A/N: Just a friendly reminder, this chapter was quickly posted after the previous one so you might want to check and make sure you read it in the right order.
29 - Epiphany
It was late in the afternoon I did not have work today so instead I was planning on doing some hard core studying for my biology class, final exams were less than a month away and this was the one class I needed to put in the extra work to get that A. The current topic was not that exciting, who the heck cared about the flower color of sweet peas? Did it really matter whether they were going to turn out pink, red or white?
It is a good thing Phila was not around, she would have probably ripped me a new one for having such sacrilegious thoughts. Genetics is one of the underpinning concepts of biology; if you do not understand genetics you might as well not bother learning biology. Her words, not mine.
Gathering up all my notes and arranging them in neat piles on my desk I started reviewing what we had gone over last time in class. Seriously who cared about an Austrian monk from the 19th century with a horticultural fetish?
It was not a big surprise that when less than ten minutes my mind started wandering into other topics - the fact that it was getting close to dinnertime was the prominent thought that kept distracting me from my studies. There was no way to retain any information if I did not get something to eat; so heading downstairs I went through my options of recipes that were not beyond my skill set - peanut butter and jelly sounded good right about now. Hopefully Tiffany had not finished off all the milk again, I have had to resort to trying to hide the stuff in order to have enough to eat with my cereal. Cindy had gone to pick up her children from school an hour ago, so it was only the family left in the house.
I found Tiffany in the kitchen wearing a tube top and daisy duke shorts, she was finishing off what from the godawful smell was one of her protein drinks. Next to her were five empty cans of the same stuff, her drink did not smell very appetizing but at this point Tiffany was going for calories and not taste. It was amusing to think how many girls would kill to have her metabolism - or come to think of it my mine was not that bad either, eat anything you want and not gain a pound.
"Afternoon Leah, how are you?" She asked in a cool tone, her voice was devoid of all emotion. When Phil used his emotionless tone it was scary, but when Tiffany did so it gave me the creeps. Phil had told me that Tiffany is capable of completely clamping down and shutting off all emotion, it was something her kind could do.
"Fine just getting ready to do some studying." Trying to be polite but not wanting to get into a deep conversation, I headed for the pantry to gather up my supplies.
"Do you want to watch Jasper and my training session? We will be going full out today to see if he has learned anything." She continued in that dead voice.
"Cut the emotionless crap you are really starting to creep me out." I told her with a shudder.
"Pardon me? Oh, I apologize I was just reading something and I did not want my emotions to color my judgement of their conclusions." It was strange, you could practically hear the moment she let her feelings come back in. "My suggestion is valid, you might consider joining us, you never know what you might learn."
Declining her offer I quickly made my sandwich and headed back upstairs. It was after twenty minutes of unsuccessful crossing of a pink rough pea with a white smooth pea that I finally gave up. Almost the second I looked outside the window there were two streaks of white across the lawn. Jasper was here and he had brought Emmett with him again. Oh goodie.
I heard the booming knock on the door a few seconds later, it was somewhat a useless gesture considering they opened the front door and came in even before the sound of their knock had finished reverberating through the house. Good thing that the doors were very solid or they would not have survived Emmett's knock.
It was Emmet who spoke first, his deep voice making it past event the extra soundproofing of my sitting room's walls. "We have arrived, let the party begin."
I looked back down at the cross breeding chart, thoroughly confused and this was supposed to be the easy starter problem. The decision to go downstairs was not that hard, technically speaking I would still be studying biology of sorts. Predator versus predator would be considered under the umbrella of biology.
"Oh look who decided to join us," Angus told me when he saw me appear at the top of the stairs.
"Are you going to fight some, too?" Emmett asked with a great deal of hope looking at me. Why would he want to fight me?
"Don't think so." I said at the same time as Tiffany said. "Maybe a little later."
Giving her a dirty look I headed out the back door, Jasper was already there pacing the length of the backyard in mere seconds. He looked somewhat nervous, though that could be understandable. From the hints that had been dropped it was safe to assume that death squad members, like Tiffany, tended to be the most formidable of their fighters. It could have been their superior skill, but I was beginning to suspect it was the fact that they were not afraid of death - something about being able to survive no matter what could have given them that extra edge.
Tiffany not look all that bad as when she joined us on the field, her pink tube top kept slipping showing a little too much breast whenever she made any sudden movements. If you did not know any better you would say that Tiffany was the underdog in this fight. That was until she unwrapped the cloth covered package she had been carrying under her arm.
I was going with the assumption that it was a sword of some sort inside the leather covering the thing was wrapped in, only the large hilt was visible. I watched as Tiffany grabbed the hilt with one had, the way she wrapped her hand around the sword was almost sensual. Like she was stroking an old lover's...well you know what, her face did not give away anything - she no longer felt any emotions, which meant that Jasper whose special skill was detecting other people's emotions would be blind in that regard. "Wow I have never seen one that big before," I noticed that the sword was almost as long as Tiffany was tall.
"All the ladies tell me that but in the end none of them complain." Angus whispered into my ear, taking my attention away from Tiffany's fondling of her sword.
"This weapon is capable of cutting through most things, including your skin. Are you sure you want to do this Jasper?" Tiffany asked in her cool voice. It was really disturbing that she could do that, but at the same time really handy as well. There were times in the past year when I would have given almost anything to stop being able to feel the emotions surging through me.
Jasper paused for a moment his eyes riveted on the sword. It may have been Tiffany's rubbing of the hilt or the knowledge that this weapon was capable of harming him but Jasper seemed to have a hard time trying to decide.
"Ooooh, really it can cut through us? Can I play?" Emmett interrupted before Jasper could give his answer, he was bouncing around the field almost like a pinball. Was it possible for vampires to had ADD, because Emmett looked like he needed some drugs to help calm him down.
"You are not ready for this yet." Tiffany told Emmett, which had the immediate effect of making him pout.
It was hard not to laugh, here was this old vampire made of cold stone pouting like a five year old being denied ice cream for dinner. It was a surprise that he did not stomp his feet and throw a fit for being told no.
We moved the "party" as Emmett called it to the small natural clearing just past the tree line, that way if someone found the house we would have the shelter of the trees as extra protection from being detected. I found an old half rotted stump to sit down on, this would take a while but it would be interesting to see how it would play out. Personally I was betting of Tiffany and from the nervousness that was radiating from Jasper so was he.
Tiffany had leaned her still leather wrapped sword against a tree, and after putting her breast back into her shirt she simply said. "Begin."
There was a fraction of a second pause while Jasper seemed to draw on some inner reserves and he too cleared his face of emotions. Without warning he attacked but missed his target, she was no longer there and it took Jasper a moment to find her again. This went on for a while, the attack of Jasper with the retreat of Tiffany, there was almost a rhythm to it. Angus and Emmett stood together and discussed sports teams, but both of them kept their eyes on the action in front of him.
In a sick sort of way it was easy to imagine that Tiffany was leading Jasper through the steps of a dance, a beautiful but deadly performance. He was very graceful and frugal in his movement, not making any extra moves. Tiffany's movements were filled with extra steps but at the same she moved with a fluidity that even at slower speeds would have given away the fact that she was not normal.
I would have been hard pressed to say how long this went on, it did not look like time mattered to either one of the dancers. It was a testament as to how good fighters they were that I did not realize the dance was speeding up. Jasper seemed to be picking up on Tiffany's moves but she was starting to move faster; it soon became apparent that she was working just hard enough that Jasper could almost get her, but he would always be a fraction of a second too late.
This must have occurred to Jasper as well because he was starting to get frustrated, he added extra movements that were not necessary. He should have known that he would miss when he tried to grab her leg that last time. This seemed to be the signal that Tiffany was waiting for because she suddenly changed from her avoid and flee elsewhere tactics to a more offensive one.
Without warning she appeared behind Jasper and kicked him in the back. It was hard to imagine how much fore it took to cause Jasper to fall on his face and smash into the ground. Everyone watching cringed when we heard the sound of the impact Japer made, he must have hit a rock or something buried under the ground.
I winced feeling pity for the poor guy, that looked like it hurt. Tiffany jumped back as Jasper rolled over in a movement that was almost imperceptible even to my wolf eyes.
"Oh my god, you are going to let a girl take you down?" Emmett taunted from the sidelines.
"Hmm kind of makes you wonder if his lack of skills extends beyond the battlefield, maybe he can't handle in the girl in the bedroom either." Angus joined in with a nasty comment. "Well maybe I can show that pretty little wife of his what she has been missing out on."
Angus jibe finally pushed Jasper over the edge, his previously golden eyes flooded with blackness signaling that he was not fully in control.
He growled and took a swipe at Tiffany, the way he was holding his hands they looked like claws rather than fingers. I could see that he managed to scratch her leg a little. His smile of victory was soon replaced by a look of hunger.
"Wait stop." I screamed trying to run over to save Tiffany. Angus grabbed my hand pulling me back, but I was too late Jasper had bitten her right on the thigh. Horror overcame me for a moment, I looked at Angus who seemed to be not bothered by the fact that his partner had just been bitten by a vampire.
It did not take a moment but almost as soon as he had attacked her Jasper pulled away and clutched his stomach. He fell to the ground and started rolling around the ground, the sounds coming out of him mouth clearly were one of utter agony.
"I should have warned you, I have an excellent immune system. The blood you drank is now going to attack your body from the inside out. It will not kill you but you will think twice about biting me again." Tiffany told him in a cool voice.
Jasper did not react, I could not tell if it was because he could not understand her or that he was in too much pain to react.
"Hey what the fuck?" Emmett said in a cold tone, it finally clicked for him that someone had hurt his brother.
"He needs to learn to control his impulses, this will train him. Don't worry it just hurts like a son of a bitch, but he will be back to normal in less than half an hour." Angus explained as Emmett tried to help his brother sit up.
"Would you like to learn something now?" Tiffany asked as she came closer to me. I noticed the place where Jasper had bitten her on the leg was completely healed over. There was not even a scab to indicate that she had been bitten less than a minute ago, only a little bit of smeared blood was left but as I watched that too was absorbed by her body.
"Oh sure," but it sounded less than certain. My kind healed quickly but it was nothing compared to her, plus it was amazing that her body did not react at all to the vampire venom.
"Let me try." Emmett said, now it was apparent his brother was going to be all right he was prepared to play again. To my surprise Tiffany agreed to fight Emmet next. I tried to hide my relief, fighting Tiffany was not something to look forward to.
"Now if you look at Emmett he thinks he has the advantage over me, and in strength he really does. But this is something that can be in your favor." She told me and went on to demonstrate how to take down an opponent when they think you are the weaker one. "As a woman you can use this to your advantage, men will always underestimate you just because of the fact that you have breasts."
I watched carefully, this was something that could come in handy. After a few rounds of Tiffany demonstrating her moves on Emmett she offered to let me try. This is how Phil found us, I had Angus in a headlock and was trying to rip off his head.
"You know his head does not reattach." Phil told me with a laugh, giving me a kiss on the cheek. He was not at all bothered by the fact that I was still trying to strangle Angus.
"Yeah keep that in mind." I heard Angus tell me, his voice sounded funny. He must not be getting enough air.
I quickly let go of my opponent's neck and instead wrapped my arms around Phil.
"Dinner anyone?" Phil asked smiling down at me.
"But I have not gotten to use my sword yet." Tiffany protested, the laughter was apparent in her voice. She had brought her emotions back into play, that must mean we were done for the day.
"I would rather not do that tonight." Jasper said finally standing up. "If you were to cut something off it usually takes a while to reattach it."
"Silly that is why be brought the duct tape." Angus explained in the most serious tone I have ever heard him use. He was not kidding, picking up the roll of silver tape he twirled it around a couple of fingers. Jasper did not look comforted by the preparations Angus had made.
Dinner consisted of slow cooker lasagna, Cindy had started it earlier today, salad and rolls. We all ate like pigs, well all except the vampires. Jasper sat there questioning Tiffany about her blood's ability to make him sick while Emmett and Angus tried to one up each other in the dirty joke category. So far I was thinking Angus was the winner, but he did have millennia of experience over Emmett.
"So are you ready for the wedding of the year?" Emmett asked me, giving up on trying to beat Angus. I had made the mistake of mentioning the chunky puke bridesmaid dress and ever since then the boys had been harassing me about the role in the wedding.
"Don't remind me, I still have not got a wedding present for them." It was hard to come up with something that would not earn me a stern lecture from my mother.
"You should get them a nice big dildo just in case Sam can't take care of her needs." Angus suggested, he was on a husbands can't take care of their wives rant tonight. Under most circumstances it was best just to ignore what Angus said, especially when you were in the company of both Angus and Emmett; they tended to feed off of each other.
"Most people don't know this but over twenty percent of marriages fail because of sexual dissatisfaction. You would be doing them a favor." Emmett's voice sounded serious and authoritative.
"Just go with the usual silver platter. It looks pretty, everyone should have one, and they will have to polish it before every use." Tiffany put in her suggestion. "If you get one that is fairly intricate it will be especially a pain in the ass to get all the black off."
Now that suggestion had some merit, it was evil but in a very subtle way. Did I not tell myself a few weeks back, no more picking on Sam and Emily? Hmmm one last time for shits and giggles?
"Though seriously are they registered anywhere? You can get them something from their list." Tiffany said between bites.
"They are registered but it is at a small store in Port Angeles, unfortunately they don't have a branch here in Seattle, so unless I stopped by on my way to the wedding I am out of luck." With a sigh I realized that there was a trip to the mall in my future.
The day was not going so well, it started off with a pop quiz in biology class. Of course it had to be over the material I had not studied yesterday. That added to the fact that I was now headed to the mall did not help my mood. I picked a small one near the school, they should have what I need without the big crowds.
It was fortunately a Thursday morning so I did not have to fight the pre-teens that seemed to think the mall was the only place to hang out. Striding swiftly though the mall I dodged the power walkers that were trying to take their walks inside the building because it was still a little too chilly to go outside. The little old ladies walking around in pairs were amusing to watch, their mouths moved a lot faster than their legs.
It was not that hard to find a larger department store, it was a chain I was familiar with, the hard part was locating the china section. I was not going to waste too much time on this gift, and as far as I could tell china was a good choice for a wedding present.
"May I help you?" a woman approached me with a fake smile, her name tag identified her as Lindsey. She came to stand next to me and pushed a vase closer to the center. What was she thinking that I would knock something over and break it? I might be tall but that did not make me a klutz.
"Yes, I am looking for some china as a wedding gift." I was looking around feeling a little overwhelmed. Who knew there were so many different types of plates, glasses and forks. It was not like the food would taste so much better on something trimmed with gold as opposed to a paper plate. I might go so far as to say that the food off the paper plate tasted better because you knew that the dishes would not have to be done after dinner ended.
"If you would tell me the name of the couple, I will see which pattern they are registered for." She told me moving towards a kiosk set up right next to the plates, it was covered with pictures of happy couples in their wedding finery.
I cleared my throat to get her attention. "I don't think they are registered at this store. I just wanted to pick up something nice real quick."
The woman l was talking to looked a little shocked before she controlled her features. I noticed the smile was not as wide as it had been earlier, my 'real' quick comment must not have gone off to well.
I left over an hour later, with a large package wrapped in cream with a large silver bow. Who would have thought there were so many different choices in silver? Lindsey had been less than impressed when I told her my main criteria was based on which one was hardest to clean.
I placed the gift in the trunk of the car, hopefully it would be fine until tomorrow when I would drive up to the Rez.
It was not until I got into the car that I heard a little beep from my phone, the one that indicated I had new voicemail. I fished it out of my backpack while I pulled out of the mall parking lot.
I barely had enough time to run back to the house and change for work; there were certain disadvantages to not living closer to the city.
There were seven missed calls and six voicemails, all from my mother and all within the past hour. This was not going to be good. Quickly I picked the oldest of the voicemails.
The message was confusing, it was simply my mother needing to go as early as possible tomorrow because they had to make sure my bridesmaid dress fit. That did not sound like an emergency, so why had she left the other five messages?
"Leah I called the dorm to leave you a message, one of the girls there said you no longer lived there." That was the next message from my mother.
Oh shit. Going through every curse word I knew and making up a few more, I listened to the rest of the messages. My mother became increasingly worried as she kept getting my voicemail, you would think she would have figured out by the third time that maybe I did not have my phone with me. But that was the least of my worries. I had run out of time and my mother had found out in one of the worst ways possible.
Not many could image the dread and reluctance with which I dialed her phone number.
"Leah Clearwater where have you been? And why can't you answer the phone?" She practically yelled at me.
Deciding to try to downplay the entire episode I went with the truth. "I was buying Emily and Sam their wedding present, do you have any idea how many different..."
Unfortunately my mother was not having any of that. "What is this about you not living in the dorm anymore?"
Time to start coming up with some great excuses. "Well I told you that with all the noise I was having trouble sleeping there." Sticking close to the truth tried to diffuse the situation. It was a reason to move out, but and I had a plan to do so eventually - though the plan back then had been to move into my own place.
"So where exactly are you living now? And why did you not think it would be a good idea to inform me of your move?" My mother missed her calling, she should have joined the FBI as an interrogator. If you added Tamora to the mix they would have been an unstoppable pair.
"Well it has not been going on for all that long and it kind of happened gradually." My mind was working at maximum speed trying to weave a plausible tale, one that would prevent my mother from driving up to Seattle to kick my ass. "I just crashed there for a few nights a week to catch up on sleep." The most important decision I had to make very quickly was wether or not to tell her about the fact that I was living with Phil. It was hard having a secret life, and with me it was layers of secrets.
"And where is this that you crashed?" My mother continued, she said the word crashed like something dirty.
"Oh yeah, at Ophelia's place." It would be best to use her full name, it sounded more impressive than Phila.
"And who is this Ophelia and how do you know her well enough to stay at her house?" Suddenly my mother gasped. "...oh my god this is why you did not tell me anything about your boyfriend. You really don't have a boyfriend, it is actually another woman. You are a lesbian."
Wolf reflexes came in handy when your mother told you something like that; it certainly helped me not ram into the car that was in the lane next to me. "What mom? No. Where do you get these ideas, she is just a friend of a friend. Geez I assure you I am not a lesbian."
"Are you sure?" My mother asked, being thrown off track by the thought of me being gay. I did not think she really had anything against gays but she would probably not want her daughter to be one.
"Yes mom, I am very sure, your daughter is not gay." Your daughter likes the penis, or she would if he would actually come out and play.
"Your Aunt Anne is staying with me for the wedding and she was..." That certainly explained a few things, I decided it was time to stop my mother from heading down that line of thinking.
"Mom, ever since Bobbi came out of the closet she has been determined that everyone around her is gay." Aunt Anne had decided since she had one gay son she could now spot all gays. I don't know why she thought this was true considering that everyone knew Bobbi was gay for years before he finally told her the truth. That special "roommate" that he lived with for years should have clued her in.
"What do you mean she is a friend of a friend? How do you know her well enough to spend the night at her place?" My mother would not be sidetracked for long, it seemed that my arguments had been good enough to convince her of my heterosexual status. Maybe I should have not been less vehement in my denial of my sexuality, that would have bought me an extra few minutes to come up with a plan.
This was when I had to do some lying, I could not explain the true circumstances of meeting Phila. Telling my mother that she was one of the aliens who returned Carlisle after some freakish zombie looking things took him, would not be a good story right now.
"She is actually one of the professors at school and well Phil sort of mentioned her being his best friend when I was impatiently waiting for my acceptance letters." I said his name in as quietly and quickly as possible but my mother still picked up on it.
"Phil, the man you spent so much time with? The one you swore you was not your boyfriend?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Hmmm so it was my mother that taught me that.
Cringing I tried to formulate a story that did not involve me hiding the fact that I had been seeing Phil without telling my mother about him.
My mother got inpatient and instead of waiting for me to answer the question continued her interrogation. "So you were staying with Ophelia?"
"Oh no, not at first. I sort of just caught up on sleep there on weekends." That was the absolute truth. "She also was kind enough to help me get through this Biology class. I would have probably failed if she had not been tutoring me."
"The girl at the dorms told me you had moved out. That does not sound like it is only a weekend thing." The suspicion obvious in her tone.
I wanted to find the girl my mother had talked to and rip her little tongue out. "Yeah that was a few weeks ago, right after the time those vampires kidnapped me."
"Why would you move in with her, did you want her harmed as well?"
This is when things got a little rough and I would have to lie through my teeth. " "Well since it was Spring Break Ophelia was using the week off as the perfect time to move, she has an apartment in town but was switching to a bigger house. Phil sort of had been planning to move to Seattle and actually had a house built in one of the suburbs. It is kind of freaky but his house is built right next to the Cullen's new place. So when Phila moved in with him I sort of went as well." I had a moment of brilliance. "It was a safer that way as well, since the Cullens were near us they kept an eye on the place to make sure no strange vampires were coming through."
"So what you are telling me is you are living with a man." It was not a question but a statement in a cool and controlled voice. It would have been preferable had she shouted.
"Well not really living with him, I mean I have my own set of rooms and everything." I was still trying to come up with an excuse as to why I had failed to mention the move out of the dorms to her.
My mother was still not impressed, she spent the next twenty minutes lecturing me on morality. I ground my teeth together and did not interrupt her the entire time, it was not until she started badmouthing Phil that I had enough.
"Look mom, you can say what you like about but you leave Phil out of it. He has never been anything but kind to me." Even when I did not deserve it. "As for what I am doing with Phil now that I live with him, I assure you I did a lot more with Sam when we did not live in the same household. We have gone out to dinner a couple of times, and then one disastrous event at the movies where the entire place smelled of puke."
"So Phil is the man you have been seeing?" My mother's voice rose several octaves.
Another lecture was imminent but I was not going to put up with it any longer. "Don't worry mother Phil's pants have stayed completely zipped if you know what I mean." Conveniently the episode on the couch was forgotten in my anger, though technically his pants had stayed on the entire time even then. "Other than one time when he was giving me a tour of the house he has never entered my bedroom, hell he has not even come into my sitting room. You also have to take into consideration the fact that he is a very busy surgeon and so spends a lot of time working. Between my school and work, and his medical practice we are lucky if we see each other a couple of hours a day. As for what people will think of me, they can kiss my ass."
"Leah I just don't want you to get hurt, and people will talk." She did not chastise me for my swearing which was a good thing because she was about to hear some more of it.
"Not one of those people have lived through what I have, and until they do they can keep their judgements to themselves - and quite frankly when everyone else abandoned me to my bitterness Phil was the only one who saw what I could be and he was the only one who believed in me. Now mother I have to go, I need to get ready for work, being an adult I have car payments to worry about. So I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye." I finished by doing something I had never done before, I hung up on my mother.
I don't know what was shocked me the most, the fact that I had hung up on my mother or that I finally had my epiphany. Seriously how could I have been so foolish, it was so obvious. It was not that I suddenly fell in love with him, I had been there for a while now but my fears had prevented me from admitting it even to myself.
It was a surprise that I actually got any of my orders right that night, my mind was occupied with my epiphany. After work plopped down on the couch and tired to wait up for him, but he was really late getting out of surgery - he had texted me something about a bad fire.
I woke up the next morning in my bed, I could not remember how I got there. Phil was already gone, but in a way that was a good thing. How do you tell a man that you love him? Once again I regretted agreeing to this bridesmaid thing, it would take me away from Phil when I really wanted to spend time with him.
It would have been easier to drive straight from school back to the Rez but I had to stop by the house to pick up Angus, he was the one making the journey with me. Since the vampire had caught me while I was driving to the Rez I was not allowed to go without an escort. I did not put up too much of a fuss when Angus told me he was driving up there with me. I knew the "doctor" and two other leeches still had not been caught and I would rather not have another get-together with the insane leech.
"This is going to be so much fun," Angus said when he joined me in the car. "We usually don't get to go on road trips."
"How do you get places?" The answer came to me before the question was fully out. They jumped. Guess that was nice, they must save a lot on gas.
"We occasionally have to drive or fly." He shuddered at the prospect. "Driving takes forever and they really frown upon carrying any sort of weapon with you when you fly."
Angus ended up being a very amusing traveling companion, though his mind tended to stay in the gutter. I dropped him off at the cabin while Jake joined me for the ride to my mother's house.
She was waiting for me when I got home having taken the day off to help with the wedding preparations, but fortunately for me she could not rip into me right away. Aunt Anne was parked in the middle of the living room, ready to learn some new gossip. If you wanted to announce something to the entire world you told Aunt Anna that it was a secret and asked her not to say anything about it. Luckily my mother did not want to tell everyone that I was living with some man.
I did not linger at home too long, since I had to go make sure my bridesmaid dress fit. I located Jodie and my dress at the Rec center. She was busy helping decorate for the wedding tomorrow afternoon, the place was looking really good. After a quick fitting to make sure everything looked right, I was recruited to help hang decorations. It seemed my height was good for something, the fact that I could reach places without the need for a ladder really came in handy. It was past dinner time when my mother stopped by, the look in her eye made it obvious that I had run out of time.
She did not say anything until we parked the car in front of the house. "So where is Phil, did he not think that coming with you was important?"
We were getting straight to the point. "He is on call this weekend and could not come. Not that it really matters, I have some cousin or another that is my groomsman, so I already have someone to attend the wedding with."
"Leah do you know what you are doing?" Her tone was serious, she was not talking about the groomsman.
In deference to the fact that she was not yelling at me I thought about it for a few minutes before answering. "There are no guarantees in this world, but there are a few things I can count on. One of these things is Phil's friendship; regardless of that I appreciate the fact that you try to protect me but at some point you are going to have to trust me to do the right thing."
"All right, but then why were you hiding the truth from me?" Much to my relief she did not sound angry, merely curious.
"Because I am a twenty year old werewolf that is still scared of her mother?" My explanation sounded lame even to myself.
I heard my mother laugh. "Leah I am willing to let you figure things out for yourself, but I would really appreciate if you would include me in your life."
"Sure, sure." I told her, opening the car door to make my escape.
"And you will bring Phil home for dinner very soon." It was a demand, not a request. I did not protest having gotten off relatively lightly.
Emily spent the night at my mother's house since the groom was not allowed to see the bride before the wedding. This translated to Seth and I having to sleep in the living room, since Aunt Anne had taken Seth's bed. I considered running to the cabin with Seth and staying there for the night but I was already on shaky ground with my mother.
This morning I got the honor of going to some neighbor's house to get our hair done. Emily had been trying to keep up a steady stream of small talk, asking me about school and Seattle in general. After a few minutes of nothing but monosyllable answers from me she had finally given up. She must have gotten the message that we were not going to be BFF's again.
I had offered to drive us in my car but because of the forest that encroached on the town, sometimes it was faster to walk than to have to drive all the way around. We were in the middle of cutting across a small section of woods when I smelt it. Vampires.
I quickly grabbed Emily's arm to stop her as I scanned the surrounding trees looking for them.
"What is wrong?" She asked in a worried voice.
"Quiet." I growled at her, trying to pinpoint the smell. It was recent and as far as I could tell there were two of them.
They stepped out from behind some trees, their ruby red eyes were not a good sign. It took me a moment to recognize them, they were two of the vampires that had kidnapped me a few weeks ago. Their clothes were a little worse for wear, it looked like dodging the family did not leave much room for keeping up their appearances.
"We have been looking for you." One of them said with that perfectly creepy voice, a small smirk on his mouth.
"Gee little old me?" I asked as a distraction, trying to think of a plan. Taking on two of them would be hard especially with Emily here.
The other vampire's eyes narrowed in displeasure, he must not have a sense of humor. "We have something of yours."
"What would that be?" I pulled Emily behind me as the two came closer, one good swipe and they would kill her. I really did not need for that to happen on her wedding day.
The one with the darker hair threw something down in between us, I backed away for a moment but realized it was a piece of fabric and nothing dangerous. I heard Emily's gasp immediately. "That belongs to Claire."
I looked more closely at the fabric, I could make out a toddler sized jacket in pink with a hood. It looked like there were little pink ears on it. A sense of foreboding gripped me, this was not going to be good. One of the leeches immediately confirmed my suspicions.
"We have the little human, he smells of your kind's stink, so she must be important to you. If you want her back you will come with us." He was looking at me and only me.
Running through several scenarios I quickly realized I really did not have any choice. Phil was going to kill me, if I survived. Not taking my eyes off the leeches I bent over and picked up the jacket, when I got past the sweet sickly smell of vampire I could smell Claire's scent. I recognized it immediately considering she was one of my pack member's mates.
"How do I know that you actually have her, you could have stolen this thing out of the dirty laundry pile." I was stalling for some time. The longer these leeches were on the Rez the higher the chances were that some wolf would run across their scent.
"If you are wrong then the little girl dies? She looks like fun to play with." The other leech told me.
"Leah, we can't take that chance." Emily told me in a whisper.
I pondered the situation one more minute. "All right but she goes free." I told them, that was the deal take it or I was shifting to wolf and trying to kick some ass.
"We can do that." One of them said, dismissing Emily as a non entity. They really must want me for something.
I pushed Emily to encourage her to start running, it did not take her long to figure it out.
"No changing into that wolf thing." One of them told me. He nodded his head in the direction they wanted me to go. I followed trying to walk as slowly as possible, but they quickly noticed my strategy and ordered me to run. It did not take us long to make it to our destination, I recognized the spot even before we had reached the hunting shack.
In the distance I could hear someone crying, there was a small heartbeat coming from that direction. I was going with the assumption that this was Claire, to my relief it sounded strong if a little bit rapid.
Implementing the crazy plan I had come up with on the run here I pretended to trip and fall on a root. On my hands and knees I closed my eyes trying to determine by sound alone where my enemies were, it would be best to give them the impression of weakness.
"Oww Oww," I cried while rolling around on the ground. The vampires had run a little ahead of me before they noticed I was not next to them.
"What are you doing? Get up" The smaller of the two came back. I needed to get the timing right or I was going to be totally screwed.
When he was about a yard from me I rolled behind him and grabbed him in the headlock I had learned from Tiffany. This time though I was not holding Angus, so I used my full strength to twist and pull. The vampire did not stand a chance, as I decapitated him. I threw his head as far as I could into the woods, quickly turning I ducked out of the way of the other vampire.
We circled each other and the still twitching moving body of the headless leech as we both tried to look for an opening. Shifting would have been a good option right now if I had a little more time, but I would be too vulnerable and that would give him the opportunity for an easy kill.
I ran through the strategies in my head. End the fight quickly, had been the advice Tiffany had given me. I wished I had spent some more time that night practicing, it would really have come in handy now. This is what you are supposed to do Leah, what you were born to do - kill leeches. I tried to give myself a little pep talk.
He lunged at me but I was able to dodge out of his way, if I let him seize me I was as good as dead.
He grabbed for me again, but this time I anticipated the move and took a hold of his wrist with both hands. I threw myself behind him while twisting to face him again, bringing his arm with me I was able to plant my foot on his back and pull off his arm. His scream of pain was enough to alert the other leech in the cabin, I saw the blur of its approach. Moving quickly I used the headlock to remove the second vampires head. His head joined the other one's as it flew in a big arc into the trees.
"What are you doing?" The doctor asked, I had forgotten how creepy he looked. His expression was one of complete bafflement, he could not figure out who had taken out the two leeches that were writhing around on the ground without heads.
I attacked while he was distracted by the scene around him, unfortunately the doctor was a little more experienced than I had anticipated. He quickly countered my attempted attack and this time I barely escaped his hands.
I don't know how long we did this game, twisting and turning and avoiding each other. When finally I faked a fall and managed to do the trick where I ripped his arm off - venom dripped from the now gapping whole in his shoulder. The asshole was quikc and dodged out of my way as I tried to grab for his head.
"A little thing is not going to kill Joham, the greatest scientist to ever live." He growled at me, but I could tell he was in pain.
I smiled at him showing all of my teeth, but I did not respond because I saw an opening to rip off his other arm. But somehow I miscalculated because instead of grabbing his arm I missed and gave him the opportunity to get a shot in. His fingers burring themselves in my stomach.
The agony of him putting his fingers through my stomach was nearly unbearable, but somehow I pulled myself away enough to grab his other arm and rip it off as well.
I was seeing spots but I knew I had to stay awake long enough to take out this asshole, Claire's life depended on it. That was when I heard the howl of a wolf not too far away from me.
"They will come for me, and then they will finish you off." I told him in a weak voice. I had fallen to the ground now, fortunately we had moved far enough away from the other two leeches who seemed to be crawling around searching for their heads. "He will find you and when he is done there will be nothing left of you." Oh god, I had forgotten to tell Phil I loved him. How could I have been such a fool?
The leech looked down at me, the total conviction of my voice must have scared him. It also might have helped that he did not exactly have usable arms, what he did next was surprising but worst of all it sealed my fate. He bit me on the arm, before he ran off like a coward that he was.
I ripped off a part of my shorts and tried to tie a makeshift tourniquet around my left arm. Maybe I could keep the venom away from my heart long enough to make sure Claire was safe. I half stumbled and half crawled the rest of the way to the cabin, the dizziness from my stomach wound was joined by a burning sensation in my arm.
I found Claire in the corner of the cabin huddled and crying. Her little face was smudged with dirt, she looked up and immediately ran to me. "Lee lee, Lee lee. I am scared."
"Don't worry help will come very soon. Quil is coming." I told her in a hushed voice as I collapsed in the middle of the floor.
"You have a boo boo Lee Lee." She told me in her childlike voice. I noticed it too, my stomach wound was not healing fast enough, my blood and along with it my life was flowing quickly out of me; it might have been too much even for my wolf healing skills.
I laughed hysterically as the thought occurred to me even if I were to survive the fist through the belly I was going to die from the venom. The black spots in my vision had gotten worse, I fought hard to try to stay awake long enough to make sure that I had not committed suicide for no reason, to make sure that Claire would be safe.
I could not seem to get enough air no matter how much I tried to draw in a breath. I could hear my heartbeat getting faster. I recognized this sound, this was the same sound that Bella's heart had made just before it stopped beating forever. I remember listening to it outside of the Cullen house, counting down until the last heartbeats.
I don't know if it was my wolf abilities of healing or the fact that I had better senses but I heard my heart beat for the last time before everything went black.
Phil
I was in Carlisle's office playing a game of chess, I had beaten him in the last three games I cannot fathom how he had not figured out yet that I was cheating. Things had been slow at the hospital and other than a few unnecessary consults I had not done anything today.
Well technically my spirit was cheating, it was showing me all of Carlisle's next moves. I hid a grin as I moved my knight in the right position, I would win the game in three moves.
All of a sudden my vision of Carlisle's next move was replaced by one I had seen before. The one of Leah's death, she was lying in a puddle of blood in the middle of the cabin. The agony hit me again, I was not going to lose her, not this way; but I knew that it was already too late. The spirit was not showing me something that was going to happen, this was a vision of what had already happened.
I opened my eyes and noticed Carlisle was looking at me in concern. "Phil are you all..."
"Leah..." was the only word that came out of my mouth as I did something I had never done before, a blind jump. Hoping that my spirit was wrong, praying that I would find her annoyed and dressed in her ugly bridesmaid dress.
A/N: All right I am now headed to a safe house, you will never be able to find me now.
Seriously, tell me what you think?
Connect2tjb: Glad you liked it, here is the next one :D
Jaime2772: Well now you get 30 chapters and still no lemons. Don't worry patience is not one of my virtues either. By the way, love the word zest...I might have to borrow that from you.
Seize the day 95: Thank you for the compliment, glad you like it. The cheesecake recipe is somewhat complicated PM me and I will send it to you.
Serenity: Embry's bit will come up in a few chapters, all will be explained. Hey, now no slapping Phil around (only Leah gets to do that), he was trying to be a gentleman and giving her enough time to pull her head out of her ass and realize she loves him. :D