A/N: My sincere apologies again for the delay in posting. The good news is, Chapter 8 is already almost complete! Many thanks to katsflowergirls for pre-reading and saritadreaming for Beta work.
~Edward~
This day, January 22, 2005, will go down in my history as one of the longest days of my existence. On this day my mate, Isabella Swan, visited the Quileute reservation, the one place she could go where I could not follow, and where I had reason to be the most afraid for her safety. "Here There be Wolves" is what a map would show if a map existed to mark the location of supernatural beings in the state of Washington.
As expected, the moment Chief Swan's cruiser crossed onto Quileute land, Bella dropped from Alice's visions no different than if she'd been shot with an arrow through the heart. It was bad enough Bella was already extremely difficult for Alice to see, an anomaly we could only assume had to do with Bella's swiftly changing moods. At least the constantly blurry visions showed life, showed movement, showed there was at least some kind of future. While my mate—my reason for existing—was on enemy territory, it was as if they had already taken her from me.
While I knew she would more than likely come home safely, me being me could not help but reflect on what my life would be if she was no longer part of my world. The loneliness of the last eight decades would be nothing compared to what I would feel after finding her and then losing her. My already purposeless existence would become even more torturous to plod through as I waited for the sun to complete its transition from yellow dwarf to red giant and obliterate this planet I am bonded to till the end of time.
From my perch on the black leather couch in my room, I counted the seconds of each passing minute until her expected return. Since there was no human façade to maintain, I sat still as stone, only taking the occasional shallow breath I instinctively needed to maintain awareness of the scents around me. I refused to wait for Bella at her home, stalking her like a panther waiting for prey at the burrow of some small, furry creature. It was bad enough I guarded her at night, watching her sleep and obsessing over every word she let slip while dreaming.
There was a timeline I had established in my head, allowing myself to set a goal for how long I would force myself to wait before seeking out my other half. They left for the reservation at 10:07am. At 10:32am, Bella disappeared from Alice's visions. If Alice was unable to see Bella by 1pm, I would either break the treaty to find her on their land, or, more likely, my family would be sitting on top of me to prevent me from doing so.
Sitting on my fashionable couch, the perfect couch for an overly-emotional being that sparkles like a disco ball in the sun, I looked back on the past couple of days to try figuring out exactly what I was to Bella. For me, she was my everything. For her, as far as I could tell, I was a walking, talking, sometimes breathing, reminder of the worst time in her life. I had my work cut out for me. This, of course, explains why I spent all of class on Thursday ignoring her like a geeky, middle school boy. I may as well have put gum in her hair.
Friday was an improvement; I made her laugh. I will be forever grateful to the creators of The Princess Bride for giving me that moment with my Bella. Watching her eyes light up and her mouth turn up in a true smile made me feel like I'd finally done something right by her. The most amazing was seeing what she looked like, if only for a few seconds, when her face was not drawn with worry and stress. It was now my goal to bring fun and light to her as often as possible.
I was in the middle of enjoying the photo perfect memory I have of Bella's laughing face, when another image of Bella entered my consciousness. Alice. Finally, Alice had seen that Bella would be spending a good part of the afternoon napping before waking up and making her father a complex meal. In the vision, she appeared pre-occupied as she bustled around the kitchen. Even on a Saturday evening, after what should have been a simple, care-free day, she seemed stressed and withdrawn. I ached to know what bothered her—what I could do to make things better.
Now that I knew she was safe, I finally felt as if I could loosen my vigil on Alice's head and give her husband a break from my brooding. I decided to see if Emmett would like to take a quick hunt with me; I needed some of my brother's lighter outlook on life.
Grumbling to myself about humans and appearances, I put on my winter-wear disguise while asking Emmett if he wanted to go find a hibernating bear or two to play with. Always up for a hunt, Emmett burst through my door and gave me a fist pump emphatic enough to put a hole through an armored tank. Luckily, only one of my knuckles was cracked in the process. Shooting Emmett a dirty look, I gave the back of my hand a quick lick of my venom to speed up the heeling.
"Sorry, bro," he commented, clearly only being polite instead of actually penitent.
"Save it; let's go." I returned, looking forward to stretching my legs before I took up vigil outside of Bella's home.
We had a few hours, which made a run up to Canada sound like a fine idea to both of us. The bears had been asleep for a couple of months by then and made fine sport when roused. We were careful to stay away from the mother bears nursing the young that had been born to them as they slept. Using our senses, we targeted older bears past reproductive age to minimize any detrimental effect on the population. While playing with our food may seem crass and cruel to some, we considered it a small reward for forgoing our proper diet of homo sapiens, for which Ursus arctos horribilis was actually a pretty poor substitute.
Emmett lucked out and found a suitable sleeping bear after a brief search over the Canadian border. I prepared to sit and wait for him to finish when lady luck took mercy on me as well and sent a mountain lion my way; a favorite of mine. The cat was older, past her prime, and I considered myself to be doing her a favor by putting her down gently instead of having her torn apart by vicious badgers when she grew too weak to hunt or defend herself. Her blood slid down my throat, not quite soothing the burn entirely but taking enough of it away that it became easy to ignore. Only human blood could completely eradicate the scorching throat that is a vampire's constant curse. It has been over seventy years since I have felt the release; as much as I hate to admit it, I long for it, at least for a brief moment, every day.
Finished with our hunt, Emmett and I slowly make our way back to Forks. As usual, Emmett's thoughts were centered on Rosalie, and he looked forward to telling her about the bear. For once, I, too, had a mate to think about and continued to plan different ways to make her laugh again. I think Emmett has an old whoopee cushion around somewhere. Obviously, I had not entirely lost my lame sense of humor from when I was human.
Emmett and I parted when the zenith moon reached the top of the sky dome. My path to Bella's was well marked from my constant comings and goings, and I wasted no time making my way to the tree I had claimed as my watch tower. The angle was such that I had a perfect view of her bed, and I saw her asleep but tossing and turning in blankets wrapped around her like a Kraken. If she remained true to form, talking would follow the churning as she begged her mother not to leave her. I considered myself fortunate that I had no heart to break as I watched her struggle.
Something was different tonight, nothing I could articulate, but different all the same. Maybe it was the slight canine smell coming from her room, or maybe it was the extra bit of worry for his daughter I detected in her father's thoughts. Apparently, dinner did not go well. Whatever it was, I found myself unable to sit in my tree and watch the nightmares come for my mate this night, their black tales and fiery miens too much torture for such a slight girl.
Knowing full well the relaxing effect my scent had on those meant to be our prey, I leapt lithely into her room, soundlessly landing next to her bed. I crouched there, right where her head was moving back and forth, as she mumbled, No no! in her sleep. Sending light breaths her way, I fully expected to see her sink deeply into slumber due to the natural anesthetic lightly infused in my outgoing air.
Having no reason to expect the unexpected, I was fully unprepared when she shot up awake from the bed and started frantically looking around her room, clutching the blanket to her trembling body. Thankfully, instinct took over, and my body was back in my tree before the tail ends of her hair had risen off the bed. She was fully awake and showing definite signs that she knew I had been there. Her wide open eyes showed white all around the irises, and her breaths came fast and quick; each one a stab to my conscience for scaring her like this.
I was not sure what to do; I did not know if I should stay where I was and wait for her to calm down or if I should come clean and confirm for her that I was there. What would make her happy?
While I was thinking about my options, she started pacing in her small room. On her fifth turn by the door, right when I had decided to go to her, she surprised me by flinging it open and storming out. I could hear the uneven thuds on the stairs as she stumbled down; I winced hoping she would not fall to the bottom. There was a swish of cloth as a jacket was lifted from a hook and thrown on, and then a door opened and closed quickly but quietly. For her, I checked to make sure her father was still asleep; he was.
As if she was still on the stairs, she stumble-walked to the woods, stopping briefly at the tree line before plunging in. I followed close enough to keep watch but far enough behind to prevent her from smelling me again. Her toes seemed to snag on every tree root she went by; luckily, she remained on her feet, instead of falling head first into a tree.
I could not tell what she was getting out of this run in the forest; it was certainly not what I would have expected from her. If she went much further and did not calm down, I would not have much choice but to catch up to her to take her back to the safety of her home. It was a chilly night, for a human, and she was wearing only a sleep set of cotton shorts and t-shirt under the inadequate jacket she had grabbed. Once her adrenaline tapered off, she would feel every bit of the cold night air on her over-heated skin.
I was about to call quits to this escapade when she stopped of her own volition and sank down onto the ground in front of an uprooted tree. She stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned back against the gigantic root ball that had been ripped from the earth in a recent storm. As if she was at home in an old recliner, she wiggled around a bit and made herself comfortable. If it was not for the quiet mumbling coming out of her mouth, she would look almost normal.
Her words are disjointed and fast. "No—I won't—too scared!—why me?"
Irrespective of her relaxed pose, she was still very much on edge and frightened. Again, I considered going to her. For once, I almost wished my fortune-telling sister would contact me and let me know what course of action was best. I reached for my phone thinking I would give her a quick call, when I saw the screen was already lit with an incoming call from Alice.
"Alice, I was just going to call you. Do you see anything happening with Bella?" I spoke to my sister in the high-pitched voice vampires had the ability to use. It allowed us to communicate without any of the humans hearing us.
"I saw you decide to call me, but that is it. I can't see where you are or anything with Bella. What's going on? Are you both on the reservation?" Alice's voice was actually pitching higher and higher in her agitation of not being able to see. I needed to settle her down so we could talk but her worry was making me worry.
"We're in the woods behind Bella's house. You should be able to see us clearly."
We both voiced it at the same time, "Unless the wolves are here—"
Right then, several voices entered my head while, simultaneously, a horrific odor assailed my senses. I could only compare it to a dead wet dog I once found in the bottom of an overflowed septic tank—multiplied by a factor of one thousand. Fighting every urge I had to run and find the nearest tub of bleach with which to dunk the wolves into, I instead quickly ended my call with Alice and focused on what those voices were saying.
Look, Leah, I don't care that it was the original and set the path for the rest. Star Trek the Next Generation was way better than plain old Star Trek. Captain Kirk was a douche.
You imbecile, Jake. What exactly does it mean when you compare someone to a feminine hygiene product? You're not even intelligent enough to have this conversation with. Not to mention that, unlike both Kirk and a douche, the fact that Picard hardly ever saw the inside of a pussy pretty much seals the deal on who was the better man.
Are you two having this argument again? Don't you have anything better to talk about?
Fuck off, Quil; go back to your babysitting and leave us alone.
Ugh, Leah's such bitch. I'd much rather take care of my little Claire than be saddled with an adult imprint anything like Leah.
All right already! Leah, we're almost there. Focus. We'll talk more about your measure of a man later.
Sounds like she'd respect me more if I had a willing harem of females. Too bad the imprint prevents me from so much as a half mast flag rise around anyone but her.
Fuck, I forgot Jake's still basically a virgin. I'm never going to get this right.
This fascinating conversation was apparently the mental musings of multiple wolves. I would have to tell Carlisle this news as we were not aware they had any telepathic ability. I almost felt sorry for them given the obvious lack of privacy.
Jake, I knew, was actually Jacob Black, Ephraim Black's heir. Leah was a surprise as I had been unaware the females of the tribe could phase.
This is the Swan house? Doesn't look like Chief of Police pays very well. Can't believe we have to patrol near this dump.
Come on, Leah, like anyone else on the Reservation has a house anywhere near this nice. If you're expecting better for us, you're in for disappointment.
Oh, don't worry, Jake. I know exactly how fucking disappointing the rest of my life is going to be.
Damn it, Leah! Why do you have to say shit like that?
Fuck you, Jake! It's not like I have any more control of my thoughts than you do.
Come on, guys, I'm still patrolling here at the Res and could use a break from the bickering.
Sorry, Seth.
I could only assume Jake and Leah were a couple, an unhappy couple by the sound of it. Of course, the condition of their relationship was meaningless to me; I only wanted to know why they felt the need to patrol near my Bella's home.
Ugh, what the fuck is that smell?
Vampire; there must be a vampire near here. Fuckers smell like candy canes dipped in battery acid.
It pleased me to know the odor assault went both ways. One under-utilized portion of my brain took a small moment to wonder if the acrimony between shape shifters and vampires was solely due to olfactory annihilation. The rest of my brain did not care.
I smell Bella around here somewhere, too. I don't think she's in the house.
Really, Jake? You remember what she smells like that well? I'm so happy to know what an impression she made on my imprint.
Leah, not this again; you don't forget a scent any more than I do, so back off. Fuck, why can't my supposed mate be more like Bella? Ah, damn it! She heard that.
Thanks a lot, Jake.
I would have to assure Leah that she need not deal with this Jake for much longer since I was going to be ripping him to shreds for presuming to compare his mate to mine—even if my mate did come out to be the superior one.
I'm sorry, Leah. Look, let's just find the blood sucker and figure out what it wants with the Swans, okay?
Yeah, Jake, okay.
I was torn between meeting up with the wolves and keeping watch over my Bella. While I had been focused on the conversation in my head, she had been slowly calming down as she rested near the tree. Her heart rate had slowed and she was no longer mumbling aloud. With her head leaned back and her eyes closed, she appeared to be anyone taking a simple cat nap.
The smell of the shape-shifters getting closer prodded me to move further away from Bella in the hopes that they would come to me first before seeking her out. We needed to talk but I did not want her aware of any of this.
After a few minutes of listening to more bickering back and forth about whether or not to find me or Bella, they finally headed my way.
Abruptly, the stench was halved and an odd energy emitted from a spot a couple hundred yards from where I stood. One of the wolves had phased to human. This pleased me as I was not ready to give away my mind reading ability.
My first glimpse of them revealed a tall, russet-skinned boy with shaggy black hair and no clothing save for a pair of raggedy cut-off sweat pants; he was accompanied by a sleek, gray wolf whose shoulder height was only slightly lower than my own. Disgusting odor aside, she was actually quite majestic looking, and I found myself a bit in awe of what this small, ancient tribe was capable of. It was too bad the personalities did not seem on par with the appearance.
Knowing myself to be the eldest at the gathering, and the most mature from what I had seen of their thoughts, I decided to lead the meeting off as non-acrimoniously as possible.
"Go away." I thought that was polite enough, considering the circumstances.
"We'll go away as soon as you're about five miles further away from that human over there, you filthy blood sucking scum bag."
Scum bag? I had not heard that particular epithet in quite some time.
Scum bag? Jake, what are you? Twelve?
There was no response from Jacob to Leah's thought, so the mind meld must only be in place while in wolf form. Interesting. Still, not the priority right now.
"While I applaud your originality when it comes to insults, I assure you that the human over there is in no danger from me. We're friends, and I'm making sure she's safe. So, like I said—go away."
"What the hell does a human need a vampire to keep her safe from? It's our job to keep the humans safe, not yours. Get the fuck back to your crypt before I carry you there in pieces."
This lovely threat was accompanied with quite the fierce drawing together of heavy black eyebrows and flexing of overly large biceps. A younger vampire would have been scared, I'm sure.
As entertaining as this conversation was, I did have a mate to get home safe and sound which made the continued delay very irritating. I tried to remain calm as I was in danger of simply eliminating both of them on the spot and causing an inter-species, supernatural war. I decided to try once more, this time without the sarcasm which maybe was a bit too much for his limited intellect.
"Look, my family has reason to keep a special watch on the Swans. I assure you, we're far more capable of guaranteeing her safety than a tribe of young shape-shifters could ever be."
I no sooner finished speaking when the boy strode up to me to stand toe to toe; I am sure it was an attempt to emphasize the unnatural height and width he was afflicted with as an intimidation technique. Unfortunately for him, the wrinkled nose ruined the effect.
"Your family will keep away from the Swans, or we'll keep you away. That's what you can be assured of, you filthy blood-sucker." Young Jacob tried to assert as much malice as possible into his words.
While I would give him an A for effort, his delivery was a bit too dramatic to be taken seriously. My patience was at an end, though, as I knew every second I spent dealing with this mongrel, my mate was getting more and more chilled from the cold ground.
In a move too fast for the mutt to see, I jumped and flipped in the air to land on my feet behind him while, at the same time, I kicked into the back of his legs, bringing him to his knees. Enforcing the position, I pushed down on his shoulders with my hands and dug my fingers into muscle and bone, the resulting pain preventing him from phasing.
Before the gray wolf could defend her mate, I had my razor sharp teeth at the boy's throat, ready to bite at the slightest provocation. I raised my eyebrows at her, signaling her to back down if she wanted me to ease up on him. I counted on them both being aware that my bite would be fatal to the shape-shifter, regardless of whether or not I drank whatever foul-smelling liquid passed for blood in his body.
I waited for Leah to be a two hundred yards away before addressing the couple once again, ignoring the empty threats in Jacob's head about impending disembowelment. I don;t need my bowels anyway; I'm not even sure I have them anymore.
"I hope there's no longer any uncertainty as to who should be protecting Ms. Swan. I'm going to let your companion go now and expect you both to tuck tail and run back to your sovereign land. Do not presume to call our little scuffle a treaty violation as no human was harmed during the making of your humiliation." It amused me to speak to them like a haughty asshole.
Once Leah gave the obligatory growl of displeasure and then nodded in agreement, I let up on Jacob and leapt back as I knew his phasing would be instantaneous. As expected, he immediately turned wolf and whirled around, attempting to attack me. Disappointed, and bored with such a predictable response, I delivered a round house kick to his shoulder, sending him skidding along the forest floor into his mate. Jacob tried to come after me again, but Leah firmly took his tail into her mouth and started dragging him in the opposite direction. If I could have died, it would have been then from laughing at the sight.
I could hear Leah convincing Jacob to head home by promising they would get me next time, that I had only been lucky tonight. Too bad in wolf form, he could see as easily as I the lie behind her words. I was done with them, though, and headed back to Bella, anxious to get her back into her room.
During the short altercation with the wolves, Bella had slumped down further and was curled up as tightly as could be. Her heart rate had slowed to an alarming rate, and I feared that hypothermia was imminent. I knew holding her to my body would only make her colder; I scooped her up wedding-style but kept my arms fully extended while running her back home.
Once I approached the Swan house, a quick moment of focus revealed Chief Swan was still asleep and had not become aware of his daughter's absence. Thankful that at least one thing had gone right this evening, I gently placed Bella back in her bed and covered her with as many blankets as I could find. A quick rummage through the kitchen yielded a pound of rice which I quickly poured onto a towel and then heated in the microwave. Back in her room, I tied up the warm little bundle with one of my shoelaces and placed it against her chest to aid in heating her core.
There being nothing left I could do for her, I sat in the tree outside her window and counted the ways I would damage the Jacob wolf if she did not recover fully from tonight's adventures. Yet, I knew that if I was going to be honest with myself, it was my earlier presence that had set her off in the first place. I vowed to myself never to enter her room without permission again.
A/N: I know this chapter was a bit short, I'm trying to limit one POV per chapter and this one had to end here. Chapter 8 should be posting very soon though!
A bit of news, if you don't mind. I'll be submitting a story to the Fandom Against Juvenile Diabetes effort. If you are interested in obtaining the collaboration, please see my profile for the link.
