It's in Our Blood

“Ready to give up yet?” Nyx cocked her head to the side, hands on her hips as she towered over the guys’ hunched forms on the ground. Nyx beamed at them writhing in pain, “Don’t be losers, get up! Let’s go!” She cried happily, punching her fist in the air.

Quil shifted back, clutching onto his stomach, “God you suck.”

“I guess we suck even more then.” muttered Mark, wiping the dirt off his mouth when he was planted into the ground.

Nyx shrugged, “So we’re not going to fight anymore?” She pursed her lips together.

“And embarrass ourselves more?” spoke Embry, now in his human form, “No way.”

“If I may,” Carlisle stepped in, “I would like to see you and Kari fight.”

Nyx and I fight?

I blinked my eyes a couple of times, processing Carlisle’s words. I glanced at Nyx, trying to receive some kind of non verbal instruction. I waited. She gave me none. Instead, her gaze darted between Carlisle, me and everyone else.

“Seriously?” she asked.

Carlisle nodded, “I would like to see how you two react to each other.”

Nyx paused to think for a couple of seconds.

“I’m down with that if you are” she told me.

I gave her a shrug. I tried my best to give an inconspicuous glance at Jacob, but he stood still and was as impassive as ever.

Nyx tied up her hair, “Come on then, let’s do this.”

I tied up my hair as well and got to the center of the clearing.

“Go” called out Bison.

And that was all that was needed for Nyx and I to slam our fists together.

A sickening crunch was heard from the blow but it was nothing more than cracking our knuckles. We both flew backwards from the impact before quickly landing and changing our direction. I lunged at Nyx; she spun out of the way and aimed an upper kick at my head. I ducked and jumped out of the way right as the lower leg kicked. I was lucky that I had seen this tactic enough times to avoid it; otherwise I would be in excruciating pain.

You see with that move the upper kick was a disguise for the lower kick. It had to be timed so perfectly in order to be executed. I flipped my body over, sweeping my legs in the air to contact with Nyx. However my foot barely grazed Nyx’s stomach. She caught my right leg and flipped me in a circular direction causing me to spin horizontally in the air.

Nyx let me fall to the ground while still maintaining her tight grip around my ankle. I managed to twist my body into a push up position and by using my flexibility to my advantage, I flung my left leg upwards, contacting with her lower jaw.

Nyx staggered backwards slightly, rubbing her chin. She gave me a small smirk as I got up from the ground. She suddenly appeared right behind me, her back facing against mine and interlocked our arms. She hoisted me up on her back and flipped me over onto the ground. Her leg caught the arch of my back, throwing me up into the sky. I concentrated my energy to flipping my body around so my front would be facing the ground.

Within seconds, I saw Nyx right up at my face. Her fist was balled up. I barely caught her wrist and shoved her down. I propelled my legs upwards using Nyx’s shoulders and flipped around to kick her side. Her body was flown into the ground, only just catching herself in the last couple milliseconds.

She jumped back up as I began to fall and kicked me. I maneuvered my body, avoiding the blow. Then this began a bunch of aerial movements. She would kick, I would dodge, I would hit her, and she would hit me. It was a long, ongoing process. Every hit we did allowed us to propel each other up in the air, preventing our fall for the most part.

I punched her, aiming for her head. It missed her and she retaliated with a punch at me. My hand caught her fist, pushing her back without realized her other hand was outstretched. My face was hit and I found myself falling headfirst at a faster pace.

I fell on all fours, ducking and rolling when I saw Nyx land where I landed. The ground dented beneath her feet, creating a small one foot hole. I let in a sharp inhale, rolling over once again when Nyx shot at me. I used my arms to maneuver me, spinning my body and hitting Nyx’s side. She turned over and skidded backwards on the ground.

I took this time to stand up and lunge at her. I used my arms to contact her stomach, the momentum to push her farther back causing Nyx’s back to hit the sturdy tree trunk behind. I jumped away from her form, breathing hard. Nyx groaned at the impact, turned over her body and grudgingly got up. She cracked her knuckles, her neck and her back as she did so, popping her joints back and relaxing her muscles.

“You totally stole that move” said Nyx.

I shrugged, grinning. Nyx smiled back before rushing at me in an incredible speed. I moved to the side as quickly as I got but Nyx’s body twisted at the last second, her leg catching my backside, making me fly into the same tree she hit. I barely had the time to move my arms in front of my face to brace the impact.

I felt the tree snap and topple over me. I hunched my body over, my legs bent and pressed up to my chest. I landed on the ground painfully. Dust scattered all around my face. I was forced to cough it out. I reluctantly opened my eyes. It was almost like a beaver den around me with all the branches, twigs, leaves and splinters around.

I stretched my legs out and kicked upwards, pushing off the thicker tree trunk from my chest. My side hurt like a bitch. My fingers graze the area, luckily to only find it was bruised and all my bones and muscles were fine otherwise. I continued to push the branches off of me, dust gathering around forcing me to cough at times.

After what seemed to be hours, I finally got out. Nyx stood in front of me, a smirk plastered all over her face.

“I won!” She happily declared, throwing her hands in the air.

I scoffed, “Yeah, yeah.” I patted the dust off of my clothes.

“Wow” I heard Mark whisper before shouting out, “That was awesome!”

I gave him a small grin, “Would be more awesome if I won and wasn’t shoved into a thick arse tree” I commented.

“Can’t never defeat me!” shouted Nyx victoriously, striking the superman pose.

“Oh really?” challenged Van, “Wanna go?”

Nyx smirked, “I would but I already beat you.”

Then began a playful, almost flirtatious argument between the two. I almost didn’t realize the proximity I was in with Jacob. I did not realize he was moving closer towards me. I probably never would have if I did not feel the heat just radiating off of him and onto my skin, making it crawl.

“Come with me” he whispered into my ear. I felt my entire being stiffen, “I need to talk to you.”

I gulped nervously, “ Um.. I think we’re going to be starting something now.”

Even though I would like nothing more than to be with Jacob, which I’m not afraid to admit now, in this particular situation I know nothing would good would come out of it. The relationship between us was too fragile. Any more setbacks, problems that happen to us will cause us to either fall out or break in ways that could and would be disastrous.

“C’mon, let’s go. We’ll head somewhere else.” He persisted.

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea right now” I mumbled back for only him to hear under the loud bickering voices of Nyx and Van.

“Alright!” called out Bison, “I think we have a pretty good idea of how we all work now.”

“Actually I have a preposition,” interrupted Carlisle, “I was thinking if we could all go off in pairs or trios and get to know each other better by talking or even being in combat.”

Bison nodded in agreement after receiving a nod from Sam. Oddly enough, Sam and Bison seemed to get along on quite an unbelievable level between vampire and werewolves. There was still that “I-hate-you” feeling but somewhere hidden between the lines there was also that “You’re-good-so-I-will-become-your-ally”.

“I call Nyx”

Two voices spoke up at the exact same time. An odd tension passed through everyone, especially for Bella as Edward was one of the two who talked. The other was Van. It was curious to see why either one of them chose her. Edward because he seemed to hate her, Van because he seems laid back and wouldn’t care what happened. Van seemed to ooze power however you could tell it was unintentional and it wasn’t overbearing.

“Are you fine with that?” Bison asked Nyx in a fatherly tone.

Nyx nodded her head hesitantly, unwilling to advert her gaze from the vast empty distance before her. I could feel looming sparks between the three of them that it could be dangerous.

“C’mon” Jacob murmured once again and pulled me hastily away before I could protest into the woods.

“Hey wait!” I cried. He was literally dragging me away from the group, “None of them know-”

“Shut up” He cut off my rambling, “I’m the one who suggested the idea. Edward read my mind and told Carlisle.”

I closed my mouth, letting him pull me along. After a minute, we had finally reached a more remote area with a large rock. He motioned for me to sit down. Silence overcame us. There were so many things I wanted to say.

“When you said Edward read your mind…” I trailed off slightly, wondering if I should continue. I took a deep breath and persevered, “Does he also know about Nyx?”

I bit my lip. Jacob gave me an impassive look, making me want to squirm in my seat.

Then very slowly, he shook his head, “I avoided thinking about it for the most part. I can’t guarantee it though.”

“Oh” I whispered.

Jacob stayed silent which was strange considering he wanted to speak with me.

“So what?” I asked.

Jacob looked at me. Just looked. His gaze trailed up and down my body before staring straight at my head. My own nerves inside me were tingling too much for me to be able to decipher what he was feeling.

And after what seemed to be an eternity, Jacob finally broke the silence.

“Fight me.” He said.

I was taken back, “What?” I sputtered out, “F-fight you?”

He nodded.

“What? Why?” I asked.

Jacob didn’t answer me, but got into stance. He threw his shirt onto the ground. My eyes grew wide at this action. I had to blink several times and remember to close my jaw.

“C’mon” He said.

“What? No! I-”

“Let’s go” commanded Jacob.

I was too astounded to speak. I probably looked like an idiot there, sitting with my mouth open caused by more than one reason.

Jacob moved to punch me. I only managed to jump away from the rock in time. His fist left a crack in the rock. Jacob doubled back and went to punch me once more I dodged it skillfully. Again and again he tried to strike me but his movements as a human were slow compared to mine. I was able to see his actions and move accordingly.

“Jake-”

My arm moved up to avoid impact between his leg and my head.

“Stop-”

Jacob swerved and punched. I ducked my body making him hit the tree. The wood splintered from the force of his punch.

“Why are you-”

His leg went up, missing my side by a fraction of an inch.

“Jacob!” I yelled out, jumping a half meter back.

Jacob lunged at me, his fist pulled back.

“Fight me!” He shouted heatedly.

My breathing became staggered at the power of his voice. I bent my head slightly, avoiding his punch and darted away. Jacob followed me. This battle was more of a chase. I did not want to fight him. If he was not in his wolf form then I could seriously hurt him. Unlike Nyx, I haven’t practiced long enough to know how to not critically injure someone if they were not more experienced than I am in the martial arts.

I evaded branches and twigs in my way as I ran at a slower pace to keep Jacob in my line of sight. Many times he tried to strike me but I shrunk away before the opportunity arose. My clothes were getting tattered from the tree’s sharp branches that cut through the cloth. And as luck would have it, my foot tripped over an overgrown root.

I tumbled down ungracefully, hitting the ground. I saw Jacob leap down onto me. I rolled over and flipped myself up. Jacob used the time effectively and pounced at me. My hand went up just in time to capture his fist. However the momentum from his attack sent me into the pedestal of the tree. I was trapped between Jacob’s towering form and the strong tree.

Jacob’s hands grabbed my wrist, pinning them above my head on to the tree as I felt the collision between my back and the wood. My head was knocked backwards agonizingly into the oak. His legs were intertwining with mine, locking them in place so I couldn’t escape.

I became increasingly aware of Jacob’s presence as his head dipped down towards mine. Within seconds, his head was in the middle of my left shoulder and my ear. I could feel his hot breath on my exposed skin and the tips of my hair messily laid on his face. I felt the blood on my face increase, my skin flushed. The nerves inside me tripled.

“J-Jacob?” I whispered.

He dug his head deeper into my shoulder, my entire body became tense.

“I told you to call me Jake” He murmured.

The vibrations of his voice went throughout my being. I could feel goosebumps on my arms arise.

“Jake?” I repeated.

“Yeah” He replied.

I swallowed down my nerves but that didn’t stop my voice from shaking, “What-what are you doing?”

Jacob didn’t answer me. Instead he removed his arms from mine. His fingers trailed down my body before wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. I was unsure of what to do. My arms cautiously and slowly lowered themselves and placed it around Jacob’s neck. When they wrapped themselves around Jacob, he pulled me in tighter.

“I’m sorry” His voice huskily said. Jacob’s breathing was heavy.

I didn’t know what to say. What was he sorry for?

“I’m sorry” repeated Jacob, “For how I’ve been treating you. It wasn’t right.”

“It’s fine” I heard my meek voice reply.

He shook his head, pulling me even tighter. My fading bruise was starting to hurt slightly but I dismissed it.

“You should’ve hit me” He said, “You should’ve hit me. I deserved it for being such a jerk to you.”

“Its fine” I reiterated, pulling him tighter, “It’s fine.

My entire body was lit up from the feeling of Jacob being implausibly close to me.

“It’s not” He said, “You helped me, you cared for me even when you knew I was a shape shifter. You tried to help me with Bella, you were probably the best friend I could have ever hoped for.”

Friend.

I was slightly disheartened but the feeling went away when Jacob somehow managed to pull me even closer to his body. I suddenly remembered he was half naked. My face burned as I was silently thanking the gods that he could not see my face right now.

“I’m sorry” said Jacob once again.

“It’s alright” I heard myself say.

Suddenly Jacob ripped himself away from me.

“No its not!” He shouted, “How can you be so forgiving?!”

Jacob sat down on the twig laden floor. His knees bent and arms draped over his legs. My body was desperate for the warmth and touch Jacob had provided me. I slowly walked over to him and couched down so we were eye level.

“It’s because you’re loyal” I told him, Jacob lifted his head so our eyes stared straight at each other, “You didn’t want anything bad to happen to your family or your friends. You put up all the precautions first to ensure everyone’s safety before the chance of trouble could come. It was your natural instinct.”

“But why-”

I cut him off, “You really shouldn’t worry about it. Its good to know you would put the people who matter the most first in your life.”

Jacob moved towards me. Our eyes still connected. His dark eyes drew me in, making me forget everything around me. Until I felt his hand on my cheek, I didn’t realize the proximity between us. His hand rubbed my cheek almost soothingly, most likely smearing the dirt on my face.

“Thank you” he whispered.

I felt something push me closer to him. Our noses touched. His breath was more apparent coming from his lips. His dark eyes were less than a centimeter away. I couldn’t tear my gaze from his. And somehow, in some strange way, Jacob began to get closer and closer.

I could almost anticipate his taste with his lips on mine.