there?" I snarled. I heard nothing but a giggle. There was something about this giggle, it spelt out trouble. I saw a blur jump down from the trees. I growled in warning.
"Hello Jasper, my love" the leech spoke in a Mexican accent and squealed like a young child. She wasn't a child, so what was with the behaviour? Who was she? How did she know Jasper? What did she want? All these questions flowed through my mind.
"What do you want leech?" I growled before I phased on the spot. She turned to look at me, cocking her head to one side before she jumped up and down clapping her hands.
"Ooh a doggy. Did you buy this doggy Jasper? Is it for me? I love animals. I love the fur, so soft" she spoke in a soft voice. She took a step towards me. I growled at her. "Bad doggy. Jasper the doggy growled at me. Make it stop. I hear the growling in my head" she whimpered before covering her ears with her hands and shaking her head.
"What are you doing here?" he snarled.
"Jasper, I missed you. Don't you miss me? I have power. Don't you miss the power you felt when you were with me? Helping me train the newborns. We can be powerful together again" she whispered.
I had enough of this, I pounced on her and I knocked her back slightly. I paced back and forth before I jumped claws at the ready. She kicked me backwards before she pounced onto the back of my wolf form. I growled in annoyance trying to shake her off, but I couldn't. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders ready to crush my bones.
"NOO Maria!" Jasper yelled.
A/N: Ooohh! Bet y'all thought it was Victoria that was the vampire lurking around! :P I know we don't really know much about Maria's personality I think... but this is the personality I think Maria should have... but then again that's just my opinion :) Hope you like it