Summary:
Port Angeles, but if Bella was better :D
Notes:
Hello! Sorry for not posting for so long, I blame it on mental health, procrastion, and life :(
Disclaimer! I do not own twilight, or anything you may recognize. They all belong to their respective owners. If I did own twilight, it would be gay.
Also, credits to the AMAZING phantomsforeverr, who beta'd this chapter!!! Would have taken me way longer without them, and they give amazing advice!! If you haven't, you should checkout their story inevitably!!!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
CHAPTER 7: going off instinct
Billy cleared his throat.
"The council has made its decision," he said.
"Bella Swan will officially be a part of the pack." Billy announced.
There were a few cheers from the pack, everyone looked happy with positive expressions adorning their faces, except for Old Quil, who looked grumpy. You could easily tell by his demeanor that he hadn't voted in my favor.
"Now, we decided that we should discuss the topic of Bella's imprint."
Everyone abruptly quieted, the only sound that remained was breathing, the heartbeats of everyone, the campfire crackling, and the soothing ocean waves lapping against the shore rhythmically.
"An imprint is a sacred thing. But, Bella's imprint is most of you guys' mortal enemies, so we've decided to put this to a vote." Billy said.
"Billy, I mean this with no disrespect, but you do not understand how an imprint feels, it is a bonding between the souls, and just because of who, or what, someone's imprint is shouldn't change the circumstances." Sam argued.
"I understand this, but I still feel we must vote, as it would only be fair to the people."
"All of those who think that Bella's imprint, Edward Cullen, a cold one, or vampire, should be allowed on our lands, with someone with him at all times?" Billy said
Quil, Sam, Jared, Embry, Jake, Emily, Kim, Harry, and Billy all raised their hands. Jared was a bit hesitant, but everyone else's reaction was almost immediate.
"And who votes against that?"
Paul and old Quil raised their hands.
"Then it's settled, Edward Cullen will be allowed on our lands if he has an escort with him." Billy said.
"Now, another vote. Should Edward Cullen join pack meetings, as other imprints do?" Billy asked.
There were the same votes.
"Edward Cullen will be invited to pack meetings from now on." Billy announced.
The rest of the bonfire flew by, it was just kinda goofing off.
Before I knew it, I was back in my truck with Jake. I was driving.
I pulled up to the red house.
"Bye, bells." Jake said with a small wave of his hand.
"Bye, Jake." I said, swiftly returning the wave.
I drove to my house. As soon as I stepped inside, the phone rang.
I answered.
"Hey, Bella! Are you feeling better?" Jess asked.
"Yeah."
"Wanna go to Port Angeles with me and Angela? We're going dress shopping for the dance!"
"Sure, Jess, when?"
"Now. I'm pulling up." Jess said.
"We were gonna go yesterday, but Mike asked me on a date. And we were gonna go earlier today, but then Angie's dad had this thing and yea."
"Makes sense." I said.
"Headed out now!" I said, then hung up.
I grabbed my purse, and walked away.
AN- a big part of this is from the book, but will be edited to match up with the story!
Jess drove fast (according to human standards) so we made it to Port Angeles by four. It had been a while since I'd had a girls' night out, and the estrogen rush was invigorating. We listened to whiny rock songs while Jessica jabbered on about the boys we hung out with. Jessica's dinner with Mike had gone very well, and she was hoping that by Saturday night they would have progressed to the first-kiss stage.
Angela was passively happy to be going to the dance, but not really interested in Eric. Jess tried to get her to confess who her type was, but I interrupted with a question about dresses after a bit, to spare her. Angela threw a grateful glance my way.
Port Angeles was a beautiful little tourist trap, much more polished and quaint than Forks. But Jessica and Angela knew it well, so they didn't plan to waste time on the picturesque boardwalk by the bay. Jess drove straight to the one big department store in town, which was a few streets in from the bay area's visitor-friendly face.
The dance was billed as semi formal, and we weren't exactly sure what that meant. Both Jessica and Angela seemed surprised and almost disbelieving when I told them I'd never been to a dance in Phoenix.
"Didn't you ever go with a boyfriend or something?" Jess asked dubiously as we walked through the front doors of the store.
"Really," I tried to convince her, not wanting to confess my dancing problems. "I've never had a boyfriend or anything close. I didn't go out much."
"Why not?" Jessica demanded.
"No one asked me," I answered honestly.
She looked skeptical. "People ask you out here," she reminded me, "and you tell them no." We were in the juniors' section now, scanning the racks for dress-up clothes.
"Well, except for Tyler," Angela amended quietly.
"Excuse me?" I gasped. "What did you say?"
"Tyler told everyone he's taking you to prom," Jessica informed me with suspicious eyes.
"He said what?" I growled.
"I told you it wasn't true," Angela murmured to Jessica.
I was silent, still lost in shock that was quickly turning to irritation. But we had found the dress racks, and now we had work to do.
"That's why Lauren doesn't like you," Jessica giggled while we pawed through the clothes.
I ground my teeth. "Do you think that if I ran him over with my truck he would stop feeling guilty about the accident? That he might give up on making amends and call it even?"
"Maybe," Jess snickered. "If that's why he's doing this."
The dress selection wasn't large, but both of them found a few things to try on. I sat on a low chair just inside the dressing room, by the three-way mirror, trying to control my fuming.
Jess was torn between two — one a long, strapless, basic black number, the other a knee-length electric blue with spaghetti straps. I encouraged her to go with the blue; why not 'play up the eyes?'
Angela chose a pale pink dress that draped around her tall frame nicely and brought out the honey tints in her light brown hair. I complimented them both generously and helped by returning the rejects to their racks. The whole process was much shorter and easier than similar trips I'd taken with Renée at home. I guess there was something to be said for limited choices.
We headed over to the shoes and accessories. While they tried things on I merely watched and critiqued, not in the mood to shop for myself, though I did need new shoes. The girls' night high was wearing off in the wake of my annoyance at Tyler, leaving room for the gloom to move back in.
"Angela?" I began. she was trying on a pair of pink strappy heels — she was overjoyed to have a date tall enough that she could wear high heels at all.
Jessica had drifted to the jewelry counter and we were alone.
"Yes?" She held her leg out, twisting her ankle to get a better view of the shoe.
"I like those," I complimented her.
"I think I'll get them — though they'll never match anything but the one dress," she mused.
"Oh, go ahead — they're on sale," I encouraged. She smiled, putting the lid back on a box that contained more practical-looking off-white shoes.
I was beginning to really like Angela; she was kind, and had a respect for animals.
Jessica returned to show us the rhinestone jewelry she'd found to match her silver shoes.
We planned to go to dinner at a little Italian restaurant on the boardwalk, but the dress shopping hadn't taken as long as we'd expected. Jess and Angela were going to take their clothes back to the car and then walk down to the bay. I told them I would meet them at the restaurant in an hour — I wanted to
look for a bookstore. They were both willing to come with me, but I encouraged them to go have fun — they didn't know how preoccupied I could get when surrounded by books; it was something I preferred to do alone. They walked off to the car chattering happily, and I headed in the direction Jess pointed out.
I had no trouble finding the bookstore, but it wasn't what I was looking for. The windows were full of crystals, dream-catchers, and books about spiritual healing. I didn't even go inside. Through the glass I could see a fifty-year-old woman with long, gray hair worn straight down her back, clad in a dress right out of the sixties, smiling welcomingly from behind the counter. I decided that was one conversation I could skip. There had to be a normal bookstore in town.
I meandered through the streets, which were filling up with end-of-the-workday traffic, and hoped I was headed toward downtown. I wasn't paying as much attention as I should to where I was going; I was wrestling with despair. I was trying so hard not to think about him, and what we could be doing instead of me being here. I missed Edward a ton.
I stomped along in a southerly direction, toward some glass-fronted shops that looked promising. But when I got to them, they were just a repair shop and a vacant space. I still had too much time to go looking for Jess and Angela yet, and I definitely needed to get my mood in hand before I met back up with them. I ran my fingers through my hair a couple of times and took some deep breaths before I continued around the corner.
I started to realize, as I crossed another road, that I was going the wrong direction. The little foot traffic I had seen was going north, and it looked like the buildings here were mostly warehouses. I decided to turn east at the next corner, and then loop around after a few blocks and try my luck on a different street on my way back to the boardwalk.
A group of four men turned around the corner I was heading for, dressed too casually to be heading home from the office, but they were too grimy to be tourists. As they approached me, I realized they weren't too many years older than I was. They were joking loudly among themselves, laughing raucously and punching each other's arms. I scooted as far to the inside of the sidewalk as I could to give them room, walking swiftly, looking past them to the corner.
"Hey, there!" one of them called as they passed. He had to be talking to me since no one else was around.
I glanced up automatically. Two of them had paused, the other two were slowing. The closest, a heavyset, dark-haired man in his early twenties, seemed to be the one who had spoken. He was wearing a flannel shirt open over a dirty t-shirt, cut-off jeans, and sandals.
He took half a step toward me.
I ignored him. Then I quickly looked away and walked faster toward the corner. I could hear them laughing at full volume behind me.
"Hey, wait!" one of them called after me again, but I kept my head down and rounded the corner with a sigh of relief. I could still hear them chortling behind me.
I found myself on a sidewalk leading past the backs of several somber-colored warehouses, each with large bay doors for unloading trucks, padlocked for the night. The south side of the street had no sidewalk, only a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire protecting some kind of engine parts storage yard. I'd wandered far past the part of Port Angeles that I, as a guest, was intended to see. I realized it was getting dark, the clouds finally returning, piling up on the western horizon, creating an early sunset.
The eastern sky was still clear, but graying, shot through with streaks of pink and orange. I realized I left my jacket in the car and thought to myself I really should work on playing human… I thought to myself. A single van passed me, and then the road was empty.
The sky suddenly darkened further, and, as I looked over my shoulder to glare at the offending cloud, I realized with a shock that two of the men from the same group were walking quietly twenty feet behind me.
They were from the same group I'd passed at the corner, though neither was the darkhaired one who'd spoken to me. I turned my head forward at once, quickening my pace. A chill that had nothing to do with the weather made me shiver. My purse was on a shoulder strap and I had it slung across my body, the way you were supposed to wear it so it wouldn't get snatched. I knew exactly where my pepper spray was — still in my duffle bag under the bed, never unpacked. I couldn't fight them off without exposing myself, if only I hadn't forgotten about the pepper spray. I didn't have much money with me, just a twenty and some ones, and I thought about "accidentally" dropping my bag and walking away.
But a small voice in the back of my mind warned me that they might be something worse than thieves.
I listened intently to their quiet footsteps, which were much too quiet when compared to the boisterous noise they'd been making earlier, and it didn't sound like they were speeding up, or getting any closer to me. Breathe, I had to remind myself. You don't know they're following you. I continued to walk as quickly as I could without actually running, focusing on the right-hand turn that was only a few yards away from me now. I could hear them, staying as far back as they'd been before. A blue car turned onto the street from the south and drove quickly past me. I thought of jumping out in front of it, but I hesitated, inhibited, unsure that I was really being pursued, and then it was too late.
I reached the corner, but a swift glance revealed that it was only a blind drive to the back of another building. I was half-turned in anticipation; I had to hurriedly correct and dash across the narrow drive, back to the sidewalk. The street ended at the next corner, where there was a stop sign. I concentrated on the faint footsteps behind me, deciding whether or not to run. They sounded farther back, though, but I knew I could outrun them in any case.
The footfalls were definitely farther back. I risked a quick glance over my shoulder, and they were maybe forty feet back now, I saw with relief. But they were both staring at me.
It seemed to take forever for me to get to the corner. I kept my pace steady, the men behind me falling ever so slightly farther behind with every step. Maybe they realized they had scared me and were sorry. I saw two cars going north pass the intersection I was heading for, and I exhaled in relief.
There would be more people around once I got off this deserted street. I skipped around the corner with a grateful sigh.
And skidded to a stop.
The street was lined on both sides by blank, doorless, windowless walls. I could see in the distance, two intersections down, streetlamps, cars, and more pedestrians, but they were all too far away.
Because lounging against the western building, midway down the street, were the other two men from the group, both watching with excited smiles as I froze dead on the sidewalk. I realized then that I wasn't being followed.
I was being herded.
I paused for only a second, but it felt like a very long time. I turned then and darted to the other side of the road. I had a sinking feeling that it was a wasted attempt. The footsteps behind me were louder now.
"There you are!" The booming voice of the stocky, dark-haired man shattered the intense quiet and made me jump. In the gathering darkness, it seemed like he was looking past me.
"Yeah," a voice called loudly from behind me, making me jump again as I tried to hurry down the street.
"We just took a little detour."
My steps had to slow now. I was closing the distance between myself and the lounging pair too quickly. I had a good loud scream, and I sucked in air, preparing to use it, but my throat was so dry I wasn't sure how much volume I could manage. With a quick movement I slipped my purse over my head, gripping the strap with one hand, ready to surrender it or use it as a weapon as needed.
The thickset man shrugged away from the wall as I warily came to a stop, and walked slowly into the street.
"Stay away from me," I warned in a voice that was supposed to sound strong and fearless. But I was right about the dry throat — no volume.
"Don't be like that, sugar," he called, and the raucous laughter started again behind me.
I braced myself, feet apart, trying to remember through my panic what little self-defense I knew. Heel of the hand thrust upward, hopefully breaking the nose or shoving it into the brain. Finger through the eye socket — try to hook around and pop the eye out. And the standard knee to the groin, of course. Or, I could risk exposure and shift. But I couldn't put the pack or the Cullen's in danger like that.
That same pessimistic voice in my mind spoke up then, reminding me that I probably wouldn't have a chance against one of them without shifting. Shut up! I commanded the voice before terror could incapacitate me. I wasn't going out without taking someone with me. I tried to swallow so I could build up a decent scream.
I started shaking heavily, it probably looked like I was suffering a medium-large seizure with the force of my shaking, it was a wonder that I hadn't fallen on the ground.
"I told ya this one wouldn't put up much of a fight," One of the men said as he and the rest of the group of drunk men approached me.
As the drunk men approached me, I panicked. I didn't know what to do, I didn't want this. I couldn't handle it. So I shut off, it felt like I was viewing everything through a haze, or a fog, like I wasn't in control of my body anymore.
(The animal within POV.)
They cornered me, and one of them started ripping my shirt, another one of them holding my shoulders so I couldn't move. Little did he know I would put up more than a little fight.
My bones broke fast, my brain barely even processed the excruciating process due to my anger, my targets flung several feet back because of my shift.
In the distance, I heard a car engine, but I didn't think anything of it.
I was no longer in my human form, I was now a giant jaguar. A giant jaguar with more bloodlust than a vampire at this moment, and all of it was for these men.
The four imbeciles tried to scream, but like me earlier it appeared their throats were all dry with terror. They would soon suffer at my hands, and I couldn't wait.
As they had all backed away after I shifted, I approached the dark haired man with the flannel, as he was the closest to me. I cut into the flannel man chest, blood dripping onto my paws as I slowly severed the veins connecting his heart to his chest, before ripping it out of his torso.
The other three started running, all in the same direction. They were swaying drunkenly, tripping and trying to get in front of the others. I huffed, knowing they would give no chase.
I pounced on the one closest to me, the force of my body tackling him enough to make the others fall like dominos.
I tore off the bald ones head. He had just been following the others' lead, but he still deserved to die.
The next, the one who rounded up his friends, the leader of it all, I made long incisions on the tip of his fingers to the webbing between them, his screams filling the air.
I then cut off each of his fingers before decapitating him.
There was a screech, and then bright lights on me, but I paid no attention.
The last one was pleading, but I didn't let him go.
I slowly cut into his neck before deepening the incision until he stopped breathing.
I heard a soft click and my head snapped in the direction it came from, I saw an angel. The one I loved with all of my heart.
I ran towards him.
He jumped onto the roof of his car. I also jumped onto the roof of his car, tackling him down against the ground.
He stilled, and I assessed the immediate area for threats. I found none, so I turned my attention back to him.
I nuzzled my head into his throat, a possessive roar bubbling from deep within my own.
He flinched back, and I got closer to him. I was laying on top of him, making sure he was safe. He soon came to some sort of realization and stopped trying to get away from me.
I saw him do something on his phone as I checked him for injury, carefully assessing him.
Once I determined that he had no injuries, I checked his scent. Besides his normal scent I could smell some gasoline and some dirt. I checked him for dirtiness. I found smudges of dirt in lots of places on him.
I got closer to him to lick the dirt off of his face. As I got closer he flinched away. I huffed and licked the dirt off of his face.
He put his phone up to his ear, and I growled as soon as I heard an unknown voice.
He put his phone down and started petting me, while I checked his arms for dirt. I soon found some on the back of his arm, so I rolled him over to lick it off of him.
Once he was clean I layed on top of him, guarding him.
I soon saw a bright yellow car approaching, I growled and crouched down, preparing to attack.
"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay. It's just Alice. It's okay…you're okay." He attempted to soothe me.
A small petite figure stepped out of the yellow car, and approached Edward.
I growled in warning.
"Alice, that's close enough," Edward warned, raising his hand.
"I think that this is her instinct taking over. Her mind protecting her from the situation. Her brain thought she couldn't handle it so it let out the animal within."
Edward nodded.
"I think that you might need to remind her that she's not instinct, that this is the animal within, not her." Alice explained.
"Bella? Bella, dear? It's me, Edward. I would appreciate it if you could come back," Edward asked.
(Bella POV.)
I fell for less then a second, before my naked body hit a cold, hard surface.
I fell for less then a second, before my naked body hit a cold, hard surface.
I looked around, looking for the man who was approaching me. But instead I saw two frightened vampires. And the only nearby threat was me.
I crawled off of Edward and curled into a ball, using my hair to curtain my body.
"Bella?" Edward asked hesitantly.
I looked up at him, and something in my eyes made his shoulders sag with relief as he approached me and wrapped me in his jacket.
"I need to make sure Jess and Angela aren't worried," I said, ignoring the bloody bodies on the ground as I walked towards Edward's Volvo.
"Bella… don't you want to talk about what just happened?" Edward asked.
"I need Jess and Angela to know I'm okay."
"But, Bella… Are you okay?" Alice asked.
"What happened?" I asked, carefully avoiding Alice's question.
Luckily for me, she didn't push it further.
"You don't remember?" Edward asked.
I shook my head.
"You killed the people trying to rape you, you were all animalistic, and went off of instinct. Are you sure you're okay?" Edward said.
Alice handed me some clothes and I quickly dressed before we all headed off to La Bella Italia.
He silently drove to Bella Italia, where Jessica and Angela were just exiting the restaurant.
I exited the passenger side and walked up to them.
"Bella! What happened?!" Angela asked worriedly while Jessica stared at me in shock.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Y-you have blood on your face…" Jessica pointed out.
"And your hair is all messed up." Angela added.
My eyes widened. I hadn't thought to make sure I was cleaned up.
Notes:
I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger (I'm really not, I feel like a evil villain when I post cliffhangers.)
I'm also starting a guess the lyric! This one should be easy for most twilight fans, or people with good music taste :) here it is!
"I thought I was a fool for no one
Ooh baby, I'm a fool for you
You're the queen of the superficial
And how long before you tell the truth?"