Our Battle Cry

Jacob's POV

After Emily shooed everyone out of the kitchen we were all settled near each other. I was closest to the door just in case she needed me. Everyone was restless.

"Who was the letter from Emily?" Jared asked her when he thought that Aria wouldn't be able to hear him. She's probably too occupied to be listening in on our conversations I said to myself so that way I wouldn't get hit.

"Her brother. The night that she came here, Momma Odie gave me two letters. One for me, and the other for her. In mine it told me to give her that letter whenever I felt the time was right," she said while huddling into Sam's arms.

We could softly hear her crying from the kitchen, well, everyone except Emily because she wasn't a werewolf. I wanted to run in there and hold her, just comfort her to stop the pain that was causing her to cry.

"What do you think it says?" Seth asked quietly while glancing at door.

"It probably says that he loves her, and he's sorry for what has happened," Sam said while shrugging his shoulders. He knew Derrieck, not as well as Emily, but they had apparently met a few times. So his guess was better than any of ours.

It was quiet as we waited for her to come out of the kitchen. Everyone was starting to worry about her when she suddenly bolted through the kitchen door and out the front door. I immediately ran after her before anyone, mainly Sam, could tell me to stop. I followed her out the door and into the forest. As soon as I left the cover that the porch had provided I was pelted with rain. If it wasn't for my unnatural heat I probably would have felt like a Popsicle. I could faintly hear thunder above the sound of the rain. I took off in the direction that her scent was the strongest. I was following her as a human because I could keep us with her easily enough as one and I didn't want to frighten her if she saw me as a wolf. I tried to stay somewhat behind her so I could see what she was doing. I broke through the tree line and arrived at the cliff where me and the guys sometimes cliff dice from. What is she doing here? How did she even know about this place? I thought as I saw her ball her hands into fists. She started screaming. And she kept screaming until it looked like she couldn't breathe, the whole time that she as screaming I slowly walked right behind her.

I could faintly hear her whisper, "I need you". Hearing that broke my heart. I wrapped my arms around her and held her. She didn't seem to mind; instead she turned and buried her head into my chest as she kept whispering words of pain and false hatred to someone. I assumed it was her brother.

I slowly picked her up and moved us under the cover of the trees. She was still whispering and quivering when we reached a giant tree the clouded us from most of the rain. I ran my hands through her hair that was stuck to her face. I looked down at her and my heart broke. She was quivering, and her hands were balled into fists that rested on my chest.

Once she calmed down enough to think clearly, she slowly lifted her head.

Aria's POV

Once I had calmed down some, I realized that I couldn't feel the rain anymore. At first I thought I was dead until I realized that I leaning against someone's chest. I lifted my head to see Jacob. I was so confused. Why is he out here? Why would he come after me? I thought to myself before I found my voice. "Jacob? What are you doing? Why are you out here?"

"I couldn't let you just run off like that. You could have died! You almost did!" he said. The look on his face touched me. He looked, concerned and worried; like he genuinely cared about me.

"You didn't have to come after me…" I mumbled.

"It's okay, I don't mind. Can I ask you a question?" he looked nervous now and scared. Almost like if he asked me this that something bad might happen.

"Sure, I guess. I mean… I don't mind," I said quietly. Great! I'm nervous now. I don't like this one bit, I'm not meant to be nervous! I thought to myself.

"Are you okay? You seemed so mad and upset when you stormed through the house to come out here and scream…" He trailed off while moving one of his arms from around me to scratch the back of his neck.

"Yeah I am… sorry I just had to get that out of my system. Ya know?" I asked him while laughing pathetically at the end.

He wiped away a tear that I didn't mean to let escape. "It's okay if you're not alright. After everything you've been through, it okay to not be okay," he said.

Oddly enough… that made perfect sense. And I broke. After seeing the look on his face and the concern in his voice, I broke.

"I'm not okay. Not at all. I miss my brother and my friends. And I'm going crazy! I keep thinking that I'm getting stalked by my ex-boyfriend and cyber stalked by a guy who wants to be my next boyfriend! But I don't even like him. And I was doing perfectly fine until I read that letter. I'm just so mad at my brother for leaving me alone! He promised me that he would never leave me. I mean he practically raised me since I was twelve! I mean, he didn't even go to college because of me! He took online classes and still took care of me! How could he leave me? How Jacob? How?"

He didn't answer me. Instead he pulled me back onto his lap and let me cry my eyes out onto his already soaked shirt. We stayed like that until I finally calmed down again. I pulled my head back and looked at him. He smiled softly at me and I smiled back.

"What did you mean that you think that your ex is stalking you?" he asked me. Oh boy I thought, great, me and my big mouth just had to blurt that out!

"Oh, uh…nothing, I just have an overactive imagination that's all," I said pathetically. I looked behind him and thought that I saw movement, but I guess that I was wrong.

"So are you okay to walk by yourself? Or should I carry you?" I could tell that he was teasing me, trying to make me feel better.

"I can walk thanks." I smiled at the end to let him know that I was okay.

"You know, whatever happened back east. It's not your fault," it had been silent for about five minutes when he suddenly said that.

"What?" I asked him.

"It's not your fault. Whatever happened, everything bad. It's not your fault, so you shouldn't blame yourself for it," he said. He gave me a small smile.

It made sense. I mean everything that had happened with Derrieck, the girls, Damien, hell even Mariah! None of it was my fault. I couldn't stop Damien from cheating on me with her, or for blaming our baby on being someone else's.

I smiled at him, "Thanks Jacob."

"Jake." He corrected me.

"Huh?" I asked.

"If we're going to be friends, then you're going to have to call me Jake. It's what all of my friends call me," he said while shrugging. "You do know that Sam and the guys will have gone out looking for us by now?" I just nodded. I had figured it. We were quiet for a while. It wasn't a bad quiet, or awkward. I heard a twig snap and saw Jake look over in that direction. We had both stopped walking by now. I heard another one snap and I turned my body in the direction of the noise. My breathing started to freak out when I saw a shadow of a person. I stepped closer to Jake and could feel his hand grab mine.

I gasped when I got a good look at the person. It was Damien. He still looked the same. He was tall, not as tall as Jake or Sam or the others but still tall, standing at 5'11" with spiked black hair, wearing a white t-shirt that was tucked into his jeans with his signature black leather jacket over it all. His eyes were still cold to anyone who looked at them, anyone except me. His eyes turned away from Jake and looked me head on. I couldn't look away. I saw longing, guilt, sadness, and anger, but there was love hidden that I don't think that he would want me to see.

"Hello Aria. It's so nice to finally catch up to you," I shivered at his voice. It wasn't the warm pleasant tone that he had always used with me. It was different, cold, detached. His eyes turned to look at Jake. "Awe, who's this boy? Are you trying to replace me so soon?"

"How'd you find me?" I knew his game. If I could keep his attention away from Jake then he wouldn't get hurt, or worse, killed. I could heal probably heal from whatever he threw at me, but I knew that Jake couldn't.

"Oh, well that's an easy question to answer. I mean, look around you. Look at what you're doing. And the fact that you've been practicing too," he said with a smirk.

"What do you mean 'look at what she's doing'? What is she doing?" Jake asked. He looked confused. I couldn't let Damien tell him cause then my secret is blown.

"Nothing. I'm not doing anything," I said to him as I turned to face him. I whispered so that way I knew for a fact that only Jacob would be able to hear me. "When I tell you to, run. Run for the guys and get help, but you have to keep running and not ask me questions okay?"

He hesitated for a second. "Trust me," I pleaded with him. "I know his game just trust me. Please."

He nodded his head slightly and I turned back around to face Damien. I saw a look of murder in his eyes and I could only guess what was to come next. I had seen him do it to countless demons and criminals, but never to me.

"So, is he your boyfriend?" he sneered at me. I could see his plasma ball start to form in his hand.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend Damien. I've been single since we broke up." I could tell that Jake was confused but I had to get him out of here. The ball was growing bigger, and so was my fear. "Go, now. Run!" I said to Jake as I pushed him. He started running and tried to pull me along. I turned around quickly and looked back at Damien. He was smirking while casually walking towards us.

Jacob pulled my hand and we started running, fast too. "So what was that all about? And what the hell was in his hands?" he asked me.

I snuck a look at him and said, "Later. I promise. We just have to get away from him. And back to the house."

I heard a sound coming from beside me and suddenly Damien was in front of me.

"That wasn't too nice sweetie. You shouldn't run away from an old friend. Who knows what might happen if you do," he sneered at me. I knew that he was about to launch his attack. I couldn't use my powers. I was too emotional and I didn't want to risk Jake finding out me and thinking that I was a freak.

"Don't hurt him. He doesn't know anything. Please," I pleaded with him. If I couldn't get out of this alive then at least I could get Jake out alive.

Damien just smiled at me. Suddenly I was pulled away from him and back behind a bunch of trees. We started running again. I heard a tree fall not too far behind us. We started sprinting. I looked behind us and I saw him running right after us. Right through the trees too. We kept running, I had no clue where we were going but Jacob seemed to know so I followed him. I saw a plasma ball hit a tree that was right beside us. We kept running, I could faintly hear howling over our rugged breaths. I turned and saw that Damien had thrown one of his plasma balls right at Jacob. Instinctively I pushed him out of the way and I felt it hit my back. I fell to the floor and the only thing that I could see or hear was Jacob worrying over me and more howling. My world faded into the dark and I couldn't feel any of the air around. I was disconnected to the world, my people and possibly my powers.