She has little innocent demons inside her eyes, and they recklessly play with matches.
--I've never seen sparks so pretty.
~unknown~
You Really Are A Danger Magnet
After the confrontation with Emmett I've tried to focus on graduating. Key word tried. Alice called me up telling me that Victoria is back in town and that they are trying to track her down. So of course I decided to help and Nik, Rebekah, and Kol were more than happy to help. Despite our joint efforts she managed to get away. Emmett tried to catch her but ended up on the wolfs side. My first time seeing them and a silver haired wolf tried to attack Emmett. It was awesome.
When Bella and Edweirdo finally came back from Florida Jacob showed up at school. Apparently Edward hadn't told my sister about Victoria's return. Fun to see he's still a manipulative, controlling son of a bitch.
Anyhow, Jacob invited Bella to a bonfire on the reservation and is even letting me tag along. The only catch, I can't bring anyone else. What a bummer.
"Doesn’t he own a shirt?" Edward sneers, as we get out of the car.
I couldn't help but snicker as Jacob smirks at Edward.
"Um…I’m good here you should go." Bella sighs uncomfortably.
"I’m not gonna be gone long." Edward says, glaring at Jacob.
Bella shakes her head, "Don’t rush. You need the hunt."
Edward glares at Jacob one last time and then kisses Bella.
Once there done Edward turns to me. "Try not to kill anyone while your there."
I roll my eyes, "Gee I'll try my hardest."
Edward grits his teeth and walks off. Guess he doesn't appreciate my sarcasm.
"Hey Jake, thanks for the invite."
"No problem Lex. It was a bit hard convincing the concil that your safe." Jacob replied, nodding his head in greeting.
****
"Are you sure this is okay? I really hate being a party crasher." Bella asks Jacob as we arrive at the bonfire.
"Technically you’re a council meeting crasher. See, the council leaders, dad, Quil’s grandpa and Sue Clearwater. She took over for Harry when he died." Jacob explains, pointing each person out.
Bella frowns, looking uncomfortable. "Okay, I should not be here."
Jacob shakes his head and tugs Bella along."You’re okay. I thought…I mean they thought it would be good for you to hear the histories."
"The histories? The tribe’s histories? Aren’t they secret?" Bella questions nervously.
Jacob shrugs, "We’ve all got a role to play, you’re a part of this."
A young teen, mabye 15 year old boy walks up to us.
"Bella, Lex, this is Seth Clearwater, Leah’s brother. The newest member of the pack."
Seth grins in excitement, "Newest, bestest, brightest…"
"…and slowest." Jacob teases and playfully grabs Seth.
"Nice to meet you Seth," I greet once there done rough housing.
He turns to me, the excited grin still on his face, "Hi Lex! Nice to meet you! I hear your a vampire but not like the Cullens." He tilts his head like a confused puppy.
"Ah yes thats right. I'm a different type of vampire known as a nightwalker. Don't worry though I don't hurt humans."
I flash him a smile, showing off my fangs.
Seth's eyes widen and he laughs, "Thats so cool!"
I chuckle, "Glad you think so."
"You have got to sit by me!" He beams.
"Lead the way Seth."
Seth takes my hand and leads me to a place to sit. I can feel everyones eyes on me. None of them seem too sure if I'm trustworthy.
Billy Black, Jacob's dad gets everyones attention. "The Quileute have been a small tribe from the beginning. And we’ve always had magic in our blood. We were great spirit warriors, shape-shifters that transformed to the powerful wolf. This enabled us to scare off our enemies and protect our tribe. One day our warriors came across a creature that looked like man but was hard like stone and cold as ice. Our warrior’s sharp teeth finally tore it apart, but only fire would completely destroy it. They lived in fear the cold man was not alone. They were right.
She took her vengeance out on the village. Our elder chief, Taha Aki, was the only spirit warrior left to save the tribe after his son was killed. Taha Aki’s third wife would see that we would lose. The third wife was no magical being, no special powers but one. Courage.
Third wife sacrifice distracted the cold woman long enough for Taha Aki to destroy her. She saved the tribe. Over time our enemies have disappeared but one remains. The cold ones. Our magic awakens when they’re near and we sense it now, we feel the threat in our blood. Something terrible is coming and we must all be ready. All of us."
Billys looks right at Bella as he finishes his story.
****
"You look beautiful Lex," Rebekah beams.
I laugh, "Thanks for helping me get ready for graduation Becks. You look beautiful too."
"Thanks Lex, now lets get going!"
Once arriving Rebekah, Nik, and Kol sat in the crowd as I sat next to Bella and the other graduates.
Jessica stands at the podium giving her valdedtorian speech, "When we were five they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, our answers were things like, astronaut, president or in my case a princess. When we were ten they asked us again we answered, rockstar, cowboy or in my case a gold medalist. But now that we’ve grown up they want a serious answer. Well, how about this, who the hell knows! This isn’t the time to make hard, fast decisions. This is the time to make mistakes, take the wrong train and get stuck somewhere, fall in love…a lot. Major in philosophy, because there’s no way to make a career out of that. Change your mind and change it again, because nothing’s permanent. So make as many mistakes as you can, that way someday when they ask what we wanna be we won’t have to guess, we’ll know."
****
I stand besides Jessica and Bella in the middle of the Cullen family living room. The graduation party is in full swing. Kol has an arm wrapped around my waist. Rebekah is chatting up a random guy over by the punch bowl. Nik is leaning against the wall drinking from a flask.
"What did you think of my speech? Too easy breezy, too self helpful, you hated it?" Jessica asks, bring my attention to her.
Bella shakes her head, "No, I think you pretty much nailed it."
I nod my head in agreement, "Yeah. Great speech Jess."
Jessica grins, "Yeah, it’s like I was born to lead right?"
Mike walks up and asks Jessica to dance, "See you guys later!"
I nod my head and notice Jacob walking over.
"What are you doing here?" Bella frowns.
Jacob shrugs, "You invited me, remember?"
"Was my right hook too subtle for you. That was me uninviting you." Bella grumbles.
"Look, Bella I’m sorry, about you know…the kiss and your hand. I’d blame it on the whole inner animal thing, but it was really just…me being an ass. I’m really sorry." Jacob apologized.
I raise an eyebrow at him and frown; he better watch it.
"Alice, what’d you see?" Bella asks as Alice suddenly stops walking down the stairs.
"A decision has been made." She answers, frowning.
"What’s going on?" Jacob questions and I nod my head in agreement.
" They’re not going to Seattle." Bella questions, ignoring Jacob.
Alice shakes her head, "No, they’re coming here."
With a sigh I signal Nik to come over, "Can you get Becka? Alice has had some sort of vision."
Nik nods his head and gets Rebekah to come over. We end up at the balcony with the Cullen family, Jacob, and his two wolf friends.
"This could turn into a blood bath." Carlisle says as Alice tells everyone about her vision.
"Who’s behind it?" Edward asks.
"I didn’t see anyone I recognized. Maybe one." Alice answers, frowning.
"I know his face. He’s local, Riley Biers. He didn’t start this." Edward says, shaking his head.
"Either way, the army is coming and there aren’t enough of us to protect the town." Jasper says, arms crossed.
"Hold up, what damn army?" Jacob asks.
"Newborns, our kind." Carlisle explains.
"They’re after Bella and Lex? What the hell does this mean?"
Kol tenses by my side.
"It means and ugly fight, with lives lost." Carlisle sighs.
Jacob looks to his wolf friends who each nod before turning to Carlisle. "All right. We’re in."
Bella shakes her head, "No, you’d get yourselves killed. No way."
Jacob crossed his arms, "I wasn’t asking for permission."
Bella turns to Edward, "Edward?"
Edward shrugs, "It means more protection for you."
"Jacob, do you believe Sam would agree to an understanding?" Carlisle asks.
Jacob nods, "As long as we get to kill some vampires."
Carlisle turns to Jasper, "Jasper?"
"It’ll give us the numbers. Newborns won’t even know they exist. It’ll give us an edge."
Bella looks up at Jacob, "Jake, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into."
"Bella, this is what we do. You should be happy, look at us, we’re working together. You are the one who wanted us to get along, remember?"
Bella sighs in defeat.
"We will help too," Nik says.
Rebekah and Kol nod in agreement.
"I'll call Elijah and ask him to bring a few of my hybrids." Nik says pulling out his phone. "And I promise that no one will hunt any of the locals."
"You sure about this Nik?" I ask, frowning in concern.
He flashes me a smirk, "You bet I am Lex."
****
I stand besides Kol, Rebekah and Nik as we wait in the feild for the wolf pack to arrive for training.
Nik says Elijah and about five of the hybrids will arrive tomorrow when the battle is to take place.
As the wolf pack arrives I notice that they are all in there wolf forms.
"They don’t trust us enough to be in their human forms." Edward explains.
Carlisle nods, "They came, that’s what matters. Will you translate?"
Carlisle turns to the wolf oack, "Welcome, Jasper has experience with the newborns, teach us how to defeat them."
Edward reads the wolves minds and translates their answer, "They wanna know how the newborns differ from us."
"They’re a great deal stronger than us because their own human blood lingers in their tissues. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months of this life." Carlisle answers.
Jasper stands in front of the wolf pack in a military like stance. "Newborn army doesn’t need thousands like a human army. But no human army can stand against them. Now the two most important things to remember are; first never let them get their arms around you, they’ll crush you instantly. The second, never go for the obvious kill, they’ll be expecting that and you will lose."
Edward and Carlise are the first to fight. Edward gets a bit too cocky as he throws Carlisle in their mock fight and turns his back on him.
"One more thing, never turn your back on your enemy." Jasper smirks.
Just then Carlisle gets up and throws Edward to the ground. I can't help but laugh at the shocked look on Edwards face.
Rosalie and Emmett mock fight next. Despite this being for training purposes you can see the clear hatred on Rosalie's face.
Nik and Rebekah pair up while I pair up with Kol.
"Don't hold back darling," Kol smirks.
I laugh, "Oh I won't, darling."
Rebekah ends up pinning Nik down, winning the mock fight. Kol comes at me but I side step and avoid him. All the training Nik gave me comes back to me. I kick him in the shins and the stomach before using my legs to swing him down onto the ground.
Kol laughs and jumps back up. With a smirk he uses his speed and attempts to attack. I jump and wrap my legs around his neck to bring him back onto the ground.
Kol raises his hands in defeat, "Alright darling. You win."
I smirk as he stands back up.
"Nik has taught you well," Kol notes walking up to me.
"He did," I grin and lean in to kiss him.
Kol happily accepts and our lips meet in a tender kiss.
When we pull apart I notice who I assume to be Jake in his wolf form walking over to Bella.
"Some of you are gonna get hurt. Some of you could get killed, because of me. This could to be a hundred times worse than this, right?" I hear Bella say with a worried look on her face.
Jacob puts his wolf head close to Bella and she strokes his head tenderly. "Jasper, are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?"
"Well, your presence alone, your scent will distract the newborns. Their hunting instincts will take over, drive them crazy." Jasper explains.
Bella sighs in relief, "Good, I’m glad. Hey, how do you know so much about this?"
"I didn’t have quite the same upbringing as my adopted siblings" Jasper answers and reveals his arms showing bites on them.
I grab Kols hand and walk over to Bella and Jasper.
"Those bites are like mind." Bella says, shocked.
Jasper nods, "Battle scars. All the training the confederate army gave me was useless against the newborns. Still, I’ve never lost a fight."
Jasper starts to walk away but Bella stops him, "Hey, this happened during the civil war?"
Jasper stops and turns to her, "I was the youngest major in the Texas Cavalry. All without having seen a real battle."
"Until…" Bella questions.
"Until I met a certain immortal…Maria. I was riding back to Galveston after evacuating a colony of women and children when I saw them. I immediately offered them my aid."
"Maria was creating an army?" Bella confirms.
"They were very common in the south. Constant brutal battles for territory. Maria won ’em all. She was smart, careful and she had me. I was her second in command, my ability to control emotions served her well. I trained her newborns, but in this occupation, since she never let them live beyond the first year, is my job to dispose of them. I could feel everything they felt.
I thought what Maria and I had was love. But I was her puppet, she pulled the strings. I didn’t know there was another way, till I found Alice. How she seen me coming of course."
Just then Alice jumps down from a tree and lands on his back. "You kept me waiting long enough."
Jasper smiles at her "My apologies ma’am. I don’t know what I’d become without her."
"Shh…you never have to be that again." Alice leans down and the share a kiss.
I smile at Alice and Jasper before turning to Kol. "You ready to fight newborns?"
Kol smirks and pecks my lips, "I sure am darling."