Ch. 43: All is Fair in Love and War
*Edward's POV* (haven't done one of these in a while)
I stared at my sister from where I was seated. I was holding onto Bella as she laid lazily on the bed, all while my sister just stared absent mindedly out the window. It was easy to see that she was distraught about yesterday's occurrences. I just couldn't bear to see her like this, in this depressed state. She wouldn't even let me or Jasper anywhere into her head, after reverting back to her original form, of course. I was about to open my mouth to ask her if she would get Bella some water, just to get her to move about, but she turned to look at me right before. Amber eyes filled to the brim with hurt and pain stared intently at me before she spoke.
"Just because you can't read my mind, does not mean I cannot read yours, Edward. Please stop worrying over me. I will, however, go get Bella that glass of water because she looks parched." She ended that with a final friendly smile at Bella before getting up and out the door.
"I'm worried about her." I looked down at Bella and kissed her forehead before squeezing her hand to comfort her.
"Yes, we're all worried about her, but we are more worried about you. Are you feeling hungry?" she thought about it before turning a faint pink and nodding. I smiled and got up. "Be right back." As soon as I closed the door, I felt someone screaming for me inside my head. It was Alice. I ran outside, knowing where she was, and went directly to her. I took notice that the others were right there with her as well. "What's wrong with her." Rosalie was rocking my sister back and forth as she tearlessly cried.
"We don't know! She was in the kitchen and then she just suddenly ran outside!" spoke Emmett, obviously scared for our sister himself.
"We figured she must have seen someone, but then Jasper said she was hurt. Violette's not letting either of you into her mind, or emotions, for hours so we knew something was wrong." I tried to probe into my sister's mind after what Esme said, but I found nothing, she was blocking me out again.
"I think she was having a vision," Alice piped in.
"What did you get from her when you could feel her emotions?" I asked Jasper.
"Fear, anger, pain, frustration...mainly fear. Maybe some denial. I don't know it wasn't easy to make out anything, it never is with her because her powers are always interfering with mine even when she's not trying." I could tell he was frustrated with himself, he wanted to help her as much as the rest of us did. She was after all our little sister, and I, more than anyone, wanted her to snap out of her depressive state.
"Sshh. It's okay, Violette. You're fine." Rosalie had managed to somewhat calm her, since her sobbing had stopped and she was now reduced to just the occasional hiccup. Eventually, I saw my sister drop her hand on Rose's shoulder nodding that she was okay.
"What happened? What did you see?" I looked into her eyes, probing her thoughts, hoping to find anything that would tell me what had upset her so much. I was almost afraid to find the answers to my questions.
"I..." I waited patiently for her to continue; I think we all did. She never did. Instead, she got up and walked inside the house. We stared at each other, not sure what to make of her strange behavior. In the end, we chose to follow her. We heard her talking to Bella. "Oh, hey there Bells....have you seen my phone anywhere?" Bella looked sadly at her when she took a pause to sniff, she was also a little red in the face. My sister looked away and I felt her vampiric scent hit me full force. "Here it is!" she got it and before I could ask her what was wrong, she ran out again, shouting behind her. "I'll be right back!"
I waited around for a while, lying on the sofa with Bella in my arms as we watched some television. I had been absentmindedly rubbing her stomach; the more I thought about it, the more I looked forward to the child. Bella was set on having herself a boy, and had the ridiculous idea to name the child after me and the mutt.
She honestly thought that he didn't mean what had gone on. She wasn't aware of the awful things he said, of the terrible things that ran through his mind. I was glad my sister kicked him out on his ass; she was finally back where she belonged. I was getting tired of waiting for my sister to return, and I had only just waited twenty minutes. I shook my head, stood up carefully, told Bella I'd be back soon and then took off towards the direction of her scent.
"Yes, thank you Gen...I really do appreciate this....Mhm... Mhm... Yeah? *sigh* Okay, well just about anyone will do...... if any of them can, you know who I trust. They might not know everything, but at least they know what I partially am and they know about my family.... I-I know, but they're my family...... No! Of course not! I'm trying to avoid any casualties, Gen! I just want to prove a point to them, together....I'm hoping to intimidate them in numbers! Anything besides that!"
Violet was conversing with someone, obviously stressed out and a bit agitated. I didn't like what I heard. War? Someone had obviously mentioned war. She was looking for someone? Gen... that had been my sister's friend, the vampire from France. "Okay, thank you Geneveve. I really do appreciate it. Yes, as soon as you can, please! Okay, okay, until then mon amis.(my friend)"
"What's going on Violette?" I said, knowing she was concentrating again when she first inhaled. She looked at me and I could see she had this pained look in her eyes, one of complete agony. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on..."
"Alice was right, I had a vision." I waited for her to continue, her hands tightened and I saw the phone fall to the floor, in pieces. She only looked down angrier now because of what she had accidently done. "Jacob told Sam.... or he will or... I don't know!" She rested her hand on her forehead and bowed her head slightly; she looked like she was fighting an inner war with herself. "Gah arrrr! I don't know what the hell to do anymore! I'm...scared, Edward" I walked up to her.
"Of what? What could possibly be hurting my baby sister so much?" I asked her. "Why are you scared? What does him telling his alpha have anything to do with us?" Suddenly I saw it, a vision filled with blood, snarls, hisses, flames, and a dead Bella. I looked at her, flabbergasted.
"I didn't know what else to do, Edward! I- I panicked! I mean, I was hoping that with numbers we could intimidate them! Scare them off!" My mouth was still wide open, too stunned from what she showed me she was having to cope with on her own. Her family, her mate...my mate. I growled and pulled away, pacing around in a circle and I was close to destroying a couple of trees. "I'm sorry Edward! I can't-" she sobbed out, and it looked like she was having difficulty breathing, but I knew that wasn't the problem.
"I'm going to go tell the others." I ran off, at the moment, my wife's life the only thing on my mind as I left my sister where she was.
*Seth's POV* (yay! First one for me huh?!)
I kept looking between Jacob and the others shocked. Over the couple of months, we had been at peace with the vampires; I had learned to get along well with them, Bella especially. So, what if she was pregnant, why should that matter to us? So, the baby would be different? Did we really classify as normal? I understood that Sam was being over protective of his people, especially his imprint. Those that had imprinted where only worried about the possibility of a threat to their imprints. However, in my opinion we were only endangering an unborn child's life. I tried to understand the angry banter that when on between the pack, especially between Sam and Jacob. Jacob.... That's what I didn't get.
Jacob was obviously the most riled up out of all of us. He said it was because they damned his best friend to this. That he was protecting others from possibly falling to a fate similar to hers. I think that deep down maybe it still had to do because he still had some resentment to the Cullens because Bella did pick a vampire over him. But.... why? He had his imprint. Violet was amazing. She was beautiful, kind, motherly, she was a phenomenon all on her own. So why was he doing this? I'm sure this would hurt her, too. They were her adoptive family too, right? He was choosing this war over his imprint?
"Seth! It would be appreciated if you kept your damn thoughts to yourself! I know what I'm doing!" roared Jacob's voice inside my head. I whimpered.
"Seth, we have to do this. Our tribe, our people, innocent people will be put in danger if we don't handle this situation the best way we can. That child can't be born." Spoke up Sam, a bit of his Alpha tone slipping out to prove that was the end of the conversation.
"I don't think this is such a good idea, I mean there had to be a first for us too, right? Werewolves, I mean?" a rumble of growls came my way and I started to lower my head. "Fine.... what about Violet, Jacob? Won't she get hurt?" I asked, afraid to do so. He didn't answer, instead he walked away before sprinting out into a full on run towards the Cullens. I hope he decides against this. Violet's turned into one of my best friends.... and so has her family.
*Jacob's POV*
I ran towards her scent, I smelled salt mixed with her scent. She must have been crying. I ran as fast as I could, but stopped. She had her arms around herself and I noticed there were two new vampires comforting her, two girls. There were another two males and a female slightly farther away from them. I unknowingly let out a growl; there were too many damn vampires here at the same time and I didn't like that.
"Someone's here and judging by their scent, I'd say he's her mate." I growled and stepped out of the trees as I stared down the brown-haired male who looked at me with golden eyes. He may be a vegetarian, but his voice still creeped me out, it was far too deep to be normal. I growled at him and he smirked at me, he inhaled deeply, but before he could say anything or exhale someone stopped him.
"Vance! Stop!" I looked at the small auburn-haired vampire by my imprints side. She stood up and I wondered if she really was a vampire. Her eyes were green, almost human, but her scent was obviously vampire. She was pale, but a bit short, probably Violet's height. I saw the weird guy from earlier calm down and blow out a razzberry (you know when you make that farting noise with your tongue? Sorry can't describe the sound very well lol)
"I say you should have just let the mongrel get an earful, Lauren. He deserves it from how he's been treating our friends." spoke the other male with Black hair. He had his arm around a strawberry blond girl with orange eyes. I'd have to be wary of that one, since she was obviously just getting off of human blood if the coloration of her eyes was anything to go by.
"Andres, shut up," growled the blond next to my Violet. She turned to look at me, her eyes the same golden yellow as hair eyes. "Look, you obviously came here to talk to her, right?" I just hmphed and she rolled her eyes. Her accent was thick, but I understood her. "We'll be leaving you alone, but the first instant that any of us feel any negative emotions from her, or that she's in any distress, we'll be here before you could huff and puff, ya got that big bad wolf?" she hissed at me, and I growled, making my way to my Violet who still had her face tucked between her legs that were held towards her chest by her hands. "Let's go Lauren..." The auburn still seated next to Violet got up, stiffly walking by me before making her way over to the one that confronted me first.
I changed after making sure the others were gone, but my mate was still crying and shaking vigorously. I didn't know what to do, if I should try and hug her or talk to her first. I felt a shift in the air and suddenly her scent hit me harder than before. I went to place my hand on her shoulder and a strange, inhuman growl made its way from her. I recoiled back from her, insanely shocked from her abnormal behavior. She looked up at me and her appearance could be described as beautifully wild! However, the look didn't fit her. It was foreign almost and just didn't belong on my sweet flower. Her eyes were the strangest part though; they were the usual blue/green hue, but this time there were random spots of gold flickering in them. The color almost reminded me of...
"What do you want?" I flinched, her voice came out more of a hiss and I couldn't help the look of pure sorrow knowing that it was ME that her anger was directed at. I opened my mouth to reply, to say anything back, but my mouth couldn't produce any words. "What Jacob?! What could you possibly want now?! What else do you want to do to us, huh?!" I flinched and stared at the ground.
"I.... I didn't do anything, Violet." I whispered. She just scoffed at that and stood up and stared up at me.
"Not yet, right" I looked away. "Because I know what you have planned." I looked at her shocked. "And you must be crazy if you think I'm going to leave my family alone at this time. I'm a Cullen, Jacob." I looked away, feeling my whole body swell up with overwhelming emotions. I felt my throat close up as I thought about what Seth had said earlier. My imprint, my love, my heart, my soul.... what if she got hurt. This would be worse than the time with the newborns because it would be someone I knew, someone I trusted, that would have to cause her harm.
"Please, .... please...don't get involved, Violet. I'm begging you." I pleaded with her, begged her. She gave off a bitter, cold laugh.
"How could you ask me that?! I would have helped you, or any of the other boys because they were my family! I accepted them because they were your family! I thought that would make them my family, but obviously it didn't work both ways, right? You obviously can't stand my family, you can't let them catch a break even if it means having to go through me, huh?!" she was crying now, angry tears streaming down her face. I felt a great pain in my chest, and felt a tear slide down my cheek.
"Violet..."
"I'm not done!" she was quiet for some time and just stared off to the side. "I love you; I do...with all my heart." I cracked a small tiny smile, that was quickly shattered in a matter of seconds. "But I can't love someone who only sees things in black or white, Jacob..." fear gripped at my heart hearing her say that, I looked around franticly trying to blink back the tears threatening to fall. I saw the other leeches now, all staring from far off, probably eavesdropping. My sorrow was replaced with anger.
"This is all their fault though, Violet! We're not the wrong ones here! They could be putting people in danger! We've had to make accommodations for them already! This isn't a risk we're willing to take! Have we not suffered enough for them!" I think that was the wrong thing to say when I just saw her get even madder.
"Damn it, Jacob! It's not just about you, or your pack! This is also my family! My sister-in-law is pregnant, with my niece or nephew! And another thing! It's not just you or them who suffers, Jacob...we don't ask to be different...none of us do! Not you, not them, not me, and neither did that little fetus growing within Bella!" My breathing was ragged now and I could feel my body shake and convulse. We were both quiet for a while, both of us obviously trying to calm down a bit. I heard her sigh and I heard her continue talking.
"That's...that's your problem Jacob...you only see other's differences...their flaws.... you're ...intimidated by anything different from you or what you deem normal." She had spoken with such sorrow, I gulped, suddenly not liking the atmosphere. "And...until that changes," she turned around and I couldn't see her face anymore. I saw her hand go to her mouth, as she obviously tried to suppress a sob, she failed. "Until then.... we can't be together...." My whole body went into shock. "You and I can't be anything other than bitter enemies until then..." I was rooted in place, unable to think, to comprehend. Not even when she ran off, did I move....
My Violet, my imprint, had just broken up with me. I had lost her trust, her affection, and most importantly her love. I suddenly felt like I had fallen straight to the ground from a hundred story building. My heart was left a shattered mess at her words.
*Violet's POV*
Everyone tried to console me, but I was inconsolable. I was in my room and refused to let anyone come in, I would push at them with whatever power decided to work in my emotional state. I was so unbalanced I feared for the sake of the others and I only wished I could stop. I kept drifting from my human state to my vampiric, I was so unstable. I buried my head into my pillow and cried as loud as I could, at the moment it was impossible for me to cry, but my pillow was still soaked from just moments ago. I stopped when I heard something...a heart stopping, ear piercing, broken, howl. I let out my own and howled out sob after sob, hoping to just forget this whole ordeal.
*Seth's POV*
I was at home, pacing around my room when I heard a god-awful sound. One of our own was hurt, badly from the sound of that howl. I ran out through the door and managed to see a russet wolf amongst the trees. I lived close by to Jake and thought I'd see him run towards his back yard, but from the direction he took I knew I had better run to Sam's house instead. "Leah! I think we should go to Sam's! Like, now" I ran towards the woods and stripped quickly before changing and charging towards my destination, seeing my sister's silvery form already passing me almost instantly. I got there, changed and walked inside. No one was there, I wondered where everyone was...
"Jacob! Calm down! Jacob! Now! It's an order!" I could hear Sam order. Me and my sister turned to Sam's garage Emily put a hand on my shoulder.
"Sam, Embry and Quil are over there with him.... Sam said he's unstable and that I should stay here, but...something's wrong..." I smiled at her.
"We'll go see what we can do, Emily." Leah and I jogged over to the garage and were surprised to see Jacob in wolf form, now whimpering with his massive paws covering his eyes. "Jake?" I saw Jared come in next through the shed.
"Man! What the hell is going on? At this point this shit ain't gonna be much of a secret with his howling!" we all glared at Jared and Leah and Quil smacked him upside the head.
"Now what's going on?" Paul groaned. "I was with my imprint, man!" At that, Jacob tossed his head back and let out another powerful howl. "Damn! Jacob! That hurt!" he continued to groan, now covering his ears like most of us.
"Jacob.... what happened to Violet?" asked Sam...I had been suspecting it had something to do with her and Jacob proved it when another howl passed through his muzzle.
"You went to go see her, huh? What happened between you two?" I asked. He just kept whimpering.
"Jacob, that's it. Shift." He didn't move. "Now!" he commanded and we were shocked when Jacob just shook his head. "Jacob I said go shift!!!" Sam roared and this time Jacob's head snapped up, but to growl and bare his teeth at Sam. We all gasped and then tensed when he stood up in front of Sam, he growled once more before walking past him. We all walked outside and waited, when we saw him, we couldn't help but gasp. He looked like a mess...
"She broke up with me.... she says she's gonna fight by their side." We all gasped, shocked. "She says she can't be with me until I change my mind about her family" he sneered the word out.
"Jacob...man...I'm sorry." Apologized Jared.
"Damn dude...she'll come around...right? I mean, we wouldn't hurt her...right?" Embry asked pretty much putting us all on the spot. Everyone agreed....except Sam.
"Thanks guys.... I can't stand it though...she's fighting alongside them?" Jacob shook his head before the look of disappointment and pain returned. "I need her though...I mean I can't..." Jake stopped, biting his lips and curling his hands into tight fists to the point where his whole hand went white.
"Jacob...I'm sorry, but...." we all looked at him and we saw him sigh. "Just... go get some rest." Why did Sam suddenly look so drained? "Everyone...just go home." We all looked at him oddly and I stared as Quil and Embry offered Jacob a ride. I went home after two, trying to figure out Sam's odd look.
*Sam's POV*
I couldn't sleep, I couldn't even close my eyes. I had seen what kind of things Violet could do...she obviously wasn't human, but whatever she was, she was strong. I didn't want to go up against someone who's abilities and talents were completely unknown. This girl had obvious ties to the Cullen family, she had apparent ties to our family. She was Jacob's imprint. Our law stated that should you kill another's imprint, you have a right as the imprinter to return the favor to the one that dealt you the dirty hand. We couldn't harm Violet, and we obviously couldn't kill her..... So, what were we to do?
I felt Emily shift in my arms in bed and held on tighter, would my mind have changed had we been in Jacob and Violet's shoes? I wasn't sure, but what I did know was that Violet was so far our actual biggest threat should we go up against the leeches. I staired out the window. "I'm sorry Jacob, but I have no choice....we will have to fighter her too....casualties are to be expected." I whispered out to no one....i felt bad, I felt sick. I was doing this to my own Beta, my own pack member, my own friend! But I had to think about what was best for us as a whole....