Realistic Dreams, Chapter Nine, part two
Paring: Jake/Bella (Twilight)
Rating: M
Alright, here's part two
Jacob POV
What's the status?
I ran past rocks and trees, my four feet flying over the ground as I bounded up the steep hill to get a better look.
What's the fucking status?! Jared! Answer me!
Finally I could see through his eyes again as they reopened. He pulled himself off the ground and I watched his vision focus as he shook his head.
They hit fucking hard, that's the status. Christ, that hurt.
You ok?
I'm fine, I'm fine. The chick who hit me, however, is about to get her head torn off.
How many?
Two I think. Here at least.
Paul?
FUCKING LEECH FUCKERS GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!
Oh yeah, Paul's ok, Quil snickered.
No I'm not, I got four over here and they're fast little shits. Fuck YOU! I saw Paul's vision tumble as a snarling face came into view. You. Little. Sneaky. Fuck. HA! Make that three. Dammit let go. Stupid fucking disembodied hand. Let go! LET GO! Letgoletgoletgoletgo! Shit! There. His vision jolted as he bashed his side against a tree until the offending body part let go.
Did you only rip the hand off?
And the head. And I think a leg. Fine, maybe three and a half. What about you Jake?
Nothing this way. I'm pretty sure they're all coming from the north now.
Good work Jake. Shit! Get your ass over here.
I took off. It was so rare to hear Sam swear that I knew it must be important. Heading along the ridge I found Seth and Leah cornering one of the newborns near a dead log. It was a male, and young at that, looking more like a twelve year old kid until it snarled. The thing screeched as Seth clamped on to its leg. It clawed at the ground, taking out clumps the size of volley balls, as Seth dragged it back towards his sister. Leah pounced on its back, sort of hopping on it while it squirmed. Its short hair stopped it from being pinned and one of its arms swiped back to hit Leah in the side. I stopped when I saw its hand come away with fur and blood.
AAAURGH!
Leah! You ok?
I'm fine, get going Jake. Seth, keep holding.
Ok! Just be careful!
Leah leapt off its back and clamped her jaw around its shoulder and neck.
PULL!
With a gut wrenching CRACK, the thing came apart in two, its shirt ripping against Leah's teeth. Its hands still sprawling, its feet still kicking, Seth and Leah dragged the two pieces of it back out of the trees in the direction of La Push, to where we had bonfires waiting.
I headed all the way around the ridge to where Sam was standing.
What's up?
His black head lifted to point out something just beyond where the trees cleared. Over there. Look at that… thing.
I followed his gaze. There, she was standing, the horrible red haired bitch, watching as her fucking army of minions charged the trees, into where Quil, and Embry were waiting. A muscular blond man stood beside her. I growled and prepared to run down the hill when Sam shook his head beside me.
No, that thing.
He pointed again and I saw… it. Or was it a he? He looked male, but despite fact that it was naked its… bits weren't there. It looked more like a corpse, with a horrible mottled complexion somewhere in between sickness and bruisingm yellow and black splotches covering its body. It was bald and its hands and feet looked horrible and scarred. Just then his left hand twitched and I watched, horrified as it looked like something was sucking the bones out of his hand from the inside. One by one his fingers flattened until it looked like his hand was a dead flesh coloured glove, and then it split below his wrist and his hand flipped back onto his forearm. There was no blood. I felt my eyes bulge out of my head when I saw it, but there was no blood, only a thick black ink that dripped slowly out of the wound. Out of his gaping arm what looked like a metal spike emerged and I heard a horrible high pitched screech as it opened its mouth. The rest of its limbs followed suit, the bones of his hand and feet getting sucked in one by one until it was on all fours, walking almost like a four legged spider, each spike sticking in the ground to give it leverage as it moved beside the red haired leech. Its hands and feet flopped around beside the spikes sickeningly as it moved. It screeched again, and I watched transfixed as a fog came out of its mouth and swept up to the trees. Embry and Quil yelped as it hit them. Quil managed to hold his ground but Embry came running back up the hill.
Bees! Holy shit giant ass bees! Why'd it have to be fucking bees?! Goddamn motherfucking BEES!
Embry! Get a hold of yourself, there aren't any bees!
He didn't even stop as he ran passed me. The hell there aren't! I fucking saw them Jake, an entire fucking swarm headed right for us. I'm gonna go find Paul. You stay here and get stung.
I don't know what the hell he's talking about, said Quil. There aren't any fucking bees down here. One of the vampires looks like my mom though. I mean, I know she's at home, but one really fucking looks like my mom.
You gonna be ok Quil?
Not for long, get Jared or someone down here. I can't take all of these on alone.
Jared!
On it.
Come on Jake, we have to go for help.
I growled at the prospect. What about Ve? Any luck? The whole time Sam had been screaming at Ve, trying to do that talk with your wolf thing.
I don't know. If she heard she isn't answering. We're going to the Cullens, treaty line or no. They'll understand. I have a plan.
What is it?
I'll tell you on the way. Let's go. Paul, you're in charge until I get back. Keep everyone close and keep those kids out of trouble. Brady, Colin, you are scouts. Do not engage unless you absolutely have to. I heard them assent as Sam circled around. Come on Jake, let's go. You're with me.
I nodded as much as I could in this form and headed back along the ridge with him. We ran for the creek which eventually ran behind the Cullen house. We had bags stashed here in case we needed to them, and we were in a hurry to grab them and be gone. In my mind I could hear my brothers (and sister) fighting and it spurred me on faster. It looked like we were going to get out of there without any trouble until Sam suddenly disappeared from beside me. I stopped and turned around to find him tackled down by two bloodsuckers.
Dammit! Jake, help!
Sam!
I don't know what they were doing this far out, but I lunged at one, pulling him off Sam before he turned on me. He dove and I found myself rolling with him as we hit a rock and stopped. Normally, the force would have broken the tiny, emaciated looking girl's back, but her new vampire strength kept her together. She tried to claw for my eyes as I began brutalising her neck, biting, pulling and tearing until she leapt off of me with a howl of pain. I jumped up, landing next to Sam as her and the other one, a larger girl, circled us.
How the hell do we get ourselves into these things? I asked.
Just lucky I guess.
Go for one and ignore the other?
Don't have time. They both look pretty small.
Outrun then?
No way in hell, we have to kill them both, and fast.
We're no where near a fire Sam! I saw something in his eyes as we paced while they circled. Oh shit, he can't mean that.
I flashed back to our training with Ve.
We sat around the campfire, waiting for Ve to speak as we left the Cullens that day. "So, my sons, do you think you are ready?"
Sounds of assent came from everyone but Sam.
"Something wrong?" Ve asked, her funny icy eyes snapped on him, in that way that made you jump.
Sam answered as he stared into the fire. "Yeah. This is going to be a lot of vampires. What do we do about burning them?"
Ve smiled, although her expression looked grim. "Ah yes, how to kill a vampire without burning it. Tricky, very tricky. Doesn't really occur to you at first."
"What doesn't?" asked Paul as he stopped horsing around with Quil.
"Our bodies. They're stronger than humans, in every way, yes?"
We all nodded.
"This includes our stomach acid, yes?"
Embry laughed. "What does that have to do with it?"
Ve looked at him seriously. "Everything. If you have no fire there is only one option to killing a Cold One. You must eat them."
"Eat them?" Jared dropped the stick he was playing with in disgust. "I don't want to fucking eat them."
Ve laughed. "No, it is not the most pleasant thing in the world to do. Especially not the first time. They do tend to wriggle. It is why we save that punishment for our most hated enemies. As uncomfortable as it is for us, it is exponentially more painful for them. A slow death in acid is not a nice one. They stop wriggling almost as soon as they hit your stomach, but according to a few mind readers I know, they stay alive past that. The good news is that after you swallow them you don't have to stay a wolf to digest them. That would be particularly annoying. But if the time or the circumstance calls for it, it is what you must do."
"And you've done this?" asked Paul, amazed.
"Yes," she said, looking up. Her face was painted with an angry mask, thinking of one of those most hated enemies. Maybe even the one who killed her son, I thought to myself. "Yes, I have.
I shook my head as the vampires were still closing in.
If you're thinking of what I think you're thinking, no fucking way.
We can't just leave them out here, Jake, who says we'll ever find them again?
Do we really have to fucking eat them?
Just don't think about it and do it.
I really hoped that would help, but somehow, I knew it wouldn't.
They closed on us and attacked. The larger girl struck at me with her hand, but I got away. Sam was not so lucky, as the smaller girl picked him up and threw him into a tree. He landed with a yelp, but sprang back up.
I took that chance to charge the small bitch while she gloated, and Sam ran by me and did the same to the larger girl. The switch up worked as I clamped down on her arm and yanked. I pulled her into a roll and her arm came off in my mouth from the force. She screamed, and her arm wiggled around in my mouth as she looked at her left side to see where it detached. I bit her hand off at the wrist and she screamed again, floundering on the floor. I looked over to see Sam on top of the other girl's chest, growling as he attacked her face.
I steeled myself, trying to accomplish the gruesome task at hand. I forced my jaw to open and close as I crushed her hand in it. Thankfully, while the taste was nothing to write home about, it wasn't so horrible that I spat the thing out. It was more the realisation of what I was about to do that unnerved me.
I chewed once, twice, three times and then threw my head back. The last glimpse I caught of her, she was looking at me wide eyed, not believing what I was about to do. Truth be told, I was right there with her. I shut my eyes as I forced myself to swallow.
It was horrible. Everyone tells you that if you swallow a worm it will wriggle all the way down. Well, I swallowed one when I was ten on a dare, and let me tell you, it was entirely motionless, especially compared to this. It burned as her fingers protested going down my esophagus, and I shook my head in a feeling that wasn't pain, but just as bad. It was somewhere in between a tickle and a twitch and I don't think I've ever been so glad to reach the end of a swallow as I was now. True to Ve's word, the moving stopped when it reached my stomach.
The leech, however, didn't agree with me. She started screaming in agony and further writhed on the ground. As it turns out, eating at least part of them isn't wholly a bad tactic, as it completely incapacitates them from the pain.
I still didn't fucking plan to make it a habit.
Soon the screams of the other one mingled with the leech already in pain as I continued with the rest of her arm before leaping on her. Sam, infinitely smarter than I, went with the face first and shut up the thing under him pretty quickly. I could see why someone would do this for revenge now. As I swallowed her arm, the thing didn't fight back at all, just screamed and screamed clawing at where her arm used to be like she was trying to stop it from going down my throat. I almost felt sorry for her, considering a few days ago I would have fought off Victoria to protect her. But I didn't have time to dwell on being compassionate with my brothers in trouble and Bella to save. As I, for lack of a better term, wolfed down the leech, I think I finally understood what it was to be Ve. I thought I knew before what doing something you didn't want to do for people you cared for was about was like, but the truth was, being a werewolf was fun, as much as I thought it made me a monster. None of this was really all that hard once I was able to be friends with Bella again. I got a ton of perks and the only downside was having to learn to control my temper, and really, everyone should do that. But this? This was god awful, and yet I somehow didn't mind as much when I knew I had to, because we needed to get to the Cullens. There was no two ways about this. Do it, or your friends die.
We made as short work of it as possible, surprising ourselves in being able to completely consume a vampire each in under half an hour. I tried to trick myself into thinking it was just something crunching like candy or toast but it failed at every step of the way. I was extremely thankful when it was over with.
You ok Jake? Sam asked, licking god knows what off his chin.
No. That was the most disgusting fucking thing I have ever done in my life!
Just be glad it's over.
It's ain't over for us.
Yeah, guys, that was fucking gross.
Embry, Quil, shut it! Come on Jake, we need to get there now.
I ran off after him, perfectly happy to not stick around.
Bella POV
"You have fun, OK?"
I rolled my eyes. "I will dad."
"You staying at the Cullens?"
"I don't know yet. I'll call you."
"Alright, have fun."
I waved as he drove back up the lighted path and headed into the house. I was so happy to be out of that dress that I didn't even mind the nice shirt and new shoes Alice demanded I wear to the party. Walking in, I could see that everyone else was here. Leave it to me to be late to a party I supposedly partly arranged. Getting a closer look, my jaw dropped.
The house was decked out like a night club, complete with a flipping light up floor. I gaped around at the lights and plush sofas that seemingly came out of no where. Alice cheerfully waved to me from the DJ booth, where she and Edward were choosing music. I gave a half-hearted wave back as I took in the room.
Leave it to Alice to absolutely overdo EVERYTHING.
Deciding that I spent enough time looking like a fish, I walked over and joined my friends, after leaving my bag in a closet. Predictably, Lauren did sneer at me, but I ignored her and sat down next to Angela.
"So." I said.
"So." She said back. "How about this house?!"
"I know, it's… crazy."
"Is it always like this?"
"No… no it's not."
"Well it's really, really cool of them. Let's dance!"
I put my arms up in resistance. "Angela, I'm a horrible dancer."
"It's fine, come on!"
I let her drag me out to the front of the dance floor where I was facing Alice, who laughed as she watched me try to dance.
"It's not as easy as breathing for everyone you know!"
"You're doing fine Bella!"
"Yeah, right!" I rolled my eyes, but I enjoyed myself, despite the outrageous dance floor, despite looking like a fool and despite Lauren glaring at me. Eventually I bumped into Mike.
"Hey Bella!"
"Hey!"
"This is pretty awesome, huh?!"
"I guess so!" I answered with a shrug.
"So where is your boyfriend?!"
Goddammit Mike, can't you let it go for one day? "He's busy with school I think!"
"Oh… you wanna dance?!"
"We are dancing Mike!"
"I meant with me!"
"I think I'm gonna take a break!"
I retreated to some chairs were Alice, Emmett and Rosalie were sitting, now that Alice was done programming the music.
"Having fun Bella?" she asked with a smirk.
"I'll admit it, I am. Even though…"
"Even though what?" Asked Rosalie.
"Well, I don't know what Jake is doing out there."
Emmett smiled. "I'm sure he's ok."
I huffed. "I just wish I knew. Alice, can you see Victoria at all?"
Alice shook her head. "Haven't been able to for a while. I didn't even know she was in the area."
I sighed. "I just wish he was here."
"Well, you might get your wish."
I turned to Rosalie. "What do you mean?"
"I smell dog."
She pointed to the door and as if on cue it swung open to reveal Sam. He was topless, carrying a duffel bag. As we walked in the door, I looked behind him to see that he was followed by Jacob, carrying a bag of his own.
My heart skipped a beat as I leapt off the chair and ran for him. Just as I was about to reach him he threw his arms up to stop me.
"No, Bells, don't. Do not kiss me. You have no idea how happy I am to see you, but I think it would be best for everyone involved if you just refrained from touching your lips to mine for the next little while. At least until I brush my teeth… about a thousand times. Just trust me on this one, you don't want to know." He grimaced, stuck his head out the door and spat, aiming off the steps. When he looked back at me, Rosalie was beside me with a look of disgust on her face.
"Aww, Blondie, you really don't want to know. Really. Just let it go."
She still shot him an angry look as she spoke. "Well I know dogs don't know how to knock, but seriously, I would have hoped Bella would teach you."
"Just get Carlisle out here. We need to talk to him. It's urgent." Rosalie stared at Sam as he took out all her thunder by being calm and called Carlisle's name up the stairs. Somehow, over all the music, he heard and came downstairs. Meanwhile, the rest of the Cullens, most notably Edward, made their way to the door.
"Yes Rosalie, what is it? Oh, Sam, Jacob, it's good to see you, I didn't know you were coming…"
"We weren't," said Sam. "But we need you. Now. Victoria's attacking, she's got some… creature with her and we're being over run. We need you help, direly."
Carlisle nodded in thought. "Esme, you'll have to stay to watch over everyone here. Sam, did you have an idea as to what we're going to do? I mean, I know we've reviewed this, but I need more on the situation at hand."
"Yes, I did. I'll explain it before we go." He headed inside lead by Carlisle. Everyone else turned to follow him and I was left there with Jake. Edward shot a look between us and then turned around to follow.
"Where do you think you're going, Skippy?"
Edward stopped in his tracks as Jake spoke. "You mean me?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Yeah, I mean you. You're coming with me."
"I think it's hardly the time or place to… challenge me to whatever duel it is you've cooked up."
I put a hand on his chest. "Jake, don't."
His hand came up to grasp mine. "I didn't mean that. You're coming with me. That's part of the plan. You want to keep Bella safe, don't you? Bella, grab your bag, you're coming too."
"What?" asked Edward, honestly perplexed.
Jake looked behind him, and then grabbed him by the collar and pulled him outside. When they were out the door, he let go and started jabbing him in the chest with a finger. As he spoke, his height and sheer musculature became apparent once again, dwarfing Edward. "Look, I don't fucking need your bullshit right now. I have done things to vampires today that would make your head spin. And don't even think about looking in my fucking head to find out. I may not have learned enough from Ve to keep you out, but if you so much as think of reading my mind and I catch wind of it I am going to show you exactly why I am your natural born enemy, am I fucking clear?"
Edward glared daggers at Jake until he noticed the slight tremors that ran through his body. He nodded as I placed a hand on Jake's back. "Jake, calm down. Just tell me what's wrong."
I felt him tense and relax before he spoke again. "I've just had a really fucking bad day, punctuated by a really fucking bad event, and I can't get this goddamned taste out of my mouth. I mean, it wasn't all that horrible before, but now it just won't fucking go away." He spat again into the grass.
"What on earth are you talking about, mutt?"
"I told you once leech, you don't fucking want to know. Bella, let's go."
I ran back inside and grabbed my bag and coat from the closet, making a slight detour to go grab about a dozen bottles of water off one of the tables in the living room. I put most of them in the bag, except for one, which I handed to Jake when I got back to the door.
"Oh my god, you're a saint." He took a big swig, swirled it around his mouth, and spat it out, before draining the rest of the bottle in two gulps. "You have no idea how much I needed that. Let's go. We got a lot of walking to do."
As I followed Jake and Edward out the door, I really regretted these new shoes.