TWC: Chapter 11 - If You Want Blood
Title: The Wedding Crashers (11/12)
Author: Das Mervin and Mrs. Hyde
Betas: gehayi and kermit_thefrog
Fandom: Twilight/Supernatural
Rating: R for language, themes, violence, and sexual innuendo
Word Count: 7,180
Summary: After two years on her own, and two more as a hunter with Sam and Dean Winchester, Leah thought she’d escaped her old life at La Push. But when she’s called home to attend Jacob and Renesmee’s wedding, she brings a little company, and the stage is set for her old and new lives to collide.
Author’s Note: Chapter title and soundtrack is from the AC/DC song “If You Want Blood.”
Disclaimer: “Supernatural” is the property of Kripke Enterprises and Warner Bros. Television. The Twilight Saga is the property of Stephenie Meyer and Little, Brown and Co. No copyright infringement is intended, and no profit is being made from this work.
CHAPTER 11 - IF YOU WANT BLOOD
Leah was frozen as Jacob charged forward, and she raised her hands in front of her, panic and fear boiling up from her gut. “Jacob-wait-I didn’t-”
But she knew it was hopeless-Jacob had been issued an order from Renesmee, and she might as well have been his Alpha. His eyes were all hate and fire, and then he was on her, his hands grabbing her upper arms so tight she felt her bones creaking in protest.
“You didn’t what, Leah?!” he roared in her face, shaking her until her teeth rattled. “Didn’t mean to ruin everything, just like you always do?!”
“Jacob, please!” she cried, trying to twist out of his grip, but the force of his Alpha’s will was too much, and he wanted her to sit still and take it, and so she did. “I swear, it was an acci-”
She was abruptly silenced by Jacob’s hand-she yelped in pain when he slapped her as hard as he could, her head snapping to the side as she tasted blood. “You call this an accident?!” he bellowed, and then he hit her again, so hard she felt her skin split before knitting itself closed.
Leah heard Emmett protesting, but she knew his word was futile against Renesmee’s even before she heard Carlisle sanctimoniously tell him that this was pack business and they had no right to interfere. She heard Charlie snarling, yelling that this was wrong and that someone had to stop Jacob, and if nobody else would, he would, but then she heard her mother stopping him, because there was nothing they could do, and she hated herself when furious, miserable tears started welling up in her eyes again and she was helpless to stop them.
“You come here, bring them, and screw everything up!” Jacob screamed in her face.
“I try to make you feel welcome and this is how you repay me?!” Renesmee’s shrieks joined Jacob’s enraged snarls, and Leah felt sick because she knew, she knew that Renesmee was egging him on, driving him forward, and that iron band in her brain tightened as Jacob pulled back again, only this time his hand wasn’t open, but closed.
She had less than a second to brace herself. Jacob’s fist smashed into her face, and though she hadn’t wanted to, she couldn’t help it-she screamed as she both heard and felt her jaw break, and then he hurled her to the ground with a howl of fury.
“Jacob!” Leah dimly heard Embry’s pleading voice through the ringing in her ears and the agony of her bones struggling to repair themselves. “Jacob, stop, leave her alone! You can’t do this-”
“Stay back, Embry, you sit down and stay out of this!” Jacob’s voice reverberated through her head, as it did through every other wolf’s, and Embry gasped as his arms flopped loosely to his sides and he fell to his knees, limp and powerless.
Leah coughed, spitting blood on the ground even as Jacob advanced again, and his hand suddenly knotted in her hair, jerking her head up. “I should’ve done this years ago, you ungrateful bitch!” he bellowed. He dropped roughly to his knees and she didn’t see it coming this time, his fist slamming into her face with no warning. Pain bloomed white-hot where it connected, crushing her cheekbone and eye socket, and she could do nothing but wail in agony when he shook her again, and she couldn’t understand what he was screaming at her because Renesmee was screaming too, and his fist was coming up again, and all she could do was raise her arm up to shield her face, knowing it would do no good because she was helpless before him and nobody was going to help her, they were all just going to watch as he beat her, because she deserved it-
SMACK.
Leah’s hoarse panting was the only sound for a brief second. When she finally realized that the next blow wasn’t coming, she hesitantly lowered her hand and looked up, cracking open her one good eye.
Castiel stood above them, his face a mask of cold fury. His pale fingers were wrapped tight around Jacob’s bulging wrist, and Jacob was staring incredulously up at him, stunned that not only had he had the nerve to interfere, but that he’d managed to stop his hand in the first place.
Jacob released Leah’s hair, and she fell backwards as he staggered to his feet, his fury overtaking his shock as he tried to jerk his arm free. But once again he could only stare, thunderstruck, when he realized that he couldn’t.
“That is enough.” Cas’s voice was implacable.
“Cas,” she rasped, forcing herself to speak even though every movement of her mouth was torture as her broken body tried to repair itself. She pushed herself up into a rough sitting position, swaying drunkenly, and through the watery vision of her healing eye saw movement beyond the rest of the crowd. Dread filled her when she realized Quil had finally managed to fight his way free from the ruined table, and even through the smears of cake she could see that his eyes were zeroed in behind her-on Dean.
“Cas,” she repeated, her voice so quiet she knew only he would hear her, trying her best to keep her jaw still as it mended. “Don’t-the boys-Quil-”
Jacob gave yet another mighty tug, and this time Cas let go, sending him staggering backwards. He glared fiercely at the angel, straightening his back and puffing out his chest with foolish triumph, his hands balled into fists as Renesmee clung to his arm. Cas stepped backwards, his gaze flicking between Jacob and Quil as he crossed the floor to the Winchesters. He gave Leah one last concerned, questioning look, to which she mouthed “Go!” through her still-broken teeth, and then he finally moved to stand in front of Dean and Sam.
Quil stopped short when he saw Cas, instead changing course and moving to back Jacob up along with Sam and Paul. Leah looked up at them, and could see that Jacob had shaken off his surprise at Cas’s intervention and was regaining his momentum; she could see in the smug set of his face and the hint of a swagger in his walk as he advanced that he somehow thought he had won their showdown, that he had forced Castiel into a retreat. Between his pompous confidence in his victory and the fact that he was now backed up by three other wolves, he turned his attention back to her, helpless on the floor before him.
“Hoping to get your friends to distract me?” Jacob sneered. “Typical-but it’s not gonna work this time.”
“You stupid dog,” Renesmee suddenly hissed, stepping forward. “I tried to make you feel welcome-I’ve always been nice to you, and you’ve always thrown it back in my face! You’re such a selfish, horrible person!”
The rest of the pack was coming forward now-Embry was panting on the sidelines, still on his knees, and Leah could see the anguish in his eyes, but he couldn’t move. All the other still active wolves were joining Jacob: Jared, Sam, Paul-and Seth, even her brother joined them as they closed ranks upon her, the crushing weight of their condemnation like a load of lead on her chest.
“This is why you’ve never been welcome!” Jacob flung at her. “Because you won’t change and grow the hell up!”
Her face was healed, and she looked up and opened her mouth to say something, anything-
“You shut up, you filthy slut!” he snarled, and Leah’s throat suddenly closed, her muscles seizing, and she didn’t say anything-couldn’t say anything against the implacable order that reverberated through her mind with his words. “Nobody’s interested in any of the crap you have to say!”
Her eyes watered at the agony of the squeezing in her skull, and her head dropped against the weight of his combined anger and outrage.
“I didn’t want you here!” Jacob suddenly roared. “Nobody wanted you here, but Nessie-she felt bad because you’d been gone for years and figured maybe you’d had a chance to wake up and should come back and be with your family again. And this is how you react to kindness-by bringing them-” he flung an accusing hand towards Sam and Dean, “-and deliberately ruining what was supposed to be one of the best days of her life!”
“I invited you personally,” Renesmee spat out, both echoing him and goading him with her furious words. “I bought you a dress and jewelry, I let you come to my wedding even though you’ve always hated me!”
Jacob’s fists were clenching restlessly, his muscles straining against the fabric of his tuxedo, and Leah could see him tensing as if to move-to swing. “This was all about Nessie, and you couldn’t stand it-so you brought them so you could make it all about you!” he roared. Renesmee’s face was still furious, but Leah could see the triumph in her eyes. “Will you ever learn to think of anyone besides yourself?!” And he raised his arm, and Renesmee’s eyes were alight, but Leah couldn’t move-he wouldn’t let her move-and he was coming forward to strike-
But then he jerked back in surprise; with a flash of sunlight on silver, there was Sam-Sam Winchester, and gripped tightly in his hand was a wickedly-gleaming blade pointing dangerously at Jacob. “Don’t you touch her, you son of a bitch!” he bit out, his knuckles white on the hilt.
Jacob had taken a step back in surprise, but then his face twisted in anger and contempt. “Or what, you’ll stab me?” he mocked. “Yeah, I’d love to see you do that.”
And then Dean was standing next to her too, his shoulders back and his eye steely. “You aren’t the only one, you dickless piece of shit,” he said, his voice rough and full of hate.
No-Sam, Dean-no-he’ll only hurt you-he’ll only kill you-leave-save yourselves! But she didn’t say any of those things, because her mouth and her throat and her lungs wouldn’t work. A helpless wheeze was all that escaped her as she weakly shook her head-all her own will could manage around the collar of her Alpha.
Jacob growled low in his throat. “I really don’t care what you want-and trust me, I’ll be dealing with you after I’m done with her.” And Leah knew he would, could see it and feel it in his mind, knew that he was going to punish them like Nessie wanted. And then his burning eye was back on her, and she flinched helplessly. “You always whined about how we never included you, about how we never wanted you-well, why would we?!” he hissed. “Did you ever think to maybe ask yourself that?! You’re ungrateful, you’re whiny, you do nothing but complain how we’re the mean ones, you insult everyone constantly-Sam’s lucky he imprinted on Emily, because otherwise he would’ve been stuck with you!”
His words echoed through her skull-bitch, filth, selfish, ungrateful-he thought she was all those things, and she was nothing, he hated her, all the wolves hated her, and why shouldn’t they, because she was all those things, they knew it, and of course they were right, she was nothing, and his mind pressed in and crowded inside of her head and she crumpled, on her hands and knees before them all, and Renesmee was shouting, and Sam and Dean were shouting but she couldn’t hear them, couldn’t hear anything but Jacob’s endless booming voice and words and mind and she was a bitch and a slut and an ungrateful dog-
“You never bothered to try to be a part of Sam’s pack, so you just barged in and made yourself at home in mine! I didn’t want you, either! Nobody wants you!” Jacob roared. “You aren’t welcome and you never will be!
“You’re no part of my pack-of any pack!”
And a white-hot lance of pain shot through her brain, and Leah screamed, her hands clutching and futilely clawing at her temples as if trying to rip away whatever was hurting her, and the iron bands were wrapping tight, tight, tighter around her skull and with a thump she barely felt she collapsed on the ground, twisting helplessly against the pain, and her head was going to burst like a grape and this was the end, she was dying, and she dimly thought that she always knew they would be the end of her-
And then, with an almost audible snap, it was over.
…No. It wasn’t over. It was gone.
She didn’t move. Somewhere in the background, she was aware that Jacob was still ranting, that Sam and Dean were nearby, frantically talking to her, their hands on her arms and shoulders and back, but she didn’t hear it, didn’t feel it, didn’t see it, no, she was concentrating on what was inside her head right now-or rather, what wasn’t.
She couldn’t hear him. She couldn’t feel him, couldn’t sense him-there was no one else in her head but Leah.
She was alone.
Jacob was gone.
Her pack was gone.
She blinked, her eyes focusing on Sam and Dean hovering over her, and she moved, pushing herself shakily to her knees, and then just sitting and staring at her hands.
Jacob was screaming at her, that she was a disgrace, that she was useless, that she was worthless, that she only lived to destroy everything, and he was furious…but she didn’t feel it. The unyielding grip on her brain was just…gone.
“Now, you stay on your knees where you belong, you worthless bitch, and you apologize to Nessie and then to everyone else here for what you’ve done!” Jacob roared.
“…No.”
Silence. The word had come out as barely more than a whisper…but she’d said it.
She looked up. Jacob was staring at her blankly, his mouth gaping…and then it twisted in outrage and he bellowed, “What did you say to me?” and his face was hard and focused and she knew that look, knew that he was ordering her to do it, to bend her to his will…but she felt nothing.
“No.” Her voice shook with disbelief when she said it, and so she steadied herself and said again, “No.” And she looked at him, met his incredulous stare, and she grasped Sam and Dean’s hands, and slowly, shakily, she rose to her feet and, standing tall, she looked Jacob straight in the eye and said, “I said no.”
“You-you can’t say no!” he shouted. “I am your Alpha! I order you to obey, do you hear me! I order you!”
“No.” Her vision blurred, and she dashed away the hot tears that threatened, and her mouth was stretching in a helpless, disbelieving smile as she told him, “You can’t make me.”
And…he couldn’t. There was no Alpha command, no leash, no pack, no Jacob, none of the thoughts and voices and feelings that had filled her head for the past ten years-just Leah, and that complete, wonderful silence in her head and the heady rush of glorious, glorious freedom.
“I’m not going to stay on my knees.” She bit out every word, focused only on Jacob’s gaping, spasming face. “I’m not going to apologize to your little bitch,” she said, her lip curling into a snarl as her voice rose. “And I’m not going to do anything you tell me to do ever again!”
“You have to!” Jacob was screaming now, his face an ugly shade of maroon, flecks of spit flying from his lips. “I am your Alpha!”
“…You were her Alpha.”
Leah looked sharply to the right, to see Sam staring at Jacob with a look of smug contempt. “You were-until you just said you weren’t.” Jacob blinked stupidly at him, even as Leah felt a dawning realization that left her near giddy. “You fucking idiot,” Sam sneered. “Don’t you even know what you just did? You were throwing a temper tantrum, and in the middle of your drama-queen shitfit, you said she wasn’t part of your pack any more.” He smiled. “You just set her free.”
Jacob stared, his jaw slack, but when a sound that was half-sob, half-laugh escaped her, his features warped into a rictus of rage. “Fine!” he roared, near foaming at the mouth. “It’s no less than you deserve, you stupid whore!”
And then with another roar of fury he ran at her, charged her, charged them all faster than a human could see, his fists swinging wildly as he screamed, “I don’t need Alpha orders to give you what-”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. As he charged, his fist swung down, and faster than she could think, Leah acted.
With a wet crack that was music to her ears, Leah punched him dead in the face.
Everything seemed in slow-motion; she felt the crunch of his breaking jaw beneath her knuckles, saw his eyes bulge with shock and then pain, and saw his arms pinwheel wildly as he flew backwards, crashing into Jared and Quil and Paul and then landing in a heap on the floor.
Leah could only stand, shaking, staring at her hand as if she could barely believe it was a part of her body, as Jacob furiously flailed and scrambled on the floor, the other wolves gawping at her even as they tried to help him to his feet.
Sam and Dean were looking stunned too, having only just managed to catch up with what their eyes had been unable to see, when Sam suddenly let out a bark of surprised laughter. “Hit him again!” he said, impressed.
“Stop!” Renesmee’s shriek pierced the air like an ice pick. Leah’s eyes jerked upwards in surprise as an apparition in billowing white skirts suddenly flung herself between Leah and Jacob, who was finally on his feet. “How dare you hit him!” she screeched. “You-”
Leah blinked once-and then belted her in the mouth too.
Renesmee went down with a tiny squeal, staggering backwards and landing on her butt in a froth of white satin. For a fraction of a second, she just stared silently up at Leah, her mouth hanging open and her brown eyes wide with shock.
And then she burst into tears.
The uproar was immediate. Jacob scrambled across the floor to his dearest darling who was shrieking like a firebell, crouching over her protectively even as all of the Cullens (save Rose and Emmett, who were just standing by looking positively gleeful) rushed to Renesmee’s side to try and soothe her wails-which were spiraling rapidly into obviously affected now, she was laying it on so thick. The wolves were all snarling, angry that Leah had dared harm an imprint…
…and Leah’s vicious pleasure faltered when she realized the vampires were closing in and surrounding them now, because this was no longer just werewolf business.
“You despicable animal!” Edward suddenly snarled, leaping to his feet and with a fiery glare. “You struck my daughter!”
Dean spoke before Leah could. “Oh, shut up-consider it ten years’-worth of spankings that you were too pussy to give her, Wardo,” he sneered.
“How-how dare you-how dare you!” Bella was just shrieking the words over and over again.
In spite of her growing dread in the face of the increasing anger of the vampires, Leah just turned to Bella and shouted, “I dared because I can!”
“You won’t be able to do anything ever again when we’re through with you!” Jacob bellowed, starting forward again.
She gritted her teeth and went into a half-crouch, ready to take him-ready to take them all. Even if they were going to swarm her, it didn’t matter-she wasn’t going to go down without a fight this time because she didn’t have to. She would change and tear into them for all she was worth, and she would die fighting-but she was not going to let them hurt her friends.
But Sam and Dean weren’t behind her anymore-they were in front, both with their angelic blades drawn.
“You stay back or we’ll kill every last one of you shit-sucking freaks,” Dean growled even as Leah felt Cas drawing closer, coming to stand directly behind them.
Her worry was pushed aside by anger when the vampires and werewolves alike just laughed at Dean’s threat, and she stepped forward to stand between-beside her boys even as the vampires drew closer.
“You’ll kill us?” Edward was sneering.
“Perhaps all that talk of being a powerful potential has gone to your head, you idiot,” Bella hissed, helping Renesmee to her feet. “You’re only worth anything if you are a vampire. It means nothing when you’re just a human.”
“You talk a big line while you’re sitting behind all your big friends,” Sam said scornfully, “but you sure aren’t in any hurry to come up here and do anything.”
Bella bared her teeth, but she wasn’t the one who answered.
Leah saw it; Jacob had seemed about to move, but then Benjamin darted forward out of the crowd, his coven close behind him. With a nasty, anticipatory grin, Jacob fell back, putting his arms around the still-snuffling Renesmee as Benjamin came to stand before her friends, moving more quickly than the human eye could see. To Sam and Dean, the arrogant leech had simply appeared in front of them; they jumped a little, but didn’t back down even as he smirked at them both.
“I see that you are just as foolish as your brother,” Benjamin said carelessly to Sam. “You don’t seem to realize how misplaced your confidence is.”
“Well, it does take one to know one, doesn’t it, bitch?” Dean shot right back.
Benjamin just sneered. “Very well, human. I promised before travelling here that I would keep my appetite in check-but my patience with you is at an end. I thought it would be rude to eat the Cullens’ guests-but now I see I’ll be doing them a favor.”
“Oh, you wanna eat something, fuckface?” Dean demanded, and then lewdly grabbed his crotch. “Eat this!”
Benjamin’s lip curled, and Leah could see the cruel anticipation filling his eyes. “Oh, you will be eaten, Dean, and in your entirety,” he purred. “Now all that remains is to decide how to do it: eat Sam and make you watch, or simply kill you first for being such an insufferable little upstart.”
The hairs on the back of Leah’s neck rose (and she wasn’t entirely sure if it was due to her own anxiety or because Cas was behind her); Benjamin had just pissed Dean and Sam off royally.
“If you do anything to my brother-” Sam spat.
Dean cut him off. “Don’t bother, Sammy-that’ll give them the impression that we’re scared.”
Benjamin’s eyebrow raised, and Leah saw all of the others grinning nastily-eagerly-at the tableau. “You don’t even have the good sense to-”
“To what?” Dean shot back. “To be all scared that you’re gonna crush us, see us driven before you, hear the lamentations of our women, yadda yadda? Well, we’re not. You know why, you arrogant jackass?” he asked scathingly. “’Cause we’ve both faced down shit a lot meaner and nastier and bigger than you. You aren’t the top of the food chain, you douchebag.”
Leah was keeping a close watch on Benjamin, but even so she could see out of the corner of her eye that the vampires were all looking just as scornful as he was.
“Something in the world more powerful than us?” he scoffed.
“Damn straight-and they were all a bunch of dicks, too.”
“That is funny, Dean, I must say,” Benjamin said derisively. “Well, I’ll indulge you-I may as well let you live in your little fantasy world for the remainder of your short, pointless life. Just what did you do when you faced down this supposed fearsome beast?”
Dean’s gaze was defiant and furious as he stared back into the red eyes that bored into him with savage intensity, and he simply replied, “I shanked his sorry ass-like this.”
And with one sharp motion, Dean thrust the blade forward while everyone watched, and they were already starting to laugh as Benjamin didn’t even bother dodging-and the knife went in.
There was a strange, grinding crunch as the angelic blade found its mark and sank up to the hilt in his chest with a burst of blue sparks, and at the sound, everyone went still with shock-but Benjamin most of all.
There was a split second where Leah could see in his face that he realized he’d just been stabbed…and then he just froze. No…he solidified. Her wolf ears could hear the minute crackling sounds spreading across his body, and his skin was going dull, lifeless, the sparkle fading and turning gray, but he didn’t move, just stood perfectly still like a statue, his arms spread wide, his face fixed in that expression of near comical surprise, only he was cracking, she could hear it, radiating outward from where the blade protruded from his chest.
“Benjamin?” His female sounded confused, anxious, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t move. Only when Dean, his jaw clenched with triumph, yanked the sword free from his chest, did he totter for a moment…and then, almost in slow-motion, he toppled backwards onto the hard floor beneath him, and with a hideous crash, simply smashed into a thousand pieces.
The stunned, horrified silence that followed was suddenly broken by a shriek of “Benjamin!” and two other shouts of “No!” as the rest of the Egyptian coven came dashing towards his body, running so fast that Sam and Dean jumped when to their eyes they suddenly seemed to just appear in front of them. They crouched on the ground at their feet, scrabbling furiously at the pieces of the shattered corpse, licking them as if trying to use their venom as glue to reassemble a broken piece of pottery. But even as they frantically scraped and scrambled, Tia shrieking like a banshee the whole while, and the crowds behind them crying out with dismay, the pieces were just crumbling, his clothes deflating obscenely as the chunks of vampire simply disintegrated into so much dull gray dust.
And when the gray powder was all that was left, blowing across the floor in the breeze, Amun and Kebi just stared down at it in mute horror…but then Tia’s voice rose in an earsplitting wail. “Benjamin!” she yowled. “He-he’s dead! No! Benjamin!”
But then her face twisted into a snarl, and she whirled, her eyes burning and mad with hate as she looked at Dean, who was near redolent with smugness, and she leapt into a crouch and howled, “You killed my mate, you filthy human! You murderer!”
It was too fast for Dean to see, but Leah could, saw the way she crouched low, her teeth bared, and she sprang, and Leah moved to leap between them, to save him, when suddenly electricity seemed to crackle through the air and she gasped and froze where she stood…just in time to see something she never even thought was possible: a vampire clumsily falling flat on the ground. Tia was sprawled on the floor, her jaw slack with shock, blocked before she had ever even touched Dean. But it was not Leah who had stopped her.
It was Castiel.
He had moved, faster than the humans could see, and faster than werewolves or vampires could see; he had simply appeared between Tia and Dean before the vampire even knew what had happened. She had run right into him, headfirst, and the angel’s tiny frame hadn’t budged. She just bounced right off him, and had fallen square on her ass.
She gawped up at him; Cas just stared down at her, his face hard, and to someone who didn’t know him well, his expression had barely changed. But Leah did know him, and could see that it had, and the cold anger that was radiating from his impossibly blue eyes made her shiver in spite of herself.
Tia stared up at him, as did everyone else-until her face suddenly came alive with rage and she screeched in fury and threw herself at Cas.
The angel didn’t move. He simply held out his hand over her, and Leah felt the air suddenly charge-and Tia burst into flames.
Even as her pain-filled howls rent the air, Leah could hear the terrified gasps and screams from the crowd-from the vampires in the crowd-as they watched Tia burn, her shrieks dwindling to nothing, the air filling with thick, oily purple smoke, all while Cas just stood over her without saying a word.
It didn’t take long; vampires burned like tinder, and soon there was nothing but ash strewn across the pristine dance floor, to mingle with the dusty remnants of her mate.
Amun and Kebi were staring up at Cas with a mix of shock and fear, and then they scrabbled wildly and gracelessly away from him, running to hide amongst the now horrified crowds of onlookers.
Leah looked at Sam, who was slowly starting to smile, and then at Dean, who was already grinning hugely, and all three of them moved to stand next to Cas, who regarded all the angry, terrified vampires and wolves looking back at him with his own cold and pitiless fury.
“You-you killed them!” came a sudden, disbelieving shriek from one of the Amazons.
“You murdered them!” Jasper bellowed in outrage.
Cas narrowed his eyes. “I defended my friends from that creature’s attempts to harm them; that is not murder,” he said evenly, his voice low and tight with barely-contained wrath. “Murder is the forty-seven defenseless humans with lives and loved ones that were killed and drained of blood by the sixteen vampires that you invited here.”
Leah felt Sam and Dean tense even as she did herself, in the sudden, heavy silence that followed Cas’s words.
“That-that wasn’t murder!” Jasper shouted, and goddammit but Leah wanted to smash his face in for that.
Cas skewered Jasper with his gaze, and he seemed to shrink where he stood. “Even if it wasn’t, then what would you call it if the vampires Randall, Charles, Makenna, Zafrina, Senna, and Kachiri had succeeded in their plans to stalk, kill, and eat my friend Dean Winchester after he left the wedding?” he asked, his voice flinty.
“What?!”
Leah could find no humor in the fact that she and the brothers spoke in unison this time.
Jasper’s mouth was hanging open, working, but no words were coming out, and when Sam started forward, his angelic blade clenched in his white-knuckled fist, Alice cowered behind him even as he looked about to run.
“I should stake every last one of you murdering bastards!” Sam snarled.
“On what grounds?!”
It was Bella. She was starting forward, her fists clenched and her face alight with righteous anger, and even as she spoke to Sam, Leah saw she was staring hard at Cas. “What right do any of you have to hurt any of us? You call it murder-do you call it murder when you kill a cow for a steak, or a pig for a ham sandwich? Is it murder to eat eggs for breakfast?!”
“Are you seriously calling me a pork chop, you dizzy bitch?” Dean demanded in outrage.
“I’m calling it the natural order of things,” Bella sneered, her nose going up in the air. “You look down at my kind simply for surviving. We are all vampires, and just because my family makes the choice and sacrifice to not drink human blood, that doesn’t mean we’re going to force everyone else to do the same! This lifestyle is not for all vampires-it is difficult and near-impossible for some! It’s not murder when they eat humans, you useless clod, it’s the food chain, and if you really had such a problem with it, you wouldn’t have gorged yourself at the buffet table.”
Both Sam and Dean looked like they were about to explode, but Bella was still going-Leah knew she was impossible to shut up when she was building up a good head of steam. As she turned away from her in disgust, her gaze roved over all the indignant vampires who were nodding in agreement with her tirade, and the wolves who, despite looking uncomfortable, were saying nothing-but then her stomach clenched when there, on the outskirts, she spotted Charlie Swan…and he was looking at his daughter as though he’d never seen her before.
“Murder-how can you even apply your stupid human laws and standards to us?!” Bella continued to rant. “We’re not human! Barely any of you even know we exist! It doesn’t matter that we started as humans-we aren’t human anymore, we aren’t part of your little society, and we are outside and above your man-made law! You have a stupid ‘one-size-fits-all’ model for morality! You have no right to judge us, and no right to kill us!”
“I have every right.”
Bella quavered when Castiel spoke again, but she remained stupidly defiant even in the face of his icy disdain.
“You are not above humans,” he continued, and Leah could tell he was getting angry again, “and you are most certainly not above God’s will. Humans are God’s most beloved creations-you are nothing but soulless abominations who threw away His most precious gift to you.”
“If humans were so special,” Bella replied arrogantly, “then why did God make them so weak and slow and clumsy and fragile and flawed?”
It seemed impossible that the motionless angel’s spine could go rigid, and yet it did just that, and Leah saw the flare of that same cold fire in his eyes, felt the crackle of energy that seemed to ripple over his skin. She surreptitiously stepped a few inches away from him.
“I’m tired of you telling me that humans are better-I left my humanity behind a long time ago, and now I am this-a powerful vampire, beautiful and immortal, and I have the ability to protect all of my friends and family from things like you,” Bella declared, stepping forward with her arms spread dramatically. “You may have caught us off guard once, but not anymore.” Her eyes flicked to Sam, and she gave him a triumphant smirk as she gestured to all the vampires and wolves, who slowly began to rally behind her. “You said my power was worthless-well, see how worthless it is now, you-”
Cas had had enough. He raised his arm, two fingers extended, and flicked his wrist.
Bella’s victory speech was cut short with an abrupt and painful yell, and she flew backwards as if she’d been jerked offstage by a cane. She collided with Edward with a stony thud, and they both went down gracelessly on the floor.
Cas glared out at the assembled monsters, who were once again frozen in shock, and Leah cringed back and shied away from him again when the air once more sizzled, radiating outward from where he stood in a wave of burning sound and invisible power and once again sending the vampires and wolves flinching away with cries of pain.
“You’ve said enough,” Cas growled.
Bella just gaped for a moment from where she was sprawled on the ground, her eyes wide and her mouth working uselessly, and then she scrambled to her feet to cling to Edward. “What-what are you?!” she shrieked, terrified.
Castiel stood motionless as he looked out at the crowds, his eyes fathomless and remote.
“I’m an Angel of the Lord.”
Silence. Then, a few nervous titters, hushed murmurs of incredulity, and finally Edward spoke aloud. “You-you’re no angel!” he said loudly, his pompous tone not hiding the tremor in his voice.
“It’s-that’s impossible!” Carlisle’s voice was hoarse with disbelief.
“Tell the truth!” Edward demanded shakily. “What are you?!”
“Dude,” Dean said scornfully, “he just full-on smote that bitch, and you’re gonna stand there and tell me he’s not an angel?”
Cas looked at Dean with furrowed brows. “I didn’t smite her, Dean,” he said earnestly. “I just set her on fire-”
Dean cut him off. “Shut up, Cas-you’re ruining the moment.”
Cas shut up. Dean, though, kept talking. “Well, you believe whatever you want to, but I can promise you that he is an angel-wings and everything. And these-” he hefted the blade in his hand, “are angelic swords, guaranteed to kill angels, demons, and everything in between. So,” he said, twirling it in his hand like a baton and grinning out at the crowds as they flinched back at the sudden motion, “if any of you dickwads care to debate the issue, come on up. I’m sure Cas here will be happy to give you another free demonstration.”
Nobody moved. Leah couldn’t help but sneer nastily out at the huddled vampires, all doing their best to hide behind each other.
Sam gave a rude snort. “Don’t bother, Dean,” he sneered. “These cowards only fight when they’re sure they’ll win.”
“Well, you know me-I’ll fight in any situation,” Dean answered, and then his grin took on a feral quality. “But I do admit that I like it best when I know I’ll win. I think maybe you’re right. Maybe we should just toast all of these freaks right here and now-starting with Quil,” he said, his voice suddenly hard, and he leveled a fulminating glare at the still cake-covered Quil, who was standing in a knot of frightened werewolves and looked torn between wanting to charge and wanting to run.
“No!” The all jumped in surprise-and turned to see a determined-looking Claire fighting her way free of her mother to stand at the front of the crowd.
“Claire?” Leah asked.
Dean looked bewildered. “You want us to let Uncle Creepy live? After everything he’s done to you?” he asked in disbelief.
“The werewolves protect their tribe,” Claire said firmly. “Even Quil…and he’s never hurt me. I don’t want him imprinted on me-but I don’t want him dead, either. And the Cullens…” She looked at them rather distastefully, but went on, saying, “Well, they don’t hurt anyone. They’re creeps, but they don’t try to kill people-they don’t really deserve to die for being snobs.”
Leah blinked down at her-they all did-and Claire’s resolute little face broke into a small smile. “I think they should get The Princess Bride ending,” she said, a tiny twinkle in her eye. “A long life alone with their cowardice.”
Sam gave a hoot of laughter, and Leah couldn’t help but giggle. Dean saluted Claire with his sword, smiling and nodding in approval, and said, “Okay, Claire-‘to the pain’ it is.”
“You hear that, douchebags?” Sam called. “The little flawed human here just saved all of your sorry asses-with her humanity. She showed you more mercy than you would have shown us-and certainly more than you deserve.”
“Especially you, Quil,” Dean growled. “I won’t kill you, ’cause Claire asked nicely, but from here on out, you keep your filthy paws off her, you hear me?!” And then he was grinning nastily. “And now you know that there are angels watching over you-and if any of us hear that you so much as lay a finger on her, he’ll smite your pedo ass.”
Quil’s face was twitching, twisting, but Claire was looking at Dean with something near adoration. “Thank you, Dean,” she breathed, and then rounded on Quil with an expression of vindictive delight. “You hear that, Quil? You stop running off my guy friends, you stay out of my house, and I’m not going to marry you!”
“Damn right she’s not!” Dean shouted over Quil’s pathetic wail. “And as for all the rest of you sorry bitches?” he said, rounding on the crowds, who shrank back as he brandished his sword at them. “Me and my brother here? We’re hunters-all we do is hunt down and kill inhuman pieces of shit like you.”
“So all you red-eyed murderers?” Sam said. “We’re giving you a freebie now, ’cause we were just here for the wedding. And anyway, with Cas here we’re on the Divine side of things, so we’ll forgive you this time.” His flippant tone turned steely. “But now we know what you are, who you are, where you are, and most importantly-we know how to kill you.” He bared his teeth in a grin. “You all are next on our list.”
Dean smirked. “So, you can adopt the all-you-can-eat wildlife diet like your friends here, or you’d better pray that you never meet up with us again-‘cause it’ll be the last thing you ever see.”
And then he turned his back on them all, looking at Leah, then Sam and Cas. “Come on, guys-let’s blow.”
“Yeah-I think we’re done here,” Sam replied. “Come on, Cas.”
As they turned, facing the crowd, Leah saw them all: She saw the angry, disbelieving, and utterly terrified vampires. She saw the wolves, looking small and useless and cowed. She saw Jacob, and he was with Renesmee and the rest of the Cullens, grouped together in a bitter, humiliated huddle.
And over to the side, she saw Embry-he was standing now, and he was frightened too, but he was on his feet and when he met Leah’s eyes, he gave her a small, wistful smile. He had his hand on Claire’s shoulder, and she was beaming and gave Leah a big thumbs-up. And standing next to them was Charlie; she thought she saw tears in his eyes, but he managed a shaky smile. And even Emmett and Rose were there, jumpy and nervous, but Emmett saluted her all the same.
But they were the exception; the rest of them were nothing bunch of filthy hypocrites and murderers who did nothing but put others down to make themselves look better…and she couldn’t resist one last parting shot, because she didn’t give a rat’s ass what they thought about her, and if she had her way, she’d never lay eyes on any of them again-because now she was free.
“You know, you were right about one thing-about me,” she called, and when she saw she had their attention, she smiled. “We four?” she said, gesturing to her friends-her real family. “We’re gonna have so much sex when we get back home.”
“Hell, yeah!” Dean beamed at her, and Sam laughed, and then she winked at the rather alarmed Cas before threading her arm through his elbow, and then with a sudden whoosh of feathers, they were gone.
Author’s Note: And here we are, finished yet not finished, because there is an Epilogue to be had! It will be up later tonight, so keep an eye out.
Minor note-Bella’s little monologue before Cas whipped out his Pimp Cane and told Bella to EXIT STAGE LEFT U HOR? You can find where I pulled most of her attitude here. It’s an interview with Stephenie Meyer, wherein she lays out exactly why vampires are above and beyond human laws and morals and we are nothing but cattle to them and should be grateful for it.
And the reason Cas got mad and whipped out the angelic Pimp Cane? Because Bella (and therefore Meyer) was basically spewing everything she always spews about humanity, what she has been spewing in every single book in the series-and basically quoting SPN-verse Lucifer every time she does it. You know-THE DEVIL.
Yeah.
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Author: Das Mervin and Mrs. Hyde
Betas: gehayi and kermit_thefrog
Fandom: Twilight/Supernatural
Rating: R for language, themes, violence, and sexual innuendo
Word Count: 7,180
Summary: After two years on her own, and two more as a hunter with Sam and Dean Winchester, Leah thought she’d escaped her old life at La Push. But when she’s called home to attend Jacob and Renesmee’s wedding, she brings a little company, and the stage is set for her old and new lives to collide.
Author’s Note: Chapter title and soundtrack is from the AC/DC song “If You Want Blood.”
Disclaimer: “Supernatural” is the property of Kripke Enterprises and Warner Bros. Television. The Twilight Saga is the property of Stephenie Meyer and Little, Brown and Co. No copyright infringement is intended, and no profit is being made from this work.
CHAPTER 11 - IF YOU WANT BLOOD
Leah was frozen as Jacob charged forward, and she raised her hands in front of her, panic and fear boiling up from her gut. “Jacob-wait-I didn’t-”
But she knew it was hopeless-Jacob had been issued an order from Renesmee, and she might as well have been his Alpha. His eyes were all hate and fire, and then he was on her, his hands grabbing her upper arms so tight she felt her bones creaking in protest.
“You didn’t what, Leah?!” he roared in her face, shaking her until her teeth rattled. “Didn’t mean to ruin everything, just like you always do?!”
“Jacob, please!” she cried, trying to twist out of his grip, but the force of his Alpha’s will was too much, and he wanted her to sit still and take it, and so she did. “I swear, it was an acci-”
She was abruptly silenced by Jacob’s hand-she yelped in pain when he slapped her as hard as he could, her head snapping to the side as she tasted blood. “You call this an accident?!” he bellowed, and then he hit her again, so hard she felt her skin split before knitting itself closed.
Leah heard Emmett protesting, but she knew his word was futile against Renesmee’s even before she heard Carlisle sanctimoniously tell him that this was pack business and they had no right to interfere. She heard Charlie snarling, yelling that this was wrong and that someone had to stop Jacob, and if nobody else would, he would, but then she heard her mother stopping him, because there was nothing they could do, and she hated herself when furious, miserable tears started welling up in her eyes again and she was helpless to stop them.
“You come here, bring them, and screw everything up!” Jacob screamed in her face.
“I try to make you feel welcome and this is how you repay me?!” Renesmee’s shrieks joined Jacob’s enraged snarls, and Leah felt sick because she knew, she knew that Renesmee was egging him on, driving him forward, and that iron band in her brain tightened as Jacob pulled back again, only this time his hand wasn’t open, but closed.
She had less than a second to brace herself. Jacob’s fist smashed into her face, and though she hadn’t wanted to, she couldn’t help it-she screamed as she both heard and felt her jaw break, and then he hurled her to the ground with a howl of fury.
“Jacob!” Leah dimly heard Embry’s pleading voice through the ringing in her ears and the agony of her bones struggling to repair themselves. “Jacob, stop, leave her alone! You can’t do this-”
“Stay back, Embry, you sit down and stay out of this!” Jacob’s voice reverberated through her head, as it did through every other wolf’s, and Embry gasped as his arms flopped loosely to his sides and he fell to his knees, limp and powerless.
Leah coughed, spitting blood on the ground even as Jacob advanced again, and his hand suddenly knotted in her hair, jerking her head up. “I should’ve done this years ago, you ungrateful bitch!” he bellowed. He dropped roughly to his knees and she didn’t see it coming this time, his fist slamming into her face with no warning. Pain bloomed white-hot where it connected, crushing her cheekbone and eye socket, and she could do nothing but wail in agony when he shook her again, and she couldn’t understand what he was screaming at her because Renesmee was screaming too, and his fist was coming up again, and all she could do was raise her arm up to shield her face, knowing it would do no good because she was helpless before him and nobody was going to help her, they were all just going to watch as he beat her, because she deserved it-
SMACK.
Leah’s hoarse panting was the only sound for a brief second. When she finally realized that the next blow wasn’t coming, she hesitantly lowered her hand and looked up, cracking open her one good eye.
Castiel stood above them, his face a mask of cold fury. His pale fingers were wrapped tight around Jacob’s bulging wrist, and Jacob was staring incredulously up at him, stunned that not only had he had the nerve to interfere, but that he’d managed to stop his hand in the first place.
Jacob released Leah’s hair, and she fell backwards as he staggered to his feet, his fury overtaking his shock as he tried to jerk his arm free. But once again he could only stare, thunderstruck, when he realized that he couldn’t.
“That is enough.” Cas’s voice was implacable.
“Cas,” she rasped, forcing herself to speak even though every movement of her mouth was torture as her broken body tried to repair itself. She pushed herself up into a rough sitting position, swaying drunkenly, and through the watery vision of her healing eye saw movement beyond the rest of the crowd. Dread filled her when she realized Quil had finally managed to fight his way free from the ruined table, and even through the smears of cake she could see that his eyes were zeroed in behind her-on Dean.
“Cas,” she repeated, her voice so quiet she knew only he would hear her, trying her best to keep her jaw still as it mended. “Don’t-the boys-Quil-”
Jacob gave yet another mighty tug, and this time Cas let go, sending him staggering backwards. He glared fiercely at the angel, straightening his back and puffing out his chest with foolish triumph, his hands balled into fists as Renesmee clung to his arm. Cas stepped backwards, his gaze flicking between Jacob and Quil as he crossed the floor to the Winchesters. He gave Leah one last concerned, questioning look, to which she mouthed “Go!” through her still-broken teeth, and then he finally moved to stand in front of Dean and Sam.
Quil stopped short when he saw Cas, instead changing course and moving to back Jacob up along with Sam and Paul. Leah looked up at them, and could see that Jacob had shaken off his surprise at Cas’s intervention and was regaining his momentum; she could see in the smug set of his face and the hint of a swagger in his walk as he advanced that he somehow thought he had won their showdown, that he had forced Castiel into a retreat. Between his pompous confidence in his victory and the fact that he was now backed up by three other wolves, he turned his attention back to her, helpless on the floor before him.
“Hoping to get your friends to distract me?” Jacob sneered. “Typical-but it’s not gonna work this time.”
“You stupid dog,” Renesmee suddenly hissed, stepping forward. “I tried to make you feel welcome-I’ve always been nice to you, and you’ve always thrown it back in my face! You’re such a selfish, horrible person!”
The rest of the pack was coming forward now-Embry was panting on the sidelines, still on his knees, and Leah could see the anguish in his eyes, but he couldn’t move. All the other still active wolves were joining Jacob: Jared, Sam, Paul-and Seth, even her brother joined them as they closed ranks upon her, the crushing weight of their condemnation like a load of lead on her chest.
“This is why you’ve never been welcome!” Jacob flung at her. “Because you won’t change and grow the hell up!”
Her face was healed, and she looked up and opened her mouth to say something, anything-
“You shut up, you filthy slut!” he snarled, and Leah’s throat suddenly closed, her muscles seizing, and she didn’t say anything-couldn’t say anything against the implacable order that reverberated through her mind with his words. “Nobody’s interested in any of the crap you have to say!”
Her eyes watered at the agony of the squeezing in her skull, and her head dropped against the weight of his combined anger and outrage.
“I didn’t want you here!” Jacob suddenly roared. “Nobody wanted you here, but Nessie-she felt bad because you’d been gone for years and figured maybe you’d had a chance to wake up and should come back and be with your family again. And this is how you react to kindness-by bringing them-” he flung an accusing hand towards Sam and Dean, “-and deliberately ruining what was supposed to be one of the best days of her life!”
“I invited you personally,” Renesmee spat out, both echoing him and goading him with her furious words. “I bought you a dress and jewelry, I let you come to my wedding even though you’ve always hated me!”
Jacob’s fists were clenching restlessly, his muscles straining against the fabric of his tuxedo, and Leah could see him tensing as if to move-to swing. “This was all about Nessie, and you couldn’t stand it-so you brought them so you could make it all about you!” he roared. Renesmee’s face was still furious, but Leah could see the triumph in her eyes. “Will you ever learn to think of anyone besides yourself?!” And he raised his arm, and Renesmee’s eyes were alight, but Leah couldn’t move-he wouldn’t let her move-and he was coming forward to strike-
But then he jerked back in surprise; with a flash of sunlight on silver, there was Sam-Sam Winchester, and gripped tightly in his hand was a wickedly-gleaming blade pointing dangerously at Jacob. “Don’t you touch her, you son of a bitch!” he bit out, his knuckles white on the hilt.
Jacob had taken a step back in surprise, but then his face twisted in anger and contempt. “Or what, you’ll stab me?” he mocked. “Yeah, I’d love to see you do that.”
And then Dean was standing next to her too, his shoulders back and his eye steely. “You aren’t the only one, you dickless piece of shit,” he said, his voice rough and full of hate.
No-Sam, Dean-no-he’ll only hurt you-he’ll only kill you-leave-save yourselves! But she didn’t say any of those things, because her mouth and her throat and her lungs wouldn’t work. A helpless wheeze was all that escaped her as she weakly shook her head-all her own will could manage around the collar of her Alpha.
Jacob growled low in his throat. “I really don’t care what you want-and trust me, I’ll be dealing with you after I’m done with her.” And Leah knew he would, could see it and feel it in his mind, knew that he was going to punish them like Nessie wanted. And then his burning eye was back on her, and she flinched helplessly. “You always whined about how we never included you, about how we never wanted you-well, why would we?!” he hissed. “Did you ever think to maybe ask yourself that?! You’re ungrateful, you’re whiny, you do nothing but complain how we’re the mean ones, you insult everyone constantly-Sam’s lucky he imprinted on Emily, because otherwise he would’ve been stuck with you!”
His words echoed through her skull-bitch, filth, selfish, ungrateful-he thought she was all those things, and she was nothing, he hated her, all the wolves hated her, and why shouldn’t they, because she was all those things, they knew it, and of course they were right, she was nothing, and his mind pressed in and crowded inside of her head and she crumpled, on her hands and knees before them all, and Renesmee was shouting, and Sam and Dean were shouting but she couldn’t hear them, couldn’t hear anything but Jacob’s endless booming voice and words and mind and she was a bitch and a slut and an ungrateful dog-
“You never bothered to try to be a part of Sam’s pack, so you just barged in and made yourself at home in mine! I didn’t want you, either! Nobody wants you!” Jacob roared. “You aren’t welcome and you never will be!
“You’re no part of my pack-of any pack!”
And a white-hot lance of pain shot through her brain, and Leah screamed, her hands clutching and futilely clawing at her temples as if trying to rip away whatever was hurting her, and the iron bands were wrapping tight, tight, tighter around her skull and with a thump she barely felt she collapsed on the ground, twisting helplessly against the pain, and her head was going to burst like a grape and this was the end, she was dying, and she dimly thought that she always knew they would be the end of her-
And then, with an almost audible snap, it was over.
…No. It wasn’t over. It was gone.
She didn’t move. Somewhere in the background, she was aware that Jacob was still ranting, that Sam and Dean were nearby, frantically talking to her, their hands on her arms and shoulders and back, but she didn’t hear it, didn’t feel it, didn’t see it, no, she was concentrating on what was inside her head right now-or rather, what wasn’t.
She couldn’t hear him. She couldn’t feel him, couldn’t sense him-there was no one else in her head but Leah.
She was alone.
Jacob was gone.
Her pack was gone.
She blinked, her eyes focusing on Sam and Dean hovering over her, and she moved, pushing herself shakily to her knees, and then just sitting and staring at her hands.
Jacob was screaming at her, that she was a disgrace, that she was useless, that she was worthless, that she only lived to destroy everything, and he was furious…but she didn’t feel it. The unyielding grip on her brain was just…gone.
“Now, you stay on your knees where you belong, you worthless bitch, and you apologize to Nessie and then to everyone else here for what you’ve done!” Jacob roared.
“…No.”
Silence. The word had come out as barely more than a whisper…but she’d said it.
She looked up. Jacob was staring at her blankly, his mouth gaping…and then it twisted in outrage and he bellowed, “What did you say to me?” and his face was hard and focused and she knew that look, knew that he was ordering her to do it, to bend her to his will…but she felt nothing.
“No.” Her voice shook with disbelief when she said it, and so she steadied herself and said again, “No.” And she looked at him, met his incredulous stare, and she grasped Sam and Dean’s hands, and slowly, shakily, she rose to her feet and, standing tall, she looked Jacob straight in the eye and said, “I said no.”
“You-you can’t say no!” he shouted. “I am your Alpha! I order you to obey, do you hear me! I order you!”
“No.” Her vision blurred, and she dashed away the hot tears that threatened, and her mouth was stretching in a helpless, disbelieving smile as she told him, “You can’t make me.”
And…he couldn’t. There was no Alpha command, no leash, no pack, no Jacob, none of the thoughts and voices and feelings that had filled her head for the past ten years-just Leah, and that complete, wonderful silence in her head and the heady rush of glorious, glorious freedom.
“I’m not going to stay on my knees.” She bit out every word, focused only on Jacob’s gaping, spasming face. “I’m not going to apologize to your little bitch,” she said, her lip curling into a snarl as her voice rose. “And I’m not going to do anything you tell me to do ever again!”
“You have to!” Jacob was screaming now, his face an ugly shade of maroon, flecks of spit flying from his lips. “I am your Alpha!”
“…You were her Alpha.”
Leah looked sharply to the right, to see Sam staring at Jacob with a look of smug contempt. “You were-until you just said you weren’t.” Jacob blinked stupidly at him, even as Leah felt a dawning realization that left her near giddy. “You fucking idiot,” Sam sneered. “Don’t you even know what you just did? You were throwing a temper tantrum, and in the middle of your drama-queen shitfit, you said she wasn’t part of your pack any more.” He smiled. “You just set her free.”
Jacob stared, his jaw slack, but when a sound that was half-sob, half-laugh escaped her, his features warped into a rictus of rage. “Fine!” he roared, near foaming at the mouth. “It’s no less than you deserve, you stupid whore!”
And then with another roar of fury he ran at her, charged her, charged them all faster than a human could see, his fists swinging wildly as he screamed, “I don’t need Alpha orders to give you what-”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. As he charged, his fist swung down, and faster than she could think, Leah acted.
With a wet crack that was music to her ears, Leah punched him dead in the face.
Everything seemed in slow-motion; she felt the crunch of his breaking jaw beneath her knuckles, saw his eyes bulge with shock and then pain, and saw his arms pinwheel wildly as he flew backwards, crashing into Jared and Quil and Paul and then landing in a heap on the floor.
Leah could only stand, shaking, staring at her hand as if she could barely believe it was a part of her body, as Jacob furiously flailed and scrambled on the floor, the other wolves gawping at her even as they tried to help him to his feet.
Sam and Dean were looking stunned too, having only just managed to catch up with what their eyes had been unable to see, when Sam suddenly let out a bark of surprised laughter. “Hit him again!” he said, impressed.
“Stop!” Renesmee’s shriek pierced the air like an ice pick. Leah’s eyes jerked upwards in surprise as an apparition in billowing white skirts suddenly flung herself between Leah and Jacob, who was finally on his feet. “How dare you hit him!” she screeched. “You-”
Leah blinked once-and then belted her in the mouth too.
Renesmee went down with a tiny squeal, staggering backwards and landing on her butt in a froth of white satin. For a fraction of a second, she just stared silently up at Leah, her mouth hanging open and her brown eyes wide with shock.
And then she burst into tears.
The uproar was immediate. Jacob scrambled across the floor to his dearest darling who was shrieking like a firebell, crouching over her protectively even as all of the Cullens (save Rose and Emmett, who were just standing by looking positively gleeful) rushed to Renesmee’s side to try and soothe her wails-which were spiraling rapidly into obviously affected now, she was laying it on so thick. The wolves were all snarling, angry that Leah had dared harm an imprint…
…and Leah’s vicious pleasure faltered when she realized the vampires were closing in and surrounding them now, because this was no longer just werewolf business.
“You despicable animal!” Edward suddenly snarled, leaping to his feet and with a fiery glare. “You struck my daughter!”
Dean spoke before Leah could. “Oh, shut up-consider it ten years’-worth of spankings that you were too pussy to give her, Wardo,” he sneered.
“How-how dare you-how dare you!” Bella was just shrieking the words over and over again.
In spite of her growing dread in the face of the increasing anger of the vampires, Leah just turned to Bella and shouted, “I dared because I can!”
“You won’t be able to do anything ever again when we’re through with you!” Jacob bellowed, starting forward again.
She gritted her teeth and went into a half-crouch, ready to take him-ready to take them all. Even if they were going to swarm her, it didn’t matter-she wasn’t going to go down without a fight this time because she didn’t have to. She would change and tear into them for all she was worth, and she would die fighting-but she was not going to let them hurt her friends.
But Sam and Dean weren’t behind her anymore-they were in front, both with their angelic blades drawn.
“You stay back or we’ll kill every last one of you shit-sucking freaks,” Dean growled even as Leah felt Cas drawing closer, coming to stand directly behind them.
Her worry was pushed aside by anger when the vampires and werewolves alike just laughed at Dean’s threat, and she stepped forward to stand between-beside her boys even as the vampires drew closer.
“You’ll kill us?” Edward was sneering.
“Perhaps all that talk of being a powerful potential has gone to your head, you idiot,” Bella hissed, helping Renesmee to her feet. “You’re only worth anything if you are a vampire. It means nothing when you’re just a human.”
“You talk a big line while you’re sitting behind all your big friends,” Sam said scornfully, “but you sure aren’t in any hurry to come up here and do anything.”
Bella bared her teeth, but she wasn’t the one who answered.
Leah saw it; Jacob had seemed about to move, but then Benjamin darted forward out of the crowd, his coven close behind him. With a nasty, anticipatory grin, Jacob fell back, putting his arms around the still-snuffling Renesmee as Benjamin came to stand before her friends, moving more quickly than the human eye could see. To Sam and Dean, the arrogant leech had simply appeared in front of them; they jumped a little, but didn’t back down even as he smirked at them both.
“I see that you are just as foolish as your brother,” Benjamin said carelessly to Sam. “You don’t seem to realize how misplaced your confidence is.”
“Well, it does take one to know one, doesn’t it, bitch?” Dean shot right back.
Benjamin just sneered. “Very well, human. I promised before travelling here that I would keep my appetite in check-but my patience with you is at an end. I thought it would be rude to eat the Cullens’ guests-but now I see I’ll be doing them a favor.”
“Oh, you wanna eat something, fuckface?” Dean demanded, and then lewdly grabbed his crotch. “Eat this!”
Benjamin’s lip curled, and Leah could see the cruel anticipation filling his eyes. “Oh, you will be eaten, Dean, and in your entirety,” he purred. “Now all that remains is to decide how to do it: eat Sam and make you watch, or simply kill you first for being such an insufferable little upstart.”
The hairs on the back of Leah’s neck rose (and she wasn’t entirely sure if it was due to her own anxiety or because Cas was behind her); Benjamin had just pissed Dean and Sam off royally.
“If you do anything to my brother-” Sam spat.
Dean cut him off. “Don’t bother, Sammy-that’ll give them the impression that we’re scared.”
Benjamin’s eyebrow raised, and Leah saw all of the others grinning nastily-eagerly-at the tableau. “You don’t even have the good sense to-”
“To what?” Dean shot back. “To be all scared that you’re gonna crush us, see us driven before you, hear the lamentations of our women, yadda yadda? Well, we’re not. You know why, you arrogant jackass?” he asked scathingly. “’Cause we’ve both faced down shit a lot meaner and nastier and bigger than you. You aren’t the top of the food chain, you douchebag.”
Leah was keeping a close watch on Benjamin, but even so she could see out of the corner of her eye that the vampires were all looking just as scornful as he was.
“Something in the world more powerful than us?” he scoffed.
“Damn straight-and they were all a bunch of dicks, too.”
“That is funny, Dean, I must say,” Benjamin said derisively. “Well, I’ll indulge you-I may as well let you live in your little fantasy world for the remainder of your short, pointless life. Just what did you do when you faced down this supposed fearsome beast?”
Dean’s gaze was defiant and furious as he stared back into the red eyes that bored into him with savage intensity, and he simply replied, “I shanked his sorry ass-like this.”
And with one sharp motion, Dean thrust the blade forward while everyone watched, and they were already starting to laugh as Benjamin didn’t even bother dodging-and the knife went in.
There was a strange, grinding crunch as the angelic blade found its mark and sank up to the hilt in his chest with a burst of blue sparks, and at the sound, everyone went still with shock-but Benjamin most of all.
There was a split second where Leah could see in his face that he realized he’d just been stabbed…and then he just froze. No…he solidified. Her wolf ears could hear the minute crackling sounds spreading across his body, and his skin was going dull, lifeless, the sparkle fading and turning gray, but he didn’t move, just stood perfectly still like a statue, his arms spread wide, his face fixed in that expression of near comical surprise, only he was cracking, she could hear it, radiating outward from where the blade protruded from his chest.
“Benjamin?” His female sounded confused, anxious, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t move. Only when Dean, his jaw clenched with triumph, yanked the sword free from his chest, did he totter for a moment…and then, almost in slow-motion, he toppled backwards onto the hard floor beneath him, and with a hideous crash, simply smashed into a thousand pieces.
The stunned, horrified silence that followed was suddenly broken by a shriek of “Benjamin!” and two other shouts of “No!” as the rest of the Egyptian coven came dashing towards his body, running so fast that Sam and Dean jumped when to their eyes they suddenly seemed to just appear in front of them. They crouched on the ground at their feet, scrabbling furiously at the pieces of the shattered corpse, licking them as if trying to use their venom as glue to reassemble a broken piece of pottery. But even as they frantically scraped and scrambled, Tia shrieking like a banshee the whole while, and the crowds behind them crying out with dismay, the pieces were just crumbling, his clothes deflating obscenely as the chunks of vampire simply disintegrated into so much dull gray dust.
And when the gray powder was all that was left, blowing across the floor in the breeze, Amun and Kebi just stared down at it in mute horror…but then Tia’s voice rose in an earsplitting wail. “Benjamin!” she yowled. “He-he’s dead! No! Benjamin!”
But then her face twisted into a snarl, and she whirled, her eyes burning and mad with hate as she looked at Dean, who was near redolent with smugness, and she leapt into a crouch and howled, “You killed my mate, you filthy human! You murderer!”
It was too fast for Dean to see, but Leah could, saw the way she crouched low, her teeth bared, and she sprang, and Leah moved to leap between them, to save him, when suddenly electricity seemed to crackle through the air and she gasped and froze where she stood…just in time to see something she never even thought was possible: a vampire clumsily falling flat on the ground. Tia was sprawled on the floor, her jaw slack with shock, blocked before she had ever even touched Dean. But it was not Leah who had stopped her.
It was Castiel.
He had moved, faster than the humans could see, and faster than werewolves or vampires could see; he had simply appeared between Tia and Dean before the vampire even knew what had happened. She had run right into him, headfirst, and the angel’s tiny frame hadn’t budged. She just bounced right off him, and had fallen square on her ass.
She gawped up at him; Cas just stared down at her, his face hard, and to someone who didn’t know him well, his expression had barely changed. But Leah did know him, and could see that it had, and the cold anger that was radiating from his impossibly blue eyes made her shiver in spite of herself.
Tia stared up at him, as did everyone else-until her face suddenly came alive with rage and she screeched in fury and threw herself at Cas.
The angel didn’t move. He simply held out his hand over her, and Leah felt the air suddenly charge-and Tia burst into flames.
Even as her pain-filled howls rent the air, Leah could hear the terrified gasps and screams from the crowd-from the vampires in the crowd-as they watched Tia burn, her shrieks dwindling to nothing, the air filling with thick, oily purple smoke, all while Cas just stood over her without saying a word.
It didn’t take long; vampires burned like tinder, and soon there was nothing but ash strewn across the pristine dance floor, to mingle with the dusty remnants of her mate.
Amun and Kebi were staring up at Cas with a mix of shock and fear, and then they scrabbled wildly and gracelessly away from him, running to hide amongst the now horrified crowds of onlookers.
Leah looked at Sam, who was slowly starting to smile, and then at Dean, who was already grinning hugely, and all three of them moved to stand next to Cas, who regarded all the angry, terrified vampires and wolves looking back at him with his own cold and pitiless fury.
“You-you killed them!” came a sudden, disbelieving shriek from one of the Amazons.
“You murdered them!” Jasper bellowed in outrage.
Cas narrowed his eyes. “I defended my friends from that creature’s attempts to harm them; that is not murder,” he said evenly, his voice low and tight with barely-contained wrath. “Murder is the forty-seven defenseless humans with lives and loved ones that were killed and drained of blood by the sixteen vampires that you invited here.”
Leah felt Sam and Dean tense even as she did herself, in the sudden, heavy silence that followed Cas’s words.
“That-that wasn’t murder!” Jasper shouted, and goddammit but Leah wanted to smash his face in for that.
Cas skewered Jasper with his gaze, and he seemed to shrink where he stood. “Even if it wasn’t, then what would you call it if the vampires Randall, Charles, Makenna, Zafrina, Senna, and Kachiri had succeeded in their plans to stalk, kill, and eat my friend Dean Winchester after he left the wedding?” he asked, his voice flinty.
“What?!”
Leah could find no humor in the fact that she and the brothers spoke in unison this time.
Jasper’s mouth was hanging open, working, but no words were coming out, and when Sam started forward, his angelic blade clenched in his white-knuckled fist, Alice cowered behind him even as he looked about to run.
“I should stake every last one of you murdering bastards!” Sam snarled.
“On what grounds?!”
It was Bella. She was starting forward, her fists clenched and her face alight with righteous anger, and even as she spoke to Sam, Leah saw she was staring hard at Cas. “What right do any of you have to hurt any of us? You call it murder-do you call it murder when you kill a cow for a steak, or a pig for a ham sandwich? Is it murder to eat eggs for breakfast?!”
“Are you seriously calling me a pork chop, you dizzy bitch?” Dean demanded in outrage.
“I’m calling it the natural order of things,” Bella sneered, her nose going up in the air. “You look down at my kind simply for surviving. We are all vampires, and just because my family makes the choice and sacrifice to not drink human blood, that doesn’t mean we’re going to force everyone else to do the same! This lifestyle is not for all vampires-it is difficult and near-impossible for some! It’s not murder when they eat humans, you useless clod, it’s the food chain, and if you really had such a problem with it, you wouldn’t have gorged yourself at the buffet table.”
Both Sam and Dean looked like they were about to explode, but Bella was still going-Leah knew she was impossible to shut up when she was building up a good head of steam. As she turned away from her in disgust, her gaze roved over all the indignant vampires who were nodding in agreement with her tirade, and the wolves who, despite looking uncomfortable, were saying nothing-but then her stomach clenched when there, on the outskirts, she spotted Charlie Swan…and he was looking at his daughter as though he’d never seen her before.
“Murder-how can you even apply your stupid human laws and standards to us?!” Bella continued to rant. “We’re not human! Barely any of you even know we exist! It doesn’t matter that we started as humans-we aren’t human anymore, we aren’t part of your little society, and we are outside and above your man-made law! You have a stupid ‘one-size-fits-all’ model for morality! You have no right to judge us, and no right to kill us!”
“I have every right.”
Bella quavered when Castiel spoke again, but she remained stupidly defiant even in the face of his icy disdain.
“You are not above humans,” he continued, and Leah could tell he was getting angry again, “and you are most certainly not above God’s will. Humans are God’s most beloved creations-you are nothing but soulless abominations who threw away His most precious gift to you.”
“If humans were so special,” Bella replied arrogantly, “then why did God make them so weak and slow and clumsy and fragile and flawed?”
It seemed impossible that the motionless angel’s spine could go rigid, and yet it did just that, and Leah saw the flare of that same cold fire in his eyes, felt the crackle of energy that seemed to ripple over his skin. She surreptitiously stepped a few inches away from him.
“I’m tired of you telling me that humans are better-I left my humanity behind a long time ago, and now I am this-a powerful vampire, beautiful and immortal, and I have the ability to protect all of my friends and family from things like you,” Bella declared, stepping forward with her arms spread dramatically. “You may have caught us off guard once, but not anymore.” Her eyes flicked to Sam, and she gave him a triumphant smirk as she gestured to all the vampires and wolves, who slowly began to rally behind her. “You said my power was worthless-well, see how worthless it is now, you-”
Cas had had enough. He raised his arm, two fingers extended, and flicked his wrist.
Bella’s victory speech was cut short with an abrupt and painful yell, and she flew backwards as if she’d been jerked offstage by a cane. She collided with Edward with a stony thud, and they both went down gracelessly on the floor.
Cas glared out at the assembled monsters, who were once again frozen in shock, and Leah cringed back and shied away from him again when the air once more sizzled, radiating outward from where he stood in a wave of burning sound and invisible power and once again sending the vampires and wolves flinching away with cries of pain.
“You’ve said enough,” Cas growled.
Bella just gaped for a moment from where she was sprawled on the ground, her eyes wide and her mouth working uselessly, and then she scrambled to her feet to cling to Edward. “What-what are you?!” she shrieked, terrified.
Castiel stood motionless as he looked out at the crowds, his eyes fathomless and remote.
“I’m an Angel of the Lord.”
Silence. Then, a few nervous titters, hushed murmurs of incredulity, and finally Edward spoke aloud. “You-you’re no angel!” he said loudly, his pompous tone not hiding the tremor in his voice.
“It’s-that’s impossible!” Carlisle’s voice was hoarse with disbelief.
“Tell the truth!” Edward demanded shakily. “What are you?!”
“Dude,” Dean said scornfully, “he just full-on smote that bitch, and you’re gonna stand there and tell me he’s not an angel?”
Cas looked at Dean with furrowed brows. “I didn’t smite her, Dean,” he said earnestly. “I just set her on fire-”
Dean cut him off. “Shut up, Cas-you’re ruining the moment.”
Cas shut up. Dean, though, kept talking. “Well, you believe whatever you want to, but I can promise you that he is an angel-wings and everything. And these-” he hefted the blade in his hand, “are angelic swords, guaranteed to kill angels, demons, and everything in between. So,” he said, twirling it in his hand like a baton and grinning out at the crowds as they flinched back at the sudden motion, “if any of you dickwads care to debate the issue, come on up. I’m sure Cas here will be happy to give you another free demonstration.”
Nobody moved. Leah couldn’t help but sneer nastily out at the huddled vampires, all doing their best to hide behind each other.
Sam gave a rude snort. “Don’t bother, Dean,” he sneered. “These cowards only fight when they’re sure they’ll win.”
“Well, you know me-I’ll fight in any situation,” Dean answered, and then his grin took on a feral quality. “But I do admit that I like it best when I know I’ll win. I think maybe you’re right. Maybe we should just toast all of these freaks right here and now-starting with Quil,” he said, his voice suddenly hard, and he leveled a fulminating glare at the still cake-covered Quil, who was standing in a knot of frightened werewolves and looked torn between wanting to charge and wanting to run.
“No!” The all jumped in surprise-and turned to see a determined-looking Claire fighting her way free of her mother to stand at the front of the crowd.
“Claire?” Leah asked.
Dean looked bewildered. “You want us to let Uncle Creepy live? After everything he’s done to you?” he asked in disbelief.
“The werewolves protect their tribe,” Claire said firmly. “Even Quil…and he’s never hurt me. I don’t want him imprinted on me-but I don’t want him dead, either. And the Cullens…” She looked at them rather distastefully, but went on, saying, “Well, they don’t hurt anyone. They’re creeps, but they don’t try to kill people-they don’t really deserve to die for being snobs.”
Leah blinked down at her-they all did-and Claire’s resolute little face broke into a small smile. “I think they should get The Princess Bride ending,” she said, a tiny twinkle in her eye. “A long life alone with their cowardice.”
Sam gave a hoot of laughter, and Leah couldn’t help but giggle. Dean saluted Claire with his sword, smiling and nodding in approval, and said, “Okay, Claire-‘to the pain’ it is.”
“You hear that, douchebags?” Sam called. “The little flawed human here just saved all of your sorry asses-with her humanity. She showed you more mercy than you would have shown us-and certainly more than you deserve.”
“Especially you, Quil,” Dean growled. “I won’t kill you, ’cause Claire asked nicely, but from here on out, you keep your filthy paws off her, you hear me?!” And then he was grinning nastily. “And now you know that there are angels watching over you-and if any of us hear that you so much as lay a finger on her, he’ll smite your pedo ass.”
Quil’s face was twitching, twisting, but Claire was looking at Dean with something near adoration. “Thank you, Dean,” she breathed, and then rounded on Quil with an expression of vindictive delight. “You hear that, Quil? You stop running off my guy friends, you stay out of my house, and I’m not going to marry you!”
“Damn right she’s not!” Dean shouted over Quil’s pathetic wail. “And as for all the rest of you sorry bitches?” he said, rounding on the crowds, who shrank back as he brandished his sword at them. “Me and my brother here? We’re hunters-all we do is hunt down and kill inhuman pieces of shit like you.”
“So all you red-eyed murderers?” Sam said. “We’re giving you a freebie now, ’cause we were just here for the wedding. And anyway, with Cas here we’re on the Divine side of things, so we’ll forgive you this time.” His flippant tone turned steely. “But now we know what you are, who you are, where you are, and most importantly-we know how to kill you.” He bared his teeth in a grin. “You all are next on our list.”
Dean smirked. “So, you can adopt the all-you-can-eat wildlife diet like your friends here, or you’d better pray that you never meet up with us again-‘cause it’ll be the last thing you ever see.”
And then he turned his back on them all, looking at Leah, then Sam and Cas. “Come on, guys-let’s blow.”
“Yeah-I think we’re done here,” Sam replied. “Come on, Cas.”
As they turned, facing the crowd, Leah saw them all: She saw the angry, disbelieving, and utterly terrified vampires. She saw the wolves, looking small and useless and cowed. She saw Jacob, and he was with Renesmee and the rest of the Cullens, grouped together in a bitter, humiliated huddle.
And over to the side, she saw Embry-he was standing now, and he was frightened too, but he was on his feet and when he met Leah’s eyes, he gave her a small, wistful smile. He had his hand on Claire’s shoulder, and she was beaming and gave Leah a big thumbs-up. And standing next to them was Charlie; she thought she saw tears in his eyes, but he managed a shaky smile. And even Emmett and Rose were there, jumpy and nervous, but Emmett saluted her all the same.
But they were the exception; the rest of them were nothing bunch of filthy hypocrites and murderers who did nothing but put others down to make themselves look better…and she couldn’t resist one last parting shot, because she didn’t give a rat’s ass what they thought about her, and if she had her way, she’d never lay eyes on any of them again-because now she was free.
“You know, you were right about one thing-about me,” she called, and when she saw she had their attention, she smiled. “We four?” she said, gesturing to her friends-her real family. “We’re gonna have so much sex when we get back home.”
“Hell, yeah!” Dean beamed at her, and Sam laughed, and then she winked at the rather alarmed Cas before threading her arm through his elbow, and then with a sudden whoosh of feathers, they were gone.
Author’s Note: And here we are, finished yet not finished, because there is an Epilogue to be had! It will be up later tonight, so keep an eye out.
Minor note-Bella’s little monologue before Cas whipped out his Pimp Cane and told Bella to EXIT STAGE LEFT U HOR? You can find where I pulled most of her attitude here. It’s an interview with Stephenie Meyer, wherein she lays out exactly why vampires are above and beyond human laws and morals and we are nothing but cattle to them and should be grateful for it.
And the reason Cas got mad and whipped out the angelic Pimp Cane? Because Bella (and therefore Meyer) was basically spewing everything she always spews about humanity, what she has been spewing in every single book in the series-and basically quoting SPN-verse Lucifer every time she does it. You know-THE DEVIL.
Yeah.
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