~HermionePOV~
I had just taken my wand from its holster, and pointed it at Tanya, when that ear-splitting cackle emitted from her lips.
"A STICK?!" She yelled, while howling on the ground. "What do you think a stick is going to do to me, sweetie?" She continued to bellow with laughter, raising my irritation to new levels. She picked herself up from the floor and turned to my family to say, "You associate with vampires this dim-witted?!" My eyes narrowed and my grip tightened ever-so-slightly.
"I wouldn't, if I were you." Edward was leaning against my door-frame, giving Tanya an amused look. To me, it clearly stated that she was just asking for it; but maybe that's what I wanted to think because I wanted to rip her apart.
Tanya forced a laugh, which was not any better than her cackle. "Why not, dear Edward? This newbie is pointing a stick at me!" She threw her hand out and pointed at me; as if anyone needed help figuring out what she meant. I felt my eyes disappear into my skull and flicked my wrist. Her brows furrowed mockingly and her lips pulled up on one side. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
I sighed in relief, "That's much better," I said. "Your voice makes my immortal ears bleed, which should not be possible." Her expression morphed from mocking, to confused, to livid. She was opening her mouth wide, the way you do when you yell, and all we could hear was sweet silence. Her rage grew. She went to run at me. I fake yawned, using my left hand to aestheticly pat my mouth while looking to the side, and flicked my wand again. She went stiff as a board, thanks to my new favorite spell.
After her body fell with a thud I walked over to her and crouched down. I poked her chest with my wand and said, "Dear me, whatever will we do with you? Your manners are atrocious." Her eyes were wide and screaming.
"Hermione," Esme looked at me disappointedly. "You should know that she is a very good friend of ours and we would like it to stay that way." I knew she wanted me to let Tanya go, she didn't even have to say it. I glanced at the spectators and, while my eyes were still on my family, flicked my wand to undo the spells. Tanya was up and hiding behind Carlisle in a nanosecond, peeking around his shoulder at me like I was the devil incarnate.
I slowly stood up, and walked towards the pair with deliberation. My eyes never wavered from Tanya's and I could hear her voice screaming in her head, 'STAY AWAY FROM ME!' I stood in front of Carlisle, raised my brow, and smirked. "For future reference, it's better to be on my good side." I apparated to my favorite tree in the woods, for dramatic effect, and sighed.
~TanyaPOV~
There was a *POP* and suddenly the psychotic chick with wild hair was gone. I've seen vampire speed, but I've never seen anything like that. I hesitated to leave Carlisle's side- if she can leave that fast she can be back that fast.
"Okay, what the actual fuck?!" Panicking, I turned to the Cullens. "Who is that crazy lady and why was she in your house?!"
"Hey!" Boomed Emmett, "She's not crazy, she's…." he stopped, clearly trying to defend her but unable to find a way to do so. "She's enthusiastic."
"Yeah, enthusiastically crazy." I snapped.
"You know what, Tanya, no one wants to hear it. We like her. She's our sister." Alice was so annoying sometimes. "This is her bedroom and she was sharing some pretty interesting information with us. You didn't have to come in here laughing at her. Speaking of, why are you even here?"
"I was just getting out of the house for a moment and thought I'd come say hi to our extended family. I didn't realize you were going to have a freak here." I spat at her.
"Tanya, Alice already told you that no one wants to hear it. If you're only going to insult our sister and you don't have a pressing matter, maybe you should leave." Edward held the door open and gestured out.
"Fine, maybe I will leave. I'm not interested in sticking around to have another run-in with your new sister anyways."
"Bye!" Emmett waved and smiled. I sent him a nasty look before speeding off. What a waste of time.
~HPOV~
"What a bitch," I grumbled to myself. I threw a punch into the boulder next to me, and listened as it cracked before I threw another. It felt so good, I didn't stop until the boulder was nothing but gravel.
"Well, somebody's panties are bunched up." Startled, I twirled around to face Jacob. "That poor rock. What did it do to you?" He leaned against my tree and I sent him a glare before promptly turning around to walk away. I tried to ignore him, but this proved difficult as he jogged to catch up and fell into step with me. It seemed effortless for him; he took one step to every two of mine.
"So, Hermione, you didn't tell me why you bullied that defenseless boulder." I huffed and crossed my arms. I wasn't going to give in to him. "Oh, come on. Not even a, 'Hello?' You're pretty serious about this- whatever this is- if you're going to pound a harmless rock into dust and not even say, 'Hi.'" Damn, this guy does not take hints. I sent him a sidelong glance and kept my stride.
We walked through the woods for what felt like an eternity to me. I figured he would have left by now, but he just kept following me. He's persistent, I'll give him that. We reached the Pacific Ocean and I sighed… "What do you want, Jacob?"
"She speaks!" He enthused, throwing his hands into the air. I rolled my eyes and attempted to hide my smile, but I failed. "Hey, I saw that!"
"You saw nothing." I insisted. "It was a trick of the light."
"'Trick of the light,' my ass." Teasingly, he bumped my shoulder.
"Fine. You caught me. I smiled. What now, wolf-boy?" My brows raised. "You never answered my question."
"Likewise, stick-waver." His brow raised in challenge. "Why were you upset earlier?"
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Tanya. I realized that I had probably over reacted to her, yet I was still fuming. Needing to let my frustrations out again, I grabbed the nearest log with one hand and heaved it out into the ocean with a guttural scream. "That fucking dumb bitch!" Jacob sent me a quizzical look, but let me scream. "Who does she think she is? Questioning me?! The smartest witch of my age! To suggest that I am wrong about something I am most certainly right about is entirely laughable! She doesn't even know me, and she thinks she can laugh at me? I cannot believe that bimbo! UGH!" I found another log and started to pummel it, causing splinters to fly in every direction and Jacob to cover his face.
It wasn't enough. The physical exertion felt wonderful but I needed more. I pulled my wand out and started aiming spells at a new log. It burst into a beautiful blue flame, before it cracked in half, and finally exploded. A shower of burning wood chips fell around us, singeing anything they landed on. One fell on Jacob's arm and I momentarily worried that he might be upset with me, but he just brushed it off and took a deep breath.
"Hermione, I don't know who she is, but does she really deserve this much power over you?" I scowled at him but stayed quiet. "I don't know much about you, other than the obvious." He started to make a list, ticking them off with his long, meaty fingers. "You're a witch, you're a wolf, and you're a vampire. No one else in the world can say the same." He grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "You're sarcastic, you're intelligent, and sometimes you let things bother you that shouldn't." He sent me a pointed look, and I grumbled under my breath. "And, of course, you're completely gorgeous." If I could blush, I would be.
"Thanks, Jacob." I mumbled.
"I mean it, Hermione. You're one of a kind and you should be more confident in that." He still hadn't let me go, and I was starting to feel like he wasn't going to. My eyes shifted and I shuffled my feet. I knew I could get out of this at any moment, it would be easy. I think Jacob knew it, too, because he put his finger under my chin while resting his thumb under my bottom lip to gently pull my face up and look into my eyes. He was smirking. His eyes had a sparkle that I got lost in.
He was leaning into me, when we heard a howl in the distance. Our eyes snapped to the trees; we saw Seth's wolf standing, looking at us. I pulled myself away from Jacob, and I could feel his disappointment. I wasn't disappointed… I wasn't sure if I was ready for that.
"You should probably go," I said, looking at my feet. "They might need you."
"Yeah…." He slowly walked towards Seth, looking back at me a couple of times. "Hey, Hermione?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't let that one person ruin your whole day." With that, he turned and ran to Seth. I watched them slip into the trees and felt conflicted. I was happy to be alone, but sad that Jacob left. I did tell him to go though… so it's sort of my fault.
~JacobPOV~
Once I reached Seth, I quickly ducked behind the trees and shifted. Seth started bombarding my mind with questions. 'What were you doing?' Was the first. 'Don't you realize that she's dangerous?'
I growled at him. 'She's really not.'
'Uhh… yeah she is. She's more dangerous than any of us and any of the Cullen's combined.' He sent me images of my stiff body on my bed after my first run-in with her. 'Remember that?'
'So what, Seth? We've been inside her head a few times since then and it's safe to say that she's not a mean person… normally.' I sent him images from Hermione's thoughts and memories. Her smile… her laugh. The way she was quick to help her new family all the time.
'Dude, are you falling for her? Because that's what it seems like.'
'Fuck off, Seth. I'm just intrigued by her.' Right? I was just interested in her unique situation…? Even I knew that was bogus. I had almost kissed her for crying out loud!
'See! I knew it!' He and I approached the Quileute res, still bickering about my supposed feelings for Hermione. We shifted and changed into our shorts, still going back and forth.
"Seth, let's talk about this later. I need to go home and see what I can do for my dad." Heading off towards my house, Seth called out to me.
"Sam wanted to have a meeting with everyone, so make it quick."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fast." I jogged the rest of the way to my house and called out when I got inside. "Hey, dad? You home?" No response; he must be at Charlie's.
I rummaged through the kitchen, hungry as ever. Five hot dogs and a bag of chips later, I went to find the pack. They were easy to locate, gathered around the fire pit.
"Jacob. Thanks for joining us." Sam was standing while the rest of the pack sat. I went to take a seat near Seth, but Sam pointed me towards the seat next to him. Following the alphas order, I sat beside him.
"Alright guys, now we can get started. I wanted to address the anomaly that calls herself, 'Hermione.'" I was tempted to roll my eyes, but I refrained. "She is clearly dangerous… but only if provoked. From what we have gathered over the last few months, she is actually a very kind… girl. At this point, we do not know what to call her. She can shift into a wolf, like us yet she is clearly a vampire like the Cullens. And then there is the other side of her… the side that can do impossible things. She could very easily be an enemy…."
I jumped from my seat, gearing up to protest, when Sam held his hand up and continued. "An enemy that we do not want. Everyone will do their absolute best to gain her trust. We need a powerful being such as herself on our side, not against us." There were a few grumbles from the group, but most seemed to be from Leah. "You do not have to be her best friend and braid hair while chatting about boy drama, Leah, but you do need to be civil… at the very least."
Leah's face looked like she was sucking on a lemon, but she kept quiet and Sam continued. "Basically, be nice. You may go now." Relief washed over me. He didn't want us to kill her, he wanted to have her as an ally. Thank goodness, the prospect of talking to her again made me almost giddy.
~HermionePOV~
I stayed on the beach until a silver-cat patronus danced around me, saying, "Come home Hermione," in Alice's voice. "There's a visitor here for you." Puzzled, I apparated to my bedroom. Best find out who's here.
I stepped into my closet to change into something cleaner before I headed downstairs. I listened to the chatter in the kitchen, and bewilderment colored my features. I did not recognize the voice.