Treaty Lines
La Push: July
Subject: Meeting the Parents.
Dear Immie,
Edward wants to try and meet you again, properly this time. I know last time didn't quite go as we planned. I've told him this is a horrible idea, as he's making this really formal, and I feel like he is meeting my parents all over again!
He thinks you should meet his family, as they will be my family and your family to me, so I guess it makes sense.
Just please don't react like Charlie did, OK?
This weekend could work, if you're free. Edward is desperate to win you over. I wished him luck with that!
Love Bella.
I scan my eyes quickly across the email. I look carefully over my shoulder to make sure no one is watching me. I hastily hit reply.
RE: Meeting the Parents
Dear Bella,
I would love to give this family reunion another shot! I mean, as long as I'm not on the dinner menu.
Sorry, that was a terrible joke!
Saturday will be great. Edward doesn't have to earn my approval. I just want you to be sure that this is what you want; the only approval that matters is your own. It's just that there are a lot of people who care about you, that you're going to have to leave behind if you make this decision. I will see you on Saturday.
I'll call you to confirm times and meeting places!
Love Immie.
I closed the internet browser and logged out. Picking up the pile of illustrated books, I headed for the door. I'd been hiding in the library regularly in my attempts to avoid any of the shapeshifters when I was on a lunch break. It was exhausting.
The school library was the only library in La Push, and like everything else here, it was on a very small scale. But it was proving helpful in its illustrations of mystical creatures, which supported me with the outlines for the backdrops for the school's summer performance.
Since my first day, I have not made the mistake of not coming prepared for the weather and have even managed to get Charlie to help me find a bicycle. Which meant I was now cycling to school. This had the benefit of allowing me to avoid needing to take lifts from any shapeshifters, and that I wasn't tied to their school timetables.
I moved slowly through the uninhabited library, heading for the staircase.
With the absence of the wolves, I had the niggling feeling of loneliness. Friends were not something I had in abundance. Well, at least not friends that didn't feel obliged to form relationships with me.
Emrby discovers he is my brother; therefore, he has no real choice but to be my friend.
Jacob is only friends with me because it pleases Bella.
Paul only wanted to be around me because of his imprint.
Emily, felt sorry for me. Would our paths have even crossed if Paul hadn't imprinted on me and I had become a reluctant partner in the pack?
So, where did that leave me? With Adriel, who said 'h'i to me in the corridor, and Bella, who was ready to become a vampire and say goodbye to any friendship between us at the earliest opportunity,
For the first time since I arrived, I realised quite how much of a rubbish job I'd done at fitting in.
OooO
I arrived at the theatre block and kicked open the door. The stage is set up and littered with paint cans and sketches. The actors have been practising in the evenings, and I haven't yet met any of them.
But a girl stood on the stage, looking like she belonged there, with legs so long that I thought she looked almost as tall as the shapeshifters.
"Mum," the girl screeches into a cell phone, and I widen my eyes. She hasn't noticed my presence yet. "Are you at the country club again?".
The girl pauses, and I gaze at her bronze legs that stick out of white shorts with strappy gold sandals adorning her feet.
"I'm not asking my brother!" she barks.
I clear my throat and will myself to make my presence known before this grows awkward. I gaze at her again, unable to look away; her lids are heavy with makeup, and a pale sheen of lip gloss reflects the stage lighting.
"Bitch," she says, suddenly folding the phone shut, and I gasp at the retort she just gave her mother.
"Oh shit!" she exclaims. A potty mouth. "I'm totally not supposed to be here!" she gasps, looking guilty.
"You won't tell anyone, will you?" She rushes out, looking behind me as if expecting a teacher to burst through the doors. "It's just that I'm new here, and I wanted to try out for the show! I was born to be on stage" she adds with a flourish that makes me laugh.
"I won't tell anyone," I assure, climbing up the wooden steps to join her on the stage.
"I'm Immie," I introduce myself. "I'm sort of new here; I used to live here a long time ago, and I am here for the summer designing the backdrops for the show."
She squeals and grasps my arms. "Oh my god!".
"We are going to be such good friends! We are kindred spirits!" she announces, and I don't dare ask what kindred spirits mean.
"I'm Jennifer," she adds. "We have so much in common—well, not everything, but I was sort of born here to, or well, my dad was," she squeaks. "We have to exchange numbers; you have a cell phone, right?" she continues to talk at a quick speed.
I don't have a cell phone over here yet, so I programmed my landline into her flip phone.
"I can't believe I've actually met someone who looks like they know what conditioner is," she mumbles to herself.
"We have to go and get milkshakes and talk about this play," Jennifer decides, and I allow her to sweep me up in her whirlwind of electric energy.
OooO
I answered the landline on its third ring. I was splattered in mud for the afternoon bike ride back from the diner I went to, Jennifer. She had skipped out on her afternoon classes, and I hadn't managed to finish the set design I'd planned. But it felt like a worthy sacrifice to be able to indulge my time with someone frighteningly normal.
"Immie" Bella spoke down the landline, her voice husky. I imagine her standing in the kitchen, trying to muffle her voice, while Charlie sits watching television in the lounge.
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" she adds.
"Yes, of course, there's not much to prepare for." I shrug, entwining my fingers around the phone cord.
I was nervous for tomorrow and didn't plan to mention it to anyone in the pack.
"I'm scared that they won't let you cross the treaty line, not with you going to the Cullens," she whispers, and I strain to hear the softness of her words.
I chew at my lip, considering that.
"Billy goes across the treaty line to see Charlie all the time, and he isn't a wolf," I pout.
"But he doesn't go to see Edward, does he?" she retorts, and I grunt in agreement. This was a valid point. Billy also didn't have a wolf with anger issues imprinted on him.
"Edward said he would wait for you at the border. You will have to cross through the woods; do you remember the route we talked about?" Bella asks.
I do remember.
I had never spent this much time in nature in my entire life. I was immersed in the woodland that surrounded La Push. It was a few strides from the bungalow and engulfed the landscape like a protective cape.
"Jacob said things are pretty volatile on your side." Bella prompts my silence.
"They won't dare do anything, Bella," I correct. "It's not like they can stop me from moving around and seeing who I want to see," I assure her.
"OK," she agrees.
"Anyway, things are always volatile around here." I shrug. "That kind of happens when you live with wolves," I laugh, and Bella snorts in agreement from the other end of the line.
OooO
The tropical rain was holding off this morning, and the cloudless sky was a welcome relief. The sun was beating down on the meadow around the house, and the wildflowers were sprouting through the unruly grass.
I'd dressed this morning for practicality and the warmth of the day. Shorts and converse.
The annoying part of the warmth of the days in July was the storms that followed.
Bella had disclosed so much to me over the many months before I came to La Push about the Cullen's. We'd discussed them almost daily as Bella slowly fell deeper in love with an immortal vampire. True love, her soulmate, the man who would turn her into a vampire one day soon.
Meeting the Cullen's in person today felt a little surreal. It was almost like meeting someone famous. You knew so much about them and their lives from other sources, which made it feel like you were already friends. But the reality of it was that we were strangers.
I realised what a wild card I was for both sides of the treaty line. I was a danger to the Cullen's for knowing so much about them, knowing so many intimate details of their lives simply because Bella had needed someone to pour her overflowing emotions into. I had no loyalty to them, only to Bella. I wonder if that scared them, or perhaps I should be scared for the risk of the information I held posed to myself.
With the pack, I was perhaps even more of a risk. The wolves usually imprinted on lovely local women who don't dally with vampires. I knew far more about both vampires and wolves than they probably wanted to consider. I had picked apart their weaknesses and learned about their team dynamics and strengths. The only thing tying me to the wolves was an imprint. But who would I side with when things turned nasty?
Would I stand beside the Cullen's when they turn Bella into a vampire and break the treaty? Will I watch as my imprint tries to rip Bella's throat out?
I shudder at the thought.
Refusing to dwell on such dark topics, I stretch my legs forward, walking into the tree line.
Embry stayed over last night and is still sound asleep in his room. I don't leave a note. If he wakes up, I'm sure he will follow my scent and cotton on quickly, no matter which direction I head in.
The trees felt as if they were parting before me, clearing a path ahead. The wind blew through the clustered trunks and tussled my hair into my face. I pushed it back with my hand and pressed on.
I hoped Bella would truly find her peace with the Cullen's. But after nurturing her through the heartbreak of the first time Edward left, it felt only right to make sure this was truly the right decision for her. Love can make us do silly things. The imprint had shown me that.
But I needed to make sure Bella was sure about her decision. It wasn't like becoming a vampire was a reversible procedure.
Bella had never quite fitted in, and that was what drew us to one another. I never belonged; I wasn't like my peers; I didn't have a'real family' they would say, and they used to pick on me after I lost some of my hearing. Bella never seemed to feel comfortable in her own body; she was gangly, unbalanced, and damaged by her parents' separation.
If being a vampire made Bella truly happy, wasn't that all that mattered? Perhaps those of us who loved Bella needed to just let her go.
But all that, in principle, sounded so easy, but it felt so wrong.
The wind pushed me back, fighting against my steps as I navigated the forest. It smelled like Paul, pine, and earth.
"Imogen," a voice boomed, carrying on the wind and making me yelp.
I was so naive to think that they wouldn't come after me. Especially after last time.
Jacob stood behind me; his chest was moving a little rapidly, and his fingers were twitching. He must have just shifted into his human form. I wonder if he'd been stalking me from the moment I entered the woods. That made me frown.
"Oh, Jacob, go away!" I cry in protest, sounding like an insolent child.
Jacob's jaw is set in a way that reminds me of Paul and tugs at my heart. I wonder if Paul is nearby.
"Imogene, are you crazy?" he demands. "I know exactly where you are going," he accused, looking visibly angry with me. This isn't the Jacob I was used to being around.
"You go to see Bella all the time, and you've met the Cullen's before," I retort, kicking at the exposed tree roots.
"That's different," he protests, crossing his arms. "I can protect myself."
I wonder if they are watching us, hidden within the thicker clusters of trees. Their fur acts like camouflage under the canopy.
"I can protect myself too." I object and then immediately baulk at the stupidity of such words. "They won't hurt me, Jacob; they wouldn't risk breaking the treaty," I add. Not quite a lie. They wouldn't risk breaking the treaty for me, I should have said.
"We can't be sure of that," he corrects, stepping closer as if contemplating dragging me from the woods, kicking and screaming.
"I've been through this. I am my own person. I don't belong to this 'pack' and I don't need protection. But most of all, I do not need you chasing after me in the woods like Paul's Bitch." I spit each word with enough venom that I hope it is unkind enough to make him leave.
Jacob's eyes snap wider, and he looks like he wants to laugh aloud but thinks better of it.
"Are you feeling okay, Immie?" he asks, gently looking me over.
I wasn't feeling okay. I was beginning to feel very far from okay. My head was spinning like a roundabout, and my heart was palpitating with an overwhelming sense of anxiety.
Where was Paul? The imprint whispered words into my head, and I shook them off.
"Yes, I'm fine," I lie.
"You don't look it," he shrugs.
I itched to ask him where Paul was. But I filled my mouth with other words.
"You can't stop me from going to see them." I change subjects quickly. "It is something I have to do; you, of all people, should understand," I whisper.
"Why would you want to be around them, Immie? How can you bear it?" he demands, shaking his head in disbelief.
"They make Bella happy." I begin.
"And we don't?" Jacob barks, cutting me off.
"Not as much as they do," I admit.
"I want to see why they make her so happy. Happier than we ever could make her, Jake. I want to see that." I finish.
I turn my back to him, not waiting for his response.
He follows behind me, silently and out of sight.
OooO
The rain was pounding on his fur, weighing him down with every stride. His brain was full of her, running images of her like film on a reel. He was far away from La Push now. In territory that wasn't his own, but a good distance away at least.
That's what Sam had commanded. To get away. Before he'd done something, he would have lived to regret it.
With every jolt forward, the wolf willed him to turn around and return to her. But the alpha's order held. He kept running to stop himself from going to find her.
Imogen.
The woman who had become his everything.
He doubted anyone had hated Bella Swan as much as he did in this moment. Sweet, innocent Imogen is walking right into the hands of the Cullen's. He shuddered, shaking his fur at the revolting thought.
Sam had sent Paul away as soon as he realised Paul had been tracking Imogen from her house. Sam understood Paul's plan; but he wouldn't let Paul try and kill the Cullen's when they hadn't broken the treaty. But how could he not want to rip out the throats of the Cullen's when his imprint stepped over the treaty line and onto their land?
It would destroy her to see him doing something like that. To realise he was just as much of a monster as the Cullen's were. Sam understood. He wouldn't let Paul be so reckless, but it didn't make the order to leave a painless one.
OooO
I was expecting something to shift in me the moment I crossed the treaty line. Although I'd been over it many times in my life, this felt different. My heart was yearning for Paul, and my body was screaming at me to turn around and go home.
Edward was waiting for me. Looking thoughtful, looking through me, I realised.
I wonder what he was seeing and what scent he could smell that I was unaware of.
I expected wolves.
Edward was dashingly handsome as ever, tall and slender, with a deadly look across his face. Edward dressed simply, his skin covered with a long-sleeve shirt and trousers, unaffected by the heat of the day. He dressed plainly, but it screamed old money.
"I'm glad to see you have made it, Imogen," he announced carefully.
"Just," a voice hissed behind me. I snap my neck back and glare into the eyes of Jacob.
"Nice of you to join us, Jacob," Edward drools sarcastically.
I straightened my back, sensing the tension swirling between them.
"Jacob," I warn, feeling a need to protect him and push him back into the trees and away from a possible altercation.
"Immie, please be quiet; I need to say this," Jacob stated.
"If any of you so much as lay a finger on her, then we will hunt you down and we will view it as evidence that you have broken the treaty. Immie isn't like Bella; she is protected by things that you can't even begin to comprehend. You have no idea how deep the emotions of the imprint run within this pack. It is very dangerous having her here with you, Edward," Jacob explains.
"I can assure you, my family will not bring any harm to her," Edward counters calmly. "I appreciate the intensity of your pack's feelings on the matter. But Imogen still has her free will."
"Don't manipulate her," Jacob counters coldly.
"Oh, I assure you, I won't be the one to manipulate her." Edward spoke with honesty, and Jacob snarled.
"Would you just stop?" I interrupted, breaking the heated words before they could escalate any further.
"We won't be far away," Jacob warns.
I step closer towards Edward and don't look back to meet Jacob's gaze but do heed his warning. It feels a relief to keep moving and put some distance between myself and the border.
"Bella is waiting for you at the house," Edward assures.
"It will be lovely to see her and to meet your family." I smile gently. The last part is a lie. I'm not sure I would willingly describe meeting a vampire family as lovely.
"I asked Bella to wait at the house because I wanted to speak with you privately," Edward admitted. "I hope that doesn't feel like I've overstepped in doing so."
"That's okay," I agree. "I wanted to talk to you about some things too."
"Would you like to start then, Imogene?" Edward requests politely.
The trees aren't as dense here, and I realise I feel less comfortable in this part of the woods. It is sparser and doesn't remind me at all of the wolves.
"Bella's told me; she has told me everything," I say, carefully watching his face for a reaction.
Edward's features remain blank as he schools his face.
"I want Bella to be happy, as any friend would. But sometimes I allow myself to indulge in the idea that you never came back. You didn't return to Forks after you all left. Bella will marry someone human and have children, and we will grow old together.
These are selfish thoughts, of course. But I must ask, do you truly want this for Bella? For her to never age. Never to have a child, to grow old with her family and friends. To never be able to see any of us ever again," I question. My eyes are unwillingly clouded with tears.
The trees have dissipated, and we are walking through an open field. A house is on the horizon, and we only have a few minutes left to speak.
"I want Bella's happiness much like you do, Imogene," Edward assures.
"But forever isn't something that should be underestimated, Edward. That's what you're offering to her," I warn.
"I have thought through all possibilities, Imogen. I can only assure you of just how divided I have been over this." Edward states.
"I don't know if I am strong enough to let her go," I admit.
"Sometimes we don't get a choice. Some things get taken from us without our consent. You can understand that, can't you? He took your decision from you, didn't he?" Edward prompts.
"That's not the same," I dismiss.
"She loves you. You are the one secret Bella managed to keep from me. Even her mind protects you." Edward changes tact.
"It's time for me to say my piece before Bella spots us. I doubt you feel much enamoured by the idea of soul mates, especially with recent events. But I have been waiting for hundreds of years to finally meet Bella." Edward confesses.
"I think she felt the same." I agree.
"Bella is my everything. In much the way you are to Paul," Edward explains.
The house is almost upon us. The conversation pauses as I stand on the driveway, looking up at a flushed Bella standing on the deck.
"I wouldn't try and compare our situations," I correct sharply.
I admire the house, which is so different from anything in La Push. It was etched with an elegance that eclipsed the vampire form. It was a grand rectangular building with a faded white exterior and a glass expanse stretching over one wall.
The house was in direct contrast to the woodland environment. Despite this, it has seemed to work its way into the woodland that surrounds it, digging itself into the terrain and adapting to its surroundings. much the way the Cullen's had.
"Oh dear," Bella frowns as she walks down the driveway towards us. "You haven't already had an argument?".
"No," Edward assures her quickly, and Bella's stare meets mine.
"Oh," she mumbles, and she kicks the tarmac of the drive with her trainer.
This isn't playing out as nicely as Bella has dreamed up. I felt guilty for a moment.
"We simply disagreed on some concepts behind imprinting," Edward reveals carefully.
"Immie" Bella moans. "You've just got to get over it. It's happened".
Bella makes it sound so simple. But she doesn't understand the pain that rips through my chest with every breath just from being here. She doesn't recognise the fear behind my eyes. The ache in my chest makes me want to turn back and run through those woods at full speed until I find my wolf. She doesn't understand how terrifying those emotions are.
"That's easy for you to say," I countered, unwilling to pour my heart out in front of Edward.
"Well, maybe it's for the best that you just keep yourself away from Paul," she says.
"What do you mean by that?" I press with a frown.
"It's just that, well, I don't think you're in any state to be in a relationship with someone. You've got a lot on your plate," she rushes the words out, clearly flustered.
"Excuse me?" I asked the question with surprise.
"Bella," Edward warns carefully; it's the first word he's spoken. I wonder how much he will intervene in our little disagreement.
"No. If Bella has something to say, then she should say it." I frown, calling her out.
"I don't think you should be in a relationship with Paul. I think you need to stop flirting with him and put an end to it. He is too arrogant and self-centred for you, and you are too poorly to be letting him fool around with you," she blurts out. Her hands are clenched at her sides, and she is making her best impression of being firm.
"I think that's ironic, Bella. Paul might be arrogant, but at least he isn't willing to end my life to make me something else," I snap.
"You can't function without knocking down a concoction of pills, Imogene; you are a mess, and you are not ready for a relationship. Paul will not want to date someone like you," she hurls back, insulted by my attack on Edward.
My eyes begin to swim with tears. Her words sting because she's replaying my own worst fears for me.
"At least I don't abandon people!" I screech back.
Edward is pulling at Bella's arm, willing her to back off.
We haven't argued like this since Bella told me that she was taking Edward back after he'd left her the first time.
"You're just jealous," Bella snaps. I find myself blushing at the accusation.
"I could never be jealous of this, Bella," I laugh. "At least I'm in the land of the living."
"Are you really, though?" she questions with a hiss. "You hardly leave that bungalow; you don't have any real friends in La Push. What is so amazing about your life?" she seethes.
"I came here for you, Bella." I cry, but Bella is shaking her head.
"I didn't ask you to come. No one wants you here, Immie; you should go back to where you belong. You have caused nothing but trouble since you arrived."Bella baulks.
Edward is frowning. The tears have sprung from my eyes and are running down my flushed cheeks. I realise Bella is crying too now. Silent tears.
"Immie, I didn't mean that!" Bella tries to step closer to me, but Edward pulls her back. Reading my tense body language and worrying that I may launch myself on Bella.
We didn't argue like this. Not with such intensity. But emotions had been flaring since I arrived. I did the only thing I knew how to do.
I turned and ran.
I'd been learning from the best.
My heart pounded.
My legs screamed.
My tears threatened to drown me.
My sobs chocked me as tears blurred my vision.
The forest had darkened, foreboding and dangerous as I ran through it. It was just like when I'd discovered the imprint. I ran blindly, filled with adrenaline.
The imprint overtook my mind, guiding my path as the string that stretched between my consciousness and Paul's slowly grew more taught.
My legs carried me quickly across the ground I'd covered less than an hour before. I snapped the pine branches as I pushed them out of my path, desperate to reach the treaty line.
I stumbled blindly. My heart willingly pulling me to him.
I could see them then; the shapeshifters paced in wolf from, collected together. I should have paused; my steps should have faltered at the terrifying site of these beasts collected across my path. They were just as dangerous as the Cullen's, perhaps even more so.
But I ran faster.
They sleek grey wolf threw back his head and howled in pain. Its body was quaking, and its eyes were molten orbs.
I moved as quickly as my legs would carry me, faster than before. I had to get to the treaty line. The shapeshifters were here for me. They wanted me. I belonged with them.
I tripped over the unmarked line and into my wolf. I collided with him, unable to slow my pace, and let my legs fold under me, as I sank into the wolfs side. The coil was strung tight, burning in my chest as I pressed my tear-soaked face into his fur.
I drew ragged breaths, clutching to him like he would keep me from drowning in my own self-pity.
The wolf nuzzled against me, its heat radiating across my sore limbs.
I was safe.
I was with Paul, and nothing would harm me because, through him, I was sheltered from all evils, even myself.
Authors Note:
Reviews are so welcome! It has become a lovely outlet to revisit a story I first started writing many years ago, and being able to take some time to refresh The Plan. Any feedback on the plot, characters and narrative are very welcome and appreciated.
Thank you for the lovely feedback I have had from guest reviewers!