Disclaimer: I own nothing but the general plot and OCs

Back again lovelies! Can I just say it's crazy how supportive you all are! Thank you everyone!

So once more, a new character introduced. Not someone who's a main character, but someone who I think has massive potential as a character. I'm really looking forward to exploring them. Also, almost everyone's a hypocrite; we find things people do annoying when we sometimes do them. We say things to people we wouldnt want said to us. We point out other people's flaws and mistakes when we are exactly the same. This new relationship is basically set up based upon some much needed hypocrisy.

It's not got a lot of action in it, but then again I don't think I've written a chapter yet that has got a lot of that. Also the second half I wrote when I was getting very tired, and because I can't check for plot holes and lack of making sense when I'm tired, you'll notice how I 'cleverly' excused that away by making my characters create plans whilst tired themselves.

Further exploration of Jacob, my little ball of fluffy angst. He's at a pivotal stage of growing up in his life, so sometimes he's still gonna be a whiny teenage brat, and others he won't at this point.

My exams finish mid June, so there won't be another chapter until sometime after that.

No beta to check this stuff so excuse me for somehow creating such an angelic masterpiece despite that

Thats all for now: on with the show!

(Jake pov)

The sun sank low over Emily's house, as I sat on her front step flicking bits of dirt and pebbles across the ground in front of me. I determinedly kept my eyes lowered to the floor and avoided looking at the display of love and devotion occurring a few meters to my right.

It wasn't as though Jared and Kim were doing anything particularly overt, but conveyed by the subtle way their bodies constantly leaned toward each other, the small coy smiles to the large ecstatic grins, the softness of their expressions.

Above all it was the way they looked at each other; the awe in Jared's eyes, like he struggled to look away for any length of time, and the way Kim looked back, like she couldn't believe she was so lucky and had to keep checking it was real.

I didn't want to see any of it, and the mood I was in didn't encourage me to speak to the others in the pack, who were by the front of the house too, catching the the small amount of sun that had managed to overpower the clouds today.

When Jared had imprinted, the others had been shocked but happy for him. Heck, I was too. I hadn't been able to help but notice with some indignation, though, at the immediate importance Jared's Kim was given, in comparison to Bella.

It was a shitty reality that the love I felt was less... valid, in the eyes of the pack, because I hadn't officially imprinted. The cocktail of emotions I'd felt when confronted by that was something I tried to keep away from Jared and Kim, so as not to mar what they had.

A fist full of knuckles dug painfully into my scalp and jolted me unpleasantly out of my thoughts. I jerked away and scowled over my shoulder, as Leah stalked past me impatiently.

"Come on loser, we're going patrolling," she called to me, as she turned and began walking backward.

Her voice brooked no protest, clearly relaying Sam's orders, but I allowed myself a groan.

"Seriously?" She raised an indignant eyebrow at us all, "none of you got that reference?"

There was a blank pause, in which we simultaneously tried to understand what the hell she was talking about, and attempted to comprehend what seemed to be Leah in a semi decent mood for once.

She rolled her eyes at us and sneered, "figures."

"Get a move on you two," Sam's voice interrupted whatever she was about to say next, from inside the house. At the sound of him speaking, whatever imitation of humanity Leah was going for immediately collapsed, leaving behind a Leah we were all regrettably familiar with; scathing, caustic, acrimonious, abrasive, vitriolic, acerbic.

And of course my favourite; Bitch.

"Fine," she spat angrily. I wasn't even surprised anymore by the amount of dissatisfaction and contempt she managed to fit into one word.

She brushed past Embry, with a fierce scowl marring her face, "come on, move it," she snapped.

I rolled my eyes, and resisted the urge to respond. The other guys gave me sympathetic looks, but I wasn't fooled; they were glad it was me and not them.

Ever since Leah had phased into a wolf for the first time, she'd been a complete unapologetic nightmare. It was hell to run the perimeter of our territory with her. She was bitter, spiteful, rude, and delighted in making cutting comments on other people's thoughts.

When faced with frustration at her attitude, she was obvious in her vicious pleasure at burying everyone in her own angered resentment.

In response to sympathy, she replied with malicious remarks.

It was lose lose with her, and I had run out of the little patience I'd had to even try to get along. Even when I attempted neutral indifference, she insisted on making pointed jabs at my thoughts, until I wanted to wrap my teeth around her neck.

The only person she was even worse toward was Sam. But unlike me, Sam could do his best to avoid her, and make me deal with her instead.

So far, every time he should have been on patrol with either of us, he'd stuck us together with an excuse that he needed to do something else.

Of course, generally they were legitimate excuses, it just meant that I got a double dose of Leah that I could really do without.

Quickly removing my shorts and strapping them to my leg with the cord we all had, I phased and followed the path she had taken.

Immediately, I was aware of the connection between our minds, and was half distracted by the snarling mental voice that was Leah.

~You got a problem with running patrols with me, you can take it up with our barely benevolent dictator, asshole. I'm sure he'd give more of a crap about your whining than the zero that I give.~

I mentally scoffed, irritated but refusing to reply.

I would have spent a hell of lot more time complaining about it, except apparently it was my payment for Sam letting me do my thing around Bella and Charlie.

Ever since he had first forbidden me from using my wolf form to track Bella, he hadn't mentioned the topic again. Even when I refused to do patrols during the day, in order to help Charlie, he had merely nodded once and moved on.

It was unusual for him not to clamp down on those sort of demands with reminders of our priorities to the pack, and the fact that he was in charge, but for whatever reason, even when confronted with complaints and teasing remarks that my thoughts overwhelmingly focused on Bella, he said nothing.

It was an unstated agreement between us, that in return for Sam stepping back and not getting in the way of my dedication to finding Bella, I had to put up with Leah more than anyone else.

And apparently Leah had to put up with me. At least according to her thoughts, as she mentally glared at me and huffed disdainfully whilst we ran.

~Don't kid yourself, Jake~ she sneered, in response to my thoughts ~they're all just as eager to avoid you as they are me.~

I mentally rolled my eyes at her ~let's just get this patrol over with. Hopefully tomorrow we won't be stuck with each other again.~

~Fat chance of that~ she snorted to herself, not impressed with Sam's poorly hidden attempt at avoiding the exhausting place that was Leah's mind.

To be honest, one of the things I found the least dislikable about Leah was her continued irreverence in the face of Sam's 'alpha-ness'.

It wasn't that the man was a bad Alpha exactly, or even that he was unfair, it was just that he could be a hard ass about obedience.

It didn't seem to grate on anyone the way it did Leah and I. Leah railed against his leadership for obvious reasons, and so Sam generally gave her a bit of leeway for all the good it did him, but he always had a close eye on me and it often had me bristling.

We kept things pretty civil, due to the fact that we both tried our best to get along, but there was always an unspoken tension between us, as though one serious argument would break our brittle relationship apart.

So sometimes, it was nice to see someone not only willing but able to go off at Sam and vent at him, throwing all the things he did wrong in his face that I carefully didn't say.

Leah's 'dulcet' tones interrupted my thoughts-she was very good at that, ~you're good at lying to yourself, you know that Jake?~

~What are you talking about?~

~You know very well that you're just as able as I am to give Sam a piece of your goddam mind. You're just too much of a coward to rock the boat.~

~Oh what, compared to you who makes everyone miserable every time you open your mouth?~ I rebutted.

~That's not what I'm talking about and you know it, you idiot. You're more than happy to criticise and resent Sam in your head, and then act self pitying that nothing changes, whilst hiding behind someone like me who actually has the balls to say something about what I think.

~You tell yourself it's just because he would shut you down and not me, but first of all Sam's not as authoritarian as you like to pretend he is, and second of all even if he was you're in the unique position to do something about it. You're just too scared.~

~So you're a fan of Sam's now? Sticking up for him like he doesn't have the entire council doing that?~

~I'm not even going to give that pathetic taunt the ridicule it deserves.~ Leah scoffed.

~Whatever, why don't you just shut up and focus on the patrol,~ I snapped defensively.

For the next half an hour we flew through the trees, with Leah's thoughts an indistinct murmur in the background. I tried to lose myself in the blur of dappled greens and browns, in the rich scents of the forest, that for all my struggle with the lifestyle shifting had cost me, I adored as my second home.

There was nothing like racing in this powerful body, that took so long to tire, with the wind buffeting my face and ruffling through my fur. I could feel my muscles pumping and shifting underneath my skin, and the ground very lightly give way under my paws.

If it didn't come with so many drawbacks, I think I'd love being a werewolf.

But as it was there were more negatives to being this way than positives, and my mind was drawn back into what Leah had said, about acting self pitying about nothing changing when I could do something about it.

My lips pulled back slightly in remembered offence. She was wrong. There was nothing I could do. Even if I took on being Alpha like Leah seemed to think I should, all the problems that came with being a werewolf would stay.

School was a pointless mundanity now that I was a wolf, and leaving for college wasn't an option. There was nothing I could do about being a wolf in itself whilst leeches were hanging around, nothing I could do about the supernatural secrets I now knew about. Even the red head parasite alluded us despite our best efforts. There had been no inroads to finding Bella. My relationship with my dad was now and forevermore coloured by the lens of werewolves, duty and hierarchy.

This was it for me. For the rest of my life, it would be something like what I had now.

It was all a messed up situation that made me all the more hateful that this crap had happened to me, and there was nothing I could to do about it.

Stuck in the rez, no prospects, Bella missing, my relationship with my dad filled with unresolved tension, harassed by a red head parasite.

These facts seem to circle round and round my head despairingly.

It sucked.

Being paired with Leah was the sucky cherry on top.

I felt for her, and the loss she was going through with her Dad, and the familiar anger most of us felt at having our lives so shaken up and surrounded by secrecy, because of our transformation. I felt for her feelings of isolation at being the first and only female wolf.

But at the end of the day, I still had a limited amount of sympathy I could express, when she insisted on dealing with her problems by making everyone else feel like shit when they were around her.

Seth was the only one that got a free ride from her bitchiness. But that was because he was her little brother, and he was dealing with his own guilt and grief from their dad's death, which was making him struggle with maintaining his human form.

~Oh my God, Jacob, would you shut the hell up!? You're like a goddam little ball of self pity and angst! It's nauseating!~

~Yeah? And you're a huge ball of hypocrisy!~

~Ooh learning some big words there, Jake. Careful, don't give yourself an aneurism. Actually you know what, go ahead and have one, maybe it would give everyone a rest from the constant look-at-me-I'm-just-an-angsty-little-victim vibe you love to drown everyone in, as you somehow manage to find something wrong in every bit of your life. Heck you even resent Seth and I for shifting when we did because according to you Quil should have gone next.~

I growled at her loudly, but refused to reply in the hope that she'd leave me the hell alone. She was such a hypocrite, talking like people couldn't wait for me to leave, when more often than not everyone heaved a sigh of relief when she was out of the room.

No one was as sour and dislikable to be around as Leah. She marked slightly above bloodsuckers and my sisters, when it was 'code red' week for both of them at the same time.

Of course, I didn't have to reply in order to give Leah bitch fuel, when she could read my mind.

~Sour and dislikable? That's rich coming from you, 'Jake I-can't-think-about-anything-but-depressive-thoughts-about-some-dead-girl Black'.~

Even though she was goading me to cover up the increasing ire she'd felt in response to my thoughts, and I knew it, I couldn't help but be riled by her.

~She's not dead! She's missing! Bella's not just some girl and you know it Leah, she's mine! My imprint! So shut up about it.~

Not like Leah would know what it was like to have someone like that. After all, she and Sam couldn't have been that in love if they didn't turn out to be imprinted to each other. She couldn't understand.

The moment that flashed through my thoughts though, my stomach tightened in regret. Partially because I knew it was such a sore topic for her, and partially because of the way Leah was going to react.

One of the most annoying, if somewhat admirable, qualities about Leah was that harsh put downs and hurt feelings didn't make her back down like most other girls I'd met. Instead she fought back twice as viciously.

~Your imprint~ she mocked ~a girl who never showed you a second of attraction. It's sad how easily you lied to yourself that you ever had a chance with her. Look at the facts, asshole. You fell for the first pretty white face that smiled at you, and then followed after her like a panting dog, as she strung you along to get what she wanted out of you.

~She wasn't interested in you Jake. It's so obvious from your memories that you were just a distraction for her. She wanted someone blind to her faults, who wouldn't get fed up of the fact that she was broken, depressed and pining after the leech that she let fuck her before he got bored.

~You probably made her feel good about herself, so she kept you around. And you fell for it unquestioningly, like an idiot. You were so desperate to get your dick wet in sweet little Bella, that you've actually convinced yourself she's your imprint.

~It's sickening how deep in your own delusions you are, and apparently I'm the only one man enough in the pack to tell it to you straight. But trust me, Jake, they've all been thinking it.~

My previous regret curdled in my stomach, into hurt and anger. The only thing that stopped me from lashing out at her and making her shut up, was the pain that had shot through her, before her vitriolic words came spewing into my head.

That and the fact that underlying all of her anger and bitterness, was a deep endless pit of grief that she continuously suppressed and avoided.

At the end of the day, perhaps I was a coward, but I'd rather deal with the angry Leah I knew, than a crying mournful Leah who's thoughts and emotions I had direct access to.

She was wrong, though. She was so wrong. I knew she was. I loved Bella, and she was my imprint. Even if no one in the pack would believe me.

They were all wrong. And screw it, even if they weren't, Bella was one of my best goddam friends and there was no way I was ever going to give up on her until I'd found her.

It infuriated me that nothing I said or thought or felt seemed to convince them, it was just another area of my life in which I felt powerless and like no matter what I did nothing changed.

If I never found Bella, I wouldn't even have the one bright spot that Sam and now Jared got to have. I wouldn't be able to bring myself to have another girl when I knew Bella should be the one for me.

No family or kids. No future.

I was so focused on my internal musings, I almost missed the pang from Leah at my thoughts on Jared and Sam.

Curiously, and somewhat bitterly, I shifted my attention onto her.

Leah had been quiet about Jared imprinting too, and I'd wondered if it was for the similar reasons as I had maintained my distance.

I was taken aback at what I saw; Leah had noticed the cautious eye Sam kept on both Jared and Kim and their developing relationship, to ensure the what had happened to Emily didn't occur to Kim.

I felt Leah's wistful sorrow that she'd never have that.

I felt her blame toward the fact that she'd been destined to phase into a wolf, as being the reason why she'd been ineligible to be Sam's imprint when he had phased himself.

After all, the going theory was that imprints ensured strong offspring, and Leah was now infertile. If she couldn't carry children, there was therefore no reason for her to able to imprint at all.

I felt her deep grief for all the lost chances at love she now had. She'd have to sabotage any potential relationship with a secret she would never gain permission from the Alpha to share; not when there was no chance at children, and no chance at imprinting.

I felt her loathing at everything that being a wolf had taken from her, as she was now stuck watching everything she could never have, every day for the rest of her life, with no reprieve.

With a jolt, she snapped herself out of the melancholy spiral of thoughts and snarled at me defensively.

~Leah...~ I trailed off, not sure what to say about the vulnerability I had just witnessed.

~Shut up~ she bristled, but it was weak, and without much of her usual heat ~just shut up, Jake. I don't need poorly disguised pity. Especially not from someone as pathetic as you.~

I was silent for a moment, shaken and disquieted by what I had witnessed/felt. There was nothing I could say to that, that she would accept.

There was no apology that she deserved to have which was for me to give. At the end of the day, I wasn't sure I would apologise if I could. Leah may have been hurting for multiple valid reasons, but so were the rest of us, so was I, and unlike us Leah was spiteful and selfish in her suffering. Why would I apologise when I was hardly inclined to even forgive?

Eventually, I focussed back on our joint task of patrolling- what little time we had left.

She too retreated as much as was possible from my head, and kept to herself for the majority of the perimeter run.

It was the first time I'd had a proper reprieve from her since she'd phased weeks ago. I didn't dare hope to myself that it would be a little more like this going forward.

I was so tired all the time these days. If we could just take down the parasite, we could tone down the patrols so that I could catch up on some of the sleep I was aching for.

If Sue Clearwater wasn't staying with dad, and looking after him, I didn't know how I'd have time for everything even with the lack of sleep.

They were good for each other though, being two of Harry's closest people. At least for now, they could comfort each other in their grief.

It also gave me a good excuse to continue staying with Charlie; the one person in my life I could be reasonably relaxed around.

Even though there was always the secret of my shifting and the existence of vampires between us, Charlie had a way of lifting my burdens and responsibilities off me, at least for a time.

I was once more lost fairly deep in thought, when Paul and Embry shifted to let us know our patrol was over.

Leah grumbled wearily that the patrols were practically useless, when we all knew the leech only tested us every three or so days. Even though I knew it was an overconfident thing to say, I couldn't help but agree with her.

Despite the fact that we couldn't seem to pin it down, the bloodsucker was at least fairly easy to hold off. It never got near to where anyone lived, and it'd never even gone on the attack, even though it was obvious evasive manoeuvres weren't getting the leech whatever it was the thing was after.

We might as well on patrol every three days because the bloodsucker was like clockwork.

Nevertheless, I felt obliged to back Embry up when he cautioned Leah.

~Even though it's been predictable so far, we shouldn't underestimate it.~

~Us getting complacent might be exactly what the vampire is looking for,~ I added.

She huffed at us (me) in contempt, but didn't say anything further, as she approached her home and shifted back.

Just over a minute later, I was in the tree line by my own home. I could hear Sue sleeping inside, and my dad still awake watching TV.

Was it still home to me? I only really checked in once a day for as short a time as possible. And sometimes not even that, before I left for Forks.

Slipping my shorts on, I quietly walked inside and looked in on my dad. At the sound of the door shutting behind me, his head snapped up, his half lidded eyes taking me in.

"Hey Jake," he smiled tiredly.

I ducked my head awkwardly for a moment, "hey Dad."

When I looked back up at him, my eyes roving him to make sure he was still in good health, I saw he was doing the same to me.

His whole face was soft and fond, and for a moment it felt like when I was a kid again, and my Dad was this tall, warm presence with wisdom just waiting to pour from his mouth.

"Quil came by again," he uttered, and the moment was broken.

I looked off to the side, a bitter twist to my face, "yeah?"

He watched me with an implacable gaze for a few seconds, before he gently but firmly reminded me, "you know you can't tell him anything."

"I know," my voice was impatient and short. He didn't need to tell me. I was already painfully aware of how much I couldn't talk to Quil. I knew it was only temporary, but I hated being told what I could and couldn't say or do with my friends when it was because of this werewolf crap.

"I don't need to remind you that we support Sam when he says it's best not to see Quil if you can help it, until he phases. It's easier that way. No temptation to let something slip."

I hid my shaking fists behind my back and choked back the rage that was suddenly thick in my throat.

"I know."

Easier. It wasn't easier. Who were they kidding. It wasn't easier for Quil. It wasn't easier for me. It wasn't easier for Embry. It hadn't been easier for us when it was Embry who was suddenly not speaking to us, and I couldn't imagine how much not easier it was for Quil by himself.

He was probably miserable. Someone so upbeat like Quil should never have an expression like I'd seen on him the other day.

I didn't agree with keeping things hidden from those who were approaching their shift, and being distant with them, until they were freaking out because one second they were spitting mad and the next they were a huge wolf.

But as usual, what Sam said went. Apparently he didn't want to tell anyone new unless they were wolves (barring imprints), in order for guaranteed secrecy which was ensured by Alpha edict.

All of a sudden I felt exhausted, and yearning to just leave for Forks. For Charlie.

Unlike my dad, my sudden growth and physical ageing hadn't changed the way that Charlie treated me much. Perhaps if it was anyone else, still being treated like I was just a fairly mature 16 year old would rankle, but Charlie had such a dependable and solid air about him, that it was almost a relief that I could be more of a kid around him.

There was no unspoken knowledge of pack and wolves and history and expectations between us. It was just Jacob Black, whoever I wanted that to be, and Charlie Swan, working together to look for someone we both loved.

It was simple and honest in a way nothing else was in my life right now. Even before I shifted, there was always the burden of looking after Dad without help to shoulder.

I didn't resent him for being disabled of course. It wasn't easy though, constantly looking after him without support. Especially when he often refused to listen to what the doctors told him he should be eating, which left me to clean up the mess that his poor health resulted in.

There was none of that with Charlie. He didn't give me anything to do I couldn't handle, and he was there for me the moment I started to struggle. He saw me as young still, and anything I had difficulty with wasn't me shirking responsibility in his eyes.

It just... it was almost like having another parent. A friend who was a parent when I needed him to be.

"I'm really tired, Dad. I should go," I blurted.

He eyed me silently for a short while longer, before he nodded at me.

"Okay then, goodnight son."

Before I became a werewolf I would have approached him for gentle pat on the arm, or sat shoulder to shoulder with him for a bit watching TV together, and enjoying his presence.

The distance between us had never felt so large, and I a heavy weight settled in my chest that resembled something like grief.

"Goodnight."

I turned from him silently, my back and shoulders stiff with unnamed emotions. I kept my mind carefully blank, as I walked back amongst the trees and stripped.

I ignored the back and forth between Paul and Embry as I ran the now familiar route.

I barely took the time to appreciate the damp smells of dew soaked greenery, the cool air whistling in my ears, the comforting quiet of the forest. It wasn't long before I was once more facing the building that was increasingly my home.

I unzipped the small lower pocket on my shorts and produced the house key Charlie had given me not long after he'd invited me to stay in Bella's room, and approached the building.

Something wasn't right. The hair on the back of my neck prickled in warning.

I frowned and lifted my head, scenting the air. My whole body stiffened as alarms blared through my head deafeningly.

Vampire.

Not giving a thought to alerting the pack, I raced up to the front door, and quickly unlocked it, barely resisting the temptation to just barge through and knock it off it's hinges.

I desperately scented the air, scared that I would be confronted with the smell of Charlie's blood liberally coating the house.

Images of Charlie's body mangled and waiting just around the corner flickered in front of me. Images of a pale demon crouched over him and feasting from his veins.

My whole body trembled and shook with the aggression of the suppressed shift and the terror of finding I was too late.

I was hardly relieved to find the scent was hours old, and that I couldn't detect any blood- the visions scattering themselves through my mind refused to abate.

"Ch-Charlie?" The name scraped its way out of my throat painfully, and I listened in agony for the few seconds it took to hear a reply.

"Jake? That you, kid? You don't sound too good. You sick?"

I released a shaky breath that was half a sigh of relief and half sob.

"Oh thank God," I whispered to myself thickly. I took a few deep breaths to ground myself, and waited for the tremors to decrease.

"Jacob? You okay?" Charlie's concerned voice settled me further.

"Yeah. I'm just... it's been a long a day," I called back, as I walked into the kitchen to see Charlie sitting at the table in front of a laptop.

My nose tickled and burned slightly as the sickly sweet, crisp smell of vampire irritated my senses.

I wanted to know who the hell had been in this house, and why. Was it me? Did my presence here bring the bloodsucker to investigate?

Had I inadvertently put Charlie in danger? The idea that it had something to do with the Cullens nudged at me, but there was no way to know.

All I had was the fact that Charlie wasn't dead, and so it couldn't have been for feeding purposes.

Charlie cleared his throat, "sit down, kid. There's some frozen dinners on, and I got some news to share before they're done."

I paused, suddenly noticing a piece of paper he seemed intent on folding and unfolding, his fingers creasing corners restlessly.

I noticed that the stink of vampire emanated most strongly from the kitchen table, and the spare chair.

There was barely anything from the living room. Like the parasite had just casually entered through the front door, and sat down across from Charlie.

I swallowed against the sudden rush of adrenaline, and took a measured breath, before I sat in the same chair I suspected the leech did.

"So... What's the news?" I asked, gripping my hands together tightly to hide the small tremor. Maybe it was news on Bella, and nothing to do with the vampire.

I didn't know which I would rather hear about; if it was Bella I'd have no real idea of what the bloodsucker wanted. It would remain an unknown threat and thus more difficult to respond to.

Charlie blew out a tired breath and sat back in his seat, "I'll start from the beginning so I don't forget anything."

"Sure."

"The guys finished going through Bella's computer today."

I tensed for a moment, not having considered the possibility that there'd be any supernatural secrets on there before now.

"It turns out, this whole time, pretty much since the Cullens left, Bella's been sending emails to one of them."

"Wait, what?! She's been in contact with them this whole time?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. She's been emailing one of the girls called Alice. I don't know how much you know about the Cullens, but they were fairly close. Anyway, Alice deactivated her account at some point before Bella started emailing, but I guess because Bella didn't have her new one, she ... I don't know, used sending things to the deactivated account as a way to write a diary... or something. Either way, they all bounced back, but we've got a consistent record of what was going on on for her week to week and where her head was at.

"What became apparent pretty quickly to the guys was that even when Bella started feeling a bit better and hanging out down at the Rez, she still thought about Edward a lot. She still figured herself in love with him," Charlie's nose wrinkled in tandem with mine, and we shared a grimace.

"The upshot is that they think there's a chance she ran off to the Cullens. Maybe they texted or called or just showed up, and given the split choice, she left with them. They won't look for her as long as it's unclear whether she's missing or a runaway."

I dug my nails into the backs of my hands as I held them together firmly, preventing any violent motions I might otherwise be tempted to.

"And do you think she did? Run off to the Cullens that is, to be 'super romantically in love for ever and ever'," my stomach churned at the thought that she'd been given the option to be bitten by one of them and had left with them to take it and become a monster.

If that was the case, and any Cullen ever showed their face here again I'd give everything I had to destroy them.

"No. I don't think she did. But unfortunately I can't entirely rule it out. What about you?" Charlie asked quietly.

"No," I practically whispered, "I don't think so either." I couldn't bare the idea. I didn't even want to comprehend it.

"I'm afraid your word and my word don't make a difference to the case though. We need proof," Charlie's face was grim, and it took me a moment to realise why.

"You need to contact them?" He nodded wearily.

"Why didn't the guys contact the Cullens when they suspected she'd run off?"

"They did. Apparently, whatever new hospital phone number Doctor Cullen left the hospital put them through to a place that claimed he didn't work there. They think it was a new receptionist who'd never met him because he and his family have left already and moved again. It's a dead end from there."

Well that would make sense. If you were an immortal monster that needed to fly under the radar, starting fresh whilst leaving no links between the new life and the old one would be the easiest way to go about it.

The only questions were whether Charlie would fall for it, or find a way forward, and if he found a way forward would I help him or hinder him? Especially if it meant there being a chance of him finding out about vampires.

I didn't know. I frowned at my uncertainty, and realised it may be a decision I'd have to face soon.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I've already done something. I didn't want to take the idea that they'd moved again at face value, so I went to the hospital directly to double check the phone number, and see if they had any more information for me that might help. I got a number for the new hospital and an address.

"I've called the number for the hospital, and I got the same answer- that there is no Carlisle Cullen working there. I asked if they could tell me his new place of work and they checked and said in the last six months there have been no Carlisle Cullens working there as doctors.

"So I thought maybe they had the wrong number written down. Except I checked the address and it was fairly close by that same hospital. But it's a PO box. It's incredibly difficult to find out over the phone or the internet who owns a PO box if it's personal, from what I could tell. I tried anyway. I'm... not the best at research using phones and computers so it's been a heck of a learning curve today."

"And?" I held my breath nervously.

"I've been at it constantly, and found out just before you came in, that it's registered to a business. Thankfully it was a little easier to get my answers because of this."

"What company?" I asked, confused. What kind of company would blood sucking monsters own? Donating organs and blood?

"It's a law firm. That's all I got, for now. I'll look into it further another time. You've got to admit though Jake, it all looks... off."

I paused, wondering once more how far I was willing to support Charlie in this line of thought.

"Yeah it does. You definitely want to chase this up? What if it takes weeks? What if you're chasing after the wrong people this whole time?"

Charlie nodded, his lips were thin as he thought carefully, but he was less troubled than I thought he'd be at the idea, and I realised he'd already considered this.

"I think it's a chance I'm going to have to be willing to take. It might be a complete mistake. But I have to look into every chance I'll get that presents itself in finding Bella, and after almost a month of less than nothing, this is showing up as a huge pile of something's not right."

Charlie looked up at me, as he continued fiddling with the piece of paper in his hands.

"What do you think?"

What did I think? Would I get in Charlie's way to protect him from ever getting close to something as dangerous as a coven of vampires? Would I back him up?

I couldn't tell him the truth about the supernatural, but was there even a chance that going after them would reveal their secret, or would he just find them to discover if Bella was with them for sure?

What if she was? What if they'd turned her? What if she'd done all of this on purpose? Through such blind devotion to that parasite that had hurt her, that she'd been ignorant or uncaring of who she'd left behind?

What could I do if I even wanted to stop Charlie? Cut off his internet? Tell a law firm not to speak to a cop?

What the heck was a law firm even doing with a PO box the vampires were handing out?

"I'd like answers too, Charlie. If this is the way you think we'll get them, then I'll back you up."

Jesus, Sam was going to kill me if he found out that I was encouraging Charlie to find the Cullens.

Especially if it brought them back into town.

Hopefully it wouldn't. I mean, it wasn't like they cared about Bella anymore. If they ever did. Otherwise they never would have hurt her so badly.

Charlie cleared his throat, and my attention was brought back to him.

"There's another thing. When I got back today, a family friend of the Cullens was waiting for me."

I stiffened, my heart picking up as I contemplated this.

"Yeah? A family friend?"

Is that what they called each other? Family friends? Or were they cousins? Or maybe adopted? I couldn't remember, and when the information was freely available I hadn't been interested.

"Yeah, she was looking for Bella."

At that sentence I felt a cold rush in my veins.

"What."

"She hoped Bella would be able to tell her where the Cullens were. I didn't have much to tell her, but I gave her the number and address I had, and got her number on this piece of paper in return. We agreed to swap information, since they're the closest thing to family she has thanks to a recent tragedy."

I squashed down my immediate urge to jump up and do something. Take the bitch out. Rip her to pieces. Tell her to stay the hell away from Charlie. Delete the phone number from Charlie's mind.

"Really," I murmured through numb lips, distantly aware of my shaking body.

"That's right, I don't know how much Bella talked about the Cullens, so I don't know if she ever mentioned her, especially since it sounded like they only met the once. You ever hear of Viola?"

I shook my head almost mechanically. My hands were now hidden, gripping the seat of my chair, on the verge of snapping it, in order to cover up how badly I wanted to shift.

I knew I was furious, but it a was detached, distant thing.

"No? Huh, maybe you'd know her by description. I know Bella struggled to say their names after they left. Viola said she was probably related to the Cullens, and I can definitely see the resemblance. Pale skin, very... noticeable features. Very polite. She sounded a bit English I think. I don't know, I'm not good at accents. It was subtle. Jake? Hey, kid? You're looking a little flushed and tense. Are you okay?"

Little bits of wood splintered into my palms, and I could practically feel the wolf roiling underneath my skin, desperate to burst out.

"Peachy," I almost growled, "what color were her eyes?"

"Uh... if you insist. You do look a bit... not okay. Anyway, I don't know about her eyes, she kept sunglasses on, but that wasn't really what stood out. She had hair like I'd never seen it before. A bright, fire red, big and curly. You'd definitely know if you'd met her before just from that."

NO! No, no, no. That thing had not waltzed into my goddam home, like a smug piece of shit, and sat down across from Charlie, knowing I'd smell it and asked after Bella!

This couldn't be interpreted as anything but a threat from that disgusting monster. It knew a vulnerability of mine and it wanted me to know it.

This was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to prevent by taking patrols. How had it gotten past us? I'd thought we were playing it safe, but we were underestimating her this whole time.

No. I couldn't believe it'd sat in this chair, more than capable of slaughtering Charlie at any given moment on a whim, while I screwed around on Sam's useless patrols, and the pack laughed it off as an inconvenient irritant.

How dare it! How dare that repulsive bitch enter my home, and threaten my family, and leave again like there was no danger!

I'd track it down and tear it apart. Then I'd burn it piece by piece, leaving the head till last so it could watch itself go up in flames and do nothing!

"Jake! Jesus, Jacob! Calm down! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Don't contact her," I snarled viciously, only peripherally aware that I was stalking back and forth across the room, splinters digging into my clenched fists and drawing forth little spots of trickling blood, the chair broken on its back half way across the room.

"What? Why? Jacob! Calm. Down. Tell me what's going on. Right now," he demanded, standing up, and raising his palms.

I couldn't though. I couldn't calm down with its sickly scent taunting me, and making my thoughts spiral.

I took a deep, shuddering breath, to match my shivering, shuddering muscles and spoke in a raw bass through gritted teeth.

"We've met her. She's... not good."

"We? You mean down at the Rez?"

I nodded tersely, still pacing and shaking.

"What do you mean no good? What's she even doing down there in the first place?"

Unable to formulate an acceptable lie and then articulate it, I merely released a furious jagged sound from my throat, that barely passed for human.

"Okay, okay. So clearly she's done something to make you mad. Is she... I don't know, racist?"

Good enough. I nodded once. Sure why not. Racist against humans and werewolves and more than willing to kill them.

"What's she still doing hanging around the Rez then, if she's like that? Does Sam Uley know she's around and what she's like?"

Right. Sam projected himself as some sort of mentor figure/go between for the older and younger generations, to members outside of the community.

Well, technically he knew what she was like and that she was around. I didn't have the words to explain trying to run out someone as slippery, deceptive and wily as she was, in non supernatural terms.

"And he's not chased her out? I assume it's people closer to your age that she's bothering, seeing as the idea of her makes you so mad. The older folks would probably just call the station on her, and the younger ones would have concerned parents to do the same. That right?"

It was easier to let Charlie come up with an acceptable story that he'd believe than attempt to come up with one myself. All I knew was that Charlie could not think she was an acceptable person to be in contact with.

He was my lifeline in this new screwed up life I had, and it had become apparent to me the moment I thought he might be dead, that I needed him a hell of a lot more than I thought I did.

If she took him from me...

"Jake, you seriously need to calm down. What in the world is going on with you?"

Charlie eyed me suspiciously, and seemed to come to some conclusions. He shifted and cleared his throat, before locking stern eyes with me.

"Look, Jacob, I didn't really want to approach this right now, given how helpful you've been with the search for Bella, and how stressful everything over the past few weeks have been but... well, you obviously don't like Viola, and consider her dangerous. Sam, despite this, hasn't done anything about her, and although I want to think the best of people and I've never really seen anything to implicate... aw heck. I've heard some things about the fact that Sam inducts boys around a certain age into some sort of group and then all of a sudden they're shooting up and filling out like crazy.

Is it drugs? Is Sam pushing steroids on you guys and other drugs? Is Victoria the supplier? You can tell me if that's the case, kid. Even if he's using you kids to sell them amongst your peers and in school, I can still help you. Please, just tell me what you've been taking and how often. If you're on a serious come down, or an overdose, I need to know so I can get you medical help.

Damn it, there's probably so many better ways that I could've approached this, but I need to know now Jacob, what sort of help you need. I don't want to deal with you throwing up on yourself and passing out. Or any other number of symptoms. Not without proper medical help."

I stood, frozen and bug eyed at Charlie. Drugs? Steroids?

To be honest it wasn't the first time people had come to that conclusion. And yet somehow it still sounded completely bizarre coming out of Charlie's mouth.

The idea that Sam the hard ass Alpha werewolf and Viola the evil psycho bitch vampire, would act shady by the beach, whilst swapping some steroids and pills for cash like some sort of common drug dealer on the street.

I suddenly had the ridiculous image of Sam, his eyes flicking from side to side in paranoia, shuffling closer to the slouching bloodsucker, wearing a baggy top, hoodie, loose sweatpants, trainers and a baseball cap swaggering up to Sam, like a cliche, and saying in a bad English accent, "want some roids, man?"

And strangely, the sheer stupidity and absurdity of that vivid scene in my mind, was enough to break through the rage that had been clouding me.

I couldn't help it, I doubled over and burst out laughing.

Even well after I should have been able to pick myself up and stop howling with laughter, I was almost on my hands and knees with tears in my eyes and flushed cheeks.

It was exactly what I needed to offload all the built up stress, worries and disappointments of the day.

God, Charlie killed me sometimes. Viola, the racist vampire drug dealer.

Eventually, I was able to pick myself up and hold back most of my almost hysterical laughter, with only a few bubbles escaping.

I made eye contact with a Charlie's dry face, and almost cracked all over again.

"I'm assuming that's a no on the steroids then."

Goddamit. What came out of my mouth were more cackles than anything else. Every time I almost collected myself, I'd make eye contact with an increasingly amused Charlie and start laughing again.

Eventually Charlie gave an exasperated huff, and approached me.

"Alright, that's it. Out. Go and get some fresh air, and come back when you've found your sanity."

He began to lead me by a hand to the back as fresh peals of laughter left me.

"Out. Out. Out. Go for a walk. Don't go too far, and come back when you can keep a straight face. Or better yet, text me the information you want to give me about all this, since apparently you can't look at my face and even think about it without laughing."

Charlie's voice was grudgingly fond, as he shoved me out the front door. Still chuckling to myself, I walked far enough away from the house to be out of earshot, before finally taking a deep breath and cooling down.

Reaching into my zipped pocket I fished out the only other item I kept in there, I dialled Sam. Eventually it reached answer machine, and so I groaned and called the only other pack member who I knew would be by their phone no matter the time of day.

"What!" Leah's irritated, sleepy voice blared out of the phone, making me wince.

"Hey, it's Jake."

"I know, asshole. What do you want."

"The red headed bloodsucker came to Charlie's house today, and spoke to him."

"What?! When, why? Is he still alive! Hold there I'm coming over to kill it."

"Leah! It's gone. It was hours ago. The thing could be miles and miles away by now. Look, it came here looking for Bella. It claimed to know the Cullens, but I doubt it was all that friendly with them, considering it's diet and what it's been doing for weeks. Charlie's fine. But he's clearly exposed. We need someone watching the house straight away. I can watch out for him when I'm here during the day, but at night I'm going to be letting my guard down, and I can't be here all the time."

"Yeah, I got it. Why don't you just shift and let the others know."

"Because I'll get caught up in some sort of pack debate, and then Sam will be there coming to his final decision that I'll have to follow, and it'll probably be along the lines of 'don't interact with Charlie directly anymore' or some crap. Also the leech left Charlie it's phone number to help with the search.

"I need to tell him something that's going to make him not want to talk to it ever again, before Sam can dictate what that something is. It's easier to ignore Sam as a human, I just have to plug my ears, or in this case cover the speaker on the phone. Can't do that as a wolf," I semi-bluffed, leaving out mentions of supporting Charlie's search for the Cullens.

"Sneaky," she complemented, "Alright, what have you got to work with so far in terms of back story the parasite gave?"

"It said it was a family friend, I think. And a distant relative. Apparently it met Bella once, and is looking for the Cullens. It thinks Bella could help with the search. The thing is, Charlie wants to know where the Cullens have gone too, to make sure Bella's not with them, so he wants to keep updated with it."

There was a short silence on the end of the phone, "are you sure she's not actually with them?"

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the psycho leech," I snapped.

"Fine," she huffed, "make it about relationships or something. Sounds to me like Bella Swan had terrible taste in romance and potential partners, as well as terrible luck in them. I don't think it would be too hard to believe if we add creepy stalky jilted lover in there somewhere."

I ignored the spike of heated irritation in my chest that came with Leah's assessment of Bella.

"I don't know. He already knows the bloodsucker's been making enough trouble down in the Rez amongst us, for me to hate it. Why would it be down there in this story?"

"What sort of trouble?"

"Charlie thinks the thing is a total bigot."

Leah barked with a short harsh laugh, "that's almost too good. Alright, did it claim to know Bella was missing already? Or not?"

"Uh... no it didn't. Well, it said it didn't. I don't think the tick was lying about that."

"Well, whether it was or wasn't doesn't matter as much right now. We're just coming up with something believable. Say that the bloodsucker wants Bella's ex-leech, and when it saw them together the first time, it got creepy obsessed."

"You want me to make out like it's Edward Cullen's psycho stalker? I think Charlie might like the leech better if he thinks it'll do something messed up like cut bits of Edward up and carry them with it as keepsakes."

Leah sighed at me like I was slow, "no you idiot. Make the leech Bella's stalker. Just say that it was hanging out at the Rez, making trouble since it's a bigot and rude, which was getting in the way of it's actual goal- being to find out where Bella lived. The bloodsucker had seen her with you, and knew you were a part of Sam's gang. Hence the continued harassment."

"Wait, I'm confused. You want me to claim this leech has some sort of big lesbian crush on Bella, and is doing a bad but psycho attempt at stalking her because of it?"

"You asshole, you have seen that film!"

"Leah, I literally have no idea what you're talking about. Can we stay on topic?" I snapped.

"Ugh, fine. But I'm onto you. And no, you've got it wrong. So the parasite has a massively weird, inappropriate crush on Elwood, or whatever (because wasn't he pretending to be underage?). Anyway, it met Bella once, while Edward and she were all lovey dovey and was really envious, to the point that not only does the leech want what Bella has, it wants to be Bella. So it leaves pretty quick to go home, but doesn't know where Bella lives, since the parasite did give off creepy vibes and everyone was reluctant to tell it too much.

It comes back months later, looking for the Cullens, and Bella, and finds the Cullens gone. So, the leech wants to find Bella. You don't know why, or what it intends to do, but it's sort of obsessed. The bloodsucker sees you two together, and a few weeks later starts harassing you and the group, by which point Bella is already missing. There. You're welcome."

I hesitated. Would that work? "I don't know, Leah. That seems a little complicated. And unbelievable."

"What, as opposed to sparkling immortal blood drinkers?" She sneered, annoyed, "look, I just gave you an story that won't allow Sam an excuse to keep you away from Charlie, and means that while the parasite hasn't done anything illegal to make Charlie chase it, and it isn't a suspect in Bella going missing, it's creepy enough to be a liability for Charlie, given his priorities. Since someone like that wouldn't be interested in truly helping him, when they had their own agenda going."

"I guess," I replied slowly. I was too tired to think it through properly, and judge whether it was something I could actually use, or riddled with holes. Either way, it had given me something solid to start with, "thanks Leah. I'll have said something to Charlie before I see Sam tomorrow. In the mean time could you have someone sent over to see if they can follow the scent from the house, and see where the bloodsucker came from and where it left to? We need to know how it got passed us. I'd do it myself, but I'm so tired I might miss something important."

"Sure thing, asshole. I'll go round to Sam's now and wake him up, or else take way too much joy in awkwardly interrupting his sex life."

I turned a little green at the images that bombarded my sleepy brain, and wheezed out, "thanks for that, Leah."

"Whatever. Don't interrupt my sleep again, unless it's an emergency."

"And this wasn't?" I asked in disbelief. She merely scoffed down the end of the phone and hung up.

I wearily sighed, and rubbed my eyes. Hopefully Charlie was unconscious already, so I had time to sleep on what was probably going to be a completely terrible idea of a story, before I had to tell it to him- and somehow tell it convincingly.

When this fell apart around my ears, I was definitely pointing the blame at Leah.

Trudging back to the house, and making my way through the living room, I could see Charlie passed out on the sofa.

Something smelt weird. Sniffing a few more times, my eyebrows shot upward in horror, as I raced to the kitchen.

"Charlie!" I yelled. He bolted upright, looking at me in alarm.

"What?!"

I yanked the oven door open, and smoke came pouring out. Only just remembering to grab oven gloves, I yanked the ready made dinners out, and looked at the melted, smoking, plastic food mess that was stuck to the tray.

Hurrying outside, I placed it quickly on the wet ground, and ran back inside, grabbing a jug of water to pour on to it. Finally, I opened all of the downstairs windows, in order to air the place out, and turned, unimpressed, to Charlie.

"Oops?" He offered, "I have no idea what I did wrong with it."

"Well, I'm no chef, but from what I can tell, having looked at that plastic soup in the tray; that was supposed to go in the microwave, not the oven. Also you need to remove the cardboard first. Also you fell asleep. I'd guess that was what went wrong."

Charlie scratched the back of his head in sheepish thoughtfulness, "that makes sense."

He frowned suddenly, guiltily, "there's probably a lot of smoke upstairs, right?"

"Yes, it probably reeks up there." I got a bad feeling.

"Oh. I think I left your door open," he admitted, and then yawned, "Well, goodnight kid. I'll see you tomorrow. Be ready with a good explanation about our previous conversation, since I let you off tonight."

He turned and sleepily made his way up the stairs, as I stared after in disbelieving outrage.

Bueno! All done!

So do you think Leah and Jake's plan will work? If not, what will go wrong?

How do you think Leah's and Jake's relationship will progress? What about Jake and Billy?

What do you think Charlie will find as he chases after leads on the Cullens?

I know Charlie's google-fu abilities are probably a little unrealistic given his character, but suspend disbelief x (also sorry for the completely random, out of place mean girls references. I couldn't help myself)