Chapter Eighteen
1 Leah finally managed to drag herself away from the shower at some point, put on some fresh clothes, brush her hair out, and leave the bathroom to face the world again. Unsurprisingly, Sam was there, as were her mom and Billy. Sighing inwardly, she joined them in the living room and dropped herself on the old but well-maintained couch. She'd always loved so much to spend lazy hours lounging on that thing, reading a good book. Better times. Great times. For about a minute or so, they all just sat there – Leah and Sue on the couch, Billy in his wheelchair opposite them, Sam standing around and brooding.
Finally, Leah could take it no longer. She threw up her hands, rolled her eyes, and said, "Bring it, guys. I can take it."
"It wasn't your fault," Billy said, his tone allowing for no protest. "None of it. Stop blaming yourself. You did the best you could with what little you had. That was brave."
Leah couldn't even say why, but those words made her feel so, so heavy. "Can we put off the heart-to-heart until I've caught some shut-eye? I haven't slept in a while."
"None of us have," Sam said. When she looked up, she saw that he was glowering at her. "Look, I know it must've been awful, being forced to work with that…that leech, but you had no choice. I'm willing to accept that."
Something about how he said it made her want to chuck a lamp at his stupid head. Had he always been this condescending? Good gravy. "I have always had a choice, Sam. I'm not a damsel in distress who reacts to things and gets pushed around by the powers that be. I took action. Demetri helped me. He didn't force me to do anything. We teamed up to stop you idiots from killing yourselves by attacking super-charged Cullens. Don't presume to tell me what my choices were."
A heavy, awkward silence ensued.
"I was just trying to hold out an olive branch," Sam snapped.
It took Leah all she had not to roll her eyes. "Don't, okay? You made your choices; I made mine. The mess that resulted is on all of us. We all have to deal with it. Just stop it with the pack-leader shit. I'm my own pack-leader, now, and I am so not in the mood for one of your little lectures." She was her own leader until the vampire venom wore off, at least. No-one knew what was in store for her, then.
"What do you think your vampire friend is gonna do next?" Sue cut in, before a full-fledged argument could unfold.
Leah shifted her weight to get a proper look at her mom – her poor mom, who had so much crap flying her way, it was a marvel she was still functioning. The least Leah could do for her was respect the fact that she obviously didn't want to talk about Seth. "He wants to hunt the death-baby and its drones down," Leah said, after discreetly clearing her sore throat. "I'm going with him."
"Yeah, I figured," Sam said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Leah, that has got to be the single most stupid-"
"I didn't ask for your opinion," she interrupted coldly. "You have your responsibilities here. I have to do something useful, but I'm of no use if I sit around at home. I can help catch that freak-"
"And my son," Billy said quietly. Everyone looked at him. He was calm and composed, but it wasn't hard to recognise the colossal effort that this took him. "If the vampires go alone, they'll kill him without thinking twice about it. You need to be there. You need to be that leech's conscience. You need to. I need you to."
"If that freak's even capable of having a conscience," Sue said grimly, shaking her head, looking down at her hands in her lap, her face a grimace of repulsion.
"He is," Leah said, briefly touching her mother's upper arm. "He could've killed Seth and claimed it to be self-defence. He didn't. He helped some of the children make it through the battle alive and in one piece. He won't kill Jacob unless there's no other choice." She locked eyes with Billy again. "I won't, either. I promise you that." She raised her hand to scratch the back of her neck, but thought better of it when her fingertips touched the fresh bandage. The itching was pretty bad, but scratching the wound open wouldn't exactly help much, in the long run. She sighed. What was she even doing, distracting herself with this bullshit? Feeling heavy and useless and as old as time, she said, "It's about the only thing I can promise you, Billy."
"That's all very intense," Sam said, "but what about those Italian vamp government types coming over to clean house? As far as I know, they didn't make any deal to work with us."
"They didn't," Leah said, unable to stop herself from smiling a little. She couldn't even really say why. It was gallows humour, probably, which was a side-effect of several fuses blowing in her head. "At least our lives keep on being not boring."
2 "It would be a huge mistake," Demetri told Caius, holding his ground with ease, arms crossed, brows furrowed. "We are only as good as our word. I made a promise – a reasonable one, at that, which can only be beneficial to us."
"They're werewolves, Demetri," Caius said, exasperated, looking as if he were trying to glare him into compliance. "Our enemies. That's the only reason they even exist: to kill vampires. How can you defend such abominable creatures? We'll only be safe once each and every one of them is dead and gone." Visibly irritated, he scratched at the scar tissue covering his throat, as if he were actually trying to get rid of an itch. Maybe he was, in his mind. Psychosomatic ailments were not unheard of amongst vampires.
They were all standing in sort of a circle in the Swan living room, which probably looked pretty ridiculous from an outside perspective, but Irina didn't really find it in herself to even chuckle wearily. During the earlier exchange, she'd only stood there in silence, contemplating the distinct possibility that she was about to die a very gruesome death.
"I know you hate werewolves for a very good reason, but these are completely different and have nothing at all to do with the ones we've met before," Demetri went on firmly. There was something to be said about a man who stood by his promises and deals this vehemently, even against the power of his superiors. "They will live their lives in peace if we leave these lands. In a few generations, they won't even be able to turn into wolves anymore unless constantly exposed to vampires, and that can easily be averted. They pose no threat to us. On the contrary: we need their assistance to regain control over this messed-up situation."
"They pose no threat to us? Well, that's not entirely true, if you'll forgive the objection," Jasper threw in casually, as if this whole situation were no more serious than a political debate on TV. "They did off a bunch of my former friends just a few hours ago with relative ease."
What was wrong with him? He had the power to calm everyone down, and yet, here he was, just watching, even adding fuel to the flames, not even trying to hide the fact that he was enjoying himself quite thoroughly. Irina remembered how he'd tried to make her attack him, just so that he'd have an excuse to kill her. He was such an asshole. It was so, so infuriating, watching a nice guy like Demetri bending backwards to prevent a genocide, while Jasper here just casually screwed with everyone with impunity because one of the Volturi leaders wanted to add him to his coven. They were the vampire government. Where was the justice in that behaviour?
"They killed your friends because they and you broke their rules, first," Demetri shot back. It was the first time Irina had ever witnessed him at all close to losing his composure. He wiped his right hand across his mouth, took a deep breath, and shook his head, before re-focussing his attention on Caius. Again, he raised his hands in a gesture that was clearly meant to signal patience. "There's been an abundance of unnecessary deaths around these parts. What do you think is going to happen if we slaughter an entire Native American society? They already lost a number of their children. That fact alone will not escape public scrutiny. Imagine how big the media interest will be if all of them die. Let's not make it any worse than it already is; I implore you."
"Also, they make pretty strong allies," Bella said, calmly facing every single one of the others, one by one. "They're faster than we are – a lot faster. I'm a new-born, and any one of them is able to outrun me with ease. Working with us, it gives us all the advantages, including protection from precogs such as Alice."
Alec's teenage-looking, slightly round and cutesy little face crunched up in what could only be interpreted as reasonable doubt. "What makes you think this would work on any other vampire with psychic powers?"
Bella met his look squarely and shrugged. "If all shields such as me function similarly, it stands to reason to believe most precogs have similarly working gifts, doesn't it?"
Wow. That was actually smart and made sense. Bella's cognitive abilities really had improved ever since she gorged herself on living human blood. Just thinking about blood made Irina's throat burn. Even not breathing, she could hear the heartbeat of poor, sedated Renée Dwyer, who was upstairs, lying in her bed. Irina was still full, but paradoxically, it was harder to resist her thirst now than it had been when she'd still been clean. What a wretched situation this was.
A few tense seconds ticked by, during which Caius and Demetri just stared at each other, each clearly willing the other to back down.
At length, Caius said, "Why exactly are you this hell-bent on protecting these animals? Is there something going on that I should know about? Tell me, is this vehemence of yours a result of personal stakes, or are you really just worried about our existence being exposed to humanity at large? Unfortunately, I am rather inclined to believe the former."
All the muscles in Demetri's face tightened. He took a step back. "I am a man of my word. That is all that is going on."
"Really? I don't believe you. It pains me to say this, but I really do not believe a single word coming out of your mouth right now," Caius said flatly.
Chelsea exchanged a little look with Demetri and then made a face at Caius. "This is ridiculous, boss. Your werewolf paranoia is getting the best of you. He would never lie to us – not him. All he's doing is what he always does: his duty." Did she sound a little apprehensive underneath that good-humoured, casual surface behaviour? Yes, she did.
"We must make sure," Corin said tonelessly. She was practically glued to Caius, which, to Irina, was a little weird. It wasn't any of her business, though.
Caius nodded once. "Jane."
"I'm sorry, Demetri," Jane said blankly.
A split second later, Demetri doubled over, face contorted in agony, and went down on his knees, pressing his fists against his midsection. Irina started. Jasper was quicker. He darted over to where she was, put both arms around her, and crushed her harshly against himself, basically immobilising her. Immediately, she felt serenity washing over her like a tidal wave. Despite herself, she went limp in his arms, leaning her head backwards against his collarbone. The creepy thing was, almost everyone – all except Corin – reacted basically the same way: their shoulders slumped, their arms dropped to their sides, their heads bowed.
"Come on, people," Jasper said, calm as a summer's morning. "There's really no need for any of this nonsense. He's telling the truth. This is all about keeping the peace. Law and Order: Forks, Washington."
"Are you serious?" Chelsea said, eyebrows raised, not even trying to hide her bafflement and irritation.
He flashed a bright smile. "As a heart-attack, honey."
What was up with him? None of this was particularly amusing, and yet he seemed to be having the time of his life.
Demetri scrambled back up on his feet and adjusted his shirt and jacket. "I am telling the truth," he said, exchanging a meaningful look with Chelsea, who didn't seem at all happy with the turn of events. "I honestly believe that we are better off cooperating with the Quileute wolves rather than killing them all off." He waited, but no-one said anything in reply. "Times are changing. You want secrecy? Causing another massacre in the same area this soon would be an unmitigated disaster."
"I agree," Jane said, as if she hadn't just tortured one of her own to the ground with a single thought.
"I do, as well," her brother said, reaching out to give her hand a little squeeze.
"Most of us are on the same page here because it's the only thing that makes sense," Chelsea said, giving her superior a piqued look. "Caius? Please be reasonable."
"You can let go of me, now," Irina told Jasper, trying hard to stay calm. Being crushed like that to another person against her will wasn't exactly pleasant. Also, she couldn't really say that she was overly fond of the little bastard.
"You can also stop it with the brainwashing," Corin said, giving Jasper a black look.
Jasper let go of Irina, who hastily stepped away from him, and said, "All right. Fair enough. Let's get one thing straight, here, though, folks: I don't care one single bit about that pack of dogs; I don't. As far as I'm concerned, they can all go die in a fire. They might just as well live for the next five-thousand years. I don't care. What I do care about, what we all care about is staying alive – or undead, if that suits you lovely people better. It doesn't matter what you want to call it. Now, will letting the wolves live prolong our own lives? For a while, it will. Maybe they'll decide to try and hunt us all down once this cluster-fuck's been resolved. Maybe they won't. Fact is, though, right now, we can use their help for the current clean-up job." He glanced at Demetri, who was frowning at him. "Long story short, I whole-heartedly advocate for allowing the feisty young Miss Clearwater to join us on our little hunting trip."
Irina stared at him sideways, torn between disgust and approval. Yes, Jasper was an asshole and a bit (okay, probably a lot) of a sadist. He was also right. Besides, he knew perfectly well that Caius wanted to snatch him up and shanghai him to Volterra, which meant that if Jasper wanted a little leeway, he'd get it. He couldn't just be tortured into submission because his gift required his cooperation, because he could will even Jane into not wanting to pain him, and because he might actually be immune to any kind of coercion at all due to the fact that he was a complete and raging psycho.
That last bit, however, was only Irina's pet theory and very much up for debate.
Caius let this all sink in for a moment, before exchanging a little nod with Corin, briefly locking eyes with Chelsea, and then telling Demetri, "I will put the survival of this tribe in your hands. Take this as a test of your loyalty to us all. You have the opportunity to prove that you are not defending these animals out of personal attachment to this one female. You have the opportunity to prove that you are doing this for the sensible reasons you have listen. Once you have successfully caught the dhampir and eliminated the people it has infected, you're going to kill this female. If you do, I'll know that you were being honest with me and only thinking about the well-being and prosperity of our kind. If you don't, I'll know that you were lying out of selfish reasons. Should that be the case, all the wolves will pay the price, and that will be your punishment." He paused for a moment, probably waiting for a reply, but none came. "Do you understand?"
The silence that ensued was thick and heavy. No-one dared to open their mouths.
Finally, Demetri nodded once, curtly, and said, "Perfectly."
"Great," Jasper said, smiling again. "Can we now get a move on before the authorities show up to question Bella's mother? I really don't want to end up on national television by accident."
"Absolutely," Caius said, trying and failing to return the expression. Alternatively, maybe he really did want to look like he'd just sucked on a lemon. "I really look forward to meeting this legendary Miss Clearwater, who's been the cause for so much inter-species turmoil."
3 Leah had eaten a sandwich and then immediately hit the hay, because she was dead on her feet. Not only hadn't she slept properly in who knew how long, but the vampire poison in her blood was still bogging her down. The neck-wound didn't help any, either. The minute she lay down on her bed, the moment she rested her head on her pillow, she fell into a black, deep, dreamless sleep.
At first, she didn't even notice that someone was shaking her. When she finally did emerge, it was a laborious, slow affair. At length, she managed to open her eyes, blink, focus, and look up at the intruder. It was her mom.
"Honey? I'm so sorry to wake you, but we really need you outside."
Leah rubbed at her eyes, shook her head, covered her mouth with both hands, and yawned. "What…I…what? How late…how long have I…"
"Little more than three hours. I'm really sorry, but you have to come outside." Sue's complexion was uncharacteristically ashen. She looked like she were sick.
A cold, acidic pang of adrenaline coursed through Leah's veins. She bolted upright. "Did something happen to Seth? Did-"
"No, no, he's…safe," Sue said, closing her eyes for a few seconds and shaking her head. "It's your new friend."
Staring at her mom with wide eyes, her heart thumping, Leah said, "Demetri? He's here?"
Sue's expression hardened, even though she still looked rather queasy. "Yes, and he's brought some family."
Holy crap. A thousand thoughts swirled about in her brain all at once. Were they here to kill everyone? Were they here to negotiate? What the fuck? "Damn it!" As soon as Sue stepped aside, Leah swung her legs out of bed, pushed herself up, tottered a little, tugged down on her shirt, sorted out her hair, and nodded. Pain shot through her skull and her stomach lurched. Her neck was burning. Her limbs felt heavy as lead. Catching a break had become a bit of a pipe dream, hadn't it? Goddamn. "Let's go."
They were all standing outside of Sue's house, acting out the stupidest Mexican standoff in the history of the planet: Sam and the remaining wolves against a jolly old group of marblepires. Sam was the only one in human form, but he looked as if he were a second away from phasing.
"The fuck's going on, here?" Leah stumbled to Sam's side, glanced at him, then scanned the little leech crowd.
Demetri was there, looking very uncomfortable, as well as her good pal Jasper and Irina, a.k.a. Alaska Blonde (and thank the self-proclaimed Master of Wit™ Jacob for that silly little nickname). Bell-Bell was there, too, a bored expression on her rearranged doll's face. It still was hard getting used to that. She was the only leech Leah had known as a human, and seeing what vampirism did to a person's looks alone was ungodly creepy. The other vampires must be Demetri's friends from Italy. There were five of them: Tall-ish Blond Dude, Short Busty Lady, Short Skinny Lady, The Shining Twins. Great. Awesome. Now they could start a bonfire and tell each other ghost stories! Yay!
God, really? Was she fucking unable to turn off the sarcasm, now? This was so dumb.
That was when she realised that everyone was sort of staring at her in awkward silence. Oh. Dang. She'd never really been the type to make stellar impromptu speeches. After clearing her throat and stupidly shuffling her feet in the gravel, she crossed her arms, jotted out her chin, and said, "Uhm…can I help you?" It was either that or 'take me to your leader'.
"So, you're the famous Miss Clearwater," Blond Dude proclaimed, speaking with such a snobby upper class English accent, it put even Demetri to shame. What was with these people? Seriously.
"And you, pal, are trespassing," she said, glancing up at Sam again.
"He wants to make a deal," Sam spat contemptuously. He was shaking slightly. It wasn't as if Leah could blame him for being pissed off, but he could at least try to rein himself in a little. Christ.
"Yes," Blond Dude replied, sneering. It was probably supposed to be a smile, though, in all fairness. Impossible to tell. He raised one hand to adjust the unnecessary scarf around his neck. Everyone could still see that he was trying to hide a humongous scar under that. "We're all facing a common threat to our survival. I propose that we should…how did you put it?"
"Team up," Demetri said, his eyes trained on Leah. Oh man, he was not happy at all. What was going on, here? Whatever it was, it wasn't good.
"Yes, team up," Blond Dude said snootily, curving the corners of his mouth up in that weird smile-thing again. Was that supposed to look reassuring? Hoo boy. "Demetri will track the dhampir and its protectors. He'll be accompanied by Isabella Swan, Jasper Whitlock, and your Miss Clearwater."
The wolves growled. His face twisted into a mask of pure loathing, Sam said, "You can't just waltz onto our land and boss my people around! You-"
"Sam, I volunteered," Leah snapped at him through clenched teeth. "Don't you get it? We're burning daylight. I don't like this any more than you do, but we need to catch the death-baby before it enslaves the entire goddamn planet. Now please, just quit it with the fantastical racism and let's get this shit over with! I'm so tired of all of this!" Wow. That just burst out of her. Okay, then. It felt good, though. Naturally, everyone stared at her again. She took a deep, trembling breath. Her neck-wound was throbbing dully and itching like a motherfucker. "Come on, guys. Yeah, it sucks. No, there's no other way around it. Blond Dude, just say your piece and let's all agree to share the sandbox as long as we're forced to, okay?" She clapped her hands together, feeling silly and exposed. "Right."
Blond Dude just looked at her in impassive silence for a moment, before saying, "Very well. Chelsea" – He glanced at Short Busty Lady – "will take Irina Horváthová here back to Volterra and…keep her under observation."
That little pause and Irina's pained face did not bode well at all. Leah couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit sorry for her. She still had Irina's phone, too, come to think about it.
"What about the rest of you?" Sam said, motioning at the remaining leeches.
It was the barely-teenaged boy who replied, "We're insurance," smiling creepily. There was no other way of putting it. That kid looked even less human than the demon-spawn, and that was saying something. It was creepy. It was creepy as all fallout.
Leah's skin broke out in gooseflesh. It wasn't too hard to deduce that this little shit must have some horrifying, horrifying supernatural ability. "You mean, you'll hold everyone here hostage until we're done cleaning up the Cullens' mess."
"Yes," barely-teenaged girl said, sounding infuriatingly self-satisfied, "and before you start complaining, allow us to demonstrate why there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Alec? Would you please?"
"Gladly, sister dear," the boy said.
From one second to the next, Leah was blind. She wasn't just blind, though: she was…nothing. She was gone. There was no sensation, no sound, no sight, no taste, no body oh God no body what had happened to her body oh God no anything nothing nothing nothing. It was as if she'd been unmade. She wanted to thrash, to scream, to fight, but couldn't. There was nothing. She was nothing. It was all gone. Was this death? Was this hell? Had to be. Had to. Blackness formlessness no anything nothing at all anywhere not now not ever it was hell it was-
Her senses returned with a jolt. She inhaled sharply, tottered, fell on her ass. Her whole body was shaking. Her skin was covered in cold sweat. Her heart was thundering against her ribcage. Just in time, she turned her head to the side as her meagre breakfast forced its way back up her gullet. After wiping her mouth with the back of her trembling hand, she blinked tears away and looked about. Everyone was shaky, disoriented, panting. Some wolves were lying on the floor, whimpering.
Good Lord.
That little shit had incapacitated all of them with his mind. This was…that was an ability powerful enough to rival Jasper's. Demetri had had the right of it: the wolves didn't stand a chance against these monsters – not if the monsters saw them coming. Fucking hell. She allowed Sam to pull her to her feet without protest.
"That wasn't necessary," Demetri said, giving Leah an apologetic look if there ever had been one.
She couldn't help but get the impression that there was something going on with him that went way beyond disapproving of supernatural torture. This couldn't be the first time he'd witnessed this kind of thing, after all, and he did work for these people because he believed it was the right thing to do. Then again, maybe she was reading too much into all of this because the two of them had sort of bonded and she didn't want to think of him as being on these assholes' side. It couldn't hurt to keep in mind that nice manners or not, this guy was still a blood-sucking, undead abomination.
"It was necessary," Short Skinny Lady said, deadpan, and touched Blond Dude's arm. Were those two an item or was she simply his bodyguard? Did it even matter? Nope. No, it did not. "Now they understand."
"I can't wait to see you undead pieces of shit off our land," Sam said, voice tremulous. He was shaking pretty badly, now.
Unable to help herself, Leah glanced at Jasper, who was very clearly having a good ole time, smirking like the smug little motherfucker that he was. Bella was right by his side, not emoting at all, but sort of watching him – not blinking, not breathing. Were those two an item? If they were, it would be kind of hilarious, given all the melodrama she'd cooked up during Wardo's short-lived absence. It had to be funny. The reason for this was simple: if Leah couldn't laugh about the mere possibility that Bella had already gotten over Wardo a few hours after his demise, she'd flip out. Badly. Jacob had been sucked into the whirlwind of manipulation and insanity by that selfish bitch, and everything else that had happened was a direct consequence of that. Now Bell-Bell was just standing there, all besties with fucking Jasper of all people, possibly even crushing on him, and all that one-true-love bullshit was null and void? She didn't look overly heartbroken, in any case, no matter what else was going on.
God, how much Leah wished she could just rip that dumb bimbo's head off and toss it into a volcano – hers and Jasper's. She caught herself wishing leeches still had souls, too, because those two at least deserved to burn in hell for all eternity.
"Once the dhampir situation is resolved, we'll leave," Blond Dude said calmly. "Believe me, I have no desire to spend a second longer in this gods-forsaken wasteland you call home than absolutely necessary."
"And I hope that one day, you'll all die screaming – every last one of you freaks," Sam said, and looked down at Leah. "You should go pack your stuff. The sooner this crap-fest gets started, the sooner it'll be over."
This time, she had no desire to tell him to stop bossing her around, because she really couldn't find it in herself to disagree with him. After nodding once, she stiffly headed back inside the house to grab a backpack. There was nothing better to do on a lazy afternoon, anyway.
4 Bitch Barbie From Hell didn't have to sleep or even sit down, but everyone else needed their rest. She of course didn't have a single fuck to give about Jacob or poor Charlie, but she did care about Nessie, and Nessie needed her sleep. Therefore, after running for hours and hours, they decided to camp right where they were, somewhere halfway through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Barbie had suggested a motel, but Jacob had reminded her that it would be criminally stupid to show up in public like this: a woman with bloodstained clothes, a little girl, an unconscious and obviously wounded dude in a police uniform, and a brawny guy wearing nothing but cut-off jeans (and thank God he'd been smart enough to tie those around his leg, as a precaution, before taking off). No-one would buy any sob story they might tell a motel clerk. It was well possible that this morning's snafu was all over the news, and you didn't need to be Einstein to connect the dots if a ragtag group of badly beaten people waltzed into your respectable establishment.
No, a motel would not do. Instead, they settled down amongst the trees. Barbie took off to get some fresh clothes and a first-aid kit for Charlie, as well as potable water and a tent, or something. She was quick as lightning and less conspicuous by herself. People would probably still notice the state her clothes were in, but it was either risking that or letting Charlie die. Jacob knew that she didn't give a rat's ass, but he did, and so, he insisted.
When night rolled around, Barbie was back with whatever supplies fit into her stony arms and into the brand-new backpack she was donning. This included a sleeping bag for Charlie and one for Nessie, as well as a shirt and shoes for Jacob. Once set up, Nessie ate half of a small deer Jacob had hunted for her, and finally went to sleep after crying for over an hour about how disgusting that had tasted. Thank God. Jacob had then helped himself to some venison and settled down next to Charlie, so he could change the bandage on his forehead and check his vital signs.
"He's still alive and he'll stay that way. Stop fretting," Barbie, who was kneeling by Nessie and lovingly smoothing out her hair, said.
"He should've woken up by now."
"He did sort of wake up a few times, so he's not in a coma. Stop fussing and go to sleep. I can't have you slacking when I need you."
Jacob glared at her. "How selfless of you."
She rolled her eyes at him. "I don't care what you think. I don't want to be doing this, but Nessie needs both of us, and we need to keep our wits if we want to outmanoeuvre that Volturi tracker." She snorted derisively and shook her head. "I can't believe Jasper betrayed us."
Jacob made a face. "Really? What exactly was it again that made him seem trustworthy to you in the first place? The fact that we was nailing Manic Pixie Dream Corpse? The fact that he was heroin on legs? His homicidal tendencies? His blatant sadism? His nickname isn't Creepula for nothing."
The look she gave him was cold enough to freeze hell over. It was pretty dark, but not dark enough to render him blind. "Tasteless and vulgar. Typical behaviour for a dog."
"Bite me, you hateful bitch," he said, lay down on the cold forest ground, and closed his eyes.
"Not if you paid me. At least not until we get to Tijuana."
Despite himself, he took a deep breath, and said, "You really think that the whole Mexican turf-war gig will be enough to confuse the walking GPS?"
"For a while. It'll give us some time to prepare our defences, at least," Barbie said, quiet and thoughtful. "We need to gather more vampires. We need to amass an army. If we're lucky, we'll get some with abilities to rival our enemies'. It's the only way we'll be able to defeat both your fleabag friends and the Volturi."
He really wanted to tell her to go fuck herself, but remembered that Nessie didn't like it when they fought, and swallowed the reply down. Instead, he said, "It's a risk, you know, exposing her to strange leeches."
"It's the only chance we have, and you know it." Man, did she sound pissy.
Man, did he despise and hate her undead marble guts. "I know it."
"Shut up and sleep, now. I desperately need a break from your voice, even if I can't get rid of smelling you."
"Do the world a favour and go die in a fire," he said, yawned, turned on his side, and drifted off almost immediately. All in all, it hadn't been such a bad day, had it? At least Nessie was alive and well. In the end, that was all that mattered. In the end, it was the one thing that he would burn the world down to ensure.
5 The clean-up operation was taken out of Demetri's hands, as he did what he was told and prepared for travelling south. Caius and the others would get rid of the rental cars, would get the dazed and confused Renée to the airport, and would perform a little disappearing act that would take themselves out of the spotlight. Of course they'd travelled to America carrying fresh false documentation for Demetri, as well as for the vampires who were supposed to accompany him back to Italy once this whole mess had been taken care of. That made the whole song and dance about recruiting Jasper and Bella a little pointless, but those two had needed the farce, and it was never bad to walk into a situation fully prepared for any outcome.
The Volturi were a well-oiled machine of efficiency, and Demetri himself had been on countless expeditions over the many centuries of his life, both by himself and with an entourage. He knew the drill; it wasn't too complicated. The trick was sticking to himself, drawing as little attention as possible, and not leaving too big a paper trail. He rid himself of the pre-paid phone he'd been using up until now and activated a new one. He'd already burned the old passport. He made sure that he'd left nothing lying around at Charlie Swan's house. Those were small precautions that came naturally to him by now. Being thorough and careful was half the battle in his line of work.
The demon-spawn (was that Leah's terminology or his?) warped his tracking abilities a little bit, but didn't render them useless. He could still tell that it and its bodyguards were moving southward. He'd only be able to pinpoint their direct location once they'd stopped running, of course, and they needed to stop running at some point. It was in the nature of the dhampir to gather a following of blindly devoted acolytes, and for that, it needed to be at least somewhat stationary. Even if they kept on the move, Demetri would, at some point, catch them, though it would take longer that way. The result was always the same. He never failed. All he could do was hope that the dhampir's powers would not grow too much in the interim. The chances of that happening, however, were very slim, and he knew that.
It was the early afternoon when he and the others set out from La Push and started driving south. The first thing he did before their departure was convince Leah to convince her mother to lend them her car. Bella had objected that they were faster on their feet, but Demetri had countered that this was pointless, as he needed time to track and correct directions, which was easier this way, since he wasn't by himself. It was less conspicuous, too, if they all just behaved discreetly instead of running in and out of forests and cities and interstates.
Therefore, it was about two p.m. when they set out in Sue Clearwater's car: Demetri behind the wheel, Leah riding shotgun, Jasper and Bella in the back. They had been driving south for about half an hour when the sun broke through the clouds. Immediately, radiance filled up the car as the light hit the faces of the two vampires sitting in the back.
Leah grimaced and glanced over her shoulder. "For fuck's sake. Go disco-ball somewhere else!" It didn't take a genius to gather that she tended to get irritable when weary.
"We would if we could, darling," Jasper drawled, undoubtedly trying to rile her up, "but I forgot my make-up kit in the smouldering ruins of my former home. You two remember to pack any?"
"Check the bag on the rear window shelf," Demetri said curtly. He was so not in the mood for playing mediator between these people who hated each other from the bottom of their hearts. First of all, he was way too busy trying to keep track of the erratic movements of their quarry. Second of all...
…well, second of all, there was the directive he'd got from Caius and that he couldn't stop thinking about. In all his life, he'd never been caught in a conflict of interest of this magnitude. Usually, all he needed to do was the right thing, and the right thing was always simple and clear-cut. Vampires broke the rules and Demetri took care of them and the mess they'd created. That was all there was to it. That was all there'd ever been to it.
This new situation, however, was far more complicated than that. Yes, werewolves were the vampires' natural enemies, no matter what kind of werewolves they were. Yes, these wolves hated their kind and wanted them all dead. Yes, witnesses were always a liability. On the other hand, so many things had gone wrong in that area during the past week, more deaths would only draw more attention. The whole time the Cullens had stayed in Forks, they'd been extremely suspicious, and now they were all gone, while over twenty people had been viciously murdered? Leaving the wolves alone was definitely smarter in the long run than killing them.
The problem was Caius's werewolf phobia and his general distrustful nature. Someone forged a temporary alliance with a wolf? Oh, they must be a lying, traitorous, dirty turncoat with a selfish agenda! Now, what the hell was Demetri supposed to do? What was the right thing? The truth was, he liked Leah. She was smart and strong and courageous and proactive and just plain decent. All she'd done ever since he'd met her was be helpful and try to save lives. He didn't want to simply murder her in cold blood for no reason but his superior's racism and paranoia issues. The world would be in a worse state for losing a good person like Leah; it always was. Demetri should know: he'd seen many good people die over the years, and the world had been poorer for it every single time.
On the other hand, if he didn't do it, the entire tribe would be wiped out, and didn't the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few? Leah, unsuspectingly sitting next to him and trying not to doze off with limited success, would appreciate the Star Trek reference. He listened to her strong and steady heartbeat and, for the first time in a long time, he caught himself wishing that he had one, too. It was a little pathetic, but he couldn't help it. It would be nice to have some physical reaction to the uneasiness and fear poisoning his insides. There was no easy way out of this one. No, there was no easy way out, and at some point, he would have to make a very difficult decision. Thankfully, there was some time left. He'd try not to worry about any of this until he absolutely had to.
As Leah yawned heartily for about the fifth time in twice as many minutes, he took off his jacket, even though it was weirdly cold in the car, and handed it to her, saying, "Here. Use this as a pillow and sleep a little. You need it." For a moment, he thought that she would either protest the suggestion or make some comment on how cloyingly sweet his jacket probably smelled to her, but she did nothing of the kind.
"Thanks," she said, folded the jacket, and tucked it under the side of her face as she leaned her head against the passenger-side window. "Please wake me when we get wherever."
"I will. Just sleep, now. We'll be on the road for a few hours."
Not a minute later, she was breathing slowly and steadily, and her heartbeat slowed down. She trusted him. After what they'd been through together, there was no reason why she shouldn't, right? Right.
Suppressing the useless urge to take a deep breath, he focussed on tracking the dhampir again, whilst Leah slept soundly and the other two chatted amongst themselves. For now, there was nothing else for him to do – for now. He'd do his duty, though, should the day for a decision arrive, whatever that duty might be. He'd decide what the greater good was and do what he had to, regardless of his personal feelings. Doing whatever was right was the most important thing in the world to him, and that was not about to change. It was the reason he believed he deserved to exist.