Before anyone could say anything to her, Callas shook her head and handed her phone over to Reed, forcing a smile at him. He noticed that she was trying to hold back her tears as she brushed passed the rest of the boys and slowly made her way up the stairs of the porch and into the house. It was silent amongst the boys, bar the sound of the crickets that had just emerged as the sun began to set, the faint sound of the water down at the beach—water that was lapping and crashing into the rocks and sand—and the fire that crackled from inside, still burning. Reed called out her name softly as he watched her leave, but she couldn't manage to make out any words as she opened her mouth and closed it again, waving him off. Emily, who was cleaning up the plates from the table, paused and looked up at her, furrowing her eyebrows, not knowing what was going on. Zeus, lifting his head up from the sofa, got up and followed her up the stairs and into the spare bedroom as she pushed the door open and closed it behind herself gently. She slowly pulled the flight jacket off her body and hung it over the back of the desk chair, along with the jumper that she just dropped onto the seat. A sigh escaped her lips as she pulled her boots off, letting them drop down to the floor with a thud before she dragged her feet over to the left side of the bed.
As she lifted the covers up on her side and got underneath the duvet, the door to the room opened with a light knocking sound. Callas turned her head to the door, her face void of emotion, as Embry poked his head in and smiled lightly. Zeus stepped over Callas to lay down on the edge of the bed, pushing her more towards the middle. Embry stepped into the room and closed the door, he cleared his throat and watched silently as Callas lifted the right corner of the duvet for him. He nodded his head and kicked his trainers off, settling beside her with his back pressed up against the headboard. Callas sighed again and rolled onto her right to lay her head down on his chest, wrapping her arms around him as she stared at the pattern on the duvet covers. The past couple of days had been getting to her, and with everything that was going on, she knew that, had she not been introduced to the supernatural world, she would have asked Reed to admit her into the psychiatric ward, believing that she was simply going insane, and not being stalked by a vampire who seemed to enjoy the slow, agonising form of torture he was forcing her through.
"Did you read it?" She asked quietly, not moving her head from his chest. "Did you see what Will sent?"
Embry hummed. "Yeah, yeah I saw it. We all did." He nodded, trying to allow himself to relax into the bed, despite being on edge and worried about Callas. "We won't let anything happen to you. You know that, don't you, Callas?" Embry asked unsurely as he placed his left hand down on her bare left shoulder, rubbing his thumb soothingly across her exposed skin from where her short-sleeved shirt had inched up on her arm.
She breathed out. "I'm trying to."
"Trying?"
"Look at me," Callas mumbled as she sat up and faced him, sitting on her legs. "I have cuts on my arms and legs from when I tried running away from Will in the forest. I have scrapes on my palms, scabs on my knuckles from God-knows-where. A bruise on my forehead going down to my right eyelid, a-and a cut that was re-opened when Will slammed my head into the island counter. You know, I-I'm trying really hard to believe that you and the others will keep me safe, even when the voice in the back of my mind tells me that I'm just lying to myself, the one t-that tells me to just look in the mirror and realise that nothing and no one will ever be able to keep me safe. I'm trying really hard to ignore it, Em, I-I'm trying. But I have limits."
"I know you do," he whispered, brushing a strand of her hair that shifted in front of her face as she spoke behind her ear. "I'll do better next time, I promise."
"It's not you, Embry. It's La Push. It's cancerous."
"Don't-Don't say that." He scrunched his face up and shook his head.
"Maybe Reed and I should have stayed away."
"Don't say that Callas."
"What else am I supposed to do?" She yelled, her lips trembling. "I'm tipping over the goddamn edge over here!"
"We have a plan—"
"Oh, oh you have a plan. A 'plan', well that's just great, isn't it," she scoffed, sarcasm-laced deep within her tone.
Embry frowned, which she noticed, but he knew the reason why she acted out, he had seen it before. A pang of guilt and regret washed over her and she sighed, rubbing her eyes harshly. "Callas—" Embry whispered again, but she quickly interrupted.
"I'm just tired. I don't mean anything that I say. I'm scared, so I'm irrational. Embry, I—" She swallowed, closing her eyes for a brief moment before she opened them again, breathing in as the tears stung her eyes. "I didn't mean anything that I said. Please believe me, I'm just... I'm just so tired."
Embry nodded. "Come here." He gently ushered her back to his side, with his arms already open to pull her over, while he laid down on the bed, rather than having his back against the headboard.
Callas was silent after that, opting to just move closer to his warm body and to close her eyes, hoping to just get some sleep for once. It seemed as if Callas had hardly any sleep since moving back to La Push, especially since she was left alone in the house, with Silas and Anya in the hospital and Reed being forced to keep his distance while he learned how to control himself. As she closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep, she was sucked into a dream that she couldn't get out of. It was the slow, calm rhythm of Embry's heartbeat that lulled her into it. But she didn't feel the warmth there, in the dream, like she did only seconds ago with Embry. Instead, it was cold, but it wasn't the normal kind of cold, she couldn't pinpoint what was so wrong about it, it was snowing and seemed as if the temperature dropped below freezing, but it wasn't... real. She was in an empty circular field, surrounded by a thick mass of trees miles away from where she stood in the middle—out in the open and left vulnerable. The snow fell silently, not even the wind made a sound.
I'm guessing the cats out of the bag then? Don't bother asking how I know, it's pointless.
In a panic, she turned around, trying to find some way out of that place. Will's voice echoed. It was taunting, just like it was during their last physical encounter, but it was also smooth, something that seemed so natural and yet so out of place. Callas kept turning, trying to find where the sound of his voice was coming from, but all that there was, that she could see, was a blinding white light and the blur of a dark-green, almost black, smudge in the middle of the white where the trees separated the snow-covered ground from the cloud covered sky. The snow continued to fall, and as it touched her bare arms, she barely noticed it. It wasn't the snow that was cold, but the blood that pumped through her body that turned to ice. A chuckle echoed through the clearing. It sounded like it came from directly behind her, but when she turned, all she saw was emptiness and more falling snow. She wanted to escape, she wanted to get away, but she couldn't find a way out. Will continued to talk after a moment of silence, and Callas's chest tightened and burned, suffocating her.
You might have chemistry with Embry, being his 'imprint' and all, but we have history together, Callas. I know when you begin to know things, I can sense when the dots start to connect for you. What we have... well, it's hard to explain.
Instead of continuing to try and find out where his voice was coming from, she took off running. In that moment, she didn't care which direction she was taking off in, all that mattered was getting away. But it seemed that the more she ran, the faster she went, the further the tree line got, the further away her freedom got. The sense of vulnerability grew worse and worse, and the snow fell harder, still silent, but harder. Callas recognised the words. They were from Will's text message to her. Her chest heaved, her legs ached, and her eyes stung as the flurries of snow blew in her direction. The snow, although delicate and weak on its own back in the real world, seemed to have a force of its own in the dream world as it pushed her back, causing her boots to slide backwards in the thick snow, pushing her back to the middle where she started from. Callas knew that was impossible, that it was simply just a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from just yet, that she was still with Embry, and he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. But that was out there in the real world, not in the dream world.
There will be a time, and rather soon might I add, if things keep going the way that I hope, where we will meet face-to-face, don't worry, I won't bite you... yet. I know you felt my presence down at the beach, I could hear your blood pumping, it's rather teasing.
Will chuckled again, his voice seemed to float in the air around her, like static before a lightning storm. Will was apart of the nature in the dream world, or so it seemed. Callas opened her mouth and screamed, but she heard nothing. No sound reached her ears, it was only Will. She turned around again, and in the distance, he stood there watching her. Just like he was when she was running cross country. The collar of his dark-grey coat was turned up, covering his neck. He watched her carefully. It drove her insane. Callas turned back around, knowing that running was pointless, that he would catch up, but she still ran. Natural instinct took over. Her legs pumped faster than she thought was possible, but it got her nowhere. She was stuck, stationary, in one spot, the same spot. For the first time since she had got to the dream world, she heard something other than his voice. It was the crunching of the snow from behind her, it was slow like someone was walking in a largo pace.
You're the first mortal I've met, other than your mother, who seemed to be able to just know when I was around.
Callas gave up running and turned around. Hearing something other than the usual taunting tone in his voice—pure curiosity. Will was closer to her now, and the sound of snow beneath his boots stopped when he stopped. He reminded her so much of Henry—from the way that he stood, with his hands in his coat pockets, to the way he looked at her with that barely present smile. How he knew her mother was beyond her knowledge, and she doubted that she really wanted to know. Will tilted his head, still looking down at her. His ochre-red eyes faded to a deep black. It was demonic, but he looked anything but that somehow. It also seemed as if the snow didn't touch him, he wasn't covered in it like she was, his trousers weren't soaked like hers, and it never once floated near him. Callas tried to catch her breath, after all, she had been running. But she found that she couldn't. Not anymore. Her eyebrows furrowed as she lifted her fingers to her neck, getting ready to search for a pulse, but before her fingers touched her skin, Will's voice began again.
But, isn't it exciting, knowing that vampires and wolves exist? Knowing that your world has just got that little bit bigger, and that little bit deadlier. I'm sure you have a few words on the matter, we can discuss them when we meet.
His mouth didn't move, but she could still hear him. Callas could no longer hear her blood pumping in her ears like she used to. All there was, it seemed, was white noise, but at the same time, not even that existed. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, she couldn't understand what was happening to her, or why it was happening to her—whatever 'it' was. Callas's eyes flickered up to Will's, her fingers were still centimetres away from her skin. Will peered down at her with a strange look, like he was waiting for her to realise something, something that he was pleased about. The small smile he once had grew into a demonic grin, and it looked like he chuckled, but no sound came from his mouth. But, still, as quickly as his grin appeared, it disappeared and was replaced with his top lip curled up in disgust, his black eyes staring right into hers intensely.
So, I also know that you've been introduced to the sorry excuses of my kind, who were they again? The 'Cullens'? Did I get that right? The mutts and the yellow eyes won't be able to stop me, we both know that.
Callas watched as he shook his head, she watched the way his body moved—it was as if he had scoffed—and she watched the way his eyes moved from hers, to look away for a brief moment, before they were back, looking into hers, barely seconds later. The snow crunched again underneath his shoes as he stepped closer, ever so slowly, his chest almost touching hers. She couldn't find it in herself to take a step back, her legs refused to work with her mind as they stayed planted in the snow—snow that seemed to act like hardened cement around her legs even if she tried to move anyway. In the back of her mind she did think it was a bit strange that he referred to the Cullens as 'yellow eyes' as if he didn't consider them to be the same species as he was—maybe they weren't, in some strange supernatural way, but what did Callas know? She was still new to all of it.
Soon, you'll be by my side, sharing my red eyes, with the same blood-stained mouth, the ice-cold skin, and the thirst for fear like I have right now. I can't wait.
When her fingers finally pressed against her neck, working with the orders her mind gave before, she struggled to find a pulse. It was as if she no longer had one. A frown fell on her lips. She couldn't even feel the racing of her heart as Will cupped her cheek with his ice cold hand, and a smile, one that Callas knew couldn't be real—he couldn't feel emotions—gently twitched the corners of his lips up—he was anything but gentle—and the last sentence he spoke rang in her ears so loudly that she thought her ear drums would burst, as if all sound came rushing back to her at once, even when the dream world around her remained as silent as the heart in her chest.
See you soon, friend.
When Will stepped away from her, he looked behind himself, to what was in front of Callas. Will's cold hand slowly slipped from her cheek as she stared into the eyes of Reed—well, the eyes of the wolf Reed could become. In the reflection of his dark brown eyes, she could see her own. They were ochre-red. She finally understood what was wrong with her. She was like Will. She was a monster. A guttural growl rippled from Reed's throat as his snout turned up to show the sharp white teeth, the wolf stepped back slightly and lowered, as if getting ready to pounce, and the last thing Callas saw before she escaped the dream world was the wolf leaping forward with unhinged jaws towards her frozen body, tearing her head from her neck.