Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?

I woke up the next day in a daze, with added numb feet. It kinda figures that Wolfie was sleeping at the end of my bed; he always did when I was too tired the night before to tell him to get off. I wiggled my dreary legs in a vain attempt to get the blood moving again in my toes, but with no such luck. I sat up and dragged my dead feet out from under my enormous dog, waking him up with a jump. I laughed and rubbed my eyes, yawning and stretching out all the sleep. As I did so, a soft pounding sound came from downstairs. I stood up off my bed, swaying from still being light-headed, that usually happens when I get up too fast. I was about to stagger over to my desk for support when I heard my Mom call from downstairs,

"Honey, someone at the door for you."

"I'll be right down." I called back, my voice croaky, still tired and rough from my slumber. I quickly pulled some old sweatpants on over my bed shorts and began the journey downstairs. I say the word journey because when your legs feel like they're made out of wood and you have to go down two flights of stairs that are curved, -like spiral staircases- it becomes more than a casual stroll down a couple of porch steps.

When I reached the ground floor, hitting my elbows on the railings on the way down, I went to steady myself on what I thought would be the dining table, but ended up tripping over my own feet and falling into something soft and warm instead. I found my feet and looked up to see a pair of beautiful chocolate brown eyes, I could have melted there and then, but instead, I just sneezed and fell backwards into my poor, puppy-eyed crash-mat even more.
I looked back up to come face-to-face with Jacob Black. I smiled weakly, completely embarrassed.

"Well, good morning to you too." Jacob smiled back, chuckling lightly. I turned around to face him properly and took a step back. I laughed nervously and looked to the floor,

"Hi, Jacob." My words came out in almost a whisper; I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear and looked up at him.

"You okay? You look a little shook up." He laughed, unable to keep a straight face after my performance down the stairs and into his arms.

"Yeah I'm fine," I tried to play it cool; "I do that every morning." I realized how dorky that made me sound and couldn't help but laugh at myself. Jacob joined in the laughter, "So," I said, changing the subject, "What'd you come round for?" I started to walk into the kitchen, motioning for him to follow,

"Well, I was talking to my friends that you met yesterday," Ahh yes, the scary guys who don't like me much, "And, they'd like to get to know you." He explained, perching himself on one of the counters. I opened a cupboard and pulled out a bowl and some cereal,

"Really? Cos it didn't seem like it last night." I doubted, pouring milk into the bowl and grabbing a spoon. Jacob smiled slightly,

"Yeah, well... they wanted to apologize for being rude too." He rubbed the back of his neck, and smiled again; I raised an eyebrow and turned back to my breakfast.

"So, when are they planning to...? Get to know me?" What are they gonna do? Kidnap me? Tie me to a chair and shine a light in my eyes? I smiled to myself,

"Ummm... Well there's a bonfire tonight. You're more than welcome to come with me if you want?" Jacob asked, hopefully.

"Sure." I swallowed the mouthful of cereal "That'd be cool." I looked up at the smiling goon on my counter. Jacob jumped down and walked over to my side. He just stared at the side of my face while I ate. "What?" I asked, Jacob just laughed slightly and continued to look at me. After a few more seconds of it, I started to get paranoid, "What is it? Do I have something on my face?" I touched my cheek, frowning.

"Nope, nothing on your face." He smiled sweetly, I frowned harder,

"Then what are you looking at me like that for?" I ordered,

"Oh no reason. I just like to see how long it takes to make people uncomfortable." He beamed; I glared at him and felt the corners of my mouth begin to turn upwards. Only then did I realize how infectious his smile was.

"Whatever." I laughed, "Get out of my house, I need to get changed." I said, pushing him away lightly, Jacob smiled then pulled a sad face, putting his puppy eyes to good use.

"Oh, well if you want me to leave...” Jacob slumped towards the door, "I mean, I was just gonna ask if you wanted to hang out, you know, see the reservation and all. But if you don't want to, I mean, we could always go some other time...” He dragged his words out as long as possible, pouting and sticking out his bottom lip a little. I tapped my foot on the floor,

"Fine." I was defeated, "Wait down here. I'll be 10 minutes." I turned to leave the room when I heard a faint, "Yesss!" coming from Jacob's direction. I stopped in my tracks, making it known that I heard him, cleared my throat and carried on out of the kitchen, smiling to myself.

Back in my room I made a dash for my make-up bag, applying minimal, after all, less was more, right? I brushed through my straight, chestnut hair then headed for the closet. Now, my closet wasn't just a closet. It was a sanctuary to me. All my favourite things were kept in here; I guess I'm just lucky the house came with walk-in-closets. I stepped past the pile of dirty laundry sat by the door, waiting to be thrown in the wash, and rummaged through my clothes. I settled for a pair of dark blue skinny-jeans and a 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' shirt. Before leaving my room after the promised 10 minutes, I checked my hair one last time, grabbed a jacket and headed back downstairs.

"Hey" I called to Jacob as I came down the last flight of stairs and flashed him a smile,
He returned the smile and asked, "You ready to go?" I slid into my jacket and called over my shoulder to my Mom. "I'm going out Mom." and received an expected,

"Okay, don't stay out too late." and with that Jacob and I headed towards and out the door.
Outside was colder than I expected. I pulled my jacket closer to my shivering body.

"You're not cold are you?" Jacob laughed, "I though you said you’re a wolf too?"

"I am." I protested, "The weather still affects me." I looked over at Jacob, "Wait, it doesn't affect you?" Jacob smiled at my question and answered, boastingly,

"Nope, my body temperature maintains at a toasty 108.9" He chuckled, "I could stand in a snowstorm naked if I wanted to and still be warm." Jacob smiled smugly, obviously pleased with himself. I simply smiled at his example and continued walking.

"So” He started, "If you get cold so easily, why'd you move to one of the coldest states in the country?" I looked down, I didn't want to be honest, but I couldn't lie. I promised myself when I first moved here I wouldn't.

"Well, if I'm really honest," I took a deep breath, "I had to leave my old home because..." I trailed off. Jacob looked at me, musing me to carry on. "Because, I accidentally attacked somebody, and that someone was my ex-boyfriend." I looked down at the ground, "He died from the attack." I forced back the tears and sniffed. Jacob turned to me and gave me a sympathetic look before stepping towards me and embracing me in a tight hug. I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my head into his warm muscular chest. I've never been one for crying, so his pure white shirt remained unstained from my mascara. How I wanted so much just to stay there, in his arms. He pulled away and smiled slightly, I returned the smile and let go of his waist. His hands slipped down and off my shoulders but left one hand on the small of my back as we resumed our walk around the reservation in silence.

Time passed and the silence loosened as we began casual conversations about what would happen when school started and after a few minutes we arrived at the beach where we met last night. I realized only then that we'd been wondering for quite a while as the sky had darkened slightly. We walked further onto the beach, not really watching where we were stepping, or at least, I wasn't. Everything happened so fast, I was walking, didn't see the rock in the sand. I felt myself begin to fall through gravity and in the same second came back up to my feet. I heard a laugh come from behind me and I felt warm hands around my waist. I guessed Jacob must have pulled me up when he saw me trip.

"Whoa, watch your step girl!" He continued to laugh, "Are you okay?" He lifted his hand to rest it on my back.

"I'm fine. Hidden rocks don't really help the un-coordinated." I joked along with him. We started walking along the beach again when we saw an orange glow in the distance. "What's that over there?" I squinted at the orange smudge and pointed so Jacob could tell what I was on about.

"Oh that's probably the guys," He said coolly, straightening up, "Shall we?" He asked formally, smiling a little bit,

"Sure thing." I answered, in a very un-formal manner. We strode over to where the group were sat, the first people I noticed were the scary men from last night. Some sat together, others sat next to a girl which they had their arm around, girlfriends maybe? The big one, the Alpha I guessed, stood up to greet us.

"Jacob and friend." He welcomed in a strange tone "How pleasant for you to join us." He said slightly more edgy. So much for wanting to be friends, I thought to myself. Suddenly he turned to face me, "You must be Ella. My name's Sam Uley. Welcome to the pack." He outstretched his hand hesitantly, I reached out towards it slowly and shook it,

"Uhh.. Hi. I didn't know I had to join a pack?" I asked regretting saying anything about the pack. I wasn't entirely sure if it came off rudely or as just a query.

"Well you don't have to, but it would make things a lot easier for you to settle in." He answered calmly, seemingly not affected at all by the question. I nodded, almost invisibly and looked to my feet, feeling myself begin to zone out. I fought it this time, wanting to be awake for the evening. Sam motioned for Jacob and me to follow him to where everyone else was seated and we complied. We sat ourselves next to the two nicer wolves of the pack that I had met, Embry and Quil I think they were called. The once hushed banter grew louder as the evening progressed. I learnt a lot of things about the reservation and the history of the Quileute tribe, but I also learnt a lot about my new friends too, for example; Jacob's really into football and sports and thinks running (in wolf form) is a sport, Quil is a really messy eater and often snores and Embry is how the boys described as "quiet" and "deadly". It's safe to say I made a lot of brand new friends that evening too. I met Leah Clearwater and her kid brother Seth, they were both wolves. Leah was tall and slim; pretty to say the least if it weren't for that constant frown she wore. She had long, sleek black hair (which tonight she wore in a messy ponytail), and olive tone skin which matched her deep brown eyes. Her brother Seth was a lot shorter than her, he also had sleek black hair which was cut similar to the rest of the packs, but his seemed slightly longer and scruffier and it suited him. Seth, like his sister had olive skin and dark eyes, though his facial expression was a lot less tense than Leah's, he looked relaxed and carefree, I sensed he was somewhat of a 'wild child' or a 'Lost Boy' as my friends and I called them back in Chicago, mainly after the film from 1984.
They were reckless and disobedient, but a sweet and the ever-so-useful, 'I can get away with murder' atmosphere hung loosely around them. I also met Kim and Emily, Emily was Leah and Seth's cousin and Sam's imprint, she like Leah was beautiful, she would be the essence of perfection, if only it weren't for the huge scar running down the right side of her pretty face. Kim was Jared's imprint partner, she wasn't as pretty as Leah and Emily but she was in her own way. She also wasn't a wolf although she more than likely knows about it now.

The noise and chatter hushed as Sam cleared his throat in a loud and booming manner,
"Friends, if I may have your attention please. I am pleased to welcome a new member to our pack;" Oh great. "Ella Jackson." Sam motioned over to me and everyone waved or said a quick ‘hello’, I smiled back and blushed furiously, looking down at the sand underneath my legs.
Jacob wrapped a comforting arm around me and offered a reassuring smile; this only made me blush more. The conversations among other groups started up again after a minute or two. And that's when things started to go downhill.

A couple of the wolves, Paul and Jared, had gotten into an argument about something or another and it started to get pretty serious. Before everyone realized they were in wolf form and ripping each other to shreds. Some of the wolves, Leah, Embry and Sam were trying to break it up and the others were encouraging them. I sat back and watched the on slaughter of beast vs. beast with wide eyes, I know I am a wolf myself, but back in Chicago, there were no other wolves to fight with. This was all new to me.

Slowly a foul stench filled the air. I knew that disgusting yet delightful odour; I knew it all too well - blood. Someone was bleeding. I may have forgotten to mention earlier, not only am I a wolf, I am also a half-vampire. My Grandfather on my Mother’s side is where I get my wolf from, since she had no son's, it was passed on to me. My Father, David, was a vampire. I never met him; he was hunted down and destroyed soon after I was born. I hadn't had blood for years as I found that I could live without it unlike my late Father, but none of that mattered right now. I could smell it, I could hear the blood flowing out of the wound and evaporating into the cool night's air. I felt my pupils widen as my thirst grew more and more uncontrollable. I wanted, no, needed that blood. There was so much going to waste on the hot sand. I struggled to contain myself. Before I knew it I was up like a bullet and over at the two wolves’ sides. Jared had been bitten. Paul had taken a huge chunk out of his arm and it was just left there. An open wound. An open wound filled with deliciously mouth-watering blood. Drip after drip, I watched for a second as the droplets crashed onto the ground like bombs echoing in my head. They were still fighting. Perhaps they wouldn't notice if I...

"Ella, get away from there!" I heard Jacob yell from across the bonfire, "Come back, you could get hurt." He called. My throat was burning from the sweet aroma, I tried not to breathe it in and walk away from it. I couldn't help it. A growl escaped my scarred throat and I lunged into the tangle of wolves, searching for the wounded Jared. I was almost there. I was almost in complete salvation when I was yanked out of the mess. Strong hands, different hands, were wrapped around my waist once more as I attempted to wriggle free of the person's grasp. No luck. A muffled growl ripped through my chest, I could feel myself start to burn up, but then everything went quiet. I calmed myself down immediately and the hands flung me out of their hold, straight into Jacob, who seemed to be catching me a lot lately, but this time, he wasn't so eager to receive me.

I looked around. Just as I feared, everyone was staring at me.

I backed up away from Jacob, trying to escape. I can't stay here. I have to move, again. I can't believe I did this, to my Mom especially. I hate doing this to her, just as we settle in, I go and ruin it all. I may as well stay and let them rip me apart as they should do. It would save my Mom all the trouble. I got a few steps back when Sam was beside me, his arms folded over his muscular chest. I jumped slightly in shock of seeing him there.

"You've got some explaining to do Ella Jackson."