Dreamscapes

Monday#3

Suddenly, Jacob is screaming and running out the back door. "What the f**k! She's supposed to be..." He's phased before he finishes his sentence, his tattered clothes dropping to the ground. Leah sprints after him, ruining one of her last remaining sundresses in her haste to phase and follow Jacob into the woods. He's not easy to catch up with, even though she's incredibly fast and he is still injured. As she enters the pack mind, she can feel him pushing through the pain of his newly re-injured body.

What the hell are you doing?

I saw her! I saw that red-headed leech. I thought she was dead!

More voices add to the confusion. Quil and Brady are already on patrol. Jake? What the f**k is going on? You're not supposed to be phasing yet.

How did you let her get by you? Jacob rages, racing full tilt toward Bella's home. Did she come from the ocean?

Who, man? What the hell are you talking about?

The crazy red-headed b***h. The one I thought Edward and Seth ripped to shreds last week! I saw her in woods behind my house. I was looking out the window, and there she was between those two giant fir trees. He flashes them all the memory of the crazy vampire glaring at him from the treeline.

Quil turns back to the spot Jacob referred to. Here? This is where you saw her?

Yeah, right there. Where the f**k did she go? Brady is circling the Black house while Jacob and Leah race to Forks.

Quil sniffs carefully. Man, there's no trace of a scent. You're not following a trail, are you?

No, I don't smell anything. But I have to make sure Bella is safe. I have to make sure she's okay.

Leah is running alongside him. I don't smell anything either, Jake. And I didn't see anything.

You had your back turned to her when I spotted her. Guys, check the trees. Maybe that's why we can't pick up on a trail. Quil obliges, exploring carefully.

Jacob and Leah approach Forks. Jacob is limping badly now, ignoring the tearing pain along his fracture lines, some of which have now split back open again. They reach the Swan residence. Leah splits off to circle the house and search for any fresh trails. He hears Brady running a wide circle around his house, and Quil still searching the trees carefully, finding nothing. He pads silently toward the backyard and stops just shy of the clearing.

She's here. She's alive. She's warm and breathing. He can see her through the kitchen window. She has a dangerously sharp looking cleaver in her right hand, and she's chopping vegetables. He nearly collapses in relief when he realizes that she is safe, and none of the wolves have found a fresh trail nearby. Leah approaches him.

The old trail back that way is the same one we ran across earlier. Nothing new.

Quil and Brady chime in. We've searched the woods, Jake. No sign of a leech.

I don't know what's going on, guys. I know what I saw.

But she's dead, Jake. Shredded and burned. Maybe it was another leech that just looked like her? Escaped at the top of the trees, so we can't tell?

He flashes the image to them again, of Victoria behind his all agree that it does look just like her.

Go home, Jake. Leah nudges his flank with her nose. You've just re-broken a couple of those nasty fractures. We can take it from here. Unless you want to go see her?

No, I can see her from here. She's okay. I don't need to talk to her. There's nothing left to say.

Do you need help getting home?

Jake shakes his head. Brady, Quil, you guys didn't check along the shoreline, did you? Do that before it gets too late. The tide could wash away any fresh tracks. He keeps his thoughts carefully neutral as he limps home.

Leah waits until Jacob has phased out before calling out to Quil. Can you bring me some clothes? There should be something you can take off the line behind the house. Quil shows up several minutes later. She takes the dress in her mouth and steps behind a line of trees. They both phase back to human to talk privately.

"Thanks for the clothes. What do you think that was all about?"

"Not a clue. I'd say Jake was just high on painkillers, but what he showed us in his mind looked pretty clear. It did look just like that crazy b***h vamp from last week."

"You're right. It did. I don't know if it has anything to do with the other trails we found around here. Have you sniffed them out yourself?"

"No, I didn't bother. My patrols have all been back home, not around Forks."

"Here, then. Come this way. Maybe you can find something I didn't notice." Leah leads him deeper into the woods to the stale smelling trail that passes by Bella's home.

"Yeah, this isn't exactly fresh, but it's not old enough to be from before the big battle. One of them obviously did escape. I'm going to follow it out a bit. I know you did that already, but it can't hurt to double check, right?"

"Uh huh, it's a good idea. I'm going to stay here and keep an eye on the house. I'll catch up with you later, Quil? At the end of the shift?"

He nods as he lopes off into the forest. Leah heads back to the Swan house. She only pauses for a minute before making up her mind.

Bella is glad to be home. Mrs. Newton could tell that something was off, but was too polite to ask. Still, Bella felt scrutinized, and it's nice to have some time to herself. She has a couple hours of solitude before Charlie gets home for dinner, and a couple more before Edward will sneak back into her bedroom. She's decided to put a little more care into dinner tonight. She can use the distraction of extra work. A stir fry means lots of extra chopping, thinly slicing the chicken and cutting lots of vegetables into small, bite sized pieces. Even better, it's a healthy meal that Charlie genuinely enjoys. Now she just has to get him to eat brown rice instead of white. Ever since Harry Clearwater died of a heart attack, Bella has been a bit paranoid about Charlie's poor dietary choices.

She has just finished slicing the carrots when a knock at the back door startles her. She flinches at the sound, accidentally flinging the cleaver up into the air. She feels herself pulled abruptly backward by a tight, warm grip as the cleaver flips over mid-air and lands with a thunk, sticking straight up out of the chopping block.

"Careful, there. Unless you plan to make your blood part of the sauce." Leah lets go of her arms.

"Um, thanks?" She mumbles, stupidly.

"That trick with the knife would have been kind of cool if it had been deliberate, and if you hadn't nearly impaled your own hand with it." Leah is smirking and leaning against her kitchen wall. It reminds her of Jacob.

"Well, you know, clumsy me." She nods, not knowing what else to do, so she pulls the knife out of the wood and pulls out celery to slice.

"Making a stir fry?"

Why is Leah here? It can't possibly be to grill her about her dinner plans. It can't possibly be for anything good. She rambles nervously, "Charlie likes stir fry. I want him to eat better, you know? And this is one of the only ways he eats his vegetables without pouting like a child. And I don't have to use much oil, so that's good. He usually says that poultry is for hippies, and beef is for real men, but I just won't make him a steak every day. It's not good for him." The moment her babbling words leave her mouth, she realizes what a mistake she's just made, "The way he eats on his own, he's going to give himself a coronary. I've got to take care of him since he's not going to take care of himself."

Leah narrows her eyes at Bella. She didn't come here to argue, but Bella is so dense and so infuriating. Did she really just go there? She snarls, "You think that feeding him healthy food for two months is going to make up for what you're about to do to him? Take care of him? What the hell is the point of taking care of him for two more months, and then abandoning him for all of eternity? You're worried about his heart? Are you kidding me? You're going to f*****g break it when you walk away and never come back, and you're worried about his heart?"

She's shaking now, and Bella backs away. It is taking everything Leah has not to phase in the middle of Charlie Swan's kitchen. Leah grits her teeth. "I'm not here to f*****g argue with you. You're not worth the extra breath."

"Why are you here?" Bella asks in a small voice.

"The rogue vampire. I need to know what you know."

Bella looks at her blankly. "Rogue vampire?"

This produces a dark laugh. "Oh, of course he didn't tell you. Your loving fiance hasn't mentioned that one of the leeches escaped from the newborn battle last week?"

Bella shakes her head. "I don't know about any of that," she whispers.

Leah smirks at her again. "He doesn't tell you much, does he? Enjoying blissful ignorance, huh? Love isn't just blind, is it? It's blind and stupid."

"What are you talking about? I thought they were all dead."

"At least one got away. There have been some trails by your house. Nothing too fresh, but new since the battle."

Bella sways on her feet, lightheaded all of a sudden. Edward said nothing about this, nor did any of the other Cullens.

Acid drips from Leah's tongue, "Well, ask your precious bloodsucker the next time you see him. And try not to get yourself killed, okay? I'd hate for you to get murdered before you have a chance to commit suicide." And she is gone.

What the hell was that all about? Edward said that the Volturi destroyed the only newborn who survived the battle. He hadn't told her anything about fresh trails or a remaining threat. Could it be that he doesn't know? It seems unlikely. Even if no one had told him anything, he can read the minds of his entire family and the wolfpack. She sighs in frustration as she finishes chopping the vegetables. She will ask him about it tonight, and she already know what he is going to say. She is sure he has her best interest in mind, but it doesn't make her any less frustrated.